Analysis

Is there a four-day working week somewhere out there?

Or, we’ll have cream with that on a Monday. The drums keep beating for a four-day working week here and around the world. Momentum is gathering speed. If it is true that humans are effective (can concentrate) for only three hours a day, then the concept does not seem like a big deal. And if workers continue to work from home, then no one is going to miss them in the office anyway! Let’s face it, three-day weekends may well have been in place for quite a while now. If production and efficiency can be enhanced, quality time improved with family and a freshening up of the approach towards work possible, then we may as well bring it on. It may well be that a four-day working week is Friday to Sunday and Saturday to Monday so that working environments are not totally vacant, especially for maintaining production runs and business communication with overseas markets. After all, we don’t want to be the country others cannot contact on a Monday when they want to reorder their baby powder order, or on a Friday when widgets need to be urgently delivered. There is also the master-slave matter about all this. Business owners who choose not to go into the office every day, and are not in favour of the four – day a week concept, even though they already live it, are concerned about the five day a week routine changing, because production rates may be affected. But if humans are only effective three hours a day…what is the big deal? If we are already not productive enough as a nation, where is all this going?

Multi-Million dollar decarbonisation initiative set to boost wool exports

A new multi-million dollar decarbonisation initiative at one of the country’s largest wool product manufacturers is set to reduce emissions by up to 30% and help boost wool product exports. According to EECA (the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), industrial heat processes accounts for around a third of New Zealand’s overall energy use. An estimated 60% of production heating is fossil-fuelled.[1] The sustainability initiative is part of a multi-year programme to reduce production related carbon emissions and improve operating efficiency at wool carpet manufacturer Bremworth. The first stage of the decarbonisation pathway is a $2.1 million project for the Napier wool yarn spinning plant to transition from natural gas process heat to electric heat pump technology. The initiative is designed to improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes, by detailed process heating measurement, minimising waste heat and optimising the heating system configurations and technology to meet future production volumes. Production efficiencies from the use of the technology in the yarn making process are expected to help boost exports for markets where demand for New Zealand made wool carpet attracts a premium price point. The project will also reduce emissions at the facility saving up to 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per annum. Scientific estimates suggest a radiata pine tree absorbs one to two tonnes of CO2 in one year – meaning 800-1500 trees would be needed to match the annual emission savings from the installation of the new technology.[2] Greg Smith, Bremworth CEO, says the increased efficiency of the new technology will help lower operating overheads, as well as boosting production and exports. He says the design of the technology will require a specialised team of engineers and contractors to build and then install high temperature heat pump technology of up to 800kW capacity at their Hawke’s Bay facility over a […]

Company Profile – Oasis Engineering, Tauranga

Industry 4.0 – Just do it! Oasis Engineering began as the maintenance division of the Gisborne Oasis soft drink brand, before moving to Tauranga and becoming known for its close-tolerance machined parts in difficult to work materials, including stainless steel and titanium. They now make parts for every major compressed natural gas (CNG) company in over 40 countries. Oasis and its team of 30 manufacture precision stainless steel machined and assembled components, primarily for the natural gas industry. We recently caught up with Kevin Flint, General Manager of Oasis, to hear how their Industry 4.0 journey has been progressing. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your role at Oasis? I am the General Manager of Oasis Engineering Ltd. From Blackpool in the UK, I have been in the manufacturing industry for over 30 years. I emigrated to New Zealand in 2006 and I’ve been employed at Oasis Engineering since 2007. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Masters in Product Development, and am a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (UK). My first professional role was to design Automated Production Machines and write the PLC programs. Industry 4.0 has been in my blood since I began my professional career. Can you tell us what Oasis Engineering do? We are a manufacturing company based in Tauranga with 30 employees. We design and manufacture products for the CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) Industry, Hydrogen Refuelling Industry, Food and Dairy Industry. Currently, 80 per cent of our products are exported to over 20 countries, but mainly the USA and Canada. When did Oasis begin their Industry 4.0 journey? I first became aware of Industry 4.0 after Oasis Engineering was bought by German company, Elaflex Hiby GmbH in April 2017. They have a factory similar to ours in Plettenburg […]

Serious about sustainability? Delve into your supply chain!

-Barbara Nebel, CEO thinkstep-anz Supply chains are ‘having a moment’ – and not an easy one. As a manufacturer, you’re likely to be facing supply chain challenges due to Covid-19 and global unrest. The current situation highlights the critical role supply chains play in manufacturing. Read on to learn how Kawerau-based manufacturer Essity Australasia (formerly Asaleo Care) is future-proofing its supply chain, with benefits to its business, the natural environment and local communities. Zooming out: the global picture and SDG12 But first, let’s start with the global picture. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognise that supply chains play a critical role in creating a more sustainable world. In fact, supply chains have their own SDG. It’s SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, and it’s linked to many other goals in the SDG framework. Why the link? Because, by purchasing responsibly, manufacturers can have positive impacts far beyond their own businesses. For example, by ‘buying local’, they can help build sustainable cities and communities (SDG11). By using renewable energy, they can contribute to affordable and clean energy (SDG7) and promote climate action (SDG13). Essity Australasia: SDG12 in action Essity Australasia is a good example of SDG12 in action. The manufacturer produces personal care and hygiene products and is the only New Zealand manufacturer of toilet and hand towel tissue products. The company is serious about understanding and managing its environmental and social impacts, including through its supply chain. Understanding the sustainability of its supply chain Essity Australasia uses Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to review the environmental impacts of its products across their life cycles. LCAs measure the impacts, including carbon emissions, involved when the manufacturer makes its personal care and hygiene products (using resources like trees, water and energy and services like transport). They also calculate the impacts involved […]

Zero carbon steel on market

“What Gets Measured Gets Managed” – Peter Drucker By Dr Troy Coyle, CEO, HERA In Aotearoa New Zealand, there are a lot of conversations being had around carbon in the built environment, with our Ministry for Business, Innovation and Enterprise having developed two emissions mitigation frameworks under the Building for Climate Change Programme. These include proposed requirements in the Building Act and Code relating to carbon reductions. From this month, certified zero carbon steel will be available in the New Zealand market through a robust offsetting program. The program, Hōtaka Whakakore Puhanga Waro, has been independently developed and is based on verifiable data. HERA is the facilitator of the program and has partnered with social enterprise Ekos, a leader in environmental financing, to administer the offsetting process. The program will give the option for specification and use of zero carbon steel through offsetting determined on the basis of a robust underlying carbon calculator. New Zealand has committed to a net zero carbon target by 2050. Steel and iron production is the single largest industrial source of CO2 emissions in New Zealand, representing 55% of industrial emissions and around 5% of total gross emissions[1]. As we are all aware, carbon is primarily used in the steel-making process as a reductant, rather than an energy source – counter to how steel is often portrayed in the media. Although there is research into alternative reductants (e.g. hydrogen), currently no commercially viable alternative exists for coal, so until an alternative is developed, offsetting plays an important role in steel’s decarbonisation journey. The zero carbon steel program has been developed to provide independent and robust carbon offsetting rules and a preference for the offsets to be focused on the planting of native trees to provide additional biodiversity and human capital benefits to New Zealand society. […]

Control what is made

-Simon Ganley, Ganley Engineering Have you ever wondered how manufacturers control what they make so they produce everything to the top of the specification and only use the minimum amount of energy to achieve that? Well, most bulk manufacturers of food and industrial products use sensors that sit in or on the line that measure what is being made to automatically control the process. And world-wide, NDC Technologies have grown to become the largest suppliers of this technology. There is a limit to how long any manufacturer can afford to fill up the scrap bin with substandard product, how long they can waste money on power consumption and how long they can compete with companies who do things properly. So, some of the things we do in NZ and elsewhere, is control the moisture and resin in MDF and particle board. This is done with a succession of sensors that control up at the wet-end and provide total control at the finished product. We control sugar moisture on-line and new developments will see the control of colour and lactose where degrees of brown have been an issue. Developed in NZ, most biscuits are now automatically process controlled with colour and moisture which saves huge amounts of energy, staff time and ingredients. The world’s largest French fries maker controls the moisture, oil, colour, bed depth and temperature at the fryer. Other makers produce anything at all. The same goes for potato and corn crisps. The big producers became big because they control what they make. Controlling production provides a fast payback. For confectionery, we control the layers of syrup when it is sprayed in the pan to make up hard-shell products and for chocolate the top producers control the moisture and cocoa butter. For milk powder, pharmaceuticals and other products made […]

Power your future with clean, renewable energy

-Barbara Nebel, CEO thinkstep-anz Every manufacturer needs reliable, affordable energy. The electricity you use, the thermal energy or coal that powers your boilers, the liquid fuels that run your vehicles – energy is one of your business’ most important resources. So, let’s take your energy requirements a step further. Adding ‘clean, renewable energy’ to the list will make your manufacturing operations less dependent on fossil fuels and help avert climate catastrophe. Include a ‘resilient source of energy’ and you’ll help your business withstand potential energy shocks as geo-political tensions grow. Reliable. Affordable. Clean. Renewable. Resilient. That’s a lot to ask of an energy source! Or is it? In this article we show you how to get started – and where to look as you become more ambitious. 1. Start with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) The 17 SDGs aim to end poverty, protect the planet, promote prosperity, and ensure peace for all. All 193 UN member states, including New Zealand, have adopted the goals. Based on our thinkstep-anz research, the Climate Change goal (SDG 13) is the top sustainability priority for companies in New Zealand and Australia – and maybe for your manufacturing business too. For many manufacturers, SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) will be another critical goal. SDG 7 and SDG 13 share some common targets: encouraging energy resilience, moving away from fossil fuels, and improving access to clean energy. Tackling either goal is a win for your business, our planet and its people. Operational efficiency + sustainable action together! Windmill on grass field during golden hour. Photo credit: Karsten Würth on Unsplash. 2. Understand your energy consumption 100% renewable energy is SDG 7’s holy grail. The share of renewables in New Zealand’s total primary energy supply is currently around 40% (MBIE, 2020). We’re not where we […]

How Tidy International helps float Kingfisher’s boats

When the Mason family bought into a Tauranga-based manufacturer of catamaran-hulled boats, the business management software being used included TidyEnterprise and Xero, critical to the co-ordination and control of their production and supply. After steadily maturing the workflows over the course of the year that followed the Mason family involvement, Kingfisher Boats today enjoys a software system that provides accurate stock and Work-in-Progress reports, with further developments in the works to accelerate overall business efficiency, optimise production processes and deliver company-wide data visibility. Kingfisher Boats is both designer and builder of the Kingfisher range of quality aluminium vessels with catamaran hulls sold through an approved marine distributor network. This growing New Zealand business, with its workshop facilities based in the city of Tauranga, happens to be located in the same city as Tidy’s international headquarters. Kingfisher has built up a solid range of marine-craft products for over 19 years, including commercial and recreational vessels ranging from 3m to 18m in length. Laura Mason, General Manager of the company, comments “what sets Kingfisher Boats apart is our focus on alloy catamarans. We’re unique in producing metal cats under 6 metres with a single engine – delivering a more stable platform in a compact package.” Situation Upon joining the business, Mason soon recognised opportunities for enhancing the manufacturing processes. Applying experience she gained in the automotive industry, with its long history of process standardisation and optimisation; from the production-line efficiency made famous by Henry Ford to Toyota’s Kaizen methodology of continuous improvement, Mason sought to advance the somewhat unstructured approach characteristic of smaller businesses towards a defined and repeatable model. Mason emphasises, “this does need to be differentiated depending on the boat we’re manufacturing. When we’re doing a multimillion dollar 18-metre vessel, there’s a lot of customisation so repeatability isn’t important. But […]

Getting back on track

It is very good news that the country is now in Orange and flexibility around people gathering allows business to breathe a sigh of relief. We can only go up from here! As a nation – as a business nation – we have been wrapped up in Covid cotton wool for so long that many businesses closed and others will not get back to previous levels of performance. And of course, we don’t have enough skilled people for the work at hand at present and the continual threat of OE and crossing the ditch for better financial reward means it will be years before New Zealand can get back on a firm financial footing. Into the black…if at all. Keeping all the balls in the air is a challenge for this small economy, with so much demand on government finances to maintain existing systems. Closing down the country during Covid may have worked for health and safety but certainly not for business. One could argue that an amount of money needs to be spent on skilled workers, both internal and from overseas, (some will come back) to help realign the economy. Decent rates of pay so that effort is rewarded and a real incentive for improving productivity and efficiency. Keeping in mind, of course, that supply chain issues affect movement of goods, affect productivity, just as it does the current demand for New Zealand products. Changing markets, changing times. This government is going to have to live with their decision to halt the good work of so many businesses for the rest of their lives. It will haunt them to know that those who had, suddenly, had not. To arbitrarily decide who trades and who doesn’t – not based on their own personal business experience – was always going to […]

It’s all in the data

-Ian Walsh, Managing Director, Intent Group I thought I’d follow on from my pre-Christmas article “What gets measured gets managed” with the next step in continuous improvement: data analysis. This can sound ominous but how you design and implement your analytics is critical to success. Before starting to improve performance and productivity you need to identify and understand the losses and wastes associated with your process. For production lines this could be lost time, lost speed, yield losses, giveaways, lost labour, or downtime by key equipment. Ideally, this information should be grouped by cause such as planned downtime (changeovers, meetings), quality losses or rework, or some other cause. A good data system should tell you major losses, and their resulting impact and frequency. And it will be able to slice this information by shift, by day, or by any other time period you need. This data is essential to understand the nature of the loss, establish the source of the loss and then work on the approach to fixing it and futureproofing it and other systems in your workplace. At a simplistic level, this is the role data plays in your work: find, analyse, fix, prevent. It’s worth noting at this point that your data analysis can be done manually and using spreadsheets – in fact this is a position that many businesses starting to dip their toes into the data analytics pool find themselves in, but there are much better tools available now that really ought to be used. The future (and ideally present) of data analysis is in tailored Internet of Things (IoT) software where you can plug your raw data and it tells you, in real-time rather than retroactively, the story that you need to know, for fixing and optimizing processes. Why wait until the end of […]

«‹ 21 22 23 24 ›»

News Ticker

Analysis