Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

  AFT Pharmaceuticals now licensed in 124 countries worldwide

  Asia drives new dairy industry

  Hawaiki picks McKay to build Northland cable landing station

  Government launches plan to close gender pay gap

  NZManufacturer July 2017 Edition released

  Earth is becoming 'Planet Plastic'

  UPDATE: Fletcher dumps Adamson in face of investor dissatisfaction; Binns stays mum

  Fletcher Building chief executive steps down

 Kitset plane no flight of fancy 

  Nine-hour turnaround at port for 266m container vessel

  Butter hits $US6000 per tonne

  NZTech expansion another sign of rampant tech sector growth

  Chocolate business booming for Whittaker's but not expanding to Dunedin

The substantial growth of the country’s umbrella tech organisation NZTech is indicative of the rapid expansion of the nation’s fastest growing industry, says its chief executive Graeme Muller. NZTech has its eighth annual meeting in Auckland today and NZTech now represents more than 400 organisations across the New Zealand technology landscape who collectively employ 100,000 people. “Our members are startups, local tech firms, multinationals, education providers, financial institutions, major corporations, network providers and high-tech manufacturers. Our goal is to stimulate an environment where technology provides important social and economic benefits for New Zealand,” Muller says. “There is significant growing awareness of the importance of technology for New Zealand’s future prosperity, not just as a sector, but its impact throughout our economy. “NZTech will continue to raise the profile of the tech sector as a place to work, a place to create and export ideas and as a critical pillar of the New Zealand economy. “Technology is critical for the future prosperity of New Zealand. The tech sector now employs six percent of the country’s workforce. It is the fastest growing segment of our economy generating eight percent of our GDP and nine percent of our exports. “However, it is the actual use of technology that will truly drive prosperity for New Zealand. Better use of the Internet could result in $34 billion in economic growth, better use of IoT could be worth more than $2.2 billion across nine use cases alone and smarter use of data could be worth $4.5 billion.” Board chair Mitchell Pham says NZTech’s rapid expansion can be seen in national alliances with the new AI Forum, FinTechNZ, IoT Alliance and NZTech startups communities. “Our existing regional connections such as with Canterbury continue to strengthen, while new ones being fostered and developed include the Bay of Plenty and Waikato,” Pham says. “The government continues to be actively involved with the tech sector as we work together to develop our international positioning as a leading digital nation,” he says.

Planning is already underway to expand NZTech's Techweek festival in 2018 to attract hundreds of international investors and tech talent to New Zealand's showcase tech and innovation event next May.

|  A MakeLemonade release  ||  July 20  2017   |||

Scientists are working hard to determine the how, why and when of earthquakes, but getting answers is a complex team effort, says a Victoria University of Wellington geophysicist.

image004.jpgIt’s 30 years since John Townend recalls first experiencing a big earthquake—the magnitude 6.5 Edgecumbe earthquake, which struck in March 1987 less than 100 kilometres from his high school in Rotorua.

The Professor of Geophysics and Head of Victoria’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences has been studying the physics of earthquakes ever since.

The last few years have seen Professor Townend called on many times for his expertise, most recently following the magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake in November 2016 when he provided expert commentary in the media explaining what had happened and what was likely to come.

As he will discuss in his upcoming inaugural professorial lecture, recent observations of large and small earthquakes in New Zealand and worldwide have hugely expanded geoscientific knowledge.

“The basic problem is that the big earthquakes we’re concerned about as a society and which we most want to understand occur infrequently, whereas the little ones don’t have much effect but occur often enough to test and refine our ideas,” says Professor Townend.

“To really understand how the earthquake machine operates, we need to combine measurements and theory spanning many orders of magnitude. Working out what is happening is a community effort—many different types of observation and scientific expertise are required.”

In his lecture, Professor Townend will discuss what faults look like at different scales, and what we do and don’t know about how earthquakes are generated and how they interact.

“Projects like the Deep Fault Drilling Project, which drilled nearly 900 metres into the South Island's Alpine Fault, are helping us understand the health of a major fault—the temperatures, pressures, and stresses it’s subjected to—before an expected large earthquake occurs,” he says.

The Alpine Fault produces earthquakes of around magnitude 8 approximately every 300 years and last ruptured in 1717 AD, says Professor Townend, so understanding what processes control the rupture and reloading of the fault is an urgent scientific and societal challenge.

eanwhile, data collected during and after the Kaikoura earthquake reveal to seismologists just how finely balanced some faults are.

“The Kaikoura earthquake triggered earthquakes and deep slow slip extending hundreds of kilometres along the Hikurangi subduction zone, below the east coast of the North Island. It’s important that we improve our understanding of what factors make different faults susceptible to slip and what factors control the sizes of the earthquakes that result,” says Professor Townend.

“In a country as geologically young and complex as Aotearoa, earthquakes provide a regular and sometimes devastating reminder that the Earth is in motion.” When: 6pm, Tuesday 25 JulyWhere: Lecture Theatre 303, Kirk Building, Kelburn Campus, Victoria University of WellingtonRSVP: Before Friday 21 July. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with ‘Townend’ in the subject line for the link to register or phone 04-463 7458. For more information contact Professor John Townend on 04-463 5411 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) today launched ePIF™, the first element under the AFGC Authorised Food Data System® initiative that is harnessing digital disruption to empower companies to better source and manage information on their products.

AFGC CEO Ms Tanya Barden said that ePIF™ provides a technological asset for industry to meet the increasing costs of operating in a highly regulated industry by enabling companies to track product information across its entire value chain.

“AFGC’s ePIF™ is a tool developed by the $126 billion food industry in Australia and New Zealand to obtain and share information needed to meet obligations under regulatory requirements and industry codes in regard to food ingredients and finished products in a consistent and standardised manner,” said Ms Barden. “ePIF™, which is version 6.0 of the PIF™, builds on a decade of industry knowledge. ePIF™ features updated content on issues like origin labelling and health star ratings and is being translated into a range of business-to-business software solutions.”

In delivering these solutions, the AFGC is partnering with established food industry software providers such as Hamilton Grant, Bizcaps Software and Oak Barrel Software. The AFGC also is engaged with GS1 Australia to align data standards to promote interoperability, ensuring the one set of data can be used for multiple solutions.

“This initiative has been developed to streamline the process of recording and reporting product information via the secure online portals, making it easier, faster and more flexible to use.”

“ePIF™, as the first part of the AFGC Approved Food Data System®, will be a valuable asset for industry at a time of increased demand by regulators for increased access to information regarding all aspects of the supply chain.”

“The AFGC has invested considerable resources to bring ePIF™ to life and we will continue to support its implementation and development as a resource to industry in Australia and abroad,” concluded Ms Barden.

 | An AFGC release  ||  July 19, 2017   |||

Firms in the finance sector, regulators, and other authorities all have a part to play in managing cyber security risks while still benefiting from the opportunities of new financial technology. “The dynamic cyber environment means organisations have to be nimble in their approach to cyber security - focused on outcomes, rather than prescriptive compliance exercises,” Reserve Bank Head of Prudential Supervision, Toby Fiennes, said in a speech delivered today to the Future of Financial Services conference, in Auckland. He said that cyber-attack poses a significant threat to the global financial system, as shown by the ‘WannaCry’ ransom-ware attack that affected more than 200,000 systems around the world and the more recent ‘Notpetya’ attack. “The nature and incidence of cyber risk is unique, meaning that typical approaches to risk management and disaster recovery planning may not be appropriate. While cyber vulnerabilities can be mitigated, the potential sources of cyber threats and the attack footprint are just too broad, so they can never be eliminated,” Mr Fiennes said. The Reserve Bank had thought about whether to introduce more prescriptive requirements but decided not to at this stage. “We doubt that prescriptive regulations would appreciably improve the outcome, when the technology and threat landscape are both changing so rapidly. We will, however, review this policy stance from time-to-time to ensure that it remains appropriate,” Mr Fiennes said. “The Reserve Bank is closely watching the emerging wave of ‘digital disruption’ affecting the financial sector as firms react to customer demand for a more online experience. In the short term, digital disruption may result in new risks and increased instability in the financial system but in the long term, digital disruption of the banking sector may improve the efficiency of the financial system. The long-term impact on financial system soundness is less clear. “We’re working with other agencies, such as the FMA and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, to ensure that New Zealand presents an environment where digital financial innovation can flourish, provided it is done safely. In our view, New Zealand’s financial market regulatory settings support innovation and industry-based solutions and we see no need to actively steer potential solutions from industry by providing a concessionary environment for new entrants. “As the prudential regulator, we’re looking at whether financial institutions appear to be taking cyber risks sufficiently seriously. We look to self-discipline and market discipline to provide the defences, agility and crisis preparedness that are required,” Mr Fiennes said. More information· Speech: The Reserve Bank, cyber security and the regulatory framework· Audio: listen to excerpts of the speech on Soundcloud

|  A RBNZ release  ||  July 19,  2017   |||

End of car manufacturing in AustraliaHilco Industrial Acquisitions BV (www.hilcoglobal.com) has announced that it will lead the ‘disposition process’ for a massive machinery and equipment asset sale that will effectively shut down automotive manufacturing in Australia.

The sale is the result of Toyota Australia closing all its manufacturing operations — the last remaining automotive production facilities in the country.

This “unprecedented auto equipment sale” will include all the key production shops and vendors that have been part of car manufacturing in Australia for over 60 years.

All the equipment will be offered for sale via private treaty from the factory floors; it includes aluminium casting furnaces, engine line machine tools, assembly lines, robotic automation, presses, extruders, plastic injection moulding machines, welding lines and plant services.

Certain key machinery and equipment items will be offered for sale via an on-line auction, including maintenance workshops and general equipment.

The auction will be conducted by Grays Online, a joint-venture partner of Hilco Industrial Acquisitions.

| A MachineryMarket release  || July 19,  2017  |||

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Murphy Development Company (MDC) has signed a lease with Mainfreight to occupy 24,050 square feet in its recently completed 121,970-square-foot speculative Building 18 at the 2.1 million-square-foot Siempre Viva Business Park (SVBP) in Otay Mesa. Lusardi Construction Company completed the building in late 2016. It was the first speculative building completed in Otay Mesa since 2006.

Mainfreight signs lease for 24,050 sq. ft. at Siempre Viva Business Park on Otay Mesa from Murphy Development.

The concrete tilt-up Building 18 is located at 2600 Melksee Street. The building features a 32-foot minimum clear height, 8,000 amps of 277/480 volt power, manufacturing sewer and water capacity, concrete truck courts, wide column spacing and high dock door ratios. Lusardi Construction Company will also be handling the tenant improvements for Mainfreight’s space, including a new office area, warehouse lights, and dock equipment.

Mainfreight is a logistics company based in New Zealand with over 240 locations globally. The company was represented by Garrett Fena with Voit Real Estate Services. Murphy represented itself in the lease transaction.

MDC will start construction on the final Class A industrial Building 17 at SVBP, a 79,050-square-foot spec building at 8500 Kerns Street this summer. Building 17 will also include state-of-the-art industrial features, making it ideal for manufacturing and distribution companies. Construction on the building will take approximately six months with completion of the building anticipated by the end of this year. Both buildings are divisible, offering suites as small as 24,000 square feet.

ABOUT MURPHY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

San Diego-based Murphy Development Company (MDC) has master planned and developed more than 10 million square feet of multi-phase corporate industrial and technology parks in San Diego. MDC acquires land and develops best-in-class corporate parks with the goal of leasing buildings or completing build-to-suits for sale or lease to Fortune 500 companies. Murphy Development is currently marketing 31 acres at the Scripps Ranch Technology Park and 60 acres of land in Otay Mesa within its Brown Field Technology Park, Siempre Viva Business Park, and The Campus at San Diego Business Park. Plans for these projects include more than 2 million square feet of corporate headquarters, office and industrial facilities. www.MurphyDev.com

| Businesswre release  ||  July 19,  2017   |||

In another airline inducement for customers to book directly online, Tigerair Australia has decided to let customers freeze their fares – holding a fare price for 48 hours – for a small fee.

The offer is valid only for customers who book online and applies only to routes nominated by Tigerair.

Some other airlines, notably Air New Zealand, offer similar services, although they charge more it than Tigerair will.

For AUD 3 per person per sector, Tigerair customers can put a freeze on an attractive airfare they are viewing. Tierair says this will give them extra time to confirm their travel plans with family and friends or free up funds without worrying about the price increasing.http://travelindustryexpo.com.au/?utm_source=Global%20Travel%20Media&utm_medium=Banners

Fare Freeze applies only to fares that are available more than 27 days from date of departure and have the ‘Fare Freeze’ symbol displayed at the bottom of the online booking page.

Customers will proceed through the booking process as per usual with a AUD 3 fee due at the end to confirm the fare freeze.

Once the customer is ready to purchase their fare, they must return to the Manage My Booking page within 48 hours to finalise their booking. If the customer chooses not to purchase their held flights within 48 hours, the booking will be automatically cancelled.

Tigerair Australia commercial director Andrew Maister says Fare Freeze provides more value and choice for consumers.

“Like many airlines worldwide, our fares are dynamic, and increase as demand increases, closer to the travel date. That’s why we recommend customers plan ahead and book early to secure the best value deals.

“We recognise there are often a number of factors involved when sitting down to book your next holiday and it’s not always as simple as being able to purchase the first airfare you see. Fare Freeze means you can now put a hold on that great value airfare you’ve just spotted for a period of 48 hours, while you lock in your travel plans with family or friends or juggle your finances without the worry of the price changing.”

The Fare Freeze fee of AUD 3 is non-refundable and not a deposit for the booking. It must be paid for using a valid MasterCard or Visa Credit Card, Mastercard, Visa Debit Card or POLi. Fare Freeze is not available on special sale fares.

|  A GlobalTravel Media release  ||  July 19,  2017   |||