Business News

Young women encouraged to engineer a career

Being a young woman in a male-dominated field hasn’t stopped Bella Franks carving out a successful international career as an engineer. Recently, she spoke about her experiences to a group of female students keen to follow in her footsteps. Bella was one of four guest speakers at the Women in Engineering Canterbury (WiE Can) event hosted by the University of Canterbury (UC). WiE Can gives 60 female Year 13 students from high schools across New Zealand the opportunity to find out more about engineering by attending a series of hands-on workshops. WiE Can’S Elizabeth Franks. Bella, who graduated from UC in 2010 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering with Honours and is now working for Aecom as Associate Director of Buildings and Places, says engineering offers a varied and exciting career path. She advises young women considering the profession to “go for it”. “It’s such a rewarding career. So many of the world’s most pressing issues need smart young women to solve them and drive human innovation forward. “It’s rare in today’s work environment to have such a tangible outcome to your efforts, such as a beautiful building or public space, so it’s very satisfying to be able to see the results of your work.” Bella spent four years living in New York working on one of the United States’ largest private real estate developments, the Hudson Yards project in Manhattan, and she is currently working on the City Rail Link in Auckland. The 30-year-old says there is a certain amount of “proving yourself” as a young, female engineer, particularly in the construction world. “People can be very quick to write you off as inexperienced or out of your depth and it takes time to earn respect. Young males face this challenge too but often to a lesser extent.” UC […]

Recycling breakthrough set to save environment from toxic acid waste

An industrial prototype to recycle acid waste from Christchurch’s galvanised steel industries is just the beginning for researchers at the University of Canterbury who have a global vision for their eco innovation. Called Zincovery, their exciting project is a finalist for Callaghan Innovation’s prestigious C-Prize. Zincovery is the brainchild of UC Associate Professor of Engineering Dr Aaron Marshall and Chemical and UC Process Engineering Master’s student Jonathan Ring, whose prototype process is poised to make a big impact as a new low-cost industrial recycling technology. Their solution for recycling spent acid and recovering pure zinc is a true leap forward towards a cleaner global future for industries reliant on galvanising, a process that involves applying a protective zinc coating to steel. They have their sights set on tackling the hundreds and thousands of tonnes of zinc and acid released into landfill and wastewater every year through the steel galvanising process. Using their industrial prototype, currently under construction, Zincovery aims to offer an innovative recycling service for acid waste at a lower cost than what businesses would pay to dispose of it. Their prototype will be capable of recycling 15 per cent of the acid waste produced by Christchurch’s galvanised steel industry. Next year, the goal is to build a commercial treatment plant for New Zealand. Zincovery’s long term ambition is to expand into international markets. If successful, potential returns could run into hundreds of millions of dollars with a significant portion of that directed back to New Zealand. Callaghan Innovation, New Zealand’s innovation agency, has recognised the project’s potential with Zincovery named as a C-Prize finalist. The C-Prize challenge aims to foster new technologies that tackle complex global problems with a particular focus this year on solving tough environmental challenges. The 10 finalists, selected from 140 entries from across New […]

New trade deal will boost NZ tech companies

The New Zealand, Singapore and Chile digital economy partnership deal will significantly help Kiwi companies grow their digital trade, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says. Digital trade is growing rapidly in New Zealand and worldwide, Muller says. “Technology is the fastest growing sector in New Zealand and digital trade is especially important for the New Zealand economy,” he says. “The New Zealand economy is largely made up of small and medium businesses and being able to trade digitally opens up the global market which was previously only accessible for larger firms. “As more small Kiwi businesses understand how to access global markets this will accelerate their expansion and the growth of the economy. “So, it is critical to have positive global digital trade policies and agreements in place, the work that the New Zealand government is leading in this space is excellent and the New Zealand tech ecosystem is fully supportive.” According to a recent report by the OECD, a 10 percent increase in bilateral digital connectivity raises traditional trade in goods and services as well by two to three percent so stimulating digital trade is also important for our traditional export sectors as well. NZTech is a non-governmental organisation that is supported by more than 1000 organisations that work together to help create a prosperous New Zealand underpinned by technology.

This is what we can really do about climate change

Despite efforts to achieve net-zero by 2050, global emissions are still rising. A new study suggests ways to fast-track efforts to decarbonise the planet. Building a business case for sustainable energy could drive the transition. It’s not too late to stop climate change. According to new research, decarbonising fast enough to stabilise the climate and fast-track the planet to net-zero rests on all of us changing how we think and act – and doing it fast. The report, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS), identifies six “tipping dynamics”, or interventions, that could act as catalysts to bring about rapid societal and technological change towards a sustainable future. The study highlights the importance of intervening to make fossil fuels less economically – and morally – attractive. A step-change of this kind could bring about tipping points that divert investment and consumer demand away from fossil fuels towards more sustainable energy sources. It says this can be done by: Removing fossil-fuel subsidies and boosting incentives to move to decentralised energy systems and make clean energy production and storage systems more economically competitive. Encouraging financial markets to divest of assets linked to fossil fuels, to divert investment towards less-polluting technologies, leaving investors keen to avoid the prospect of holding ‘stranded assets’ tied to fossil fuels. Building sustainable cities powered by renewable energy. Revealing the “moral implications” of fossil fuels. Disclosing greenhouse gas emissions information. Strengthening climate education and engagement. While awareness of the climate emergency is growing, global efforts to reduce carbon emissions are not moving fast enough to avoid irreversible damage to the planet. Moving from the fossil fuels that drive global warming to cleaner energy sources, such as wind or solar power, is at the heart of global efforts to decarbonize. Yet emissions […]

Factories no longer the sure route to prosperity.

Countries once grew rich through manufacturing – but today there is more than one way to effect structural transformation. Think about countries growing out of poverty and you probably picture something like this: underemployed workers leaving inefficient farms for factories that make textiles and clothing for domestic and export markets. Over time, this shift raises productivity and wages across the economy, while countries’ production and export baskets diversify into more sophisticated goods and services. For the past several decades, this image would have been broadly on the mark. South Korea is a prime example: through the 1950s, a large share of its population still worked in the agricultural sector. Its manufactured exports a decade later were mostly textiles, clothing, footwear and wigs. Two generations on, in 2017, Korea was the world’s fifth-largest merchandise exporter and its ninth-largest importer. Even if your mobile phone and household electronics weren’t made by a Korean company, they almost certainly contain integrated circuits that were. In varied ways, and to differing extents, countries from Bangladesh to Colombia to China have trodden this path. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in late 18th century England, ‘structural transformation’– a term economists use for the process of shifting people and resources out of subsistence work into more productive activities – has begun with labour-intensive manufacturing. And starting in the 1950s, trade has been a key accelerator of structural transformation in developing countries, enabling much faster growth and poverty reduction than would otherwise be possible. Good enough to compete Trade matters in this story because in most developing countries, internationally tradable sectors are typically much more productive than the rest of the economy. Pulling more people and capital out of non-tradable activities and into firms dealing in tradable goods and services therefore makes for better jobs and a […]

Finding the right direction in times of great change

-Dieter Adam, The Manufacturers Network Returning from Europe recently, I found myself on an airplane watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If you don’t know the story it is loosely based on two Wild West outlaws Butch Cassidy played by Paul Newman, and his partner the “Sundance Kid” played by Robert Redford. The pair are on the run from a crack US posse after a string of train robberies and forced to flee to Bolivia in search of a more successful criminal career. I had seen the film before, but this time I watched it from a manufacturing perspective. These two ‘experts’ run a small, highly specialised and profitable business. They could be considered leading operators in their field and they have impressive brand recognition. As the regulatory environment changes, they ultimately realise that their business model is unsustainable, but instead of changing the model, they opt to take their current operations to a different market. That is initially unsuccessful, mainly because of a lack of understanding of local conditions, including language, and a lack of ability and willingness to acquire the necessary knowledge, in spite of the best efforts of their ‘consultant’, the Sundance Kid’s girlfriend, played by Katherine Ross. When they eventually realise they need to adjust their business model, they do so half-heartedly and use their first failure as an excuse to revert to the ‘tried and true’ method, only to ultimately fail spectacularly in the face of overwhelming regulatory action. This movie could act as a great ‘how not to’ guide for manufacturers in times of uncertainty and change. A living example of this in the real world is in the German car industry, which has largely been accused of napping at the wheel’ when it comes to switching from internal combustion engines (ICE) to […]

5G is about to change the world in ways we can’t even imagine yet

Blue sky thinking: We don’t yet know what wave of change 5G will create. 5G networks were rolled out in 2019 and will expand rapidly in 2020. 5G will connect everything and everyone. 5G will underpin remote surgery, self-driving cars – and movies you can download in seconds. We live in a time when words meant to represent significant or unique ideas are so overused, they have been trivialised. “Revolutionary” is such a word, a victim of hyperbolic marketing that has rendered meaningless a term meant to evoke profound change to our world. When everything is “revolutionary,” nothing is. Yet here I am, unable to find an alternative as comprehensively descriptive of 5G and the infinite number of ways the newest generation of wireless technology will change our world. In fact, the revolution has already begun. The global deployment of 5G networks got a running start in 2019 and is set to rapidly expand beyond anything we expected a year ago. But the public understanding of 5G hasn’t caught up. While 3G put the mobile Internet in your hand and 4G gave us mobile broadband – redefining how we interact with our world – 5G will connect everything and everyone. The technologies within 5G were and continue to be designed to vastly expand network capacity so cars, utility grids, appliances, medical devices, industrial machinery, homes, cities, farms and more can all be connected. And 5G will reduce delays and improve reliability, thereby enabling mission-critical tasks such as remote surgery, self-driving cars and enhanced public safety, to make possible secure connections so lightning-fast that an entire movie can be downloaded in seconds. The faster smartphones and always-connected personal computers that consumers are already using on the initial 5G networks are just a hint of the transformations to come. While 3G and 4G technology were designed to […]

Could you build our base in Antarctica?

Antarctica New Zealand is looking for a construction partner for the Scott Base Redevelopment project. But this is a job interview with a difference: the selection process involves a trip to Antarctica. “This is no junket though”, says Senior Project Manager Simon Shelton. “We understand that very few people have been to Antarctica so we want to work with the industry to familiarise them with the environment, show them Scott Base and help them understand any perceived commercial risk.” Over the next two years, the design of the proposed new base will be completed. This involves employing a main contractor organisation to work with Antarctica New Zealand and their design consultants to confirm how best to deliver the project. Registrations of Interest are now open on the Government Electronic Tenders Service website, GETS. Shortlisted applicants will be taken to Scott Base in February to experience the environment and the unique logistical requirements involved with safely living, working and building in Antarctica. Mr Shelton says Antarctica New Zealand is looking for an innovative organisation to safely and effectively deliver a complex project. “Even little things are important to know in Antarctica, like what clothing is required to work outside, how people and materials get there and back and how cold it really is,” he says. Antarctica New Zealand General Manager Engineering Matt Johnson says it’s an important project in a remote and challenging environment. “The redevelopment of Scott Base is the largest project ever undertaken by Antarctica New Zealand. “This is an opportunity for a construction company to be part of New Zealand’s legacy in Antarctica and to help support our world-leading science programme. “We’re looking for an organisation with the ability to deliver complex and challenging projects, a strong commitment to environmental stewardship, one that values the power of teamwork […]

Clean, high-tech: this is the factory of the future

Factories have long held a place in the popular imagination, not just as sources of employment and community prosperity, but also as hectic, noisy, grimy and polluting facilities, where thousands of people are employed in largely low-skilled line positions. Today’s factories are changing. Breathtaking advances in technology, automation and globalisation are transforming how and where manufacturers plan, construct, operate and integrate their factory networks. They are also ushering in significant operational, political and societal changes. From America’s Rust Belt to rural India and China, a chorus of voices is struggling to understand: how are technologies changing how we produce and distribute products? Are automation and free trade taking away valuable factory jobs? What type of skills will be required? How can communities prosper in the face of new production technologies? How and when should manufacturers upgrade their legacy equipment to embrace new technologies to boost yields and efficiency for advantage or simply to remain competitive? Businesses, governments and society alike must understand the technological dynamics at play and collaborate together to ensure tomorrow’s factory towns prosper. What will the factory of the future look like? The key answers will come from the factory floor where new technologies like 3D printing, advanced robotics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, wearable devices, and virtual and augmented reality are converging to create new value, enabling the hyper-efficient and flexible factory of the future. The value created is real: large global producers have increased efficiency and reduced costs by up to 30% across all operations, driven by improvements in overall operating efficiency, lower inventory, energy and water costs, and reduction in incidents involving safety. While the pace of change and how these changes will propagate across networks will differ by industry and country, the factory of the future is a more digital, virtual and […]

Infrastructure boost must contribute to productivity growth

BusinessNZ has welcomed the $12 billion infrastructure boost announced, and says it’s appropriate for road and rail transport to be the priorities. Chief Executive Kirk Hope said business would be keen to see the details of the projects. “We need to make sure the projects can be executed, and that decisions are worked through Infrastructure Commission to ensure investments are strategic and contribute to New Zealand’s growth in productivity. “It will be important that capacity constraints don’t restrict execution of essential short- and medium-term projects, and that the projects are strongly aligned with immigration and training policies.”

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