Did you know that it takes over twelve hours to fly from China to the United States? With such a large distance between them, it is not surprising that the regions differ in many ways, from culture to industry. Here, Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director at obsolete industrial parts supplier, EU Automation explains the main differences between the manufacturing markets in the United States and the Asia Pacific region. The fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, that brings the Internet of Things (IoT) to industry, first began in Germany. Manufacturers worldwide aim to compete with companies by investing in the technology introduced during this period. According to the Global Competitiveness Index, manufacturing is an important industry in both the United States and Asia. America has been a manufacturing power for the majority of its history and greatly contributes to the countries’ economy. The US has also been an innovator in the sector, most notably for inspiring the second industrial revolution with Henry Ford’s ground-breaking assembly line. However, Asia is widely regarded as the manufacturing hub of the world. The largest country in the region, China, has led the manufacturing sector in the last few years and smaller Asian countries are climbing the ranks. These two regions are competing for the top position as the global leader in manufacturing, and the US is expected to overtake China to take the top spot by the end of the decade. So, what does the manufacturing sector look like in each region? Industry 4.0Both countries have embraced the changes introduced by the fourth industrial revolution. Governments in both Asia and North America have introduced policies and incentives to integrate more technology into factories. With automated systems, both manufacturing hubs can increase productivity, offering more customisable products at a lower price and reduce both waste and risk of downtime. Asian manufacturers in leading countries, such as China, were quick to embrace new technology and emerge as innovators in manufacturing. Asia has both invested and produced a high volume of robots to remain competitive. Asia installed around 689,349 industrial robotics units in 2013 and this is expected to increase to around 1.1 million by the end of 2017. Asia is known for its cutting-edge technology, investing in robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise industry and everyday life. Singapore is leading this innovation, introducing technology to city infrastructure to become a smart nation. In the US, automotive manufacturing is the main sector that benefits from automated assembly lines. Businesses can provide high quality vehicles that are assembled cost-effectively and efficiently. HubsAsia Pacific and North America are both large geographic areas, so it is difficult to pinpoint one specific hub. Different areas of both regions develop at different rates and contribute to the respective economies in different ways. Many Western countries outsource manufacturing labour, relying on Asia to provide the majority of goods, as labour and materials are less expensive. While China is best known for its large factories producing the majority of goods, other countries in Asia Pacific contribute to the manufacturing economy of the region. In India, for example, over 40 per cent of factory work is completed by robots. This is expected to rise to 70 per cent by 2020. India also introduced the “Make in India” initiative in 2014, investing in technology to become a leader of the Industrial IoT revolution. The FutureGovernments across Asia and the US hope to encourage economic growth by investing in automation and manufacturing. In 2011, President Obama introduced the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) to bring government, universities and industries together to invest in emerging technology and enhance the US manufacturing sector. This partnership recommends enabling innovation, securing the talent pipeline and improving the business climate to become leaders in advanced manufacturing. Some governments in Asia are also investing in automation. Made in China 2025 encourages the improvement of production in the country, to move to higher quality manufacturing. Smaller countries, such as India, Korea and Japan, are also hoping to innovate their own respective manufacturing sectors through automating the supply chain. Even though Asia Pacific and the US are separated by the Pacific Ocean, they both rely on manufacturing to support their economies. While they may embrace automation at different rates and with different technologies, it is clear that both areas will continue to be leaders in the sector.

| An EU Automation release  ||  September 29,  2017   |||

As the rebuild takes effect, Christchurch has a golden opportunity to become New Zealand’s number one city of choice, says outgoing Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend. Townsend says Christchurch is back and running after 11,000 aftershocks, 53 of them over five on the Richter scale. Currently $83 million is being spent in rebuilding the city every week, and by the end of this calendar year 75 per cent of the housing stock will have been repaired and rebuilt. A total of 70 percent of the commercial building repairs and rebuilds will also have been completed, he says. The cost of the Structural side of the rebuild so far is $33 billion. But there is still a massive amount to do. The total cost of the whole rebuild is still estimated at somewhere between $40 and $50 billion. EQC insurance proceeds have accounted for around $11 billion dollars of insurance monies injected into the rebuild with other private insurance contributing another $20 billion “There is nowhere in the world where around $30 billion dollars of insurance proceeds have been applied to the rebuild of a city of 400,000 people”. “The Government have injected around $8.5 billion into land, infrastructure and amenities”. Townsend makes other factual and compelling points about Christchurch and Canterbury, as it becomes a city of choice. • A total of 1100 commercial buildings in the city were lost in the earthquakes but they might be replaced by just 400 buildings. • By the end of 2020 Christchurch is going to have as much hotel accommodation as it had before the earthquakes. • Christchurch will be the safest city in New Zealand because all the shonky stuff has gone. • The city will be the most energy efficient city in New Zealand because it has rebuilt to a new code of double glazed windows, better insulation, heat pumps under the floors to heat the concrete pads and it all results in much cheaper electricity. • A total of 25,000 Christchurch houses were destroyed or had in excess of 100,000 of damage in the earthquakes. • There is no other city better equipped in primary, secondary and tertiary education, by a country mile. • Canterbury is regarded as having one of the top six health systems in the world. • Christchurch is going to be the most accessible city in the country as its traffic infrastructure is taking off with the southern motorway, the northern arterial route and the west diversion. • A taxi driver told Townsend that many of his overseas passengers says the drive from the airport into the city is the most beautiful airport to city drive in the world • Christchurch is the only city in the world with under a million people that has a daily Airbus 380 service • The city is a target for medical specialists and doctors wanting to live and work in Christchurch. Why – Brexit, Trump, lone-wolf terrorism and Christchurch is seen to be a safe bolt-hole for people to live and bring up their kids; it’s really a compelling proposition. • Canterbury is not all about dairy. Canterbury grows 68 percent of the world’s radish seeds and 34 percent of the world’s carrot seeds • Finally, the rebuild of the ChristChurch Cathedral over the next seven to 10 years must be a tourist attraction. Townsend says, why not, instead of fencing it off and wrapped in white plastic, why not put glass panelling around the outside of it? Why not put a couple of grandstands in the Square so people can look into the rebuild? And why not make the rebuild of the ChristChurch Cathedral a positive experience for tourists.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  September 29,   |||

Crownthorpe winery Monowai Estate has won three gold medals and been named Hawke's Bay Winery of the Year for the second time at the New York International Wine Competition.

After picking up one gold medal and two bronzes at last year's competition, Monowai Estate owner and winemaker Emma Lowe said this year's results reflected a change in attitudes towards New Zealand wines in America.

Read more: Hawke's Bay vintages impress judges at Bayleys Wine Awards

"I've just been over there and that's certainly a trend that's taken off over there so where New Zealand wines appear to be more and more popular."

Monowai Estate were awarded gold medals for their 2015 Sauvignon Blanc, 2015 Pinot Gris and 2013 Pinot Noir at the awards, which were held in the heart of New York City.

The competition is marketed as the only trade awards with a blind judging panel and this year showcased 1300 wine submissions from over 23 countries.

Continue to read the full release on Hawkes Bay Today   ||  September 29,  2017   |||

A tumultuous pair-bonding

The general public remains baffled about the constant and unremitting castigating of the mainstream media by New Zealand First’s Winston Peters MP.

They assume it is a lovers’ tiff.

In a way it is.

The two parties involved possess the essential characteristics of a tumultuous pair bonding.

They cannot live tranquilly together.

Yet they cannot live apart.

Mr Peters understands also that he is both ward and prey.

He helps out by generating news. From time to time he will be fodder himself.

He understands something else too.

It is this.

Journalists would rather be scolded than ignored.

In the current post electoral outcome fractionalisation standoff this press drama which peaks every three years has assumed a stormier than usual proportion and therefore now deserves to be analysed.

Our starting point is the belief held by Mr Peters to the effect that simply because the mainstream media insists that it is impartial, so must it be impartial in its reporting.

Mr Peters contrasts this proclaimed New Zealand impartiality to that which exists in other parts of the Westminster sphere.

In which for example newspapers such as Britain’s Daily Mail, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror display a known diversity of political preferences.

This means that readers price in this bias when they study the respective newspapers.

What are Mr Peters’ specific gripes? Here are some of them:-

*Whenever Mr Peters advances a policy plank, the media simply goes to other and opposing political side to get comments about it.

*Commentators on reviewing any policy from Mr Peters simply conclude that he is a “populist” which is code for grabbing votes wherever you can.

*Any incursion by Mr Peters and/or his party into the issue of ethnicity in Parliamentary representation is greeted with veiled or direct comments centred on the media trigger-word racism.

*That Mr Peters is primarily a circus entertainer who shoots from the hip, and is an ageing one now to boot.

There are though some solid reasons behind Mr Peters’ reluctance to commit himself to background data on his planks.

For example, had he gone into the historic connection between the Maori Seats and the Ratana sect he could well have found himself accused of being anti-religion, among other things.

His sparseness of supporting background data has much to do with side-stepping angle-journalism, the dominant applied news- shaping technique here.

It devolves on a public figure unwittingly having pinned on them something which, taken out of context, makes them look silly or dastardly, or both.

This process can be lethal to the utterer/author if it is run through the politically correct filter.

This screening process does not so much apply to the visible news people, the ones on the pavement, or in the studio.

But it is a factor for those up the line who must consider things such as licence and public advertising allocations.

| From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk  ||  Friday 29 september 2017   |||

Australasia’s long-established Customised operator Out-Distances competition with long-range journeys onto the Roads less Travelled

Australasian tour operator Odyssey Traveller anticipated the narrow ultra-specialised consumer requirement so evident today.

Now of course the customised preference drift has become the dominant leisure industry direction echoed so distinctly in outward and inward packaged travel everywhere.

Tailored around the knowledge-seeking experience Odyssey’s expeditionary-style tours are sharply defined around just a few time-frame durations, notably of nine and 30 days.

Focussed on the 50 plus age sector Odyssey’s concentration on the exclusivity of small travelling groups means that the operator can mould its offerings to conform to traveller preference rather than the other way around.

The Sydney-based Odyssey is owned by the Australian and New Zealand universities.

In an academic-dimension lightbulb moment a generation ago these universities conjured forth Odyssey because saw the future in adding an adventure element to what had previously been academic field trips.

In recent years Odyssey CEO Mark-Banning Taylor (pictured) has tightened up still further on this sharp destination emphasis by sending tours into regions which people have long read about, but who have never encountered anyone who has actually ever been there.

These destinations include nations such as Togo and Benin, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea.

He has similarly sharpened his profile on inward tours by emphasising subject areas over destinations, basing them for example on studies of Australasian ethnicity, arts, flora and fauna, photography, pioneering, and so on.

In fact he has let expire the organisation’s agency arrangements in order to concentrate on Odyssey’s own inward intellectual tours.

He has similarly enhanced the perspective on Odyssey’s outward tours.

For example, with the resurgent interest in battlefield travel, those of antiquity to those of modern times, Odyssey has expanded its range of tours encompassing the Pacific theatre, North Africa and Europe.​Odyssey has also nudged still further to their geographic extremities its standard tours to the Russian/Asian landmass.

Iran is a particular thrust at the moment, with departures guaranteed years ahead for these small groups.

According to Mr Banning-Taylor the objective is to implant tour members directly into the environment and its culture with the minimum of distraction.

This applies across the swathe of the tours including such mainstays as the one that “Island Hops” through Scotland’s Western Isles.

Here members will find themselves lodged in remote crofts and listening to Gaelic as part of everyday life.

A particular strength of Odyssey is considered to be its carefully selected local guides who must be local residents and accredited to a tourism authority.

Similarly the company’s tour “leaders” as they are described are drawn from those who have had a vocational, often academic, association with the region being visited.

The tour planning starting point tends to be at the learning end rather than with the destination itself.

In other words, what are party members going to acquire in a knowledge sense from their experience that they did not know before?

Observes Mr Banning-Taylor: “We ask ourselves, ‘what do people of curiosity really want to discover, see for themselves?’ “

This is a particular characteristic of the Odyssey inward tours which deliberately cater for these special fine-focus interest groups.

Aside from the obvious ones of terrain, settlement and ethnicity, we also find, for example an emphasis devolving onto governance, national character, and how these came about.

One example is a tour for those curious about Australian literature.

Here, the tour takes in visits to the homes in which the authors once lived and takes party members through the institutions and landscapes that determined their output.

This fine-slicing embraces broader gauge interests such as the tours of Australasian distinctive cuisine and wine regions that are sectored into regional specialities, terroirs and marques.

Odyssey according to Mr Banning-Taylor, seeks always to put plenty of distance between what it offers its travellers and the general Australasian tourist concept of looking at the familiar sights.

In its central Europe offering for example is one on the Hapsburgs with reference to their pioneering role in the entertainment industry as we know it today.

It turns out that this is a variant on the usual Danube type of experience insofar as it takes into account the little-understood fact that it was the Hapsburgs who liberated live entertainment and thus gave the world Mozart and Beethoven among other luminaries.​Similarly a tour of Provence features this connectivity between past and present with an emphasis on the walled cities of Avignon and Carcassonne which turns out to be where the global heritage and conservation movement as we know it had its beginnings.

Odyssey’s intellectual point of embarkation features a notable sociological emphasis that some may interpret as downright serious.

For example a South American tour is one into Peru centred on the influence of women in regard to the matrilineal nature of the Inca society which was pretty much wiped out by the patriarchal Spanish colonisers.

The tour includes contemporary manifestations of the subsequent resurgence in the status of women especially in textile design and development, thus blindingly indicating the linkage between perceived economic value and civil rights.

Symbolically the expedition is capped by two nights in the middle of Lake Titicaca on Suasi Island owned by a prominent Peruvian womens activist.

In operational terms an enduring shared worry of both providers and their clients is that offered tours will in fact not take place because they are under-subscribed.

It is no consolation to would-be travellers that their deposits will be recovered should there be insufficient bookings to launch it. Time has been allocated, arrangements made.

To this end Odyssey from its long experience categorises certain tours as guaranteed.

Other tours such as the pioneering ones into the paths less travelled are cited as being dependent on a minimum number of takers, usually as low as three people.

A recent tour to see the world’s largest ever dinosaurs in Argentina is just one example “You could say that we are in a joint venture,” noted Mr Banning-Taylor

“A client seeks from us a memorable experience—it is up to us to be candid about the need to find a few others who wish to share in it.”

He summarises the Odyssey endeavour as being quite literally one of an applied taste test.

“Would your Odyssey travellers’ tales stand up at a dinner party; command some attention?

“We like to think that if you have been on an Odyssey tour, then, yes, they would.

“Our objective is taking travel quite some distance beyond sightseeing.”

Similarly Odyssey itself travels just a little bit further also in a community sense

It is known that Odyssey via its board allocates surpluses to university types via a series of cash scholarships for students across New Zealand & Australia of AUD$10,000 who demonstrate financial need and academic performance.

| From the  MSCNewsWire REporters desk - travel   ||  Monday 27 September  2017   |||

If New Zealand raises its education outcomes over a period of 20 years to a level comparable with Finland, it can generate a 204 percent increase in GDP worth an additional $US258 billion, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says. Technology is driving changes in the way Kiwis work and the skills required for work, he says. He was commenting today on the open letter 100 leading New Zealand companies and organisations have just published, saying that not all students wanting to work in tech have to go to university. Muller says while education is critical for developing specific skills, the value of experiences, developed on the job or through life, can be equally important. “This initiative by the 100 big companies and organisations is really about raising awareness for the public that technology is opening up all sorts of opportunities for our kids and just because they don't have a degree doesn't mean there aren't huge opportunities out there. “Tech firms have had to face skills shortages for a number of years and have found many critical skills can be successfully learnt on the job, university degrees are obviously still important for the development of certain skills. “But with the way technology is changing jobs means there are many ways to develop needed skills, and as soon as you remove the preconception that everyone needs a degree you can tap into lots of new talent.” Muller says the global Network Readiness Index, an important measure of digital readiness, has New Zealand ranked 17th in the world, but well behind digital leaders such as Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries. “Measuring a range of economic, social and technology factors, the index is serving as a good proxy for what is important for a digital nation and I hope New Zealand is moving in the right direction on the list. Tech is crucial to New Zealand’s future.” The tech sector is now New Zealand’s third largest exporter and is growing fast. The tech sector contributes over $16 billion to GDP and employs 100,000 people. But it’s not just about the tech sector as new digital technologies are driving economic and social change. Muller says the introduction of digital technologies to the New Zealand education curricula from 2018 for all ages from year one to 13 is a great step toward helping prepare the future workforce for the future jobs that will be highly digital. “As technology becomes more pervasive we are already seeing the demand for tech skills accelerate across all sectors. This demand, plus the rapid growth of the tech sector means the number of job opportunities in tech continues to grow. For further information contact NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller on 021 02520767 or Make Lemonade media specialist Kip Brook on 0275 030188

| A Makelemonade realease  ||  September 27,  2017   |||

Synlait Milk, the South Island-based milk processor, will establish a research and development centre in Palmerston North to drive new product development, process technology and packaging.

Rakaia-based Synlait is partnering with Massey University and FoodPilot, which is located at the university's Palmerston North campus and houses the largest collection of pilot-scale food processing equipment in the southern hemisphere. The business-to-business dairy products manufacturer, which counts milk marketer A2 Milk as a key customer, announced last week that it's looking to enter the market for branded consumer products for the first time.

"Our goal is to become more profitable and diversified. Investing in our own research and development centre is an opportunity to explore new and unique ways to make the most from milk,” said Synlait managing director John Penno. "We will be developing intellectual property across our value chain, which aims to maximize value at every step, beginning behind the farm gate all the way through to providing market access for our customers."

Synalit will invest an initial $7 million this financial year to grow its research and category development capability and plans to double its investment over the next two years, he said.

"This is the first step for us as we progress towards new products, categories and markets in the future," Penno said. "We will need our capability in this area to continue evolving so we stay ahead of the game."

The shares last traded at $5.45, and have gained 75 percent this year.

| A Synlait release  ||  September 25,  2017   |||

Massey University has lodged building consent applications for two major construction projects as part of a $120 million development of its Auckland campus.

The University will construct a 9800 square metre “innovation hub” including research laboratories, clinics, teaching spaces, and staff and postgraduate student workspace on the main part of the campus, the East Precint off the Albany Expressway.

The second consent application is to extend the Sir Neil Waters building, named after the former Vice-Chancellor who established the campus in 1993, to provide additional space.

The sale of the campus’ Ōtehā Rohe site, located on Albany Highway, became final last week and will help fund the planned developments.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas says the development is designed to ensure the campus serves the needs of the predicted growth in student numbers.

“Massey has bold plans for its Auckland campus and sees the campus as the heart of a smart innovation district in Auckland North, which is an extremely fast-growing region with huge potential,” Professor Thomas says.

“Our aim is to create a world-leading hub for 21st century education and, to achieve this, we have a structured development plan, with the construction of the innovation complex and Sir Neil Waters building extension representing the next stage of development.

“These construction projects represent the biggest development since the campus was established.”

Work on the Sir Neil Waters extension is scheduled to begin late next year and be complted at the end of 2019; the innovation hub will commence in 2019 and take about three years.

Professor Thomas says the innovation hub will offer flexible lab space, accommodating the variety of health and sciences disciplines taught on the campus. With around one-third of the campus’ students studying at a postgraduate level, the building also features a space dedicated to their learning needs.

She says the University is working to ensure enviromentally sustainable practices are incorporated into the buildings’ design.

The 175 staff members currently located at Ōtehā Rohe will gradually relocate to the campus’ East Precinct from late 2019.

| A Massey University release  || September 19,  2017   |||

Here is the introduction to the TheGuardians summary of the election:

• Angela Merkel is set for a fourth term as Germany’s chancellor after her centre right CDU/CSU won a projected 33% of the vote in federal elections, making it the largest party in the Bundestag with an estimated 218 seats.
• The Christian Democrats’ score, sharply down on the 41% of the vote it collected in the previous 2013 elections, was widely seen as disappointing and is likely to leave Merkel diminished on the domestic political stage.

Continue here to follow the full summary and updates . . .

Rudolf Mulderij writes in FRESH PlAZA  that demand for Kiwifruit is on the rise worldwide, but the supply has been affected by the weather. "New Zealand harvested less this campaign after a difficult growing season, with a hot winter and a lot of rain," explained a trader. Moreover, the Chilean production is also reported to have dropped, and now Italian kiwis are hitting the market and they also expect a smaller volume due to the impact of frost in certain regions and the dry summer. "As a result, the supply will be much scarcer, while the demand continues to rise," assures a trader.

New Zealand: Zespri is looking for new marketsZespri, the export organization of New Zealand kiwis, is seeing strong growth this season. The SunGold continues to grow in markets like Japan and China. Moreover, their sights are set on other markets in South East Asia, India and North America. The European market is also developing well, with strong demand all year round. Japan is the biggest market this season, accounting for the export of 23 million trays. The second most important market is China, accounting for 22 million trays.

The start of the season in the northern hemisphere is around the corner. The Italian volume is expected to amount to around 5 million trays, which is a notable growth. The company aims for the demand to grow faster than the supply, and that seems to be successful. As a result, priorities have to be set as far as the markets are concerned. For the coming years, significant expansions are expected in the acreage, with another 1,800 hectares in Europe and 400 hectares in New Zealand. The company is working on growth for the SunGold. Eventually, the share of green and yellow kiwis must be split 50/50.

Continue here to read the full article published on FRESHPLAZA  Friday 22 September 2017   |||