The Statistics House investigation has highlighted that had the Kaikoura earthquake have happened at a different hour – lives would have been lost. Now more than ever, urgent action is required to safeguard and ensure existing precast concrete floor designs are checked and the 10-year old concrete design standard updated. On 14 November 2016 the…
Steel dumping ‘steal’ talks and ‘dump’ the real issues Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s recent visit to New Zealand last week brought much attention to free trade and export opportunities for our country – but did the right topics get the focus they deserved? Amidst steel dumping headlines, China’s strong interest to balance its trade by…
The Net Zero in New Zealand report makes it clear that our industry as energy users and carbon reducing solution providers have abundant opportunity to contribute to emission reductions and can play an important part in helping New Zealand fulfil its Paris Agreement commitments. Global warming is a scientific fact. Global temperatures and sea levels…
Call for interest – we’re preparing an application for a heavy engineering industry sector-led research partnership under the 2017 MBIE Partnership scheme in response to the Government’s Partnership Investment Plan 2017-19. This proposal aims to provide high–quality research to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of companies like yours, in the framework of a larger sustainable…
There’s always two side to a story – even for Trump and his take on trade. Now Donald Trump has officially taken over as the 45th President of the United States, many of us Kiwis (particularly those in business) think New Zealand is well and truly Trumped. But is it really all doom and gloom for…
2016 has been an encouraging year, fuelled by an exceptional demand in steel construction in response to rebuild and immigration pressures. In June 2016, the reported New Zealand annual heavy steel consumption stood at 170,697 tonnes, exceeding FY2015 with a total annual growth of 8.4%. This reflects a healthy industry responding to strong market conditions,…
It was highly satisfying to be a part of the Pressure Equipment Workshop 2016 organised jointly by a dynamic industry committee composed of individuals from the PE industry and HERA. Nov302016 Over 100 people attended the workshop held last month at the Sudima Hotel in Auckland, and the concluding comment of a CEO of one of…
Working with Advance Boiler Services (ABS) in Hamilton over the past few months to design and develop a test rig – we’re pleased to say we’re on the verge of a major step towards energy technology development. This test rig will allow testing of individual components such as heat exchangers and expander type devices in…
As previously announced the terms of HERA Executive members Mike Lehan, John Frear, Thomas Neitzert, Craig Stevenson, and Paul Bryant expire with the upcoming September AGM. Additionally member Peter Hutton handed in his resignation effective the September AGM, and therefore HERA has six vacancies on the HERA Executive. The nominations of HERA member representatives to…
Every year we put together a diagram combining Statistics New Zealand and our internal data to better understand how our industry is performing. And this time around, it’s clear to see consumption of steel subject to the heavy engineering research levy has exceeded 2008 figures set just prior to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The…
The concern of skills shortages is something worrying many businesses around the world, and for the New Zealand engineering sector it’s no different. We’re starting to see serious skills gaps in our workforce which could strongly affect our ability to deliver quality work for our future pipeline. To address those and other issues COMPETENZ has…
The steel industry continues to face a challenging economic environment due to the economic slowdown in China, volatility in financial markets, sluggish growth in global trade, and low prices of oil and other commodities. In the first quarter of 2016, per the World Steel Association, global steel production decreased 3.6% to 386 metric tons (Mt)…