Nathan Langley – Mobile Plant Mechanic
Nathan Langley came to Hawke’s Bay in 2016 after a successful career working in the mines in Australia. He considers himself very fortunate that an opportunity to work with Napier Port came up not long after he moved to New Zealand. And his friends think he was pretty lucky too.
“I got lucky to come straight into Napier Port. People say to me ‘How did you get in there?’ and I say ‘Just good timing, I guess’. It’s a great place to work and I’m really close to the people I work with. Coming to work here is just like coming in and hanging out with your friends. We’re a great team – I really enjoy working at Napier Port.”
Nathan’s a mechanic in the Plant Services team and specialises in maintaining and fixing the heavy forklifts, trucks and light vehicles that are used to help customers move their product in and out of containers. While the equipment used by Napier Port is specialised, Nathan says really it’s just about knowing your way around a diesel engine.
“It’s pretty easy to transfer your skills across if you’re a diesel mechanic. If you’ve got hydraulics experience then that makes it easy. If you have mobile plant experience, it’s a good transition to come here – it’s the best of two worlds.”
What’s also important is a focus on health and safety, and Nathan’s been impressed from the start by the way that Napier Port manages its health and safety processes. He’s particularly positive about the focus on continuous improvement.
“It’s not just about being safe and looking after each other. It’s also about being better and doing better all the time. So if there’s an opportunity to do things differently for a safer result, that’s important to the business and the team want to know about it. It’s really encouraging and makes everyone think carefully about the safest way to do things.”
When you ask Nathan what it is he likes about working at Napier Port most, he says it’s the people. Not just the people in his team but also his colleagues across the whole of Napier Port.
“I reckon here is the best culture that I’ve ever worked in. It’s a lot more social, everyone knows everyone. Even across the different departments you get to know everyone. Working in the workshop we’re all pretty close and it’s just a good team environment. I couldn’t imagine there being a better place to work.”