Around $47,000 could be shaved off the cost of each new place built in factories under Labour's planned KiwiBuild 100,000-house scheme, an opposition spokesman says.

Businesses have been putting their money where their mouths are and investing in plant and machinery, economic growth data released yesterday show.

Boosting New Zealand's two-way trade with China to $30 billion by 2020 is achievable but there are risks with New Zealand becoming over-dependent on the Chinese market, says a top economist.

Prime Minister John Key's visit to China will include a formal dinner with China's President Xi Jinping.

New Zealand manufacturing activity expanded for an 18th straight month in February with signs a buoyant economy is creating jobs.

A chair is a chair is a chair ... how could millions of R&D dollars possibly improve on the object where we park our backsides?

With the dairying and high-tech sectors routinely hogging the business headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking New Zealand's manufacturing industry was extinct.

Wellington's notoriously volatile weather is nothing compared with the climate Mary Quin faced in her previous home city.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances has unveiled plans for a state-of-the-art new research and development hub at its East Tamaki headquarters.

Any weakening in the New Zealand dollar would provide the "cream on top" for medical device exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.

One of New Zealand's biggest unions yesterday voiced redundancy fears for Pacific Steel Group workers.

Manufacturing activity expanded for a 16th straight month in January, driven by new orders and production.

A local icecream firm won't rely on foreign contract manufacturers or long-range shipping when it expands overseas this year.

Toyota Australia has completed the demise of the Australian car industry, saying it will stop building cars in that country by the end of 2017.

At 49 years old, Glenn Bratton didn't expect to be looking for a new career.

New Zealand's unemployment rate fell to a three-year low in the fourth quarter of 2013 as jobs growth beat expectations.

US labour leaders are closing in on a decades-long goal of organising a factory run by a foreign car-maker, thanks to a bridgehead opened up at Volkswagen.

Twelve Chinese-manufactured sleepouts, designed to be cheaper than renting for Aucklanders.

Sanitarium's much-publicised Marmite shortage failed to stop the food manufacturer's owner, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, from reporting a rise in revenue for its tax-free NZ businesses in the last financial year.

The Government has defended its decision to award an $8 million ferry contract to a Bangladesh company rather than a local boat builder.

Govt defends decision to award $8m ferry contract to a Bangladesh firm

An Auckland firm says an investment in new machinery will help keep manufacturing work in New Zealand.

A multimillion-dollar claim brought by the Ministry of Education over leaky schools has been settled.

Bedmaker Sleepyhead Manufacturing is investing $45 million in a new Auckland facility as it looks to boost exports to Asia.

Rebounding dairy production has driven the biggest gross domestic product (GDP) increase since the December 2009 quarter.