Tim Corbin has to be careful he doesn't bump his hobby when he parks his car in his large Havelock North garage at night.
As well as the vintage machinery he restores for fun, he also has to be careful not to bump the Napa Valley winery waste-control system that his
company, Controlbox, designed and built.
Controlbox specialises in electro-mechanical control systems, which could be operated remotely through the internet.
It will be the company's third control system to be exported to a Californian winery. Other control systems have gone to Michigan, Tasmania and Papua New Guinea.
He said he doesn't have many Hawke's Bay customers. "We're just busy with other clients - I've never had time to chase local clients," he said.
He hires workshops, or works from home, depending on the needs of each project. "We are looking for a workshop premises but I don't want to leave Havelock North." The company offices were located on Havelock Rd.
He said he had few doubts he would be successful in starting his own business.
In six years it had expanded to six employees.
The biggest project so far for Corbin and his team was a log processing machine in Mosgiel.
Not bad for a university dropout.
"I went to varsity at age 16, I was much younger than everyone else - I kind of lost my way," he said.
He soon found his way again through an electrical apprenticeship at a Wellington tobacco manufacturer. He has worked on electrical control systems ever since. He returned to academic life to pick up the theory needed for electrical engineering.
He would be taking his young family to California for up to six weeks for the commissioning.
He said he enjoyed the challenge each project brought. "Other companies can build the mechanical but they can't make it go - we provide the control."
