Business News

Beyond meat? The market for meat substitutes is way overdone

Paul Wood AO Adjunct Professor in Biotechnology, Monash University Meatless burger maker Beyond Meat has just reported quarterly earnings of US$67.3 million – much better than market expectations of US$52.7 million. It is now forecasting sales of US$240 million for the 2019 year, nearly three times that of 2018. But the company is yet to make a profit, let alone one big enough to justify its current market valuation of about US$13 billion. Since it listed on NASDAQ in May, its shares have surged more 700%. Investors’ enthusiasm reflects high hopes in the future fortunes of a company promising to put the sizzle into a meat substitute. Interest is booming in plant-based meat substitutes and lab-grown meat alternatives. The appeal is summed up by Beyond Meat’s mission statement: “By shifting from animal to plant-based meat, we are creating one savoury solution that solves four growing issues attributed to livestock production: human health, climate change, constraints on natural resources and animal welfare.” How realistic is this? The data suggests not very – that meat alternatives might play a positive role but in no way are going to save the planet. Investment appetite Predictions about the market potential for plant-based or lab-made meat vary. A lot of it appears to be only slightly better than sheer guesswork. One prediction, by the well-known Barclays, is that the market could be worth US$140 billion, or 10% of the US$1.4 trillion meat market, in the next 10 years. It’s such projections that have fuelled investors’ appetite for companies working on ways to make plant-based protein look and taste like meat. There’s Impossible Foods, for example, whose burger “bleeds” beetroot juice and is the meat (substitute) in Burger King’s Impossible Whopper. The privately held company has reportedly raised more than US$500 million, and is valued at US$2 billion. Other players in […]

Smooth transition key to successful vocational education reform

The reform of vocational education will need to be carefully managed to ensure there continues to be a skills pipeline for industry, BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope says. The changes to vocational training – the creation of a New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, establishment of Workforce Development Councils and a longer term work programme on funding mechanisms – will create significant disruption to the training system at a time when the skills pipeline is already failing to keep up with demand, Mr Hope says. “We see potential for the new Workforce Development Councils to take a strong leadership role in the skills discussion with industry. They will need to have the appropriate resourcing and tools to be able to ensure that the training system can be more responsive and agile to the changing needs of industry.” Mr Hope says WDC’s will need to be able to reach into all parts of the education system to ensure pathways into employment and the relevance, timeliness, access and quality of training can be geared towards business and learners. The key challenge for the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology will be to lift the quality and access of vocational training across New Zealand. Mr Hope says there is still a lot of work to be done on the change programme. “Business invests millions of dollars in training their people and will continue to do so. The ability of the WDC’s and the NZIST to build effective relationships and offer value to business and the workforce will inform whether this investment is directed towards these institutions or not,” Mr Hope says.

How highly productive traditional industries can lead the wellbeing charge

Comment from: -Dr Troy Coyle, CEO, HERA -Dr Ganesh Nana, chief economist, BERL New Zealand is currently under the leadership of a coalition Government with a staunch focus on wellbeing, and business and industry need to understand how this focus changes the way they should assess their bottom line and their general contribution to the domestic economy. Treasury’s Living Standards Framework (LSF) encompasses the ‘four capitals’ – natural, human, social, and financial/physical – which affect our wellbeing as a nation and as a citizenry. All four capitals are meaningful for companies as financial entities, users of resources and employers of people – so how should we understand the vanguard role New Zealand’s traditional industries, such as the metals sector, can play in driving up the diverse indicators of wellbeing? Get measuring The New Zealand metals industry was the first sector to measure itself against the LSF, and the very act of self-examination is beneficial to an industry and its member companies, because of how it forces operators to analyse how they work in a larger economic, social and environmental framework. In particular, if you are working or hoping to work with the public sector, it is critical to acknowledge the different measures of success that are now being applied. Treasury’s approach is not a simple one, and we found we couldn’t measure everything – but we don’t ignore what we can’t measure, and we now look at how our sector can make things better for people, the environment and the economy. www.stocktrim.com/ Make your own definitions Our view is that the LSF does not have to be taken as rote – areas such as social capital are not yet sharply defined for a New Zealand context, and companies and sectors need to define the terms of wellbeing for themselves. The […]

Market demand enables tech drive expansion

SEW-Eurodrive, a global market leader in drive technology, the technology of transforming energy into motion, recently expanded its services and product range in New Zealand with the opening of its new purpose-built Service Centre and Warehouse at Nandina Avenue, East Tamaki, adjacent to their existing premises. An owner-operated international company formed in 1931 with a footprint in 50 countries, SEW-Eurodrive employs over 17,000 staff globally and turns over 3 billion Euro annually. New Zealand accounts for 48 of those staff numbers; eight in the Christchurch sales and assembly plant and 40 in the East Tamaki head office, working in sales, support, administration and production. Electric motors formed the beginnings of the company but the SEW-Eurodrive name now stands for much more and their product range includes geared motors, gear units, industrial gear units, motors, components for decentralised installation, electronically controlled drives, mechanical variable-speed gear units as well as drive solutions that involve complex engineering, not to mention a comprehensive range of services and maintenance. Managing Director, John Hainsworth explains, “Everything needs to be moved and we provide the means to move it. Ours is a big industry and everything is affected. “For example, the process of picking fruit to it being on your table, it’s got to get there and there are many motion processes in between. That’s our business, getting product from point A to point B through those processes.” SEW-Eurodrive supplies a large sector of the New Zealand domestic industry and work closely with OEM (original equipment manufacturers) and big brand end users alike to provide cost effective solutions. SEW-Eurodrive entered the New Zealand market in 1988 and purchased a building in East Tamaki. In 1996, the neighbouring section was purchased, and a new building was constructed specifically for their needs with the original being leased. When the tenants recently moved out, SEW-Eurodrive […]

A story of transformation

A long-standing East Tamaki business, Facteon is a world leader in planning and building intelligent factories for the internet age. The genesis Facteon’s story begins 40 years ago as the internal engineering divisional capability of Fisher & Paykel Appliances. At the time, New Zealand and manufacturing in general were in a very different place. Fisher & Paykel, by global standards, was a relatively small appliance provider and had a diverse range of markets which required small batch sizes and a wide variety of products. To achieve this, they needed a more flexible approach to manufacturing. The equipment and systems suited to this were not easily purchased then, so Fisher & Paykel Appliances decided to establish their own division of experts, Fisher & Paykel Production Machinery. Over the years, the company became very specialised in appliance lines as well as work in other industries. This work was varied and included such projects as alloy wheel production lines for Ford’s New Zealand factory, building materials and production lines for roof tiles, and even the machinery for pulp thermoforming which is used to make fruit trays and egg cartons. In 2012, Haier Group purchased Fisher & Paykel Appliances, acquiring the Facteon business in the process. During the initial years of the relationship, Facteon and Haier worked together to improve the performance of Haier’s manufacturing function, with a particular focus on automated welding and production lines. In 2018 Haier Group was looking to set up a much wider Industrial Intelligence Division and Facteon became a cornerstone of that group amongst other Haier robotics and software companies. This was the birth of the Facteon brand. The company wanted a name that signified automation and connectivity for Industry 4.0 and didn’t want any confusion with appliances. “We have been here for such a long time that […]

Bringing graphene and new materials to market

Remember the computer triode? Unless you’re an early-tech enthusiast, it’s unlikely. Used as switches in the first electronic computers, these vacuum tubes consumed a great deal of power. They were unreliable and upon the invention of silicon chips, were quickly replaced. A new material has the potential to shift entire industries. Here, Kari Hjelt, Head of Innovation of the Graphene Flagship explains how graphene is set to do the same. ‎ Graphene, a material that is just a one atom thick, has exceptional physical properties. The European Commission launched the Graphene Flagship in 2013 to facilitate the transition of graphene and related materials from academic laboratories to applications. With a budget of €1 billion an initial period of 10 years, the Graphene Flagship is one of Europe’s biggest research initiative, aiming not only to continue developing graphene in academic laboratories, but also spearheads efforts for the commercialisation of graphene, preparing for its widespread adoption in industry. Halfway through the ten-year project, the Graphene Flagship has successfully developed over 25 commercial products, using the impressive conductivity, strength and flexibility of graphene to improve on the properties of previously used materials. However, bringing a new material to market is not without its challenges. ‎Historically, it takes an average of 30 years to take a material from its invention into the commercial realm. Low cost aluminium, for instance, was first isolated in 1824, and for a while during the 19 th century it was more expensive than gold, and considered as a very luxurious metal. Aluminium wasn’t widely used until an affordable manufacture structure was set up in 1886, and it didn’t become popular until the early 1900s. Materials that also experienced similar time lags in their adoption include titanium, Teflon, Velcro and polycarbonate, a plastic material used in the manufacture of bulletproof […]

Businesses urged to forget about AI and get back to basics

The average New Zealand SME business uses about eight different cloud applications without seeing any noticeable improvement in productivity or profit. Technology commentator and chief technology officer at OneHQ, Warren Hughes, said that while technology is seen by many as the solution to New Zealand’s productivity problems – the latest shiny object is artificial intelligence (AI) – most of the time the technology only complicates things and wastes time. “Not only are Kiwi businesses riddled with cloud software solutions that cost money, are largely unused and don’t talk to each other, but they’re surrendering control of critical data to offshore multi-nationals.” Hughes says that in his experience from more than 30 years as an IT specialist – in roles such as CTO for Lotto New Zealand, head of product development at Fronde and general manager of Equinox IT – his general observation is that Kiwis are easily seduced out of their technology dollars. “Big budget marketing hypes up many cloud applications like Trello, Slack, HubSpot and Basecamp. On the face of it, they seem cheap. What nobody is telling you, is that to get value out of these tools – and they can be useful – requires a significant investment in time and training. “At the same time, your critical data – such as financial information and your client details – are locked in these applications, which do not talk to each other. Not only do you not ‘own; your data, there’s not much you can do with it outside of those apps,” Hughes said. New Zealand businesses should not concern themselves with the benefits of artificial intelligence because the technology will become part of the software they already use, including apps like Xero and Vend. The technology is not nearly as important as the desired outcome. “If you are […]

Editorial July issue NZM: Be creative, don’t rely on technology

-Doug Green, Publisher. I am sure you know this and are still working out what you can do without – on a company and personal level. Simply, if we are doing well it is from the creative efforts emanating from our minds not from a robot or piece of technology. If we have four good friends it is about all we can cope with – juggling family, work and healthy activities. So, if you are one of those people with 5,000 friends on Facebook whom you have never met then I have one word for you – therapy! If you own or work for one of the high-flying tech businesses in our world then you need to check if you are using the technology properly or indeed actually doing any thing with it. Making things that is! If you work for or own a less advanced technology progressive company, then you need to ask yourself what the resistance is to making the technology work for you? – what exactly is holding you back! It may very well be the lack of real opportunities. Your company’s level of productivity is relative to its level of aspiration and creativity. Which is relative to what you need to be successful. If you don’t maximise the technology, then why have you got it? There may well be a good reason to this awkward and very expensive question. And that is you are clogged up, over exposed and continually being told about the latest software or gadget that will ‘definitely’ improve your business. Our multi-marketed, technology absorbed world is maybe not what you need. A coffee vendor refines the tools of her trade as does a boat builder. Just make sure you are using (and maximising) what you need. And keep it simple…

First look at our coolest redevelopment

Antarctica New Zealand is delighted to share what a new Scott Base could look like. As part of Budget 2019 the Government has committed $18.5 million for the next phase of the Scott Base Redevelopment project. This funding, which will be used over the next two years, means the detailed design of the new base can be completed and the Scott Base Redevelopment team can start working with the construction industry on how best to deliver the preferred design. Antarctica New Zealand CEO Sarah Williamson says the redevelopment project is vital for the future of New Zealand’s Antarctic science programme. “Scott Base is our home on the ice and the strategic hub for scientists from New Zealand and across the globe to carry out some of the most important research in the world. “It is critical to get this work underway now, as the climate and logistical challenges mean construction projects take longer to deliver in Antarctica,” she says. The design would see the existing base, built in the early 80s and made up of 12 separate buildings, replaced by three large interconnected buildings and a separate helicopter hangar. The base could accommodate up to 100 people at a time. Of the three buildings one is designated for accommodation, dining and welfare, the second for science and management and the third for engineering and storage. Scott Base Redevelopment Senior Project Manager Simon Shelton says the funding is welcome news as the current base reaches the end of its functional life. “At the moment, we have to mitigate increasing points of failure at Scott Base; the buildings, materials and systems are deteriorating with age. “We are looking forward to moving to the next stage of the development process and supporting the Antarctic science community with safe, fit-for-purpose infrastructure,” he says. Jasmax […]

Market demand enables tech drive expansion

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