What’s in the box?

30 May 2022

While many people have been thinking about tiny homes, Bryce Arnold, Engineering Skill Manager, and Bruce McQueen, Skills Manager for Welding have been hatching a tiny multi-functional Skills demonstration space from a used 6-metre container.

Plans began in 2020 to create a closed, well-ventilated space with power, lighting, and ventilation and extraction systems to host any number of Skill activity demonstrations. Now, with special thanks to a host of supporters (ADELLE Engineering, Les Harrison Transport, Longveld Engineering, Page Macrae, Tauranga Blast and Paint, Wakefield Metals and Wintec and Toi-Ohomai ‘Te Pūkenga’) WorldSkills New Zealand has a versatile, lock-and-leave exhibition space that can operate in a paddock, yard, or pavilion.

The WorldSkills container will have its first run this week at EMEX, New Zealand’s premier trade show for the manufacturing, engineering, machinery, electronics, and technology industries.

Along with Bryce and Bruce, welding trainees will be on site having a go at welding competition-level projects. When welding sessions stop, the curtain will be pulled back and visitors can see their end-products. These will be on display and there’s prize money up for grabs for the best weld!

Bryce says involvement with EMEX is a great learning experience for young people and is a chance to expose a wide community to what WorldSkills is about.

“The aim is to have past regional and national competitors, along with those interested in the 2024 competition in Lyon, France, demonstrating their welding skills. When young trainees go to an international competition and have 200,000 people come past while they are competing, that can be stressful. If you are used to having someone watch you while you are working, then it is much easier.”

Bryce says the refitted container is an extremely versatile space.

“It could be used for live displays of baking, cooking, welding, metal construction, industrial control – all sorts of disciplines.”

In the future, he hopes trade exhibitors will be interested in providing equipment inside the container for the duration of a show and, in doing so, promote their products ‘working’. At the same time young trainees will get excited about using the latest tools and equipment launching into the market.

After EMEX, the container will go back to Tauranga to be fully lined and re-roofed.