N.Z. Specifications Not Yet Accepted Abroad

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30152, 8 June 1963, Page 13

N.Z. Specifications Not Yet Accepted Abroad

New Zealand's comparative isolation from Southeast Asia has caused a Christchurch I manufacturer to adopt British specifications for its export products instead of New Zealand ones Mr R. J. Stewart, of PDL Industries. Ltd., said yesterday that the lack of knowledge about New Zealand in Malaya and the Pacific Islands was such that consumers there required import goeds to conform to British specifications. These were the only ones with which they were familiar and could completely rely on. "This is unfortunate, because New Zealand standards and specifications are usually as demanding as those of any other country, but they are simply not well known overseas.” he said. An example of this was the fact that Britain had recently copied the specifications tests set down for electric blankets which had been developed by the industrial development department of the University of Canterbury. Ait the present time, tests to comply with the British specifications on high-voltage and household electric switches were being completed for his company by the Industrial Development Department, said Mir Stewart. In some cases, British tests were little different, or even less strict than New

Zealand ones; but the British ones had to be adopted for successful sales in Southeast Asia.

One of the beneficial long-term results of the Colombo Plan was the familiarity with New Zealand products and standards which graduate students took home with them. Mr Stewart said. These graduates were the engineers and scientists who would later have the responsibility of choosing equipment and goods to be used in their countries, and the situation would gradually improve in that way. But more active export promotion was the real need at the present time. The exhaustive tests being applied to the switches at the industrial development department leave no room for doubt. A 60 ampere switch for household or factory use is switched on and off 1000 times by a tireless machine, checked for temperature rises during use. and deliberately overloaded by 50 per cent, for 100 operations.

“Many products are tested just as rigorously for distribution in New Zealand, but we still have to convince our overseas markets that our standards are as reliable as any others,” Mr Stewart said.