Business News

Developing sustainable products more efficiently

Product development can – and should – benefit from the same efficiency and productivity gains that we see in manufacturing and production. The product development process is often very wasteful and expensive, complex and multi-faceted, and information does not flow in one direction, but goes back and forward many times. How then, can you apply the Lean approach to business, which has traditionally been used for manufacturing, to product development? The key is to recognise that product development is not really that unique – it is still a business process with inputs and outputs and adding value is a key objective. Not only does Lean thinking help to identify and minimise waste, the resulting efficiency and quality improvements should be more than noticeable. Eliminate waste There is usually a lot of ‘waste’ in the product development, it is just not always as visible as in manufacturing processes or we’ve conditioned ourselves to accept it. By applying Lean, companies can reduce the waste of unnecessary errors, redoing work, doing too much work and endless waiting. The trick is to take a pre-emptive approach rather than a reactionary one. Preventing product failures at the beginning and then at every step of the design process means you do not have to fix them later. Maintaining a comprehensive database of product failures ‘in the field’ and analysing them to find the root causes will prevent future mistakes. It is a mistake to assume that product failure is always the fault of the manufacturing process: what if the design is faulty? But eliminating waste in design, the beginning of the process, makes the manufacturing process much easier and cheaper. If you build in ‘error proofing’ and quality into every step of the design process, you avoid passing on defects. More speed, less time and effort […]

New Plymouth based Howard Wright wins metal in National Design Awards

New Plymouth based designer and manufacturer Howard Wright Limited has been awarded one of the country’s top design prizes, picking up silver at the national BeST Design Awards – New Zealand designs equivalent to the Oscars. Howard Wright was awarded silver in the non-consumer product design category at this years prestigious awards – which were held at a glittering black tie awards ceremony, attended by around 500 of the country’s top designers – for the M8 Intensive Care Bed. Developed in conjunction with healthcare professionals, the M8 Intensive Care Bed is safe and intuitive to use, requiring minimal training and servicing. A revolution in the hospital care sector, it has full electric functions and X-ray imaging capabilities allowing a full range of procedures to be performed on the bed without the need of transferring a patient. Largely manufactured in New Zealand both in-house and using local suppliers, the innovative bed features a sliding backrest and leg raise providing greater patient comfort. Howard Wright is a world leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of medical beds and stretchers, with nearly all of the beds found in New Zealand hospitals having been produced by the company. Leading industrial designer, Professor Tony Parker, product judging convenor at this year’s awards and Head of the Institute of Design for Industry and the Environment at Wellington’s Massey University, said Howard Wright was a great example of a company that had changed its culture to produce high quality products for its niche. “The future of New Zealand’s business is likely to lie with companies such as Howard Wright, who combine good design and engineering with market research of a very high international standard.” Organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, The BeST Design Awards recognise New Zealand’s best designs from the past year across […]

SEW Great News

Patented innovation for installation & maintenance teams from SEW (say it like BMW). The TorqLOC mounting system is quick, robust, and simple and tolerance forgiving, PLUS has built-in long term cost and labour saving advantages. Innovative connection system for hollow shaft mounted gear units. Great news for installation and maintenance teams is this timely reminder from SEW-Eurodrive. The patented TorqLOC hollow shaft mounting system available ex-stock from both SEW’s Auckland and Christchurch plants. Designed to allow mounting on to standard bright steel shafting without the necessity of machining or cutting keyways, TorqLOC provides an easy method of assembly and disassembly to machinery. The TorqLOC keyless coupling system is quick, robust, simple and tolerance forgiving and has built-in long term cost and labour saving advantages. TorqLOC can be used for mounting helical, helical-bevel and helical-worm geared motors and gear units. TorqLOC is a huge breakthrough for drives operating in wet and wash-down environments, providing dramatic improvements in drive removal, even after lengthy periods of operation. Cost reductions: The conical bushings at both ends of the TorqLOC hollow shaft, allow a diameter tolerance of the customers shaft of up to 0.19mm. This makes possible the use of plain drawn bar stock to a machining quality level of just H11 (previous requirement H6). This reduces both the processing costs of the input shaft and manufacturing costs for the installation. Quick, simple assembly and disassembly. Customers no longer have to overcome tight fitting tolerances. Disassembly has been improved even more with the use of slotted clamping bushes. The sum total of faster assembly and reduced maintenance work and reduced downtime, adds up to real cost savings. Available ex-stock for gear sizes from 37 to 107 the TorqLOC system is suitable for most drive applications up to 8.0kNm of driving torque. nextSTEP Phone SEW-Eurodrive (NZ) […]

New Zealand’s lift out GARESH

New Zealand’s lift out of recessionary times could be under-way by the end of the year. And manufacturing must play a major part in that economic shift. So too should the nation’s ITO sector if the skill-set amongst our workforce is to provide the expertise needed to boost productivity, and ultimately, export earnings in decades to come. That’s the word from Dr Ganesh Nana, Chief Economist of Business and Economic Research Ltd (BERL), who believes New Zealand will soon be on a path back to economic growth – thanks in part to the recession remaining mainly in the metropolitan areas of the country. However, Dr Nana believes there must first be an investment boost of 50-100% into industry training to ensure long-term development in workforce up-skilling, investment that hinges on more government leadership and funding, along with greater commitment from manufacturers. Dr Nana says the proposed $300 million investment in further training over five years is simply not enough for New Zealand to gain the economic momentum it needs to grow the economy and compete more closely with first world countries. With over 250,000 Kiwis having, at best, a level one qualification, he is adamant ITOs have a key role to play in transforming the New Zealand economy. “When you consider the manufacturing sector has not put any more jobs into the New Zealand economy in the past ten years, and in fact has reduced the number of jobs from 276,000 to 268,000, there simply must be a drive to turn this stagnation around and it can be done,” says Dr Nana. “Outside of the manufacturing sector, there have been 400,000 new jobs created in the New Zealand workforce in the same period. There is no reason why manufacturing can’t, and shouldn’t, be growing also but it is critical we […]