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When a new business opportunity seems too overwhelming to take, simply walking away can’t be your go to option. You need the right support to help navigate your way to success.

The world is changing rapidly, and so too the heavy engineering metals industry.  Now, more than ever – the risk of ‘not taking competitive risk’ will be the future downfall of many.

At HERA, our goal is to guide our members through this process – adding value along the way.

 

Supporting and celebrating innovation

Our heavy engineering and manufacturing industry is under continuous pressure – resulting in many companies downsizing or going bust over the years. Add to this emerging disruptions through new technologies such as automation, AI, and Industry 4.0, and it’s easy to see the future sustainability of our industry is under threat.

However, implementing new innovation capability to overcome these challenges, is easier said than done – especially when no simple solutions exist. That’s why we’re working hard to connect our members with the understanding to make positive change focused on lean start up methodology, as well as the tools, and support to apply them into their operations seamlessly.

As your catalyst for change – we make it our business to understand what you’re doing now, so you can understand what your future can be.

Engage more with our team

Attend our Innovation READY, SET, GO leadership program

Prepare for your future!

Based on lean start up principles it’s an ideal vehicle to inspire entrepreneurship within your company so you can stop wasting time, maximise success and get products to market faster or more efficient processes implemented.

Train a next generation of innovation managers for your company or become one yourself – by connecting with high quality presenters who will connect you with the theory, concepts and strategy required to help take your ideas to the next level and convert them into reality!

By the end of the program you’ll have the valuable skills necessary to better commercialise process or product innovation for greater productivity. It’ll also make you eligible to take advantage of our Business Research via our Innovation SET and GO programs.

Here our research outcomes, tools and support will be focused on helping you put your Innovation READY learnings into practice – by progressing an actual product or process idea you have through the commercialisation process.

Register for the course here, or contact Kim Nugent for a chat.

Join our innovation clusters and keep your finger on the pulse

We’re developing out a range of emerging innovation cluster opportunities so we’re able to coordinate services for like-minded members.

So far, creating an Automation and Defence Innovation Cluster following membership interest signaled in these areas.

These clusters will be focused on areas identified as holding significant opportunity for our members to take advantage of. It will be our role to connect the dots, by providing assistance to link these groups to prime contractors, international expertise, training and network programs or similar.

Currently, we’re looking to establish Innovation Clusters in:

  • Human Resources – to address the challenges industry is facing with the growing skill gaps,
  • Design – to faciliate connection with international experts in this field to advance weld design and drive innovative thinking in this space,
  • Pre-fabrication –  to explore how steel construction can reduce its materials waste, time delays and health and safety risk,
  • Smart materials – to understand how steel as a material can be enhanced to offer greater benefits to users,
  • Blockchain – to determine a methodology to offer greater traceability of steel,
  • Internet of things (IoT) – to find out how we can better connect processes and systems together to operate more efficiently and increase productivity, and
  • Digital content – to recognise how we can promote our industry more effectively as an industry, and embrace social media platforms to do this.

 

Interested in joining any of these Innovation Clusters? Have an idea of another potential Innovation Cluster we could form?

Contact Kim Nugent

Be part of the build of our Innovation Centre

Help create our purpose built innovation centre at HERA!

In 2020 we’ll be kicking off the construction of our purpose-built innovation centre focused squarely on the metals industry.

This centre will be dedicated to helping our members stay on the cutting edge. Offering a framework for exploration and creativity to achieve a specific outcome in creating new products, entering new markets, and improving culture and employee engagement. We envision an interactive space that will allow demonstration of new technologies, collaborative innovation thinking, hackathons and brainstorming sessions, state of the art training and more.

 

Help make this vision a reality – and step up to be a partner.

Find out more about our Innovation Centre plans and how you can get involved.

Our R&D projects

Business research program - Innovation SET & GO!

We’ve teamed up with innovation and entrepreneurship experts at the University of Auckland Business School to address the key barriers to innovation and commercialisation in our sector.

Our Innovation SET & GO program carries on from Innovation READY – to help participants apply the tools learnt in this space to real industrial problems. Developing their skills along the way to commercialise products, services and processes, with the ultimate goal to ensure our industry adopts a structured and validated innovation process.

This program focuses on three key research areas:

  1. Identifying the barriers associated with commercialisation,
  2. Understanding the reactions of our members in addressing these barriers, and
  3. Assessing how our members respond to weak signals of disruption to their business.

Participants of this R&D program will be given expert assistance to commercialise a product, service or process idea they have. Where they’re able to leverage valuable insight from the key research areas to inform their approach, and gain mentoring in the application of tools to achieve meaningful outcomes.

To access this support, you must have attended our Innovation READY program, and have a strong intent and commitment to see this product, service or process idea through to completion.

 

Interested to be a Innovation SET & GO partner? Contact Kim Nugent