40 years service full of variety at Metalform
“It might be 40 years but it has gone in a flash and it has never been boring,” said Terry Webber after reaching 40 years of service at Metalform in Dannevirke.
He puts it down to the company’s preparedness to innovate to meet the needs of the time, no better illustrated than by its production of surgical face screens to help in the fight against Covid-19.
According to Geoff Easton that was conceived on a Saturday night following a TV bulletin highlighting the shortage of PPE gear, designed and materials sourced by Monday night and into production two days later.
For Terry it has been like that (although not quite as rapid) all his working career.
After leaving school and working as a welder for three years in Marton he joined WB Easton as a labourer in 1980, working on the present site of Metalform and gaining an apprenticeship. It became Metalform when WB Easton split, Geoff Easton buying what became Metalform and the rest becoming Easteel.
At that time Metalform was a sheet metal shop making products at the request of other companies, particularly insulation for freezing works and Watties and rotary display stands.
It was also involved with some major projects in this time, playing a major role in building NZ Woolspinners, which is today Canterbury Spinners.
Terry says there was a real variety of work and processes were very basic, working manually from chalk designs on the floor with tin snips. It then morphed into written plans and machinery and now into paperless computer designs and sophisticated machinery.
Terry says the first big change was the use of the CNC Turret Punch about 1991 which could be programmed to make any sheet metal shape.
By then he said the company had moved to production of products in bulk like the first helicopter fertiliser buckets – designed in the workshop and the early mowers.
Terry went from apprentice to workshop manager, serving in that role for nearly 15 years. He then moved into sales which he thoroughly enjoyed, getting out to meet people and see how other businesses worked. Geoff said Terry’s experience in manufacture helped a great deal in sales.
After another 15 years in sales Metalform moved its assembly division to Oringi and Terry was assembly manager in charge of setting up the plant. He enjoyed turning an empty building into an effective assembly operation.
With the move back to town to expand into the former Easteel site, Terry returned to the workshop becoming the folding department manager, a critical part of the production process where accuracy to less than half a millimetre is critical for robotic manufacture.
Variety of products from Metalform is still the norm, keeping Terry interested and involved. Products like frost fans for orchards, electronic advertising for fast food companies, and fire-fighting units for emergencies sit alongside the Tow and Mow, Tow and Fert, Tow and Collect products.
Terry has no plans to retire, and is happily living in Dannevirke with wife and two grown-up kids, looking forward to the next innovations Metalform introduces to make the job continue to be interesting.
Geoff says Terry has been a very good and loyal employee and their partnership has been a lot of fun over the years.