Items filtered by date: December 2014

Food sector magazine, Foodprocessing out of Australia report that post-harvest fresh and processed handling solutions company Wyma Solutions has announced a formal strategic partnership with North American supplier of fresh produce packaging and equipment automation solutions Volm Companies.

The partnership will allow the companies to work in a closely integrated manner resulting in turnkey solutions that leverage the global experience of both organisations. Both companies will be adding significant sales, engineering, technical service and manufacturing resources and select Wyma products will be manufactured for the North American market.

Continue to the full article here  . . .  ||  June 1, 2017   |||

Read the latest edition of the Machinery Market here

  Buyer for Jaffas, Pineapple Lumps, Buzz Bars and Pinky Bars?

  Trans-Tasman travel keeps trade with Australia flying high

  Auckland Airport launches its South Auckland jobs and skills hub

  Food giants not buying argument for origin labels

  Trump to world: Let's make a deal

  Auckland council passes hotel bed tax

  Tony Alexander's Weekly Review

Entries are now open for New Zealand’s longest-running and pre-eminent sustainability awards.

The Awards are now in their 15th year. They recognise businesses, local government, social enterprises and individuals for success in sustainability.

Entry to the awards is free. It is open to all organisations and individuals in New Zealand.

Rachel Brown is CEO of the Sustainable Business Network.

She says, “Given the rather grim global climate, sharing stories of positive action addressing social and environmental issues is more important than ever. Entering these Awards is a quick and easy way to celebrate your achievements.”

This year the Awards have all new categories. They provide the chance to compete in key areas of sustainable business in New Zealand.

The supreme award is the NZI Greatest Contribution to a Sustainable New Zealand. This will be awarded to a business for outstanding performance in all aspects of sustainability. Air New Zealand was last year’s Supreme Winner. The 2015 Supreme Winner was Taupō Beef.

Travis Atkinson is Executive General Manager of NZI, the Principal Sponsor of the Awards.

He says, “We’ve been proud supporters of the Sustainable Business Network and national awards for the last 10 years. As an organisation that provides business insurance for a growing New Zealand, being sustainable is really important to us - it’s fundamental to the way we do business. We’re strong believers in the SBN’s mission to inspire change. We look forward to meeting the new sustainability leaders of 2017.”

Entries close on 4th August 2017.

To find out more or to enter the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards go to sustainable.org.nz/awards.

| A Sustainable Business Network Award release  |  June 01,  2017   |||

Auckland Airport has today announced the details of four new transport projects as part of its longer term plan to improve travel around the airport over the next three years.

Adrian Littlewood, Auckland Airport’s chief executive, says, “We have a 30-year plan for developing Auckland Airport and as part of the plan, ensuring that passengers, staff and crew can easily access all parts of the airport precinct remains a priority. These new transport projects are an important investment in our infrastructure that will help to improve the way public transport users, motorists, pedestrians and cyclists move around our airport precinct.”

Auckland Airport’s new transport projects include:· upgrading Nixon Road by October 2017 to provide a new route to Auckland Airport’s Park&Ride on Verissimo Drive without the need for drivers to use the main intersection that connects the domestic and international terminals at Tom Pearce Drive and George Bolt Memorial Drive;· improving traffic flows and improving public transport access to the domestic terminal by Christmas 2017 through the provision of more space for buses on the terminal forecourt and a new and separate access road for taxis and buses;· construction of an iconic new gateway bridge over George Bolt Memorial Drive by the end of 2018 for pedestrians and cyclists to connect “the Quad” hotel and commercial precinct with the airport terminals and take cars off the main road network; and· implementing a transit lane system across the airport precinct between December 2017 and 2020 for buses and high occupancy vehicles.

“These new projects will help improve traffic flows and travel times around the airport, and help our transport network accommodate the increasing number of buses that will travel to and from the airport in the future.”

“Our new gateway bridge will be a spectacular sight as you enter and leave Auckland Airport to the north towards the city. Designed by architects Warren and Mahoney, the suspension bridge features a 40 metre high concrete mast that is inspired by the form of a huia feather with a white light tipped column and Māori motifs. It will be an urban beacon and precinct marker that will be visible across the airport, both during the day and at night. The bridge will also significantly improve the walking and cycling experience between our commercial precinct and the terminals.”

“This new investment in our precinct’s transport infrastructure also supports the ongoing and collaborative efforts of the New Zealand Transport Agency, Auckland Transport and Auckland Airport to improve travel times to and from the airport.”

“It also builds on other improvements we have made to our precinct’s transport infrastructure in the past year.”

In the first half of the 2017 financial year Auckland Airport fast-tracked a number of planned roading and transport upgrades on its transport network:· upgrading the Puhinui Road roundabout to help improve the eastern access to the airport from State Highway 20B/Puhinui Road;· adding 1,400 more car parks to our Park&Ride facility, mostly for use by staff working at the international terminal to remove staff traffic from the inner airport roads;· upgrading the traffic light phasing and lane configurations at the airport’s George Bolt Memorial Drive and Tom Pearce Drive intersection to improve traffic flows;· updating the lane configurations at the airport’s George Bolt Memorial Drive and Laurence Stevens Drive roundabout to improve traffic flows; and· developing new traffic management plans for use when the airport roading network is particularly busy.

“Auckland Airport is planning a number of additional infrastructure projects to upgrade our transport network and further improve journeys around the airport precinct. These will be announced in due course,” says Mr Littlewood.

| A n Auckland Airport release  ||  June 01, 2017   |||

The launch next week of the New Zealand Artificial Intelligence (AI) Forum is a strong sign Kiwi tech companies are keen to not just get onboard the burgeoning AI industry, they want to lead from the front, Forum chair Stu Christie says.

Dozens of New Zealand’s leading tech companies are joining the forum which has been initiated by NZTech. The launch in Wellington on June 7 will be attended by politicians, government agencies, big tech companies and major national tech groups.

Christie says the landmark tech manifesto presented to parliamentarian last week confirms just how intent NZTech, InternetNZ, IT Professionals and many other umbrella tech groups are determined to position New Zealand as the leading AI country in the southern hemisphere.

“This launch of this forum and its ongoing work, with support from government and key organisations, is pivotal to New Zealand tech really taking off. We appeal to all businesses and organisations to actively touch base with us so that collectively we can address this one-off opportunity.

“We are seeing so much AI appearing and changing our lives, we are committed to this coordinated approach. We’ll see big changes in our every day activities this year and the next few years that many people cannot comprehend.

“We’ll see traffic lights fitted with artificial intelligence which could spell the end of rush hour queues in our cities.

“The link between fashion retail and technology is growing with the rampant rise of online shopping and the use of AI technology, which is transforming the way people shop.

“In Britain, national health service (NHS) patients will be assessed by robots under a controversial 111 scheme to use artificial intelligence to ease pressures on accident and emergency units.

“More than one million people will be given access to a free app which means they can consult with a chatbot instead of a real person.

“Hospitals across Britain are struggling to cope with unprecedented demand, which has left thousands of casualty patients waiting on trolleys.

“The Bank of England has paired up with artificial intelligence and blockchain specialists in a bid to keep up to date with the fast-growing financial technology sector.

“In New Zealand we have companies like Soul Machine, Xero, Talania, TouchtecRe: High pressure spray unithlabs, Orion Health and Air New Zealand leading the way.

“The speedy birth of AI in New Zealand is happening right across the country. To see artificial intelligence unfold in Canterbury, for example, they have a meet up site to discuss developments. It’s great.

“Activity and capability in New Zealand is really gathering momentum on all fronts as the country begins to apply AI and machine learning to technology exports.”

He says the future impacts on the economy and society will be significant, dramatic and disruptive.

|  A MakeLemonade release   || June 1, 2017   |||

Resene has recycled over three million paint containers and found innovative uses for leftover paint, with its PaintWise scheme, Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson announced today at Resene’s factory in Lower Hutt.

“Often consumers buy more paint than they need for a project and the leftover paint is stored in sheds and cupboards, or is taken to the local landfill for disposal. Resene PaintWise provides New Zealanders with an environmentally responsible way of disposing of their waste paint,” Mr Simpson says.

Resene PaintWise accepts all brands of paint and paint containers and finds alternative uses for them. These include recycling paint in concrete manufacture, recycling paint containers, donating good quality paint to community group projects and using waste paint to cover graffiti. Over 250,000 litres has been donated to communities to cover graffiti which equals over two million square metres of graffiti to be covered with the help of the scheme so far.

“It’s great to see New Zealand business taking up the challenge of reducing their products’ environmental impacts. Resene PaintWise was the first whole-life-cycle paint recycling programme in the world.”

“Resene is an excellent example of an organisation taking responsibility for waste in its industry. I encourage other organisations and industries to get accredited so they too can receive the economic and environmental benefits of product stewardship.”

“Under the Waste Minimisation Act, I can accredit product stewardship schemes that meet the criteria for reducing waste and environmental harm. A product stewardship scheme will only be accredited after it has been thoroughly assessed to ensure accreditation criteria have been met. In turn, accredited schemes have to report annually me on their objectives and targets.”

For more information about product stewardship see http://www.mfe.govt.nz/waste/product-stewardship

For more information about Resene PaintWise and where to recycle paint and paint containers see http://www.resene.co.nz/paintwise.php

After a massive explosion of algae growth in China’s Lake Taihu a decade ago left more than two million people in the area temporarily without safe drinking water, the government started spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to try to solve the algae problem. One part of the solution: working with a company that harvests algae from the lake before it grows out of control, and turns it into a flexible, rubbery material that is now being made into shoes.

Vivobarefoot’s water-resistant Ultra III shoes are usually made from a petroleum-based version of the same material, ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA). But a version that will launch in July is made from a blend of algae and EVA, instead. To get enough algae to make one pair means cleaning 57 gallons of water, which are then returned to the lake.

Continue to the full article by Adele Peters in Fast Company |  May 30,  2017   |||

In his most recent book, Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis? Steve Keen leaves readers in little doubt he believes we're heading that way unless we adopt a fundamentally different approach to private debt.  Australian Steve Keen was one of only a handful of economists to predict the Global Financial Crisis.

He says it’s all about debt – specifically private debt.

“We’re focussing on the wrong topic. We’re so focussed on government debt, what actually caused the crisis was run away private debt.”

And he says there are a number of ‘debt zombies’ in the world economy - New Zealand among them.

He calls New Zealand ‘Schrodinger’s Zombie’.

The walking dead have already had a financial crisis, he says, and have been experiencing weak growth, while 'zombie-to-be' countries avoided the 2008/2009 crisis by borrowing their way through it.

Now they have a bigger debt burden to deal with when the next crisis hits, he says.

“New Zealand sits in both camps. It had 190 percent of debt to GDP back in 2009, it bottomed out at about 170 percent then went back up to 180 percent of GDP. Most of that’s in the household sector so that’s driven the housing bubble in New Zealand, which of course the authorities normally deny, but it’s clearly there although in my opinion starting to turn right now.

“So you guys have had two bites of the zombie cherry.”

He says there is no doubt the bubble will burst.

“The bubble will burst in the next one to two years - there’s been a real acceleration in house prices since 2012, they’ve increased by about 60 percent. But what I’m seeing now is the motivating force for rising house prices is rising mortgage credit. The wind in that bubble is starting to run out.”

Read More >>Steve Keen: The coming crash (from Radio New Zealand's Sunday Morning programm