Can Southland and Otago’s manufacturing engineering sector be the fastest growing and most competitive of its kind in New Zealand?

Despite the challenges being thrown at the sector, the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) believes it can.

SOREC has launched its capability mapping project to establish these two regions as an elite collective of engineers and manufacturers who are able to execute projects across numerous industries and fields.

SOREC was established by industry for industry, to ensure the sustainability of engineering in Southland and Otago. It is an incubator for industry to work together by growing and sharing the pie.

As New Zealand cautiously claws its way to recovery post-Covid-19, it’s the country’s regions that can feel the greatest impact. However, those regions also have significant potential to drive economic recovery.

SOREC has a plan to help build on that potential, and now that plan is being put into action.

During the next few months, the organisation will be conducting research and surveying the manufacturing engineering sector in the two regions, to create a comprehensive matrix of all the businesses that fall into this industry and mapping their capabilities.

SOREC general manager Ceri Macleod said this would create a database of skills and a prospectus of sorts for Southland and Otago.

“This will effectively show potential clients what we can do, how vast our breadth of knowledge and skills are, and the value we offer in working collectively,” she said.

“It’s going to give the southern region the ability to put forward compelling business cases for large manufacturing engineering contracts, in sectors such as defence, transport, infrastructure and high-tech production by working collaboratively.”

If international and national contracts could be filled from the south, then the growth of the industry would mean more jobs, greater investment in new technology, more buoyant regional economies, and the creation of more skilled and sustainable positions.

“Our sector is already involved in delivering some amazing projects, but we can do more. By fully understanding our strengths and opportunities, we can market our sector and target our potential where it will have the most impact.”

The research and survey work would be conducted by Southland-based marketing and communications agency, Market South.

As a regional initiative for development, with wide-reaching ripple effects for the economy, the output of this work would benefit the entire manufacturing engineering industry.

The more people who took part, the better and wider reaching the resulting database would be, Macleod said.

“Results will help make a real difference across the sector. We can build on our competitiveness, spread our exposure to risk and help future-proof manufacturing engineering in Southland and Otago.”

Macleod believed strong collaboration already existed between firms across the region.

“If someone can’t do part of the process themselves, they’ll partner up with other local operators to deliver on the job – for example 3D printers, sheet metal, machining, casting, coating and electronics manufacturers all working together.”

“What we’re doing is documenting those links and capabilities so that we can present them to clients as one cohesive supply chain.”

“This process will ensure we can bid for projects with absolute confidence in delivery.”