LEAN MANUFACTURING

Two Factories, One Economy

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 […]

Building psychologically safe, high-performance cultures: Why ISO 45003 matters for NZ manufacturing

From December issue, NZ Manufacturer www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz Theresa Grainger, General Manager, The Lean Hub Every manufacturing site I visit, whether it is a busy factory floor or a small specialised workshop, I believe has one universal truth and that is that people want to feel valued, supported, and safe to share their ideas and do meaningful work. This is where ISO 45003 adds real value, released in 2021 as the world’s first global standard dedicated to managing psychosocial risks and it has become increasingly relevant as organisations recognise that wellbeing and high performance go hand in hand. Building on the foundation established by ISO 45001, ISO 45003 extends workplace safety into an area many organisations still find challenging to define and measure: the mental, emotional, and social conditions of work. It provides guidance for creating environments where people can not only perform well but genuinely thrive. At its core, ISO 45003 is about both preventing harm and protecting workers from psychosocial risks before they escalate. It encourages organisations to take a proactive approach, identifying early warning signs and addressing the root causes of stress or conflict, and designing work environments that reduce the likelihood of harm. The standard offers not just compliance guidance, but a roadmap for building resilient, high-performing and people-centric operations. Personally, this is where it really resonates for me, I love what it represents because it speaks to something I have witnessed again and again in my work: when we design workplaces around people, when we honour their wellbeing, their voices, and their value, the entire organisation lifts. It is also deeply aligned with the principles of Lean and Continuous Improvement, at its heart, Lean isn’t just about eliminating waste, it is about creating environments where people can collaborate openly, feel safe to speak up and bring their […]

Innovation Stalled

Why the Crown Research Shake-Up is at least a 2-Year Setback In a year where New Zealand’s productivity crisis is finally getting some airtime, the government has managed to stall one of our most important levers for change: innovation. The Crown Research Institute (CRI) reforms were supposed to turbocharge commercialisation and collaboration. Instead, we’ve ended up with a bureaucratic limbo. Restructuring science funding in theory might make sense, but not if it pulls the handbrake on actual innovation for two years while the dust settles. The timing couldn’t be worse. David Altana, Head of Growth & Partnerships at SmartSpace.ai & Co-Founder & Host of The Better SMB Podcast. david@altena.solutions While other nations are doubling down on R&D to fuel economic transformation, New Zealand is in danger of drifting further into irrelevance. We’re already ten years behind our OECD peers on technology adoption. Now, with innovation policy in flux, the few Kiwi companies ready to lead from the front are left waiting for clarity, funding and alignment. Rob Bull, Director of the New Zealand Lean Academy. rob@nzla.nz To understand why this matters, we need to be clear on the difference between innovation, R&D and technology adoption. Innovation is about exploring better ways to lift organisational performance. That a bold business model shift, or solving a customer problem in a novel way. It’s the spark that drives progress. R&D is what fuels that spark. It’s the deliberate investment of time, moneyand expertise to develop the ideas that underpin innovation. It can live inside universities, CRIs, or businesses themselves, but without it, our ideas run shallow. Technology adoption is how we bring it all to life. It’s the moment we take those R&D outcomes or global innovations and embed them into how we actually work. This is where New Zealand, historically, has […]

Leadership From the Top

How Government Must Reflect What It Asks of Business Stop Pointing Fingers, Start Holding Mirrors If you’re a business leader in New Zealand, you’ve likely heard it all before: “Lift your productivity, innovate faster, create higher-wage jobs, be more sustainable, upskill your workforce. David Altena is Head of Growth & Partnerships at SmartSpace.ai & Co-Founder of The Better SMB Podcast. david@altena.solutions Rob Bull is Director & Principal Consultant at Plexus Consultant & Co-Founder & Host of The Better SMB Podcast. rob@nzla.nz These are worthy goals. But it’s time we asked a tough question in return: Are our public institutions holding themselves to the same standard they expect from us? Leadership isn’t about titles, it’s about accountability, starting at the top. If the private sector is expected to do the hard work of transformation, then the public sector must model what good leadership looks like: clarity, consistency and execution. The Double Standard Holding Us Back Manufacturers are told to build systems, measure progress and lead their teams intentionally. We’re expected to set targets, empower people and stay the course through uncertainty. Yet across public policy, we too often see the opposite: Strategies without metrics Funding without follow-through Agencies working in silos Change driven by election cycles, not national interest It’s no wonder productivity has flatlined for decades. The truth is, we don’t just have a business performance problem, we have a systems leadership problem. Businesses are being challenged to grow up, digitise and collaborate. Isn’t it time government did the same? The Easy Button Problem In the private sector, lifting performance means innovating delivery models, rethinking processes and doing more with less. If we make poor decisions, we lose customers. If we waste resources, we destroy value. But in government, too often the first response is to reach for what […]

Have you optimised your asset care strategy?

-Ian Walsh, Partner, Argon & Co NZ It’s great to see the recent government announcements allowing additional tax deduction for new assets, which will encourage business to invest in plants and equipment to help drive productivity. These are all a step in the right direction for making New Zealand’s manufacturing sector more competitive on a global stage. With that said, any investment should be reviewed in terms of the cost and benefit, and the overall business case for making it. When I worked in Japan the approach taken was to drive efficiency and productivity until you had exhausted the potential of your existing assets. The aim was to get the absolute maximum possible out of all the equipment and space available, and only then to invest in extra capacity. This led to a relentless focus on efficiency and debottlenecking to get the most reliable, most productive assets. I remember a conversation I had with a production manager at one of these Japanese plants. He explained to me how he disliked new equipment, as “the first day was the worst day”, and it got better after that. He preferred older equipment because “we know everything about it and how to run it highly efficiently”. This is interesting to compare with more ‘Western’ approaches where we assume that new equipment is at its best on its first day and then we depreciate it, because it’s deteriorating and will only perform worse from then! The difference is that the better performing factories don’t only invest in new capital when they need capacity (or to meet an innovation need); they invest in the total asset. This includes how it is commissioned, optimising it for its role, how it is run, how it’s maintained, care for its individual parts, how people are trained to operate […]

Is your value network world class?

Over the last 40 years I have seen significant change in how manufacturing businesses compete. We have moved through the quality revolution which brought new expectations around quality and cost, to the lean revolution and associated methodologies delivering better service, value and reduced costs. Businesses then shifted their focusses onto supply chain optimisation, bringing end-to-end thinking. Their approaches moved from comparing their business models with their competitors’, to comparing their supply chains. Top performing supply chains became enabled by ERPs, and are now enabled by value networks, no longer in point-to-point structures but integrated webs of suppliers and partners delivering products and services seamlessly through a multitude of channels. Of course, the rapidly increasing deployment of AI further fuels optimisation and connectedness in these supply chains. At the root of this change in manufacturing are constantly moving market-led goalposts for how businesses better deliver what the end customer wants, when they want it, at the lowest cost possible. Understanding this value equation and then aligning their service delivery model to meet and exceed this expectation better than competition is what separates the wheat from the chaff, and industry leaders are doing this at the most competitive cost to maximise their margins. Very few, if any, businesses can do all of this by themselves. Generally, larger businesses with more scale, buying power, and connections have more capability than SMEs. However, interconnected SMEs can create highly efficient clusters which can compete with anyone and be highly agile and scalable. As we know NZ has a high proportion of SMEs and this presents both an opportunity and a risk. The opportunity is that we can create high-value clusters and that can be highly agile, integrated and capable of delivering high-value products and services through multiple channels to customers around the world. We certainly […]

No More Excuses: Manufacturers Need to Lead NZ Productivity Shift

From March issue NZ Manufacturer magazine www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz By David Altena and Rob Bull Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-better-smb/ David Altena is Head of Growth & Partnerships | SmartSpace.ai Co-Founder | The Better SMB Podcast Rob Bull is Director & Principal Consultant at Plexus Consultant & Co-Founder & Host of The Better SMB Podcast New Zealand’s productivity crisis has dragged on for decades, waiting hasn’t worked. Our productivity lags other OECD nations, with clear consequences: stagnant wages, reduced competitiveness, declining living standards, weak business investment, an over-reliance on commodities and low-value industries. We work longer and harder, not smarter. The Treasury has called it our biggest economic challenge, yet we continue to treat it as an abstract problem rather than an urgent, business-led priority. The Numbers Don’t Lie To make any meaningful progress and catch our peers, businesses en masse must focus actively on performance improvement. Even with that level of action and momentum, it would still take three to five years before we begin seeing national productivity improvements. To achieve this, we’re not talking about “some manufacturing businesses” making incremental improvements. We need to redefine New Zealand’s economic landscape… According to Statistics NZ (2023) there are ~ 23,000 NZ manufacturing businesses. For meaningful change we need 15,000 manufacturers, or two-thirds, to make this their top priority for the next five years. Why Government Targets Won’t be Enough Our government has set ambitious targets spanning: Doubling exports Improving R&D Strengthening skills Reducing crime rates Improved healthcare Focusing on sustainability But these span every sector and shift with the political cycle. While government policy provides a foundation, it’s not enough. Business leaders must take charge. Without individual businesses improving their performance, national productivity will remain stagnant. What if prioritising productivity delivered more impact than today’s scattergun approach? Without productivity gains, even billions in […]

From Survive to Thrive: FMCG Strategies for Growth and Profitability in 2025

From NZ Manufacturer magazine, February 2025. Chris Foord, Partner, Argon & Co New Zealand As we look forward to 2025 the outlook for business and NZ are improving. Many businesses in 2024 were focused on the “survive till 2025” mindset, controlling costs and avoiding discretionary spend. Very few though forgot about the consumer/customer and the need to continue to serve, surprise and delight with excellent product, service and pricing. Most FMCG businesses will be looking to return to better margin positions in 2025 and indications are favourable that this is achievable. The inflation beast has been tamed, so interest rates have fallen and are predicted to drop further (albeit not by a huge amount) through 2025. Business sentiment is on the rebound. Consumer confidence is at its highest level for two years, which in turn improves business confidence. Whilst the signs are positive, navigating from the survival mindset to a thrive mindset doesn’t happen without intent. So, what are some helpful tips to consider as FMCG businesses transition into what should be a period of growth, and importantly how to create value and embed sustainable profitability. Here are some areas to consider and explore: Align operations to execute your business strategy Plan to drive profitable growth Unlock, deliver and celebrate quick wins Create and embed a continuous improvement culture AI: Proof of Value Align operations to execute your business strategy Operations is where the rubber hits the road for your business strategy. Are your operational teams involved in the key decisions as you launch new products, drive innovation, review range, pricing and promotional plans? If not, they should be. They operationalise strategy, plans and tactics into reality. Get them onboard early and you will realise value faster and more effectively. Plan to drive profitable growth Continue your focus on productivity. […]

Don’t change for Lean’s sake

Change for your own business growth. There is no doubt that lean thinking is driving massive changes in manufacturing processes worldwide. It lies at the heart of measurable improvements in quality, reliability and performance. What lean is not, however, is a magic formula that solves manufacturing issues in one easy application. Businesses that announce they are ‘going lean’ are missing the point. Lean principles work best when they are applied in pursuit of specific business goals rather than grand, general initiatives. In other words, use them first to tackle the main problems that stop your company getting where it wants to be. The truth of this is underlined by the work of a producer of gas turbines and generation packages. Part of a famous international engineering group, its products were excellent, its workforce skilled, and it had recently had good capital investment. So where was the problem? Quite simply, the company was risking missing out on a huge market opportunity unless it could shorten its lead times and increase throughput and productivity fast. Within the next 25 years, it is expected that the volume of new equipment installed will equal today’s entire installed capacity. The company needed a new way of manufacturing to meet its goal – a large share of an expanding market. Facing the issues The company was realistic about its current situation: its processes and performance were variable and unpredictable. It wasn’t getting the volumes it wanted nor realizing the potential of its existing capacity. There was also little visibility of information at both shopfloor and at management level. Lead times were measured in double digit months; its target was the same number in weeks. It was also carrying far too much work in progress (WIP) with idle inventory stacked up behind bottlenecks across the shopfloor. Clearly, this […]

Pragmatic steps for Lean success

In recent conversations with manufacturing and service industry leaders, lean managers discussed problems they face as they work to advance operational excellence in their organizations. The sticky issues will likely come as no surprise; they include ones most of us are already aware of and have encountered for years: Lack of real engagement with top leadership Difficulty sustaining a process focus. No consistent systems for developing talent from within. As one lean manager put it: “The main problems are internal in nature; for example, real engagement of the top levels of the organisation to support and realise the value of operational excellence; and the adoption of process thinking and structured problem solving as opposed to traditional functional approaches and cost-cutting.” Ironically, these same issues are key requirements for sustaining lean initiatives, but they were raised by managers in the context of a question about problems they encounter that fall outside the scope of their lean or operational excellence initiatives. Moreover, process focus and development of internal talent are elements that the initiative itself should be designed to address. Here are several pragmatic approaches lean leaders can follow to counteract these problems, working within the purview and scope of their improvement efforts: Re-Examine the values behind your lean efforts Typical rationales driving operational excellence initiatives include things like cost reduction, improving efficiency and effectiveness, and even propelling growth. You might figure thatÕs just obvious. Yet the impetus for your initiative can have a telling effect on the outcomes you achieve over the long term. ItÕs not a bad idea to dig a bit deeper and re-examine the big ideas that are driving you forward. Technical improvements and results can be powerful, but the ability to sustain comes from the social or cultural changes in the organization, which don’t happen quickly. While […]

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