Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
6 Nov - The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has approved Teletrac Navman as an Electronic System Provider (ESP) and appointed it as an agent for the collection of Road User Charges (RUC) using its new RUC Manager platform and Electronic Distance Recorder. Teletrac Navman RUC Manager along with the Electronic Distance Recorder will allow users to manage, purchase, display and update road user licences in real-time. RUC Manager automatically tracks vehicle distance and calculates off-road activity, enabling accurate, NZTA-approved RUC rebates.
“The work Teletrac Navman undertook to develop RUC Manager to meet specific New Zealand regulatory requirements and gain ESP approval is a mark of our commitment to our long-standing customers and to the transport industry as a whole,” says Ian Daniel, vice president and managing director Asia Pacific, Teletrac Navman.
In July 2017, Teletrac Navman reached the milestone of tracking 100,000 vehicles across Australia and New Zealand.
“Globally the transport market is highly competitive. Businesses must perform under pressure, so solutions which help them to better manage costs, improve service, address safety, capture and analyse data, and address compliance requirements are extremely important.”
To receive NZTA approval Electronic System Providers must go through a rigorous development and testing process to prove the quality and reliability of the system.
“Teletrac Navman has completed the NZTA testing process and meets the standards for recognition as an ESP. The standards are designed to ensure that the technologies and systems tested are robust, reliable, and make compliance easier across many industries including transport, agriculture, forestry, trade and civil services,” says John Freeman, manager revenue assessments, NZTA.
| A TeltracNavman release || November 6, 2017 |||
6 Nov _ Ingram Micro New Zealand and HP have teamed up in a deal which will see Kiwi resellers receiving an additional bonus for trade-ins when buying HP’s mobility offerings. The Ingram Micro HP buy back deal will see resellers – and their customers – receiving ‘some really awesome buy-back rates’ on old equipment when upgrading to HP, with the vendor sweetening the deal even more with an added ‘top-up’. The deal applies to HP’s Elite mobility range. A full list of eligible HP Elite devices can be found here.
Jamie Hall, Ingram Micro HP business development manager, says the buy back, which runs through to January, covers any PCs, regardless of the brand, along with accessories, and does not affect special pricing currently available to resellers.
Amit Jamnadas, Ingram Micro Life Cycle Services business solutions manager, says up to $1000 trade-in will be available, depending on the devices.
The HP bonus is added on top of the trade-in.
“When you take that trade-in value and add the bonus HP is going to put on top of that it is a great value towards purchasing new HP devices,” he says.
The HP top up will be sizeable, adding additional value to each buy back device linked to a new HP Elite sale.
Hall says the amount of money customers can receive from the trade-ins creates a compelling story.
“It’s helping them close sales,” Jamnadas adds.
“Customers never want to pay full price and they end up with a whole lot of old kit when they acquire new devices. A lot of that kit has real value, so rather than turning them into a spare machine for staff to take home or for kids to load computer games on, they can trade it in and put the value towards new device purchases.
“That’s where the value is.”
Hall says often customers will look at replacing a handful of devices, without considering that the rest of their fleet is aging and will require replacement soon.
“A buy-back option will see the existing value in the fleet they have and that if they do the buy-back now they will get more value out of the old kit and potentially be able to refresh more and get more value back.”
He says many businesses also have devices that while not old, are not appropriate for the business anymore – such as devices bought for cloud services, but now needing more grunt.
“If the devices don’t meet what they ultimately need, this is a perfect opportunity to get some amazing value back, and then move to a device that will give them the productivity they’re after,” Hall says.
To get the most out of a buy back process, Hall says resellers simply need to provide Ingram Micro with the model serial number, processor, hard drive and accessories details for the old equipment.
Accessories can bump up the value of the buy back because buyes like having the full package, he says.
The increased dollar value in turn makes the decision to switch or upgrade to new HP equipment easier for resellers’ customers, Jamnadas says.
Ingram Micro will be doing a secured three-pass data wipe on all devices returned, with certificates issued to confirm the process has been completed and help with insurance coverage.
The Blancco data wipe used by Ingram Micro is regarded as a gold standard of data wiping and is used by intelligence and government agencies around the world.
“It provides the peace of mind that none of the data will appear anywhere else,” Jamnadas says.
"Concerns about what will happen to data on devices that are traded in is a key issue for people considering buy-back schemes," Hall notes.
The HP buy-back promotion builds on Ingram Micro’s work in the buy-back arena over the past year.
“It’s an area of business we’ve seen ramp up over the past year,” Jamnadas says.
For more information on the buy-back offer, click here.
| A Channel release || November 6, 2017 |||
6 Nov - Mining giant Rio Tinto Group is adding two alumina refineries in Australia to the Pacific Aluminium portfolio in an effort at sweetening the deal for potential suitors, according to a trio of sources claiming familiarity with the matter.
According to an article run by Reuters earlier this week, Rio Tinto included the QAL and Yarwun refineries to Pacific Aluminium’s existing assets, which include Australian smelters at Bell Bay, Boyne Island, and Tomago, and New Zealand’s Tiwai Point smelter. Sources indicate that the addition of the two refineries could boost the overall value of the portfolio by another billion dollars to US$2 billion.
Neither Glencore plc., Liberty House Group, nor Rio Tinto would comment on the rumors, and U.C. Rusal was unavailable for comment. However, Glencore is known to have operations in the vicinity of the refineries in question. In addition, Liberty House purchased an aluminium smelter from Rio Tinto in Scotland last year and this year purchased Australian steel firm Arrium in a bid to increase its presence Down Under.
Experts see the addition of these assets as a signal to the wider metals market as well, as the previous CEO Sam Walsh was unable to sell the portfolio during his tenure.
“We view inclusion of the refineries into the mix as a stamp of the new leadership at Rio, increasing the chances of a sale,” opined a fund manager with interest in Rio Tinto.
In addition, analysts see no time better than the present for offering alumina assets up for sale, noting that prices are half-again higher than in August on predictions that capacity cuts in the People’s Republic of China will lead to significantly higher imports.
“If ever there was a time to have a supply source for alumina outside of China, it’s now,” said James Wilson of Argonaut to Reuters. “For Rio, it make sense. For a buyer, such as a Glencore or a Rusal, it makes sense.”
| An Aluminium Insider release || November 6, 2017 |||
6 Nov - A New Zealand insurance underwriting agency is providing an exclusive cover for manufacturers which are facing major challenges in relation to recall of contaminated food and beverage products. About 40 manufactured food products have been recalled so far this year, up from 25 for all of last year, Delta Insurance casualty manager Dinesh Murali says. Delta Insurance is a New Zealand based insurance provider and has an office in Singapore. They provide a range of specialty commercial insurance products. The New Zealand manufacturing sector is experiencing strong growth and is a standout on the international stage. Annual merchandise exports from New Zealand are almost $49 billion, according to Statistics NZ. Murali says manufacturing for the construction industry has grown by 9.5 percent while meat and dairy has jumped by 8.36 percent in the last year. “Our New Zealand climate and abundant natural resources make food manufacturing a good strategic choice. We have a particular strength in food manufacturing, but we have also seen growth across non-food manufacturing as well. “Across all manufacturing segments we regularly outsource manufacturing processes and source components from overseas suppliers and this supports an efficient global supply chain. More competition means increased innovation and creating products in new and more efficient ways. But this also poses new challenges and risks in relation to quality control. “Outside the food sector, we are also seeing a major trend where manufacturers are embedding technology into items such as equipment and machinery with these products becoming connected to the “internet of things. This gives rise to risks such as cyber security which was not previously a concern for these items. “Given the increased and evolving risks, Delta is providing manufacturing-risk cover for Kiwi companies which we believe is the most comprehensive coverage solution in New Zealand. “This cover under one umbrella targets both food and non-food manufacturers and insures a range of manufacturing-specific risks including coverage for product recall due to product defects and food contamination, cover for pollution arising from manufacturing process and crisis management cover. It can also be packaged with other coverages such as cyber liability. “If Kiwi manufacturers choose not to take this cover then they run the risk of potential losses being uninsured which would affect their balance sheet and could, in a worse-case scenario, result in the financial ruin of their business. “Beyond the direct financial impact, they could also suffer significant reputational damage if they do not have the resources and expertise to be able to manage some of these critical issues, such as product recall of contaminated products,” Murali says. For further information contact Delta Insurance’s casualty manager Dinesh Murali on 027 7007951 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.
A Delta Insurance release || November 6, 2017 |||
New Zealand’s 52nd Parliament will meet on Wednesday 8 November to hear the Speech from the Throne by Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“We promised we would be a government of action so I’m pleased to announce the opening of Parliament next week.
“The Speech from the Throne will set out our vision for a fairer, better New Zealand and the measures we intend to introduce over the next three years to achieve that.
“Our priorities are to take action to reduce child poverty and inequality, help Kiwis to live in affordable, warm, dry homes, restore funding to our health system so all can access it, expand jobs and opportunities in our regions, make post-secondary school education more affordable, clean up our rivers and play our part in tackling climate change.
“The opening of Parliament means we will be able to start making progress on many of the key elements of our 100 Day Plan and start delivering real change to improve the lives of New Zealanders.”
Background
The opening of Parliament consists of two ceremonies – the Commission Opening on Tuesday 7 November and the State Opening on Wednesday 8 November.
The Commission Opening will take place at 11.00am on Tuesday 7 November. The Chief Justice, acting as a Royal Commissioner, will open Parliament so that members can be sworn in and a Speaker elected.
The formal State Opening will be on the next day, Wednesday 8 November at 10.30am.
The Speech from the Throne takes place at the State Opening when the Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy sets out the Labour-led Government’s intentions for the next three years.
The public can watch both ceremonies in Parliament grounds or live on Parliament TV and RNZ.
| A Beehive release || October 30, 2017 |||
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, His Excellency, Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will make a State visit to New Zealand next week, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. President Steinmeier will visit from Sunday 5 November to Tuesday 7 November. He will be accompanied by his wife, Ms Elke Büdenbender.
“I am very much looking forward to meeting President Steinmeier as Germany is an important international partner for New Zealand. His visit will further underscore the warm and constructive relationship that exists between our two countries following the visit of Chancellor Merkel in 2014.”
The President’s visit will include engagements in Wellington and Auckland and a State Dinner at Government House in Wellington.
The visit reciprocates then-Prime Minister Bill English’s visit to Berlin in early 2017.
| A Beehive release || October 31, 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
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