New Zealand’s manufacturing sector experienced almost identical levels of expansion as August, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) for October.
 
The seasonally adjusted PMI for October was 55.2 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).  This was 2.3 points lower from September, and the third time in four months activity has been in the 55 point range.  The sector remains solidly in expansion in almost all months since October 2012.

BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that results over most of 2016 have been in a fairly consistent zone of expansion.
 
“The headline result for the first 10 months of 2016 shows expansion only varying by 2.8 points, with most months seesawing between the 55 and 57 point range.  At this stage 2016 is shaping up as better than 2015 for the sector, although the next two months will determine the extent to which the sector can keep momentum going to provide healthy levels of expansion”.  

BNZ Senior Economist, Craig Ebert, said that “although the PMI couldn’t quite hang onto its relatively high level of 57.5 in September, at 55.2 in October it was still handsomely positive – certainly well above its long-term average of 53.2”.

“Given that the unemployment level of 4.9% probably includes a group of people who are unemployable and others who don’t want to work, it means that New Zealand is faced with having a very small pool of talent available for w…

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New Zealand’s largest and fastest growing peer-to-peer motorhome rental service, Mighway, is celebrating one year of operation this month. Labelled the ‘Airbnb’ of motorhomes, Mighway is operated by Tourism Holding…

New Zealand Police has extended its relationship with Dimension Data to provide its communication channels.

The New Zealand Police manages more than 770,000 emergency calls a year. It is responsible for providing policing services 24 hours a day, seven days a week to prevent crime and crashes.

Telephone is the primary communications channel for the public to contact the police, whether the call comes first from the emergency network or direct to the local station. Dimension Data is responsible for the day-to-day management of the mission critical unified communications infrastructure.

As part of this Dimension Data provides New Zealand Police with all of the physical phones, the network they run on and the ongoing support and management to make sure all calls are made and received seamlessly. They also ensure the phone system is integrated with other communications channels including email.

The partnership builds on the work Dimension Data is already doing with New Zealand Police across networking and other key programs of work.

The partnership successfully ensures the organisation’s key communications infrastructure is well-managed, highly available at all times, and delivered under a tight operating cost model, says New Zealand Police Network operations Manager Michael Perring.

“We are incredibly pleased with the support services that Dimension Data provide to our critical network.”

Dimension Data New Zealand CEO Jo Healey says Dimension Data is extremely proud to support the New Zealand Police in their mission-critical unified communications infrastructure.  

“The work we do with New Zealand Police is continuing to deliver excellent results.”

This November, Spark Lab is putting the spotlight on marketing, with a brand new series of four events that will look at the opportunities afforded by today’s ever-changing digital landscape and an increasingly globally connected a…

Collaboration on infrastructure, tourism, health technologies and innovation, along with addressing non tariff barriers for agri-business in third markets will be among the key drivers of the CER vision in coming years, say business leaders from Australia and New Zealand.

The 11th Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum met in Sydney on 28 October and brought together over 200 senior representatives from government, business and the wider community from the two countries.

“The future of the relationship lies more in what we can achieve together in relation to global markets rather than our increasingly integrated, but still small, trans-Tasman economy” said New Zealand Forum Co-Chair Adrian Littlewood.

“CER has already created the basis for a single economic market. While some work remains to be done to address remaining barriers, bigger opportunities for us both lie further afield if we can pool our combined strengths and collaborate actively where it makes sense to do so.”

This year’s Forum focused on five key sectors considered to be drivers of new economic value – tourism, infrastructure, health technology, innovation and agri-business.

“The focus on sectors has seen engagement by a range of business people across both countries who have come together to consider what new value can be created by working in a more focused and joined up way across the Tasman” said Australia Co-Chair Rod McGeoch AO.

“The number of people thinking about the future of the relationship has increased significantly and the options presented at the Forum constitute a solid agenda for the two countries to work on”.

Forum knowledge partner McKinsey & Co assisted in the development of these options which have been elaborated within an overall framework of ‘mega trends’ addressing both economies. These trends include greater global interconnections, industrialisation and urbanisation, an aging world and disruptive technologies.

The Leadership Forum was addressed by the Australian Treasurer, Hon Scott Morrison and the New Zealand Finance Minister Hon Bill English. A number of other Ministers also participated.

Recommendations from the Leadership Forum are now being prepared in a letter to the two Prime Ministers.

“The relationship is strong but the scale of the opportunity and the disruptive forces ahead means that we must collaborate and innovate to take the relationship forward” concluded Adrian Littlewood.
For further information

Fiona Cooper Clarke, Forum Secretariat, +64 21 934 466

Spark announced today that it is partnering with rapidly growing online magazine The Spinoff to produce a new music section on The Spinoff’s website. The new section, which will go live on November 1, will be dedicated to music news, discussion and storytelling, with a big focus on local New Zealand music.

Clive Ormerod, General Manager Customer & Marketing at Spark, said as a digital services business with thousands of music-loving customers, Spark was excited to be partnering with the Spinoff on a brand new section celebrating the power of New Zealand music:

“We believe there’s so much potential when technology and music come together. Our phones and other devices are now the main gateways to music for most of us and music is absolutely central to those emotional moments of connection we share with loved ones. It’s something we know our customers love and value, so it’s a massive focus for us.”

Spinoff Editor, Duncan Greive, said the section had been a dream of his ever since The Spinoff launched in 2014. “It’s taken a couple of years, but was so worth the wait. We wanted, above all, to do it once, and do it with the right partner. That was always Spark, thanks to their deep and abiding commitment to music and their relationship with Spotify. It’s going to be a beautiful thing, and we can’t wait to get to work.”

The section will feature interviews, reviews, essays and playlists. Greive says the focus will be on a wide range of genres, and that it will be “bold and opinionated and passionate.”

With many of the country’s legendary music magazines no longer running, the Spinoff’s new music section will help fill a story-telling gap for New Zealand music, providing somewhere central for its stories to be told, discussed and shared.

“For us this is about helping more New Zealand music thrive and using technology to provide amazing experiences that get people closer to the music they love,” said Ormerod, “We believe that having this dedicated space to celebrate New Zealand music will be a key to that happening.”

Ormerod noted that for Spark, the partnership was part of a broader ambition to bring New Zealanders the sounds they love. “We already collaborate with a wide range of music industry partners, including Spotify and Live Nation. Next April we’ll be launching the Spark Arena – an exciting eight year project with music at its heart. So for us, teaming up with the Spinoff to bring quality, entertaining and challenging writing about music is a no brainer.”

Spark wants to move as many customers as possible off old copper broadband and onto the newer broadband technologies, fibre and wireless broadband.Jason Paris, CEO of Spark Home, Mobile and Business explains, “We’re announcin…

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