NZ Manufacturer, December issue.

How the Same Conditions Create Winners and Loser

Christmas is almost here and for many it can’t come fast enough. Another year of holding on, fighting fires and telling ourselves we just need to wait for better times to arrive.

Yet look across the industry and you’ll see something striking: the same tough conditions producing completely different outcomes. One manufacturer is crawling to the finish line; another is smashing targets and celebrating wins. The break ahead isn’t just an opportunity to rest, it’s a reset.

David Altena is Head of Growth & Partnerships at SmartSpace.ai & C0-Founder & Host of The Better SMB Podcast. david@altena.solutions

The biggest variable in 2026 won’t be the economy. It’ll be the mindset you choose over the holidays.

Because when you strip away the noise, this year has made one truth impossible to ignore: the same conditions are producing entirely different results.

Some firms have spent 2025 wrestling the economy like an anchor, while others have treated it like a headwind to lean into… uncomfortable, but navigable. That contrast is the real story. It tells us the gap between struggling and succeeding may not be the market at all, but the mindset leaders bring to it.

Rob Bull is Director of The New Zealand Lean Academy. rob@nzla.nz

This is where the tale of two manufacturers begins

The phrase we heard so much last year, “Survive till ’25”, was the hope we were clinging to, but it quickly morphed into “Survive 25,” reflecting how many manufacturers feel worn down by another long, slow year. Stories of closures, liquidations and persistent pressure have reinforced the sense that the economy is dictating our destiny.

It is easy to get swept into that narrative. Yet, if we look closer, we find a stark contrast, two manufacturers facing the same economic headwinds but producing radically different results. While one is struggling to keep the lights on, the other is celebrating record months, hitting aggressive targets and accepting business awards.

Is the problem truly the market, or is it the manufacturer’s mindset?

For too many of our small and medium businesses (SMBs), the economic climate has become a scapegoat for the inevitable consequences of standing still.

Manufacturers viewing the economy as “too hard” are allowing external factors to dictate their internal strategy. They see a glass half empty and therefore, they stop trying to fill it.

The purpose of this article is not to ignore the difficulties, after all supply chain complexity, inflation and a tight labour market are real. But for the successful manufacturer, these challenges are not insurmountable; they are simply the current operating environment.

They have adopted a “glass half full” approach that focuses intensely on the levers they can control, transforming pressure into performance.

Secrets Hidden in Plain Sight

A quick glance through the stories of success celebrated at the various business awards hosted by Chambers across New Zealand reveals a striking pattern.

The difference between the thriving and the merely surviving is rarely capital or capacity; it is almost always leadership, focus and deliberate investment.

The failing business and the successful one often face similar external paths. Both deal with challenging customers, rising material costs and complex regulations. But their internal responses diverge sharply.

The Thriving Manufacturer (The ‘Glass Half Full’ Approach):

1. Laser Focus on Customer Experience: Their product quality is non-negotiable, but their focus extends beyond the physical item. They view the entire customer journey as a unique selling proposition (USP).

The successful Bay of Plenty-based manufacturer, Archishade, serves as an excellent example. Despite market challenges, their focus on a unique quality product, combined with innovation and continuous learning, has led to overwhelming success and growth awards. They compete on value, relationship and reliability, not just price.

2. Investment as a Recipe for Success: Every resource (time, people and technology) it treated as an investment, not a cost. When facing stress points, their leadership doesn’t panic; they learn.

They actively seek support, advice and accountability from mentors, advisors, or industry networks, viewing this as an essential ingredient for scalable systems and continuous improvement.

Investing in a new piece of equipment, implementing new process mapping software, or hiring a consultant to train the team is seen as building a competitive advantage, not trimming the budget.

3. Curiosity and Innovation: Leaders in successful firms are innately curious. They are open to the idea that there might be a better, different way of operating that does not compromise customer experience.

This allows them to embrace systems thinking, automating repetitive tasks and re-engineering workflows to do things more efficiently, rather than simply working harder.

The Pitfall of ‘Just Work Harder’

Contrast this with the manufacturer whose perspective is that the economy is “too hard.” Their default response to needing more income is to simply “work longer hours.”

This is the business equivalent of trying to bail out a leaky boat with a spoon. Working harder is ineffective and the least scalable form of growth. It is a path that often leads to a predictable, detrimental sequence:

• Quality Suffers: Speeding up jobs without improving processes leads to errors, rework and damaged customer goodwill.
• Support is Cut: Additional support, whether administrative, sales, or production process improvement, is viewed purely as a cost, not an investment. This removes the very capability needed to create systemic change.
• The Business Drifts: Without a competitive edge, continuous investment, or a resilient system, the business inevitably drifts to a point in history where it can no longer compete with those who have innovated.

In short, they fail to slow down long enough to implement the very systems thinking and efficiency measures that would allow them to speed up in a sustainable manner.

Choose Your Story

We are not suggesting the path of success is simple. There are a myriad of issues that can impact a single business that are complex and often frustrating. But the core learning we can take while standing in the shadows of success is that mindset precedes opportunity.

The “Survive 25” mentality becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for any manufacturer who keeps working the way they always have.

However, the “glass half full” approach, sees the current climate as an opportunity for consolidation, strategic investment and winning market share from those who have become complacent or demoralised.

For manufacturers, the challenge is clear: stop lamenting the half-empty glass and start focusing on how you are going to refill your half, through systemised quality, relentless focus on customer value and a leadership mindset that views support and efficiency as essential investments in competitive advantage.

The market is low and slow, but success is still available for those willing to innovate their way out of the slump.

Choose your story. Choose success.