We’re pleased to announce that the Heavy Engineering Research Levy Notice 2018 has now been published and listed on the legislation.govt.nz website.
This means a levy increase from 5c to 10c per kilogram of welding consumables is due to come into effect on 1 February 2019.
We want to thank everyone who responded to our consultation process. We received 104 responses, where more than 90% of respondents supported the increase.
It certainly acknowledges our contribution to our industry’s future and inspires us to keep pushing for the benefit of you all.
Our plans to address consultation feedback raised
During the consultation process we received a lot of feedback from you all, and you might be wondering what will come of it all.
Well don’t worry, because we carefully considered it – as it quite crucially it told us what you thought we’re doing well, weren’t doing well, and what we need to do more of. As a result we’ve made the below plans to address them.
One.
Helping you gain the right skills for the needs of your business.
We’ll continue to work with IIW to deliver high value training courses such as Welding Inspector and Supervisor. Additional training schemes such as International Welding Specialist (IWS) will also be introduced, as well as the development of blended learning training options (a mix of online and in-class training).
Two.
Developing, meeting and maintaining high industry standards.
We’ll collaborate with COMPETENZ to introduce NZQF Level 5 welding fabrication related qualifications (especially around the development of the SFC scheme, AS/NZS 5131 and AS 4458 (which calls for clear career path options for fabrication staff).
Three.
Facilitating connection, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
We’ll support the transition of advanced design and analysis methods for computation and evaluation of welded joints. Setting up an international expert group in collaboration with world renowned Prof Pingsha Dong from the University of Michigan, USA.
We’ll also explore the recruitment of a new senior welding engineer to expand our ability to provide technical guidance and training to you.
Four.
Making it clear that NZ fabricated steel products are the safest building material choice for seismic events.
We’ll extend our successful seismic welding program in cooperation with Prof Charles Clifton, UoA.
This will look to optimise welded joint details for critical seismic connections so they’re more cost effective and performs well in-situ.
Five.
Supporting and celebrating innovation within the metals industry.
We’re establishing a new capability in automation, with our Welding Research Engineer Holger Heinzel heading to Australia today to start training!
Moving forward we’ll be offering automation assessments – having already created a new Automation Innovation Hub to aid this work.
Six.
Driving success through the development of pipeline opportunities.
We’re looking to review and develop welding-fabrication capabilities within our membership for companies keen to service the defence industry supply chain.
There’s huge opportunities here due to Australia’s $200 billion dollar investment in defence capability over the next decade – and we want our members poised to take advantage of it!
Seven.
Demonstrating steel is a safe and low risk building solution for future bridge designs.
We’ll be identifying opportunities to increase the use of steel /welding consumables in coastal bridge applications.
Evaluating performance of coastal weathering steels in New Zealand’s environment to give potential users confidence in NZ fabricated steel for transport infrastructure.
Eight.
Providing cutting edge knowledge to help solve your problems.
We’ll upgrade our training facilities to increase efficiency of the training process and introduce advanced welding techniques, testing methods and systems.
This will involve technology such as augmented reality to align our offerings with the Industry 4.0 concept.
Stepping up for our SME’s
We want to provide greater transparency on our levy projects and a pathway for members to propose R&D projects through our panel process. However, one comment we constantly received was that many felt we’re focused on the “bigger players” only.
To address this, we’ll introduce the following to boost our SME members ability to leverage our support:
- Provide greater help to achieve compliance with applicable standards framework and attain a higher standard in welding productivity and quality management.
- Deliver technical support to SMEs welding fabricators to achieve compliance with AS/NZS 5131 and Steel Fabricator Carbonification (SFC) CC2 through our SFC Beginners training workshops. These have already proved very popular with our Auckland February intake already fully booked, and a few spaces only still available for our March workshop in Christchurch! Secure your spot quickly if you’re interested!
- Deliver technical support to SMEs welding fabricators to achieve compliance with AS/NZS 5131 and Steel Fabricator Carbonification (SFC) CC2 through our SFC Beginners training workshops. These have already proved very popular with our Auckland February intake already fully booked, and a few spaces only still available for our March workshop in Christchurch! Secure your spot quickly if you’re interested!
- Trial of the Quick Wins program, where SMEs can propose smaller R&D projects to address common problems being experienced by all.
So as you can see, we’ve got a lot planned for 2019 and beyond – and its all focused on supporting you to succeed both locally and offshore.
Again, thank you to everyone for their support of HERA, and engagement in the consultation process.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.
Update shared by our General Manager Welding Centre Dr Michail Karpenko