P U B L I S H E R ’ S D E S K
HALF A MILLION REASONS TO GET
EXCITED WHILE HOLDING YOUR SAUSAGE
To say it’s been a tough month on
the desk of Engineering News would
be like saying Michael Jones was
okay at rugby.
With the engineering and manufacturing
industries gathering for
the bi-annual EMEX show, we’ve
been inundated with suppliers to
the industries wanting to show their
offerings, and we’ve packaged that
all up into this issue as a special
‘EMEX Preview’. You can read about
exhibitors that can offer value to your
business and then meet them at the
show that starts May 1.
The team at Engineering News has
earned a break, but for me it’s one
hand holding a bratwurst while the
other trawls a roller case that’s soon
to be full of all manner of information
and media releases on the very latest
in food processing equipment.
I’ve been hitting the pavements for
the last few weeks getting the fitness
levels up – not in preparation for the
German sausages – but to ready for
the near-on half a million cubic feet of
exhibitor space on show at Cologne’s
Anuga Food Tec.
It’s the world’s leading trade fair for
the food and drink industry with more
than 1700 exhibitors and covers
all aspects of food production from
processing, filling and packaging
technology as well as packaging
materials and ingredients, to food
safety and innovations in all areas
associated with food production.
That’s a lot of walking – I’m going to
need more bratwurst.
But that’s how serious we see
engineering in the food industry in
terms of future growth on the New
Zealand manufacturing scene. Big.
Like other fields such as automation
and 3D printing, engineering in food
is set to have a growth spurt and
it doesn’t take Peter Beck (aka ‘a
rocket scientist') to figure out why.
Dairy in this country has ruled much
of the roost for many years, and
that’s likely to continue, but as New
Zealand starts to demand greater
financial/productivity return per
acreage, engineering in food is set
for greater heights and increased
versatility.
One thing is for sure, I’m about
to see some wonderful feats of
engineering…. and a whole lot of
machinery made of metal.
And it’s steel and aluminium which
has grabbed headlines in this country
and the world of late, on the back
of US president Donald Trump’s
announcement of a 25% tariff on
US imports of steel and 10% on
aluminium. The subsequent global
outcry almost shifted the earth off its
orbit.
Trump played a 50+ year old card
to push this one through, invoking
a ‘national security’ clause under
Section 232 of the 1962 US Trade
Expansion Act, the first time it has
been used since the WTO was
created in 1995.
His staff has been busy too, it seems
– loophole looking.
His steely resolve did soften, from
a global “no exemption” standpoint
to exemptions for Canada and
Mexico, but it still had US allied
countries - such as NZ and Australia
- scrambling to be let into the party.
New Zealand finance minister Grant
Robertson says he did not support
the tariff, did not want a trade war
and was looking into how us Kiwis
might secure an exemption. Australia,
sending US$400 million of steel
and aluminium to the US each year,
was hoping for the same… though
lobbying hard is probably a better
description of its approach to protect
a nice chunk of change.
Meanwhile, a revamped version of
the Trans Pacific Partnership, which
the US withdrew from last year, was
signed in Chile.
What’s our chances like? Well, when
Trump’s involved even a rocket
scientist has no hope of predicting
outcomes.
For me, it’s far easier to eat bratwurst
than it is to digest the inconsistencies
of a president. Silly sausage fits…
with unrivalled German-precision.
Greg Robertson
Publisher
Chemical analysis and metallurgical examination of all metallic objects.
Steel, stainless steel, cast iron, copper, aluminium,
nickel, zinc, tin, lead and magnesium alloys.
Peter Wilcox
MetalTest & Associates Ltd
P +64 9 525 0332 M +64 21 394 542
E peter@metaltest.co.nz W www.metaltestnz.com
172G Marua Rd, Mt Wellington, Auckland 1051
REN022
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