The Rt. Hon Christopher Luxon, prime minister, cut the ribbon to officially open Blue Star Group’s facility in Auckland last Thursday.
Around 300 guests and members of the Blue Star team gathered to celebrate the occasion, marking Blue Star’s significant investment in New Zealand’s manufacturing sector.
The facility at 114 Swanson Road consolidates Blue Star’s Auckland operations into one purpose-designed site, bringing together advanced technology, new equipment and an additional 8,000 square metres of production space – totalling 23,000 square metres.
Guests included customers, suppliers, and key partners. Jill Cowling, chief executive of Blue Star Group, said, “This world class facility represents not only a substantial investment in the future of Aotearoa New Zealand’s print, communications, and packaging industries, but in our people and diverse sectors we serve.
“We are focused on increasing productivity and setting new standards in capability and innovation, utilising AI and digital technologies to improve our efficiency and environmental performance while continuing to deliver the trusted products and service our clients expect.
“Today’s ribbon cutting moment is, importantly, the start of an exciting new chapter for our business, our people, and our industry. A moment to celebrate the ambition, collaboration, and the belief in what is possible with a 40 million dollar investment, not just in buildings or equipment, but in our team’s capability and innovation in local manufacturing.”
New opportunities
Jill continued: “This new facility will support our major customers across sectors including retail, financial services, education, insurance, publishing, and FMCG. As we open the doors today, we are also opening new opportunities to increase productivity through advanced automation; to embrace AI for smarter data driven decision making; and to lift both efficiency and environmental performance across every part of our operation.
“The facility is future focused and customer-centric designed to help our clients deliver their stories, their brands and their products with more impact, precision, and speed than ever before. In a world increasingly shaped by digital threats, I want to emphasise that cyber security is something we take extremely seriously. We have made significant investments in that space in protecting our people, our systems and our clients.
“I am also very proud to say we are now ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, an internationally recognised benchmark that reflects our unwavering commitment to information security and data protection.
“We have also taken a logical and systematic approach to our environmental management systems and are proud to say that all of our sites are Toitū environment certified and Blue Star is Toitū CarbonReduce certified.”
“Officially opening this remarkable site today, would not have been possible without the support and leadership of the Blue Star shareholders and board. Your belief in our vision, helped turn the facility from a concept into a reality.
“We’re also particularly grateful to our long standing customers, to our future customers, and to our many partners who backed this project from the very beginning and share our long-term commitment to New Zealand’s print and packaging sector.
“We know the world has changed. The pressures of digital disruption. global volatility and supply chain constraints are real, but through it all, we have remained confident in one of them: The enduring value of high quality onshore production, backed by deep expertise, strong relationships, and a constant drive to improve and succeed.
“We are incredibly proud of what we’ve created here.”
“Finally, to the incredible Blue Star team. Thank you for your skill, dedication, and support made today possible. We are looking forward to building a strong and productive future together.”
Exciting new era for Blue Star
Addressing the guests and Blue Star team, the prime minister said, “Can I just say to Jill and all of the Blue Star team: Congratulations. This is a really, really exciting new era in the company’s history. It’s been a real privilege to spend some time this morning, walking through the facility.
“I just want to say to all of the Blue Star team that are coming together on this site: this is a really important, and a really exciting day when you think about the 40 million dollar investment to make sure there’s a world-class company from New Zealand taking on customers here at home, but also potentially around the world, it is pretty special.
“Can I just also acknowledge Craig [Blue Star shareholder Craig Heatley] and all the shareholders that are behind Blue Star, because you know, that’s a big, big cheque to write. It is not something that you easily find behind the cushions on a couch, and they make the investment because they believe in you.
“I hope you genuinely feel really proud because what you’re doing now is setting this business up for another 50 or so years. There’s an investment in technology, in what is a really dynamic and constantly changing industry, but you are right at the sharp end of it, on the foils and are dealing with the change that’s coming.
In response to the prime minister’s comments,Blue Star shareholder Craig Heatley added, “There’s an adage in politics that you don’t pick a fight with people who buy printing ink by the gallon. Well, we buy it by the tonne load; but luckily we don’t print newspapers!”
“This company takes a lot of pride in what it does. For example, we print stamps that are exported around the world, and we’ve got a great team who come to work motivated. They are very creative.”
As a leading New Zealand marketing, print and packaging provider, Blue Star Group will use the new site to support major customers across sectors including retail, financial services, insurance, education, publishing and FMCG. This major investment reflects the company’s confidence in New Zealand’s print and packaging industry, despite global economic headwinds.
The official opening included a tour of the site, technology demonstrations, and reflections on the future of sustainable manufacturing in New Zealand.
Blue Star Group comprises established, industry leading operations across manufacturing, print management, design, marketing communications, digital and logistics.
