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2016 8 EMEX Bringing
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY The Future of Manufacturing.
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manufacturing home.
REGIONAL MANUFACTURING FDF after lucrative Chinese market.
31 May - 2 June 2016
A more useful model of tertiary education
The song remains the same
By Dieter Adam, CEO of the NZMEA Education is key to ensuring our people will be the best they can be and creating the most productive, capable and innovative economy we can. Human capital is just as important as any other input in a manufacturing business; if not the most important one. However, current research suggests that our return on investment in the tertiary sector is low compared to other OECD countries. Anecdotally, many businesses feel the reality of this when they have trouble filling skilled positions, and at times have to look overseas to find skills that just are not being delivered by the current system. The Productivity Commission is now looking into this problem and how new models of tertiary education could provide better outcomes. Generally, discussions about tertiary education can be dominated by established views and self-serving PR – it is great to see the Productivity Commission undertake a wide and data-driven examination. A root cause of the problems in our tertiary sector lies in its overarching focus on quantity over quality,
‘bums on seats’, in large part due to the funding policies that reward maximising the number of students enrolled, independent of what and how these students are doing. There is also a drive towards enrolling international students, which brings income to the institution and export revenue to the country, but can be driven by offering courses that attract large numbers of students and not necessarily what we need to grow our economy. Forecasts for domestic student numbers show a drop due to demographic factors. It is no coincidence that we currently hear a lot about the financial benefits of a university education, without real consideration for other options that may have better career pathways and opportunities, such as Polytech, trades or apprenticeship education.
New Zealand manufacturers are a sturdy, determined lot mostly pushing uphill against the surge of imported products that flood the country. Many of my conversations with them come down to this: We can’t make enough large volume products to be truly competitive with the same imported products. And imported products are difficult to compete against in price – not always quality.
ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Auckland
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Small run manufacturers from around the regions have been describing their competitive advantage, or more accurately, how to find it. This matters because everyone wants to be successful. No company in New Zealand supplies an order for 100,000 widgets because the market just isn’t here.
Many people will be better suited to a well-paid and rewarding career in manufacturing, but simply never see it as an option. The NZMEA has a role to play in changing perceptions –
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