Our spring 2025 issue focuses on innovation building a learning culture collaborating on climate initiatives Many organizations liken their technology implementation strategy to building with Lego bricks — and the toy company itself employs a similar approach Anders Butzbach Christensen began his career in product management before landing his dream job working for the Lego Group in Denmark he’s leading Lego’s digital transformation with a specific focus on designing and building data products including self-service applications that technology and business teams can all use to better serve their customers Anders joins Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh to describe how the Lego Group is approaching digital transformation and how the toymaker is empowering its product teams by becoming a product- As head of data engineering at the Lego Group Anders Butzbach Christensen is responsible for building up a strong competency area and great data products that will enable the company to become more data-driven The product teams he leads are currently building a self-service core data platform to ensure that employees can discover and use data across the organization If you’re enjoying the Me, Myself, and AI podcast, continue the conversation with us on LinkedIn. Join the AI for Leaders group today Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/aipodcast Subscribe to Me, Myself, and AI on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts Give your feedback in this two-question survey Sam Ransbotham: Our guests often use Lego as an analogy for how organizations can build up solutions with data find out how Lego itself builds data components that connect as easily as its bricks Anders Butzbach Christensen: I’m Anders Butzbach Christensen from the Lego Group a podcast on artificial intelligence in business we introduce you to someone innovating with AI I’m also the AI and business strategy guest editor at MIT Sloan Management Review Shervin Khodabandeh: And I’m Shervin Khodabandeh senior partner with BCG and one of the leaders of our AI business MIT SMR and BCG have been researching and publishing on AI since 2017 interviewing hundreds of practitioners and surveying thousands of companies on what it takes to build and to deploy and scale AI capabilities and really transform the way organizations operate Shervin and I are excited to be joined by Anders Christensen He’s the head of data engineering at Lego Group Anders Butzbach Christensen: Thanks for having me tell us a little bit about what you do at Lego Group Anders Butzbach Christensen: I’m heading up the data engineering department within the Lego Group We currently consist of three large global parts enabling the organization to make data-driven decisions and the last one is building a customer 360[-degree] view that allows us to build personalized experiences Sam Ransbotham: Let’s start with the first one Anders Butzbach Christensen: So a little less than two years ago we started out our exploration of the digital transformation within the Lego Group and for us that basically meant that we needed to do a lot of upskilling and we needed to focus on having the right competencies and teams and ways of working within the organization — so basically building the right digital foundation And in order for us to enable the four customer groups that we have — the consumers and our colleagues — we needed to make sure that they had all the right tooling to do so And a huge part of doing that is self-service enabling them to make data-driven decisions what we did was that we took this centralized data platform [like] almost all large companies have today and then we made that available for everyone to use If I sit down tomorrow with the Lego Group and they won’t let me play with the bricks Anders Butzbach Christensen: What it basically means is that it’s super easy for the product team throughout the organization to come with their data and then to play around with the data — transform it in whatever way they want to — and then expose it for whatever use they have but it could also be for data science purposes Making that journey as easy as possible and available to all types of skill sets within the organization is what it looks like it’s used for basically everything: That’s all types of data coming from our websites flowing into the platform And then we look at how customers behave on the website and then provide the best possible recommendation experience to them We have a lot of different data sets coming in from our demand planners across the globe that all get built into a beautiful data product that’s used for creating this forecasting model what I’m hearing is data platforms and data engineering but I’m also hearing data science in there — recommendations and demand planning Anders Butzbach Christensen: The way that we are organized within the organization is called the data office We do have a data science [area]; they focus on a lot of the data science work We also do use data science within my area but the way that we utilize it is for enablement how do we build data that allows people to innovate faster that is enabling synthetic data on the platform So whenever someone comes along and wants to utilize a data set that potentially contains personally identifiable information [PII] And that is because we need to take care of our customers’ data what we do is that we give them a synthetic data set that’s generated based on the schema It has zero similarities [with] the original data set That’s a way for us to make that data science team innovate way faster than they originally would because it can take months before you get that legal approval Sam Ransbotham: Humana Shervin Khodabandeh: Humana, yes. As well as, I think, with Moderna Shervin Khodabandeh: Synthetic data for the purpose of experimentation It’s been a pretty big buzzword for about a decade A lot of organizations we speak to are building data products Anders Butzbach Christensen: If we first of all look at the definition of the data product So we used to think of data as a byproduct — something that is a part of a product out in the business it’s really important to focus on data as a product it could be a database that consists of a lot of data sets with a lot of different data attributes within it it’s a lot of different inputs that go into one product It is the fact that that data is no longer just something we use as a part of our daily work Shervin Khodabandeh: When I think about a product Is that also what’s going on with your data products It’s no different than another software product we build A good example is if we look at the 360[-degree] view that we’re building within my area there are a lot of different data sets that go into that data product I think we have four or five different IDs across the Lego Group that we need to stitch together and in order for us to provide value to … let’s say that we want to build a personalized email campaign or something like that The way that we evolved this product is by looking at what is the minimum viable product that we need to build And then we can basically evolve from there on You don’t need all five IDs in order to deliver that value You could actually bring in maybe one or two and then start building those personalized campaigns Shervin Khodabandeh: The beauty of what you’re saying is in addition to building those intelligence products on top of your data product because the rest of your organization can also use a lot of those assets in the future because a lot of the time you see in an organization maybe they build a personalization engine specifically for what they want and all of that data pipeline and data engineering then go to waste And somebody in the next room would do the same thing and they’d go all the way back to scratch from the raw data again and then folks just use what they need when they need it Anders Butzbach Christensen: You’re spot-on and that actually [speaks] a lot to the reusability of data products across the organization when you have onboarded all this data into the platform and built all these data products it’s also really important that you make it discoverable to the organization so that others can utilize it for other purposes and create other types of value What we do is that we have a discoverability tool where you can go in and look at the different data sets then it has to be private and you need to request access But that could also be data products that don’t need to be really private and can be publicly available for people to tap into And it’s really important for us to make it discoverable on the platform so that you can start stitching the data together and create new types of value and you don’t have to reuse or re-ingest or things like that as we have seen across the different organizations for years Instead of being very restrictive about how you build these types of platforms you need to think of it as empowering the product teams to get as much freedom as humanly possible Shervin Khodabandeh: It’s sort of like the actual physical Lego blocks Quick digression: We probably have 300 Lego sets that my kids have built and then they end up creating other monstrosities or cool creations Sam Ransbotham: I was just thinking about that. We have so many people who come on our podcast and mention, “Oh, it’s like a building block,” and they always make an analogy to Lego And Lego itself is using these building blocks and their own analogy Anders Butzbach Christensen: Couldn’t agree more but I think it’s also really important to say that what we do is that Lego is a physical toy brand and what we do in the digital space is that we enable better experiences for those physical products It’s just to enhance that experience for our users and to make the experience of buying products and interacting with products way more fun for our consumers And I also think that that [speaks] very much to how you can use things like machine learning or AI to then make sure that we do it in a responsible way how can we utilize machine learning to audit the platform and make sure that we don’t have data lying around forever How do we make sure that our builds and product teams actually know if they have PII data within the platform or not because my background is pretty plain here What kinds of things are people building with your data bricks Anders Butzbach Christensen: We actually do have a lot of cool experiences that got published not too long ago but it’s actually also interactable through these digital experiences and that’s something that was a huge success to us Shervin Khodabandeh: When I hear [about] the data product and various usages of it … I think within the enterprise interacting with Lego websites or instructions or purchasing recommendation engines and things like that But you also mentioned something around the actual experience of building Are there also products that enable better play or different play experiences Anders Butzbach Christensen: Around three or four years ago we released a mobile application where you could use AI to do different play experiences But … you needed to have a phone or an iPad in order to interact with the experience and I’m sure many of our listeners and folks who wear your hat in other organizations are wondering if there is a secret sauce or if there’s a recipe what does it take to actually build what you guys are building Anders Butzbach Christensen: I think one of the really important things for us has been to empower our product teams to actually build these products and take the ownership of them and the way that we did that was by establishing three different pillars within the company what it means is that being product-led … we actually recognize that the different teams are products themselves We no longer have these projects that have a start and end date Then the second one coming up is actually looking at the architecture itself and making sure that the products we build like data platforms — it’s not only something that solves a short-term need but also a long-term need and that we make sure that we don’t need to redo things over time I think that way of thinking has been really important for us and it also sets the direction for our teams Then the engineering-led for us is a lot around the way that we deliver our technologies and make them available across the company but also outside the company We actually strongly believe that the engineers are the specialists So when a product manager or management comes along set the scene by talking about the “why” and “what” we do things but the team is solely responsible for the “how,” and they need to figure out What does a POC [proof of concept] look like What does a minimum viable product look like how can we deliver value as soon as possible and making sure that they deliver value to the organization the engineering-led is really important and one of the key reasons why we have had the success we have today I think we sometimes also need to remember that we hire these skilled people because they are the specialists and they are the best of the best So empowering the teams is just a key thing in order to achieve great success Sam Ransbotham: How did you end up in this role I’m curious how you actually ended up involved in all these things Anders Butzbach Christensen: I think that’s a longer story I have an educational background within computer science and in web development and I actually started out as a consultant seven years ago I did mobile applications and websites and moved into project management of the clients that we’d built those products for I think as so many other people in Denmark maybe dream about working for Lego … we’ve all played with the bricks Anders Butzbach Christensen: You’re absolutely right But totally by coincidence I saw this job ad that said something about “senior product owner big data,” and I probably didn’t know what big data was because we were also working with agile within the consultancy agency So I applied for the position without knowing too much about what the domain was I had our recommendations team for Lego.com and Lego Life to make sure that we have safe content within our platforms I got the job to digitalize our supply chain and I didn’t know anything about supply chain And then we decided to accelerate our digital transformation and then I became head of data engineering there were not a lot of companies that had tried that before so we needed to do a lot of discovery and research to see how other companies do that and then try to stitch everything together And that basically leads us to where we are today — to where I am And I think the curiosity around data is what’s kept me here so you’ve set me up for this: Many of the things you’re talking about with your digital transformation seem like you’re fairly mature in them at this point What kinds of things are you and the Lego Group headed toward Anders Butzbach Christensen: There is a huge journey ahead of us a lot of product teams that use the platform today I think we have 600-plus data products on our platform But there are still a lot of digital product teams that are not using it There is a long journey ahead of us to build up the ambassadors around the organization and make it as easy as humanly possible to build those data products that create a lot of value Shervin Khodabandeh: You’ve been on this journey for quite some time and have a lot of lessons learned and experiences when organizations are talking about data products Anders Butzbach Christensen: What I dream about is that all data producers expose their data into this platform so that it’s available in the discovery tool to stitch that together into a data product that goes for technical teams building transformation scripts in Python or another programming language to businesspeople who go into a drag-and-drop tool and then suddenly it’s available in a reporting tool what I dream about is this one-stop shop for everyone across the organization that’s where we are in hopefully before 10 years Sam Ransbotham: You know, Shervin, as we step back, we’ve heard from a lot of people who are expressing some similar types of things but in different domains. Obviously, not everyone is making children’s toys … or toys for grown-ups; as Shervin just mentioned, he still plays with Lego. But we’ve seen people in health care, we’ve seen … ChatGPT coming up and there’s just a lot of technologies that we couldn’t even imagine five years ago They’re now publicly available in the hands of normal people where we just ask you five rapid-fire questions and you give us the first thing that comes to your mind Shervin Khodabandeh: All right; let me actually get the questions Anders Butzbach Christensen: One of my proudest moments with data was when we actually moved from having a lot of different types of data coming in with different types of data qualities that we couldn’t stitch together because they just didn’t do things in the right way what we did was that we built a tool that educated the data producers on how to actually create good one of the key reasons behind that data product becoming a success Shervin Khodabandeh: What worries you about AI Anders Butzbach Christensen: The worry is not that it’s going to take over our jobs I think the worry is that we unfortunately never can stop learning What’s your favorite activity that involves no technology I need to do something that takes my mind off data and tech Shervin Khodabandeh: What was the first career that you wanted and I looked at it and I found out that there’s way too many laws and then I found out that that requires looking at stocks on a screen for a long time Then I moved into tech and building different types of applications and I think what I really found cool about IT is that you can build products that create a lot of value and I think that was something that really got me into IT Shervin Khodabandeh: What’s your greatest wish for AI in the future Anders Butzbach Christensen: My greatest wish is that it will make the world a better place and I’ll leave it there because that means … that can be done in different ways Sam Ransbotham: You’re not going to tell us how You’re going to hold that for the next time we talk to you Sam Ransbotham: I think what’s particularly interesting about today’s discussion is a lot of the people that Shervin and I talk to talk about Lego as building blocks and they make an analogy of the things that they’re doing in their organization: “Oh we’re building these Legos so that people can build data.” And what they don’t realize is … they think they’re talking about Lego bricks but they’re actually talking about the way that Lego approaches data I think that’s the kind of thing that a lot of people can learn from Thanks for taking the time to talk with us CTO and president of Expedia product and technology and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger You must sign in to post a comment.First time here? Sign up for a free account: Comment on articles and get access to many more articles dead of a heart attack in their Tennessee home last year Lang Management recently promoted Loxahatchee resident Marita A Butzbach to executive vice president of property management operations she will oversee the company’s property management division throughout Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast “Marita is one of the most dedicated leaders at Lang and among the most well respected in the industry,” said Kevin Carroll Butzbach celebrates 30 years with Lang Management this year Her roles have included customer service representative property supervisor and most recently property manager supervisor for the company’s 42 property managers “My work ethic mirrors that of Lang Management in that integrity and respect for others is everything,” Butzbach said Butzbach was a construction supervisor in New Jersey where she graduated from the Taylor Business Institute Butzbach’s hobbies include cooking and spending time with her three children and four grandchildren at the local ballfields Lang Management specializes in the management of homeowners’ and condominium associations Since its founding more than 40 years ago, Lang has been a leader in the management of planned communities, condominiums and cooperatives. For more information, visit www.langmanagement.com. Our next print edition is out Friday, May 16. Public visitations for Predators super fan "Big Ben" Butzbach will be held Friday and Saturday at Fellowship United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro. Butzbach died Tuesday. The cause of death is unknown. Butzbach, known for painting his stomach at Predators games, was 33.  "From inside of our locker room, (I want to) offer condolences to 'Big Ben' Butzbach, who passed away," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said Wednesday morning. "A true (Predators) fan, Our hearts, prayers and wishes go out to his family." Friday's service will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday's is 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Those interested in attending have been asked to wear Predators jerseys to honor Butzbach. Fellowship United Methodist is located at 2511 TN-99 in Murfreesboro. Reach Adam Vingan at avingan@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamVingan. The new hangar being built by a major Danish textile company for Denmark’s second-largest airport, in Billund, is set to receive an exceptional look. The construction will measure 113 meters in length and 15 meters in height, and will simultaneously serve as a hangar door and facade. “This is a special project for us because all-glass doors of this scale are unique,” says Thilo Butzbach, managing director of Butzbach GmbH. With its many years of experience in planning, designing and building large and complex door systems around the world, the Kellmünz-based company was able to distinguish itself from the other companies competing for the contract. The undertaking is currently in the detail- and project-planning phases, with production to follow. Butzbach is poised to assemble this complex door system on site in just 11 weeks, and the project is expected to be completed in Feb. 2020. GermanyChevron GettySave this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products and listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links six-foot-wide street—a crane had to be used to rehab the structures and even a terrace in the space of what once was the wall’s rampart Cobblestone streets, a village bustling around the corner, and just $55 to be able to say you spent a night in a wall? Well worth it. up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse We understand that time is the greatest luxury which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world (WZTV) — Smashville lost one of its most heartfelt supporters this week The exact circumstances of his sudden death aren't known at this time but 102.5 The Game planned a tribute to him on Wednesday night.They're asking folks to call into the show from 8-8:30 p.m on Wednesday to share their favorite memories of him "He was passionate about hockey and giving those that serve the public and keep them safe a place to organize charity hockey tournaments," Penalty Box Radio said in a Facebook post "He helped build Penalty Box Radio from the ground up and will be missed Butzbach had been painting his belly to support the team since 2011 “Using my canvas as you will to cheer on my team,” Butzbach said in a previous interview with Fox 17 News it always makes the Jumbotron and makes the crowd go wild it was just something fun to get the crowd going." He became a co-host for 102.5 The Penalty Box and started a charity hockey league for police and firefighters “I proposed to my wife using my belly," Butzbach said "To say it’s a apart of my life is an understatement He was hit in the head by a slap shot while walking on the ice at a charity hockey league he started It happened right before the Preds season and it literally took him out -- out of his season ticket -- out of work -- out of the game "The worst part is lights and noise it’s a direct head injury concussion and dealing with any type of loud noises," Butzbach said even looking at computer after 15 or 20 minutes he went on Facebook to announce he was selling much of his hockey memorabilia Butzbach briefly mentioned why he was selling and discovered something; As much as he loved the Preds nation he has been such a part of Predators hockey he is one of the original superfans," McCann said in a previous interview I can’t think of anyone in the NHL who is doing what he is doing.” "Blown away with messages of prayer and support I knew there was a hockey family I didn't know how deep it was A new hangar is being built by a Danish textile company at Denmark’s second-largest airport The construction will measure 113 meters in length and 15 meters in height and will simultaneously serve as a hangar door and facade this construction represents a true innovation in architecture “This is a special project for us because all-glass doors of this scale are unique,” says Thilo Butzbach With its many years of experience in planning designing and building large and complex door systems around the world the Kellmünz-based company was able to distinguish itself from the other companies competing for the contract The undertaking is currently in the detail- and project-planning phases Butzbach is poised to assemble this complex door system on site in just 11 weeks and the project is expected to be completed in February 2020 Butzbach has contributed its industry expertise in many major projects at a national and international level One example is the new airport in Istanbul the Kellmünz-based company constructed two large doors measuring 150 meters in length and 21.5 meters in height Despite working under extreme wind conditions the company was able to complete the project reliably and according to schedule This large-scale project in Billund will generate 2 million euros in revenue for the company It is the latest of the more than 850 hangar projects Butzbach has completed including special orders like custom door adjustments for accommodating aircraft with extra-long fuselages like the Airbus A380 at Munich Airport and the Airbus Beluga XL in Toulouse “These major projects in the last two years are a testament to the trust our clients place in us They prove that we are on the right path,” adds Butzbach Previous news« Next news » Comment *document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "a4cce4f9f9f68dd7e0945ffc819df591" );document.getElementById("c08a1a06c7").setAttribute( "id" and website in this browser for the next time I comment [email protected] © Specialist Insight, 2025. 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Website design and development by e-Motive Media Limited Braintree High's Peter Brooks has been voted the Storm Works Roofing & Restoration High School Boys Athlete of the Week The senior golfer received over 16,000 votes (35.7%) to earn the honor Brooks carded a 2-under-par 34 at Braintree Municipal Golf Course in a win over Framingham Hanover: Over the span of four games (3 wins and a tie) Butzbach tallied four goals and four assists for the Hawks Pembroke: McManus posted a hat trick in a 4-2 win over Silver Lake He also had a two-goal game in a 3-1 win over Plymouth South Cohasset: Askjaer scored a hat trick in a win over Middleboro Archbishop Williams: Cibotti posted his seventh shutout of the season in a 0-0 draw with East Bridgewater Braintree: Kennedy scored the winning goal from the penalty spot with 20 seconds remaining in a 2-1 win over Framingham Hopkinton: The co-captain and forward had a goal and an assist in a 3-0 win over Millis giving him three goals and six assists on the fall Franklin: Cinelli scored two goals as the Panthers remained unbeaten in a 7-1 win over Hockomock League rival Milford AMSA: Job had two goals and an assist in a 7-1 win over Abby Kelley and scored the lone Eagles goal in a 1-1 tie with Nipmuc Holliston: Montalto had a hat trick and Polny scored two goals with an assist on his birthday as the Panthers blanked Millis Montalto also scored the lone Panther goal in a 1-1 tie vs Westborough: The captain had two goals and an assist in a 3-0 win over Minnechaug had a hole-in-one on the fourth hole at Weathervane during a victory over Weymouth Gillooly carded a 2-under in a 92-91 win over Braintree Hingham: Flynn shot a 2-under-par 34 in a win over Silver Lake Hanover: Dacosta shot a 4-under-par 32 in a win over Quincy Silver Lake: Russo shot an even-par 34 in a 241-246 win over Whitman-Hanson Blackstone Valley Tech: Griffin was the medalist Holliston: Haynes and McGovern each shot a 1-over 34 as the Panthers (9-7) edged Norwood Haynes also shot a 1-over 34 in a 219-241 win over Medway earlier in the week East Bridgewater: Blasko set a new home course record in 15:38 in a 19-40 victory over Carver Dover-Sherborn: Pearsall won in 17:48 as the Raiders (4-0) stayed unbeaten with a 15-47 win over Dedham Hopkinton: Scott led the way in 16:04 as the Hillers (4-0) swept spots one through five (Stephen Leighton Darian Leo the others) in a 15-44 win over Holliston Send future nominations to cmcdaniel@wickedlocal.com This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page you're familiar with the slogan "Stand With Us." one of the team's biggest fans is in need of a little help standing Ben Butzbach was hit in the head by a slap shot while walking on the ice at a charity hockey league he started It happened right before the Preds season and it literally took him out -- out of his season ticket -- out of work -- out of the game If you have been to a Predators game you have seen something hard to forget “Using my canvas as you will to cheer on my team,” "Big Ben" said Ben has been painting his ample belly since 2011 it always makes the Jumbotron and makes the crowd go wild," Butzbach said "I think it was just something different to say it’s a apart of my life is an understatement I live and die Predators," Butzbach said Ben recently went on Facebook to announce he was selling much of his hockey memorabilia He has been out of work for 6 months now He briefly mentioned why he was selling and discovered something: he is one of the original superfans," McCann said "Blown away with messages of prayer and support If you'd like to donate to "Big Ben," click here. Help Account Or ask at your local comic shop or bookshop Set in an unrecognisable futuristic wasteland filled with brutalist structures struggling remnants of the natural world – oh and a robot carrying a BIG-ASS SWORD – Rebellion are proud to publish the English-language comics debut of acclaimed writer/artist Andreas Butzbach this November a robot warrior wanders through a vast and hostile techno landscape filled with strange lifeforms and mechanical beings left over from a long but distinctly its own instinctive and unpredictable creation BIG-ASS SWORD is a thought-provoking futuristic mystery! Releasing on the 4th November this original graphic novel will be published as a 96-page hardback from Rebellion Publishing as they continue to push the limits of hard sci-fi and fantasy It’s a story filtered through creator Andreas Butzbach’s own experiences with isolation – the first Covid lockdown in 2020 provided an opportunity to turn his battle into something creative and fresh “I’ve seen a lot of zombie movies so I knew I would be in for a rather long time,” he says “And I wanted to make good use of the time in isolation I grabbed a pencil and an empty sketchbook and started to draw full comic pages right into it to just fill the book with comic pages. No scanning or adjusting just like back in the old days when I was a kid: ideas straight onto the paper” Described as The Mighty Boosh meets Head Lopper this Heavy Metal-esque original adventure from German artist/writer Andreas Butzbach will first appear in an exclusive one-off story featured in the weekly 2000 AD before the complete 96-page graphic novel is published through Rebellion this November “When I started with this comic” “I did not know where to go or where it would lead me – just like the robot who leads the story I’m not telling one big epic story arc in the traditional way This is not a ‘save the world’ comic: it’s more a ‘this is how the world is now deal with it’ comic. I don’t want to tell you what is going on: you should read and think about it make your own picture and then you can tell me” BIG-ASS SWORD takes influence from artists including Mike Mignola Katsuhiro Otomo and more as it follows a wandering robot and the strange and unpredictable world he explores with his companion Butzbach revels in the surprise of his world but tech and industry is part of life as well I enjoy the aesthetics of trees and flowers as much as I’m able to cherish industrial machinery and buildings twisting and bending where every pipe and hose has it’s purpose – just like tree roots or the veins running beneath our skin”.  The stunning result of Butzbach’s creative expression is a stark startlingly funny comic which is filled with bright and stirring imagery showcasing a world fallen into ruin. Collected in English for the first time this November this original graphic novel from Butzbach continues his partnership with Rebellion which includes The Thirteenth Floor BIG-ASS SWORD will be published by Rebellion on the 4th November 2025 Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every week Sign up for access to 100s of pages of free digital comics The latest in the Treasury of British Comics Specials is coming your way on 27 May with the return of a set of classic British heroes and anti-heroes in the SMASH Special you’re going to get to thrill to the all-new adventures of The Spider all brought to the page by a stellar line up of talent it’s time to catch up with the paranormal investigator Cursitor Doom – first drawn by the great Eric Bradbury and now updated by writer Maura McHugh and artist Andreas Butzbach… lovely to talk to you in these most trying of times hope you and yours are all safe and well and you’re coping well in the viral apocalypse Maura McHugh: Thanks for the invite to discuss the story and so far I’m safe and healthy in the West of Ireland it is certainly not the apocalypse I was expecting This way I can just continue making comics instead of roaming the wastelands with the warboys Special comes out on 27 May and inside we’re going to be thrilling to the new adventures of Cursitor Doom I must admit my relative ignorance of this one And googling doesn’t help all that much – although I did manage to answer my first question of what the hell is a Cusitor it’s an ancient term for an officer or clerk in the Lord Chancellor’s Court in Britain What I did find out was that Cursitor Doom was a mysterious hero type who used his psychic powers to fight supernatural evils assuming we’re not going to see 8 pages of legal paperwork in the strip He was written by Scott Goodall and drawn primarily by Eric Bradbury and Jim Baikie He’s a paranormal investigator with some telepathic powers The original stories were very much of their time: spiffing action with mysteries and ghostly attacks I love those kind of stories and characters so it was a lot of fun to dig in and ponder a new story for him And what can we expect from the storyline here in the Special MM: This story includes another paranormal investigator from the IPC archive: Jason Hyde Hyde never appeared in comic book form but in illustrated stories He’s a scientist with a fondness for gadgets and an unearthly vision (depicted as blue rays from his eyes) which allows him to see through objects and read minds MM: Creating a story in seven pages in which I put two such iconic characters together was a challenge but I did my best to introduce them to a new audience and showcase their talents and allies The story has a folk horror vibe with a nod to the 1960s spy sensibility that tended to infuse the Hyde stories and is called ‘King For a Day‘ Were you both aware of the two characters before getting the gig to write this new strip for the SMASH MM: I was vaguely aware of Doom but Hyde was completely new to me It’s always enjoyable to root through older comics and become acquainted with new characters I love reading comics from this era so it was a pleasure to do the research but quickly read everything I could get my hands on What was the thinking behind putting Jason Hyde into what will be his first comic story so many years after his original appearances in Valiant in the late 60s MM: It was editor Keith Richardson’s idea to put the two of them together in the story and since Hyde and Doom are both investigators of the strange and arcane they have a shared occupation It seems to me that both Cursitor Doom and Jason Hyde are more of those classic Brit characters who couldn’t be further from the goody-goody superheroes of US comics at the same time bald figure whose look is part Bond villain part terrible 60s TV magician and a paranormal investigator dressed inblack and carrying a walking stick who looked more at home in Victorian London than modern times MM: I like Doom’s odd and enigmatic appearance and it tallies nicely with a type of British eccentric character that’s a staple of genre fiction British audiences doesn’t necessarily expect their heroes to be handsome and athletic but they do expect them to solve crimes with panache and wit which is why he pairs well with other characters who round him out I love the British tradition of the boffin detective who doesn’t deny the weirder elements in the world (Quatermass is an example) There is always a sense of fair play and that a grander order of reason and justice should be protected These stories were aimed at a younger audience of course so the likes of Hyde and Doom were employed to right wrongs in strange circumstances and be on the side of ordinary people I think it’s fair to say that your style is a long way from the fine Your artwork that I’ve seen from your website and The Romantic in the last Thirteenth Floor Special from 2019 – when you do b&w something I especially loved with The Romantic glad you like what we created for the Thirteenth Foor special It was my first time working with Ghastly McNasty and Rebellion To see my name on the cover between Kyle Hotz and Kelley Jones what changes have you made here for Cursitor Doom are you changing your style to reflect the look of the strip from the past or going your own way with a new look AB: I feel like my style always changes a bit depending on what I’m working on and which tools are used It’s a direct reflection of moods and feelings and all the stuff that influenced me in the past I’m really into this sort of story and characters I absorbed the original material and just let it flow Keith does an outstanding job with finding cool material for me and Mr even more so when you realise how old that stuff is His were big footsteps to follow in and I only hope I did the characters justice AB: First I made sure to get to know the characters read all the reference material and what I could find online I worked out some character sheets to get accustomed to drawing the dudes and read the script I then usually start with a rough page layout with a focus on panels and storytelling I sketch out the compositions in the panels filling black areas and making the editor and the writer happy I’m working on my personal project ‘BIGASSSWORD’ and do commissions here and there There are also a few pitched projects for which it is too early to say something and hopefully more work for Rebellion MM: I’m truly excited to have a story in the next Misty/Scream Special From my perspective Misty is a comic book treasure: horror aimed at girls and it was a genuine honour to be part of a continuation of that tradition I’m also working on other stories for Rebellion… more will be revealed soon Thank you to both Andreas and Maura for taking the time to chat to us Special will be out on 27 May – get it from the 2000 AD web store or wherever comic books are sold (or whatever stores are still open!) And remember – keep safe The information you requested is not available at this time Today, @PREDSident introduced the newest member of the #Smashville family... our catfish friend Gill 🐟 pic.twitter.com/2wWvQgsG9k His friend ‘Ben’ will be joining him soon! Then we’ll have two more coming that all of #Smashville will vote on for names As for the remaining two catfish, the Predators are asking fans to vote on the final two names but haven’t revealed when they’ll be added to the aquarium (H/T Nashville Predators) United Fire Brigade Association CEO Bill Butzbach By Clare Sziranyi, RNZ The chief executive of the United Fire Brigades' Association has been stood down while allegations of bullying and harassment are investigated The investigation is being carried out by an independent QC who is to look into two complaints relating to alleged sexual harassment and bullying UFBA board chair Richie Smith said he will take over chief executive duties while the matters are fully investigated Smith is urging any volunteer members with concerns of their own to access the UFBA's advocacy service Butzbach and Fire and Emergency chief executive Rhys Jones have been approached for comment The investigation comes as Fire and Emergency faces mounting pressure over the way it handles complaints over sexual assault Last week the Professional Fire Fighters Union expressed no confidence in FENZ leadership over its handling of complaints and said it was representing at least 10 volunteers who have lost faith in the UFBA to advocate for them A quad bike crash in rural South Canterbury has left one person dead Butzbach Aviation supplied five hangar door systems measuring up to 160 m for the new Airbus A400M transport aircraft for the German military 5 hangars – most diversified requirements – 1 partner the airbase has a long history to which a very extensive new chapter is now being added: the Bundeswehr is expanding the airport to make it the central location for its new transport aircraft Butzbach GmbH Industrietore supplied a total of five hangar door systems each tailored to the particular use of each hangar in terms of equipment “Wunstorf is a flagship project that perfectly demonstrates our capability both in the product portfolio and in project management for such extensive requirement criteria,” explained Dafne Joel Head of the business unit Aviation at Butzbach Fitted with fibreglass panels to allow light through each of the doors are impressive enough just in their dimensions two double-leaf sliding doors 105 x 17.5 m in size give individual access to the 2 docks in each hall Truck doors and pedestrian doors are integrated into the hangar door The training facility has a 51 x 10.5 m round-the-corner door with a 25 x 7 m tail door customized for the T-tail of the A400M The leaves of the round-the-corner door are led along the side wall when opened allowing the whole front of the hall to be accessible The simulator building has a smaller sliding door measuring 10 x 10.5 m and two stacking doors of 6.4 x 8 m The door for the washing and maintenance hall is the largest one on the entire complex with its 160 x 17.5 m in size with 3 separately moveable leaves each weighing approx The external building skin and internal separations between the bays have been equipped with a total of 3,800 m2 fibreglass curtain walls made by Butzbach Maximum operational availability Butzbach’s Aviation Sales Manager Thomas Merk resumes the specific requirements and how they could be met by their special technology: “All doors are configured for simple and reliable year-round operation with heatable rails and electric drive Manual operation is possible at any time should the power fail allowing almost 100% operational reliability to be guaranteed The Butzbach-specific door tracks also compensate for depressions in the structural frame so that even high snow loads on the hangar will not have any impact on operation of the door.” Apart from operational availability a number of additional performances were specified: for security reasons sophisticated security features and a decentralised door monitoring system were installed To allow the best possible use of daylight all doors are fitted with transparent fibreglass panels manufactured by Butzbach itself These were used for extensive façade areas as well – amounting to 3,800 m2 for the washing and maintenance hall alone they also make a significant contribution to energy saving thanks to optimised thermal insulation alongside a sharp reduction in the need for artificial light because the bright working areas eliminate the casting of shadows from functional reliability to burglar alarm system Hangar doors need to satisfy many specific requirements that depend mainly on the type of building and the location Butzbach hangar doors were selected for Wunstorf and many other airfields around the world because they go well beyond the norm Some of the most important criteria are set out below: This criterion is by far the most critical for hangar doors The doors must function perfectly at all times and under (virtually) all circumstances if delays in the availability of aircraft or even penalty payments resulting from delays are to be avoided That’s why – and this was the case in Wunstorf too – a huge amount of care was invested in the quality of materials and the technical features of the doors in order to meet this requirement at all times Functional reliability must be ensured just as much when the power fails as when there is a heavy frost Butzbach hangar doors are therefore fitted with an easy-to-use mechanical emergency operating system while reliable drainage and the installation of flat heating cables in the track system (heated rails) prevent door operation being hampered by snow and ice The best possible energy efficiency is one of the key standards that every building must meet these days – especially structures with the dimensions of an aircraft hangar high-quality structures and components such as transparent insulating fibreglass panels with U-values comparable to double or triple insulating glazing sophisticated seals and permanently resistant EPDM gaskets ensure very good thermal transmittance – throughout the life of the doors Freedom from radar reflection To ensure that pilots are always able to land safely the structure of the building shell must not deflect or in any other way modify the radar beams of the instrument landing system (ILS) Special twin-walled panels made of fibreglass a high-grade glass-fibre reinforced plastic that does not affect the radar beams were used for the extensive door and façade surfaces from Butzbach This criterion was a major factor in Wunstorf because the new buildings (particularly the washing and maintenance hall) are located near the take-off runway Natural light creates optimum working conditions in the hangar Translucent multi-chamber insulation panels made of fibreglass ensure that the door and façade hangars in Wunstorf provide illumination free of glare and shadows Fibreglass is a special material characterised by very low U-values and a light transmittance of up to 78% the entire hangar door area can thus be used as a passive light source for cost-free illumination The installation of tail doors in the form of stacking doors essentially allows the height of the main door to be reduced this additional requirement on the door system for the training hall in Wunstorf was met by a customized SPACELITE HT200 tail door with 3 leaves each weighing about 3 t Butzbach hangar doors feature a mechanical locking system for the door leaves and the integrated pedestrian doors and truck doors as standard In Wunstorf permanent electronic monitoring is provided by an intruder alarm and an access control system with the corresponding access rights for a selected group of people Hangar doors from Butzbach also in principle allow burglar resistance measures up to class RC3 to be realised Security precautions are taken as early as during the construction phase: the Butzbach teams working on the site were given appropriate passes A fire alarm system with extinguishers is generally provided for hangars Smoke can be extracted through the roof (smoke and heat vent system) and the doors can open automatically in the event of fire to provide a source of fresh air Fire safety is always brought up in the planning stage to which Butzbach’s project management team contributes by determining the most appropriate option for the construction project Project manager Axel Knussmann: “Our many years of know-how are a great help here we also have an eye on the follow-up costs for fire safety equipment Consistent project management for manufacturing A project manager from Butzbach controls and coordinates the door-related details of the construction project serving as a point of contact for all participants and overseeing execution from planning through to acceptance He is also a regular presence on the building site Axel Knussmann is the relevant project manager At the start of the project his duties were focused in particular on checking the preceding works on site to satisfy himself that they had been executed properly a detailed consultation is held between the participating trades so that all relevant technical details can be clarified It takes about 16 weeks to produce a hangar door with the dimensions of those in Wunstorf so that only larger components have to be fitted together on site By this stage the construction site at the place of installation is already up and running “We plan this down to the last detail so that we can work independently,” explained Axel Knussmann “The most important areas are those used for storage which means we have to make sure we are absolutely bang on schedule so that there are no delays on site.” For the Butzbach team around Thomas Merk and Axel Knussmann a project is only finished then the customer can operate the hangar in a reliable and trouble-free way The fact that they received all consequent orders for the hangar doors and the fibreglass curtain walls is for them a sign that both the product and the project management could entirely satisfy the expectations of the contractor To view the full project report click here To view more details and other references on the homepage click here About the Wunstorf airbase the Wunstorf airbase is its largest building site at the moment the project will have cost some 565 million euros The majority of this is being spent on the construction of new buildings and infrastructure for the 40 transport aircraft of type Airbus A400M that will be stationed there in the future When the project began Butzbach Aviation won the Europe-wide tenders for the doors The invitations to tender were issued by two civilian public project management authorities The two agencies look after hundreds of properties owned by federal and regional governments They report to the Lower Saxony regional financial authority which ultimately monitors the progress and the appropriate use of the money invested The prevailing standard for the doors installed in Wunstorf is the European product standard DIN EN 13241-1 It replaced the national standards a few years ago and regulates safety and performance requirements for all power and manually operated gates and barriers in the private commercial and public sectors that are intended to allow the passage of persons or goods and vehicles accompanied or controlled by them The doors for the Wunstorf airbase were built in accordance with the requirements of this standard and with other individual specifications Butzbach hangar door and fibreglass curtain wall installations in Wunstorf in detail Butzbach hangar doors and their additional equipment are always individual bespoke solutions In the airbase Wunstorf Butzbach has developed and supplied a total of five hangar doors and nearly 6,000 m2 fibreglass curtain walls in four buildings in the time between 2012 and 2017 The buildings and hangar door installations in chronological order were as follows: Realisation: September 2012 to December 2013 Two VARIOPLANplus curtain walls 98 x 6 m and 45 x 6 m Realisation: December 2012 to December 2013 Realisation: September 2014 to August 2015 three exterior façades and two interior separations between the bays Realisation: February 2015 to February 2016 A senior firefighter has left the only association for volunteers after its chief executive who has faced sexual assault allegations from women made a post celebrating International Women's Day yesterday The United Fire Brigades' Association (UFBA) chief executive Bill Butzbach has faced sexual assault allegations - including an inquiry that was dropped when the complainants disagreed with the terms of reference In the post Butzbach said he was "honoured" to work with women and welcomed the theme of the day which was to "break the bias" and officers of the UFBA are proud to support a diverse But the post was a breaking point for senior volunteer firefighter Tony Sutorius who said the post showed a disconnect between the association and alleged behaviours connected to it He said several women have left the association in relation to allegations and slow progress towards change and he no longer felt it was appropriate to be represented by the union "This just isn't OK that this carries on in our name .. I'm not going to let this organisation speak for me anymore." one of the country's largest online groups of volunteer firefighters said not many men had left the union over alleged behaviours within the association but there had been "plenty of women .. and in particular the women who have been victims" I feel a bit guilty that I didn't do it sooner," Sutorius said "There's plenty of people who feel the same way." He wanted to see government or Fire and Emergency officials step in and trigger change within the association because he did not think it could claim to celebrate women when there were assault allegations apparently fairly soft accountabilities and it's time for everyone in that chain to actually look to their own conscience and just start acting with seriousness and asking the basic questions to get this sorted out." United Fire Brigades' Association chair Hon Peter Dunne said the association had not received any notice of Suturious' decision to step away Dunne said he stood behind Butzbach's decision to acknowledge International Women's Day in the social media post in question "Our campaign to acknowledge International Women's Day was entirely appropriate given 77% of the Association's employees are women of which 60% make up the Association's senior leadership team approximately 20% of our members are female "It is important to show our appreciation for these inspiring women and the work they do for their community It was in this vein that comments were managed to maintain the focus on acknowledging and celebrating International Women's Day," Dunne said Dunne said all members of the association could access support through FENZ and the association's advocacy services many in their small town refused to believe it A former volunteer firefighter who says she was assaulted while in the organisation is calling for a full inquiry into all complaints of sexual harassment in the service Doubt is being cast on the independence of an investigation against the head of the United Fire Brigades' Association - its board is deciding the investigation's terms Nine Fire and Emergency NZ staff in Otago and Southland have been sacked or resigned in the past four years New Zealand RSS Follow RNZ News Kanoo Automotive and Industrial Equipment (KAIE) a subsidiary of the Ebrahim K has signed an agreement with partners Butzbach to expand their portfolio to include hangar doors on the sidelines of the Bahrain International Air Show (BIAS) 2018 was signed in the presence of KAIE General Manager; Jamie Bowen and Butzbach Area Manager; Simon Jones at the KAIE booth in the Trade Zone with functioning replicas of Butzbach’s most popular products The Butzbach Group is the leading provider of hangar doors to owners of business aircraft The company has installed more than 750 hangar door systems worldwide “Butzbach has partnered with KAIE for some time now and their products are installed at many outlets in Bahrain.” “We know that this exclusive partnership will further enhance our business opportunities in Bahrain and the region.” The KAIE stand is located in the Traders Zone of the air show and is showcasing a wide range of airport ground support and terminal hall services with global partners Butzbach The chief executive of the volunteer firefighters' association is the subject of an independent investigation relating to two complaints of sexual harassment and bullying The United Fire Brigade Association (UFBA) board has appointed Kristy McDonald QC to conduct the investigation into its CEO Bill Butzbach The UFBA is funded $4.3 million a year by Fire and Emergency New Zealand to represent 550 volunteer brigades and 11,500 firefighters The two complaints against Butzbach relate to incidents several years ago when he was Fire Chief in Martinborough and on the board of UFBA One complaint relates to sexual harassment in what the complainant describes as a "hazing incident" in a restaurant in Martinborough The other complainant wants the terms of reference for the inquiry to "include sexual assault The terms of reference are yet to be determined Last week the Professional Fire Fighters Union expressed no confidence in FENZ leadership over its handling of complaints and said it was representing at least 10 volunteers who have lost faith in the UFBA to advocate for them UFBA chairman Richie Smith told Nine to Noon he could not comment on individual cases but that Butzbach remains in his role He said normally the UFBA does not run its own investigation process as "at the more serious end of the scale they are dealt with by police or a FENZ process" Smith said in the last year the UFBA was contacted for assistance and support in 109 new cases Eighty-four of the 109 cases were resolved He said: "There have been some behavioural issues both with the paid firefighters that the (PFU) union represents "Anyone with concerns should be very free and come forward into a process that is robust The union representing career firefighters says it has no confidence in the CEO of Fire and Emergency New Zealand or FENZ on the handling of sexual assault and bullying complaints Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark's actions at a private event left an MC so upset she wished the ground would "open up and swallow her" Clark attended a United Fire Brigades' Association (UFBA) prizegiving dinner as a guest of honour according to UFBA chief executive William Butzbach's letter of complaint to the council Clark has since apologised, saying he was suffering from "brain fade" following open heart surgery He also maintained some of his behaviour was not as described Butzbach's letter - dated 28 March - was made public on Tuesday afternoon, and forms the basis of a second code of conduct complaint against Clark Butzbach wrote he was informed by several reliable sources that Clark had "articulated some disturbing and offensive views" at the event Some of the comments were made during a speech on stage and included a description of volunteer firefighters as second-class citizens and personal attacks on the MC the complaint claims Clark attacked the MC's appearance competence as a communications professional and made an untrue allegation she was having an affair with the association's president Butzbach also alleged the mayor disparaged young people in positions of authority "All in attendance were horrified and appalled by the mayor's hateful and disrespectful rhetoric," Butzbach wrote in the complaint "Many of our members and guests left the room in disgust at this behaviour from the mayor "This has proven traumatic for my staff whereby we are providing professional support services to them." The investigation report further detailed the impact of the episode on the MC saying she found Clark's comments "deeply humiliating" and had been reduced to tears she was left anxious thinking about hosting another event The UFBA president - who was present at the event - said he leaned close to Clark following his speech and remonstrated with him He claimed Clark did not reply and left the room with his partner soon after All interviewees agreed the mayor did not speak from notes and did not congratulate the competition winners Clark's partner provided an alternative view of events saying although the mayor had caused offence he had not intended to make anyone uncomfortable She said the mayor's sense of humour was "unique" and was aggrieved by the criticism he had drawn at the event Clark said he was approached by a volunteer as he left the venue and told he was "on the mark" with his comments while being asked to give the team a wave - which he did Although Clark acknowledged in the report some of his comments were "inappropriate" and showed immediate willingness to apologise he maintained his overall conduct was not as described Clark also indicated he would not assist with the investigation into his actions A letter from Wellington lawyer Dentons Kensington Swan to Invercargill City Council dated 12 May said the mayor had raised the question of scope for the council's code of conduct as a reason for not cooperating with an investigation Clark was found to be in breach of the council's code of conduct with the matter to be considered by the council at an extraordinary meeting on Friday Clark declined to make any comment ahead of that date A second code of conduct brought against the mayor in April is still being investigated It relates to his appearance on satirical news show New Zealand Today, which saw him repeat a racial slur he had previously drawn criticism for using LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark tells an anti co-governance event that he thinks a "woke" government is giving Māori too much power Invercargill's mayor is recovering in an intensive care unit after undergoing heart surgery in Dunedin Hospital this week who drew criticism for his unapologetic use of the n-word is facing another code of conduct complaint One councillor is "disgusted" by Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark's racially charged language in an interview while another describes it as a "train wreck" Volunteer fire brigades are attending most of the country’s motor vehicle accidents and medical emergencies creating trauma- and stress-related issues – but accident compensation coverage is not keeping pace Many of the nation’s 11,832 volunteer firefighters now act as first responders to motor vehicle accidents and medical emergencies in addition to structure fires They say this exposes them to increasing trauma and leaves some struggling to cope United Fire Brigades Association (UFBA) data shows that in the 2023-24 year volunteers attended 70% of all motor vehicle accidents 42% of all structure fires and 85% of all vegetation fires UFBA chief executive Bill Butzbach said some brigades attend to between 400 to 500 calls a year in addition to two hours training each week Increasingly those calls are to motor vehicle accidents and medical emergencies which he said are complex and professionally and emotionally testing volunteer firefighters are not covered for work-related illness or injury resulting from their firefighting duties because they do not receive a taxable payment for this work A petition has been launched asking Parliament to give volunteer firefighters the same ACC coverage as paid firefighters As of March 31 it had nearly 25,500 signatures It states that while volunteers are eligible for compensation for work-related mental injury to qualify they must prove a single incident was the cause are therefore not covered for volunteer firefighters Professional firefighters have access to a toxicology panel to assess ACC compensation if they are diagnosed with cancer Butzbach said often volunteer brigades are the first to respond to a traffic accident or medical emergency using their first aid skills while waiting for St John or an air ambulance “Feedback from firefighters is that these calls are especially difficult “They are in the sanctity of someone’s home and it is so raw because the ill person’s family are often there and firefighters are trying to save their loved one being first on the scene of an accident or incident can be challenging “You’re on your tod and often can’t communicate because of poor communication coverage so you have to be on your game he never attended the range of calls expected of the service today and ACC cover does not take account of the emotional and physical impact on volunteers from providing these additional services That includes growing evidence of links between some cancers and fires with firefighters recording higher cancer rates than the general public “Every fire is a hazardous materials incident with flames,” he said “You have got to turn your thinking around and approach it in a different way.” Butzbach said the UFBA is working with politicians to extend ACC coverage but despite an initial mixed response He said it would be relatively easy to extend that coverage to those in emergency services who could be exposed to Studies have quantified the annual economic value of volunteer firefighters at $800m Butzbach said employing full time firefighters to provide the coverage currently provided by volunteers “Volunteer firefighters are the backbone of the service The United Fire Brigades' Association is calling for more support for volunteer firefighters an independent report written by Esperance Capital Ltd and released by the United Fire Brigades' Association this morning showed that New Zealand's 11,832 volunteer firefighters deliver $823 million worth of value every year United Fire Brigades' Association chief executive Bill Butzbach said the report confirmed volunteers were the backbone of the country's emergency services New Zealand's emergency response system would collapse Our emergency services simply could not operate without them," he said Butzbach said 86 percent of firefighters were volunteers "Not only does the dedication and selflessness of our volunteers protect our communities it provides taxpayers and the government with savings of $823 million a year "That's $823m the government can invest in hospitals But Butzbach said there needed to be more investment in volunteer firefighters "There is a value that the volunteers provide we want fairness and equity across the board just in terms of what volunteers are entitled to and in terms of their equipment and training because volunteers lead their own brigades volunteers are not treated very well by ACC legislation The United Fire Brigades' Association board chair Peter Dunne said it was important that their contribution was not taken for granted "Volunteers do not receive the same level of uniform fleet or equipment as their paid colleagues," he said "They also receive less rehabilitation support and health and safety cover when they are injured on duty "ACC does not cover mental trauma experienced by volunteer firefighters on duty or chronic workplace illness because it is considered in law to be a leisure activity "That fact is astonishing and cannot continue." Butzbach said the United Fire Brigades' Association will be meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs towards the end of this month Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark will be asked to resign at an upcoming extraordinary meeting following another code of conduct complaint The meeting on Friday has been called as a result of the complaint Clark is under fire for his behaviour at a United Fire Brigades' Association (UFBA) prizegiving dinner as a guest of honour In a March letter of complaint to the council UFBA chief executive William Butzbach said the mayor articulated disturbing and offensive views at the event but when others challenged the mayor he threatened to talk about them on stage and other guests by stating volunteer firefighters were second-class citizens making personal attacks on the MC - including her appearance competence and the fact she lived in Ponsonby - and wrongly implying the UFBA president and MC were having an affair Butzbach said everyone was horrified and appalled by the mayor's "hateful and disrespectful rhetoric" and many members and guests left the room in disgust A code of conduct complaint was lodged by council chief executive Michael Day on behalf of the UFBA Clark has since apologised in a letter to Butzbach, saying he was suffering from "brain fade" following open heart surgery I felt terrible after the dinner and within a couple of days as I do not normally present this way at public meetings," his letter said with the matter to be considered by the council at the extraordinary meeting on Friday Councillor Ian Pottinger said the mayor's behaviour has been unacceptable "It's brought disrepute to Invercargill and no apology will fix that and that's why I will be asking for his resignation," he said because council can't even by majority of vote sack a mayor but the reason is the only fix for what has happened is for him to resign - for the betterment of Invercargill." Pottinger said there was "no place to hide" for each councillor As your job as a councillor you have to have an opinion on this Each councillor needs to think very carefully about what they're going to say tomorrow." Pottinger said he had not spoken to Clark about his intentions In April, Pottinger and another councillor Ria Bond filed a code of conduct complaint against Clark after his appearance on Guy Williams' satirical news show New Zealand Today During his interview with Williams - described as "a train wreck" by one of his elected members - he defended previous instances where he has used the N-word and again repeated the slur Clark first courted controversy last year when he used the word at an Art Foundation event supposedly to make a point around "tolerance" and "freedom of expression" within the art world He doubled-down on the matter during his appearance on the 21 March episode of New Zealand Today Clark claimed to hate the term but again used the slur when citing the name of an Invercargill street gang the Southland Business Chamber expressed its concern about Clark's "continued problematic conduct" notably at the UFBA Firefighter Challenge event Chief executive Sheree Carey said his behaviour breached the expected standard of conduct for elected leaders jeopardised the reputation of Invercargill and should not be tolerated "Despite mayor Clark's health challenges and his subsequent apology the recurring nature of these incidents indicates a critical need for systemic change within our city's leadership The chamber firmly believes that Invercargill deserves leadership that acts with integrity and respects the dignity of all individuals," she said "Given the repeated nature of these incidents and the unwillingness of mayor Clark to adapt his behaviour despite previous feedback the chamber believes that the most responsible course of action would be for mayor Clark to step aside." The troubling behaviour included the use of racially and sexually insensitive language at an Arts Foundation tour and on national television Given Clark's admission he had a medical condition that was affecting his ability to perform his duties to the expected standard that could persist for years his resignation could be a crucial step in protecting the city's reputation Invercargill City Council said Clark did not wish to comment ahead of Friday's meeting