Steve Garwood - Mobile Plant Manager

"Some try to leave Higgins thinking the grass is greener on the other side. Most of them return pretty quickly."

Steve Garwood is based in Te Matai, Higgins' main aggregates branch located halfway between Ashhurst and Palmerston North. From here, Steve manages the Group's mobile aggregates crushing plants which are deployed for on-site crushing wherever it's needed. Essentially, once the aggregate has been extracted, it gets delivered to the mobile plant's for crushing and screening into compliant products as required by the projects,  whether for roading or other construction work.
"Our mobile plant can produce up to 6,000 tonne per day of Gap 65, M4, or base-course."  The plant was particularly useful when producing product for the runways at Ohakea a few years ago. Testing for aggregate size, weight, and volume for roading needs is  conducted every 1,000m3 - with runways this needs to be every 250m3. With the mobile plant commissioned alongside the project site, adjustments to the aggregate parameters could be carried out in real-time – as opposed to having to return to a static plant several kilometres away.                                                                                                                                                                          Another project we completed recently involved crushing nearly 200,000 tonne of GAP 50 aggregates for the Makara Windfarm, Wellington.  The on-site crushing saved the project several million dollars in cartage and lowered the carbon footprint substantially. 

Steve describes Higgins' approach to safety as top-notch. From induction right through employment, safety concerns are an integral part of Higgins' way of working. "If something's wrong you say something straight away. Higgins will stop and listen. Then fix it, pronto. Getting all the boys home in one piece is one of the most important factors in the way we do business."