Longveld

🎉 Celebrating 20 years of Mike Bridge!

This month marks two decades since Mike joined Longveld back in July 2006.

Mike is our go-to polishing expert and a true craftsman. He's the person our team turns to for advice, the one who's always willing to share his knowledge and train others coming through. As one of our Approved Handlers for chemicals and dangerous goods, he also plays a vital role in keeping our workplace safe.

What we admire most is that Mike never stops learning. He's been instrumental in bringing our digital polishing QA/QC to life, and there's real pride in the way he explains our quality systems to customers.

A genuine team man, a wonderful character, and a great teacher. Thank you for 20 remarkable years, Mike. 👏

Last week we were proud to welcome the Hon. Cameron Brewer, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, to Longveld.

The Minister toured our workshop to see our craft in action, followed by a Q&A discussion with our senior leadership team. It was a valuable opportunity to have some quality conversations about advancing manufacturing capability in New Zealand and the future of our industry.

We were especially pleased to share details on our involvement with the Earn As You Learn programme - an initiative we believe is having a significant impact on our community and which aligns well with our purpose of developing courageous people who create remarkable things.

Thank you to Minister Brewer for taking the time to visit.

20 years of Shri 🌺

Over two decades, Shri has been a Polisher, a Delivery Driver, and now our Caretaker - through that time Shri has shown up every day with genuine kindness and a quiet dedication.

Whatever the team needs, Shri is there. Steady, generous, and always with a smile. He's the kind of person who lifts a workplace simply by being part of it, and we count ourselves incredibly fortunate to have had him alongside us for so long.

Thank you, Shri, for 20 years of showing up as your best self, for the care you extend to every one of us, and for being exactly who you are. We appreciate you more than words can say.

Bula!

In 2005, Les flew to Fiji to recruit a tradesperson for Longveld. That tradesperson was none other than Nilesh Kumar.

Twenty years on, Nilesh is our go-to person for the complex and challenging jobs: work that takes patience, collaboration, careful thinking, and real skill. He doesn't chase recognition, he leads by example, creates a positive environment through his actions and the team around him thrives because of it.

To mark the milestone, Pete continued Longveld’s tradition of the most recent 20-year celebrant crafting something for the next team member, creating a beautiful custom steel puzzle piece.

Congratulations, Nilesh. Twenty years of hard mahi that is very much appreciated by us all.

We welcomed two groups of Year 12 and 13 students through our workshops as part of Waikato Engineering Careers Association WECA's Engineering in Action day.

Engineering in Action is a partnership between Wintec and WECA that connects secondary school students with real career pathways in the engineering industry.

Not every student knows what's available in this field. Visits like this can change that. Students get to see the range of work, the skills involved, and what a career in engineering can actually look like.

We're glad to be part of it.

When an artist has a vision for a piece and needs someone to bring it to life in metal, Jemoal is the person they work with.

That's one side of his 15 years at Longveld. The other is the everyday: working across the business, moving between the engineering team and wherever he's needed, simply getting things done.

At our last All Team Meeting, Vitor and Les described him as the epitome of Longveld values: courageous, wholehearted, and appreciative.

He started here as a tradesperson. Fifteen years later, that foundation still shows.

Love your work Jemoal!

Haere rā, Mieke, and thank you.

Mieke finished up with us this month after 5 years supporting the team across the finance and QA space, but her connection to Longveld goes back much further. She was here at the very beginning as Office Manager alongside Pam and Les, so that's over 30 years of being part of this story.

We’ll miss her calm energy, her willingness to get stuck into any task, and her ability to complete everything to the highest standard, leaving no stone unturned. Some might say that attention to detail runs in the family...

Ngā mihi nui, Mieke. We know we’ll still see you around, but for now, enjoy every moment of stepping back from the 9-to-5 and spending more time with your whānau.

Congratulations to Pete, who has become our second team member to celebrate an incredible 20-year milestone with Longveld.

During our team meeting, James and Pam spoke about the mana Pete brings to Longveld every day, and acknowledged the wonderful, empathetic teacher he has been to so many over the years.

To mark the occasion, Pete was presented with a Chiefs Tu hono jersey and took part in our newly established tradition of claiming Pam’s parking spot for the day. Shoutout to Tony who did a fantastic job creating the custom parking sign.

Here’s to you, Pete!

We are proud to have sponsored the Epro8 Hamilton heats last week. These school students stepped up to the challenge - designing, building, testing, and problem solving under pressure. It was great to see their teamwork and thinking across every round.

Backing events like Epro8 allows more rangatahi to explore STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) in a practical way and see where it can take them.

The standard was high, and the energy in the room captured what happens when students engage with engineering in a hands-on way. Congratulations to the winners, and to all teams that took part.

A great reminder that every team has its edge, and it’s built by the people behind the work.

This piece from AMANZ takes a closer look at how we think, build, and keep pushing forward.

Find your superpower!

It didn’t start with capital. It started with a toolbox and a bike.

More than 30 years later, Longveld is building world-class stainless steel systems used across global food and infrastructure projects.

But what matters most isn’t the machines.

It’s the people.

“Manufacturing engineering is the perfect place to discover your superpower.”

You don’t need to follow a traditional path.
You just need to start building.

Read the full story → https://bit.ly/418V68Z

Make Your Mark.