Who We Are


CONNECTING NEW ZEALAND'S BUILDING INDUSTRY

BIF is New Zealand’s peak industry organisation that represents the members of the country’s building industry supply chain.

Established in 2001, BIF is an industry neutral organisation dedicated to supporting, promoting, and advancing the needs of the wider building industry and supply chain.

WHAT’S THE BUILDING INDUSTRY FEDERATION (BIF) ALL ABOUT?

BIF is an independent body which represents industry participants including manufacturers, importers, distributors, construction and housing companies, legal, financial, and other service providers as they relate and impact on the building industry and supply chain.

BIF is about meeting the common needs of diverse participants in promoting growth across the building industry.


What Can BIF Offer?


Industry representation at the highest level. BIF has excellent government, industry and political networks, with relationships across the House, media releases and submissions on suggested policy to ensure our members concerns are heard. 

BIF NZ is influential as Pan industry group (made up of peak bodies from manufacturing, distributors to merchants) as a credible industry voice working collaboratively government when dealing with wider building industry issues including the Construction Accord, Building Systems reforms and the challenges of COVID-19 including disruption to the supply chain. 

BIF NZ will provide you with the linkages to other parts of the industry and to have your concerns heard at the highest level as well as: 

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The opportunity to be part of a progressive industry association. 

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Information that is of interest and importance to you. 

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Business and industry contacts. 

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Forums for discussion
and input.  

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Representation at local and national government. 

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Regular networking opportunities. 

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BIF hosts presentations
to update members and connect with industry leaders. 

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Access an industry-neutral website and monthly newsletter for updates and communication. 

Connecting the Building
Industry
Supply Chain

GS1 Global Standards

GS1’s standards and services are both recognised and widely used in the global building and construction sector because they provide value and benefits to all supply chain stakeholders, both large and small, from suppliers to merchants to end users. GS1 standards include:

Identification standards to uniquely identify productslogistics unitslegal entitiesphysical locations, assets and much more.

Product master data (electronic catalogue) synchronisation using the GS1 National Product Catalogue (NPC).

Expert consultancy on supply chain solutions utilising the GS1 suite of standards.

Barcodes (incl: 2D QR Code) and RFID technologies for use in Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) related applications such as warehouse scanning processes and point-of-sale applications.

Standards for business-to-business e-commerce.


GS1 and the Building and Construction Industry

GS1 has participated in both the global and national building and construction sector for many years. The use and implementation of GS1 standards in the sector is increasing as the benefits on offer to all stakeholders continue to be realised:

Sector-wide alignment on using globally standardised identification numbers such as the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) and the New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) and Global Location Numbers (GLN) to drive a common, interoperable ‘language of business’ to streamline business processes.

Bar Code Verification (BCV) is a barcode testing service for checking that GS1 Bar Codes are correctly created and printed so that any scanner will be able to read them first time, every time. Major hardware retailers require suppliers get their bar codes verified by GS1 prior to ranging to prevent data inaccuracies or POS scanning inefficiencies.  

Global connections – around the world there are numerous industry and government lead initiatives Involving the use and implementation of GS1 standards in the building and construction industry.

​GS1NZ’s National Product Catalogue (NPC) is the industry preferred product master data synchronisation system that is used extensively in the NZ hardware industry. Placemakers, Mitre 10 and ITM all have data management programmes operating using the NPC as the authoritative data synchronisation resource with their respective supplier communities. Currently the NPC has over 100k sector related products populated in the NPC.

High quality, affordable Product Photography service for displaying products both on-shelf and on-line, supported by a secure, online  MediaLibrary service where photographs, MDS, videos and marketing material can be stored and shared internally or with trading partners.


GS1 Membership Benefits

Any building or hardware business can become a GS1 New Zealand member. Membership of GS1 provides the following benefits:

Complimentary barcode verifications and barcode graphic generation tool.

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A licence to use the GS1 global system of authentic barcode numbers (GTIN) and Global Location Numbers (GLN).

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Complimentary seminars, webinars and online tools for learning and implementing GS1 standards.

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Expert helpdesk and tollfree technical support services and consulting.

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