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NZ Manufacturer Media Kit 2018 now available. To receive a copy, email publisher@xtra.co.nz    

Dr, Wolfgang Scholz, Director, HERA Now we have a new government – we have a left of centre mix of policies. Which on first principle should be building innovative, high value local manufacturing with the aim of increased prosperity and our ability to pay our way in the world. And for me, I congratulate the team around ‘Prime Minister to be’ Jacinda Arden for being in the driver seat and look forward to seeing her make true on her promise “let’s do it”. You may recall some of our advocacy clearly advised that our local SME’s should gain from these policies. And, although still lacking details – we need to make sure that the promised R&D tax credits and business innovation, government procurement rules applying for subcontractors and pushing low emission technologies are indeed implemented. But for this to happen, we all need to continue formulating policy to our new coalition partners and make sure our voices are heard by them. The original election policies got it right While keenly awaiting the announcement of the agreed policy framework for our new government, I stumbled across the pre-election policies. It’s a worth-while read that reminds us what we requested and what was promised to us in respect to key policies affecting our businesses. We advocated that for our economy to grow sustainably we needed to “get of the grass” and invest in niche market industries with higher paying wages and export potential. A move that would increase the number of companies with sound R&D innovation strategies in New Zealand. We also said it couldn’t just be start-ups such as the IT industry, but had to include transforming our existing companies – as without them, we miss the critical mass. But for this to happen, accessible incentives for those willing to invest […]

Barry Robinson, Chairman MESNZ Are you being suckered by the H&S gravy train? You can save money immediately by reading the following. Test and tagging of electrical appliances and leads is NOT a legal requirement in NZ industrial plants. If you Google it you’ll find any amount of references convincing you that it is a legal requirement, but follow those links and you will always come to the test and tag industry many of whom are cultivating this fallacy and who ultimately benefit financially from your confusion. “In the view of the MESNZ this is but one example of the unhelpful ‘smoke and mirrors’ rubbish that gets seized upon and promoted by health and safety advisors and HR practitioners, particularly within larger organisations” said Barry Robinson, Chairman of the Maintenance Engineering Society of NZ. “What is happening is these misleading H&S processes become de-facto norms and get mimicked by the media and smaller organisations who think that because the big plants are doing it, then it must be the specified standard that needs to be adopted in all industrial operations large or small”. Robinson, who has spent over 30 years safely and healthily running NZ’s largest hot forging and heat treatment plant, makes no apologies for his confrontational approach. Other examples are: Compulsory wearing of safety glasses, hard hats and hi-viz vests in industrial plants; proliferation of orange cones; Stress-inducing beepers on machinery, and banning of ladders. These things waste time, money, and productivity. Worse, in many cases they can actually expose us to greater risk. “A common example of increased risk is the wearing of safety glasses: Safety glasses detract from our natural vision and senses in several ways – fogging, limiting or obscuring of peripheral vision and immediate upper and lower frontal vision, irritation and pressure). By wearing […]