The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is pleased to announce James Hay has been appointed as its new Chief Executive.
He will take up the role in mid-January.
“James has an impressive background spanning the energy, transport and public sectors, working with infrastructure and energy businesses, and with community-facing organisations,” says EECA Chair Tom Campbell.
“This is an excellent fit for EECA, which is a government agency known for its expertise in working across all sectors of the economy.”
As Network General Manager – Motorways for Roads and Maritime Services, James is currently overseeing the AUD$16.8 billion Westconnex motorway scheme under construction in Sydney.
He has previously been Acting Chief Executive for Meridian Energy, and a director of Marlborough Lines Limited and Cloud M Limited.
James, who originally trained as a lawyer, has also held leadership roles at Christchurch-based civil engineering company, Central Plains Water Limited, and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA).
EECA’s current Chief Executive, Mike Underhill, is to retire in mid-November after nearly 10 years in the role.
Includes Sigpack VPF for powder filler, compact horizontal flow wrapper, and complete lines from a single source.
Following the introduction of the Sigpack TTMP topload cartoner for pharmaceutical products, the company now adds two further machines to its portfolio: the Sigpack VPF vertical flat pouch machine and the horizontal flow wrapping machine Sigpack HML.
The new vertical flat pouch machine Sigpack VPF was developed especially for the packaging of powders. Pain killers in powder form are among the products typically filled into sachets. Thanks to the innovative sealing technology from Bosch, the machine produces hermetically sealed packages, which safely protect the product. The VPF allows manufacturers to flexibly expand their sachet production by up to 12 lanes. The pouch size can also be quickly and easily adapted according to customer requirements. High dosing accuracy and excellent sealing properties allow the machine to produce and fill up to 1 500 sachets/min with precision and quality.
Lantek, world leader in sheet metal technology, has developed new functionality powered by its CAD/CAM software, which integrates online shopping for sheet metal parts.
With this new capability Lantek’s customers can integrate with their own customers into a supply chain. These customers can reorder previously supplied parts or request quotations for the manufacture of new designs through each individual company’s website.
By implementing this technology on their websites, Lantek’s customers will be able to work much more closely with their own customers, delivering accurate quotations even more quickly while checking for available capacity for manufacture, to offer realistic and achievable delivery times.
When a request is received through the customer’s website, the Lantek system will firstly decide if the information is good enough to generate a quotation and delivery date automatically. Some of the elements considered are availability of material, available capacity and quality of design data. If the information is acceptable, the system can continue automatically. If not, a workflow ticket is generated to involve a member of staff in clarifying the enquiry.
Within the system, time and cost are calculated and estimated using the software libraries in the system. The desired delivery date is then included within the algorithm and takes account of other jobs being manufactured in the same material and the status of machine capacity. It also considers material availability, delivery times for material, should it need to be ordered, and current material costs.
With this information and where necessary with assistance from a staff member, an accurate offer can be supplied extremely quickly and with little administrative effort, making it much easier to work in partnership with customers and be a valued part of the supply chain.
For the manufacturer, the system delivers benefits in addition to improved customer relations and reduced administrative load. By looking at current capacity and parts made in the same material, the software will help to smooth peaks and troughs in production, filling available capacity more efficiently and thereby achieving improved machine utilisation. Furthermore, the increased accuracy of the quotations will help to maximise profitability for each job produced.
A lantek press release
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith has announced an appointment to the Takeovers Panel, the regulator of the corporate takeovers market.
Nathanael Starrenburg has been appointed as a new member of the Panel for a five-year term, from 25 October.
“Mr Starrenburg has a strong background in corporate and transactional law. His practical experience in securities law compliance and equity capital markets transactions will add considerable value to the Takeovers Panel,” Mr Goldsmith says.
Mr Goldsmith also acknowledges outgoing panel member David Flacks.
“I would like to thank Mr Flacks for the significant contribution he has made to the performance of the Panel since his appointment in 2011,” says Mr Goldsmith.
Further information on the Panel can be found at www.takeovers.govt.nz.
New Zealand’s oceans, coasts, and marine wildlife are under growing pressure, according to the first national report from the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand about the marine environment.
Our marine environment 2016, released today, identifies three top areas of concern:
global greenhouse gas emissions are causing ocean acidification and warming – changes that will continue for generationsmost of our native marine birds and many mammals are threatened with or at risk of extinctionour coasts are the most degraded of all marine areas, due to sediment and nutrients washed off the land, introduced marine pests, and seabed trawling and dredging.Statistics NZ also released the companion report, New Zealand’s marine economy: 2007–13 today. It showed that the marine economy contributed 1.9 percent, or $4 billion, to our gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, about the same as the 2 percent contribution in 2007.
Government Statistician Liz MacPherson said the economy and environment reports complemented each other, and provided a wider picture of our relationship with the marine environment.
“We’re a maritime nation. Having healthy and resilient oceans is important for all New Zealanders and for our economy. Today’s marine environment report shows that our marine environment is facing a number of serious challenges,” she said.
Secretary for the Environment Vicky Robertson said our oceans are facing multiple and cumulative pressures that have been building over generations. They are pressures from both land and sea-based human activities.
She said the report shows that one of the biggest challenges for our oceans comes from global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our waters have become more acidic from absorbing excess CO2. This affects the creatures that live there. Among other things, ocean acidification makes it more difficult for shellfish, like pāua and mussels, to form shells.
“Climate change is also warming the ocean and causing sea-level rises, which impact not only on fish but also other wildlife and our own coastal communities.”
Ms Robertson said the report shows that some marine wildlife and coastal habitats are in a fragile state.
“Ninety percent of our native seabirds and shorebirds are threatened with or at risk of extinction. More than a quarter of our native marine mammals are threatened with extinction.
Fishing bycatch, introduced predators, and habitat change are among a raft of reasons for the poor state of much marine wildlife.”
Ms Robertson said where we have identified the challenges and worked together on addressing the issues, we are seeing results. For example, changes in fishing practices in recent years have eased some pressures on the marine environment.
“The number of seabirds caught by commercial fishing bycatch almost halved from around 9,000 in 2003 to 5,000 in 2013. The improvements are likely to be helped by mitigation measures, such as bird-scaring and sea lion exclusion devices.
“By shining a light on the issues through this report we are able to focus on the most pressing and urgent areas to address. It also gives us a better understanding of the size of the challenges ahead. We now have to come together to focus on what each of us can do to protect its future,” Ms Robertson said.
Ms MacPherson said offshore minerals (mainly oil and gas) were the largest contributor to the marine economy, at $2 billion in 2013. Shipping contributed $980 million and fisheries and aquaculture contributed $896 million.
The marine economy provided 102,400 jobs, mostly in shipping, and fishing and aquaculture.
Ms MacPherson said Our marine environment 2016 used the most up-to-date data available.
“National data on many marine issues are limited, but the report also draws on scientific literature and expert opinion.
“Another theme that came through in producing this report is how much we don’t know about our marine environment,” she said. “The environmental reporting programme is working to improve our data over time. However, New Zealanders need to consider the costs of delaying action in the absence of perfect information.”
The report is the first since the Environmental Reporting Act was enacted in June 2016. The next report – about fresh water – will be out in April 2017.
Moving manufacturing operations back home is in full swing in the US and UK, and is starting to happen here, as Alan Johnson reports on Australian Manufacturers Monthly.
WITH the Australian dollar now firmly ensconced around the 75c level against the US greenback, more and more manufacturers are seriously looking at moving their manufacturing operations back to Australia.
The move will counter decades of off-shoring, which to date has faced no substantial market-based challenge within Australia.
The trend of “off-shoring” – sending work overseas – hit manufacturing across the developed world decades ago, and in most cases it was inevitable, as it was just not feasible at the time to compete with Asia on cost for repetitive manual labour.
Today, global competition has steered Australian manufacturing towards its advantages, for example investing in automation and hi-tech machinery, as well as meeting specialised local requirements, such as flexibility and fast turnarounds.
Given these advantages, the balance between off-shoring and re-shoring production, also known as on-shoring, is now finely balanced in Australia.
Not so in the UK for example, where last year one in six manufacturers brought production back from overseas, or are in the process of doing so.
Most industries and regions have more businesses and staff than last year, with growth led by the construction industry, Statistics New Zealand said today. Mining is the only industry to go against the trend.
The latest business demography statistics showed 515,000 enterprises in total in New Zealand at February 2016, up 1.6 percent from the previous year. Those businesses employed 2.1 million paid staff, up 2.4 percent in the same period.
For the fourth year in a row, more businesses are starting up than shutting down.
“Increases in business and employee counts over the year to February 2016 – employee counts in particular – were spread across almost all industries and regions,” Business Register manager Mary Reid said. “Of the 19 industries, 16 had more enterprises, and all except mining had more staff than they did a year ago.”
Continuing its steady growth trend of the past few years, the construction industry had rises of 3.7 percent in the number of enterprises, and 4.8 percent in the number of staff over the February 2016 year. Construction engaged 148,000 staff at February 2016.
Over the past decade, the health care and social services industry has added 39,000 or 21.1 percent more employees – the highest addition by any industry. This industry employed 224,000 people at February 2016, making it a close second to manufacturing – historically, the largest employer. Manufacturing employed 235,000 people at February 2016.
The Auckland and Bay of Plenty regions had the highest growth in the number of business locations over the year, with increases of 3.3 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. Auckland continued to dominate the employment scene. More than a third of all staff in New Zealand at February 2016 worked in Auckland. Job numbers in Auckland were up 27,000 (3.8 percent) compared with February 2015.
Canterbury continued to be the second-largest region in terms of business locations and staff, and had a 1.0 percent annual rise in both these measures during the year to February 2016. This was lower than in the previous three years, where Canterbury business numbers and staff grew more than 3 percent on average.
Note: Labour market statistics for the September quarter are due out in early November.
New Zealand Business Demography Statistics: At February 2016 – for more data and analysis
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242