A healthy start to the manufacturing year as the January BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) showed its highest level of expansion since October 2014!

More on the PMI below, along with some advice and guidance on navigating new law changes coming soon that could affect your business. These are the new Health and Safety at Work Act and new food safety law changes.

We've also rounded up the latest tools and upcoming events that could help you thrive in 2016. If you are selling to the US, new research from New Zealand Story could be very helpful in making your products more appealing in that market.

Catherine Beard
027 463 3212 or cbeard@businessnz.org.nz

The seasonally adjusted PMI for January was 57.9, which was 0.9 points up from December, and the highest level of expansion since October 2014.

The January result has started the new year off to a healthy start, with the key indicators of production (60.3) and new orders(59.8) showing strong growth. "Over two-thirds of manufacturers provided positive comments regarding their main influence on business activity, with increased sales both on a domestic and international basis. Other comments outlined the general positive sentiment occurring in the New Zealand economy." C Beard

More...

The new Health and Safety at Work Act comes into force on 4 April. But what does that mean for you and your business?

The first thing to understand is that the basics of good health and safety aren’t changing. If your business has good systems in place and follows through with good practice day-in, day-out then nothing much will need to change.

WorkSafe New Zealand will be producing a range of information and guidance material to help businesses and workers come to grips with the new law and regulations. Already there is plenty of information about the general provisions of the new Act on the WorkSafe website to help you get ready.

New Zealand Story is doing global image testing to gain a better understanding of our key offshore markets. They asked what consumers would like to see more of, what they’d like to see less of, what our businesses can do to impress them and which images increase their appetite for NZ goods and services.

The United States results are in. For summaries of Los Angeles, Houston and New York, plus a full pack that includes a broader overview of the US and industry insights, click here.

Reasearch findings from China will also be available over the next few months.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Maggie Christie at maggie.christie@nzstory.govt.nz

Auckland is hosting the 2016 NZ VEX Robotics National Championship on 27th and 28th February at the Vodafone Events Centre.

Teams from across NZ will be competing to represent our country at the VEX World Robotics Championships in Kentucky in April, hoping to add to New Zealand’s record of 7 straight world titles. The event is free and open to the public.

The National Championships is the culmination of the VEX Robotics high schools programme that is run in more than 100 schools in New Zealand. It showcases the application of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in schools, helping to inspire and develop the next generation of scientific and engineering talent. More...

The theme for the next MobileTECH is “Innovation through Connectivity / Productivity through Connectivity” and it's taking place in Rotorua on 30-31 March 2016.

This established (and revitalised) industry event will create a platform for change, bringing together our rural industry leaders, technology developers, engineers, researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators and early adopters. They will discuss, showcase and learn about new innovative tools & technologies that can improve efficiencies & productivity through connectivity, including:

• Rural Connectivity Automation UAVs / Aerial Drones Communications
• Big Data Productivity Apps Remote Sensing Electronic Tagging
• M2M Online Software Robotics Data Ownership
• Cloud Platforms Mobile Hardware Satellite Mapping Field Capture Tools.

For further details and the latest event programme click here.

• Ministers and senior officials attending from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Canada and Afghanistan, alongside senior NZ Ministers
• CEOs and senior executives from Shell Philippines, Rosseti Russia, Enersis Chile, Chevron Australia, Honda Japan, Fujitsu Australia, and over 50 other major corporates and institutions
• World Energy Council delegates from six countries
• Energy experts from Norway, US, UK, Japan, China, the Philippines and Australia
• Speakers/delegates from World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Sandia National Laboratories and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
• See full list of speakers – specialists from countries ranging from Norway to the USA, UK and Japan, with several other Asia-Pacific countries. More...

New food safety law (Food Act 2014) comes into effect on 1 March. It’s designed to strengthen food safety in NZ by moving from a one size fits all approach to one that regulates businesses according to risk. The new law applies to all new businesses from 1 March, but existing businesses will change over at different times over a three year transition period.

More information can be found here.

A good place to start for most people in the Where do I fit? tool, which takes businesses through a series of yes/no questions to find out how the new rules will apply to you.

Other resources on the site include:

• Food control plan templates
• Guidance for businesses who need to operate under a ‘national programme’, such as horticultural producers, manufacturers of lower risk products, and those who sell pre-packaged food
• Food safety guidance for businesses that are exempt from a plan or programme
• Step by step guides for how to follow the new rules
• A transition timetable
• Videos promoting food control plans in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Leanstep is a free online tool to help your business improve its productivity performance through the use of lean manufacturing techniques. It’s been developed specifically for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in New Zealand by ManufacturingNZ, in collaboration with business and lean organisations.

Using Leanstep will help you understand the productivity issues and opportunities in your business, and the practical steps you can take to improve productivity and eliminate waste. More...

The Materials Handling & Logistics Expo (MHL) - New Zealand’s premier trade event for the materials handling, warehousing and logistics industry - is taking place on 11th - 13th October 2016 at the ASB Showgrounds, Auckland.

This is an opportunity to showcase new & innovative products and techniques and provides a professional & comprehensive marketing platform bringing together industry buyers, suppliers and educators to share ideas and develop business relationships.

In 2016, MHL is to be co-located with Foodtech Packtech (FTPT) the nation’s leading event for the food packaging and technology industries. More...

Did you know we have a directory of contract manufacturers listed on our website? Its aim is to allow businesses to find contract manufacturers who may be able to assist them with a particular project.

If you are interested in being listed in our directory, or would like to browse it, click here.

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