May 2017
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Nearly a quarter of German GDP comes from manufacturing.
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MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT Leaving chaos behind.
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SOUTHMACH 2017 Manufacturing’s must attend.
Analogue to Digital Chris Barclay, Business Development Manager, Motovated Design & Analysis
I recently suffered memory loss due to a mountain biking accident and have been thinking a lot about the system restore function, and what it means for companies that rely on data, backups and server systems to keep their business running. And those that have quite simply...nothing. Back in time Earlier this month Craig Haywood and I travelled around the bottom of New Zealand, catching up with old clients and poking our noses into local industry to see what was new. What was immediately apparent is that a lot of manufacturers and engineering shops are still doing exactly the same thing they were 15-20 years ago. The same process, the same equipment and in most cases the same one person behind all the ideas, inventions and mistakes. It is easy to just point fingers at people who are “behind the times”, but the reality is a lot of these people might not know any better. An age-old recipe is passed down through the generations and then slowly adapted to suit the needs of the individual and/or company. Unfortunately, structure and following a design or manufacturing process will not necessarily be high on the priority list. These business’s struggle along without much real profit or growth in the customer base. Often it is local loyalty that keeps them above water, for now at least. The owners work tirelessly, obligated to carry on the family tradition, product or service. Kudo’s to those guys; I don’t know how they do it.
Going, going, gone The most disturbing thing, however, is to see a complete lack of technology. We saw chaotic workshops, ancient templates scattered on floors and hung on walls and hand sketches of unique products, stacked in old drawers, or just left on the factory floor. In some cases, there was not a single USB drive to be
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found anywhere. I wasn’t around in the 1950’s but it was almost like stepping through a portal to go back in time! I am not one for catastrophising, but if there are any business owners reading this, what comes to mind? As we know New Zealand is essentially one big fault line, and as we saw in Canterbury, prone to rattling a bit. Ask around the industry in Christchurch and you will soon discover that a lot of information was lost during the earthquakes, companies completely wiped out as they didn’t have a single scrap of data to fall back on. I won’t even delve into the fire hazard side of things.
The changing of the guard What we did also see is a slight change slowly moving through some companies. The son/daughter who has grown up with Dad knocking together trailers from scraps is at the point where they see the benefits of investing in technology. This younger generation is moving more and more into the business, the parents are older and more tired and want to hand things over to someone they trust/can keep an eye on. The resistance to change is not there, especially when it comes to what it could mean for the
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bottom line of the company. After numerous conversations, we could see thoughts starting to form and a slight hint of excitement at the prospect of something new, innovative and ultimately cost saving.
Simple solutions Here is an example. Not to float our own boat too much, but we talked to one trailer manufacturer that was still building them exactly the same way they always had.
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