Kiwi manufacturing sector strong
Suggestions of strong growth in New Zealand’s manufacturing and engineering sectors have been borne out with local and overseas professionals touting the highly successful engineering, machinery and electronics exhibition EMEX 2010, recently held at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland. The success of this event backs up recent performance of manufacturing index (PMI) figures that show consistent and sustained growth, with an April figure of 58.9 (anything above 50 shows manufacturing is expanding). It is the second largest employment sector in the country, and largest in Auckland. Now Kiwi-owned, EMEX has thrilled its new owners and management team, XPO Exhibitions. Brent Spillane says he was initially apprehensive given the shaky economy, but has been overwhelmed by the success of the event. “I spent a lot of time at EMEX walking the halls and talking to exhibitors and visitors. Constant positive feedback and reports of strong sales at both the low and high-value ends, with a good number of substantial machines sold on the floor, was an excellent sign of how good the manufacturing and engineering sectors are at present. As one exhibitor told me: ‘The show has been a financial success for us. I have never in all my time coming to these shows seen so many business owners attend as visitors’. “It was interesting to hear ANZ economist Khoon Goh, who spoke to a packed audience, note that the economy is improving and that this message translated to our trade visitors as a good time to buy capital equipment. There were very few ‘tyre-kickers’ among a very high quality of visitors and, as mentioned, a lot of sales were made. Confidence in sustained growth is high too, with a higher proportion of exhibitors than normal already One of the exhibitors over the moon with EMEX 2010 is LZ Electrix Ltd. […]