NZ Manufacturer August 2015 by Media Hawkes Bay Limited

August 2015

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

6 BUSINESS NEWS

Emerald Foods: Powering through exporting challenges.

Helping businesses succeed through technical innovation.

DEVELOPMENTS

SOUTHMACH 2015 REVIEW

An astounding success for exhibitors and visitors.

IN FLIGHT The engineering of solar flight It’s weird enough that we drive around in machines powered by dead plants and animals from millions of years ago, but flying around in machines powered by sunbeams?! The latter part of this peculiar reality is the result of more than 10 years work, which saw the Solar Impulse aircraft circumnavigate the globe fuelled by nothing more than sunshine. While it is easy to label this project as a flight of fancy for engineers – a technical exercise to prove the possibilities without practical purpose – Solar Impulse has become all about proving people wrong. While practical outcomes are abundant (more on that later), the project has broken frontiers and is capturing the imagination of people young and old in much the same way as the early years of flight. Engineering is often seen more widely as safe, calculated and sanitised, and it is all too easy to forget about those inspiring engineering success stories from yesteryear. Solar Impulse along with Bloodhound SSC, but very few others, have taken the torch and are doing amazing things no one thought possible. And that is making everyone sit up and listen. “We see ourselves as pioneers but we also want to inspire,” said Marc Baumgarten, a lead engineer on the project. “We want to do something that people say ‘wow’ and capture that spirit of adventure by technical

knowhow like the space race did in the 1960s.” The biggest leap forward in solar flight has come in the last five years, as the team stepped up the capability of the originator, Solar Impulse 1. “There is a long history of flight, but some of the biggest developments have been in the last five years and are now flying in Solar Impulse 2,” added Baumgarten. The most striking change has been to the overall wingspan of Solar Impulse 2. Now, at over 70m, it is just 8m shy of the world’s largest airliner, the Airbus A380, and is actually greater than a Boeing 747-800. This shows the size of the project, and the aircraft itself. This is no flimsy small glider with batteries, it is a proper aeroplane. The top of the wing, fuselage and tail plane are covered in photovoltaic cells that trickle charge four large lithium-ion batteries (weighing 633kg), which power four large motors that turn propellers. It all provides enough propulsion to cruise at a normal 27,000ft (8,500m) and 87mph (140kph). But, at over 2,300kg, it is a wonder that Solar Impulse ever gets off the ground. And this was one of the biggest challenges for engineers: weight. “The plane needs a lot of batteries, and batteries are heavy,” explained Geri Piller, head of structural analysis at

Solar Impulse. “Yet the aeroplane gets only a small amount of energy from the solar cells, so it has to be really light overall.” The batteries are essential in providing enough power. Unable to be reduced, these are a deadweight that engineers have had to design around. Making everything lighter Solar Impulse 1 already used most of the obvious tricks of the trade in terms of reducing weight, with all the easy pickings exhausted. It meant that any further weight reduction was going to be a daunting challenge. “The challenge was huge as we had to make a large more powerful aircraft, but also make everything lighter and sturdier,” said Piller. The challenge was exemplified in the wingspan that needed to be increased nearly 10m. The increase, and corresponding greater surface area, was needed to go from 11,628

photovoltaic cells rating the aircraft at 45kW peak, to 17,248 photovoltaic cells and 66kW peak. In addition, the motors increased from 7.5kW to 13kW, and propellers from 3.5m to 4m. But perhaps the biggest weight gain came from the batteries, almost doubling output from 4 x 21kWh to 4 x 41kWh, adding an additional 183kg. It was clear that more than just good design was required, thorough analysis and simulation was needed. “We had to simulate to get the strongest lightest structure possible,” said Piller. “If we were not able to simulate and try all those different iterations and optimise the structure in such as a way that the whole structure become highly optimised, I don’t think we would have got off the ground.” The structural analysis team used Femap with NX Nastran software, from product lifecycle management (PLM)

continued on page 9

THE SAFER FARMS PROGRAMME WHY A FARM SAFETY PROGRAMME? Farming kills more people than any other sector in New Zealand – 41 people have died working on farms in the last two years. That’s four times the number of fatalities in either forestry or construction. There are also thousands of serious injuries that lead to a loss of productivity and income for farmers. Farmers, their families and farming communities are directly affected, and bear the emotional and financial cost of deaths and injuries on the farm. This is why WorkSafe New Zealand is partnering with farmers and their families, sector organisations, and the rural community as a whole on Safer Farms, a comprehensive farm safety information and education campaign. WHAT IS SAFER FARMS? Safer Farms is a new way of working. It is a multi-year programme jointly funded by ACC. It aims to increase farmer awareness and understanding of their risks, support farmers to manage their safety, and build local and sector farm safety leadership. It will achieve this by: > Providing an easy-to-use toolkit and a comprehensive online resource - www.saferfarms.org.nz – so that farmers have clear health and safety advice and information. > A widespread media campaign in newspapers, magazines, on radio and online helping farmers identify and manage risks. > A seasonal information and education campaign highlighting the risks and how to manage them when they arise through the year (e.g. calving, shearing, picking). > Working with rural retailers to help them incorporate safety messages when dealings with farmers. > Training programmes to be delivered alongside rural stakeholder groups. > Education and information for rural kids delivered through school programmes and Dairy NZ’s Rosie’s World website. Safer Farms was not developed in isolation. It was built with extensive input from farmers, their

WSNZ_00155_FEB 15

communities and the sector to ensure the focus was on helping farmers to take ownership of their health and safety. WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION? Visit www.saferfarms.org.nz or call 0800 030 040.

KEEP SAFE, KEEP FARMING

SAFERFARMS.ORG.NZ

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITORIAL 5-6 BUSINESS NEWS

Larry Wiechern

Clean and green with natural energy. Emerald Foods: Powering through exporting challenges. EMA News

7-9 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

ADVISORS Is the Manager of the Maintenance and Reliability Centre, Manukau Institute of Technology.

Delcam’s new PowerSHAPE Pro offers faster modelling and reverse engineering. Nuance Power PDF not the traditional PDF solution. Solidworks 2015 dispels the dark cloud of uncertainty.

Craig Carlyle

Is Director of Maintenance Transformations Ltd, an executive member of the Maintenance Engineering Societyand the Event Director of the NationalMaintenance Engineering Conference.

10 HEALTH & SAFETY 11 ANALYSIS 12 DEVELOPMENTS

Health & Safety law reform series. Become a market leader – Part 2

Catherine Beard

Is Executive Director of Export NZ and Manufacturing, divisions of Business NZ, NewZealand’s largest business advocacy group, representing businesses of all sizes.

Helping businesses succeed through technical innovation.

14-15 SOUTHMACH 2015 REVIEW 16 HEALTH & SAFETY

An astounding result for exhibitors and visitors alike. Health & Safety legislation needs business leaders to be active.

Dieter Adam

18 MAINTENANCE 19-21

Dust and spillage prevention technology solves major environmental issues.

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING Making the most of connected machines. Advanced system paves the way for automated industrial monitoring. Shop floor monitoring goes high tech.

14 19

22 FOOD MANUFACTURING

Destruction of our soil more serious than climate change.

Chief Executive, New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association has a Ph.D. in plant biotechnology, consulting and senior management roles in R&D, innovation and international business development.

Lewis Woodward

Is Managing Director of Connection Technologies Ltd, Wellington and is passionate about industry supporting NZ based companies, which in turn builds local expertise and knowledge, and provides education and employment for future generations.

24-26 WORKSHOP TOOLS

Conducting hardness tests quickly. Proper plasma system maintenance helps prolong life and performance of system. Flaw detection for every environment.

Dr Wolfgang Scholz

Is HERA Director and a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers NZ.

28 ANALYSIS

IoT and IT led disruptions will transcend industry sectors.

29 BUSINESS NEWS 30 CAREERS

Kiwi exporters beware of e-commerce. Young inventor wins award with treehouse design. Engineering a new career for young women.

31 REAR VIEW

A Lesson from Scotland. Mixed response to GST reform discussion document.

Bruce Goldsworthy

An advocate for NZ manufacturing for 40 years, he was Chief Executive of the Auckland Manufacturers Association for seven years He has been Manager of EMA’s Advocacy and Manufacturing Services, and lately manager for Export New Zealand in the north.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

EDITORIAL Clean and green with natural energy

PUBLISHER

Media Hawke’s Bay Ltd,1/121 Russell Street North, Hastings, New Zealand 4122.

MANAGING EDITOR Doug Green T: +64 6 870 9029 E: publisher@xtra.co.nz

CONTRIBUTORS

Holly Green, Dieter Adam, Katalin Csikasz, Nick Inskip, Ian Raper, Blair Stewart, Clayton Gould, Johnathan Chen

Our Lead Story this issue is ‘The engineering of solar flight’, in itself a mystery a mere few years ago and now seemingly a positive step forward for positive use of sunbeams!

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

However, it is not going to answer the issue of flying in very large planes. Solar Impulse is a one-off example of energy efficiency for a crew of two people.

environment and the quality of life. This form of energy extraction takes place in other countries and realises everyone’s dream of a doomed planet.

WEB MASTER

Amongst all the technologies we use today none can be sweeter than a natural technology…which really isn’t a technology at all.

Also in this issue, we are delighted to welcome Dieter Adam, chief executive, New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association to our Advisory Panel. Dieter, with his clear thinking and analysis, is already making a difference in the business community.

ADVERTISING

Doug Green T: + 64 6 870 9029 E: publisher@xtra.co.nz Kim Alves, KA Design T: + 64 6 879 5815 E: kim.alves@xtra.co.nz

Julian Goodbehere E: julian@isystems.co.nz

PUBLISHING SERVICES On-Line Publisher Media Hawke’s Bay Ltd

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS E: info@nzmanufacturer.co.nz Free of Charge.

MEDIA HAWKES BAY LTD T: +64 6 870 4506 F: +64 6 878 8150 E: mediahb@xtra.co.nz 1/121 Russell Street North, Hastings PO Box 1109, Hastings, NZ NZ Manufacturer ISSN 1179-4992

Vol.6 No. 7 August 2015 Copyright: NZ Manufacturer is copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Neither editorial opinions expressed, nor facts stated in the advertisements, are necessarily agreed to by the editor or publisher of NZ Manufacturer and, whilst all efforts are made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility will be taken by the publishers for inaccurate information, or for any consequences of reliance on this information. NZ Manufacturer welcomes your contributions which may not necessarily be used because of the philosophy of the publication.

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Governments around the world – including New Zealand – are still coming to grips with the best use of our natural resources. The best way of diminishing coal as an essential product and providing a cleaner and better environment for humankind. Should we all have solar panels on or houses? Can we afford to continue to pay exorbitant power accounts… which, after all, come from using a natural source of energy? We also face the issues of fracking and the cause and effect it has on our environment and the consequences of this method of energy extraction on the earth on which we live.

And you can read about Emerald Foods, an East Tamaki country, who exports their products to 34 countries. Shane Lamont, Managing Director of Emerald Foods, explains that their location is a key advertising point when exporting: “New Zealand is not only seen as clean and green, but also as very safe. Food safety is a huge aspect of our product, and New Zealand has a great reputation for it.”

USA has reduced its need to import oil from the Middle East; primarily because of fracking. Under Obama, America has become more self-sufficient. Their internal energy levels from fracking is causing consternation as to its effect on the

Doug Green ASIA

MANUFACTURING NEWS

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

If you want to achieve some really big and interesting goals, you have to learn to fall in love with hard work. - Steve Pavlina

BUSINESS NEWS

Emerald Foods: Powering through exporting challenges If your business is established in East Tamaki, you have probably heard of Emerald Foods: with over 100 people employed, they are among the largest companies in the area. And, if the name still does not ring a bell, their celebrated brands of ice cream certainly will: Killinchy Gold, Chateau, and of course award-winning New Zealand Natural are all manufactured here. Shane Lamont, Managing Director of Emerald Foods, explains that their location is a key advertising point when exporting: “New Zealand is not only seen as clean and green, but also as very safe. Food safety is a huge aspect of our product, and New Zealand has a great reputation for it.” Emerald Foods exports to 34 different countries, and the company has received many awards for their product innovation, packaging and export. New Zealand Natural, for instance, has grown over the last 25 years from a tiny ice creamery in Christchurch to a brand now found in over 700 outlets around the world. This is all the more impressive when you realise that exporting ice cream is a path filled with obstacles. The first issue, as with any fresh produce, is regulation. Since dairy

Commercial & industrial growth

is considered high risk, exporting companies dealing with animal products are required to provide a great deal of additional documentation: specifications, certificate of analysis, Animal Products E-cert… How does one keep up with such a mass of regulatory requirements? According to Shane, it requires a large technical team, a heavy cash flow, and a lot of time. The company also works closely with the Ministry for Primary Industries, who keep them informed of any new or predicted changes in regulation.

monitoring devices within their containers, coupled with a thorough evaluation of the product upon arrival. This ensures the quality of the ice cream remains constant, even after an 18,000 km journey. If you ask any exporter about their main challenge, they are likely to reply “currency”. For Emerald Foods, however, an even bigger issue is the

fluctuating cost of dairy inputs. “There are certain risk-mitigating tools, but at the end of the day, you are at the mercy of international dairy prices. You have to be ready to have an unpredictable profit curve, because you can’t change prices to reflect the variations in cost. This is probably our biggest challenge.” Finally, one of the complications Emerald Foods (and, indeed, any

continued on page 6

Another daunting task to consider is transport: dealing with frozen food involves operating a very high scrutiny over temperatures. “If there’s been temperature abuse, even if it’s only been for a short time, ice cream remembers”, says Shane. To ensure the cold chain is never broken for even a few minutes during the several weeks of transport, the company uses temperature

Employment growth

Economic output

Crime rate East Tamaki is the largest industrial precinct in Auckland with 2000 businesses and a growth rate higher than the regional average. getba.org.nz

getba

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Greater East Tamaki Business Association Inc.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

BUSINESS NEWS

You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.-Tom Hiddleston

continued from page 5 exporter) faces is tariff. The company’s biggest market is Japan, which applies 19% tariff; this effectively makes imported products less competitive than domestic options. Shane, along with many Kiwi business owners, has been intently following up negotiations about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as one of the treaty’s premises is to eliminate all tariffs. “TPP could open up massive opportunities. It would change our dynamic with Japan, and would also allow us to access the US market.” Until then, Emerald Foods is working on other opportunities. “China is tariff-free under the Free

Business outlook stable Business outlook is expected to stay the same over the next six months, according to employers surveyed by the EMA (Employers and Manufacturers Association).

Trade Agreement; and it has certainly been a major factor in our growth.” So what makes Emerald Foods successful in their exporting business? “First, it’s the quality of our product. Our brand is powerful and respected internationally. Then, there is the quality of our services, especially our fast turnaround: we can respond quickly to customers to get them what they need. Plus, we are still small enough to be flexible and adaptable. Finally, there’s our people: we have a very experienced team.”

NEWS

own sectors,” says Kim Campbell, CEO, EMA.

“Sourcing skilled staff still remains a key issue amongst our members. We’ve seen this previously and it is a growing trend.”

In its mid-year Employers Survey, 61% of respondees said they expected business conditions to remain the same, while 22% said they expected it to improve. When asked about their own businesses, 45% said they expected to see it grow and 48% said they expected it to stay the same.

While 52% of respondees said they had increased their staff numbers over past six months, 68% said it was still difficult to attract suitably skilled candidates. The majority of survey respondents said they planned to overcome this by employing staff with the basic level or required skills, and then upskill them.

“This is in line with much of the commentary we’ve heard recently. We know that growth has slowed compared with what was predicted at the beginning of 2015, and we know that it’s tough in some sectors, such as dairy. However, the economic fundamentals we have in place are serving many of our members well and they remain relatively positive for their

The skills shortage sits across trade/ technical roles and professional roles. In the survey, 35% of respondees were struggling to fill trade and technician vacancies, and 17% were struggling to fill professional vacancies. The full report is available on the EMA website, ema.co.nz, in the Resources section.

“We’ve had double-digit export growth for eight out of the last nine years” Despite the challenges inherent to exporting dairy products, Emerald Foods has managed to grow spectacularly over the last decade. “We’ve had double-digit export

Mid-Year Employers Survey – Health & Safety Employers are gearing themselves up for changes to health and safety in the workplace. More than half (55%) of the respondents to EMA’s mid-year survey of employers say they are prepared for changes to health and safety in the workplace. With 70% saying workplace health and safety is a regular board topic. This compares with 61% saying this six months ago. “This is a heartening trend to see, especially when many of our respondents class themselves as manufacturers which is a high risk sector, and most respondees had fewer than 20 employees,” says Paul Jarvie, Industrial Relations and Safety Manager, EMA. The survey also indicated the following:

growth for eight out of the last nine years”, states Shane. Does this mean we will soon be able to find their ice cream in Kenya or Greenland? “We’re not quite Coca-Cola yet! Our vision, rather than worrying about the number of new countries we’re getting into, is getting more out of each country.” And there is change up ahead: “We want to accelerate our expansion from here. We have a very exciting business plan for the next three to five years, and will be spending money on capital investments in East Tamaki through the next 12 to 24 months.”

workplace are useful - They believe such representatives do add to the overall health and safety system - However, getting staff to become health and safety representatives remains a large problem The EMA believes the Health and Safety Reform Bill is both welcome and overdue. It successfully advocated for the following amendments, which were included in the second reading of the bill: - Tightening of the definition of a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) - The practical amendment made to worker participation which will match the size and requirements of the business The EMA is committed to working with Government and WorkSafe NZ towards safer and healthier workplaces.

- Employers believe health and safety representatives in the

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. -Henry Ford

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Delcam’s new PowerSHAPE Pro offers faster modelling and reverse engineering Delcam has added a series of enhancements to its PowerSHAPE Pro software for modelling and reverse engineering that will help users to complete complex designs more quickly and more easily. In addition, a combination of new, more efficient, code and the extension of multi-threaded calculations to many commonly-used tasks will make the software significantly faster than any previous version. Full details, including video demonstrations, are on the Learning Zone – www.delcam.tv/ps2016/lz/en By offering a combination of solid, surface and direct modelling, together with reverse engineering, PowerSHAPE Pro provides the most comprehensive range of design techniques available in a single CAD program. Having all the different technologies in the same package reduces the need to transfer data between multiple programs and so streamlines any modelling-for-manufacture projects that require both reverse-engineering and CAD functionality. The first enhancement in the 2016 release allows groups of features to be copied between two solids in a single operation. While the features do not

need to be of the same type, the most common application is expected to be in copying patterns of holes with a single click from one solid to another, for example from one mould plate to any other plate in the mould stack. Another new option to save modelling time is the ability to edit the axis direction of any number of surface or solid primitives simultaneously. Similarly, the axis direction of a group of primitives that are not aligned can be brought into alignment in one operation. PowerSHAPE Pro already had the ability to edit simultaneously the dimensions of groups of primitives. For customers using PowerSHAPE Pro to capture data for reverse engineering, the software can connect directly to most scanning hardware to capture and display scan data in real time. In the 2016 release, it has been made easier to switch between measuring modes when using devices that offer data collection by both laser scanning and point probing.

Reverse engineering has been made easier for prismatic parts, with the new ability to identify planes, cylinders, cones and other primitives, or to create wireframe arcs and lines, directly from probed points. This approach can often be more accurate than using scan data to create prismatic areas of a model. The ability to replace regions of complex, free-form geometry with a single, shrink-wrap surface was introduced in PowerSHAPE Pro 2014 R2. In the new release, it has been made easier to re-orient such surfaces interactively and so place them in the most appropriate surface alignment.

In addition to these new options, a wide range of speed improvements has been made to the core modelling functions. Specific items affected include opening and displaying models in both wireframe and shaded views, displaying any single layer that had previously been drawn, projecting curves onto multiple surfaces, replaying complex solid history trees, selecting solid features, either graphically or using the history tree, and selecting multiple faces of a solid. The degree of improvement varies according to the size and complexity of the model but can be as much as 40% faster with larger models.

In PowerSHAPE 2016, reverse engineering of prismatic parts has been made easier.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once. -Samuel Smiles

Nuance Power PDF not the traditional PDF solution Nuance Power PDF offers the PDF software features that business users need to be productive at a price that supports deployment across the entire enterprise. Power PDF delivers high performance, an intuitive user experience, and value, freeing users from the compromises of traditional PDF applications. To see a demonstration of the new features and benefits of Power PDF, and learn more about Nuance’s Document Imaging division view the Power PDF on-demand broadcast available now. With Power PDF, business users get all the tools they need to create, manage, share, and secure PDF files plus additional features only available from Nuance for document conversion, search, connectivity and more. Power PDF has powerful features to accurately convert PDFs to editable Microsoft Office documents, combine and assemble documents from many sources into a single PDF, and collaborate on PDF files with a powerful toolset. Before Nuance Power PDF, businesses had to make compromises and choose between the limited capabilities of free PDF reader software, low-end PDF solutions, or an expensive solution designed for graphic designers that isn’t engineered for today’s business environment. With its Microsoft Office-style ribbon user interface, Power PDF minimises

the learning curve and maximises productivity by enabling users to transition effortlessly between word processing and PDF publishing. The software makes it easy to share and collaborate on work seamlessly across an organisation as well as externally all while providing document control and security. Power PDF is priced to be affordably deployed to all business users in an enterprise, enabling all employees to assemble, compare, convert, create, dictate, edit, read, redact, scan, search, secure, sign, print and validate PDF documents and forms with unprecedented ease and speed. Key features in Power PDF include: *Combine and assemble documents with ease. Combine files and remove or replace pages in complex documents with drag-and-drop ease. For instance, in maintenance manuals or government regulation documents, users can update content without losing links to other parts of the document. For review use cases, they can utilise batch tools to automate repetitive tasks and improve efficiency throughout the workplace. *Side-by-side document comparison. Quickly identify differences between two versions of a document with a side-by-side comparison tool that accurately highlights changes in text and visuals, and provides a summary report of all changes.

*Commenting and review. Nuance Dragon Notes voice recognition capabilities are integrated into Power PDF enabling users to dictate text quickly and accurately into notes within a PDF - increasing productivity. *Easily manage batch workflows. Create workflows to automate large-scale PDF creation or conversion, stamping, watermarking, OCR, redaction, inserting or deleting pages, and Bates numbering tasks. For example, an organisation can quickly look through 1,000 or more files to find number or word patterns, such as social security numbers, invoice IDs, phone numbers, dates and email addresses to identify and locate relevant information for editing or redaction. Power PDF enables users to quickly and easily create 100 percent industry-standard PDF files with security options that are fully compliant with all PDF viewers. Users can generate PDFs directly from the authoring tools - with Microsoft add-ons to Office and Outlook(r) - with all tags, bookmarks, links and references intact. The software also faithfully converts PDF files - even with complex layouts such as columns, tables and graphics - to Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect(r) and other authoring formats - saving users valuable time. Nuance Power PDF has secure delivery, document inspection, redaction, encryption and digital rights

management capabilities to control access to documents, inside and outside of the enterprise. The software can deploy PDF files in read-only mode to enforce compliance with SOX, GLBA, HIPAA, eDiscovery and other internal control best practices and regulatory mandates. Power PDF also integrates with many third-party applications, enabling organisations to incorporate PDF into existing workflows, increasing organisational, operational and worker efficiency. For example, small offices can connect to popular cloud-based collaboration sites, such as Box.net, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs(tm), Office 365TM and Windows Live SkyDrive(r). Large-scale organisations can connect with enterprise-class content management systems, including Autonomy, Documentum, SharePoint and NetDocs.

“Seeing” molecular interactions could give boost to organic electronics Organic materials are increasingly being applied in cutting-edge technologies. Organic semiconductors, for example, are being used to develop paper-thin, plastic LED screens. Materials scientists need to understand the structures and physical

properties of organic materials at the atomic level to optimize the efficiency and increase the life span of devices that incorporate them. Previously used techniques for this purpose have had their limitations although high-resolution

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transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) has recently successfully been used to visualize the structures, movements and reactions of single, small organic molecules. Now, for the first time, a team of researchers from Kyoto University’s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) and Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology together with colleagues from Finland’s Tampere University of Technology has successfully used HR-TEM to visualize a certain type of organic molecular interaction at the atomic level. They linked pyrene, a hydrocarbon composed of four flat benzene rings, to a single-walled carbon nanotube that the researchers used as a scaffold

for this purpose. They then used HR-TEM to see the link. “This same methodology can be used to study any organic molecules that contain an aryl group,” says Tomokazu Umeyama, the study’s lead investigator. An aryl group is a group of atoms derived from benzene by removing a hydrogen atom. “The methodology has the potential to provide indispensible information regarding molecular interactions,” he says.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. - Albert Einstein

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

Solidworks 2015 dispels the dark cloud of uncertainty Since 2010, a dark cloud of questions has been hanging over the Solidworks division of Dassault Systemés regarding the future of the company’s eponymous, market-leading 3D CAD software. Several “look but don’t touch” demos of “possible future software” and statements about the next generation of Solidworks switching to the same geometry technology as Catia, which is not perfectly compatible with the Solidworks core geometry, kept customers and resellers muttering about the future. Solidworks has proven its critics wrong by updating its market-leading CAD software with new features intended to keep it viable for the long run.

Shown here is a new capability to select views by plane. (Source: Solidworks) Previews of new software for the Solidworks portfolio based on what Dassault now calls the “3D Experience” platform only made the cloud seem more ominous. Dassault’s 3D Experience platform includes a common interface program with technology that allows companies to create shared information systems around a project. The 3D Experience tool will help tie together Dassault’s CAD and PLM products including Catia, Simulia, Enovia, Delmia, and Solidworks. The 3D Experience Platform app provides access to content created in Dassault’s products and also information related

to a project via a common interface. Solidworks is now rolling out its 2015 portfolio, and while there is truly interesting news to report about Solidworks and several of its add-ons, the real news is a weather report: the dark cloud is gone. “Solidworks is not going away,” said division CEO Bertrand Sicot, specifically in reference to the core CAD product. He said it could easily be around in its current form another 10 to 15 years. This year’s updates prove the company is serious about keeping its flagship software fresh and vital.

including a variety of tools for simulation, plastic injection molding, electrical engineering, and technical documentation. While many of these products are tuck-ins that appear inside Solidworks, several are complementary applications that have their roots not in Solidworks but in the 3D Experience technology that shapes the rest of Dassault’s products.

The Solidworks portfolio now consists of 19 separate products,

continued from page 1

The engineering of solar flight specialist Siemens PLM Software. While some simulation had been used on Solar Impulse 1, the challenge facing the team would be pushed to breaking point. Despite hours of in-depth simulation effort, in July 2012 during the final structural test of the wing spar, the central part succumbed to the load and failed. It was a harsh reminder of the close margins that the aircraft design and construction has had to work within. Many types of analysis Swiss engineering company AeroFEM was contracted to perform special analysis like aero-elasticity and rotor dynamics. The analysts initially used the CAD geometry of the wing’s outer surfaces to create a simple model to look at load paths. Later, using Femap, they added 3D solid elements

representing the Kevlar-aramid paper honeycomb core for more detailed analyses such as local and global buckling. Disproportional increase

size

weight

The single-seat cockpit of the plane is tiny, just 3.8m3. But it’s actually three times larger than the cockpit of the Solar Impulse 1. However, despite being three times larger, it weighs less than twice as much as the original, 60kg from the original 42kg. The wing, also, consists of a Kevlar honeycomb core covered with advanced carbon fibre composite. As well as additional weight from the increased wing area, Solar Impulse 2 also flies that bit faster, meaning its wings have to withstand greater loads. As Femap has its own modelling functionality, composite materials

that make up a large portion of the aeroplane could be improved. Carbon fibre plies were highly optimised to meet the new loading conditions with the least amount of added weight. This also allowed the team to go from a carbon fibre weave weighing 100g/ m2 to 25g/m2.

Similarly, while the motor gondola has to carry a heavier load but the weight increase was kept to a minimum. This was done by, in part, by changing from a framework structure with a fairing to a sandwich structure. In addition, FEA was used to optimise components such as facings and spar caps.

Affordable 3D design Free upgrade to Full Version & Discounts on Annual Maintenance Renew Annual Maintenance on any version of Alibre or Geomagic Design and receive a free upgrade to the latest full version. It doesn’t maer how out-of-date your license is. Save 10% when you renew Annual Maintenance for 2 years Save 20% when you renew Annual Maintenance for 3 years There is now only 1 professional version of Geomagic Design so everyone gets to use all the features available in the latest 2015 version 17. Receive future new versions, update patches and access to support. This latest version can be installed on as many computers as you want and you can acvate/de-acvate the installaons yourself as you move between locaons.

enquiries@baycad.biz

06 8337093

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. -Mark Twain

Health and safety law reform series Kevin McKillop of health and safety development organisation Workbase explains what the upcoming health and safety law changes mean for manufacturing businesses and how to make sure your business is ready. Article four: The duty of monitoring health and safety information The new law is going to place far greater onus on directors, business owners and managers (officers) to ensure that the organisation is meeting its health and safety responsibilities.

with factual information and trends about these indicators. Reports should also include other information because using lag indicators alone has been likened to only looking in the rear vision mirror when driving.

Practical steps to meet this monitoring duty include having processes to collect, report, receive and respond to information about incidents, hazards and risks. The starting point is to decide what safety information to collect and report to managers and boards.

Lead indicators are pro-active and provide guidance on managing and improving workplace risks and hazards and help to find problems before incidents occur. For example lead indicators could be:

Lag and lead indicators are often used to measure health and safety information that is reported for monitoring purposes.

• the actions taken to control risks and hazards

Lag indicators are reactive measures of safety performance after a safety failure. These are often the numbers of incidents, accidents, lost time injuries and the results of investigations. Including lag indicators in reports provides officers

• high levels of near miss and hazard reporting

• effectiveness reviews for current hazard controls • training, safety briefing and health monitoring completion levels (e.g. for noise levels and employee hearing tests) • employee involvement in safety activities such as identifying

hazards, toolbox talks and pre start safety checks • reviewing and updating key parts of the health and safety system (e.g. safe work methods incorporating new codes of practice or standards) • maintaining the knowledge of key staff through involvement in industry and safety forums Directors and managers may want to prioritise regular reporting about how the organisation’s greatest risks and hazards are being managed as well as key activities that will help improve progress towards any safety goals or targets. Manufacturing company directors and senior managers should also be informed about how the organisation is meeting specific regulatory hazard and risk levels and reporting requirements that are relevant to their operations. Next year there will be more focus on manufacturing environments using hazardous

substances and / or producing dusts or toxins. It is expected that new regulations will increase the duties for health monitoring, particularly where there is exposure to hazardous substances. These will include monitoring to make sure that exposure standards are not breached, and workers’ health monitoring. Did you know: Using indicators such as reducing incidents or lost time injuries as targets can do more harm than good because people are less likely to report incidents or injuries if it means their team fails to meet a safety target or misses out on rewards. Safety goals and targets should be designed to promote desired behaviours and encourage reporting – even of minor incidents (which are often a warning sign of risks and hazards that could cause more serious harm). Knowing what is really happening in the business can help officers to better manage risks and hazards.

Article five: How to know that health and safety responsibilities and duties are being met The new Health and Safety at Work Act recognises that leadership is vital for bringing about the necessary culture and behaviour changes for improving safety. As a result, it places far greater expectations on officers (directors, business owners and managers) to make sure their organisation meets its health and safety responsibilities. This means that officers will need to keep up-to-date with relevant industry regulations, guidelines and standards for their business operation’s hazards and risks. They will also need to know what is expected in terms of policies, procedures, training, auditing and control systems for hazards and risks. Officers will also need to verify that the health and safety system

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– from what is in the policies and procedures, through to how frontline employees are trained and follow safety procedures -- is in place and operating as expected. Start by including health and safety monitoring, compliance and verification in reports and as regular agenda items in board and senior management meetings. This will help to ensure that all officers are kept regularly informed and updated about the organisation’s health and safety status. Verifying also involves knowing what records or reports provide the evidence that key safety activities are being undertaken. Do the business’s records, such as meeting minutes or policy reviews show that resources and processes are regularly reviewed?

Additional practical steps to meet complying and verifying duties are: • Complete safety observations and walk-arounds to get first-hand information. Keep records of these activities. • Ask front-line supervisors, health and safety representatives and operators how they are managing. Find out what they understand about the key hazards and risks and what steps are in place to control those risks. Also encourage frontline people to discuss any concerns they have about being able to work safely, and also seek their opinion on how safety could be improved. • Create a budget for gaining independent advice about: incident

investigations, periodic external machine or workplace inspections, audits or reviews. Directors and senior managers should receive all reports that are completed – and read them in full. Request follow up reports on any improvements that are needed. Did you know: It is widely agreed that New Zealand businesses will make the greatest gains if everyone from boards to front-line employees change from just focusing on compliance, to mostly focusing on improving their safety culture, understanding and behaviours. Visit http://worksafesolutions.co.nz for more information about how to improve health and safety.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

ANALYSIS

- Unknown

Become a market leader – part two Katalin Csikasz, TechPro Plus

www.techproplus.co.nz

In last month’s edition of NZ Manufacturer we touched on two projects where companies gained the competitive edge to become industry market leaders. The first project, which we detailed in last month’s publication, involved providing the industry with a reliable in-ground corrosion control solution which has subsequently become an industry specification; giving the company both recognition and a competitive edge. We also provided a model which could assist you to become a market leader, helping you stay ahead of the competition and/or implement your idea to benefit the industry. In this month’s edition we will provide more detail about how to become a market leader by outlining a project which positively impacted the New Zealand Telecommunication industry. This project is a great example of how using innovative, outside the box design thinking can minimise project complexity and reduce installation cost. Innovative design solution impacting the New Zealand Telecommunication Industry: In early 2000, as the Principal Engineer for TechPro Plus, I was onsite as a representative of a pole manufacturing company to observe the installation of both a 3m ground stub and the supplied

telecommunication column.

companies in their major rollouts.

To complete the task the project required a hiab and traffic management for two days as well as a small concrete mixer, about 6 installers and a massive hole in the ground. This was a complex and challenging task that required the team to work hard to fight the rigid 100 outside diameter duct pipes through a tiny hole into the ground stub.

This created a recognised industrial design market leader position for the manufacturer and enhanced their reputation, while also providing significant project savings and faster and easier installation for the telecommunication industry, making it a win-win for all parties involved.

The realisation that there must be a better way to do this was the moment when my innovative, sophisticated design of the “I” beam open section ground stub was born. Despite the 250% cost increase of the ground stub itself, due to its sophisticated details; the design was a triumph which has seen significant reductions in both installation time and costs. Installation of this new innovative design required only two installers, a hiab and traffic management for half a day, a smaller hole drilled in the ground and bags of ready mix concrete mixed in a bucket. The duct pipes were able to be better arranged and come from the most economical direction. This setup allowed the whole pole, not just the ground stub, to be installed in one day including all services; compared to the previous three day exercise. This project is a great example of how site visits can identify installation challenges and lead to new innovative solutions. The savings in installation costs were significantly more than the cost increase of the sophisticated ground stub, making it a desirable overall solution for the asset owner. The “I” beam design is now accepted as the standard industry design and has subsequently been used by all New Zealand telecommunication

If your company has invested money, time and R&D resources into becoming a market leader, wants to stay ahead of the competition or has had an idea which the industry could benefit from; consider how you could take it further by utilising the following model: • Identify Industry needs, challenges as well as customer and installer challenges. • Speak to your installers and visit/ observe installations to notice challenges and issues • Speak to asset owners, ask for their challenges, and visit older installations to identify possible areas of improvements. • Approach the application as a whole, and look for streamlined solutions from a finished, installed product point of view. Put yourself in your installer’s and/ or end customers or asset owner’s shoes. Look for “outside the box” innovative solutions. Often the answer is not a cheaper product. If you can provide a cheaper or easier overall installed solution, despite your product being more expensive, you could still be a winner and create a respectable marketplace reputation - a desirable place to be. • Consider and brainstorm possible solutions, speak to industry associations and/or an industry expert.

• Test the market. Build a theoretical model which will assist you to predict how the market will behave. Is your solution a winner or not viable? • Protect your solution. If possible, patent, trademark, copyright and most importantly reach confidentiality with all parties involved. You don’t want your competition to find out about your secret project. • Develop your solution - do your own R&D, employ a company to do it for you or import a suitable product or product application. There are various Government Research and Development Grants available to New Zealand companies. • Market it • Lobby • Reap the benefits. Celebrate, enjoy the recognition and acknowledge the people involved and do it again…. Tech Pro Plus can partner with you to identify potential areas of improvements and/or visit installations, talk to your clients/ installers to approach the matter with “outside the box” thinking. We are experts at finding innovative and unique solutions to industry challenges, which can increase your chances of becoming a market leader in your industry. TechPro Plus could provide a complete solution from start to finish or manage part of the process; including leading or liaising with your research and development team, with the aim of providing you with a market leading product, solution, or application.

The hassle free apprenticeship service Contact Apprentice Training New Zealand to find out how we can recruit, employ and manage apprentices to train in your business.

0800 526 1800 www.atnz.org.nz

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

DEVELOPMENTS

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal. - Napoleon Hill

Helping businesses succeed through technical innovation - Dieter Adam, Chief Executive, New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association We were fortunate to have Dr Mary Quin, Chief Executive of Callaghan Innovation come speak at our last Leaders’ Network event. Callaghan Innovation has been in operation for over two years now, after its formation and taking over of IRL and other activities. It was great to hear Dr Quin give an outline of Callaghan’s goals and services and allow our members to ask questions and give some feedback on how they feel things have gone thus far. Callaghan Innovation’s goal is one that most manufacturers can appreciate; to help business succeed through technology innovation. Many manufacturers are designing and creating new products, others are using new technology to improve processes and most a mix of the both. As we all know, in the competitive global world of manufacturing, simply sticking to old technology does not cut it; we have to invest in technology, Research and Development (R&D) and push forward to be successful. The problem with Callaghan Innovation at the moment is that it doesn’t really support the development and application of new technology to improve manufacturing equip¬ment or processes. Its support largely covers new product development, and even then in quite a restrictive manner. There are two main grants schemes to support manufacturing businesses conducting R&D to develop new products. Both work on a co-funding basis, meaning Callaghan covers

a percentage of the eligible R&D spending. This is meant to make R&D projects more affordable and incentivise businesses to increase their own R&D expenditure.

applying for Callaghan Grants – it was great to get confirmation that Callaghan does not take any ownership of IP created in activities funded through grants.

The larger of the two grants is called the Growth Grant. This is aimed at businesses that have a track record of conducting R&D in their business and have fairly well-established R&D and innovation processes. These grants are effectively a refund of 20% of the businesses’ eligible R&D spend, capped at $5 million per year.

In fact, Callaghan still holds IP that was transferred to them from their previous forms, such as IRL, and they are looking into ways to best transfer the useful IP to businesses to be made use of - this may well represent an opportunity for some manufacturers.

To be eligible for these grants, a business must have spent at least $300,000 on eligible R&D in the last two years, or spent 1.5% of its revenue on R&D in each of the last two years. The second and more relevant to smaller manufacturing businesses or those new to R&D, are the Project Grants. These are aimed to help co-fund a specific R&D project in a business and can provide between 30 – 50% of the eligible R&D costs associated with the project. We heard that two of the most important overarching factors that Callaghan Innovation are looking for in funding recipients, be it for their Growth or Project Grants, are an ambition to grow the business, especially exports, and a strong technology focus – key points to keep in mind when applying for grants. The ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) has often been an area of concern for companies when looking into

The other part of Callaghan Innovation’s work is their services. Grants are the most talked about, but their services make up a big part of what they have to offer. These services, provided mostly by scientists and technicians, who used to be part of the old IRL, can be a great resource for manufacturers and exporters to take advantage of. The NZMEA aims to help Callaghan improve and refine their service offer to best serve the needs of manufacturing and exporting businesses. These services include access to in-house research and development experts that can help with parts of technology and product development (previously IRL activities), training courses on topics such as innovation processes, and facilitating business collaboration. They also maintain a network of access to external experts, both here and around the world, which can be used to connect with experts you may need for any particular R&D project. Having said all that, it is still clear that

parts of what Callaghan Innovation does, particularly around their policies and practise for grant funding, could be made to work better for manufacturers and exporters. So what can we do from our side to help? • Encourage manufacturers and exporters to separately account for their R&D expenditure – that is a pre-condition for receiving a Callaghan grant. • Work with Callaghan to get them to take a more realistic view of innovation in manufacturing businesses. In particular, we want Callaghan to better support process innovation (as opposed to primarily product innovation), recognising that such process innovation is a large component of keeping New Zealand manufacturers competitive on a global scale. • Help with the process of connecting individual members with the right subject matter expert within Callaghan.

Your company’s visionaries are wrong about the Internet of Things Slowly but steadily, pressure is building for industrial companies to come to grips with the fact that technology-enabled disruptive change is coming. This creates tension in most companies, because the culture in many industries is quite conservative when it comes to innovation. Product designers may be keen to innovate in their traditional areas of expertise, yet still be reluctant to consider new designs that rely on software and enhanced connectivity.

Production groups find it difficult to justify even the time it takes to consider new ways of operating, and making do with aging production systems and techniques is the norm. So when a company’s visionaries talk about ‘Internet of Things’ or ‘Industrie 4.0′ or other terms for technology-enabled digital transformation, they are taking a risk. But are they right? To be sure, there’s plenty of hype in the market. It’s easy to find incredible claims about “xx billions of connected devices” or “yy trillions of dollars.” On the other hand are the naysayers who dismiss the trends saying “we’ve been doing it for years” or “we’ll never do that.” You can even find surveys from

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respectable firms that say “half of manufacturing executives don’t know about IoT” or some other comforting statistic. We’re not the only ones, you think. Maybe it’s not real. And if it is, it looks like I’ve got plenty of time to figure it out. Wrong. That building pressure comes from the growing gap between two forces: The exponential growth of computing technologies, and the linear thinking and inertia of humans and human systems. And that pressure is akin to tectonic pressure building at a fault line: the changes are barely noticeable for a long time, until a seismic shift unleashes a massive change.

This pressure derives from what Ray Kurzweil calls the law of accelerating returns: “we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The “returns,” such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. ” We have experienced this as a series of disruptive changes: personal computers, the Internet, Smartphones. In each case, there was hype. In each case, there were naysayers. But the changes were inexorable. And so it is with the latest set of disruptive technologies, the Industrial Internet of Things.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. – Voltaire

title text

A&G PRICE LTD

A & G Price continues to demonstrate its commitment to investment in new technology The recent purchase of two “Artec” brand 3D Scanners has created a buzz with both the design and process engineers at A & G Price Ltd says the GM Nick Box. To ensure maximisation usage on small detail as well as larger scanning capabilities the company purchased an Artec “Eva” as well as an Artec “Spider” scanner. The Eva has a wide scanning field and 3D accuracy of 0.1mm and can scan items up to 1 metre from the scanner. The Spider has a smaller scanning field with 3D accuracy of 0.03mm. The two scanners can be used in conjunction with each other to capture 3D data into a single STL file. The Eva is used to quickly capture the basic form of the 3D shape. The Spider is then used in areas that require higher definition or dimensional accuracy. The captured 3D model is rendered in real time on the PC screen and can be immediately sectioned or measured directly from the scanned data. The scanned 3D data can be imported into most 3D modelling systems such as Solid Works which we use extensively in our foundry, machine and fabrication shops. Alternatively the scanned data can be sent directly to our 3D plastic printer for rapid prototyping and pattern work. 3D Scanning allows us to quickly “Reverse Engineer” components eg, Non Supported OEM items, Break Down or Repair items. This has led to vastly improved turnaround times for replacement items in the breakdown situation with our field sales engineers able to scan and capture measurements of components onsite. One field that is showing promise is the Mining and Quarry industries, these operators often have the only machine in the country which ties them to the standard OEM supplied wear parts. We are now scanning the components and modifying the working face to suit their particular requirements, we then router a 3D pattern in foam and cast the item. This has allowed us a quicker turnaround time, no expensive up front pattern cost, more flexibility to explore alternative designs so if our customers requirements change in the future it’s only a matter of modifying the model and making a new casting. Traditionally reverse engineering modelling of complex multi shaped and curved components is very difficult and time consuming, now we simply scan them and convert the model too solid works and produce shop drawings for manufacture. What was once a multiday job can take only a few hours. Another benefit for our customers is required we can also use the scanners for “In Process” measurements of machined or fabricated items and final inspection of components within our Work Shops. This gives an accurate 3D model of the entire components instead of the traditionally checked machined areas.

There is no end to what can be scanned, if you have a sample we can scan it. Contact us at A & G Price Ltd Sales Manager – Barry Ingle 07 8686060 or 027 544 6780

www.agprice.co.nz

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

SOUTHMACH REVIEW

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the successful one is a lot of hard work. - Stephen King

SouthMACH 15 - an astounding result for exhibit

SouthMACH, the South Island’s largest event for the manufacturing, engineering, electronics amazing success by both visitors and exhibitors. This was the first SouthMACH event organised by new owners XPO Exhibitions who acquired the show in late 2013 and “we couldn’t be more delighted with the results” says XPO Sales & Events Director Tony Waite. “We have been inundated with feedback that the show delivered a lot more new products and innovations with many qualified and quality visitors attending the 2 day event”. Even though XPO Exhibitions own and organise some of New Zealand’s largest and longest running trade events, Waite admits it’s always a nervous time when you deploy a new acquisition for the first time. There are so many unknowns; Have we got the right mix of exhibitors? Will our exhibitors like the way we run the show versus the previous owner? Are we reaching the right type of visitor and will that visitor attend? Is the marketing program right? Have we got the right partners on board? Will the industry support us? Thankfully, and through a great deal of hard work and planning from the XPO team and our exhibitors and supporters we are pleased to say that we ticked all the boxes. SouthMACH attracted 104 international and local exhibiting companies across a range of industries and was attended by 1,967 visitors

(authenticated by the Audited Media Association of Australasia) making it one of the most successful events since its inception. Celebrating the ‘Heartland of New Zealand Manufacturing’ the Christchurch based event attracted a wide range of products and services from leading exhibitors. On display was the latest in CNC machinery, advanced press brake technology, live welding demonstrations, 3D printing technology and robotics. Several key features were on site including local Cantabrian Graham Tully from Christchurch-based Global Aerial Platforms Ltd (GAP) with his Kuaka UAV. This leading drone technology is attracting international attention as it begins to revolutionise search and rescue operations across the world. Don Clucas, from the University of Canterbury’s Department of Mechanical Engineering says, “It was a very well run event. We made a lot of contacts that may not immediately generate income but gives us more exposure.” Education and knowledge is an important aspect across all of XPO’s events and SouthMACH was no exception. A comprehensive seminar series held across the 2 days was well attended by hundreds of industry professionals. Presented by some of

the most respected leaders and experts in their fields the informative and thought-provoking sessions covered a range of topics including; OH&S, 3D printing, Robotics and a reminder of the contribution manufacturing makes to the NZ economy and the critical role it plays. XPO introduced a number of additional benefits and services this year to ensure the exhibitor and visitor experience was the very best it could be. Examples included; a robust visitor registration and badging system ensuring all those attending were verified and qualified at the event. New lead retrieval technology with the XPO Leads App allowing exhibitors to scan visitors directly to their smartphone or tablet for immediate sales leads and follow up. Fully serviced exhibition sites and a VIP/key buyer program ensured that exhibiting companies could entertain, delight and engage with their key customers. All this and great support from industry partners and an extensive marketing campaign including national TV coverage on TV3 News ensured the event was a success (you can view the 3News story here https://www.southmach.co.nz/ news-and-media/southmach-exhibition-news ). Visitors to the show were very complimentary about the event

in the post-show visitor survey; “A good opportunity to take a day for professional development and broaden / update awareness of the sectors offerings”, “Enjoyed the exhibits and would recommend to other people we had 7 people attend and they all found various things of interest”. “This is my first time to attend this show. I am really impressed NZ got so many High-Tech Companies. Thank you very much!!!!”, “I was most impressed. The layout of the displays was people friendly plenty of light. The admin and greeting was welcoming and I will be looking out for the 2017 event.” In addition, XPO are delighted to announce John Brand of Toolmaking Services, Christchurch, walked away with a brand new Ford Transit Custom SWB courtesy of Ford Motors of New Zealand and XPO, valued at over $50,000. All visitors who attended either EMEX 2014 or SouthMACH 15, and had their badge scanned at the Ford stand, went into the draw. Congratulations John! EMEX 2016 Organisers, XPO are now ramping up for EMEX, New Zealand’s largest national trade show for the manufacturing, engineering, machinery and electronics industries. The previous EMEX in 2014 included 169 exhibitors and was attended by over 4,450 visitors, the highest in nearly 10 years - plans are

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

talented individual from the

tors and visitors alike

s and technology industries has been called an

ShowcaSe. educate. Sell. XPo exhibitions ltd (XPo) owns and organises 13 of New Zealand’s largest and longest-running business-to-business trade show exhibitions and events. we provide effective, dynamic forums that allow businesses to connect and grow.

create an intimate conversation with your industry

www.xpo.co.nz

well underway to ensure that this number is even greater in 2016! Inspiring Manufacturing and Innovation Excellence EMEX 2016 is on track to be one of the most successful yet. Held at the ASB Showgrounds, Auckland 31 May – 2 June 2016 both exhibitors and visitors should book ahead and plan early to ensure they get the most out of it. See www.emex. co.nz for more details. XPO Exhibitions Ltd (XPO) is a family owned business. XPO purchased the majority of its trade shows from DMG World Media NZ Ltd back in January 2010. In 2013 XPO acquired an additional portfolio of industry trade shows from Hayley Media.

XPO now owns and organise 13 of NZ’s largest and longest running industry specific ‘business to business’ trade show exhibitions and events with around 35,000 trade visitors frequenting XPO shows each year in New Zealand. The attendance to each and every event we run is audited by the Circulations Audit Board of Australasia.

AUCKLAND

CHRISTCHURCH

XPO prides itself on delivering first class events and memorable experiences for all visitors while offering Exhibitors a unique business environment in order to Showcase, Educate and Sell their products to targeted niche industry attendees.

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

HEALTH AND SAFETY

If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing. - Coco Chanel

Health & Safety legislation needs business leaders to be active Recently the news media communicated, somewhat inaccurately the notion that the soon to be amended Health and Safety legislation was contemplating the incorporation of Manslaughter charges in cases where employees had died in or around a company’s environment. This communication was very quickly rebuffed, but what became abundantly clear is that the new Health and Safety

legislation is designed to catch senior business leaders’ attention. Directors and companies are liable for fines up to $600,000 if it is proved they could have or should have done more to prevent serious injury. In addition if a company, and or its leader/s, are found to be negligent in their duties and an employee was critically injured then a jail term of up to 5 years may be incurred.

Recent well-publicised events where loss of life, or serious injury eventuated, has resulted in some stiff penalties being enacted under the new legislation. For senior leaders having verbal or written assurances that their organisation is complying with the requisite Health and Safety standard is not going to be enough. It is imperative that organisations have visible proof that their Health and Safety policy is alive and well in the organisation, but more importantly is being adopted, embraced and managed by all levels of the organisation, not just the shop floor. Being independently certified to a standard that is globally recognised is a solution that many companies are moving towards. It provides business leaders with an independent verification that the company is on top of it its game and is putting its best foot forward to minimise or mitigate risks that might result in a serious or fatal injury being sustained. New Zealand’s leading Management System Certification body, Telarc, has recently noticed a significant increase

Health & Safety.

in enquiries to evaluate and audit New Zealand businesses against an internationally recognised Health and Safety standard such as AS/NZS 4801. The belief in the market is that because of the new Health and Safety legislation organisations need to have in place a management system with international recognition to minimise the potential for transgressions and or subsequent legal action. As organisations look at ways to mitigate risks and protect themselves and staff, it makes sense that preventing injury or death is smarter than possibly facing a time consuming, expensive and potentially crippling legal action. More and more New Zealand organisations are looking closely at their social and corporate responsibilities to not only protect workers but to identify and actively manage and minimise risk. It is a fact that certification reduces risk considerably and provides comfort and peace of mind at all levels that the organisation is doing everything in its power to protect their employees and business.

Are you and your business at risk? • Are you fully compliant? • Could you be fined up to $600,000? • Hidden dangers that could jeopardise the future of your business? • Lengthy and expensive legal bills?

Telarc certification provides clear evidence of a commitment to sound health and safety practices. We audit across a wide range of health and safety criteria and cater for every type and size of business. You need to call us today to reduce your risk.

info@telarc.co.nz 0800 004 004 telarc.co.nz www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

TEL5070_NZMANU

Mitigate your risk and get certified to an internationally recognised standard to help protect you, your business and employees.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. – Voltaire

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18 – 19 November 2015 Claudelands Event Centre

Hamilton Sponsor and Exhibitor Enquiries Welcome Expo Open Day 17 November Delegate Registrations now open More information:

www.nmec.co.nz

Lifting the Game of Maintenance Engineering Speaker Sponsor

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

MAINTENANCE

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people - Eleanor Roosevelt

Dust and spillage prevention technology solves major environmental issues Ore and coal materials handling technologies that solve major dust and spillage problems while also boosting production are being advanced by the Chute Technology engineering group as a solution to issues increasingly confronting Australasian and international producers. Chute Technology packages – employing the best current technologies developed from proven installations in alumina, iron and other mineral ores and coal handling facilities at mines, energy plants and ports – tackle dust problems at their source rather than attempt to control dust after it has been created and dispersed into the atmosphere. The same technologies can be applied to inlet, hood, chute, spoon, enclosure and saturation zones to address widespread spillage hazards, with their cost, downtime and safety issues, says Chute Technology Engineer Dennis Pomfret. Identical coal transfers – but the one above in original condition and the one below retrofitted with a passive dust control system. The picture was taken using the same coal, on the same day with the same ambient air conditions. Coal throughput was more than doubled on the retrofitted transfer

Outstanding results have also been achieved on ore and coal installations, including a power station coal feeder in the US where new chute systems, engineered and modeled to achieve design flow rates of 1000 tph, increased throughput nearly 50 per cent while reducing spillage and dusting in the yard by 98 per cent.

A Chute Technology transfer station proven in service, based on passive dust control systems

The Chute Technology engineering group targets problems common to many coal and ore plants and loading systems by addressing them with Chute Technology combination of three skill sets, including advanced engineering analysis of flow from Dennis Pomfret Engineering, followed by upscaleable 3D Discrete Element Method (DEM) design processes from Chute Technology partners Mckajj Services and finally custom manufacturing to individual plant needs by Partner TW Woods.

* and globally proven manufacturing services.

The combined technologies are complemented by the practical experience of each of the three Principal Partners in Chute Technology, who have combined experience of more than 80 years in a wide variety of resource industries including coal, iron ore, alumina and limestone across Australia, the USA, South America and South Africa. The technologies are also applicable to gold, nickel and other bulk minerals and ores.

The packages – which apply to completely new plants and problem areas within existing plants – deploy technologies whose availability and application may have been too fragmented or unmanageable and put into the too-hard basket.

Chute Technology’s dust reduction and spillage reduction improvements – which are one component of a comprehensive new and retrofit programme available from the partnership – are based on design and installation elements including:

Chute Technology’s packages address dust and spillage issues and combined them into problem-solving packages that combine: * integrated advanced product flow analysis * 3D Discrete Element Method (DEM) design processes

Transfer control stations Chute Technology’s dust and spillage technologies feature dust-minimising transfer control stations on material handling conveyor belts, as a component of energy efficient and water-conserving technology packages for new and retrofit loadout facility projects. The new transfer stations and associated downstream technology minimise the amount of dust created in the first place, reducing water needs as well as energy required for dust collection fans and filter houses. They contain whatever dust is created within the transfer point, minimising harm to the surrounding environment. The new transfer technologies also curtail spillage and optimise conveyor belt width loading potentials by eliminating the disruptive steep drops and turns in conventional chutes that cause dust, blockages, spillage and wear.

- Reduction of induced and entrained air - Elimination of free-fall and impact problems - Curtailment of agitation and disturbance of conveyed material - Removal of water spray issues, including situations where water sprays cause material to become sticky resulting in buildup and blockages.

Design solution Design solution elements, varying from project to project, include improvements in the following areas: 1. Inlet Area. The approach to dust abatement in this area is a headchute enclosure to limit the inflow of entrained air by the use of overlapped curtains.

In-service examples of the technology have cut dust emissions from 2700mg/m3 in the transfer station on a 650tph alumina conveyer in Australia to well within the client’s target of less than 1000mg/m3.

2. Hood and Intermediate Chute. This area is redesigned to ensure material trajectory is at an optimal angle, with respect to impact forces and material flow (wall friction is used to retard the flow speed). The sides of the hood are shaped in to contain the accelerating material and thereby minimise the expansion effect caused by free fall.

In addition, the heavily reduced dust load was contained within the transfer station, rather than allowed to be able to escape to the atmosphere and onto surrounding valuable arable land.

3. Spoon. Redesign of chute spoons focuses on more smoothly turning material into the direction of the receiving belt, while more closely matching the speed of the exiting material to that of the receiving belt.

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.-Yogi Berra

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING

Making the most of connected machines By Ian Raper, Regional Vice President, Riverbed Australia & New Zealand Automation and the rise of smart, Internet-connected manufacturing equipment (known as M2M or the Internet of Things depending on the device) stand to deliver previously unimaginable productivity gains and cost-savings. While these new technologies promise to simplify the production process, this influx of connected machines and devices also complicates the network used to deliver these efficiency gains. With each new machine connected to a network, finding faults and troubleshooting application performance issues when they occur could be like finding a needle in an ever-increasing haystack. A major source of delay in the troubleshooting process can be found in the way IT teams are structured; specific parts of the infrastructure (e.g. network operations; server operations; application operations) are run by different groups. Each of these teams has visibility into a different part of infrastructure and, traditionally, has had no way to share information effectively. This siloed approach means that the first step in the troubleshooting process is usually a counterproductive round of finger pointing between groups as none have visibility of the whole. But it doesn’t need to be like this. The key to performance

effective, real-time optimisation and

troubleshooting is visibility. If each of these teams has a deep, end-to-end view within and across the complex networks and applications that make up the modern manufacturing process, any performance issue can be quickly resolved. In fact, these issues can even be fixed before they have an effect on the production line by using the same automation that is becoming prevalent on factory floors. At Riverbed, we’ve developed solutions to minimise downtime in the production environment and avoid potentially devastating disruptions that can reverberate through the supply chain. Clearing the fog of war The first strategy is to have the right data, as a single source of truth, available to the right team(s) at the right time. This means issues can be addressed while everyone in the teams can see the impact instead of blaming each other for what’s going wrong. With this data available to all IT teams, each can have their own workflow to address performance issues, whether it’s end-user experience, application performance, network performance, or even infrastructure stress/failure. Below is an example of the kind of data that can be quickly shared to the right teams before, or instead of, getting into the war room:

Rapid response A second strategy is similar to a trend currently making its mark on manufacturing floors across the globe: automation. Not only is it possible, but it is best practice, to know when issues occur, or are likely to occur, by automatically baselining key measurements that trigger a rapid, proactive approach to “detect and fix” before end users even notice. In the example below, throughput has gone way above what is considered normal and chances are that some applications and users might be crowded out by what has happened during this time frame. With this example, to ensure mission-critical applications in your network are running smoothly during such bandwidth spikes, you can set the Quality of Service (QoS) for these apps to have a higher priority so that productivity is not impacted. The only way for this approach to work successfully and efficiently is to have complete visibility of what apps are running and how much bandwidth they

normally consume, as in the example below. Once you have this information, you can set your traffic policies at the branch with QoS. In an industry where more devices are connected to the network each day and interacting with each other across shared networks, complete visibility across these complex architectures, applications, and end-user domains is the only way to quickly identify and fix any performance issues. Not only can this single source of information ensure that the right IT team has the right information at the right time to troubleshoot issues, but performance benchmarks can be set so that any deviation from standard operations initiates a proactive fix so the production line never even notices a problem.

NZ engineering firm riding on the crest of wave energy The device, called Azura, will be deployed for 12 months of grid-connected testing as part of a rigorous programme to commercialise the Azura technology. The 45-ton Azura absorbs wave energy — from both up-and-down and side-to-side motion — and converts it to electricity. It is the first design of its kind — other projects haven’t incorporated this 360-degree motion, according to the company. The data will also be used to validate computer simulations to support commercialization of the Azura technology. Wave and tidal power is slowly gaining traction. Last year, Lockheed Martin was hired to help build what will be the world’s largest wave energy project — a 62.5 megawatt (MW) project off Australia’s southern coast that will have the capacity to power 10,000 homes. A 320 MW tidal project is also under consideration off the coast of Wales. HERA is at the forefront of bringing such technologies to NZ and creating the business opportunities that ensue. HERA member EHL provided the basis for US energy innovator Northwest Energy Innovations’ wave energy device, which was successfully deployed at the US Navy Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) near Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii.

EHL hopes to get funding for a full-scale commercial device, and in the meantime they are working with a few private buyers interested in smaller devices. The 20-kilowatt Azura project will continue testing for a year. If all goes well, it will be expanded for commercial use, between 500 kilowatts and 1 MW.

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING

If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable. -Seneca

Windows 10 Upgrade causing UFB Congestion in NZ Research A new study of over 2000 Kiwi businesses has found that the current Windows 10 upgrade has caused UFB congestion to increase by an average of 40% since beginning just over a week ago. The research, from local telecommunications company Digital Island, found the four gigabyte sized, free upgrade to the popular operating system, has caused a daily average increase to UFB traffic of around 40% - with peak network traffic increasing by over 100% at times. Digital Island CEO Blair Stewart, says although the upgrade has been progressively released to users, the increase in traffic volume has been significant over the past week, and is set to continue as hundreds of thousands of computers throughout the country download the new operating system. Stewart says each upgrade will take around half an hour at peak UFB speed. “Although it’s not known how many computers in New Zealand are eligible for the free operating system update, we can estimate that for every million computers, 4000 terabytes of data will be transferred. “In addition to the Windows 10 upgrade, there are a number of events which could impact on the consistency

of UFB speeds given the current state of broadband infrastructure. These include a virus outbreak, widespread hacking events such as denial of service attacks (DDoS), and the ongoing increase in popularity of video on demand services,” he says. Stewart says as businesses rapidly build their reliance around UFB for their audio and video communications it becomes increasingly important for our broadband infrastructure to offer stability. “One of the key selling points of UFB for businesses was to improve video conferencing and VoIP call capacity and quality, but these are the first things to be affected when there is a high number of users all downloading and streaming at the same time,” says Stewart. For many companies who have been early adopters of UFB, an inability to provide top quality video conferencing or VoiP calls can reflect negatively, and could ultimately cost them business, he says. “The reality is that these are shared lines, and the speed is subject to performance variation, especially at peak times, which means that homes and businesses won’t always get that top speed all the time.”

Stewart says UFB speeds in some areas are dipping as low as 2mbps - what he says is a far cry from the advertised ‘up to 100mbps’ touted by many telcos. “We believe this issue is only going to get worse as the uptake of UFB accelerates. Currently just 14% of the country is connected, but the congestion is set to increase and affect performance more as this number grows.” Government figures for the first quarter of this year show a 23% increase in the number of end users connecting to UFB, with over 618,000 homes, workplaces and schools now able to connect. Stewart says his company has launched

a package called Premium UFB to combat the issue and ensure consistent speed for businesses. “We know businesses need to have a certain level of performance to rely on, so we now have a product that will always achieve a level of 10mbps, even if the network is congested,” explains Stewart. “For companies who are concerned about their performance being negatively impacted at those peak times of day, a package like this can take away that concern. It means you can rely on it to continue functioning in a consistent manner rather than jumping from ultra fast to ultra slow in a matter of minutes.”

Advanced system paves the way for automated industrial monitoring Individual operations on the shop floor of an industrial plant can be tracked using a sophisticated automated monitoring system that employs advanced mathematical techniques. To track work in progress, A*STAR scientists combined the popular radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags with rigorous computational processing of ‘discrete-event observers’]. This system will enable managers to make better, more timely decisions. “The factory of the future will have zero defects, zero waste and zero accidents,” explains Jinwen Hu, who developed the system with colleagues from the A*STAR Singapore Institute www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

of Manufacturing Technology. To eliminate the trifecta of defects, waste and accidents, monitoring systems need to extract timely, precise and, most importantly, usable information. To design such a monitoring system, Hu and co-workers, through consultation with manufacturers, identified specific areas of concern as being machine breakdown, staff availability, machine status and work order flow. Getting data from machinery was relatively simple — RFID tags are ubiquitous, being used in everything from shoplifting prevention technology to electronic road-toll collection. However, it was not so easy to figure out how to best use the collected data. “The biggest challenge was designing an efficient scheme that allowed computers to rapidly process

the data and engineers to conveniently modify the monitoring rules,” notes Hu. Accordingly, Hu and colleagues incorporated a discrete-event observer in their program. This observer constructs complex events — such as delays in delivery — by using probabilities derived from past plant operations to extrapolate ‘simple event’ raw data collected by scanning RFID tags. In testing the system on the shop floor of a precision machining plant, a simple event occurred when a worker received a work order and scanned the associated RFID. Once the worker had completed the task, the order was passed to another operator and the RFID was rescanned. This process was repeated until the order had been

completed. A simple event can be in one of two states — incomplete or complete. By combining several simple events and extrapolating based on the probabilities of simple events transitioning from incomplete to complete, the discrete-event observer can assess whether delayed delivery is likely. Managers can then use this information to take appropriate action to ensure timely delivery. Hu notes that there is a lot of scope for improving the system. For instance, integrating more data analysis functions into the system will provide shop-floor managers with more effective advice. The team also intends to customize the monitoring system to other manufacturing industries.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

A year from now you may wish you had started today. -Karen Lamb

THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING

Robotic CNC plasma beam coping machine eliminates manual coping Traditionally, beam coping has been done manually by marking the dimensions for coping on the workpiece as per the drawings and then manually cutting out the cope from the steel beam using oxy-fuel gas torch. This method leaves a rough cut requiring considerable chipping and grinding to improve the finish. Coping machines provide high speed and quality, eliminating all the drawbacks of manual coping. While there are many different machines from well-known overseas manufacturers on the market, Brisbane-based Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) has studied the needs of every steel fabrication shop in Australia, from small to large, in order to develop an automated, versatile machine, giving steel fabricators around the country a competitive edge; not only by creating an efficient automated machine made by ART in Brisbane, but also by offering local service and support. With a footprint of 3750 x 3600 mm, Metaltek XB offers full 4-sided plasma processing for the steel fabrication industry, advanced CNC robotics, high-definition plasma cutting and in-house developed user-friendly software and control interface. Moreover, 3-axis material handling conveyor systems and cross-transfer conveyors for load and unloading eliminates a large percentage of lifting, flipping and moving of steel members between machines. The operator simply prepares the next length of steel for loading while the

previous one is cutting. A tick box on the touchscreen lets the controller know that the next length is ready to load. The drawbridge is able to extend 2.5 metres into the cutting envelope to support the material, clamp and draw for hitch feeding, and roll out the finished part. The drawbridge feed and synchronised rollers are both servo controlled to ensure highly-precise material feeding. The CNC controller can also automatically feed the next piece of material from the cross-feeds onto the in-feed roller conveyor for automatic cutting. Inside the cell work area, the machine automatically senses material dimensions, and an extra-articulated robotic arm performs the desired cuts, even underneath the beam. In conjunction with the gantry system, the arm achieves unparalleled reach. Cutting profiles, plates and pipes Since its introduction in 2013, the ART team set out to add a huge array of extra functionality that would enhance the productivity of the Metaltek XB 1200. Originally designed to cut all four sides of square tube as well as etch marking underneath beams and channels, the machine now comes with the ability to process pipe efficiently up to 610 mm diameter and a wall thickness of up to 32 mm. Full weld preps are easy to perform, as well as any style of holes, notching, slots, mitres, frog mouths, complex branches etc. There is no limit to the length of

pipe that can be processed. Additionally, the XB1200 can automatically load and process plate right alongside other profiles using interchangeable shuttle tables. The plate is loaded onto a pallet style carrier that is queued up on the in-feed conveyor. The plate is then automatically loaded, cut, then unloaded automatically. Different thickness plates can be set up on multiple pallets. If only a few parts are needed then the plates can be stored on the pallet. New parts can be added to the nest and the plate can be reloaded later to cut a few more posts from the plate remnant. Of course, the machine efficiently processes hot and cold rolled structural steel profiles, including RHS, SHS, UB, UC, PFC, TFC, EA and UA, with maximum beam cross sections of 1220 x 610 mm. All copes, mitres, square cuts, slots and holes can be cut automatically. Full bevel weld preps can be applied to all surfaces including underneath. Plasma etch marking is also a standard feature for part numbers, welding instructions, alignment marks etc. Cutting directly from any 3D CAD program, no special software needed We are all creatures of habit, so being forced to learn new specialised steel software to generate machine-oriented NC1 files can be a nuisance. ART has eliminated this hurdle; the Metaltek XB1200 now cuts structural steel and pipe directly from any 3D CAD program using 3D solid and mesh files

such as .stp, .iges, .stl, .obj and others. Additionally, the machine supports .dxf files of simple 2D CAD drawings, which can be loaded into the machine and nested alongside NC1 files. Enhanced cutting performance For improved rigidity and cutting performance, ART improved the machine’s robotic arm. The twin bearing wishbone style arm joints were implemented with great success which enabled faster more aggressive movements and consistent positioning. Larger zero backlash robotic gearboxes were chosen as were larger brushless AC servomotors with absolute encoders for better performance. The robotic arm in combination with HyPerformance technology by Hypertherm combined with ART’s machine motion control systems and software, takes plasma cutting to a whole new level. The Metaltek XB1200 features a Hypertherm HPR260XD plasma power system, which gives precision at unprecedented speed, yet extends consumable life beyond competing plasma systems. Automatic surface tracking along with the ART 3D motion controller ensure accurate pierce and cut heights. The bevel torch head can achieve up to +/-50° on all faces, while ART recommends a maximum cutting bevel of 45°.

Shop floor monitoring goes high tech Individual operations on the shop floor of an industrial plant can be tracked using a sophisticated automated monitoring system that employs advanced mathematical techniques. To track work in progress, A*STAR scientists combined the popular radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags with rigorous computational processing of ‘discrete-event observers’. This system will enable managers to make better, more timely decisions. “The factory of the future will have zero defects, zero waste and zero accidents,” explains Jinwen Hu, who developed the system with colleagues from the A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. To eliminate the trifecta of defects, waste and accidents, monitoring systems need to extract timely, precise and, most importantly, usable information. To design such a monitoring system, Hu

and co-workers, through consultation with manufacturers, identified specific areas of concern as being machine breakdown, staff availability, machine status and work order flow. Getting data from machinery was relatively simple — RFID tags are ubiquitous, being used in everything from shoplifting prevention technology to electronic road-toll collection. However, it was not so easy to figure out how to best use the collected data. “The biggest challenge was designing an efficient scheme that allowed computers to rapidly process the data and engineers to conveniently modify the monitoring rules,” notes Hu. Accordingly, Hu and colleagues incorporated a discrete-event observer in their program. This observer constructs complex events — such as delays in delivery — by using probabilities derived from past plant

operations to extrapolate ‘simple event’ raw data collected by scanning RFID tags. In testing the system on the shop floor of a precision machining plant, a simple event occurred when a worker received a work order and scanned the associated RFID. Once the worker had completed the task, the order was passed to another operator and the RFID was rescanned. This process was repeated until the order had been completed.

Hu notes that there is a lot of scope for improving the system. For instance, integrating more data analysis functions into the system will provide shop-floor managers with more effective advice. The team also intends to customize the monitoring system to other manufacturing industries.

A simple event can be in one of two states — incomplete or complete. By combining several simple events and extrapolating based on the probabilities of simple events transitioning from incomplete to complete, the discrete-event observer can assess whether delayed delivery is likely. Managers can then use this information to take appropriate action to ensure timely delivery. www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

FOOD MANUFACTURING

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at. - Bruce Lee

Destruction of our soil more serious than climate change An international soil scientist says restocking the world’s arable soil with carbon is more important than climate change. Dr John Baker says too many people around the world treat soil like dirt when it should be revered because “our lives depend on it.” He believes that because soil isn’t sexy, is not on our radar and is metaphorically beneath us, it’s taken for granted by many farmers and ignored by politicians and city dwellers.

by the amount of carbon in the soil. That carbon has been oxidised by conventional tillage (ploughing) and even minimum tillage and discharged as carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Tillage does nothing to recapture it,” he says. “As a result the carbon that was in the soil is now in the atmosphere and contributes to climate change when it should be back in the soil.”

“Instead people are besotted by climate change when improving soil health and feeding the world is more important,” he says.

“The answer is to take it out of the atmosphere and return it to the soil where it belongs which would be a win-win for climate change and soil health. About 20 percent of CO2 in the atmosphere is caused by tillage.”

“Climate change, while serious, is not going to starve you but the rape of our soil over the last 1,000 years through traditional tillage methods, is already leading to reduced crop yields and will eventually result in famine and malnutrition.”

He explains that if the soil remains undisturbed, the carbon and organisms it feeds start to create a healthy soil that, in turn, improves crop yields enabling them to feed the additional millions of people who’ll populate our planet in the next few decades.

Dr Baker says alarming figures provided by the United National Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UK Farmers Weekly suggest the quality of soil is rapidly diminishing.

“The UN General Assembly has declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils. We are two-thirds of the way through the year and so far we’ve only paid lip service. The clock is ticking on how many harvests the world has left so it’s time to stop being complacent,” he says.

FAO predicts the world, on average, has 60 more years of growing crops left while the Farmers Weekly claims that only 100 harvests remain in the UK. Eighty percent of the world’s food comes from crops. Ironically climate change and soil health are closely related and can benefit each other Dr Baker, who has a MAgrSc in soil science and Ph.D in agricultural engineering from Massey University, New Zealand, explains. “Soil health is strongly influenced

are the food stuff of microbes which build soil structure and form symbiotic relationships with plant roots to increase the uptake of nutrients. “They are not trash to be disposed of or burnt off They are the resources to grow the next crop,” he points out. “To do this you might have to farm ugly but it’s better than a tidy ploughed paddock which has destroyed the organic matter and released the carbon into the atmosphere.” Dr Baker is talking about the stuff of life. One way or other soil provides up to 90 percent of our food. There are more living organisms in a cupful of healthy soil than people on the planet he says yet conventional tillage, practised over the centuries, is killing the soil, much more than pesticides, chemicals and fertilisers have ever done. Dr Baker has long advocated the use of low disturbance, no tillage. The process,

which penetrates through crop residue on top of the soil and sows seeds and fertiliser in separate bands beneath it, causes minimal disturbance to the soil, traps the humidity, preserves the organisms and soil life, largely prevents carbon from escaping and increases yields. His own Cross-Slot no-tillage drills are sold in 18 countries and used extensively in the US and Canada, Australia and the UK where farmers have become alarmed at the declining quality of their soil. “While many scientists and leading arable research groups are focusing on above the ground remedies in terms of pesticides, herbicides and genetic engineering, they’ve ignored the destruction beneath their feet,” he says. “We will eventually starve if we don’t focus on where the real problem is.”

“Only low-disturbance no tillage can save the world but it requires recognition and an innovative approach from politicians and people in authority before it’s too late.” The way to begin he emphasises is by recycling crop residues ie what is left of the crop after harvesting the grain. Dr Baker says the residues, whether standing stubble, lying straw or chaff,

Filling machines with electron beam technology In a ground-breaking first for the beverage carton industry, Tetra Pak has launched a filling machine that uses electron beams, not hydrogen peroxide, to sterilise packaging material. The Tetra Pak® E3 promises a range of benefits to customers; not least the potential to run up to 40,000 portion packages every hour. Compared with the existing Tetra Pak A3/Speed platform, Tetra Pak E3 machines will also lower operational costs, improve environmental performance and increase production flexibility At the heart of the new machine is www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

the eBeam sterilisation technology that was developed by Tetra Pak in collaboration with COMET, a world leading company in high-voltage and high-vacuum technology.

can be achieved and market tests have shown this increased capacity can save beverage manufacturers as much as 20 per cent in their operational costs.

The technology works by focussing a controlled beam of electrons onto the surface of packaging material as it runs through the filling machine, killing any bacteria or micro-organism present.

The replacement of hydrogen peroxide in packaging material sterilisation also significantly improves environmental performance; making water recycling easier, lowering energy consumption and cutting waste.

The use of eBeam removes a long-time physical limitation to carton packaging speed: the hydrogen peroxide sterilization process. With eBeam, speeds of up to 40,000 portion packs per hour, or 11 packs every second,

Furthermore, the modular design of the Tetra Pak E3 platform offers increased production flexibility to manufacturers. By installing an eBeam kit, manufacturers can switch between pasteurised and extended shelf life

(ESL) production orders on the same Tetra Pak® E3/CompactFlex filling machine. The launch of Tetra Pak E3 follows successful pilots with some of the world’s leading dairy producers, such as Rajo, the largest dairy producer in Slovakia. Between 2011 and 2014, Rajo produced 110 million packages of UHT milk in Tetra Brik Aseptic 1000 Slim on a Tetra Pak A3/Speed machine equipped with the new eBeam sterilisation system.

Introducing

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. – Voltaire

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

A point of difference in today’s busy FMCG market.

Developed by AsureQuality, inSight™ provides shoppers with independently verified information about the products they are about to buy. After a successful application process, producers can place the inSight™ logo and a QR code on their product packaging. When shoppers scan the QR code at the point of sale they can access information about the product, including: • • • • •

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Call us now on 0508 00 11 22 to find out how inSight™ can add value to your business. www.aqinsight.com

A new innovation taking product assurances into the 21st Century

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Begin somewhere. You cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.

WORKSHOP TOOLS

- Liz Smith

Tank top bearings help meet climate change and production challenges Storage tanks today can hold upwards of 10, 20 or even 30,000 tons of liquid that must be protected from the elements and from pollution to safeguard it for use in water, waste water, emergency fire protection and high purity industrial processing applications. Not only are tanks being built to hold their contents more safely and securely than ever before, but they are expected to do it for longer and in more challenging operating environments where steel, concrete and fibreglass tanks need secure roofs that can withstand expansion and contraction caused by factors such as increasing climatic and load variations. A challenge facing developers and operators of buildings and processing plants for industrial and municipal uses is ensuring their top structures can flexibly cope with internal movement from climatically induced expansion, contraction and wind and rain forces, while also coping with production stresses caused by heavy and changing loads, vibration and other factors encountered within diverse industries. Relevant industries can include mining and energy, oil and gas, ports and infrastructure, food and beverage, primary processing, manufacturing, materials handling, water and waste water utility and emergency services. A cost-efficient solution to many such issues is offered by Hercules Engineering through its range of Herculon Type D Tank Top Bearings (HLD/TT) Bearings, which are custom-designed for easy installation under roof beams of tank tops and other lighter structures including some building roofs. These low-friction easy-slip bearings are particularly useful where loads are relatively small but both lateral and uplift forces need to be accommodated, says Mr David Booty, Manager, Hercules Engineering (a division of Cut to Size Plastics). “Light but strong and flexible tank tops are now widely employed to protect

tanks and their contents from external pollution ranging from flora, fauna, dust and droppings and water-borne impurity. The bearings used under these tops must not only support the structure, but also prevent it from cracking and breaking and becoming part of the pollution problem.” HLD/TT bearings are part of a proven range of Hercules composite slip joints and structural bearings for a wide variety of structures and weights incorporating engineered high performance combinations of engineered thermoplastics and metal facing surfaces. Complementary Type D Herculon Bearings HLD/SG are designed to accept a lateral load of 30 per cent of the vertical rated load, which can be up to 600 kN per bearing in stock sizes, with higher capacity available custom-engineered for particular applications Construction characteristics

and

performance

HLD/TT bearings consist of a thin stainless steel slide plate with two stainless steel studs flash welded to the upper face. The lower face is highly polished and the plate is provide with two slotted holes for uplift through-bolts. This plate slides against a Herculon- coated Hercupad, which has two clearance holes drilled into it. • Five stock sizes in working loads from 50-70 kN. Larger capacities and different dimensions can be customengineered. • Co-efficient of friction 0.05- 0.08, depending on stress • Expansion capacity up to ± 20mm (can be custom designed for larger movements) • Maximum rotation up to 0.01 radians • Maximum temperature 80 deg C

Conducting hardness tests quickly Is it possible to conduct Rockwell hardness tests in just seconds on large, long and unsupported specimens? It is with the new generation Versitron Series of Rockwell Hardness Testers. The unique clamping ability is an inherent part of the Versitron, providing the user with the ability to clamp and hold even awkwardly shaped components (e.g. Crankshafts) under high force and eliminates any need for the use of external supports such as jack screws. Eliminating the need for cutting specimens prior to testing means accuracy is improved and testing time is markedly decreased.

As well as on-screen reporting of results, histogram and statistical summary reports are also made available through an optional printer. The Versitron’s load system is modular and self-contained within the test head and which can be easily exchanged to measure different Rockwell scales. Various Drive options are available increasing the instruments versatility.

Accurate and repeatable tests in as little as 4 seconds can now be performed by relatively unskilled operators and concerns over diamond indentor breakage through parts shifting under load are a thing of the past. The intelligent indenter shroud of the Versitron ensures that the test surface reference is constant and unaffected by dirt or foreign objects. The shroud not only protects the surface but travels with the test surface should the component deflect under load. This is not possible with other Rockwell hardness testers. The full colour, icon driven display,

Hearing protector fit-test takes seconds 3M Hearing Protection Solutions has announced its latest hearing protector fit test system to help combat noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), – which routinely shows the highest number of recordable illness cases in private industry manufacturing. The new E A Rfit™ Dual-Ear Validation System measures the effectiveness of earplugs and earmuffs from inside the employee’s ear, providing accurate, quantitative results for both ears simultaneously. The system now tests both ears for all seven standard frequencies in seconds, generating a Personal Attenuation Rating (PAR) to customize hearing protector selection. The Dual-Ear Validation System provides employers with the resources and confidence needed to better protect their workforce.The dual-ear system enables companies to quickly identify employees at risk for noise-induced hearing loss, assist with training on the selection and use of hearing protectors. While other systems rely on the employee’s subjective response to test signals, the 3M fit-testing system measures sound pressure levels

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facilitates intuitive menu navigation with test results provided in large font for easy visibility. The fact that the display is oil and dirt resistant and easily cleaned, makes this instrument suitable even in the harshest environments.

objectively. Therefore, the test can be performed in relatively high levels of background noise and is not affected by the hearing level of the employee. Once the measurement is complete, the software displays the PAR along with a pass/fail indicator based on the worker’s noise exposure level. The system helps employers ensure proper use of the hearing protection and helps identify earplug or earmuff models offering the best protection, such as the popular 3M™ E-A-R™ Classic™ Earplugs or the 3M™ PELTOR™ Earmuffs X Series. The E-A-Rfit™ Validation System includes all the hardware and accessories needed, including a speaker, software, stand, dual-element microphones, cables and a trial quantity of probed test plugs.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking. - Bernard Baruch

WORKSHOP TOOLS

Proper plasma system maintenance helps prolong life and performance of system -Clayton Gould, Marketing Manager, Aftersales, Hypertherm Inc. The list of items needing regular maintenance in your shop is likely long. It probably seems there is always something to be done. Unfortunately, while most shops are great at inspecting items like cranes, forklifts, and air compressors, an item that tends to slip through the cracks is the plasma cutting system. It might be the old adage “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” proves true here. Plasma systems, at least good quality systems, don’t tend to be troublesome. The systems go about the job day in and day out, slicing through whatever metal is thrown at it, but while your plasma system may appear to work just fine, failure to properly maintain it is quietly impacting its performance and life. Mechanical parts will start to wear out, causing rough machine motion. Part tolerances will deviate. Cut quality, particularly at higher speeds, will suffer. It is kind of like the tires on your car. To get the best life and performance, you need to make sure your tires have the right amount of air and are rotated regularly. If you don’t do those two things, will your car still roll? Sure. Will the ride and gas mileage suffer? Will your tires last as long? No. Are you more apt to get a flat tire at the worst possible time? Yes. It’s the same thing with your plasma system. If you don’t take good care of it, it’s going to break down when you need it most. Like when you’re in the middle of the largest plate-cutting job you’ve ever had for your most lucrative customer. Not only have you just let down an important customer, at up to USD$200 per hour fully burdened, you’ve just cost your shop a lot of money. The other problem is when components in the machine fail, as troubleshooting and servicing can take days. This brings us to another old adage, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to keep a plasma system up and running. A small investment of your time is often all it takes to keep your system in good shape. The key though is to establish a regular preventive maintenance routine. Cleaning and inspection Your routine should contain two components: (1) routine cleaning and inspection, and (2) replacement of common wear items. Part one of your program can be divided into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. Let’s start with the daily tasks. There are four things you’ll want to do for every single day your system is turned on. First, verify inlet pressure of gases in both the “test pre-flow” and “cutflow” modes by making sure your regulator dial reaches the recommended PSI. Second, inspect the air filters. You’re

checking for moisture, oil, and particulates. If you see moisture, oil, or a lot of metal dust for example, you’ll need a new filter. If you only see a little dust or dirt, try to lightly vacuum it off. All air filters need eventual replacement, but if you’re going through more than your fair share, then you likely have an issue with the quality of your air and should check its purity.

your owner’s manual.

Figure 1: Inspect the air filter daily, and do a replacement every six months

Monthly tasks include cleaning the inside of your power supply, inspecting electrical components, and checking your ground and table-to-work piece connections. First, turn off the power to your power supply, then remove the top and side panels. You’ll likely see a lot of metal dust and other particulates that you’ll want to either blow out or vacuum. Don’t forget to vacuum build-up on the fan and fins. Next, gently remove dust and particulates from your circuit boards, taking extra care not to damage them.

Step three is to check your coolant level and condition. If the level is below the neck of the tank, add more. If the coolant looks dirty, flush out your tank and refill it with fresh coolant.

Figure 3: Clean the inside of your power supply by blowing out contaminants

The final daily task it to inspect your torch. Hypertherm strongly recommends taking your torch into an office or other clean place to do this. Also, wash your hands. Typically, the two items requiring careful inspection are the o-ring and coolant tube. Remove the o-rings from the torch and check for damage. If all looks good, apply a very small amount of lubricant to your fingertips and lightly rub this lubricant onto the o-ring. The o-ring should look shiny but you should not see any lubricant. If you do, you’ve applied too much and should wipe some off. Replace all o-rings so they fit snugly, then inspect all threaded consumables and remove any dirt that you see. You’ll also want to inspect the water tube to make sure it isn’t out of round, bent, or pitted. Inspect the nozzle and electrode mating surface for damage, then take a clean cloth and wipe off the torch, both inside and outside. Use a cotton swab if needed to clean hard to reach areas.

The next step, with your power still off, is to check the main contactor for excessive pitting, or a blackened or rough surface. If you see any of these things, replace your contactor

Figure 2: A cotton swab can be used to clean hard to reach areas Next up are the weekly tasks. First step, inspect all air hoses, coolant hoses, and torch leads. Look for scrapes and cuts, punctures, chemical spills and burns, or any kinks or bends that would restrict flow. Second, check for gas leaks by conducting the built-in leak and flow tests. Before doing this last test, make sure you are using the right consumables and have selected the correct plasma process for the test. Finally, check your coolant flow. If you have an auto-gas console, this can be done right from your CNC. If you have a manual gas console, go to your console to read the flow rate. If the CNC detects a problem, then you’ll need to perform the specific Coolant Flow tests found in

Third, though you should check your coolant flow once a week, you’ll want to conduct a more thorough test each month. Typically, this test is more comprehensive and should be conducted by a trained service technician or other specially trained resource. At the same time, you’ll want to inspect all connection points—for example where the hose connects to the ignition console, the torch body, and the power supply. The fourth task you should do once each month is to inspect the pilot arc relay. Remove the cover, and inspect the contacts for excessive pitting. Again, if you see a lot of pitting, you’ll want to replace the relay. Next, inspect your gas line connections by spraying them with soapy water. If bubbles appear on a gas line, tighten or replace it as necessary. Lastly, inspect your ground and work lead connections. Verify that all system components are individually grounded to a driven earth ground and that your work lead connection—particularly the connection at your cutting table— is clean and tight. There should be no paint or oil directly on the connection, as you need a clean metal-to-metal contact. Replacement of common wear items With your routine maintenance out of the way, you’ll now want to focus on common wear items. Because plasma systems are precision machines with moving parts like torches, main contactors, relays, and such, these parts are going to wear out. The frequency of part replacement will vary depending on system usage, but typically you’ll want to replace items after a set number of months

or arc hours. Recommendations are as follows: Every 6 months (or 500 arc hours) 1. Torch o-rings and bullet plugs 2. Air filter 3. Coolant filter Every 12 months (or 1,000 arc hours) 1. Torch main body 2. Pilot arc relay 3. Main contactor Every 2 years (or 2,000 arc hours) 1. Torch receptacle 2. Coolant pump 3. Torch leads Every 3 years (or 3,000 arc hours) 1. Check valves 2. Cooling fans 3. Coolant pump motor 4. Gas and pilot arc leads In order to make part replacement easy, some manufacturers have put together comprehensive preventive maintenance programs, along with annual replacement kits. Companies such as Hypertherm have taken it a step further by providing this information with every system we sell and establishing a dedicated landing page www.hypertherm.com/preventivemaintenance that offers customers the ability to download a complete maintenance program from their system. Like your forklift, crane and air compressor, your cutting system requires care to operate at peak efficiency. Regular, ongoing maintenance is the smartest and most efficient way to optimize output, reduce unplanned downtime and minimize the operating costs of your cutting system. It’s an active approach as opposed to a costly reactive approach. This way, you’ll not only extend the life of consumables, but also, the life of your entire cutting machine. Cleaning and inspection checklist Daily 1. Verify inlet pressure of gases 2. Inspect all air filters 3. Check coolant levels and condition 4. Inspect torch for leaks (o-rings and water tubes) Weekly 1. Inspect hoses and leads for cracks 2. Inspect gas fittings for leaks 3. Verify coolant flow Monthly 1. Clean inside of power supply 2. Check with main contactor 3. Conduct a more thorough coolant flow test 4. Inspect pilot arc relay 5. Inspect gas line connections 6. Inspect ground and table-to-work piece connections

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

WORKSHOP TOOLS

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

- Abraham Lincoln

Flaw detection for every environment Combining industry leading conventional flaw detection capabilities with the efficiency of a highly portable, intuitive device, the latest instrument in the EPOCH range from Olympus extends the capabilities of cost-effective non-destructive testing (NDT) technology available to companies in a wide variety of industry sectors. The EPOCH 650 Digital Ultrasonic Flaw Detector allows operators to take advantage of the highest quality flaw detection platform offering exceptional ease of use through a blend of efficient menus and direct access keys. Careful design considerations of ergonomics and field operations have resulted in a device that is both durable and easy to use for both experienced and novice ultrasonic inspectors. The latest handheld flaw detector is an enhancement to the highly successful EPOCH 600 model and has been designed to meet the needs of manufacturing companies, field service providers and inspection companies. The EPOCH 650 can be used in any inspection environment, from bench top testing in a laboratory to extreme outdoor and hazardous

conditions. Non-destructive testing of manufactured materials is a crucial tool in many industries and this new model is ideal for oil and gas in-service inspection at both existing operations and ‘green field’ sites during construction of new facilities. The large, full VGA transflective display combined with a patented digital high dynamic range receiver provides a clear image on the screen in any lighting condition. The EPOCH 650 is designed to meet the requirements of EN12668-1 and supports a wide range of standard and optional flaw detection features. This enhancement also includes encoded B-scan and optional corrosion thickness gauging. The device is designed to achieve IP66 rating for the unit with knob and button controls or IP67 in the navigation pad configurations. IP ratings refer to the control of ingress of dust and moisture from the operating environment. Also tested to meet very high environmental and reliability standards, the EPOCH 650 gives operators confidence in both performance and durability. The EPOCH 650 simplifies high quality data collection and reporting using

multiple onboard reporting tools and a comprehensive data filing system. The unit supports multiple methods of storing, archiving and reporting inspection and calibration data. Reports can be generated in a variety of standard formats which can be saved to a removable microSD memory card or exported. A second 2 GB microSD memory card is used for all onboard data storage and is securely mounted to the PC board inside the instrument. In the event the instrument is damaged beyond repair, this memory card can be removed at an authorised service

centre to recover critical data. An in-built video recording feature can capture up to eight minutes of the live A-scan inspection data at 60 frames per second. Being fully compatible with the Olympus GageView Pro interface software, operators can download inspection data, review measurements on a PC, export measurements and calibration data to common spreadsheet programs, back up calibration and inspection data from the instrument, and perform basic operations such as instrument firmware upgrades and screen captures.

PowerINSPECT makes complex inspections faster and easier The 2015 R2 release of Delcam’s PowerINSPECT inspection software makes it easier to complete fast and accurate inspection of complex assemblies. The new version includes more options for automation of inspection sequences, including automated probe changes, automatic feature extraction for point cloud batch inspection, and greater control over collision checking. The main improvement for users of CNC CMMs is the addition of support for MCR20 and FCR25 probe change racks. PowerINSPECT can now incorporate probe changes into fully-automated measurement sequences. Enhancements to the probe database allow the user to define probe tools in terms of ‘sub-assemblies’ which can be docked in the rack ports. A typical example of a sub-assembly is

PowerINSPECT can now incorporate probe changes from racks into fully-automated measurement sequences. www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

the combination of a probe module and a stylus. Once created, the sub-assemblies are allocated to specific ports in the probe change rack, and the user defines the physical location of the rack on the CMM by measurement. PowerINSPECT carries out probe changes as required by the measurement sequence and keeps track of the sub-assemblies as they move between the probe head and probe rack. A new ‘zoom-to-fit’ option is available that shows, in the CAD view, groups or individual items that have been selected in the sequence tree. This option will save considerable time, especially when locating specific features in large, complex CAD models or long measurement sequences. It is also easier to navigate between the graphical display of the CAD model and the CAD file manager history tree. Selecting a CAD level or individual surface in the graphical CAD display highlights the corresponding item in the CAD file manager history tree. Similarly, selecting an item in the history tree highlights the corresponding surfaces in the graphical CAD display.

PowerINSPECT 2015 R2 includes a new way of evaluating features from point-cloud data that makes batch inspection much easier. Geometric point-cloud features can now be evaluated from suitable scan data that exists anywhere in the PowerINSPECT document. The features are created in the usual way, either from the geometric toolbar or by using the wireframe checker. The entire sequence can be created in advance and then PowerINSPECT will evaluate the results automatically as soon as the scan data is available. Operators measuring subsequent, similar parts just have to perform the scan and the sequence of features is evaluated automatically. Once the scan is complete, all specified features are calculated and the report is updated automatically. With PowerINSPECT 2015 R2, users have better control over RPS alignments thanks to a new option to define which features are used for any best fit calculations, rather than calculating the best fit across all of the features selected for the alignment. It is also now possible to apply an offset to an RPS alignment, if required. Improvements to the graphical display

have made programming of CNC edge points much easier and more intuitive. When creating edge points, PowerINSPECT displays a live preview of the edge point based on the current cursor position. When editing edge points, the point pairs and probe paths update simultaneously as the point is dragged along the edge. Finally, a new option has been added to measure waviness or small fluctuations in surface smoothness that can result from cutting tool wear or worn machine components causing vibrations during machining. Waviness defines the allowable variation within a localised region. This allows simultaneous control of very tight tolerances inside small localised regions and looser tolerances over larger areas. For surface inspection and point cloud inspection PowerINSPECT can now produce a waviness evaluation based on the differences between a point and its neighbours. Each point passes the waviness test if its variation relative to neighbours in the specified zone is within the tolerance limit. An overall value for the part is expressed as a ratio of the number of points passing the test to the total number of points measured.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. – Voltaire

title text

METALS NZ CONFERENCE STEEL INNOVATIONS CONFERENCE METALS INDUSTRY EXHIBITION

METALS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS’ MEETINGS NETWORKING EVENING INDUSTRY AWARDS GALA DINNER VISIT WWW.METALSWEEK.CO.NZ / EMAIL EVENTS@METALS.ORG.NZ

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

ANALYSIS

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals. - Booker T. Washington

IoT and IT led disruptions will transcend industry sectors Cloud computing and mobility has significantly changed the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry. Cloud computing, big data, mobility and low cost sensors are driving the IoT, and the IoT is forcing disruption, transformation and innovation across connectivity and convergence of people and industries. The IoT spending is defined as revenue from hardware, software and professional services that are directly attributable to the IoT solutions and services. By 2017, the IoT market will be one of the fastest growing segments in the Asia Pacific technology industry. The total APAC spending on IoT spending is forecasted to be US$59 billion by 2020. Japan, Singapore, China, Australia and South Korea have been early IoT adopters, but India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are expected to be amongst the fastest growing markets to 2017. Audrey William, Head of Research, ICT Practice, Australia & New Zealand at Frost & Sullivan said that cloud is allowing access to content on any device in any location, while big data enables value to be extracted out of exponential increase in data. Mobility, cloud and the internet are transforming industries, spanning across automotive, healthcare, manufacturing and consumer sectors. This nexus of cloud

computing, ubiquitous connectivity, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is paving the way for numerous new business models. Companies such as Airbnb, Uber and Netflix employ and maintain a flexible and nimble business and have increasingly put more power into the hands of the consumer. However, the level of digitisation in the manufacturing industry has not kept up with the pace of other industries such as telecoms. Various initiatives by organisations such as the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC), aim to bring together stakeholders to develop the measures needed to facilitate the broad adoption of manufacturing intelligence. Cloud and mobility are driving the emergence of apps which can be used on any IP enabled device. IPv6 is enabling proliferation of IT-enabled sensors/devices across industry-specific activities. “As more and more things become IP enabled, the IoT will significantly impact consumer interaction as customers can potentially engage with organisations using many different objects or things,” said William. Adoption of the IoT is not without its challenges as there are several hurdles that could prevent it from achieving rapid growth. “Security and information privacy are some of the largest hurdles to the adoption of IoT. With smart and connected devices embedded in business processes and tied to critical functions, the ability to negatively affect enterprises and

individuals is increased significantly,” William added. The global wearable technology market was estimated at US$8.58 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach US$38 billion in 2017. North America and Europe are more mature markets, while the Asia Pacific region accounts for just over 4 per cent of the global wearables market. The market is currently dominated by standalone devices such as activity trackers and wearable recordings. The future of wearable technology will be characterised by its functionality, design and non-intrusiveness. Wearable devices are moving away from the face and wrists, and onto glasses, clothes and jewellery. Smart glasses has many promising applications in industries ranging from healthcare to manufacturing, and is expected to grow by 10 times in the next 5 years. “Glasses and watches will adopt a premium positioning, while trackers and wearable recording will largely compete on price. Wearables such as smart watches and glasses with a wider range of functionality will eat into sales of standalone devices such as activity trackers and wearable recording. Meanwhile, smart clothing will continue to be a niche segment but will gain prominence in sports and defense,” William said. William also noted that many non-ICT industries are starting to explore wearable technologies. ”The healthcare industry is exploring surgery with glass technologies, patient monitoring and

Audrey William

use of big data. The education sector is enhancing the learning experience through devices such as the Oculus. The engineering sector is using safety, maintenance, remote assistance and heads up display. The transportation & logistics sector is using wearables for barcode scanning, tracking and quality inspections.” “Wearables are being redesigned for infotainment and information delivery revolution will change the way content is created. Accessories are being embedded with additional capabilities from tracking of physical activities to video recording activities,” she concluded. Audrey William will be presenting these insights showcasing The Internet of Things and IT-Led Industry Transformation in her Think Tank session at the 2015 GIL New Zealand summit to be held at Villa Maria, Auckland on 27th August 2015.

New emission targets achievable New emission trading targets are a realistic goal for New Z e a l a n d business, says the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA).

a significant concern for our trade partners and if they don’t see us taking steps on these issues they will begin to question trade links with our businesses. It is also critical that whatever steps New Zealand takes, that we also retain our business competitiveness,” says Mr Campbell.

However, it warns that New Zealand must continue to show willing to play its part in initiatives designed to combat climate change to maintain the goodwill of its trading partners.

“The new target presents an achievable goal for New Zealand while remaining a challenge given the balance of our economy. Around 50% of our emissions (mainly methane) are from the agriculture sector and another 22% from the transport sector. With the majority of our electricity generation already coming from renewables the quick gains available to many developed countries, made by switching from coal to alternative renewable generation sources, aren’t

EMA CEO Kim Campbell says climate change and green technology issues were a major focus at a recent OECD meeting he attended in Paris and climate change issues are a major focus for many of our trading partners. “Climate change and emissions are www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

available to us in New Zealand.” The new targets have been set at 30% reductions on 2005 emission levels by 2030 or an 11% reduction on 1990 levels with the previous target being just 5% reductions on 1990 emission levels. “New Zealand is leading the international research project to reduce methane emissions from farm animals and the results are proving encouraging, while electric vehicle technology is playing a faster than expected role in transport options. Focusing on green technologies is also an area where New Zealand lags when compared to many of our trade partners, especially when it is an area that can help deal to our emission targets,” he says.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

BUSINESS NEWS

- Will Rodgers

Kiwi exporters beware of e-commerce By Johnathan Chen

The recent New Balance case should be a big wake up call for Kiwi companies exporting to Asian markets, especially those capitalising on e-commerce to do so. Selling online is a great idea as it gives companies ready access to untapped consumer markets - especially in China, where the emerging middle class’ demand for foreign goods is hard to service except by e-commerce platforms, and for those consumers that are in more remote areas of China. The reach of e-commerce is far and wide; at it is expanding at a rapid pace. But beware; the risks that come with it are significantly larger too. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. the US sportswear and shoe giant, was recently ordered to pay $22m in damages for infringing a trade mark – the largest amount awarded in China’s Guangzhou Court history for a trade mark case. James & Wells Head of Asia Division, Johnathan Chen, says that with e-commerce growing incredibly fast in China it’s a very tempting avenue for Kiwi companies wanting to increase sales to take, but they need to be careful. “The New Balance example shows that Chinese courts really mean business and will take action against ‘blatant infringers’. It gave the benefit of the doubt to the original IP rights owner, even over a huge international company,” he says. In 2006 New Balance set up a Chinese subsidiary and marketed its products under the Chinese brand ‘Xinbailun’ (which references ‘New (Xin) Balance (Bailun)’). However, the brand ‘Bailun’ had already been registered in 1996 by a private businessman in relation to shoes, hats and other clothing. He subsequently registered a series of related marks, which included ‘Xinbailun’, and was granted trade mark rights in 2008. He then sued New Balance in 2011, who claimed they were innocent because they did not know of the other trademarks. New Balance also claimed that ‘Xinbailun’ was merely a direct translation of ‘New Balance’. That defence was overruled as New Balance had actually unsuccessfully tried to have both of the trade mark registrations removed by the China Trademark Office. Furthermore,

‘Xinbailun’ was not deemed to be the only Chinese translation for New Balance, as evidence was found that New Balance had numerous Chinese versions of its brand including ‘Niubailun’ and ‘Xinpingheng’. New Balance was deemed to have misled the general public into associating ‘Xinbailun’ with itself, thereby taking away from the local businessman (or the rightful owner), the opportunity to develop market share. The huge award of damages was based on the profit New Balance had generated in this market, a large portion of which was through online sales, which is where Kiwi exporters are at increasing risk of getting caught out.

“A lot of Kiwi companies who export to China do not understand the importance of the equivalent Chinese branding. It is even more worrying when they say “our Chinese distributors have that side of things sorted. You are basically opening door to them holding you hostage, by owning and controlling your Chinese brands in Chinese speaking markets.” “The New Balance case should act as a good lesson for Kiwi companies. It shows the value of a Chinese brand, as well as the importance of understanding your IP position,

and having a good IP strategy to go along with your portfolio of rights,” Johnathan Chen says. With that in mind, Kiwi exporters need to make sure they’re got the right IP advice and strategy in place; otherwise there is a real risk they too will end up with a hefty fine rather than the profit they expect. Johnathan Chen heads the James & Wells Asia Division. He was born in China but came to New Zealand from a young age, and has close ties to China and Taiwan through both sides of his family.

Johnathan Chen says he sees Kiwi companies who haven’t thought about their IP position in the Chinese market reasonably often, and it is increasingly worrying. “The size of the damages awarded shows that the Chinese courts are now dealing with what they regard as “blatant infringers” very seriously, and is ready to make an example of them as a warning to others. It makes e-commerce platforms more accountable for IP infringement, and there are more agencies to enforce IP rights.” “While it is easy to feel sorry for New Balance, and slam the opportunistic approach of the smaller player in this instance, it should be noted that New Balance should never have let its Chinese brand catch that much traction, knowing that there were problematically similar marks in the market,” he says. It is common for Kiwi companies to fail to consider their brand position in the market before looking to export overseas, and end up being stung by it. Many Kiwi companies do not know what their Chinese brand means. Some of them do not even know that they have a Chinese brand, let alone have control over it, as a local Mandarin brand can be given to the Kiwi product by distributors, retailers or even the public so that they have a name Chinese consumers can pronounce. www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

CAREERS

Giving up doesn’t always mean you’req weak, sometimes it just means you’re strong enough to let go. -Taylor Swift

Young inventor wins award with treehouse design A treehouse platform for kids to build architectural wonders in their backyard has won a Kiwi inventor the top prize in the New Zealand leg of the fifteenth James Dyson Award, a global product design competition that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. Jason Khoo, a 24 year old industrial design graduate from Massey University, has designed a pre-built foundation for a tree house that can be easily mounted without going through the labour of traditional building methods. It retains the fun of a DIY project, without causing harm to the tree. Jason takes a prize of $5,200 to help commercialise his invention. His design eliminates the need for a bespoke permanent attachment when building tree houses, allowing the Tree Mount to be relocated. The bracket mount is supplied while families can create their own designs and source treehouse materials. The Auckland designer says his design is intended to connect people back to nature and encourage kids to spend more time in the outdoors. “I spent my childhood riding bikes and climbing trees. Now society is too busy and technology is now

limiting self-time. I hope Tree Mount will counter this by giving people a purpose for taking time out to enjoy nature, use their creative minds and build something with their hands. “I’m really interested in how design can utilise new technologies for products that can be used in nature, while still retaining a level of craftsmanship,” says Jason. The judges were unanimous in their decision. Mike Jensen, head judge, said Jason’s design changes current culture, engaging creativity to experience adventure and more outdoor play for families. “In a current environment where we have so much digital distraction, this is a welcome break for parents and kids. “Interestingly Jason didn’t start out designing a tree house product. A bit like how James Dyson created the first bagless vacuum out of his need for a vacuum to clean properly, Tree Mount addresses a need get more people outdoors and using their hands and creativity. The prototype is well resolved; actually Jason’s model is amazing and for a student project, Tree Mount shows a strong understanding of aesthetic design,” said Mike. Jason has won $5,200 from the

James Dyson Foundation, and an official fee prize package from the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) tailored to his design’s

intellectual property needs, and a year’s membership to The Designer’s Institute.

Engineering a new career for young women what it means to work on individual manufacturing and fabrication components that would ultimately contribute to the creation of a larger project such as a milk tanker, farm vat or dairy factory. Shawnee Dixon from Hamilton’s Fraser High School says: “It was a great experience, with friendly staff at Longveld who taught us a lot and were always there to help. It was a really good opportunity and a great experience”. Welding, polishing and sand blasting were among the daily activities for a group of young women during a recent work placement at Hamilton-based manufacturer, Longveld.

and engineering while gaining credits towards NCEA Level 2.

The placement is part of a unique training course offered by Wintec and Longveld, aimed at getting more women into engineering.

They then spend one week at Longveld working alongside staff, rotating between activities including stainless steel sheet metal fabrication, waterjet profile cutting, welding, grinding, sand blasting and computer-aided (CAD) design.

Sixteen young women from Waikato secondary schools are enrolled in the programme, which is in its first year. They visit Wintec’s workshop one day a week, where they train in fabrication

As part of their activities, they produced name plates and miniature stainless steel house frames. This, along with the rotation system gave them a chance to experience first-hand

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

Wintec youth pathways manager, Johnny Gordon, says the course is a good way of encouraging women into what is traditionally seen as a male-oriented industry.

step closer to a successful career in engineering.” “The partnership with Longveld is exciting for the Waikato Trades Academy because it means we now have the connection between secondary, tertiary and industry,” says Gordon. The students are in two groups for the work placement section of the programme, with the second group set to complete their Longveld placement in September.

“The programme provides the opportunity for women to learn in an environment where they’re not the only female in the room,” he says.

The programme is part of Wintec’s Waikato Trades Academy, a Government-led initiative, free to students, which sees Wintec partner with Waikato secondary schools to encourage students to stay in school for longer by engaging them in hands-on learning.

“It’s been great to see their confidence grow throughout the programme and in particular during their time at Longveld. Towards the end of the week they had become a group of self-assured young women, one

Any young women interested in joining this programme for 2016 can contact Wintec’s youth pathways coordinator, Vicky McKinnon on 07 834 8800 extension 3123 or Vicky. mckinnon@wintec.ac.nz.

NZ Manufacturer August 2015

Walk away from anything or anyone who takes away from your joy. Life is too short to put up with fools.

REAR VIEW

- Unknown

A Lesson from Scotland Nick Inskip, HERA Industry Development General Manager Nick Inskip Scotland has around the same population as New Zealand and like New Zealand, the metal fabrication industry has benefited from oil and gas, especially those located close to the oilfields of the North Sea. A large amount of fabrication was needed during the establishment phase of the industry, then ongoing upgrades, maintenance and expansions. With part of the industry now winding down there is still work for some companies involved in the decommissioning activities, but the wise fabricators are looking elsewhere for opportunities. Burntisland Fabrications Limited, locally known as BI Fab is one of these companies. Located across three sites, two in Fife, a stone’s throw from Edinburgh and one in the western Islands, each site has particular capabilities. In response to customer

demands they have environmental, health and safety and quality certifications and each have their own marine loading facilities.

Big savings were likely to come from being involved with companies at the design stage. BI Fab has been involved in manufacturing wave and tidal energy devices for the emerging marine energy industry and see this as a significant opportunity area for the future. When asked about how they would handle the transition from producing one off items to volume production, their

Continuous Improvement Manager Robert Lloyd said they had recognised the need to produce differently and were moving towards a process where different components would be made in volumes at different sites and then bought together for assembly and that unlike previous practices where a crew would follow the construction from beginning to end, now they may only see their small part of it. In this way they hoped to significantly reduce costs which were the main need of the industry as it goes through the same transition from idea to actuality that the wind industry did. He also said that while changing their processes to cope with volume production would deliver some savings, the big savings were likely to come from being involved with companies at the design stage.

Robert said that many marine energy device developers had come from academia and were not always familiar with value engineering. While not abandoning their oil and gas work and other industries they service, they are preparing for the future; an excellent lesson for New Zealand fabricators.

Mixed response to GST reform discussion document The lowering of the GST threshold on overseas purchases is likely to have a positive impact on small businesses, however it may receive a mixed reception from local operators, says MYOB General Manager SME Solutions James Scollay.

“These changes will help level the playing field for local SMEs, however data from MYOB’s Business Monitor shows that nearly a third of SMEs may be opposed to this move – even in sectors that are considered most likely to support the change, such as retail and manufacturing,” Mr Scollay says.

Minister for Revenue Todd McClay has released a discussion document on changes to GST which could reduce the threshold on overseas purchases made online.

“SME owners are also consumers, so while on the one hand their businesses will benefit, on the other it means they will be expecting to pay more for consumer goods.”

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The MYOB Business Monitor – a regular nationwide survey of over 1000 SMEs conducted by Colmar Brunton – has painted a complex picture on whether changes to the GST threshold will be supported by SMEs. “In the September 2014 Business Monitor, held just prior to the General Election, 36 per cent of SME operators surveyed said they would vote against a policy to introduce GST on online purchases from offshore retailers and 25 per cent of the respondents stated

they would support the policy,” Mr Scollay says. Strongest support for the policy was from the manufacturing and wholesale sector, with 42 per cent of respondents in support. However, a full third of manufacturers and wholesalers were opposed to the idea. 40 per cent of business operators in the logistics industry also supported the introduction of GST, while 29 per cent were against.

NZ MANUFACTURER • SEPTEMBER 2015 Issue • Features

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NZ Manufacturer August 2015

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