From foot in the door to leading the floor
⏱️ 1 min read
This story begins on a hot summer’s day in February 2017. The Howick team were busy working in their East Auckland factory when in walked a young man named Ryan Barber. He had no CV, nor any idea of what job he could do - he just knew he wanted to work.
Fast forward to today, just nine years down the track, and he has been promoted to Production Manager at Howick’s sister company, Rollforming Services:
“I just asked for a job doing anything,” Ryan said. “All I needed was an opportunity to prove myself, a foot in the door. Bruce Coubray (Howick Co-Founder) and Howick gave me that opportunity.”
From apprenticeship to leadership
Ryan had no qualifications or experience, but he was keen to work and learn. That attitude has taken him from apprentice to the leadership team - and given him experience in every facet of the Howick business:
“During those early days I learnt so much. Welding, manual machining, fitting, and machine commissioning. It was full-on, but I loved it.”
Early on during his tenure at Howick, it became clear that Ryan had a knack for figuring out how things work, so he was given the opportunity to start an apprenticeship. After a few twists in the road and challenges along the way, he completed his qualification in general engineering in 2025.
Growing with Howick: shaping the future
Over the years he spent at Howick he was not just learning the ropes - he was helping drive innovation across many different parts of the business:
“I worked on all our machines, from small 1.5 tonne decoilers to the big machines - SPEEDFLOOR®, X-CALIBRTM, decking machines - and everything in between. I also worked on some really interesting custom machines, and a few exciting R&D projects.”
He has also done onsite maintenance, servicing, and installation on local machines in NZ.
With his work ethic, attitude, and knack for engineering Ryan was always going to go far at Howick. So, while the team at Howick are sad to see him go, Rollforming Services are thrilled to welcome him to their team!
“After nine fantastic years at Howick, many awesome work do’s and creating multiple lifelong friendships, an opportunity at Rollforming Services came up. As someone who is always trying to build my career it was a no-brainer for me to grow within a company that has treated me so well for so long.”
