Recent News

-Ian Walsh, Managing Director, Intent Group Limited I was recently reflecting on a discussion with a company that, like a few at the moment, has seen rapid growth due to increased demand for their products. They reviewed their ability to meet this demand and concluded they need to expand their facilities. This makes sense – interest rates are low, banks are keen to lend, so why not invest in new plant and equipment? Indeed, why not? “Have you optimised your current plant and equipment?” was my response – even if capital is readily available, why spend it if you can meet your needs with what you already have? In my experience many companies don’t know their true process potential or capacity. Obvious moves such as crewing all shifts and running through breaks have not been implemented, let alone proper debottlenecking and flow improvements. These combined efforts can lead to significant increases in throughput (in many cases 2-3 times) and avoid the need for investment altogether. There’s an assumption that by buying new equipment all the problems will go away and a warm rosy glow will shine on the business – this is rarely the case. Not unless you have deeper pockets than your competitors can you outspend them to world class! I think back to discussing equipment with the plant manager of a world class facility in Japan. He explained to me that they hate new equipment, that they know and understand their existing equipment, and with it they are already stable and performing. Their competitive advantage wasn’t in buying new equipment, but instead innovating and operating with their existing equipment better than anyone else. Contrast this with most companies where they assume the first day of new equipment will be the best, and every day after their investment diminishes […]

The beginning of 2021 is proving a headache for the manufacturing sector and it could be some time before the pain relief kicks in. The cost of sourcing materials, increased demand, and supply issues are some of the areas industry is grappling with, according to Helen Down, Chief Executive of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce. “It’s clear supply issues are continuing to have an impact as manufacturers are unable to source their raw materials in a timely or cost effective manner. With limitations to international travel, we are witnessing a dramatic change in customers buying habits, with people spending their money on home and recreational products.  “This puts pressure on businesses who can’t keep up with demand in specific areas,” she said. “A wide range of businesses are finding it extremely time consuming to source raw materials.  Some components are simply not available, and won’t be available, for many months, coupled with rapidly rising costs for materials.” Shane Lowe, National Sales Manager of freight forwarding company 360 Logistics, based in Lower Hutt, said they are they facing increased shipping and air costs, and there is a general slowdown at the moment in the ability to move goods. “The southbound rates from Asia continue to hold at peak levels as demand continues to outstrip capacity. “The USA congestion issues over many ports, and the capacity and congestion problems between New Zealand and Australia, are forcing the need to look at different options,” he said. “We are in the middle of the peak export season for New Zealand, and we are finding some route pricing has been pushed up and as a result we are struggling to find space to ship the product.” Shane Lowe said they are also seeing delays from suppliers because the factory supplying finished goods is also […]

-Stephanie Pretorius, Intent Group Globally, labour-productivity growth in construction has averaged only 1 percent a year over the past two decades, compared with growth of 2.8 percent for the total world economy and 3.6 percent in the case of manufacturing. McKinsey Report – Reinventing Construction through a productivity revolution.https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/reinventing-construction-through-a-productivity-revolution The construction industry has been quite resilient to the continuous improvement philosophy that has made large inroads in manufacturing. The pattern that emerged from the McKinsey report of lagging construction productivity will continue until the industry takes productivity improvement seriously. The industry cannot keep growing the way it is with more resources being tipped in to create poor or suboptimal outcomes, often for all of the parties involved. Striving to be the best is a wide-open field in construction and is going to generate huge opportunities for those who take action in coming years. What are the impacts if construction don’t make a significant change? The costs of an inefficient construction sector are already becoming more burdensome, for all parties including society in general. Poor planning processes create and enable disruption which affects large communities. The workforce who are working in an environment that accepts poor performance and is inefficient, or doing things because they have always been done that way, creates a workforce that is not engaged and not able to perform at their best. Infrastructure is not on time to meet the needs of the population. Value add delivery is constrained by mis-aligned processes, inadequate contracts and dysfunctional organisational relationships. Sub-contractors struggle to survive. The project mentality of ‘just get it done and move on to the next project’ means an ongoing cycle of reliving the same performance – different projects; the same issues. Why is the sector so resistant to improvement? From procurement through to planning and delivery, […]