Waiariki National Centre of Excellence for the Forest and Wood Industry.

The Waiariki National Centre of Excellence for the Forest and Wood Industry's is a custom designed and built facility dedicated providing ongoing educational opportunities for people in the Forest and Wood Industry's.

The building of the centre is the result of a partnership between Waiariki, Forest Industry Training and Education Consortium (FITEC) and University of Auckland.

The centre is being outfitted with a specialist computer suite used to run state-of-the-art computer simulation software relating to forest mapping, forest operations, saw doctoring, machining and other related timber applications. The purpose of this facility is to support all the forestry and wood manufacturing courses provided by Waiariki's School of Forestry, Wood Processing and Biotechnology, including the National Diploma in Forestry and the Diploma in Manufacturing.

Its aim is to develop technical expertise and research capabilities to equip students with the necessary skills to transform the wood processing industry from its current commodity orientation to one that focuses on high value-added products for export. Course emphasis is placed upon innovation and the development of products and processes, and upon developing industry leaders that are able to manage the change and transformation processes.