Category Archives: Business Leaders

Doug Ducker – an industry icon retires

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Doug Ducker has seen more than two consecutive forestry plantations grow to full harvest, having worked for Pan Pac for nearly 46 years. Doug started as a process engineer and in 2004 became the businesses Managing Director.

Pan Pac began as a Joint Venture involving Carter Holt (60%) and two Japanese companies, Oji Paper and Sanyo Kokusaku Pulp in 1973 and under Doug’s leadership it operates one of New Zealand’s largest sawmills with lumber output around 500,000 m3/a, a pulpmill producing 270,00adt/a, retains tree ownership for around 35,000Ha and supports harvest and util- isation of over 1.5 million tonnes of logs. In 2016 it established a second sawmill, currently producing 100,000m3/a in Milton, Otago.

Total assets involved are close to S1Billion NZ with annual sales around $400Million/a. The business which is now owned by Oji Paper employs around 420 staff and has over 450 people involved as full time contractors through our forestry planting, harvesting and cartage programs.

Doug has been a significant contributor to the Hawke’s Bay Business community serving on the board of the Chamber of Commerce and Business Hawke’s Bay. Pan Pac is also the lead sponsor of the Chamber’s business awards.

Tell us about your career?

I joined Pan Pac in December 1974 and, save a brief period working in Sydney, Australia in 1984, have been with the company since then.

I was initially employed as a process engineer to support the expanding pulp mill operation and over the next 30 years assumed roles covering technical services, environmental management, project development and production management. In October 2004 I became Managing Director (CEO) of the company taking responsibility for our Forestry, Sawmilling and Pulping operations.

Pan Pac is Japanese owned – what were some of the challenges in bedding down the relationship in the early days?
The relationship with Japan has always relied strongly on TRUST eg original contracts for the formation of the company were very simply written.

Over the first 20 years as a JV company executive direction came via Auckland, in the latter years and particularly since 2007 the management relationships are direct between Whirinaki and Tokyo. On occasions the processes of Japan, particularly the need for detail, are frustrating for the New Zealanders however the outcomes are generally stronger for it.

Pan Pac has maintained a program of continuous growth over the decades with annual capex spend exceeding $30 million a year over recent years.

What have you learned in a business sense from the Japanese partnership?
A strong characteristic of the Japanese has been the long- term commitment to their investment. While there is the deep monthly analysis of company performance, it is underpinned by the understanding that our products are subject to commodity pricing rules. These can see cycles that on occasion may cause one to question viability to continue; however, a capacity to ride through the low is usually applied. Having said this, the drive to improve efficiency and reduce unnecessary cost is always there.

Pan Pac has always retained some secondees from Japan to support liaison and technical/administrative understanding – results of which being some lifelong associations between New Zealand and Japanese people have developed and cultural understanding enhanced.

Pan Pac has been a keen supporter of the community – both in general and business – why has it been important to contribute?

Most of Pan Pac’s markets are conducted on a Business to Business level with over 85% to export customers. As such we do not maintain a strong market presence in either Hawke’s Bay or New Zealand. We are however very dependent upon the support of locals for log supply, engineering services, transport capacity along with a trained and capable workforce. As a result support of local activity has been exercised as appropriate – this includes over 15 years sponsorship of the Rescue Helicopter, sponsorship of the HB Business Awards, participation on the HB Chamber of Commerce and Business HB along with community support over the greater Hawkes Bay region.

What have been some of the toughest challenges you’ve faced?
Responding to the need to ensure from the managing director’s desk that our employees and contractors are secure both in terms of their financial position as well as their family needs. Stable employment conditions are key to this objective, with many staff working with the company for more than 20 years.

In 2013 the company posted an operating loss, which resulted in a need to review some conditions. This was a difficult time but the outcome has seen ongoing security for all.

Health and safety performance remains an ongoing challenge and is a continuous process as the risks, while minimised, remain high in various parts of the business.

What are the things you’re personally proud of in your involvement with Pan Pac?
Participating in and then providing for sustained growth of a greenfield development in my home region with the securing of shareholder support not only for the region but also for the country.

The respect for our company amongst the local community, suppliers, customers and local and national government has had to be earned and feedback indicates that it is there.

What’s the future look like for Pan Pac?

Pan Pac has a bright future with substantial regional log resources available with staff and plant capability strengthening across the board.

Adaptability of products for markets will always be needed; however, the use of a sustainably managed resource will assist in expansion of the existing base.

Are there any transformations on the horizon?

It’s always a difficult call; for example, the advent of the smartphone has decimated demand in Japan for newsprint (the end use of Pan Pac pulp) and saw a significant $70 million development to make a higher-quality pulp for markets in China and India. The transition was successful yet demand patterns are still volatile.

On another front, a recent visit to China saw the use of 3D printed veneers being applied to doors, which could enable substitution of the frame to our lumber.

The management of carbon issues both for forestry and energy has new focus.

What does retirement look like for you?

The freedom to make the call on how my time is spent. As I approach my 70th birthday, it feels right to pass on my corporate responsibilities and to explore (and in some cases complete) new projects involving family and friends.

Fingermark & Luke Irving – Making a mark on the global fast food scene

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Luke Irving has big aspirations to leave an indelible mark on the global technology scene from Havelock North, as well as creating a Silicon Valley styled technology scene nurturing Hawke’s Bay talent.

Luke, the founder of a global tech company Fingermark which is leading the development of applied computer vision and deep learning computer machine technology, uplifted his team of 18 staff from Auckland and moved them into a warehouse in Havelock North three years ago.

The easiest way to explain what Fingermark does is that it designs, builds and manufactures leading edge technology solutions to help businesses streamline operations and enhance customer experience.

Fingermark leads the way in artificial intelligence (AI) software with real time and predictive business analytics, through to next generation customer kiosks and digital menu boards, which is fit for purpose and with a clear vision to “revolutionise customer speed of service” in sectors such as Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) and the health sector.

Luke established Fingermark in 2005, seeing a gap in the touch screen market and how it could be adopted in the hospitality and food service industry. He had had dabbled in the technology as a bar owner in Wellington, when he installed a touch screen point of sale system which he simply turned the screen around to the customer to place their food order.

“Self-service was starting to come of age and technology was at price point that it could be adopted into most markets quite easily but there was no one building technology in that space in NZ.

“I took a bit of a punt and set Fingermark up as a digital kiosk company, where we started to build hardware and software.

Early adopters included the Briscoes Group including Rebel Sport as well as Westfield Group and Sky City.”

Luke’s big break came when he developed the first self-ordering and payment kiosk for Subway, heralding a serious foray into the QSR sector.

This opened up the global opportunity to secure a contract with Yum Brands, the parent company of Restaurant Brands, which operates Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC globally.

Luke says fast food businesses were making good money during the Global Financial Crisis and they decided to invest in digital technology such as outdoor and indoor ordering kiosks and digital signage.

“There’s a well-known story of me taking 63 flights across the Tasman to win the Yum brands contract.

“They saw us as one-stop technology shop and that started our growth and global opportunities, so at the point in time I reinvested heavily back into the business in software development and we set up a software development business in Brazil.”

Four years ago, Fingermark hit a “sweet spot” and started to win additional contracts in the QSR sector for developing AI and Machine learning for suggestive selling and predictive modelling of a customer’s ordering patterns. The next generation technology is capable of identifying the customer and its buying habits so that it can offer more than ‘would you like fries with that?’.

Fingermark has gone on to smash its “big hairy audacious” client base target set for end of 2020 goal of 100,000 QSR including securing a global contact with McDonalds.

Fingermark now employs over 60 staff, many spread across two offices spaces in Havelock North, as well as team members based in Brazil, Dubai and Colarado, United States.

Luke’s ambitions are not to just develop a large technology business in Hawke’s Bay but to develop local talent that goes on to work in other local technology businesses such as Re-leased, Ask Your Team or Fingermark’s sister business Florence, which is based in Napier.

To do so, he is championing a talent laboratory campus and is scouting for a greenfields site. He has also had early discussions with EIT Hawke’s Bay to be the education partner with the aim of delivering highly skilled technology graduates with a higher earning capacity to Hawke’s Bay businesses.

“We’ve got five EIT technology graduates at Fingermark and we can see the potential to create a lab style education hub that will ensure the long term sustainability of businesses like ours in Hawke’s Bay. We don’t want to move, but we need the talent and there’s two options — you grow it locally or you import it.

Mark Matthews – Making his Mark on the animal health scene

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Mark Matthews retired as a veterinarian earlier this year after 44 years of travelling on dirt roads to the back blocks of Hawke’s Bay and other parts of the Central North Island.

Mark grew up on a farm in Poverty Bay but rather than becoming a farmer, he set his sights on being a vet – and a pretty good one, too.

Mark studied at Massey University in the early 1970s and upon graduating he moved over the hill to a vet clinic in Pahiatua, where he came under the mentorship of Bruce Farquharson. He spent five years learning off Bruce before moving up to Hastings to establish a practice for Vet Services Hawke’s Bay, an ambitious practice that started as the Central Hawke’s Bay Vet Club in 1949.

“Bruce played an important role in my career and was a fantastic mentor, especially in the area of production animal health.”

Mark, his pregnant wife Diane and two young children packed up and moved to a new exciting opportunity to establish Vet Services Hastings in 1980. Over the next 30 years, he would see the small clinic with one vet grow to a large-scale companion and working animal clinic with 14 vets, a large support team and a strong retail presence.

Mark built a strong reputation as a problem- solving vet on many farms across Hawke’s Bay, as well as earning a reputation as a leading authority on production animals that culminated in him being the latest recipient of the Alan Baldry Award this year for his contribution to sheep production.

Over the years he also became much sought after for his expertise in sheep and cattle health and productivity, presenting at many conferences in the United Kingdom and Australia. He was also involved in the early development of artificial insemination for sheep reproduction.

However, his greatest achievements are on the farm, where he’s helped minimise the outbreak of deadly animal diseases along with developing animal health plans for farmers.

“We deal with disease outbreaks all the time and I recall many years ago a farmer had all these yearling cattle dying and it looked like they had been poisoned – there was dead cattle everywhere.

“We did some autopsies and found out it was a major outbreak of worms and it was a set of circumstances that saw many of them die in a short period of time, which at first made us think they had been poisoned.”

Another interesting problem Mark and his team solved presented itself in the early days of dairying. The dairy cattle were dying and the farmer called in a nutritionist and Vet Services.

“They were all anaemic, they had no blood. The nutritionist couldn’t work it out but we gathered the information, pieced it together and worked out what was happening – it was a lack of phosphorus in the feed. We traced it back to the farmer providing supplementary feed that was coming from a food processing plant.”

The biggest farm production change Mark has seen over his career has been the introduction of international sheep genetics, which he says was a “major game changer”.

“All of a sudden you had sheep that produced two or three lambs, where New Zealand sheep at the time were only producing one and, only sometimes, two.

“Genetics has played a big role, as has on- farm practices. There’s been a lot more intensification and farmers have become much more ‘scientific’ than they used to be. They take a much more measured approach and some farmers are just amazing with what they are doing on their farms.

“When I first graduated, farmers would have been lucky to grow 8,000 kilograms of dry matter a year yet now top farmers are growing 15,000 kilograms, which can be attributed to farming techniques and genetics in the feed.”

Mark says the other key change was the end of livestock incentives when farmers were “paid to have sheep and beef”.

“That all went under Rogernomics and for the better as well, as farmers are now farming for a profit, not incentives.”

In recent years the spotlight has been placed on farmers and the environmental impact of farming. Mark says that generally farmers have been unfairly tarnished when it comes to their environmental footprint.

“Most farmers are very environmentally aware of what’s happening and are doing a lot; I don’t think the general public realise just how much they are doing.”

However, he says dairying could still be less intensive.

“It’s only my theory but farmers should only have enough cows that they can feed from what is grown on the farm and I think if you did that, you wouldn’t have any problems at all.

“But what happens is that they might have 30 percent more cows, and that means they have to bring in 30 percent more feed. Then you have all the problems of the extra nitrate coming out of the cows that adds pressure to our soils and waterways.”

Mark says he misses visiting the farms and catching up regularly with his farming clients and he has a word of advice for the modern- day vet:

“Some vets don’t get outside of the cattle yards but you need to get out and drive around the farm so that you understand the problems of the farm. You might work out a plan on how to do something but it might be physically too hard to achieve because of the terrain or lack of facilities on the farm, so it’s really important to get out on the farm and understand the full picture.”

Mark was also instrumental in the growth and success of Vet Services, which now has clinics in Masterton, Dannevirke, Waipukurau, Hastings and Napier.

He became an owner of the Hastings practice and was chairman of the board for about eight years. As he sits back in retirement, the only part of his job he doesn’t miss is being on-call.

Now in retirement, Mark and wife Cath plan to hitch up the caravan a bit more, spend time at the holiday home in Taupo as well as keep fit swimming and mountain biking.

Colin Shanley packs away the tripod after 63 years

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In 2020 Colin will pack away his theodolite for the last time, drawing an end to a career that has spanned 63 years as a land surveyor. Over this time, he’s seen the emergence of Flaxmere as Hastings’ new suburb, the huge population growth of

Havelock North, and the subdivision of lifestyle blocks and rural properties into more smaller parcels of land.

Every work day morning for many of these years, Colin has got into his trusty white Nissan ute and driven into his office in Avenue Road,

Hastings. The firm has had just three licenced partners in nearly 90 years – Harry Davies who founded the firm Davies Newcombe in 1931, Norman Hewkin and Colin.

Colin attributes his work ethic, professional skills as well as his longstanding involvement in the community to Harry and Norman.

“I joined the firm straight out of school as a cadet and learned the trade. H.C. Davies was a wonderful man and a guy I respected and learned a lot from – not only in surveying but in all aspects of being a surveyor as well as being involved in the community.”

Colin’s work ethic has been exhaustive for his entire career, both in business and as a community leader. He was a three-term Havelock North Borough councillor and after amalgamation with Hastings, he spent two terms on the Hastings District Council.

He has also been a loyal and hard-working member of the Havelock North Rugby Club and the local squash club, spending hundreds of hours on build projects such as rugby and squash club rooms, fundraising for the Village Pool, Havelock North Library and Community Centre, and the restoring of the Village Domain pavilion.

As a land surveyor Colin says his approach has been to ensure that a residential or lifestyle development enhances the surrounding environment both for residents and the broader public.

“Our role is to always ensure that the quality of the environment is enhanced.”

Over his career Colin has seen Havelock North grow from 3,500 residents to over 15,000 and Hastings from just over 30,000 to over 70,000, as well as the emergence of Flaxmere in the late 1960s.

Shanley & Co was heavily involved in the development of sections in Flaxmere through to the early 1990s and at one stage was surveying 300 sections a year. He says that if it wasn’t for residential planning changes and an over-zealous social welfare system, Flaxmere could have looked considerably different today.

Initially Flaxmere had a grand entrance with sections larger than 700m2 along Flaxmere Avenue, which backed onto an extensive park (Flaxmere Park), but over time and as you go further into the suburb development, the housing standard deteriorated.

“A good form of development not only caters for the people who go into that environment but also the surrounding community. We’ve always looked to enhancement but there can be areas that become detrimental to residential growth and worthwhile development.”

At the opposite end of town, in Havelock North, the sleepy village has become a bustling residential and commercial hotspot that could have been shaped more differently had the Havelock North Borough not merged with Hastings.

Colin says that prior to the merger there was an opportunity, thanks to some good planners, to create a masterplan for the village. This included new residential development in Arataki, to the north, which is now only just being realised.

The Arataki extension was a proposed growth area that would provide Havelock for a population of 14,000.

However, Colin says all that has happened isn’t a criticism of amalgamation, more a reflection. He says with further residential development proposed over the next five years with Brookvale and Iona set to accommodate over 700 houses, along with a retirement village to be built in Te Aute Road, it’s time to look at a new masterplan that will relieve congestion in the CBD, around schools

and connectivity to Hastings.

“There’s no doubt that Havelock will need a third arterial road connecting to Hastings and that will happen to the south at St Georges Road, at the existing bridge across the Karamu creek.”

As Colin looks back on his career, he’s reluctant to single out his own personal achievements or any specific development but when pressed, he says the Enfield lifestyle development near Paki Paki is a standout.

He’s particularly proud of the relationships the firm has developed with many landowners across the district, as well as the long-standing contribution made by many of his loyal staff. Frank Nijssen has been with the firm for over 38 years and Aaron Britten for 28 years.

As he prepares to exit in 2020, he says that although the firm hasn’t kept pace with modern technology, he’s enthusiastic about the next era of the firm without him at the helm.

“I have had huge satisfaction in doing what I’ve done. We’re a bit old-school but that comes from the foundations of the business and the early years I spent with Harry Davies.

“We are a bit behind the eight ball when it comes to a modern practice but there will be a new environment here that means the firm will be very much alive and well after I’ve gone.

“I’m pulling out at the right time and in good heart. The new administration will move Shanley & Co onwards and upwards.”

Aaron Brittin has worked for Colin for nearly 30 years, starting straight out of high school and he’s in awe of what Colin has achieved in a professional capacity as well as his dedication to the community.

“He is devoted to his work and his integrity is unique and goes beyond the call. He deals with people in such a fair way and I’ve never seen him get flustered,” Aaron says.

Professionally, Colin is so well respected by his peers, many of whom have started their careers under his wings.

“They are in awe of his work ethic and how many survey plans we complete over the course of a year.”

Aaron says as a boss, you couldn’t get a better mentor and it’s no surprise that staff have stayed long term with the business.

“He’s taught me everything I know and is an icon within the survey profession,” Aaron says.

Call for Young people to get involved and take lead in horticulture

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Outgoing Hawke’s Bay 2018 Young Fruit Grower of the Year Lisa Arnold is calling on more young people to get involved and take the lead in her industry.

“Hawke’s Bay needs more young people for our horticultural industry because its growing careers.  Every year the region is planting thousands of apple trees and more orchards, along with creating new sustainability initiatives,” Arnold said.

“We want young people to get involved and take the lead.”

Arnold, a HB Young Orchardist Group member, is an orchard operations assistant with Bostock New Zealand.  She created history last year as the first woman to win the prestigious and strongly contested local title.

Attending the Horticultural Field Days this week, Arnold says she’s looking forward to supporting this year’s finalists in the HBYFG competition, which is going from strength to strength.  She is also featuring at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s stand as part of highlighting productive sector success.

Ask her what the future holds for both her and Hawke’s Bay and the first word that springs to mind is – Wairoa.

She recently purchased an acre of good fertile land in Wairoa where she hopes to grow crops in a district she says is on the cusp of exciting opportunity and growth.

“Wairoa’s on the move, it’s going to be the place to be.”

“It has great soil, weather and access by road and rail is improving, locals are friendly and there’s available land with affordable housing, not to mention the weather and being close to the beach!”

Growing up in Gisborne and now living back home in Hastings where she was born, Arnold says as well as work, Hawke’s Bay is a really great place live.

“You can get outdoors, we’ve got Te Mata Peak, the beaches and it’s a great place to get out walk your dog”.

Leaving FAWCland for Auckland

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Since it began in 2012, F.A.W .C! has become such a drawcard for locals and visitors alike that it’s hard to imagine Hawke’s Bay’s event calendar without it.

But now the woman who established the Food and Wine Challenge – and has nurtured the growth of the twice-a-year celebration of great eating and drinking – has left town.

After more than eight years in charge of Hawke’s Bay Tourism (HBT), general manager Annie Dundas has taken up a new role in Auckland.

But it looks more like a case of ‘see you later’ rather than a final farewell from the industry veteran.

“I’m keeping my house [in the Bay]. I will be back at some point,” she says.

“It was just an amazing opportunity that came up and I feel we’ve done a lot at Hawke’s Bay Tourism and it’s time to hand the mantle on to somebody else to continue the work.”

Aside from fostering F.A.W.C!, that work has included growing a number of other Bay events such as The Big Easy and the Air New Zealand Hawke’s Bay Marathon.

As the media release announcing her departure noted, when Annie started at HBT in 2011, her role involved “rebuilding the credibility of the region’s tourism organisation”. The entity formerly responsible for delivering tourism initiatives, Venture Hawke’s Bay, had imploded following industry and political infighting.

Before arriving here, Annie had spent 17 years with Tourism New Zealand, the last three as regional manager for North America.

Her boss of 10 years, former Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton, was then the newly-appointed chair of Hawke’s Bay Tourism and brought her to the region.

“He asked me to look at what was going on and initially I think I was supposed to be here a month, but I’ve been here eight and a half years, so it all worked out,” she says.

“I wasn’t from Hawke’s Bay and in a funny way I think that might have made it easier. I didn’t know all the politics but I understood what needed to be done.”

Annie’s team devised a plan that local operators supported through a ‘substantial’ contribution of $160,000 a year for three years on top of funding from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

“It was a great starting point to have such a strong and unified industry,” she says.

The following year, F.A.W.C! got off the ground.

Annie says while regional tourism organisations such as Hawke’s Bay Tourism generally aren’t in the business of running events, there was a realisation that if the Bay was going to boost visitor numbers it needed ways to draw people here.

“We thought, let’s step in and create something that’s actually going to drive visitors to Hawke’s Bay, rather than just putting an ad in the paper.”

At the time the region was lacking a premium-focused event celebrating the quality of the food and wine Hawke’s Bay has to offer, and that seemed like a missed opportunity, she says.

“I’d worked in the US at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, which is held in June each year, and I thought Hawke’s Bay was ripe for the picking for an event with a structure like that.”

After the first Summer F.A.W.C! in late 2012 proved successful, Hawke’s Bay Tourism took the plunge and decided to also run a winter event. It turned out to be a good move – Winter F.A.W.C! now attracts almost as many attendees as its summer counterpart.

“F.A.W.C! is a really special platform for the region and I hope it can continue in its entirety because while it’s two events a year, it’s positioned Hawke’s Bay as a year-round premium food and wine destination,” Annie says.

“Visitors now genuinely come to Hawke’s Bay for a food and wine experience. Sometimes that’s during F.A.W.C! but a lot of the time it’s throughout the rest of the year. We’ve got incredible venues and F.A.W.C! has had a part to play in raising the profile of food and wine generally.”

Similar thinking led to the creation of The Big Easy. Hawke’s Bay has great cycle trails so why not create an event that encourages locals and visitors alike to make use of them?

Asked about other highlights during her time in the role, Annie says she’s proud of the work Hawke’s Bay Tourism has put into its website (HawkesBayNZ.com), which was rewarded with a win at last year’s New Zealand Tourism Awards where it picked up the Industry Alignment Award.

The award was recognition for HBT bringing together the local councils, business associations and over 300 tourism operators to create a single website to promote the region – something Regional Tourism New Zealand executive officer Charlie Ives described at the time as “no easy feat”.

“We’ve worked long and hard on that and we’ve changed a lot of how we operate and run the business based on our digital footprint,” says Annie.

“HawkesBayNZ.com is not just your usual website, it’s a bit more editorially-driven and a bit more newsy. The fact we’ve hit half a million visitors on the site per annum is testament to

the fact people enjoy the content. It’s worked brilliantly for us and the numbers speak for themselves.”

She was able to leave HBT on a high in April with the latest visitor spend figures showing tourists parted with a record $224 million while in the Bay between December and February,

an $8 million increase on what they spent over the same period a year earlier.

On top of that, February’s nine percent growth in spending compared to the same month last year ranked Hawke’s Bay as the best performing region in the country.

Visitor spend in Hawke’s Bay is now estimated at $652 million a year.

But despite the rosy growth and buoyancy in the sector at present, Annie has some words of warning for the region as she begins a new role in Auckland.

“Hawke’s Bay Tourism has got issues around long-term sustainable funding and ultimately we want a sustainable funding model so that we’re not worried about how we market

the region,” she says.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council cut back its funding of the organisation last year and is now only committed to contributing $1.25 million a year until mid-2021.

HBT is currently working on a regional visitor strategy, including looking at the visitor infrastructure needs for the next 15–20 years, which it hopes all the local councils will buy into.

“There are a whole bunch of bigger issues that need to be planned in Hawke’s Bay around making sure that we’re ready for more visitors and more growth,” Annie says.

“The region needs a much more longer-term view of how it looks at the tourism potential for Hawke’s Bay.”

HBT also needs a bare minimum of the $1.25 million a year it currently gets to carry out its marketing efforts, she says.

“We don’t need it to go back any further. What we have now is borderline to keep promoting the region as we are. That’s why, as a region, we need to think carefully about how we fund stuff,

and if it’s not the ratepayer that faces that burden, then visitors are going to have to face that burden, so we all need to have grown-up conversations around how we do that.”

She cites the example of Queenstown Lakes District Council, which is proposing a visitor levy aimed at raising $25 million to $40 million a year to help fund infrastructure and services.

“I’m sure these conversations will be publicly had in Hawke’s Bay over time. We have to sit back and say, how are we going to pay for all the things we want? We have to have a good open

discussion around how we should do that.”

But while that debate goes on, Annie will be in Auckland where her new role is heading up the tourism arm of iwi entity Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Whai Rawa Limited, which until now has been

primarily focused on property investments.

“They’ve been very successful in doing what they’ve been doing and now they’re heading into the tourism arena,” she says.

“For me, it’s got some really exciting components to it. Auckland’s at a point where, within a year or two, we’re hosting the America’s Cup and APEC, so it’s a nice time to think about

the message and story we’ll be telling visitors.”

Hawke’s Bay Tourism has appointed a former CEO of Tourism Dunedin, Hamish Saxton, to manage the organisation

temporarily while it recruits a new general manager.

Tribute – Ray Turner

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He may be closing in on 90 years of age, yet Hawke’s Bay’s greatest living inventor continues to submit product patents.

A.R. (Ray) Turner just can’t stop inventing. He’s so prolific that in the past three years, he’s listed 36 patents with the Australian Patent Office. During his lifetime he’s patented more than 100 inventions.

His first invention was in 1954, which was an automatic photographic radar speed detector.

All his life he’s been coming up with ideas and problems solving.

“If someone puts a problem before me, I will solve it because my mind works that way. I’m always thinking of ways of doing things.

Ray rose to prominence for inventing products for the building industry, such as the spring door stop, the angle brace and nail plates.

Pryda, the company which had its beginnings from his home in Taradale in 1964 and which he sold in 1986, is now part of a large international conglomerate, which still proudly has a manufacturing plant in Napier.

Ray will be guest of honour as the company celebrates 50 years this year.

Ray has been out of the spotlight for many years but his daughter Debra Malone read the feature on local inventors in the last issue of The Profit, which motivated her to contacted us to say we had left out “the greatest inventor of all time, who lives in Napier.”

The email went on … “he invented products that revolutionised the building industry around the world, ending up with over 100 patents to his name.

“He employed many people here in the Bay and would specifically employ the deaf to run the huge steel plate presses in Onekawa.

“He is a fascinating man, who is very humble about his achievements.”

Following this email Debra arranged for me to meet with Ray.

When I arrived, I was warmly welcomed at the door by Ray and his partner Elva. He guided me out to the back of his home where he quickly produced folders of his achievements, product patents, media clippings and a bound book he was presented by his seven siblings on his 60th birthday.

At 89, Ray remains pretty mobile and agile of mind. He professed to not having the memory of yesteryear but still fondly retold many stories, along with sharing his ideas on solving some environmental issues, such as converting sea water into drinkable water and

constructing houses on water, to overcome the risk of earthquakes and relieving pressure on land use.

So why is Ray still inventing? He’s still hoping to strike it big with another invention but he says that in his late 80s he was getting bored and needed to keep his mind active.

“I look up websites for manufacturing companies all over the world and look at what they are making and if I can do it better.

“That’s why I started Decklock [his latest project] three years ago because I was bored and I had nothing to think about. I started inventing again but there’s not the demand here [for decklock], I’ve started it in the wrong country.”

He still has high hopes for Decklock, for which he’s developed marketing collateral such as brochures, videos and a website, www.decklock.co.nz, but he’s struggled to convince hardware stores and builders to use the product.

“I did get it right the first time [Pryda], it went off like a rocket.”

Ray says his greatest achievement is the growth and success of Pryda, which he sold in 1986 for a “few million”, which enabled him to help buy homes for his children.

He exclaims that the business was recently bought out again for $87 million!

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Pryda’s first factory (under the name A.R. Turner) was set up in the games room of his house in Church Road making spring door stops.

As the demand for door stops increased and new products were invented, the business needed a larger factory and Ray moved to a block of shops he’d built in Gloucester Street, Taradale.

Around the same time Ray, changed the company name to Pryde to avoid confusion with another hardware company, Stanley Turner Hardware.

He took advice from Oliver McKnight from a Hastings advertising agency to name the company Pryde, but a few years later the name was slightly changed to Pryda, which in Norwegian means adorn.

“I kept getting introduced as Mr Pryde and we then also found out that we couldn’t register the name as it was a surname, so we changed it to Pryda.”

At the same time he went into partnership with toolmaker Bob Witham, who had the ability to turn many of the inventions into commercial reality.

The company also established a testing laboratory, where Ray invented the angle brace, which has been an international success for more than 40 years.

As the business continued to grow, Pryda needed more space and the business moved to 75 Niven Street, where the New Zealand operations are still located today.

Ray bought six new truss presses and the company’s famous Claw Nail nailplate product was one of the first products to be manufactured from the factory.

The product was so successful that Ray couldn’t source enough galvanised steel in New Zealand, and had to start importing it from Australia.

GLOBAL EXPANSION

In the late 1960s, Ray undertook some joint overseas ventures in South Africa and Fiji. The South Africa venture stopped because of the political situation but Ray formed close relationships with hardware outlets in Fiji and also helped develop a school on Waya Island, which was named afterhim.

“We sold many of our products to the Pacific Islands and in particular Fiji, where we became benefactors to an island group called the Yasawa Island and Waya Island.

“We provided money for the classrooms as well as furniture and we also supplied power generators and other materials.”

Ray also got Napier residents involved by donating clothing and sewing machines.

Products such as the claw nail plate, truss presses, jogs and the angle brace were patented and were in demand in New Zealand and other countries including Australia and the US.

In 1970 Ray sent his eldest son Daryl to Australia to set up Pryda in Dandenong. By 1972, Prdya had its first truss plant in Adelaide and by 1975 Daryl, had developed truss design technology using a four kilobyte memory Wang 2200 computer.

Ray admits that in the mid to late 1970s he was a workaholic. The business had grown substantially and was a seven-day operation, and he was working up to 16 hours a day.

THE FUTURE IS 3-D PRINTING

Over the years Ray says he’s spent thousands of dollars on patenting and product development, including regularly visiting Napier firm Axia Design Group to develop 3D modelling of his inventions.

Ray’s fascinated by 3-D printing. He says it’s the most exciting technology development and he quickly produces some information pulled off the Internet about a house being built by a 3-D printer.

“I would be a little kid with a toy if I got one, but I think I am past it at 90 years. It would be just too difficult for me to master.

“They’re wonderful. In the last week or two I’ve been looking up everything with 3D. It has a tremendous future for the building industry and for the world.

The opportunities are endless as you can even make human body parts and grow flesh around them.”

MORE INVENTIONS TO COME!

Ray has no plans to stop inventing, although money is now more of an issue than back in the 1970s and 80s.

His wife Elva admits it’s not uncommon for Ray to get up at 3am and go to his computer and start researching or mappingoutanotherinvention.

Ray looks sheepishly as he shows off his latest inventions and talks about what else he’d like to invent.

“It’s [inventing] made me poorer. I used to have a lot of money and owned houses, a motel and 12 companies, but I have no regrets … apart from wishing I still had 10 percent of Pryda!”

Katie Nimon takes the wheel

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Katie Nimon has been working in her family business – Nimon Luxury Passenger Transport – since she was 14. Now she’s been recognised as a leading influencer for Hawke’s Bay tourism.

When this year’s Hawke’s Bay Tourism Awards were announced in September, Katie Nimon was honoured with a special individual accolade that seems very appropriate: Ambassador for Tourism in Hawke’s Bay.

It’s a reflection of more than just of her role as a key player in the local tourism industry; she’s been championing the Bay for years.

“When I was working in advertising in Auckland (about three years ago), my workmates used to joke about me being the ambassador for Hawke’s Bay,” she chuckles.

“Back then I used to talk about Hawke’s Bay so much – telling everyone to pay it a visit, how it was a great place to go on holiday, or just for a weekend – maybe they foresaw the award, I don’t know!”

In January this year, Katie was appointed general manager of the family business, Nimon Luxury Passenger Transport, where she works with her father and managing director Bill Nimon, mother Sue (administration manager) and uncle Garth Nimon, who looks after the company’s school runs.

Katie, 27, is the fifth generation of the Nimon family to work in the business and she’s been part of the company since she became a part- time staffer at the age of 14.

“I definitely started at the bottom. I was spending most of my time answering phones, filing paperwork and stamping envelopes. Basically, doing everything that no one else wanted to do.”

After leaving school, she studied advertising and marketing at Massey University, finishing with an Honours degree. But the family business has never been far from her mind.

“When I was 18, before I went off to university, I redesigned the logo to what it is now,” she says.

“Then, during my time at university, any free time I had – holidays and the odd weekend – would be spent working in the business, learning every single role that we have. I was doing the charter work, some marketing and PR, covering accounts when people were away, looking after operations.

“That was probably the best learning experience I could have. During that time, we were slowly starting to refine the brand and polish up what the business actually means, so I was effectively working on the brand identity that whole time.”

After completing her studies and spending time working in Auckland, Katie headed back to Hawke’s Bay in 2015 to take up the role as marketing manager at Nimons (as it is fondly known).

“The sunshine called and I followed,” she says.

“When I was younger I’d always wanted to work in advertising, and that’s what I studied and had the opportunity to do, and it was amazing; but the more time I spent away from Hawke’s Bay and away from the family business, the more I realised that was what I wanted to do.”

Then, in January this year, she became general manager, replacing long-serving GM Pete Patterson who had moved on.

“We looked at it and thought, yes, okay, I’m young, but on the other hand, who knows the business as well as I do?”

As general manager Katie retains the marketing role, which she says makes sense because it’s a business where marketing is at the core of what the company does.

“Everybody should be thinking with a marketing mindset, so it made sense that I continue doing what I was doing as marketing manager. In this industry the role is about marketing ourselves and the region as well as about relationship building.

“What’s really important is that you have good relationships with other operators and venues and members of the public. If other businesses don’t believe in what you do, then no amount of marketing is going to help because they are the advocates – they’re the ones who suggest to their customers that they should use your services.”

If taking up the GM role wasn’t enough, Katie is also back studying extramurally, working towards an MBA through Massey University.

While it’s keeping her very busy, she says she’s enjoying complementing what she’s learning through practical work in the business with what the MBA is teaching her.

Over the past three years, and following on from the earlier rebranding work, Katie’s work in the business has included introducing the Nimon Luxury Passenger Transport brand.

While not all aspects of the business are focused on ‘luxury’, she says the branding reflects the fact that a large portion of its operations is focused on the higher end of the market.

It’s a positioning Bill first identified when he realised several years ago that vehicles with high specifications were what the industry was demanding, and what could set Nimons apart.

“We had competitors in the region doing the ‘basic’ approach, and even though at the time there wasn’t a lot of high-end tourism, that’s changed and the arrival of destinations such as The Farm at Cape Kidnappers have brought a different type of business to Hawke’s Bay,” she says.

“Likewise, with the arrival of high-end cruise ships and growth in the number of touring groups and individual travellers looking for a top-quality experience, we’ve been ready for that change in the market, rather than waiting for it to happen and then responding to it.”

But Katie says the business – and the tourism industry in general – can’t afford to focus solely on high-end travellers.

“I think there’s a place for every kind of business and every kind of offering. We talk to people regularly who want our advice on how to get into the cruise market or tourism in general and we tell them the most important thing is offering something for everybody.

“We’re very aware that we’re not in Auckland, where you might be able to be top-end-only and still be successful. But if we only offered top-end services here, we wouldn’t be busy all the time.

“I was recently talking to a new operator who was interested in targeting the top end and I told him you don’t want to discount the backpackers because they still have money to spend, albeit not as much.

“It doesn’t mean that everybody shouldn’t offer quality and I think that’s completely different. If you are offering an affordable, accessible product, it still needs to be high quality, it just might not have all the bells and whistles that a top operator might have.”

She says the industry should always have in the back of its mind that today’s backpackers and freedom campers could potentially return to New Zealand as tomorrow’s luxury travellers.

Cruise ship passengers, who might only spend a few hours in the region, should also be thought of in the same way.

“People on cruises might be here for six hours. It’s not long and often they don’t spend much money in the region, but we’re here to put our best foot forward and give them a great experience. Then they’ll come back, bring their families and stay for a week – that’s what we want and that’s our opportunity.

“That’s how we’ve got to treat any visitor – the potential for more. A backpacker may come here freedom camping but in 10 years’ time, when they’ve got money to burn, they might come back and stay in luxury accommodation.”

One of the challenges for Nimons, she says, is it represents two industries – transport and tourism – which often have conflicting requirements.

“The thing is not to put yourself in one box, because if we had put ourselves only in the transport industry box we wouldn’t have even considered the possibility of seeking Qualmark Gold certification. But because we’re also a tourism operator and we see the value of respecting and protecting the environment and making sure we are role models for our visitors, we went for it.

“We tried really hard to offset our carbon footprint and we achieved Qualmark Gold status. As a tourism operator that’s not uncommon but as a transport operator, it is. We’re one of only two coach companies in the country to achieve it.”

Nimons is a business where there’s a constant need to ensure the customer experience is unique, says Katie.

“It’s the personality of the driver and that feeling that customers have when they get onboard one of our vehicles. That’s what you’ve got to keep in mind every day. It’s more than just getting someone from one place to the next – because anyone can do that – it’s what you can do differently.

“The most important thing is thinking more about the experience than the product. The product is the bus and the experience is what you do with it. You can have the world’s nicest, most modern vehicle but if you’ve not got the entirety of the service at that same level, it’s not going to be a complete experience.”

Nimons.co.nz

Pro Q&A with Tim Aitken

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Tim Aitken is the new chair of Horse of the Year (HoY). Tim has farmed in Central Hawke’s Bay for many years and is also a CHB district councillor. Tim has had a strong involvement in equestrian being a “Brony”, see below to what that stands for…

What are your key aspirations for the event?

Firstly I have to acknowledge and thank Cynthia Bowers for the six years she has chaired HoY (Hawkes Bay) Ltd board. She has steered HoY through some very tough times and has stepped down at a time with the show in great heart.

  • To deliver the best show in Australasia. We need to continue the partnership with the A&P Society and Hastings District Council in developing the facilities and grounds to their full potential.
  • Attract all the top competitors from around the Australasian region and I would love to see more main stream TV coverage.

Why did you get involved in HoY? And what has been your involvement over the years?

I have always looked at the show as a great event for the equestrian community and Hawke’s Bay, and when the opportunity came to be on the HoY board I took it.

I have been attending HoY for years as a support husband, dad or as my Lucy and Willa call it in our family a “Broney” (men who like ponies) the guy that picks up the poo, holds things, drives the truck, dishes out treats, general do it all person and of course being a volunteer, albeit in a small way compared to some of the hours stalwarts who have made the wheels of HoY turn.

What skills do you bring to the role of chair?

I bring strong Governance skills to the role as chair, I also bring an ability to communicate to all who are involved, from the parents who are supporting their children at HoY and sponsors, volunteers and discipline organisers who put endless voluntary hours into their sections.

Is there anything new planned for the upcoming show?

Eventing is going to see some changes, with the cross country going to be in the afternoon. Some jumps being copied from Burghley Horse Trials and hopefully more international riders competing this time. HoY is one of the few venues in Australasia where riders can expose themselves and their horses to the crowd’s we have around the course like they have at Burghley for example.

If you could make one improvement to the venue (HB A&P Showgrounds) what would it be?

An indoor arena large enough to hold 3000 plus people, that would have an interchangeable surface. We would have night time events going on all week for the public to come into after work, weather would not have such an impact. Competitors and horses would get the experience of being indoors which is how a lot of big competitions are now being held. This would not just be a positive for HoY and the equestrian community, but also all of Hawke’s Bay.

Likewise – with the event – what would you like to improve?

I would like to see an ongoing improvement in the competitor experience, and see competitors take a more active role in supporting the show by volunteering when they have down time. At the end of the day it is their show.

• A more international feel, with more international riders and stall holders attending.

• Better night time entertainment, we have not always got this right in the past and is high on the Boards list of areas that needs improving.

Another area that we hope to improve on is around the none-riding volunteers experience, how can we do it better for them so that they feel part of the family that is HoY and want to come back year after year.

What do you see as the benefits of HoY to HB? And to Hastings as the host city?

The economic benefit that comes from hosting HoY. Spotlight on Hawke’s Bay of all the wonderful things we have in the Bay from food, wine, tourism opportunities the list goes on.

How can Hastings and its people embrace HoY more?

To come to the show and see what it is all about. Volunteer for half a day, a day or more. Volunteers are the life blood for this show, without them we could not run it.

Will Hastings always be the home of HoY?

I would very much like it to stay in Hastings. It is very high on my agenda to look at what the board and the shareholders want HoY to look like in 2027. We cannot do it all in one year we need to create a strategy going forward to meet our aspirations for the show and to ensure that Hastings keeps HoY.

What’s the current economic impact of the event?

14,767 people attended the 2018 show, of which 11,178 were domestic visitors and 224 international visitors. 80 percent were from outside Hawke’s Bay which has a contribution to tourism in Hawke’s Bay of $4,495,000 excl GST

What’s the biggest thrill you get out of being involved in HoY?

Just being a part of it all, meeting people, from all walks of life all over New Zealand and the world who have made it their mission to come HoY. Walking around and feeling the buzz, visiting each discipline area and watching everything unfold and marvel at how it has all come together. I have met some super people. This year I had a reciprocal visit to Liz Inman who is in charge of the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials and had a fabulous tour around the Burghley grounds.

What keeps you awake at night in the lead up to and during the event?

The weather, always the weather and the budget!

What do you do in your spare time?

When the weather is good I try and go fishing with my son Jim, enjoy supporting Lucy and Willa with their horses and I have just taken up flying again after a 15-year hiatus.

Direction Focused

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“Stay focused on your direction, and don’t get too hung up on specifics,” is the advice one of Hawke’s Bay’s most experienced farming leaders has for the future generation when goal setting.

Sam Robinson, who is this year’s recipient of the Laurie Dowling Memorial Award for services to agriculture, is now spending more of his time mentoring and sharing his experience as a company director and chairman, of both private and public cooperatives and investor-owned entities.

As a young farmer, Sam says he can remember putting down some goals – have 5,000 sheep, 200 cows and to be on the New Zealand Meat Board. While he never made it onto the meat board, Sam, says doing this simple exercise made him realise where he wanted to head.

“Opportunities are never obvious, and when you do spot them, there is always risk attached. If you do see an opportunity, back yourself and have a go.”

Sam freely admits to being “one of those” from the PMS (pale, male and stale) club, but says for him, diversity is more than the result of genetics; it is also from how you think.

He’s always taken a long-term view of life, both on his farm and in governance.

He’s put an emphasis on making his Flemington farming business resilient both economically and environmentally. Of the 1,030 Hectares of land he and his family own, only 830 hectares are in pastoral use, and even that has a good covering of willow and poplar plantings, and at last count there are about 18Km of shelter belts on the farm. The remaining 200 hectares are made up of approximately 75 hectare of production forestry, and the balance is retired. Recently he entered a sharefarming equity partnership with young farmer Jason Wyn-Harris on the property.

Similarly, with a business such as AgResearch, which he chaired for nine years, Sam says there can be up to 15 years between deep discovery type research to commercialisation.

The Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme he says was also about a long-term view of what improvements are possible for both the Hawke’s Bay economy and environment.

A fundamental strength and opportunity for both New Zealand and Hawke’s Bay is food production.

“Food needs three things to grow. Hawke’s Bay has an abundance of soil and sun, and the third – water – can be provided as irrigation, which is only precision rainfall.

“If we look at the Heretaunga Plains, they were once predominantly pastoral, including a good proportion of dairy farming. In 1935 Sir James Wattie built a food processing plant. By the 1960s there were significant areas of peas and beans as well as apples and pears, and today we’re growing squash, new varieties of apples and other high value crops.”

In 80 years the Heretaunga Plains have gone from basic to sophistication in food production.

“When I think about the transformational opportunities for the Ruataniwha Plains we can do the same.”

He accepts that “at this stage” the RWSS has some significant challenges to be overcome if it is to eventuate. However, he is hopeful that “in time there will be another discussion about the merits and risks of the RWSS and the true potential of the Ruantaniwha Basin Plain can be realised for Hawke’s Bay, all the way from the paddock to the port”.

In accepting the award, Sam paid tribute to the late Laurie Dowling, for his self-less commitment to both agriculture and the community.

“Laurie always had time for people.”