-Doug Green, Publisher, NZ Manufacturer www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

Revolutionary technologies are changing the face of manufacturing in New Zealand and around the world.

Remember when the first mobile phones came out? They looked like bricks, were the weight (practically) of bricks and there was really no place to put them. Walking down the busy street talking on one – with lots of other people around you doing the same thing – took up quite a lot of space.

And how it’s all changed. The phones we use now are so much better as is the technology we are using to drive our manufacturing environments.

If you can get your head around the on-going, refined technology, there are loads of opportunities staring you right in the face. And you can do it all in one place. Design engineers with their own research and development departments are taking on the world, developing products that five years ago would have been pretty hard to comprehend.

From Invercargill to Whangarei there are great examples of New Zealand companies finding success by rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in – using the best of manufacturing equipment and technology.

Manufacturers do need to focus on the TPP agreement. Currently sitting there like a very, very large pimple, this inter-arrangement may even see foreign workers in New Zealand performing jobs New Zealanders ought to be doing at cheaper rates. The control of many workforces using Orwellian pay rates in a time when the price of an ice-cream is way over the top!

Ice-cream may be available using the latest technology – but who determines its price? Why should TPP serve us any better?

Technopak and Nelson Honey are prominent in this issue of NZ Manufacturer, companies who have been making it for a number of years. They haven’t – over those years – needed any trade agreement to get them going, to keep them on track, just a good old fashioned desire to succeed.

Technopak build packing systems for export. They design and manufacture all of their machines from their East Tamaki base. Half of what they make is exported.

Nelson Honey, a family owned, 42 year old company produce and export high quality honey based products. And high value bee venom and honey base cosmetic products. 85% of their products are destined for export – that is huge!

It can be done. Success wears many hats and whether there is a TPP agreement or not companies such as these are great examples of manufacturing never standing still.