Today, Crown research institute Scion released its annual report, which presents a very successful year in creating science impact and financial performance.
Chair Tony Nowell says Scion’s success is founded on high-quality relationships with customers, iwi partners, industry and government agencies.
"Our strong focus on customers and partners has generated a dynamic working relationship that has resulted in excellent science solutions.
"Take our rural fire researchers for example. They carried out experimental, controlled burns in wilding pines to collect information that will help rural fire fighters manage increasing forest fire risk. And in real-live situations the same researchers used fire simulation software to help plan and direct field operations for rural fire teams fighting two major fires in Marlborough.
"Assessing the quality of wood in our forest resource is hugely important to both forest growers and wood processors. Our wood quality scientists addressed this need by building a world-first multi-measurement instrument, which they called ‘Discbot’. This novel wood scanning technology helps forest growers and wood processors assess a range of wood properties that affect the quality of sawn timber and other end products," said Mr Nowell.
Scion’s impact continues to be realised in other sectors, such as commercial packaging. A unique commercial-scale, cool room test facility was commissioned and is now being used to test different coating and ink technologies to help packaging companies improve the performance of their cardboard boxes along the supply chain.
Scion also successfully scaled-up environmentally-friendly bioadhesives under commercial conditions in two wood processing plants. This technology responds to growing consumer demand in high-value export markets for wood products made with natural, non- formaldehyde glues.
Scion’s Te Papa Tipu MaÌori Plan to develop and deliver outcomes in partnership with MaÌori is continuing to gain momentum. Partnerships include working with NgaÌti Porou around governance models, restoring the critically endangered white ngutukaka, which was returned to the East Coast iwi in September, and enhancing options for propagating and breeding indigenous trees and also ways to build commercial and amenity value from toÌtara in Northland.
Chief Executive Warren Parker says during the year Scion additionally delivered savings of more than an estimated $20 million to businesses through its unique science problem- solving capabilities.
"Our commercially sensitive work maintained access to export markets, reduced mill down time and product faults, lowered waste disposal costs and lessened biosecurity threats.
"The ability of our scientists to solve technical problems in an advanced manufacturing plant one day, and next day discover globally unique intellectual property in one of our laboratories, is enormously valuable to our customers and New Zealand, said Dr Parker.
The company’s financial results were very positive. Revenue grew 4.6 per cent to $49.6m (budget $49.1m) and net profit after tax of $1.8m ($1.6m) yielded a pre-reinvestment return on equity of 7.8 per cent.
Scion’s win at the KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards on 30 June for a partnership to commercialise a new wood reinforced plastic product that could be used in cars, appliances and a range of consumer products finished the year on a high note.
Scion’s complete Annual Report can be downloaded here
1. You predicted pre-BREXIT the end of the EU. But did you envisage at this time anything like the Deutsche Bank crisis?
Yes, Deutsche Bank has been in crisis for many years. I did write about it late last year in November in the Australian Financial Review. I put my thoughts down this way:-
“Bankers are overpaid, bonus payments are useless and there is an inflation of fancy job titles in banking
“That was the essence of a speech recently delivered at Frankfurt’s Goethe University.
“Had the speaker been a sociology professor in a graduate seminar, that would not be worth reporting. But when the new chief executive of Deutsche Bank turns on his own industry in such harsh words, that is a different story.”
I first wrote about the sorry state of German banking in 2010:
So I always thought that sooner or later the problems in Germany’s banking system would come to the surface, and they now have for all the world to see.
2. In general how would you rank the problems facing the EU now in terms of immigration, terrorism, finance for example? The EU faces so many problems simultaneously, it’s hard to even rank them. I think banking, finance and monetary policy remain the most important problems. Security and immigration are a massive headache, too – not least the EU’s stance on Russia and Turkey. And then there is the minor complication of Brexit.
3. How much water will any NZ/EU free trade agreement hold? I am relatively confident we will see EU/NZ FTA. Having said that, any free trade initiatives are highly contentious in Europe, just think of CETA (Canada) and TTIP (US). Finding an agreement with NZ is not at the top of the EU’s priority list.
4. Your forecast on the US presidential election? It will be a bad outcome. Regardless who wins. Neither of the candidates has any idea on how to deal with America’s long-term fiscal problems. Neither of them is pro trade. Neither will touch the US welfare state. The Americans only have the choice what kind of mess they prefer.
5. How do you see the TPPA emerging from this? The best we can hope for is for a lame-duck President Obama to sign it before his successor has a chance to kill the deal.
From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Tuesday 4 October 2016
The Government is right to make adjustments to our immigration system in response to high numbers causing housing and infrastructure pressures. However, the focus on skilled migrants may add pressure on manufacturers and exporters who are already finding it hard to get skilled staff they need to grow, say the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA).
NZMEA Chief Executive Dieter Adam says, “Government has finally acknowledged that the mismatch between net inward migration and infrastructure development - housing first and foremost - particularly in Auckland.
“Unfortunately, the changes introduced constitute a significant lift in barriers for skilled migrants, while leaving other migrant categories largely unchanged.
“New Zealand businesses, right across all sectors, are increasingly held back from growing by a lack of highly skilled workers. The reasons behind this are complex, including a tertiary education policy that is not meeting our skills needs, and immigration alone cannot be the whole answer, now or in the long term.
“In the short term, however, allowing employers to find highly skilled staff abroad that are simply not available domestically, is important for the future economic development of New Zealand. Highly skilled workers means people capable of operating complex, computer controlled machinery in the manufacturing sector, for example. The government claims that the changes it introduced yesterday “will prioritise access for higher-skilled SMC migrants ...” – Given the Government’s sketchy track record to date in managing the skilled migrant scheme to match what the economy most urgently needs, it remains to be seen whether that will actually be the case.
“We believe our immigration system is leaky at a different point, people coming in on a student visa and then being allowed to seek employment when they have completed their studies, which can be after as little as one year.
“New Zealand approved visas for around 85,000 overseas students in 2015, and it would be interesting to see how many of these are able to gain employment at the end of their studies. There are reports that 50% of all skilled migrant visa applications these days come from foreign students. These students may be highly skilled in their subject of study, but often have few of the skills and experience industry needs and as a consequence end up in low-skills jobs in retail or tourism, for example.
“We would also like to see a more in-depth review on how our immigration system can best serve New Zealand over-time and provide skilled people to fill skill gaps industry face now, and into the future." Says Dieter.
France’s English-speaking colony
The Franco-German investment in New Zealand is just as extensive in its way as the British presence was in its heyday prior to UK membership of the EU. This is the main reason why the New Zealand/EU (sans Britain) trade deal is regarded with such favour by the two pillars of the EU. The scope of the French presence in New Zealand is especially pervasive encompassing as it does so many industrial sectors. It is one reason why New Zealand premier John Key seen here on the reviewing stand with French cabinet members was accorded such a warm welcome in Paris (photo: Roland Berjon)
In order of industry dominance here are the major French-owned companies in New Zealand:-
These are just the French companies with site operations here. We can also consider L’Oreal, and in the industrial category, Laval, Michelin and St-Gobain (glass) which is also the world’s longest established company.
If we look at the Franco-German EU axis, then we can also see complete dominance in the luxury car sector here with BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Citroen, Renault.
The presence of Danone and Parmalat underline the way in which French companies, after some delay, are filling the pastoral process vacuum left by the old British companies.
The arrival of Bollore in New Zealand with the acquisition of Gameloft is a pointer to French intervention here in computer inspired leisure.
from the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Wednesday 12 October 2016
The Principal Sponsor for 2016 Prefab Aus is XLam, a New Zealand-born CLT company who by mid-2017 will be mass-producing 60,000m3 of CLT annually out of its new Australian manufacturing plant in the Albury Wodonga region.
Depending on the value of XLam’s CLT and the company’s level of service, its manufacturing plant could be a welcomed resource for Australian designers and developers looking to incorporate CLT in their projects.
To date, no Australian CLT project has used Australian manufactured CLT with Strongbuild using Austrian company Binderholz to bring its product into the Australasian market and Lendlease previously using the KLH UK and Austria’s Stora Enso.
Jay-Evan Paskell completed a gateway placement at Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders Ltd at high school. After enjoying that placement, a careers advisor at school helped him get an interview with Advanced Aerospace Ltd, also known as C-Quip International. After five years refining his skills and knowledge as a composites technician, Jay-Evan has spent the last year as the supervisor of the clean room, and the Laminating Team Leader.
Jay-Evan has completed a Level 3 Boatbuilding Pre-Apprenticeship, a Level 3 Composites qualification, and is currently working towards completing his Level 4Composites qualification. After that he wants to work towards leading a larger team or working as a project manager.
Highlights of Jay-Evan’s apprenticeship include winning trophies at NZMAC ITO’s annual Marine Trades Challenge, and travelling to Australia to compete
“Work hard and stick with it, complete units and work your way up.
It may not start easy but you can get to where you want to be with hard work, and gain experiences.”
A NZ Marine & Composites ITO release - Monday 10 October 2016
Jay-Evan Paskell completed a gateway placement at Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders Ltd at high school. After enjoying that placement, a careers advisor at school helped him get an interview with Advanced Aerospace Ltd, also known as C-Quip International. After five years refining his skills and knowledge as a composites technician, Jay-Evan has spent the last year as the supervisor of the clean room, and the Laminating Team Leader.
Jay-Evan has completed a Level 3 Boatbuilding Pre-Apprenticeship, a Level 3 Composites qualification, and is currently working towards completing his Level 4Composites qualification. After that he wants to work towards leading a larger team or working as a project manager.
Highlights of Jay-Evan’s apprenticeship include winning trophies at NZMAC ITO’s annual Marine Trades Challenge, and travelling to Australia to compete
“Work hard and stick with it, complete units and work your way up.
It may not start easy but you can get to where you want to be with hard work, and gain experiences.”
A NZ Marine & Composites ITO release - Monday 10 October 2016
A group that began as a small air conditioning and refrigeration business in a shed on the Nadi Back Road in Fiji has grown into a hi-tech engineering outfit with state-of-the-art CNC machines and robotics.
With a quarter of a century’s worth of experience in the refrigeration and light engineering industries, the J Kevi Group has forayed into manufacturing quality engineered goods for the consumer export market around the Pacific Islands region and beyond. It has recently completed the construction of a large tooling, fabrication and manufacturing facility entirely dedicated to exporting its products.
“It’s 100 per cent export oriented,” says Kevi N Reddy, the group’s youthful Chief Executive Officer. Mr Reddy earned his degree in Mechtronics from the University of Western Australia and spent a few years’ designing and building industrial kitchens for QSR brands around Australia. He returned to his native Fiji a few years ago to assist his father Narendra Reddy to run and expand the family business.
The group, which has grown from just a couple to 100 employees and from a 120sq m space to 6 acres of land and building, manufactures an array of hardware components for the local building and construction industry. Its products are widely used in quality fittings for Fiji’s upmarket hospitality sector. It also sells and distributes utility vehicles like golf carts and industrial scale lawn mowing equipment.
The new line of engineered consumer products for exports comprises profiles, toolboxes, Ute-mountable trade boxes made of metal and others directed at the automotive professional and hobby markets in New Zealand and Australia.
The products are designed and crafted with the latest in CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine technologies. “This is the first time that such advanced machines are being used in the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Reddy told Pacific Periscope when we visited the group’s new plant in Nadi.
A new high-tech robot welding plant built in the United States is soon to join the shop floor. Again, it’s the first of its kind in the region, with only eight such machines in New Zealand, according to Mr Reddy. “Our products are all designed and manufactured to exacting New Zealand and Australian standards,” Mr Reddy said.
While using the best of materials and processes of a standard approved in New Zealand and Australia, Mr Reddy believes that it is Fiji’s lower overheads and operating costs that gives the group a price advantage. “While the standard of the product is the same as that made in New Zealand and Australia, the production costs are lower, therefore offering the same uncompromised quality for a lower price for consumers in those countries,” he adds.
The group is preparing in right earnest to launch its line in New Zealand in the next couple of months. It has already incorporated a company in Auckland. Pacific Trade & Invest (PT&I) NZ Trade Development Manager Ian Furlong said PT&I was working with the J Kevi Group, helping establish a distribution network in Auckland. As well as New Zealand, Mr Kevi said the group was planning to export also to Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu.
Mr Reddy hopes Fiji’s engineering sector will rise to the occasion and become an attractive and cost efficient manufacturing hub for the New Zealand and Australian markets, with the advantages of proximity, an English speaking workforce and the same materials and manufacturing process standards. “We are proud of using the Fijian Made logo,” he says.
The group plans to make its products available in New Zealand before year end.
For more information, please email PT&I Trade Development Manager Ian Furlong at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A Pacific IslandsbTrade & Invest release
New Zealand-based SPL Ltd, engaged in manufacturing and marketing of hand dryers, will introduce its products in India in partnership with city-based Mrinalini Industries according to a report in Business Standard.
The joint venture agreement would be of 'knowledge sharing' for SPL Ltd, while its Indian partner will manufacture the hand dryers at its factory in Irungattukottai near Chennai, SPL's Founder and Managing Director John Stares said here today.
"It is a first of its kind initiative. The New Zealand government wants to promote trade and industry with India. So through this joint venture, we will be selling hand dryers domestically that are locally produced. Right now, what is available in the market are imported," he told PTI.
Under the agreement, the hand dryers will be of 60 per cent localisation, which would be increased to 100 per cent later.
The company, with revenues of NZD 3 million, will not have any stake in the JV and the tie-up is with the Centre's 'Make in India' initiative, he said.
Commenting on the investment plans, Mrinalini Industries Managing Partner R Elansudar said it would be about Rs 4 crore.
"Initial investment we made so far is about Rs 1 crore. We will be investing about Rs 4 crore. It will be done in stages. The plant will come up inside our existing factory at Irungattukottai," he said.
The hand dryer -- ELAN HD101 -- will be priced at Rs 8,500 in Tamil Nadu, he said.
The factory will have the capacity to produce 2,000 units per month initially, he said, adding the company plans to scale it up to 40,000 units.
Officials of the companies exchanged documents as part of the agreement at a function here in the presence of Honorary Consul of New Zealand, L Ganesh.
Ganesh, who is also chairman of Rane Group, said trade between India and New Zealand shot up by 46 per cent to reach USD 1.8 billion year last year.
"The trade between India and New Zealand is increasing rapidly. The two-way trade went up by 46 per cent to USD 1.8 billion last year, compared to what it was five years ago," he said.
Firms will need to adopt different strategies to adapt to varying growth speeds across the world, an economist has warned.
Dr John Glen, CIPS economist, said companies needed to "flex supply chains" in response to the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), which lowered growth projections for 2016 from 3.4% to 3.2%.
Glen, who is also director of the Centre for Customised Executive Development at Cranfield School of Management, said: “There is... a requirement to be able to flex supply chains to turn on capability and supply in those parts of the world that are expanding, such as India for example."
He added firms also needed to be able to reduce capacity in “parts of the global economy that are not set to expand as quickly”.
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