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Don Strachan

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Personal CV for Don Strachan

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Employment history for
Don Strachan
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Qualifications and Personal.

Ministry of Works & Development.
Waikato Bitumen Ltd..
Duel Fuel systems Ltd..
Fuel Conversions Ltd..
Lunchbox
Mainarc
Sulco Tools
TSV Auckland

Its my pleasure to be able to present my CV to you and help to promote both your companies and my interests.

How can we do this?

I can benefit your company by increasing your plant availability and decreasing your plant running costs or alternatively improving your alternate fuel fleet or development program. The end result is your company makes more profit and I get paid to do what I like doing.

Now surely this has got to be good for both of us.

Are you sceptical that I can achieve this?

It is really quite simple. I have a basic set of rules:

  1. I turn up to work every day, where humanly possible.

  2. I am honest and hardworking.

  3. I am always sober when at work.

  4. I will put in a full days work.

  5. I use my many years of experience in maintaining plant to your advantage. In other words I know what makes the cogs turn and I know what stops them turning, whether it is capital plant or automotive plant regardless of fuel type.

  6. I use my many years of experience in working with; mechanics, fitters, and welders to build a loyal team focussed on maintaining your fleet or plant in top condition whether it runs on; Petrol, LPG or CNG .

  7. I like to keep up with the current trends and technology and use them to your advantage.
 

So, What is the next Step:

Well you can read on through all the boring information below or you can contact me right away anytime at your convenience to discuss how we might go about improving your company's maintenance or fleet program.

Contact details:

Snail Mail Address:
Don Strachan
590A Koheroa Road
RD2
Mercer, 2474
New Zealand

Telephone Home: 0064 9 232 6641
                  Mobile: 0064 27 292 6377

            

Webpage: http://www.donsautopages.co.nz/




Qualifications and Personal Details
Personal: Married to Freda with grown up family
Education:
 
 
Qualifications:
Hastings Boys High
Canterbury University
 
B. E. (Mechanical)
Work Experience: Ministry of Works Christchurch 1970-72 Assistant Engineer HVAC
  Ministry of Works Twizel 1972-77 Site Mech. Engineer
  Waikato Bitumen Co., Ltd. 1977-80 Company Mech. Engineer
  Dual Fuel Systems Ltd. 1980-82 Technical Manager NZ
  Fuel Conversions Ltd. 1982-93 Owner Manager
  Lunch Box 1993-96 Owner Manager
  Mainarc Engineering Ltd 1997-98 Stores and Purchasing Officer
  Safer Seatbelts Ltd 1999-2000 VSRCE
  Sulco Tools 2001-2003 Area Manager Counties
  TSV 2003- Design Engineer
Expertise:
  1. Management of Maintenance and Engineering Services
  2. Wide experience as Plant Engineer including budget setting and control.
  3. Marketing and Sales experience ( Particularly for capital plant or in depth technical products).
  4. Experience in On Site construction and control of Personnel.
  5. Knowledge of Plant maintenance and running costs.
  6. Energy Engineering with wide experience in the N.Z. automotive and alternate fuel fields.
  7. Computer literate with good knowledge of computers and computer programmes especially as related to the Engineering Maintenance and Automotive field.
Aims:
  1. Would like position position in the: Automotive, Gas, Energy, or Computer field or alternatively as a Plant Maintenance Engineer, Sales Engineer (Capital plant or Technical products) Site construction Engineer or
  2. Would be prepared to relocate if necessary.
Interests:
  1. Fitness.
  2. Waterskiing.
  3. Rowing.
  4. Automotive sports and cars.
  5. Computers and computer programmes related to the engineering, maintenance, and automotive fields. Have a good knowledge of; DOS, Windows 3.11 & 95, internet and computer hardware.
Company:
Ministry of Works and Development -- Twizel.
Job Title:
Site Mechanical Engineer.
Responsible to:
Project Mechanical Engineer - Mr. Martin Schofield
Company Profile:
Hydro construction division of the Ministry of Works set up to construct the Twizel power scheme and at the time was the largest Earthmoving operation in the Southern Hemisphere consisting of the; 25 km Tekapo B canal, 160 MW Tekapo B powerhouse, Pukaki High dam, 15 km Pukaki canal, 10 km Ohau canals as well as the Ohau A (264 MW), Ohau B (212 MW), and Ohau C (212 MW), powerhouses.
Job Description:
To provide an on site Mechanical Engineering service to both the Civil and Mechanical personnel on the Tekapo B residency which operated plant with a replacement value today of approximately $120 million dollars. In the case of the Tekapo site this involved the construction of the; 25km canal from lake Tekapo to lake Pukaki, 160 MW Tekapo B powerhouse including two 1280 metre long x 4.3 metre diameter steel penstocks. The type of service required could include:
  1. To provide on-site; power, water, and lighting services.


  2. To design or adapt new or existing plant to site needs e.g. convert 30 tonne dump trucks to watercarts, design portable concrete conveyors and to design portable lighting towers.


  3. To provide maximum plant availability by way of preventative maintenance programmes, monitoring the SOS oil sampling programme, modifying plant to avoid downtime and providing technical advice and help with operator training.


  4. To minimise plant operating costs.


  5. To provide backup to Mechanics on technical problems.
Staff Supervised:
1 Mechanical inspector.
3 Mechanical Overseers.
7 Leading hands.
50 Mechanics, welders, greasers and handymen.
Company:
 
 
Waikato Bitumen Co. Ltd.
Job Title:
Mechanical Engineer.
Responsible to:
General Manager - Mr. Des Grinter.
Company Profile:
This Company was a Road Contracting firm and at the time was the largest bitumen spraying company in New Zealand.
Job Description:
  1. To provide an on site Mechanical Engineering service to both the Civil and Mechanical personnel including;
    To submit and control Mechanical division budget -- estimated current value $10.0 million per year.
  2. Design and modification of plant eg. Hydrostatic conversion of rollers
  3. Operator training
  4. To minimise plant operating costs
  5. To institute all plant replacement programmes and buying of plant
  6. To liaise and negotiate with all equipment suppliers during purchase and warranty
  7. To dispose of all old plant
  8. To oversee running of the plant repair workshop
  9. To design 12 tonne bulk LPG installation
  10. To ensure conversion of vehicles to LPG where possible.
Staff Supervised:
2 Mechanical Overseers.
2 Leading hands.
1 Draughtsman.
1 Storeman.
1 Stores assistant.
15 Mechanics.
Achievements:
Design of first electronic control system for bitumen spraying -- now in wide use throughout NZ.Significant reduction in plant running costs through LPG usage. Introduced first bulk LPG supply station to Hamilton.
Company:
 
 
Dual Fuel Systems Ltd.
Job Title:
Technical Manager (NZ).
Responsible to:
General Manager - Mr David Anning
Company Profile:
At the time was a joint venture company between; Dual Fuel Systems California Ltd., Auckland Gas Co., Welgas, and Australian Gas and Lighting Co., and was formed to market alternate fuel equipment in the form of LPG/CNG kits and cylinders and CNG compressors. The Company was the NZ agent for; Renzo Landi and Duel Fuel Systems LPG & CNG kits, Faber CNG cylinders, as well as Reavell, Meccanica & Dual Fuel CNG compressors.
Job Description:
To prepare and supervise annual budget for the technical department including all warranty claims. To provide all Technical backup to company customers including warranty claims as well a doing all R & D related to vehicle; LPG, CNG & CNG-Diesel conversion kits. This involved setting up a tuning shop with chassis dynamometer and tunescope, running courses for Mechanics on LPG/CNG installations, to troubleshooting vehicles all around NZ.7 To liaise with Customers and help Sales staff on sales particularly CNG compressor sales which involved sums of up to $100,000 for compressors plus installation. As a result of expertise gained I was also involved in helping with the running of Technical Institute courses at Hamilton. Manukau and Gisborne, as well as for AGL in Sydney.
Staff Supervised:
2 Mechanics 1 Storeman
Achievements:
Dual Fuel Systems rapidly became the biggest equipment supplier to the alternate fuel market achieving $6 million annual sales. This rapid rise was due in no small part to the excellent technical and backup service provided by the technical department, which at the time of my commencing with the Company appeared to be in a state of chaos. This included a full chassis dyno service available to all customers.
Company:
 
 
Fuel Conversions Ltd.
Job Title:
Managing Director.
Responsible to:
Company Profile:
Fuel Conversions Ltd. was setup by myself in 1983 and catered for the alternate fuel and general repair business. The workshop was well setup with a Sun rolling road dynamometer and Crypton computerised tunescope and handled all types of tuning and troubleshooting problems for the public as well as the trade.
Job Description:
To sell CNG / LPG conversions.To supervise and work in the workshop doing all normal automotive repairs and alternate fuel conversions. Freda worked in the office attending to all normal office duties. The normal type of work done in a garage was carried out such as:
Lubes, Tune-ups, Brake repairs, Exhaust repairs, Engine repairs and overhauls, trouble-shooting carburettor and fuel injection problems, Dyno testing standard as well as race cars to diagnose problems or to evaluate power changes, WOF checks and work. The dynamometer and infra-red exhaust analyser were used to check all tune-ups as well as all gas conversions.
Staff Supervised
Apart from ourselves from:
1 to 3 Mechanics
1 apprentice.
Achievements:
When the company was started we took over an empty building with no stock, plant or customers as the previous owner had been servicing forkhoists. Starting from nothing the company was built up to become one of the more long-lasting companies in the alternate fuel field through a combination of good service and expertise. With the dramatic drop in alternate fuel usage in 1985 as well as the 1987 crash the basic emphasis of the company had to change and a move to more general type servicing was achieved.
Company:
 
 
The Lunchbox -- Twizel.
Job Title:
Owner Manager.
Company Profile:
A typical 6 day lunchbar open from 7.00am till 5.00pm which involved working 4.00am till 6.00pm
Job Description:
To run the lunchbar as well as doing all baking of; Pies, cakes and bread.
The shop was run by Freda and myself along with two part time staff.
Staff Supervised:
Achievements:
We moved to Twizel to be of some assistance to Freda's mother who had some health problems. In the time that we ran the shop a good turnover was achieved considering that the previous owner had run the business down to the point that it was closed. When Freda's mother required hospitalisation and moving to a rest home we made the decision to come back to Auckland as the "small town" syndrome did not suit and I felt I needed a more serious challenge.
Company:
 
 
Mainarc Engineering Ltd
Job Title:
Stores and Purchasing Officer
Responsible to:
General Manager - Mr Vince Black
Company Profile:
Mainarc Engineering is a heavy Engineering and welding company based in Pukekohe. They specialise in stainless steel welding and rolling and have a major maintenance contract with the BHP steel mill.
The Company is ISO 9002 certified.
Company staff varied from about 20 normally to about 80 when major shut work was being carried out.
Job Description:
To carry out all company purchasing and stores functions as per ISO 9002 requirements.
All purchasing was carried out on a strict minimum cost basis.
To categorise and organise computer database of all stores stock
To carry out stocktakes as necessary.
To carry out quantity survey and quoting as necessary.
Achievements:
The Stores system was a disjointed set of computer spreadsheets and most of the stores items were not computerised.
While I was working here I managed to put all stock entered on the stores database and a major stocktake was carried out.
The combination of the disjointed computer setup and ISO 9002 rules made the system very cumbersome and would have benefited from a proprietary stores computer system.
Company:
 
 
Safer Seatbelts Ltd
Job Title:
VSRCE (Vehicle Standards Rules Certification Engineer)
Responsible to:
General Manager - Mr Phil Smith
Company Profile:
Company was involved in import vehicle compliance and associated work such as seatbelt installation.
The Company is ISO 9002 certified.
Company staff numbered about 8.
Job Description:
To carry out vehicle inspections as per LTSA and ISO 9002 requirements
Vehicles involved all: Asian, Japanese, and American light and heavy vehicles.
To carry out vehicle accident reports when necessary.
Achievements:
The Company achieved good turnover and a period of stability while I was working there. Unfortunately a change in LTSA rules which virtually made all VSRCEs redundant combined with a downturn in vehicle imports meant a major reduction in the work available and I would like something more challenging.
Company:
 
 
Sulco Tools
Job Title:
Area Manager Counties
Responsible to:
David_McCullough
Company Profile:
Sulco Tools has been in the tool business for many years, with a fleet of vans covering the length of New Zealand. They specialise in on the door sales to workshops.
Job Description:
To promote tool sales in the Counties Manukau area
Company:
 
 
TSV Auckland
Job Title:
Design Engineer
Responsible to:
Denis Smith
Company Profile:
TSV are involved in vehicle certification including: Heavy drawbars, drawbeams, chassis modifications such as shortening and lengthening, tipper installations, motorhome seatbelt and seat installations, left to righthand drive conversions. Design of all preceding certification work is also undertaken.
Job Description:
To carry out all design and checking of the certification work carried out by TSV.