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- What’s been happening in our MAKE│NZ Community
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What’s been happening in our MAKE│NZ Community
This week we have another update on industry from our own Andre de Roo!
Great on the Tools. Hate the Admin?
Over the past few weeks with MAKE│NZ, and reflecting on conversations from my previous role, I’ve noticed something that keeps coming up with business owners across manufacturing and engineering.
They work long days running their businesses, solving problems, looking after customers and often still getting on the tools themselves.
Then everyone goes home and the laptop comes out.
Quotes. Emails. Invoices. Health and safety. Compliance. CRM updates. Reports.
How much of our industry’s time is being added on to an already long working day by completing administration tasks?
The No. 8 Wire Mindset
New Zealand is proud of its No. 8 wire mentality — practical people who can diagnose a problem, fabricate a solution and find a way to get the job done.
But the skills that make someone a great engineer, tradesperson or manufacturer aren’t necessarily the same skills needed to efficiently manage paperwork and increasingly complex digital systems.
I’m dyslexic myself, so I understand this personally. Give me a practical problem or a conversation and I’m away. Put a large administrative task in front of me and achieving the same outcome can take considerably longer.
And I know I’m not alone.
What Does the Data Tell Us?
The latest OECD Survey of Adult Skills from 2023 provides some useful context.
In New Zealand, 26% of adults aged 16–65 were at Level 1 or below for literacy, 28% for numeracy and 29% for adaptive problem solving.
The OECD also highlights the increasingly complex digital environments people are expected to navigate at work.
Source: OECD — Survey of Adult Skills 2023: New Zealand
That doesn’t mean someone isn’t intelligent or capable. Someone can be an outstanding engineer, fabricator, technician or business owner while finding written administration or digital systems disproportionately time-consuming.
Stats NZ’s Business Operations Survey also shows how important software and digital technology have become to operating New Zealand businesses.
Source: Stats NZ — Business Operations Survey
Could We Make Admin Work Better?
Larger companies can employ people to manage finance, HR, administration and IT. Some smaller businesses have a great administrator, business partner or spouse who takes care of much of it.
But what about the developing business that can’t afford that support?
This is where I wonder whether technology could make a real difference.
AI, voice-to-text, accounting automation, CRM and better email management could potentially reduce the time spent on everyday administration.
Rather than simply asking people to get better at admin, could we make admin easier for the people doing it?
Is This Worth Exploring?
At this stage, I don’t have the answer, and I’m not proposing a programme.
I’m asking whether we have a problem worth exploring.
I’d like to hear from manufacturers and business owners:
Which administrative tasks consume your time? What have you found that works? Where could technology or better support help?
If this is a genuine issue across our sector, MAKE│NZ might be able to help businesses share practical solutions and learn from each other.
Maybe supporting our No. 8 wire problem-solvers isn’t about teaching them to do more paperwork.
Maybe it’s helping them spend less time doing it — turning long nights on admin into better days building their businesses.
Sources
OECD — Survey of Adult Skills 2023: New Zealand
Stats NZ — Business Operations Survey
Upcoming Events
You’ve seen it be hinted at in our newsletter, but now we’re ready to launch.
Kicking off our first Calibrate event – a new style of site visit where we focus on sharing practical lessons, experiences, and success stories – we’ll be heading through the tunnel to Lyttleton Engineering.
Growing Our Own will be a chance to learn how the team at Lyttleton Engineering have developed their people. Through their apprentice training programme they’ve developed qualified and experienced staff. Their success can be seen just by looking at their own senior leadership team, which including 5 Lyttleton Engineering apprentices, with two being company directors.
Our hosts will be Richard York – General Manager, Nick Jessop – Operation Manager, & Robbie Sutton – Apprentice Mentor.
You can expect to walk away with
- Connections with manufacturers facing similar workforce challenges.
- Practical ideas for developing and retaining skilled people within your business.
- Insights into how Lyttleton Engineering has built a successful “grow your own” culture.
- Real examples of apprentices progressing into leadership roles.
- Ideas for strengthening partnerships with schools, Ara, and industry.
Make sure to RSVP here and we’ll be sure to save you a seat!
As this is the first of many more Calibrate events to come, we’re opening our doors to those not yet members of MAKE│NZ who are curious what it could look like. So even if you aren’t a paid member, we’d still love to see you there.
Any questions, don’t hesitate to check in with the team.
News From The World of Manufacturing
•The recent Government announcement about adding industry-led secondary school subjects for Years 12 and 13 has generally been welcomed, including by manufacturers.
There will be a total of 9 subjects, including Next-Gen Manufacturing and Engineering Technology. “These subjects are being developed with industry to give students an exciting range of options, so businesses know young people are building the skills their sectors need, and students can gain knowledge that sets them up for work, trades, training, or university,” according to the Minister of Education, the Hon Erica Stanford says, “The subjects will have parity of esteem with traditional subjects such as English and Maths and count towards students’ secondary school qualifications, and support pathways into university, trades, training or the workforce.”
The new courses are complementary to, rather than replacing existing programmes with a similar target outcome, like Gateway or the Trade Academies.
In Next-Gen Manufacturing, students will be “combining technical learning with an understanding of how industries operate, students gain insight into how innovative products are brought to market and produced reliably, efficiently, and at scale. They develop practical problem-solving, analytical, and systems thinking skills that support pathways into manufacturing, engineering, product design, automation, logistics, and other technical and industrial careers.”
In Engineering Technology, “students learn about engineering systems, materials, and technologies through authentic contexts such as manufacturing, automotive, construction, infrastructure, automation, robotics, aviation, maritime, rail, and electrotechnology. They explore how engineering systems are developed, tested, improved, and maintained in practice and develop capabilities in testing, diagnostics, technical communication, safety and systems thinking. Through hands-on, project-based learning, they work on real-world problems and challenges, applying design thinking, problem-solving, and technical knowledge. This helps them understand how engineering ideas are applied in practice to create reliable and effective solutions.”
Following the announcement and reflecting the interest it raised, there were questions regarding ‘minor details’ like
- Who is going to developing course contents and assessment frameworks?
- Who is going to teach these subjects?
- Where will the teaching take place – at school only, or a combination of school and actual workplaces?
As it happens with government announcements sometimes, it turns out that beyond the original announcement, there wasn’t / isn’t much detail that would allow these questions to be answered.
What we know is that the Industry Skills Boards [ISB] representing the different subject areas will be the lead agencies for bringing the plan to life; in this case the Manufacturing and Engineering ISB, and the Transport Industries ISB, respectively. They will receive additional government funding for this.
The high-level timetable for the development and roll-out looks like this:
- 2026 to 2027: subject design and development, working with employers, industry associations, schools and educators, other Industry Skills Boards, and the Ministry of Education.
- Early 2027: public consultation on draft subject content.
- 2027: assessment design.
- 2028: piloting and transition.
- 2029: available to Year 12 students.
- 2030: available to Year 13 students.
Early feedback from industry leaders pointed to the need to include the development of ‘soft (generic) skills’ as part of the package: Being work-ready, emotional intelligence, practical skills, commercial awareness, good communication, and IT skills.
Fun Facts (some of them not so funny)
•One of the National Party’s campaign goals for the upcoming general election is to reduce “core Crown debt below 40% of GDP over time.” And the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, quite famously commented on the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 by referring to what the archetypical Swabian homemaker would have said to those engaging in the financial excesses that led to the GFC: “You can only live beyond your means for so long …” – The Swabians are (in)famous in Germany for their parsimony.
The reality today is that New Zealand’s government debt levels even today are well below the OECD average, with some countries, including the USA, sitting (well) above what is considered the ‘pain threshold’ of 100%:
The McKinsey Global Institute [MGI] takes a wider look at the picture in its annual Global Balance Sheet for 2026. It summarises its findings regarding the different categories in the global balance sheet as follows:
- Real estate declined relative to GDP across most economies. Australia was a major exception, and it topped the list of real estate values, at 4.5 times GDP.
- Equity largely grew. Relative to GDP, it climbed the most in South Korea, the United States, Canada, and Japan. Of these countries, equity was highest in Canada and the United States, at 3.8 and 3.7 times GDP, respectively.
- Corporate debt increased the most in China. Chinese corporate debt reached 1.7 times GDP, the highest among our economies of focus.
- Government debt continued to expand. It exceeded 100 percent of GDP in a number of countries, with Japan, Italy, and the United States topping the list (although in Japan, inflation brought this ratio down).
- Currency and deposits reached new all-time highs in China and South Korea. Japan still tops the list but also experienced the largest drop amid higher inflation.
Of particular interest is the equity situation: “In 2025, countries generally fell into two groups. Some, including the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea, reached all-time highs in equity. In the United States, values were nearly double the historical average. Some of this reflected a boom in tech, particularly AI. Looking across the S&P 500, just over 50 percent of the growth in market capitalization from 2021 through 2025 came from the “Magnificent Seven” firms commonly associated with AI.”
The MGI data also show that the relationship between net asset cover and corporate equity liabilities has changed dramatically over the past few years, especially in the USA. Again, the ‘Magnificent Seven” will be the main contributors to that:
When it comes to debt, the MGI data paints the picture for household, corporate and government debt globally as follows:
Does this all paint a picture of stability? “The balance sheet’s mounting detachment from the global economy was driven by the world’s two biggest economies in 2025. US equity values soared to 2.4 times corporate net assets as profits were double their share of GDP since 2000. China’s corporate debt grew to 80 percent of real assets, versus 50 percent globally. Government debt remains near all-time highs in the United States and has grown most rapidly in China.”
You be the judge. It’s dry stuff but a look at the MGI study makes for interesting reading.
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