Many of you have probably been asked “who is Robt. Stone?”, so we decided to dig up a little history on the man behind the company’s name…
Bob Stone, known as “Stoney” to his friends, was a toolmaker by trade. He was a keen boatie, father of four daughters, and successfully built one of New Zealand’s first and largest mechanical engineering companies.
Bob spent his early years working part-time for his father’s lawn mowing business until the 1940’s. He met his future business partner, Jim Donald at A&G Price Ltd following World War II. In 1948, after Bob had returned from the Pacific Islands he and Jim started Robt. Stone & Company Ltd.
Robt. Stone’s first job was installing machinery for a British toy making company, who were moving their operations from South Africa. For those first two years, Bob and Jimmy lived on site and laboured out of the back of their own truck.
In the early 1950’s Bob and Jim built their first machine shop on Queens Road in Panmure, Auckland. They began working with New Zealand Forest Products, and in 1953 Robt. Stone built the first paper machine at Kinleith in central North Island.
As the company grew, the workshop was moved to Morrin Road in Glen Innes, Auckland. Then in the 1970’s Robt. Stone bought Swanson Engineering and moved the boiler makers shop to New Plymouth. Some of their larger projects during this time included building the first grand stand at Eden Park in Auckland as well as work on the Kapuni Gas Treatment Station, the Maui Gas Plant, the Huntly Power Station, the Whangarei Refinery and the Bluff pipeline.
Outside of the office, Bob was an enthusiastic boatie and in the 1960's, worked with the team for the first Australian America’s Cup challenger, 'Gretel I'. Although 'Gretel I' didn’t win, the experience fueled Bob’s love of sailing and he went on to assist New Zealand’s first Olympic sailing team.

Following on from Robt. Stone’s success in the early years, the 1970s also proved successful. The company moved its focus from just service related and plant maintenance projects and expanded in to the meat industry and the world of contracting. The first contract for the company was in joint venture with Combustion Engineering of Canada, where they were awarded the contract to erect boilers at the new Huntly Power Station.

In the late 1970s Bob Stone sold all of Robt. Stone to NZ Steel and Tube (formerly known as Stuarts Lloyd) who had been gradually buying shares in the company. 

Sadly, Bob Stone died of cancer in 1980, but left a legacy in the Robt. Stone business.

Following the sale, Robt. Stone & Co continued under the ownership of NZ Steel and Tube until 1999 when it was bought by Ian Murray. Under Ian’s ownership the Robt. Stone Group expanded to open offices in Australia in 1999 and Papua New Guinea and Fiji in 2002. In April 2003 the Hawera Branch officially became Robt. Stone Stainless, a separate company within Robt. Stone, and Haden & Custance joined the team in December 2004.

In October 2007, Robt. Stone & Co Ltd was acquired by Tenix Alliance New Zealand Serivces Ltd; although the sale did not include Haden and Custance which was retained by Ian Murray. With the acquisition by Tenix Alliance, the company name has changed to Tenix Robt. Stone with the Robt. Stone logo being retained. The Hawera branch which was known as Robt. Stone Stainless Steel has also taken on the new name.

Tenix Robt Stone has recently opened a new workshop in Penrose, Auckland. This new facility based near head office is set up to support our fabricaion and site projects in the Auckland region and to support operations further afield. The facility has overhead and swing cranes and is currently being furnished with tools and equipment to make this a fully operational workshop. With increased growth in the Auckland market we can now provide local pipe spooling, mechanical equipment manufacture, site project support and maintenance resources locally.

So with a colourful history the tone is set for Tenix Robt Stone to continue well into the future.

Please view the timeline that reflects this colourful history.