About us
Andrew McGregor – Director
BE (Mech), CPEng, CMEnz, AAMINZ, Commercial Pilot
Andrew is a chartered professional mechanical engineer and commercial pilot. Earlier in his career, he was involved in heavy steel fabrication design and fast track project management in technically challenging contexts. All this occurred within New Zealand’s dairy, steel, petrochemical, pulp and paper, and mining industries.
As a commercial pilot with 2500 hrs experience, Andrew has relevant experience as a machine operator in a highly regulated environment where safety is paramount, and an awareness of human factors a necessity. In 2000 he trained in the principles of Air Accident Investigation and Air Safety at the University of Cranfield, UK. These investigation principles are applied in industrial engineering investigation contexts, as well as workplace safety and accident investigation.
Andrew is also trained in principles of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) such as Mediation and Arbitration and has a post-graduate diploma in this area from Massey University.
These unique features of his background – robust mechanical design, intense project management, aircraft accident investigation, regulated safety, and dispute resolution have all combined together to allow Prosolve Ltd to provide comprehensive investigative engineering services.
Associates
Below are essential details about the qualifications, capabilities, and experience of key staff and active associates.
Patrick Conor B Met (Hons) MSc
Patrick is an experienced metallurgist and materials scientist with a lifetime of previous experience in forensic engineering services within NZ’s Defence Technology Agency (DTA). He has led or been involved in numerous engineering and research investigations in aviation, marine, vehicle, and industrial issues. He provided technical leadership on several projects concerned with the degradation of critical engine parts and flight structures. Patrick has co-authored over 30 journal, conference, and research papers on matters related to air accident investigation and material failures.
Tom McCready – Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
Tom is an experienced air crash investigator, having investigated several hundred engineering defects, incidents and fatal air accidents, while employed by the NZ CAA, earlier in his career. He is an experienced Licensed Aviation Maintenance Engineer (LAME) with ratings on both fixed and rotary wing aircraft gained over a 40 year career. He has worked as a chief engineer, maintenance controller and operations manager for several New Zealand aviation operators. Tom has contributed to documentaries and book publications on aviation safety and investigation and is widely recognised as a NZ authority on air safety and air accident investigation. He has prepared evidence and testified in over 15 courts and coronial inquests into air accidents. Tom teaches air accident investigation at Massey University and presents regularly at aviation industry conferences.
David Parsons BE (Mech) FIE Aust CPEng
David is Australasia’s foremost boiler design and troubleshooting engineer. His capabilities are founded on experience gained from many years of employment with three international boiler brand designers; International Combustion, John Thompson, and Babcock & Wilcox.
After leaving John Thompson in the late 1980s, David set up his own consultancy, troubleshooting and optimizing boiler plants in the marine and industrial sectors. His capabilities include thermal boiler design, circulation analysis, combustion optimisation of coal, oil, gas and biofuel fired boilers, oil to gas conversion reconfiguration and analysis of boiler explosions.
In past years he has lectured in boiler design principles in the United Kingdom, Middle East, United States and Australasia. He has also provided expert witness testimony in several disputes related to boiler performance, particulate emissions, catastrophic metal fires and boiler explosions.
Andrew Ouwejan BE (Hons) ME – Metallurgist
Andrew is an experienced, practical hands-on metallurgist. He qualified in chemical and materials engineering from the University of Auckland and Swinburne University of Technology of Melbourne in metallurgical research. Andrew has extensive metallurgical experience in both New Zealand and Australia. He has managed metallurgical services of metal refineries and production facilities and has provided metallurgical advice related to plasma nitriding, die casting, hardening and tempering, mechanical testing and metallography. He provides comprehensive metallurgical services from a well-equipped metallurgical laboratory in South Auckland. He provides comprehensive metallurgical services from a well-equipped metallurgical laboratory in South Auckland.
Jan Hall – BA, PG Dip.Bus.Admin
Jan was a construction supervisor and project manager in commercial construction before specialising in health and safety.
This unique combination of analytical thinking, adult education and administration together with an extensive practical background at the construction coal face have led to a very successful contribution in health and safety.
She is passionate about fitting effective health and safety strategies within the practical realities of employees with limited education and managers walking a budget tight rope. ‘Succinct, comprehensive and practical’ is what her programmes offer. This approach has proven incredibly useful in workplace accident investigation and in response to unfounded allegations arising out of hindsight wisdom.
A passionate, intelligent thinker able to take the best out of standard health and safety principles so they can be re-applied in a way that is practically relevant for her clients and their employees.
Dr Maxwell James Davis PSM MEng (Mech) PhD (Honorary) – Adhesive and composite bonding specialist.
Max is a specialist in composites and adhesive bonding technology. His expertise covers repair design, repair application technology, design of bonded joints, bonding materials and processes, adhesive bond quality management and forensic investigation of adhesive bond failures. He regularly presents courses on Adhesive Bond Failure: Analysis and Prevention for international regulatory authorities. He has published widely in his field.
Read MoreMax is the author of the FAA Technical Note DOT/FAA/AR – TN06/57, May 2007 Best Practice in Adhesive Bonded Structures and Repairs. In 2011, Max was engaged to develop the adhesive bonding content of the FAA Level II course on Composite Structural Engineering Safety Awareness. Max has also written an Australian Defence Forces Engineering Standard and two handbooks on Composite Materials and Adhesive Bonded Repairs.
As part of these achievements, Max initiated and facilitated changes in adhesive bonded repairs to RAAF bonded structures that saw a reduction in the bonded repair failure rate at the RAAF major bonding facility at Amberley from over 40% in 1992 to almost zero (< 0.06%) repair failures up until 2007.
Max holds a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering and in 2003 was awarded a Public Service Medal (PSM) in the Queens Birthday Honours for his achievements in his field of endeavour. In September 2012 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering by the University of Central Queensland.
Since his retirement as a principle research scientist with the Australian defence force, Max has specialised in adhesive bond failure forensics. He identified structural integrity issues of main helicopter rotor blade that contributed to a crash of a Robinson helicopter in 2006. These issues included area of poor bonding in the main rotor blade structure. This included weak adhesion failures and extensive areas of mixed-mode failures which typically result from the degradation of chemical bonds at the interface between the metal and adhesive. These findings were confirmed by the US NTSB (A-08-25-29 dated 09 Jun 2008) and led to an FAA document AC-27 being revised from revision A to revision B in order to include consideration of environmental durability in aircraft design. This has profound implications for aircraft manufacturing in general and is a result of this investigation.
Max has developed and delivered training in Adhesive Bond Failure: Analysis and Prevention for the EASA (Cologne Jun 2013 and Oct 2013). This training was also provided for the FAA (Salt Lake City July 2014) where he was a lead-in speaker at an FAA Bonded Structures Working Meeting. He continues to collaborate with the FAA in developing improved practices for managing the structural integrity of adhesively bonded composite and metallic structures.
Max is currently the Director of Adhesion Associates Proprietary Limited and an active associate of Prosolve Ltd.
Doug Parker BE (Chem & Matls) (Hons)
Doug is one of NZ’s most experienced plastic and materials engineers and has a lifetime of experience in home appliance manufacturing with several international organisations in Europe, Asia and North America. This experience includes technical leadership in the design, materials selection, product development, compliance testing and failure analysis of plastics, polymer components and coatings as well as development of manufacturing processes. He maintains a professional interest in chemistry and forensic science and has post graduate qualifications in this field from Auckland University.