Bradley Howe Email & Phone Number

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Managing the gearbox fitting department and all aspects of gearbox overhaul and load testing. Creating job scopes for manufactured items and repaired items. Sourcing materials globally to achieve cost effective pricing and meet customer requirements.

Australia

Created overhaul specifications and standards for fixed plant industrial gearboxes. Produced strip and assessment reports, assembly reports, and installation reports specific to Alcoa installed gearboxes for Australia and Brazil. Developed comprehensive repair standards and limitations for gearbox components and housings. Created overhaul guidelines with detailed step by step information on how to accurately complete all tasks associated with gearbox overhaul.

Perth, Australia

My role was mostly office based, however I would go on the shop floor to assist with specialized fitting activities, load test setup and programming. I started as a workshop supervisor where my duties were to coordinate the jobs through the workshop, offer technical support to staff as well as customers when required, complete overhaul quotations, inspection reports, MDR reports. I was responsible for procuring parts and repairing parts and ensuring all parts and repairs were on time. I would create work instructions and procedures to ensure parts were repaired to meet or exceed OEM standards, while still maintaining focus on cost effective solutions.I was involved in designing load test tooling and modifying existing load test tooling to improve the quality and efficiency of a load test setup. I developed alternative load testing methods which enabled Gear Drive Services to load test a wide variety of gearboxes ranging from ratios of 3:1 to 1000:1 and power ratings of 12kw to 3500kw. I was heavily involved with customer relations which entailed talking with clients daily to discuss job progress, repair methods/standards and continuous improvements.After 2 years of employment I was promoted to Operations Manager. My duties as Operations Manager were the same as above, however I would delegate certain tasks to other employees. I was responsible to ensure all jobs were profitable and often came up with new ways to improve profit margins and efficiency.I was involved in several major upgrades and redesigns for gearboxes onsite and would implement the upgrades as the drives came through for overhaul. This work entailed working closely with external design engineers and OEM's, parts manufacture, parts modification and extensive fabrication work. In some cases I presented power point presentations to show proposed modifications and improvements. I successfully completed a presentation to secure a 3 year contract with a major mining company.

Perth, Australia

Initially my role was divided with office work and the workshop floor. My office duties were procurement of parts, organising sub contract repairs as well as detailed work instructions for parts repairs. I was tasked with finding the best cost effective solutions for purchasing and repairs, while still maintaining quality which meets or exceeds OEM standards.My workshop duties were strip and assessments and assemblies of all types of industrial gearboxes ranging from 200kg to 24 tonnes. The types of gearboxes I worked on were multi stage planetary drives, conventional drives, spiral bevel drives, worm drives, speed increasers, wind turbines, white metal bearings and lubrication systems.The Perth branch purchased a 450kw load test cell and I was in charge of the complete installation. The installation involved test bed installation, levelling and grouting, tooling design and in house manufacture, fabrication and machining and liaising with sub contractors for various parts of the installation. Following installation and commissioning of the test cell it was my responsibility to coordinate all jobs which required load testing. This entailed, specific tooling design and manufacture, setup procedures and standards, calculating torque and power values, problem solving if any issues arise and liaising with vibration analysis technicians.My role then became predominantly office based where I was still responsible for all of the above operations, but I was now completing overhaul quotations for every gearbox which was stripped and assessed. I also completed quotations for major site jobs which our staff completed. Another responsibility was completing MDR reports as well as specialized reports specific to different types of gearbox inspections.

Perth, Australia

I completed a 4 year apprenticeship with Hofmann Engineering in fitting and machining. Half way through my apprenticeship I decided to specialise in heavy industrial gearbox fitting. After a few years working as a qualified tradesman, I was promoted to leading hand of the gearbox fitting section. My role was on the workshop floor completing strip and assessments and assemblies of gearboxes ranging from 200kg to 140 tonne. The types of gearboxes I worked on were multi stage planetary drives, conventional drives, spiral bevel drives, worm drives, speed increasers, wind turbines and white metal bearings. The gearboxes I worked on were overhauled gearboxes as well as brand new gearboxes where all components were manufactured in house. I manufactured complete lubrication systems which entailed pipe bending, pipe fabrication and installing orifice plates to control oil flow. All lubrication systems required flow testing and orifice adjustment to achieve the correct flow rates.When the load test cell was installed, I was heavily involved in all aspects of load testing conventional gearboxes and wind turbines. I was involved in load test tooling design to try and improve the overall quality and efficiency of the setup. I primarily worked on the load test cell for approximately the last 3 years of my employment with Hofmann Engineering.