From September, the company regained control of the distribution of its outboard marine products and has plans to strengthen this business by providing better customer service.

“We will grow our market share in marine products and aim to achieve a 20 percent share by 2023,” said Peck.

Peck, who has worked at Suzuki for 34 years, is proud to be leading one of Suzuki’s top performing subsidiaries.

“We love the brand and when you have been with the company for as long as I have, you make a lot of friends along the way,” said Peck. “We have an excellent relationship with our parent company and we fully expect this to continue into the future.”

www.suzuki.co.nz

In 2015, SFC purchased 30,000 hectares of the Nelson region’s pine forests to secure a long-term supply. Earlier this year, Sturgeon and NPIL’s 260 employees received an award from SFC celebrating the company’s annual profit growth for three consecutive years.

Today, GoldenEdge MDF is shipped to furniture manufacturers throughout Japan, Southeast Asia and the U.S., while LVL is used in the construction industries in Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Dubai.

Notably, NPIL’s LVL products are being used in the construction of the new state-of- the-art Nelson Airport Terminal that will tell the story of the region’s famed timber industry. The fifty-year timber industry veteran Sturgeon is proud of the company’s ties to Japan.

“I have been working with the Japanese for over 30 years,” said Sturgeon. “It has been the most pleasurable experience of my career and I look forward to continuing to grow our business and strengthen our friendships.”

www.nelsonpine.co.nz

As a result of growing demand, in April this year, the company acquired its second facility, Daiken Southland Ltd. in Mataura, a town in New Zealand’s southernmost region.

“Our focus today is on the quality of our products from both Daiken New Zealand and Daiken Southland and we intend to combine both companies to develop synergies and maximize efficiency,” said Yamazaki.

Employing about 290 staff across both facilities, Yamazaki is proud of Daiken’s role in the Japan-New Zealand partnership and the company’s dedication toward resource management.

“Cooperation between Japan and New Zealand within the MDF industry is very strong,” said Yamazaki. “Thirty-five percent of MDF sold in Japan is sourced from New Zealand and we are an active participant in this. We want to continue to build on our reputation as a quality supplier and trusted investor.”

www.daiken-nz.com

While more than 80 percent of JP-NZ customers are in Japan, Sumitomo’s investment and technical expertise has led the company to more sales in international markets.

As consumers become more health conscious, the company is exporting to Australia, North America, Southeast Asia and China.

“Demand for our products is on the rise and we are considering new investments to increase our capacity and expand our product range to include greener types of vegetable juices and purees,” said Yabuuchi.

JP-NZ’s mission is to enrich and nourish the lives of people by bringing healthy, natural and high-quality products to its customers and their valued end users. New Zealand’s fertile land and exceptional produce will undoubtedly contribute to the company’s future successes.

“Japan and New Zealand have a fantastic working relationship,” said Yabuuchi. “I believe that with the growth of the affluent and health-conscious middle classes in China and Asia, we have a bright future ahead of us.”

www.jp-nz.com

“We are a major player in the used car segment,” said Davis. “We import used Toyota cars from Japan, refurbish them and market these certified vehicles under our Signature Class brand.”

Toyota New Zealand is challenging the traditional way of selling vehicles. Unique to global Toyota subsidiaries and the New Zealand market, the company recently launched the customer-centric Drive Happy Project that aims to make buying a brand-new vehicle an even more pleasurable experience.

“Our business needs to evolve with our customers,” said Davis. “We have transformed former dealerships into agents and relaunched these as Toyota stores.”

This shift toward a retail-style business model will provide price transparency and consistency, better test-drive flexibility, more comprehensive extended warranties and a better overall customer experience, whether customers are buying online or in person.

“Our redesigned website allows visitors to customize their vehicles and calculate costs before their vehicle is even ordered,” said Davis.

Radical changes such as electrification, self-driving cars and online sales are changing the global automotive industry. As a Toyota veteran of 39 years with the company, Davis is proud of Toyota’s leadership role in the global industry and the company’s position in New Zealand.

“While the industry undergoes changes, we are in a strong position in New Zealand,” Davis said.

“Toyota is driven by strong values and has a long-term approach to the market. These factors resonate with us living in an ethnically diverse nation and our aim is to ensure Toyota remains New Zealand’s favorite automotive brand.”

www.toyota.co.nz

SATO works with many of New Zealand’s leading companies, and while printing billions of labels every year, reducing its environmental impact is a key factor in the company’s day-to-day operations. “We have a strong position in the logistics and manufacturing industries, and we are developing innovative solutions for our health care and retail clients,” said Langley.

The company will soon be launching Visual Warehouse ™, developed for logistics and inventory management clients incorporating 3D mapping, video and audio.

The wearable display device allows the user to work on inventories hands-free thus improving efficiency in receiving, inspecting and shipping products. More importantly, the solution gathers real-time data of warehouse movement, and uses this data to optimize picking and pathway organization. This can have a significant effect on labor costs.

“There are strong synergies found between Japan and New Zealand,” said Langley. “While both are developed economies, high labor costs are a challenge in both countries.”

“As a company, we will continue to create innovative solutions for our clients that reduce cost and increase productivity. This is how we help them to be competitive on the global stage. By leveraging SATO’s global network, we have been able to bring a number of new solutions to the region, and because of this unique ability, we see a bright future for SATO in Oceania.”

www.satonewzealand.com

“As we play a role in facilitating investments into New Zealand, we have developed strong relations with Japanese companies investing in the country and our private banking services are tailored toward Japanese high net worth clients.”

“Our Japanese clients have been active in New Zealand for a long time and we are constantly strengthening our relationships,” added Mia Evans, general manager of Bancorp and JNZBC vice chair.

New Zealand has an efficient tax system, public and private sector transparency, low import tariffs, lack of currency restrictions, a floating dollar and a strong political system headed by a stable government. The country is now attracting the next wave of Japanese investors.

“Since the global financial crisis, the New Zealand economy has performed well and today, we play a strong intermediary role for our corporate clients in key industries,” said Brownie. “We have the expertise, we have Japanese staff who speak the language and we are driven to deliver.”

“We provide a range of innovative products and personal service(s) for our individual customers and offer impartial advice in order to better serve our clients, including a suite of residency-eligible investments,” said Evans.

In addition to private banking and wealth management, Bancorp has the largest team of independent treasury risk management advisers in Australasia.

“Our wide range of treasury services, flat fee structures and trusted reputation will enable us to continue to position ourselves as the partner of choice for our Japanese clients,” said Evans.

www.bancorp.co.nz

“Today, we are one of the preeminent firms for Japanese businesses in New Zealand. Our clients include listed and unlisted corporates; and high net worth individuals who are either permanently based in New Zealand or have permanent residency gained through the Investor Plus Visa.”

Staples Rodway’s Japanese practice TEAM JAPAN consists of Japanese language speaking experts and offers outsourcing, accounting and business services, international tax consultancy, human resource advice and other complementary services.

“‘TEAM’ is an acronym of ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’ and we have associated this area of our business with sports, as New Zealand is a passionate sporting country,” said Azuma. One recent achievement was Team NZ winning the last America’s Cup.

Hosted by Japan, the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games have been a catalyst for Staples Rodway to host a series of events to assist New Zealand companies as they enter the Japanese market.

“We host events that encourage Japan-New Zealand relations to flourish and we are planning our next event in November this year,” said Azuma. Azuma’s passion for working with Japanese clients extends to promoting her country as both an investment destination and partner for Japan.

“In addition to New Zealand providing new opportunities in the construction and retail sectors to name a few, Japanese and domestic companies have established partnerships in order to enter third markets together,” said Azuma.

“There are many reasons to invest in New Zealand. We invite companies from Japan to work with us and we look forward to welcoming our Japanese friends with open arms.”

www.staplesrodway.co.nz