Case Studies

Engineering a new career for young women

Welding, polishing and sand blasting were among the daily activities for a group of young women during a recent work placement at Hamilton-based manufacturer, Longveld. The placement is part of a unique training course offered by Wintec and Longveld, aimed at getting more women into engineering. Sixteen young women from Waikato secondary schools are enrolled in the programme, which is in its first year. They visit Wintec’s workshop one day a week, where they train in fabrication and engineering while gaining credits towards NCEA Level 2. They then spend one week at Longveld working alongside staff, rotating between activities including stainless steel sheet metal fabrication, waterjet profile cutting, welding, grinding, sand blasting and computer-aided (CAD) design. As part of their activities, they produced name plates and miniature stainless steel house frames. This, along with the rotation system gave them a chance to experience first-hand what it means to work on individual manufacturing and fabrication components that would ultimately contribute to the creation of a larger project such as a milk tanker, farm vat or dairy factory. Shawnee Dixon from Hamilton’s Fraser High School says: “It was a great experience, with friendly staff at Longveld who taught us a lot and were always there to help. It was a really good opportunity and a great experience”. Wintec youth pathways manager, Johnny Gordon, says the course is a good way of encouraging women into what is traditionally seen as a male-oriented industry. “The programme provides the opportunity for women to learn in an environment where they’re not the only female in the room,” he says. “It’s been great to see their confidence grow throughout the programme and in particular during their time at Longveld. Towards the end of the week they had become a group of self-assured young women, one step closer […]

Profile: TimberLab Solutions: innovation, versatility and quality bring firsts

When two of New Zealand’s leading engineered timber design and manufacture companies, McIntosh Timber Laminates and TimberBond Industries, joined forces in November 2012, TimberLab Solutions Ltd was created. Now with a combined Auckland workforce of 35 staff operating out of the old McIntosh Timber Laminates 3500m2 plant in Bostock Place, and over 76 years of experience; TimberLab Solutions has the best of both worlds, combining McIntosh’s extensive experience in manufacturing structural laminated timber for commercial use and TimberBond’s expertise in residential use of glued laminated timber (Glulam). The result has been a “greater perspective towards ways in which structural timber can be applied to all building situations”, according to Owen Griffiths, TimberLab’s Sales and Marketing Director. TimberLab Solutions “aim to be the best provider of innovative, cost-effective and customised engineered timber solutions throughout New Zealand and to offshore markets”. They specialise in providing complete design-manufacture-installation packages for a wide range of timber projects, from small one-off sculptures to large industrial buildings. Being New Zealand’s largest and most experienced manufacturer of Glulam building systems, TimberLab’s Bostock Place premises showcase some of the capabilities on offer with Glulam portal frames, Glulam gantry beams, and reverse-curved Glulam beams featured throughout. TimberLab Solutions also have a high focus on quality, which would usually make it more difficult to provide cost-effective customised solutions as set out in their mission statement. However, they manage to achieve these objectives through careful design work and quality control from start to finish. “You can have two solutions for the same building, but because the designer is unfamiliar with the product and what it can do, they tend to be conservative in their design; therefore more expensive. Because we’ve had experience, we can provide a better value solution. “It’s a matter of being able to choose the right solution […]

Clever tax service helps maintain high growth

One of New Zealand’s most successful tool machinery manufacturers could not have continued on a high growth programme without an innovative product that helps manage cashflow, called Pay My Tax. When Teknatool New Zealand closed its manufacturing facility in New Zealand and moved to Qingdao in China to be closer to its markets in 2006, the well-established New Zealand engineering business (known for working with such brands as Black & Decker) was launched along a meteoric global growth path. Sales grew rapidly. And opportunities began opening up. Then in 2009, Teknatool also opened a research and development department in Quingdao. But high growth and developing the business in other countries meant cashflow was tight. Teknatool could not have continued to take advantage of these opportunities had it not been for a smart tax pooling product from Tax Management NZ (TMNZ). Pay My Tax lets businesses defer their provisional tax payments by up to 18 months, to a time that’s more convenient for the business. By leaving cash in the business for as long as possible, businesses can spend money when it is needed to buy materials or develop without incurring huge tax liabilities in the form of the IRDÕs use of money interest and late penalties. The current IRD use of money interest (UOMI) rates are 8.4% for underpayments and 1.75% for overpayments. Missed payments can be subject to late payment or shortfall penalties. And taxpayers can be charged interest even if they had not earned the income by the time the provisional tax payment was due – because the IRD operates with the benefit of hindsight. When Teknatool discovered TMNZ three years ago, it made it much easier to manage their cashflow, says financial director Margaret Latimer. “At the same time as we were pouring money into a high […]

Lean times call for thinner sheets, thicker bends

With the price of sheetmetal arguably at an all time high due to massive demand by Asia and the Middle East, itÕs not just clever software-driven machines that positively impact profit margins. The simple act of reducing raw material costs has become the latest challenge for fabricators in Australia and New Zealand. And price reduction doesnÕt have to rely on any hard bargaining Ð tooling technology is getting better and smarter and can now provide an edge. By a year or two, Europe has encountered many of the challenges our sheetmetal manufacturers are about to face. One particular example from this continent is perhaps a lesson for our companies which may help them avoid any costly trial and error processes to reach a solution. This European company produces electrical enclosures and cable management systems using a typical turret punching/forming machine. It wanted to use the minimum material thickness in order to reduce the cost of the component. However, this item is part of a walkway used in a cable management system, so the component needed to be strong enough to be walked on, without deformation. So basically, the company needed to combine light weight material with structural strength and presented the applications specialists at MATE Tooling Ð represented in Australia and New Zealand by Maxitec – with this very common, yet always challenging task of combining structural strength with minimum material thickness. The solution was to implement a non-spring loaded custom beaded emboss using the MATE tooling. A beaded embossing or bend is a common way to add strength to a sheet metal part. As the material is deformed, the effective material thickness increases to make it more stiff. One of the strongest natural shapes is a hexagon. This hexagonal solution using MATE tooling combines the natural strength of a […]

PowerMILL offers safest-ever machining

Delcam has released the 2011 version of its PowerMILL CAM system for five-axis and high-speed machining. This release makes the programming of safe toolpaths easier than ever thanks to new stock-model-engagement options that protect both the cutting tool and the machine from excessive loading. Other enhancements include new editing capabilities to simplify the machining of duplicate items; more versatile control of feed-rates for leads and links; and extra functionality for sketching, plus the completion of the move to the new clearer forms for the complete range of strategies. The options to optimise tool loading will help overcome a constant conflict for programmers. On the one hand, they want to maximise productivity by setting feed-rates as fast as their machines will allow; on the other hand, they need to ensure safe speeds that will not break the tool. The need for safe machining has, of course, become more critical as a growing number of companies are introducing lights-out, unmanned operation overnight or during weekends. A number of CAM programs incorporate strategies based on the extent of cutter engagement to give more consistent loading on the tool and so allow higher feed-rates. However, these options are usually limited to the initial roughing operations, or to only roughing and rest-roughing. PowerMILLÕs new stock engagement technology can also be employed with all of the systemÕs finishing and rest-finishing strategies so ensuring that the safest-possible toolpaths are run on the machine at all stages. The key to this more comprehensive solution is the accuracy of the stock models produced within PowerMILL after each machining stage has been completed. These models give a precise representation of the material still remaining on the part and are used to ensure that the cutter is never asked to remove more material than it can safely cut. At the same […]

We can catch Australia – by manufacturing our way to success

There is only one way we will catch Australia in wage rates and standard of living, and that is by growing our manufacturing sector. Various reports have concluded productivity in New Zealand is low compared to other developed countries and while that is true as an average across the whole economy, it is not true in the manufacturing sector. Professor Paul Callaghan from Victoria University has calculated what we need to produce per employee to catch up with Australia and manufacturing is clearly miles ahead of any other sector. By his calculation we need to exceed $143,000 of revenue per employee. Manufacturing revenue per employee is $240,000 (total manufacturing) or $250,000 (manufactured exports). Fonterra comes in at $550,000 revenue per employee and Fisher and Paykel healthcare comes in at $400,000. This is clearly the way to go, we need more manufacturers with high productivity and we need them to grow their business. While tourism is a high export earner for the country and is very important, its productivity per employee is relatively low. Tourism’s economic contribution divided by the number of full time employees is $77,814 revenue per employee, well below the $143,000 we need to catch Australia. It is well known that in order to have a better standard of living, the most important factor is our productivity. Productivity, some economists say, is not everything, but is nearly everything. Productivity does not mean working harder, it means working smarter. Making and exporting higher value, higher profit goods and services, per hour worked. I include services in the definition of manufacturing, because modern manufacturers are increasingly adding services into their business offering. Take Tait Electronics as an example. They don’t just manufacture and sell hand held communication devices for police and other emergency services; they also provide all the necessary […]

Exporters upbeat for 2011

Kiwi exporters are upbeat and determined to increase their exports in the year ahead, according to Export New Zealand’s National Export Outlook Survey. The findings from the inaugural Export Outlook survey undertaken mid November are being released today. (Link here for the report) “Kiwi exporters are looking forward to 2011 with confidence borne of experience and self belief,” said Catherine Beard, Executive Director of Export New Zealand. “80 per cent of them expect to increase their orders across all their markets,” she said. “44 per cent of the sample, 251 mainly manufacturing exporters, plan to enter new market regions over the next 12 months. “Over half expect their profits to improve next year, with a further 32 per cent expecting their profit levels to hold steady. “Furthermore, about half of the firms plan to keep their staff at the same level, with 38 per cent of them saying they will employ more people in the next 12 months. 13 per cent expect to reduce their staff.Ê “These results are extremely encouraging since we need our exporters to earn far more if the country is to recover income levels, and retain our standard of living. “New Zealand needs trade, since we can’t grow our economy on the back of our small domestic market, and this is why the TPP negotiations this week in Auckland are so important. “Both CER with Australia and the China FTA have delivered huge benefits to our economy and the TPP has even bigger potential due to the countries involved. “In fact for New Zealand to succeed, exporting must be made the focus of the whole economy. “The main barriers to export growth from the survey were reported to be exchange rate volatility, rather than the level of the NZ dollar, market conditions and demand offshore, followed […]

Top scoring tech therapy taps healing power of play

A computer game-based arm rehabilitation device developed by IRL has won first prize in the prototype category of the 2010 Engineers Australia, College of Biomedical Engineering Better Technology Awards. Led by Research Engineer Marcus King the device, called Able-X, was developed by IRL’s Assistive Devices Team in Christchurch and is being commercialised through Wellington-based partner company Im-Able. “It was a very special feeling to be recognised in front of the large group of scientific peers for excellence in the field that the conference was based around,” says Marcus King. “This award gives credibility to our research and shows that we are leading the way in rehabilitation science – an essential requirement for securing future funding.” The winning entry comprises a suite of specially designed computer games with a bilateral exercise device that allows a person with an arm disability resulting from neurological injury to exercise their arm while playing engaging games. In collaboration with Christchurch-based companies Stickmen Studios and Pukka Design Studio, Marcus developed the device whichÊis suitable for people across a range of disabilities, from severely paralysed to almost able-bodied. The system has shown very promising results in clinical trials by the Rehabilitative Exercise and Activity for Life Neurology Research Group at the University of Otago. “We’re getting significant movement benefits from many of the people who have taken part in the trials,” says Marcus King. “We’ve had reports that people who have one paralysed arm and have been having to drive their car single-handedly can now use both hands on the steering wheel at once.” The Able-X is the first product to be prototyped for production, with a market release planned for late 2010. It incorporates an inertial sensor game consol developed by Taiwan-based IRL collaborator the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and enables a bilateral exercise regime […]

Environment drives quest for 21st Century storage technologies

The current debate about the best construction materials and technologies for big industrial and municipal liquid storage tanks is not new. Ever since lead in wine and water was blamed for contributing to madness and the decline of the Roman Empire, planners have been very careful about where they store and process both potable water and high purity liquids for human and industrial use. And while the ancient Romans may have contributed to their own downfall by consuming 1- 5 litres of wine a day, by many accounts, there is little doubt that lead did leach into their tipple as it was simmered slowly in the lead-lined pots or kettles of the time. Lead may also have polluted the water supply from pipes delivering it to and from the springs, rivers, aquaducts and castellum aquae, the central reservoir at the highest point of cities such as Pompeii. Skip forward a few thousand years and it is possible that, with today’s storage technologies, emperors such as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero and Claudius may have been much healthier individuals than those depicted by history (particularly in the case of Claudius) as suffering disturbed speech, weak limbs, slobbering and fits of excessive inappropriate laughter. Because big storage and industrial process tanks today are, by and large, light years ahead of the standards of even a couple of generations ago, in terms of hygiene for human consumption and cleanliness for high-tech industrial processes that demand utmost purity for storage of the liquids used in them. These very important industrial applications including zero discharge processes, which are vital to a host of major industries extending from mining, resources and energy to food and beverage manufacturing and the recycling of industrial waste to deliver biogas to help power the business and reduce its carbon footprint. The premier […]

Competitive Manufacturing Programs help manufacturers go Lean

According to www.stats.govt.nz approximately half of NZ manufacturers have less than 50 FTE employees and one in five manufacturers employ less than 10 people. These companies underpin the NZ economy but are they benefiting from Lean thinking? Owners and / or managers of SMEs who believe that their company has more potential than it is currently realising might benefit from undertaking a lean program. Lean thinking can be used to generate cost reductions, or gain improvements in lead time and delivery performance. Applying lean thinking might also highlight opportunities to reduce inventory in order to free cash and fuel further growth. However, for SMEs companies, “going lean’ can be particularly challenging and improvement efforts are often put on the back burner due to unresolved implementation questions such as: Will the tools be effective here? Will I get buy-in? Will the benefits exceed the costs So how does the smaller manufacturer get started on the continuous improvement journey? One route is to consider a government subsidised Public Program in Competitive Manufacturing. Public CM programs are typically aimed at individuals with organisational accountability for continuous performance improvement. These courses introduce best practice continuous improvement methodologies from the world’s leading organisations. The emphasis of a good quality CM program is on ‘learning by doing’ and knowledge sharing with other course participants and the assessment of learning is based around the implementation of workplace projects. On a public diploma level CM program the participant can expect to learn many technical aspects of a lean implementation including: How to map their own value stream and use this to identify wastes The importance of a balanced scorecard and application for their own company The ‘best practice’approach to reducing changeover times How to apply ‘Just In Time’ to their own workplace How to manage a 5S system […]

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