Insights

Insights.

Opinion and analysis — what the numbers say about tool spend, the NZ manufacturing cycle, and the shop floor more broadly. Two pieces a month, alternating technical and business angles.

1. 17 Apr 2026 · 6 min read · Philippe, Niyamis

   Why cost-per-part is the only tool KPI that matters

   Unit price is easy to measure. Tool life is easy to measure. Neither one, on its own, tells you what a tool cost your shop. Only the ratio does — and it's the one number that should drive procurement.

   opinionprocurementkpi

2. 15 Apr 2026 · 7 min read · Philippe, Niyamis

   The NZ Manufacturing PMI just hit a 4-year high. What it means for your tool spend.

   BNZ-Business NZ's PMI is back above the long-run expansion mark. Volume is coming back. The question for NZ precision shops isn't whether to spend more on tooling — it's whether the mix of what they're spending on is still right.

   macrotool-spendpmi

3. 10 Apr 2026 · 11 min read · Philippe, Niyamis

   A field guide to scrap: what your SCRAP notes are trying to tell you

   SCRAP notes are the single most under-read data source in NZ precision shops. A short guide to what the notes actually say, how to classify them at ingest, and which four patterns matter.

   technicalscrapdata