The business

Page Macrae Engineering was established in Mt Maunganui in 1955 as a small marine repair business. It remains a privately owned and operated company and is now one of the largest employers in our region, with around 150 staff delivering both bulk handling solutions for Australasia’s port industry and major infrastructure projects across New Zealand.   

The company has three distinct divisions: People, Projects and Products. People encompasses the Apprentice Academy, which sees 20-25 apprentices enrolled at any one time in the four-year programme, including eight female apprentices to date.  

In Projects, it manages one-off, bespoke works, fabricating, installing and maintaining heavy equipment across a range of industries, such as geothermal, petrochemical, pulp and paper, food processing and materials handling.   

The Products division focuses on the design and manufacture of bulk handling loading and unloading equipment for the port industries.  Leveraging innovation as a growth opportunity for this sector, Page Macrae has responded to industry needs to meet sustainability goals in terms of controlling dust emissions and reducing energy usage ahead of legislation.  

This has led to the creation of its new BulkMaster Smart Dock Hopper, which was launched in May in Mount Maunganui, at an event attended by the Prime Minister and other Ministers.  

The innovation

Traditional hoppers create large dust plumes, which harm the environment. The BulkMaster Smart Dock Hopper has a unique vacuum system that captures the dust as cargo is released into the hopper and again into the trucks, during bulk cargo unloading from ships.   

“The hopper’s class-leading design not only meets environmental requirements, but its autonomous operation replaces the need for operators to be in hazardous areas, enhancing safety through Industry 4.0 and cloud-based technology,” explains CEO, Alan Sutcliffe. “Using smart sensor technology, the team can gather and remotely monitor real-time data of the assets, providing customers with vital information to optimise processes.” 

The company recently previewed the product at a conference in Australia, which had strong attendance from European buyers. “The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, says Alan. “Based on that, we decided to test the product in the European market at a key industry event in Rotterdam. That trip validated that our product fills a gap not currently met in the Northern Hemisphere and the team are now working hard to capitalise on that.”  

Outlook for the manufacturing sector

With manufacturers in engineering facing fewer projects and tighter margins right now, Alan confirms they are focusing on innovation in Products, until the Projects sector gets back on its feet.  “We’re fortunate to have both these divisions, which gives us some flexibility. Manufacturing across New Zealand has been in contraction for two years, so it’s great to have a positive story to share – one that highlights New Zealand as a global leader in innovation.”