Steve Evans Email & Phone Number

Hunter Valley

Providing engineering expertise & product knowledge of mining equipment to contribute towards the overall running of a highly efficient mine site

Hunter Valley

I was responsible for monitoring & recording the availability of the 180 odd truck fleet plus the LeTourneau loaders at Mount Thorley Warkworth & Hunter Valley Operations Mines then improving efficiency & reducing operating costs wherever possible. My goal was to help maintain & exceed equipment availability targets while at the same time getting the maximum life from components. The trucks include Cat 789C, 793B & a fleet of new 795F's as well as Komatsu 830E-DC & 830E-AC. Loaders are Gen 1 & 2 1850's & an older 1350. Most significant project was replacing the Cummins QSK60 engines in both of the Komatsu 830E-AC fleets at MTW with the more reliable & fuel efficient Detroit MTU 16V-S4000 engine. An exciting project which saw what is undoubtedly one of the best trucks in its class coupled with an engine that has set a benchmark for reliability in the mining industry. The increased engine availability plus reliable 38,000 hour life to rebuild (which are now being pushed to 40,000) combined with better fuel efficiency provided huge savings for the company plus reduced its environmental footprint by burning less fuel. The project was so successful it was also rolled out at HVO. In addition to this we also fitted a sound attenuation package, engineered & developed by the MTW mine that will let the trucks run below the 113DB target that the nearby communities now expect. I have been responsible for the mechanical side of the re-power & making sure the engine cooling package meets the maximum ambient conditions in the mine, the sound package & the 16V-S4000 engine. With all bar 1 truck now completed, we are now seeing the class leading fuel efficiency of the MTU which is currently 6.5% (actual) more efficient than the old KV derivative. The project also eliminated engine product issues from the truck fleets. The next phase of the project saw us run the engine at 1750 RPM rather than 1900 to deliver further fuel savings.

I was appoached by the Manager of Cummins Muswellbrook & accepted a position as Service Manager & moved my family to the Hunter Valley. My main role was to rebuild the service department of the Branch that was left dedplieted after the cutbacks of 2007. After being in the same place for so long, moving to the Hunter was a challenge, but one that was well worth the effort. With absolutely no assistance, most of my annual leave, a lot of diesel & a fair bit of sweat, we managed to move our home, cars, motorcycles & an entire engineering workshop to Doyles Creek in the Hunter Valley. We are here to stay now.

Queanbeyan

I needed to change my career direction to move away from the back breaking hands on work. I initially questioned the viability of the role I was offered as the Operations Manager at Cummins Queanbean as I was worried the branch could not survive. I took on the position & I can proudly say that I (with the help of some loyal staff) turned that branch from something that made a loss for the previous 2 years into one that made record profits. One of Cummins Queanbean's claims to fame was that we carried out more re powers per number of staff members than any other branch in the South Pacific. They included Kenworth T600 N14 to Signature, Kenworth T300 Cat 3176 to Cummins ISC at 330 HP, & a 30 tonne container forklift from Cummins 555 (triple trouble) to Cummins ISB. And the best one we did was a Douglas aircraft tug belonging to Qantas Canberra which had a clapped out Detroit 6V53 in it. Don't we just love those old 2 stroke Detroits. We ended up putting a Cummins 6BTA in the hole, designing & building the cooling package & the transmission coupling ourselves. Trevor who enjoyed these projects, was an excellent technician, a keen welder & a proficient electrician. He did a great job with these re powers & it was a shame to see him go in the end. As for the general running of a truck workshop & field service. I must thank Andrew who is one of the best I've ever worked with, Emma, Scotty, Dan, Chris & the 2 Arneys as they stayed with me after the broom was put through the place and played a key part in the success we enjoyed & as a bonus, were all a pleasure to work with.It's great to see Chadd & Adam kept the place running after I left.

Canberra, Australia

I worked for myself operating an Engineering and Mechanical repair business servicing the Transport, Earthmoving, Quarrying and Mining industries. I used a fully equipped 8 tonne truck (wearing 3 of them out though this period) with a crane, 350 amp welder and 50 CFM compressor to provide a complete on site service. In addition to this, my workshop was fully equipped to carry out all aspects of engineering and mechanical repairs. I always had a passion for intricate engineering projects, specialised welding & anything that needed to be built, from a crushing plant to a truck engine, I loved it. I became fluent with AutoCAD and various engineering application programs. I used these in conjunction with my understanding of first principles and mathematics to design many conveyor, hydraulic and electrical systems, with most of the time building or putting the finished product in to service myself. I am proud to say that a lot of that equiupment I built back then is still in operation today. For the last 18 years of this period I looked after all of the equipment for the most successful Sand Mining & Quarrying Company in the Canberra region. Canberra Sand & Gravel / Tobiway Crushing which were established in the 1960’s had a large range of equipment & plant that kept them market leaders in the area. We set up an Eagle 11 cell 3 plume classifier at their Bungendore plant which gave them the ability split sand far more accurately & productively than their compeditors They were and still are an innovative company that provided constant challenges, by developing new processes that required new & specialised equipment to be built. They were without a doubt my biggest customer & a pleasure to do business with.A very satisfying period of my careerThis business has evolved into my motorcycle & car toy shop

Canberra

I wanted to get out of Sydney & accepted a position with Brindabella Logging then moved from Sydney to Canberra to maintain a fleet of logging equipment & trucks. One of this company’s specialty’s was their abilty to extract timber from very steep country using skyline cable logging techniques. And at times using forwarders in conditions you would never put them into these days. Its beyond me how more workers were not killed in those days. I luckily survived putting a harvester on its head & can talk about it to my kids, but unfortunately I saw a workmate crushed & crippled, never to walk again. Thankfully we now enjoy a level of workplace safety that makes incidents like this rare these days.This was an era where most of the mechanised timber harvesting equipment came out of Northern Europe where they grow dead straight trees with small limbs & very thin bark. When you put that equipment into the hairy Radiata forests of Australia, you soon find its week points. This job saw me continually modifying & strengthening Austrian & Swedish logging equipment. Eventually the Kiwi's (Waratah) built equipment that suited the Australin timber. During this period I started to acquire workshop & engineering equipment, setting it up in my garage in Isabella Plains. Brindabella, SBW & Lokom Logging then became my first customers when I started to work for myself.This job was probably a key stepping stone in my goal to run my own business

Mascot

I served my apprenticeship with Qantas Airways in Ground Support Equipment Maintenance that was then in hangers 58 & 85. After completing my trade course at what was then called Sydney Technical College in Ultimo, I attended Gymea Technical College at night for 2 years to complete my welding qualification. As well as Allison transmissions this job gave me a great deal of expieience repairing 2 Stroke Detroit Diesel engines. The Fox aircraft tugs were even more special, they had 2 of them, twin 8V71's, with a whopping 600 combined HP, wow! What an engineering masterpiece those engines were. If you kept oil in them they would just about outlive most of their compeditors 2 to 1 & had a good power to weight ratio. I ended up running the Hydraulic Workshop in hanger 58 despite wanting at the time to stay with old Joe in the welding shop.

Welding Qualification, Welding, Distinction

Welding

Plant Mechanics Trade Course, Apprenticeship Trade Course

Plant Mechanic Trade Course

Passed, General Studies, A

Activities and Societies: Mathematics English & Technology I left school too early because I needed to WORK