Varied Products, Low Productivity

Press, Volume C, Issue 29673, 17 November 1961, Page 10

Varied Products, Low Productivity

Vtvw Zeeland’S nmaE population with relatively sophwtfcuted tastes that demanded that manufacturers provide as varied a ran<e of produdte as in Europe was part of the reason why the country husd one of the lowest rates of increase in productivity a head. in. Western countriea over the last, 10 years. This comment on a report by the president of ; the Cantertxiry branch of the New Zeeland Institute of Management (Mr P. R..Hadlesy). was made by a managing director of the Manchester branch of Ciba Clayton, Ltd, a firm which manufactures plastics, dyestuffs and pharmaceutical products and distributes them the world. He is Mr G. H. Carnail, managing director of the dye. stuffs dtviaion, who is visiting the New Zealand Offices and factories to gain an insight into the marketing conditions for dyes. “Textile manufacturers are unable to specialise and so cut costs and help increase production rates. They are expected to provide the same variety of goods as in Europe where there are many more factories to make variety economical,” he said. The yearly production run of a New Zealand factory would be about the production run of one type of manufactured product for a month in a European factory. Cost Comparison The increased price of New Zealand-made products was not the fault of the factories. “During the last 18 months modern machinery has been allowed into the country and production costs compare very favourably with those in Europe. However, the retail markup in New Zealand is higher and the cost of distribution is also more than in Europe,” he said. With between 500 and 600 different types of dyes discovered or created, the present trend in research was to discover the best application and the most suitable materials for their use, Mr Carnail said. Mr CamaU’s firm spends £7 million a year on research. Research had shown that continuous dying rather than batch dying gave a better result. Fabrics such as dacron were pressure dyed—dyeing at 130 degrees • centigrade. “Naturailily these methods demand different machines and we work very closely with the machinery manufacturing industry. Since the discovery of the reactive dyes, dyes which form a chemical link with the fabric and cannot be removed

witbout the deuton J both dye and fabric, Mr CarnaH has found that the fashion industry hae worked in much more closely. * ‘The reactive dyes are limited to cotton and viscose rayon.” he said. “The brilliant shades of the dyes have been the recent fashion colours and the fashion hcvses have to know which type of dye is suitable for the different fabrics.” "At present, wool is the main fibre dyed in New Zealand, with a certain amount of nylsn and rayon. Cotton dyeing is undertaken on a modest scale. Mr Carnail considers that when the proposed Nelson cotton mill comes into production there should be a substantial increase of production in the dyeing industry.