The Government is keen to get better visibility of what manufacturing capability we have in New Zealand to produce personal protection equipment (PPE). This could be face masks (hospital grade or for people on the street) ventilator equipment, gowns, hand sanitisers or anything else that could be useful.
In these challenging times, we are aiming to send you information that is most useful, and important things you need to know.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson today outlined a $12.1 billion package to support New Zealanders and their jobs from the global impact of COVID-19.
As this newsletter arrives with you, top of mind is the COVID19 virus and what kind of impact it is having on global supply chains, particularly out of China. If you are being seriously impacted please let us know, as the Government is keen to hear how businesses are faring (we want the good and the bad news).
It is great to see the Performance Manufacturing Index back in expansion for the first time after a lacklustre three months of decline and the forward orders look quite strong which bodes well for continued expansion next month. Positive comments were more dominant (57%) than negative comments, which was also good.
It is concerning that the PMI has gone into contraction for the first time in 7 years. This monthly manufacturing survey indicates that manufacturers are finding demand slowing down, both from NZ customers and from export markets as well. Innovation and productivity improvements are a couple of ways to cope with tough times. See my report below on what industry 4.0 means for manufacturers and check out the IRD calculator below to see if you are eligible for R&D tax credits.
Greetings manufacturers, winter is here and the PMI suggests the sector is still in modest expansion. Callaghan Innovation got some additional funding from the lastest budget and it looks like some of it will go towards helping manufacturers embrace the much touted industry 4.0 and the “internet of things”. You can check it out here.
Along with the rest of New Zealand, our office observed the 2-minute silence last Friday to honour the victims of the terror attack in the Christchurch Mosque on the 15th of March. We want to send our love and support to all the NZ Muslim communities across New Zealand. Kia Kaha.
In this newsletter, we bring you some great events to help you in your business. If you are a supplier to government or local government ($41 billion annual spend) don’t miss our procurement seminar, where some of the biggest spending agencies will tell you what they are looking for in suppliers and how being a local business is going to count much more in tenders. New procurement rules are out for consultation as well, so any feedback on that – please let me know for our submission.
December’s Performance Manufacturing Index (PMI) showed that manufacturing ended the year in decent expansion territory, and new orders were strong, which bodes well for the start of 2019. In this edition, we highlight a lot of good conferences coming up and there should be something for everyone, depending on your business. If we want ‘talent led’ innovation we need to keep abreast of the latest knowledge. Also, it would be great to see all the women in manufacturing congregating at the leadership summit
As we get to the end of 2018, we reflect on some mega-trends in manufacturing, such as the adoption of technology globally and who is winning the race, and we get some good insights into the R&D investment going on in China.
Great to see a small but significant change for the better in the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index. As BNZ Senior Economist, Doug Steel noted, “the improvement in the PMI is not large, but we see it as important to the broader economic narrative”.