Category Archives: Manufacturing

February 3, 2008 Posted in Economic Development, Governance, IT, Manufacturing, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 2 Comments

Great – now we can try and compete with China, or India, or Pakistan…

By Ben Kepes

I wrote a few days ago about Humanware closing down its New Zealand operations. Interesting to read this morning then that three Christchurch manufacturers look set to approach Humanware to seek a continuation of some manufacturing in this country. Does anyone else find this somewhat amusing? For years we’ve been

January 27, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Manufacturing, Society 8 Comments

The story of stuff…

By Ben Kepes

A friend sent me a link to this site which headlines an animated movie looking at our collective mass consumerism model. While a diatribe against consumption is somewhat outside of the usual subject matter of this blog, and arguably somewhat opposed to things I write about (yep – that sexy

November 23, 2007 Posted in Business, IT, Manufacturing, My businesses, New Zealand, Strategy 1 Comment

Should government funding be here?

By Ben Kepes

Papers inadvertently released today tell the complex and inefficient story behind ICT-NZ the government set up industry group tasked to further the aims of the ICT industry here in New Zealand. ICT-NZ is funded via a complex chain of sources and is a perfect example of complex governmental organisations proving

November 7, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, IT, Manufacturing 1 Comment

Tablets are cool, Apple is cool…

By Ben Kepes

And an Apple tablet would be uber cool. Reports here that Asus is prototyping a tablet for Apple. Imagine coverflow and touchscreen goodness on a 15inch and in a full size OS. I’m excited…….

November 6, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, Efficiency, Manufacturing, My businesses, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 3 Comments

Competitive advantage… how?

By Ben Kepes

I’ve just been interviewed by a researcher from the University of Otago. Otago has undertaken a long-term research programme looking at how New Zealand firms derive world class competitive advantage from their geographical location, the networks they utilise, industry clusters they are involved in and from local sources of world-class

November 6, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, Governance, IT, Manufacturing, My businesses, New business, New Zealand, Strategy Leave a comment

Well done Leon and team…

By Ben Kepes

Surveylab was founded by Leon Toorenberg, a Wellingtonian and some-time Cactus acquaintance. Cactus is now a supplier to Surveylab and it’s great to read how they’re starting to cross the chasm. On a personal level it’s really nice to see a NZ startup that combines software and hardware products. While

October 15, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Economic Development, Efficiency, IT, Manufacturing, New Zealand, Society 4 Comments

The dollar and tech companies…

By Ben Kepes

David and I had a lengthy dialogue over the weekend regarding the appropriateness or otherwise of actually making things in New Zealand. Those interested can read it here. Basically (and to paraphrase David’s comments) he felt that manufacturing in NZ is dead and that we should be finding new ways

October 11, 2007 Posted in Business, Economic Development, Efficiency, Manufacturing, My businesses, New Zealand, Society 10 Comments

Je suis en film star…..

By Ben Kepes

Last last year film student Nicholas Hudak made a short film profiling some players in the New Zealand apparel scene. The film, entitled Triple Bottom Line sought to show the changes that occur when an industry moves to offshore manufacturing in an accelerated fashion. While I’m aware that it is

October 2, 2007 Posted in Business, Manufacturing, New Zealand 4 Comments

Another one (maybe) bites the dust….

By Ben Kepes

News this morning that Norsewear may be sold and moved offshore. Now while i understand the factors that fource a brand to consider a move to offshore manufacturing, I do somewhat cringe when there website says things like “We’re proud to be 100% NZ owned, with all our products being

September 13, 2007 Posted in Business, Design, Manufacturing, Strategy 1 Comment

Back home again….

By Ben Kepes

Back in sunny (well dark actually) North Canterbury after a couple of days in Napier. I’ve been doing some consultancy work through designindustry for FPG, a world leader in retail cabinet and store improvement solutions. This is a real New Zealand success story, employing almost 200 workers and selling value-added

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.