Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
“The renewables industry took more than 20 years to install the first 17 gigawatt of offshore wind,” said Jerome Pecresse, CEO Renewable Energy. “Today, the industry forecasts that it will install more than 90 gigawatts over the next 12 years,” Pecresse aded.
Footpowder maker Gran’s Remedy has been a household name in New Zealand for decades, and now the private Dunedin-founded company has been sold to listed Ebos Group writes Simon Hartley in the Otago Times.
Ashleigh Collis has written an excellent article in the Horowhenua Chronicle on a Kiwiana brand, Foxton Fizz. A niche soda company known for its wooden delivery crates based in Foxton and one of New Zealand's oldest fizzy drink companies now celebrating a century in business.
Motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson is now a stakeholder in Alta Motors, the electric motorcycle and light vehicle EV drivetrain maker based in Brisbane, California. Harley-Davidson and Alta made the investment public today, and also announced that Alta Motors will collaborate with the legendary motorbike maker on building future electric motorcycles as part of the deal.
Feb 23, 2018 - Leading global battery and solar energy company sonnen will move its Australian headquarters from Sydney to Adelaide where it will also establish a manufacturing hub.
The announcement further cements South Australia as a world leader in renewable energy and storage.
The German company, the world’s largest producer of household battery and solar energy storage solutions, will use Adelaide as its central shipping facility for Australia and the Asia and South Pacific region.
It will also establish a technical training facility in the South Australian capital, which will cover Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific markets.
Sonnen is the world’s largest producer of household battery and solar energy storage solutions. It currently manufactures in Germany and the United States.
Sonnen Australia Australia/New Zealand Managing Director Chris Parratt said the company’s partnership highlighted South Australia’s reputation as a powerhouse in the clean technology sector globally.
“We are very excited by the prospect of manufacturing in South Australia for the Australian export markets, and realising our expectation that Australia will become the world’s number one market for energy storage systems,” he said.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of clean energy projects underway in South Australia, which is driving investment through its $150 million Renewable Technology Fund.
In November, Tesla commissioned the world’s largest lithium-ion battery (100MW/129MWh) at Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm in South Australia’s Mid-North.
SolarReserve has also announced it will build a 150MW/1100MWh solar thermal power plant near Port Augusta.
South Australia leads the nation in the uptake of wind energy and rooftop solar with renewable sources accounting for almost 50 per cent of the electricity generated in the state.
Sonnen will manufacture 50,000 energy storage systems in Adelaide over five years to create a ‘virtual power plant’ under a five-year deal with the South Australian Government.
The move will create more than 430 jobs across Sonnen’s battery factory operations and installation division within six months of the centre opening.
Sonnen claims its battery system, combiuned with rooftop solar, will save up to 80 per cent off a household’s electricity bill.
The company also plans to offer household energy packages such as sonnenFlat, which charges customers a flat monthly fee of AU$40-$60 to allow them to better manage bills.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said the German manufacturer would bring added value to the state’s energy market and reduce power costs for customers.
“By also establishing itself as a retailer, Sonnen will bring further competition to the market, providing more choice for consumers and helping drive down energy prices,” he said.
| A manufacturers'Monthly release || February 23, 2018 |||
Feb 23, 2018 - Following on from the successful opening of Brook Food Asia Pacific based in Melbourne in July 2012, Brook Food are to widen their reach by opening up a new branch office in New Zealand. Based in Washdyke, New Zealand and part of the Brook Food Group, we look forward to welcoming our customers, both new and existing, to take full advantage of our expertise and knowledge within the baking industry.
feb 21, 2018 - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Limited today announced that Chief Financial Officer, Tony Barclay, will retire at the end of May 2018. Tony will continue to support the company in a consulting role over the following 12 months. “Having made a huge contribution to the growth of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare over the past 22 years, Tony has decided to step away from his role to allow him to have more time for family, personal travel and consider areas of future interest,” said Managing Director & CEO Lewis Gradon. “We would like to thank Tony for the dedication he has shown and his commitment to the company throughout his time with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare,” said Mr Gradon. “It has been a privilege to have been part of an exceptional team for the past 22 years. I have enjoyed my time immensely and am extremely proud of what we have achieved as a company. The company’s ongoing opportunities for growth are very exciting and I look forward to seeing many of those opportunities come to fruition. I would particularly like to thank the people who I have worked with for their support and friendship and also the investor/analyst community for the enjoyable interactions we have had over the years. In terms of my own future, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and then considering areas of future interest,” said Mr Barclay. The company is pleased to announce that Andrea Blackie, GM Finance has been appointed to the role of Acting Chief Financial Officer with effect from 1 June 2018. Ms Blackie has been with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare since January 2017 in the role of General Manager Finance. Prior to joining the company, Andrea was an Executive Director within PwC Assurance New Zealand. She has over 15 years’ experience in New Zealand and the United Kingdom working with a number of listed global manufacturing and technology businesses. “The company has commenced a formal process to appoint Tony’s successor and we will update the market in due course. We thank Tony for all of his many years’ of loyal service and commitment, and wish him all the very best. He will be greatly missed and difficult to replace,” concluded Mr Gradon.
About Fisher & Paykel HealthcareFisher & Paykel Healthcare is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of products and systems for use in respiratory care, acute care, surgery and the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. The company’s products are sold in over 120 countries worldwide. For more information about the company, visit our website www.fphcare.com.
| A Fisher & Paykel release | february 21, 2018 |||
Feb 12, 2018 - Forestry and wood processing company, Juken New Zealand has today confirmed it is going ahead with changes to the products made at its East Coast Mill in Gisborne to return the plant to profitability and secure its long-term future.
The company told staff on January 23 that it was considering stopping production of Plywood and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) products and reducing the manufacture of Structural Laminated Veneer Lumber (SLVL) at its East Coast Mill because those parts of the business had been operating at significant losses for a number of years. The Mill will continue to make high-value solid wood products used for high-end residential and commercial interior cabinetry, furniture, solid doors and feature walls and, overtime, this side of the business will expand.
Juken General Manager, Dave Hilliard said that the final number of roles to go at the Mill as a result of the changes wouldn’t be known for another two weeks. “Now that we have made the decision to go ahead with these changes, we will be working through a process to confirm exactly which roles and how many will go as result,” said Hilliard.
“This is a tough time for our people and their families. We’re a major wood-processing and forestry employer in Gisborne so a decision like this that cuts local jobs is difficult. But for local companies like us, it’s even more critical for the future of our communities that we consolidate into a sustainable business. We can only do this by making high-value products where we have a competitive advantage, so that we can keep growing job opportunities here into the future.”
“There are around 100 roles impacted by the changes, but we anticipate that the final number of redundancies will be less than this, as a number of staff have applied to take voluntary severance and we also have some roles in our sawmilling side of the business that we’ll look to redeploy people into.”
“All staff have redundancy pay provisions in their contracts. Part of the extra assistance we’ll be putting in place is to give a minimum of six weeks pay and four weeks notice for those who have been here for less than a year.”
The company has spent the past two weeks consulting staff and Unions about the changes, which follow a decline in demand from Japan, the mills’ main Plywood market. The company’s Plywood is also increasingly unable to compete in the domestic and international markets against product out of large-scale wood processing plants from the likes of China and South America.
Dave Hilliard said the consultation sought alternative proposals to mothballing the Plywood production line and reducing the production of SLVL (veneer) products.
“We’ve carefully considered the feedback received, including a suggestion to start producing plywood for ‘affordable housing’ in New Zealand. However, given the age of the machinery and the investment required to upgrade it to produce different plywood products these proposals don’t give us a viable solution to the issues we’re facing. The proposal asked for the decision to be delayed. However, we can’t continue sustaining these losses. Delaying the decision does not change the fact that the machinery cannot economically make product suitable for the low-cost housing market.”
“We have started work onsite with staff, unions, WINZ, Ministry for Social Development, local MPs, iwi, community and business representatives to support our people through this difficult process and to make sure they are supported into new jobs or re-training if their roles go. We are also working with a number of local employers, including Far East Sawmills who have come forward to offer our people new jobs.”
We’d like to thank them all for their hard work and support. We are also engaging with the Government on how we are investing to get the most value for the local industry out of our forestry resource through the manufacture of high-value products and how we are adapting to keep local processing and manufacturing competitive in the international market place.
The Juken mill at Matawhero opened in 1994 and employs around 200 full time employees. The mill processes Radiata Pine from the company’s East Coast forests to produce a range of solid wood and engineered wood products like Plywood, LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) and SLVL (Structural Laminated Veneer lumber), mainly for the Japanese housing market.
| A Juken release || February 12, 2018 |||
Feb 10, 2018 - Yesterday we signed the lease for the new OCHO chocolate factory on Roberts Street in Dunedin. It has taken some time now to find the perfect place, close to the waterfront and with the capacity for both a production space and cafe. There is so much to do in order to get the site up and running, and we are expecting things to be underway for our new site in the second half of this year.
Our first priority is production. By the end of this year, we want to be making two or three times the amount of chocolate we do now. This will mean commissioning a new production line which is on order. After we have that up and running smoothly, we will start taking tours through the factory. We know you all want to come and visit, but you will have to wait a little longer!
We have plans to put in a cafe, a retail space, and create a world-class factory tour down the line. In the meantime, our Vogel St cafe will remain our front of house with a test kitchen so you can still drink hot chocolate and smell the delightful aroma of cacao beans roasting out the back.
Our PledgeMe campaign is almost wrapped up, and we are overwhelmed with the support from more than 3,000 shareholders. Jim O'Malley and the Dunedin Manufacturing Holdings team have done an outstanding job planning and executing the next chapter for OCHO.
So why are we doing all of this? We believe business should be all about people. Our team has been looking at how we will evaluate success and we have nailed it down to seven core areas:
Having so many shareholders from the beginning is something we are really proud of in developing the new OCHO factory. Not only do we have a great sense of accountability in our decision-making, but it is truly motivating to know thousands of people like what we do and why we do it.
So thank you to our community for getting behind the Own The Factory campaign. We hope to see all at our open days later in the year.
OCHO is a craft bean-to-bar chocolate company based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Having successfully campaigned to raise $2 million in just over one day, OCHO is set to give back to the community that supports their enterprise. Browse the range of single-origin premium chocolate on the website, www.ocho.co.nz. If you would like to get in touch with the OCHO team, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
| A OCHO release || February 10, 2018 |||
PYEONGCHANG/GOSEONG, South Korea (Reuters) – When South Korean businessman Park Nam-suh was forced to abandon his factory in a North Korean industrial complex two years ago, he thought his business was finished. Now, he dares to hope.
The Kaesong complex, funded by South Korean firms and manned by workers from the North, shut in 2016 after the South accused North Korea of taking workers’ wages to fund its arms programme.
But now South Korea is in the mood to re-engage with its old enemy, using its first Winter Olympics this month to attempt a thaw in relations — and giving Park and other former investors in Kaesong some hope that the industrial park can be revived.
(Inter-Korean commercial ties – http://tmsnrt.rs/2Eq1akx)
“I hope the Olympics will be a turning point in achieving inter-Korean peace and speeding up the reopening of the Kaesong complex. It should be,” said Park whose factory produced plastic toys, clothes hangers and cups.
He was one of 124 former Kaesong factory owners who set up a a booth at South Korea’s Olympics venue of Pyeongchang this week, screening videos to passers-by and featuring the slogan: “We need to go back”.
Continue here to read the full article by Hyunjoo Jin for REUTERS || February 08, 2018 |||
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
|
|