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Fully funded fast-track to global growth

The EMA’s ExportNZ arm is giving 120 businesses in the export community from Taupo North the chance to fast-track their global expansion plans – just when they need it most. The EMA’s Chief Executive, Brett O’Riley, says Covid-19 has hit many of them hard, but exporters are a tenacious and innovative bunch who are always looking for opportunities. “We’re giving them the chance to step up and take part in our Export Excelerator Programme, which connects them with those who have ‘been there, done that’ for invaluable mentoring,” he says. Thanks to Air New Zealand Cargo, Westpac Institutional Bank, Baldwins Intellectual Property, Ports of Auckland, BDO and Zespri transferring their sponsorship of the cancelled 2020 ExportNZ Awards, 30 businesses will be fully funded for a year in the programme, and 90 others 50 per cent funded. The Export Excelerator programme sees experienced exporters paired up with participants for 10 hours to act as sounding boards and mentors, and to focus on tackling the challenges that they face of expanding globally. It helps exporters capitalise on opportunities, minimise the risk of expansion, challenge assumptions of go-to-market strategies and enables them to join a community that they can for advice and support when they need it. “The 145 Excelerators have been selected from New Zealand’s top exporting businesses and have experience across all geographies and industry sectors,” says Mr O’Riley. One of those to benefit from the Export Excelerate Programme is personal care and health and beauty company Parrs Products. “Engaging in Excelerate100 is a must. We’ve been going a long time, mucking in and doing it ourselves, but having that real-world independent advice and support at a very senior level is so invaluable,” says International Business Development and Marketing Manager Andrew Rainham. “Sometimes you are so busy working ‘in the business’ […]

Livelihoods saved through immigration changes

Jobs and businesses will be saved as a direct result of changes made to immigration criteria, ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard says. The Government has announced provisions for people to be able to enter New Zealand to support the economic recovery effort. “The border is a critical line of defence against Covid-19, and we should be laser-focused on managing the risks of peoples movements. “The same urgency that the country has taken in the health response to saving lives now needs to go into saving livelihoods through the economic recovery phase.” Ms Beard says the changes announced today will directly support businesses to have confidence that they can move forward with things like capital investment or being able to deliver products and services to international customers. “This is a good move from Government in recognising the critical importance of being able to facilitate people through our border in a way that manages and mitigates risk, and it will have a real and significant impact on New Zealand’s economic recovery.”

Alert Level 1 a relief but many businesses will still struggle

The EMA says its 7000 members and businesses across the country are relieved at the Government’s announcement of Alert Level 1 from midnight tonight but warns the hard work for the economy lies ahead. Head of Advocacy and Strategy, Alan McDonald, says the move to Level 1 should give employees and employers the confidence to return to their workplaces and rebuild their businesses. “We can be rightly proud of controlling COVID-19, but now we need to see people and confidence returning to our CBDs and businesses. We need a similar nationwide response to kick-starting the economy,” he says. “We feel for the many employers who’ve seen their business close or have been forced to lay-off valued staff who in many cases were also friends. We also feel for the many thousands of people who have lost their jobs. It’s been an incredibly tough time and unfortunately the closures and redundancies are by no means ending with the move to Level 1. “For many it is too late but now we need a national response to get people flowing back through our town centres, back to work and getting the economy moving. International uncertainty and lack of confidence in the domestic economy means we need to see measures that will help restore the confidence of business owners, investors, workers and consumers to get the dollars flowing again. We need to get the economy on a fast-track to recovery.” “With the lack of cases and the excellent regimes businesses have put in place to maintain people’s health no one should have any concerns about getting straight back to work,” he says. Mr McDonald says that while recent news of the wage subsidy extension will be will be welcomed by the 40,000 eligible, the EMA was also keen to discuss a comprehensive comeback […]

Level 1 puts focus on the economy

The BusinessNZ network welcomes the move to Alert Level 1 and the return to more normal practices at workplaces. BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says New Zealand’s team of 5 million have worked together successfully to manage the health risks from Covid 19 and now need to work together in the same way to manage the economic risks and look after businesses and jobs. “Alert level 1 means there are very low levels of risk to New Zealanders from Covid 19 and it means we can get back into our towns and cities, and fully back into our workplaces safely. “Our economy depends on people actively buying, selling, producing, collaborating – the more of this we have, the quicker we recover. “The public and private sectors, and all New Zealanders have a role to play in helping each other and making this happen.”

Move to Alert Level 1 ‘a relief’ for Canterbury businesses

Today’s announcement that we will move to Alert Level 1 tonight has been welcomed by the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, with Chief Executive Leeann Watson saying the move is key in enabling Canterbury businesses to begin a return to full operating and revenue-generating capacity. This afternoon, the Prime Minister announced that the country will transition to Alert Level 1 at 11.59pm tonight. Details of what Alert Level 1 would look like were announced last Friday, which included continued good hygiene practices, the need to retain strict border controls and continued contact tracing. However, all current restrictions on businesses will essentially be lifted, with no requirement for social distancing. Ms Watson says the announcement of a move to Alert Level 1 will be a relief for many businesses. “The move to Alert Level 1 will enable more businesses to return to full operations and increase their revenue without having to operate with the social distancing restrictions in place, which businesses have fully supported, but this has certainly had a big impact on their ability to operate at full capacity. “This will make a significant difference to some of the key sectors that really drive our economy, such as manufacturing which will be able to return to full production lines; construction which will enable more workers on-site; hospitality that will be able to return to normal service operations and offering; and retail which will not be restricted by customer numbers in-store. “Today’s announcement also sends a strong message to the public providing the confidence and assurance that we can all get out and do our bit to support local.” Ms Watson says we all have a part to play to support local businesses, which will be crucial in cushioning the region’s economic impact of COVID-19 long-term. “To date, we have seen […]

High-value US-NZ trade confirmed in latest figures

The latest trade data from Statistics New Zealand confirms the increasingly high-value nature of the trade relationship between New Zealand and the United States. Executive Director of the NZUS Council Jordan Small said while these figures do not yet fully capture the impact of Covid-19 they do still reflect the established direction of trade with the United States where some of our fastest growing exports are in the form of bits and bytes transported by fibre optic cable. “The US is New Zealand’s most important market for commercial services and New Zealand is a significant consumer of US commercial services. We’re trading in CAD drawings for 3D-printed rocket engines, architectural and engineering plans, music scores, cinematic and small screen productions, agreements for plant variety rights, financial services and software for accounting, food production and cinema management.” Two-way trade has been growing consistently over the last 5 years and today is valued at $19.4B. New Zealand sells $4B of services of all types to the United States – 41% of all exports to the United States. In comparison, less than 20% of exports to China are services and this has been decreasing over time. Some of New Zealand’s fastest growing exports to the US are: § 258% increase in intellectual property exports since 2015 § 60% increase in ICT services since 2015 § 50% increase in business service exports since 2015 § 73% increase in wine exports since 2015 “Trade with the US is driving change in the New Zealand economy towards high value goods and services that deliver high-paying jobs. The most recent trade data shows that in many of our highest value sectors the US is our number one market. While some of these sectors have been hit hard by COVID-19 we expect that they will recover quickly. “The […]

Canterbury survey shows importance of subsidy “lifeline”

A recent ‘Pulse Check’ survey of Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) member organisations shows just how critical the wage subsidy has been, ahead of many wage subsidy payments coming to a close on 12 June. The survey was sent to approximately 8,750 businesspeople and received 276 responses. Of the respondents, 86% accessed the wage subsidy, with nearly all whom accessed the payments indicating that it helped to keep their business going. Over 82% said it has helped them to keep all employees. Applications for the first phase of the wage subsidy opened on March 17 and payments were for a 12-week period. An extension of the subsidy will be available from 10 June. Of the survey respondents, only 37% said they would be applying for the subsidy wage extension which requires businesses to have a 50% drop in revenue due to COVID-19. Of those that would be applying, 92% said it would enable them to keep their business going; 78% said it would enable them to retain some or all of their employees. Chief Executive Leeann Watson says the results demonstrate how important the subsidy has been for employers and employees in the Canterbury region. “This survey shows that the wage subsidy has been a lifeline for local businesses to continue to protect the livelihoods of many in our local community, reducing job losses and business failure. “The results also show how important finding the right balance for the extension threshold will be to ensure it is still within reach of those businesses that are viable long-term but may be struggling in the interim due to still not being able to operate at full capacity for a number of reasons. We continue to work closely with Government, alongside BusinessNZ, to ensure there is targeted ongoing support for businesses significantly […]

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Advancing research: igus a new member of the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V.

Tested chainflex Profinet cables ensure reliable data transfer in moving applications Profinet is the world’s leading Ethernet-based communication solution for industrial automation. Because even large volumes of data can be transferred quickly and safely thanks to real-time communication. In order to advance the research of Profinet technology in moving applications, igus has now joined the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. as a cable specialist. According to the results of a study by IHS Markit, Profinet is the industrial Ethernet communication system. Based on the newly installed nodes, Profinet achieved a market share of almost 30 per cent in 2018. The technology was developed by the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. (abbreviation PNO). “Due to the increasing importance of Profinet in moving applications in industry, we have now joined the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. as a cable specialist. Here we want to further advance the development of the technology”, says Andreas Muckes, Head of chainflex cables Product Management. “So the customer can be sure that our cable solutions always meet the current electrical requirements.” Profinet offers clear advantages for industry: a large amount of data can be transferred at up to 100 Mbit/s based on the Ethernet protocol. However, this also means that machines and cables must move increasingly more dynamically in a compact installation space: a challenge for standard cables. Therefore, igus has been developing cables that are specifically suitable for use in energy chains and on robots for over 25 years. For Profinet alone, igus offers nine types of cable for different application scenarios. Whether linear movement or torsion, the cable is guaranteed to last The chainflex Profinet cables are available in four jacket materials, four bend radii and two torsion angles. The igus product range offers solutions for small installation spaces, maximum speeds and three-dimensional movements with up to ±360 degrees/m on the […]

Energy chains vs. motor cable drums

The advantages and disadvantages of two industrial energy supply systems Whenever design engineers have to guide hoses and power and data cables in moving applications with long travels (more than 100 metres), the question arises of which energy supply system is the most efficient, especially considering such factors as reliability, maintainability, and future security? A motor cable drum? Or an energy chain? The advantages and disadvantages of the two systems are explored below. Candidate 1: The motor cable drum A proven energy supply that has been in use for decades – in applications such as cranes, transfer carriages, and the bulk material industry. The principle is simple. It is in its simplest form like a garden hose reel. When a gantry crane, for example, moves back and forth on its four supports, the cable is deposited on a prepared surface on the ground and is rolled back up on a drum mounted on one of the supports. There are several variants for retracting the cable. In addition to motorised drums, there are designs for shorter travels that work with spring force: the rolling action is normally either cylindrical or spiral rolling. In the cylindrical form, also called broad rolling, the cable first rolls up from left to right along the drum body. Then it rolls up vertically, layer by layer. Spiral rolling works differently. The cable is stacked immediately after the first rotation. The market for cable drums is growing. A key region is North America, and one reason is because the demand for cranes in the northern United States is rising. Another booming region is the Asia-Pacific, especially China and Japan. Among the reasons for this is urbanisation and a flourishing construction industry. According to Persistence Market Research, a market research institute, the global market volume will be more […]

Servers for higher performance workloads

ThinkSystem SR645 and SR665 two-socket servers feature enhanced performance and I/O connectivity for higher performance workloads. Many industries, such as manufacturing need faster transaction processing, improved data analytics, and greater grid-computing capacity, while still improving efficiency and total cost of ownership (TCO). To address these needs, Lenovo focuses on delivering open, reliable, and secure infrastructure solutions comprising industry-leading servers, storage, and software. With the addition of the new ThinkSystem SR645 and SR665 servers featuring more CPU cores and a larger memory footprint, Lenovo can help customers accelerate higher performance workloads and improve efficiency. ThinkSystem servers are designed for workloads such as in-memory databases, advanced analytics, virtualisation, and AI. They feature: Next-generation technologies, including PCIe 4 support, which doubles I/O bandwidth eliminating potential bottlenecks found in previous generation servers increase networking capabilities essential for I/O intensive applications Increased GPU support (up to 8x 75W NVidia T4s) allowing customers to efficiently implement video analytics and inference solutions for artificial intelligence Increased onboard storage up to 40 2.5” drives or up to 32 NVMe drives allowing for dense software defined storage solutions The high core counts allow customers to buy fewer servers, saving them rack space and power, in addition to obtaining results faster. These benefits are material in multiple industries: In the financial services industry, typically, servers are in a premium space located near the exchanges so saving rack space is paramount. In retail environments, faster video analytics results can identify high-traffic areas in stores to strategically place products In manufacturing, processes rely on efficiency, therefore the ability to quickly process analytics data allows for better quality control and improved throughput. This results in higher yields and better forecasting of warranty needs In high performance computing (HPC) environments like scientific research, higher throughput means faster results, yielding earlier discoveries The Lenovo SR665 […]

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