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Diane Hurford during a factory visit in China in 2025

From Garage to Global: 20 years of Brolly Sheets

Family-owned, Kiwi-designed brand Brolly Sheets began with a problem at home. Founder Diane Hurford sewed the first Brolly Sheet after repeated middle-of-the-night bed changes during toilet training. The reusable, absorbent, waterproof bed pad quickly gained traction. What started as a homemade solution grew into a New Zealand manufacturing and export business. On the company’s 20th anniversary, Diane speaks with the EMA’s Nicholas Russell about the journey from a single prototype to large-scale production. Brolly Sheets grew from a home and garage-based operation into a major exporter with international manufacturing partners. Tell us about your expansion journey. Diane Hurford: I started working with James, who runs a small countryside factory in China, almost 20 years ago. I actually found James on Alibaba. I contacted a number of manufacturers and received plenty of responses, but James stood out because he clearly understood the product and the manufacturing process. Back then, Alibaba was a much smaller platform and there were real risks. Anyone could create a profile, so there was no guarantee you were dealing with a legitimate business. I was lucky to find someone I could trust. At the time, James worked for a larger manufacturer. As our relationship developed, he made the decision to leave and start his own company, with Brolly Sheets as his very first customer. Today, his business manufactures products for companies around the world, and we’re still working together. That first trip to China to meet James was nerve-wracking – meeting a stranger at the airport and driving three hours to a hotel in a different town. It proved worthwhile. James and I have built our businesses together ever since, and we alternate visits each year. It’s a genuine friendship. Your products are designed in New Zealand but manufactured offshore. What led you to that decision? A […]

Stop managing outcomes, start managing behaviour

Your culture is the operating system driving those results — whether you measure it or not Ask a room of manufacturing leaders whether culture matters and every hand goes up. Ask them how they measure it, or when they last deliberately intervened in it — and the hands come down. Fast. We all agree culture is important. We just treat it as weather — something that happens to us, that we try to improve with a team lunch or new values on the wall — rather than as a system we designed, maintain, and are accountable for. David Altena has 30 years of tech industry experience and is a founding director of The Better SMB Limited.david@altena.solutions. Culture isn’t what you say. It’s what people actually do, every day when no one is watching. Not the values document, the behaviour. If you want to know your culture, watch what gets tolerated. Rob Bull, Director of the New Zealand Lean Academy. rob@nzla.nz Culture is the collective behaviour of people in an organisation — not the values on the wall (Schein, 2009). The values on the wall problem Somewhere in our journey, New Zealand businesses fell in love with values statements. Integrity. Innovation. People First. They appear in reception areas, on websites, in job ads. A new operator starts on the floor and within a fortnight understands exactly which values are real and which are decoration. Not because anyone told them — but because they watched. They watched how their manager handled a mistake. Who cleaned up to the agreed standard at the end of the day. Whether the people who got promoted embodied the values or just hit the numbers regardless of how. Culture is transmitted through behaviour, not documents. Every decision a leader makes is a cultural signal. Whether they intended […]

Profile: Green Gorilla tells sustainability story that matches its impact

Green Gorilla has spent more than a decade challenging the idea that waste should simply be hauled away and buried. Since 2010, the 100% New Zealand-owned business has grown into a major waste and resource recovery operator, helping customers recover more materials, reduce landfill and take a more practical approach to circular economy outcomes. Working across construction and demolition, commercial and industrial waste, residential collections, multi-unit dwellings, compostable waste and green waste, Green Gorilla operates resource recovery facilities and transfer stations across Auckland, Waikato and Tauranga. Its aim is to maximise recovery, reuse and recycling so landfill becomes the last resort, not the first port of call. That approach has helped Green Gorilla build a strong position in New Zealand’s resource recovery sector. The company supports customers with waste audits and Toitū-verified diversion reporting, helping organisations understand where their waste is going and how they can improve. It also plays an important role in diverting construction and demolition waste from landfill, one of the major opportunities for improving resource efficiency in Aotearoa New Zealand. Building a framework for progress As Green Gorilla’s impact grew, the business saw an opportunity to bring its sustainability work together in a clearer way. The company already had strong activity underway across waste diversion, resource recovery, low-emissions operations, workforce development, health and safety, community support and customer reporting. What it needed was a framework that connected this work, reflected its purpose and helped customers, staff and partners understand where the company was heading. Green Gorilla partnered with sustainability firm thinkstep-anz to develop a sustainability strategy framework that could guide decisions, support reporting and communicate progress without overclaiming. The work combined sustainability strategy, copy writing and design, with Green Gorilla’s practical action at the centre. The process began with a review of Green Gorilla’s existing sustainability […]

Manufacturing’s automation moment is here – now comes the workforce challenge

Jo Verry, Senior Key Account Manager at industry training organisation, Competenz You lock up your warehouse at night, switch off the lights and press play on an autonomous drone. By morning, it has flown the aisles, scanned barcodes, completed stocktakes and delivered real-time inventory data before the first staff member arrives. For some manufacturers, that future isn’t coming – it’s already here. Having recently attended the MAKE NZ industry conference at the engineering and manufacturing show EMEX – alongside spending the past few months visiting manufacturing sites across New Zealand – I’ve had a front-row seat to how quickly technology is evolving. From collaborative robots (co-bots) on factory floors to increasingly sophisticated AI and automated systems in warehousing and distribution, one message came through consistently: the biggest shift isn’t machines replacing people. It’s that the people alongside those machines now need different skills. There is still a persistent narrative that technology equals job losses. But across manufacturing floors, warehouses and engineering workshops, the reality looks different. Across many manufacturing environments, technology is changing jobs faster than it is removing them. Take robotic welding. A robot may handle repetitive work, but it still needs someone who understands welding quality, tolerances, and outcomes. Visit a distribution centre, and you’ll see technology moving stock, but humans still analysing outputs, monitoring systems and solving problems when things go wrong. Are the robots ready to fly solo? Recently, I visited a manufacturer trialling a machine designed to automatically pick up boxes, stack pallets and shrink-wrap them. Impressive? Absolutely. Faster than the person standing next to it? Not even close. The lesson is simple: technology still needs people. Technology is not a procurement decision – it’s a workforce project The strongest manufacturing investments happen when conversations about technology and workforce capability start early. If new technology, […]

Why the most valuable asset in your plant isn’t on the balance sheet

-Mike Warmington, Director, Platform 1 As the owner you can be the most valuable asset in the business. Manufacturing companies focus on equipment, inventory, capacity, and productivity. All are very important to success, however what is often overlooked is that a key asset is the systemisation and transferability of the owner’s knowledge, relationships, decision-making, and leadership. Most manufacturing businesses have two production systems: The visible system Equipment ERP systems Production schedules Inventory The invisible system Supplier relationships Customer trust IP Staff loyalty Problem-solving experience The invisible asset often lives predominantly inside the owners head. Don’t become the operating system of your business. Many owners go to their trusted accountant and focus mainly on getting their books in order prior to an exit. Of course that is important, however generally a lot less focus goes into preparing for transfer of relationships, authority, decision-making, customer ownership and leadership. A transfer-ready business attracts interested people regardless of what your proposed method of exit is. The more indispensable the owner becomes, the harder succession becomes. The best manufacturing exits aren’t always achieved by an immediate exit either. Some owners exit gradually ,bring in future leadership and transfer over time to a structured plan. The result is often higher value and greater legacy preservation. Whatever option you decide on, there is a difference between owning your business and being your business if you want to create long term value. Email:mikewarmington@platform1.co.nz

Pressure equipment in practice – Pressure Equipment Workshop 2026

4th September 2026 – Novotel Lakeside, Rotorua New Zealand’s manufacturing and engineering sectors are operating in a period of rapid change, where productivity, compliance, skills, and technology are all moving at once. For many businesses, the challenge is not simply keeping pace, but making sound decisions in an environment where expectations continue to rise, the margin for error is narrow and budgets are tight. Within the pressure equipment sector, that challenge is sharpened further by a demanding regulatory environment, where operators and engineers must balance practical performance, safety, and assurance while adapting to evolving expectations. Against that backdrop, the pressure equipment industry will gather in Rotorua on 4 September for this year’s conference, bringing together practitioners, speakers, and industry leaders to explore the issues shaping the sector now and into the future. The workshop is designed as a place for the industry to come together to exchange ideas, test assumptions, and compare notes on the realities of pressure equipment design, operation, inspection, and regulation. That is what gives the event its value: not just the formal presentations, but the collective knowledge that emerges when people working in the same field share experience openly. Judgement and codes The keynote, Where Codes End and Judgement Begins, captures the central idea running through the programme. Dr. Charles “Chuck” Becht IV draws on more than four decades of engineering practice to reflect on the limits of codes and standards, and the importance of professional judgement where the written rules do not provide a complete answer. That is a particularly relevant message for a sector like pressure equipment, where compliance is essential but rarely sufficient on its own. Real plants, real operating conditions, and real defects often demand interpretation, experience, and a system-level view, and Dr. Becht will present a range of case studies from his […]

Connecting the dots

David Altena has 30 years of tech industry experience and is a founding director of The Better SMB Limited. david@altena.solutions Rob Bull, Director of the New Zealand Lean Academy rob@nzla.nz Connecting The Dots Everyone’s busy, capable and pulling in different directions Most manufacturers know what they need to do, but they’re doing it in pieces, with strategy, people and operations moving separately instead of together. The result is a growing list of sensible initiatives, moving in different directions and quietly cancelling each other out. We have explored several of the pressures facing New Zealand manufacturers – the cost of doing nothing, the investment gap many businesses create for themselves and the disciplines that separate the top performers from the rest. For some, that may have translated into a familiar feeling: we know what could be better here. The harder question is this: are those improvements connected inside your business, or are they sitting in different conversations, owned by different people, progressing at different speeds? Because when effort isn’t aligned, even good decisions create friction. The business stays busy, capable people work hard – and progress stalls. Direction without traction Most manufacturers have a strategy of some sort, even if it lives largely in the owner’s head. There is usually a clear sense of where to take the business, what needs to change and what success should look like. The problem is not ambition. It’s translation. Strategy often moves in one direction, while day‑to‑day decisions move in another. It doesn’t change what gets reviewed weekly, what leaders spend their time on, or what behaviours are rewarded or tolerated. The strategic intent exists, but it never reaches the work. When that happens, people make sensible decisions based on local priorities, not enterprise direction. No one […]

Keeping Southland Opportunity in Southland Hands

As Southland attracts increasing investment and larger projects begin to emerge across the region, Southland-based agency Naked Creative is encouraging businesses to consider whether they are positioned to capitalise on the opportunities ahead. Here comes Tender Ready! The agency, which has long championed regional development and the success of Southland businesses, believes the region’s greatest opportunity lies in ensuring local companies are ready to compete for the work generated on their doorstep. While the agency supports businesses throughout New Zealand, founder Carla Forbes says Southland’s success remains deeply personal. “We are fiercely proud of Southland and the businesses that call this region home. “We’ve spent years working alongside companies that are delivering exceptional work. We know the capability exists here.” “As Southland attracts investment and larger opportunities begin to emerge, we want to make sure local businesses are in the strongest possible position to secure that work. “The last thing we’d like to see is opportunities arriving in Southland only for that work to leave the region because local businesses weren’t ready to compete for it.” According to Senior Marketing Consultant Charlotte Neilson, the conversation has little to do with marketing in the traditional sense. “This is about regional development. We want Southland businesses to win the work. We want Southland businesses to benefit from the investment flowing into our region. The capability already exists. The challenge is making sure decision makers can see it.” Tender Ready Senior Marketing Consultant, Charlotte Neilson (left) and Director, Carla Forbes (right), discussing the Tender-Ready launch. The agency has launched a new programme called Tender Ready following conversations with business owners across Southland. While every business was different, the question was often the same. Does the way we present ourselves reflect the quality of the business we’ve built? “One of the privileges of our […]

Science reform: The missing link in NZ’s manufacturing productivity puzzle ?

The Problem We Have Been Ignoring By Sean Doherty, Manufacturing Commentator | NZ Industry Trends Ask any manufacturer about their biggest constraints and the answers are familiar: energy costs, skilled labour, margin pressure, and global competition from economies with far greater scale. What rarely comes up is New Zealand’s persistent underinvestment in the science and technology that lifts productivity. That gap is real. New Zealand’s total R&D investment sits at around 1.5% of GDP, well below the OECD average of 2.7%, and business investment is under 1%, among the lowest in the developed world. This shortfall is estimated to account for up to a third of our productivity gap. But this isn’t just about how much we spend. It’s also about how well manufacturing and science connect. When that link is weak, research struggles to reach the factory floor and manufacturers miss out on practical solutions. When it works, the gains are clear: better products, improved materials, and performance that carries through to export outcomes and productivity gains. All of this sits against a broader shift. Manufacturing’s share of GDP has halved since 2004, and close to 60% of what remains is concentrated in dairy, meat, food, and timber processing. These sectors matter, but focusing most of our limited science effort there won’t deliver the step change in productivity or living standards we’ll need. At best, it sustains incremental gains in mature industries. If we want a different trajectory, the focus has to shift toward building new capability, not just reinforcing what we already do well. What the 2026 Science Reforms Change The Government’s Science Investment Plan 2026–2036 is the most significant restructure of New Zealand’s research system in more than a decade. It also chooses a clear mission based focus and puts commercial outcomes as key objectives. Seven Crown […]

Moving a food manufacturing business: Lessons from Old Country Food

From June issue NZ Manufacturer magazine Family-owned Auckland manufacturer Old Country Food is one of New Zealand’s largest Asian food producers, making more than two million steamed buns and about 15 million dumplings annually for supermarkets, hospitality businesses and specialty retailers across the country. Founded more than 35 years ago by immigrants from Hong Kong, the business has evolved through several groups of Asian ownership before CEO Dr Amy Sevao’s family bought into the company in 2015. Its food philosophy reflects that journey. The business originally specialised in Cantonese-style dim sums before northern Chinese expertise refined its dough-making techniques. Taiwanese influences later shaped the product range, while a distinctly Kiwi approach to ingredients and flavour helped transform the business into a modern Asian fusion manufacturer. “When I took over, I brought in Kiwi executive chef Cameron Knox to rethink the recipes,” says Amy. “The goal was to create a distinctly New Zealand flavour profile: cleaner, simpler and more ingredient led. That really became part of our identity.” That innovation-led approach has helped Old Country Food grow despite difficult trading conditions across the food manufacturing sector recently. The company was behind the launch of the world’s first hāngī steamed buns, a Māori and Asian fusion product that sold out nationwide and has just launched a new dumpling range specifically designed for air fryers. In 2025, Old Country Food moved from its premises from Henderson to a customised 800sqm North Shore facility. Amy says the move to a larger, more efficient factory has been central to the company’s next stage of growth, allowing it to streamline operations, reduce costs and double production capacity. Old Country Food has been an EMA Member for nearly two years and the team took a tour of the facility recently. The EMA’s Nicholas Russell sat down with […]

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