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The latest New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA) Survey of Business Conditions completed during June 2015, shows total sales in May 2015 decreased 9.13% (year on year export sales decreased by 7.59% with domestic sales decreasing 11.20%) on May 2014. The NZMEA survey sample this month covered NZ$397m in annualised sales, with an export content of 58%. Net confidence fell to -13, down from 17 in April. The current performance index (a combination of profitability and cash flow) is at 96.3, down from 100.3 last month, the change index (capacity utilisation, staff levels, orders and inventories) was at 100, up from 98 in the last survey, and the forecast index (investment, sales, profitability and staff) is at 102.5, down on the last result of 105.67. Anything over 100 indicates expansion. Constraints reported were 81% markets, 13% production capacity and 6% skilled staff. Net 13% of firms reported a modest rise in productivity in May. Staff numbers for May increased 1.20% year on year. Tradespersons, supervisors, managers, professional/scientists and operators/labourers all reported a moderate shortage. “May’s results showed a turn around in the recent positive trend for domestic sales, moving into year on year reductions in turnover after five months of year on year expansion. Export sales also fell into the negative after two months of good year on year increases. We hope this month’s results are just a temporary blip, rather than a negative trend, however the results are relatively in line with other recent business surveys.” says NZMEA Chief Executive Dieter Adam. “This month’s survey saw confidence moving back into the negative, after breaking into the positive last month. The performance index fell into contraction territory (below 100), and the forecast index, despite falling on last month, stayed in expansion. Staff numbers increased year on year, but more […]

On the release of the report – The State of CSR in Australia and New Zealand Annual Review 2015 – Sustainable Business Council Executive Director Penny Nelson said: “We have seen a significant shift for New Zealand businesses over the past year. Increasingly, leaders are bringing sustainability into the heart of their organisation’s strategies. “A growing number of businesses are looking beyond sustainability as compliance or risk management and are seeing growing opportunities from embedding good business practice. The State of CSR report suggests that business innovators are tackling social and environmental issues because it creates both financial and non-financial value for them. “According to the report, innovators are more likely to prioritise addressing issues like poverty, inequality, human rights and the environment. They understand the close connection between their own long-term success and having healthy communities and ongoing access to natural resources. You can’t have one without the other. “It was interesting to see that overall, New Zealand businesses are more focused on environmental goals than Australian companies, yet less concerned with social issues. I think there’s growing awareness among New Zealand businesses of the important role they have to play in areas like youth unemployment and poverty. This will be an area to watch.”

ExportNZ says the vote by the US legislature to move forward with the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement will be welcomed by New Zealand exporters. ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard said the successful conclusion of a deal would encourage more investment in export business and benefit the New Zealand economy. Catherine Beard warned that the US move did not necessarily mean that an agreement would succeed. “It means negotiations will now begin in earnest on the issues that have so far been hardest to agree, including the issue of market access for New Zealand’s dairy products. “Our exporters want a high quality deal that gives us a level playing field in all the Pacific markets involved. “For New Zealand, the deal would represent a critical boost to our international competitiveness. “Exporters understand that we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines of international trade and see our competitiveness eroded. “ExportNZ is backing the efforts of our negotiators as they enter the final leg of this important agreement.”

New momentum towards the Trans Pacific Partnership is good news for New Zealand, says BusinessNZ. Chief Executive Phil O’Reilly said the US decision to fast-track negotiations brings the deal within sight. “New Zealand negotiators will be seeking the best deal possible for dairy and other products, and seeking to move forward in services and elsewhere. “Getting good terms for dairy access will be a challenge, as some participating countries have dairy producers with significant domestic political power who don’t want to compete against New Zealand’s efficient dairy farmers. “But New Zealand’s negotiators are world-class and are focused not only on the big items like dairy, but also on the wider benefits from TPP. “Getting more connected to huge markets in the pivotal Pacific arena would be a huge economic benefit for New Zealand. “The New Zealand business community will be staunchly supportive of our negotiators as they seek a good outcome for us all.”

Katalin Csikasz, TechPro Plus Interested in increasing revenue by streamlining processes, mass-producing products and increasing production volume in your factory? TechPro Plus, an Auckland based company can help you with this. We specialise in engineering solutions for manufacturers and are experts at streamlining processes with a strong focus on output efficiency. A recent project, which started out as a product Q&A and compliance enquiry, ended with streamlined production, increased productivity and revenue with the opportunity to compete in new markets. TechPro Plus was invited to quality check an internationally supplied product which had received a range of installation complaints from the NZ based end customer. After a thorough product investigation it was found that the product was marginally outside of NZ standards. While the overseas manufacturing partner was committed to finding a solution, TechPro Plus had to be realistic. With the ability to manufacture the annual NZ order requirements in just one day; it was not cost effective for the manufacturer to invest in a different die for NZ production, given the small volume. To find the solution TechPro Plus needed to be creative and look outside the box. TechPro Plus initially provided remote consultation to save the client costs. However to fast track the project, a visit to the overseas factory was necessary to enable hands-on consultation. After a walk through the production line to gather all the necessary information, TechPro Plus found that the overseas manufacturer was interested in selling their product into other international markets; but was disadvantaged by the significant capital expenditure of building different expensive dies to suit each countries’ requirements. The production downtime associated with changing the dies was also a significant issue. TechPro Plus took a “one size fits all” approach and studied each potential countries Standard requirements with the aim of identifying […]