We had a stall at the 2022 Future Fest Career Fair, which over 800 students and members of the public attended. We showed off some incredible components from our member’s companies, as well as state-of-the-art tooling, fixturing and some machining videos.

If there was ever confirmation needed of why MTONZ was set up – it was the fact that not a single person had any idea what CNC Machining was when asked. Thankfully we had the opportunity to open up a whole new world of technology to them. We spoke and explained in detail what CNC machines do, and many people were amazed to know that almost everything they use on a day-to-day basis has had a machine used in its lifecycle, somewhere.

We had many people sign up with an expression of interest to find out more about CNC Machining, with some interested in finding out more about career opportunities with apprenticeships.

After our successful outing to Future Fest, we got invited along to James Cook High School to present at their Whānau Vocational Training Evening. They wanted a strong focus on employment and vocational training options so we took along our gear and had a great time introducing the students and families to the world of CNC Machining. There was a lot of interest – including one father who wanted his son to do a trade but had never considered machining as an option.

On the 28th of October, we hosted 8 students from Michael Park School who were wanting to find out more about the world of CNC Machining to help them while they consider their future career path. With no prior knowledge of machining, we sat them down and had a quick debrief – then got stuck in! Using measuring equipment, reading drawings, and setting up tools, we touched all bases before playing on a lathe, with each student getting to operate the machine and produce their own little souvenir for the day, a custom chess piece!

We held a meeting with industry and training providers to chat about the future of CNC Machining qualifications. It’s become vastly apparent that the current qualification framework is not up to standard, so after sitting down with over 20 representatives we started fleshing out what the CNC machining industry needs in order to meet the standard. 

The next step is getting down to the nitty-gritty with the technical team. Thanks to everyone who came along and the ones who volunteered to join the tech team!Here