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- Upcoming Events
- News From The World of Manufacturing
- Other News of Interest to Manufacturing
- Fun Facts
Upcoming Events
Thanks to those who turned out to our first ever Calibrate Event! It was great to have a mix of familiar and new faces, and it’s a good thing we’ve made this a series of events because clearly there’s a lot to discuss when it comes to finding apprentices and how to best develop them to support themselves and your business.
Not to worry – if you missed out last week, as we’ve said, this is a series of events. You may have missed the site visit, but you don’t have to miss the topic. Keep an eye on your email for invites to our follow up sessions!
Our next Fireside Chat on September 14 will have Roland Sommer as a guest speaker. Many of you will remember Roland as the GM of TE Connectivity and, subsequently, CEO of Argus Group. Now Roland has moved a big step closer to professionally pursuing his passion for flying objects as the Manufacturing Manager for SPS Automation. We’ll send out full invitations for the event next Monday, but now is a good day for marking the spot in your diary: Monday, Sep. 14, 5:30 p.m.
The Canterbury Manufacturers Trust and MAKE│NZ are pleased to present an opportunity for young leaders within Manufacturing.
A relaxed, networking evening for the next generation of Canterbury manufacturing leaders &
future leaders — Chatham House Rule applies.
No sales pitches. No bosses. Just your peers — talking shop, comparing notes, and learning from
each other.
This will take place on Thursday the 17th of September, 5:30pm to 7:30pm at Little Mex Bar, 131 Victoria Street. Any emerging leaders in manufacturing, aged 25-35, are welcome! Come as you are and we’ll see you there. To RSVP and find out more information, check the pdf below
MESNZ are now accepting applications to their 2026 Excellence Awards, the categories are:
- PILZ Best Safety Improvement Project
- Energy System Management Best Reliability Improvement Project
- Eurotec Best Energy and Carbon Reduction Project, and
- Kaeser Compressors Best Apprentice Training Organisation.
Applications close on 5pm, 14th of September so get in quick. You can find more information in the pdf below-
News From The World of Manufacturing
•Last week we talked about the relative efforts New Zealand’s vocational education system, and manufacturing industry employers, put into ‘training our own’. We contrasted that with some relevant immigration numbers and indicated that there are risks associated with relying (too much) on sourcing labour from abroad.
It is a fact that in many countries political parties with an agenda to reduce levels of immigration are on the rise. New Zealand, without an explicit ‘anti-immigration agenda’ by the leading political parties involved, had its fair share of measures that resulted in marked increases or reductions of immigration:
Having said that, the numbers of visa issued for employment in the manufacturing sector have been remarkably steady recently:
That may well change, however, with the added requirement to demonstrate appropriate English language skills for applicants at ANZSCO Skills Level 3:
“From 1 June 2026, Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) minimum English language requirements will apply to ANZSCO and NOL skill level 3 occupations.
Currently, people applying for an AEWV at ANZSCO or NOL (National Occupation List) skill level 4 or 5 must show they can speak and understand English. They can meet this requirement through their English ability from citizenship, working, and studying or by taking an English language test.
English language requirements for an Accredited Employer Work Visa
From 1 June 2026 people applying for an AEWV at ANZSCO or NOL skill level 3 will also need to meet this requirement.”
There are transitional arrangements in place for people who already have an AEWV.
Other News of Interest to Manufacturing
•Facts / Trends – without any attempts to quantify these:
- Demand for electricity in New Zealand will increase due to the growing electrification of land transport and industrial process heat – not to mention data centres
- The supply of electricity from renewable sources (wind & solar, including domestic solar) will increase. That will require the establishment of sufficient buffer capacity (‘battery’ storage) and a reconfiguration of the national grid
- Natural gas still plays a key role in New Zealand’s energy supply:
- Domestic production of natural gas has been declining steadily, with no confirmed increase of supply from new exploration:
- The resulting shortfall in supply is expected to be met by the importation of LNG:
One would have thought / hoped that in the face of this quite rapidly and deeply changing landscape New Zealand’s leading political parties would have fronted up by now with a bi-partisan proposal for a comprehensive national energy strategy. Or, failing that, at least a proposed plan of their own, if they can’t agree on a bi-partisan approach.
Alas, there is no sign of either …
Fun Facts (some of them not so funny)
•It looks like news of new data centres, especially when they are planned for your neighbourhood, aren’t exactly flavour of the month (anymore) – at least in the US:
•The claim comes up with the regularity of a clockwork: “We are a trading nation”. This time from the Port of Tauranga CFO, Simon Kebbell, in an interview with RNZ this morning. Say it often enough, and it becomes a fact?
In terms of the imports share of GDP, and looking at 2024 data only, again New Zealand at 18.2% sits at the lower end of comparable countries, most of which have shares between 20% and 30%. Australia is slightly lower at 16.9%, and the US – the country everybody is trying to rip off by flooding it with cheap imports – sits at 11.2%.
Mr Kebbell might argue that we’re missing the point here, however, and from a port operator’s perspective, he may well be right:
•Would a job applicant’s body shape have any influence on your employment decision?
If it did, would you be aware of it, or would the bias be sub-conscious? Or, if it were a conscious decision, would you admit to it to a third party?
Those questions are very hard to find answers for empirically. Or would have been, until now.
GLP-1 is a medication subscribed to reduce body mass, provided in the USA as Ozempic, Wegovy, or Trulicity. In an extensive study, undertaken by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, researchers compared females with a high BMI (about two thirds with a BMI >30) that started taking the GLP-1 weight-loss treatment with those that had expressed an interested in the treatment, but had not started yet.
It shows that in those that took the medication, BMI values dropped significantly over time:
Among other things the study looked at the employment status in terms of being employed vs not having found work yet, and the level of employment for those in employment:
The study took great care to remove other factors such as ethnicity, socio-economic, or psychological factors that might well have an impact of success in seeking employment.
What we can see is that the employment status of those females who were already employed when they started their treatment (grey line) did not change significantly, whereas for those that were unemployed at initiation (red line), employment rises by 27 percentage points and weekly hours rise by nearly ten hours at the same horizon.
Bias, especially unconscious, is tricky to notice at times. Prescription medication leading to examples of it in the workplace is certainly something we didn’t expect…
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