Recent News

10 ways automation could boost your business

Clive Hickman, chief executive of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), and Jeremy Hadall, chief technologist of the MTC, outline the business changes they expect to see over the next five years as a result of automation. 1. Productivity will increase Think about the introduction of robots to a car production line. Volkswagen has gone from around 4,000 people working in this environment to nearer 150, while at the same time increasing overall employee numbers from 30,000 to 70,000 across the business. Business Impact: Improved productivity is good news, as businesses will get more bang for their buck. When you become more productive, you create more demand, and therefore more jobs. More jobs could also mean a higher skill level of employee. 2. Workers will be safer and happier We strongly disagree that people will be replaced by automation. Yes, people will be redistributed, but this will be one of the most important benefits automation brings. Wherever there exists a dirty, dull and dangerous job with humans exposed to risk, there exists the perfect opportunity for automation. Business Impact: Workers’ quality of life could be drastically improved as well as allowing them to move into a more highly skilled role including operating the robot. For businesses, this means a workforce with improved prospects, better morale, and a higher skill level. 3. Customer service will reach new heights Ocado is one of the best examples of how customers can benefit from a business adopting automation. To a large extent, they are only able to fulfil their promise of the faster delivery times that you and I have come to expect because so many of their processes are automated. Business Impact: Automation can be an invaluable tool for cutting down on errors, facilitating faster deliveries, and for speeding up processes such as restocking. […]

Engineering the exoskeleton – from aliens to mechanically enhanced humans

Inspired by the ‘power loader’ exoskeleton worn by Sigourney Weaver’s character in Aliens, Richard Little set out to design and build a pair of robotic legs. The resulting REX Suits are operated by a joystick that allows the wearer to walk, move sideways, turn around, climb stairs, and exercise. Exoskeletons are hyped up as devices that will allow the injured and paralysed to walk, elderly and stroke sufferers to remain independent for longer, the military to get more from soldiers, and even turn all of us into mechanically enhanced humans. They have captured the imagination of researchers across the world, from start-ups to NASA. A Scots-born engineer, Richard says he was motivated to develop the system after his childhood best friend Robert Irving was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Little and Irving co-founded Rex Bionics in 2003. Now NZ based, Richard is passionate about using technology and particularly robotics to help people. Little said it was hard to describe the experience of watching someone stand and walk after being in a wheelchair for years. “Every time – it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen it before – it’s very emotional.” Researchers have developed exoskeletons controlled by a non-invasive system linked to the brain, allowing an even wider range of wheelchair users to walk. What’s more, when combined with virtual reality and tactile feedback the systems even appear to promote a degree of recovery for people with paraplegia. It’s a development that excites Richard, whose team have also been exploring the possibility of thought control with their own device. Richards latest business, Exsurgo Rehab, has been formed with an experienced medical and technology team to deliver medical devices that will alleviate the suffering and improve the quality of life of potentially millions of stroke sufferers world-wide. Richard is a multi-award-winning inventor […]

Vote productivity

It’s all about to happen on Saturday. The government for the next three years will go forth with a whole new set of plans and ideas on how to make our lives better. We know there are serious social issues which are worrying, decidedly so, and there are business issues which affect the social issues…so let’s concentrate here on what the issues and this publication are all about. Better business and business opportunities for all manufacturers and businesses through increased productivity. The leaders have spoken a bit about improving productivity and it needs a determined focus to bring it up to speed. NZMEA, for example, is a focussed and committed organisation looking out for the better, they address this subject often…and now it is the new government’s turn. It’s a bit like the Minister for Manufacturing issue, it gets raised and put into the too hard basket; if this had been dealt with years ago we may not have a productivity problem as we have now. Initiatives for workers would be further ahead, streamlining of areas of study would see companies getting the staff they require earlier on. Productivity in the horticulture, agriculture and wine industries is ahead of ‘hard core’ manufacturing because the end – the order from the client overseas and locally is determined a long way ahead. Also having quality products in high demand helps. Increasing productivity comes at a cost as well, of course, as a benefit. Good workers upping their game and reaching targets for their employers deserve a decent wage. This becomes for many a real living wage. Increasing productivity means that as a country we keep on looking for the opportunities – with internal developments and infrastructure and overseas. But mostly productivity needs to be lived, to be way a thinking, a frame […]

Sweet success at University of Waikato’s Science and Engineering Open Week

In the picture: Secondary school students from Thames High School sorting different sized lollies without touching them was just one of the tasks encountered by school students at the University of Waikato’s Science & Engineering Open Week recently. Sorting different sized lollies without touching them was just one of the tasks encountered by school students at the University of Waikato’s Science & Engineering Open Week recently. More than 500 secondary school students from across the North Island came to the University’s first-ever Science and Engineering Open Week which offered Year 12 and 13 students the chance to attendi hands-on workshops and experience a day in the life of science and engineering students. The workshops covered the programmes on offer in the Faculty of Science and Engineering. They gave potential tertiary students a taste of the fun and varied subjects available to study as part of a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science (Technology) and Bachelor of Engineering (Honours). The lolly-sorting workshop was just one of the tasks encountered by students during the Engineering sessions. The Chemical and Biological & Materials and Process Engineering session challenged groups of students to find a suitable strategy to sort a range of lollies using separation processes such as air classification, filtration and gravity. The project emphasised how engineers must separate materials such as plastics and synthetic fibres to recover useful product within them. Also on the programme for Engineering was a Mechanical Engineering workshop where students constructed and modified cars using different wheel sizes and gear ratios for delivering a bottle of water as fast as possible to an area on top of a ramp. A Civil and Environmental Engineering workshop showed students the importance of reinforcing materials, while an Electronic and Software Engineering workshop called for programming an electronic mousetrap. In Molecular […]