More investment is coming from Gough Group – in New Zealand and Australia – following the recent official opening of the group’s $10 million ‘component rebuild centre’ in Christchurch.
Gough Group’s chairman, Karl Smith, has set a course for significant further investment across its core New Zealand and Australia branch network.
Writing in the Gough group’s in-house magazine, Gough Express http://goughgroup.co.nz/gough-express-summer-2013/, Smith says that there is major ongoing investment in new branches in Nelson and Napier, plus further investment in new facilities for Palfinger New Zealand’s Auckland operations.
Plans are also well advanced for a new Palfinger Australia/Gough Transport Solutions super-site in Brisbane, says Smith.
Smith acknowledged that the new component rebuild centre is the company’s most significant investment in its 84-year history, but a crucial one which enables the group to provide unrivalled service and support of Caterpillar equipment.
The new CRC facility says Smith, also dovetails with Gough Group’s objectives around addressing the acute shortage of diesel technicians in the industry. The group is the country’s largest employer of diesel technicians and has close to 60 apprentices working their way through Gough’s industry-leading apprentice training programme.
Smith also addressed safety as a primary objective for the business, placing the company’s desire to achieve zero harm in the work place as paramount.
Driving the safety focus home, the group has set up a ‘health and safety’ board committee, chaired by director Tony Faulkner, to support changes in workplace behaviours and has joined the NZ Business Leaders’ health and safety forum, working with 140 of New Zealand’s top companies to lead change around workplace health and safety.
