Case Studies

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 […]

Future Focus on Export Products

Comment by Heavy Engineering Research Association Director Dr Wolfgang Scholz The Heavy Engineering Research Association has just put a funding proposal to Government’s research funding agency the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (FRST) aimed at supporting the New Zealand Metals Industry in becoming more productive and developing export opportunities. This new proposal comes at a time when Government and industry advisor’s stress the need for companies to join Government in increasing investment in research and technology (R&D) if we want the New Zealand economy to transform and create wealth funded on knowledge-based, high value-added and profitable industries. Government Science Advisor, Sir Peter Gluckman, outlined recently at a medical technology conference that our industry spending on R&D is at best 0.4 % of GDP, while in more advanced nations, industry spends as much as 2% of GDP on research and technology. However, he noted that New Zealand’s Government fares much better and is the only nation where Government RS&T spending is actually higher than industry’s with 0.5-0.7%, which is close to the average of the advanced nations’ 1% for government-funded RS&T. He also noted that the medical technology sector – to which our metals industry makes a significant contribution through tool making, casting or general metals-based manufacturing – has shown resilience despite the global financial meltdown and is predicted to be a billion $ industry within the next 5 years. In 2008, metals-based products – excluding steel- and aluminium-based products of our two steel companies and NZAS – provided export earnings alone of over $560M. I am convinced that with the right leadership and incentives in place, our strategically important industry will be able to crack the billion dollar export mark as easily as medical equipment exports are projected to. We have an amazing depth of capabilities due to our […]

EMEX: NZ’s Biggest and Best is Back and Better

New Zealand’s biggest, oldest and most comprehensive engineering, machinery, electronics and manufacturing industry showcase returns next year and is already proving popular, with almost half the show space pre-booked. EMEX 2010 is the prime business tool for everyone working in industrial engineering and maintenance, control and instrumentation, machine technology, plant automation and monitoring, welding, forming and cutting, and software and computerisation. In many cases you can get hands-on experience with the technology and compare and contrast alternative solutions on site. If you’re grappling with problems, or looking to make improvements and expansions you need to visit EMEX 2010. Similarly, if you’re in the business of providing those solutions, you need to be exhibiting at EMEX. EMEX 2010, which takes place from the 4-6 May 2010, will have an even bigger focus on new technologies and innovations, and will see a return of the highly successful and innovative Heavy Metal machine technology exhibition within EMEX. Many exhibitors are planning to feature hot new technology, systems, software, equipment and instrumentation. As the prime event of its type, and a vital industry business tool, companies exhibiting will be going all out to give visitors an unbeatable hands-on experience. They’ll also have their top people on site to ensure that immediate technical advice can be provided. Show organiser dmg world media has also worked to enhance the learning and development aspect of EMEX 2010. There will be a seminar series as well as specially created ‘social’ areas to support visitors who want to network and talk over common issues and share experiences. With almost half the space booked, EMEX 2010 is expected to attract 160 exhibitors or more. There are already some from overseas confirmed, and EMEX 2010 is hoping to have at least 20 first-time exhibitors aswell. As in previous events there is […]