Dobbie was established in 1990, and the firm has now been delivering results to New Zealand industries for over 30 years.
We operate from offices in Rotorua and Auckland and much of our design work is for the major process industries (dairy, meat processing, pulp & paper and timber mills ) or for the energy industries (geothermal, hydro, biomass and gas).
The balance is equipment design (pressure vessels, tanks, piping, stacks and cranes), building services (hotels, hospitals) or investigations.
The Team
At Dobbie we take pride in the high calibre of our staff. Our engineers combine international experience with local knowledge, which enables us to challenge traditional views and offer practical solutions for our clients.
Our permanent staff of twenty includes professional engineers, graduate mechanical engineers, engineering designers and CAD designers. Our staff includes a Worksafe approved Pressure Equipment Design Verifier.
Hamish Bennett
Managing Director
Hamish joined Dobbie in 2012 and leads our Food and Dairy work, after having worked extensively in both Canada and NZ in the Telecommunications, Electronics Manufacturing, Film and Snowmaking industries. In 2015 Hamish won the CEAS future leader award resulting in leadership training in North America.
Greg Moore
Director
Greg graduated from the University of Auckland and then worked in New Zealand and the UK. Greg joined Dobbie in 1994 and manages our Rotorua office. He is committed to providing our long-standing clients with robust engineering solutions. He has a special interest in energy systems (including direct use of geothermal) and specialist industrial HVAC services. He has published and presented technical papers in the area of geothermal direct heat use.
Chris Macindoe
Principal Engineer
Chris graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1998 and joined Dobbie in 1999. Chris is a senior Chartered Professional Engineer specialising in heavy industrial projects, including geothermal steam field design, materials handling, boilers and steam turbine installation and ethanol plant upgrades. He is skilled in the conceptual and detailed design of mechanical plant and equipment, including construction inspections. He is accredited in NZ as a design verifier for pressure piping and vessels.
Stuart du Preez
SENIOR ENGINEER
Stuart joined Dobbie in 2014 with a background in heavy engineering design and manufacturing in New Zealand. Since joining Dobbie, Stuart has been involved in the design of mechanical equipment, pressure vessels, stacks, structural supports and piping systems. Stuart has also recently been registered as a Chartered Professional Engineer and is a chartered member of Engineering New Zealand.
Jacqueline Griffin
HR Manager
Jacqueline brings over 15 years of experience in Human Resources, in a consulting capacity, to ensure Dobbie is an incredible place to work. Jacqueline helps us to design and implement policies and practices that support this goal. In particular, we have leveraged her skills in the field of performance coaching and capability development to map clear professional pathways for our team.
Additionally, she assists our directors with organisation reviews, updates to procedures and guidelines, and implementing best practice policies so that we have the right tools to safely and effectively deliver for our clients.
Tim Burrows
Senior Engineer
Carl Bickel
SENIOR ENGINEER
Carl graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA where he then worked for several consultancies serving the US military and power industries. He came to NZ in 2017 and joined Dobbie in 2021. Carl has a diverse background in design and analysis including shipboard machinery, military vehicles, robotics and power electronics. His area of expertise is with ANSYS finite element analysis software including static structural, vibration and thermal analyses.
Jim Dobbie
Founder (Retired)
Jim graduated from the University of Canterbury and then worked for a pulp mill in Canada where he qualified as a professional engineer. On returning to New Zealand he joined a large multi-discipline consulting engineering practice and became a partner. In 1990 Jim established Dobbie to specialise in mechanical engineering. He is also on two advisory boards and a director of an insurance company.
Jim retired as a Director and Shareholder of our firm in 2019.
Industry Partners
Quality Assurance
Dobbie is a member of the Association of Consulting Engineers of New Zealand. Our professional staff are members of Engineering New Zealand.
Both Dobbie offices are audited and certified by Telarc as complying with ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems.
Training And Software
Dobbie continually invests in staff training and software so that we can efficiently provide technically up-to-date advice and practical solutions to our clients.
Our staff have attended American Society of Mechanical Engineers design code courses in the USA and Australia and all staff participate in technical training or project management courses.
We currently use AutoCAD (mechanical design), AutoCAD PLANT (piping and equipment 3D design), Inventor (3D Solid Modelling), Nastran (FEA), AutoPIPE (pipe stress analysis), NozzlePro-FE Pipe, PV Elite (pressure vessel design), S-Frame (structural analysis) and the usual Microsoft products.
Our Awards
In July 2013 Dobbie was awarded a Silver Award by the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand, for our design and supervision of the Ngati Tuwharetoa Geothermal Assets (NTGA) clean steam project.
Asaleo Care require a high quality reliable and economic steam supply to ensure operation of their Kawerau Tissue Mill. The steam was originally supplied by natural gas fired boilers. NTGA agreed to supply high pressure clean steam to Asaleo Care generated from geothermal energy. The supply had to be reliable so that it could replace the natural gas fired boilers.
The judges wrote: “Dobbie Engineers utilized technical innovation, reliability, environmental practices and heat exchanger selection to deliver for the client”.
In August 2007 Dobbie was awarded a Gold Award by the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand, for our design of the Tauhara Geothermal Heat Plant near Taupo.
This project allows Contact Energy to provide geothermal energy to Tenon for heating nine timber drying kilns that were previously heated by gas. The new plant uses both phases of the geothermal fluid, two stages of heat exchanging and fully re-injects the geothermal fluid without pumping.
Thirty four projects made the finals and four projects won gold awards.
The judges wrote: “Dobbie Engineers demonstrated great technical skill, true innovation and excellent service”.
