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Why the Japanese business climate has never been sunnier for Kiwi entrepreneurs

-Annette Azuma, director, Staples Rodway For businesses looking to expand their operations into international markets, there’s never been a better time to head for Japan. Several premier international sporting events will bring millions of tourists to Japan in the next three years and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has been ratified by both Japan and New Zealand. With the Japanese market more globally-focused than ever before, the climate is perfect for those can adapt to Japanese culture and tastes. Staples Rodway recently co-hosted the Start Acting: Japan seminar with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED). The event is the third in a highly popular series of Japan-focused business seminars, aimed at helping Kiwi businesses capitalise on the interest generated in New Zealand and build a long-term strategy for success in Japan. Fashion designer Karen Walker, keynote speaker at the Start Acting: Japan seminar, first entered the market in Japan two decades ago. This year she reached the pinnacle of any retailer’s aspirations, opening a store in Tokyo’s Ginza 6, the newest and most exclusive shopping destination in the country, and arguably the world. Her willingness to explore a new market, combined with a premium product that she has adapted specifically for Japanese tastes, are a blueprint for other Kiwis to follow. Statistics New Zealand reported two-way trade with Japan totalling $4.1 billion last year and that’s set to rise. Already the world’s third largest economy, Japan’s population of 120 million is expected to welcome 40 million tourists annually by 2020, as Japan hosts the Rugby World Cup in 2019, the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and World Masters Games in 2021. New Zealand’s sporting prowess lends itself as a marketing tool. The timing […]

INNO3D 2018 well attended

October 10th was a milestone day for NCCS with the annual INNO3D event, showcasing what is new in Solidworks 2019, along with industry partners presenting some of the latest products and trends in the design and manufacturing space. INNO3D 2017 was a large event but this year’s event was even bigger and broke all records. With more than 220 keen design and manufacturing industry professionals in attendance, and 10 industry partners showcasing their latest technology, the event was well received by all. David Auld and David Trought from Outerspace Design gave the audience a first-hand chance to see the award-winning Fusion Guitar designed using Solidworks and featured on Channel 10’s Australia by Design: Innovation program. Solidworks 2019 along with Solidworks CAM offers Customers access to best in class design to manufacture technologies and workflows. This will improve collaboration and interactive experiences during design and engineering. Companies will be able to deliver more diverse and better products to their Customers in shorter timeframes. This latest Solidworks release is packed with enhancements based on insights and feedback from the large worldwide Customer base. Solidworks took many of the common ideas along with gains available using current hardware iterations and based Solidworks 2019 on that. Year on year INNO3D is the largest event of its kind in Australia and New Zealand and NCCS plans to showcase Solidworks 2019 along with Solidworks CAM again at Austech 14-17 May 2019

Armoured wetsuit made of aluminium platelets

Australian global manufacturer Sevaan Group was handpicked by an innovative company to help create an armoured wetsuit for protecting commercial divers, Scuba divers, free divers and those into serious spear fishing. Known as ironskinn, the armoured wetsuit is made of extremely tough aluminium platelets held together by an elastic in-form setting. Sevaan Group was chosen for various reasons ahead of sizeable international competition, with one reason being its ability to interpret the requirements and set up CAD and manufacturing sequences to make the concept a physical reality. As ironskinn Managing Director Mr John Sundnes explains, Sevaan Group was very inquisitive about what was required and were excited about making a significant part of that product. “We are making the entire suit in NSW, so Sevaan’s Sydney base was a good start and ultimately as a company they showed patience as this was something that was never made before,” said Mr Sundnes. “A lot of finetuning was required and they were up for it; unlike other companies we approached whose attitude was ‘when you have a need for 100-offs then call us’. “It took probably 4-5 months because we had some tooling we needed made and Sevaan Group had good contacts to make that tooling a reality. “The platelets have a particular shape and particular curvature; thin metal can behave in unexpected ways so that part may come out a little differently compared to its CAD so we needed expertise to handle that.” The ironskinn protective dive suit is designed to protect divers from an unexpected shark bite, as well as to protect from other marine hazards such as oysters, mussels, barnacles and rotten metal from boats when working on them underwater, therefore offering a wide range of applications of material. Currently, the suit is on a pilot program with some […]

Game changing Andrea Bubendorfer & Andrew Best -

Game-changing technology for 3D printing tiny structures revealed

A new type of 3D Printing technology enabling rapid prototyping of high-resolution microscale structures has been revealed. It all started after a kick-start from KiwiNet to commercialise the technology. New Zealand microfabrication researchers Andrea Bubendorfer and Andrew Best, the co-inventors of a new way of fabricating very small things with Laminated Resin Printing (LRP), are part of Callaghan Innovation’s MicroMaker3D team which launched the new patent pending technology in the US recently. The team are one of ten selected worldwide for IDTechEx’s Santa Clara Launchpad, an initiative showcasing new disruptive and state-of-the art technologies. Andrea, who leads the microfabrication team at Callaghan Innovation that has created the technology, says: “We’re very excited about the potential for this technology to be a game changer in a range of industries from medicine to wearable technology to aerospace. It will create the first opportunity to rapidly prototype a huge range of miniaturised structures from optical slits to miniaturised microwell plates, micromoulds and more. “Custom sensors are a great example of a niche area we’re keen to explore. One high value approach would be to use molecular sensing to functionalise microstructures, so we could rapid prototype devices for detecting insulin concentration, biomarkers, presence of toxic gases or pollutants. “There are endless possibilities to what we can print – and what is most exciting, though, will be when people start to print things we didn’t even know existed”, says Andrea. The MicroMaker3D project was kick-started when Andrea received KiwiNet Emerging Innovator Programme funding, commercialisation support and advice to explore ways to make microfabrication more accessible. “We ended up creating a new 3D printing technology that can build up tiny structures using specially engineered Laminated Resin Printing (LRP) materials. We can print structures with features as small as five microns. To put this in context, a […]

Democratising carbon fibre

If you think about Auckland and carbon fibre technology, scenes of the America’s Cup and the industries that surround it spring to mind. Ventilation tubes in dusty Australian coal mines are probably not your first mental image. Yet this less than glamorous gear represents the start of a promising new trade, thanks to the ingenuity of Graeme Rivers, founder of North Shore-based Rivers Carbon Technologies, and a Callaghan Innovation Project Grant. All sorts have come out of Rivers Carbon’s Albany workshop – from the foils for elite America’s Cup yachts to replica chassis for E-Type Jaguars. But while money may be no object in these high-end industries, the wonders of carbon fibre are generally outside the budget of ordinary businesses. Until now. Rivers Carbon has come up with a lower cost way of making carbon fibre products for everyday sectors such as construction and mining. After months of researching cores, cloth types, resins, hardeners and trihydrate mixes, Graeme Rivers developed a ‘cold cure’ method of setting carbon fibre, rather than pressurising and cooking it in an autoclave. Rivers Carbon settled on ventilation tubing for underground mining as its first application for the new carbon fibre. Currently the fibreglass tubes used in the mines are heavy and tend to crack and break. Both factors create health and safety issues. In contrast, Rivers’ Premium High Carbon Fibre tubes are light, durable, and can be easily lifted above the shoulder making them far easier to install. The company exported its first shipment of ventilation tubing to Australia in March and has been producing consistently ever since. Staff at BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal’s West Cliff mine in New South Wales say they’ve had no injuries to people or breakages since they started using carbon fibre tubing, and the company is now looking at other […]

Buteline/Ditron – an engineering excellence partnership

Ditron staff from left to right: Giovanni Diamante, Steve Graham, Dave Housley, Mark Clayton. Buteline is a household name in NZ and around the world, which develops and manufactures it’s innovative and acclaimed plumbing system used both in domestic and commercial building from its address in Highbrook. Buteline’s absolute commitment to excellence is evident by the outstanding durability that allows its products to be embedded inside building cavities around the world with confidence. What few people know is that standing alongside Buteline since 1980 is an equally diligent and successful company, Ditron Design & Engineering. Ditron is solely responsible for independently servicing all R&D, tool manufacture, tech support and product development, engineering and testing for the Buteline Group. By nature, Buteline polymer and metal fittings have to adhere to very precise tolerances and dimensions across multiple tools. Small variations in quality or consistency can have catastrophic consequences when the product is installed. As a result, the manufacturing processes behind the tools are critical and this is where skill and technology merge at Ditron. We asked Ditron’s Plastic Tooling engineer Mark Clayton, what are some of the real challenges faced? – Apparently most of the inserts are master/final impressions and these inserts have various sizes so being able to accurately model these in CADCAM has been essential. Tool quality and precision is always at the highest level. Ditron have used ZW3D CADCAM 4-5 axis software for five years to construct and model a CNC machine fixtures to accommodate all the variants in size and form. ZW3D is used to drive the primary machining centre, a Victor Taichung Vcenter – A72 with 4th axis. Mark is responsible for taking the IGES and STEP files sent to him for tool development and building the tools around them. Typical machining will cover materials such […]

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Good tax policy reflects business voice, enhances innovation

New research and development tax incentives announced by the Government earlier this morning are an encouraging start to help lift productivity for business in New Zealand, says the EMA. New Zealand’s research and development (R&D) investment levels are about half of the OECD average, with investment in innovation and new technology identified as a key driver of increased productivity. New Zealand also lags OECD equivalents in its productivity from the work force. EMA chief executive Kim Campbell says the new scheme also reflects a partnership approach between Government and business, with the original proposals being significantly modified to reflect feedback from the business community. “Business has been listened to in regard to the help it needs to innovate, resulting in good public policy on tax incentives, says Mr Campbell. The new R&D tax incentive scheme proposed to be introduced on April 1 next year matches the EMA’s submission on behalf of its 8500 members with a lift in the incentive and lowering of the expenditure threshold. We are especially pleased with these aspects of the coming R&D Tax Incentive legislation: – A credit rate of 15 per cent, up from the earlier proposed 12.5 per cent; – A minimum R&D expenditure threshold of $50,000 per year; – A more user-friendly definition of R&D that ensures the credit can be accessed more easily across all sectors, including the technology sector; – Small business in particular will know in advance of conducting R&D that their application for the tax incentive has been approved, rather than waiting on the outcome of their tax claims at the end of the year. Mr Campbell says, “These key aspects of the scheme are close to what we believe will encourage more R&D in New Zealand firms. “As a country we suffer on the global stage from […]

James_Shaw,_2014 Ministers article on web NZM

Ministers to meet world energy leaders at premier Wellington event

Government Ministers and energy sector leaders from around the Asia Pacific will meet at a Summit in Wellington later this month. The BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) and World Energy Council (WEC) will host their second Asia Pacific Energy Leaders’ Summit from October 31 to November 1 at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. New Zealand Minister of Energy and Innovation the Hon Megan Woods and Minister of Climate Change the Hon James Shaw (pictured) will host a Gala Lunch and Networking Event to discuss the economic transition faced by countries that are moving to decarbonise their economies. The event will also feature Prime Minister of the Cook Islands the Hon Henry Puna. The New Zealand Government is attracting international attention for its ambitious climate change goals, says WEC Secretary-General Dr Christoph Frei. The targets – 100pc renewable electricity, in a normal hydrological year, by 2035 and a net zero emissions economy by 2050 – commit New Zealand to a long-term transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. “Climate change is a global issue, and one that necessitates leadership and collaboration between countries if action is to be effective,” Dr Frei says. “The Summit is an opportunity to showcase our respective country capabilities in the provision of renewable energy and to demonstrate leadership on climate change action.” The programme features international speakers from Amazon, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Daikin, Uber and innovators from Silicon Valley. They will share insights on how to accelerate innovation, design new customer-centric business models at a time of rapid change, and create the future rather than predicting it. “The 3D vision – New Energy Perspectives Summit is a must-attend event for those who want to be better equipped to understand and deal with the changing energy landscape,” says BEC Chair David Caygill. “The […]

‘ED’ the Chatbot Joins the DunedinNZ Team

DunedinNZ.com has welcomed ‘ED’ the chatbot as the newest member of its customer service team, the first destination marketing organisation in New Zealand to adopt this form of Artificial Intelligence technology. ED will act as an extension of the iSITE visitor centre by assisting website visitors with questions, serving the most relevant information and helping visitors plan their visit. John Christie Director Enterprise Dunedin said the project was another step towards enhancing the user experience and providing a comprehensive and intuitive customer service in the growing online marketplace. “A good experience during online travel research is a golden opportunity to convert ‘dreamers’ and ‘planners’ into visitors to our city. With ED, we wanted to evoke the welcoming spirit and helpful nature of Dunedin’s people, which is a key part of our identity. “The process of finding the right ‘on brand’ persona for ED posed some interesting challenges for the marketing team, but we are really pleased with the result,” he said. Developed by international web technology company Squiz, ED runs on existing DCC web platform, powered by Google’s machine learning and natural language processing. “We know that a percentage of intending visitors prefer to source information using a virtual customer assistant (VCA), and this will grow as VCAs such as chatbots become more common and people get familiar with using them,” Squiz NZ Managing Director Patrick FitzGerald said. “By adopting this emerging technology early, Enterprise Dunedin and Dunedin City Council will gain learnings relevant to further improving customer experience for visitors as well as residents, and to applying Artificial Intelligence more broadly in council services online” Research firm Gartner recently predicted that 25% of customer service and support operations will integrate virtual customer assistant (VCA) or chatbot technology across engagement channels by 2020.

Women in Engineering: Helen Trappitt, Lewis Bradford, Christchurch

Why do you do what you do and do you enjoy it? I currently work in three main areas of structural engineering for different reasons. Seismic strengthening of heritage buildings is satisfying and challenging. I’m motivated to work on these projects as they are key to getting Christchurch back on its feet. I have also been involved with complex residential insurance claims following the Canterbury and Kaikoura Earthquakes. This work is not at all glamorous when compared to other structural projects, but it is vitally important to the homeowners who have been in limbo for many years. My other area of work does not feel like work. I lead a team at Lewis Bradford that help local creative groups with their structural engineering needs, usually pro bono. This ranges from the structural design of large scale permanent sculptures to assisting with the Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA), where the installations conceived by architecture students from around Australia and New Zealand are displayed for one night only. I enjoy the variety of work I do and in particular the ability engineers have to make a positive impact on society. Greatest challenges? The greatest challenges I have faced both professionally and personally occurred in 2011. It was a tough year for any engineer in Christchurch. I learnt that natural disasters don’t stop all the other stuff that happens in life. Most exciting project worked on? In 2012 I approached sculptor Neil Dawson about designing a temporary sculpture for Christchurch. This project was exciting as we had no client or budget. The structural design and fabrication was challenging. We brought together about twenty local companies to donate services and materials ‘in kind’. The resulting work named ‘Spires’ is currently installed in Latimer Square. Where did you study? University of Canterbury, School of […]

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