Worker shortage forces look offshore

As labour shortages continue to bite, iconic Canterbury company HamiltonJet is considering moving some of its manufacturing offshore.

Founded by Sir William Hamilton, the company produces waterjet propulsion systems and control units from its factory in Christchurch, which employs more than 400 people.

It recently had a nearly fourfold increase in orders, which managing director Ben Reed attributed to stimulus spending by governments around the world in response to Covid-19.

However, difficulty finding skilled workers — it has been about 15 staff short since before Christmas — has limited its capacity to meet demand.

“Our lead times for new products have gone from about six months to nearly 18 months,” Reed said. “So we’re now at the point where it’s off-putting to potential customers. It’s genuinely impacting our competitiveness.”

HamiltonJet is among companies backing a call by economic development agency ChristchurchNZ and the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce for the Government to allow an extra 1500 visas for manufacturing workers in Canterbury and 4000 for technology workers nationally.

In outlining the bid, the organisations said businesses in key sectors had growth hampered by a severe lack of skilled workers. Companies were considering passing over work due to a lack of workers, and others might have to expand overseas.

“The people we’re after don’t exist, except working in other companies who are seeing similar booms,” Reed said. “We just have this merry-go-round . . . We’re onboarding two or three people a week and we’re probably losing about the same amount as well.”

The HamiltonJet board was committed to NZ, Reed said, but the company was now considering overseas options due to the challenges.

In March, the Government announced a border exception and 100 visas for manufacturing workers.

HamiltonJet aims to take advantage of the visas as part of a recruitment campaign it’s running in the Philippines. However, Reed said the Government needed to go further.

“It’s a maximum of three per company . . . We need something more like the 1500 we’ve appealed for.”

Reed said HamiltonJet trained locals, but skilled migrant workers were needed due to current demand.

Canterbury could be short 50,000 skilled workers by 2030, according to ChristchurchNZ. Also, unemployment in the region is at just 3.2 per cent, with few locals still available.