Analysis

Microplastics: Small plastics, big problem

This glimpse of the future was crafted by Paul Stephenson Almost everything we own and buy contains plastics. Look around. If it’s not the chair you’re sitting on, or that part of a pen in your drawer, that bottle in your refrigerator, it may be this thing you’re holding ‒ your smartphone, or a keyboard, or a tablet. They are everywhere. But before you blame plastic water bottles and candy wrappers solely for climate change or marine plastic pollution, think again. It turns out, as with many other relationships, sometimes it’s the small things that create the biggest impacts. And in this case, it’s the plastics that we don’t see, the microplastics, that are about to damage the world we are living in. We have to wake up, before it’s too late. It’s not just ‘small’ stuff… The United Nation’s Environmental Programme (UNEP) identified microplastics as one of the alarming issues that we should keep an eye on as plastic pollution remains the biggest threat to marine biodiversity today. But are we already many years too late? Based on current rates of plastic pollution, the World Economic Forum predicts that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. Microplastics, whilst tiny, pack a big punch. They have been around for more than five decades as microbeads and microfibres ranging in size from 0.5 to 5mm in length. And we have unknowingly let them into our homes and closets, as they have replaced the natural ingredients of our personal care products, and cosmetics such as toothpaste, facial and body scrubs, and have been manufactured into some of the clothes we love to wear. However, it’s not actually the products that directly harm us, but rather what happens to them after they go down the drain. These synthetic […]

How to have a good Fourth Industrial Revolution

Trees, please: Take a break from technology. To encourage people to examine the impact of technology on our lives, the artist Lauren McCarthy decided to try to become a human version of amazon.com’s smart home intelligence device Alexa. McCarthy installed a network of remote-controlled smart devices, from cameras and microphones to light switches and appliances, and invited volunteers to stay in her home. Then she tried to anticipate and respond to their needs – like making a bowl of popcorn when she guessed they were hungry—instead of just responding to commands like Alexa does. Get-Lauren touches on common anxieties, starting with the questions of what humans can offer that machines cannot, and what control each of us has over our future and even who we are. “By allowing these devices in, we outsource the formation of our identity to a virtual assistant whose values are programmed by a small, homogenous group of developers,” McCarthy wrote. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in new technologies that are changing where and how many of us work, what we buy and how we buy it, what we learn and what we delegate to our devices, and how we connect with each other. It’s easy for even tech-savvy individuals to feel that we are helpless in face of these tectonic shifts. What can a single person do? What power does anyone have amid massive social and economic changes? What is within our control and how do we adapt to what is out of our hands? Simply asking those questions is a good start toward managing technology instead of letting it control us. Seeking to understand the changes underway helps us to feel that we are doing something instead of facing complete uncertainty. Assessing how we use technology in the workplace, home, and community helps […]

Kiwi academics develop new food design technique

Two leading academics have developed a new food design technique to help inspire the next generation of culinary designers and make artistic food presentation more accessible to New Zealand restaurants. The new technique developed in consultation with EPIC Otago Polytechnic R & D centre and The Food Design Institute at Otago Polytechnic allows chefs to produce large quantities of artistically designed food products by hand on a commercial scale with a small team, and at reduced cost. Otago Polytechnic’s Timothy Lynch, who and lectures on sustainability in the food industry, says they wanted to present ingredients in a way that was consistent with multisensory food design concepts. “The process involves working with natural products to design handcrafted foods that look identical to fruit and vegetables but are filled with contrasting flavours.” “Initially we couldn’t find a way to make these products on a small scale, but a collaboration with the EPIC helped us overcome several barriers, and we were able to develop a method of crafting the lifelike products using food-grade silicon moulds, which we made ourselves,” he says. Lynch says a project of this scale and complexity would require international assistance and a large team of scientists and food specialists. This would have made the project cost prohibitive by New Zealand industry standards, he says. “Thanks to the ingenuity of some of our colleagues and the dedication of our staff and students we have managed to find a way to bring these food creations to life,”- says Lynch. Senior lecturer Tony Heptinstall who has catered for Prince Charles and other royal family members says one of the objectives was to increase current industry capital through being part of an innovative collaboration between the food industry and education. “We were conscious that to inspire the students we needed to take on […]

Corrosion impact on bridge infrastructure

Corrosion will affect all types of metals to varying degrees of severity and speed. Unless comprehensive management plans are developed and implemented, steel and other metals will ‘rust’ and reinforced concrete will spall and crack. Corrosion can be prevented or minimised by either ‘isolating’ the material from its environment with some sort of coating or implementing an active intervention system such as cathodic protection. Bridges carry massive loads from moving vehicles which impose vibrational and other stresses onto structures. Approximately 200,000 cars and trucks cross Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge each day. The Auckland Harbour Bridge carries a similar volume of road traffic, although it is estimated that half the people crossing the bridge in the morning peak hour are on buses. The owners and managers of these assets must ensure that bridges are safe, while maintaining acceptable levels of service for the duration of the expected life of the asset. If appropriate asset management strategies are implemented, it is possible to restore an asset to near its original condition and maintain its functionality for the remaining service life and, possibly, even beyond. The two most common causes of concrete corrosion are carbonation and chloride or ‘salt attack’. The alkaline (high pH) conditions in concrete forms a passive film on the surface of the steel reinforcing bars, thus preventing or minimising corrosion. Reduction of the pH caused by “carbonation” or ingress of chloride (salt) causes the passive film to degrade, allowing the reinforcement to corrode in the presence of oxygen and moisture. Leaching of the alkalinity from concrete also lowers pH to cause corrosion of steel reinforcement. Stray electrical currents, most commonly from electrified traction systems, can also breakdown the passive film and cause corrosion of steel reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete elements. As reinforcing bars rust, the volume of the rust […]

The Innovators Dilemma

– Clayton M. Christensen What do the Honda Supercub, Intel’s 8088 processor, and hydraulic excavators have in common? In The Innovator’s Dilemma they are all examples of disruptive technologies that helped to redefine the competitive landscape of their respective markets. These products did not come about as the result of successful companies carrying out sound business practices in established markets. In The Innovator’s Dilemma, author Clayton M. Christensen shows how these and other products cut into the low end of the marketplace and eventually evolved to displace high-end competitors and their reigning technologies. At the heart of The Innovator’s Dilemma is how a successful company with established products keeps from being pushed aside by newer, cheaper products that will, over time, get better and become a serious threat. Christensen writes that even the best-managed companies, in spite of their attention to customers and continual investment in new technology, are susceptible to failure no matter what the industry, be it hard drives or consumer retailing. Succinct and clearly written. The Innovator’s Dilemma is an important book that belongs on every manager’s bookshelf.

Bringing back jobs of the past

Dieter Adam, NZMEA We have recently talked about various Western countries positioning themselves to take industrial and manufacturing policy more seriously. It is worth further considering the future of manufacturing in relation to technology, productivity and jobs to help think about what policy moves may work, and those that may not be successful. The biggest criticism of such industrial policies currently is that some of the rhetoric is around bringing back “jobs of the past”– this has been most obvious in the United States. But it can’t be about bringing back ‘old jobs’. In most cases, those jobs are gone for reasons that can be understood, be that in the US, or here at home. All our industries have faced intense competitive pressure as manufacturing capability around the world increases, while at the same time as a country our productivity has lagged behind, and our companies have faced some relative cost increases, while our competitors have sought positions to better fit into supply chains, for example – commercial logic still dictates largely what jobs disappear overseas. What this really means is we need to look hard at taking measures to improve the competitive positioning of manufacturing in New Zealand. For our Government this means creating a set of policies and conditions that help our businesses grow and adapt, while facilitating the move into new niche areas, be that by existing companies or start-ups. Remaining globally competitive, and getting even better at it, means relentless innovation in a world where we see accelerating change in everything from consumer behaviour to product technology, methods of production and methods of doing business. How technological change effects future production will have a big part in determining what industrial jobs in the near future will look like. We continue to see automation becoming increasingly accessible, with […]

Is your talent management strategy ready for the global skills gap?

By Alexandre Pachulski, Co-Founder of Talentsoft Our global economy has begun yet another transformation. We are in the early stages of a fourth industrial revolution that will bring major changes to our societies, driven by advances in connectivity, automation, and artificial intelligence. With that, has come a global gap in the skilled talent necessary to keep pace. As expert Klaus Schwab, puts it, “the changes are so profound that, from a perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril.” So how do we fulfill this great promise? A critical piece involves rethinking how we cultivate and manage the talent whom will be leading us forward; whom we will reply upon to innovate, deliver, and maintain these unprecedented developments in technology? The greatest promises of technology cannot be realised without human talent. For that technology to grow and for our economies to thrive, we must be aware of and work to bridge the widening global gap in qualified talent, particularly in manufacturing and STEM-dependent careers, which are central to this latest industrial revolution. There’s an exciting opportunity for forward-thinking leaders to be proactive—especially those in HR, as they are often at the centre of their company’s talent management strategy. The first step for leadership is to assess where they are right now and what changes need to be made to compete effectively in this new era. Leaders who can readily embrace new technologies and strategies will have a significant advantage over those who don’t. Key areas to assess are: Integration and Connectivity The pace of business and reliance on real-time data insists that companies embrace cloud-based technologies and software that can connect easily to existing solutions. Teams needs to be able to work from centralized data so decisions can made from up-to-date information; […]

Fair and free trade for all

Comment by HERA Director Dr Wolfgang Scholz Now Donald Trump has officially taken over as the 45th President of the United States, many of us Kiwis (particularly those in business) think New Zealand is well and truly Trumped. But is it really all doom and gloom for the future of our nation when it comes to dealing with America? One thing we can say with any certainty is there will be many outcomes affecting us – on the one hand, it’s likely our free trade ambitions will get a hit and lead to reduced access to some very big markets, on the other, it signals an opportunity for local manufacturing to respond proactively to emerging policies with our own political response, to arm local manufacturing with the scope to grow and make a bigger contribution to our economy. …it will all be about striking the right balance between growing a competitive economy which can continue to export successfully into the free trade space, and protecting ourselves against unfair trade… In the end – HERA believes it will all be about striking the right balance between growing a competitive economy which can continue to export successfully into the free trade space, and protecting ourselves against unfair trade such as dumped products and promptly matching new emerging tariff barriers with our own tariff increases. The lay of the land through ‘Trump’ tinted glasses On the edge of our seats, we’ve watched the Trump empire come to power – demonstrating a real support for change in the ‘greatest nation in the world’, where its current approach is a decided move away from New Zealand’s policy that more free trade is needed if we’re to be a prosperous country. So what is the right tactic to pursue in the quest for economic success and a […]

China is calling – is your company China ready?

Being “China Ready” means gaining an understanding of the resources and capabilities required to develop, enter, and ultimately grow in the market. By Mike Arand – NZTE China Business Development advisor Lately the question “Are you China Ready?” seems to be heard often and many are starting to ask what does “China Ready” really mean? Without doubt there is opportunity for many NZ companies in China. The top line numbers continue to be staggering – a total population of 1.4 Billion, 446 Million households, 670 Million netizens (internet users), and an economy that is set to have 470 Million middle class households earning over US$15k by 2030 (compared to the expected 133 Million households in USA earning over US$15k at the same time). And, as the Economist recently pointed out, even at a growth rate of 6-7% which is considerably lower than the average of the last few decades, China will add another US$900B to GDP by end-2016. That’s like adding an economy the size of Indonesia or the Netherlands in less than 18 months! Even at this slower growth rate, in the so-called “new normal”, the Economist expects that China is expected to have GDP of 36 Trillion by 2030. So an economy of this size with ongoing growth, with continuing urbanisation and a growing middle class which is driving huge growth in consumer demand must offer opportunity, right? Many of these factors are behind China now competing with Australia for New Zealand’s top export destination. It must be remembered, however, that China is also the top export destination for more than 120 other countries. The trade buyers and the consumers are absolutely spoilt for choice with a myriad of options for products and services with different brands, origins, prices, and a host of other attributes from other imported […]

New export opportunities opening up

The manufacturing sector overall is looking increasingly resilient, having coped with a high NZ dollar through improved productivity. – Catherine Beard, Executive Director, MaufacturingNZ As we near the end of 2015, it’s encouraging to note that New Zealand’s manufacturing sector is continuing its expansionary path and new export opportunities are opening up. At the time of writing this, the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) results were from October 2015, and the seasonally adjusted PMI was 53.3 (above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding). Although this was 1.7 points lower than September, the level of expansion was still healthy. The sector has now been in continued expansion since October 2012. While a lot of the expansion can be attributed to the Christchurch rebuild and a catch-up of building and construction investment in the Auckland region, the manufacturing sector overall is looking increasingly resilient, having coped with a high NZ dollar through improved productivity. We have also seen consistent expansion from other sectors such as food and beverage. The high New Zealand dollar has allowed many manufacturers to invest in new plant and equipment and has encouraged manufacturers to move away from competing on price and to invest in innovation and quality to stand out from the competition. The monthly PMI survey has been a great way of keeping track of the industry trend, with comment and input direct from Kiwi manufacturers themselves. We are grateful for the BNZ’s ongoing support of this important exercise and to all the manufacturers around New Zealand who fill in the 5 minute survey every month. Another survey that helps us keep a good handle on New Zealand’s manufacturing performance is the annual ExportNZ survey, in the field in August-September. The majority of respondents (49%) identified themselves as manufacturers. The main […]

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