Editorial

Sustainable ways of working = business innovation

-thinkstep – nz In a tough year for many manufacturers, it’s heartening to see innovation continuing to show up through more sustainable ways of working. In this article, we bring you three local people and businesses who’ve used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and responsible procurement to build ‘new’ into their packaging, their manufacturing processes, and their products. The business benefits? Opportunities to gain market share, build reputation, strengthen relationships with suppliers, manage supply chain risk, and reduce the costs of materials and disposing of waste. Lorde: making a zero-carbon album Quote Early in making this album, I wanted to look closely at the environmental impact of its manufacture and distribution. Working to achieve zero-carbon status for Solar Power was an eye-opening experience. Lorde Grammy Award-winner Lorde is determined to reduce her carbon footprint. That’s why one of the formats of her long-awaited third album, Solar Power, released in August, is zero-carbon. (Even the name is environmentally apt!) How has Lorde achieved this? By releasing a discless album in a ‘Greenbox’. A Greenbox is an innovative, discless album package made of cardboard. Now, we have a few Lorde fans in our thinkstep-anz team and there were plenty of technical experts eager to help our Kiwi songstress meet her zero-carbon goals. So, we set to calculating the packaging’s carbon footprint using a sustainability tool known as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA measures a product’s carbon footprint over its life. In this case, this involved calculating the carbon in the raw materials used to make the Greenbox (including paper, inks, and glue), to transport the Greenbox to music retailers, and to landfill the Greenbox at the end of its life. (We hope Lorde’s many fans are ardent recyclers, but we assumed a worst-case scenario, landfilling. In any case, we suspect they’re unlikely to […]

The Interview: Tellfrankie.com – Georgie Fenwicke, CEO and Founder

What do you do? Frankie is a Property and Operations Control Centre to get ahead of downtime and breakdowns. We build worldclass software that gets Ops teams and technicians/contractors on the same page. Is yours a growing business? Absolutely – we launched in 2020 through the first covid winter. That sounds a bit dark, but for us – it was extremely valuable as we were able to build a really useful product with our customers. Why did your business start? Operational chaos and complexity of managing property and equipment at scale on budget. We experienced the tools first hand and knew there was a better way. What opportunities do you see? Improve maintenance dollars spent and reduce downtime Increase productivity and revenue for contractors Create simple data driven decision making in a complex world of manufacturing and property maintenance Areas of activity? Potential growth areas? We’re going Global! How difficult is it to get the required required? We’re building a worldclass team at Frankie and have a mixture of Kiwis and American-Kiwis. Sam Minnee, former CEO/CTO of Silverstripe just joined on and in 2022 – we’re looking for great minds in Operations and Software Engineering We have a strong belief in ownership and getting s*** done at Frankie. Our remuneration is a combination of salary + ESOP Do you export? We’re just getting started here! What do you do? I’m the CEO and founder. My background was working in Supply Chain and then transport tech at Uber and Lime. I’m fascinated by workflow at a micro and macro scale and how it has the ability to level up how cities and businesses operate How do you see the current business climate? Positive and full of opportunity in the right places. You only have to start a discussion with a manufacturer […]

BusinessNZ says no

BusinessNZ has confirmed it is refusing to be the Government’s nominated partner in implementing unlawful compulsory national pay agreements known as Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs). BusinessNZ CEO Kirk Hope says New Zealand’s peak business organisation is not prepared to be part of a compulsory scheme that is unfair and out of touch with modern ways of working and has formally rejected the Government’s offer to be the default bargaining party for employers in the FPA scheme. “Compulsory FPAs are unlawful under both current domestic and international employment laws and are totally out of step with how we need to work in 2021. “They aren’t needed, they remove the flexibility and autonomy of modern workplaces and won’t improve pay and conditions for hardworking Kiwis. “We’ve told the Government from day one that FPAs are fundamentally flawed but they haven’t listened. MBIE officials sent us a letter during lockdown formally requesting we become the default bargaining party for businesses. That followed a Cabinet paper in May that wrote us into the proposed system without our agreement. “After thoroughly reviewing the latest proposal, we’ve formally refused the Government’s offer. It’s wrong for us to be part of a scheme that will do more harm than good to businesses and employees. “That also means we have turned down $250,000 in Government funding. The Government will fund the CTU the same amount to act for employees, but that also shuts out all non-affiliated unions, currently bargaining for their members, from the process, giving the CTU a monopoly on bargaining for all employees in New Zealand.” Mr Hope says the BusinessNZ Network, directly and indirectly, represents over 70,000 businesses across the country employing nearly 80% of New Zealand’s workforce, but that still didn’t give the organisation a mandate to represent all businesses. “Our role is to […]

Hutt Valley manufacturer stepping up to fill skill shortages

Like many other industries across New Zealand at present, the manufacturing industry is struggling with a shortage of trained talent due to Covid-19 restrictions on immigration and current work levels. One Hutt Valley manufacturer is taking on this challenge proposing an innovative way to help young people into engineering. MJH Engineering Ltd is one of New Zealand’s leading structural steel fabricators, specialising in the fabrication and installation of large-scale structural steel projects including industrial warehouses, commercial buildings, multi-storey tower-blocks, and seismic strengthening projects. Over the past couple of years, the Seaview-based company has grown in size due to its excellent track record of delivering top quality results and its reputation as one of the preferred steel subcontractors around town. Jeremy Mikoz, HR & Development Manager for MJH Engineering Ltd, says with the demand of projects comes the challenge of finding the right workers. “While there are private training enterprises out there, we’re finding in our industry that many students coming out of these institutions just aren’t receiving the training they need to be ‘job ready’. “On top of that New Zealand is now in one of the worst labour shortages we have seen in the last 10 years which in turn puts more pressure on obtaining talent and solving our work-flow issues.” As a result, Mikoz says they have come up with a solution – the “MJH Welding School.” The school, based at MJH Engineering, would provide a 6-week full-time training course with qualifications to help young people learn on the job skills and theory in welding. At the end of this course, the young people would come out with Unit Standards, a welding qualification, and 240 hours of practical, industry-related training. To top it off MJH Engineering would guarantee the 6 young people with jobs at the end of […]

Adoption of Industry 4.0 paves the way for growth in manufacturing

by Dr Troy Coyle, CEO, HERA Our world is changing. Climate change and pandemics have garnered much attention but there is another revolution underway. One that is likely to change the very fabric of the way we live and work. It is called Industry 4.0 and is the next stage of the industrial revolution. In 1794, the industrial revolution forever changed manufacturing with the introduction of the mechanical loom. Things changed fast. A mere hundred years later the first production line enabled mass production. Jump forward another hundred years and we witnessed the birth of industrial robots, that together with advances in electronics and IT have automated much of the manufacturing process. Today, we are entering a new age – Industry 4.0 – the age of cyber-physical systems; the marriage of physical production, and smart digital technology. It is not sci-fi. It is not the realm of filmmakers and futurists. Change is happening now and promises to transform industry as much, if not more so than, the introduction of water, steam, and electricity did in the past. What is Industry 4.0? In essence, Industry 4.0 enables companies to have better control and understanding of their business. The new technologies save time, boost productivity, and reduce waste. A panacea for considerable and sustainable growth. A quick search of the internet will provide you with a mountain of anachronisms – IoT, IIoT, CPS, AI, Big Data – to explain Industry 4.0. It is a catch-all term that encompasses all the technologies that enable businesses to collect and analyse data to help automate and streamline their systems and processes. It promises faster response times, increased efficiency and profits, and better quality products at a lower cost. Impact of new technology HERA’s latest report in collaboration with BERL, ‘Modelling the potential economic impacts of […]

Why manufacturing needs a new approach to cybersecurity

– by Robert Nobilo, Regional Director ANZ at Virsec Cyber-attacks continue to be an increasing concern for every industry. But recently they’re becoming a bigger issue for the manufacturing industry than most others. Cyber criminals frequently target manufacturing operations for their ransomware attacks. According to PwC’s Cyber Threats 2020: A Year in Retrospect report, the manufacturing sector and retail sectors shared the dubious honour of being the industries most targeted by ransomware: each accounted for 17 per cent of the total, well ahead of the second sector, technology, media and telecommunications with 10 per cent. The PwC report detailed one ransomware attack on a multinational manufacturer based in New Zealand; “The attack saw the vast majority of its systems encrypted and rendered inoperable, breaking its supply chain, halting global manufacturing and distribution, and putting its banking covenants at risk.” Another manufacturer hit by a cyber attack was local brewer Lion Australia, which also produces dairy products. In June 2020, it was hit by two ransomware attacks within 10 days, forcing it to halt beer production. The attackers were reported to be demanding a payment in excess of $AUD 1 million. Earlier this year, JBS USA Holdings, the world’s largest meat company, was hit by a ransomware attack and, as a result, paid a $11 million ransom. JBS Australia, Australia’s largest meat and food processing company, was disrupted by this attack and forced to close 47 meat processing plants in Australia. With these and other successful attacks, manufacturing will continue to be a high value target of ransomware gangs. The costly impact of ransomware on manufacturing The manufacturing sector is particularly sensitive to the impacts of ransomware and other cyber-attacks on two counts. Firstly, any disruption of day-to-day operations would likely leave a manufacturer unable to meet production demands, resulting […]

think step webinars

WEBINAR The EU, TCFD, and trade Thursday 28 October 2021, 3:00pm NZDT Hear from EU expert Caroline Lambert on what the European Union’s sustainable reporting requirements will mean and how they will impact non-financial reporting requirements in New Zealand in thinkstep-anz’s upcoming webinar. WEBINAR Planetary Accounting: Going beyond carbon Thursday 25 November 2021, 3:00pm NZDT How can we safely operate within the environmental limits without causing permanent harm to earth? In thinkstep-anz’s upcoming webinar, the Planetary Accounting Network Founding Director Kate Meyer and thinkstep-anz’s Technical Director Jeff Vickers will discuss how LCA and planetary accounting work together to minimise the causes of irreversible damage from our activities. www.thinkstep-anz.com

The Interview: Scott Matthews, Chief Executive, Easy Build Ltd

-by Rebecca Reed Why buy a modular house? Most of us dream of home ownership, in fact most people would argue that it’s a human right. We have all been raised in an environment in NZ where you commonly design your own home, and every home is different. The building industry advertise this all the time, but then customers wonder why the house is often poorly insulated, expensive and requires lots of heating. This is very different to many parts of the world where people by a house off plan and it is one of perhaps 30 in the same location that looks similar. I often make the analogy that if you want a good, reliable and fairly priced car, you would buy a Toyota Corolla, however if you want something different you would drive a custom build or a Ferrari. Looking at a modular home vs. a custom designed home, the pricing difference is similar, but you’ll get better bang for your buck with a modular home in terms of build time, thermal efficiency, environmental friendliness, and other benefits, when compared to a standard construction house of the same price. Modular homes are normally quick to build, well insulated and built, minimise waste and are normally priced the same as a similar sized home, but superior quality. Where did the concept come from for your company? The concept is relatively old, with the original inventor using this method some 30 years ago. However, the designs were brought up to date and the business was launched in its own right 5 years ago. We have a simple but enduring purpose. We want to provide Kiwis with warm, robust, and affordable housing because we believe everyone should enjoy living in their own EasyBuild home. What is your point of difference? We’re […]

Women in Engineering: Insa Errey

Insa Errey is a female engineer originally from Sydney who now calls Auckland home. She currently operates as an independent consultant under Curios Sustainability. How long have you been an engineer? Almost 10 years. I was a late bloomer into engineering. What field of engineering do you specialise in? I specialise in Industrial sustainability. My background is in Chemical biomolecular engineering, with my past experiences being in beverage manufacturing. What projects are you most proud of? It is always rewarding to complete large-scale implementations such as fuel switching projects and wastewater recycling projects. But I think my proudest project is more subtle. In my previous company I mobilised employee awareness toward the issues of sustainability and energy efficiency. My campaign drove awareness through cultural change and started a larger shift toward collaboration on energy efficiency. This has seen year on year energy efficiency improvements driving down operational costs, increasing competitive advantage and most of all reducing emissions from their major manufacturing sites across Australia and NZ. Is there scope for creativity, creative thinking? Absolutely. Creativity is the foundation on innovation. I actually went to a performing arts high school, now a long time ago, and I think that is what dew me to engineering was the ability to still be creative and think outside the box but also make significant impact toward system pressures facing us today. What challenges do engineers face in today’s business world? I think that the main challenge facing engineers is that which we are all facing, climate change, and how this is impacting all areas of how we do business. Businesses and, in particular, manufacturing, are facing and experiencing risks associated with operational disruption, impacts of market forces and future stranded assets with the changing energy market. Here I see engineers having the important role […]

The value of materials and manufacturing in a circular economy

Part 1 of 2 of thinkstep-anz’s circular economy series By Dr. Jim Goddin Circular products are built to last. The materials that make them up stay in use for as long as possible. When they can no longer be used in their original form, they contribute to other products. A circular economy is based on three principles: designing out waste, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. Circular economy thinking is gaining traction in New Zealand and Australia but focuses predominantly on avoiding or minimising waste through recycling. In New Zealand, waste — especially single-use packaging and plastic waste — has enjoyed the spotlight as a high-priority environmental issue for quite some time. In the latest Better Futures report by Colmar Brunton, two of the top ten concerns for New Zealanders were not enough waste being recycled and, overpackaging, non-recyclable packaging and the amount of waste going to landfill. Yet, waste remains a stubborn issue to tackle. Waste avoidance through recycling is a prominent component of the circular economy and is, from a practical perspective, where most products will need to end up. Recycling is, however, the outermost ‘loop’ in the circular economy model, with materials typically representing a tiny portion of the economic value of products. Recovering the more substantial value added to materials through manufacturing is a more significant portion of the prize at stake. The inner loops of the circular economy model Dig a little deeper into the circular economy model and you get to the inner ‘loops’ where the systems-level change happens. Strategies in the inner loops of the circular economy include product life extension, enhanced product utilisation (through leasing models for example), reuse, repair and remanufacturing. The inner loops address the root causes of waste: overproduction and overconsumption. A key economic advantage […]

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