Resume Updated: March 2010

Jeff Knewstubb (AKA Ballinger, step father's name)
Lyttelton - New Zealand

Current

The Natural Heritage Collection Ltd and full time student.

Position Director and 100% shareholder

Company The Natural Heritage Collection Ltd (NHC) provides New Zealand's best collection of natural heritage images which students may used, free of charge, for non-profit projects. Click "home" (above) to enter the site. Those that have selected the site as a resource include: The Ministry of Education, Department of Conservation, and the National Library. It's a non-profit conservation project. Viewers of the site and its videos now exceed 500,000 persons. 

Responsibilities: Sole development of the website, photography (marked © NHC), editing and animating photographs, and also the production of short videos. 

Also: Since posting the NHC I have studied towards a bachelor of science majoring in the environment. I have achieved straight A grades, won the 2010 Graham Harris Scholarship for highest performance overall, achieved the highest semester marks for the paper Global Environmental Studies. In addition to study I volunteer tree plant, and remove pests from this DOC land. Shared care of my three children.

Dual jeans Ltd Lyttelton - New Zealand

Period 2000 - 2007

Position Director and 50% shareholder

Company "Demo" operated from one bedroom when I assumed a developmental role. A company was later formed (Dualjeans Ltd). This company became the premier supplier of trousers to New Zealand's hi-fashion stores. Dual produced several new styles seasonally and the brand is now well established.

Responsibilities

Building of the first and subsequent cutting tables for machine multi-layer cutting. Research and sourcing appropriate hardware to remedy product reliability issues. Finding and then negotiating the lease of a commercial premises to operate from.

Development and introduction of employment contracts. Staff training. Fashion photography. Overseeing development of the company website - built by my brother. Development of all stationery and promotional material. Customer service. Market research. Organising and exhibiting at trade shows here and abroad. Securing our first export order. Exploratory mission to China and Hong Kong to source raw materials. Registering as an importer and then importing raw materials.

Introduction of the company's first computer. Introduction of office systems and software including MYOB accounting, Microsoft Office, e-mail etc. Administration, including the introduction of and furnishing of GST and PAYE returns. Accounts payable and receivable. Development of spreadsheets to sort and control orders, cutting, dispatch and cash flow management. Production, labour and profit analysis - using Excel. Registering the brand world-wide using the Madrid Convention. Overseeing copyright enforcement and defense.

During this period I found and purchased, for the directors, a beautiful bay, which became Taring Bay Farm Ltd. Unfortunately, after the BNZ bank gave a 3rd party bank account the false identity of the company's bank account, I lost control and visibility of both companies' transactions. 1.5 million is unaccounted for to me - to this day.

If you would like to see the porkies of the BNZ, and that BDO Spicers concoct evidential reports from thin air - click the link at the bottom of this page. Their disappearing money tricks present a danger to the public.

Left: One of my images used by TradeNZ to promote NZ fashion off-shore.

Invensys Energy Systems (Formerly Swichtec) Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 2000 - 2002

Position Production Engineer

Company Invensys Energy Systems, formally Swichtec, won the Premier Exporter of the Year Award, during the period I was employed. The company had in the order of 600 staff at the factory which operated 24/7. Sales in excess of 100 million PA were achieved. The company with over 23,000 staff internationally, was good to work for, and provided staff with excellent training. That training included "lean enterprise" tools as used by the likes of Toyota, IBM, and Motorola.

Responsibilities Analysis and improvement of production processes. Submitting process change forms. Development of KPIs (key performance indicators). Production of a maintenance plan for the multi million dollar inventory of robotic machinery that covered several acres of factory floor. Diagnostics, repair, and programming of the vast array of machinery. Raising purchase orders. Development of work instructions for production and maintenance staff. Training machine operators in the use of machinery. Developing a production capacity planning tool that the Production Manager instructed be rolled out to the whole of production. I led the Lean Process Improvement Program for the company, in relation to number of projects undertaken, and also the sum of independently audited savings. 

I was commended in writing by both the production and general operations manager in relation to various projects.

I resigned to assist with the small business that I had been co-developing and that was to be abandoned at that time. It was formed into Dualjeans Ltd the following year.

Student 1999 - 2000

Quartic Engineering (Formerly Knewstubb Engineering) Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 1996 - 1999

Position Partner

Business This partnership provided the following services. 2 & 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) for prototype design, production engineering, and patent applications. Engineering prototyping and high volume production on manual and CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machinery. Customers included, Britten Motorcycles, Invensys Energy Systems, Gowanlock Australia, Commtest Instruments, Dynamic Controls, The Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, Contex Engineers, PDL Industries, Applied Research, and Whisper Tech.

Responsibilities Management and administration. Record keeping with MYOB software. Staff training and employment. Sales including export sales. Design of engineering and consumer product prototypes. Machining. Drafting. Programing the machining centre in both G-code and  proprietary software.

I sold my share to Quentin Rowe.

Knewstubb Engineering Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 1994 - 1996

Position Proprietor

Business This business's customers included Britten Motorcycles, The Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, Commtest Instruments, Don Crop Engineering, Gowanlock Australia, Context Engineers and Canterbury University (Whisper Tech project). I employed Quentin Rowe who I had worked with at Britten Motorcycles and we later formed Quartic Engineering.

Responsibilities General management and administration. Sales including for export. Design and production of engineering components.

Britten Motorcycles Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 1994 - 1994

Position Mechanical Engineering

Company Britten Motorcycles Ltd built 10, 1000/1100cc V Twin racing motorcycles. The Britten is the only exhibit of both the front and rear covers of the Icons from Te Papa book. Te Papa is our national museum. The Britten is also also the subject of school books, and the bike also featured on the cover of the world's largest motorcycle magazine Cycle World. They hailed it in their feature story as, "the most technically advanced motorcycle ever built"It won the New Zealand GP series, numerous international races and set several international records for speed being able to reach 300km/h using standard petrol and body panels.

Responsibilities Production and assembly of components in the Carbon Fibre, Machining and Assembly Departments.

The mechanical component of the device for testing the Brittens power was built and first tested, in my basement in Lyttelton, about 1990.

The footage of the Britten in practice at the Isle Of Man below, in the 1st video below, is significant. The Britten set the fastest speed ever recorded on the track. High speed footage of our only significant New Zealand made vehicle is unlikely to be produced again due to a lack of spare parts. Youngsters who find the first video exciting should note Mark Farmer died at the Isle on Man on the Britten in a practice lap. The New Zealand National Champion "Robert Holden" died on the same track riding Ducati. Loren Poole who occasionally raced my bike fell while in 3rd place and broke his pelvis. He went on to design for Team NZ Yachts. In the first video below, at the 50 second mark, you can see the front wheel leaving the ground while the bike is still coming out of a corner leaned over and at phenomenal speed - during a new rider's test run.

I left Britten Motorcycles with an excellent reference to form Knewstubb Engineering, which in that form, and later as Quartic Engineering, produced complex components for Britten Motorcycles Ltd. This included the cylinder heads and suspension components as seen above. Reference to me and my Ducati racebike, in the best selling book John Britten by Tim Hanna, is under Ballinger in the index.

Dr Payne's Bike Clinic Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 1991 - 1994

Position Trainee Mechanic

Business This business, owned by Philip Payne, specialised in the engine rebuilding and tuning of European motorcycles. Phil Payne was previously an international World Championship 500cc GP mechanic. He also won the New Zealand 250cc title. I was his only employee.

Responsibilities Mechanical repairs & engine rebuilding.

An excellent reference was given and I left to assist Britten Motorcycles with their effort.

Race Mechanic Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 1991 - 1994

I prepared my 1983 Ducati for racing including for the BEARS Formula One class being the class without engine capacity or fuel type restrictions. I believe the annual  BEARS Sound of Thunder meeting, held at Ruapuna raceway in Christchurch, to have been New Zealand's biggest motor sport event by spectator and competitor numbers. The bike was ridden by myself, 125cc National champion Dave Moore, Hugh Renalds who went on to win the NZ 250cc National Championship, and Loren Poole who also raced the Britten V1000.

Results

1992 Sound of Thunder - Third all points races behind two Britten V1000 Motorcycles. 

1993 Sound of Thunder - Second all points races behind one Britten V1000. 

1994 Sound of Thunder - First all points races and lap record. 

1992-1994 1st all club day races finished, both BEARS and NZACU (New Zealand Auto Cycle Union).

Telefind Christchurch - New Zealand

Period 1990 - 1991

Position Proprietor

Business This business recorded 2nd hand goods for sale on a database like Trade Me. Sellers listings and buyers inquiries were matched by phone. Telefind eventually had more listings than The Christchurch Press. I abandoned this business due to the cost of fielding queries and then collecting and depositing numerous small payments. These issues would have been remedied by the subsequent growth and development of the internet so it wiould have mutated into a version of Trade-me. Should have stuck at it!

Landscapes Lyttelton - New Zealand

Period 1986 - 1990

Position Founder, sole trader, then partner, and then back to sole trader.

Business Sandpictures became a popular product with many tens of thousands sold. The product was distributed to about 40 retailers and the product became recognised nationally as a result. The business once established enabled me to employ my friends and family, and also to donate to my local community of Lyttelton. It also enabled the purchase of my racing Ducati and the Lyttelton Harbour Board Building c1880, to live, manufacture, and distribute from. The building was graced with a quality interior as the port was a primary business at the time it was built. It still has the ring to tied up your horse! I sold the business when the product had neared the end of its lifecycle.

Silversmith

Age 11 to 15

To the right is one of the rings I made as a boy. It features a large white topaz (more common in blue). The claws, unlike most commercial settings, were not castings but cut from sheet and shaped with a file.

Other Some of my interests include coastal sailing, photography, playing guitar, and I've been involved in search and rescue. I plan to do more exploring off the beaten track in the near future, in remote bush areas and of the numerous passes over the Southern Alps.

I was formally accepted by St Johns for the role of ambulance crew in 2009 (requires a rigorous police check) and a blank Ministry of Justice Report is available also. I hold a full drivers licence. 

NZQA standards and certificates

Crooks and the missing money