June 2017
Need High Quantities of Prototypes Fast? www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz
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EDITORIAL What next?
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BUSINESS NEWS Another missed opportunity to support our productive economy.
direct3dprinting.com.au
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Substantial growth for Nautech.
Engineering Society warns of potential tragedy if Government does not act -Craig Carlyle for MESNZ The national society representing maintenance engineering has waded into the recent substandard steel mesh debate with a call for the government to show leadership before a tragedy occurs.
elements. We are not talking single tragedies here, but the potential for a significant event taking out multiple lives.”
Maintenance Engineering Society of New Zealand (MESNZ) Chairman Barry Robinson says his society engaged with the government 7 years ago, highlighting the potential dangers of counterfeit materials. In Mr Robinson’s words, “The problem is endemic across the supply chain from steels and construction materials to stressed engineering
“We are talking about vast quantities of very sub-standard materials and products infiltrating our society at every imaginable level, including automobile brake hoses, lubricants, food, health supplements, medicines, drugs and alcohol”. The MESNZ points to potential issues with leaking houses, the reconstruction of Christchurch and significant
The Maintenance Engineering society has for several years gathered evidence of substandard steel, ball bearings, bolts, nuts, plumbing fittings, and others.
infrastructure, and advocates among industry for awareness around false material certificates. “Most people don’t think of it, but these things form the very core of our society’s ability to function”. “While the recent cases against Steel & Tube and Timber King highlight internal supply issues for New Zealand, soft trade barriers make us an attractive target for dumping substandard materials and the government appears frozen in the headlights when it comes to providing a solution that does not compromise our free market ethos.
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“Practical and effective supply chain solutions are possible, along the lines of the Qualitymark model created by the Beef and Lamb Marketing Board. The government needs to show leadership in seeding such a solution before tragedy strikes or our international reputation is degraded.” The QualityMark model works by accrediting suppliers who meet stringent product testing requirements. Testing is backed up with regular random sampling, giving continuous assurance to clients. The model was successfully introduced in the 1990’s to combat issues that included counterfeit meat.
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Such a model applied to the general supply chain would provide elective assurance for the market at minimal compliance cost. The Maintenance Engineering Society’s members represent manufacturers and industries right across New Zealand industry and regularly report potential issues discovered with counterfeit materials, false certification and incorrect certification.
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CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITORIAL 5 BUSINESS NEWS What next?
ADVISORS 6
Budget 2017: Another missed opportunity to support our productive economy.
Craig Carlyle
6 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY 9
Chipping away during the fourth industrial revolution. Laying the foundation for hybrid silicon lasers. Sales if industrial robots surging. Student designing own solutions to new challenges.
8
Catherine Beard
DEVELOPMENTS
Is Executive Director of Export NZ and Manufacturing, divisions of Business NZ, NewZealand’s largest business advocacy group, representing businesses of all sizes.
Managing contractor inductions, insurances and access rights. A H Gears impresses Maintenance Engineers.
10 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY 13
Substantial growth for Nautech. Partnering with NHP to achieve a Connected Enterprise. Rockwell Automation CEO discusses future of IoT.
COMMENT
9
Avoiding epic fails‌in design. 14 SOUTHMACH REVIEW SouthMACH 17 is a wrap.
Dieter Adam
Chief Executive, New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association has a Ph.D. in plant biotechnology, consulting and senior management roles in R&D, innovation and international business development.
16 SMART MANUFACTURING
The SKF smart manufacturing transformation. Digital production preparation tool integrates on-site. Partnership, collaboration and technical investment crucial for growth. Turning the linear circular: The future of the global economy. Digital simulation for the Industrial IoT. Metso partners with RA to create IoT solutions for mining.
Is Director of Maintenance Transformations Ltd, an executive member of the Maintenance Engineering Societyand the Event Director of the NationalMaintenance Engineering Conference.
13
Lewis Woodward
Is Managing Director of Connection Technologies Ltd, Wellington and is passionate about industry supporting NZ based companies, which in turn builds local expertise and knowledge, and provides education and employment for future generations.
22 LOGISTICS 23 SUPPLY CHAIN 24 FOOD MANUFACTURING
What can we really expect from the Belt and Road? Supply chain excellence.
Compact solid liquid separator environmentally friendly. New Zealand Food Awards 2017.
26 NEW PRODUCTS
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Colorsteel achieves environmental choice accreditation. Safety Maturity Index for Machine Builders Tool. Gas leak detector reduces equipment damage. Smart factory Management Suite achieves premium.
28 DEVELOPMENTS
Funding boost helps business upskill. Staff Culture: The biggest hurdle in health and safety. From Americas Cup to Dinosaurs.
30 ANALYSIS 31 REAR VIEW
How big data can improve manufacturing.
Exponential Manufacturing Revolution.
Dr Wolfgang Scholz
Is HERA Director and a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers NZ.
26
What next? PUBLISHER
Media Hawke’s Bay Ltd,1/121 Russell Street North, Hastings, New Zealand 4122.
MANAGING EDITOR Doug Green T: +64 6 870 9029 E: publisher@xtra.co.nz
Grab a cup of coffee and consider the following: What Next? Urgency needed on skill shortages.
CONTRIBUTORS
Dieter Adam, Holly Green, Dieter Adam, Grant Anderson, Blake Moret, Chris Barclay, Craig Carlyle NZMEA, www.mscnewswire.co.nz
ADVERTISING
Doug Green T: + 64 6 870 9029 E: publisher@xtra.co.nz
DESIGN & PRODUCTION Kim Alves, KA Design T: + 64 6 870 8133 E: kim.alves@xtra.co.nz
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Vol.8 No.5 June 2017 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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Budget 2017: Another missed opportunity to support our productive economy. Low productivity hurting New Zealand. It’s all about the present and the future and there’s enough issues in the above subject areas to shake a stick at. After all, a little bit of witchcraft might help! I hope you are up to date with all of this but seeing you are probably one of the 97 percent of SMEs in New Zealand you will already be concerned one way or the other. Not enough skilled staff, not enough money to pay them, lack of support for manufacturers in the Budget and the level of the nation’s productivity in manufacturing is nothing to write home about. The push for high yielding industries supported by Callaghan Innovation means that larger companies benefit while smaller ones don’t see it worth their time and energy to even apply. So, What Next? We all know what is next. This program could have been shown by TVNZ any time, any day, any year because there is always a What’s Next? We are continually being told about the future. About Industry 4.0, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, about where the jobs will be and how many people needed to do them. It’s a consternation where the stars don’t align. If you have robotics, for example in an orchard pack house you don’t need as many staff. As in Toyota car plants in Asia where staff numbers have been heavily
ASIA
MANUFACTURING NEWS
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NZ Manufacturer June 2017
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reduced. So where do the not required workers go? It is time for government, key industry groups, education institutions and leaders to sit down and work out a plan -one plan – that sees them on the same page. Not for a group to maintain its independence so that spokespeople keep their privileged, autonomous leadership position to show their relevance but continue to not influence the decision-making process. If we don’t have the skilled people then where will they come from? Tackle immigration not as Labour is – as a counter to National – but as servicing real needs. If engineers are in short supply, bring them in from overseas. Where there are shortages of doctors that’s what happens. Imagine a national airline needing pilots: they train locally and fill up the gaps from overseas. On the other hand, if we have highly skilled people not able to find a job in their profession, having to do less than their qualifications allow what does that say about the state of planning between industry and education?
Success Through Innovation
EDITORIAL
Doug Green
Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. - Ann Landers
BUSINESS NEWS
Budget 2017: Another missed opportunity to support our productive economy
- By Dieter Adam, Chief Executive, New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association Budget 2017 was released on the 25th of May, and while it has received a lot of attention, there has not been a lot of talk around what it contained in terms of support for manufacturers and the other productive industries in our economy. We saw some catching-up on core service and infrastructure spending, improvements for families, but little focus directly on our manufacturing and productive sectors. Firstly, the main area connected to manufacturing that saw any increase directly, was funding towards R&D support by Callaghan Innovation, which received additional funding of $74.6m over four years. That increase was only given, however, to Growth Grants, which are only accessible to larger companies. The stated reason for the increase was to keep up with demand. Project Grants, which are aimed towards
smaller and medium sized businesses, including most manufacturers, did not see any additional funding in this Budget. In contrast, support towards the film industry saw significantly higher increases: international screen production grants saw an additional $222m over four years, and domestic screen production grants increased $63.9m over the same period. Clearly, the Government sees the value of supporting this high-value industry - why else would they inject so much extra funding through these grant?. They say this direct support is indispensable to ensure New Zealand’s film industry keeps growing and quote a number of flow-on benefits to other sectors, like tourism. We’ll review the more tangible side of these benefits here at a later stage.
Many small and medium sized manufacturers who undertake R&D find it next to impossible, or simply not worth the time and hassle, to apply for Callaghan Innovation Project Grants.
However, we don’t see the same level of additional commitment to our high-value manufacturing sector, which faces intense global pressure and has high flow-on effects to the rest of our economy, creating demand for other sectors, employment and innovation that helps to create ever more complex and high-value goods and services. Keeping up with technology and investing in R&D is a vital component in staying competitive and growing into the future. We need to see more from Government and all political parties in terms of how they can create settings and policies that will help our productive industries grow and become more profitable through
continued on page 15
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
The best way to finish an unpleasant task is to get started. - Anonymous
Chipping away during the Fourth Industrial Revolution -Grant Anderson, CEO ANCA Group According to an entry in the Smithsonian1 , humans had developed crude toolmaking techniques by at least 2.6 million years ago. Chipping away at rocks made them smaller and sharper, offering various advantages to diet and defence in the lives of early man. Tools for cutting and grinding aren’t the latest idea, but some current trends show we’re entering a new, particularly exciting age. The invention of computer numerical control is much more recent than the first attempts at toolmaking, and was a serious step to turning things into an exact science. It has allowed for ever-increasing levels of complexity in end products, the removal of guesswork and human error, previously unimaginable tolerance levels, and ever greater output. Since then, there have been needs from customers that have forced continued innovation by tool grinder manufacturers, including the uptake of new materials and composites, and constantly rising demands from end users for elegance and function in products. Consider the sleek aluminium backing of a smartphone one component of a modern work of industrial art - and the manufacture of which is enabled by super-accurate tools. Putting aside the impressive prowess of machine tool producers, the demands of their customers and their customers’ customers will continue to evolve. Machine manufacturers are rushing to develop solutions for a new age of production. Consistent with the
flavour of what’s called Industry 4.0, VDW (Germany’s Machine Tool Builders’ Association) recently said that digitalisation and networking are predicted to deliver a “quantum leap” in competitiveness2 , and would focus on this at the premier Hannover trade fair. Overall, market research suggests global sales in machine tools will grow (at a slow rate3 ) in the near-term.4 One researcher on trends in the sector observed last year that the level of technology demanded is clearly increasing. Also, anecdotally, “commodity-type machines have fallen out of favour”5 . Among the trend towards smarter machines is the unmissable “Industry 4.0” push. Industry 4.0 - including production trends such as robotics, networked machines and analytics making sense of what’s collected by many sensors - is on the minds of machine tool makers. And for good reasons.
Robotics: Delivering more than just pallets Throughout various types of manufacturing, the uptake of robotics is hard to miss. The Industrial Federation of Robotics expects global unit sales of industrial robots to continue an annual double-digit percentage growth until at least 2019. Factory robot makers are deliberately offering products designed to be more intuitive (Rethink Robotics’ founder regularly compares his products to the iPhone) and flexible compared to previous generations of product. Robots have been involved for some time in basic functions such as loading. It’s reasonable to guess that as they become more usable they will find
more and more uses in conjunction with machine tools. This will, among other things, help owners get more use out of their investment. Robots are currently unable to “assume non-core processes” of such machines, offers one expert, but as “the machine tool is increasingly converging with the robot, they no longer stand side by side as separate components6 ”. ANCA has successfully and recently integrated multi-robot production cells for several customers. These have allowed for extra workstations within the one cell; to add capabilities such as washing, metrology and laser etching; and for the production of more complex parts. As robots will become more capable and cheaper, it is likely that they will be integrated with machine tools more frequently, delivering higher levels of automation, productivity and quality.
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The suite allows for easy data sharing between networked machines, as well as analytics to help identify and adopt the best ways of using these machines. Information becomes transparent throughout a team and can accessed remotely by logging on via a smartphone, computer or tablet.
smarter
The demand for connectivity is also apparent among customers. As is the case in more and more parts of the industrial world, users are wanting to collect and make use of what was once “trapped data”, as well as monitor operations remotely and be alerted if there is an issue.
It’s been a long journey from chipping away at the earliest stone age tools to where we are now, in an era where we’re past making tools by hand, and machines can talk to each other, talk to computers, and let you know when there’s a problem.
Production with data
gets
As robots will become more capable and cheaper, it is likely that they will be integrated with machine tools more frequently.
More recently, we added a Management Suite of software, delivering tool and wheel management, as well as sophisticated, easy-to-understand machine analytics through our Redax
NZ Manufacturer June 2017
software.
It also provides email and text alerts if production is interrupted: essential for confidence while running unmanned production.
For some time, ANCA has offered in-process laser measurement and compensation, allowing for software-driven adjustments to maintain accurate tool geometries if there are issues like wheel wear and thermal expansion.
6
Grant Anderson
Next I see that analytics will predict potential problems with the manufacturing process and self-correct to avoid the issue to keep production moving. The system will learn from the data of previous applications to inform future solutions. Essentially production will self-manage without reducing quality – it is an exciting prospect. We’re looking forward to chipping away in the current and Fourth Industrial Revolution, and to all the exciting possibilities it offers toolmakers and the works of art their innovations enable. 1 http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/ stone-tools/early-stone-age-tools 2 h t t p : / / w w w . e n g i n e e r i n g . c o m / AdvancedManufacturing/ArticleID/14487/Global-Machine-Tool-Consumption-to-Rise-in-2017. aspx 3 h t t p : / / w w w . e n g i n e e r i n g . c o m / AdvancedManufacturing/ArticleID/14487/Global-Machine-Tool-Consumption-to-Rise-in-2017. aspx 4 http://www.gardnerweb.com/cdn/cms/2016%20 WMTS%20Report.pdf 5 http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/the-2016world-machine-tool-survey 6 http://www.messe-stuttgart.de/en/fachdental/ journalisten/pressematerial/detailseite/text/ amb-2016-robots-on-the-rise//detail/ PressText/
Opportunities don’t happen, you create them. - Chris Grosser
Alibre Design is back! Professional and Expert versions.
Laying the foundation for hybrid silicon lasers Producing semiconductor lasers on a silicon wafer is a long-held goal for the electronics industry, but their fabrication has proved challenging. Now, researchers at A*STAR have developed an innovative way to manufacture them that is cheap, simple and scalable. Hybrid silicon lasers combine the light-emitting properties of group III–V semiconductors, like gallium arsenide and indium phosphide, with the maturity of silicon manufacturing techniques. These lasers are attracting considerable attention as they promise inexpensive, mass-producible optical devices that can integrate with photonic and microelectronic elements on a single silicon chip. They have potential in a wide range of applications, from short-distance data communication to high-speed, long-distance optical transmission. In the current production process, however, lasers are fabricated on separate III–V semiconductor wafers before being individually
Upgrade to new Expert version for all exisng users on maintenance.
aligned to each silicon device — a time-consuming, costly process that limits the number of lasers that can be placed on a chip. To overcome these limitations, Doris Keh-Ting Ng and her colleagues from the A*STAR Data Storage Institute have developed an innovative method for producing a hybrid III–V semiconductor and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) optical microcavity. This greatly reduces the complexity of the fabrication process and results in a more compact device. By first attaching a thin film of III–V semiconductor to a silicon oxide (SiO2) wafer using a SOI interlayer thermal bonding process, they produced a strong bond that also removes the need for strong oxidizing agents, such as Piranha solution or hydrofluoric acid.
Proving that wishes do come true, the former Alibre Inc., management team have taken back ownership of their soware from 3D Systems and produced a new version of Alibre Design. We’re back on track looking at a very bright and posive future for the soware. New soware available late June. Expert version: $4020.00 + GST and Professional version: $2186.00 + GST Prices include First Year Annual Maintenance. Orders being taken now.
All users of Geomagic Design with current Annual Maintenance will automatically receive a copy of the new Alibre Design software. Anyone with an old Alibre or Geomagic license will be able to renew their maintenance without penalty and receive the new software. Best value for money Design soware
And by using a dual hard-mask technique to etch the microcavity that confined etching to the intended layer, they eliminated the requirement to use multiple overlay lithography and etching cycles — a challenging procedure.
NZ supplier and training provider for Alibre Design
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Sales of industrial robots surging The biggest buyers of robots are car makers, but they are also being used in other industries.
Industrial robots are becoming smaller and cheaper, and manufacturers are buying them at a record pace, according to new sales figures. So what does this mean for human workers? Sales of robots in North America have surged by almost a third (32%) in the
last year, and that’s after a record year in 2016. It’s the robotics industry’s strongest ever first-quarter results, according to the Robotics Industries Association (RIA), which compiled the figures. Almost 10,000 robots, worth over $500
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.
million, were ordered from North American robotics companies during the first quarter of 2017. In 2016, 7406 were ordered, worth around $402 million. The RIA estimates that 250,000 are now in use in the United States, the third largest buyer of robots behind Japan and China.
- Jim Rohn
in other industries including metals, electronics, food and consumer goods. Companies are buying robots in order to increase productivity and boost competitiveness. Meanwhile, robots have been getting smaller and cheaper, which is helping to drive sales.
Market Research firm ABI Research predicts that global shipments of industrial robots could reach $45 billion in 2025, with an average year-on-year growth rate of 16%. The biggest buyers of robots are car makers, but they are also being used
Student designing own solutions to new challenges Mark was a shepherd and began coming up with ways which would allow him to still use a ute. He needed a hoist to get his electric wheelchair into the restricted space in the back, but could find nothing available which met his needs, so he made his own device.
He designed and built a large arm which lifts his chair neatly into the back cabin, just above where the sheepdogs fit. Mark faced another issue with the ute, however. He needed to be able to easily access the vehicle cab when he left his chair, but most off-the-shelf solutions required extensive modifications to the ute, which he wanted to avoid. With the help of an engineering firm in Nelson, he solved that problem too. He came up with another design utilising a support platform which fits into the seat frame, allowing him to get in and out of the driver’s seat. But he didn’t stop at the ute. Mark has designed a wheelchair hoist
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NZ Manufacturer June 2017 Rocket Lab – Liftoff, Mahia.
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for his jetboat too. With no engineering background he has gone through a process of trial and error, with some help from the professionals. Mark is hoping to move into a rural valuation, rural banking or consultancy role when he finishes his studies, though his hoists suggest a future in design.
They were all made to meet specific needs. However, if those needs change, or he has new ones and can’t find anything that meets them, who knows what else he might come up with?
He is doing engineering as part of his degree, but has no special projects lined up, and does not see any commercial potential in the things he has made so far. Mark Cooper is a person who gets on with things.
DEVELOPMENTS
When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour. -Elon Musk
Managing contractor inductions, insurances and access rights The use and management of contractors has certainly changed dramatically over the last 10 - 15 years. It used to be that a paper sign-in book or a quick conversation with reception or a security guard was enough to allow contractors on-site. The regulatory obligation of businesses has now evolved, and the informal processes of the past are no longer enough to manage contractors on your manufacturing site. At a very basic level, to manage contractors you need to be able to: • Know when they logged into and out of your site • Make them aware of Health & Safety policies and any potential hazards • Induct them to your site procedures and policies • Keep a record of contractor insurances and when they expire As a business you have a requirement to take practical steps to keep contractors on your site safe. This doesn’t need to be a daunting task, and here are four simple guidelines to follow: 1. Know who is on-site: Organisations throughout the world are obligated under various Acts and Regulations to ensure the safety of people while on-site. Without a robust process for reporting on non-staff presence in real-time, it’s difficult to demonstrate compliance. 2. Maintain guest confidentiality: The privacy of your contractors is often overlooked. A handwritten
visitor book is not a secure sign-in method and can surrender confidential information to other visitors at a mere glance. You could also be unwittingly showing who your business has contacts with, or which competitors might be bidding for a contract! 3. Keep it professional: Easy-to-use contractor sign-in, ensuring in the event of an emergency you can easily account for all people on-site. 4. Contractors are customers too: Ensure your brand is well presented every time someone interacts with it. While contractors can be managed manually, it is time consuming, expensive and hard to keep the information up to date. Like many aspects of business, software automation is leading the charge in the contractor management space. By using software such as WhosOnLocation, businesses can have peace of mind. They know they are meeting regulatory obligations (and are notified immediately if something’s wrong); they are easily able to access up-to-date records; and they have access to robust reporting when it’s needed (for example, in an emergency evacuation). The benefits of introducing contractor management software to your business are abundant. You will see... • Improved site security, giving greater protection of your assets and people • Improved safety of your people • A reduction in the risk of accident and illness • Greater
satisfaction
for
the
everyone on-site.
contractor, and you as the client • Fewer incidents, losses, stoppages and delays • A cutback in the time spent dealing with problems • Continuous practices
improvement
in
• Financial savings
4. Does the software offer visitor management too? Tracking your contractors in the same software as your visitors means those who manage your entry points only need to learn and manage one application, which offers the following efficiencies:
When shopping around for contractor management software, here are the top questions you need to ask: 1. Can the software integrate with other apps if required? This allows you to leverage existing investments in other applications. 2. Is the software able to manage and automatically notify when requirements are due to expire or need to be updated? And can inductions, insurances, access rights, hazard notifications, qualifications and certificates be managed electronically? These not only free up staff time but also ensure you are always compliant. 3. Can the system alert you of potential risks to contractors and employees on-site? For example, can you set up a notification when a contractor is working alone? This will mean you are better able to monitor the Health and Safety of
1. One software licence fee 2. One place to load, update and notify hazards 3. No entry to unauthorised contactors or those banned Is it easy to use and setup? You want to ensure that you can get your software up and running for your business quickly (24 - 48 hours for a web application) and with as much ease as possible. Does the software offer reporting of who’s on-site at any given time? To meet your Health & Safety requirements, track movements and undertake a roll call in an emergency. It’s important that you find the right software for your business needs. If it’s the right fit, contractor management software won’t just improve your Health and Safety practices, you’ll also see its positive effect on your services, productivity, and customer experience.
AH Gears impresses Maintenance Engineers When you have attendees coming from as far away as Taranaki, Waikato and Thames to attend a Kaeser Compressors Network Evening you know you have something special.
When the hosts travel all day by plane and car just to help out on the night you also know you have a special team. AH Gears are New Zealand’s leading large industrial gear specialists and the sheer size and range of what they achieve in their Penrose machine shop made attending well worth the effort when the Maintenance Engineering Society returned for the second hosted network evening. The Technology displayed at A H gears had the many engineers amazed at what
Dave Horsfall with an overhauled wind turbine gearbox.
was being produced and repaired. Many of the gears and gearboxes were huge and the machines to produce them very impressive. A generational company founded by Andy Horsfall and now managed by son David Horsfall, AH Gears is ISO 9001 accredited and provides high quality gear services to industry with gear cutting, precision cnc gear grinding, gearbox servicing and design.
The evenings offer the opportunity to take a look at the host operation and discuss common issues and solutions in a relaxed after work environment. Open to interested members of the public, the nights are well patronised.
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The MESNZ Kaeser Compressors Network Evenings are hosted to showcase local operations and provide networking opportunities for engineers across all regions of New Zealand.
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
Winners make goals, losers make excuses. - Unknown
Substantial growth for Nautech It is just coming up to two years since Nautech experienced an unforeseen event which resulted in a substantial loss of business. Through no fault of the company the business lost revenue amounting to around 35% of annual turnover. Once the dust had settled Nautech set about re-inventing itself to transform its business in to becoming New Zealand’s leading contract manufacturer of electronic and electro mechanical assemblies through the adoption of lean manufacturing principles combined with investment in advanced manufacturing technology in the form of robotics and automation.
Investment in both technology and people is set to continue, combined with innovation, it is the way the business differentiates itself from competitors both at home and overseas. Nautech’s core business is supplying electronic and electro mechanical assemblies to some of New Zealand’s leading technology exporters.
Through innovation and a commitment to maintain and develop a world class manufacturing capability the future for Nautech is continued growth
The strategy has paid off and in the intervening period the company has grown substantially, winning new customers both at home and overseas. Today this transformation continues, to date this year Nautech has invested in robotic manufacturing, automated optical inspection and the most recent purchase is a turnkey X-ray inspection system that has been necessitated by the increasing use of “Ball Grid Arrays” BGA’s “Quad Flat No-lead” QFN’s and a range of similar components that are difficult if not impossible to inspect using conventional technology.
and expansion. It is well documented that the only way to grow a manufacturing business in New Zealand is through developing export markets. The competitive advantage gained through investment means that Nautech is now able to sell its services further afield. Over recent months Nautech as successfully competed for business in Australia and is now actively
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AH Gears impresses Maintenance Engineers As well as learning firsthand about the capabilities and global achievements of AH Gears, the attendees enjoyed much appreciated light refreshments kindly supplied by the AH Gears team.. The Maintenance Engineering Society is active across New Zealand, providing professional development opportunities for maintenance engineers and manufacturing operations to network and share innovations and experiences; both at a national level at their annual national conference or at these regional events. The 2017 National Maintenance Engineering Conference will be held at the Claudelands Event Centre, Hamilton in November.
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looking at markets.
other
geographic
R & D features heavily in Nautch’s strategy, in terms of both process and production innovation and offering the capability to develop products either for or in collaboration with customers. In terms of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, New Zealand punches well above its weight. However, business often fails in the transition from concept to product. This is where Nautech’s R & D capabilities are able to add significant value, by taking a customer’s concept, refining it Through Design for Manufacture (DFM) and developing it into a fully functioning product. This again is used as a differentiator as few if any of Nautech’ s competitors have the capability to offer such a service. Continued population growth within New Zealand creates both business opportunities and ensures we maintain a good pool of talent that is needed to maintain business growth. On the downside, it is concerning and somewhat perplexing that when highly skilled vacancies are advertised the business rarely if ever see’s applications from young Kiwi’s. Government also has a role to play. You cannot build a thriving balanced economy that is purely focused towards agriculture or other commodity based industries. Government needs to create the conditions whereby our home-grown tech companies can thrive and avoid the risk of such businesses withering on the vine
through lack of funding and guidance or even worse, being sold overseas and shipped offshore to more conducive business environments. Through innovation and a commitment to maintain and develop a world class manufacturing capability the future for Nautech is continued growth and expansion. The business is constantly looking to increase its value proposition through the development of complimentary service streams that enhance the overall product service offering, creating further competitive advantage. Nautech’s philosophy is best summed up by its mission statement:
“We will form strong relationships with our clients and staff, encouraging teamwork integrity and innovation, to design, manufacture and supply quality products and services”.
Accountability breeds responsibility. - Stephen R. Covey
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
Partnering with NHP to achieve a Connected Enterprise Accelerated by the emergence of the Internet of Things (IOT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) and the advances in enabling technologies, the Connected Enterprise elevates opportunity through greater connectivity and information sharing. In essence, the concept of the Connected Enterprise consists of industrial operations that are intelligent, optimised, and secure. Central to achieving this is the convergence of Information Technology (IT) and Operations Technology (OT) into a single unified architecture. This architecture can then be used to capitalise on operational, business and transactional data for improved enterprise, operations and supply chain performance. Further to achieving this vision, it is critical to have connectivity at every level; this includes any sensor, valve, motor starter, contactor, breaker or relay at a particular site. With much hype around the IOT and the IIOT, global automation companies are busily building Ethernet into their devices to allow enhanced communication and turn terms such as
Industry 4.0 into a reality. The Connected Enterprise brings top floor and plant floor together to optimise productivity and competitiveness, however, for existing plants a common challenge exists - how do we enable all this proposed value? Upgrading controllers with Ethernet and buying new OEM machines with current technology may not result in production increase and may even cause availability issues and security breaches if the backbone of the system, being the plant network, is not where it needs to be. To fully experience these benefits it’s important to first partner with a company that understands and can enable your vision and at NHP we deliver automation, intelligent motor control and sensing solutions that promise future integration to enable your Connected Enterprise.
Most manufacturing plants are only able to access 1% of collected data from their operations, however, NHP allows you to unlock the other 99% of data using secure, standards based industrial automation systems. Partnerships with global industry leaders, Rockwell Automation and CISCO, strengthen NHP’s ability to bridge the gap seamlessly between these systems that were traditionally separated.
leading technology. NHP can help you prioritise the upgrade of your plant infrastructure in order to drive maximum improvements in the metrics that matter to your operations.
These partnerships allow NHP to deliver one solution from the factory floor, through the Industrial Demilitarised Zone (IDMZ) and now up to the enterprise network, improving and scaling security and simplifying access to data.
Some typical areas that can benefit from these solutions include, improved product quality, increased production efficiency and reduction in costs. NHP can help you identify the areas that needs attention first, and work with you one section at a time in order to develop your Connected Enterprise.
NHP provides an expert team with the specialised knowledge when designing and building these system solutions from the ground up using
For any more information on how NHP can help you with your next project, visit nhp-nz.com/more/enterprise
Productivity Improvement Reporting & Analytics
Integrated Safety
Serialisation
Energy Efficiency
Your Partner in Intelligent Manufacturing Whether the goal is to increase the safety and efficiency of your manufacturing process, improve the quality of your product or to create better visibility into your manufacturing data, NHP offers a wealth of knowledge and experience in Intelligent Manufacturing. Complementing our comprehensive range of industrial and automation products, is our ability to add value to your continuous improvement projects. We pride ourselves on providing custom manufactured solutions tailored to your needs, supported by expert service. To find out how NHP can assist on your project, visit nhp-nz.com/more/manufacture
NHP ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING PRODUCTS 0800 NHP NHP | nhp-nz.com | NNZMANADV_62219_05/17
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MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once. -Samuel Smiles
Rockwell Automation CEO discusses future of Industrial IoT
“Manufacturers and industrial operators are discovering practical ways to apply IoT across their operations, and they’re deriving measurable business value as a result,” Moret said. “Combining IoT technology and expertise in specific industrial applications enables better collaboration, faster problem-solving and increased productivity.”
Blake Moret shares insights on IoT and Industrial Productivity at Cisco’s 2017 Internet of Things World Forum Blake Moret, president and CEO of Rockwell Automation, spoke on Internet of Things (IoT) adoption and its impact on industrial productivity, sharing insights with more than 1,200 business leaders at Cisco’s IoT World Forum in London.
solutions, and another 43 percent
As the industry’s only company solely dedicated to industrial automation and information, Rockwell Automation is uniquely positioned to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with harnessing the future of smart manufacturing.
its number of pilots across industries,
As Moret described, the positive outcomes associated with IoT will continue to accelerate as organizations progress from pilot or proof-of-concept IoT projects to scalable IoT deployments.
explores the
are looking to deploy solutions in the next 12 months. Rockwell Automation is seeing a similar trend in its deployment of IoT solutions, and continues to increase applications and geographies.
According to the Global IoT Decision Maker Survey published by International Data Corporation (IDC), nearly one-third (31 percent) of those surveyed have already launched IoT
The 2017 IoT World Forum impact of IoT on business, technology and society.
Moret referenced several factors driving the adoption of industrial IoT and connected operations, including lower cost of computing and connectivity, and the convergence of information technology and operations technology. Moret explained how a connected enterprise that adopts IoT technologies can generate better insight into industrial operations and deliver greater value by providing the right information at every level of their business through scalable analytics. He cited Great Lakes Brewing Co. as
Blake Moret, president and CEO of Rockwell Automation, explains how the Internet of Things impacts industrial productivity at Cisco’s IoT World Forum in London.
a Rockwell Automation customer that is adopting scalable analytics to improve visibility and productivity for different parts of their operations. The 2017 IoT World Forum explores the impact of IoT on business, technology and society. As strategic partners, Rockwell Automation and Cisco have long collaborated on industrial networking and security solutions required for industrial digital transformation. Together, they help manufacturers improve business performance by bridging the technical and cultural gaps between plant-floor and higher-level information systems.
Women leading the way in software engineering Three women form most of the University of Waikato delegation to the Engineering Interactive Computing Systems conference (EICS) to be held in Lisbon, Portugal from 26-29 June. Software engineering doctoral students Jessica Turner and Sapna Jaidka, and lecturers Dr Judy Bowen and Professor Steve Reeves, will be presenting papers
Develop your people & grow your business Speak to us about training options 0800 526 1800 competenz.org.nz
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at this specialised international engineering conference. The University team is strongly focused on the methods, techniques and tools to improve safety-critical devices (which are mainly used in the medical field). About 100 attendees are anticipated at the conference which covers all engineering aspects in the design, development, deployment, verification and validation of interactive systems.
COMMENT
As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Avoiding epic fails... In design
Chris Barclay Business Development Manager, Motovated Design & Analysis Recently I was the incredibly fortunate recipient of a brand spanking new mountain bike. To be fair, I had earned it. It was my 30th birthday and a new bike was well past due.
decided that the marketing team didn’t need to communicate with the frame design team or the guys in production. Safe to say my new ride would be a bit disappointing.
My wife managed to con my family into contributing towards it and I knew exactly what I wanted. A quick trip to the bike shop in Christchurch and a couple of days later I was in the Port Hills bunny hopping over treacherous terrain. Life was good.
At Motovated we practise collaborative engineering regularly. Our team will quite often arrange meetings with our clients, their design team, an external manufacturer and numerous other parties. Doing this creates an environment where everyone has the opportunity to add in their opinion and collectively discuss problems and solutions. Not only do you get the benefit of putting all the cards on the table, you also create multiple relationships that can lead to repeat business and referrals.
However, I did not take into account the fact that a new bike does not dramatically improve your riding ability, nor does it make you impervious to injury or as some call it, Epic Fails. Just like mountain biking, epic fails can spell disaster when it comes to engineering design. Some simple truths and common sense can often alleviate a lot of headaches and provide a process that is efficient and reliable. I am not referring to complicated project management software. This stuff is all free! Talking about collaboration I am quite a thorough researcher. The process of getting a new mountain bike was not taken lightly. I trawled through MTB forums, magazine reviews and various bike shops. The biggest advantage however; was talking to the end user. In my adventures on local bike trails I talked to dozens of people about the pros and cons of their bikes and all their different geometries and specifications. Every step of the way I was talking to mountain biking mates and sending pictures and links to get their input and feedback.
Right person, right tool My local bike park in Queenstown is a great place to observe people. More importantly I get the opportunity to check out people’s bikes, their riding gear and different technique’s. It is highly amusing seeing someone incorrectly matched to their bike though. For example, I saw a rather petite young lady with less stature than Frodo the Hobbit attempting to climb aboard a very large mountain bike. With her feet barely touching the pedals she rode off looking very undignified. I was glad to see several of her friends chase after her shouting advice. Wrong person, wrong tool.
complex analysis software. Extreme example I know, but the basic principle is there. Each person in a design team has different skillsets and experience with particular software, materials and techniques. An engineer skilled in SolidWorks will also be able to use Inventor but perhaps not Solid Edge ST as efficiently. This in turn creates an opportunity for upskilling and having employees with diverse experience. With advanced software such as FEA or perhaps CFD, specialised training and experience is required. We often see cases where frustrated engineers can’t get answers from the software or require additional help to get it functioning correctly. Add the confusion of trying to extrapolate the analysis data to validate other testing results and quite rightly, you have the recipe for an Epic Fail. This process requires time, practical experience, and mentoring from senior analysts who live and breathe the stuff. A quick and dirty training course is not going to make your pretty FEA picture mean anything. Just like a builder, the tool is only as good as its user. A hair pulling epic fail can be easily diverted when management take the time to assess skills and match it to the right tools for the job. With all our new employees at Motovated we are careful to test capabilities, determine strengths and look at areas for improvement. Catching the bugs
When considering any product destined for the local or international market, having a collaborative approach should be top of the list. Imagine if Norco Bikes, the company that produced my brilliant steed,
When it comes to design there needs to be some consideration put into who is going to do what. This is where management needs to look carefully at project roles and what tools those people need to succeed. For example, a junior engineer who doesn’t know what FEA stands for is hardly going to be the best person to work with
Mistakes are in human nature. I made the mistake of thinking Asics sneakers were ok to wear on a downhill mountain bike track at Cardrona recently. Queue “Epic Fail” theme music! I ended up in the air with my feet unattached to my bike, the ground rapidly approaching and not much confidence in maintaining my ability to ever have children in the future. Fortunately there was only one family on the chairlift above pointing in horror at my predicament. Lesson learnt. In product design, mistakes are costly, and the longer it takes to discover a problem, the more costly it becomes. Recently I came across an article written by Dr. David M Anderson. In it he talks about Design for
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Manufacturability and what he calls, “The Rule of 10”. Essentially he states that it will cost 10 times more to find and repair a defect at the next stage of assembly, and then it costs an additional 10 times more at each ensuing stage of production. His theory looks something like this below.
It is also possibly that your business will have its own multiplier for this process, such as 5X or anywhere in between. What is more important is the fundamental principle itself. You could also take this concept and use it at earlier stages during the actual engineering of a product. We all know it is easy to turn a blind eye to something that “wasn’t my fault”. As time goes on though, those mistakes that should have been resolved at the previous stage are just passing Go and collecting $200 continuously. Eventually they will rear their ugly heads, and screams will be heard around the office. Then there are the mistakes that require tooling changes which can often run into petrifying dollar figures, followed by the CFO paying a quiet visit to your department. But of course we are human after all. Mistakes do happen. What I want to emphasis is catching the mistakes as early on as possible. If you haven’t already, bring your fabrication or manufacturing team into the Product Design stage so that concurrent engineering can take place and you will be able to apply the knowledge that they bring to your team. In addition people feel valued when they are included :) The three points I have just mentioned do not require the IQ of Einstein or a Degree from Harvard. Common sense always prevails and with the careful addition of some maths and physics you can avoid making mistakes. The last thing your business needs is an Epic Fail. Trust me, they are painful.
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SOUTHMACH REVIEW
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once. -Samuel Smiles
SouthMACH 17 is a wrap! And what a show it was! The second time for SouthMACH under new ownership of XPO Exhibitions was a ‘blockbuster’ in 2017. Held at the Horncastle Arena, Christchurch on the 24th and 25th of May, the Mainland’s largest event for the manufacturing, engineering and technology industries has been deemed a great success by both visitors and exhibitors. Here are just a few comments; • “2015 was great but 2017 even better full credit to all organisers, Well done” • “Great show good to see it changing with the times” • “SouthMach was a great show and we had excellent sales from it, so thank you!” (3D Printing Systems) • “We really enjoyed the show and are happy with the results” (Global Shop Solutions) • “Thank you and your team for delivering another good show” (Baskiville)
Attracting more than 100 international and local exhibiting companies across a range of industries and a strong attendance of industry visitors, SouthMACH 17 has once again proven the South Island “Heartland of Manufacturing” is in good shape. Exhibitors, although still following up on their leads have acknowledged the high calibre of the visitors with genuine buying interest. The organisers advise that audited visitor numbers of trade attendees will be available in a week or so from the Circulations Audit Board – however it’s the excellent quality of visitor that has resonated with exhibitors. The show delivered a broad spectrum of new products and innovations - a mix of kiwi made/designed and/or internationally sourced. On display was a showcase of the latest in CNC machinery (and of particular note this was the highest number of CNC machines ever seen at the show), Industrial Automation and 3D printing technology.
Spring & Wire form manufacturing company where solutions are created for your problems. 09 277 5982 • www.natspring.co.nz
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A very busy industry led seminar program touched on all the current worldwide industry topics from Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things to Advanced Manufacturing. Kiwi Designers and Manufacturers came together and showcased their World Class products as perfect examples of industrial collaboration. Caliber Design (Stabicraft), Locus Research (Ubco 2 x bike) and Motovated Design & Analysis (Peter Caugheys Jet Sprint Boat) are companies that are leading this innovation and all shared their successful insights with many hundreds of SouthMACH’s visiting professionals. The Competenz Apprenticeship workshop and Speed dating session, which attracted a large group of motivated high school students looking at starting a career in Engineering / Manufacturing and supported by
renowned Kiwi businesses such as Hamilton Jet & Metalcraft, is a great new initiative that will be continued going forward. The event has literally shown our youth how exciting and rewarding a career can be in the manufacturing industry – and the event organisers are only promising to grow on this at future events. The organisers are now ramping up for EMEX, New Zealand’s largest national technology trade show for the manufacturing, engineering and electronics industries – the show is already 80% booked and promising to be their largest show yet. Those claims are big boots to fill when the previous EMEX in 2016 included 160 exhibitors and was attended by over 5,000 visitors, the highest in a decade.
Victory comes only to those prepared to make it, and take it. - Thomas Leo Clancy Jr.
BUSINESS NEWS
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Budget 2017: Another missed opportunity to support our productive economy investment in process and product innovation. There continues to be a missed opportunity to review and improve our R&D support system. Within the current Grants system, many small and medium sized manufacturers who undertake R&D find it next to impossible, or simply not worth the time and hassle, to apply for Callaghan Innovation Project Grants – or sometimes even to claim under grants already approved. In addition, R&D into process innovation and productivity improvement still does not appear to be recognised in the same way as product innovation. R&D grants are great for those companies who meet the Governments definitions and able to go through the process to receive them – but if we really want to increase R&D spending across the board to a wider group of companies, moving to a R&D tax credit system would be simpler and open support up to more companies, especially those small and medium sized manufacturers. The Budget did see some additional finding towards the Trade Agenda. Much of this appears to be focused on outcomes for the primary sector, however, which matches our experience of trade agreements. For
better outcomes for manufacturers, the hard work tends to start after FTA’s have been signed and the task of getting into the details of removing non-tariff barriers starts. Aside from these measures directed at the business sector, there were a number of significant changes, including adjusting income tax thresholds and boosting Working for Families, as well the Accommodation Supplement. However, according to an analysis from NZIER and Victoria University, at least in some areas, such as Education and Health, spending is still failing to keep up with our strong population growth, or maintain the status quo at best. For those effected, these changes could be helpful in the short term, particularly with the Accommodation Supplement. Many families are seeing housing costs rise much faster than wages - or productivity, for that matter. This appears to be a growing problem, especially for companies operating in high-cost areas like Auckland, and could aggravate existing skill shortages. The core issues in housing, both on the demand and supply side of the equation, still need to be addressed to ensure the affordability problem and its associated stability risks are sorted out.
The business of technology The Technology Investment Network (TIN) Investors Guide has drawn its information from the top 200 New Zealand technology firms. Highlights of the Guide include: • Revenue growth in 2016 came from Auckland and Northland 12.2%. Hamilton 11.1%. Central North Island 0.9%.Wellington 15.3%.South Island 9.2%. • An increase of 239% in foreign investment in early stage technology companies. • Revenue growth of the past year of 12% (over $1B). • Growth across every New Zealand region. • Highest growth sectors are FinTech 23.1% and Digital Media 15.9%. • The New Zealand technology sector contributes 16.2B of national GDP, consisting of 28,749 forms, employing 98,900 workers. • $6.9B generated in offshore revenues. • Technology is New Zealand’s third largest export sector. • 21% of the companies now have revenues exceeding $50m.
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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.
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.
Phillip Wilson Chris Whittington
Senior Lecturer at AUT, Chris Whittington is a versatile Engineer, Educator and Researcher. Chris has had many years experience in senior engineering and product management. Chris has a strong background in computational modelling, 3-D scanning and printing, and a strong interest in engineering education.
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Phillip Wilson of Nautech Electronics has over 25 years of experienced in the development, commercialisation and implementation of advanced manufacturing technology, robotics, automation and materials. Serving companies operating within the aerospace, automotive, offshore, defence, medical and scientific industries on a global basis. More recently specialising in change management and business re-alignment for a range of commercial entities from medium sized SME’s to divisions of large corporates.
If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution. – Steve Jobs
The SKF smart manufacturing transformation Digital technologies are helping SKF revolutionise the speed and flexibility of its production operations. For customers, that means shorter lead-times, smaller inventories and lower costs. Manufacturing excellence has always been a vital part of SKF’s offering to its customers. The performance and durability of products depend on appropriate materials, precise geometry and accurate assembly. To achieve those things, the company is continually refining and evolving its production processes and capabilities. World-class manufacturing isn’t just about precision, however. It also requires great flexibility. To ensure the best possible service for customers, while keeping costs under control, manufacturers need agile, adaptable production systems that handle small batches and work to short lead times. In common with many top manufacturing companies, SKF has adopted the principles of lean manufacturing, with its relentless focus on elimination of errors, delays and other forms of waste. Now the company is building a new generation of manufacturing systems, which embrace the power of today’s digital technologies to achieve a further step-change in speed, efficiency and flexibility. “At SKF, world-class manufacturing is about providing innovative sources of value for the customer at the most efficient cost,” says Roberto Napione, Manager of SKF’s Machine Centres of Excellence and Standardisation. “In today’s environment, we can no longer work in fixed production sequences, we want to take the real-time demand from the customer and produce those specific products in the volume batch required.” That capability has the potential to provide tremendous value for SKF’s customers, he explains. Today, many of them spend considerable time and effort attempting to forecast future demand. Then they tie up valuable capital in stock to meet that forecast. In the future, those customers will be able to order what they need, when they need it, with confidence that the
right product will be available at the right time.
machines, from other parts of the business and from customers, too.
It’s a compellingly simple idea, but it is one that requires complex changes behind the scenes. “The digital transformation in manufacturing involves improving flexibility through the complete flow of our manufacturing processes. It’s about producing batches of products with a very low number of pieces in each batch,” says Napione.
And for energy efficiency it is about optimising energy consumption and reduce the waste as much as possible. “Energy plays an important role from a cost perspective, but achieving more sustainability and ensuring that energy is not wasted is also part of any organisation’s social responsibility,” he notes.
That flexibility is delivered in two ways, he explains. First, there is “vertical” flexibility, provided by machines that can switch automatically between different products without the need to stop production for manual tool changes, adjustments and checks. That involves a high degree of automation, for example using robots to exchange tools and other components. Then there is “horizontal” flexibility, which is about achieving seamless connectivity across the organisation. “That’s about ensuring that the processes used by every part of the organisation – supply chain, procurement, manufacturing – are integrated all around the world so they work as a system and operate using a single communication platform.” says Napione.
Several levers, one goal Inside the manufacturing operations, says Napione, SKF focus are to increase efficiency, be more flexible and reduce lead-times at the lowest possible cost.
To achieve its objectives, the company is making use of a wide range of tools and technologies. Soon, during development, the “digital twin” approach will allow SKF to simulate products, production processes and even to process energy consumption in a digital environment. This will allow for designs to be refined and process flows optimised before a single machine is set or any component are processed in real-time. The machines it uses on the shop floor will contain high levels of automation, so they can adjust themselves to suit different requirements. They will bristle with sensors too, so they can monitor their own health and performance, make corrections and adjustments on the fly, or alert maintenance teams of impending problems. Automated identification systems will allow products to be tracked through production, and give machines the information they need to carry out the right actions on every part they receive. Finally, cloud-based data storage and communication systems will tie the whole digital manufacturing process together, and provide those vital horizontal links to the wider organisation.
If we then consider the efficiency part this means to have maintenance efficiency by keeping machines running accurately and reliably for as much of the time as possible.
A transformation in process
For operational efficiency, we want to maximise production performance while minimising cost. For information efficiency, we have to ensure that the right information can be retrieved and acted on at the right time, from
Integrating all those elements is a hugely complex process, requiring considerable human skill and ingenuity, says Napione. As result, the complete digital transformation of SKF’s manufacturing operations won’t
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happen overnight. The company’s experience so far has been enough to give it confidence in the value of the approach, however. SKF’s bearing production facility in Gothenburg is serving as a real-world test-bed for world-class digital manufacturing. The site has adopted a range of innovations, including a complete digital information network and advanced automation solutions. “We use robots to automate a number of previously manual processes, with automated guided vehicles moving parts between production stations,” says Napione. “And we have simplified the process for setting up and adjusting the machines, so they can switch between products much faster than in the past. “In some cases, we’ve even could reduce the time required for resetting close to zero, with the machine doing everything automatically.” Together, those changes mean that the time required for a single bearing to flow through the full manufacturing process has already been reduced from days to hours. Further developments are under way. SKF is continually investing in new machines with enhanced capabilities, and assessing alternative manufacturing processes and tools with the potential to add further flexibility to its operations. The company is building its own technologies too. In bearing assembly, for example, SKF is already experimenting with prototype systems that replace today’s heavy steel tooling with lightweight 3D-printed tools down to grams instead of kilos. That change, says Napione, will allow the same robot used to load bearing rings into the machine to also swap the tooling as required, eliminating a tool change process that used to take several hours to achieve.
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Never mistake motion for action. - Ernest Hemingway
Digital production preparation tool integrates on-site Fujitsu has launching a new version of its Fujitsu Manufacturing Industry Solution Virtual Product and Process Simulator (VPS), a digital production preparation tool developed by Digital Process Ltd. that supports product assembly process studies with 3D models, aimed at the assembly and manufacturing industry. In addition to assembly processes reviews, VPS can now integrate on-site production processes by rapidly updating assembly process information, which is constantly changing due to design changes or on-site improvements. A software package that supports the user in smoothly setting up mass production, VPS uses 3D model data for products created with CAD to cover necessary tasks in preparing for production, including examining the product assembly process, reviewing manufacturing line layouts, creating documents used in manufacturing, and validating control software for production equipment. Now, Fujitsu has enhanced assembly animation creation and design change support functions in order to accurately and quickly create and update assembly process data, which is constantly changing due to design changes and on-site improvements. In addition, the company is also offering the manufacturing instruction viewer in order to use data made in the VPS, such as assembly sequences and process flows, on-site at production facilities. By connecting the manufacturing instruction viewer to a picking system or other tools being used, it can also collect their task performance information. By bringing together assembly process data with the actual processes in production facilities in this way, the assembly process data can be updated to a state that is usable on-site in
production facilities, contributing to support for changing on-site task processes and the promotion of IoT in production. Features 1. Updating assembly process data by integrating on-site processes VPS is a tool that can rearrange CAD structures into assembly sequences, create assembly animations, attach process information such as task time, and compile it into BOP information. Now, in order to create animations and still images that can be used in technical documents used in production, such as task instruction books, Fujitsu has added a function that automatically changes viewpoints for easy understanding, and a function that automatically incorporates process information as notes. By adding the ability to display differences in shapes and colour differentiation functionality to the design change support function, assembly process information can be accurately and rapidly created and regularly updated. 2. Describes a diverse variety of product specifications and complex task processes For products, such as laptops, which have a variety of different specifications, Fujitsu has added functionality capable of collating the components included in all specifications of a product and process information, along with shape information, in one VPS file.
It also added functionality that can display and output process information for each product specification and change between displaying different assembly animations for them. Previously, users would create and use a VPS file for each specification, but this change eliminates the need to update all VPS files for each specification when there are changes to parts or processes common to multiple specifications, thereby also simplifying data management. 3. Connecting VPS with BOM systems enables adoption of assembly process information Fujitsu has added BOM-CAD allocation functionality that, for such products as large vehicles, for which product configuration and assembly sequences have largely been established, can create assembly process information based on bill of materials (BOM) information, which displays a complete list of components and their configuration. With this functionality, VPS can combine component and configuration information managed through BOM systems with CAD shape information to create assembly process information, enabling rapid creation of assembly process information even when partial
improvements have been made to units. 4. Promoting the adoption of IoT in production facilities Fujitsu is offering a manufacturing instruction viewer for users to access assembly process information created in VPS, such as animations of assembly sequences and process flow information, on-site in production facilities. By delivering easy-to-understand task instructions through animations on displays instead of previous task instruction books on paper, it is possible for assembly tasks to be completed efficiently and accurately without relying on the skill of the worker. In addition, by customising the manufacturing instruction viewer, it is possible to automatically link the task performance information from sensors in tools and picking systems with a manufacturing execution system (MES). In this way, task performance information from on the ground in production facilities can be fed back into VPS, not only speeding up the cycle of on-site improvements but also contributing to the promotion of the use of IoT in production facilities. With this new version of VPS, in addition to the enhanced functions listed above, Fujitsu has also added such functionality as a line-verification function for mixed production to VPS GP4, which verifies the layout of manufacturing lines, and a production equipment (including robots) control program verification function to VPS IOC, which verifies production equipment control software.
Figure 3: Example of the manufacturing instruction viewer
Figure 1: Automatically expanded display of components to be assembled
Figure 2: Automatic insertion of process information into diagrams
FPricing and Availability for the Major Products in the VPS Series
Figure 4: VPS product structure
2017 New Zealand Manufacturer Excellence in Manufacturing For an Entry Form and further information contact: Doug Green, Publisher, NZ Manufacturer P: 0064 6 870 9029 E: publisher@xtra.co.nz
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However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. – Winston Churchill
Partnership, collaboration, and technology investment crucial for growth The Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics are transforming the manufacturing space; and data is the new currency. Currently, human intervention is needed for logical and reasonable decision making; however, with the rise of cognitive technologies, machines will be empowered to detect constantly changing manufacturing scenarios and respond in real time with minimum human intervention. To be successful, manufacturers need to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology to improve plant efficiency and productivity, and build partnerships and collaborations that drive data-driven intelligence. “The automotive industry will lead in terms of the adoption of cognitive technologies in manufacturing,” said Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation & Process Control Senior Research Analyst Nandini Natarajan. “With vehicles turning autonomous, the industry’s focus will shift to technologies like machine vision and predictive analytics. These
technologies will be widely used to predict dangers and prevent road accidents.” The Dawn of Artificial Intelligence—Foreseeing Manufacturing in the Cognitive Era, part of Frost & Sullivan’s Industrial Automation & Process Control Growth Partnership subscription, finds that the development of smart and safe robots using machine learning techniques will continue to remain a prime area of focus for cognitive factories. The global industrial robotics market is expected to double in and value to reach $70.26 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 percent. The study gives a detailed account of cognitive computing, its application in manufacturing, and the competitive landscape through proven use cases such as IBM supercharging operations for Schaeffler, Google’s use of AI to
optimise energy savings, and FANUC’s futuristic factory with NVIDIA’s AI platform. AI will be a critical catalyst in overcoming current manufacturing challenges such as security concerns, lagging government initiatives, and a slowdown in cognitive technology growth due to conservative manufacturing mind-sets. Key trends in cognitive manufacturing include: • A surge in the adoption of autonomous robots in manufacturing; • Cognitive insights generated by AI feeds on big data; • An
evolving
landscape learning;
driven
by
machine
• Advancing AI in manufacturing that will push up economic growth and drive down human employment; and • Growing implementation of cognitive solutions in industries due to demand for better operational productivity. “Deep learning and predictive analytics adoption rates are swiftly advancing. By 2020, these will grow to be the most sought-after cognitive technologies in manufacturing, with oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and aerospace and defence verticals being the early adopters,” noted Natarajan.
manufacturing
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Making a product is just an activity, making a profit on a product is the achievement. -Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words
Turning the linear circular: the future of the global economy More on the agenda Institutions, both in the private and public sector, can always reap the public relations benefits of doing good, even while still accomplishing their goals. As resources become scarcer, a major way to enhance social performance is through resource conservation, which is being underutilised. Although the traditional model of the linear economy has worked forever, and will never be fully replaced, it is essentially wasteful. The circular economy, in comparison, which involves resources and capital goods reentering the system for reuse instead of being discarded, saves on production costs, promotes recycling, decreases waste, and enhances social performance.
during harvesting, production, and at the end of its use cycle; all parts of the value chain can become more efficient. When examining the value chain as a whole, the greatest uses for IoT is at its end. One way in which this is accomplished is through reverse logistics. Once the time comes for a user to discard their asset, IoT can aid in the retrieval of the asset so that it can be recycled into its components. With efficient reverse logistics, goods gain second life, less biological nutrients are extracted from the environment, and the looping/cascading of assets is enabled.
The circular economy is an industrial economy that increases resource productivity. m u c h
GE has also automated their wind turbines and solar panels; thereby automatically adjusting to the wind and angle of the sun. In the built environment, cities like Hong Kong have implemented IoT monitoring for preventative maintenance of transportation infrastructure, while Rio de Janeiro monitors traffic patterns and crime at their central operations center. Mexico city has installed fans in their buildings which suck up local smog. In the waste management sector, San
When CE models are combined with IoT, internet connected devices that gather and relay data to central computers, efficiency skyrockets. As a result of finite resource depletion, the future economy is destined to become more circular. The economic shift toward CE will undoubtedly be hastened by the already ubiquitous presence of IoT, its profitability, and the positive public response it yields. Unlike the linear economy which is a “take, make, dispose” model, the circular economy is an industrial economy that increases resource productivity with the intention of reducing waste and pollution. The main value drivers of CE are (1) extending use cycles lengths of an asset (2) increasing utilization of an asset (3) looping/cascading assets through additional use cycles (4) regeneration of nutrients to the biosphere. The Internet of Things is the inter-networking of physical devices through electronics and sensors which are used to collect and exchange data. The main value drivers of IoT are the ability to define (1) location (2) condition (3) availability of the assets they monitor. By 2020 there are expected to be at least 20 million IoT connected devices worldwide. The nexus between CE’s and IoT’s values drivers greatly enhances CE. If an institutions goals are profitability and conservation, IoT enables those goals with data big data and analysis. By automatically and remotely monitoring the efficiency of a resource
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data people’s private lives, generates major privacy concerns. Questions arise like: who owns this data collected? How reliable are IoT dependent systems? How vulnerable to hackers are these assets? Despite the prevalence of IoT today, with 73% of companies invest in big data analytics, most of that data is merely used to detect and control anomalies and IoT remains vastly underutilised. Take an oil rig for example, it may have 30,000 sensors, but only 1% of them are examined. Underutilisation of IoT in 2013 cost businesses an estimated 544 billion alone. Even with these current barriers, because of the potential profits and increased social performance, the future implementation of an IoT enhanced CE is bright. As government regulation catches up and technology improves, recycling and conservation will become more profitable and reverse supply chains can proliferate.
The Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils.
One way to change traditional value chain is the IoT enabled leasing model. Instead of selling an expensive appliance or a vehicle, manufacturers can willingly produce them with the intention of leasing to their customers. By imbedding these assets with IoT manufacturers can monitor the asset’s condition; thereby dynamically repairing the assets at precise times. In theory the quality of the asset will improve, since its in the producers best interest to make it durable rather than disposable and replaceable. Even today, many sectors are already benefiting from IoT in resource conservation. In the energy sector, Barcelona has reduced its power grid energy consumption by 33%, while GE has begun using “smart” power meters that reduce customers power bills 10–20%.
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Francisco and London have installed solar-powered automated waste bins, that alert local authorities to when they are full; creating ideal routes for trash collection and reducing operational costs by 70%. Despite the many advantages to this innovation, there are numerous current limitations. Due to difficulty in legislating for new technologies, Governmental regulation lags behind innovation. For example, because Brazil, China, and Russia do not have legal standards to distinguish re-manufactured products from used ones, cross-border reverse supply-chains are blocked. Reverse supply chains are also hurt by current lack of consumer demand , which is caused by low residual value of returned products. IoT technology itself, which collects so
When the ownership of collected data is finally clearly defined by laws, then the interoperability of IoT data can take hold to increase its efficiency. As the CE expands into different sectors of the economy: farmers may remotely monitor their crops and use GPS guided tractors to perfectly plow and harvest, Governments can prevent depleting fish stocks by tracking fishing boats with IoT, energy companies can share their energy production responsibilities by attaching a connectivity-enabled solar panels on city roofs, in the infrastructure sector GPS guided driver-free smart cars can reduce congestion by taking optimal routes, in health care $1.1 trillion a year of value can be created with remote health care in monitoring chronic-disease patients, etc. Estimates are that the potential profits from institutions adopting CE models could decrease costs by 20%, along with waste. The increase in efficiency combined with the goodwill generated by conservation is a win-win proposition for innovation, even with costs implementation, future monetary profitability will make it a no-brainer.
The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognise. – Shigeo Shingo
Digital simulation for the Industrial IoT PTC and ANSYS have a solution that will enable ANSYS engineering simulation technology to be rapidly added to applications built on the ThingWorx Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform from PTC. Development of a connector between these two technology platforms will enable customers to transform raw data into new forms of actionable intelligence. The connector will integrate intelligent digital simulation models with products as they exist and operate in the real world.
learning helps companies make sense of data that can lead to predictive models and a more insightful feedback loop, enabling them to improve product design and modelling. The IoT is making it possible to create a digital twin that combines real-time data about a physical product with the organisation’s digital information about the product. Simulating digital twins provides advanced intelligence and insight into a product’s behaviours. The combination of the ThingWorx
platform capabilities with ANSYS simulation models will enable companies to deploy powerful applications that can analyse current operating conditions, rapidly identify and diagnose operations issues, predict future operating conditions, and improve product performance. PTC and ANSYS will make the capabilities of this solution available within IoT applications developed on ThingWorx.
IoT solution builders identify and make sense of the data needed to improve product design and performance – and develop next-generation products. Many customers are looking to digital twins to disrupt their industries by drastically lowering their operating and maintenance costs and by marketing their products as optimised services in real time,” said Eric Bantegnie, ANSYS general manager.
Simulation technology combined with machine learning can help Industrial
This will open up new opportunities for companies to create value by enabling them to optimize operations and maintenance and to integrate them into their product development processes. Simulation helps companies understand situations that may occur – such as a product failure – as early as the design phase. When faced with limited access to rich historical data, companies can leverage simulation models to generate an initial “as designed” set of expected outcomes or product performance. The results of these simulations act as a rich source of data that can be used for supervised machine learning and predictive modelling. The ongoing connection between real-world performance, simulation, and machine
Metso partners with RA to create IoT solutions for mining machine performance.
Metso has selected Rockwell Automation to deliver a global industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform that connects, monitors and performs analytics for Metso’s equipment and services, resulting in improved efficiency and profitability for its mining and aggregates customers. The digital solution will securely collect and store data from Metso’s equipment around the globe, including new equipment and machines already in operation. The solution will provide predictive analytics and preventive maintenance, and facilitate remote asset monitoring by Metso and its customers. The industrial IoT solution is built on the FactoryTalk Cloud platform from Rockwell Automation, powered by Microsoft Azure. Rockwell Automation and Microsoft have long collaborated on solutions required for industrial digital transformation. The Metso solution is a direct result of these efforts.
The quality of the solution and support Rockwell Automation provided during the pilot gave Metso confidence that a broader implementation of the industrial IoT platform would drive the results it was seeking on a global scale. “Metso has an inspiring vision to deliver powerful analytics and information solutions in mining and aggregates that will drive business results for customers,” said Blake Moret, president and CEO, Rockwell Automation. “This is the type of foresight and focus on application of IoT across operations that we are excited to see developing in all industries.” “For our mining and aggregates customers, access to real-time data enables higher uptime, faster and safer shutdowns, and ultimately more tonnage processed at lower cost. Enabled by an industrial IoT platform from Rockwell Automation and global coverage with Microsoft Azure’s data centres, Metso can deliver analysed equipment data into the
hands of its customers for advanced decision-making,” says Jani Puroranta, chief digital officer, Metso. Metso began working with Rockwell Automation on a pilot program in 2015, remotely monitoring an African-based mining crusher from a location in Wisconsin. Metso was immediately able to use the data collected to identify opportunities for improvements in
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Metso set up a Digital Program in 2016 to accelerate the company to a new level in digital capabilities, which is critical to succeeding in the future of minerals processing and flow control. Metso’s ambition is to become one of the digital leaders in the industries it serves.
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LOGISTICS
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once. -Samuel Smiles
What Can We Really Expect From The Belt And Road? By Steve Huang The value and growth potential of Belt and Road services match, and may even exceed, China’s optimistic forecasts. Investments in Belt and Road infrastructure will still face significant hurdles, including resource shortages and geopolitical uncertainty. Investors and logistics operators need skilled logistics personnel and robust partnerships to successfully build Belt and Road infrastructure.
The volume of rail cargo between China and Europe could hit around 1 million TEUs by 2020.
China’s “Belt and Road” initiative will undoubtedly transform trade between Asia and Europe, but at what price? T he Silk Road Fund, set up especially for investments in Belt and Road infrastructure, holds around US$40 billion at its disposal; some reports indicate that Chinese investors have already committed up to US$890 billion to infrastructure projects along both routes. Most of these projects, however, have yet to graduate from early stages of planning. What can investors and industry expect once the real work gets underway? DHL first laid plans for Belt and Road infrastructure in 2008, when we sketched out a series of multimodal corridors that would eventually follow the lines of the Silk Road Economic Belt. To date, we have launched three such corridors between China and Europe via Russia and Central Asia, as well as an extensive road freight network that connects South-East Asia to these corridors. The process requires far more than constructing physical infrastructure: technology, trade negotiations, and specialist skills all played major roles in making our Belt and Road services into a reality. Our literally ground-breaking experience on the Belt and Road suggests that its investors, and the businesses that hope to benefit from it, can expect to experience:
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Massive growth Businesses may be skeptical about China’s rhetoric surrounding the Belt and Road, but we have seen the growth it offers first-hand. Since we launched the first West Corridor service between Chengdu and Lodz in 2013, the demand for our Belt and Road multimodal rail services has gone up by leaps and bounds. While that growth might come from a small starting base, current demand trends suggest that by 2020, the market rail volume will grow to around 1 million TEUs. In other words, the immense growth in rail traffic which we have already seen looks set to continue.
If the Belt and Road can provide fast, cost-effective and high-frequency connections between China and Europe – which we have shown they can – they will become the default shipping option for numerous businesses. Pressure on resources The sheer demand for Belt and Road services means operators will likely face increasingly severe resource shortages, some of which our teams have already experienced.
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Container shortages often threaten the ability to meet demand. A lack of loading and unloading capacity at interchange points, such as the Alashankou-Dostyk transit where the rail gauge changes from China’s standard gauge to Russia’s broader gauge, can create bottlenecks that slow down the entire Belt.
essential to avoid capacity bottlenecks on the Belt and Road
And the number of tracks and berths may prove insufficient as more and more vehicles ply both rail and ocean routes.
Geopolitical uncertainty
Logistics operators can overcome this pressure if they have the right talent. Our employees’ skills make or break the success of any of our multimodal shipments: they, more than anyone, know how to quickly procure more containers, shift cargo between port, track, and rail in record time, and comply with a range of customs procedures while doing so. We also partner with warehousing and last-mile providers in Europe who specialise in those areas, as well as continuously engaging governments and national forwarders along the routes to broker faster and more reliable connections. By doing so, we can tackle routes experiencing pressure from high volumes in multiple ways. Belarus’ current bottlenecks on the Eastern Europe corridors, for example, can be tackled by streamlining online customs and declaration processes, or by routing to alternatives like the Khorgos gateway in Kazakhstan. A wide variety of routes will be
The Belt and Road span so many countries and supply chain elements that without those partnerships, the pressure to deliver will simply overwhelm even the most well-funded projects.
Territorial disputes and political tensions may vex even the most well-laid infrastructure plans, particularly when taking into account the breadth of countries involved in the Belt and Road. To succeed in this climate of uncertainty, investors and operators need a portfolio of solutions that complement one another’s routes. Our routes cater to customers in different markets and hinterlands, offering alternatives and contributing to a successful multimodal network. Building this portfolio of investments requires close collaboration with a range of countries. It takes time, but it significantly reduces the risks posed by geopolitical issues. Building the Belt and Road will not be easy. Infrastructural investments will only bear fruit if supported by good governance, a strong base of talent, and close partnerships with a range of public- and private-sector stakeholders. But when established, services along the Belt and Road can deliver huge amounts of growth. Our own multimodal portfolio is proof of that.
SUPPLY CHAIN
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. - Albert Einstein
Supply Chain Excellence -Vishnu Rayapeddi* Series 4: Supply Chain Strategy – what is it? Many might think that there is no distinction in perception between supply chain management and supply chain strategy in their organisations. Supply chain management is defined by the APICS Dictionary, 13th Edition, as “The design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand, and measuring performance globally.” According to the APICS Operations Management Body of Knowledge (OMBOK) Framework, supply chain strategy considers all the elements of operations strategy, in addition to building strategic partnerships, in-sourcing and outsourcing, drivers of supply chain performance, synchronization, integration of suppliers, internal supply chains, and customer systems, breadth of activities (designing, planning, and controlling), reverse logistics, product sustainability, regulatory compliance, and global considerations.
Align the Supply Chain Strategy with the Business Strategy Most companies develop a supply chain strategy after the business strategy has been defined. While this approach can deliver some value, it does not support the infusion into the business strategy development of very powerful supply chain model options, which could significantly improve the business strategy. A supply chain strategy should always support the intent of the business strategy
A supply chain strategy should always support the intent of the business strategy Developing Strategy
a
Supply
Chain
In simple terms, a supply chain strategy is a forward-looking document, which anticipates changing customer needs and defines how the supply chain is going to evolve to meet those new requirements.
In his book, Supply Chain Transformation: Building and Executing an integrated supply chain strategy, J Paul Dittmann lays out a nine-step plan for building a supply chain strategy as below:
The 4 elements of supply chain strategy:
1. Start with customers’ current and future needs
1. The industry marketplace)
(the
2.
Assess current supply chain capabilities relative to best in class
2. The organisation’s unique value proposition (its competitive positioning)
3.
Evaluate supply chain “game changers” (what megatrends will impact customers and the supply chain?)
framework
3. The organisation’s internal processes (supply chain processes) and
4. Analyse the competition
4. The organisation’s managerial focus (the linkage among supply chain processes and business strategy).
5. Survey technology - what is new in the market and would it help if deployed?
6. Deal with supply chain risk - risk management needs to be part of the strategy document 7. Develop new supply chain capability requirements and create a plan to get there 8. Evaluate current supply chain organizational structure, people, and metrics 9. Develop a business case and get buy-in Executing Supply Chain Strategy Fortune Magazine reported in a study that CEO strategy failures (estimated 70%) occurred primarily because of failure in execution, not with the vision and strategy development. “The real problem isn’t the high-concept boners the boffins love to talk about. It’s bad execution. As simple as that: not getting things done, being indecisive, not delivering on commitments.” Performance Management Execution involves closely following your implementation plan and applying good project governance. You can improve your chances of success by managing performance throughout implementation and beyond. Tracking performance allows an organisation to measure how successful it is in realising the goals of a strategy. It also makes people understand their contribution and responsibilities, creating a more cohesive, in tune, organisation. Performance management works best when people are rewarded for their performance and reporting is conducted on a regular basis. Moreover, performance goals should be used to communicate business expectations to outside entities as well. The more the extended supply chain is involved, the more the supply chain strategy is supported and reinforced. Iterate
the
Cost
–
Benefit
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Evaluation Process On a periodic basis (annually) you should formally revisit your supply chain strategy. Did you meet the goals of the business strategy? Have the needs of your supply chain partners changed? How has the industry changed i.e., new competitors, business practices, products, technology? At this time, you may even want to reassess your supply chain organisation, if the changes are significant enough to warrant it. Also, use this effort to look for new opportunities to further position your organisation for success. Keep Communicating with Your Partners Executing a supply chain strategy means dealing with many different entities, both internally and externally. Just as it is crucial to align the supply chain strategy with the business strategy, it is equally important to execute in a manner consistent with these different groups or stakeholders. The goals of your supply chain components and those that you deal with must be similar and conducted at the same speed. Your organisation may be able to move at speeds other supply chain entities are unable to maintain, resulting in misalignment and poor efficiencies. And some of your supply chain partners may not have the resources to commit to realising these goals. Good communication can keep the extended supply chain in sync. *Vishnu Rayapeddi is a Lean Manufacturing and Supply Chain Operations Specialist, who works as a volunteer Executive Committee Member of NZPICS, the only Premier Channel Partner of APICS in New Zealand. NZPICS Offers the following courses in Supply Chain in affiliation with APICS: CPIM (Certified in Production & Inventory Management, CSCP (Certified Supply Chain Professional) and Principles of Operations Management, which is a fully customisable solution to businesses. For further information, please visit www.nzpics. org.nz or call on 09-525 1525.
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FOOD MANUFACTURING
Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday. - Brian Tracy
Compact solid-liquid separator environmentally friendly A clog-free automatic liquid-to-solid waste separator is being introduced to Australasia by CST Wastewater Solutions for compact dewatering applications ranging from food processing, food waste, grease trap and waste oil through to municipal wastewater sludge, livestock manure and agribusiness processes. The compact KDS multi-disc roller separator – to be featured on Stand S9 at FoodPro 2017 in Sydney from July 16-19 – features a unique self-cleaning dewatering and conveying system with oval plate separation and transfer structure that prevents clogging and permits automatic continuous
operation that handles oily and fibrous material with ease. Designed for efficiency, sustainability and conservation of resources in small-to- medium applications, the energy-efficient KDS separator consumes as little as 0.06kW hr of electricity and uses washwaster. This simple-to-maintain separator offers a high throughput within a small body, with the smallest model being just under 350mm wide and weighing 50 kg. The compact rotational oval plate structure achieves high transportation and separation efficiencies, while the simplicity of the machine’s overall CST Wastewater Solutions’ new KDS separator
The unique self-cleaning action of the KDS separator, which is available in hydraulic capacities from 264-4092 gal/hr with input solids content of 2 per cent
NZ Manufacturer June 2017
• Food processing waste, including snackfoods, kitchen and restaurant waste, raw wastewater (primary screening) and sludge
The KDS separator uses a fraction of the power of a centrifuge and no water usage during operation unlike a belt press or a screw press. For a relatively low investment cost, it offers a high performance alternative to sludge drying beds and geobags.
• Sewage treatment, including raw wastewater (primary screening) and sludge to landfill
Used for thickening of dissolved air flotation sludge – a very common application throughout waste water operations – it achieves solids capture of 97 per cent thickened sludge at a dryness of 17 per cent. Waste activated sludge dryness levels are typically 15-25 per cent.
• Pig farm raw manure and sludge, with cake dryness of 20-30 per cent.
Supply Chain Industry 4.0 Project Management
/
• Barrel polishing water, water-based paint wastewater, grease trap waste, dyeing wastewater, waste oil, and plastic recycling. • Seafood processing
Editorial material to be sent to :
Advertising Copy Deadline – 14 July 2017
Doug Green,
Editorial Copy Deadline – 14 July 2017 Advertising – For bookings and further information contact: Doug Green, P O Box 1109, Hastings 4156, Hawke’s Bay Email: publisher@xtra.co.nz
P O Box 1109, Hastings 4156, Hawke’s Bay Email: publisher@xtra.co.nz Tel: 06 870 9029 Fax: 06 878 8150
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Advertising Booking Deadline – 14 July 2017
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• Abattoir, feedlots, and dairy farm wastewater and sludge. Cattle manure cake dryness of 25-35 per cent is typically achieved
Applications for which the separator is designed include:
NZ MANUFACTURER • July 2017 Issue • Features
Opinion Manufacturing Profiles Letters to the Editor Politics of Manufacturing Trade Fair World Diary of Events World Market Report Q/A Export News Machine Tools Business Opportunities Commentary As I See It Business News Appointments Around New Zealand Australian Report New to the Market Lean Manufacturing Equipment for Sale Recruitment Environmental Technology Manufacturing Processes
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structure offers low maintenance, achieving cost and OH&S benefits through less handling being required to clear hazardous materials.
At NZ MANUFACTURER our aim is to keep our readers up to date with the latest industry news and manufacturing advances in a tasty paper morsel, ensuring they do not get left behind in the highly competitive and rapidly evolving manufacturing world.
FOOD MANUFACTURING
If you are having everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough. – Mario Andretti
New Zealand Food Awards 2017 Entries are open for the 30th New Zealand Food Awards, providing an opportunity for food and beverage producers to showcase their success and innovation. The 2017 New Zealand Food Awards, powered by Massey University, enables food and beverage operators to boost the profile of their business and brand, achieving national and international recognition. The entry process has been streamlined to make it even easier to enter. Entrants have the opportunity to put forward their products to an expert judging panel, receive feedback and benchmark themselves against industry peers, which provides valuable insights for future development and approaches.
and wellness, novel ingredients, primary sector products, food safety, business innovation, export innovation and the overall supreme winner.
• Gourmet in association with the New Zealand Herald BITE Magazine
This year’s expert judging panel consists of Ray McVinnie, Jeff Scott and Nici Wickes.
• Chilled (including Dairy)
Entries for the competition close on Friday 30 June. For more information, please visit www.foodawards.co.nz. --ends--
Award categories: Small Business
with Supermarket News
Large Manufacturing
Massey University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas says the local food and beverage industry has evolved significantly over the past 30 years. “New Zealand food and beverages are world-class in terms of quality and innovation and the New Zealand Food Awards are a fantastic way to recognise and celebrate excellence right across the industry,” Professor Thomas says. The award categories provide many opportunities for manufacturers to showcase different products aimed at national and international markets.
• Food Safety Culture in association with Ministry for Primary Industries
• Dry Goods
• Primary Sector Products Award in association with Ministry for Primary Industries
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Business Innovation
• Non-Alcoholic Beverages
• Export Innovation in association with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
• Frozen Open to All • Health and Wellness sponsored by Massey University
• Supreme Winner in association with Massey University
• Artisan sponsored in association
Introducing
A point of difference in today’s busy FMCG market.
Winning products earn the New Zealand Food Awards “Quality Mark” to highlight the superiority of their products to both shoppers and industry, boosting sales and distribution both here and abroad. The awards are aimed at small and large food and beverage manufacturers, primary food producers, food service providers and ingredient supply companies.
• Novel Ingredients in association with The Food Bowl
Developed by AsureQuality, inSight™ provides shoppers with independently verified information about the products they are about to buy. After a successful application process, producers can place the inSight™ logo and a QR code on their product packaging.
When shoppers scan the QR code at the point of sale they can access information about the product, including: • • • • •
Environmental sustainability Social and ethical concerns Nutritional information Safety and quality Origin
Last year, Wanganui’s Coastal Spring Lamb was overall champion, taking out the 2016 New Zealand Food Awards Massey University Supreme Award as well as the Export Innovation and Chilled Foods Award categories with its Lamb Rack. The Lamb Rack impressed judges through the process used to grow, market and sell the product from pasture to plate. Large manufacturers can enter products in Chilled (includes dairy), Dry Goods (sweet and savoury), Beverages, and Frozen (sweet and savoury) categories. Small manufacturers can enter products in the Artisan and Gourmet categories, which are judged on product quality and consumer appeal. Awards are also available for health
Why the Need for inSight™? inSight™ takes product assurances into the 21st century inSight™ is a new brand developed by New Zealand Government owned AsureQuality, global experts in food safety and quality. We know how important food safety and quality is to you. We wanted a way that you could get independently verified information about a product, that would give you confidence in it before paying for it. inSight™ makes sense because: • You want to know more about the food you are eating
A new innovation taking product assurances into the 21st Century
Freephone 0508 00 11 22 | www.aqinsight.com
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NEW PRODUCTS
Do we want in this nation to lose the backbone of manufacturing in this country? Do we want to be a nation that doesn’t want to manufacture anything? -Jennifer Granholm
COLORSTEEL achieves environmental choice accreditation After a rigorous, multi-stage review process, COLORSTEEL has received the Environmental Choice New Zealand ecolabel.
The process towards accreditation covers five key requirements:
This comes just a year after New
environmental label that goes beyond
and very meaningful achievement,
• Independent third party verification
Zealand Steel and its sister company
merely listing eco-friendly products
as it will provide access to New
• Ongoing compliance
Pacific Steel (NZ) achieved the same
for green homes or businesses and
Zealand Government projects where
endorsement for its flat and long steel
extends to offering strong proof of
Environmental Choice accreditation
• Locally written criteria to address local environmental issues and;
products.
environmental performance.
is a requirement. It also further
In New Zealand, Environmental Choice
For
is the official, Government authorised
New Zealand Steel team it’s a proud
COLORSTEEL
and
the
wider
strengthens
COLORSTEEL’s
existing
environmental credentials.
• Rigorous, multi-criteria assessment
• Commitment to criteria being updated regularly to enable continuous improvement. Claire Jewell, New Zealand Steel’s Environment Team Leader believes the road to accreditation was an excellent test of the company’s systems and end-to-end quality control. “We really appreciate, as a business, just how challenging and, ultimately, rewarding the whole auditing process has been. It’s been good for us. There is a constant focus within the organisation on meeting KPI’s relating to cost, quality and delivery, but this achievement proves that those targets don’t have to be exclusive from an active commitment to sustainability.” This news comes at a time when there is increased focus on the integrity of some imported steel coming into New Zealand. “Recognition like this provides both our trade and consumer customers with the confidence that not only are our products fit for purpose, but they’re also a responsible choice from an environmental perspective. It’s just all-round peace-of-mind that few others can genuinely offer,” said Ms Jewell.
Safety Maturity Index for Machine Builders Tool Few machine builders use safety to differentiate their machines from the competition. However, safety can add greater value to machines by helping end users comply with modern standards and significantly improve productivity. To help machine builders bring best-in-class safety to their machine designs, Rockwell Automation has released its Safety Maturity Index for Machine Builders tool. This tool provides a self-guided assessment for machine builders to measure their performance in the three pillars of industrial safety: culture (behavior), compliance (procedure) and capital (investment in contemporary technology). Machine builders that achieve peak performance in each of these areas
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can optimise safety and productivity in their own operations, use that expertise to develop better machine designs, and improve the value of their machines to customers. Using best safety practices also helps machine builders meet the compliance needs of multinational customers that use the most stringent global safety standards. This helps machine builders reduce their own product liability risk and future-proof their offerings as regional machine safety standards continue to harmonise toward these global standards. The Safety Maturity Index (SMI) for Machine Builders tool measures and reports a machine builder’s performance in each of the three safety pillars on a scale of one to four – SMI 1: minimising costs, SMI 2: legal compliance, SMI 3: operator safety and
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SMI 4: customer value. The tool also provides insights into which areas need the most improvement. Machine builders can use the tool to identify inconsistencies between facilities and benchmark themselves against peers. The tool is applicable to any industry, any company size and any location. It also aligns with the Safety Maturity Index tool designed for end users, which has been widely used by manufacturers since its release in 2013. Information shared in the tool is confidential. Each company’s profile is not associated with its response or results.
Unlike the objective of far too many companies, manufacturing is not about a quick ‘exit.’ It is centered on long-term value creation. -Hamdi Ulukaya
NEW PRODUCTS
Gas leak detector reduces equipment damage Identifying leaks of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which is used as an electrical insulator in extremely high-voltage utilities applications, generally requires the purchase or rental of an expensive gas detector or hiring an outside consultant. The alternatives are shutting down equipment and using a sniffer, which after some time, can determine only the approximate area of the leak, or coating the entire equipment in soapy water and inspect, which is extremely time consuming, and also requires the equipment to be powered down. The Fluke Ti450 SF6 Gas Leak Detector combines a high-quality infrared camera with an SF6 leak detector that visually pinpoints the location ofSF6 leaks without shutting equipment
down. The Ti450 SF6 lets utility crews include it as a normal part of their maintenance routine, letting them conduct both infrared and gas inspections whenever and wherever necessary. It eliminates the need to wait for special annual or bi-annual leak inspections, and the corresponding expensive equipment rentals or contractors, so maintenance work can be done as required, reducing potential equipment damage. The pistol-grip Ti450 SF6 makes diagnoses of issues point-and-shoot convenient, even in hard to reach or high overhead locations. With the Ti450 SF6, technicians can monitor leaks more frequently allowing maintenance to be scheduled at a convenient time without unplanned
downtime. The leak detector can also be used to quickly verify that the repair was fixed. The infrared camera includes the award-winning LaserSharp Auto Focus that delivers instant focus on a single target using a built-in laser distance meter to calculate and display the distance to the designated target with pinpoint accuracy.
both digital and infrared images in one for better clarity. By adjusting the blending of the image, technicians can easily detect then pinpoint the exact location of the SF6 gas leak.
LaserSharp Auto Focus enables technicians to precisely target up to 30 metres (100 feet) away for infrared readings and SF6 gas detection no matter how awkward the position of the target.
The Ti450 SF6 comes complete with 2x telephoto smart lens, tripod holder for mounting to any industry standard tripod, eye piece, cable, viewer, batteries and chargers, all in a hard shell carrying case.
This makes it safe to measure around high voltage areas and potentially dangerous areas. It also features Fluke IR-Fusion technology, which combines
SF6 gas detection training tools, including a step-by-step instructional video, are also available on the Fluke website.
Smart factory Management Suite achieves premium ANCA’s new Management Suite is a game changer for the CNC grinding industry. It provides customers the technology to monitor the performance of their machines no matter where they are in the world. The new software also enables companies to run smart factories by providing live production information to make data based decisions on operational improvements. Thomson Mathew, ANCA Software Product Manager said: “We listened to what our customers needed to improve their grinding performance. They told us they wanted a smart factory concept where machines are grinding tools all day everyday with minimal intervention and the ability to remotely monitor machines for better intelligence on grinding performance and down-times.” “Imagine you have planned for your CNC grinding machines to run a long tool batch over the weekend. One of your team is on alert to monitor production, keeping an eye on their phone or other device from home and are immediately notified if there is a machine down. In the past this person would have had to be on site all weekend - which is a cost to the business - or would have resulted in lost productivity as the problem would only have been picked up when people returned on Monday to find the grinding had stopped at midday on Saturday.” “There has also been lots of discussion about the value of data to companies. Data analytics are the key to improving business processes and our new software suite has been designed to give our customers as much intelligence as possible on their machines performance in a simple
to use interface. Gone are the days where customers rely on manual records of machine performance with software that provides factual reports and analytics to enable informed decisions.”
world if the user is logged into the company’s server. The Management Suite comprises of three products, Tool Management; Wheel Management and RedaX
“The machine analytics provided by the Management Suite gives companies the ability to produce highly accurate reports on machine usage allowing them to identify waste and increase overall equipment efficiency.”
Tool Management maintains revision control of your grinding programs allowing you to easily revert to older versions. You can also visually identify program changes using the file difference tool.
The Management Suite dashboard provides users with the flexibility to monitor the production of their machines in and out of the office – all they need is to be connected to their server via the internet. It can be viewed by multiple people in the company to ensure a connected team who can work together remotely and onsite to maximise their operational efficiencies.
The Wheel Management product is a central inventory for wheels and wheel packs. It provides a platform to easily share wheel packs and qualification data between machines. It also has a handy search function so that operators can easily find what they are looking for. Another key feature of the Wheel Management product is the differentiation between simulator qualified wheels which prevents the usage of actual wheels on machines to avoid collisions and damages to
“The new software means that our customers can decide where their time will be best spent; meeting with clients, visiting other sites or even having lunch out of the office in the knowledge that their machines are operating at a premium.”
machine and wheel packs. The RedaX product is a remote data analytics real time monitoring solution for machines. Its open platform communication unified architecture is part of RedaX and runs on machines to monitor and broadcast machine data. From this the client, can consolidate the findings on a web page that is displayed in a real-time web browser.
Customer benefits of Management Suite • Monitors machine and production in real time and delivers up to date information, greatly enhancing visibility and control in manufacturing operations. • Reduces costly machine down-time by immediately notifying when a machine has ceased production, with reasons for the stoppage via an email or SMS to the relevant personnel. • Provides complete visibility of the machine status and activity from the office PC or from anywhere in the
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DEVELOPMENTS Brisbane universities to co-host Australasian fluid mechanics conference Brisbane will welcome hundreds of scientists, engineers, students and educators in 2020 following a competitive bid for the 22nd Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference to be co-hosted by two of the city’s leading universities. The conference will be held across four days at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and The University of Queensland (UQ), attracting up to 450 participants and generating around $1.1 million in economic impact for Brisbane. Academics from QUT and UQ – which both moved higher in the recent QS World University Rankings 2018 - prepared the successful bid with support from the Brisbane Convention Bureau. President of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society, Professor Hugh Blackburn said Brisbane’s accessibility and appeal as a vibrant global city,
the universities’ high-quality facilities and expertise, and a focus on gender equality all contributed to the successful bid. “Three days of technical presentations and plenary lectures will be held on the QUT Gardens Point Campus and will be complemented by a full day at the UQ St Lucia Campus where keynotes, technical sessions and research laboratory tours will occur before the conference banquet in UQ’s Great Court,” Professor Blackburn said. “The high-standing scientific program will strive to provide gender equality through invited lecturers, while the invitation of high school STEM students will target a gender-balanced group of top achievers. “Two scholarships for undergraduate student registrations will also be available, with selection based on full paper reviews.
Funding boost helps business upskill While Budget 2017’s gains for work-based education and training were modest, the $3.5 million boost for employer-led literacy and numeracy programmes was a breath of fresh air. “This funding recognises the productivity impacts that workplace literacy and numeracy programmes are having in businesses across New Zealand,” says Industry Training Federation Chief Executive, Josh Williams. “Over a million adult New Zealanders have low literacy and numeracy skills. This can create major barriers in people’s work and lives.” The Skills Highway literacy and numeracy programme helps create smarter, safer workplaces with prouder, more capable workers. Many New Zealand businesses are improving performance with the help of workplace literacy and numeracy funding. New Zealand-wide Waste Management Ltd are creating a healthier, happier environment at work and in the community. The renewed confidence among employees transfers into a job well done. Carter Holt Harvey’s Whangarei site manager says: “If we invest in training for our people we get a return every single time.” And the site manager
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at the Timaru branch of fishing and aquaculture business, Sanford, says the training has transformed their team into becoming one of Sanford’s best performing workplaces. “Literacy and numeracy training changes lives,” says Mr Williams. “This extra funding is essential. It means more employers throughout New Zealand can now access support to upskill their staff and upgrade their business.” On Budget day, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister, Paul Goldsmith, said we need a world-class tertiary education system that delivers modern skills. “It’s refreshing to see the vital connection between skills and education acknowledged,” says Mr Williams. “With 148,000 industry trainees and apprentices, employers are now the largest provider of post-school education in New Zealand. We need to see more of our tertiary education investment targeted to our working population.” Employers need to contact the Skills Highway team to discuss the road to better business performance with workplace literacy and numeracy programmes.
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If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter. – John M. Gottman
Staff Culture: The biggest hurdle in health and safety Craig Carlyle, Maintenance Transformations Ltd, for MESNZ How’s your health and safety compliance in 2017? Got it nailed? Really?
clear: Identify the hazards and risks that could cause issues in your workplace
A 2017 survey uncovered changing dynamics in industry’s response to new health and safety law and regulations with the biggest issue facing employers clearly being staff culture.
Ensure all your staff are inducted and those risks communicated to them.
The survey formed part of the MESNZ presentation to the May Southmach Expo held in Christchurch looking at the progress in industrial health and safety in the last decade. In a follow up to our 2008 OHSIG presentation “The Emperor Is Wearing Fluro Clothes” where we revealed that our health and safety stats had got worse under the old legislation, an updated snapshot of what is happening in the modern environment was timely, so once again Barry Robinson and myself went digging.
Ensure your controls are manageable and recorded for the LONG TERM
In an online study of 5000 industry staff, we discovered 91% of respondents now have a health and safety system. While this is heartening, the major issues expressed in managing and staying compliant were overwhelmingly related to staff culture. Negative older staff, lack of buy-in and “she’ll be right” attitude featured at the top of the responses, followed closely by confusion about the rules and regulations.
Ensure you have evaluated the ability of every staff member BEFORE they undertake any task or procedure.
Maintenance Engineers are often encumbered with the reality end of health and safety and as such, need to take a proactive stance to making it work in the workplace. This is why the Maintenance Engineering Society (MESNZ) takes an active role in health and safety governance and strives to support practical solutions. That is why MESNZ receives my full support. MESNZ seeks to encourage engineers to share their experience and achievements. The society achieves this by recounting its collective experiences and inspirations to maintenance engineers throughout the country, via print, mentoring, the National Maintenance Engineering Conference or connecting companies with practitioners.
This year’s presentation, titled “The emperor is STILL Wearing Fluro Clothes” seized on the confusion about rules as a root cause of poor staff culture, quoting numerous examples where poor hazard controls destroy any staff confidence in management. Our advice for management was to follow so called health and safety ‘rules” back to their root documents rather than listening to the urban myths. A short exercise involving fluro tape, willing participants and a body bag framed up a whole new perspective on creating upwardly driven staff culture. Involving your staff in creating risk controls that will save THEM and their workmates rather than following downwardly driven myths is a key factor in creating positive safety cultures. A short session on recent case law helped underscore that defendants end up in court for being ostriches; not for failing to follow health and safety myths. The message was simple and
Pic 1 – Companies with health and safety systems.
Pic 2 Biggest Health and Safety issues in industry.
Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does. – Steuart Henderson Britt
From Americas Cup to dinosaurs – SAFE’s evolutionary growth pains The Maintenance Engineering Societies Kaeser Compressors Network Evening series has provided a firsthand view of the evolutionary change taking place across New Zealand manufacturing and engineering as industry adapts to the modern world. The struggles facing industry were never more evident than the recent third annual evening held at SAFE Engineering in Drury. A family owned business since first coming to Drury in 1973, SAFE’s global reputation for forging, heat treatment and metallurgy spans two centuries of technology and innovation, buts its very location, staring at the headlights of Auckland’s urban sprawl casts this 44-year-old site as a dinosaur. The problem facing General Manager and MESNZ Chairman Barry Robinson is the huge forging plant and its impact on the neighbourhood. According to Barry, the area was a wilderness in the 1970’s and no-one was around to hear the thump of the gigantic forges. But with the largest piece of kit being a 1200T crank forging press, the site is completely out of kilter with the future designated use of Drury as a new suburb. The math of moving the plant simply does not stack up, posing a huge dilemma not only for the family, but for the industrial clients who rely on the now rare capacity. Do not just think old school engineering here when talking about these juggernauts, the forged high tensile rudders for Team New Zealand’s America Cup campaign are just one example of the plants capability. Shut the forging plant and there simply is
no alternative for curly solutions in New Zealand. It’s not all old technology at SAFE, with the company participating at the pointy end of innovation. From its 64KW solar power array to additive powder forging and 3D metal printing, it is no surprise to see companies like Team New Zealand and Rocket Labs on SAFE’s client list. Whether it is the old school plant, the world leading technology, or simply the Robinson family reputation for providing a hearty feed, just under 100 attendees enjoyed the hospitality and live forging displays at the Kaeser Compressors Network Evening, the discussions and interaction lasting well past the official closing time. The MESNZ Kaeser Compressors Network Evenings are hosted to showcase local operations and provide networking opportunities for engineers across all regions of New Zealand. The evenings offer the opportunity to look at the host operation and discuss common issues and solutions in a relaxed after work environment. Open to interested members of the public, the nights are well patronised. As well as learning firsthand about the capabilities of the host company, the attendees enjoy much appreciated light refreshments and the chance to network.
DEVELOPMENTS
Higher skills and regional focus positive - but no panacea for employers BusinessNZ says Labour’s immigration policy has a positive focus on higher skills and regional concerns, but the overall tightening of migrant numbers could be difficult for business. Labour proposes to tighten skills criteria, place more consideration on skill needs in the regions, and more actively enforce the Labour Market Test for work visas. BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says these policies would help bring higher-skilled migrants here, bring workers to the regions, and ensure employers are not misusing the Labour Market Test. “It would be particularly useful to get the regions’ skill needs more comprehensively represented in the occupational shortages list, to have visas issued for work in specific regions, and to involve regional businesses and business organisations in those decisions. For regional economic growth, businesses rely on a mix of skills - some provided by migrants and it is important to give regional economies the best chance of success,” Mr Hope said. But he said on top of restrictions recently imposed by Government (restricting low-skilled workers to 3-year visas, restricting skilled worker visas to those earning more than $49,000 a year, and increasing the points needed for skilled migrants to get residency), Labour’s proposed restrictions could make it harder for businesses to fill jobs. “Employers are finding it hard to fill positions in hospitality, IT, horticulture, construction and other sectors. The more restrictions that are placed on lower-skilled migrants coming here,
Kirk Hope.
the harder it will be for the economy to grow.” Mr Hope said Labour’s approach in the construction industry was positive. “Being able to hire a skilled tradesperson on a 3-year work visa without Labour Market test, as long as they are paid over $20 an hour and as long as a New Zealand apprentice is taken on for each overseas worker hired - this is a useful approach for the construction industry where there is a critical shortage of skills.” Labour’s policy focuses on the number of students coming to New Zealand tightening student visa applications for lower-level courses, removing the ability for overseas students to work while here except where the work is approved as part of the study, and banning work visas for overseas students who have completed study here if they do not already have a job. Kirk Hope said this was logical approach as international students make up a large part of overall applications for residency. But he said the policy would have to be implemented with care, as export education was an important revenue earner for New Zealand. “Private Training Enterprises offering lower-level courses and schools and colleges and local communities hosting international students in all parts of New Zealand could be significantly impacted by this policy.” Mr Hope said Labour’s policy should be complemented by policies to improve the quality and responsiveness of training, careers advice and information, and how employers use skills in the workplace to boost productivity.
More practical and applied skills needed Commenting on the Science Technicians Workforce report by the Royal Society Te Apārangi, BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope said the problem of undersupply of technical science skills was similar to shortages in other areas such as engineering.
“While many science technicians hold degree-level qualifications, those qualifications often do not cover the practical skills needed, such as laboratory practice or operating sophisticated science equipment,” Kirk Hope said.
The Royal Society report showed that science technicians are increasingly needed in fields such as high-tech manufacturing, food processing, high tech, biotech and research & development, but that there is a shortage of practical and applied skills in these areas.
“BusinessNZ would like to see the more practical scitence technician qualifications at polytechnics and technical institutes better recognised by careers advice at secondary level and by employers, to ensure a better flow of well-prepared science technicians into the workforce.”
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ANALYSIS
As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own. -Michael Dell
How big data can improve manufacturing In the past 20 years or so, manufacturers have been able to reduce waste and variability in their production processes and dramatically improve product quality and yield (the amount of output per unit of input) by implementing lean and Six Sigma programs. However, in certain processing environments—pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and mining, for instance— extreme swings in variability are a fact of life, sometimes even after lean techniques have been applied. Given the sheer number and complexity of production activities that influence yield in these and other industries, manufacturers need a more granular approach to diagnosing and correcting process flaws. Advanced analytics provides just such an approach. Advanced analytics refers to the application of statistics and other mathematical tools to business data to assess and improve practices (exhibit). In manufacturing, operations managers can use advanced analytics to take a deep dive into historical process data, identify patterns and relationships among discrete process steps and inputs, and then optimise the factors that prove to have the greatest effect on yield. Many global manufacturers in a range of industries and geographies now have an abundance of real-time shop-floor data and the capability to conduct such sophisticated statistical assessments. They are taking previously isolated data sets, aggregating them, and analysing them to reveal important insights. Consider the production of biopharmaceuticals, a category of healthcare products that includes vaccines,
hormones, and blood components. They are manufactured using live, genetically engineered cells, and production teams must often monitor more than 200 variables within the production flow to ensure the purity of the ingredients as well as the substances being made. Two batches of a substance, produced using an identical process, can still exhibit a variation in yield of between 50 and 100 percent. This huge unexplained variability can create issues with capacity and product quality and can draw increased regulatory scrutiny. One top-five biopharmaceuticals maker used advanced analytics to significantly increase its yield in vaccine production while incurring no additional capital expenditures. The company segmented its entire process into clusters of closely related production activities; for each cluster, it took far-flung data about process steps and the materials used and gathered them in a central database. A project team then applied various forms of statistical analysis to the data to determine interdependencies among the different process parameters (upstream and downstream) and their impact on yield. Nine parameters proved to be most influential, especially time to inoculate cells and conductivity measures associated with one of the chromatography steps.
Even within manufacturing operations that are considered best in class, the use of advanced analytics may reveal further opportunities to increase yield. This was the case at one established European maker of functional and specialty chemicals for many industries, including paper, detergents, and metalworking. It boasted a strong history of process improvements since the 1960s, and its average yield was consistently higher than industry benchmarks. In fact, staffers were sceptical that there was much room for improvement. “This is the plant that everybody uses as a reference,” one engineer pointed out. However, several unexpected insights emerged when the company used neural-network techniques (a form of advanced analytics based on the way the human brain processes information) to measure and compare the relative impact of different production inputs on yield. Among the factors it examined were coolant pressures, temperatures, quantity, and carbon dioxide flow. The analysis revealed many previously unseen sensitivities—for instance, levels of variability in carbon dioxide flow prompted significant reductions in yield. By resetting its parameters accordingly, the chemical company could reduce its waste of raw materials by 20 percent and its energy costs by around 15 percent, thereby improving overall yield.
The manufacturer made targeted process changes to account for these nine parameters and could increase its vaccine yield by more than 50 percent—worth between $5 million and $10 million in yearly savings for a single substance, one of hundreds it produces.
It is now implementing advanced process controls to complement its basic systems and steer production automatically.
Developing unexpected insights
The mine was going through a period in which the grade of its ore was
Meanwhile, a precious-metals mine could increase its yield and profitability by rigorously assessing production data that were less than complete.
declining; one of the only ways it could maintain production levels was to try to speed up or otherwise optimise its extraction and refining processes. The recovery of precious metals from ore is incredibly complex, typically involving between 10 and 15 variables and more than 15 pieces of machinery; extraction treatments may include cyanidation, oxidation, grinding, and leaching. The production and process data that the operations team at the mine were working with were extremely fragmented, so the first step for the analytics team was to clean it up, using mathematical approaches to reconcile inconsistencies and account for information gaps. The team then examined the data on many process parameters—reagents, flow rates, density, and so on—before recognising that variability in levels of dissolved oxygen (a key parameter in the leaching process) seemed to have the biggest impact on yield. Specifically, the team spotted fluctuations in oxygen concentration, which indicated that there were challenges in process control. The analysis also showed that the best demonstrated performance at the mine occurred on days in which oxygen levels were highest. Because of these findings, the mine made minor changes to its leach-recovery processes and increased its average yield by 3.7 percent within three months—a significant gain in a period during which ore grade had declined by some 20 percent. The increase in yield translated into a sustainable $10 million to $20 million annual profit impact for the mine, without it having to make additional capital investments or implement major change initiatives.
Capitalizing on big data The critical first step for manufacturers that want to use advanced analytics to improve yield is to consider how much data the company has at its disposal. Most companies collect vast troves of process data but typically use them only for tracking purposes, not as a basis for improving operations. For these players, the challenge is to invest in systems and skill sets that will allow them to optimise their use of existing process information—for instance, centralising or indexing data from multiple sources so they can be analysed more easily and hiring data analysts who are trained in spotting patterns and drawing actionable insights from information.
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REAR VIEW
Sometimes no problem is a sign of a different problem. – Mark Rosenthal, author of The Lean Thinker
transport costs,” he said. A small house was printed this year in 24 hours.
Exponential Manufacturing Revolution Diane Francis Member of Advisory Council at Hudson Institute Kleptocracy Initiative The train to Boston from New York speeds past stunning scenery as well as the blight of abandoned factories, scarred with graffiti. These empty buildings are the remnants of a New England that was the China of the Industrial Revolution based on cheap immigrant labour. Today, its towns languish economically, except for Boston, which is enjoying a resurgence as a technology, pharma, and advanced manufacturing hub. This week, American experts from industry, technology, and policy gathered at a conference in Boston, curated by Singularity University, to discuss the role of tech in manufacturing. America remains a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as the world’s pre-eminent technology nation, but marrying the two will take time. In global terms, the industrial sector represents one-third of all global economic output and represents half of the world’s energy consumption and renewables. “This year, offshore wind power generation matched the cost of natural gas power plants in Europe,” said Singularity’s energy expert Ramez Naam. “In windy parts of the world, wind power is cheapest, and in sunny parts of the world solar is.” In solar, record low prices were reached this year too. A major contract in Dubai at 2.91 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour, the world’s lowest — Ontario’s prices average 8 cents per kilowatt hour. India just completed the world’s largest solar farm (4.5 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour) and its federal government intends to have only electrically-powered vehicles by 2030 – completely bypassing fossil fuels. As these industries scale, costs plummet for solar panels and turbines.
China is converting to renewables rapidly, but has also earmarked half a trillion dollars to become the world’s advanced manufacturing leader. This is a major pivot, necessary in light of the fact that cheap labour, in an era of technology, is no longer a competitive advantage.
In global terms, the industrial sector represents one-third of all global economic output and represents half of the world’s energy consumption and renewables. “China has launched the Artificial Intelligence Institute and its companies are buying companies globally in this space,” said Deborah Wince-Smith, President of the United States Council on Competitiveness in Washington D.C.
economic players as well as their infrastructure. Over three days, presenters unveiled the latest robots, software tools, and business models to several hundred manufacturers. The challenge is for manufacturers to incorporate emerging technologies such as AI or biotech into their operations. Food manufacturers in future will deploy cellular farming, or growing bacon from cells taken from pigs. Cows will be cloned. The speed of plant growth will increase and pharma companies may be able to produce mass vaccines in days, not months, said Juan Enriquez, Managing Director of life sciences company Excel Venture. But traditional manufacturing is being revolutionised by additive or 3D printing. Layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object. These machines have gone from small boxes to industrial scale. “3D is industrialising and is reaching scale, size and speeds that are new,” said Andre Wegner, CEO of Authentise. “They are now printing titanium parts and Boeing is going to save US$3 million per Dream Liner. There are digital knitting machines creating garments from scans.” “The largest 3D printer ever — 14 x 3 x 7 meters – has been built for wind turbine blades on site to reduce
Leading this revolution is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers, General Electric, which is turning its 500 factories in dozens of countries into “brilliant factories”, said GE Ventures Managing Director Karen Kerr. “About 17 are brilliant factories already.” GE owns minority positions in some of the most innovative companies in this space such as Local Motors, which crowdsources innovation and builds vehicles in micro factories. Its business model is to design unique vehicles and build them profitably at a low volume. If they gain popularity, Local Motors will hand off manufacturing to mass production facilities. Another is Xometry which has an AirBnB business model and is a platform that connects hundreds of existing machine shops with customers who need their services. Boston is becoming a start-up mecca due to its dozens of universities, colleges, and a pro-active local government. An Innovation District is exploding in size downtown where “build spaces” offer access to machinery and software to enable “maker” to prototype ideas. The first autonomous vehicles anywhere have been plying the streets of Boston for months. The city has adapted zoning, laws, regulations, and rehabilitated real estate assets to attract start-ups.
And it’s working.
This represents a challenge for the United States but, more importantly, the fact that China is also cheating. “The IP theft is enormous and constant. China is the epicentre of digital theft,” she said. “If nothing had been stolen by China, the U.S. would have another $1.7 trillion in GDP.” She suggested governments must build cyber defenses to protect their
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