Ian Walsh

Growing our World Class Industries

-Ian Walsh, Managing Director, Intent Group Over the last few years, I have been asked by aspiring NZ companies – ‘Who is world class?’ ‘What are we best at in NZ?’ Or even more insightfully, ‘what could we best at?’

The current industries that have been resilient throughout COVID, where demand has remained strong and in some cases shown significant growth, provide some clues. It is clear there is huge demand for our food produce, especially kiwifruit, apples, wine and of course the perennial meat and dairy. Over the years I have had the privilege to work in all of these industries. The world sees us as a clean, green, high-quality food producer and, whilst we have areas for improvement, the horticulture industry is a shining example of this. In the last decade we have seen significant growth in wine, kiwifruit and apples to name a few, with wine on a 24-year growth trend! There is significant potential to provide the world with high quality, high margin food and reinforce our global image. Given this, it behoves all parties (employers, government, unions and other stakeholders) to work together to provide a roadmap to a green, profitable, and more sustainable industry. COVID has heightened our awareness of the current challenges the horticultural industry faces and, to be frank, has been grappling with for a long time. Being a seasonal business, there are certain times of the year when there is a higher demand for labour. This is typically around picking and packing (February through to June). Historically, many harvest operators have worked with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), youth schemes, recruiters and so on, to fill the needs, with many a despairing operator/employer explaining that finding good people to fill roles was near impossible. The issues were not so much about pay (as is the current discussion), but more about reliability (Friday night shift anyone? Saturdays? 6-day weeks?). The 6Probe offers exceptional portability and is compatible with FARO VantageS6 and VantageE6 Laser Trackers, enabling users to build, inspect and measure products faster and with greater accuracy. The 6Probe is a cost-effective 6DoF solution that meets the dynamic measurement, speed, and accuracy requirements of the most challenging industrial applications. With kinematic self-identifying styli, users can now change probing tips quickly and measure without any recalibration and also measure hidden areas outside of the tracker’s line of sight, with wider acceptance angles. The result is an advanced tool upgrade designed to enhance productivity and efficiency. In fact, the typical user of the new 6Probe can now save at least 30 minutes of time on any given workday. Vantage Laser Tracker 6DoF Probe extends maximum As a result, many shifts have a 50% turnout rate and are unable to operate properly. They’re costing the business money, are unproductive and have no viable alternatives.

Of course, pre-COVID, tourists were a labour source, but also problematic. They were trained, however, just as soon as they had enough money, many left to continue their travels. The employers would require full time trainers, working round the clock to train replacements, creating further costs and burdens. Out of desperation, a few years ago, the industry looked at alternative labour sources to allow them to better meet their growing needs. Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers are reliable, hard-working and have since enabled industries to grow. \ Now there are well-established processes and systems in place to provide housing, training, transport and other needs, whilst workers are away from home. With many RSE workers returning year after year, there is now continuity and a reduced training load. Today, with COVID and uncertainty regarding access to RSE workers, the local market will need to fill the employment gap. There is evidence that a large number of people are willing to do this. The issue though remains the same - the comparative productivity gap. If we need twice as many locals as RSE workers, then the profits will quickly disappear. Reliability aside, why are RSE workers more productive? Do they have better processes, methodologies, systems? My observation is that the answer is ‘no’ to all of the above. RSE workers achieve greater productivity through sustained physical work, and experience gained over years, but they do not apply any different practices to the processes involved, versus measurement consistency and reliability in a variety of working environments, delivering best-in-class performance through faster and easier probing than previous models. 6DoF and standard probing are enhanced by FARO ActiveSeek, a feature to automatically locate and follow the active target. FARO trackers support the patented Super 6DoF TrackArm solution, which allows the Vantage and one or more FARO ScanArms to work together to create an integrated contact and noncontact 3D measurement system for large-volume measurement. With a range of up to 60 meters (with a 4-meter reach), Super 6DoF eliminates line-of-sight challenges and expands measurement range while maintaining superior accuracy. The Vantage platforms offer comprehensive, large-volume 3D measurement up to 80 meters, local workers.

Over the years, I have observed the various grape, kiwifruit, apple, potato, carrot, onion and other producers, and noted the huge variability in the methods, systems and approaches taken, as to how the products are produced, picked, packed and despatched across different operations. Imagine if we identified the most effective methods, and best use of the right technology, and applied them universally. In some cases, by applying best practice, I have seen improvements of over 80% productivity by the same people in the same orchard and vineyard. Imagine the impact of this productivity improvement on the industry. Not only would labour productivity improve, but so would the orchard yield! We are missing the forest for the trees (or orchards). All workers should be able to achieve the required productivity levels using defined best practice, to ensure the profitability of the industry, and to support the future anticipated growth. We have a real opportunity to create regional jobs and futures for many New Zealanders. As I mentioned in my previous article “Can we be world class?”, we need a government ministry to help fashion this roadmap, with stakeholders, to protect, nurture and grow strategic industries. We need to do this by helping them to develop and implement best practices, to ensure higher levels of productivity and to enable the industries to pay above the living wage. This would be a more collaborative and strategic approach than shutting the gate and raising the cost. I am committed, keen, and have been supporting

FARO launches laser tracker 6DOF Probe

FARO Technologies a global leader for 3D Metrology has announced its next generation Vantage Laser Tracker 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) Probe.

this journey for over a decade. Join me. significantly streamlining processes and reducing inspection cycle times while ensuring complete confidence in the results. The Laser Trackers maximize 6DoF measurement capabilities via the optional 6Probe, enabling precise measurement of hidden areas and small features.

Put money in your pocket – don’t throw it away!

Simon Ganley, managing director, Ganley Engineering

It is amazing the number of manufacturers who give away money.

It must be exciting to be a shareholder in such companies that do so well they can throw profits away. Let me explain. If the company processes food, powders, industrial and horticultural products in a drier, fryer, oven or some other processing equipment, the process needs to be controlled or what gets produced can be scrap, downgrade or otherwise given away. We have attached an unadulterated X by Y plot of milk powder. It could just as easily be wood fibre, confectionery, pharmaceuticals, cereals or a multitude of other products. But lets run with milk Chart1 powder as an example.

Title:

The blue spots represent the testing laboratory reference results from the fluid bed drier. The red spots are simply a comparison with an offline analyser. The fluid bed drier produces 10 tonne an hour and each blue spot shows a reference test each 8 hours.

This means that each spot covers 80 tonnes. The current selling price of milk powder is $3182 a tonne. So each spot represents $254,560.00 of product value. Now the specifications for milk powder shows a standard upper level of +/- 4.0% moisture. Because this fluid bed drier has no active controls on it, the operators are flying blind and going for safety by over-drying. None of the powder makes it to within 1.0% of being right and the average amount of product being given away is 1.5%. Let’s take 1.5% of the value of an 8 hour run.

Initial gauge/ reference values Recalibrated samples

That makes up to $3,818 of given away money. That is over $80,000 a week and means a return on investment in days rather than weeks.

0.5 1 1.5 2

Reference values

Page 1

2.5 3 But things get worse. What was

3.5 the energy cost to unnecessarily over-dry for the year? Or the cost to run staff who could be better employed and leave the control of the drier to proven technology? Now please appreciate that world-wide over the past 30 years we have had thousands of NDC Technologies sensors ( www.ndc.com) controlling all manner of products to the top of the specification. Each of them was only purchased after very thorough due diligence and specifically tailored for an application. The payback is usually very fast and self-funded from extra production and cost savings. So if you are an owner or shareholder of a company that uses a drier, fryer, oven or other processing equipment, maybe this is a good time to peel off your current test results. If what you show is less than top specification, this could be a good opportunity to talk with Ganley Engineering ( www.ganleyengineering.co.nz) so we can talk about how we can clean up what you make with a self-funded and very proven solution. And put money in your pocket instead of throwing it away. You don’t get much for free these days. But something that quickly pays for itself and gives you a profit that is as good as it gets.

Take Control of Your Dairy Powder Quality

Backed by 50 years of industry experience, our intelligent and connected in-process solutions fit right into the fluid bed dryer to optimize your product quality. ► Measure moisture, protein and fat/oil content ► Produce more consistent product within specification ► Automatically control the drying process

ganleyengineering.co.nz

50 Years of Infrared

Guardian Everywhere Hub: reliable safety for remote workers

Guardian Angel Security has signed an exclusive distribution agreement for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands with US-based Everywhere Communications for their global product suite for communication, location and monitoring solutions for remote worker.

Guardian Angel Security, industry-leading provider of lone and remote work solutions in Australasia, has launched the Guardian Everywhere Hub for robust and secure 24/7 communication, monitoring and local response co-ordination for remote workers; incorporating dual-mode cellular and satellite communications technology solutions from US-based Everywhere Communications. Guardian Angel Security has signed an exclusive distribution agreement for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island with Everywhere Communications for the use of their global suite of product solutions for communication, location and monitoring of remote workers via satellite devices, smartphone apps, a web portal, location-based services, and APIs using patented deployed technology. Everywhere Communications’ fully integrated multi-mode communications solutions utilise the Iridium satellite constellation, including the newly launched Iridium NEXT satellites, as well as Wi-Fi and cellular networks, to provide always-on connectivity globally, including the over 80 per cent of the world beyond the reach of cellular service. The Guardian Everywhere Hub, compatible with the Garmin inReach Mini, SE+ & Explorer+ devices, allows users to view a snapshot of their entire remote workforce. Colour-coded teams enable users to see the current location of each member or see a historical bread crumb trail.

Remote workers can communicate via a chat-style text messaging interface or, when equipped, voice text. Workers with equipped devices can also share geo-tagged pictures, video clips and audio clips. Proactive health and welfare check features include requests of a user’s status – I’m OK, or I’m Not OK. Users can create a virtual geofenced perimeter to surround key worksites for the safe management of personnel in specific zones, and entry and exit alerts can be sent to preselected recipients. Guardian Angel Security’s solutions circumvent the emergency number process to speed up emergency response, for mobile workers working alone or remotely, including, sudden-onset injury or illness, road accidents, vehicle failure, or other emergencies. The Hub links customers in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, and Cook Islands to its response software at its audited monitoring stations in New Zealand and Australia.

Recent Health and Safety law changes in Australia and New Zealand and other countries have impacted a wide range of organisations with remote and mobile workers including government agencies, regional councils and environmental organisations; finance, banking and insurance; health boards and mobile community health providers; and forestry, farming and agriculture.

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