Pacific Steel News

Going Head to Head in The Fight for a Better Hood

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:02:19 +0100

Pacific Steel¹s Best Neighbourhood initiative is underway with a total of $18,000 worth of prizes up for grabs. The competition has three parts; Best Sustained Project for those that have previously entered or won Best Neighbourhood; Best Neighbourhood, the original competition where the four 'neighbourhoods' at Pacific Steel compete for the safest, cleanest work area; and a new 5S Project category where teams of 4 to 8 people will compete based on the 5 S's of Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise and Sustain.

"The improvements the competition brings to the business are worthy of some serious in house recognition, so this year the prize pool has been boosted considerably to reflect this, with $10,000 going to the winning 5S project," says John Beveridge, General Manager.

The 5S category was created to give everyone at Pacific Steel a chance to not only become their own Health and Safety mastermind but to empower individuals to revolutionise their work systems and effectively streamline existing and new processes. Because this category requires just as much business strategy as it does elbow grease, it features extra support through; ongoing project mentoring from a member of the management team, practical guidelines and criteria to make the judging and benchmarking process transparent to the competitors.

Mayor Len Brown Visits Pacific Steel

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:17:56 +0100

Manukau City’s singing Mayor, Len Brown made a special appearance this week at Auckland’s major steel manufacturer Pacific Steel Group after a meeting with General Manager John Beveridge at the Lease signing of the Old Papatoetoe Fire Station to Youthline.

The Mayor spoke to staff during the lunch function held in their staff cafeteria, commending them for their outstanding efforts to remain resilient against the odds of economic adversity. Among many personal experiences the Mayor spoke of his early years in businesses as a Lawyer mentioning the hard times of starting up during early 1991 in the middle of a recovering market.

“I had decided in 1991 to go into business in East Tamaki. Now at that time, there was nothing but for sale signs, for lease signs around the place.” A lot of people were unemployed and businesses really being challenged and that was the time that I felt to set up business – at the bottom of the trough, because you might be at the bottom of the trough, but you’re also at the beginning of the next wave coming through. And that is the mentality that I learnt from being a resident, a citizen, a proud homeboy of this community”.

Pacific Steel is a large employment player within the South Auckland Community drawing over 400 in employment and contractual positions. They are recognised as staunch supporters to the South Auckland community during these tough economic times, with various sponsorship projects on the go - the latest being a $20,000 sponsorship of Youthline for their new premises fit out of the Old Papatoetoe Fire Station. This project which will see the arrival a much needed youth centre for South Auckland.

“This is something positive big businesses can do to help with youth issues." "The old fire station is 50 years old but ¬ it is brilliantly located and it now needs to be warm and energy efficient, it needs to be quiet (for counselling) and it needs to have a heart. It needs high quality building product for its transformation from fire station to youth hub", says John Beveridge, General Manager of Pacific Steel Group.

At the close of Len’s visit to Pacific Steel he signed off his speech with a few special verses in Maori, proving he’s still the Mayor who is very proud to be born and bred in South Auckland.

Check Out The Website!!!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:52:39 +0100

Well, we've been working on this baby day and night, trying to capture all the very best bits of Pacific Steel to be able to show it all to you, the clever ingenious person who has happened upon it! So by the touch of a button and click of a mouse pad, I give to you Pacific Steel Group in Web formation!

We hope that you enjoy your visit to our site, as you can tell we are very proud to be a large player in the future of New Zealand's economic infrastructure and so it is important to us that you too, feel a little bit inspired by our business and all the great things we are doing behind the scenes to make your world that much better.

So on behalf of Pacific Steel we would like to welcome you in to our world of manufacturing steel from 100% recycled scrap metal.

You may not have always been able to see us, but we've always been there for you!

Thanks for visiting and send us an email if you want to know more, or you'd like to let us know how you feel about the website.

Kind regards

Your Pacific Steel Website Administrator

Farewell To An Old Friend

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:12:28 +0100

Sunday 17 August 2008 saw our old friend ‘Big Red’ - the red locomotive DF-1501 leave Pacific Steel. Resident on site since 1975, NZ’s first diesel electric locomotive has stood guardian near our main gate and has become a firm icon of the steel industry and the local community alike. Although popular with taggers and the scene of some nefarious night-time activities, the bulk of DF-1501 has endured over the years with a little assistance from Pacific Steel.

Big Red was recovered by its owners (National Federation of Railway Societies) for some loving restoration down at its new home in Ferrymead, Christchurch. The departure of DF-1501 will see the space that it and the steam locomotive before it occupied developed into a new Pacific Steel overflow parking area complete with provision for the safe drop-off of all employees.

The task of moving Big Red was not an insignificant one. It required the cooperation of multiple parties, many of them generously donating their services to the cause. The first step was a thorough assessment of the condition of DF-1501’s undercarriage, after so many years of inaction it was great to see each of the big wheels easily rotate once again. A sigh of relief was certainly audible from all as the bearings and lubrication of old were proved to still be sound!

In order to prepare the land, a sick unprotected tree required removal, the boundary fence had to come out, the red tubular architectural (according to some..!) structure needed to come down, and the roof/shelter above the locomotive had to go. Given the range and sensitivity of the myriad of subsurface services in the road berm of James Fletcher Drive, each utility provider had to be contacted and provisions made to protect each supply.

A 33kV cable feeding Pacific Steel was but 3.5m from the northern footprint of DF-1501. This cable formed the boundary to which each of the two 150T cranes had to work within in to lift Big Red onto a waiting low loader.

DF-1501 was safely removed and taken down the main site road to the rail tracks where it was lifted from the low loader and again placed on welcoming rails. KiwiRail was tasked with coupling up our old friend and towing Big Red away to a shunting yard in preparation for the long trip south. There were some challenges at the rail end to overcome with the main 110kV incomers plus the site ring water main located in this area.

The re-railing task safely happened without incident to underlying services - a testimony of the care by the Engineering Services team assigned with preparatory works on the day. Alan Redfearn, Amesh Soma and Alex Snegirev bade DF-1501 farewell and set to restore the site fixtures affected to enable the locomotive’s safe removal from site.

The empty carcass of what used to be DF-1501’s home is all that remains as evidence of Big Red, and in the near future the concrete columns will also go as part of Pacific Steel’s entry improvements.

Although DF-1501 has gone, Big Red will always remain in our memories. Let’s not forget that Big Red was an icon of Pacific Steel, just as Pacific Steel is one of the great icons of Otahuhu and South Auckland.

Register Master Builders Awards 2008

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:22:16 +0100

Pacific Steel Group sponsor the Seismic Industrial Utility Category for the Register Master Builders Awards. Click here to link to the Register Master Builders website for all the latest updates.

Pacific Steel Farewell's an Old Friend and Local Icon

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:20:18 +0100

Sunday 17^th of August saw our old friend the red locomotive DF-1501 leave Pacific Steel. Resident on site since 1975, NZ’s first diesel electric locomotive has stood guardian near our main gate and has been an icon of the industry and the community. Though often tagged and the scene of numerous nefarious night-time activities, the bulk of DF-1501 has endured with some assistance from Pacific Steel.

The locomotive was recovered by its owners (National Federation of Railway Societies) for loving restoration in its new home down at Ferrymead in Christchurch. The space DF-1501, and the steam locomotive before it, has occupied is to be developed into a new contractor, staff, and overflow parking area with provision for safe drop-off of employees.

The tasks to move the loco were not insignificant and required the cooperation of multiple parties, many of them donating their services to the cause. But firstly, a thorough condition assessment of DF-1501’s undercarriage was necessary. After many years of inaction it was great to see each of the big wheels easily rotate – the bearings and lubrication of old were sound!

In order to prepare the land, a sick unprotected tree required removal, the boundary fence had to come out, the red tubular architectural (yeah, right) structure needed to come down, and the roof/shelter above the loco had to go. Given the range and sensitivity of the myriad of subsurface services in the road berm of James Fletcher Drive, each utility provider had to be contacted and provisions made to protect each supply.

A 33kV cable feeding Pacific Steel was but 3.5m from the northern footprint of DF-1501 and this formed the boundary to which each of the two 150T cranes had to work within in to lift the loco onto a waiting low loader.

DF-1501 was safely removed and taken down the main site road to the rail tracks where it was lifted from the low loader and again placed on welcoming rails. KiwiRail was tasked with coupling up our old friend and towing him/her away to a shunting yard in preparation for the long trip south. There were some challenges at the rail end too as the main 110kV incomers plus the site ring water main are located in this area.

The rerailing task safely happened, and without incident to underlying services, and this is a testimony of the care by the Engineering Services team assigned with preparatory and other works on the day. Alan Redfearn, Amesh Soma, and Alex Snegirev bade DF-1501 farewell and set to restore the site fixtures affected to enable the locomotive’s removal from site.

Although DF-1501 has gone, the icon will remain in our memories, and let’s not forget that Pacific Steel is also one of the great icons of Otahuhu and South Auckland.

Seismic 500E is easy to identify on site and in the workshop

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:02:13 +0100

Bar Markings

Our quality assured, NZ made, steel reinforcing bar can be easily identified by checking both the deformation pattern and the unique ID marking on the bar itself. See samples of our bar defomation patterns and bar ID markings for both Seismic MA and QT and request a handy bar ID card by clicking here

Pacific Steel introduces Seismic 500E ® QT

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:01:20 +0100

Not all seismic reinforcing steel is the same or can be used in the same way. Now, to suit the different needs and purposes, Pacific Steel has expanded our range of Seismic 500E® steel to include Seismic 500E QT