Designline: Roll-out of hybrid buses for UK

Designline's Roll-out of hybrid buses for UK market, Ashburton

SPEECH NOTES

Acknowledgements:

Managing Director John Turton
Mayor Bede O'Malley

There is a simple list of New Zealand needs to do more -- and this is a list I go around New Zealand extolling every week of the year:

We need to earn more export income.

It's the only way we can generate the jobs and incomes we need.

In order to earn better export incomes, we need to design and sell more high-tech, high-value products for which there is growing global demand.

We need to stake out a niche for ourselves through the use of design and creativity.

We need to develop international networks that will help us to bring our products to market.

We need to invest in the skills and talents that will sustain our innovation.

It's a tall order.

Yet everything in that list is being celebrated today.

Smart products, creative branding and innovative market strategies can carry New Zealand companies to success in the global marketplace.

A few years ago a survey was carried out which asked New Zealanders how we would like to be known around the world.

A small percentage said they thought New Zealand should be known for our sporting success.

Significantly larger percentages wanted us to be known for our clean green environment and for providing a secure and fair society.

And of course, everyone of us would agree with all of those as important goals for New Zealand.

But the response that impressed me the most was that the majority of New Zealanders want New Zealand to be known throughout the globe for our creativity, talent and uniqueness.

This is the quality Designline is putting on display today and showcasing to the world through these buses.

It's proving New Zealand companies can compete successfully and win.

We will never achieve the incomes and lifestyles of the countries we like to compare ourselves to if New Zealand only sells to New Zealand.

Nor will we prosper by selling more and more commodities, like unsawn logs and milk powder.

There is only one way to earn the incomes we need to provide high-value jobs for young New Zealanders, and to fund a strong system of health care and education.

It's to use innovation and our uniqueness to respond to global customer needs with in sophisticated products and services.

Design provides a distinctive edge.

Design is not just styling of the product.

It is a process which needs to be incorporated throughout the production process.

When design is effective, it gives manufacturers better differentiation for their products and it enhances their brand.

In turn these create new markets, new niches, new customers and increased loyalty.

NZ Trade and Enterprise is the agency the Labour-Progressive coalition government set up to work as a partner with industry and grow our base of innovative world-class companies.

Through its predecessor -- Industry NZ -- it provided a grant that proved to be a turning point for this company.

I keep reading stories in the paper criticising the government for working closely with industry to create success.

(The people who say that don't tend to come along to events like this one. They ought to hop on the bus).

It supported Designline because of the obvious potential for this company to succeed.

Today we are here to mark the achievement of the first stage of that vision.

As President Bush once proclaimed in a very different context: Mission Accomplished.

But just as in that context, there remains a lot more to be done.

These buses are the beginning and we will all hope it results in ongoing success.

I want to congratulate Designline for its use of design in creating its product.

NZ Trade and Enterprise is supporting a project called Better By Design.

It aims to promote the use of design in our businesses.

The goal is to generate more export sales through the use of design.

Successful specialised manufacturing companies tend to invest heavily in design, along with research and development.

Design allows companies to differentiate their products, achieve higher margins and rely less on price and volume.

I want New Zealand to become globally respected as a centre for design.

There was conference in Auckland a couple of weeks ago called Better By Design.

It was one of many events and activities that are underway to promote design in New Zealand.

The job is urgent because it offers a valuable future for New Zealand.

The use of design to drive our production up the value chain can offer the jobs and incomes New Zealanders can aspire to.

It’s only through the creativity and talents of New Zealanders that we will find our place in global chains, and earn global incomes.

We need to unlock that potential in if we are to offer our young a future here.

There are many ways these buses represent the advantages New Zealand possesses.

One of the distinguishing strengths of our manufacturers is their skill at short production runs and quick turn around times.

The more success we have with buses like these, the more we gain a reputation for unique, creative manufacturing, and that will spill over to other businesses.

We need to do better at celebrating our successes.

We're good at celebrating the All Blacks or the cricketers.

We need to show the same passion and the same national sense of unity behind our businesspeople as they take on the world.

It's not the affluence successful businesspeople might hope to achieve.

It is the creativity they need to display and foster in order to make a business a success.

We can be inspired and excited by the creativity available to us.

We have almost unlimited potential, and we have a young population desperate for us to harness that potential for our country’s future.

I want to transform the New Zealand economy.

I believe we need to lock in
low unemployment.

I want us to offer incomes, a lifestyle and opportunities as attractive as anywhere in the world.

Success like this are helping us to achieve that goal.

I congratulate Designline on this initiative and the success achieved to date.I wish you all the best for achieving more in the future.