Editorial

-Dieter Adam, Chief Executive, The Manufacturers Network Skills shortages remain one of the key areas holding back manufacturers from further growth – this challenge is not new and is likely to need continued efforts into the future, both to address current shortages in experienced trades workers as well as the changing skills requirements due to rapidly changing technology. Today, however, I want to talk about the Government’s recently announced plan to address skills shortages in the construction sector, in particular, looking at measures around government procurement. The Construction Skills Action Plan covers six specific areas: expanding skills for industry, leveraging government procurement, establishing additional jobs and skills hubs, growing construction careers and credentials, Mana in Mahi – Strength in Work, and further changes to immigration settings. The Mana in Mahi – Strength in Work programme will provide support payment equivalent to the person’s benefit to employers taking on apprentices aged 18 to 24 years who have been on a benefit for six or more months. This policy has some potential to help somewhat, but we will need to see how the initial implementation works and wait for the policy to widen to include the manufacturing sector. The ‘leveraging government procurement’ element is an area in which construction and manufacturing often intersect, and manufacturers frequently face many of the same issues in trying to be part of the supply chain of government projects. Procurement is an issue we have been actively engaging with Government on recently, arguing that procurement policy needs to give more consideration to local suppliers, who in turn employ local workers, contribute to the local economy and critically, build a skills base by training their staff through apprenticeships. While some parts of the current policy state that such benefits of using local suppliers should be considered, this principle […]

-Dieter Adam, Chief Executive, The Manufacturers’ Network After consultation with the public and businesses, the Government released the final details of its R&D tax credit policy. The policy is not perfect, with areas in which we are going to push the Government further, but they did listen to some of our concerns and made adjustments to the policy and we are happy that a number of these issues we at least partially addressed in the final policy. In The Manufacturers’ Network submission, we pushed for the initially-proposed rate of 12.5% to be increased to 20% to start with. This would bring our innovation support closer to what is offered in many of the countries our manufacturers are competing with, both in export markets and through import competition. While the Government did not raise it that high, they did increase the rate to 15%. This is a definite improvement, but we will continue to push the Government to raise this higher over time – this is something they need to do if they are serious about reaching their target of improving New Zealand’s R&D expenditure to 2% of GDP by 2020. The slightly higher rate will make this a bit more worth the effort for smaller companies and align the system with growth grants for the larger companies who were receiving them. The second major issue we outlined in our submission was the proposed threshold for eligibility – requiring a minimum of $100,000 of eligible R&D expenditure to receive the tax credit is too high. We pushed for this to be significantly lower to make sure small companies have the opportunity to benefit and put them on a path for growth and even more R&D expenditure in the future. Again, while the new threshold is not as low was we would […]

On 1 October, Engineering New Zealand celebrated their first birthday. However, the pedigree stretches back far more than a year: previously known as IPENZ, there is a proud 100-year history representing engineers. Several years ago, members were asked what they wanted from their professional body, and they said greater recognition, influence, credibility and connection. So, transformation took place to deliver these priorities. Recognition means appreciating the value that engineers bring. It’s not about fame or boosterism – it’s about our society genuinely recognising engineers for the work that they do and the genuine difference they make to everyone’s lives and to New Zealand. Credibility for Engineering New Zealand means doing the right thing, doing what you said you’d do, and doing the best job possible. For Engineering New Zealand credibility means standing up for quality, raising the bar for engineering professionals and making sure everyone is accountable. It also means having robust processes and systems, so that everyone knows where they stand. Connection means creating networks together to be more powerful – networks across industries, with like professions and between members. Networks fill in blind spots and help create movements for change. Influence means leverage: leverage to affect decision and policy in the areas engineers’ care about or think are important to New Zealand. This means not just central and local government but other spheres of decision making as well. As part of the new strategy, based on these four pillars, on 1 October 2017 there was the name change and a new, more inclusive Membership Pathway. This new pathway creates a professional home for engineers previously unrecognised by membership classes, including chief executives and other leaders who’ve stepped away from day-to-day technical work. It makes space for academics, and it genuinely recognises technicians and technologists, as well as engineering […]