The EC-630PP HMC - Haas - Haas Automation, Inc.

the jobs.” The thought of walking away from the contracts
never occurred to Graham. “No way!” he exclaims. “That
would have been like shooting ourselves in the foot! We had
to ride it out, but it nearly killed the company.”
Yet, Swages Engineering survived, reputation intact, and
moved steadily toward the phenomenal growth it soon would
see. The turning point came when a local lighting manufacturer
approached the shop with a rough sketch of a garden light they
wanted to make. “I sat down and designed it so we could
manufacture it efficiently, and quoted them a fair price,” says
Graham. The rest is history. The success of that first piece for
Hunza Productions Ltd. led to an entire line of decorative
outdoor lighting products that now are marketed worldwide.
“Virtually everything is machined,” boasts Graham.
“That’s what sets the product apart. We aimed for the top end
of the market, which means we can keep the volume down to
a manageable level, yet still keep the margins attractive.” The
stylish and robust products are made primarily from solid 110
copper or solid 316 stainless steel. A smaller number are
made from cadmium-plated aluminum.
16 | www.HaasCNC.com
“Everything’s lifetime guaranteed,” adds Graham. “A lot
of it’s machined from 10-millimeter-wall stainless tube. You
can drive a truck over it!
“They’re exclusive products, somewhat expensive, but
since we’ve presently got a good monetary exchange rate
with customers like the U.S., our being on the other end of the
world is a real economic advantage.”
Success bred success, and Swages quickly landed more
international contracts, including a series of highly complex
enclosures for electronic security devices. As a result, they
became the first engineering company in New Zealand to
obtain both ISO 9002 and RFO 001 certification.
The superb, waterproof, RF-shielded enclosures are as
small as 2 inches square, but are so complex they take up to
15 separate machining operations to produce.
“They’re ongoing contracts,” says Graham. Rapid
technical advances mean the electronics inside are always
shrinking, and therefore the enclosure designs are always
changing. “That’s great for us,” he adds, “since it makes diecasting
uneconomical.”