Recent News

The changes to the 90-day trial period announced by the Government will present additional challenges for medium sized manufacturers to finding the right staff they need, adding to the already critical skill shortage issues which hold back growth of the sector. “The 90-day trial periods have made it easier for manufacturers to bring on staff to fill skill shortages, knowing they have the ability to take a risk on a new worker. The proposed change will make it harder for companies to fill vacancies – the last thing they need right now.” says Mr Dieter Adam, CE, The Manufacturers’ Network. “At least we are still going to have the 90-day trial periods for companies under 20 employees, as for businesses of this size the risk and investment in bringing on a new staff member is very high. But the Government should have left these trial periods alone altogether.” he says. “If the Government is serious about growing the economy, it should focus its efforts on working with industry in addressing the short and longer-term skill shortages that are crippling the high-value manufacturing industry and many other sectors. These skill shortages are often in the area of highly skilled and experienced trade’s workers, with level 5 and 6 qualifications.” says Mr Adam.

Primary sector and manufacturing employees may find themselves with some interesting new colleagues in the next few years as researchers develop robots that can be trained to work alongside people in factories and the great outdoors. A two-year, $2m project funded by the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge Board is examining how next-generation robots can work with humans in a safe and flexible manner. Researchers will focus on developing robots to work in small-scale manufacturing and unforgiving outdoor environments. Such technology could become a global specialty of New Zealand robotics businesses, with great export opportunities and long-term solutions for the country’s economic needs. The interdisciplinary research programme involves robotics experts from Lincoln Agritech and Scion, as well as researchers and PhD students from the universities of Auckland, Canterbury, Massey, Otago, Victoria and Waikato. The programme is laying the groundwork for follow-up projects over the next few years that will focus on making New Zealand a competitive country for the production and use of robots in small-scale, flexible manufacturing businesses and challenging environments such as those found in agriculture and forestry. “We will advance the science required for a new generation of industrial robotic solutions,” says Lincoln Agritech Group Manager in Precision Agriculture, Dr Armin Werner. “These robots can provide enormous benefits to the primary and manufacturing sectors. Both industries require fast adaptation to different products and markets, and constant responsiveness to changing outdoor environments. “The robots can assist with complex tasks such as pruning tree or vine crops, safely felling trees on steep slopes or assembling small batches of appliances on demand.” To develop the technology, researchers will investigate how sensors and artificial intelligence can allow robots to perceive and understand their surroundings, flexibly handle new situations through learning or training by humans or other robots, and work […]

BusinessNZ has welcomed progress towards the new Trans Pacific Partnership, now CPTPP. BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says a successful conclusion to negotiations would mean new income and jobs in New Zealand. “The value and volume of our exports increase enormously in countries where we reach a free trade agreement, and every extra billion dollars in exports equates to 8,500 new jobs. “But New Zealand has not yet achieved many trade agreements – only 8, with 16 countries, far fewer than many other comparable countries have. “The CPTPP would greatly increase this number, cutting tariffs in many more places and increasing diversity in markets, helping insulate us against any economic headwinds we may face in the future. “New Zealand exporters are typically smaller than their global competitors and have further to go to get their goods to market. They currently find it hard to compete in markets where we don’t have trade agreements. “A successful conclusion to the CPTPP would be a huge boost for New Zealand’s exports.”

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 […]