CEO Update: A Message from George Yammouni

Colleagues,

November has been a predictable month in many ways, as we hear and see evidence of RBA/RBNZ actions reflected in the PMI’s below.

Australia PMI October 2023 

The Judo Bank Australia Composite PMI fell to 47.6 in October 2023 from 51.5 in the prior month, final data showed. It was the lowest reading in 10 months driven by a solid decline in activity across Australia’s private sector. The fall in business activity was due to decrease in new orders, weak demand climate, inflationary pressures and high interest rates. New export business was down, and for the eighth successive month. Input costs continued to rise rapidly, as inflation ticked up to a three-month high. Output prices also increased, but weaker customer demand impacted pricing power, resulting in the softest pace of charge inflation since March 2021. Companies continued to raise workforce numbers in October, with job creation seen across manufacturers and service providers alike. Meanwhile, backlogs of work were reduced solidly, to the greatest extent in seven months.

New Zealand Manufacturing PMI

The BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index in New Zealand contracts further to 42.5 in October 2023 from to 45.3 in a month earlier. It was the lowest reading since May 2020, marking the eighth consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector led by falling sales, rising costs, and election uncertainty. Production (41.5 vs 44.6 in September) and new orders (44.1 from 44.9) dropped further with the former at its lowest level for a non-COVID month since May 2009. Meanwhile, employment (43.3 vs 45.2), deliveries (42.9 vs 44.3) fell and finished stocks (47.5 vs 51.6) dipped into the negative territory.

At Headland

Keeping us busy this month has been the ISO audit process. Thanks to our project management team and the Quality/Safety/Environmental actions throughout the year, the audit was completed with high success and reassuring results.

Also during the last 30-60 days, we have actively pursued the annual Net Promoter Score survey process and the results are in. Thank you to all of you who agreed to participate. Your comments and feedback help us to keep improving. Whilst we are encouraged with the results, we also know there is more to do. General feedback about service response times is very pleasing. Additionally, the investments we’ve made in attracting very experienced talent and in further training of our front line team, are being reflected in some encouraging results.

Also in November we are starting to see much more predictable lead times for most machine types. We are also seeing same day despatch for spare parts from Sydney, Singapore, Japan and Germany. All have improved to better than pre-Covid times. We’re very pleased to also see that global supply chain issues (especially with semiconductor components) are almost behind us.

On Oct 30 we gathered most of the Headland leadership group in Melbourne for a day of leaders training, equipping our leaders with the tools to be transformational change advocates. Empowering others and inspiring change are critical attributes for being able to meet or exceed changing market expectations for service, sales and technical advice.

Now that the holiday season is almost upon us, our focus is on ensuring we meet all our project commitments and deliver all obligations which will give clients peace of mind during the holiday season. Before Xmas, Richard and myself will be travelling to NZ and Brisbane. Hoping to see some of you during those visits and hoping to visit and meet others in Sydney, WA and SA, in the first quarter of the new year.

Kind Regards,

George Yammouni