News Ticker

How manufacturers can prepare for the ESPR
Tech isn’t the Hero, it’s the plucky sidekick
Finding Your True Competitive Edge: A Guide for Manufacturers
Fixing manufacturing’s billion-dollar harm problem
Steel awards showcase local industry’s expertise and sophistication
Aotearoa’s Industry 4.0 journey
5S – Not That Old Chestnut
Scott Aylett, SEA Electrical a winner

Developments

Poor quality costs even more

  HERA Industry Development General Manager Nick Inskip (left)  Quality has a cost and a value and buying solely on cost can mean that the quality you think you are getting may not be there.  The recent asbestos issues with the locomotives imported from China by KiwiRail highlights the danger where quality is compromised. While much was made of the fact that it was a subcontractor to the main supplier who used the offending coating, nothing can take away from the fact that it is KiwiRail’s supplier’s responsibility to ensure that their supplier provides a conforming product. How do they do this? They assess their supplier’s processes and systems. The first of which might be to look at how they translate the requirements detailed in their customers order into an output. This raises questions about what it was that was on the locomotive suppliers order to the sub-contractor. Did they pass on KiwiRail’s requirement for no asbestos, or not? If not then the fault isn’t with the sub-contractor. Which poses another question, would a different material supplied by the sub-contractor have cost more and is that why the asbestos coating was used? The more worrying concern is if the coating was such a quality failure, what about the rest of the locomotive? Do we now have to test bolts to make sure they are the right tensile strength and galvanising to make sure there is no antimony present? So as a company and as a country purchasing offshore, you really need to price on the quality risk. From the KiwiRail example even if your offshore supplier has a quality system and it is certified, that does not mean it actually works to the level we would expect in New Zealand. In which case as a purchaser you need to check […]

The Second Machine Age

Driverless cars and 3D printers are harbingers of a new era, argue MIT colleagues Brynjolfsson (Director/Center for Digital Business; co-author, Wired for Innovation: How Information Technology Is Reshaping the Economy, 2013, etc.) and McAfee (Principal Research Scientist/Center for Digital Business; Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organisation’s Toughest Challenges, 2009, etc.). Some 200 years ago, the invention of the steam engine sparked massive amounts of mechanical power to drive factories and mass production in the first machine age. Now, computers and other digital advances are providing such “a vast and unprecedented boost to mental power” that technologies once found only in science fiction are becoming everyday realities. Drawing on research, including interviews with inventors, investors, entrepreneurs, engineers and others, the authors describe the forces driving the emerging age, notably the digitisation of nearly everything, which increases understanding and fosters innovation, and an amazing exponential growth in improvements. We’re now seeing “the emergence of real, useful artificial intelligence (AI) and the connection of most of the people on the planet via a common digital network. As machines complete cognitive tasks—as opposed to physical ones—engaging in pattern recognition and complex communication, AI will do more and more, for example, giving key aspects of sight to the visually impaired and restoring hearing to the deaf. Along with benefits, including greater amounts of individual choice, technological progress will bring economic disruption, leaving some people behind and workers without jobs. The authors describe the large differences that are already apparent among people in both income and wealth and explain how individuals can improve their skills to maintain healthy wage and job prospects. “Our generation has inherited more opportunities to transform the world than any other,” they write. “That’s a cause for optimism, but only if we’re mindful of our choices.”  

Farnborough: How to organise an air display

When the air display starts each afternoon at the Farnborough International Air Show, business transactions pause and eyes roll heavenward, surrendering to the raucous power play. A major part of the attraction is the evident – if calculated – risk the aviators take.  The organisers of this sky-borne shop window for aviation hardware may appear to have little more to do than arrange the order in which the players make their entrances and their exits. That was indeed true a long time ago. Now, however, both the air display and static park at the show are painstakingly choreographed. The aviators are definitely not given carte blanche. There is plenty of activity in prospect. The star debutante this year will be a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, the first jet with vertical landing capability since the British Aerospace Harrier started wowing the crowds in the mid-1960s, flown by the UK Royal Air Force’s Sqn Ldr Hugh Nichols. On the civil side, Airbus’s still-under-test A350 will take its first Farnborough bow. And the organisers have to be prepared for a full aerobatic display team because the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows will perform on the last three days. When the Farnborough air show began back in 1948, accidents at air shows, often fatal to pilots and sometimes to onlookers, were not rare. Some of the crashes were the result of test pilots pushing their luck with experimental aircraft in an era of less sophisticated engineering; others were victims of the risk-taking culture left over from the Second World War. Aviators were expected to be dare-devils, and some of them embraced that image with enthusiasm. Picture: Pilots putting types like the Saab Gripen through their paces must adhere to strict guidelines.     Aviation professionalism has evolved as the laws defining corporate responsibility […]

Staying the course

The manufacturing sector remains in expansion mode, despite some aspects of the results that need to be watched closely in the months ahead, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).  The seasonally adjusted PMI for June was 53.3 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 0.7 points higher than May, with the sector now being in expansion for 21 consecutive months. BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the slight lift in expansion levels was obviously welcome, albeit with a few head winds for manufacturers.  “Overall production levels remain healthy, and have been very consistent for the last three months. Employment levels continue to show more people entering the sector, while the largest proportion of comments received are still positive. “As mentioned last month, the fundamentals of both the PMI and other indicators of the economy still point to positive activity. However, the continued strength of the New Zealand dollar, as well as new order levels continuing to fall, mean there are elements of the sector that need to be watched closely in the months ahead. BNZ senior economist, Craig Ebert says “Wading through the manufacturing component of the latest QSBO, while there are clear hints of moderation, it seems mainly a settling down into normal growth patterns rather than any sort of stalling. We get a similar impression for the recent PMI levels and trends, with its weak spot seemingly concentrated in new orders.”  Four of the five seasonally adjusted main diffusion indices were in expansion during June. Production (55.9) again led the way for the current month with a value 0.8 points higher than May. In contrast, new orders (50.9) continued to fall, dipping another 0.4 points and at […]

itSeez3D turns iPad Into 3D Scanner

When it comes to 3D scanning, more and more solutions are becoming available as the months go by. 3D scanning is allowing us to take photographs of people and things, in ways that we could never imagine before.  Instead of only being able to look at a flat, 2-dimensional photo, we can now interact with 3D photographs via our computers, and create 3D replicas with the use of 3D printers.  A company called itSeez3D has come up with a new iOS application, that when paired with the Structure Sensor allows people to take full 3-dimensional photographs of people and objects. It has an incredible ability to capture color and structural information of a subject, and then process it into a realistic looking 3D model. The app has the capability of capturing high resolution data, and features a unique augmented reality feedback system which enhances the scanning process (see video below). Once a scan has been captured, users have the ability to email the 3D representation to their friends, in .ply or .obj file formats, or simply upload it to sketchfab.com. Users can also 3D print it at home on their own 3D printers. If it is printed on an at-home FDM or SLA 3D printer, however, the colors will not print because of the current technology available. On the other hand, if a high quality 3D printer is used, the colors will be able to be preserved. For example, users could send their 3D scan to Shapeways or another service, to have it printed in full-color sandstone. itSeez3D has already uploaded 18 different models that they have created using the app, to their sketchfab profile, and I must admit, the quality appears to be excellent. Uploaded models include several people as well as a stuffed animal, a sneaker, a mug, […]

Design for Manufacture

  – Jurgen Brand, Designbrand Ltd         When receiving the suggestion to write this article I had to make a choice of the right ‘angle of attack’, just as designers’ need to ask the first question to define the way we embark on the product development path. Usually we would ask WHO we are designing for – who, as in the user, because that is ultimately what defines the product in almost all its user attributes. A product will rarely develop in the way one first expects and the WHO of our first question needs to be differentiated further. For example, if you are designing a sleep solution for babies, is it the baby or the parents you are designing for? If you are getting the product right for the baby, you would inevitably win over the parent, yet the emotive quality of the product has got to address the parent first – it is them who make the purchase decision. The design process will constantly enable you to question the design criteria, make changes and even arrange a shift in focus, if the knowledge gained through the design research/investigation justifies this shift. Every project runs through a series of questions before conceptual design starts in earnest. Some projects are far more complex than others. Other products have a set of users and their different objectives have to be considered. So far I have only mentioned the ‘actual’ user. Imagine the case of a care-giver assisted off-road wheelchair for the mobility impaired! The design criteria for the care-giver are vastly different from the criteria of the passenger. However, this is only the very front end of a design development. There are many aspects which will influence a product’s appearance, its user experience, functionality or manufacturing process. Within […]

High strength cellular aluminium foam for the automotive industry

Aluminium foam is used for applications that requires high level of energy and sound absorption characteristics. Researchers have developed an innovative process to make high strength cellular aluminium foam with help from some salt. Aluminium foam exhibits unique properties when compared to its dense form, particularly its lightweight characteristics. Generally, the foam can be divided into two categories; closed cell and open cell, both have different characteristics and applications. The features of the closed cell are, the pores structure is isolated and they are not connected to each other. This type of aluminium foam is suitable for application that requires high level of energy and sound absorption characteristics. It has been used widely in many structural parts, particularly in areas exposed to high damping capacity, for example in the automotive front bumper component. Meanwhile, the open cell, owing to greater level of connectivity of the pores, the structure has been accepted and used in thermal management applications. One such promising application is as a heat exchanger, particularly as a cooling medium to transfer heat, due to the development of its porous structure, which provides greater surface area, thus, enabling improved heat transfer efficiency. Producing a combined structure of open and closed cell in one volume component appears to be a difficult process due to the different processing techniques involved and their individual limitations. Therefore, in this study, an innovative processing route for high strength cellular aluminium foam (CAF) by integrating porous and dense structures is presented. The CAF is well known as a light-weight product exhibiting high level of inter-connected porosity which is very useful as a thermal management application, particularly as a heat transfer or cooling medium. However, the level of strength for the CAF is not really promising when it is subjected to high impact; thus, limit its […]

Network Time Machine ensures optimal user experience

The Network Time Machine LTE/VoLTE, is a portable LTE troubleshooting appliance that helps wireless carriers resolve network performance issues quickly and cost effectively. This ability is crucial to reducing customer churn, as subscribers who switch wireless carriers increasingly point to poor customer care and inadequate network performance as their reason for leaving. The Network Time Machine provides extensive network and application visibility, as well as the forensic details necessary to solve signalling or data performance problems in 20 Gbps carrier environments. Using Network Time Machine, carriers can measure and prove network performance, resolve subscriber issues and deliver the best possible consumer experience to meet growing voice, video, and data demands. “The proliferation of affordable smartphones, tablets, and other devices has sparked an ever-increasing popularity of mobile videos, games, and data applications,” said Amit Rao, general manager of the Carrier Wireless Core product line. “While networks have evolved from 3G to 4G/LTE to meet performance demands, network monitoring technologies have not kept pace. Network Time Machine LTE/VoLTE is the first troubleshooting appliance that can deliver the 20Gbps performance required for high-performance wireless networks and—even more important—for creating loyalty among today’s fickle wireless subscribers.” According to a recent Ovum survey*, 27 per cent of wireless subscribers who had changed carriers in the previous month cited “low network quality/speed of the services” as their reason for switching. More than 30 per cent said poor customer care was a key reason. While today’s wireless carriers need better and faster ways to resolve the network issues that drive customer complaints, most of their network engineers rely on solutions that lack capture performance or fragile appliances that must be shipped to unmonitored high-traffic LTE port locations. These tools often break and require complex configurations to make them operational. Network Time Machine is a rugged appliance that […]

NZ first quarter manufacturing sales volumes rose 0.5%

New Zealand manufacturing sales volumes rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in the first quarter, led by gains in chemical and petroleum manufacturing. Chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing volumes rose 8.5 percent helped by increased production at New Plymouth-based Methanex New Zealand and following a 0.5 percent drop in the previous quarter, Statistics New Zealand said. Petroleum and coal product manufacturing increased 5.8 percent, following a 2.5 percent decline in the previous quarter, reflecting quarterly volatility, the agency said. Meanwhile, meat and dairy product manufacturing volumes edged up 0.1 percent in the first quarter following a 14 percent jump in the fourth quarter, the agency said. In the latest period, the volume of meat exports rose 6.6 percent while dairy product exports fell 4.3 percent following a post-drought jump in the previous quarter. Manufacturing sales data is the last key component of gross domestic product. New Zealand GDP expanded 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter, for an annual average 2.7 percent pace. While this week’s manufacturing and wholesale trade surveys were softer than some expectations, they weren’t weak enough to offset a strong rise in construction which could lead some economists to upgrade their forecasts for first quarter GDP, scheduled for release June 19. “The building work data has added that upside risk and this one might have eroded it a little bit but net-on-net you have still got some upside risk,” said UBS New Zealand senior economist Robin Clements. “This is consistent with a 1 to 2 percent GDP for manufacturing which means some upside risk on my GDP forecast for 1.1 percent.” Data last week showed house building activity grew at its fastest pace in almost 12 years in the first quarter as construction ramped up to rebuild the country’s second-biggest city and fill a housing shortage […]

Electric cars bring environmental benefits

 If electric vehicles were widely available, New Zealanders would buy enough of them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector by one-fifth over the next 18 years, new research from Victoria University of Wellington shows.  PhD researcher Doug Clover says there are currently only a couple of hundred electric vehicles on the road in New Zealand, but his study into the preferences of potential car buyers shows people are keen to purchase them. “I surveyed people intending to buy a car in the next five years and found that if electric vehicles were easy to buy now, 20 percent of those surveyed would choose them.” Doug then used a type of behavioural modelling known as discrete choice to estimate demand for electric vehicles up until 2030. His projections used the information gathered in his survey and scenarios of different levels of government support and different rates of improvement in electric vehicle (EV) technology.  “In all the scenarios,” says Doug, “plug-in hybrid cars (which can be switched to fuel when battery life runs out) are the most popular option, followed by city EVs, or small electric vehicles, with a range of around 100 kilometres.” Family car replacements – larger EVs which can seat five to seven people, tow a trailer and have a range of around 300 kilometres – were consistently the least popular option due to the high cost of batteries says Doug, never making up more than 12 percent of the EV fleet by 2030. But while Doug’s research found that EVs have potential to make a significant dent in the greenhouse gas emissions produced by cars and light vehicles in New Zealand, the gains would be wiped out by continued use of coal-fired electricity generation.  “Under current conditions, with a low price on carbon, it still […]

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