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How manufacturers can prepare for the ESPR
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Fixing manufacturing’s billion-dollar harm problem
Steel awards showcase local industry’s expertise and sophistication
Aotearoa’s Industry 4.0 journey
5S – Not That Old Chestnut
Scott Aylett, SEA Electrical a winner

Rear View

Let’s talk about upsizing

It’s happening everywhere. Downsizing, that is. Since the economic turmoil of some 18 months ago, life hasn’t been quite the same, has it? And in a country as small as New Zealand there comes a time when the downsizing needs to stop before everyone goes nuts. The Government is currently cracking the whip through the public sector and cutting staff all over the place. It can be said that the public sector was too large and changes had to be made, but this government is not necessarily going to put the savings made into the private sector and create the environment for business to succeed. And there are concerns, of course, about local government spending being out of control throughout the regions. So the public sector is too big, too cumbersome, too problematic.  I hope that what is being saved by axing positions at AgResearch and reducing services throughout the Ministry of Education does not result in a lessening of quality delivery. Do you remember what John Key said before winning office?: “If National is elected and does a ‘half decent job’ at growing the economy, then increasing GST and the top tax rate will not be necessary.”Seems a long time ago since he said that and precious few signs are apparent of planning to make so much stronger the private sector. Is Government, then, not doing a decent job? Business  needs to continue to stand up and demand  better.. New markets and innovation  go hand in hand, surely?; Government needs to have a good hard look at manufacturing conditions – think incentives – and determine if they are enough to take the country forward. And business organisations – think the Business Roundtable – need to represent the greater good of the nation by helping secure a better future for […]

Managing Recession Stress

The cracks haven’t yet appeared in New Zealand, but the impact of “staff recession stress” can be significant for employers. Human Resources Institute of New Zealand member, organisational psychologist Eugene Ng provides some advice for employers on managing stress levels in the current environment. I’m seeing a change in the work ethic of New Zealand employees as they face job insecurity and recessionary pressures. People are working much harder and actively looking at how they can add value to their organisation, partly to prove their worth and justify their employment. This is certainly a correction in mindset that needed to happen in New Zealand particularly amongst the ‘Gen Y’ workers who’ve not experienced the pressures of high unemployment and recession. Things have changed. There’s been a threefold increase in the number of people applying for jobs since last year and increased redundancies. The number of redundant workers coming to us for counselling has more than quadrupled. While a change in our work ethic is positive, ongoing pressure on employees to do more for less in an environment of insecurity is unsustainable. As yet, there is no strong evidence of negative impacts on business, but I am hearing stories from employees of people working much longer and harder in many cases doing the work of two and morale is dropping. It goes without saying that pay rises are out of the question. Unless employers address the situation, it will only be another six months before the cracks start to appear and businesses suffer. Some of the key measurable areas of high staff stress and insecurity include: Reduced productivity Increased errors Deteriorating workplace behaviour such as emotional breakdowns and open protests Poor health and fatigue with staff avoiding taking sick leave Deteriorating workplace culture. Customer relations also suffer as high stress levels […]

This is The Lucky Country, if we use our Mineral Resources.

Gerry Brownlee drew down the curtain on the poor-but-pure era of New Zealand political thinking in his opening address to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy conference at Queenstown recently. Soon after the address, NZ Manufacturer interviewed Gerry Brownlee, Minister of Economic Development & Minister of Energy Resources. You must have been disappointed, alarmed even, last month when media reports of your opening address to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy focused on your outlining the need for a more flexible approach to land under the auspices of the Department of Conservation and which as you noted contain a third of our mineral resources? GB: That’s what the speech said so it’s not surprising I guess that that’s how it was reported.. The reality is that we have conservatively estimated $240 billion worth of minerals in New Zealand and 70% of those minerals are on Conservation Department Land. What I’ve proposed is that we have a review of all the land on which mining is basically prohibited now. It may be that there’s some land with quite low conservation values but very large mineral values where it would make sense to engage in some responsible mining. Your address to the Institute was remarkable in that you ventured into a kind of New Zealand ironic Forbidden Land by quoting authorities, notably the World Bank on data that demonstrates that with the exception of Saudi Arabia, New Zealand has more natural resources wealth per capita than any other nation, even Australia. GB : As I’ve been saying for a while now, New Zealanders need to know that we have abundant natural resources that we can responsibly develop in order to improve our standard of living. We have superb renewable energy resources like wind, hydro and geothermal, plus huge potential in […]

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