The Dunedin Regional Lounge is situated on the upper floor of the airport terminal and caters to more than 120 customers. The lounge features Air New Zealand’s signature sleek design with four different seating zones to suit the needs of customers, including a café as well as business, lounge and quiet areas. A self-service food buffet and drinks station are also available. Air New Zealand’s General Manager Customer Experience Anita Hawthorne says it’s fantastic to be able to offer customers flying out of Dunedin a lounge with 50 percent more seating than the previous space. “Dunedin is a key port on Air New Zealand’s domestic network and we look forward to welcoming customers to enjoy this new facility,” says Ms Hawthorne. Dunedin Airport CEO Richard Roberts says the airport is very proud to be involved with Air New Zealand and the amazing upgrade and extension of the lounge. “Our ongoing work with Air New Zealand to drive demand continues to increase people through our airport, so to have this new facility is a wonderful example of working better together,” says Mr Roberts. The new Dunedin lounge is part of Air New Zealand’s four-year $100 million programme to develop its network of lounges and follows the opening of lounges in Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane, Nadi, Melbourne, Wellington, Queenstown, Hamilton, Invercargill and Palmerston North.
| An AirNZ release || November 2, 2017 |||
2 Nov[] The increasing interconnection of devices and vast flows of data between machines are transforming factory floors around the world. From robots that work alongside humans to tracking components throughout the logistics system, the internet of things (IoT) is reshaping the way products are designed and made — and changing the role of humans in manufacturing.
CobotsUnlike traditional industrial robots hidden behind cages, like those that weld car bodies, collaborative robots — or cobots — work alongside humans and have been spreading across production lines.
They are typically smaller, flexible and mobile, as well as being cheaper than their heavy-duty cousins. They are also slower, but cobots are highly adaptable and can be assigned to different tasks.
“[Cobots] can learn by imitation. They tend to have cameras with vision recognition software. You can move the hand of the robot, you do a task and after a few minutes the robot is programmed,” says Jonathan Cohen, portfolio manager of the $90m RoboCap UCITS Fund. This compares with 50 to 200 hours to program larger industrial robots, he adds.
One of the biggest cobot manufacturers is Universal Robots of Denmark, which was acquired for $285m in 2015 by Teradyne, a US supplier of automation equipment. Uses of its machines include putting confectionery in boxes, polishing objects and screwdriving.
While many fear that robots will steal people’s jobs, proponents say cobots can improve health and safety conditions for humans by performing repetitive tasks that require uncomfortable movements such as twisting or lifting heavy objects.Additive manufacturingThis is also known as 3D printing, because it involves building objects layer by layer out of substrates such as polymer or metal. Complex patterns based on digital designs that may not be possible with traditional manufacturing techniques can be made with less material and fewer process steps.
Additive manufacturing has existed for more than three decades but has been limited by its expense and slowness. However, more real-world applications are emerging.
Continue here to read full article on Financila Times || November 2, 2017 |||
2 Nov [] Garmin New Zealand has announced the Descent Mk1, a dive computer housed in a watch-style design offering surface GPS navigation with rich colour mapping. Designed for recreational, technical and free divers, the Descent Mk1 allows divers to plan their underwater adventure right on the watch and use GPS waypoints to automatically mark dive entry and exit points. The Descent Mk1 also offers multiple dive modes, 3-axis compass, in-dive data, as well as multi-sport functions like wrist-based heart rate, activity profiles and automatic dive log uploads via the Garmin Connect Mobile app to Garmin’s online dive community.
“No matter what kind of diver you are, the Descent Mk1 is the intuitive dive computer you won’t want to take off. And with features built for in and out of the water, packed into a watch form factor, you don’t have to,” said Adam Howarth, General Manager Garmin Australasia. “The Descent Mk1 was built by divers, for divers and we are so excited that our passion for engineering purpose-built devices, now supports the passion of underwater explorers.”
The Descent Mk1 includes an Apnea mode for recreational and competitive free divers, and Apnea Hunt mode for spear fishers. When the diver submerges, the device will automatically start the dive, and when the diver surfaces from the water, it will automatically stop the dive. The Descent Mk1 supports up to six gases including air, nitrox and trimix. While enjoying their dive under the water, useful information such as depth, dive time, temperature, NDL/TTS, ascent/descent rates, gas mix, PO2, N2 loading, decompression/safety stop information, time-of-day, and more on a crisp 1.2-inch colour display. The diver can switch to the dive compass and additional data pages with the push of a button, or with a quick double tap on the screen.
The dive computer utilises the Bühlmann ZHL-16c algorithm with configurable conservatism settings. Choose from three pre-set conservatism settings, or enter custom Gradient Factors.Selectable tone and vibration alerts help keep divers informed throughout their dive. When worn over a divers bare wrist, the Garmin Elevate wrist-based heart rate technology1 will monitor pulse and track exertion levels. The Descent Mk1 will automatically uploads dive logs to Garmin Connect for post-dive analysis. Divers can name their dive, and go back in app to review dive data such as type of dive, temperature, entry and exit points and more.
Topside, the Descent Mk1 features a high-sensitivity GPS and GLONASS satellite tracking for map-based surface navigation including ABC (altimeter, barometer and compass) sensors. Beyond the full range of diving functions, the Descent Mk1 offers a complete feature set of sports/training, fitness and outdoor navigation tools. Preloaded with activity profiles for swimming, running, biking, hiking, skiing, rowing, paddle boarding and more. The Descent Mk1, when paired with a compatible smartphone2, allows a user to receive and view text messages, emails and smart notifications right on the watch. Users can customise the watch display with free watch faces, apps and data fields from our Connect IQ store.
Crafted with premium materials, the Descent Mk1 dive computer will be available in two styles. A stainless-steel bezel with silicone watch band or a premium version with titanium bezel and greater scratch resistant brushed DLC titanium bracelet. Using QuickFit bands, the diver can easily change between regular and longer QuickFit bands, for use over thick wetsuits or dry suits. QuickFit bands also allow the diver to tailor their wrist-worn style for any daily activity or special occasion — no tools required. Both models feature a domed sapphire lens for scratch resistance, and a bright, high-resolution full colour 1.2-inch display with LED backlighting, assuring readability in all lighting conditions, above or below the water. Dive rated up to 100 metres (EN13319) the Descent Mk1 has a battery life of up to 40 hours in dive mode, 21 days in watch mode, 12 days in smartwatch mode, 20 hours in GPS/HR activity mode, and up to 30 hours in UltraTrac mode.
The Descent Mk1 is expected to be available in late 2017 for a recommended retail price of NZ$1,599 for the stainless-steel and NZ$2,499 for the premium version.
| A Geekzone release || November 2, 2017 |||
2 Nov[] Ministers from APEC member economies are stepping up their push to salvage the majority of the world’s dwindling forests and the livelihoods of millions of people that depend on these resources as consumer demand in the region surges.
Ministers meeting in Seoul launched growth-friendly actions for realizing their ambitious goal of increasing forest cover by at least 20 million hectares by 2020 across APEC. Together, APEC economies account for half the world’s forests and 80 per cent of global timber trade.
A viable step towards mitigating climate change, the move sets the tone for the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang on 6-11 November that will aim to improve trade-driven growth in the region and the sustainability and equity of its economic and social outcomes.
“The huge increase in the middle class in APEC made possible by greater connectivity and trade is driving a consumption-led growth recovery but also putting pressure on high demand resources like wood and timber products,” explained Dr Alan Bollard, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat.
“APEC economies are enacting measures to boost legitimate trade flows that weed out illegally harvested wood before they hit consumer markets and undercut legal producers,” Dr Bollard continued. “Eliminating price distortions caused by illicit timber could have a major impact on forest preservation and the large numbers of jobs they support.”
Ministers are focused on raising governance and transparency standards among APEC economies for the trade of timber and wood products such as lumber, paper, flooring and furniture, in coordination with Interpol, industry and conservation groups.
This includes building on work administered by the APEC Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade to enhance customs inspections of timber and wood products at borders, implement timber legality methodologies and establish efficient lines of communication with law enforcement agencies.
Parallel measures to be taken forward by APEC economies center on facilitating sustainable forest management practices and community support needed to help forests re-germinate and promote emerging business and employment opportunities.
“The growth potential of sectors such as agriculture, education, healthcare and tourism depends in no small part on forest resources in APEC,” concluded Dr Bollard. “The progress of efforts to create sustainable supply chains could go a long way to ensuring the future of the region’s forests.”
The Seoul Statement endorsed at the conclusion of the Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry outlines the actions to be advanced by APEC member economies towards this objective.
| An APEC release || November 1, 2017 |||
1 Nov - New Zealand wiring company, Fero, is on the move. And unlike most companies moving overseas, Fero is moving to Samoa. From China to Samoa to be exact.
The family-owned company saw an opportunity in Samoa when Yazaki Samoa closed its doors.
Yesterday, General Manager, Sam Fulton and Managing Director, Greg Fulton, were at their new premises at Vaitele. While there is a lot of work to do, they are looking forward to growing their company and to help Samoa.
While it is not common for a major manufacturing company to set up in Samoa, for Sam and Greg Fulton, the move made financial and logistical sense on many different levels.
Fero had been manufacturing in China for some time and the distance and rising costs were one of the factors that made it easier to move their operation to Samoa.
Furthermore, there were quantity issues with New Zealand and Australia being smaller markets than China was used to.
“In New Zealand and Australia, when you start saying to everyone that we are going to start manufacturing in Samoa - most people are a bit surprised about that,” said Sam Fulton.
“There’s not a lot of manufacturing going on in Samoa for export to New Zealand and Australia.”
The added benefits of having a workforce that was trained by the world class Yazaki proved to be even more of an incentive to set up shop in Samoa.
“It’s fantastic because Yazaki have done a great job of training everyone up,” said Sam, “There’s a lot of good talented people who have got a lot of experience."
“Most of the guys have got over 20 years’ experience in the harness industry. There’s a building here that is custom built for wire harnessing manufacturer. We have got enough space to fit about 500 people into it pretty easily. At the moment we have about 75 people that we have employment agreements with and we have a goal for having 200 employees.”
Fero’s General Manager confirmed that they will be hiring their employees at the same rate that they were receiving at Yazaki and that it was important for them to make sure they stayed on level with the Samoan government pay rates.
It’s also part of their strategy to make sure that all the stakeholders in the business are rewarded for the success of the business.
Both company managers anticipate some challenges ahead.
“It’s not going to be easy getting a good operation going on here and delivering to the rest of the world,” he said.
"Freight is not as regular in getting into New Zealand, we still get our raw materials out of China often and they have to go through NZ to here. We have issues with our business in NZ, we are under no illusions, and it’s not an easy business.”
While challenges are to be expected, the transition has been relatively easy in that being in your own Pacific backyard provides a sense of familiarity both in a social and business sense.
The Company Managers also credited the Samoan government, N.P.F. and the New Zealand High Commission for making the process of establishing a business here run smoothly.
“Samoan culture is different to New Zealand culture but we have quite a lot of similarities,” said Sam. “We have a lot of Pacific Islanders working with Fero in New Zealand and it’s a much easier fit culturally than China."
“For a number of reasons such as; travelling here is easy, we speak in the same language and live in the same time zone which helps when you pick up the phone to make a call and we drive on the same side of the road but it is nice to make sure that work stays with our neighbours in the Pacific.”
Managing Director, Greg Fulton added: “We absolutely respect the talents and the abilities here. We have a really well trained and educated team that’s something that we have found right through Samoa, that the skill all the way through the infrastructure through government is really high, that’s a very easy fit.”
Sam Fulton has been quoted in the New Zealand media, calling Samoa as the best kept secret in manufacturing, even going as far as urging other companies in Australasia to look closer to home instead of looking out towards Asia manufacturers.
“When I say that it’s the best kept secret I think that there’s a lot of opportunity for manufacturing in Samoa for NZ and Australia and not just in wire harnessing either."
“We’re also looking at doing a few other automotive products here. You’ve got the infrastructure to export to different countries. It could be that manufacturing can become an industry for Samoa rather than always just relying on tourism and agriculture.”
Setting up in Samoa has given both Sam and Greg Fulton some personal satisfaction in that they have realized that they have come to a place that genuinely appreciates their presence and what they have to offer for our people and the economy,
“It’s been really rewarding, right from the word go,” said Greg Fulton. “Anytime we’ve been involved with different people about what we are doing here and what we are planning to do here, so many people at so many different levels have said ‘thank you very much for coming into Samoa, we are grateful of that’ and that sort of thing is really good to hear and it’s very encouraging. To know that they believe that you can make a difference has got a heck of a lot of reward.”
| A SamoaObserver release || November 2, 2017 |||
1 Nov ΞGuangzhou, China — Chinese manufacturers of the humble plastic pipe — used to carry drinking water, irrigation water, sewage, electricity and gas — are increasingly looking globally. While China's domestic market is growing as Beijing focuses on building infrastructure, some companies in China's large domestic industry were using this fall's Canton Fair in Guangzhou to cast about for overseas business.
The rush is fueled by projections of continued growth in global plastics pipe markets. A July report from research firm Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd., for example, estimates that worldwide plastic pipe sales will grow from about $30 billion this year to $44 billion by 2024.
However, a hodgepodge of standards worldwide is spurring Chinese processors to follow contrasting strategies.
Different regions and countries favor slightly different internal diameters and different materials, said Alina Chen, manager at Taizhou Zhuoxin Plastics Co. Ltd.
"Some countries like [chlorinated] CPVC. Other countries like PVC," Chen said.
Under its Sam-UK brand, Taizhou Zhuoxin manufactures both pipes and pipe fittings. Unusually for a Chinese manufacturer, it sells nothing domestically.
"We do all exports," Chen said. The 11-year-old company focuses on South America and Africa, with sales offices throughout Africa. Last year, it opened a sales office and warehouse in Peru.
Sales for 2016 totaled 70 million yuan, up 20 percent from the previous year, Chen said. The company, which has 100 staff, has already bought land to build a 7,200-square-meter factory, double the size of its present one, Chen said.
"Business is good," Chen said.
Taizhou, Zhejiang province-based Yonggao Co. Ltd., the country's second-biggest pipe maker, has a factory near company headquarters dedicated to serving the international market, said Esther Tao, vice international sales director.
"Because products are different for international and domestic markets. Not just the size and standards, but the also the popular items are quite different," Tao said.
Yonggao is publicly listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange. Sales for the six months ending June 30 were 1.85 billion yuan ($280 million), up 24.4 percent from the year-before period.
But profit edged down 8.8 percent on the rising resin costs and competition, the company reported.
The company produced 452 million pounds of pipe, up 22.3 percent from the year-before period. Yonggao has seven factories across China, and claims to be China's largest exporter of plastic pipe.
Currently, the company's biggest challenge is from aggressive price-cutting from Chinese rivals, Tao said.
Exhibitors at the three-week, three-phase Canton Fair, one of the world's biggest trade shows, offer everything from clocks to industrial-strength juicers. The mega-fair typically draws about 200,000 buyers and 25,000 exhibitors.
On the equipment side, extrusion specialist Foshan City Kebeln Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd. plans to double its production capacity by building a new 17,000-square-meter factory near its current one, General Manager Conghua Gao said in a telephone interview after the fair.
The 12-year-old company will double its headcount from the current 70 when the new factory opens, Gao said.
After a moderate 5 percent increase last year, sales are up a sharp 30 percent this year due to one big order for 30 production lines, Gao reported.
One player struggling in the current environment is Shenyang-based Ginde Plastic Pipe Industry Group. Founded in 1999, Ginde has more than 10,000 workers and nine factories in China. Exports comprise about 30 percent of Ginde's sales, said Shi Haifeng, manager of overseas sales.
Key markets are Cyprus, New Zealand and Australia, Shi said. "Mongolia is our largest overseas client," he said.
But with sales off in recent years, Ginde is now in the midst of reorganizing its overseas sales effort to focus on Southeast Asia and Africa, Shi said.
China Lesso Group Holdings Ltd. the country's largest plastic pipe maker, is also eager to crack the overseas market, although exports accounted for only 3.5 percent of its first half 2017 sales of 8.977 billion yuan ($1.237 billion).
In recent years, Lesso has richly benefited from Beijing's push to upgrade infrastructure for water supplies, sewage, drainage and flood control, but its big Canton Fair booth highlighted an effort to go global. The company has a plant in Los Angeles to make pipe fittings.
| A PlasticNews release || November 2, 2017 |||
2 Nov - A recruitment agency specialising in finding cryptocurrency and blockchain talent has opened in Sydney. Crypto Recruit has set up shop with the belief that it is the first in the world to offer such niche IT recruitment services, said founder Neil Dundon. “The idea was to get some first mover advantage in the market,” Dundon told Business Insider.
“Nowadays there seems to be general pub talk [about cryptocurrencies] — people are just talking about it all the time and it’s just mental at the moment. So three or four months ago I had the idea: why don’t I couple my passion for cryptocurrency and blockchain… with my skills in recruitment?”
The venture is in its early days so Dundon, who has 13 years experience in the IT recruitment and education sector, is currently busy developing a network of recruiters around the world to find blockchain talent.
But he’s already fielded much interest from the tech industry.
“There really are very few blockchain developers in the world at the moment,” he said.
“There is demand out there at the moment. I’m getting very positive feedback on it. But it’s in it’s infancy stages, so I’m really there to build a brand and help these blockchain projects from a staffing perspective.”
With such a shortage of skills, recruitment for cryptocurrency and blockchain developers can sometimes be a matter of hiring graduates or developers with different backgrounds then upgrading their skills.
And those willing to learn can “make a premium” on top of standard technology salaries, according to Dundon.
“A lot of these projects raised a lot of money from their initial coin offerings and they need to move quickly. So just by the very market forces alone, and the speed to which they have to develop, there can be a premium on top.”
Dondon, who established the Bondi business after becoming a cryptocurrency investor himself earlier this year, already has three employees based both in and out of Australia.
“There’s a whole paradigm shift in front of our eyes and a lot of people aren’t even realising it.”
| A BusinessInsider release || November 2, 2017 |||
1 NOV Ξ Asian beauty brands now have a new source for packaging, design services and the latest in global trends. Recognising the steady growth of Asian domestic markets, Quadpack Industries is expanding its presence in the region.
The international packaging group has created a dedicated sales operation to service brands and contract fillers in the Asia Pacific region, led by Regional Director Jason Smith.
"It's a natural evolution of our business and a key element of our larger organic growth plans," says Smith. "We already have an established office in Australia and New Zealand and, since our merger with Collcap, an unrivalled presence across Asia, with a supply chain and QA team spread across China, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. Now the different domestic markets are maturing, the time is right to start building relationships with local brands."
Around a third of the world's beauty packaging spend comes from Asia. It accounts for half of the world's skincare market, with many global trends originating in countries like Korea and Japan. What's more, domestic markets are growing and maturing.
Jimmy Kim, Quadpack Sales Manager Asia, comments: "There's a real opportunity for a packaging solutions provider like us – with global experience, a unique portfolio, our own manufacturing capability and a proven track record in Europe – to help these brands perform both locally and internationally."
Headquartered in Europe, Quadpack has been present in Asia since its inception in 2003. The company's Australian office is celebrating its 10th anniversary of servicing the leading brands in Australia and New Zealand this year. The Melbourne and Hong Kong offices will act as joint headquarters for Quadpack Asia Pacific. The Hong Kong office is also moving to new, larger offices in November in anticipation of increased activity.
Quadpack aims to secure 1% of the €6.5 billion Asian market in the next five years, growing to become a key strategic sales region along with Europe and Americas.
| A Quadpack release || November 2, 2017 |||
Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) believes there is an opportunity for new economic investment projects such as a $1 billion per annum Regional Development (Provincial Growth) Fund, following the change in government.
Elections were held last month, with the National Party replaced by a coalition between Labour, NZ First and the Green party - to be led by Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister. HortNZ Chief Executive, Mike Chapman admits while it is still early days and there is not a lot of detail around changes to policy and law yet, he says there are some opportunities surrounding regional development Matthew Russell writes in FreshPlaza.
"We have made it very clear that we want to work with the Government and be consulted as policy and law changes that affect horticulture growers are developed - and so far, there is every indication this will happen," Mr Chapman said. "A change in Government after nine years, and particularly the make-up of the new Government as an agreement between three separate and quite different parties led by the Labour Party, will undoubtedly have impacts on horticulture. We are aware that growers have concerns about some of the policies that the new Government has posed. It is our job to give voice to those concerns through the policy and law making processes as we represent growers in Wellington. We will continue to do this and have established some good connections with key Ministers."
One of the big changes to be announced so far by the new government is the scrapping of the Primary Industries portfolio, to be separated into Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture. HortNZ says while exact details on how this will work are yet to emerge, the decision could have some positives and negatives.
"We welcome increased focus on the portfolios that cover horticulture, particularly biosecurity and food safety," Mr Chapman said. "We do have some concerns about some of the pan-industry funds continuing as the Primary Growth Partnership and Sustainable Farming Fund are vital to science and innovation being developed to keep New Zealand horticulture up with the rest of the world, and preferably ahead at the cutting edge. We would want to see some capacity in policy and law development to be inclusive of all the primary industries, which has been the advantage of the Ministry for Primary Industries."
He added he also has some concerns over Select Committee Inquiries (the coalition agreement has one into Biosecurity), as well as dismantling and rebuilding government departments has the potential to reduce productivity and slow down progress. One piece of legislation he does not want delayed is the Green Party's Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill 2016 which went through its first reading and was passed through to Select Committee prior to the election. The Select Committee is due to report back, which means it soon could be passed into law.
Another change Prime Minister Ardern made was to the Trade portfolio, which was expanded to include Export Growth, and HortNZ says retaining the current market access, while opening up new markets is critical to trade.
"We would want to see a continuation of free trade agreements, tariff reductions and the elimination of non-tariff barriers," Mr Chapman said. "Horticulture has a number of crops trying for access to the important Chinese market and we are certainly prepared to follow an “aspirational” path and work with the Government on export growth in our sector. (But) We have some concerns around restriction of foreign investment and the impact that might have on driving research and development and innovation."
Mr Chapman is pleased to see that the water tax appears to be off the table, but is mindful that improving fresh water quality is going to be a strong focus and it is likely that action in this area will begin within the first 100 days when there is impetus for the new Government to shape up on its election promises. While he says plans to increase the minimum wage over the next three years have all sorts of implications, including the consequence that all other wages will have to go up accordingly, creating a concern for small and medium sized businesses.
HortNZ has also been ramping up its ongoing calls for a national food security policy for the country, following mooted plans by Infrastructure New Zealand to grow a satellite city in Pukekohe housing 500,000 people. Mr Chapman last week took to several national television programmes, and other media platforms to advocate for the sector and wants the government to take action.
"We have indicated to the new (Agriculture) Minister Damien O’Connor that this is something we want to see progress under the new government," Mr Chapman said. "The basis of this policy is to ensure an ongoing supply of New Zealand grown fresh fruit and vegetables for New Zealanders to eat. With rapid urban development in many parts of New Zealand, we are concerned local interests will surpass the interests of a national food supply, with prime growing land being lost to housing and infrastructure. There needs to be a wider national interest view over the top of all the local government decision-making."
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