Items filtered by date: December 2014

Ξ   Callaghan Innovation reviewed

Ξ   The NZ General Election date is set for:  September 23, 2017

Ξ   Sacked for falling asleep on the job, Auckland welder wins $11K compensation

Ξ   Lyttleton Port strike action for 11 an 12 February is allowed to proceedstrike action for 11 an 12 February is allowed to proceed

Ξ   Overseas Investment Office approves Chinese buyer Cuilam to buy Prime Range Meats for $13.5m

Ξ   NZ's jobless rate unexpectedly rises to 5.2% in 4th qtr; kiwi drops

Ξ  Toyota confirms date for end of Australian assembly

Ξ   Motorists are finding ways to get around petrol prices

Ξ   Head above water when it comes to boatbuilding

Ξ   Oceana sets 500,000oz gold target

On 1 February 2017, we merged with traffic and transportation engineering specialists, T2, creating a new business called HGT2.

This is the first merger in our 131-year history and is a significant milestone for both companies.

‘Much thought and effort has gone into our decision to merge with T2 and we’re excited about the new opportunities it will create and the additional specialist services we can offer clients,’ says our Managing Director, Glen Cornelius.

T2 employs people in Auckland and Wellington. Its services include transportation planning studies, transport assessments, economic analyses, detailed design, safety studies and assessment, policy development and transportation research.

HGT2 will continue to operate from T2’s Auckland CBD premises, with minimal change to personnel roles and responsibilities.

In January, Harrison Grierson and T2 were jointly appointed to the new Traffic and Transportation Engineering Professional Services panel for Auckland Transport.

A review of the government's flagship agency for commercialising innovation has found Callaghan Innovation has "weak" management, and is "struggling internally" to complete a strategy guiding how it offers services to companies with high-value, high-tech commercial ideas.

Three and a half years after its creation from the Crown Research Institute, IRL, Callaghan appears to be "caught mid-stream between two very different operating models", the Performance Improvement Framework (PIF) review by former public sector leader Paula Rebstock says. Compared to the needs of an organisation intended to bridge the gap between its mission as a "customer-driven, integrator" of commercialisation assistance to high value manufacturing and services (HVMS), its "earlier hierarchical leadership models managing the production and delivery of products and services are no longer suitable to deliver Callaghan Innovation's vision, mission and strategy."

"A number of external critical friends questioned whether Callaghan Innovation had grasped the implications of its customer-driven, integrator role for the way it leads and the people it recruits."

The PIF report was published in December, five months after the resignation of the agency's inaugural chief executive, Mary Quin, an expatriate New Zealander lured home after a high-flying career in high-tech product development, corporate management and experience with businesses creating opportunities for indigenous people in Alaska. A replacement CEO is still being sought.

Callaghan's Maori enterprise unit was singled out for praise, with the review finding innovative Maori businesses increasingly turning to the organisation.

However, it had still to complete a strategy identified in an internal review in 2015 to guide its change in focus.

"Callaghan Innovation will not be able to operate below the highest level of business planning until its strategy is complete," the review says. "The role of integrator in the innovation system is widely seen as critical to New Zealand's success. However, Callaghan Innovation is seen as only partially meeting its mission."

It was only able to assist firms in the "very early stage phase", leading the PIF review to question "whether its workforce has the required depth and breadth of experience and whether its current model sufficiently addresses its full potential client base across the likely trajectory path from start-up to IPO (public capital-raising)."

The report suggests at several points that greater integration with elements of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's operations would be worth considering.

However, the report also finds an organisation aware of the challenges it faces and likely to benefit from work it's undertaking with the Productivity Commission and the economic consultancy MOTU "on how to measure the impact of interventions such as grants on innovation and R&D".

Settling on its "intervention logic and impact measures" is a critical need.

"Having been formed from a partial start-up and a partial merger, it is not surprising that the formative period has been focused on institution-building. Looking forward ... its current performance challenge is to accelerate its pace of execution, delivering on its full mission and demonstrating impact" in New Zealand's "busy and complex" innovation eco-system, which firms habitually found "hard to navigate".

"External stakeholders and partners do not see Callaghan Innovation consistently, strongly and visibly leading the innovation eco-system."

BusinessDesk receives assistance from Callaghan Innovation to cover the commercialisation of innovation.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

The company’s new tools let businesses manage several teams together

After a long wait, Slack has announced the version of its popular work chat application that is designed for enterprises. On Tuesday in San Francisco, the company unveiled its new Enterprise Grid product, aimed at helping companies administer and connect multiple chat instances.

Grid allows business administrators to set up each team inside their organization with their own centrally managed Slack instance. Those workspaces can then be linked together using shared channels, and all of the people inside an enterprise can direct- message one another, even if they’re not part of the same workspace.

Those features help deal with one of the biggest issues enterprises have encountered with Slack. The chat application isn’t really designed to support an entire business with thousands of people all working inside the same instance. But the only other option prior to the launch of Grid was to use a series of isolated Slack teams and give users membership to each one they needed to take part in.

Now, it’s possible for companies to create an archipelago of connected teams, which should be more useful for larger organizations.

> > > Continue to full article on CIO

An Air New Zealand Boeing 737 cockpit nose has been installed outside Canterbury Museum next to the Botanic Gardens as part of the airline’s 75th anniversary exhibition.

Visitors will be able to sit behind the plane’s controls in the pilot and co-pilot seats, entering the flight deck in small groups from steps in the Botanic Gardens. The cockpit nose opens to the public from Friday 3 February, 10.00 am to 5.00 pm daily, weather permitting.

Air New Zealand General Manager Global Brand & Content Marketing Jodi Williams says the cockpit nose has proven to be a much photographed attraction at the Air New Zealand 75 Years: Our Nation. The World. Connected exhibition.

“We’ve had nearly 170,000 people take up our invitation to ‘pose with the nose’ while the cockpit was on display as part of the exhibition which debuted at Te Papa in the capital and featured at the Auckland War Memorial Museum before arriving at Canterbury Museum in September last year. More than 900,000 people have now visited the exhibition across the three cities.”

Canterbury Museum Director Anthony Wright says the Air New Zealand exhibition is proving very popular and has certainly been the major factor in attracting record visitor numbers each month since it opened in September.

“We’ve had excellent visitor numbers in January with large numbers of tourists, locals and visitors from throughout the South Island coming to see the exhibition. The Boeing 737 cockpit nose will be a great addition to the exhibition experience.”

The cockpit nose was transported by truck from the Aviation Training Institute near Christchurch International Airport to the museum in the city centre in the early hours of Monday morning.

Air New Zealand 75 Years: Our Nation. The World. Connected runs until Sunday 26 March 2017. The cockpit nose will be open to the public throughout.

Ξ   Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has started building a new manufacturing plant in Mexico

Ξ   Hellers acquires specialty food company Flavour House

Ξ   Why Are All the Billionaires Moving to New Zealand?

Ξ   Six years of concrete fraud - four accused

Ξ   While you were sleeping: Trump depresses stocks

Ξ   How many construction workers will there be?

Ξ   US wine market looks promising for NZ

Ξ   Widening petrol price margins hurting motorists - AA

Ξ   New Zealand hires former Trump campaign director to lobby for business visas

The Automobile Association is calling for fuel companies to explain to motorists why the national price of fuel rose 5 cents per litre during January, despite no increase in commodity prices or a drop in the exchange rate.

“Normally retail prices rise following an increase in the cost of importing fuel, but that wasn’t the case in January,” says AA PetrolWatch spokesperson Mark Stockdale.

“While commodity prices did rise in December, they have since fallen slightly while the New Zealand dollar has strengthened by over three cents. If anything, the retail price should have fallen, not risen by five cents. This is most unusual, and motorists deserve an explanation,” Mr Stockdale said.

Mr Stockdale said some service stations had been substantially discounting fuel, selling it for under $1.70 a litre. “At those prices, the service stations are selling it at or below cost. The AA suspects the rise in the national price – excluding any discount – is to help cover the cost of selling fuel at substantially lower prices elsewhere, and we’d like the fuel companies to confirm that.”

“The last time fuel company margins came close to the current level, the Government put the fuel companies on notice and asked them to justify the high margins.

“The AA believes the current high margins, and the unexpected January price rises, warrant further investigation as our Members are very confused by the large range in pricing,” Mr Stockdale said.

|  An AA release  |  January 31, 2017  ||

Emirates has today made over 35 destinations in Europe, including its newest gateway, Zagreb in Croatia, even more attractive with the introduction of its latest Early Bird sale fares from New Zealand.

Early Bird Economy Class return fares to Europe are on sale from $1,549, and Business Class return fares start from $7,199 – including all taxes. The fare sale runs until March 6, for travel from February 6 to November 30, 2017. Terms and conditions apply.

Emirates is also providing the extra incentive of additional reward Miles under its Skywards frequent flyer programme, which is free to join. In taking advantage of the latest special fares, New Zealand travellers can register with Skywards and earn an additional 10,000 reward Miles in Economy Class and 15,000 Miles in Business Class. Customers simply register and book by March 31 for travel until June 15 2017 to receive the additional Miles.

Emirates offers four daily A380 services from Auckland as well as a daily Christchurch A380 service with direct connections in Dubai, to its attractive network of destinations across Europe and the United Kingdom.

“While many travellers still want to land in Europe at one of the major gateways, Emirates also offers the opportunity to fly to destinations with direct connections to river and sea cruises and land-touring start points outside of the main capitals, as well as taking advantage of rail-passes available through Emirates” said Emirates’ New Zealand regional manager, Chris Lethbridge. “The latest Early Bird fares provide the opportunity to reach any of these destination choices at very attractive fares.”Passengers travelling on Emirates’ 491-seat, double-decker A380 aircraft from New Zealand will enjoy spacious cabins and experience a peaceful journey in the world’s quietest long-range jet. They can use the onboard Wi-Fi; indulge in food prepared by international chefs, and be entertained by Emirates’ award-winning ice system which offers over 2,600 channels of inflight entertainment across all cabins.

Emirates is the largest operator of the Airbus A380 with 92 now in its fleet, and has carried over 65 million passengers on its flagship aircraft since 2008.So far, Emirates has introduced A380 services to 45 destinations across its network, with Johannesburg to be added in February; and Casablanca, Narita and Sao Paulo to be added in March.

Bookings can be made through www.emirates.com\nz or freephone 0508 EMIRATES (0508 364 728), or through travel agents.

| An Emirates release  |  January 31, 2017  ||

Kodak is bringing back traditional film due to overwhelming consumer demand.  The photography company said that it plans to start selling its Ektachrome film before the end of the year, with others to follow.

Ektachrome was phased out in 2012 but among professional filmmakers there has been a 'resurgence' in sales, Kodak said.

More stories > > >

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4163944/Kodak-says-s-bringing-Ektachrome-film.html

http://www.telegiz.com/articles/14491/20170130/kodak-ektachrome-film-35mm-format.htm

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=11790937

Unprecedented infrastructure investment projections across New Zealand, Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region have prompted Tonkin + Taylor to launch a massive UK-based talent drive.

The boom years ahead are being driven by both the public and private sectors, with the New Zealand Government alone earmarking $NZ50 billion for large-scale infrastructure projects over the next 10 years. In a similar vein, the New South Wales Government has announced a $AUS20 billion plan to “turbocharge” the NSW economy.

T+T intends to stay ahead of the game and our new recruitment-focused website is already up and running at www.tonkintaylor.co.nz/careers/working-in-new-zealand

Next month our executives and recruiters head for London and the Down Under Live Job Expo, which will take place on February 25-26. Their mission is to attract star-quality engineering and science professionals to join our already exceptionally talented and internationally diverse team.

We’re inviting UK professionals thinking of a seachange to Explore + Solve + Create; to explore new horizons in New Zealand and Australia, solve exciting new infrastructure challenges and create an enviable work/life balance.

Our award-winning engineers, scientists, planners and project managers are the most critical component in ensuring our ability to continue delivering the high quality work T+T is known for. It’s vital that we attract the best of the best.

Richard Hancy, T+T’s Executive Leader of Engineering Services says that a strong economy, combined with a very positive economic outlook, has developed the perfect investment storm with both the public and private sectors investing heavily for the future.

“As a result, planning and construction related activity in transportation, commercial buildings, water infrastructure, housing and many other sectors is getting busier and busier.

“As a specialist engineering and environmental consulting firm, Tonkin + Taylor is already deeply embedded in these investment programmes, and expects that involvement to increase looking forward.”

The move aligns Tonkin + Taylor with the New Zealand Government’s long-term goal of providing resilient and coordinated infrastructure that contributes to a strong economy and high living standards. Its projected $NZ50 billion spend over the next decade includes a $NZ13.9 billion land transport programme to be commissioned by 2018, a $1.8 billion investment in local infrastructure and a further $NZ2.2 billion tagged for Crown assets associated with the Christchurch rebuild.

Further challenges and opportunities will arise as networks need expanding or renewing and cities come to grips with an ageing, increasingly urbanised population and the need for changing technologies.

To meet the increasing level of demand requires an increase in T+T’s capacity and capabilities.

Richard Hancy explains: “Now is the time for us to look beyond our traditional local markets and seek to enrich our team drawing upon the global market.

“T+T has had many successful recruits join from the UK over the years, and as a result has some great connections within the UK engineering and environmental markets. We have decided to take advantage of this, and proactively engage with the UK market to hopefully attract some new stars into our business.”

Sourcing overseas talent will not only help to address a critical shortage of engineers and scientists within New Zealand and Australia but also allow T+T to maintain a critical international perspective in a rapidly changing world.

|  A Tonkin+ Taylor news item  |  January 26, 2017  ||