NZ Manufacturer July 2022 by Media Hawkes Bay Limited

July 2022

Listen to uniquely Kiwi stories contributing to New Zealand’s future

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11 SMART MANUFACTURING

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY Callaghan Innovation Three helps companies with companies on the road to a low-carbon economy. productivity boost.

www.akiwioriginal.com

&A 22 QHolger Heinzel, HERA

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Hutt Valley VR company Eight360 goes global “We started building in a leaky garage in the Hutt with no money and no idea of what we are doing, and now we are standing on the world stage with a technology no one’s ever seen before - invented right here in the Hutt.” Proud words from CTO of multi award-winning virtual reality company Eight360, Terry Miller. Founded 7 years ago by Miller and a couple of engineer friends, George Heather-Smith and Lee Bennett - a helicopter pilot who identified there was a gap in the market for effective simulator-based helicopter hover trainers. “The company started as an evenings and weekends

garage project to build something crazy just to see if we could. I often describe it as “a hobby project that got out of hand”” said Miller. The small crew set upon creating a working proof of concept for something that had never been done before. After developing several iterations of prototypes, moving from one leaking building to another they came up with the company’s first viable demo unit, NOVA, an untethered motion simulator platform with VR capabilities. A Hutt native, Miller says he always had a fascination with what’s inside continued on Page 26

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DEPARTMENTS

1 Contents LEAD

ADVISORS

Get your carbon diet on track.

EDITORIAL 4DEPARTMENTS 1 When EMEX 2021 comes to town. 1 LEAD BUSINESS NEWS 6Hutt Valley VR company Eight360 goes Manufacturing in the age of sustainability. 4global.

Kirk Hope

Is Chief Executive of BusinessNZ, New Zealand’s largest business advocacy body. He has held a range of senior positions at Westpac and is a barrister and solicitor.

Is NZ’s Covid response world class?

UKK’s CPTPP NEWS a win for exporters. 56BUSINESS Business East Tamaki. MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY 8Introducing NZ Code can Diversity in Rmake & D.manufacturing more competitive.

Dewalt Design Assist breaking new ground. MANUFACTURING 78SMART ANALYSIS Pacific most receptive to smart 10Asia manufacturing.

6 8

Ian Walsh

Ian is Managing Director of Intent Group, a master black belt improvement specialist and global lean practitioner. He is passionate about improving productivity and helping to create world class New Zealand businesses.

Time for change.

The missing in Industry 4.0’s Anatomy of alink data-driven supply chain. connectivity chain.

10Detecting EMEX 2021 14 faults: A stitch in time for Floor Plan and Exhibitors. -15manufacturing? Callaghan ANALYSISInnovation helps kiwi 16 companies wanting productivity boost. 14 Achieving carbon neutrality: One company’s lessons learnt. -15The Great Resignation. SMART MANUFACTURING CIRCULAR ECONOMY 16THE 1717

Australia launches lunar exploration mission.

Three companies on the way to a Cutting edgeeconomy. tool for underwater recovery. low-carbon

Matrix 320 reader empowers traceability for 17 automation and logistics. INTERVIEW 18 THE QUALITY CONTROL Rookes, MHM Automation. 21Richard NDC sensors control manufacturing at the fromt line. MAINTENANCE 20 PREDICTIVE food and beverage NEW PRODUCTS 22 21Alleviating production challenges. Structural bearings deliver extreme low-level

8 Leeann Watson

9 9

Lewis Woodward

12 17 19

AC Servo System provides highest-level safety.

PRODUCTS 23 DEVELOPMENTS 25NEW

Igus economy Mintadvances Innovationcircular raises $20m to buildwith gold world’s first e-chain made of recycled biorefineries. material. HRS highlights steam injection for food RSsterilisation. PRO grow their IoT range.

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.

Brett O’Riley

friction performance.

&A 22 QCost-effective and lubrication – free mounting of solar panels. 22Holger Heinzel, HERA.

Is the Chief Executive of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber).and is a strong voice for Canterbury business.

EMA chief executive Brett O’Riley has a background in technology and economic development. Brett actually grew up with manufacturing, in the family business, Biggins & Co. He currently holds board roles with Wine Grenade and Dotterel Technologies and is also on the NZ Film Commission board.

25 25

Is automotive ready for hydrogen?

Kemppi releases new MasterMig range.

REAR VIEW 28THE LAST WORD Change Commission calls for decisive 27 Climate action. Worker Safety: Signs that it’s time to automate.

28 26

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

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

New name for business association

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

Business East Tamaki is up and running. Actually, it used to be called GETBA which was

CONTRIBUTORS

formed in 1994 to represent the interests of

Holly Green, Barbara Nebel, HERA, EMA Ian Walsh, Rebecca Reed Emmanuelle Gothelid, Amr Hussein, Alessandro Chimera, Richard Rookes, Jim Wallace, Masayuki Mase

businesses in their area. Many of our readers are quite familiar with their activities. As a business association, Business East Tamaki includes in its brief to contribute to the greater good of the wider East Tamaki community.

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

Having been connected with GETBA and now Business East Tamaki over a fair period, NZ Manufacturer wish them well as they continue to focus on the innovators and developers, companies doing great things and moving ahead.

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Kim Alves, KA Design T: + 64 6 870 8133 E: kim.alves@xtra.co.nz

WEB MASTER

Couple of interesting developments coming out of the Wellington region of late include Flexi.House, a company building (in a short period of time) houses to help people into high quality and affordable homes through a scalable and repeatable building system.

Julian Goodbehere E: julian@isystems.co.nz

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

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS

And the Page 1 story of Eight360 which identified a gap in the market for effective simulator-based helicopter hover trainers. A motion simulation training platform.

E: publisher@xtra.co.nz Free of Charge.

MEDIA HAWKES BAY LTD T: +64 6 870 9029 E: publisher@xtra.co.nz 121 Russell Street North, Hastings NZ Manufacturer ISSN 1179-4992

You will find on Page 14 an introduction to the Smart Factory Showcase. EMA sent us a link providing further information, which I invite your company to visit.

Vol.13 No. 6 JULY 2022

h t t p s : / / v i m e o . com/727153546/82dd243f55

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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Well worth a look…this is where the future of manufacturing is going. The Industry 4.0 journey.

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Doug Green

Success Through Innovation

MANAGING EDITOR

Introducing

BUSINESS EAST TAMAKI Take a bow, GETBA. After nearly 30 years with the naming rights to East Tāmaki’s business association, it has made way for its successor, Business East Tāmaki. The resolution allowing the name change was passed at a Special General Meeting held in May and the rebrand’s bold, new look and purpose was officially launched on July 7, at BNZ Partners Highbrook. Presenting a contemporary image and continuing to spearhead a relevant and effective business association is vital to attract ‘next generation’ members and contribute to the greater good for the wider East Tāmaki community, says Business East Tāmaki general manager Ruth White. “To give context, GETBA harks back to a different era when words like ‘association’ were used to convey an expected level of formality. Also the current tagline ‘A Great Place to do Business’ was more relevant at that time when attracting business to the region was one of the organisation’s main goals. Today, East Tāmaki, incorporating Highbrook, has high occupancy rates and is now recognised as one of Auckland’s most active and respected business associations and in New Zealand, one of the largest business precincts. “Looking to the future we knew a more modern, progressive brand and visual identity was required to reﬂect the evolution of the organisation. We also wanted to elevate the brand and communicate the value of East Tāmaki businesses, while developing a stronger voice for representation. The new visual identity, the foundational brand pillar for Business East Tāmaki, will help redeﬁne its positioning and ensure continued relevance in the marketplace.”

East Tāmaki’s business association timeline 1994

GETBA – Greenmount-East Tāmaki Business Association Inc. was formed after several informal meetings to assess interest. Funding was initially via an annual voluntary subscription based on the number of employees in each business.

2008

Name changed to Greater East Tāmaki Business Association, acknowledging the area’s growth and planned developments at Highbrook.

2009

GETBA becomes a BID, receiving targeted rates from Council.

2022

On July 7 it was out with the old and in with the new, as the GETBA name makes way for Business East Tāmaki.

Supporting a better connected East Tāmaki. businessET.org.nz www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

Image courtesy ofJuly Highbrook NZ Manufacturer 2022 Medical

Business News Diversity in R&D: closing the gap -Emmanuelle Gothelid,Sandvik Coromant

40% of women are leaving STEM — how can industry retain its female innovators? In June, with a theme of inventors and innovators, this year’s International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) celebrated the achievements of women who have shaped the engineering landscape we know today. But why do female engineers still not enjoy the same notoriety as many males do? One indicator that highlights the disparity between male and female inventors is the lack of female patent holders. Women inventors account for just under 13% of patent applications globally. That’s one female inventor for every seven male ones. Research has found that more than two-thirds of all patents come from either all-male teams or individual male inventors, while 23% come from mixed gender teams — and just 6% from individual female inventors.

Perceived gaps On average, more women gain university degrees than men, and currently make up 20% of all engineering graduates. However, it’s been estimated that nearly 40% of women who graduate with engineering degrees either quit or don’t enter the profession to begin with. Around 30% of engineering industry workers are women. Of this, a third work in junior roles, under a quarter in mid-level roles and just 9% are CEOs. All this data paints a clear picture. Women are, in general, pursuing more higher education

opportunities than men and more are choosing engineering as a viable career pathway. However, they face more obstacles when climbing the corporate ladder.

Creating opportunity Gender bias, whether conscious or unconscious, still exists in industry and can hamper career retention. But supporting diversity among teams will foster business benefits. In my own experience, fostering diverse R&D talent is key to product innovation. And there’s evidence to back this up. A team that has a variety of worldview perspectives can educate employees and customers and reach untapped demographics. Opening up the conversation to new and previously unexplored ideas could help businesses become 70% more likely to capture more markets. Diverse teams are also better at making decisions 87% of the time over non-diverse teams, offering broader information and bringing more perspectives to the table. Companies with more than 30% women executives are more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranges from 10 to 30, and in turn these companies are more likely to outperform those with even fewer women executives, or none at all.

Be the change

hasn’t come without its challenges, and at times it has been difficult to envision a future in STEM. Reflecting on my own difficulties finding an engineering role, being a woman, engineer, with a PhD in physics and long term unemployed is a great lesson in humility. While my journey into a STEM career after my studies was smooth, I struggled to re-enter the industry after the start-up I worked for fell through. I even applied for jobs outside of STEM, without success, before returning to the industry some time after. A PhD is no ticket to employment and teaches you to think outside of the status quo. In the long-term, it’s made me more open to other pathways. My advice for inspiring female innovators? Be open minded and always look at the bigger picture, especially when times are tough. Dare to ask “why?”, even if you feel it’s not your place to ask the question. It’s an innovator’s job to be curious, but it’s also important we question the status quo and challenge others with new perspectives.

As the saying goes, if you can’t see it, you can’t be it. For myself, receiving recognition for my work

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ADVISORS Mike Shatford

is an expert in the field of technology development and commercialisation. His company Design Energy Limited has completed over 100 significant projects in this vein by consulting for and partnering with some of New Zealand’s leading producers. Among Mike and his team’s strengths are industrial robotics and automated production where the company puts much of its focus.

Dr Barbara Nebel CEO thinkstep-anz Barbara’s passion is to enable organisations to succeed sustainably. She describes her job as a ‘translator’ – translating sustainability into language that businesses can act on. Barbara and her team deliver sustainability services from strategy, through product assessments and carbon reduction plans, to communications. Clients include many manufacturers on both sides of the Tasman.

Sandra Lukey

Sandra Lukey is the founder of Shine Group, a consultancy that helps science and technology companies accelerate growth. She is a keen observer of the tech sector and how new developments create opportunity for future business. She has over 20 years’ experience working with companies to boost profile and build influential connections.

Georgina Fenwicke

After working in fast paced Supply Chain and Transport teams at Deloitte and Uber EMEA, Georgina Fenwicke founded Frankie in February 2020. Frankie is an Operations Control Centre for Industrious Property Teams to maintain assets and equipment at scale with their contractors. They work with Industrial, Education and Food processing clients across New Zealand.

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Asia-Pacific most receptive to smart manufacturing Companies believe smart manufacturing is key to their business’ future success, The State of Smart Manufacturing Report reveals. Plex Systems, a Rockwell Automation company in cloud-delivered smart manufacturing solutions, has announced the results of its 7th annual study, “The State of Smart Manufacturing Report.” The research reveals that smart manufacturing adoption accelerated by 50% globally in 2021, and these new technologies are now solving the industry’s critical challenges. Asia-Pacific (APAC) organisations (93%) view smart manufacturing as “very” or “extremely” important to future success, compared to North America (NA) (84%) and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) (75%). Reflecting their optimistic attitude towards smart manufacturing, most APAC companies reported a shorter timeframe - “within the next 7 to 11 months” – for adoption of smart manufacturing solutions, compared with NA and EMEA’s majority response of “within the next 1-2 years”. The global study surveyed more than 300 manufacturers in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, food and beverage, electronics, consumer goods, plastics and rubber, precision metal forming, and more. This year’s report, conducted in collaboration with Hanover Research, offers valuable insights into trends, challenges, and future plans for global manufacturers.

impacted by the pandemic and global crises such as the civil unrest in eastern Europe. As a key global hub for manufacturing which accounts for nearly half of the worldwide manufacturing output[1], Asia-Pacific economies are depending on their industrial sectors to drive recovery post-pandemic,” said Steven Chiu, Asia-Pacific sales leader, Plex Systems. “The adoption of smart manufacturing solutions, such as cloud-based technologies, has become imperative for APAC companies to stay competitive and thrive. The report findings show that companies in the region are placing significant value on using such technologies to address and improve actual business outcomes,” Chiu added.

Additional key findings include: • Smart manufacturing adoption is accelerating worldwide. By end-2022, 75% of companies will adopt some components of smart manufacturing. Technology and automation are driving the next generation of manufacturing, and smart manufacturing adoption will continue to accelerate in 2022. • The pandemic has accelerated adoption of smart manufacturing solutions. Investment-wise, APAC companies primarily plan to implement automation of business processes, automated process enforcement, and supply chain planning.

The report aims to help manufacturers benchmark their technology strategy and incorporate smart manufacturing best practices to stay competitive and thrive. A scalable technology strategy makes it possible to incrementally adopt solutions and achieve value quickly. As manufacturers look to streamline processes and solve today’s challenges, they are placing significant value on using smart technology to address and improve actual business outcomes. The report’s findings show the pandemic both exposed and exacerbated pre-existing conditions in manufacturing. Skilled worker shortages, competition, and supply chain disruptions are the top three challenges being faced by Asia-Pacific companies because of the pandemic. With that in mind, nine in 10 APAC respondents (93%) believe smart manufacturing is key to their future success. “Asia’s manufacturing sector has been adversely

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• All manufacturing components are recognised as important by more than half of surveyed companies. Across regions, including APAC, manufacturing execution systems (MES) (69%) ranked as the most critical/significant smart manufacturing initiative. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and asset performance management followed this, ranking just above Quality management systems (QMS) and Supply Chain Planning (SCP). • Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are the primary technologies to use in the next five years. Globally, organizations primarily use data for planning purposes, such as product planning/scheduling (46%) and process optimization (44%), while Asia-Pacific organizations (54%) primarily use collected data for AI applications. • Over 50% of APAC companies are adopting cloud for risk mitigation. Adopting cloud technologies, managing cybersecurity risks, and consulting with experts on regulatory/compliance issues are the most common strategies among APAC organizations for risk mitigation. For the full results, download the 7th Annual Plex State of Smart Manufacturing Report at plex.com/ sosm.

The missing link in Industry 4.0’s connectivity chain While IoT has transformed industry, there are still challenges when it comes to streamlining deployment. Here, Amr Houssein, managing director of eSIM pioneer Mobilise, explains how eSIMs complete IoT connectivity. In short, the industrial IoT (IIoT) enables machineto-machine (M2M) communication, making manufacturing facilities smart and digitalised. By using sensors to capture factory floor data, manufacturers gain a comprehensive overview of their facility to optimise processes, improve machine performance, reduce waste and energy consumption, and result in less unexpected downtime.

Getting manufacturers connected Connecting IoT devices over a mobile network is referred to as the cellular IoT. Using existing mobile networks removes the need for a separate, dedicated infrastructure. Instead, a range of networks can be used — whether that’s 3G, 4G, 5G, or IoT-specific networks. LTE-M and NB-IoT are networks designed specifically for IoT connections. While LTE- M offers a lower price point and voice and SMS support, NB-IoT offers low power, low data usage for long range and reliability. Whichever network is used, connecting devices to the cellular IoT through the traditional SIM cards presents several challenges for manufacturers.

Deployment difficulties An IoT SIM card has traditionally been responsible for connecting a device to the network. But it doesn’t come without its challenges. IoT SIM cards typically only allow a device to connect to one carrier network. When deploying devices globally across multiple networks, or working with devices that are involved in the supply chain or logistics that move across the world, this creates a logistical nightmare.

physical SIMs, connecting devices to a network over the air. Initially adopted for wearable devices and connected cars, eSIMs are also now a key component of the IIoT. Unlike physical SIM cards, eSIMs download network credentials onto a chip on the printed circuit board of an IoT device through over-the-air provisioning. Eliminating the physical component of a SIM makes the entire network onboarding process remote, which has a wealth of benefits for manufacturers. eSIMs eliminate the problems associated with IoT SIM cards — the device’s network is determined after the production, shipment and deployment of an IoT device. Manufacturers can easily swap connectivity providers as and when required for ultimate flexibility depending on device location or subscription cost. Provisioning network credentials over the air means the eSIMs are connected and maintained remotely. There’s no need to physically handle a device to make changes to its connectivity, making devices more durable and less prone to environmental damage. In terms of security, an eSIM’s location on a small chip on the circuit board means it’s not removable. Being physically soldered to the device eliminates risks of physical theft of the SIM, as it’s hard to identify and impossible to remove. In this way, IoT devices can be deployed without any local human control of the connectivity — all responsibility lies with the manufacturer’s service provider (SPs). Mobilise’s HERO platform supplies SPs with a cloud based eSIM orchestration layer, to enable eSIM provisioning, management, enterprise billing and CRM systems.

This means SPs take responsibility for managing subscriptions, taking the pain out of cellular connectivity for manufacturing users. While IIoT is nothing new for manufacturers, making it more streamlined, convenient and digital is key to its continued success. Adopting eSIM technology alleviates some of the pain points manufacturers are experiencing, making operations slicker and opening a world of opportunity for more efficient processes.

Manufacturers must source and distribute physical SIMs for a local network for each device. As SIM cards need to be removable for maintenance or carrier changes, IoT devices cannot be sealed, meaning that harsh operating conditions are more likely to damage a device. There are also the added concerns that having a removable element exposes IoT devices to risks of service theft.

eSIMs are the future While IoT SIM cards do the job, these challenges are hard to ignore when there’s a solution on hand. eSIMs, or embedded SIMs, are a digital alternative to

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Detecting faults: A stitch in time for manufacturing? By Alessandro Chimera TIBCO’s director of digitalisation strategy

The way we use data to monitor and control manufacturing systems has changed. TIBCO’s director of digitalisation strategy, Alessandro Chimera, explains the shape of the anomaly economy guiding operational performance management in manufacturing “A stitch in time saves nine” is a well-known and well-worn adage. It neatly encapsulates the reality that early remedial action to deal with a minor fault detected can avoid greater repair costs caused by damage down the track. Never has this saying rang truer than in today’s high speed, high volume, near real-time manufacturing processes, often described as Industry 4.0, where rapid production can make fault detection difficult.

Industry 4.0, where rapid production can make fault detection difficult. Without appropriate anomaly detection and rapid intervention, it would be easy for large volumes of a flawed product to be distributed before a problem is discovered, or for expensive manufacturing machinery to be seriously damaged.

as its example a digital model of a house. “[A] first autoencoder process will learn to encode easy features like the angles of a roof, while the second analyses the first layer output to encode less obvious features like a doorknob. Then the third encodes an entire door and so on until the final autoencoder encodes the whole image into a code that matches the concept of a ‘house’.” A good example of the power of anomaly detection can be found in its use by US semiconductor manufacturer Hemlock Semiconductor. A key raw material Hemlock uses for semiconductor manufacture is polycrystalline silicon. It is a particular form of silicon with very low impurity levels, less than one part in a billion. To be competitive, Hemlock Semiconductor must keep production cost and energy usage to a minimum, consistent with producing reliable products. However, reducing costs means increasing the risk of producing products of unacceptable quality. By applying anomaly detection to the vast amounts of data generated in its manufacturing process, Hemlock Semiconductor has been able to reduce risk without increasing costs. The anomaly detection system raises an alert whenever key parameters pass certain predetermined thresholds. This enables remedial action to be taken before product quality is compromised.

Detecting anomalies does not only increase production it can produce considerable savings: machine downtime and possible damage can be avoided along with product wastage and, most importantly, flawed products can be detected before they are delivered to customers.

The wider use of anomaly detection in manufacturing will not only increase its users’ efficiency and competitiveness, but it will also bring environmental benefits by leading to more reliable and higher quality products and reductions in waste and energy consumption.

However, this is not an easy task, even with the availability of massive amounts of real-time data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

For Australia, not-for-profits like the ARM (advanced robotics for manufacturing) Hub, are assisting manufacturers to embrace AI to overcome the present skills shortage. It provides expert advice on AI solutions and scientific and technical expertise.

This data is likely to originate in multiple different formats from different systems and scattered across many different locations. For example, some valuable data might need to be gathered from products that have already been shipped that have exhibited abnormal behaviour or failed. To make this data usable for AI and ML techniques, it must first be harmonised and related to the components of the manufacturing process it represents so it can be meaningfully analysed. This requires the use of an autoencoder. It is not an easy concept to explain in-depth, but simply put, an autoencoder is like the neural network in the brain, which teaches itself to ignore insignificant data. This is perhaps the best, simple explanation. It takes

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During its first year of operations, it reported it had worked with over 200 companies in this capacity, seeking ways to maintain and grow their digital capabilities. Two successful ARM ventures are Verton Pty Ltd and Australian Droid and Robot (ADR) Pty Ltd. Verton took a leap when it reinvented heavy-lifting operations, delivering “safer, faster and smarter crane operations”, but now with the addition of its AI capabilities it is forming international joint ventures and looking for big data opportunities. This reach into AI was its response to the 4.0 call for digital capabilities to aid and manufacturing processes, particularly integration of advanced robotics and intelligence.

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industry improve in the artificial

ADR is also demonstrating how AI and machine learning can help Australian manufacturers increase productivity and boost efficiency. It has developed a range of robotic vehicles for mining, industry and for search and rescue operations. It has incorporated AI and machine learning technology into its products to help Australian manufacturers increase productivity and become more efficient. For example, it has developed a robot that uses computer vision and machine learning algorithms to detect disease in ginger root stock. Australia’s ARM Hub is really delivering some exciting AI initiatives and looking to the future, while becoming increasingly successful in demonstrating how AI and machine learning technology may assist Australian manufacturers in increasing productivity and efficiencies. Anomaly detection technology systems are on the rise and manufacturing industries around the world should get ready for their full integration which will help increase efficiencies and production output by significantly reducing errors and product flaws. Ultimately, this technological progress is leading us to a new tomorrow for us and our planet. As the use of digital twins expands in line with the application of data analytics and ML, every manufacturer will become a data-driven factory, focused on increasingly precise anomaly detection. When this happens, manufacturers will be able to work more accurately with the added bonus of optimising energy consumption, which will help all as demand and costs for energy increase day by day around the globe.

Callaghan Innovation helps Kiwi companies wanting productivity boost Callaghan Innovation, New Zealand’s innovation agency, has launched the Aronui Industry 4.0 Navigator to help business leaders and senior managers get their heads around what Industry 4.0 means.

arrival of electricity or become obsolete, businesses today are competing in industries where smart machines are digitally connected with one another, creating and sharing information in real time to create competitive advantage.”

The guided, interactive experience creates a unique environment to think strategically about how Industry 4.0 can address current and future disruptors to their business.

Rinnai New Zealand’s Manufacturing Manager, Dean Cooper, says it can be difficult to think differently about the way you’re doing things in your business.

Callaghan Innovation Industry 4.0 Product Owner Sean Doherty says Kiwi businesses faced with global supply chain disruptions, increasing costs and a tight labour market are on the hunt for productivity gains now more than ever. “For the manufacturing sector, smart technologies fueled by data can be a gamechanger, but the potential of what is dubbed ‘Industry 4.0’ goes far beyond the factory floor.” “Just as businesses 150 years ago had to adapt to the

“The Aronui Industry 4.0 Navigator was a really positive experience for our senior leadership team. It helped them understand what Industry 4.0 is all about and gave them confidence that this was the right path for us.” The Aronui Navigator experience doesn’t just explain the principles of Industry 4.0, it demonstrates the case for change and helps businesses create an actionable strategy to move forward. “It’s a great environment to immerse yourself in and we got good engagement from our team at

the workshops,” says Cooper. “It puts everyone into the right headspace and guides you towards taking action.” Rinnai New Zealand recently took its first steps in its Industry 4.0 journey, piloting the use of real time data on its production lines, providing teams on the factory floor with immediate insights into their own performance and the ability to act on those insights. “Companies traditionally look backwards at performance using historical data”, says Cooper. “When you look at performance in real time it brings it to life and adds so much more value.” “One of the big takeaways we got from the Aronui Industry 4.0 Navigator was that we had a very narrow view of what Industry 4.0 was. The experience showed us that Industry 4.0 presents so many other opportunities beyond the manufacturing processes and that we’re just on the first leg of that journey.”

Hexagon and ESAB to help manufacturers optimise robotic welding processes Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has signed a partnership agreement with ESAB, a global fabrication technology leader, to create a streamlined welding solution combining Hexagon’s powerful simulation software with ESAB’s InduSuite solutions to help fabricators perform more efficient and successful welding operations.

for manufacturing, and ensuring consistent and reliable welding processes with simulation.

Hexagon’s simulation intelligence, embedded within ESAB’s software and automation portfolio, will ensure that users have the tools required to consistently manufacture high-quality products without costly trial and error.

This will now include Hexagon’s Simufact Welding software, helping users to optimise weld sequences and locations by predicting issues such as component distortion based upon induced stresses for operators at the machine.

Producing successful without the benefit experience and, even experience, can incur time.

Through the partnership, Hexagon will utilise key parameters from ESAB’s automated robotic fabrication machines to build and refine a digital twin so that fabricators can better gain a deeper understanding of their process, making optimal data-driven decisions without relying solely on costly trial and error.

welds can be challenging of many years’ shop-floor with an extensive welding high costs from waste and

The need to increase process efficiency for the production of welded products in industries such as automotive, aerospace and capital-intensive machinery has increased automation in recent years, but manufacturers now stand to benefit from additional gains by automating elements of design

ESAB’s InduSuite increases efficiency and precision on the shop floor by enabling fabricators to digitise welding processes for its machines and centralising weld specifications to ensure consistent, high quality welding operations.

Using simulation to automate process creation and refinement reduces or eliminates physical manufacturing iterations, and the resulting scrap. For example, battery pack demand has increased dramatically as a result of transport electrification, but each fabricated structure can require up to 10,000 welds. Each joint must be robust, and perform in an optimal sequence that accounts for efficiency whilst ensuring thermal-mechanical stresses do not compromise the joint and product quality.

To bring products to market faster than ever without compromising on quality, manufacturers need to move quickly from underdefined or unrefined processes to delivering competitive quality and cost.

NX delivers greater cross-discipline collaboration and knowledge capture The latest release of Siemens’ NX software, brings greater electronic co-design, collaboration, and intelligence capture and reuse capability. These empower engineering executives across every industry to find productivity improvements and greater efficiencies in their engineering departments.

user-defined features to the next level, extending data reuse from pure parametric geometry features to include PMI, requirements checks and more.

considers design and manufacturing constraints and makes simultaneous optimisation of multiple design spaces with independent materials possible.

The key benefit is a jump start of efficient knowledge reuse and greater collaboration amongst design and engineering teams.

Part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of software and services, NX delivers productivity and user-experience enhancements across a broad range of capabilities.

NX is renowned for its leadership in complex shape development and whatever the industry sector customers operate within, aesthetic quality is now just as important as functionality, efficiency and performance.

The recently introduced NX Design Space Explorer for multi-objective optimization also now offers multi-run support to fine tune ranges and refine searches and Simcenter HEEDS software run options are now fully integrated and cover baseline, random seed, and normalization factors.

Leveraging leadership and expertise in the electronics/electrical engineering space with Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics), NX extends its electronic design collaboration capabilities further with a robust workflow for rigid and rigid-flex PCB designs. These are especially important given increased product complexity and packaging constraints.

The latest release of NX brings new tools to help develop the forms designers need and their customers demand, whether that’s updates to curve creation and editing with parametric features or to NX Algorithmic Modeling which better support convergent modeling workflows enabling more efficient ways to complex patterns and shapes.

Users will notice a new codeless approach to Feature Templates that enables the reuse of the knowledge embedded into NX data during design. This elevates

NX Topology Optimiser now fully replaces and surpasses previous solution capabilities. Part optimisation within the context of an assembly now

This will enable customers to benefit from both cost and time savings through automation of complex optimisation tasks helping them to achieve faster time to market during the design engineering phase of product development.

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

HEADING INDUSTRY 4.0

title text

INDUSTRY 4.0: REVOLUTION OR EVOLUTION? W hen tackling i4.0, food manufacturing and processing industries are all on a journey of discovery. Industry supplier NZ Controls includes itself in this bracket, describing the company as a service provider rather than a manufacturer. “We are also working out how it all fits together so that we can help our customers. We want to add value. It’s our responsibility to be informed and ready to help guide our customers into the world of Industry 4. We work hard to battle the hype and drill down into real and practical applications with measurable returns,” says Nikk King, director business development, NZ Controls. NZ controls believes that the best approach is to consider the i4.0 technologies as a set of tools and concepts to enhance what it is already doing. Thus, i4.0 is more an evolution than a

revolution. Nikk says that while the results can be revolutionary, “We don’t need to ditch everything and start again or even make significant physical changes”. Perhaps the best way to take advantage of the i4.0 tools and techniques is to change or broaden the mindset to one of iterative and continuous improvement. While there’s nothing revolutionary there, says Nikk, NZ Control’s ability to apply emerging technologies leads to newly discovered opportunities for improvement. In some other cases, i4.0 tools may just provide the data needed to prove what you may already suspect, finally giving the justification to get those projects moving. Another key application for the i4.0 toolkit is to allow more flexibility and potentially ‘revolutionise’ some aspects of production. For example,

evolving from a very linear and inflexible workflow to a more adaptive cell or modular approach, perhaps using collaborative robots and automated guided vehicles to move components instead of traditional conveyors filling up the floor. “From NZ Controls perspective we must provide measurable value. We seek to collaborate on developing a measurable business case, delivering i4.0 technology solutions and help our customers realise their return on investment. In doing so, we maintain our customers’ trust and in some small way help to evolve the local manufacturing sector into one which is incrementally more productive.”

Drive productivity with data

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Measure to gain control

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• Repeatable production • Traceability • Track costs and outcomes • Manage efficiency • Drive continuous improvement

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

HEADING title

SMART FACTORY SHOWCASE

text

The Smart Factory Showcase Your chance to experience the future of advanced manufacturing by immersing yourself in the Smart Factory Showcase.

Transform your business Understand how Industry 4.0 can transform a business and see first-hand what a high level of maturity in Industry 4.0 technologies looks like, based on a real ‘smart factory’ in New Zealand.

Featuring

The sessions Feature a digital twin of Nautech Electronics’ Auckland facility which enables us to deliver real content and stories directly to you. The interactive session examines how Nautech integrated smart technology to enhance efficiency, connectivity, and processes. They also highlight how you can engage and improve employee experiences and enhance manufacturing agility. Get started Our aim is that you will leave the showcase feeling inspired by the solutions offered and armed with the knowledge needed to kick-start your own Industry 4.0 journey

PROGRAMME PARTNERS

DELIVERY PARTNER

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www.industry4.govt.nz/UpcomingEvents

HEADING

NETWORK SITE VISITS

title The Network Site Visits is a programme to encourage sharing of Industry 4.0

text knowledge across the sector. Whether you are well into your Industry 4.0 journey

ss ne i d

Assess

m e nt

Re a

or just starting out, the programme provides a range of opportunities to expand your understanding of Industry 4.0 technologies and learn from others who have already embarked on their Industry 4.0 journey. Join us for events, undertake an assessment or expand your knowledge through resources and case studies.

Companies can apply for a fully funded Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) Assessment process to help accelerate their own journey towards Industry 4.0, the result of which will be a benchmark against other companies in their sector and a high level prioritisation roadmap. Apply for the assessment

tory Tou Fac r The tours provide an opportunity to see first-hand what businesses have implemented as a result of the SIRI Assessment. They will showcase developments, specific technologies and learnings on their Industry 4.0 journey. Targeted at local manufacturers, these events are delivered across New Zealand and are a great way to network and connect with others in the region. Upcoming events

Webinars The webinar series is an opportunity to hear stories from all stages of the Industry 4.0 journey, focusing on the benefits of implementing these technologies, what challenges you may need to overcome along the journey and specific examples of Industry 4.0 technologies, all based on the experience of New Zealand companies. Upcoming events

se Studies Documented as part of the SIRI Assessment, the case studies provide an opportunity to understand a specific example of how Industry 4.0 technology has been implemented in a manufacturing environment. They will provide you with key learnings to take away and inform your own journey. Resources

PROGRAMME PARTNERS

DELIVERY PARTNER

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

The Great Resignation affects 92% of SMEs’ A study by SAP SE has found nine in ten (92%) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in New Zealand say workforce volatility, including the Great Resignation, has directly impacted their digital transformation plans. This is critical, given 79 percent of SMEs say digital transformation is very important to their organisation’s survival over the next year. These insights have been revealed in new SME research which explores the impact of the Great Resignation on New Zealand’s SMEs. The study, Transformational Talent: The impact of the Great Resignation on Digital Transformation in APJ’s SMEs commissioned Dynata to survey 1,363 small and medium business owners and decision-makers across eight countries in the region, including 101 in New Zealand. The impact of the Great Resignation on SME digital transformation in New Zealand As the world economy recovers from the pandemic, businesses now face another challenge – the ‘Great Resignation’. Coined in 2021, the phrase refers to a worldwide trend of millions of employees across the world leaving their jobs. SAP’s research found the Great Resignation is real and impacting SMEs in New Zealand today. Three quarters (79%) of respondents agreed that more employees are resigning now compared to just 12 months ago, easily the highest in Asia Pacific

and Japan. 36 percent of SMEs said they are not finding it easy to cope with the impact of the Great Resignation. The talent crunch is impacting organisation’s ability to digitally transform their businesses. In fact, lack of skilled talent ranks alongside difficulty balancing priorities as the top challenges to achieving successful transformation for New Zealand SMEs, ahead of traditional obstacles like cyber security or lack of budgets. Investing in talent and training to mitigate the Great Resignation SMEs in New Zealand are investing in their workforce to mitigate the effects of the Great Resignation and to bolster their organisations’ ability to deliver digital transformation. Survey respondents said they were focusing on introducing flexible working arrangements (33%) to boost talent retention over the next 12 months. Yet, beyond that focus, SMEs are also focusing on training. Almost a third (29%) of SMEs said they would provide upskilling opportunities to retain key talent in the next 12 months. The focus on training can’t come too soon. Over eight in ten (81%) SMEs say upskilling to support digital transformation is urgent, leading to 88 percent of New Zealand SMEs who say they will focus on digital training throughout this year. The Great Resignation has often been misconstrued

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as employees leaving to pursue their purpose. That’s not the whole story.. Employers need to look at the wider workplace. People want to work at organisations with a diverse and inclusive culture, a welcoming and flexible workplace, and a clearly communicated progression journey. Prioritising upskilling and career progression and supporting it with access to the right technology and partners is proven to be a win-win for employees and for SMEs here in New Zealand. SMEs move from resilience to focus on growth Having managed significant challenges over the past two years, SMEs in New Zealand are looking beyond a focus on resilience. Two-thirds (69%) of New Zealand SMEs say their organisation is highly or fully resilient in weathering the pandemic’s impact. Just three percent of respondents said they are not resilient at all. That confidence in their ability has resulted in a feeling of optimism about their growth prospects. 91 percent of SMEs in New Zealand said they are moderately, very, or extremely confident in their growth over the next 12 months. That mindset can only be a positive thing for the region, according to Griffin. The full report of Transformational Talent study is available for download upon request.

The Circular Economy Three companies on the road to a low-carbon economy -Barbara Nebel, thinkstep-nz

This month we introduce you to three New Zealand companies that use different tools to edge closer to a low-carbon economy. Manufacturers Red Stag and Hynds Group and logistics provider FoodCap are making progress against the Government’s new Emission Reduction Plan (ERP). But first, a recap on the ERP. The government released the ERP in May 2022. The plan contains the strategies and policies needed to move all industries, including manufacturing, to a low-emissions economy over the next three decades. It will ensure we reach our national goal: net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In last month’s article, on Page 20, we explained what the plan contains https://issuu.com/mediahawkesbaylimited/docs/nz_manufacturer_june_2022

The ERP affects manufacturers across Aotearoa New Zealand In this article we look at how Red Stag, Hynds Group and FoodCap are managing their products, tackling their carbon footprints and transforming their business models to reduce their environmental impacts. We also see how they are benefitting from these activities commercially.

planed timber products. Sister company Red Stag Wood Solutions has published an EPD for its cross-laminated timber. Both EPDs are registered with EPD Australasia, the International EPD® System’s regional partner. These LCAs and EPDs are helping the Red Stag Group reduce its products’ environmental impacts and set benchmarks to keep improving. The tools are also helping the company market its products’ environmental credentials (greenwash-free zone!) and stand out from competitors such as producers of steel and concrete. Procurement managers and rating systems such as Green Star in local and international markets trust the information an EPD contains.

Hynds’ sustainability programme has helped the business identify opportunities to cut emissions and reduce costs, including energy costs. It has highlighted business risks, helped the Hynds team plan for possible changes in legislation, including carbon taxes, and is strengthening relationships with major customers, including Auckland Council and Watercare.

Food Cap: using circular economy to preserve value and reduce pollution The ERP sets a goal of creating a thriving circular economy (one that keeps materials in use for as long as possible) and bioeconomy (one that reuses biogenic materials) by 2050. FoodCap International is a New Zealand-based company with markets in the USA, United Kingdom and Scandinavia. The company produces circular economy packaging solutions to transport and store food. Its business is based on the three circular economy principles: keeping products and materials in use, designing out waste and pollution, and regenerating natural systems.

Red Stag: reducing the environmental impacts of its operations and products The ERP encourages businesses to understand and reduce the environmental impacts of their products and services. Rotorua-based timber company Red Stag is already doing this. The company uses on-site biomass boilers to turn wood waste into steam for its drying processes and is a net exporter of renewable electricity to the national grid.

Hynds has designed and built its flagship precast facility at Pōkeno to sustainable The company’s FishCap packaging solution for fish and seafood is made design principles to minimise its environmental impact. Red Stag uses sustainability tools like Life of lightweight, durable foamed Cycle Assessment and Environmental Product resin. It is 100% recyclable and Declarations to create and promote more eliminates single-use polystyrene waste. Regulators Hynds Group: setting a Science sustainable products. Before we see how Red Stag are banning polystyrene for environmental reasons Based Target to reduce carbon is doing this, let’s look at what these tools involve. and retailers are investigating alternatives.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) LCA measures the environmental footprint of a product over its life cycle – from sourcing (and potentially growing) its raw materials, to making the product, to using and disposing of the product at the end of its life. LCA can measure many types of impact, including the amount of energy used, the amount of carbon emitted (carbon footprint) and the impact of other emissions generated (say, in polluting waterways). There are LCAs for many manufactured products, from jet engines to cups to computers.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) An EPD is a verified, publicly available document that summarises a product’s environmental footprint. EPDs start life as LCAs. There are EPDs for many manufactured products including paint, building products and food. The Emissions Reduction Plan hints that the government may consider incentives for companies to create EPDs. Red Stag has published an EPD for its sawn and

emissions

The ERP has many sources of manufacturing emissions firmly in its sights, including transport, energy, buildings and waste.

Customers can purchase FishCaps or lease them as part of an ‘end-to-end logistics system’. They can reuse the FishCap many times.

Manufacturer Hynds Group is tackling these sources, and others, across its business. The family-owned business operates sites across New Zealand and is a leading manufacturer of concrete infrastructure and plastic pipes for the water and waste markets.

FoodCap’s circular economy thinking is helping the business reduce its environmental impacts. These impacts include the carbon associated with manufacturing and the waste created at the end of the products’ life.

Hynds has measured the carbon footprint of its business and set a strategy, with targets, to reduce emissions. It has also commissioned an LCA calculator to quantify the impacts of its products.

Product design and materials are obviously important. So too is outsourcing manufacturing to facilities located close to customers.

The company’s climate ambitions include setting a science-based target (SBT) that will give its emissions reduction plan global meaning. SBTs are based on the latest climate science. They define the rate at which an organisation needs to reduce its emissions (‘how fast’) and the depth of reduction needed (‘how much’) to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) independently assesses and approves SBTs. We have an SBT at thinkstep-anz.

In addition, the company’s business model (buy/lease and reuse) ensures it recovers much of the value it adds to its materials and keeps intangible assets like intellectual property and branding ‘circulating’. Red Stag, Hynds Group and FoodCap are helping make the low-carbon economy a reality in Aotearoa New Zealand. We know there are many other manufacturers doing the same. It’s this vision and hard work that will take our new Emissions Reduction Plan from plan to action. www.thinkstep-anz.com

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

The Interview Richard Rookes, CEO, MHM Automation How do you view the current market for automation? There is no better time than now to look at introducing technology to automate manufacturing processes. The international marketplace demands our customers be world leading in their operations and offerings, while also tackling the challenge of accessing labour. Covid has only exacerbated the labour shortage – and automation is an excellent solution to overcome this. What is your take on the industry in New Zealand at present? Is it an exciting space to be working in? New Zealand has always been a global leader in innovation, particularly as it relates to the food industry. However, the sector is fragmented with many small to mid-sized companies that do not have the scale or access to capital to take their technology to the world. MHM Automation has been consolidating a number of these businesses with a focus on building scale and diversification. We see it as an exciting place to be in – the drivers of automation in the food sector are many, from food safety, worker health and safety, food quality and keeping costs low. We see the drivers of automation improving and are excited about helping our customers future-proof their businesses. Briefly introduce me to MHM Automation MHM Automation is a leader in the design and supply of automated solutions to the food sector globally. We are headquartered out of Christchurch (NZ), and also have facilities in Hastings, Auckland, Brisbane and Green Bay, Wisconsin. MHM’s core business is working with the leading meat and dairy processors in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Our client base spans most of the major producers in these markets. MHM has three key product offerings: Chilling and freezing: Our Milmeq product range is a world leader in the chilling and freezing of meat and cheese. We have over 100 of our systems installed globally in many of the leading meat and dairy producers. Our key technologies are plate freezers and chilling

and freezing tunnels and chilling tunnels.

industries.

Materials handling: Our H&C product range are leaders in many specialist areas of automation. We primarily design and deliver robotic and mechanical systems across a broad range of applications.

This includes grating, shredding and shaving of hard cheese and the production of dehydrated cheese products.

We are world leaders in reverse packaging (notably deboxing and debagging of bulk cheese), and also provide our customers with systems to depalletise/ palletise, convey, and pack.

MHM has worked in partnership with Cheese Merchants to automation automate the front end of their process of depalletising, deboxing and debagging, integrating robots with vision systems.

We also supply handling high speed handling and processing systems for grain and timber

Midfield Meats is a major player in the Australian meat market. MHM is currently engaged to automate their process from boning room to palletising. Richard Rookes.

Fabrication: MHM provides a range of tanks, pressure vessels, boilers and materials handling equipment for the dairy, food, timber and agriculture sectors via our Mercer and SCE brands. We also represent a range of brands for the timber processing sector in Australia and New Zealand.

The system includes the world’s largest horizontal plate freezers, automated storage and retrieval of chilled and frozen cartons, and robotic palletising.

What differentiates MHM Automation from the competition?

We installed the plate freezer in 2021 with the balance to be completed in 2022.

At MHM Automation we focus on deep relationships with our customers. Given the broad range of systems, products and services that we now provide across the Milmeq, H&C, Mercer and SCE brands, we can offer our customers world leading solutions across their facilities.

This project is exciting for us as it showcases all that we stand for – a deep customer relationship, and the delivery of an end-to-end solution for our customer, by integrating several of our world-leading technologies.

We are usually working on existing sites, with the ability to design and deliver a bespoke solution to both achieve the desired outcome, but also fit into the space. In addition to this, innovation is at the heart of what we do. Our products tend to have a reputation for quality and are at the top of their specific market niche. This is really important to us as we do not see ourselves as a commodity supplier. What are some projects you have completed or are working on?

The advantage of these two technologies is their ability to work alongside people without the need for safety fencing or guarding. Whilst not new, these technologies have now

continued on Page 19

Rockit is a New Zealand company that exports snack sized apple in handy clear tubes for on-the-go consumption. We have worked with Rockit to develop a bespoke robotic tube filling machine that can pack 100 apples per minute. An integrated vision system allows the robots to identify the height of each apple and carefully select the right sized apples to perfectly fill each tube. Cheese Merchants of America specialises in cheese conversion. Their mission is to convert the highest quality bulk cheeses into products ready for the food service, industrial/manufacturing and retail

0800 832 473 www.techrentals.co.nz

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We are excited about the potential of collaborative robots (cobots) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that can add more automation options to manufacturing processes.

The focus is on providing world leading solutions.

TechRentals® is an IANZ endorsed Calibration Laboratory. We offer both IANZ Endorsed and Traceable Calibrations of test and measurement equipment inluding:

Are there any new products or emerging technologies you would like to mention?

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Apple tube filling machine.

Robotics matured to the point of being reliable in manufacturing operations and are cost effective. We are partnering with global leaders in both the cobot and AMR space and are really excited about being able to offer these exciting technologies as part of our solutions. Could you also talk about the company’s supply chain operations? We are an internationally focussed company with supply chains that reflect this. We work in partnership with a number of suppliers that act as an extension to our supply chain, whether they be contract manufacturing, supply key equipment or longstanding contractors to support our installations. We could not have a successful business without these key players, with relationships that have been build built on decades of trust and performance. Would you say the same about your staff? How do you try to empower them and recognise the contributions that they make? Whilst we are a technology led business, our success comes down to our team. This spans from their longstanding relationships with customers and suppliers, innovative engineering to keep our products world leading, to their dedication to execute projects on time, in budget and meeting customer expectations. In the last two years in particular our teams have gone above and beyond to manage a highly dynamic supply chain whilst still meeting our promises to

customers in a highly uncertain Covid environment. One of our values is ‘we are in this together’. This is really important to us as it says that no one person is more important than any other across the MHM group.

That is challenging in the current environment with disrupted supply chains and a resource shortage.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

At the same time, we are always looking for opportunities to grow and diversify. Last year we launched an ambitious plan to nearly double the size of our business over the next three years.

INDUSTRY 4.0

This will be achieved through new product development, the expansion into new markets and through further acquisitions. In the end, yotu only survive in our game if you can continue to provide customers with world leading solutions that help improve their business.

For the new design of the configurator, the igus developers used Unity – a platform used in the development of games for PC and game consoles.

Configure individual robots — even easier thanks to the gaming platform

Operation of the configurator is correspondingly intuitive. And it works as follows: in the first step, the user selects the kinematics, i.e. a line, flat or room linear robot. The view is reminiscent of a selection menu from a computer game, which players use to select racing cars, for example. With these standard configurations, the right robot can be quickly selected under clear conditions. For the first time, it is now possible to compile and enquire about a special linear robot. Whether ice cream maker, measurement system or palletising robot: many applications need to meet special safety regulations,for example, be splash-proof or work in very small installation spaces. The online configurator allows users to request a special linear robot that meets the specific requirements of their individual application.

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Linear robots are available without control system, and with control system and software. “Since the launch of the configurator, we received a lot of positive feedback on the gamification approach and intuitive usability,” says Alexander Mühlens, head of the Automation Technology and Robotics division at igus. “Nevertheless, we asked ourselves: Can we continue to improve operation with this feedback? The answer was a resounding yes. As a result, we have further optimised the configurator and added new

WORKSHOP TOOLS

Technology continues to evolve rapidly and the challenge for us is to stay ahead of the competition by designing and supplying innovative, reliable and cost-effective solutions.

With the help of the game engine Unity, motion plastics specialist igus has given its online configurator for low-cost linear robots a facelift, making its operation even more efficient.

Last year, igus developed an online configurator to make it easier getting started with automation. With just a few clicks, customers can easily configure ready-to-connect low-cost linear robots based on sliding drylin linear guides.

SUPPLY CHAIN

We have a really strong order book right now. So the first priority, as always, is delivery of that order book for our customers.

functions.”

Increase efficiency, reduce errors and lower costs: many companies are recognising the benefits of process automation. But choosing the right robot can be time-consuming – and time is money.

AUGUST 2022 Issue

Looking ahead, what are your key priorities for the coming year?

Gamification approach and additional features make online configurator for low-cost linear robots even more intuitive.

Even small and medium-sized companies can immerse themselves without a barrier in the world of automation – without the know-how of specialists and CAD software.

FEATURES

That will also be our focus.

Delivery for our customers and ultimately success as a group comes from having an aligned team that understand and respect every team member’s role.

Configuring and programming igus linear robots – as easy as playing PlayStation

Now, users can configure an individual linear robot ready for connection faster and easier – in just five minutes. With the help of the online tools, any automation solution can be programmed and tested directly in the selected working area and also load CAD data and a suitable drawing.

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Now faster and easier: with the linear robot configurator on the RBTX online marketplace, users can configure their individual linear robots ready for connection in just five minutes.

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

Predictive Maintenance Predictive maintenance alleviates food and beverage production challenges Food processing and food packaging are uniquely fast-paced environments, where the margin for error is slim to none. Particularly in the tightly regulated world of food and beverage production, a breakdown in the production line can result in a whole batch of products being discarded. Manufacturers looking to avoid food waste and costly production disruptions have looked to machinery data and predictive maintenance tools to gain greater insight into what is happening on the factory floor, perform essential maintenance when it is required and anticipate and prevent breakages before it is too late. “Once you give manufacturers involved in food and beverage manufacturing the ability to visualise data, everything changes,” says Jim Wallace, Sales Manager at Balluff Australia and member of Industry 4.0 advocacy group Open IIoT.

and the heightened risk of machinery breakdown becomes abundantly clear,” Jim explains Impact of breakages in food and food packaging production Poor maintenance results in unexpected breakages, and even worse – if a machine has missed multiple maintenance cycles due to a lack of monitoring, it may be broken beyond the point of repair. In the food industry, these consequences are magnified. Food processing equipment is working with delicate products which have a variety of time requirements to ensure health and safety standards are met.

consumers getting sick from products, manufacturers can check machinery data to trace back the food production line and determine the source of the contaminants. This gives them the facts necessary to decide whether a product should be recalled. Combining predictive maintenance with data visualisation helps to boost equipment reliability, quality standards and production. What’s holding manufacturers back? With all these benefits, why is predictive maintenance not more widely adopted by food and beverage manufacturers?

“It gives them greater control over the production process, and once that data visualisation is paired with predictive maintenance, efficiency and revenue gains are realised.”

Any delays in the production process may result in spoiled goods. Broken machines are unsafe and carry the threat of contaminating food and beverages or damaging food packaging. If any contamination or damage occurs, manufacturers will need to dispose of the goods and restart the production process from scratch leading to food waste, missed deadlines and additional costs incurred.

“Compared to other manufacturing industries, the food and beverage sector has historically been a late adopter of digital trends. This is often because of the complex manufacturing processes needed to comply with the strict safety and hygiene standards of this industry, which may result in manufacturers being more hesitant to adopt new solutions,” explains Richard.

Jim and the Open IIoT group will be exploring the benefits of predictive maintenance and other ‘smart’ manufacturing technologies in the food and beverage manufacturing industry at FoodTech Queensland in July.

“While predictive maintenance is key to and ultimately avoiding these manufactures in this industry will realise benefits when these technologies are with data visualisation tools,” says Jim.

What is predictive maintenance?

Data visualisation key to remaining competitive

The initial cost of implementing predictive maintenance and related Industry 4.0 technologies on the factory floor is a factor, but Richard reassures manufacturers that these tools have not only become much more affordable in recent years, but that they will soon pay for themselves in gains realised. “Predictive maintenance is a cost-effective strategy as it reduces downtime and helps prevent food waste.”

This proactive approach uses innovative diagnostic and sensing technologies to monitor the condition of equipment and predict when maintenance should be performed. Predictive maintenance tools such as infrared thermography (detecting high temperatures), acoustic monitoring (detecting leaks), vibration analysis and oil analysis alert manufacturers of potential failures. “Essentially, predictive maintenance uses data to estimate when a machine might fail (causing costly disruptions) so that maintenance can be scheduled before the point of failure, to reduce downtime,” says Jim. “Another benefit is that it gives manufacturers the ability to schedule maintenance when it is most cost-effective and does not interfere with production, as well as helping to extend the equipment’s lifespan.” As food and beverage manufacturing is a tightly regulated industry, the strictest hygiene and sanitation standards must be upheld. The need for heightened cleanliness can create a wet environment, which can easily damage important equipment. “Add on the fact that machines deployed in the food processing industry are highly complex and challenging to maintain due to the connected system of conveyors, electronic and electrical equipment,

NZ Manufacturer July 2022 /

predicting obstacles, additional combined

Data visualisation refers to presenting data in a visual context such as a chart or graph so that it can be more easily understood. In food and beverage production, this is made possible by adding sensors to machinery to monitor what is going on on the factory floor. By using IoT connectivity, this information is shared as data that manufacturers can access in real-time and use to make decisions. “Using sensors to transmit real-time data can alert employees when equipment malfunctions so that they can make the necessary adjustments to avoid goods from becoming contaminated or destroyed. Data insights allow employees to adjust equipment in real-time to get it back to normal functionality, reducing the need to shut down production completely,” says Richard Roberts, Industry 4.0 Operations Manager at ZI-Argus and fellow member of Open IIoT. In the food and beverage industry, where contamination is always a risk, data-driven insights have further advantages. If there are reports of

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“Smart connected systems give food and beverage manufacturers a competitive advantage, boost product quality and safety, increase efficiencies and increase productivity – there is very little to lose by implementing them,” he concludes.

With all these benefits, why is predictive maintenance not more widely adopted by food and beverage manufacturers?

Comment Ten reasons to support NZ Made this winter Price Once thought to be the major barrier to buying local, great prices are now another great reason to support NZ businesses. With surging shipping costs, and lengthy delays and unfavourable exchange rates, it just makes sense.

‘shop local’ movement. More than 85 percent of Kiwis recognise the logo, and more than 60 percent of consumers are actively seeking NZ made brands over imports. It’s time to step up and show our support and back Kiwi made goods and services.

Quality

Range

Attention to detail is what separates locally made items from mass produced ones. NZ made products are much more likely to stand the test of time, making them sustainable, and in many cases are reusable and recyclable.

There is an exceptional range of NZ Made products on offer. It blows our minds what small businesses are doing in this country – from establishing an entire tea industry (Zealong Tea Estate) to a Kiwi take on a classic (Bootleg Jerky).

Times are tough

Seek out NZ Made alternatives next time you shop – you may be surprised at what’s on offer!

Small businesses have had a tough few years. Some have made the difficult decision to close and many are only just hanging in there. In economically challenging times, every dollar spent locally can make a huge impact.

It’s the Kiwi way Kiwis love supporting Kiwis. Entrepreneurship can be a difficult and lonely journey. When you spend money, you’re casting your vote for the kind of world you want to live in. In fact, research suggests two-thirds of every dollar spent on a small business is kept in the local economy.

The time is now! NZ Made has seen a resurgence in recent years with both businesses and consumers getting behind the

Fairness Sourcing goods from factories that don’t stack up ethically and discharge toxic waste isn’t who we are. Kiwi consumers are becoming more aware of the life cycle of what they purchase and are making more ethical purchasing decisions for people and the environment.

Reduce waste Waste reduction is a huge motivator for supporting buy local campaigns. Generally speaking, manufacturing close to home ensures greater quality control, reduced waste and significantly reduced logistics emissions.

Listen to uniquely Kiwi stories Treating peoplecontributing right to New Zealand’s future

www.akiwioriginal.com NZ has strict health and safety standards significantly reducing the risk for workers. Small to medium sized businesses and their workers are the backbone of this country – knowing they are fairly treated for their work is crucial.

All of the above Why pick just one reason? Shopping local is one of the simplest, most effective ways we can reduce waste, emissions and ensure the people who make our products are treated fairly. The time to support local is, and has always been, right now.

Every dollar spent locally can make a huge impact.

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

Q&A Holger Heinzel, HERA Digitisation and new technologies are having a profound impact on every facet of the manufacturing industry. As has been discussed in this forum, Industry 4.0 is upon us – enabling and also pushing businesses to collect and analyse data to streamline and improve the efficency of their systems and processes. The new tech gives so much – freed-up time and productivity boosts, less waste, far better and faster insights for a business to improve. We appreciate, though, that innovation requires investment and this is a time when many organisations are maintaining a hawk-like eye on capex and opex. The good news is that it’s worth it: HERA’s 2021 report in collaboration with BERL modelled the potential economic impact of Industry 4.0 on the New Zealand construction industry and found that

gains over the next five years could be as much as $8 billion, and a heartening $4 billion at the moderate optimistic forecasting. And that is only for that part of the NZ economy. The potential for individual businesses and the wider industry is clear if we can take advantage of it. To that end, we are focusing on tools and methodologies to help members and other manufacturing organisations with the transition to Industry 4.0. A good starting point for company is to establish where they currently sit at, as a starting point for their transformation journey or how far they might have already come. 1. What is the SIRI Assessment?

standards and what specific support we can offer.

Siri, short for Smart Industry Readiness Index, is an Industry 4.0-focused global assessment scheme. It was developed out of Singapore and is available to manufacturers in New Zealand.

In Industry 4.0, companies are going digital wherever practical, be it to capture information in digital format at source, to exchange internally or with their suppliers and customers or to add a digital product to their offering, or many other reasons.

In the past four years, over 300 companies worldwide have used the SIRI Assessment to formally evaluate their facilities and processes and kick-start their Industry 4.0 transformation. The tool works for a wide range of companies, including manufacturers and uses benchmarks for 12 different types of companies. It is designed to establish where a company should invest to progress innovation within the Industry 4.0 context. For HERA as an industry body, it gives us a picture of where the industry is in relation to global

New Zealand companies cover a wide spectrum of industry 4.0 maturity, with some quite advanced in innovation (such as many fabricators) and others still in relative infancy. What they have in common is that without an innovation roadmap, there is a risk of being left behind relative to their local and global competitors; the assessment addresses this risk by giving companies a view of where they are in the bigger picture and where they can go next. 2. How do companies access it? Companies seeking to find out more about the assessment can access it directly or through their industry body. HERA is one of the local experts offering the service. HERA members receive a discount and access to expertise in the area to facilitate the implementation process including the membership in HERA’s 4.0 Cluster. 3. How many New Zealand companies have done the SIRI assessment to date? At the time of writing, multiple manufacturers in New Zealand have already completed SIRI assessments trough local providers. One of them is Red Steel, the structural steelwork specialist (and HERA member) which is progressing along the Industry 4.0 spectrum; Red Steel is drawing on new Internet of Things capability to enhance the tracking and automation of processes to deliver the correct components to sites in the correct sequence to optimally support critical paths in construction. Using the assessment outputs, a company such as Red Steel can build an innovation roadmap that takes a holistic look at the whole company – from management to products, processes, R&D, and integration with suppliers and customers – to achieve company-wide improvements and efficiencies. 4. What does it involve? HERA’s SIRI assessment takes 1.5 days, and is done by the company with the support of an assessor as a guide or facilitator. The objective of the process being company-driven is that the organisation’s leadership and relevant

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New Products igus advances the circular economy with world’s first e-chain made of recycled material Conserving resources and extending the product life cycle – this is the goal igus is pursuing with the new E2.1.CG cradle-chain from Treotham Cradle-to-cradle: This is the principle of the circular economy, which is abased on nature. The aim: to return consumer goods to the biological or technical cycle in order to conserve valuable resources and raw materials. The motion plastics specialist igus is also pursuing this goal and has now developed the world’s first energy chain made from recycled material on the basis of its own “chainge” e-chain recycling program. From extreme weather and natural hazards to marine pollution, the climate crisis is getting worse and more and more people are becoming aware of it. “Even the purchasing decisions of our customers are increasingly being shaped by ecological considerations. That is why we have put a lot of effort into product development in order to be able to produce more resource-efficiently – without sacrificing product quality,” explains Jörg Ottersbach, Head of the igus e-chains Business Unit. The result: the E2.1.CG cradle-chain – a complete range of e-chains made from the new igumid CG material. Numerous laboratory tests show that the new e-chain has almost the same technical properties and load limits as an energy chain made from the

standard igumid G material. The new range is available from Treotham in five series and 28 chain types.

From discarded e-chain to recycled material The cradle-chain uses, among other things, recycled material from the “chainge” recycling program. As part of this program, igus has been collecting used energy chains from customers since 2019 so they do not end up in industrial waste. This service is offered for both igus e-chains and chains from other manufacturers. So far, more than 32 tons of material has been collected across 13 countries. For 2022, igus has set itself the goal of increasing this total to 500 tons.

More sustainability with consistent quality: The new cradle-chain made of recycled material conserves resources and drives the circular economy forward.

Sustainable raw material cycle – with 28% less CO2 With the new e-chain product range made of recycled material, igus is making a further contribution to conserving resources and advancing the circular economy. According to the Environment Product Declaration, this sustainable raw material cycle also reduces CO2 emissions by 28%.

Scrap material is sorted by type, cleaned and processed to new quality. This is possible with the help of a chemical analysis and formulation tuning- a process in which material is optimised for the desired properties and therefore enables constant product quality. The post-consumer material igumid CG is then used to make the recycled cradle-chain – without any loss of quality in terms of wear behaviour, stability or bending fatigue.

Matrix 320 5MP code reader enhances traceability for machine builders The Matrix 320 5MP image based reader optimises scanning and product traceability for manufacturing, automotive, logistics, retail, and e-commerce applications A new image based code reader empowers intralogistics traceability of products and components for machine builders and end users. The Matrix 320 5MP reader features an extended lens and lightings portfolio to solve a broader range of applications, including those with a large depth of field (DoF) or field of view (FoV). Datalogic’s latest reader in the Matrix range is Industry 4.0 ready, features complete embedded Industrial Connectivity (including OPC UA), which helps to reduce cost of integration. It is ideally suited to intralogistics, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing and logistics automation tasks. The Matrix 320 5MP reader’s modular design – with a complete portfolio of lenses, lightings, filters,

and accessories – provides top levels of flexibility and minimises time and cost. It helps system integrators to find effective, powerful solutions to grow the business opportunities for applications in any industrial environment. Quick reaction times and hands-free applications further improve operator efficiency. The reader’s outstanding performance will increase throughput and overall productivity for the end user. Illumination has been further enhanced in the Matrix 320 5MP model, with Very High Power (VHP) illuminator, featuring 36 LEDs, or an Ultra High Power (UHP) illuminator, featuring 72 LEDs, to enhance productivity for applications with demanding speed, distance, and DoF. The new scanner features an embedded distance sensor, with Time of Flight (ToF) technology that automatically detects reading distance to dynamically optimise scanning performance. Simple aiming systems, with cross-projection and a new grid pattern, allow the scanner to project visible read feedback on the label for an easy-to-see visual reading area, improving manual performance. The Matrix 320 reader can be used in a wide variety of applications, including: Intralogistics, Logistic, E-Commerce, Retail and Logistic Automation.

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NZ Manufacturer July 2022

New Products RS PRO grow their IoT range RS Components have responded to growing demand for Industrial IoT solutions and launched another 300 products in their RS PRO IoT range this June. IO-link sensors, data cables and HMI displays, including antennas and network testing equipment, are just some of the new products in the range. This brings the RS PRO IoT offer to over 8400 IoT enabling and smart connectivity products.

“We’re helping our customers embrace the IoT revolution”, says Scott Philbrook, Managing Director RS Components AU/NZ. “From wireless pressure transducers, to help safely monitor pressure in hazardous or inaccessible locations, to sensor boxes, which are compatible with all sensor brands, our Industrial IoT range has what our customers need to improve their operational efficiency.” Each RS PRO product is backed by the RS Seal of Approval, which represents industry standards for audit, inspection, test and certification. This combined with longer than average product warranties - reflects RS confidence in the quality and longevity of their products.

According to Scott, the expansion in the range is meeting demand in the market for affordable options for engineers looking for a choice. “We’ve seen an upswing in the sourcing of our current IoT product range and due to interest in other product verticals we have gone to work on this expansive range,” he explained. RS PRO makes IoT practical and accessible for everyone, providing a dedicated range with a wide variety of smart objects and elements needed to connect them together. The enhanced Industrial IoT range will be welcomed by RS PRO’s loyal customer base. These people recognise that as demands on productivity increase, only the smartest workplace, with the smartest tools, will win the race of efficiency. Check out the RS PRO guide to the Internet of Things here: RS PRO IoT range

Kemppi releases new MasterMig range Leading international welding equipment manufacturer, Kemppi, has released its new MIG/MAG MasterMig welding machine models 353 and 355. The 358 model is scheduled for release later this year. Designed in conjunction with professional welders, the new MasterMig range delivers a range of features to help enhance industrial welding productivity and quality.

Faster set-up for greater productivity

compromising quality.

The new, compact and powerful Kemppi MasterMig range comes with Weld Assist as standard. This feature lets users set-up welding parameters quickly and easily to save time and improve productivity levels. By simply selecting the joint type, welding position and material thickness, users are ready to weld. Equipped with memory channels, the MasterMig range also lets users save chosen parameters for fast retrieval. The ability to save customised settings means welders do not have to go through an initial setup for every job. At the turn of a knob, they can highlight the desired setting and proceed to weld. Highly convenient, this feature saves precious time, while helping to increase productivity.

Better Arc Performance Delivers More Productivity For greater welding productivity and control, the MasterMig 355 and 358 models can switch on the new MAX arc performance welding processes. MAX Cool, MAX Position and MAX Speed are new Kemppi welding processes that offer solutions for challenging steel, stainless steel and aluminum welding applications by increasing productivity, minimising spatter and speeding up welding without

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The MAX software options easily integrate with the MasterMig 355 and 358 models.

A choice of models Suitable for use on site or at the workshop, the MasterMig range delivers real choice. It includes the 353, 355 and 358 models in the compact MIG welding category. These are available as manual, synergic (Auto), and pulse (Auto Pulse) welding options. Users can also choose to weld with gas-cooled guns or the optional MasterMig cooling system for an integrated liquid-cooled package that maximises the 350A 40% ED welding power and enables more extended welding periods. The new MasterMigs also come with a range of convenient, optional transport units.

Greater safety Equipped with integrated and self-charging LED work lights, the new MasterMig range helps improve worksite safety, efficiency and convenience. The LED lights operate with and without mains power to help enhance productivity in low light conditions. Greater reach with the SuperSnake GTX The new MasterMig range can be combined with the compact sub-feeder SuperSnake GTX to extend the reach of your welding gun. This provides greater convenience when working on hard to reach welding

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The new Kemppi MasterMig range. sites. The SuperSnake GTX includes digital metering, a safetylock ON/OFF switch and a strong protective frame.

Digital wireless connectivity with the MasterMig 358 Integrated digital connectivity lets users examine their welding data. The MasterMig 358 can be easily connected to Kemppi WeldEye ArcVision. This software solution lets you track and record arc-on time and welding parameters for better insight into welding production. Raw data is collected digitally from connected welding stations and processed, and it can be viewed directly from your laptop. The MasterMig 358 includes a FREE 3 months’ trial licence for WeldEye ArcVision. Digital WPS (dWPS) is an optional feature for the MasterMig 358.

Quality range Designed and made in Finland, and strong and robust, the MasterMig range has been built to last. The new MasterMigs feature an injection-molded reinforced plastic casing that absorbs knocks, and ensures the machines can withstand challenging environments.

Developments Qual IT goes global through acquisition by Planit New Zealand IT quality assurance company, Qual IT, and partner company SEQA, have been bought by Planit, an Australian-headquartered global leader in quality engineering and application testing services. Planit is owned by Nomura Research Institute (NRI) Australia, part of NRI Global, a member of the Nomura Group. Based out of Tokyo, Japan. NRI Global employs 13,500 people around the world and has a market cap of US$15.7bn. In 2021, NRI acquired Planit and has continued to expand globally by acquiring Qual IT and SEQA in New Zealand. The combined entity of Planit and Qual IT will create the largest independent IT testing company in New Zealand and Australia, and the third largest globally. Qual IT’s partner company, cyber security company, SEQA has also been acquired as part of the deal with plans for growth in this sector.

Jon McPhee, Mike Weale, Shane Hewson.CEO of Planit.

The deal puts the value of the Planit Group within the top 10 New Zealand technology companies.

existing employees and clients. Qual IT and SEQA will initially retain their brands.

Senior management at Qual IT and SEQA will remain in place and continue to lead the business with

Shane Hewson and Jon McPhee, the founding

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partners of Qual IT, started the business almost 20 years ago in Wellington, and have grown it to over 250 employees across Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.

HOLGER HEINZEL, HERA

internal experts have bought in and committed the necessary resources to complete the assessment and yield the data. 5. What does the assessment establish? What are the next steps following an assessment? The assessment is a tool to support a principle of continuous investment, based on the idea that there is never an end point of innovation. It helps establish a baseline for where a company is at present and how it can build on its innovation programme, and provides a reference point or score in relation to the industry average for companies of a similar size and context, so each company knows where it ranks relative to the wider local and global industry.

It takes into consideration cost factors, company objectives and the envisaged speed of transformation, so it is well tailored to where each assessed business currently stands and where it should be heading.

HERA is running an “Industry 4.0 cluster” with the aim to give members the inspiration to start and sustain their industry 4.0 journey, and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, insights, and practical advice.

Next steps vary widely but can include driving automation in specific functions within the company, integration with suppliers and customers, an improved product lifecycle and adding different skills internally.

In the last year we have discussed topics including robotic welding, vertical integration, fabrication management software, and the Industrial internet of things (IIOT).

Crucially, the findings specify where investment can deliver the best returns on the company’s current trajectory. 6. What additional Industry 4.0 support is available?

Upcoming meetings will address 3D scanning of parts and sites, and industry 4.0 assessment – highly relevant to anyone intrigued by the SIRI Assessment opportunity. Interested companies can contact Holger Heinzel, HERA’s automation and welding 4.0 engineer, at holger.heinzel@hera.org.nz.

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Developments continued from Page 1

Hutt Valley VR company Eight360 goes global

tech and how it works. After studying Electronics Engineering at Victoria University, he cut his teeth in technology working in R&D for a company called Bluelab, designing hydroponics equipment in Tauranga and then moved back to Wellington for another interesting R&D job at local company Radian designing smart dairy automation systems. Miller always had a passion for going out on his own and so Eight360 also began during that period. “Eventually I ended up quitting the real job to go full-time on crazy VR balls.”

company. “Over the last 4 years we have raised more than $2mill NZD from investors, including the local Wellington group AngelHQ. The goal is to get to a point where the company is sustainable and we don’t need any more investment, but we expect to need more funds for expansion as orders and manufacturing cadence ramps up.”

Covid impactws Like many other tech businesses, Eight360 has been through its share of challenges as a result of the global pandemic. However, Miller says due to the physical nature of their work, they didn’t have the luxury of doing business remotely that other companies had. “The border closures were the most frustrating part of the pandemic, as we were gearing up to launch our international sales push in early 2020 but suddenly were unable to invite people here to demo the units or to travel to show them at events or deliver them to customers. “We had to completely rearrange how we operated, but it forced us to be creative and now we actually have a better setup than we would have otherwise.

Terry Miller.

Early days Supported by Hutt City Council and delivered by Creative HQ, 1st Assembly emerged from the Lightning Lab Manufacturing accelerator program in 2015 to provide a coworking community base for Wellington’s thriving hardware industry. Eight360 saw an opportunity to use this space to develop their protype and take it to the next level. “Right from the start, Hutt City Council have been hugely supportive. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for 1st Assembly. Hardware is hard and building a physical product has needs those other types of start-up do not. You need space and tools and somewhere you can make noise, and we didn’t have the money to rent our own place. Being able to move into the incubator and work alongside a bunch of other cool founders doing interesting things was great both for the support with our project, but also the community and contacts and inspiration from the other residents.” Miller says being a resident of 1st Assembly also brought them the opportunity to link up with other groups and clients, including the NZ Defence Force.

“Covid has been an ongoing issue for us, like many others. As a physical product company, not being able to get in the office makes it really hard to build units or do development work. Even ignoring the border restrictions that hindered our sales and marketing, we are still in the midst of the ongoing supply chain issues, and it makes it a lot harder to coordinate everything when the lead times on some parts might be 3-6 months (or, in one case, we finally received something this week that we ordered 18 months ago!).”

Light at the end of the tunnel The future is looking incredibly bright for the company who started off as a hobby in a humble garage. On the walls of the Eight360 office are several accolades and awards that Miller and his company have picked up over the years including, Winner of the 2020 Wellington Gold Awards for Innovation, the 2019 EngineeringNZ Young Engineer of the Year and they’re currently in the running for the 2022 HiTech Hardware Product (Eight360 NOVA) and HiTech Inspiring Individual of the Year award.

Fast-forward a couple of years of talks and demonstrations and the growing tech company is in partnership with the NZ Defence Force who in 2020 began trialling one of Eight360’s NOVA units for heavy vehicle driver training on its CAT 938K loaders and MHOV trucks.

“When you take the leap to build a start-up it’s really hard to know if you’re on the right track sometimes. When I think about the most awesome things that have happened on this journey, they all boil down to a moment of proof or validation that we’re actually on to something - that we have actually created a technology that is unique and innovative, and that the world recognises its potential.

“Technology has got to the point where simulation training has become a viable replacement for the real world. Using your half-a-million-dollar truck or multi-million dollar aircraft costs more, is dangerous, and causes wear and tear on those vehicles.”

A particular highlight for Miller is receiving an email from the Head of Training Systems at LockheedMartin, a world leading aerospace corporation that said, “I have never seen a motion simulation training platform that does what yours can do”.

More recently, Eight360 sent demonstration units of its NOVA VR motion simulator to Australia and the United States, marking a significant step in its ambition to break into the multi-billion dollar military training market.

Miller says they are currently pushing sales to universities in Australia and the US, while getting ready to attend IITSEC - the largest Defence Simulation Training show in the world in Florida later this year and are working with global tech leaders to pull together an amazing NOVA demo at the event.

The opportunities are just endless for the Hutt based

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“NOVA has so much potential as a platform to

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develop better experiences, and we are excited to see what our customers will use their units for and how the next generation of VR and immersive technology will expand what we can do.”

Hutt based opportunities According to Miller, Lower Hutt is the ideal location to operate a business. “Many of our specialist suppliers are also based in the Hutt so it makes it easier and more convenient to work with them as well. We have an ideal production space, there’s great cafes in Petone and we take a break from the computer along the nearby Korokoro dam walkway.” Despite being a great place to do business, Miller would love to see more hardware tech businesses in the region. “I continue to bang the drum on the fact that there are opportunities in the Hutt to seed the ecosystem with new hi-tech hardware ventures, but we just need more space. Hardware is hard, and you need a big door and facilities, and a place where start-ups can base themselves temporarily and not commit to long term leases. That’s why an incubator space like 1st Assembly was so good for us. I understand the Hutt City Council are exploring a new incubator space, and we should all get behind it. This is an investment in the greater Wellington start-up ecosystem and future high value manufacturing economy.” Miller says investing in the local ecosystem creates a halo effect as it brings new jobs, money into the economy and attracts talent to the region. “We are a growing business and one of our challenges is hiring people, currently we are on the lookout for an embedded systems engineer which is specialised and unfortunately there aren’t many around. If we had more tech companies move to the Hutt then there would be more people willing to move here for jobs, and this will only be positive for the local economy.” Miller is also passionate about educating and encouraging young people to consider a career in engineering and to be made aware of the opportunities for them in the tech world. “Eight360 is a perfect example to show kids of what is possible. I’ve done a heap of career talks in local schools and put a lot of effort into opening the minds of what the possibilities are. If we make it accessible, approachable and spark their curiosity, then they can be inspired to create something new that could change the world.”

STEMM day Lower Hutt.

The Last Word Worker Safety: Signs that it’s time to automate The safety and well-being of employees are crucial to the success of every business. Providing workers with an environment in which they feel safe, supported, and free of aches and pains ensures that they are productive and motivated. As Masayuki (Masa) Mase, Country Manager for Universal Robots Oceania explains: “Dull, dangerous, and dirty jobs should not be left to employees to fulfil. It’s imperative that businesses take a careful look at the signs of stress and strain injuries among workers to decide whether it’s time to pivot to automation.”

Empowering employees There’s a misconception that carrying out repetitive (and sometimes strenuous) manual tasks in the workplace will help to save on money, but Masa argues that this is simply not the case. “A shortage of

are an affordable, safe, and accessible automation option for companies both big and small.” Masa explains that Universal Robots is dedicated to improving working environments and safeguarding employees. “We want to live in a world where people work with robots, not like robots. We believe that no work tasks should threaten employers’ wellbeing, safety, or health and that cobots can help to significantly improve the workplace.”

Is it time to automate? “There comes a time when a business needs to automate and there are clear signs as to when this should take place,” explains Masa. “Most importantly, keep in mind that cobots are not there to replace employees, but rather to empower them to work alongside cobots while they focus on tasks that add value to the business.” 1. Aches and pains: “Performing repetitive tasks and lifting heavy items can become particularly taxing on employees. If staff are complaining, are off sick or are seeking attention for ergonomic issues, it’s imperative that a business takes the decision to prioritise employee wellbeing and automate.” As an example, manufacturers of high-tech suspension solutions for the automotive industry, Thyssenkrupp Bilstein (Ohio, USA), made a commitment to their employees in 2018 (especially women) that it would decrease ergonomically unfavourable tasks.

skilled labour can be attributed to a host of factors. These include an ageing workforce, a lack of migrant labour and the need for employees to put wellbeing first – even sometimes ahead of job security. Today many people are choosing the work that they want to do rather than settling for unfulfilling jobs.” Another big factor is that of quality. “Repetitive processes performed by humans are subject to discrepancies and errors.” This is where collaborative robots, or cobots, come in. “Collaborative automation is changing the landscape as we know it and is empowering employees. Since their inception by Universal Robots in 2007, cobots

“Nine UR10 collaborative robots were deployed at the manufacturer’s plant to automate tasks such as machine tending, assembly, and product inspection. The cobots optimised production and provided a better work environment,” explains Masa. 2. Space issues: “As your business expands, so do your processes. Based on this, many companies are turning to automation to assist with space savings.” In some cases, employees are forced to work in confined, awkward spaces that compromise quality, efficiency and staff health. “However, due to the small footprint and flexibility of the cobot, space constraints are not an issue.”

3. Awkward positions: “As an example, the FIAT 500 electric car production line in Turin, Italy had employees working in awkward positions which comprised on both quality and worker safety.” The application of a liner required the operator to apply constant pressure using a dynamometric roller - a task that could damage the arm joints and cause musculoskeletal disease over the long-term. “Today, two UR10e cobots operate in parallel on the door assembly line,” he adds. 4. Protecting the aging workforce: “15% of Australia’s workforce is over 65,” explains Masa. “To protect the aging workforce from repetitive and strenuous tasks, it is vital that we move to the ways of modern manufacturing.” As an example, Finnish company Pentik makes tableware out of clay. When a worker glazes tableware and shapes dishes with a tool, they will repeat the same task hundreds of times a day and these tasks are hard on the hands, shoulders, and backs of the workers. Now a UR10 cobot is glazing the tableware. The cobot imitates the movements of hands of Inkeri, a beloved worker who was responsible for this process for 30 years. An employee takes the piece from the deposit point and checks its quality. They wipe away excess glaze from the bottom of the piece so that it does not get stuck to the firing equipment. 5. No room for error: “Handling sharp and dangerous equipment is a task that should be automated,” says Masa. BOOG Machining Company specialises in short production series of machining, turning and milling of small, sharp parts. They were looking for ways to avoid and reduce health problems related to the handling of these production tools. “A UR5 came onto the scene and it helped them prevent accidents.” 6. Noise and/ or dust: “The last item on the checklist is an obvious yet overlooked factor. “Working in environments such as these can pose a health threat for employees and tasks should be automated.” Masa concludes, saying: “As can be seen by the many existing applications and implementations all over the world, cobot offer a safe solution for manufacturers”.

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