Feb 15, 2018  -  The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has officially opened the new Ernest Rutherford building at the University of Canterbury (UC).

Feb 15, 2018  -Boat handling technology from Vestdavit is playing a central role in The Royal New Zealand Navy’s drive to operate Realistic Working Environments (RWE) at its new Devonport Naval Base training facility, Auckland, which is set to open in March. 

Feb 14, 2018  -  When is a skip-loader of no use? The answer? When you need a hooklift truck instead. Now skiptruck and hookloader manufacturer Harsh has an answer – a demountable skiploader!


The demountable skiploader unit developed by Harsh based on the requirements of specific customer demand, is designed to fit onto a chassis fitted with a conventional hook- lift system (Ro-Ro/hookloader), which in effect doubles its capability, enabling one single truck to load and transport containers from these two popular, but otherwise incompatible systems.

“We can run a single vehicle as a standard hookloader for one journey, then quickly change it to a skiploader for the next job,” explains Freddy McAlister, fleet engineer at Malcolm Construction, the operator of this interesting new innovation.

“In the past, we’ve had
to operate both types of truck
– sometimes on the same con- tract. Now we only need one to handle both types of container. It’s given us a real productivity boost and increased our fleet flexibility,” he adds.


Designed to work at 26 tonnes gross weight, the new
Harsh ‘HS14T Demountable Skiploader’ provides a 14 tonnes lift capacity (or 10 tonnes at 4250 mm maximum reach with telescopic arms extended) and is able to handle skips of all sizes up to 10 tonnes capacity.

Harsh director Adam Hargreaves is also upbeat about the wider sales potential for this new addi- tion to the Harsh product range.

“This is a great example not
just of joint teamwork between customer and supplier, but is also a demonstration of how we at Harsh are able to design and develop imaginative solutions to meet our customers’ require- ments,” he comments.

Source:  WasteManagementWorld ||  February 14, 2018   |||

Feb 13, 2018  -  The Napier City Council Business Breakfast Series events take place quarterly. They encourage businesses large and small to attend and to learn from the range of inspiring business leaders who speak and lead discussion on a variety of topics.

Feb 12, 2018  -  Forestry and wood processing company, Juken New Zealand has today confirmed it is going ahead with changes to the products made at its East Coast Mill in Gisborne to return the plant to profitability and secure its long-term future.

The company told staff on January 23 that it was considering stopping production of Plywood and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) products and reducing the manufacture of Structural Laminated Veneer Lumber (SLVL) at its East Coast Mill because those parts of the business had been operating at significant losses for a number of years. The Mill will continue to make high-value solid wood products used for high-end residential and commercial interior cabinetry, furniture, solid doors and feature walls and, overtime, this side of the business will expand.

Juken General Manager, Dave Hilliard said that the final number of roles to go at the Mill as a result of the changes wouldn’t be known for another two weeks. “Now that we have made the decision to go ahead with these changes, we will be working through a process to confirm exactly which roles and how many will go as result,” said Hilliard.

“This is a tough time for our people and their families. We’re a major wood-processing and forestry employer in Gisborne so a decision like this that cuts local jobs is difficult. But for local companies like us, it’s even more critical for the future of our communities that we consolidate into a sustainable business. We can only do this by making high-value products where we have a competitive advantage, so that we can keep growing job opportunities here into the future.”

“There are around 100 roles impacted by the changes, but we anticipate that the final number of redundancies will be less than this, as a number of staff have applied to take voluntary severance and we also have some roles in our sawmilling side of the business that we’ll look to redeploy people into.”

“All staff have redundancy pay provisions in their contracts. Part of the extra assistance we’ll be putting in place is to give a minimum of six weeks pay and four weeks notice for those who have been here for less than a year.”

The company has spent the past two weeks consulting staff and Unions about the changes, which follow a decline in demand from Japan, the mills’ main Plywood market. The company’s Plywood is also increasingly unable to compete in the domestic and international markets against product out of large-scale wood processing plants from the likes of China and South America.

Dave Hilliard said the consultation sought alternative proposals to mothballing the Plywood production line and reducing the production of SLVL (veneer) products.

“We’ve carefully considered the feedback received, including a suggestion to start producing plywood for ‘affordable housing’ in New Zealand. However, given the age of the machinery and the investment required to upgrade it to produce different plywood products these proposals don’t give us a viable solution to the issues we’re facing. The proposal asked for the decision to be delayed. However, we can’t continue sustaining these losses. Delaying the decision does not change the fact that the machinery cannot economically make product suitable for the low-cost housing market.”

“We have started work onsite with staff, unions, WINZ, Ministry for Social Development, local MPs, iwi, community and business representatives to support our people through this difficult process and to make sure they are supported into new jobs or re-training if their roles go. We are also working with a number of local employers, including Far East Sawmills who have come forward to offer our people new jobs.”

We’d like to thank them all for their hard work and support. We are also engaging with the Government on how we are investing to get the most value for the local industry out of our forestry resource through the manufacture of high-value products and how we are adapting to keep local processing and manufacturing competitive in the international market place.

The Juken mill at Matawhero opened in 1994 and employs around 200 full time employees. The mill processes Radiata Pine from the company’s East Coast forests to produce a range of solid wood and engineered wood products like Plywood, LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) and SLVL (Structural Laminated Veneer lumber), mainly for the Japanese housing market.

| A Juken release  || February 12, 2018   |||

Feb 09, 2018  -    Entries are now open to the Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards 2018 - Auckland and Waikato.  Export business operations based in Northland, Auckland and/or the Waikato regions are eligible to enter.

Feb 09, 2018 - Build the foundations strong is Andy Bryenton's headline for his article in The Record.  He writes, Roads, races, driveways, feed pads — all areas on the farm where erosion from the elements takes a constant and costly toll. Wouldn’t it be nice to build a simple, strong foundation beneath these areas to stop runoff and prevent washboarding, cracking and slippage?

As autumn approaches and it comes time to consider the maintenance of all those exposed transit areas on the farm, along comes an innovation that could be a godsend for those who are sick of watching their hard work literally go down the drain culvert with each round of winter storms. Diamond Grid is the leading surface stabilisation grid system in Australasia, coming from worldwide tests in the agricultural, landscaping and mining industries. It is extremely rugged — think over one thousand tonnes per square metre when filled with gravel, sand or chip. Due to its unique grid structure, it’s permeable, preventing the runoff effect, which strips the surface of conventional roads, pads and races.

y eliminating erosion, rutting and puddling, ongoing maintenance costs are significantly reduced. That massive load rating — made for heavy vehicles — means that even a herd of cattle can’t make a dent in the interlocking grids — think of matted pieces that slide and lock like a building set. This form of construction increases the structural strength even more.

Diamond Grid has recently been introduced into New Zealand and by the end of 2017 a manufacturing plant is [sic] up and running in Christchurch — using recycled plastics from the auto industry. It’s a win-win for the environment and the farmer. Larger grids (1,000 x 1,000mm) are not available in New Zealand at this stage. These are mainly used on the big mining roads in South America. Rural-sized 900mm x 560mm grids cost a snap at just $15 each, and each one weighs just 3 kilos — easy to manhandle into place. They can even be trimmed with a simple skill saw for custom work. Then just fill with one of many kinds of filler and your surface is rocksteady and ready.

Diamond Grid has been used for pathways, driveways, shed floors, mountain bike paths, golf courses, car parks, drains, boat ramps, carports, horse stables, racecourse stables, horse walkers, cattle yards, feed and water trough pads, cattle walkways, creek crossings, day yards, workshop floors, truck depots, fuel station hard stands, excavator yards, mine access roads, haul roads, fire trails, air strips — the list goes on.

Now it’s ready to weather the test of time on local farms. If you’re ready to invest a little now to save huge headaches in years to come, start at the ground level and get on board with this handy innovation.

| A The Record release    || February 08, 2018   |||

Feb 08, 2018  -  Auckland Airport today announced that it will build a new 65,000m2 distribution centre and a support centre for Foodstuffs North Island Ltd. The facility will be developed within Stage 4 of The Landing Business Park and will be constructed over a three year period, with completion scheduled to occur in late-2020. The development will comprise a world-class distribution centre plus a 5-star green-rated support centre, situated in landscaped and park-like surroundings.

Feb 08, 2018  -  Freshmax are already harvesting the first of their premium kiwiberries today – this is significantly earlier than in previous seasons and they are feeling positive about an outstanding season ahead.  The New Zealand summer has been kind to growers and they are delighted to welcome an early harvest with confidence around taste and appearance of the Hortgem Tahi variety.

Feb 07, 2018  -  Late  last year Rolls-Royce launched R2 Data Labs, to act as an acceleration hub for data innovation New Zealand being one of the locations. The new organisation, which brings together expertise from across the business, builds on 30 years of data-led services and business model innovation.  Using advanced data analytics, industrial Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques, R2 Data Labs develops data applications that unlock design, manufacturing and operational efficiencies within Rolls-Royce, and creates new service propositions for customers.