Screen-print illustration of Lake Horowhenua, Levin — Illustration generated with AI.

40.63° S, 175.29° E. Horowhenua District, Manawatū-Whanganui (Manawatū-Whanganui)

Microsoft Copilot training in Levin

Levin’s food and engineering teams can practise handovers around the records they already control. Copilot training can follow an Excel sheet into a Word note with the right person assigned to check it.^3,4,5

Enquire Read the local brief

51.5% of Levin’s employed residents are in desk-based roles.

	A	B	C	D
1	Role type	Levin	NZ	Diff (pts)
2	Desk-based	51.5%	63.6%	−12.1
3	People-facing	14.4%	9.0%	+5.4
4	Hands-on	34.4%	27.4%	+7.0
5	Employed residents	8,022	2,622,534

About 4,130 people in desk-based roles. 2023 Census, counted where people live.

Rows 2 to 4: ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5, 6 / 4 / 3, 7, 8. Stats NZ 2023 Census, employed residents. Proxy per ILO 2025; not a forecast.

Residents: 19,5002023 Census
Business locations: 1,290Feb 2025, +6.4% since 2020
Employees (jobs here): 6,860at local businesses, Feb 2025
Self-employed or employers: 11.7%of employed residents, NZ 16.2%
Drive to Palmerston North: 43 min48 km by road

What AI means for work in Levin

5 findings from Stats NZ data for Levin, and what each means for Microsoft Copilot training.

Workforce by occupation group, Levin against New Zealand

51.5% of employed residents in Levin work in desk-based roles, against 63.6% across New Zealand. The difference is mostly labourers: 13.8% of employed residents here, against 9.0% nationally. Size the licences to the desk-based roles rather than headcount. A pilot with office, scheduling and management staff shows value before you pay for everyone.

Employed residents by occupation group, Levin and New Zealand, 2023 Census
Occupation group	People	Levin	NZ
Managers	1,089	13.6%	18.3%
Professionals	1,437	17.9%	26.8%
Technicians and trades workers	1,089	13.6%	12.5%
Community and personal service workers	1,155	14.4%	9.0%
Clerical and administrative workers	849	10.6%	10.8%
Sales workers	759	9.5%	7.8%
Machinery operators and drivers	558	7.0%	5.9%
Labourers	1,110	13.8%	9.0%

Desk-based = ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5 and 6 (managers, professionals, clerical and administrative, sales): roles where AI assistance is most applicable. Broad proxy informed by ILO 2025; not measured adoption or an employment forecast. People-facing = major group 4. Hands-on = major groups 3, 7 and 8.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people; ILO, Generative AI and jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposure (2025).

Power, gas, water, waste: 5.0% of local jobs, 5.5× the national share

Top employer: health and social care, 1,214 jobs (17.7%). Heat cells mark industries over-represented against New Zealand. Plan Copilot use cases by department in the largest employers first.

Share of paid jobs by industry, Levin and New Zealand, February 2025
Industry	Jobs	Share	NZ	×
Health and social care	1,214	17.7%	12.0%	1.5×
Manufacturing	1,134	16.5%	9.4%	1.8×
Retail	922	13.4%	9.3%	1.4×
Education	737	10.7%	8.5%	1.3×
Construction	624	9.1%	8.2%	1.1×
Hospitality	411	6.0%	7.2%	0.8×
Other services	391	5.7%	3.5%	1.6×
Power, gas, water, waste	346	5.0%	0.9%	5.5×
Public administration	330	4.8%	6.4%	0.8×
Wholesale	204	3.0%	5.0%	0.6×

Share of paid employees at business locations in the area, by ANZSIC06 industry division. × is the local share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Business locations +6.4% and employees +11.9%, 2020 to 2025

Paid employees 6,130 (2020) to 6,860 (2025), +11.9% against +5.0% nationally. Business locations 1,212 to 1,290. Largest job gain: construction (+209). Largest loss: public administration (−108).

Business locations: 1,2121,290 in 2025, from 2020; +6.4% NZ +9.6%
Employees (jobs here): 6,1306,860 in 2025, from 2020; +11.9% NZ +5.0%

Change in employees by industry in Levin, February 2020 to February 2025
Industry	2020	2025	Change
Construction	415	624	+209
Manufacturing	990	1,134	+144
Education	597	737	+140
Public administration	438	330	−108
Wholesale	260	204	−56
Media and telecoms	80	50	−30

Geographic units (business locations) and paid employees, February of each year. Small counts are randomly rounded by Stats NZ, so small changes can be noise.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Remote readiness: work at home and household internet

On-site sessions, at your workplace, usually suit teams here better than remote ones. We come to you.

11.9%

Mainly worked from home, census day 2023

New Zealand 17.7%

84.3%

Households with internet access

New Zealand 90.5%

Main means of travel to work on census day, and access to the internet in occupied private dwellings.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Self-employed and employers: 11.7% (New Zealand 16.2%)

Most workers here are employees of organisations, the setting where Microsoft 365 Copilot rollouts are planned centrally, with licences, policy and champions.

11.7%

self-employed or employers

New Zealand 16.2%

Employed residents whose status in employment is employer, or self-employed without employees.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Copilot for Levin’s largest employers

Genoese Foods and Levin-based fabrication facilities point to distinct production workflows. A Microsoft 365 worksheet should record file access, owner, action and review for each one.^3,4,5

Specialist food manufacturing

Prepare a Word shift note from a fictional Excel packing register, then verify batch exceptions with the food supervisor.^5,6

Engineering and timber components

Summarise a sample Teams job discussion into an action list, leaving design approval with the engineer.^3,4

About Levin

Levin is Horowhenua District’s largest town: the 2023 Census count cited by Council is 19,539, within a district total of 36,696. Its town-linked production base includes commercial growers in the Levin area, a pesto and dip maker established in Levin, and firms making precision steelwork and prefabricated timber components from Levin facilities. These businesses have different footprints: Woodhaven Gardens operates farms across Horowhenua and Kāpiti, while WBG Engineering and Prenail Systems identify their engineering and component manufacturing facilities as Levin-based. Horowhenua District’s adopted 2025-35 economic strategy names Levin town-centre renewal and commercial and industrial land supply as priorities; those are district strategy priorities, not completed town projects.^{3,4,6,7,10,11}

Microsoft Copilot ideas grounded in Levin

Commercial horticulture and market gardening

Sketch crop-to-pack capacity scenarios in Excel
With a grower-selected block, harvest, and pack-out workbook, Copilot in Excel can summarize the weeks under pressure and compare a second picking shift. A production lead checks every assumption against field notes before changing the schedule.⁷

Why here: Woodhaven Gardens grows vegetables through the year on farms spanning Horowhenua and Kāpiti, giving a Levin-area grower a concrete crop-sequencing example.
- Copilot in Excel
Turn seed notes into new-starter briefs
A grower can ask Copilot in Word to turn an approved crop protocol into a short induction brief for seasonal staff. The supervisor reviews chemical, machinery, and handling details before sharing it.⁸

Why here: Waikawa Fresh says it grows from seed and lists its growing location as Takapu Road, Levin RD31; that seed-to-harvest sequence can anchor a locally relevant training exercise.
- Copilot in Word
Draft produce updates for a food-rescue partner
Using approved stock information, Copilot in Outlook can help prepare a concise availability note for a community food partner. The grower checks quantities and timing before any message is sent.⁸

Why here: Waikawa Fresh reports supplying Kaibosh since 2020 and partnering with the Horowhenua Mana Kai network, so a careful partner-update workflow has a specific local reference.
- Copilot in Outlook

Specialist food manufacturing

Prepare a product-spec draft in Word
Copilot in Word can help turn an approved recipe specification into a consistent product-sheet draft for internal review. A quality lead verifies ingredients, allergen statements, and claims before a version is sent to a buyer.⁶

Why here: Genoese Foods makes pesto and dips for home, chef, and manufacturer customers, so product information has several distinct audiences.
- Copilot in Word
Answer buyer enquiries from controlled files
Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook can draft a response grounded in product and specification files stored in the company’s Microsoft Graph. The account manager checks the source wording and edits the response before sending it.⁶

Why here: Genoese Foods offers product ingredients to other manufacturers and contract-packing services near Levin, where buyer questions may cover different product formats.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Outlook
- Microsoft Graph grounding on company files
Compare batch quantities in Excel
Copilot in Excel can explain a production planner’s supplied ingredient and batch-size table and help compare alternative run quantities. The production manager checks yields and approved specifications before scheduling a run.⁶

Why here: Genoese Foods makes pesto and dips for manufacturer customers and advertises custom fresh-food contract packing, a relevant setting for reviewing batch assumptions without inventing factory volumes.
- Copilot in Excel

What Levin does

Commercial horticulture and market gardening. Levin is the town anchor for a larger produce area. Woodhaven Gardens says it grows vegetables across 20 farms in Horowhenua and Kāpiti, and Rabobank places its operation south-east of Levin; Waikawa Fresh lists its growing site at Takapu Road, Levin RD31. These are area-based operations and should not be described as confined to the urban town.^7,8,9 Named in public sources: Woodhaven Gardens⁷, Waikawa Fresh⁸.
Specialist food manufacturing. Genoese Foods was established in Levin in 1993 and makes pesto and dips for home, chef, and manufacturer customers. Its manufacturer page says the factory is near Levin and that the business can contract-pack other fresh food products, so its operating footprint is town-linked rather than an assumption about all district food production.^5,6 Named in public sources: Genoese Foods⁶.
Precision engineering and prefabricated timber components. WBG Engineering advertises laser cutting, steel fabrication, folding, machining, and general engineering from Levin. Prenail Systems says its Levin facility uses 3D design and automated manufacturing for frames, trusses, and other structural timber components supplied to builders across a wider region.^3,4 Named in public sources: WBG Engineering³, Prenail Systems Ltd⁴.

Organisations are named for local context only. No relationship with them is implied.

Training venues in and near Levin

Most training happens at your own workplace. For a public workshop day or an off-site session, these places hire out rooms.

Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō, Rimu Room¹³

35 people, largest layout

Published layouts include café style 14, boardroom 16, theatre 35 and standing 35; bookings are by enquiry.
- Projector
- Whiteboard
- Wi-Fi
- Internet access
- Catering
10 Bath Street, Levin 5510
Te Whare Mahana, large conference room¹⁸

80 people, largest layout

The venue page states up to 80 for the large conference room and 16 for the boardroom; confirm room layout and availability with the provider.
- Wi-Fi
- Tables
- Chairs
- Whiteboards
- Screens by request
32 Bristol Street, Levin 5510
The Horowhenua Company, Board Room¹⁴

Meeting room

Seats 2-8; full conference equipment with visual and audio capability.

8 Bath Street, Levin 5510

From the venues’ own public listings. No booking or relationship is implied.

In the local business news

16 Apr 2025
Food the focus of April BA5 Horowhenua Star
A Levin-located business networking event heard from Horowhenua producers in cider, mushrooms, and prepared food about starting food ventures. It is a useful local entrepreneurship hook, not evidence of AI adoption.
17 May 2025
Horowhenua Business sector building momentum Levin News
The Horowhenua Company described a district Tender Readiness programme to help local businesses pursue Ō2NL project work, alongside its regular Business After 5 events. The article provides a current economic-development and business-skills hook with a clear district-wide label.
5 Aug 2024
2024 Electra Kāpiti and Horowhenua Business and Innovation Awards finalists named NZ Herald
The 2024 awards included an innovation category with Funk with Food, Isaac King Consultant Ltd, and Mostly Music as finalists. The story covers both Kāpiti and Horowhenua, so it is evidence of the wider local business innovation scene rather than a Levin-only awards result.

Around Levin

About 41 km in a straight line to Palmerston North, the nearest large centre. Dots are towns covered on this site.

Horowhenua District and Microsoft Copilot training across Manawatū-Whanganui, or Palmerston North. Distances are straight-line.

A Levin team could practise with synthetic production and job files while agreeing who may see the real SharePoint folders.^3,5

Public Microsoft Copilot workshops near Levin

There is no public Copilot workshop near Levin on the calendar yet. Register interest below and we will tell you when one is scheduled. Organisations can book private training for their own staff at any time.

Tell me when there is a workshop near Levin

We will email you when a public workshop is scheduled nearby. No other mailing.