The government is approving a $130 million project for the New Zealand Defence Force to consolidate its logistics operation.
The proposed organisational changes and outsourcing of maintenance, repair and warehousing functions will create at least 50 new jobs, mostly in the Wellington region and at Linton and Burnham.
The Defence Force will now complete plans to upgrade and build new infrastructure, such as storage facilities and maintenance workshops at Linton in the Manawatu and at Burnham near Christchurch.
Some of the existing facilities date back to the 1940s.
“New Zealand’s Defence Force holds a broad range of equipment, all of which needs to be stored, maintained and serviced so that it is ready and safe to use when required,” says Defence minister Gerry Brownlee.
“In recent times many other countries have modernised the way their militaries manage logistics, getting greater value for money by managing their equipment holdings more efficiently,” he says.
The investment will not change how larger Defence assets, such as ships and aircraft, are managed, as these large systems are already well managed.
However, smaller asset types, including vehicle fleets and firearms, will be centralised into regional pools where they can be stored and more efficiently maintained.
“Adopting this approach will create an opportunity to shift around $1.6 billion of capital over the next 25 years from inefficient holdings to a focused investment on priority capabilities,” says Brownlee.
“Defence will also modernise its computer inventory systems so that all stock holdings can be tracked and their usage history analysed,” he says.
Nearly all of the implementation costs will be contracted to local industry or organisations with a local subsidiary or partner. Around $50 million is budgeted for construction projects.
