Productivity

How well are NZ companies reporting their climate impacts?

(Left)Sarah Walton, Professor of Sustainable Business, University of Otago (Right)Andrea Foley, Assistant research fellow, University of Otago Interpreting corporate reports on carbon emissions can be challenging. The current, adhoc approach to how businesses share this information makes it difficult to see whether they have set the right targets, have realistic plans to meet them or are being transparent about their progress. While there are frameworks for reporting climate and sustainability data, there are still big differences in the way the data is being disclosed. We developed the Climate Action Tracker Aotearoa (CATA) to address these issues. Based on the global Net Zero Tracker, CATA evaluates company reports and climate plans to share and explain their climate action. Using the tracker, we analysed 21 companies in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on the top emitters and companies in the energy, retail, agriculture and transport sectors, as well as the banking sector. We evaluated three aspects – targets, plans and reporting – by reading through publicly available information provided by the company. These three aspects help make sense of what a company is doing and going to do to mitigate climate change. Here is what we found. Setting targets While the majority of companies have 2030 targets (86%) and absolute targets (81%), only five companies of the 21 (25%) have targets that have been verified by the Science-based Targets Initiative. All but two companies include scope one (emissions the company creates directly) and scope two (emissions created indirectly from, for example electricity or energy it buys for heating and cooling buildings) – the areas companies have the most control and ownership over. But when it comes to scope three emissions, which come from company travel in planes, trains and taxis, and the supply chain, far fewer companies have set such targets. Scope three targets are […]

NZ Wool Industry to benefit from multi-million dollar marketing investment

-Mark Devlin New Zealand’s rural sector is set to benefit from a multi-million dollar marketing investment by one of the country’s largest wool carpet manufacturers, designed to address misconceptions about the natural fibre and grow exports. New Zealand is the world’s third largest producer of wool, accounting for 9% of global production, however, the country’s export revenue from wool is projected to fall by 3% to $380 million over the coming year.[1][2] The planned $2 million plus advertising investment from Bremworth is believed to be one of the highest ever from a Kiwi company to support a wool product brand. The spend will also provide a financial boost for local print, billboards, online and broadcast media titles, in an otherwise flat local advertising market. The company has appointed New Zealand’s largest independent media agency, Together, to help develop and implement a series of new campaigns for the domestic and trans-Tasman markets to help elevate wool flooring. The move follows ongoing upgrades to the manufacturer’s supply chain, which are expected to lift production volumes and help meet growing domestic and global demand for Bremworth’s wool carpet. Rochelle Flint, chief brand and product officer of Bremworth, says it is hoped one of their largest-ever investments in developing their brand will also help stimulate demand for New Zealand wool and help address the decline in domestic production. She says their research shows while three-quarters of homeowners would prefer to have wool in their homes, a similar proportion are not actually purchasing wool – with synthetic flooring continuing to dominate the market. Flint says with their expanded supply chain now in place, manufacturing volumes can be scaled significantly in response to demand, presenting an opportunity to increase conversion and grow market share in both the domestic and Australian markets. “Our research has identified a […]

Oasis Engineering – energy and fuel transfer specialist to the world

From August issue NZ Manufacturer www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz Export award winning, Tauranga based Oasis Engineering continues to expand its international market as a specialist manufacturer delivering world leading solutions to those pushing the boundaries of energy and fluid transfer for the benefit of humanity and the environment. The company originally began as the maintenance division of a soft drink brand but was separated during a restructuring during the 1980’s. The new company quickly established a strong reputation as a machine shop that reliably produced high tolerance precision machined parts in difficult to work materials such as stainless steel and titanium. This led to work manufacturing valves and couplings that were required for the new and emerging Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel market for a major CNG supply company and this quickly expanded to every major CNG supplier and to every significant CNG market in more than 40 countries. Today Oasis Engineering is part of the ELAFLEX Group of Companies of Hamburg and is manufacturing precision CNG, LPG and Hydrogen reticulation products for the world market with approximately 80% of production going to the USA, 10% to other world markets and 10% to the local New Zealand market. The company is well placed to meet the demands of emerging markets including Hydrogen and Methane for heavy transport vehicles and renewable Natural Gas with sales doubling within the last two years. Oasis also produces specially designed high quality fluid couplings for the milk industry trailers. This state-of-the-art manufacturer is fully accredited to ISO 9001:2015 with product testing facilities including a Hydrostatic test rig rated to 4000 BAR and an Environmental Test Chamber rated between -800C and +1850C. A new addition will be a Hydrogen product test laboratory which is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of the year. Meeting the demands for the […]

Embracing digital technologies without losing craftsmanship

NZ Manufacturer July 2024 by Media Hawkes Bay Limited – Issuu Adam Sharman, Senior Partner, Dsifer In an era where digital transformation is reshaping industries across the board, bespoke engineering and machine shops face a unique set of challenges and opportunities. These specialised manufacturers, known for their ability to create custom, one-off products, are now grappling with how to embrace digital technologies without losing the craftsmanship that sets them apart. As they step into this brave new world, several key considerations emerge, along with significant benefits. At LMAC and Dsifer, we work with a lot of custom engineering organistions, and recognise the unique challenges these shops face. At the heart of the digital transformation is the need to maintain and enhance customisation capabilities, whilst optimising production and front-end processes to remain competitive on time to deliver and cost. Bespoke engineering thrives on flexibility, and any digital system must be flexible enough to accommodate diverse client demands. Advanced product configuration tools and parametric design software are becoming essential, allowing engineers to quickly adapt designs while maintaining the personal touch that customers expect. Data integration stands as another cornerstone of this digital revolution. By connecting design, production, and quality control systems, shops can create a seamless flow of information from concept to finished product. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software is increasingly becoming the central nervous system of these operations, ensuring that every stakeholder has access to the latest information. The adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies is reshaping the landscape, offering substantial benefits. With Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) systems well-established to significantly reduce design time and errors, additive manufacturing, opens new doors for prototyping and small-batch production, allowing for rapid iteration and reduced waste. These technologies enable machine shops to take on more complex projects and deliver them faster, increasing […]

Managing Your Online Reputation: Lessons from NZ’s Largest Manufacturers

NZ Manufacturer July 2024 by Media Hawkes Bay Limited – Issuu In business, first impressions matter. New research by NZ Manufacturer business advisor and Impact PR director Mark Devlin has found many of the country’s manufacturers are failing to manage their online reputation – an oversight that could have repercussions for their growth. For manufacturers, business relationships can be multi-faceted and, given the technical nature of the industry, at times they can also be highly complex. Whoever your target consumer is when you enter a business relationship at some level, even a rudimentary transactional one, you need them to have confidence in your brand from the outset – a promise you can deliver in a way that aligns with their understanding of what constitutes value. If you fail to reassure a potential customer that you can adhere to this expectation, your chances of entering a relationship are greatly diminished. I recently toured a local manufacturing facility where I was shown a piece of cutting-edge technology destined for the export market that was worth around $1 million. This is not an insignificant amount of money to spend on a single product and it occurred to me that if I was buying something of that value from an overseas company I would want to have the highest level of trust in that firm. This begs the question – how does a manufacturer create digital ‘trust signals’ so that when a potential customer, employee or other stakeholder begins to research their company, it provides the requisite reassurance necessary for them to move to the next stage of interaction and purchase? While all manufacturers have customers, few would have walked in their digital shoes to understand what they see during any initial desktop research process. At the same time, an even smaller number of […]

Leadership Development – showing the real return on investment

NZ Manufacturer July 2024 by Media Hawkes Bay Limited – Issuu David O’Connor, Commercial Manager, The Learning Wave While it is a comparatively easy exercise for businesses to show the Return on Investment on additional plant or machinery, being able to crunch the numbers of the real impact of leadership development training has traditionally been seen as more subjective, and made even harder when faced with the current headwinds of tight economic conditions. Businesses that continued to prioritise investment in their people during the earlier 2020s are now repeating the rewards of increased leadership bench strength, higher levels of staff engagement, and little or no employee churn. And many of our clients can now confidently calculate the return on their training investment. Much was made of the ‘Great Resignation’ during 2020 and the impact this would have on businesses losing their best talent, we all know businesses that stopped leadership development training while others doubled down on their investment to upskill their leaders. It is interesting that the commentary around the great resignation disappeared from HR and business reporting without much noise at all, and has been replaced with plenty of articles on the VUCA era – a trendy managerial acronym short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. In this VUCA era, it is reported that businesses need leaders – at all levels – with strong resilience, who can actively engage a wide and diverse group of staff, manage multiple projects and demands, and have a curious mindset to be able to lead their teams through constant change. So it is the businesses that continue to invest in their people leaders who will be reaping the rewards in the VUCA era, and being able to not only retain their top talent but also have a bench of talented leaders ready […]

Productivity is the only game in town!

From July issue NZ Manufacturer www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz Ian Walsh, Partner, Argon & Co It is great to see that finally we are talking as a nation about the need to be more productive. Our poor performance in productivity terms is not a new issue or problem, but given the current economic environment, it has become clear to everyone that we have a significant gap to countries with which we compare ourselves. The consequences of this are significant, with many young New Zealanders leaving for foreign shores for better pay, conditions and quality of life. This problem has been disguised for decades by global financial crises, pandemics, earthquakes and media misdirection (“We are the most liveable country!”, “Auckland is one of the top 10 cities!” etc.). Like climate change it has been possible to ignore for a long time. However, most of us are aware that our infrastructure is creaking. We can’t invest in health education, police, transport and other programs to the extent that we would like to, as we can’t afford it. Productivity is essential for economic growth, competitiveness, profitability, job creation, resource efficiency, and work-life balance. Focusing on productivity improvements at individual, organizational, and national levels can lead to numerous benefits and contribute to overall prosperity. I have been to many business meetings, and the focus for any improvement drive is return on investment – they are asking whether investing in an activity makes the business more profitable, more competitive and ultimately whether it will result in better return for shareholders, so they can invest in future programs to improve the product or service, grow the business and offer better products or services. The same is true at a national level, the government can only spend what the economy generates (balanced budgets and low debt). Profit (or in more […]

The Tohu App – how cultural mapping can boost industry growth!

From July issue of NZ Manufacturer magazine www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz By Dr Troy Coyle, HERA CEO Our engineering, construction and manufacturing sectors are struggling to find talent. We need to be far more inclusive so we can unlock the potential of a diverse future workforce and all the benefits they bring to our mahi (work). I have for some time spoken about this based on my own experience, being female. I have fast realised that wāhine Maori are even more under-represented and indeed Māori generally. The reasons as to why women and Māori (and Pacific for that matter) are not attracted to these sectors are varied and complex. However, one key issue is that high school children (and even down to intermediate and primary) are not engaging with STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Mātauranga Māori). They are not aware of the plethora of disciplines in STEMM or the future careers that are available to them. They don’t know how exciting, engaging and rewarding careers in these disciplines can be and how they contribute in so many different ways to inter-generational wellbeing. Importantly, they don’t know what will match with their own individual wants and needs from a future career. For Māori, this requires a matching process where rangatahi (youth) can identify careers that map to their values in a kaupapa Māori way. If there is one thing we have learnt at HERA over our years holding space for Matauranga Māori, it is that Māori need to be engaged in a Māori way. Prevailing career matching tools do not consider cultural differences and they don’t consider a person’s values either. They often simply match a person to a career based on their perceived academic aptitude. This fails so many of our rangatahi and leaves many behind. It also, likely, pushes rangatahi towards […]

NZ’s productivity stagnation requires a long-term plan from politicians

– Dennis Wesselbaum, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Otago In the ups and downs of the global economy over the last decade, New Zealand has had one relatively consistent challenge: persistent productivity stagnation. Productivity compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) with the amount of inputs used to produce them. Since the Productivity Commission was set up in 2011, annual productivity growth has averaged at just 0.2% – one of the worst in the OECD. In 2023, New Zealand experienced declines across key metrics: labour productivity dropped by 0.9%, multifactor productivity (which includes labour, capital, energy, materials and purchased services) fell by 2.2% and capital productivity by 3.8%. There has also been a sharp decline in small business productivity, with a 19% drop from its peak in November 2022. Productivity is not only an abstract concern. It directly impacts income growth, exacerbates inequality and hampers overall welfare. The productivity puzzle But New Zealand’s stagnation doesn’t have to be inevitable. There are tangible approaches the government can take to boost the country’s productivity. Here’s how. Human capital There are at least two ways New Zealand can improve human capital – the sum total of the skills and education a worker has to do their job. In the short-term, the government needs to allow more high-skilled migrants to enter the country. This type of migration can reduce skill mismatch and create knowledge spillovers. That is, migrants bring valuable knowledge, expertise and innovative ideas from their home countries, which can spread to local firms, industries, or individuals via collaboration and competition. Over the long-term, investing in education and cultivating STEM and digital skills will be crucial for combating the country’s productivity stagnation and future-proofing the workforce. Technology Technological advancement is a key driver of progress, yet its integration requires careful planning. Artificial intelligence (AI), in particular, holds immense potential to boost productivity. One […]

Q & A: Catherine Jones, Chief Executive, Creative HQ

Q: How long have you been CEO at Creative HQ? A: I’ve been at Creative HQ for six-and-a-half years now and in the Chief Executive role for the last four-and-a-half. Being part of an organisation with such a strong track record of impact over the past 20 years is a joy and a privilege. Q: What does your role involve? A: As CEO, my role is to provide strategic direction and leadership to ensure Creative HQ continues to deliver high-impact programmes that support startups and innovators to unleash their potential. This is important because we’re helping to shape the future of the New Zealand economy. Creative HQ’s strategy is aligned with the UpStart Nation report presented to Government late last year. This report states that Aotearoa requires 5,000 active, thriving, high-growth startups by 2030 to drive our economy on a global stage. Creative HQ’s goal is to enable 400 of these. Tech companies are fast becoming the biggest export sector for our nation, and the entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who will build these companies are everywhere. They live within public and private sectors, universities, and Crown Research Institutes; and they have expertise in sectors such as engineering, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, education, space, and medicine. Our expertise lies in teaching them to be entrepreneurs – helping them turn their ideas into scalable and investable businesses. In doing so, they create better economic, environmental, cultural and social outcomes for us all. At a B2B level, my team spends a lot of time helping organisations create a culture of innovation that is appropriate for the size and type of organisation we are working with, as well as building capability within existing members of that organisation to be able to innovate. Unlike traditional consultants who will come in and do that work for a business, […]

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Productivity