Our engineers don't just know mechanical systems, they know the industries those systems run in. That sector knowledge means problems are found faster, designs are more practical, and there are fewer surprises on site. Decades of it, across dairy and food processing, refrigeration, energy and decarbonisation, geothermal, forestry, pulp and paper, building products manufacturing, building services, and boilers.
Dobbie has been providing specialist mechanical advice and services to the New Zealand dairy and meat industry since 1990. We have been the lead consultants for 8 greenfield milk powder plants and more than a dozen major plant expansions, and have worked across more than 30 dairy and meat processing plants.
Our services →
Dobbie offers comprehensive refrigeration consulting services, starting with needs assessment, master planning, and front-end engineering. We provide conceptual and process design, prepare specifications for refrigeration plant procurement, and guide tendering. Our services extend to design review and management, project management, and commissioning supervision, with deep expertise in both natural and synthetic refrigerant systems.
Refrigeration services →
Dobbie provides professional engineering advice and designs to the energy industry, in particular for heat plants using geothermal or biomass fuels. We have also provided services for electricity generation plants powered by gas and geothermal energy.
We also work ahead of design. Our energy audits, options analyses and feasibility studies set out what a site uses now and what the realistic alternatives cost, whether that is biomass, an electrode or electric boiler, or a high temperature heat pump. From there we build decarbonisation roadmaps that stage the change over time, so capital spend and emissions reductions can be planned together.
Decarbonisation services →
Dobbie's Rotorua office is within New Zealand's geothermal area. Our conceptual design advice helps resource owners obtain maximum and sustainable benefits from their assets. Our team has won two national awards for innovative geothermal plant design, and we have continuous work for the geothermal industry, from pool and hotel heating systems through to pellet drying and process systems at geothermal power stations.
Geothermal services →
In addition to our pulp and paper work, we regularly provide engineering services to fibreboard plants, laminated timber mills and sawmills. Timber drying kilns and their associated heat plants are typical projects, along with the certification of log handling and forestry harvesting equipment.
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Dobbie has been consulting to the pulp and paper industry since 1990. We have extensive knowledge of the pulp and paper mills at Kinleith, Kawerau and Whakatāne. We are frequently engaged by New Zealand's pulp and paper industry to provide conceptual design, detailed engineering, project implementation, remaining life studies and site engineering assistance.
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Out of our Auckland office, Dobbie supports the plants that manufacture New Zealand's building products: laminates and engineered board, plasterboard, and corrugated packaging. We provide conceptual design, detailed mechanical and structural engineering, plant installation and equipment supports, and HAZOP facilitation for the process and energy systems these factories run on. The work spans new production lines and the upgrade and de-bottlenecking of existing plant.
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Dobbie offers the conceptual design, detailed engineering and lifecycle support services required for industrial building services projects. Most projects are for complex buildings with special process or environmental requirements. Seismic restraint of equipment is a frequent design activity, as is structural design of stacks, platforms, and supporting steelwork for industrial plant.
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Industrial process plants require heat sources, usually boilers producing steam or hot water. Dobbie combines our expert knowledge of process requirements, boilers and pressure piping to select and design effective heat plants. Recent projects have included biomass and electrode boilers to reduce clients' carbon footprint. We also design industrial stacks and the steel structures and supports for mechanical plant.
Pressure equipment services →
