For the past 42 years Trico Industries Limited has stayed busy undertaking jobs big and small for all types of general engineering.
Founded in 1970 by manager Peter Jenkins in partnership with Tony Boerdyk – who left the company in the early 1980s – Trico has always had a versatile approach to any challenge and that cando attitude has kept the company going when imposing issues such as deflated markets and cheaper overseas’ products have closed down other businesses.
Beginning operations in a tin shed on the rear of a section in Leonard Road Penrose, Trico began manufacturing fork hoist components for Loadlift and heat treated pins and bushes for tanner Engineering, as well as fabricating guards for Auckland Sewing company and hoppers for AHI. But as more work came in and they were approached to repair shipping containers, Trico moved to more suitable premises in Leonard Road where they could continue to develop machining capability and adapt the business to meet the growing requirements of container repairs. They purchased a petrol driving drill so that minor repairs could be carried out on containers onsite on the wharf without the need to transport them to and from their factory.
A few years later Trico moved to larger premises in Gadabor Place in Mount Wellington where an existing overhead three tonne gantry crane and another that they built themselves created the ability to handle 40 foot shipping containers with ease.
Seeing a hole in the market and always looking for new possibilities to augment the wide variety of engineering jobbing work Trico relied on, Peter decided to manufacture a range of press brakes in New Zealand. For a period of several years until cheap imports made manufacturing and selling impossible, over 120 EZEWAY press-brakes were manufactured in-house varying in capacity from 30-250 tonne and 1.2 metres-six metres.
Trico were the first in New Zealand to have a light beam guarding system and Peter says that all of the EZEWAY pressbrakes he manufactured had overly productive working lives with very few problems.
While the reality of cheaper imports is now part and parcel of the many challenges New Zealand engineering fabricators face, Peter still says it was sad that the company just couldn’t compete with overseas imports and had to stop manufacturing their own brand of press-brakes.
“It was a nice part of our business and it was sad to see it go. But that’s the way New Zealand’s gone. We had 17 employees back then and one of the other things we’ve lost to cheaper imports is our own skill base in New Zealand.” Peter says.
"We have built and machined a variety of steel products including collapsible hydraulic round moulds for manufacturing fi breglass tanks and pipes etc. from 400mm diameter by 12 metres long to 3 metre diameter by 12 metres long."
But in keeping with its versatile approach and open mind to requests and challenges, Trico has continued to offer competitive solutions to a wide range of engineering jobs. The company has fabricated large aluminium remelt smelter components, a 40 foot truck chassis complete with three axle self-steering bogies, and plastic granulating components. They have provided a fish mill plant for a Russian Trawler, large eight metre high Caltex Petrol signs, 44 large flanges 600-700 nominal bore out of 50 mm thick 316 stainless steel for a GEO thermal power plant.
Other recent work includes split concrete moulds for forming concrete columns, rotary spiral freezing machines for chicken factories, as well as several machines for the steel reinforcing industry – for straightening coils of reinforcing bars from 6mm to 16mm diameter into spirals 300m diameter to 2.5 metres diameter, with a variable pitch.
Trico has also manufactured a variety of components for local manufacturing and servicing companies. They currently specialise in reconditioning worn and manufacturing new press-brake tooling to clients’ specific needs with their 4.3 metre stroke milling machine at very competitive prices with a prompt turn around time.
From humble beginnings in a shed, Trico has stayed true to its core business as a versatile jobbing shop and has adapted and refi ned over an impressive 42 year history. Peter is proud that many of his clients have been with Trico for a long time and is still keen and willing to face any challenge.
“That’s who we are – general engineers up for a challenge. We’ve always enjoyed that” Peter says. “We’re prepared to have a go at anything in engineering.”
