Adam Bennett, NZTE Director Specialised Manufacturing.

 

To remain competitive in international markets, New Zealand’s focus needs to be not just on primary production, but end-to-end manufacturing solutions. For this reason support and development for specialised, knowledge-intensive manufacturing and services is a priority for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE).

Although we work with companies across a range of manufacturing sectors, our focus is on our Big Five; marine, aviation, geothermal, advanced materials, and building solutions.

Working directly with companies to help find what makes them different and to attach the right value to what they do is an area where I believe we can really assist. Modularity continues to be the buzzword across manufacturing – demand for speed of design, lightweight and flexibility combine to provide some unique opportunities for us.

Companies that have developed or adapted products to meet this demand and slot into global supply chains are the ones finding success in international niche markets. Successful companies also share certain characteristics such as high levels of technical expertise, market insight, significant investment in research, design and product development and excellent customer service.

Generally New Zealand-s manufacturing exporters have a reputation for quality, design and performance – and this is paying dividends in various areas. In yacht design, for example, world-class yacht designer Ed Dubois now specifies products and designs using New Zealand companies. He will be a major influencer in almost $500m of global marine buying, so you can see it is worth New Zealand staying close to him.

Sharing the stories of our companies with the world is part of the process of winning over these key decision makers. A recent seminar for the aviation industry held at The Cloud in Auckland encouraged companies to share stories with their peers, and to work together. This was well reported internationally and built on the innovation story New Zealand has to tell.

Collaboration and sharing ideas across different industries is also an important way of alerting businesses to new opportunities. A great example of this is a company that specialises in interior fit outs for superyachts now looking at using their materials expertise for the aviation and automotive industry.

One of the main aims of our aviation project, meanwhile, is promoting certification and regulatory approvals so we can bring more companies into the aviation supply chain, and open up new markets.

The aviation sector requires stringent certification for each part in each market that the part will be supplied to. Getting certified can be a complex process with rich rewards so we use our contacts with the large multinationals like Boeing and Airbus to set up practical ways to get New Zealand to the front of the queue. Already, during Rugby World Cup sessions, we have seen progress on this front with Airbus keen to ease the process for us.

More generally, it’s great to see some companies taking the lead in changing certification requirements in markets. For example Napier-based company Pultron developed a high performance, corrosion resistant composite bar to reinforce concrete.

However, regulations in the Middle East required steel bars to be used for reinforcing concrete. Undeterred, Pultron went to Dubai and convinced them to change building codes to allow for the use of their product. Regulations can be an opportunity.

It is a superb example of a company understanding their competitive edge, communicating it and tilting the game table in their favour to open up a new market.

*Adam Bennett is NZTE’s Director Specialised Manufacturing. He is based in Auckland.