There’s something happening in Canterbury manufacturing that I think deserves celebrating. Over the past six months, through our partnership with Business Canterbury, I’ve had the privilege of meeting and talking with manufacturing leaders all across the region. Different businesses, different products, different challenges.
But one thing keeps standing out:
There’s a real appetite to push forward.
And after the challenges Kiwi manufacturers have faced over the past few years, that’s incredibly encouraging. Because while much of the national conversation continues to focus on economic uncertainty, rising costs, the ever-present productivity debate, and the pressures facing businesses, the conversations I’m having with Canterbury manufacturers feel different. They’re about growth. Opportunity. New technology. Developing leaders. Building stronger teams. And getting people ready for what’s coming next.
Now I’m not sitting here at my laptop suggesting Canterbury manufacturers have escaped the pressures facing the rest of the country. Far from it. But there’s a sense of momentum here I’m not seeing elsewhere. A willingness to look beyond today’s challenges and invest in tomorrow’s performance. And I reckon that’s worth talking about.
The manufacturers making different decisions
At the end of 2025, I wrote about the manufacturers who, despite an incredibly challenging year, had made the decision to keep investing in their people. Not because business was booming or because they had spare time or money. But because they recognised that waiting for conditions to improve wasn’t going to solve the performance challenges they were already facing. Twelve months on, and that message feels just as relevant. Across New Zealand, despite the challenges, we’ve seen manufacturers invest in building stronger frontline leadership, improving communication, developing the problem-solving capability, and preparing their people for increasingly digital workplaces.
We saw it everywhere:
- Lion invested in teams’ problem-solving capability and OEE improved
- Altus backed their leaders to own and solve problems and culture and collaboration lifted - this piece of work paid for itself 3X over
- Blue Star invested in developing 18 leaders, building the confi dence, commercial thinking and relationships needed to take the business forward. And I'll make a prediction: someone from that group will be leading Blue Star in the next decade. Mark my words.
- Tegel moved safety from reactive to proactive by growing rep capability
- Kraft Heinz built their leaders ahead of operational change
- Tasman Tanning, AFFCO, George Weston Foods, and Vitaco built performance skills. Their frontline teams now act earlier, make better decisions, solve problems faster, reduce waste, and speak up when performance is at risk
- And Christchurch manufacturers Foot Science International, Baker Boys and Argus ManuTech prepared their teams for digital transformation
They didn’t just chase more capacity. They built capability. And performance followed. What I find particularly encouraging is that many of these improvements started with ordinary people on the factory floor who, given the opportunity to learn and grow, began doing extraordinary things. People who had previously kept quiet started speaking up. People who waited for instructions began solving problems themselves. Leaders who spent their days firefighting started building teams capable of preventing those fires in the first place. They still have issues. Every site does, but they surface earlier, and teams move faster to correct them. Most importantly, they’re entering 2027 with momentum, while others are still getting off the starting blocks. That’s what learning can unlock.
Canterbury’s opportunity is bigger than a rebound
One of the things I’ve loved most about our first six months partnering with Business Canterbury is the openness of the manufacturing community here. Businesses have been generous of their time, honest about their challenges, and genuinely interested in the role people can play in driving performance. Increasingly, those conversations weren’t simply about fixing what’s broken.
They were about building what’s next.
How do we prepare our people for growth? How do we develop the next generation of leaders? How do we get more from the technology we're investing in? How do we build teams that can adapt as our businesses evolve?
These are exciting conversations to be having. Because growth brings its own challenges. More demand means more pressure on production. New technology demands new skills. Greater complexity requires better decisions. And as businesses grow, the leadership capability that got them this far isn’t necessarily what will take them further. The opportunity simply isn’t to grow production capacity. It’s to grow the capability of the people responsible for delivering it. You can’t do one without the other. And from what I'm seeing, Canterbury manufacturers are increasingly recognising that connection.
In 2027, the machines will matter. But it’s people who unlock their potential
Industry strategy is starting to catch up to what leading manufacturers already demonstrated: capability is shaping up as the most powerful lever for productivity.
One of The Learning Wave’s most fervent supporters, GM of Operations for Vitaco, Roger Scott says it best:
“Investing in capability isn’t separate from performance. It’s what enables it.”
Conversations have shifted. It’s no longer about finding people. It’s about helping the people already there perform differently. Problem-solving in real time, communicating under pressure, leading improvement, using digital tools, and analysing data.
The manufacturers who smash 2027 won’t see these things as waffly soft skills. They’ll see them as skills critical to the bottom line. And they’ll act.
The best bit? The government is ready to chip in with funding that is easy to access. We’ve given out millions of dollars in funding in 2026, and we’re ready to do the same in 2027.
Let’s make 2027 a year to build on
As we approach the end of 2026, I want to acknowledge the manufacturers across Canterbury who are backing their people and investing in their future.
Whether you’re a small manufacturer taking your fi rst steps in developing your frontline team, or a larger operation building leadership capability across multiple levels, those decisions matter. Because the businesses that thrive in 2027 won't necessarily be those with the biggest budgets, the newest equipment or the most ambitious growth plans. They'll be the ones whose people are capable of turning those ambitions into results. And that brings me back to Canterbury.
Six months ago, when The Learning Wave became Business Canterbury's Manufacturing Service Partner, I was excited about the opportunity to help more manufacturers unlock the potential of their people. What I didn't quite anticipate was just how much ambition, optimism, and willingness to invest I'd encounter along the way.
So as we look ahead to 2027, my encouragement is simple: keep backing your people. Keep creating opportunities for them to learn, grow, and contribute. And don’t underestimate what they’re capable of.
Because if there's one thing I've learned from my first six months in Canterbury, it's that the ambition is already here.
Now it's about building the capability to deliver it.
By Adam Harvey, The Learning Wave
