Business News

EMA embraces historical 24 hours for NZ trade

The EMA embraces the historical 24 hours in which a deal has been struck on an upgrade to our free trade agreement with China, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement signed by all but India. Chief Executive Brett O’Riley says these agreements together will bring a boost to exporters and consequently the New Zealand economy. “Many of our members who are exporters will welcome the ability to reach larger economies across the other side of the world more easily, and the reduced tariffs and clear trading arrangements these two agreements bring will makes this much simpler,” he says. Key outcomes of the upgraded China free trade agreement include preferential treatment for many wood and paper products, less compliance costs for all exports and the highest level of commitment to environmental standards China has made in any FTA. New Zealand exports to China have tripled since 2008 when the original free trade agreement was signed. And while RCEP covers trade among New Zealand 14 other Asia-Pacific countries, it still excludes India, a market that Mr O’Riley is hopeful will eventually join. “India is an increasingly important market to New Zealand, where clearly there are close links with the large Indian population and number of businesses here. India’s huge population and growing middle class means our high-quality products will be in demand, and consistent rules across 15 countries would make it much simpler for our exporters,” says Mr O’Riley. “At a time when free trade is being challenged globally, it’s great to see these two agreements signed that plug New Zealand into the fastest growing economies in the world.”

Igniting stalled labour productivity

-Doug Green, Publisher, NZ Manufacturer The Fourth Industrial Revolution is said to (it will) ignite stalled labour productivity in manufacturing through connected machines, people, data and value chains. The question is though; Is their stalled labour productivity or is there a reduction of manufactured product demand in the world in the current economic client? Maybe both? Or is labour productivity continuing to be low from workers, based on their ability to enhance workplace efforts? Meaning that today’s technology may not be being maximised in the workplace. We get all excited when the PMI Index shows manufacturing over 50 percentage points. When you consider the voting numbers for the recent local body elections…well, let’s not! Get the picture? There is a considered opinion that at the top end not enough development and manufacturing is going on with expensive technology equipment readily available. At the lower end, the same thing applies. Except that companies are not coming to grips with efficient use of the equipment. So, businesses may be setting up with the latest equipment ready to strike when opportunities arise, or they may be maximising right now to the best of their ability? On the other hand, the country has no shortage of creative and enterprising businesses contributing to the economy, with key staff realising their goals and dreams by being part of development teams involved in quite exciting projects. Productivity is good in these businesses. At present it seems that the land is where the most promise exists for product innovation. In horticulture and industry, it is ‘gang busters’. Enormous contributions to the country with quality goods, famous on world markets but still in need – and wanting to hear about – developments to make their businesses even more efficient. Stalled labour productivity may well be able to move by […]

Experienced academic to lead key faculties at Victoria University

Victoria University of Wellington has appointed Professor Ehsan Mesbahi as its new Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Architecture and Design. Professor Mesbahi has more than 26 years’ experience in the higher education sectors in Europe and Asia, with the last 10 of those spent in senior and executive roles. Much of his academic career has been at Newcastle University—a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the United Kingdom and one of the original ‘red brick’ universities with a long history of civic engagement and social purpose. He was the founding Chief Executive Officer at Newcastle University’s Science, Agriculture and Engineering campus in Singapore, where he led the campus through a period of exponential growth in student numbers and research activities. His current role is Vice Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of West Scotland in Glasgow, where he has gained valuable experience in a young and teaching-oriented university. Professor Mesbahi’s research interests are multi-disciplinary and applied and have expanded from modelling, control, design and optimisation of engineering systems early in his career to environmental management and, most recently, informatics and application of artificial intelligence in data-mining/clustering. During his academic career he has been the project lead (or co-lead) in over 25 national and international research projects generating research income of more than £10million and turnover of academic enterprise activities of more than £50million. Professor Mesbahi will join the University in 2020.

Automating one step at a time

Rockwell Automation’s new regional director, Anthony Wong is very engaging. He has an easy laugh, but a serious undertone that lets you know he is here to do business. Recently appointed as regional director of automation giant Rockwell Automation, Wong has big shoes to fill in departing MD Scott Wooldridge. Not that he’ll have to look far if he needs the odd bit of advice – Wooldridge is now the company’s regional vice-president for Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Wong, an electrical engineering major, brings experience from both the software and hardware streams of automation. With more than 24 years in the industry, he started out as customer support with Citect, before graduating to sales engineer, then account manager through to sales director. In 2006, Schneider Electric purchased Citect, which opened new opportunities to Wong, including a five-year sojourn at the company’s headquarters in Paris, France, where he had several roles mainly in the strategy, merger and integration sectors. Just under three years ago, he decided to come home where he worked for Schneider until taking up the Rockwell Automation position in July this year. As well as the usual challenges of the role, there are several other reasons the new job was attractive to Wong. “What attracted to me to the role is that Rockwell Automation is one of the most respected companies in the automation space,” he said. “I have always been in the industrial automation space, and with Rockwell Automation being purely a player in that space, that was definitely one of the things that attracted me to join the company. He said another reason was that Rockwell Automation has moved into addressing the digital space. For him that was signalled when the company took an 8.4 per cent stake in Internet of Things […]

Keeping a competitive edge with precise multi-level BOM planning

If you’re a manufacturer, you’ll know first-hand how inventory forecasting can consume your time and nag away at you. You’ll know all about variable lead times and how much of a headache they can become if not managed correctly; you’ve likely encountered the frustration of when your product’s ready to go, but it’s missing a vital component, or you can recall several times when your service reps got an ear-bashing because your product hasn’t been shipped on time. What you need is intuitive software that takes care of all of this for you, so you can get back to manufacturing, staying ahead of the competition and delighting your customers with your impeccable service. Multi-level BOM To stay competitive and in control, you need visibility of your entire manufacturing process. A multi-level bill of materials (BOM), also known as a nested or indented BOM, reveals all the raw ingredients, components, assemblies and sub-assemblies that goes into making one finished product. If a single level BOM is like one branch on a tree – one parent product and the parts that go into making it below – then a multi-level BOM considers the whole tree –the oversight of all the intertwined and interdependent processes and parts that contribute to the whole. Variable lead times from your supplier for each individual ingredient? Not sure how much of each raw material to order and when? Having difficulty communicating timeframes and details accurately with your manufacturing partners? StockTrim’s multi-level BOM feature allows you to manage these challenges with ease. Here’s how: If you’re already using StockTrim, or you’re keen to know more, here’s how you can regain control of your manufacturing: Import: Take advantage of all that precious historical data from your existing inventory management system, like Unleashed or Cin7. Predict: Working from the finished product backwards, StockTrim […]

Building a future-ready and sustainable strategy for manufacturing

By Mac Ghani, Managing Director, Avanade Australia From digital transformation to climate change, every industry is trying to keep up with the pace of change and reinvent processes for a more sustainable future. When a manufacturing business successfully transforms itself, customers and employees will benefit from: Increased efficiency and output through data-driven process optimisation and visibility; Reduced downtime and increased asset utilisation through real-time monitoring of assets and predictive maintenance analytics; Increased agility of supply-chain planning via real-time visibility and process controls; Improved worker safety and injury prevention by detecting and responding to changes in field conditions and worker vital signals; A future-ready manufacturing business also has the capacity to create a positive environmental impact – using digital innovation, data and insights to drive efficiencies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enable smarter energy management and reduce waste. The MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) finds companies that substantially complete their transformation tend to enjoy margins 16 percentage points higher than their industry’s average. A new beginning Despite awareness about the need to innovate and the commitment to invest heavily in technology over the next three years, research found the manufacturing industry continues to lag behind companies in other industries. With tougher socio-economic and environmental conditions, personalisation and a dynamic workforce, it can be incredibly difficult to understand where to start or how to progress further. In fact, 60-70 percent of organisations are still on their journey. Manufacturing is a traditionally siloed industry. But a future-ready organisation gives due consideration for impacts across the business, so open communication and evaluation throughout the process is key. Digital transformation belongs to the whole organisation, not just the CIO. Key decision-makers from all parts of the organisation need to put forward priorities of each business division. These priorities need to be aligned […]

Smart factories have the potential to spark labour productivity

Each industrial revolution has transformed production, delivered better economic output, and, consequently, immense economic gains globally. But something has shifted in the past two decades—manufacturing productivity growth appears stuck. Labour productivity is a major metric of economic output, and gains in productivity are important because, on a macro scale, labour productivity determines the standard of living of people, nations, and the world. Currently economic output is moving in lockstep with the number of hours people work. Enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution—the newest chapter in industrial development that promises to ignite stalled labour productivity in manufacturing via connected machines, people, data, and value chains. In that sense, the smart factory could potentially ignite stalled labour productivity and unlock the key to productivity for manufacturers. But how? Every manufacturer—whether already “running smart” or yet to invest in smart factory technologies—can harvest business value from smart factory initiatives. Smart factory initiatives accelerate business value creation. Companies report as much as 10–12 percent gains in areas like manufacturing output, factory utilisation, and labour productivity after they invested in smart factory initiatives. There is a direct and established connection—primarily through investment and use cases—between smart factory initiatives and the business value realised. What’s more, any manufacturer can use this connection. While there are risks, primarily operational and financial, they are outnumbered by the smart factory’s value contribution. Also, most risks can be mitigated through rational stakeholder selection, an efficient change management strategy, measurable proof-of-concepts, and incremental investments. Early smart factory adopters report average three-year gains of 10 percent for factory output, factory capacity utilisation, and labour productivity. A closer look at labour productivity trends indicates that smart factory initiatives will likely enable the US manufacturers to “observe” triple the labour productivity growth rate during the next decade (2019–2030) compared to last decade (2007–2018). What does this mean […]

Are you leaving productivity on the factory floor?

Gemma Stanbridge, ViAGO International Limited We all have heard how important it is to have workers who are engaged with their roles and motivated to put their best into what they do. Despite this, recent research reports only 12% of construction, manufacturing, and production workers worldwide are engaged in their roles.[1] Sixty-four percent of workers in this sector are not engaged, with 24% of workers actively disengaged. Manufacturing workers particularly struggle with engagement, and this is often due to a process-focus rather than an employee-centred focus that promotes engagement. Workers in production roles are less likely to have any say in determining how their day will be structured or what could be done to improve their job or workplace. In fact, manufacturing and production workers have the lowest rates of engagement among employees worldwide¹. And yet, the primary approaches to improving productivity in this sector focus on process optimisation. Why are we leaving productivity on the factory floor? The Problem with Process-Centred Approaches to Productivity Conventional management in manufacturing continues to put processes ahead of people, despite evidence that employee engagement is a significant factor in productivity. Discussions about increasing productivity focus on getting more out of resources using cost-cutting, efficiency and utilisation targets. Factories with this mentality often offer low wages for long hours, and although workers are expected to increase output and reduce lead times, their efforts are seldom recognised. Unsurprisingly, there’s little motivation for workers to do more than ‘the bare minimum,’ and workers may even act out due to feelings of frustration and the perception they are not valued by management. Management must consider that employees are an important element of any Productivity Journey, and a mindset shift from cost and efficiency measures can increase employee engagement and productivity. A Closer Look at the Impact of […]

AI can make a positive impact

AI technologies are beginning to have a major impact on New Zealand’s economy and society, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says. Reports show that changes brought by AI will be as significant as the ongoing changes that have brought computers and internet into all aspects of business, government and everyday life over the last 30 years, he says. Muller was commenting on the New Zealand AI Forum’s latest research report which highlights the importance of AI for New Zealand’s future growth. “Last year the AI Forum released a report that called for a national AI strategy, that would be nice, however technology is moving so fast we just need to get on with it. “It is excellent that this new report identifies we should immediately begin considering the role of AI to support all of the existing national strategies,” he says. “We need to consider AI in all sectors including health, education, agriculture and banking. AI will be useful in almost every way of life in New Zealand. “For example, how can AI reduce the road toll? According to this study, AI has the potential to save 64 lives a year, prevent 7200 injuries and more than $800 million in social costs. “The research clearly highlights the value of AI for achieving New Zealand’s wellbeing, sustainability and economic goals.” The report provides a showcase of AI case studies, analysis of what’s needed to boost acceptance and adoption and a first examination of Māori attitudes, perceptions of and engagement with AI. The research identifies that New Zealand urgently needs to increase its focus on areas such as investment in AI, skills and talent, research, trusted data, ethics and regulation. The report shows how AI solutions can be used to improve wellbeing, productivity and sustainability.

New equity deal announced for industry automation specialist

CR Automation managing director Peter Jenkins. An award-winning industry automation specialist is set to significantly extend its market reach thanks to a new equity partnership with a horticultural heavyweight. Following recent collaboration on a number of projects, CR Automation (CRA) has decided to sell a 50 per cent equity stake to Jenkins Group – a key industry player throughout Australasia’s horticulture post-harvest industry. With subsidiaries in New Zealand and Australia (Tauranga-based Jenkins Freshpac Systems Ltd and NSW-based J-Tech Systems PTY), Jenkins Group provides an extensive range of labelling, packaging and handling systems to the fruit and vegetable industry across both countries. Hawke’s Bay-based CR Automation provides automation, robotic and post-harvest solutions to a broad range of industries including food and beverage, water and wastewater, materials handling, cool storage, meat and wool processing and general manufacturing. Managing Director Peter Richards says the 18-year-old tech company has experienced exponential growth over the past three years and has been looking for an equity partner who could help sustain that growth and ensure longevity. “We wanted a partner founded on similar ideals who would add value and provide market access beyond our existing client base,” Richards explains. “Jenkins Group are an innovative, family-owned company with 136 years of success behind them. They are very client-focused and trade with a high level of integrity which is an excellent fit for us.” Innovation is at the core of both companies, and CRA won the “Most Innovative Solution” award for ABB robotics at the 2019 ASIA Value Provider Conference. Richards says he is immensely proud of the engineering capacity the CRA team has developed and recent growth was primarily due to a strategic initiative of developing bespoke material handling and machinery for a broad range of industry players. “Jenkins were very impressed by CR Automation’s engineering capacity […]

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