Enztec: Building an Executive team to Unlock Scale in a High‑Precision, Regulated Environment
Client: Enztec | Industry: Medical Devices (Orthopaedic Instruments) | Size: ~100 employees | Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
“Partnering with Humankind sharpened our leadership clarity and freed our CEO to focus on innovation and strategic customer relationships. With the right C‑suite in place and better role clarity, we’re taking deliberate actions to solve systemic challenges that unlock scale.”
— Iain, Chief Executive, Enztec
The Company
Enztec is a Christchurch-based medical technology company specialising in the design and manufacture of orthopaedic surgical instruments and deeply focused on enabling better patient outcomes. Founded in 1992, the company has grown into a trusted partner for global implant brands, providing both custom and standard instruments across hip, knee, and spine procedures. With ISO 13485 certification and compliance with FDA, MDR, and TGA standards, Enztec is recognised internationally for quality and regulatory excellence. Now employing over 100 people in a purpose-built facility, the company is one of New Zealand’s leading medtech exporters, delivering precision-engineered solutions that enable surgeons and implant companies to perform with confidence.
The Challenge
As demand for Enztec’s orthopaedic instruments surged post-COVID, the Christchurch manufacturer found itself in the enviable but complex position of rapid growth. With increasing orders out of Europe and the US, the CEO was stretched thin, carrying a wide span of direct reports, overseeing day-to-day manufacturing and engineering, while also needing to focus on innovation and global client partnerships. The business lacked depth in its executive bench, had paper-heavy systems in a highly regulated environment, and roles were blurred across teams, creating bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Our Approach
Since 2020 Humankind has acted as a strategic advisor to the CEO. We partnered with Enztec to help the CEO and leaders redesign the leadership structure and build the right foundations for scale. Through discovery sessions with the business, we identified where the CEO could create the most impact across innovation and enterprise client relationships and defined what additional executive capability was needed to unlock growth.
Key support included:
- Executive recruitment: Supported the design and recruitment of a new COO to take ownership of manufacturing, design, and engineering, and a CFO to modernise finance and build a data and insights function.
- Leadership design: Worked with the CEO to clarify what only he should do, and designed roles and accountabilities across the executive team to support that focus.
- Team clarity: Redefined responsibilities across manufacturing and engineering teams, shifting from a matrix “everyone owns everything” model to clear accountabilities.
- Ways of working: Streamlined communication and decision-making, introducing DFAs and RACI models to cut through inbox noise and improve ownership.
- Systems and scalability: Enable role clarity that empowered the CFO to begin digitising paper-heavy processes and embed scalable systems in a regulated environment.
- C-suite development: Built cohesion across the newly formed executive team, supporting their transition from a small founder-centric model to a broader leadership collective.
The Outcome
Enztec’s leadership and people investments have delivered clear results:
- 40% reduction in CEO direct reports, freeing him to focus on innovation and global client relationships.
- Phased in across 18 months three newly established C-suite roles (COO, CFO and Chief Growth & Partnerships Officer) adding depth and capability at the top.
- Modern finance and data function created, giving clarity of whole of business, allowing better decision making. Extensive gains being made to replace paper-heavy processes with scalable systems.
- Clarity of accountabilities across manufacturing and engineering, improving throughput and reducing bottlenecks.
- 20% year on year growth, with 50% growth planned for 2026/27.
These outcomes strengthen Enztec’s ability to meet global demand while protecting its reputation for quality and culture.
Why This Partnership Matters to Humankind
Real cultural change starts with leaders. By influencing at the executive level, we created the structural clarity and leadership conditions for scale in a complex, regulated setting, demonstrating that the fastest path to organisation‑wide change is aligning the CEO and C‑suite on what truly matters.
