Dave Christie: What's needed to pull NZ's supply chains out of 'serious, if not critical condition'

Of Interest

New Zealand's supply chains are in "a serious, if not critical condition," requiring holistic systems thinking and a long-term focus, investment and government support to become stronger and more resilient, says self proclaimed supply chain tragic Dave Christie.

Christie, who has worked in supply chain roles for the army, PwC, the Warehouse, Fonterra, Coda Group, Tainui Group Holdings developing the Ruakura Superhub, and Synergic Technologies, spoke to interest.co.nz in the latest episode of our Of Interest podcastabout NZ's supply chain issues and the Ministry of Transport's recently released Aotearoa New Zealand Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. Christie was part ofan industry reference group in the development of this strategy.

He says supply chain problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic brought "an invisible part of business and society" out into the light, and highlighted to the Government how vulnerable NZ is to global disruptions.

"The concern I have is we feel we've come out of Covid and people are kind of going' the supply chain's resolved.' ... What happened with Covid is the tide went out and we saw these rocks, they were exposed and we started to deal with those, but we dealt with them in what I would say were very unsophisticated ways. Now the tide's rising and everyone's forgotten about the rocks below the water," Christie says.

"if I was a doctor who was diagnosing the New Zealand supply chain as my patient I would have to say the diagnosis is that we are in serious, if not critical condition."

"And perhaps staying with that human analogy and referring it to the supply chain, the heart is the beating production sector of New Zealand. And while that's performing well, I think it's actually unproductive and we've seen this multiple times through the Productivity Commission's reports. So our heart isn't beating as efficiently as it can. The arteries and veins are the networks that flow products and goods around, not just [around] New Zealand but the globe, [and] they are constrained, we've got cholesterol in there and high blood pressure," says Christie.

"We've got parts of our network where the blood doesn't flow correctly, so that's not getting to the extremities well, our nervous system, we're actually deaf, dumb and blind, we don't know where the problems are and where they're coming from so we just get smacked in the face and we're probably suffering from early onset dementia. We don't actually have the cognitive ability to learn from our mistakes and improve, so we continually make the same mistakes."

However, he says all is not lost.

"We know lots of patients who are serious and in a critical condition. [But] if they get the right care they can come out the other end better, stronger and more resilient. And I honestly believe that's potentially the future for us in New Zealand and our supply chain."

Given the investment needed, 30-year timeframes, regulatory settings and 360 degree thinking needed, there's a role for government to play, Christie adds.

In the podcast he also talks about the need to change NZ's port structure, why NZ should have reserve stocks of critical imports, whether NZ should have a national shipping line, the role for coastal shipping and rail, why supply chain improvements really matter to small businesses, the push to decarbonise, and more.

"If we want to make a change we're going to have some tough conversations. We're going to have to change some of the settings," Christie says, adding this should always be for the greater good.

*You can find all episodes of the Of Interest podcast here.