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Manufacturing Matters- Tuesday Top-Up 83

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Future events and activities

• We’ve partnered with ExportNZ to help share the word about the upcoming State of the Export Sector, presented by New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Investment, Todd McClay.

The Minister will reflect on the challenging global environment our exporters currently face, outline his priorities for the trade and export sector, and look ahead to future opportunities through trade agreements, improved market access, and emerging growth sectors.

Following the Minister’s remarks, there will be an opportunity for discussion and questions from the audience.

If you’re interested in attending you can find tickets and more information HERE

The good people at ExportNZ have also offered a discount code available for MAKE│NZ members for $20 off ticket price, so make sure to reach out for the code!

• The Manufacturing & Engineering Skills Board (MAEISB) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) are currently exploring how Manufacturing and Engineering can be better represented within the new senior secondary qualification system that will replace NCEA. This work has the potential to influence how young people are introduced to our industries and how effectively they are prepared for future careers in manufacturing and engineering.

As employers and industry leaders, your voice is critical. This is an opportunity to help shape what knowledge, skills, behaviours, and attitudes young people should develop while still at school. It is important that we think carefully about what sits at the heart of our industries and what foundations students need before entering apprenticeships, tertiary study, or employment. Getting this right will help create clearer pathways and better prepare work-ready young people for the realities of our sector.

MAEISB is running two online industry engagement sessions:

• Wednesday 10 June, 1:00pm – 2:30pm
• Thursday 11 June, 2:00pm – 3:30pm

Discussion topics include:
• Generic skills that could be taught in Years 12 and 13 to help students better understand manufacturing and engineering careers.
• Industry-specific skills and knowledge that could form part of future Manufacturing and Engineering subjects.
• Workforce and industry trends that are likely to shape future skill requirements.

If you would like to attend, please contact:

• Fiona McDonagh – fiona.mcdonagh@maeisb.nz
• Mike Lortan – mike.lortan@maeisb.nz

If you’re unable to attend, you can still share your feedback via their Feedback form.

This is an important opportunity to ensure industry needs are reflected in the future education system and that the next generation of workers are equipped with the skills, knowledge, and mindset our sector requires.

News From The World of Manufacturing

•We still have a very high mountain to climb: “They’re never going to get beyond what they are gonna be doing already, like working in factories. You know, our kids always have dreams of becoming something bigger and better, like becoming a lawyer, becoming a doctor“ said Agnes Magele, the Coordinator for Auckland Action Against Poverty, in a RNZ Morning Report episode yesterday in relation to the risk of the long hours some secondary school students are working to support their families having a negative impact on their learning.

Admittedly, in some industries and for some groups the opportunities to develop a career beyond low-skilled jobs in manufacturing are more limited than for others, and the reasons for that are complicated and not always well understood.

Have we done enough to not only emphasise that there are many ‘cool jobs’ in manufacturing, but also that the opportunities are there to progress from low-skilled factory floor work – of which there will be less and less in the future – to highly rewarding and well-rewarded technical and managerial leadership roles?

•As promised, here’s a quick summary of the final part of our NZ Manufacturing Industry Conference a couple of weeks ago. In that session, we looked at the stages of the life cycle of manufacturing businesses, from very early start-up to not demise, but becoming part of a bigger, global entity.

In the first part we heard from Natalia Galin, who has developed the concept and a prototype for a novel ‘rotary’ combustion engine with much improved efficiency that could be used, for example, for off-grid power generation. Next up was Charlie North from Dawn Aerospace, who are much further down the track of becoming a successful manufacturer. The interesting feature here is that the company is operating in two areas that are at different stages of maturity, with the in-space propulsion systems more or less an operational manufacturing unit, and the spaceplane more the later-stage prototype. Charlie talked to us about the creative tensions at times between the two parts, and the opportunities created. The third speaker was Josh Down who, among other things, is responsible to ENI’s additive manufacturing unit. This is an – unfortunately still all too rare – example of a ‘start-up’ incubated within an existing business. Like Charlie, Josh described the creative tensions between ENI’s long-standing sheet metal operation, and the new business unit.

Following that, Dean Boston spoke about his experience in helping New Zealand investors that are keen to invest in manufacturing businesses. He emphasised the need for businesses keen to attract capital from private investors to do their homework first. Consistent financial reporting, the right systems in processes in areas like manufacturing operations, HR, supply chain, etc. are just as important at the company’s competitive position in the market. In Dean’s experience, New Zealand manufacturers who are keen to sell their business do not always meet those – in themselves quite obvious – investor expectations.

Finally, we heard from two leaders of major Canterbury manufacturing businesses that have both been sold to much bigger overseas companies in the same line of business – strategic acquisitions from the buyer’s perspective. There was a range of interesting observations and a common theme coming across quite clearly on what has changed: increased performance discipline and expectations, but also more resources (capital and other) available for accelerated growth of the New Zealand business.

Other news of interest to manufacturers

•The recent release of the New Zealand Climate commission’s risk report (2026 National Climate Change Risk Assessment) has largely gone unnoticed. The report has a section on parts of our economy that rely on the natural environment, from aquaculture to tourism, but doesn’t specifically deal with industry sectors like manufacturing. It does, however, contain detailed risk assessments for different parts of our national infrastructure that are as critical for manufacturers as they will be to other industries, predominantly energy, communications, and transport.

For the energy sector and with a focus on electricity, the generation side faces fewer risks than the distribution network. More frequent extreme weather events will impact on both hydro and wind power: “Climate change is expected to incrementally alter the frequency, severity, or distribution of these risks, rather than create wholly new system vulnerabilities.” For hydro power in particular there may be some good news: “Detailed catchment-based modelling to 2050 indicates a seasonal shift in inflows from spring and summer, heading into winter, for the large South Island snow-fed catchments. Based on current demand patterns and allowing for modest future shifts (as outlined above), this change may improve the reliability of hydro generation in meeting seasonal electricity demand.”

For the electricity grid and communications infrastructure, the report points to “Risks … due to progressive and ongoing changes in temperature, precipitation, and wind, sea-level rise, and extreme weather events and associated impacts like wildfires.” It quotes the specific example of Cyclone Gabrielle causing flooding at Transpower’s Redclyffe substation [that] triggered widespread outages as the majority of Hawke’s Bay’s electricity is provided via interconnection at the Redclyffe grid exit point.” The ‘quick fix’ chosen by Transpower was to “rebuild the substation on the same site with elevated ground levels and updated equipment. This approach is likely to cost up to NZ$35 million and be completed within 2–3 years. The alternative of building a new substation at a different location, along with the associated transmission lines and network development, could take 10 years with an estimated cost of over NZ$200 million.”

For the transport infrastructure, concerns about ports and airports are limited:

For road and rail networks, however concerns are more serious:

”Road and rail networks in Aotearoa New Zealand are increasingly exposed to extreme weather events such as storms and heatwaves, and associated impacts such as flooding and rainfall-induced landslides. They are also exposed to SLR*-induced coastal erosion and inundation. These hazards have caused costly and long-lasting disruptions, even when only small portions of the network are affected. Under higher warming scenarios, exposure to coastal inundation, inland flooding and other hazards will increase significantly by midcentury and the end of the century, especially in low-lying and coastal regions, driving the risk from major to extreme.”  – *SLR: Sea-Level Rise

Fun Facts (some of them not so funny)

•On a related topic, the recent hike in fuel prices has triggered quite a bit of additional interest in EV / PHEV in New Zealand. On a global scale, a recent report by the International Energy Agency [IEA] on current trends in and projections for the use of these technologies in the transport of people and goods, the IEA expects that “Even without any new policy announcements, the global fleet of EVs is projected to grow more than sixfold by 2035 from 2025 levels, to reach as many as 510 million, without counting electric two- or three-wheelers.”

•What impact do these developments and trends have on the global balance of greenhouse gas emissions? “In 2025, the stock of EVs was responsible for avoiding net emissions of 190 Mt CO2-equivalent (CO2-eq) – similar to the energy-related emissions of Spain. More than half of the current emissions savings are attributable to EV deployment in China, despite more than half of China’s electricity generation coming from unabated coal. Around 40% of the net GHG emissions savings from 2025 were from EV deployment in advanced economies. Over the next 10 years, growing EV adoption in the CPS results in the cumulative avoidance of approximately 7 Gt CO2-eq globally, with over 1.2 Gt CO2-eq avoided in 2035 alone. For reference, Japan’s total energy-related CO2 emissions in 2024 were 1 Gt. In the STEPS, net emissions reductions reach 1.4 Gt CO2-eq in 2035 (15% greater than in the CPS), but over the decade to 2035, an additional 600 Mt CO2-eq emissions are avoided compared to in the CPS. This is partly because the global average emissions intensity of electricity generation decreases more quickly in the STEPS than in the CPS, and is over 10% lower than in the CPS in 2035.”

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