Wai Innovation was founded in 2020, right after Covid Part 1, which might not have been amazing timing, but hey, everything starts somewhere, aye? The company was founded on the basis of recognising that profile cutting in the lower South Island was dramatically underserved, and also because cutting stuff with water was cool.
We started with our abrasive waterjet and no formal experience programming it or operating it. However, design and formal engineering backgrounds have always been heavily represented throughout our team, and we’ve also worked hard to balance that design expertise with practical experience. Our crew has grown and changed and evolved over the years, but it’s always getting stronger. Your author is exceedingly proud of every team member’s progression, willingness to learn, and ability to swim in the deep end.
In 2023, Wai Innovation shifted to a new workshop three times the size of the old one, and this gave us space to park our fibre laser and forever changed the way we work. Since we turned the laser on, our growth has found a new gear.
On the surface, Wai Innovation is a business in the light manufacturing sector. We focus on waterjet cutting, and we also do product design, some 3D printing, and 2D/3D CAD work. However, all of those services support our true goal, which is to engage students of all ages and keep them on track with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics).
The wrong way to think of that commitment is something like donating iPads to schools; that doesn't actually accomplish anything except spending money at a fantastic rate. Instead, we're focused entirely on the outcome of keeping students excited about STEAM, and we want to achieve that with actual hands-on experience with all five letters in that acronym.
Another way of putting it is that while waterjet cutting is our bread and butter, what we actually care about is helping to educate the next generation of engineers, tech geeks, and artists.
Whew, where to start?! Wai Innovation sees a lot of opportunity to change the way New Zealand approaches prototyping and light manufacturing. Applying proven technology to the unique challenges of our isolated rock down in the South Pacific, as well as acknowledging the aggressive resourcefulness and ingenuity of Kiwis, is what we’re passionate about.
Every time we find a better way to do something, that rising tide lifts our ship as well as our customers’ ships. And every time that tide rises, the country’s access to prototyping and manufacturing resources gets easier and better. And when that happens, well, our little corner of the world will just continue to punch above its weight.
