Business News

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 […]

By Doug Green  This year’s Mystery Creek Fieldays have come and gone and are said to have been  successful. And, of course, some really great innovations were on show. None more so than Waikato Milking Systems who took out the International Innovation Award with its Centrus 84 Rotary Platform at Fieldays 2015. In conjunction with the Centrus 84 Rotary Platform comes a new innovation in pivot rollers, made to manage the endurance roller in 24/7 dairy operations. The Centrus 84 Rotary Platform has already been sold into the US, China and South African markets. It also has a global patent making it an exclusive product to Waikato Milking Systems. The Centrus 84 is the first fully-composite rotary platform and is 80% lighter than previous platforms and five times stronger. And it is cutting-edge technology. A highlight of the show was the availability of a free app – STORY – that allowed Fieldays visitors to follow the Innovation Trail and learn more about the fascinating history of New Zealand’s agriculture through the Victorian-era buildings and historic objects in Mystery Creek’s Heritage Village. It was unfortunate – or just bad timing – that Fonterra announced it’s restructuring during the fieldays. An incredibly mistimed focus on their future which had people at the fieldays in earnest discussion. Fonterra is a huge player in the NZ economy and they need to smartly refine their future plans and get on with bigger and better business. Good news for regional development is the announcement that Scanpower’s Oringi business park at Dannevirke has signed a six-year contract with Intrepid Semiconductor for the lease of the former freezing works boning room as a base its diffusion plant – part of its enormous semi-conductor empire. The parent company is Trion. In 50 years, the semi-conductor business revenue has grown to […]

HERA is seeking nominations for the HERA Industry Awards to be presented at the Industry Awards Gala Dinner in the Rendezvous Hotel Ballroom, Thurdays 3rd September, as part of the Metals Week event celebrating the metals industry organised by Metals NZ. Every HERA member has a real chance to pick up one of these prestigious awards. The HERA Awards will be presented alongside awards from other Metals New Zealand partners: SCNZ, NZSSDA, NASH, MRM, CTNZ, TiTENZ (formerly TiDA) and GANZ. The Awards are peer-based and therefore, we need your assistance to identify those individuals and engineering companies who have excelled in the following three categories: 1. Keith Smith Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to the Metals Industry. 2. NZ Metals Engineering Exporter of the Year. 3. Most Innovative NZ Metals Engineering Company Finalists will be entitled to two free tickets to the Industry Awards Gala Dinner and the winner of each award will be reimbursed for their travel and accommodation expenses. Additional bookings will have to be made through the Metals Week registration web site. For more information about the HERA awards, visit the HERA Industry Awards page in About Us. The nomination form is downloadable from HERE. Nominations should reach HERA before 15th July 2015.

The Industry Training Federation (ITF) is marking the announcement that John Blakey, Chief Executive of Competenz, will step down as CEO at the end of the year. “John has made an outstanding contribution to industry training and vocational education over the last 30 years” ITF Chief Executive Josh Williams says. As well as leading Industry Training Organisations, John is a former Tertiary Education Commissioner and Industry Training Federation Chair. John is currently a member of the reference group for Labour’s Future of Work Commission, discussing the skills and training required for New Zealand’s future workforce. “John has been an unwavering champion for vocational education and training, and a system that genuinely connects learning and work.” Josh says. “John has provided invaluable guidance and leadership to our sector over many years, and we are pleased that John will remain involved in the sector as a Competenz Board member. “We wish John well for the remainder of his tenure, and also congratulate CEO designate Fiona Kingsford on her appointment.” Josh says.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) cut the OCR today to 3.25%, reflecting low inflation, weakening demand, low commodity prices and a high exchange rate. This is welcome news for manufacturers and exporters, as it will help to bring New Zealand’s settings closer in line with that of our competitors, say the New Zealand Manufcturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA). NZMEA Chief Executive Dieter Adam says, “We are pleased to see the RBNZ take action and cut the OCR. Manufacturers and exporters have been working hard to compete in trying conditions for some time and today’s cut will be appreciated. New Zealand’s interest rates have been an outlier compared to the rest of the advanced world for some time, and weakening conditions, low inflation and our overvalued currency justify the RBNZ’s move. “The RBNZ continue to describe our currency as overvalued, which has been hitting exporters and import competing manufacturers’ competitiveness – this OCR reduction will help to bring our currency back in line and continue its downward trend. We would encourage the RBNZ to cut again in July if current conditions persist. “Risks in our economy still remain, particularly around the Auckland housing market and lower commodity prices. More action may be needed to ensure house price inflation does not increase in response to lower interest rates. ‘The cut will help commodity exporters through lower borrowing costs and currency – but continued low commodity prices highlights the need for our economy to become more diverse, both in the products we make and the markets we sell them, focusing on adding value and making the most of the resources and skills we have – a strong manufacturing sector can play a leading role in achieving this and has the potential to contribute much more to our economy.”