The Cambridge-based Jordan is currently Oceania processing director for Tetra Pak. He’ll take a hands-on role at Zenith Tecnica in a couple of weeks.
They form Zenith’s new two-man board. Burgess posted on Linkedin: “Blair will be running the show day-to-day as managing director, and I’ll be a silent(ish!) partner.”
Zenith Tecnica director and new co-owner Blair Jordan (left) and Zenith Tecnica growth manager Morgan Worthington. Photo / Corey Fleming
The firm recently expanded from five electron beam melting (EBM) machines to six.
Jordan told the Herald one of the first things on the new owners’ agenda is expanding that to eight – which in turn has necessitated a hunt for larger premises.
“We’ve got a couple of good prospects, but everything has to be just right,” Jordan said.
There can’t be trucks driving past or anything that would cause vibrations. And anything nearby that would produce an electromagnetic field is a no-no.
Zenith Tecnica was founded in 2014, initially with synthetic cannabis “Kronic King” Matthew Wielenga as its sole owner and director, if not involved in the business day-to-day.
Grace – a former director of one of Auckland’s most successful deep-tech start-ups, Qantifi Photonics, sold to Nasdaq-listed Teradyne) – became general manager in 2020 and bought out Wielenga in 2024. She will stay with the business for a couple of months of transition then “step back towards retirement”.
“We’re not going to reinvent the business. It’s been really well set up by Heather,” Jordan says. The focus will be on expansion.
Blue-chip customers
Grace said revenue had increased 490% since 2020.
From what base? The privately held company doesn’t reveal any of its financials.
It can name some of its marquee customers, many secured through a decade-long partnership with US satellite manufacturer Lanteris Space Systems – bought by Nasdaq-listed Intuitive Machines for US$800 million ($1.4 billion) in January.
Zenith has supplied critical structural components for a range of satellite and spaceflight programmes. These include Nasa’s Psyche mission, currently en route to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche (the satellite involved took off on a SpaceX Falcon9 launch in 2023 and is due to arrive at 16 Psyche in July 2029 after a one billion km journey).
And we’re not talking a couple of bolts.
“These are large structural components that help hold a spacecraft together,” growth manager Morgan Worthington says.
Beyond its satellite business, Zenith has developed a partnership with High-Performance Sport NZ to create prosthetic attachments for Paralympic athletes, and works closely with Christchurch orthopaedic implant company Ossis to create personalised artificial joints.
Another customer is the US Space Development Agency (part of Space Force) for its Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 Tracking Layer constellation programme – the “eyes” of a new US missile-tracking and defence system, the first stage of which is due to become operational later this year. It has 35 satellites already in orbit. (It’s also one of Rocket Lab’s biggest contracts as a prime contractor.)
US firm Maxar Space Systems was chosen to design and produce 18 satellites for the next phase of the Tracking Layer project and, in turn, subcontracted Zenith.
For Worthington, it shows that the Kiwi company – though barely a decade old – is considered a trusted old hand. Maxar was also Zenith’s first major aerospace customer with a 2016 contract for parts for five double-decker bus-sized satellites.
One of Zenith’s first customers was the US-based Maxar Technologies, a maker of “mega satellites” each the size of a double-decker bus.
Then there’s the medical half of the business, which is also global.
“We do orthopaedic implants. It’s custom to a patient’s skeleton, not off the shelf,” Worthington says.
“Our customer designs a part, sends us the files and we print it over the weekend, then send the part and it can be implanted shortly after that. It’s a really fast turnaround for critical surgeries.”
Zenith also developed a partnership with High-Performance Sport NZ to create prosthetic attachments for Paralympic athletes.
And it also makes titanium surgical instruments.
EBM additive manufacturing is a step up from a 3D printer you might pick up from Noel Leeming.
Zenith has a half dozen GE Additive Arcam EBM machines, built in Sweden. They sell for the best part of $2m.
Zenith’s sample cranial implant. Photo / Corey Fleming
An electron beam melts titanium powder – imported from Canada at a cost that can exceed $1000 per kg – in a process involving temperatures of more than 1600C. A part is then printed in layers, each just 50 nanometres thick (1 nanometre is a millionth of a metre).
Zenith, with its six machines (and 18 staff) is one of the largest EBM manufacturing providers in the world, Jordan says.
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It’s an area that involves both technical and compliance challenges, which has kept competition thin.
“We’re working in a highly regulated space. We can build what others can’t,” Jordan says.
“We’re saving lives with patient-matched implants and we’ve got parts zooming around in orbit on satellites, all made here in Auckland.”
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.