I haven’t blogged in a while, as I just spent a couple weeks of vacation on the big island of Hawaii.  To a geek like me, one of the highlights of the trip was a tour of the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company’s factory in Kawaihae.  The accumulated capital in the processing plant was a joy to see: the gleaming machines that roast the nuts, seal the cans, label the cans, fill the bags, seal the bags, and so on.  One machine that the plant workers were especially happy to have was the mixer that mixes the spices (like wasabi) with the nuts, to coat them before they are bagged or canned.  The workers recall that until recently all the mixing was done by hand.  (Oy!)

The accumulated capital is allowing the company to grow and to branch out into other products; in the last month they have introduced a new line of coffee and a new line of honey-coated macadamia nuts, among other innovations.  The tour guide said that the shelf life of roasted macadamia nuts is about two years, but they are already selling this year’s crop almost as fast as they can process it.

The plant is clean (even the bathrooms are clean!), they hand out lots of free samples of all the products (including great cups of coffee), etc.  On an island that is known to “hang loose,” the company is a brilliant example of Austrian economics at work: enterprise and capital working toward better working conditions, more choice, more profits, great products, free samples, etc.  Very cool.

(Also extremely cool was the beach down the road called Hapuna – the best beach in Hawaii.  No, I didn’t spend the whole trip touring processing plants!)