Analysis

Q&A: Leigh Richardson, former co-owner,Auldhouse

You are a former co-owner of Auldhouse and have been with the company for over two decades now, which is a fantastic achievement. How have you seen the business grow and evolve during this time and what role have you played in this? I have experienced a lot of change. Auldhouse was created by a husband-and-wife team over 35 years ago, sold into BlueStar Group and then became part of Wang, later known as Gen-i. Gen-i was sold to Telecom NZ, which in due course became Spark, before the shareholders executed a management buyout 9 years ago. And of course, we have now been acquired by DDLS. It’s been fascinating to partner with many vendors such as AWS, Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, VMware and Red Hat, and see how the market has adopted their technologies over time, for example, during the shift from on-prem to cloud. It’s also been incredibly exciting to lead the evolution of training delivery since the pandemic. Traditionally, Auldhouse was an in-person training organisation with a small (but expanding) online delivery solution. We were forced to pivot to a complete online delivery format during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns. This format proved to be extremely successful and still accounts for a large percentage of our delivery now. The adoption of virtual training has opened many new training opportunities for our customers. What is the secret to staying with a business for so long and what do you specifically enjoy about working with Auldhouse so much? The secret for anyone in any role is change, diversity and tangible results for you, your team, and your customers. I have been lucky to have held roles in Auckland, Wellington and Sydney and of course being an owner for 8 years brings even more challenges and rewards. We have an incredibly […]

How to successfully deliver your CRM project with Clarity, Simplicity and Certainty

This is the 2nd in a series of 6 articles looking at how to successfully deliver your CRM project. The full series contains: The purpose of the Architecture is to help teams develop the technical capability on time and on budget whilst ensuring it solves the problem for which it was designed. The Architecture will build on the very high-level view purported in the Charter and will contain: Concepts – A conceptual view of the stack and its moving parts for communication and context Option Analysis – Platforms, Languages and Tools in light of the functional and non-functional requirements. High Level Design – Features, phases and solution requirements at a Function level Detailed Design – More definition around areas of complexity Non-functional requirements including – Security, Performance, Maintainability, Scalability, Reliability, Usability and Risk The expected outcome is that both the business and technical requirements have been incorporated into a Solution. Specific technologies may be selected, short listed or used as examples as the Architecture develops over time. The Architecture is neither a Process Diagram nor the detailed User Requirements, which will be developed in the next phase of the project. 3 x Critical Success Factors These are CSFs for the Architecture, not the Project: Match the Solution to the Business Environment This is important in all major technology solutions but even more so with CRM deployments due to its role in supporting all customer facing interactions and integrating to all other teams. The Architecture must take a strategic view of the specific functional requirements and then the significance and importance of potential reliance’s on and impacts to other teams and their processes Desire vs Reality The simple approach of Why, What and How (Before When & Who) will assist in addressing this challenge: Why: The justification of the need for […]

igus unveils world’s first urban bike made from recycled plastic

No maintenance, no corrosion- the igus:bike sets new standards in sustainable mobility With its expertise in plastics for movement, Treotham is making the concept and components available to all bicycle manufacturers on the new igus:bike platform. The first model should be available by the end of the year. The world is drowning in plastic waste. The huge piles in landfill sites are growing fast. Some of this plastic ends up in the ocean, enters the food chain, and becomes a danger to marine, animal and human life. Therefore it is most urgent to move away from the traditional linear economic model and migrate to a fully circular economy. To help this transformation, igus the motion plastics specialist has been developing and investing in ideas for recycling plastics for many years. The company recently presented a world first: The concept of a robust, durable urban bike made entirely of plastic, from frame to bearings to toothed belt. One special feature of this new bike is that the recycled version will be primarily made of reused plastics originally “single use”. “The plastic in rubbish dumps around the world is becoming a valuable resource,” explains Frank Blase, igus CEO. He first had the idea of a bicycle, now known as the “igus:bike”, on a beach while on holiday. In conversations with employees of a bicycle rental company on the beach, he found out about their major problems with beach bikes. These were continuously exposed to sand, wind and saltwater and sometimes only lasted three months before they had to be replaced. Maintenance and replacement are often expensive and time-consuming in this industry. “The igus:bike does not rust.” The igus:bike is easier to own than any other bike. Owners can leave the single-speed bike outdoors in all weather and clean it in seconds with […]

Australasian manufacturers’ statistics on productivity increases may be world’s highest

Auckland based ‘Empower Workshop Productivity & Scheduling Software App’ has pioneered the technology of using touchscreens on the workshop floor, with a low-cost subscription – based productivity software app for all jobbing manufacturing and engineering industries, custom work, “one off” jobs, bespoke manufacturing, or small batch production. The method is simple, workshop staff use their touchscreens to access their job list then start and finish each of their jobs. 50-inch TV screens in the office and on the workshop floor display results in ‘real time’ and continuously throughout the eight-hour day: individual staff, all jobs, all job status, all job times and all job variances. Research over 20 years across 82 New Zealand and Australian jobbing manufacturing and engineering businesses using Empower technology has produced the following statistics. To our knowledge these statistics are both the most comprehensive research available (82 businesses involved) and the highest productivity increases confirmed in the world (23.56%). The key Metric for all manufacturers and engineers using this technology is % Labour Time Reduction on all Jobs, which is % Labour Cost Reduction on all Jobs. The eighty-two manufacturers and engineers using this technology achieved on average a 23.56% Labour Time Reduction on all Jobs, across all machining processes and all assembly and fabrication processes, which is across the entire business. In comparison, if you had 10 processes to manufacture a given product and you purchased a new CNC machine to reduce labour time by 50%, (there are 10 processes to manufacture a given product and your new CNC machine that you have purchased reduces labour time by 50% in that single process) that would be a 5% Labour Time Reduction on all Jobs, across the entire business. This research will continue for the next 10+ years with 24 additional manufacturing and engineering businesses adding […]

Q & A:Lydia Frater and Lily Sanson, HERA Whanake Scholarship Recipients

HERA, in collaboration with the Māori Education Trust, created the Whanake scholarship in 2018, to foster genuine interactions with young Māori and actively extend the industry’s capacity by creating a more diverse and attractive industry for Kiwi. The scholarship is targeted at Māori students in their first year of a four-year Bachelor of Engineering degree and extends over the four years required for degree completion. To date, there have been three full recipients of the scholarship – Sarah Lawson, Lily Sanson and Lydia Frater, who was recently announced as the 2022 scholarship recipient. A further three students have received one-year scholarships to support their first year of studies. HERA spoke with Lily and Lydia about their scholarship experience so far, and their thoughts on the engineering industry within New Zealand. What drew you to engineering and the Whanake scholarship? Lydia: I didn’t even know what engineering was until my last year of high school. I always did well in the sciences at school, however no one introduced the idea of engineering to me until I attended a Rotary science camp, which sparked my interest. From there, I proactively spoke to one of my head teachers who helped and directed me on the right pathway. I later found out my grandfather had been an engineer, so there is a beauty in that for me. Lily: I knew from a young age engineering was interesting to me, but never knew the term. Then my sister mentioned it at dinner, which led to me learning more about it. The Pūhoro STEM Academy actively encouraged and supported my studies which definitely helped my journey into the engineering industry. On scholarships, my whānau instilled early on how important they are, so in addition, I feel very grateful to have received the HERA Whanake Scholarship as […]

Rise of the Machines – is technology really replacing humans?

– Catherine Lye, Head of Advanced Manufacturing and Export Communities, EMA As our Smart Factory Showcase continues building momentum in the Industry 4.0, manufacturing and technology space, it’s time to share some insights into what we’ll be covering during each session. Each Smart Factory Showcase covers several key areas of operation at Nautech Electronics. These include sales and planning, systems, connectivity, research and development, production, testing, facilities, smart business models and implementation strategies. Industry 4.0 and the showcase are all about highlighting how a range of digital technologies enhance manufacturing performance, output, monitoring and control, keeping businesses globally competitive. Today, we’ll consider the view that the adoption of new technologies could lead to the replacement of the human element required in manufacturing – or does it? Many of us have seen The Terminator film series where the artificially intelligent machines become self-aware and hostile with an aim to take over the world in a post-apocalyptic future. As Laurie Kubiak, CEO of Nautech Electronics assures us, people are always going to be necessary for the safe and successful operation of manufacturing machinery and technology. Adopting new technology is about making everyone’s lives easier, both for the company and its people. People are required for all parts of Nautech’s operations, particularly for forward-planning, scheduling, stock management, programming and much more. They cannot be replaced. Adopting Industry 4.0 and smart technologies actually has the potential to create more job opportunities, as people become vital in ensuring maximum machine efficiency, productivity, outputs and operation. Cobots (collaborative robots) are often used to take on certain repetitive tasks that humans could do, but they are able to maintain consistency and run for longer periods. They don’t need to work a standard shift or stop for breaks. Passing on these mundane tasks to cobots also has health […]

Harness the power of words to make your business more sustainable

-Barbara Nebel, thinkstep-anz This month’s sustainability tip: pick up your pen (physical or digital). Why? Because clear, engaging communication and reporting will make your manufacturing business more sustainable. Harnessing the power of words will help you define your sustainability strategy and share it with the people who matter to your business. Get your sustainability strategy down ‘on paper’ We love this quote from Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough: ‘Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.’ We think he’s right. Getting your sustainability programme down ‘on paper’ will force you to consider how sustainability fits into your business strategy. What really matters to make sure your business ‘goes the distance’? How can you make it more sustainable? Who do you need to involve? What are the risks and opportunities? What targets will you set and how will you know if you meet them? If you haven’t already, get writing. Our tips: focus on what matters. (Strategy is about what you leave out as well as what you put in.) Keep your document short. Use ‘dinner-table language’: simple words, short sentences, personal language like ‘we and you’. Communicate your products’ environmental performance Tell your customers how you’re making your products more sustainable. Consider producing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for a product. In our last article, we featured manufacturer Red Stag Wood Solutions’ EPD for sawn and planed timber products. An EPD tells the environmental story of a product over its life cycle in a clear, simple format that a wide audience can understand. It will help you translate complex environmental information about your product’s environmental footprint into simpler information that your wholesale and retail customers can trust to make decisions. Every EPD is based on data from a detailed environmental study called a […]

Q&A Holger Heinzel, HERA

Digitisation and new technologies are having a profound impact on every facet of the manufacturing industry. As has been discussed in this forum, Industry 4.0 is upon us – enabling and also pushing businesses to collect and analyse data to streamline and improve the efficency of their systems and processes. The new tech gives so much – freed-up time and productivity boosts, less waste, far better and faster insights for a business to improve. We appreciate, though, that innovation requires investment and this is a time when many organisations are maintaining a hawk-like eye on capex and opex. The good news is that it’s worth it: HERA’s 2021 report in collaboration with BERL modelled the potential economic impact of Industry 4.0 on the New Zealand construction industry and found that gains over the next five years could be as much as $8 billion, and a heartening $4 billion at the moderate optimistic forecasting. And that is only for that part of the NZ economy. The potential for individual businesses and the wider industry is clear if we can take advantage of it. To that end, we are focusing on tools and methodologies to help members and other manufacturing organisations with the transition to Industry 4.0. A good starting point for company is to establish where they currently sit at, as a starting point for their transformation journey or how far they might have already come. What is the SIRI Assessment? Siri, short for Smart Industry Readiness Index, is an Industry 4.0-focused global assessment scheme. It was developed out of Singapore and is available to manufacturers in New Zealand. In the past four years, over 300 companies worldwide have used the SIRI Assessment to formally evaluate their facilities and processes and kick-start their Industry 4.0 transformation. The tool works for a wide […]

Becoming a low-emissions economy

-Barbara Nebel, thinkstep-nz The Government’s new Emission Reduction Plan (ERP) will move all industries, including manufacturing, to a low-emissions economy over the next three decades. In this article we look at what the ERP means for manufacturers: for the inputs you use (including transport, energy and buildings), the products you make and the waste you create. What is the ERP? Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one of New Zealand’s biggest challenges. The ERP contains the strategies and policies that will make our Zero Carbon Act 2019 happen. It sets out how we will meet the first of three emissions budgets, for the period 2022 to 2025. To reach our end goal (net-zero emissions by 2050), we need to cap emissions at 72.4 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases each year over the next three years. Why does this matter, now more than ever? The World Meteorological Organisation believes that there is a 50:50 chance that global temperatures will temporarily reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in at least one of the next five years. This is one of the thresholds we need to avoid under the Paris Agreement. Reducing emissions across your business’ value chain The government has these sources of manufacturing emissions firmly in its sights: transport, energy, buildings, waste. It is also expanding the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS). Emissions from transport Road transport accounts for about 20% of New Zealand’s emissions. It is our fastest-growing source. The ERP sets a goal of significantly reducing transport-related carbon emissions by 2035. Manufacturers should expect a push to decarbonise heavy transport and freight. The government wants to reduce emissions from freight transport by 35% and the emissions intensity of transport fuels (the volume of emissions created per unit of GDP) by 10% by 2035. You will continue be […]

Comment: Improving is easy, isn’t it?

-Ian Walsh, Managing Director, Intent Group. I was recently asked, ‘why are there so few world class companies?’ This is a very good question: there aren’t that many globally and there are even fewer in New Zealand. Before we can answer that question however, there are other questions we might consider first, such as ‘what is world class and how do you define it?’ This question doesn’t get to the nub of the issue though; it’s more a question of measurement. The more relevant question is ‘what makes it so difficult to drive improvement and become a world class company?’ It’s not like there aren’t a few companies trying to get better. So, what separates the ones who are making progress from the ones who are not? There’s been extensive research over decades on this. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles ‘What gets measured gets managed’ and ‘It’s all in the data’, better performing companies have well-defined measurement of performance throughout the business with a balance of leading and lagging indicators, and they are able to analyse this data to provide the right information in the right format in a timely manner. However, while these performance measuring systems are necessary for world class performance, these alone are not sufficient to make a company world class. This is akin to trying to climb Everest after having had some climbing lessons and bought the right gear. To make the ascent you will need more. Research shows better performing companies have improvement structures, multi-tiered meetings which connect and align the organisation to supercharge improvement. ‘We have those!’ I hear you say, as many clients in the past have noted. Many companies have beginning of day, end of day, daily management meetings and such like. However, some of these meetings are nothing better than […]

«‹ 20 21 22 23 ›»

News Ticker

Analysis