This month's comment is by HERA Chairman David Moore from Grayson Engineering
There is little doubt that over the last few years things have been getting tougher for heavy engineering in New Zealand. The trend in domestic procurement for projects has been increasingly moving towards ‘cheapest options’, often sourced from countries with lower standards than New Zealand. This squeezes margins and reduces the amount of money companies have to invest in research and development, and new plant and equipment. Conversely, strong export demand is developing for specialized fabricated products and many New Zealand engineering companies are increasingly looking for opportunities to compete in global markets.

Supporting this move, HERA organized a Trade Delegation to the UK which I was pleased to be part of. The mission was built around the opportunities emerging in the clean energy sector and included visiting the All Energy Conference and Tradeshow in Aberdeen, in Scotland.

We were able to meet with many leading researchers and companies who were developing clean technologies, and attended a number of networking events which were very valuable. It is exciting to be able to meet with companies who are keen to do business, and for my company Grayson Engineering, a variety of opportunities has presented themselves, including investment, joint ventures, access to new technologies, and new purchasing and supplier opportunities. 

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) provided a lot of support for delegates, including the use of a business centre for meetings at All Energy. I would like to thank Paul Tuckley of UKTI who is based in Auckland. Paul worked with HERA Industry Development Manager Nick Inskip to put together an excellent programme for delegates.

If you are looking for opportunities beyond New Zealand, nothing can replace actually going there and meeting people in person. I also came away with a much better understanding of just how seriously Europe is taking renewable energy and can see why the market is expanding so rapidly. Expanding markets provide great opportunities and there is no reason that we cannot participate in the growth.

Looking outward is considered the key path to higher value opportunities for New Zealand engineering companies and HERA’s adopted industry development strategy centers around this. Therefore HERA’s industry development activities will continue to support members by organizing trade delegations. I hope everyone who is thinking about offshore opportunities will be able to participate in future overseas trade delegations.