Nov 7, 2017 - A Carterton business which produces a third of the country’s bacon could bring more jobs to the region after it undergoes a development worth more than $10 million. The expansion of the Premier Beehive factory is scheduled to be completed in November next year. Managing director Dene McKay has worked with Premier Beehive for nine years but has not seen anything like the upgrade that is planned for the factory on Moreton Rd.
“We’ve outgrown the space that we have in regards to the footprint and capability.”
The planned development was a “big investment” and would take just over a year, he said.
“We have no plans to go anywhere else, we are committed to our staff in the area.”
It naturally follows on from the “rapid growth” the company had seen over the past six or so years.
In that period business had doubled and it was “timely” to now expand the facilities.
The company has a turnover of more than $100 million and was forecasted to sell more than 13,000 tonnes of product this year.
Premier Beehive exports a small amount of products to Hong Kong, with the vast majority of ham hocks and streaky bacon strips feeding the hungry domestic market.
“Our streaky bacon is the number one selling bacon in the country,” Mr McKay said.
The company’s shaved ham products were also market-leading products, he said.
“Our bacon share, at the moment, is about 34 per cent of the market and our prepacked ham share is about 37 per cent of the market.”
Over a year ago, the company invested in some sausage manufacturing equipment and the planned expansion would assist in growing that category, he said.
During the lead up to Christmas there would be more than 300 employees in the factory.
Mr McKay said he was proud of the company’s progress and that it echoed the efforts of the staff.
“The effort that’s gone into the production of these products is reflected in our position in the marketplace.”
Carterton Mayor John Booth has been one of the main port of calls during the resource consent process.
“Some of the machinery is outside and there has been a bit of noise attached to it,” he said.
“They have made a really conscious effort in their building programme to house a lot of that machinery inside.
“It just shows you it’s a responsible business.”
It was good to have a business like that expanding because it showed confidence in the district, Mr Booth said.
“They are buying into what Carterton is and the progressive way we approach things.”
It would add to the positive feeling in the district at the moment, he said.
The business started life as a family-owned pig processing company in 1991.
The Reid family sold their business on in a move that would create the Premier Beehive brand.
It has changed hands twice since, and is now owned by global brand JBS Australia.
| A Wairarapa TimesAge release || November 6, 2017 |||
7 Nov - When it comes to designing a washdown-friendly facility, it really starts before a company even begins to build the factory. That’s according to Elis Owens, director of technical services at Birko, which offers integrated food safety solutions provided by highly trained and experienced professionals. The company should ask itself if the actual structure of the facility has been designed in such a way that will make it amenable to effective cleaning, and if the equipment has been designed and built following the principles of sanitary design, he explains.
“It should be designed in a way that can be easily cleaned and with materials that are compatible with common cleaning chemicals,” he says. “The way the equipment is put together into the various production lines and the way those production lines are put into the facility [are important].”
So, for example, making sure there is enough space all the way around the equipment for people to access it for cleaning, including catwalks for cleaning in high areas and making sure the floors in the facility are sloped toward the drains and that the equipment is not installed over the top of the drains, all come into play.
“There’s a whole host of factors that need to be taken into consideration,” Owens says, “foot traffic, product flow, forklifts’ movement around the facility.”
Scott L. Burnett, director of food safety and quality, global food and beverage at Ecolab, says factories should include procedures and structures for hygienic zoning, which complement their food safety plan. The use of hygienic zoning creates a “tortuous path” to reduce the risks of food safety hazards entering the product stream by protecting the critical processing areas.
Continue here to read the full article on FoodEngineering || November 7, 2017 |||
7 Nov - Royal Enfield has inaugurated its new Technology Centre in Bruntingthorpe Proving Grounds, Leicestershire. The brand new facility, located at the heart of the central Midlands area of UK, is housed at the largest privately owned vehicle test track facility, thereby ensuring ease of access to a host of vehicle development, engineering and testing-related facilities. The choice of location suits the iconic motorcycle manufacturer considering Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and Proving Ground first opened in 1942 for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and hosted both the RAF and US Air Force.
In line with its aim to expand and make gains in the fast-growing global midsize motorcycle segment (250-750cc), Royal Enfield says it has been investing extensively towards increasing capacities, infrastructure and product, and as well as people capabilities. The new technology centre in the UK was set up with a view to bring a more global approach towards product and technology. Also, the fact that the UK is the birthplace of the brand which made its first motorcycle in 1901, made it an obvious choice.
The UKTC (UK Technology Centre) acts as the innovative hub and global headquarters for product strategy, product development, industrial design, research, programme management and analysis for Royal Enfield. The facility boasts state-of-the-art equipment and modern workshop facilities that enable engineers to develop authentically styled and accessible motorcycles and future concepts.
Seeing tomorrow todayUKTC, which has a contemporary and futuristic industrial look, is spread across 3,000 square metres and over two levels. It essentially is a modern workspace for employees, with an Industrial Design Studio, Engine, Electrics, Chassis Build, Spray-shop, Model-shop, Metal work and Part store on the other floor.
The spacious Industrial Design Studio has variable-height modelling platforms and a suite of workshop facilities to bring the majority of model preparation in-house. The Engine Test building, spread across 470 square metres, houses the latest dynamometers and emissions equipment for testing.
Since commencing operations in January 2015, the UKTC now has over 120 employees working on multiple projects, that includes development of future products and platforms. The first modern Royal Enfield 650 twin and the new range of motorcycles has been developed between the teams at UKTC and Chennai, India.
Back to the futureWikipedia has it that Royal Enfield was a brand name under which The Enfield Cycle Company of Redditch, Worcestershire sold motorcycles, bicycles, lawnmowers and stationary engines which it had manufactured. Enfield Cycle Company also used the brand name Enfield without Royal. The first Royal Enfield motorcycle was built in 1901. Enfield's remaining motorcycle business became part of Norton Villiers in 1967 and that business closed in 1978 after which Royal Enfield, as we know it in India, began manufacturing motorcycles in Chennai.
Riding a wave of demandRoyal Enfield currently is witnessing a surge in demand for its products and with its new manufacturing base in Chennai, the company has been able to grow its production rapidly. Since the past five years, it has notched over 50 percent growth every year. Royal Enfield’s product line-up in India includes the Bullet, Classic and Thunderbird models in 350 and 500cc displacement along with the Continental GT 535cc café racer and the purpose-built Himalayan adventure bike powered by the new LS410 engine.
The company operates through 17 company-operated stores and over 705 dealers in all major cities and towns in India, and exports to over 50 countries across the world including the USA, UK, several European and Latin American countries, as well as the Middle East and South East Asia.
| An AutoCarPro release || November 7, 2017 |||
7 Nov 2017 - As the Government ramps up enforcement of law-flouting employers, discussions about how best $9 million can be spent to prevent worker exploitation continues. Teuila Fuatai reports for Newsroom today. Each year, Community Law centres take on more than 7000 cases alleging illegal employer behaviour against workers.
According to Darryn Aitchison of the Auckland Community Law centre, the increased number of employment-related cases has coincided with a depletion in the role of labour inspectors, particularly in the last five years.
News that the Labour-led Government plans to invest $9 million in the Labour Inspectorate over the next three years and increase its inspectors from 60 to 110 is a welcome relief. But is it enough?
Aitchison said a shift in the investigative and prosecution focus of the labour inspectorate in recent years has been particularly difficult for those whose minimum employment standards were not being met.
Continue here to read the full article on Newsroom || November 7, 2017 |||
7 Nov - Oracle is diving headlong into its quest to get more traction in the Australian and New Zealand small to mid-market with the launch of its digital hub in Sydney. The new hub, the first to be opened in Australia, is one of five digital hubs the software vendor is establishing up in the broader Asia Pacific region. It is part of a global network of best practice centres for small and medium-sized business (SMB) and is set to serve smaller clients on both sides of the Tasman.
The tech giant first announced in November last year its plans to create hundreds of new jobs focused on cloud technologies, through the opening of a digital sales hub in Sydney.
The software vendor said it would house a new team of over 200 digital sales professionals, designed to help mid-sized organisations transition to the cloud.
“Cloud is changing the heart of business in Australia, and at an unprecedented pace,” Oracle Australia and New Zealand managing director, Rob Willis, said at the time.
“We are seeing companies selecting and starting to use their new platforms in less than six weeks in some cases,” he said.
Now, the Sydney hub has finally arrived, and is set to house Oracle’s new digital sales team, which will be squarely focused on helping mid-sized organisations transition to the cloud, and to “transform the buying experience”.
With the arrival of the new centre, end customers that want to buy Oracle products entirely online can use the vendor’s click-to-buy Oracle Accelerated Buying Experience platform.
The digital hubs will also provide a complete suite of cloud applications, platform and infrastructure services, as both standalone offerings and as bundles.
“There are more than two million SMBs in Australia, many of whom haven’t worked with Oracle or used cloud before,” Oracle’s A/NZ head of application for digital, Malcolm Ferguson, said.
“They now have access to the most modern solutions in the market, available online, direct via the hub and through our expanded end-to-end ecosystem, working with the vast network in A/NZ.
“The increased choice in cloud technology will help accelerate SMBs’ ability to innovate and grow more quickly, paving the way for the next big SMB revolution in the country. This solid investment reiterates our strong commitment to Australia,” he said.
While the launch of the new hub provides the facility for end clients to buy directly from Oracle, the vendor has stressed that it does not mean partners will be cut out of the picture when it comes to making a margin from deals in the potentially lucrative local mid-market.
“Our ecosystem is very, very important for us,” Ferguson told ARN. “We’re going to rely quite heavily on our partner community to provide the professional services to implement the products. That does not change.
“We will still be looking to our partner community to resell. So that doesn’t go away. In fact, we’re in the process at the moment of building that out….the reseller model and the service delivery model is very much a part of the Oracle digital strategy,” he said.
Not only will partners have the potential to provide services around the Oracle products end customers sign up for, according to Ferguson, they will also be able to either direct end clients to the click-to-buy portal or work through one of the vendor’s value-added distributors.
The move to open the hub locally is part of an effort by Oracle to look beyond its traditional top-end enterprise market and make a broader attack on the smaller end of the market, with a focus on organisations with turnovers of between $10 million and $250 million annually.
It is also part of a larger strategy by Oracle to push its cloud-based solutions and services to a market that may not have the infrastructure in place to handle the vendor’s offerings in an on-premises scenario.
The move follows multiple claims by Oracle co-founder and chairman, Larry Ellison, that the software giant is closing in on undisputed public cloud vendor, Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the cloud market stakes.
“Amazon is going to have serious competition going forward,” Ellison claimed during the Oracle OpenWorld 2016 event in San Francisco late last year. “And we're very proud of our second generation of infrastructure-as-a-service.”
| A ResellerNews release || November 7, 2017 |||
7 Nov 2017 - The first big test for the Government will be to get TPP over the line with New Zealand on board writes Catherine Beard in today's NZHerald. Why does this matter? Because free trade agreements translate into new income and jobs, and if the new Government wants to spend more we need to earn more. Every additional $1 billion in exports equates to 8500 new jobs.
Continue here to read the full article || November 7, 2017 |||
7 Nov - With the risk to foreign student export market from potential changes to immigration policy, the government should increase its focus on the little cousin of education exports, edtech, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says. The education export industry is a $3billion market of which the majority is made up of bringing in foreign students. Today is the launch in Auckland of EdTechNZ, which is focused on growing and nurturing education tech in New Zealand, and is part of the New Zealand Tech Alliance. “While edtech is probably less than a $100 million export market at the moment we are well known internationally for our education system and a number of Kiwi edtech companies are doing very well internationally,” Muller says. “We have some great examples such as Hapara, Matheletics and Wendy Pye Publishing. Another success story is Christchurch based Linewize which developed an education specific internet management tool which competed with the government owned Network for Learning. “Linewize quickly grew an international market with the support of the New Zealand Punakaiki Investment Fund and last month was purchased by Australian stock exchange-listed Family Zone. “The edtech market, while currently small for New Zealand, is forecast to be a $344 billion global market by 2019. More than 140 edtech companies have been identified in New Zealand and a group of them have joined forces to form EdTechNZ to collaborate and support the development of edtech not only for export, but also for the benefit of the local New Zealand education sector.” Digital technologies are rapidly causing changes to work not seen since the industrial revolution. This is a global challenge and, according to the OECD, schools have yet to take advantage of the potential of technology in the classroom in order to give every student the skills they need for today’s connected world. Technology is enabling a transformation of the education system. A shift is occurring from instructional education to a more personalised, self-directed and collaborative learning experience. Increased use of computers in classrooms and increased internet connectivity are impacting on education.Technology is not only helping teachers become more efficient and saving schools money, but it is also helping to improve the quality of education which often still relies heavily on Victorian-era lecturing methods,” Muller says.
“Our studies have found that if New Zealand was to raise its education outcomes over a period of 20 years to a level comparable with Finland it would generate a 204 percent increase in GDP worth an additional US$258 billion,” Muller says, “so education is critical to our nation’s future prosperity.”
| An NZTech release || November 7, 2017 |||
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will travel to Da Nang, Viet Nam to attend the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting 10-11 November. The Prime Minister will then travel to Manila, The Philippines where she will attend the East Asia Summit 12-14 November.
Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, and Trade and Export Growth Minister, David Parker, will accompany the Prime Minister in Viet Nam and attend the APEC Ministers’ meetings. Associate Trade and Export Growth Minister Damian O’Connor will also attend the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting in Manila next week.
“I’m very much looking forward to meeting other regional leaders. At the beginning of my leadership, it’s important that I work to strengthen what are very important relationships.”
In Da Nang, the Prime Minister will meet with a number of political leaders, and will attend both the APEC Leaders’ and TPP Leaders’ meetings. She will also speak at the APEC CEO Summit on ‘Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Growth’.
“This year’s APEC Leaders’ meeting is focused on economic, financial and social inclusion. This responds to a rising concern in the region about the impact of globalisation and the demand for inclusive and sustainable growth,” says Ms Ardern.
“The APEC region is vital for New Zealand’s economic future and my attendance at the meeting will provide a valuable opportunity to promote New Zealand’s commitment to the region. APEC has been a driving force for better connecting the dynamic Asia Pacific region, and the relationships we have developed with our regional partners have helped lay the foundation for several of our regional FTAs.”
In Manila, the Prime Minister will meet with key counterparts in the region and attend the East Asia Summit, at which strategic challenges such as North Korea, will be discussed.
“New Zealand is committed to working with member countries to address the Asia-Pacific region’s most pressing strategic challenges and opportunities.
“New Zealand will continue to support UN Security Council Sanctions and international efforts to send a clear message to North Korea and to support a diplomatic solution to the situation,” Ms Ardern says.
The Prime Minister will also attend a celebration to mark ASEAN’s 50th Anniversary, and will return to New Zealand on 16 November.
| A Beehive release || November 7, 2017 |||
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