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Understanding your risks in business

-Craig Carlyle for MESNZ The HASAW Act has placed a new set of pressures on industry, but totally justified if you look at our terrible record. If your company is already operating a compliant health and safety system, not too much changes other than an emphasis on identifying and managing risky procedures. If you were walking the walk as well as taking the talk before, you should not have too much to worry about, but if you have spent the last 20 years steadfastly ignoring health and safety, the message could not be clearer: shape up or ship out. In passing the new HASAW Act, parliament has effectively tidied up the existing system (with an increased focus on risk), made clearer definitions, closed loopholes, involved everybody and got serious with the penalties. Fines now read like telephone numbers and the feedback from the courts is consistent; there is no leniency for not reasonably predicting risks. On top of that, they have created a whole new Crown Agency (WorkSafe), who has made huge inroads in providing a one stop shop for finding the RULES on health and safety. Underpinning the HASAW Act is a set of new regulations, telling you the detail of what you MUST do. (These are the documents you should consult when health and safety rumours hit your desk). A complete new set of guidelines and codes have been developed, all with a central theme of finding providing practical solution paths for industry. So, what does this mean at engineering, management or director level? MESNZ members have been studying the effect and believe there will be some hard lessons to learn for small to medium operations if the study results are anything to go by. While the focus at street level is on Job Safety Analysis (JSA) – […]

Konecranes real time monitoring for lifecycle care

Konecranes TRUCONNECT gives real time data on crane usage One of the biggest advances in crane safety and cost-efficient management over the past decade has been the advent of lifecycle care in real time. New remote digital monitoring and analytical technologies – such as Konecranes’ Truconnect – can look inside the performance of a crane or whole fleets of cranes to accurately predict the most suitable and timely maintenance for optimum service, as well as spot impending production risks and accident hazards. The company’s Truconnect technology harnesses in a user-friendly way the power of the industrial internet, the heart of which is based on a series of machinery sensors working together to gather and analyse data for specific purposes. By operating in this way, they can enable efficiencies that were unimaginable just a short time ago. With powerful but highly accessible technologies such as Truconnect, crane maintenance is an entire generation ahead of the days of external inspections, laborious dismantling to find and fix problems – or simply fixing something when it fails. With the accident liability that outdated practices entail – and the potential for expensive downtime that companies just can’t afford these days – old approaches are just no longer accepted as safe and productive risk management. Such industries include automotive and general manufacturing, bulk materials handling, mining, power generation, petrochemical, ports and container handling, pulp and paper, shipyards, steel and waste-to-energy. Truconnect provides accurate data on any device In developing Truconnect to complement its MAINMAN planned maintenance services to such industries, Konecranes has incorporated into the technology its experience as a major global crane and lifting equipment manufacturer, as well as the world’s largest crane service organisation, with more than 450,000 pieces of lifting equipment under maintenance agreements worldwide. To make the process of real-time monitoring for […]

Five steps to protecting Industrial Internet of Things infrastructure

1. Implement layer-7 inspection technologies for improved visibility Granular visibility of ICS protocols is a helpful step to increasing intelligence over data traffic. Linking this visibility to users and inspecting file-bearing applications is an essential part of this process. Next-generation firewalls employing advanced deep-packet inspection technology can help to deliver this capability. 2. Apply zero-trust network segmentation It is important to apply zero-trust rules with access allowed on a ‘least privilege’ basis, where users are given access only to the systems they need to carry out their duties. This approach can result in a marked reduction in the number of vectors that can be used by an attacker, while also providing better correlation between user and application. 3. Use modern tools for preventing zero-day attacks So-called zero-day attacks exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in computer code to breach systems. Tools that can detect and prevent such threats at both the network and the endpoint levels are now essential for protection. A combination of malware ‘sandboxing’ solutions and advanced endpoint protection technology can help reduce the success of such attacks. 4. Secure mobile and virtual environments Mobile devices should be checked for proper configuration before being allowed to access the network and, once on the network, applications should be limited to reduce the potential attack vectors. For virtual environments, virtualised firewall technology should be used to provide better visibility to data traffic. 5. Use a cohesive security platform Many legacy ICS environments don’t have adequate security, and those that do often use security systems with point solution architecture. This can hamper performance, incident response, and administration. Next-generation firewall architecture, on the other hand, along with new models of centrally-connected endpoint security measures, support optimal operation and threat detection.

Apprenticeship funding good for growth

Funding for apprenticeships is excellent Budget spending, says BusinessNZ. Funding for an additional 5,000 apprenticeships has been announced for this year’s Budget. BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says the spending will be particularly welcome in the construction and infrastructure sectors where skill shortages are marked. “General economic growth, improved labour market demand and particular needs in building, construction and infrastructure make expenditure on skills training timely. “It’s good to see appropriate spending in an area that can boost economic growth,” Mr Hope said.

Motion Analyzer web tool helps design control systems

Rockwell Automation has rebuilt Motion Analyzer software as a Web tool. The tool offers new user-friendly features and a vastly expanded product catalog to help engineers more easily specify, design and validate complete motion control systems. The Motion Analyzer Web tool is cloud-based, allowing users to access, update and collaborate on projects stored in a single location, reducing version control issues and the need to share project files back and forth. A cloud-based platform also means users are no longer limited by the processing speed of their computers when designing systems for more complex applications. The tool’s new browser-style format allows users to filter, review and compare products and general pricing, similar to search capabilities on popular e-commerce sites. “Incorrectly sizing a motion system not only generates unnecessary costs in wasted engineering time and re-stocking fees, but it can greatly slow a machine’s time-to-market,” said Gavin Black, product manager CompactLogix, SLC, Kinetix Motion, Rockwell Automation. “The latest Motion Analyzer release is an evolution of the platform that is more collaborative, expansive and easy to use. When engineers can quickly create and examine complete motion control systems within a single platform, they can spend more time innovating and improving their machines.” The Motion Analyzer Web tool provides machine builders access to a wider range of motion control products than ever before. It now incorporates products from nine Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork Encompass product partners, including STOBER Drives, NIDEC-SHIMPO, item North America, Tolomatic, Nook Industries, WITTENSTEIN, Exlar Corporation, Bonitron and Elwood Corporation. “Collaboration between various disciplines among machine builders and automation solution providers is critical to lower the Total Cost to Design, Develop and Deliver equipment,” said Clayton Webber, STOBER Drives. “Having mechatronic solutions up-to-date in the cloud establishes Motion Analyzer as a differentiator in machine design. STOBER and Rockwell Automation are striving […]

Streetscape Kumutoto Toilet Structure [Img-011]

Distributed design is now the norm: Why CAD must evolve to support it

By Jon Hirschtick The wide-bodied Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range passenger plane designed for comfort. The celebrated aircraft’s unique features include: more headroom (higher ceilings and overhead luggage bins), more legroom, a “comfier recline,” 21% more fuel efficiency, bigger windows and “infinity mood lighting.” When the first Dreamliner came off the production line on July 8, 2007 (not coincidentally “07-08-07”), there was much industry fanfare. Boeing hired former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw to host a red carpet affair for 15,000 employees and even commissioned a Dreamliner theme song. Chief rival Airbus graciously sent a congratulatory letter to Boeing, declaring it “a great day in aviation history.” But beyond the funky mood lighting and more comfortable coach experience, the Dreamliner represented a landmark moment in distributed design. Instead of building a complete aircraft under one roof, the 787 would have its major components designed and built in many different factories spread across the globe. The cargo doors, for example, would come from Saab in Sweden; engine parts from Rolls-Royce in England; and wing sections from Mitsubishi in Japan. In total, 17 design teams in 10 countries would play a major role. On a varying scale, Boeing’s distributed design and manufacturing chain shift has become the norm rather than the exception. As the lead founder of SolidWorks and now as the lead founder of Onshape, I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time visiting CAD customers and have witnessed some dramatic changes in the way product ideas become a reality. Three profound things have happened to design teams, most noticeably over the past decade: Teams have become highly fragmented. There used to be a team in one location for design and another location for manufacturing. That same product might now be built by 20 different fragments of teams. Teams have become […]

Multisensor apparatus for 3D measurement

Industry 4.0 has imposed a great demand on in-situ and/or inprocess production measurement in manufacturing environments. This portable multisensor apparatus provides a novel solution which makes use of a wide range of motion axes of machine tools and a motion sensor to assist the position estimation of laser scanners to perform holistic surface scanning and reconstruction without the need to interface with and assess the coordinate information of the motion axes of machine tools. This innovative concept makes the apparatus portable for different types of machine tools which provide a wide range of potential industrial applications. Special Features and Advantages • This portable multisensory apparatus consists of a motion sensor and a laser scanner to perform holistic surface scanning • In-situ HDR 3D measurement with a large measurement range and a high resolution becomes feasible without the need to interface with the motion control system of machine tools Applications • Portable apparatus for in-situ 3D measurement on various machine tools, e.g. CNC machine tools, 3D printers, etc. • In-process metrology for workpieces not amenable for offline measurement • Robotic arms for production automation • Automatic inspection on production lines • Multi-sensor measurement probes for Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMM)

Defining the IoT

-Dr. Hai Wang, Senior Vice President, Technology & Operations, NXP Semiconductors. At NXP, we believe that we are entering a new era of computing technology that many are calling the Internet of Things (IoT). We see the IoT as billions of smart, connected “things” (a sort of “universal global neural network” in the cloud) that will encompass every aspect of our lives, and its foundation is the intelligence that embedded processing provides. IoT is made up of smart machines interacting and communicating with other machines, objects, environments and infrastructures. As a result, huge volumes of data are being generated, and that data is being processed into useful actions that can “command and control” things to make our lives much easier and safer—and to reduce humanity’s impact on the environment. How would IoT affect people and businesses now and in the future? IoT affects individuals, businesses large and small as well as industries. Today there are an estimated 2.9 billion people online, or 40% of the world’s population. Analysts expect that as nations and technology develop, 50% of the world’s population could be online by 2017. We could see up to 30 billion connected devices in coming years, three times more than today’s 10 billion connected devices. The major impact of IoT will be in consumer and business sectors, security and safety, education and healthcare, as well as in governments and policy shaping. What benefits do NXP Smart Solutions bring to businesses? A critical value that NXP brings is secure connectivity solutions. In fact, NXP is currently the world’s leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, enabling secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world. Our solutions work behind the scenes, helping partners in the global ecosystem as they work to are create and deliver complete hardware and software solutions […]

Creating a new era of connected consumer products

by Diego Tamburini, Manufacturing Industry Strategist at Autodesk Every day, more and more connected devices are coming to market, from phones and home appliances, to cars and buildings. Their potential to make consumers’ everyday lives more efficient, convenient, and easier is endless — but they also present new challenges to the designers, engineers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs who are building these connected products. With its rich heritage of creating powerful design solutions, the technology industry is well positioned to share the experience and knowledge that will help today’s makers tackle those challenges, and shift the way we think about designing consumer devices for the new connected future. Let’s take a look at the current “Era of Connection” and some of the trends at work. First and foremost, the lines between hardware and software — and between the physical and digital worlds— continue to blur as the devices that make up the Internet of Things (IoT) become more common. The Nest thermostat might have been the first IoT device to capture the public imagination, but more and more devices will combine a functional purpose with the ability to gather data, analyze it, and act upon it. Think of flair, whose teams in China and the US have developed a sensor-enabled product that replaces traditional HVAC vents to ensure a comfortable temperature in all rooms of the home throughout the entire day. flair can be controlled on your phone, over the Cloud, or it can be left to optimize climate control on its own. After living in Asia for 9 years, Olivier Risse, the founder of Floatility was inspired to solve the massive transportation problem facing most cities – and he believed that cars weren’t the best solution, especially for short distances. Developed across teams in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Singapore and Jakarta, the answer […]

Use the super computer in your pocket for new levels of productivity

Anyone with a smartphone or tablet now can connect securely in an industrial setting to access performance metrics and data analytics. By Kyle Reissner, mobility platform leader, Rockwell Automation You can use any digital device to easily access performance metrics and data analytics from your plant floor and machines. How are you using that freedom? Your smartphone is now as powerful as your desktop. That mobility is more than viewing a webpage or report on your tablet; it’s a fundamental shift in how we live our lives. Seventy percent of us carry a smartphone or tablet into the office. We are mobile. Yet many of us still live as if the world is flat. You know the analogy. For thousands of years people lived like they would fall off the edge of the earth if they ventured too far from what they knew. Then we realized the world is a sphere, and that opened a world of possibility. Since the 1980s, we’ve used the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture to define clear layers between systems. Our first shot at mobility was the replicate a web browser in a Palm Treo. It was a good start, but it fell short of the ultimate user experience. Some people are using the latest devices to extend 20-year-old technology. That type of mobility is resulting in very small increases in productivity, in the range of 1 to 2 percent. I suggest a loftier goal for mobility —10 percent — and for everyone in the plant, not just one or two people. It’s possible because we now have the technology that lets people do things they couldn’t do before while reducing the cost of curiosity to literally zero. Now, anyone with a device can connect securely, expand their area of influence, deploy a system more quickly […]

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doug

About doug

Posts by Doug Green: