Statement from Brightwater Chief Executive David McGregor

Media Statement from Brightwater Chief Executive David McGregor

Engineering company Brightwater, which employs over 230 people throughout New Zealand and Australia, advised staff today at its Christchurch manufacturing branch that it was commencing consultation over a proposal to close the branch, potentially affecting up to 25 jobs.

Brightwater CEO David McGregor said the reason behind the proposal was due to the inability of the Christchurch operation to achieve profitability.

“We have tried several strategies in order to achieve profitability in our Christchurch operation, however these have not been as successful as we would have liked. Despite the recent success within our Australasian engineering projects business, profitability in our manufacturing business has remained a challenge and we simply must take steps to address this.”

“A decision on the future of the Christchurch operation will only be made once all staff involved in this proposal have had sufficient opportunity to provide us with feedback on it. If the decision is made to close the branch, Brightwater will provide the opportunity for a number of the Christchurch staff to relocate to other branches,” said David.

Brightwater’s Christchurch branch currently manufactures the company’s range of mobile Forestry Cable Logging machines. Under the proposed change Brightwater would manufacture all future machines through its Nelson branch in order to reduce costs, making the manufacturing business more viable.

About Brightwater

Established in Brightwater in 1979, Brightwater has become one of New Zealand’s largest privately owned industrial engineering companies, specialising in the Resources, Industrial Energy, Quarry & Minerals and Wood & Forestry sectors. Employing around 230 staff throughout Australasia, Brightwater provides capital works, maintenance and contracting services as well as manufactured equipment to the Australasian market.

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