Nov 21 2017  -  Synlait Milk (NZX: SML; ASX: SM1) has opened its new Auckland site, which is home to its second state -of-the-art blending and consumer packaging facility.  Located in Mangere, the site was officially opened today by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff at a ceremony alongside all staff. “We’re expecting customer demand for consumer packaged products to increase significantly in the near term,” said John Penno, Synlait’s Managing Director and CEO.

“We’ve invested $55 million into our Auckland site to meet this demand and expect commercial production to start here in the coming week.” With an annual packaging capacity of 32,000 metric tonnes (MT), the new site doubles Synlait’s overall canning capacity to 64,000 MT.  “A tremendous amount of work has gone into this milestone. We acquired this partially-completed facility in May and have executed a significant programme of work to commission it in just over six months,” said Mr Penno.

“We have employed a great team of 30 people to operate this facility and we expect that number to increase to 100 in the coming year as we add additional shifts ,” adds Mr Penno. Mayor Goff said, “It’s a pleasure welcoming innovative, high value businesses such as Synlait to Auckland. The new site in the high growth commercial district around our airport will create 100 jobs in our city and increase the amount of safe, premium dairy products, for which New Zealand is well known, heading to major markets around the world.” The strategic decision to invest in Auckland has helped to mitigate some of the single site risk faced by Synlait with their original Dunsandel site in Canterbury, as well as increasing future growth in business with infant formula customers. “Under the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) infant formula rules coming into effect on 1 January 2018, this second site gives us the opportunity to increase the potential number of our customer brands we can export to China,” said Mr Penno. Acquiring the partially-completed site has also allowed additional consumer packaging capacity to become available much earlier to Synlait than a new development would have.

“We are currently operating at capacity in our canning facility at Dunsandel. Having Auckland in place means we can meet our customers’ needs and continue to grow with them ,” said Mr Penno. 

Registration of the new facility with both MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) and CNCA (Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China) is progressing well. “We have conditional approval from MPI and we expect to finalise this, along with other registration requirements, very soon . We expect to commence commercial production this week, ” said Mr Penno.

| A Synlait release  ||  November 20, 2017   |||

Brought to NZ by National Business Review founder

20 Nov 2017 | MSCNewsWire | Truth never changes and neither does effective benefit selling. Only the techniques of transferring this information from the seller to the buyer change.

Drayton Bird (pictured) regarded as the Westminster sphere’s greatest and most seasoned expert on direct selling is to tour New Zealand with this message.

#8 - The notion that the world was running out of oil gripped the international middle class early in the millennium. The panic had something in common with the just earlier Y2K scare in that unless something was done the whole of the developed world would seize up. Yet while Y2K could be firmly pinned to the computer industry itself, and which benefited mightily from it, nobody can still identify the source of the Peak Oil panic.

The position now

In the event other sources of oil came on stream, notably of the shale variety, and crude oil

| MSC Newswire Big Frights of Our Times Series #9  || Monday 20 November 2017   |||

17 Nov 2017  -  To mark the launch of Deloitte Access Economics in New Zealand, a new report entitled Shaping our slice of heaven: Industries of opportunity was released in Wellington last night.  The report identifies five industries with the greatest opportunity to contribute to New Zealand’s future economic prosperity. The industries lie at the intersection of global growth and national comparative advantage, forming the heart of New Zealand’s “prosperity map”. These industries of opportunity are tourism, agribusiness, food processing, international education and advanced manufacturing.

Each of the five industries is expected to achieve above average global growth over the next twenty years, in a large part due to the rise of the middle class in emerging economies, in particular the Asian powerhouse economies of China and India. Consumers in these countries, and around the world, want many things New Zealand can offer – excellent agricultural and food products, high quality education, the latest health technologies and unique tourism experiences.

Shaping our slice of heaven: Industries of opportunity analyses where global opportunities and New Zealand’s advantages will coincide to create growth opportunities for the economy. Recognising that New Zealand’s prospects are as bright as they were a decade ago is not in itself enough. The report asks how New Zealand companies, industries and government can work together to apply these insights and take a longer-term view around how to ensure future economic prosperity.

Deloitte Access Economics lead partner in New Zealand Linda Meade says the report is a call to action.

“The core message of the report is that while global or domestic opportunity and structural advantages are necessary, they are not sufficient. To ensure success, we need to build on New Zealand’s areas of advantage to maintain and improve performance relative to global competitors,” says Ms Meade.

“We need to seize the day - there are plenty of competitors waiting in the wings if we are complacent,” she warns.

Ms Meade says Deloitte is very pleased to be launching Deloitte Access Economics in New Zealand and she expects strong growth in economic advisory as a key component of Deloitte’s client services.

“Demand for expert knowledge and industry experience in economic advisory services has grown for some years now. Growth has been driven by the pace of business and regulatory change and the value inherent in understanding the economics that drive these changes, at national, state, industry and enterprise levels,” says Ms Meade.

Since forming as Access Economics in 1988, and joining Deloitte in 2011, Deloitte Access Economics has experienced significant growth. They are now a team of 160 professional economists across New Zealand and Australia and are the leading Australian economic advisory practice.

Canberra-based Deloitte Access Economics Lead Partner Stephen Smith says Deloitte Access Economics has deep specialist skills across macroeconomics, microeconomics, health economics and social policy, and competition and regulatory policy, and a strong commitment to delivering client value when it comes to providing insights and advice.

“Our team’s success in combining deep economic rigour with practical commercial advice is helping to shape conversations around any number of social, political and business issues, deliver business insights and inform investment strategy in Australia – and now here in New Zealand,” says Mr Smith.

You can download or read Shaping our slice of heaven: Industries of opportunity at www.deloitte.com/nz/slice-of-heaven.

You can learn more about Deloitte Access Economics in New Zealand at www.deloitte.com/nz/economics.

| A Deloitte release  ||  November 17,  2017   |||

LINCOLN, Neb., Nov. 16, 2017 - Sandhills Publishing announces the launch of CraneTrader, a website and print publication connecting buyers and sellers specifically in the market for cranes and other rigging and lift equipment and parts. CraneTrader leverages Sandhills' presence and longevity in the construction and heavy machinery industry to establish a niche resource for buyers and sellers more specifically interested in cranes, lifts, and other high-value material handling assets.

CraneTrader.com features listings for various types of cranes including tower, crawler, truck mounted, articulated, boom truck and rough terrain cranes, as well as boom, bucket, and scissor lifts. Listings are organized categorically and include specs, photos, videos, machine location, seller information, and contact tools that make it easy for buyers to inquire about listed assets. CraneTrader.com also ties listings cross-posted for lease/rent to RentalYard.com, the leading resource for rental and lease equipment.

The CraneTrader print publication will launch in special editions ahead of the Spring 2018 crane and lift industry trade show circuit, providing focused exposure at the industry's largest events. Regular monthly editions of the CraneTrader magazine will enter circulation in early 2018, reaching active buyers (including contractors and dealers) through direct mail distribution.

The CraneTrader brand is an extension of Machinery Trader, which has been serving buyers and sellers of construction equipment and heavy machinery since the 1970s. "Our products and services benefit both buyers and sellers by providing easy access to an efficient, global marketplace for specific assets, and CraneTrader is no exception," explains Sandhills' Director of New Products Evan Welch. "CraneTrader strategically segments the construction equipment market for targeted, high-value exposure. At the same time, it provides buyers an easy and convenient way to source the specific equipment they need."

CraneTrader joins the ranks of a global product portfolio that includes a number of brands specifically serving construction, plant, and heavy equipment markets. In addition to Machinery Trader and RentalYard, these brands include: Machinery Trader Auction Results, AuctionTime.com, FleetEvaluator, Fast Track, Fast Track Iron, MarketBook, tp-Business.fr, Plant Locator, Resale Weekly, Maquinaria OP, and Cantierissimo Carrellistica. In total, the Sandhills group distributes over five million publications every month to audiences all over the globe, and its websites receive more than 16 million monthly visits. In addition to providing customers direct access to buyers in retail, auction, and wholesale markets, Sandhills also delivers practical tools that simplify sales transactions and internal business operations through the Sandhills Cloud.

For the latest updates on CraneTrader, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google Plus.

About Sandhills PublishingSandhills Publishing is an information processing company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our broad range of products and services gather, process, and distribute information in the form of trade publications and corresponding websites that connect buyers and sellers across the trucking, agriculture, construction, heavy equipment, aviation, and technology industries. Our integrated, industry-specific approach to hosted technologies and services offers solutions that help businesses large and small operate efficiently and grow securely, cost-effectively, and successfully. Sandhills Publishing—we are the cloud.

| a Sandhills Publishing release  ||  November 17,  2017   |||

17 Nov 2017  - American Express business customers will be able to then to make “instant, trackable, cross-border payments” to Santander UK accounts.  American financial services giant American Express has announced that it has teamed with Ripple and Santander UK to develop a blockchain-based solution for instant business-to-business cross-border payments between the US and the UK.

In a statement published today, the US revealed that Ripple’s blockchain technology had been integrated into its FX International Payments (FXIP) platform, meaning that payments made by business customers of the service will now be routed through Ripple’s enterprise blockchain network, known as RippleNet.  The project will initially connect American Express’ customers to Santander UK, allowing them to make “instant, trackable, cross-border payments” to accounts in the British bank. However, both companies hinted that the project could be substantially expanded in the future.

This is major development for blockchain technology and particularly Ripple, which has been working with a number of leading banks and financial institutions, including MUFJ, UBS, UniCredit, Bank of America and Standard Chartered.

“We’re taking a huge step forward with American Express and Santander in solving the problems corporate customers experience with global payments,” Ripple’s chief executive officer Brad Garlinghouse said in the statement. “Transfers that used to take days will be completed in real-time, allowing money to move as fast as business today. It is just the beginning, and we look forward to growing this partnership to help other American Express FXIP customers.”

Meanwhile, American Express’ executive vice president and chief information officer Marc Gordon, commented: “This collaboration with Ripple and Santander represents the next step forward on our blockchain journey, evolving the way we move money around the world.”

The Ripple price (XRP/USD) has surged in today’s trading. As of 14:53 GMT, Ripple was trading at $0.249, having gained nearly 20% since the start of the session.

For further information on how to buy and trade Ripple, see our comprehensive Ripple guide.

| A Invezz release  ||  November 17,  2017   |||

16 Nov 2017  - Emirates and Thales have signed a new agreement to equip the airline’s Boeing 777X fleet with the next generation broadband inflight connectivity using Inmarsat GX global network.   The partnership will give Emirates customers best in class connectivity with speeds of up to 50Mbps on its Boeing 777X aircraft due for delivery starting in 2020.  Emirates and Thales already have an existing multi-million-dollar deal to fit its Boeing 777X fleet with a next generation Thales AVANT inflight entertainment system. The new agreement is part of the Emirates’ and Thales’ plans to develop and enhance the state-of-the-art inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) on the 777X fleet.

Over the years, Emirates has invested over US $200 million to equip its aircraft with connectivity. Demand for Wi-Fi on board has been steadily increasing and today over 800,000 passengers per month connect while inflight, including travellers from New Zealand on Emirates’ daily A380 flights from Auckland and Christchurch.

Emirates offers all its customers 20MB of complimentary Wi-Fi data on board while Emirates Skywards members in First Class and Business Class enjoy unlimited complimentary Wi-Fi and discounted plans in Economy Class.

Emirates, Thales and Inmarsat have invested heavily in the new generation Wi-Fi solution and will work together to meet increasing demand for Wi-Fi on board. Broadband connectivity speeds coupled with Thales’ AVANT innovative and highly customisable IFE system will provide a further boost to Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice.

As well as operating a fleet of 100 A380s, Emirates is the largest operator of the Boeing 777 aircraft, one of the most popular and advanced wide-bodied aircraft in commercial operation today. The airline has 165 Boeing 777s in its fleet, and a further 164 on firm order, including 150 of the next generation Boeing 777X aircraft.

| An Emirates release  ||  November 16,  2017   |||

16 Nov 2017  -  Most engineers didn’t go to school aiming to become economists, but that’s often what it feels like once you take on a managerial role. High-performance equipment is expensive, and downtime is costlier than ever.  Lubrication is a fact of life, as is maintenance, whether it’s an airliner on the ramp or a conveyor on an assembly line, and the overall cost of preventative maintenance is always in play. High temperature applications make the problem even worse. At 400° F and higher, conventional hydrocarbon lubricant formulations aren’t enough.

For the difficult environments found in aerospace and aviation applications, for example, high-performance perfluoropolyether (PFPE) lubricants can perform under extreme temperatures, pressures and exposure to harsh chemicals. Often, advanced PFPE lubes are the only solution, but what about cases where hydrocarbon formulations can survive? In this case, there are still strong cost and performance advantages to going with higher performance products.

Consider the true cost of lubrication in manufacturing. Maintaining Lubrication in Extreme EnvironmentsMachines can fail for any number of reasons, but improper lubrication is often a leading culprit. This is commonly due to environmental factors such as temperature, pressure or exposure to harsh chemicals, or due to a lack of scheduled maintenance and relubrication.  Extreme environments pose a significant challenge for keeping machines properly lubricated. Steam turbine controls, for example, will see wear on cam shafts, valve lift bar anti-friction bushings and gears if they’re using conventional lubricants, leading to

| Continue toread the full article here  ||  November 16,  2017   |||

16 Nov 2017  -  The NZ deer industry has agreed to support one of South Korea’s largest pharmaceutical companies in its plans to develop and market a product with proven health benefits based on NZ deer velvet.  The Chief Executive of Yuhan Corporation Mr Jung Hee Lee, and the Chief Executive of Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ), Mr Dan Coup, this morning signed a memorandum of understanding in Wellington, witnessed by the Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor and the Ambassador for the Republic of Korea, Mr Seung-bae Yeo.

Mr Lee said Yuhan’s objective is to successfully develop, register and market a health food product containing scientifically validated components of New Zealand deer velvet.

“This will be a world-first. In recent years a number of Korean companies have developed easy-to-consume formulations of traditional herbal products based on deer velvet, but none have commissioned supporting research in New Zealand to the same level of detail that Yuhan will do,” he said.

“AgResearch and Yuhan scientists will be working together to build on existing scientific knowledge. AgResearch is recognised internationally for its knowledge of velvet processing techniques, the composition of deer velvet and the potential health benefits.”

Mr Coup says DINZ and Yuhan have a shared interest in the registration of NZ deer velvet as a health food.

“If this is achieved it will further strengthen the reputation of NZ deer velvet as a natural, safe and quality food ingredient in Korea.”

He says DINZ will work with Yuhan to help promote the “New Zealand velvet story” and support the successful launch of its velvet products where appropriate.

“The two parties may also co-fund some specific areas of research and marketing activities, but these will be subject to separate agreements.”

Ms Ashley Kyung-in Chung, head of Yuhan’s food and health marketing team, said the company would be investing a minimum of $1.5 million on research with AgResearch and had budgeted for the substantial costs involved in registering a functional food claim and taking a product to market.

She said Yuhan had chosen New Zealand as the source of velvet because of the country’s transparency on three fronts – the farming environment, animal welfare and the traceable and hygienic supply chain.

“Yuhan is one of the most respected companies in Korea – consumers trust us and trust our partners. We travel the world looking for ingredients that are produced in systems as close to nature as possible and where animals are treated with care – that’s why we have come to New Zealand. Velvet from other countries does not have the same standards as New Zealand.”

As part of its market positioning, Yuhan has also signed an agreement with Alpine Deer Group.

“In our marketing we will be using images and videos of one of Alpine’s iconic high-country deer stations that will be one of our main sources of velvet. Our marketing materials will strongly reflect our connection with New Zealand as both the source of our velvet as well as the technology we are using to bring innovative velvet-based products to the market,” Ms Chung said.

Background information

Yuhan Corporation was established as a health company in 1926 by Dr Ilhan New. Today it is one of South Korea’s largest pharmaceutical companies, formulating and marketing high quality and innovative health products.

Yuhan’s 2016 sales turnover was approximately US$1.18 billion. Approximately 9% of its revenue was reinvested into research and development.

Yuhan’s mission is to create a balanced portfolio of health food products and supplements from the most natural sources for every life stage. Yuhan has been awarded the most respected company title in South Korea for the last 14 consecutive years (2017).

Yuhan has 220 highly trained scientists involved in product development and commercialisation.

For more information on Yuhan Corporation, refer to www.yuhan.co.kr

Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) is a marketing authority established by the Deer Industry New Zealand Regulations 2004 pursuant to the Primary Products Marketing Act 1953. Functions of DINZ relevant to the MOU with Yuhan are:

    a. to promote and assist the development of the deer industry in New Zealand    b. to assist in the organisation and development of the marketing of products derived from deer    c. to assist in the development of existing and new markets for products derived from deer.

DINZ works closely with New Zealand’s leading Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, and has a joint venture partnership with AgResearch called Velvet Antler Research New Zealand (VARNZ).

For more information on DINZ, refer to www.deernz.org

| A DeerNZ release  ||  November 16, 2017   |||

15 Nov 2017  - Ara computing senior lecturer Amit Sarkar interviewed the top decision makers at 30 organisations that survived the Christchurch earthquakes, and found that Information Systems (IS) resilience was a major factor in their continued operation and successful recovery. This held true for large organisations and small organisations, both public and private sector.

Amit’s work impressed participants and jury at the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems (EMCIS), where it was awarded best research paper this year. The paper Governing Information Systems Resilience: A Case Study is co-authored by Stephen Wingreen from UC and John Ascroft from Jade Software. Another paper in this series, CEO Decision Making under Crisis: An Agency Theory Perspective, is co-authored by Stephen Wingreen and Paul Cragg from the University of Canterbury, and was published in the Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems (June 2017).

“Information Systems (IS) resilience is fundamental to an organisation’s survival,” Amit says. “In every organisation, if there is downtime in an organisation’s IS then there is a very slim chance that they will survive. Snail mail and paper-based accounting is almost obsolete. So the IS is quite central to the business. If the IS is down, if they can’t receive or send data and they can’t do any transactions, then what are consequences?”

Resilience is widely recognised in related disciplines such as Computer Science, Crisis Management and Safety Engineering, but there had been very little attention paid by Information Systems scholars to IS resilience. Business leaders who Amit interviewed told him that IS resilience was very important, but simply had not been documented.

Canterbury’s computing experts and business leaders have a lot of wisdom to share about business preparedness for disaster and Amit collated this using Q spot methodology to identify not only the most important factors in IS resilience, but also how decision makers prioritise these factors for resourcing.

Successful organisations, he found, had an IS resilience plan and, most crucially, they had practised it, challenged it and embedded it into the organisation.

“Good process means you are taking it seriously and practising it, trying to find the loopholes and debating, learning from the drills what went wrong and how to improve, so that when the real thing comes you are super ready. That cannot happen from reading the plan on the day. The plan goes out the window when the disaster strikes, so this is significant.”

Often basic preparation included migrating data to the cloud – something the city council fortuitously completed just four hours before the first, September 2010, earthquake struck. When there is no physical access to servers, then the cloud becomes essential for retrieving stored data.

Diversity and complementarity within the company was important to testing resilience plans for many eventualities and for practising problem solving. When a range of thinking styles was employed, IS resilience plans were more thoroughly tested. IS resilience is as much about people as it is about technology, Amit says.

“All the companies that survived put people in the centre. There is a huge emotional toll that happens and every single organisation in the study, including Ara, took care of the people, by making sure salaries are paid, checking on employees and so on. It’s a symbiotic relationship. If you look after your employees, they will look after your technology and processes.”

Not only did organisations need to be resilient themselves, but they had to choose partners carefully to ensure they were also resilient. Having robust systems would be pointless if the supply chain collapsed because other organisations were not prepared. This also applied to overseas partners.

An in-depth case study on Jade Software in Christchurch has now evolved into a proposal to develop an app to periodically check organisations’ resilience status. This could create a valuable tool that can be used in different countries and cultures, Amit says.

| An ARA release  ||  November 15, 2017   |||