By Doug Green

Manufacturing environments are rapidly evolving due to global competition and changing customer requirements. This is from the Lead Article (Page 5) that in a very comprehensive way describes the need to maintain competitiveness and look after critical business decisions in Asia, South Pacific regions.

So how is your company managing this? Vehicle manufacturers seem to be pretty much on to it and I am always being informed of key refinements to manufacturing environments, especially from South Korea. So have your say as well and email words@xtra.co.nz and we will publish your observations and share your manufacturing methods with our readers around the world.

We also look at Product Data Management (PDM) and the need to look at such an integrated system (Page 19). There is no point wasting valuable time looking for or recreating designs that already exist, which can put your company at a competitive disadvantage. Using existing designs can save time and money and bring new products to market faster. A fascinating read!

Energy conservation and environmental protection is now the catch phrase for sustainable global growth. Do you agree with that observation? In China the State Council is looking at ways for sustainable growth by developing an innovative model. So Speeding up Green Technology in China (Page 30) describes a campaign underway to do better business environmentally.

This is a sound initiative especially with economic indicators around the globe showing a slowdown of activity. Seizing the moment is definitely the way to go.

Our Asia Pacific economies face huge challenges. And that’s okay – through issues arising new opportunities are created. Let us all grab hold of 2012 and make it a successful business year.