FY22 AGM held ahead of the first nationally celebrated Matariki

HERA’s AGM was held last week which celebrated the achievements of our mahi across FY22.

Auspiciously, it was held the day before Matariki which acknowledges and celebrates those gone before us, brings together people to reflect on the past year, and heralds  plans for the future – all things that underpinned the AGM.

Attended by several HERA members, we overviewed FY22 which was a strong year for heavy engineering with building and construction remaining very strong despite skills shortages and disruptions from Covid-19.

Our team also delved into our big focuses on applications of Industry 4.0 to construction and fabrication, sustainability, and structural design support.

This years’ annual report covers these achievements.

Board updates

The governance of HERA is made possible by a unique blend of industry leaders who ensure we always act in the best interest of the heavy engineering and steel industry of Aotearoa. Our team would like to thank our Board for their continued support and contributions to our mahi.

Moving into the financial year, we’d like to advise that Ben Jensen will no longer be serving on the board as he looks to pursue other opportunities. We’d like to thank him for his valued contributions to the board and financial committee that he has provided – his view points will be missed. In his replacement, will be our former CEO Wolfgang Scholz.

We’d also like to announce the secondment of Jane Warren, Yvonne Chan, and Darren O’Riley for another year.

To view our current board, click here.

Key announcements

We have been able to respond well to continued lockdowns as a result of our change to digital delivery of our services in FY2021. This has allowed us to meet the high demand for HERA training and certification through online courses.

We have continued to invest in Industry 4.0 capability with continuing fit-out of our Fab4.0Lab, investing and fostering some of the key research projects, along with progressing our Innovation Centre’s development in collaboration with the HERA foundation. We have also commissioned an investigation of productivity benefits associated with the construction of sectors adoption of Industry 4.0.

We also invested in the development of structural fire engineering capability with the appointment of Fanquin Meng in a permanent role. This research we will continue to invest in and develop.

Our Sustainability Fund projects have enabled us to be positioned as an innovative thought leader for our industry. The projects include the creation of the first material passport in Australasia and the development of the zero carbon steel program (to be launched in FY2023). We have also demonstrated that steel is a leader in Aotearoa’s circular economy and that there are significant carbon equivalent emissions reductions arising from steel recycling. We now know the recycling rates of steel in building and construction waste are at a high, with an estimation of 85%.

This past financial year we also focused on bolstering our delivery of design guide support for our industry, which was what our members wanted us to focus on more.

CEO outlook

All in all, the AGM was a success. With the exciting introduction of new projects, initiatives, and celebration of this past year’s success. We are passionate about furthering the heavy engineering field here in Aotearoa and becoming pioneer innovators. Our goals for the forthcoming year align with:

• sustainability, where we have plans to develop a range of offerings. This includes Australasia’s first material passport for steel, a number of presentations to architects on our zero carbon steel program, use of our recycling report data to inform Module D considerations in carbon calculators, investigation of expanding steel design lifetimes, a range of industry and stakeholder training, and a goal to achieve 6 star greenstar accreditation for the HERA Innovation Centre;
• Industry 4.0, with the further expansion of our Fab4.0Lab facilities, and expansion of our research capabilities in Construction 4.0, Health and Safety 4.0 and
  Monitoring 4.0;
• positioning HERA as a key contributor to thought leadership and media commentary in both the manufacturing and building/construction sectors so we are able to highlight the significant role steel plays in these areas;
• mātauranga Māori capability development for our industry, so we can be genuine cultural partners in Aotearoa. We believe this will benefit our industry to better align with an increased focus on the Māori economy and iwi partnership in Government policy, legislation, funding and procurement models;
• improving member engagement, through increased support for students, improved member communications and greater relevance of HERA activities; and
• continued structural fire focuses, following our work in FY22 to start building this capability.