Staying Safe at the Future Skills Academy
When Watson Crichton, Welding Tutor at Future Skills Academy in Manukau, rang NZ Duct+Flex to solve a fume issue for the Foundation Welding course, he was up against a deadline: his first welding class was starting in two weeks and he required extraction for another eight teaching cubicles.
Future Skills had to find a company with all the parts needed already in stock, and competent staff to install immediately. Luckily, Auckland based NZ Duct+Flex have always made stock availability a priority, (no having to import it from Australia), and with two warehouses filled with dust and fume extraction equipment, were able to meet the Academy’s needs. Also, due to delayed arrival of containers carrying large bespoke filter units from Europe for three major projects, they had their own install staff free to do the work.
In the NZDUCT+FLEX warehouses were 35 different sizes of Fume Arms from European company Oskar Air, ranging in size from 75mm/1m reach up to 200mm/4m reach. However a mix of awkward structural beams and low ceiling heights, meant even the shortest telescopic arms would not give the students efficient extraction in the restricted area available.
Aaron Proctor, NZ DUCT+FLEX’s manager for the installation, tried several combinations before solving the problem for each welding cubicle. Using the LIPLOCK modular duct components, combined with parts from the Fume Arms spares stock, it was possible to create exactly the right angles for the Fume Arm hoods (with dampers included) to be positioned. The eight bays are exhausted by a Danish made JKF 30D 5.5kW material handling fan positioned on the roof. On the Friday, three days before students started, work was completed, on time and even slightly under budget.
Watson confirmed that both students and staff at Future Skills are more than happy with the outcome: “We found the team at NZ Duct and Flex very reliable and committed. Aaron and his team were completely ‘solutions focused’, accommodated our change requests, and delivered the project on time despite our tight deadline.”
Aaron explained, “Because we invest in carrying more stock for New Zealand customers, we are able to arrive on site on Monday, depart on Friday, job done. Even with the best planning, there are always small problems that crop up as you install: having two million dollars in parts just sitting waiting to be used, gives us great flexibility. It’s always satisfying to get the job done, bang on the promised time scale and on budget. It’s what we aim to achieve every week.”
For more information for a dust extraction solution visit www.nzduct.co.nz or call 0508 69 38 28
