PROFILE OF SUCCESS
The new Haas VF-3SS has benefits beyond its
features says Grant. “Being a safety net is big.
The work we are currently doing means I cannot
afford to be down for any reason. We put in the
VF-2SS for a similar reason and to do some of
the smaller work, so the next step of a more
accurate, modern machine tool that I can rely on
was essential,” says Grant.
Enter the Haas VF-3SS, with its focus on the
‘tight work’ that matters, where accuracy is
critical.
“It’s not been in long but it’s already doing what it
says it can on the packet.”
Grant says that with Haas, sure they do all the
regular after sales stuff once a machine is commissioned
and installed – such as training – but,
says Grant, “If we have an issue of any kind they
prefer to get on and get it sorted first to keep the
machines running. They worry about the business
side of it second, so keeping our machines up
and running is really important to Haas, Karl and
the Aotea team. They have my interests ahead of
their own, which makes a huge difference.”
He says there are always bugs and gremlins so to
have a collaborative relationship as JWB has with
Haas can make a big difference to the business
running day-to-day.
“It’s a very happy working relationship.”
Relationships are important to JWB and Grant.
“You stick with the brands you have as your whole
shop – which includes 10 staff - is geared to those
controls so it’s important that it works. It does with
Haas.”
The company started business as Warwick
Bowring Engineering Limited. Warwick and Gay set
up the business in Panmure, Auckland, as general
engineers with machining capabilities on manual
lathes.
They were joined by Grant, now sole proprietor
of the current company. The business took a
huge evolutionary step into a specialist machining
operation in 1978, through the purchase of the
first of the new generation CNC machines to enter
New Zealand. In 2003, the company renamed itself
JWB Group.
Grant, too, albeit a nipper, was there at the start.
“Dad had given me a nail box to stand on when I
was 9 or 10 and I was working a little bench lathe,
I think. In the business young,” laughs Grant.
Today, the East Tamaki Business Park engineering
firm specialises in precision engineering and
product design.
“One of our strengths is having our design team
attached to the manufacturing operation. We can
take our customers general ideas through concept
and design and completed manufacture without
having to outsource any major component. We
have direct control over the entire project.
“Our services include CNC machining on 3, 4 and
5-axis machines, prototyping, single and small to
medium jobbing, reverse engineering, conceptual
and product visualisations, mould design and
manufacture.
“To do that you have to have the right machines for
the job and the right relationship with the people
supplying them. With Haas, we have just that.”
JWB has seen three generations of
Bowring engineers on the workshop
floor. Haas, too, has seen evolution
inside the Auckland premise with the
install of a fifth Haas machine, the
VF-3SS vertical machining centre.
16 December 2018