nz manufacturer november 2011

NZ Manufacturer November 2011 1

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Evolving automation systems.

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November 2011


NZ undergoing profound innovation extension.

• Email: [email protected]

$7.00

From Where I Sit Manufacturing Trends

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• www.nz.sew-eurodrive.com

Kim Campbell CEO , Employers and Manufacturers Association.

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The Interview

In by far the most significant technology transfer deal ever achieved by a New Zealand university, car travel worldwide is set to be transformed

by revolutionary technology developed by The University of Auckland.

In a multi-million dollar deal, Qualcomm, a major US research and development company specialising in wireless communications, has acquired exclusive rights in and to certain wireless electric vehicle charging technology developed by The University of Auckland. Electric vehicles are predicted to begin an accelerated penetration into the automotive market traditionally dominated by internal combustion engines, by 2015.

Inductive Power Technology

(IPT) was pioneered by Professor John Boys and Associate Professors Grant Covic and Udaya Madawala from the University’s Power Electronics Group. They have led the world in developing systems to transmit electric power efficiently across air gaps without using wires.

Qualcomm also acquired the assets and technology of spinout company HaloIPT. The company was set up in a partnership with international engineering firm Arup, the TransTasman Commercialisation Fund and the New Zealand venture Investment Fund’s SCIF program to develop IPT technology commercially for cars by building prototypes, establishing standards and making the technology reliable. HaloIPT’s staff has joined Qualcomm.

Associate Professor Grant Covic (left) with Professor John Boys.

University transforms car travel worldwide

The moment you enter the reception of the low-profile, rather understated building at 52 Allens Road, East Tamaki, you realise this isn’t your

average manufacturing facility. Before you get to fill-in the register, you get a secrecy agreement to sign. It is all encompassing. Production Machinery Limited (PML) is simply protecting its world-class reputation.

PML “builds the machines which build the machines” not only for their owner, Fisher & Paykel, but also for a number of other significant manufacturers of domestic appliances around the world. More importantly, they establish the design and plan the optimum process first. Then create the ideal machinery to deliver that. And finally, modularise and perfect the production line to fit

Rob Craigie, business development manager, Production Machinery Ltd (on a production line).

PML proves manufacturing competitive on world markets

By Kevin Kevany

into containers, which they ship off all over the world – accompanied by a commissioning and training team which ensures it all works to specification, in situ.

And, frustratingly and atypically, right now, they are having to turn away business, because they have reached capacity in a number of areas. They are short-staffed and looking to sign-on motivated engineers – mechanical, electrical and automation – people with top trades’ qualifications and experience. You probably would need to be prepared to travel around the world too, in a number of roles.

Indeed, the collective intellectual property (IP) in that building is probably immeasurable (and priceless) and that’s before you add the proprietary machinery,

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2 NZ Manufacturer November 2011


Kiwis are innovators and manufacture many fine products for local and overseas markets. It is vitally important for the future of the country that we continue to do so. To be the best and show the world that by focusing on what we do best Ðbe it dairy products, computer software, marine products or electrical equipment Ð we punch well above our weight and succeed!

NZ MANUFACTURER believes in our manufacturers and the levels of excellence they achieve. But more can be done. The opportunities are out there; letÕs grab them with both handsfor the future benefit of us all.




DEPARTMENTS

CONTENTSAdvisors

Bruce Goldsworthy

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

Is NZTE’s Director Specialised Manufacturing. He is based in Auckland.

Adam Bennett

Stephen Drain Stephen Drain is Director at Centre for Innovative Leadership at AUT University, Auckland.


FROM WHERE I SITNZ undergoing profound innovation expansion.

BUSINESS NEWS• TIN 100 stars on the rise.• Strong NZ dollar hurting exporters

OPPORTUNITY HAMILTONBreakthrough software launched.

BAY OF PLENTYLean manufacturing equals sweet results

DEVELOPMENTSElectric vehicles gather support.

DEVELOPMENTSApprenticeships R Us.

AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERSPrimero cuts it with the best.

THE ROAD TO EMEX 2012EMEX 2012 well underway.

REAL ESTATEThe benefits of matching business and property strategies.

THE INTERVIEWMeet Kim Campbell, CEO, EMA.

ANALYSISOpportunities from change.

PRODUCT NEWS• Shear genius.• A paradox.

BUSINESS NEWS• Professor supports raising minimum wage.• LanzaTech wins ICIS honours.

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGYCanterbury software summit like no other.

BUSINESS NEWS• Demand for eco products on the rise.• Delayed visibility inhibits improvements.

WORKSHOP TOOLS• Tech Tip by Tim Fastnedge.• Always air.

MANUFACTURING TRENDSEvolving automation systems.

Page 13 – AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERS – Global crisis, tectonic shifts.

Page 20 – PRODUCT NEWS – Vacuum degassing.

Sir Paul Callaghan

Is the Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences School of Chemical and Physical Sciences Victoria University of Wellington. He is the Kiwibank New Zealander of the year 2011.

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

Catherine Beard

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Page 8 – OPPORTUNITY HAMILTON – Horses sweat – so what?

Page 27 – SUPPLY CHAIN – Manufacturing plant secures vital energy supply.

[email protected] www.plasticweldingtools.co.nz

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Page 23 – MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY – Top performing company recognised.

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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.

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Is the CEO of Gallagher Group Ltd. He is also a Fellow of NZ Institute of Management.

Sir William Gallagher

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

MANAGiNG editorDoug GreenT: +64 6 870 9029E: [email protected]

CoNtributorsMarcus Phillips, Kevin Kevany, Nick Inskip, Catherine Beard, Sir Paul Callaghan

AdVertisiNGMax FarndaleT: + 64 6 870 4506E: [email protected]

desiGN & ProduCtioNKarl GrantT: + 64 6 870 9028E: [email protected]

Web MAsterDan BrowneE: [email protected]

PublishiNG serViCesOn-Line PublisherMedia Hawke’s Bay Ltd

subsCriPtioNsMedia Hawke’s Bay LtdT: + 64 6 870 4506E: [email protected] issues per year. New Zealand $55. Australia and Pacific $95. Rest of the World $132.

MediA hAWKes bAY ltdT: +64 6 870 4506F: +64 6 878 8150E: [email protected]/121 Russell Street North, HastingsPO Box 1109, Hastings, NZPublishers of;NZ Manufacturer, The Mirror, Asia Manufacturing News. Plus contracted publishing services.ISSN 1179-4992

Vol. 2 No. 9November 2011

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.

EDITORIAL

Doug Green

To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going.– Joe Namath

Publisher & MAGAZiNe deVeloPMeNt–Max Farndale

www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz/videos

The futureis HighValue Manufacturing

[email protected]

It’s funny how these things happen but, apparently, New Zealand is experiencing an innovation expansion. I thought we had been doing this since time began with a company manufacturing windmills in the South Island in the 1900’s.

High Value Manufacturing has finally found its place in the political sun, says Sir Paul Callaghan in his article on Page 5. And he says that before the advent of Science Minister, Wayne Mapp MoRST and FRST, the precursors of MSL barely mentioned the sector.

Politicians from the left to the right have at last discovered that innovation drives technology. Maybe it’s an election year or maybe the penny has finally dropped.

We again bring you great examples of what our manufacturers are succeeding at. On Page 15 read about Primero Profiles, an Auckland based, dynamic plate processing company who make cut – to – size and folded steel shapes and specialise in high quality plate cutting. The company’s ambitious manager, Vaughan Clark, is looking to be the major independent in the industry within five years.

In an engaging Interview with Kim Campbell, the new CEO of the Employers and Manufacturers Association on Page 28 read about what makes him tick and what drives him to succeed.

In Manufacturing Trends on Page 30 we look at evolving automation systems which are benefitting manufacturing... Some of these systems are in place through required forward development and planning, others through necessity because of global competition and changing customer requirements.

In our Workshop Tools, Manufacturing Technology and Product News departments there are further examples of products and services for engineering companies. Thank you for your feedback on engineering products you want further information on and want to read about.

These articles, tasty morsels all, will ensure a good read for you as New Zealand companies engineer success out of all types of wonderful beginnings.










www.irl.cri.nz

Working in partnership with business

FROM WHERE I SITThe best way to predict the future is to create it.– Anon

By Sir Paul Callaghan, ‘Kiwibank New Zealander of

the Year 2011’

In the heat of the election campaign few will have noticed that the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI) published a

major report last week. Entitled “Powering Innovation”, it is the work of an independent panel involving business, academia and overseas expertise.

One of the ideas was that Industrial Research Limited be significantly expanded in both Auckland and Christchurch and restructured as Advanced Technology New Zealand (ATNZ), moving selected research platforms to universities and leaving a significant majority of the professional staff as engineers and applied scientists.

The government has immediately adopted the ATNZ recommendation and announced it as election policy.

High Value Manufacturing (HVM) has finally found its place in the political sun.

Before the advent of Science Minister Dr Wayne Mapp, MoRST and FRST, the precursors of MSI, barely mentioned the sector.

Mapp placed it first and foremost. Now both National and Labour compete with policies to boost HVM, with R&D Tax credits and with grants respectively. Even the Greens have discovered manufacturing, provided it is politically palatable “Clean Technology”.

Politicians from the left to the centre right (i.e. ACT excluded) have at last discovered that innovation drives productivity.

Nothing has so effectively driven

NZ undergoing profound innovation expansion

High value manufacturing has finally found its place in the political sun.

this change in thinking as the annual Technology Investment 100 list, published by entrepreneur Greg Shanahan. TIN100 has given us a profile of our Innovation sector that is profoundly insightful, providing data government agencies cannot be bothered to collect. And what data. At the TIN100 2011 launch in Auckland, we learned that the sector now exceeds $7 billion per annum, $5 billion in exports, and with an average annual growth rate of around 5%.

New Zealand is undergoing a profound innovation expansion and the “Powering Innovation” report addresses roadblocks to accelerating that growth.

The recommendations are excellent, including that CRI staff be given IP benefit and allowed easy transfer to industry, that we create a Network of Commercialisation Centres (NNCC) linking universities and CRIs, that we launch a “Bring Back our Brains” programme, that we stop the capping of engineering

student places, that the universities be given a PBRF equivalent for commercialisation.

The recommendations point to the greatest failure of the current government in boosting innovation, namely the lack of a “whole of government” approach and the apparent indifference bordering on skepticism on the part of some senior ministers to building productivity though HVM.

Evidence a tertiary education policy that prevents universities enrolling more students in engineering disciplines while our businesses advertise abroad for skilled staff.

Evidence the two-decade-long failure to increase government R&D investment beyond an OECD-bottom-languishing 0.5 % GDP. Evidence the university staff are being penalised for commercialising rather than publishing, kids actively encouraged to drop maths and science in senior secondary school, limiting their future prospects.

Evidence the slashing of postdoctoral fellowships that provide a bridge between research training abroad and full time employment in the New Zealand science system.

“Powering Innovation” is a report well worthy reading. It contains only one glaring omission in my view. Businesses seeking innovation support have to compete for funding from MSI, just as do CRI and university researchers. Of course.

No-one should have a monopoly right and all should have to front up in the market place of competition, all it seems except the investment agency itself. Why should monopoly be efficient for the funder when it is considered intolerable for the provider?

My advice is to split the investment role of MSI to create competing agencies. Let there be a feedback mechanism that allocates more funds to the agency that is more successful in generating positive science and innovation outcomes. Angel investors and VCs get to compete against each when seeking the chance to invest in the best startups. Why shouldn’t MSI be subject to the same market discipline? Who gets to be the one that funded our first Kiwi-based Nobel Prize, or that gave the crucial helping hand to our next F&P Healthcare or Orion? Let’s see how smart our agencies really are. Sounds like a great idea to me!



BUSINESS NEWS Successful enterprises are usually led by a proven chief executive who is a competent, benevolent dictator.

– Richard Pratt

New Zealand’s construction industry can be certain that its future is in safe hands judging

by the talent celebrated at an awards evening in Wellington.Dunedin apprentice Ryan Keogh, 22, was named the Registered Master Builders Carters 2011 Apprentice of the Year after competing alongside 10 national finalists from up and down New Zealand.

Second place was awarded to Matt Saathof, 21, of Hastings who is employed by Gemco Construction in Havelock North. Twenty-year-old Tom Storey, employed by Simon Linton Construction Ltd in Ohope, took out third place.

The competition judges said winner Ryan Keogh, employed by Naylor Love Construction Ltd in Dunedin and trained by the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO), performed consistently across the competition.

The awards event was held at Wellington’s Te Wharewaka and was attended by the apprentices and their families, key representatives from the building and construction industry, 2010 Apprentice of the Year Isaac Alder and guest MC Te Radar.

Leading automotive accessory company Best Bars Limited has appointed John Frear to the newly

created position of General Manager Sales & Marketing to assist with building its growing domestic and export business and also strengthen the management team.

Mr Frear has more than 20 years experience in management roles with New Zealand and Australian manufacturing companies. He was most recently Regional Manager for Australian-owned mining/manufacturing/distribution business, OneSteel.

Securing a trademark in countries like Australia, the United States, China and the United Kingdom will in future be

exponentially cheaper and easier for New Zealand companies, following the Government’s decision to adopt the Madrid Protocol in September.

Intellectual property expert, Theodore Doucas of Zone IP (an intellectual property management consultancy in Wellington), said that the Trademarks Amendment Act is a major coup for the export industry.

As a signatory to the Madrid Protocol, New Zealand companies will only have to file one trademark application to secure trademark protection in more than 80 countries.

“Instead of paying multiple lawyers fees overseas and having to file multiple applications, it’s now just one simple application which will save companies tens of thousands of dollars.”

Mr Doucas said that the cheaper, simpler process would enable companies to expand into international markets faster and more efficiently. It also becomes easier for companies in other signatory countries to register their trademarks in New Zealand.

Countries which are part of the Madrid Protocol include the United States, Japan and the European Union.

A company will be able to submit its trademark application to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), which looks after formalities and administration. WIPO will then file the trademark with signatory countries directly. Approval of the trademark in each country would still depend on each country approving the application in that country.

“Once issued, registrations of the same mark in different countries

will share the same application date and renewal date which simplifies the renewal process, rather than the different dates and times of the older, unwieldy system.

“The Madrid Protocol doesn’t necessarily cut the lawyers out. If an issue arises – such as an objection – the company registering its trademark will still have to get an attorney from that country to deal with it.”

Mr Doucas said disadvantages are few, but may include the fact that if the trademark application falls over in New Zealand, it will fall over in the other countries. “So it’s still important to do your homework properly in the home country. Companies also need to be aware that the goods or services in the overseas applications must be the same or narrower as the one in your home country; it cannot be broader in scope.”

The outstanding achievement of the All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup is not just a fillip for the national psyche but an

illustration of what can be achieved when a clear definition of success is articulated, and a well thought out plan is devised and put into action.

As individuals, the All Blacks are clearly imbued with prodigious talents but it was effective player management and a long-term strategy that enabled them to get across the line in the final.

The national team’s 100 per cent winning record at the tournament, despite an injury crisis meaning the call-up of the fourth choice first-five-eight for the final, demonstrates how, despite the challenges put before it, the team performed to its potential. The same cannot be said of the New Zealand economy.

Over the last few years there has been much discussion about the need to add value to our primary sector commodities and increase the number of and amount spent by tourists visiting these shores.

While agriculture continues to be the mainstay of our economy and tourism has become a bigger contributor to GDP, we are struggling to make economic headway. It is clear that if this country is to become significantly wealthier, New Zealand’s economy needs another, powerful engine of growth, one that has the potential to dramatically improve our collective fortunes.

Until recently high-value manufacturing has been seen as having little potential to increase its contribution. This perception

has been influenced in part by the emergence of low-cost, high-volume competitors in Asia.

Since its inception, the Technology Innovation Network (TIN) has done much to redress this through highlighting the role technology investment plays as a catalyst for growth. Over the last seven years the TIN 100, a list of New Zealand’s top 100 technology companies by revenue, has charted the progress of and provided insights into New Zealand’s top ICT, high- tech manufacturing and biotechnology firms, and its work is doing much to raise the profile the high-value manufacturing sector.

The 7th edition of the TIN Report, which was released in association with IRL, shows that advanced manufacturing is indeed alive and well. A Crown Research Institute, IRL’s purpose is to increase the contribution of the industrial manufacturing and associated sectors to the New Zealand economy by empowering industry to drive innovation and it is satisfying to see that we have provided R&D services to five out of the ten firms on the TIN 100 Companies to Watch list.

Of particular note is the progress up the rankings of the Report by companies like Rakon, and Gallagher, both top New Zealand manufacturing firms, excelling in the international marketplace.

The TIN 100 shows an overall increase in R&D expenditure and that most firms featuring on it have demonstrated levels of investment in research and development that are significantly higher than those of the average New Zealand company.

This growing contribution to the economy was borne out recently in the Statistics New Zealand Annual Enterprise Survey, which showed total income per worker in manufacturing was $404,000, which compared favourably to tourism’s $82,800 revenue per employee. The earnings of manufactured exports were $16.5 billion in the 12 Months to August, a 6.4% increase year-on-year.

Advanced manufacturing is the sector of the economy with the greatest potential for growth. A significant proportion of the world’s most successful economies have well developed advanced manufacturing sectors and if New Zealand wants to achieve the sustained economic growth enjoyed by nations such as South Korea, Taiwan and the Nordic countries, we need to back our advanced manufacturing sector.

By taking a strategic, long-term approach to its development we can energise a part of our economy that has the potential to generate the wealth required to significantly raise the living standards of all New Zealanders.

Madrid Protocol levels the playing field

TIN 100 stars on rise

By Shaun Coffey, Chief Executive, IRL

APPOINTMENTSNew GM at Best Bars

Apprentice of the Year named



Strong NZD hurting export earnings – but there is something you can do

BUSINESS NEWSMen err when they think they can be inhuman exploiters in their business life, and loving husbands and fathers at home. – Smiley Blanton

Getting paid by overseas customers is a critical com-ponent in ensuring payment terms are not only favourable but adhered to by the other

parties.However, receiving payment

in foreign currency exposes exporters to risks many are not properly equipped to handle. As a consequence far too much time and energy is spent worrying about exchange rates rather than running and growing business. Given the rapid rise of the New Zealand dollar to record highs, it’s obvious to see why!

Export earnings have been dealt a severe blow in recent years and to put it into perspective, those receiving U.S dollar revenue over the last year could have lost more than $200,000 for every $1,000,000 or 20% in foreign currency revenue due to factors beyond their control.

Or are they?Whilst we can’t influence the

direction in which exchange rates move there are measures businesses can put in place to protect foreign currency revenue streams.

The term referred to as “hedging” is used to describe an investment made to reduce the risk of adverse price movements and when it comes to foreign exchange there are tools such as forward foreign exchange contracts that can be utilised to protect revenue streams – the livelihood of any business!

Let us look at an example of a fictional exporter who we will call The Best Wine Company (BWC).

BWC exports to the U.S and has seen a strong increase in demand. Over the last year they grew monthly revenue from $50,000 USD to $150,000 USD and in total generated $1,200,000 in USD sales revenue.

At the beginning of the year, when they set their USD prices, the NZD/USD exchange rate was at 0.7000. So the expectation, based on forecasts the business made, was that they could expected to receive around $1,710,000 NZD in revenue that year (at an exchange rate of 0.7).

However as the exchange rate

appreciated over the course of the year the revenue they were to receive in NZD terms dropped by around 17% due to the exchange rate appreciation. This would have wiped out almost $250,000 New Zealand dollars in revenue for the business.

Luckily though, BWC took measures to protect against exchange rate risk by investing in a forward foreign exchange contract (FEC). They locked in an exchange rate of 70 cents for the year ahead by purchasing an FEC, which gave them piece of mind and also locked

By Marcus Phillipsin their profit margins.

By having secured a rate of 0.7000 they did not have to transact in the spot market and convert funds at whatever the prevailing, higher rate was at the time - instead they converted the USD receipts into NZD at 0.7000.

There was of course the risk the spot rate could have been better (lower than 0.7000) and instead of getting a benefit from transacting at the forward rate they actually received less NZD.

However, BWC was happy to have some certainty in export earnings and instead focus energy on attracting new customers and growing market share.

nextstePVisit: www.nzforex.co.nz

www.nzeco.govt.nz

http://www.nzeco.govt.nz

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http://www.nzforex.co.nz/partner.asp?id=1504



OPPORTUNITY HAMILTON Two paradoxes are better than one. They may even suggest a solution.

– Edmund Teller

The leAN GeMbA ACAdeMY provides a unique opportunity to combine expert training

from New Zealand’s leading Lean training organisations and the chance to see how Lean Thinking has been applied within a real business. Participants can experience the culture of Continuous Improvement, witness the results and hear how employees at a New Zealand company make the most of Lean Thinking in everything they do.

Our courses help you to:• Understand one of the key Lean

tools and see it utilised in a real environment.

• Talk to employees who have seen the benefits of 5s workplace organisation.

• Understand the five steps to a successful rollout via a simulation.

• Develop the capability to implement 5s.

• Understand how 5s empowers and engages employees.

The trainer for the course Ian Lines has been helping organisations on their Lean journey for over ten years. In the UK he worked in the automotive industry implementing Lean and taking Leadership Teams on the journey of Lean transformation. Since moving to New Zealand seven years ago he has worked with over 30 organisations, in the service and manufacturing sectors, developing Lean processes and strategies.

For more details visit www.leangembaacademy.co.nz

Kiwi ingenuity is alive and well in the Waikato, a high performance textile originally invented for use in the world’s toughest contact sports, is now being put to the test in a revolutionary new saddle cloth system developed by local company Clemett Road.

Equine lovers know well that finding the perfect horse and the right saddle is a journey that often takes years. Riders can invest huge amounts of energy, time and money into this process yet sometimes overlook the importance of their choice of saddlecloth – sometimes to the detriment of their horse’s comfort and well-being.

Thick and heavy saddlecloths predominate in this market. They can trap air flow, heat, sweat and bacteria, and due to their bulkiness are difficult to clean properly. Recognising there must be a better way, local couple Lee Forsman and Karen Huckstep have designed and developed a revolutionary new Saddle Cloth System known as the Equipad™.

Similar in concept to a pillow and pillow case, the Equipad™

comprises two parts – a Vented Saddle Pad (the inner part) and the Skin (the outer part). The Vented Saddle Pad incorporates a unique mesh weave to allow for better shock absorption and air flow and the Skin simply slips over the Pad to make up the finished product.

“Saddlery and tack can look very different depending on the discipline a horse and rider is involved in,” says Karen, a keen horsewoman of some thirty plus years.

“But two key purposes remain the same regardless of discipline; the first being to protect the saddle from dirt and sweat, and the second to provide an extra layer of cushioning to protect the horse’s back. Our objective was to design a saddlecloth that can be used across a wide range of equestrian disciplines to deliver better horse comfort, better saddle protection and super easy care.”

Demonstrating that innate Kiwi talent for thinking outside the square, Karen and husband Lee searched worldwide for the right textile from which to manufacture the Skins. They found their answer in Fortitude™ – a high performance

textile developed by Dunedin-based company Gimono for use in martial arts apparel.

Fortitude is a breakthrough fabric technology that combines merino wool with polyester to deliver high levels of breathability, comfort and durability. It also wicks moisture,

11Ants Analytics has launched the breakthrough 11Ants Customer Response Analyzer to enable organisations to

identify prospects most likely to respond to marketing offers. The breakthrough software is designed to improve marketing campaign effectiveness and profitability by giving marketers the information they need to concentrate resources on those customers statistically most likely to respond to a marketing offer.

“In today’s economic climate organizations need to make very smart decisions about how to allocate their marketing spend,” says Tom Fuyala, Director, Business Development, 11Ants Analytics.

The solution has been designed so that it can be used ‘out of the box’ by marketers or business analysts and does not require any understanding of algorithms or intense predictive analytics experience. The automated features also free up accomplished analytics experts from time consuming and repetitive tasks resulting in a better job, faster.

“Our software provides an affordable and rapid path for organisations in any sector to deploy predictive analytics – literally in hours. Companies no longer have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on licensing and spend months just to get to up and running on their software. Our software is a real game changer in the market,” says Fuyala.

Users can identify the precise prospects to target in a given campaign and calculate the optimal number of prospects to contact to maximize the profitability of the campaign – slashing marketing costs and avoiding annoying customers who would not be interested.

What-if scenarios can also be performed on various spends on retention offers and delivery channels. Insights can then be gained into the proven predictors of response and the relative importance of these factors. A drill down view of the profile of a responder versus a non-responder is presented clearly with informative and intuitive graphs.

The 11Ants Customer Response Analyzer guides a user to build a response propensity model to provide key insights into which customers are statistically most likely to respond to a given offer. The model analyses historical data of sample of customers who have responded previously, and a sample of those who have not responded previously to uncover patterns.

11Ants Customer Response Analyzer complements the recently launched 11Ants Customer Churn Analyzer to empower marketers to identify those customers statistically at risk of churning, allowing retention efforts to be focused on those specific customers. The software is used in a diverse range of settings including insurance, retailing, banking, telecommunications, utilities and health clubs.

Breakthroughanalytics software

Horses sweat - So what?

is shrink resistant, colourfast, easy care, anti-odour, and anti-microbial which makes it perfect for saddlecloths – proving that while it may be true that ‘horses sweat and men perspire’ both can now do so in the comfort of Fortitude’s unique properties.



OPPORTUNITY HAMILTONIt’s not only what we do but what we do not do, for which we are accountable.– Jean-Baptiste

www.opportunityhamilton.co.nz

A shoe-string budget has not stopped a Hamilton mother whose child care clip invention is taking the world by storm.

Bianca Richardson, of InKIDable Solutions Ltd, used her personal $30 weekly spending allowance to develop the Houdini Stop car seat clip, which four years on is selling like hotcakes throughout the world.

The clip product, which prevents children from unbuckling their child restraint, last year turned over almost $200,000 for the stay-at-home mother who invented it to cope with her own “Houdini child”.

“I invented it out of sheer desperation because I couldn’t find anything on the market that would keep her buckled in. The next thing my friends were asking me to make some for them. I thought I might sell a couple of hundred of them but I never imagined I would be selling thousands each year throughout the world,” Bianca said.

Houdini Stop has two clips joined by a length of material which connect and holds car seat straps together to stop children escaping. It can also be used on high chairs and strollers.

The product is stocked in baby

retailers throughout New Zealand including Baby City and The Baby Factory and Bianca has distributors in Singapore, Poland, Spain, the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Bianca has worked with economic development agency Opportunity Hamilton, who connected her with business mentors to encourage her in her “little ideas with big results” venture.

“The support of Opportunity Hamilton has been invaluable. Through Regional Business Partners they connected me with Steven Stark at BDO and his advice has allowed me to take the business to the next level,” Bianca said.

Bianca, who describes her role in the business as chief inventor and bottle washer, recently launched a new Houdini Locks system preventing babies from pulling off their nappies.

“I get them injection-moulded at ES Plastics in Hamilton and assemble them at home. It’s a very simple and effective product and parents love them because they’re sanity savers,” Bianca said.

Bianca’s friends serve as product testers for her products, which will soon include a Houdini Cosy clip system to prevent babies from losing their blankets.

“It’s amazing what you can do with a little drive and passion. This truly is a business that has grown from the ground up. I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds.”

Datacom’s decision to build a $30 million data centre in Hamilton sets the city apart globally

and brings it closer to becoming a technology leader in the South Pacific, says Digital Hamilton manager Nicola Browne.

Nicola, of economic development agency Opportunity Hamilton, met with Datacom general manager of data centres Tom Jacob recently, touring the company’s Albany premise and discussing Datacom’s needs in Hamilton.

“Datacom’s research showed Hamilton was the best place for its new data centre and this will send a positive message to New Zealand and the world about how the city is a secure and sensible choice for business location,” Nicola said.

Datacom’s Hamilton data centre will provide more than 15 full time jobs and work for dozens of local contractors.

“A development of this scale is positive for Hamilton and our region across the board. Our aim for the city to be a digital technology leader in the South Pacific just moved up a level.”

The decision coincides with the rollout of ultrafast broadband in the city, the five-year deployment which started earlier this year.

Opportunity Hamilton and the Hamilton City Council assisted Datacom in its decision to move

to the city, with the economic development agency to help with staffing needs of the centre.

Datacom general manager Tom Jacob said the company’s presence in Hamilton, the city’s geological stability and its proximity to Auckland all weighed in its favour when deciding on a location.“We see Hamilton as the ideal location for several reasons. There’s the geological stability but it’s also the ideal distance from Auckland. Too close would have been an issue and so would too far,” Tom said.

Datacom will build the data centre in north Hamilton as part of its 10-year contract to supply computer infrastructure to government agencies. Construction will begin in January and the centre’s exact location is under wraps for security reasons.

The 920-rack facility, the largest in New Zealand, will be commissioned and in operation by early 2013. It will run together with the smaller Albany centre opened in 2009.

“The government contracts will use about half the storage space so there is plenty of room to service other clients from throughout New Zealand. The Hamilton location is an attractive site for both government and commercial operations to house IT systems,” Tom said.

Beca Carter will design the facility with Fletcher Building providing construction.

$30m data centre sets Hamilton apart Sanity savers on a shoe-string a winner for Hamilton mum

A proactive investment in wireless and ultrafast broadband is paying dividends for Hamilton Girls’ High

School by giving students and teachers virtual on-line classroom access at any time and information at their fingertips.

Hamilton Girls’ High School Associate Principal Kathy Paterson is embracing the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution, which she says is rapidly changing the dynamics of learning.

Ultrafast broadband was installed at Hamilton Girls’ High School through a local fibre network provider in February 2010 and wireless broadband became

available this year bringing some of the biggest technology changes in Kathy’s three-decade teaching career.

“A lot of our classroom learning now is done online, through Moodle, YouTube, eTV and internet sites. This means students have access to the most up-to-date information. Our Social Sciences learning area spend very little money on textbooks now. When I was at school a calculator was the big investment,” she said.

Along with Hamilton’s Hillcrest High School, HGHS is completing a three year Ministry of Education ICTPD contract to improve teacher ICT competency and classroom integration of information and

communication technology.Opportunity Hamilton digital

strategy manager Nicola Browne congratulated Hamilton Girls’ High School and Hillcrest High School for investing in technology infrastructure.

“They are leading the way with this technology and they provide an evolving, working example of all the possibilities that come through having the right infrastructure in place,” Nicola said.

UFB is being deployed in Hamilton under the Government’s $1.3 billion UFB initiative.

Business, health and education sectors are top of the rollout priority list.

ICT investment pays off



BAY OF PLENTY If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough.

– Mario Andretti

Florentines Patisserie, winner of the 2011 BOP SBN Productivity Award,i is a privately owned company that manufactures and

sells a broad range of premium frozen cakes and desserts for the foodservice and retail markets through-out Australasia.

Florentines has spent considerable time, money and resources on developing innovative products and offers a unique mix between the bakery and patisserie style product. The business was established as a small wholesale patisserie in Tauranga 17 years ago supplying the local market with a large range of patisserie cakes, desserts and pastries and has grown by more than 900% over that time.

The company has an ambitious goal; to build and grow the business to a $30 million world class manufacturing patisserie that inspires pride. The complexities of developing this business from

a small batch producer to a small run manufacturer of patisserie quality products has not been without challenges and expense but Florentines rose up to the task.

Management recognised that it was important to consolidate its position after three years of aggressive sales growth and concentrate on the internal robustness of the business. In February 2010, Lean Manufacturingii was implemented

Lean manufacturing equals sweet results

into the business to cope with system issues faced by having a larger range and production facility.

They wanted to survive the difficult change from a small batch producer to a larger manufacturer and the productivity improvement project was implemented throughout the company. Lean manufacturing has been a large part of helping Florentines to scale up and re-design almost all facets of the business.

The company has implemented change across the entire company from the business structure, pro-duction processes, warehouse sys-tems, finished products inventory, new products, accounting practices, and sales and marketing. This helped give a clear focus and strategy to help the company improve its profitability.

Florentines realised early on in the Lean process that productivity was going to be a large factor in helping the company survive and prosper. Most of the products are hand-made and without the correct flow and procedures, competing in the marketplace would be difficult if not impossible.

A considerable amount of time was spent on staff training around continuous improvement. In less than a year, over 150 continuous improvement ideas were suggested and almost all of these were implemented.

SCA Hygiene Australasia’s Kawerau site has worked hard to ensure that it excels across the board where sustainable

business practices are concerned. Besides ensuring it has minimised its environmental impact, it also recognises its importance on the community within which it operates and interacts positively on a local level.

Additionally, SCA Kawerau is a major economic contributor to the local and national economy. (The SCA Group develops, produces and markets personal care products, tissue, packaging, publication papers and solid-wood products, and has sales in more than 100 countries.)

Working with staff, the company, winners of the Tauranga Sustainable Business of the Year, has encouraged the use of motorcycles and bicycles.

To encourage walking, a ‘pedometer challenge’ has been implemented. Teams and individuals from the site are encouraged to participate and weekly updates posted to create friendly rivalry to ‘up the ante’.

This programme has changed the behaviour of a number of staff who now regularly walk to work instead of driving.

As well,the site set a target, with 2006 as the base year, of reducing waste to landfill by 75% and reducing the fibre lost to water by 50% (the fibre is removed during treatment and goes to landfill).

Some of the projects that were implemented to achieve these targets included working with suppliers to return cores from plastic wrap; reusing more materials internally; sorting at source to enable more recycling; and installing monitors in

drains to detect excess fibre loss. Coupled with this was employee

involvement and education and working closely with the waste contractor to improve recycling rates. To date, both targets have been achieved ahead of plan. Continued reduction work is in progress and new targets will be set in 2012.

With 2005 as a base year, SCA set a global target of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020. SCA Kawerau has already achieved this target while increasing production via a number of projects to improve efficiency and reduce consumption of energy. An ESAVE team was set up and with the input of all staff, pulled together a list of opportunities to either improve efficiency or reduce consumption of energy. Projects were reviewed, ranked and worked through.

The single most significant improvement came with the closure of the Natural Gas boilers (that produced steam to run the paper machines) and the introduction of direct Geothermal Steam. This resulted in about a 39% reduction in CO2 emissions from the site.

Water reduction is another sustainability target and the two components are to reduce consumption by 15% and organic content by 30% by 2012.

Part of the ongoing initiatives on the site, 22,500 native seedlings have been planted along the banks of the Tarawera River where it runs through the site. Local school children, Iwi, site staff, and others have been involved with the plantings.

The site is ISO 9001 and 14001 certified, AS/NZS 4801 (Health and Safety).

Striking a positive balance between people, planet and profits

The National Party’s an-nouncement that it will slow down the full impact of the cost of the ETS on the economy is

like saying instead of moving into 4th gear (full speed ahead) we will stay in 3rd gear a bit longer, when we should have been in 1st or 2nd gear at the most from the start of the scheme, says Executive Director of ExportNZ, Catherine Beard.

“With National’s climate change policy, New Zealand will still end up with a high cost scheme relative to our international trading competitors.

“Many of our trading competitors have accepted no international obligations to reduce emissions,

even fewer have trading schemes. Of those that have, they have been very careful to craft their policy response in such a way that it does not put their energy intensive trade exposed companies at risk of becoming less competitive in international markets.

“While some companies have had some allocation of free emission trading units to keep them viable, some of our largest exporters (e.g. food processing companies) have had no allocation at all and have taken on millions of dollars in extra costs.

“These companies were not deemed to be large enough energy users to get an allocation because

the test for allocation was based on an Australian threshold, designed for a much more energy intensive Australian economy.

“While that may have worked to adequately protect emissions intensive Australian firms, it has left some of our biggest exporters in New Zealand exposed to a very substantial bill, which will only get bigger with the latest policy announcement.

“The National Party policy statement says we should not get too far ahead of our trading partners on climate change mitigation measures for agriculture – so why would we for industry?”

Policy on ETS too hard on exporters



DEVELOPMENTSAllowing the average New Zealander to invest in a wider range of local and central government companies would free up capital.– Michael Barnett

Opinion Manufacturing Profiles Letters to the Editor Politics of Manufacturing Trade Fair World Diary of Events World Market Report Q/A Export News Business Opportunities Commentary As I See It Business NewsAppointmentsAround New ZealandAustralian ReportNew to the MarketLean ManufacturingEquipment for SaleRecruitmentEnvironmental TechnologyManufacturing Processes

NZ MANUFACTURER • December 2011/January 2012 Issue • Features

training and recruitment – the Future

Workshop tools

the road to eMeX 2012

2011 – the Year that Was


Advertising Booking Deadline –12th December 2011Advertising Copy Deadline – 12th December 2011Editorial Copy Deadline – 12th December 2011Advertising material is to be sent to:Max Farndale,P O Box 1109, Hastings 4156, Hawke’s BayEmail: [email protected]: 06 870 4506 / Mobile 027 628 2033

Editorial material to be sent to :Doug Green,P O Box 1109, Hastings 4156, Hawke’s BayEmail: [email protected]: 06 870 9029Fax: 06 878 8150

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.

Pure Advantage, the organisation championing a green growth paradigm shift for New Zealand says the launch of the

Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles (APEV) is evidence of strong growing support for green business in New Zealand.

APEV, advised by Soichiro Fukutake one of Japan’s most influential businessmen and now living in New Zealand, is modelled on the Japanese counterpart of the same name of which Soichiro Fukutake is chairman.

APEV Japan has been successful in uniting all facets of the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry under a collaborative umbrella, the goal of which is to accelerate the adoption of EVs.

Duncan Stewart, Campaign Manager for Pure Advantage says the launch of APEV in New Zealand is perfect timing and shows that New Zealand can make a positive contribution to reducing carbon emissions from the use of personal motor vehicles.

“New Zealand has one of the highest ownerships per capita of motor vehicles in the Western World second only to California. We are ideally placed to adopt electric vehicles because 74% of the country’s electricity comes from renewable sources such as hydro, wind and geothermal,” says Stewart.

“New Zealand now has the all-electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV vehicle commercially available and the

Nissan LEAF due here soon, but globally there are more than sixty EV brands planned or in production.”

Pure Advantage supports the vision of APEV because electric vehicle technology has the potential to develop into a significant new industry, and at the same time improve New Zealand’s environmental performance and preserve the country’s clean green image internationally.

Stewart also says that new

Designed by structural engineers, Aurecon, the NMIT Arts and Media building is the first in

a new generation of multi storey timber buildings.

It employs an advanced damage avoidance earthquake design that is a world first for a timber building. This revolutionary earthquake technology has been developed by Aurecon structural engineers and is based on the latest timber research from the University of Canterbury. The building also employs several new timber structural systems for floors, beams and columns that truly demonstrate the ability of structural timber for use in multi storey construction.

Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) was used as it has strength properties that allow for the fabrication of beams, columns and walls at sizes similar to those used in concrete or steel designs.

The project was the subject of a national design competition sponsored by the New Zealand

Government to realise a building whose structural form uses and showcases its construction in timber and encourages the future use of timber in the design and construction of multi-level commercial buildings. All structural timber components were grown, milled, manufactured and erected within an 80km radius of Nelson.

Aurecon Technical Director and lead structural engineer for the NMIT project, Carl Devereux, says “We have seen huge interest in this project from overseas groups as it showcases a new era in the sustainable design of resilient buildings so beautifully. A huge amount of research went into the use of timber and in particular using the LVL systems. After the devastating Christchurch earthquakes, our research and innovation around using other timber systems has increased three-fold. The next best thing to watch out for in leading seismic design solutions is the use of CLT timber”.

businesses would grow up around a New Zealand electric car industry such as companies that would acquire skills in conversion technology, training institutes for mechanics and battery leasing programmes.

“Pure Advantage believes New Zealand could embrace electric car technology because it will ultimately reduce our reliance on increasingly expensive imported oil and develop capabilities which we can export to the world.”

A new report shows how a turbulent global economy is transforming the private equity industry. Given the increasing

competition for quality assets, increasingly discerning investors and the continuing economic uncertainty, the report concludes that there will be private equity winners and losers.

The report, based on interviews with private equity professionals across the world, highlights that the private equity sector has rolled up its sleeves and now exhibits a very hands-on approach with portfolio companies. Nearly half of firms now view performance improvement with portfolio companies as the main way to drive value. With debt markets still constrained, financial engineering’s role is now negligible, with just 2% of those interviewed citing it as a value driver.

Martin Gray, Head of Lead Advisory with Grant Thornton New Zealand, said: “Over the last three years, we’ve seen the private equity model evolve to meet a new set of challenges. Investors have become more analytical, demanding transparency from private equity partners – a sentiment echoed by regulators and the public.

“Investors want growth, but they also want to know how it’s being delivered and to have the assurance that it’s being achieved in a responsible way. Given the economic backdrop in the developed economies, private equity can’t look solely to market growth to drive value. This means that there’s a pressure on practitioners to really perform and build demonstrable track records in order to prosper.”

From a New Zealand perspective the findings mirror key issues discussed at the recent NZVCA conference in Auckland. Given stretched holding periods for investments, generating quality exits is vital. With relatively few IPO exits the burgeoning markets for secondary buyouts and strategic trade buyers have helped fill the void.”

Grant Thornton New Zealand has responded to the need for companies to improve business performance in order to drive value growth by recently acquiring Management Toolbox, a business which has a strong reputation within both the corporate and public sectors for improving business performance through better strategic planning, enhanced operational efficiency and reduction in costs.

Equity emerges as a force for growth

Sustainable timber design shows the way

Electric vehicles gathering support



You may never know what results come of your actions. But if you do nothing there will be no result.

– Mahatma GhandiDEVELOPMENTS

Genesis Energy Training and long-time electrical and mechanical services contractor, the Singer Group are to combine in 2012 to train

selected trainees in a joint venture which is being hailed as the ‘way to go’ for industry generally.

Genesis Energy has been developing this break-through model over a number of years now to get the balance right between its own needs and those of the New Zealand electrical industry which, like so many in other developed parts of the world, is facing a severe ‘loss of skills’ scenario as the first tranche of the ‘baby-boomers’, who trained in the Sixties, start retiring.

Dean Smith, Training Manager, Genesis Energy, whose team has paved the way for the initiative said that 2012 will see the company funding seven trainees and Singer five. Genesis Energy is hoping to line up a number of other partnership deals on a similar basis with other suppliers.

Wintec, which the company has some history with, has secured the tender to provide the preferred polytechnic role which will see it meet all academic and theory elements of NZQA industry qualifications in support of mechanical and electrical apprenticeships.

“In essence,” says Smith, “Genesis Energy and Singer are combining to promote and encourage youth back into the electrical industry as qualified workers in order to mitigate with smart, new young-blood the large number of current workers who will retire over the next several years.

“This is what Genesis has been working to address for some time now and to progress this we have looked to companies we are affiliated to or associated with to partner us in this new model.

“What we think makes this attractive too, to a company like Singer is that the programme is focussed on delivering the ‘generic tradesman’ not simply skills needed in the electricity supply industry.”

Singer Group boss, Jeff Mclaren, welcomed the initiative which he believes is not only more equitable on the cost-sharing front, but also has the potential to change the way large industry with its highly-skilled and well-resourced corporate structure can cooperate with a trusted, long-term partner to jointly achieve a balanced output of their own and contribute to national requirements, by combining strengths.

“We particularly like the innovation and thinking behind the programme and especially like the name, ‘Apprenticeships R Us’, since

it epitomises and simply reinforces the stated purpose and outcome, in one. The fact that Dean and his team achieved a full pass-rate in their last year of the recent trial-run leading up to this programme, signals very clearly that this is going to be an absolute winner, and one we will be very proud to be partnering in.

Mclaren noted that the fact that the initial part of the training was on both electrical and mechanical skills matched up perfectly with the profile of services which Singer provides to Genesis Energy at Huntly Power Station and the hydro stations in the Central Plateau, to meet their particular needs.

“The local electrical industry, in our experience, is becoming more and more demanding as technology plays an ever-increasing role. But if you don’t have the best of ‘the basics’ you aren’t going to be sound enough on the fundamentals to innovate – and deliver the ‘Powerful Solutions’ a growing number of our customers expect of us each working day now.

“But, for those trainees with the drive and ambition to go all the way, these are truly stimulating times, and ‘Apprenticeships R Us’ is going to provide a brilliant learning platform for those who make it onto the course,” Mclaren says.

Smith is rightfully proud of the success achieved in the five-year trial with ‘a community of host companies throughout the North Island’.

“We achieved a 92.9 percent completion rate, which compares very favourably with the industry’s national completion rate of some 34-percent. Overall we had 57 apprentices/trainees on the programme, with 10 finding positions in the company and 43 – or some +80-percent – entering the national workforce with recognised qualifications.

“The big change to the new national apprenticeship programme is a move from a fully-funded model to a user-pays model, with any interested community or host

company, like Singer, joining the programme under a service contract with Genesis Energy. We are able to keep the cost to the partner companies low by accessing Modern Apprenticeship co-ordination funding, along with industry funding though the appropriate ITO.”

Current projections see Genesis Energy taking on between 4-8 apprentices each year to meet their workforce needs and growth requirements, with approximately 3-4 host companies, in addition to Singer, expressing interest in joining the new user pays apprenticeship model.

According to Smith, partner companies would be entering into a service contract with Genesis Energy to provide the following services over a three-year apprenticeship.1. Support in the selection of

apprentices (if required)2. Recognition of prior learning

and competency, prior to the establishment of training agreements

3. Establishment of training agreements and pathways

4. All administration and co-ordination associated with the following parties:• Associated Industry Training

Organisations (ITO’s)• NZQA• Polytechnic• External training providers, if

required. • Partner organisations

5. All on-job assessment in support of agreed training pathways

6. Quarterly reviews and training reporting

7. All moderation associated with the apprenticeship programme

8. All apprentices will be employees of the partner company, which will meet all associated mechanical and electrical pathways. “In return, the partner companies

pay a fair share of the costs and they are able to access the apprentices when they need them. A big plus for Genesis Energy is that by working with the partner companies, the apprentices get a broader experience than they would with us, but by the same token those who would only have had partner company experience will also get heavy electrical industry exposure.

“This alone is bound to improve the flexibility, adaptability and development of the new trainees,” says Smith.

The programme organisation is already in full swing. Recruitment advertisements have already been placed in the appropriate media. Interviews and selection,

as well as notification and offers of employment were scheduled for completion in the earlier part of November. The final schedule of the Training Programme will be confirmed between Wintec, Genesis Energy and partner companies before year-end.

Apprentices are scheduled to start in early February.

Ian Brothers, who recently rejoined Singer as business development manager, Generation Services, and who has long been associated with Genesis Energy’s Huntly Power Station, also welcomed ‘Apprenticeships R Us’.

“As Dean puts it so well; together Genesis Energy and Singer can ensure that trainees get the core competencies they need; giving them both competence and confidence in general trade positions. Singer doesn’t do all the things that a trainee needs to do to get qualified, and vice versa.

“We can give them broader experience simply through our breadth of operations, but Genesis Energy has the skills, experience and staffing in the training profession, which we could never hope to have in place.

“That’s why this is such a good model, and I have been more than comfortable championing it to my colleagues and Jeff,” says Brothers, whose own career across the breadth of the electrical industry would set a great bench-mark for trainees.

The final word is with Smith who is confident that ‘Apprenticeships R Us’ will deliver a win-win for everyone involved.

“We’ve emphasised the business model and the benefits for the partners, but I’d like to wrap-up with what this programme is going to mean for the next generation of trainees. Firstly, they will get a sound generalist mechanical and electrical engineering foundation, which turns them into good core tradesmen, with all the skills to make a good living.

“That’s important. But secondly, from there they will have a better understanding of their own skills and interests and will have the insight to understand what employers across the industry are looking for, so they can advance and align their skills and specialise in accord with industry needs.

“We anticipate this programme will run for a number of years, and be tweaked and refined based on experience. So those who have missed out on the first intake can get updates on the first course, as it progresses, from our website, and will have early notice of the intake process for 2013,” he says.

Ian Brothers, Singer.

‘Apprenticeships R Us’ in dynamic training partnership



AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERSBe a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected– Steve Jobs

Today’s headlines are filled with stories of collapsing public finances in Europe, concerns about the euro, public and private sector layoffs around

the world, dauntingly persistent unemployment in the US, stagnation in Japan, slower growth in China.

Next are the stories of political paralysis, new governments in Greece and Italy, a European Union unable to work out its difficulties, a United States in which partisanship has replaced public interest, and a Japan with a revolving-door premiership unable to get its footing.

Next are stories on the spreading sense of deep unfairness, people losing pensions and jobs due to bureaucratic blunders or dishonesty, inside traders who made huge sums from shady deals, CEOs making millions while laying off thousands, and bankers and financiers who nearly brought down the world economy granting themselves salaries and bonuses that the rest of us can only dream of.

“Occupy Wall Street” and similar movements elsewhere are the result of a situation in which the many appear to be paying for the folly of the few.

Despite many analyses of today’s issues, some simple facts seem to be overlooked.

In a nutshell, many of the problems have arisen because individuals, companies, and even nations have tried to borrow, rather than earn, their prosperity.

The simple fact is that individuals, companies, and nations have to improve their competitiveness if

they are to achieve a prosperity that is sustainable.

In the eurozone, the ease of using a single currency masked the fact that the less competitive euro economies had only maintained their positions in international markets by depreciating their currencies against those of more competitive neighbours.

When the weaker economies used mispriced borrowing for consumption rather than investments to improve competitiveness, and could no longer devalue, it was only a matter of time before the lack of competitiveness would come home to roost.

In the US, cheap money, feel-good policies, and financial engineering masked the failure to make the investments in the workforce and in core infrastructure needed to maintain competitiveness. In Japan, stagnation was obvious, but an ossified political system could not make the internal reforms necessary to improve competitiveness.

On the other hand, it has been Northern European countries with their fiscal stability, China with its emphasis on investing in infrastructure and people, and India with its newfound focus on development even in the midst of systemic corruption that have done well among the large economies

What are the lessons for a country like New Zealand, that has avoided the worst of the excesses, more or less kept its house in order, and has benefited from growing demand for its products and services?

The lessons must be that avoiding the excesses is essential, that

resource demand and prices can help but are uncertain, and that the only way to improve prosperity in a sustainable manner is to improve competitiveness.

To improve its competitiveness, New Zealand will need to understand three tectonic shifts in the global competitive landscape and leverage these to its advantage.

The first is the rise of the markets of Asia, particularly China, India, and Southeast Asia. These nations have accounted for the lion’s share of global growth over the last few years and are likely to continue to do so in the medium term. The key thing here is that instead of these markets being half a world away, as are many of New Zealand’s traditional markets, these are much close in distance and time zone, and while some New Zealand companies and industries are focused in on these markets, the vast majority that could be are not.

The second tectonic shift is the combination of globalisation and modern information technology. Today, globalization and modern IT allows small companies from small countries to harness the same productive forces as anyone else, to plug into foreign markets, to develop and deliver messages, and to manage global businesses as never before. New Zealand companies can set up manufacturing in China and back offices in India. They can use the Internet for their marketing and sales, international logistics firms as their distribution system, and access global capital for finance.

While some New Zealand companies and industries are taking

David McConnell, ATEED Chair; Michael Enright, Tony Caughey, TCI2011 Chairman

Global crisis, tectonic shifts, and New Zealand’s prosperityBy Michael J. Enright

Michael Enright is Professor at the University of Hong Kong, Director

of Asia-Pacific Competitiveness Programs at the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy,

Director of Enright, Scott & Associates consultancy, and a Founder of The

Competitiveness Institute. He is a keynote speaker at global The

Competitiveness Institute conference in Auckland on 30th November for more

information see www.tci2011.com

advantage of this combination, far too few have realised its potential.

The third tectonic shift is the emergence of a new paradigm for fostering national and regional competitiveness through the development and nurturing of regional clusters, groups of firms in the same or similar industries that can improve their competitiveness through collective action and focused investment.

Cluster-based development has become the prevailing paradigm in many nations around the world, particularly the small northern European economies that continue to outstrip New Zealand in technological development and in various competitiveness measures. Again, while New Zealand is making progress on cluster development, it has a great deal to learn from leading practice abroad.

New Zealand’s ability to understand and leverage these tectonic shifts will have an enormous influence in its future prosperity. New Zealanders have a unique opportunity to plug into these shifts later this month.

The annual conference of The Competitiveness Institute, a global professional body with more than 2,000 members in more than 100 countries, will be held in Auckland November 28 to December 2.

The conference will focus on the shifts identified above and will bring experts from Asia, leading practitioners from Europe, and people engaged in linking clusters to markets around the world to New Zealand.

It will be a unique opportunity to focus in on what New Zealand needs to do to ensure its future prosperity in an ever more difficult global environment.




AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERS

WWW.EMEX.CO.NZ

I don’t work here. I’m a consultant

– anon

production lines and processes on the impressive shop floor.

A feature of their production lines is that they are of superb quality, allow for easy access and good visibility-- which is imperative for effective preventative maintenance to ensure maximum machine uptime -- thereby ensuring best possible return on investment (ROI).

That said, refreshingly, they see themselves as being ‘in the business of selling ideas and especially those ideas and concepts which lead to strategic advantages’ – ‘enabling our customers to produce products or processes previously placed in the ‘too hard’ basket.

This operation, which evolved in the early Eighties after Fisher & Paykel appliances, back in the 1960s, realised it needed to adopt flexible manufacturing techniques, which allowed one production line to manufacture the entire model range of a product.

To achieve truly flexible manufacturing, they would have to develop the techniques and build the machinery themselves. And therein was both the genesis and the ensured success of a global market yet to appear on the horizon.

In short, they strove to achieve ‘the impossible’; turning the classic whinge of every Kiwi manufacturer (of virtually any product) into a winning advantage, in one of the most competitive industries in the world – white goods.

You’ve heard it often; read it in these pages; and might even have said it yourself: “New Zealand is too small, too diversified and too demanding of variety to contemplate setting up a production-line for. Look what happened to the motor car assemblers. And more.”

Well, Fisher & Paykel took that on in the early days through extensive research and development programmes, both on product and the overall manufacturing processes. Particularly, when it came to manufacturing lines, they learnt about incorporating the concepts of “flexibility” and “modularity” and, of course, innovation in design and producing those processes -- just to compete.

Those attributes are scorched into PML’s DNA and have become particularly more valuable as the global industry has become a highly-competitive and open-ended

marketplace, demanding greater efficiencies (financial and energy), a wider range of model options with regular and frequent changes – something Fisher & Paykel had been doing forever.

The rest of the industry, with massive markets, typically developed and produced dedicated lines which simply banged out mass-produced items with dedicated equipment. Given that’s all that was required at the time.

Indeed, as the fashion changed from flat fridge doors to curved ones, or a ‘white’ finish to stainless steel; or from basic technology to one which self-analyses and adjusts automatically, PML’s long-serving team (20-30 years is not exception amongst the 70-80 employees) pleasingly becomes the one the industry turns to more frequently.

“Our turnkey service ability and our commitment to strive for the best result budget have also been key factors in our success to-date,” says long-serving Rob Craigie, an F&P Design Engineer turned Business Development Manager for PML.

The low staff turnover has also ensured critical processes are kept in-house, maintaining quality, reliability and consistency, all of which boosts customer productivity with quality results. And PML also has invaluable access to specialists within the wider Fisher & Paykel group of companies.

So why wouldn’t the global industry be turning to PML, given their superb track-record of producing equipment which is an integral part of producing leading industry technologies, including the game-changing washing machine motor technology?

“Although the breakthrough direct-drive motor is about 30 years old now, it remains as one of our business areas and subsequent developments,” he says.

“This business has reached the point where it is changing so rapidly that we are not only planning processes and machinery lines to make the current markets’ needs, but we are anticipating what

could be needed – even though we ‘don’t know what we don’t know’– building in the capability to introduce any possibility. These are amongst the most challenging and exciting times we’ve been through.”

If flexibility is integral to their DNA, collaboration – sooner rather than later in the process, Craigie emphasises – is the learnt behaviour which they encourage clients into: machine-friendly products, easy to manufacture.

The Fisher & Paykel head office and some remaining manufacturing is just up the road from them. Global market demands, including having to cut both production costs and transport to markets has seen the bulk of manufacturing spread to Thailand, Mexico, Italy and Ohio, in the USA. But the IP, licensing, knowledge and ‘continuity know-how’ remain in Auckland.

Although PML is a stand-alone company, its relationship with Fisher & Paykel is also an important factor in its ability to compete globally.

Craigie again: “A good knowledge of the product and trends gives us an advantage, as a preferred value-added vendor, meaning we find ways to invent equipment to accommodate those trends, which is intended to be widely adopted across the global industry.”

PML also has a 5,000m? purpose-built facility capable of building large production lines and has many state-of-the-art machining centres.

Core equipment types used include: destacking; cut-to-length lines; cylinder forming; folding;

roll-forming equipment; notching and piercing; coil handling; jigs and fixtures; specialised presses; robotic integration, and many more. Product specialties are washing machines, refrigerators and motors.

“The majority of our work is in supplying the appliance industry with special purpose production machinery; however we have successfully designed and built machinery for industries as diverse as low-pressure die casting, pulp thermoforming and the healthcare industry.

“We have proven a number of our skills are transferable to other industries. Our systems and wide-ranging experience in the global export markets can be of benefit to New Zealand companies,” he says.

What else do they have in their service mix to benefit local and international clients?

“We believe the key to our success in having achieved quality customer relations is great project management with very good communication, starting with a dedicated project manager assigned to each project and specialist engineers allocated specific sub-assemblies of the project to ensure both excellence and job-satisfaction.

“Clear communication, using the latest Internet technologies means we can hold design reviews online, and use Net meetings with e-drawing software, to allow customers to participate remotely. Daily project activity is visible through our CustomerNet secure website. This is where they can view detail sensitive project information, progress photos, video and news.

“This ensures our customers remain well-informed throughout as we are experienced at bridging geographical distances and time lines,” he adds.

Time to get your family’s budding engineers to give Craigie a call and join another successful ‘Made in NZ’ team.nextstePContact: Rob Cra gie, iPML Limited 09 271 8143.Email: [email protected]

From page 1 PML proves manufacturing competitive on world markets

Rob Craigie, business development manager, Production Machinery Ltd

(with washing machine drum).

PML “builds the machines which build the machines”



AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERS You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.”– Edwin Louis Co

• Concept to Completion; Product design, tool design, Manufacture & Mould trials• Large Capacity/Work platforms with extensive plant & equipment• 40 qualified specialized staff; Designers, Toolmakers, CNC Operators• 20 yrs export experience to global markets• AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008 certified

Tel 09 479 8844 • 34 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, [email protected] • www.rpmtoolanddie.com

HOW’S BUSINESS?

The company continues to invest in the most up to date technology to remain as the leading provider of

wire forms and springs to an ever increasing number of NZ customers from Invercargill to Kaitaia.

Director Graham Burrell standing in front of the brand new Herdon HCM 50T full servo 16 axis wire forming machine which National Springs & Wire Products NZ commissioned

earlier this month.

Primero Profiles Ltd positions itself as New Zealand’s newest and most dynamic plate processing company, selling cut-to-size and folded

steel shapes, and specialising in high-quality plate-cutting from 2-150mm thick; quick turnarounds; and high-speed production press braking.

“If it’s solid advice you’re after, and a unique attitude to customers’ needs, we’re your guys,” adds Vaughn Clark, the youthful, dynamic owner manager.

But don’t be fooled. He’s anything but a novice, having done 13-years in the cut and fold business since leaving Howick College; working on the floor, running a full range of machinery, advanced CAD draughting and pounded the pavements for sales. He’s not without ambition, and was prepared to take risks to deliver on that – to become the major independent in the industry within five years.

Just six months into the game, he’s adding a new four-torch profile cutting machine which will double the existing cutting capacity of the firm. The staff complement has grown quickly to seven split over two shifts and continues to grow.

And, he admits, he is a careful researcher who took his time checking his options before setting up Primero, undaunted by the recession.

“From the start, we committed to having the leading skills in the industry; the best machinery; the latest software; and the best operators and located near our

customers. If you put that in place with an enthusiastic ‘can-do’ attitude, you quickly attract a large and loyal customer base.

He effortlessly fields customer orders as we move around the workshop, prices and scheduling at his fingertips. Almost on a weekly basis, top machine operators drop by to check on vacancies or to go on a list for future jobs linked to expansion.

‘Energy’ too would be a major requirement to thrive here. When ATEED part-funded an Ice House course for fast-track companies to achieve and manage growth, Clark had no compunction in accepting it, even though it would create great time pressures.

So much for the ‘soft issues’. In this game you also need the hardware to back you up too.

They’ve got that in place.CNC Plasma Cutting: providing

high-quality, quick turnaround plasma cut components via a hi-definition Hypertherm HPR 260KW CNC Plasma, which can cut plate from as thin as 1.0mm up to 50mm thick. The 6m x 2.5m bed allows large item manufacturing.

CNC Press Brake: this 175T CNC Press Brake can fold with accuracy and speed up to 12mm plate. Its 3m width allows large item manufacturing and its networked graphical controller streamlines production for the customer’s design department.

Guillotine: has the capability to cut, with accuracy and speed, up to 6mm thick plate. Its 3m width allows a cost-effective solution.

CNC Flame Cutting: the new CNC 4 torch flame-cutter cuts plate

Primero Profiles cuts and folds it with the bestBy Kevin Kevany

up to 150mm thick. With a drive and three slave cutters, this machine can cut four parts at once.

As you leave, you might notice a couple of Primero Profiles’ sign boards propped up in the corner. They’ve clearly been too busy meeting the needs of their 50 and growing number of customers to get around to putting them up.

Then again that’s probably the best sign you can have.nextstePContact: [email protected]: 09 633 4923






EMEX 2012, New Zealand’s premier trade show for manufacturing businesses is gathering momentum.Over the years Emex has drawn

buyers and suppliers together under one roof at Auckland Showgrounds and though there may be odd, similar events throughout the regions, Emex is the one with the ‘drawing power’.

Sales Manager, Rob Lavender, says that on top of the bookings received soon after the last show, ”We are getting a good flow of companies booking space which is very satisfying.”

“ New Zealand manufacturing is very diversified and the manufacturing equipment and

THE ROAD TO EMEX 2012 The results of quality work last longer than the shock of high prices.

– Author Unknown

EMEX 2012 well underway

We all have followed the story of how Hillside Engineering in Dunedin, a division of Kiwi Rail, were

not considered skilled enough to renovate and build rolling stock in New Zealand, to see manufacturing sent overseas to China.

Recently rail workers from Lower Hutt presented a partition because their jobs are at threat. 12,000 people signed that partition a testimony to the concern being shown to putting people on the scrap heap. 40 workers in Dunedin were made redundant recently.

KiwiRail sure does have a way of upsetting people!

You don’t have to be Einstein to know that manufacturing in this country is heavily competed against by overseas companies, particularly from Asia. We all get the picture; components, parts and expertise are much cheaper in China.

I was at a trade fair in Melbourne and overheard a conversation between a German industrial motor representative and an Australian importer. The Australian importer

had recently cancelled his orders from the German company and could buy five times as many motors from China than he could from Germany, for the same price.

His explanation to the German was that if “anything goes wrong with one of the motors I still have four left.”

I hope we’re not working like this with the rolling stock coming in from Asia. Why run the risk when the work can be done here?

If the initial argument was that there wasn’t the expertise to do the job then bring some on board. Even if they had to cross ‘the ditch’ or be brought in from Asia at least the work would stay in New Zealand.

But let’s not worry about all this.

It’s only part of the big picture for manufacturing in New Zealand. If Kiwi Rail says this is the way it is going to be then who can argue? The stakeholder does not want to see a reduction on the profit line even if people are made redundant to keep it that way.

You will never hear of a shareholder in a company taking a reduction in their annual return as against keeping workers from the scrapheap. Is this Fletcher’s problem?

And if you think that’s a bit harsh then keep an eye on Kiwi Rail as it continues to refine its people to fit the budget. Our rail system has been all over the place. Remember Richard Prebble? Remember the buyers from Victoria, Australia who bought it for the price of a Victorian country-line and then sold it back to government?

Instead of developing programmes to make railway more essential – think freight, think the Gisborne Line – KiwiRail seems to be static. Sure there is significant development going on in suburban

Auckland. But is that all? Is that enough?

By the way, Hillside Engineering’s ambitions go like this: To be the Leader in our Heavy Engineering Markets.

Progress towards this vision will be through:• Proudly providing value added

products and services.• Building strong relationships with

our customers and suppliers.• Ensuring our people are qualified,

competent and adaptable.• Building and maintaining our

organisational knowledge and capacity.

• Reviewing performance for continuous improvement.Important factors for our

Customers’ buying decisions:• High level of quality.• Experience and background

knowledge of the staff.• Price competitiveness• Staff competency• Capacity of facilities and plant.

Enough said!

Kiwi Rail really does have its hands fullBy Doug Green

A strong trade showXPO Exhibitions’ Brent Spillane says

one of the key factors in the event’s success has been that they have maintained the same expert event

Major trade fair not that far awayIt is hard to believe that we are only six months away from EMEX 2012. Made in Germany at

EMEX 2012The New Zealand German Business

Association (NZGBA) is organising a German pavilion at next year’s EMEX 2012.

One target is to create awareness of Germany as a country with quality product options. Advantages for the German exhibitors are group synergies, minimisation of expenditure, time and risk as well as maximum impact. For further information please contact Oliver Rube on 093040702 or via email [email protected]

services on display will update companies on what they need for better productivity and efficiency.”

The New Zealand German Business Association has booked substantial space at the trade show and there is interest in exhibiting from parent companies with affiliates in New Zealand.

*This publication, NZ Manufacturer, will be playing a key role with the trade show with extensive coverage and lead up over the coming months.

– Doug Green, Managing Editor.

team and have a strong commitment to ensuring EMEX remains a world-class event. “We plan to grow EMEX and further support manufacturing and engineering in this country.

“There’s some feeling that the Kiwi event is, size for size, stronger than its Australian counterpart, and we intend to continue to stay ahead. EMEX attracts a high calibre of buyers as well as sellers, and we work hard to match buyers with sellers to make this is a genuine business tool.”

There is no doubt that EMEX is our most important advertising event and planning is well underway to showcase the latest in CNC machining technology.

– Rodney Oxford, Total CNC




AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERSRun your idea up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it.– anon

From page 1

The University of Auckland and Auckland UniServices Ltd, the University’s commercial arm, will use the funds generated from the transaction to invest in further research and commercialisation, as well as sharing a portion with the inventors in line with the University’s intellectual property policy.

Qualcomm was impressed by the quality of research at the University and through UniServices will provide ongoing support for IPT research at the University.

University Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the UniServices Board, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, said IPT technology, now set to reduce the cost and environmental impact of motoring on a massive scale, had started out as fundamental research. “Merely tinkering with plug-in cars, for example, would never have led to Professors Boys and Covic unearthing this fundamentally different technology.

“It is an outstanding example of how fundamental curiosity-driven research, developed through painstaking investigation and testing, was brought to market through the region’s leading technology transfer company UniServices. This development path can exist only in a research-intensive globally-connected University. It demonstrates the ability of universities to influence the future in a radical and positive manner,

and to bring global benefits.“The scientific brilliance and

diligence of Professor Boys and his colleagues plus the commercial savviness of UniServices make for an unbeatable combination,” said Professor McCutcheon.

“IPT will become the standard technology for electric-powered vehicles. Vehicles fitted with our technology will be able to charge overnight using electricity generated by renewable sources such as wind. Because there is a low demand for electricity at night, little or no extra installed generating capacity will be required to power our fleet of electric vehicles,” said Dr Peter Lee, Chief Executive of UniServices.

“We dealt with Qualcomm because of its track record in establishing the universal global standard for other technologies like mobile phones. The likelihood of the technology being successful or reaching a global market is now more likely with Qualcomm.

“This deal is fantastic news for New Zealand – we are providing access to technology in exchange for payments that will help ensure future investment in New Zealand research. There will be ample opportunity for New Zealand-based companies to become a part of the high technology manufacturing required for these systems.

“These local companies will have the advantage of being close to the source of the technology and access to

University transforms car travel worldwide

many generations of engineers who have graduated from our University with an in- depth knowledge of the underlying technology. We are already in discussions with some of them to make sure they are well positioned to capture benefit from this development.

“We will generate financial benefits to further advance IPT technology here in New Zealand and at the University.”

Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm, said, “We can look back with pride and pleasure at how our two organisations worked diligently to achieve a wireless power solution.

“In the future I am greatly looking forward to helping develop a long lasting and successful collaboration with The University of Auckland and Auckland UniServices.”

In today’s markets, a DIY approach to key strategic decisions about property leasing and location simply doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t

matter whether your business runs from a small office, or a large industrial site.

Without a clear image of the organisation’s property goals, those responsible for the relocation can make commitments that could derail the long-term goals of the enterprise as a whole.

Relocations commit the organisation to large capital outlays, resource allocations, staff and customer disruptions, and profitability and share dividend impacts.

Too often the search for new premises becomes like an episode of the popular TV series Desperate Housewives in that one or more of the principal actors fall in love. Emotions completely cloud judgement.

Later in the episode the relationship turns to their

disadvantage and is only resolved by calamitous resolution.

Purchasing or leasing property is a significant cost to any organisation. It is also a huge source of personal income for developers, landlords, real estate agents and other property professionals. When the stakes are as high as this, emotions also run high.

I once had an insurance company client that was about to set up a 24/7 call centre. The company’s directors met on a Friday for lunch and a few drinks. During lunch they decided the way to find a location for their call centre was for each director to jump in their car and go for a drive through the city that very afternoon looking for a building and an agent

to suit. They ended up with a list of

buildings all over the city and seven excited agents who had now become their ‘best friends’. But what the directors lacked was any strategy for choosing one site over another.

A few days later these managers compared notes and realised they needed qualified help. I worked with the company to assess the locations. They had not considered many things, including security and access for staff at night, the demographics of the suburb and proximity of where potential staff lived.

Once I had worked through a matrix with the team comparing factors and weighting them, one site came out on top.

The process paid off and the call centre was run successfully from the same premises for the next 12 years.

There is always a prime location suited to your operation, but analyse it thoroughly before you leap.nextstePVisit:www.ParallelDirections.co.nz

The Benefits of Matching Business and Property Strategies

When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train people.

– Ancient Chinese Proverb

By Peter Scott




AUCKLAND MANUFACTURERS If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it.

– J P Morgan

Why do you do what you do?I BELIEVE the Employers and

Manufacturers Association (EMA) makes a real difference to business in New Zealand, both by advocating for policies that build a better business environment for business to operate in, by training people with the skills they need to be the best they can be, and by providing expert advice to assist employers needing help with employment matters.If you were not doing this, what path would you have chosen?

I RECENTLY decided I have achieved most things in business that I had set out to do at the outset of my career, and I was looking around for a way of putting something back into the business community that was both meaningful and enjoyable.

I cannot imagine not being in business in some way. The only other possible option would have been going back to being a ski bum which is where I started out. Apart from being in the business environment, the mountains are a great place to be.

Kim CampbellCEO, Employers and

Manufacturers Association

The InterviewHow do you see the current New Zealand business climate?

THE WORLD is in a very precarious financial state, and this is made worse in New Zealand for us by the Canterbury earthquake and a history of poor capital allocations.

The first period of National’s administration under John Key has made some progress in making the environment more business-friendly, but not enough to remove the ambiguity, and uncertainty which seems to prevail across all sectors of the economy.Where do you see markets growing?

THOUGH there is good cause for some optimism from the continuing strength of various Asian markets, Australia continues to be the most important destination for New Zealand exports. But there has been some recent softening in demand there, particularly for retail.

However we can be very optimistic for the mid to longer term of the New Zealand economy because we are bountifully endowed with rich agricultural land, plenty of water and a very efficient farming and rural supply industry.What does the next government need to do for business?

THE NEXT government needs to ensure that its investment continues on critical infrastructure. In particular we need communications that are in all respects better than world’s best in order to reduce the effects of our isolation.

The government needs to ensure that immigration and training policies eliminate bottlenecks caused by skills shortages, and eliminate the social imbalances caused by inadequacies in the education system.

Above all they need to provide leadership to ensure that sustainable business practices allow the creation of new jobs resulting from new technologies.Your greatest achievement?

RETURNING to New Zealand - only to find a new calling at the EMA!Advice for someone starting out in business now?

START with a customer, and make sure you are adding value to whatever you do, then make sure you have enough working capital to run your business.

Match your dreams to your resources. Success comes to those with determination, and a desire to succeed. Remember, it is not the big that eat the small; it is the fast that eat the slow.Where do you see growth for New Zealand business?

THERE are endless opportunities for innovative products that have an identifiable point of difference. New Zealanders are good at designing, organising and finding opportunities.

We need to build on those strengths by finding business partners who have the resources and are willing to take on new challenges and greater risks.How do you relax?

SAILING, walking and reading.Favourite book?

NAPOLEON: The ManGreatest inspiration?

MY DAD. A great businessman - a man of probity, integrity and compassion.Favourite quote?

THE REAL voyage of discovery is not in seeking new lands, but seeing with new eyes.

Lance Watson and Travis Dunn recently launched Total Rollforming to assist New Zealand manufacturers

who cannot afford full time engineering staff b y maintaining their equipment and sorting out machinery problems.

They have three rates – emergency response, scheduled work and preventative maintenance and look at ways to enhance the life and performance of existing plant.

nextstePVisit: www.totalrollforming.com Travis Dunn and Lance Watson

Sorting out machinery problems a winner

The University of Auckland is making it easier for the manufacturing and materials sector to tap into its expertise

with the creation of a one-stop shop.

Manufacturing Chair Professor Xun Xu says The Innovative Manufacturing and Materials Programme has three strands – idea generation and discovery, technology development and innovation implementation – which will bring together expert researchers from science, technology, engineering, management and other parts of the University.

“Our specialists and cross-disciplinary teams can help manufacturers in a number of ways, from innovation in new materials, to new product development, renewal of manufacturing systems, enhancement of supply-chain processes, through to business growth strategies and the redesign of work systems.”

Professor Xu says the University wants to make it easier for manufacturers to access its research and development capabilities and specialist management advice as well as ensuring it is meeting the needs of the manufacturing businesses.

“We want industry to come to us and tell us what they need. In the past we have been more inclined to push our ideas onto industry rather than invite them to come to us.”

The manufacturing sector is important for New Zealand’s economic well-being as one in every nine workers is employed by the sector and it is responsible for 14 percent of the country’s GDP and 65 percent of all exported goods.

High-tech niche-based man-ufacturing was an area the University was most likely to have the greatest impact, he says.

Storehouse of expertise

NZ Manufacturerllll

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ANALYSIS

By Heavy Engineering Research Association

Industry Development Manager Nick Inskip

The Christchurch earthquakes have devastated the lives of many people but it could have been worse; lessons learned from past earthquakes

around the world such as the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995 which sparked renewed interest in building standards around the world and the development of new design and construction methodologies, some of which reduced the effects of the earthquake.

Similarly, the effects of the recent Tsunami in Japan on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, caused a ripple effect in countries that have traditionally used nuclear power, now turning away from it.

At the European Future Energy Forum (EFEF) held recently in Geneva Switzerland, the President of the Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey announced that the Fukushima disaster had caused a rethink of Switzerland’s use of nuclear power and as a result they had committed to closing their nuclear plants and would

be pursuing renewable energy options. She called on industry in Switzerland to rise to the challenge in developing the next generation of renewable technologies.

Nuclear power accounts for about 40% of Switzerland’s electrical energy needs, which is a significant generation hole to plug.

In addition to countries committing to closing nuclear plants, there is also the effect on countries not replacing plants scheduled for closure due to age and of countries not taking up the nuclear generation option. The overall effect is a greater focus and demand on alternatives, including renewable energy options.

One alternative often touted as a bridging technology, is the use of gas for electricity generation. James Leap, Director General of WWF

International, who was a member of the opening plenary at EFEF made the point, that especially in the USA, the move to gas generation was based around using shale gas. He highlighted why gas was a ‘threat, not a bridge’ in meeting the world’s energy needs and said that, “if we build the future economy on shale gas, we will have lost the fight to control climate change.”

With the perception of threats from nuclear plants and shale gas, the already expanding area of demand for renewable energy options has received a further boost. Micheline Calmy-Rey’s call for Swiss Industry to ‘rise to the challenge’ could equally apply in New Zealand, while we do not have the imperatives of a fear of Nuclear Power to drive innovation, there is nothing stopping our industry from riding the wave of demand from innovative energy solutions, in meeting the demands of countries like Switzerland.

Given New Zealand Industry’s strong technology base, export focus and experience, it is only natural

Opportunities from Change

See past the problems and focus on providing the solution.

that the opportunities presented by the changing world attitude to energy, position us well to ‘rise to the challenge’ provided by these new markets.

For New Zealand industry, the disruptions caused by earthquakes or changing attitudes provide opportunities for change, for innovation and for opening pathways to new markets. The secret is to see past the problems and focus on providing the solutions.

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.– George Horace Lorimer

hAVe Your storY told iN AN issue oF –

For more information contact:Managing Editor – Sales Manager –Doug Green Max Farndale06 870 9029 06 870 [email protected] [email protected]

iNterNAtioNAl rePort

The Government is supporting exporters through two changes that widen the scope and

accessibility of the New Zealand Export Credit Office’s (NZECO) trade guarantees.

The changes will allow NZECO to underwrite its trade guarantees in a broader range of currencies,

including China’s Renminbi and give NZECO more flexibility to support transactions with benefits to New Zealand over and above the level of local value-added content.

Trade Minister Tim Groser says the changes reflect the shifting nature of New Zealand’s export trade.

This month, Better by Design took 30 of New Zealand’s top business and design leaders on a mission

to Silicon Valley to learn how to inspire a culture of innovation.

The group visited a number of

design inspired companies including Google, Facebook, Ericsson, Method and Intuitive Surgical and experienced design learning and hands-on with prototyping sessions at IDEO and Stanford d.school.

More support for exporters Visit to bring opportunities






PRODUCT NEWS It is unfortunate we can’t buy many business executives for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth.

– Malcolm Forbes

[email protected]

This new vacuum degassing system for twin screw extruder feed system (ZSFE) is available on the ZE UTX and ZE UT series

of extrusion machines. The vacuum degassing can triple extrusion output, depending on the density of the filler being used, compared with side feed without degassing.

Suitable for retrofitting, the degassing system is equipped with an adjustable vacuum pump and a special non-metallic, non-woven filter. It is designed to remove high air volumes during compounding operations, particularly for fillers

Vacuum degassing feed system

such as talcum, wood flour, lightweight chalks, calcium carbonate and other bulky materials used in filling compounds.

nextstePVisit: www.hbm.com.au

A special system technology is for the production of PE-Xa pipes suitable for heating systems and gas transmission.

The new system utilises peroxide crosslinked technology for polyethylene pipes supplied under an exclusive partnership agreement with Crosslink Finland OY, a leading manufacturer of infrared crosslinking ovens.

The complete line from the specially developed twin-screw extruder with a conical processing unit and the pipe head through to the unique calibration and cooling system is ideal for the processing of the ready-mixed compound consisting of polyethylene, a stabiliser and peroxide.

After the three components have been mixed, a diffusion process takes place and the liquid peroxide is absorbed by the granulated polyethylene. This produces an extremely homogeneous material mixture as the peroxide is distributed inside the granule. The system provides a high degree of reliability and constant process conditions which ensures a high quality product with a consistently high degree of cross linking.

The crosslinking of the PE pipes takes place in-line in the specially developed infrared crosslinking oven supplied by partner Crosslink Finland OY which has been integrated into the Krauss Maffei solution. This approach eliminates the need for additional downstream production steps, reduces manufacturing costs including lower raw material costs.

Crosslinked PE-Xa pipes have high flexibility, high resistance to heat and cracking and are typically used in panel and radiator heating systems, as well as in the supply of hot water systems, drinking water, compressed air and gas lines.


The NZ fabrication market now has a first ever integrated shear technology powered by highly productive and energy efficient

servo controllers.Main advantages are:• lower energy consumption• lower maintenance costs• high sheet utilisation• higher productivity• advanced bending and

forming capabilities with electric stroke

Originally, the company was the first in the world with servos in its punch press processes, but it always felt challenged to be the first in the world to invent a servo electric shear component.

But in the SGe Series, the Shear Genius series is fully servo electric in both the punch press and shear functions.

At the heart of this new unit is an updated servo electric turret punch press. Its right angle shear has a servo electric actuation system of its own, simultaneously making shear movement very fast and fully controlled - this optimises productivity. Automatic loading has been integrated, as have part removal and sorting.

The SGe Series has optimised tool changes; other auxiliary times have been minimised for best production output. Well-known features such as automatic clearance setting of blades are included to maintain high parts service quality. Output is 5-15% higher compared to hydraulic models.

The latest version of a Tulus

operating system has a new online simulation view for follow-up and restart. Integrated tool library with NC Express programming and servo electric punch makes tool set up an adjustment easy and fast.

The unit is perfectly suited to any challenges ranging from agile one-piece production through to full-scale mass production.

Shear Genius can be operated as a versatile, high-performance turret press. Fast setup, high tool capacity and convenient manual loading and unloading also make it a perfect machine tool for one-piece production.

In serial production the SGe benefits can be utilised to the full. The process starts with automatic loading and ends with automatic removal and sorting and sheared components. Before that, punching, forming, bending, tapping and marking have been performed, automatically, as programs.

Of course, the Shear Genius does not need to operate as an individual cell. There are numerous alternatives to automate the material flow both on the loading and unloading side. For example, a coil line connection is available. The Shear Genius can also be integrated with a simple raw material storage, or function as a central unit in a Prima Power Flexible Manufacturing System (PSBB or Night Train FMS).

The fully servo electric SGe meets the highest requirements for productivity, equating to high-quality and low cost of components fabricated, due to high accuracy and sheet utilisation, low energy and maintenance costs and a high level of automation. At the same time the technology is state-of-the-art in terms of sustainable manufacturing.

Shear genius

Originally, first in the world with servos.

New technology produces PE-Xa pipes




PRODUCT NEWSApply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen.– Lee Iacocca

A poorly rewound motor wastes electricity and increases the risk of breakdowns. Choosing a quality-certified workshop

will give you confidence your motor is returned to its original efficiency, minimising electricity and maintenance costs.

The Motor Rewind Workshop Quality Code is an independent quality code that has been developed to maintain the efficiency of in-service electric motors.

The code was developed by certification experts Telarc and representatives from the rewind industry, with support from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Workshops certified to the code have demonstrated, through an audit of their businesses, that they have the skills, equipment and processes in place to achieve high-quality rewinding of three phase electric motors.

There are currently 13 quality-certified motor rewind workshops across the country and EECA estimates that they now cover around 70% of all New Zealand’s motor rewinds.

CMG Electric Motors workshop in Avondale, Auckland was the first to gain certification according to the Telarc code, in October 2009. Recognising the value of quality-certification CMG has since had a further two of its workshops certified. CMG Service Manager, David Priestley, said that businesses with large motor systems want to ensure that repaired motors do not cost them thousands of dollars in

wasted efficiency and downtime.”The quality code provides

independent verification of workmanship standards and gives an assurance to users that their electric motor assets can operate at optimum efficiency.”

Rod Treder, EECA’s Industrial Programmes Manager said, “a poor quality electric motor rewind can cost a business dearly. Motor core damage is the main risk in the rewind process, and it is not difficult for a poorly controlled rewind process to cause damage that increases the ‘core losses’ (electrical losses from core damage) three-fold.”

Quantifying that loss, a 3 percentage point loss of efficiency for a 55kW motor running full loaded for 6,000 hours per year (using an electricity cost of 12 cents per kWh) will increase the electricity costs by around $1,200 every year, Mr Treder said.

Motors represented more than 90% of the economic electricity efficiency potential in New Zealand industry.

To further help businesses manage the quality of their electric motor stocks, EECA provides guidelines to assist businesses develop site-wide motor replacement policies. Such a policy will simplify the decision on when to replace or repair a particular three-phase electric motor.

Where the policy indicates motor repair as the most economic decision, it recommends repairs be undertaken by a quality-certified motor rewinder.nextstePwww.eecabusiness.govt.nz/motorsystems.

Next generation safety relays address the majority of safety related applications. This may sound like a paradox,

but in fact the offering comprises just six products. Guardmaster safety relays will not become obsolete. Customers who wish to simplify their inventory and usage, will simply have the choice of a smaller family of next-generation safety relays.

This much smaller family of relays can support a broad range of safety devices for a variety of applications. The universal input feature allows devices such as safety-interlock switches, emergency-stop switches, pressure-sensitive mats and OSSD devices, such as safety light curtains, to use the same set of terminals. This removes the requirement for a specific safety relay for a specific type of input device.

Simple logic tasks can also be achieved via the single wire safety

connection between relays. This simple, one-wire link uses transistor technology and monitoring via dynamic signals.

This removes the need for dual-channel connection and offers SIL 3, PLe safety rating. With this logic functionality, applications can be configured to offer flexible ‘AND/OR’ functional control. Other options can be configured for requirements such as regional and global e-stop functions.nextstePContact: [email protected]

The Kukka Palletising robot with a 700kg payload is now available in an Arctic version.A unique product, specially

developed for palletising in deep-freeze environments, the KR700PA arctic reliably palletises frozen products at temperatures as low as

– 30 °C without any loss of quality due to temperature fluctuations in the freezer room. The formation of ice on the frozen goods is therefore avoided.

Like its traditional counterpart, the KR700PA Arctic has the largest range of motion of axis 1 in its category, and an enormous horizontal and vertical reach.

High speed by design and the ability to palletise an entire layer, the Arctic equipment ensures reliable functioning and protection of all drive units and power cables at these low temperatures with a specially adapted energy supply system from axis 1 to axis 4.

The arctic robot requires no protective suit or additional heating

of the robot arm – this saves procuring extra equipment such as special suits which requires extra maintenance time, and saves on the ever more important energy costs.

Palletising full loads directly in the freezer avoids additional components such as conveyors out of, and back into the freezer.

The KR700PA Arctic also comes complete with a hollow wrist for added reliability.

Jump in the deep freeze with palletising robot

Motor rewinders need to be certified

A paradox



Business Books

BUSINESS NEWS Again and again, the impossible decision is solved when we see that the problem is only a tough decision waiting to be made.

– Dr. Robert Schuller

Ten years after the worldwide bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns with another

groundbreaking work, this time to ask: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? In Great by Choice - based on nine years of research, buttressed by rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories - Collins and his colleague, Morten Hansen, enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times.

No mere sequel, Great by Choice distinguishes itself from Collins’s prior work by its focus not just on performance, but also on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today.

With a team of more than twenty researchers, Collins and Hansen studied companies that rose to greatness - beating their industry indexes by a minimum of ten times over fifteen years - in environments characterised by big forces and rapid shifts that leaders could not predict or control.

The research team then contrasted these “10X companies” to a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to achieve greatness in similarly extreme environments.

The study results were full of provocative surprises, such as: *

Great By Choice:Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck...Collins/HansenRandom House $60 The best leaders were not more risk

taking, more visionary, and more creative than the comparisons; they were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid. * Innovation by itself turns out not to be the trump card in a chaotic and uncertain world; more important is the ability to scale innovation, to blend creativity with discipline. * Following the belief that leading in a “fast world” always requires “fast decisions” and “fast action” is a good way to get killed. * The great companies changed less in reaction to a radically changing world than the comparison companies.

The authors challenge conventional wisdom with thought-provoking, sticky, and supremely practical concepts. They include 10Xers, the 20 Mile March, Fire Bullets then Cannonballs, Leading above the Death Line, Zoom Out, Then Zoom In, and SMaC recipe.

Finally, in the last chapter, Collins and Hansen present their most provocative and original analysis: defining, quantifying, and studying the role of luck.

The great companies and the leaders who built them were not luckier than the comparisons, but they did get a higher Return on Luck. This book is classic Collins: contrarian, data driven, and uplifting. He and Hansen show convincingly that, even in a chaotic and uncertain world, greatness happens by choice, not by chance.

In the first, the clean energy technology firm has not only retained its spot in the prestigious Global Cleantech Top 100, but

also been named “Company of the Year Asia Pacific” for 2011.

In the second, LanzaTech has been judged to have shown the “Best Innovation by an SME” in the global ICIS Innovations Awards 2011.

LanzaTech’s chief executive Dr Jennifer Holmgren is delighted. “Being named in the Top 100 list for the second year running, and now as Asia Pacific Company of the Year, recognises the potential LanzaTech has to make a real impact on the world’s energy future,” Dr Holmgren says.

“It is particularly significant that the ICIS award comes straight after World Food Day (October 16). It is increasingly vital for the world to produce more energy without threatening food production.

LanzaTech’s novel gas-liquid fermentation process produces fuels and chemicals without any impact on the food value chain.”

Environmental considerations played a key part in all the winning entries in the ICIS Awards. John Baker, global editor at ICIS, says this year there was an emphasis on

LanzaTech wins ICIS and Global Cleantech honours

ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard welcomes the announcement that the New Zealand Government is to

start talks on a closer economic cooperation agreement with Chinese Taipei.

“With high growth rates and a population of over 20 million people, Chinese Taipei is a high-tech country with an increasingly wealthy population.

“The New Zealand and the Chinese Taipei economies look to complement each other very well in terms of our exports and imports, and there should be good

opportunities for increased trade, tourism and education between both our countries.

“Minister of Trade, Hon Tim Groser and his colleagues should be congratulated on this announcement, as usually there is a lot of diplomatic groundwork that needs to be done prior to the announcement of any closer economic cooperation talks and a queue of countries wanting to engage in them.

“We look forward to giving our on-going support to the successful conclusion of these talks. It all adds to a more integrated free trade environment in the Asia Pacific.”

Closer economic cooperation welcomed

bio-based technologies, designed to replace oil and gas feedstocks in the chemical industry or reduce carbon emissions. No fewer than seven of the 14 short-listed entries involved bio-based technologies.

LanzaTech’s innovation caught the judges’ eyes as it successfully incorporates synthesis-gas tech-

nology and bioprocessing to give an economically robust route to carbon capture and re-use.

One of the ICIS Awards judges, Dr Gregg Zank who is chief technology officer at Dow Corning, said LanzaTech’s technology had the potential to be disruptive in the long term, especially if it could develop or modify the organisms further to increase the range of chemicals produced. “There is a lot of novelty here,” he said.

Another judge, Dr Adrian Higson from the UK Centre for Biorenewable Energy, Fuels and Materials, said LanzaTech’s marriage of thermoprocessing and bio-processing gives LanzaTech a flexible platform.

Dr Holmgren says LanzaTech’s process produces fuels and high-value chemicals from low-cost resources, such as industrial flue gases from steel mills and processing plants, syngas generated from any biomass resource, coal-derived syngas and steam reformed methane. A growing suite of chemicals are able to be produced, including 2,3-butandiol, butanol, propanol, isoprene and succinic acid.

A Waikato University professor of strategy and human resource management Mark Harcourt says that raising the minimum wage, as Labour is proposing, would likely have little or no impact on either employment or prices, while giving low-wage workers a lot more income.

Professor Harcourt says all employers pay it. “The minimum wage takes wages at the bottom end of the labour market out of

competition and so its negative impacts on prices and employment, if they exist at all, are negligible.

“An increase could even stimulate the economy by putting more money into the hands of people most likely to spend it. Certainly, any negative repercussions of raising the minimum wage, to the extent they exist at all, would be puny compared to the foreign debt-fuelled house price bubble of the 2000s.”

Professor supports raising minimum wage

LanzaTech’s innovation caught the judges’ eyes



MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

[email protected] www.solutionm.co.nz/ostendo

Dear, never forget one little point. It’s my business. You just work here.– Elizabeth Arden

Canterbury Scientific has been named in Technology Investment Network (TIN)’s annual ranking of top performing technology com-

panies in New Zealand, growing its revenue by 56% to $4.2m. It is ranked #165 on the list and is heralded by organisers as one of the top 10 ‘Hot Emerging Companies’ of 2011.

Canterbury Scientific manu-factures freeze-dried and ready-to-use liquid controls for haematology and biochemistry diagnostic laboratory tests. Their flagship product, the haemoglobin A1c control, is relied on by tens of thousands of people around the world to monitor blood tests and manage diabetes – a global epidemic now affecting 7% of the world’s population and expected to double in the next 30 years.

The controls are prized for high reliability and long shelf life by the company’s international OEM customers such as Siemens and Roche. They are also ethically sound, made from healthy blood samples which have been glycated in a test tube, rather than using diabetic patient blood. Canterbury Scientific exports 100% of its products, and has captured a significant share of the US and European market.

“Our success is due in large part to significant investments in research and development, enabling us to create and commercialise a high-quality, niche product for a growing market,” says Dr. Neil Pattinson, CEO at Canterbury Scientific. “Complex scientific research doesn’t happen overnight; this company was started 25 years ago, and we have recently begun to see that long term vision pay tremendous dividends. Being recognised on the TIN 100+ list is an important milestone in the Canterbury Scientific journey.”

Technology Investment Network Managing Director, Greg Shanahan, says, “The medical technology and health care sector continues to perform well and growth of the

Personnel at Canterbury Scientific; (from left) Maurice Owen, Stephen Brennan, Aiwa Zhou, Darrell Wang, Neil Pattinson.

Top performing company recognised

smaller companies remains strong. Canterbury Scientific is one of the six companies that have not featured in the report before and we’re pleased to welcome them to the TIN100+ group.”

Brett O’Riley, Deputy Chief Executive Business Innovation and Investment at the Ministry of Science and Innovation, says that Canterbury Scientific identified a market need and delivered a specialised and difficult-to-replicate product to address that need.

“Canterbury Scientific has continued to invest in world-leading research that has led to strong export revenue growth. The company’s recognition as one of the

Technology Investment Networks Emerging companies of 2011 is well deserved.”

There is likely to be even greater reliance on Canterbury Scientific’s HbA1c controls in the coming years, particularly as diagnostic technology advances and diabetes testing is increasingly performed in-clinic or in-house rather than via clinical laboratories. The company is also investing in other areas, such as tests for the factors controlling blood pressure to aid in the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, and aiming to replicate the successful haemoglobin A1c model.

The report, which is in its seventh year of publication, is produced in association with IRL (Industrial Research Ltd) as well as with sponsorship from NZTE (New Zealand Trade and Enterprise) and MSI (The Ministry of Science and Innovation). It monitors key data from our largest 100 technology exporters and 100 emerging companies in the areas of ICT, High Tech Manufacturing and Biotechnology.

Canterbury Scientific Ltd is a

privately owned New Zealand medical device company founded out of the Canterbury District Health Board in 1985 by directors Prof Robin Carrell, Bryce Hawkins and Dr Maurice Owen.

In February 2011, the company opened a new $1.2m facility in Christchurch which has been specially furbished with modern sophisticated systems, including temperature and humidity control, to provide an advanced and sustainable environment comparable to world class manufacturing practices.

The company also credits its close ties with the University of Cambridge, Canterbury DHB Laboratories, and University of Otago, Christchurch (School of Medicine) for its success.

Technology Investment Network (TIN) is a private company established by Greg Shanahan in 1999 to facilitate the growth of the technology sector in New Zealand. The company’s goal is to contribute to the New Zealand economy by supporting the growth of, large, sustainable, New Zealand based, global technology businesses.

Our success is due in large part to significant investments in research and development




MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off due to budget cuts.

– anon

www.cogita.com

Organisers of the Canterbury Software Summit and UCONZ event in Christchurch were delighted with its success. Almost 500 people within the

ICT industry attended the annual event, organised by the Canterbury Software cluster committee - surpassing everyone’s expectations and breaking the previous record by 300.

The draw cards of the event were undoubtedly the speakers who each had an inspiring story to tell. They delivered topical and engaging presentations around the theme “Can you compete in the international market” and included business technology leaders from the US, Australia and across New Zealand.

Peter Townsend, CECC summarised for the audience the state of Canterbury’s economic situation and put the day into context with statistics and facts about the fourth most expensive earthquake ever in the world, which occurred in February.

He outlined the risks and opportunities that lie ahead for Christchurch now, and described the vision of a city of precincts, particularly the “EPIC” technology hub which could make this an internationally renowned and recognised R&D centre.

Dr Craig Nevill-Manning, Google told the audience that the key to success is to identify an everyday problem, find a simple solution, and make it scale. He discussed how google.org has helped in crises around the world, such as the earthquakes in Haiti, Christchurch and Japan, by creating a central information hub; the “one-stop missing persons list”.

Scott Bradley, VoucherMob spoke about the rise of non-traditional payment methods particularly around the mobile phone, and how they are helping to improve the efficiency of the marketing and buying experience. He shared with the audience the VoucherMob story – from launching in New Zealand to expanding into Southeast Asia, and how it was made easier through

cloud computing and integration of platforms.

David Scott, Z Energy said that with the launch of Z Energy, the IT team inherited legacy systems from Shell and had to bring them forward 10 years. In the process they transformed from IT into Business Technology – founded in operational excellence, employing “generous listening” to their business user community and focusing on safety, cost, integration and speed.

David Brebner, Unlimited Realities advised Summit delegates to partner to gain access to vast “legs” and capital, but don’t bury

yourself in the relationship; it’s important to build your own vision and deliver on that. Their Fingertapps software helps people interact with computers in a whole range of ways and through a variety of devices, and has been translated into 16 languages.

Steve Orenstein, Connect2Field shared the story of how he sold a successful onsite computer repair business in Sydney and started up Connect2Field – realising that success was in scalability.

He covered everything from the Windows Azure technology platform to outsourcing in India, the

Canterbury Software Summit 2011 like no otherimportance of your DNS provider and a creative, and a very low cost PR campaign to fly a journalist to the US!

Phil McCaw, Movac said there is lots of money out there, including 10 angel groups, and the venture capital community is looking for big wins like Aptimise, Hyperfectory and MCom to get even more. If you’re out looking for capital, bear in mind these firms see 100 bids a year, close funding deals with 3%, the “dating period” is typically about 9 months and their aim is to get an outcome in 3-5 years. Movac looks for simple, scalable ideas with hard evidence of revenue potential – “Viagra’s, not vitamins”!

Dave Fellows, GreenButton has origins extending back to the film rendering requirements of Weta Studios for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, GreenButton is all about powerful processing. When it comes to rendering lots of data, your options are few, said CTO Dave Fellows: the desktop (slow), the data centre (very expensive), or GreenButton.

He demonstrated the firm’s Pixar solution and put their success down to being technology agnostic, and targeting specific vertical markets, including digital media/entertainment, engineering, oil and gas, financial services and biotechnology.

Heavy Engineering Research Association (HERA) member company Tangaroa Energy has been successful in the latest

and final round of the Marine Energy Deployment Fund.

Their project, which they have been developing in conjunction with Norwegian technology company Langlee Wave Power, received a grant of NZ$312,000 towards the manufacture of a 20kW wave energy device which will be installed and deployed in the eastern waters of Stewart Island.

The wave energy device will be

manufactured in New Zealand and is expected to be the precursor of many more. Director of Tangaroa Energy Kevin McGrath said that,

“This development is very exciting for New Zealand and that ours will likely be the first deployment of the world leading, Langlee wave power technology in the world.”

Langlee Wave Power CEO Julius Espedal, and HERA member Tangaroa Energy Director Kevin McGrath at the signing of their MOU at HERA House

Kevin said that his participation in the HERA trade delegation to Europe in 2010 was the catalyst for the association between Langlee and Tangaroa which led to the Stewart Island project.

Wave power project advances



The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.– Peter F. Drucker BUSINESS NEWS

Franchise opportunitiesThe Pirtek Group is an international success story specialising in mobile “on site” service and replacement of hydraulic and industrial hose and fittings. We operate under a proven franchise system and enjoy continued growth both internationally and within New Zealand.

Not only a respected industry name, but universally trusted for our commitment to service excellence and customer focus. High end quality products and systems, continued growth plans, customer demand, and greater brand awareness have paved the way for us to establish new franchise opportunities for astute customer orientated people.Our businesses are suited to someone with a mechanical trade or mechanical aptitude, a sound understanding of business principals, customer focus and a commitment to existing and established operational methodologies under a franchise model. We have opportunities for both greenfield locations and existing Pirtek businesses for the right people. You may foresee that a Pirtek franchise could blend or integrate successfully into your existing business. Provision of service excellence and a personal approach to each and every customer are key components to maintaining a successful and profitable business.For further information regarding business opportunities with Pirtek in New Zealand, please contact us on 09-274 6925 or email [email protected].

www.pirtek.co.nz

APPOINTMENTS

Mike Sullivan

Peter Donohue

New appointments to steel industry body

Structural steel industry group Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ)

has announced new appointments to its Council following its annual general meeting.

Former Vice-Chairperson Mike Sullivan of D&H Steel Construction in Auckland has replaced NZ Steel’s Chris Kay as Chairperson.

Peter Donohue of Steel & Tube Holdings Ltd in Christchurch has been elected to the Vice-Chairperson role.

Singaporean supermarkets are expanding the range of eco-products they offer in response to growing demand from

shoppers.NZTE’s Trade Commissioner

in Singapore, Ziena Jalil, says the country’s green movement is gaining momentum and New Zealand companies are well placed to supply what consumers want.

“Eco-consciousness among consumers and supermarkets is going hand-in-hand. Retailers are prepared to stock more green products and introduce green features and practices because they know they have support from shoppers.

“New Zealand should be leveraging its advantage,” she says. We are seen as being one of the most trusted food suppliers in the world so Kiwi companies that front up with environmentally sustainable food and beverage products and promote that as a differentiator have a head start.”

In the last five years, the range

of eco-friendly products sold in Singapore’s Cold Storage chain of 42 supermarkets has risen from 10 to more than 100 and sales have posted double digit growth year-on-year.

Recently, Cold Storage has moved towards stocking sustainable seafood with shark’s fin and other shark products taken off the shelves and replaced with more than 10 sustainable seafood items. That includes red snapper from New Zealand and mussels from Australia.

The move has come out of a partnership between the supermarket chain and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to promote the consumption of seafood that is caught or farmed responsibly.

New Zealand is a world leader in sustainable fisheries management and has twice, in recent years, been ranked the world’s most sustainable fishery.

The shopping environment in Singapore is also changing.

Cold Storage has opened its first green supermarket with features such as energy-saving lighting and chillers. The store joins a two year old eco-friendly FairPrice outlet which has expanded its range of environmentally friendly products to more than 400 items.

Other initiatives include hypermarket Carrefour introducing dedicated checkout lanes for shoppers that bring their own shopping bags.

Food and beverages account for more than 70 percent of New Zealand’s exports to Singapore with seafood being an important component, along with meat and dairy products.

nextstePEmail: [email protected]

NZ Trade Commissioner Singapore

Demand for eco-products on the rise in Singapore

In most manufacturing com-panies, employees do not have visibility into performance to change outcomes during their

work shift, or even at the end of it. In a presentation to the MESA

European Conference, Cambashi’s Tony Christian provided a sneak peek based on the first 100 responses to the on-line survey, Pursuit of Performance Excellence: Business Success through Effective Plant

Operations Metrics. In this early data set, two-thirds

of respondents report that their companies show metrics to operators, line workers, supervisors and those managing plant operations on a daily or less frequent basis. In fact, only one in five respondents always provide line-level metrics to operators and technicians to make needed adjustments in their scope of control. .

The preliminary findings show

that one reason few companies can show employees’ performance results quickly enough to change outcomes is that nearly two-thirds find it necessary to have an analyst cleanse the data prior to analysis, and over 70% find it time-consuming to analyze and set up the data for visualisation. Further, 42% do not provide leading metrics that help to predict problems, but only lagging reporting of what has already happened.

Delayed visibility of metrics inhibits manufacturing improvements

New Zealand companies are well placed to supply what consumers want.




BUSINESS NEWS Show me the money.

– John Key

The journey to a Lean enterprise starts with Philosophy.

Lean Thinking as defined by James Womack and Daniel Jones has 5 steps:

1. Define customer value, 2. Define the value stream, 3. Define value flow, 4. Pull and 5. Strive for perfection.Philosophy (Long Term Thinking)

– Base management decisions on a long term philosophy, even at the expense of short term financial goals. Why is the long term philosophy the foundation?

a) Process - it allows time to develop a “lean system” without expecting return on investment from each piece,

b) People – allows for careful selection and development of people – Toyota’s most critical resource and

c) Problem Solving – promotes root cause problem solving and organisational learning.

In essence, what is Toyota way?• A Principle-Based Approach to

Management that is Timeless and does not change with the specific application.

• There is no special version for different organisations.

• There are always different

solutions to different problems in manufacturing, services, and healthcare.

• It is a continual journey of learning that never ends!Process (Eliminate Waste) –

Start with a Value Stream Map to understand the current condition - Define needs and objectives (Lean process is designed to meet your specific needs!), map current state, analyse processes and gather data, train associates just-in-time at the gemba.

Based on the improvement opportunities identified, use various lean tools such as 5S, Visual Controls, Load Levelling, Kanban, Quick Changeovers and others to improve processes and finally use Standardise the process. Note Kaizen or Problem Solving is one of the 2 pillars of the Toyota Way.

Standardised Work is today’s • Best known method of achieving

efficient, safe and quality processes without waste.

• Provides a basis for Continuous Improvement.People and Partners (Respect,

Challenge and Grow them) – Respect for People is the 2nd pillar of the Toyota Way. It is about the partnership between the organisation and its employees.

Cultural Foundation of the Toyota Way is how Process Improvement and People Development Intertwined together and forms the DNA of the Toyota Way. Exceptional people and exceptional processes go hand in hand. Culture and people are the primary source of competitive advantage – one can copy everything, but the culture.

Problem Solving (Continuous Improvement and Learning) – PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is the core of Lean Thinking. “Getting it done” mentality destroys the PDCA cycle. Avoid the no#1 trap of jumping from “Problem” to “Solution without clear understanding and analysis. Use effective root cause analysis using 5 Why’s.

nextstePVisit: www.pslglobal.net

The 4 Ps of Toyota Way

Tony Gorton is Chief Executive of Cardinal Logistics, a logistics and freight company based in Auckland, Christchurch and Palmerston North. In August,

Cardinal won the 2011 Skills Highway Award for workplace literacy training at the annual Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Trust Work & Life Awards.

As leader of an Auckland-based small-to-medium business, I’m aware of the pressing issues facing Auckland businesses right now. I know we need a highly skilled, educated, work-ready community to prosper and make the most of the financial landscape ahead.

Yet I also know 40 percent of adults within the Auckland region have low literacy skills. More than 50 percent have low numeracy skills. In New Zealand, we still have more than a million workers without the basic skills they need at work.

The latest NZIER report on the productivity gap between New

Zealand and Australia suggests business leaders need to wake up to this fact.

In Auckland, we need to understand the negative impact poor literacy rates have on our businesses and on the region’s economic growth overall. And we need to see our role in turning this picture around. Failing to invest in training simply isn’t the answer.

Two years ago, Cardinal introduced literacy training, with heartening results. This year, we joined the Department of Labour’s Employer Champions Forum – a group of about 30 employers passionate about workplace literacy training.

Each and every one of us has experienced real and tangible benefits and we want to let others know. We want this country’s business leaders to know poor literacy and numeracy needn’t hold your company back. You can make a difference with training.

I know because we did.Today, we are poised and ready

for greater things. And we wouldn’t be here without a literate, numerate and well-trained workforce.A win for your business

Literacy training creates a win for your business – there are no two ways about it. With your people working smarter, you’re getting the best out of them and the best out of the dollars you put into them.

Since training, our people are now better equipped to do their jobs. They are more efficient. Teamwork and communication has improved. My people are more engaged and

many have moved on to complete industry training. Simply put, we’re more productive.A win for my customers

Our customers feel good about backing a Kiwi company that looks after its people like we do. They like being part of an ambitious business motivated to do well, while at the same time positively changing the lives of the people within it.

Most importantly, our customers see the money we spend on training correlates to their personal experience of improved service quality. A win for your employees

About 150 people work for me. They store, pick, pack and transport good from three warehouses in Auckland, Christchurch and Palmerston North.

Literacy training gives Cardinal a win for our employees because it’s about investing in their future and improving their lives.

Cardinal people come from all walks of life. They represent a wide range of ethnicities and cultures – M?ori, Pakeha and Pasifika are the main ones.

Before literacy training, I could see they were hardworking and talented in many areas. But we were also making mistakes, our productivity needed boosting and many of us were struggling with communication and completing further training.

That’s all changed now.It’s taken a big commitment from

management and staff and just an hour of on-one-on tutoring from a professional literacy tutor every week, in company time.

Our tutor teaches basic maths, reading, writing and communication in a way that relates to what my people do at work and to their everyday lives.

The results speak for themselves. Guys come up to me and say they’re better at their jobs now. They tell me they’re studying at home. They talk with huge pride about helping their kids with their homework and being part of the Cardinal team.

Literacy is an Auckland issue

Tony Gorton, Chief Executive of Cardinal Logistics.




If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete. – Jack Welch SUPPLY CHAIN

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

When downtime costs big money – and when your customers are world names in manufacturing, energy

and advanced technology and environmental engineering – electricity generators prize world class reliability and service.

That’s why the global Konecranes group – with strong operations in Australasia and the Asia Pacific – is expanding its range of crane services to customers involved in electrical generation and distribution who depend on maximum uptime and reliability from the heavy lifting equipment that is vital to their operations 24 hours a day.

An example is Northern Utility Resources Generation, which has chosen Konecranes as its crane service partner at its Kedah plant providing 220 Mw of electricity to the Kulim Hi Tech Park, where more than 50 companies have set up their headquarters for Malaysia and the broader Asian market.

Technology leaders relying on NUR’s power include AIC Semiconductor, Axcellis Technology, BASF Electrical, Fuji Electric, Hertz

(Sime Darby), First Solar, Intel, Maybank, Novellus, Schenker, Toyo Memory Technologies and Wafergen Bio Systems.

NUR’s Kulim co-generation plant – involving four gas generators and two steam generators driven by heat from the gas generator processes – is dedicated to providing reliable supply to the Park through its high technology facilities serviced and maintained by a total of seven production and service cranes from Konecranes.

The cranes are integral to the energy production process, being used for everything from lifting turbines and rotors for periodic maintenance to day-to-day service of diverse, heavy, delicate and expensive workpieces.

To service NUR’s 2X20 ton, 2X10 ton, 2X1 ton gantry cranes and its 3-ton workshop crane, Energy Management Services chose Konecranes, the OEM of its cranes and the world’s leading crane services organisation, with more than 373,000 cranes of all makes under service contracts worldwide. Operating through a well established South Asia network as part of Konecranes international network of

Underlining the strength and power of Hammar sideloaders, the Swedish company has set a

Guinness world record for lifting a container weighing 60 tonnes.

The lift was made using a standard model sideloader Hammar 157H, which uses the same crane as the 151HS and 155HS ‘Mega Transfer’ models sold in the New Zealand market and the record has now been ratified with a certificate and entry into the Guinness World Records book.

Hammar says the attempt was performed without drama, with the 157H sideloader “performing exactly as designed in a matter of seconds and without protesting” as it lifted a container as much as 67% heavier than it is supposed to. Standard lifting capacity (SWL) on

the 150 series which includes 157, 151 and 155, is 36 tonnes, though it can be specified with up to 42 tonnes lifting capacity. Hammar tests the cranes with a 25% overload as per requirements for EU certifications.

The prime mover was parked on a 20’ container flat rack so that it did not make imprints in the tarmac.

The record was set in front of local media and the whole Hammar staff at the Olsfors factory in southern Sweden.

Fred Sandberg, Managing director of Hammar New Zealand, who was among those to witness the feat, says the record attempt was made to illustrate just how strong and stable the company’s sideloaders are.

“It was a fun thing to do, with a serious message behind it,” he says.

“We wanted to show what our standard sideloaders are really capable of, but, in truth, it is academic, because what roads and which shipping companies would allow such container weights? But at least it demonstrates the capabilities of Hammar and it is nice to have a Guinness World Record among our

The Hammar 157H sideloader grabs a Guinness World Record.

Guinness world record For Hammar

list of achievements.”Hammar was established in 1974

specifically to design and build sideloaders and is the world leader. It set up Hammar New Zealand in 1998 and built the first Hammar 190 here in the same year, now joined by the 150 series, all using Swedish steel and componentry.

Manufacturing park secures vital energy supply

more than 500 locations worldwide, Konecranes offices in Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru combine access to global resources and expertise, while offering local knowledge and expertise honed by servicing hundreds of cranes in the areas in which their local customers operate.

nextstePVisit: www.konecranes.com.au

Konecranes group is expanding its range of crane services to customers.








WORKSHOP TOOLS Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.

– Jim Rohn

Techspan’s Tech Tips will help guide you in achieving a good understanding of the Plastic Welding process. These Tech

Tips will provide you with new tips and techniques on how to get your Plastic Fabrication & Repairs right first time.

Today we are looking at the “Plastic Welding Tools” available and the various types of equipment available.

Hand-held plastic weldersThe hand-held plastic welding

tools provide a precisely controlled jet of Hot Air, which can be set to a specific temperature for welding all thermoplastics. These are by far the most commonly used tools for plastics fabrication and repair welding today.

Extrusion Welders: Extruder welders are designed

to weld large wall section materials (12mm +), and in general are used in large scale plastics fabrication.

If you are a first time buyer, you will find a range of welding tools available to suit a wide range of welding applications. So what do you need to consider?

Here is a list of things to take on board prior to purchasing your first plastic welder:

Equipment should be selected that complies with worldwide welding standards, as set by the German/Swiss welding/joining society (DVS).

This means the welding equipment is manufactured to meet ideal parameters as required to ensure strong, structural, molecular welding.

In general, equipment manu-factured in Europe (Switzerland/ Germany) will carry the CE mark. CE marking is a key indicator that a product complies with EU (European Union) legislation. CE marked products conform to very high standards of manufacture, safety, performance and quality - CE marked products are bought by professional users as they are the most suitable for industrial & commercial use.

Beware of cheap Chinese equipment. In China the CE symbol has been alleged to stand for China Export or China Engineering - because some Chinese manufacturers apply a very similar marking to their products. As Chinese exporters have used the CE logo incorrectly, the matter was raised at the EU parliament in 2008, and the Commission decided they will look into trade-marking the official CE logo - and are in discussion with Chinese authorities to ensure compliance with European standards. So in simple terms - if you pay peanuts, you’ll get monkeys)

Make sure the supplier offers back up and support. Applications advice, spare parts & technical service is usually offered by the quality equipment suppliers. A good supplier will carry a full range of equipment, accessories and even consumables. Plastic Welding Rods. These suppliers have generally been in the business for many years and so will have the knowledge & experience to best support you.

High quality welding tools are usually covered with a warranty.

A critical part of the plastic welding process is ensuring your welding temperature matches the welding temperature of the particular material to be welded. As different plastics weld at different temperatures, a welding tool with precise electronic temperature control is essential.

In general temperature control is built-in to the welding tools. Some models even offer LCD displays, where you can set welding temperatures accurately on the screen. These models are commonly referred to as ‘Digital’ models.

The most common plastic welding tool is fully self contained meaning that the blower is built-in to the welder.

These tools are by far the most portable and easy to use. Some models don’t have built in blowers - compressed air can be used to provide the required air source to such models, however use of compressed air can be very expensive and must be ‘clean & dry’.

Pressure must also be controlled to suit the welding tool airflow specifications. Compressed air flow characteristics are also not as ideal as the fully self contained models with built-in blowers.

The welding tool will require some specific accessory nozzles in order to affect correct welding techniques. To ensure you have all the right nozzles for your welding application, we recommend you buy your plastic welding tool in Kit form.

nextstePVisit: www.plasticweldingtools.co.nz

Techspan’s Tech TipBy Tim Fastnedge

The KME-45-36B/R single screw extruder is used to produce three-layer pipe made of filled polypropylene for transporting

waste water.The extruder can be used

with extreme flexibility to process many different materials, including all popular polyolefins, special materials such as PE-RT, polybutylene and materials with a high regrind or filler content.

The 36D series has:-A barrier screw concept that

guarantees optimal mixing in the shear and mixing zones

The risk of thermal in-homogeneities has been eliminated, allowing producers to use an optimal melt homogeneity combined with low melt temperatures which delivers a perfect end product quality

The continuously optimized pressure profile minimizes the wear rates on the machine ensuring a long

life for the screw & barrel.High ROI due to an excellent

price/performance ratioThere is also the 36D N

series designed primarily for Polypropylene with a unique screw feed zone and a substantial 35% increase in production output.

Optional is a gearless direct drive system using high-torque synchronous motors for even higher energy efficiency and lower maintenance costs


Extruder produces three layer pipe

Comprising a choice of three service cover levels Titanium, Platinum and Gold new programs offer an unparalleled

degree of aftermarket care. The top service package Titanium

Cover includes a 10-year warranty that covers both the compressor and the dryer.

Incorporating one major service, two minor services, plus an annual independent lab test every year, Titanium Cover also provides users with a premium-response hot-line phone number.

Importantly, the Titanium Cover guarantees a two-hour response time, and incurs no after-hours call-out fee or on-site labour charges. In addition, Titanium-Plus Cover is also available, specifically designed for users with high-use facilities, from double shifts to 24/7 operations.

Gold Cover offers economical peace-of-mind cover for less

business-critical applications, but where compressed-air reliability is still important. nextstePEmail: [email protected]

Always air

A new air-hydraulic torque wrench pump is reliable, provides high performance, ease of use and safety in challenging and

potentially hazardous environments including oil and gas, energy, mining and onshore and offshore infrastructure projects.

The ZA4 series ZA4208TX-QE100 pump – which is ATEX 95 certified for use in potentially explosive atmospheres – features a high efficiency pump design with higher oil flow and bypass pressure and enhanced two speed operation to reduce cycle time for improved

productivity.The modular pump is custom-

engineered for extended operation in its first stage, to deliver extended performance in ranges required by users working on maintenance and fabrication applications such as pipelines, pressure vessels, tanks, metal structures, rigs and onshore and offshore machinery.

Wilkerson reclassifer exhaust technology has been employed to prevent motors freezing and reduce exhaust noise. nextstePEmail: [email protected]

Torque wrench pump easy to use





WORKSHOP TOOLSThe measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.– John Foster Dulles

www.autobend.co.nz

This is a structural steel design and engineering add-in application for the SolidWorks CAD environment.

Version 2.0 has BuiltWorks 2011 and fully supports the corresponding version of 3D CAD platform – SolidWorks 2011.

SolidACE also decided to continue the support of previous platform version of BuiltWorks 2010 for SolidWorks 2010 due to multiple requests from user community that keep using SolidWorks 2010 for daily business. To be released later this year is the version of BuiltWorks, which will support SolidWorks 2012.

Some important new features and enhancements in BuiltWorks 2011 v.2.0 are:• Compiled and tested against

SolidWorks 2011 (BuiltWorks 2010 v.1.5 with the same features

released in parallel supporting SolidWorks 2010);

• Connection detailing – trimming: improved user experience using colourful illustrations with trim parameters (notches);

• Performance highly improved in trim operations and some functions working with plates;

• Placement of steel members: full support of Cardinal Points without changes to offset value;

• Export to SDNF (Steel Detailing Neutral Format by Intergraph) now uses Cardinal Point definitions and cutbacks;

• Export to CIS/2 (CIMSteel Integration Standards release 2 by AISC) now supports End Plates and Free Plates;

• BuiltWorks Members are supported now by SolidWorks Simulation for analysis as 3D solid bodies or 1D beams at user choice;

• Enhanced stability when exchanging models between Windows XP 32bit and Windows 7 64bit o/s versions.

nextstePContact: [email protected]

BuiltWorks Version 2.0 released

A structural steel design and engineering add-in application.

Corecon V7, a web-based suite of construction software for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry

has a solution to integrate their project management and MYOB accounting software.

CoreconLink for MYOB will allow Corecon V7 users the ability to combine estimating, project management and accounting into a single, easy-to-use, flexible system. Through this streamlined project management software link, all project team members including accountants and financial controllers can collaborate quickly

and effectively. The CoreconLink for MYOB

makes a dual connection to Corecon V7 construction software and the contractor’s local MYOB database for the purpose of synchronizing customer and vendor information and transferring Corecon project financial transactions such as bills, progress invoices, and timecards.

This exchange of critical information will help small to medium size businesses that use both products become more efficient by eliminating duplicate data entry and saving them time, money and resources.

CoreconLink for MYOB

Business owners or managers looking to reduce energy costs and improve sustainability now have a valuable new

online resource.Business Lighting Solutions

(BLS) has launched its new website, featuring smart ways to move to more efficient LED lighting. The website is a rich resource for key decision makers – financial officers, facilities managers, designers and architects – seeking to improve energy efficiency and significantly reduce their carbon footprint and maintenance costs.

Products include New Zealand-designed Ecofluro, a cost-effective LED replacement for fluorescent tubes, along with LED and plasma products from LG electronics, which BLS represents exclusively in the local market.

The Ecofluro product range has been successfully operating in the market for over two years and has undergone extensive professional review from a financial, performance and safety standards perspective.

A number of leading businesses and public sector organisations are already enjoying the benefits of the range.

The Ecofluro LED offers energy savings of up to 60% compared to conventional fluorescent lighting, which contributes up to 39% of an average office power bill. Although LED products are more expensive than conventional systems, Ecofluro provides an annual return on investment of 35-100%, depending on hours of operation and the price paid for power.

Where companies are capital constrained BLS provides a fully maintained operating lease, managing the system for the term of the lease and, more importantly, providing a cash-flow positive alternative from day one.

The website provides detailed technical information to help those wanting to research the benefits of both LED and plasma lighting systems.

nextstePContact: [email protected]

Bright ideas on lighting website



MANUFACTURING TRENDS The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B.

– James Yorke

Manufacturing environments are rapidly evolving due to global competition and changing customer requirements.

As a result, manufacturing systems are becoming more complex and interconnected but the classical programming and data management techniques are increasingly incapable of effectively managing the greater levels of integration.

To maintain competitiveness, intelligent software control programmes are required to operate at faster speeds; information integration becomes imperative in achieving timely and accurate data retrieval to support critical business decisions.

The notion of intelligent software has existed for a long time, but a paradigm shift is occurring in how critical and complex automation systems are designed, configured, and controlled.

To achieve ‘artificial intelligence or self healing’ would be the ultimate goal; a system where the intelligence of machines is such that traits like reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, and perception provide machines with the ability to move and manipulate objects to improve commercial

outcomes. While intelligent software still

has a long way to go to achieve this, increasing embedded computing in distributed intelligent devices provides improved system operation.

Combining sophisticated software and distributed smart devices produce ‘intelligent software’. These agents often include features such as embedded diagnostics, communications, calibration and control activities that are typically performed in a programmable logic controller (PLC) or other distributed control system.

By having the ability to respond to changes in conditions such as unexpected component failure, environment changes, workload changes or system operating objectives, these agents provide superior and reliable performance.

Intelligent software devices that can evolve to overcome challenges and self-heal to prevent downtime are being actively developed. This technology has proven to be widely adaptable to a range of complex systems and industrial applications.

Intelligent and integrated manufacturing

The success of a company’s

manufacturing capabilities is often measured by their ability to respond to market changes. Traditionally, the production management system used by manufacturers was based on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications.

In this model, a set of separate software applications are used for different parts of planning, scheduling, and execution processes. Significant limitations are entailed with this approach resulting in disconnected planning and execution processes.

The move towards an intelligent and integrated environment will bring the flexibility and efficiency needed by manufacturing systems.

The integration of a manufacturing system allows functional areas such as design, analysis, planning, purchasing, cost accounting, inventory control and distribution to be linked, providing valuable information about the status of a particular plant.

EtherNet/IP remains the industrial network of choice for many manufacturing plants, providing an integrated system with the agility and flexibility that is essential for competitive manufacturing in today’s global market.

Autonomous Control SystemsIntelligent software has the

potential to create an automated control system that can be applied to a diverse range of industries.

There are generally several components to be incorporated into an autonomous control system including variable frequency drives, intelligent software and networked motor condition monitoring devices. Typically, these systems integrate drives, intelligent relays, motor control centres, sensors and other monitoring devices on a common data-driven Ethernet/IP communications network.

This provides precise motor control intelligence as part of a strategic maintenance program.

Technology has allowed for significant advances in generating high level, advanced control software. By increasing productivity on the plant level, the software does not affect the day to day running of the machines eliminating the need for complicated maintenance requirements.

These intelligent software applications are aiming to be generic, self-healing type systems for companies that want to take their technology to the next level.

Autonomous control systems must perform well despite significant uncertainties in the plant and the environment for extended periods of time. In addition, they

must be able to compensate for system failures without external intervention.

If a variable on a machine is changed, autonomous control allows the machine to automatically re-configure so that there is no misalignment. The higher the degree of automation, the more critical is the integrity of the data used to control the machines.

Once achieved, the plant will essentially run itself. The concept of intelligent software being combined with functional system elements to provide superior system operation enables industry to achieve reliable performance, irrespective of changing plant conditions.

Intelligent software and overall equipment effectiveness

Recent advances in integrated manufacturing intelligence systems have expanded the performance capabilities of overall equipment effectiveness measurements.

OEE is established by determining overall capacity and planned production time compared with loss due to downtime, performance or quality limitations. Business enterprise systems are required to collect, organise and report data detailing information about potential inefficiencies in a manufacturing plant.

Addressing these deficiencies with integrated manufacturing intelligence systems has expanded the performance capabilities of OEE measurement.

Intelligent manufacturing software allows information to be digitally captured in real-time, simplifying interpretation. The challenge for software developers is to overcome the limitations associated with manufacturing plants having to sort through millions of data points to determine how best to interpret the findings.

Intelligent software systems need to be adaptable to analyse individual parameters for varying applications. Systems require the functionality to bring data from multiple disparate sources to integrate and present the data in meaningful ways. To address this increased system complexity, many new central control systems require the configuration of distributed intelligent devices and the integration of their control capabilities into an overall coordinated distributed control system.

Integrated safety and motion control

Manufacturing plants are increasingly realising the importance of integrating safety controls to help minimise worker injuries and increase overall cost savings.

Evolving automation systems drive advances in manufacturing



MANUFACTURING TRENDS

Or visit: www.filtercorp.biz

Life is a crisis - so what!– Malcolm Bradbury

The safe control of motion has many benefits including efficient maintenance of an application without disrupting power supply to machinery, safe speed control and safe control of potentially hazardous movement.

Efficient translation of data to produce an action, or exact motion to help maximise safety, continues to be the backbone of intelligent software advancement.

Control of intelligent agents that can interact with actuators and sensors provides the ability to address motion control in large, complex manufacturing systems.

Relying on a single, central controller has significant limitations because damage to that controller or to the communication infrastructure used can result in a loss of controllability. Safety hazards are inevitable when motion control is compromised.

A distributed, survivable and adaptable architecture can be achieved by distributing the intelligence of the system among multiple controllers. Embedding standalone or multiple intelligent agents inside the controllers, results in an advanced level of motion control.

Distributed Control Agents (DCA) interact with intelligent agents in a manufacturing system to achieve a functional outcome.

Intelligent agents use Job Description Language (JDL) parameters and Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agent (FIPA) classifications to encode messages.

The use of agents in automation allows for the design of more flexible and smarter control architectures. By leveraging an agent communication layer (ACL) on top of communication networks such as EtherNet/IP, a manufacturing system is able to

achieve coordination of dissimilar systems.

The message parameters that are required for effective agent communication will vary according to the situation. Intelligent agents possess the capability to detect equipment failures and to isolate failures from propagating allowing for increased safety and productivity and reduced downtime in a manufacturing plant.

Energy Efficient SolutionsEnergy management is a

complex but important factor in optimising production processes in manufacturing plants. Globally, manufacturers are putting systems in place to reduce water, air, gas, electricity and steam consumption—resources widely required by processing plants.

Recent advances in intelligent motor control, incorporating variable speed drives, intelligent software and networked motor condition monitoring devices allows for a measureable impact on energy use and operational efficiency.

Intelligent software can offer significant energy savings by improving process diagnosis, stability and consistency in operations and by improving the control response to operating changes.

Manufacturers can use energy consumption data to identify variables in energy costs across all equipment on the plant floor collectively and also with individual machines.

Energy management can be applied to machine design practices by improving efficiency of equipment components such as motors and drives or by attaching monitoring devices to assist with data collection.

By collecting accurate energy consumption data, manufacturers can modify the OEE calculation to include energy efficiency, allowing them to achieve higher profitability while reducing greenhouse emissions.

Intelligent software leads manufacturing into the future

Manufacturing environments are rapidly changing as a result of increased global competition and changing customer needs.

Advances in intelligent software technology continue to provide manufacturing enterprises with the capabilities and flexibility to deal with these changes.

By coordinating and integrating production activities within

a manufacturing enterprise, intelligent agents provide increased productivity and profitability.

Intelligent agents are increasingly able to incorporate logic and collaborative reasoning parameters to detect faulty components, process problems and inefficiencies in a manufacturing plant.

By eliminating the need for central control, intelligent agents display the capabilities for predictive reconfiguration of production processes, so reducing down-time and increasing productivity.

With the manufacturing en-vironment constantly evolving—the ultimate goal is to develop adaptive, self-healing systems that can react to their environment and modify their behaviour accordingly to maximise production efficiencies.



Manufacturing is picking up in these challenging economic times and by keeping your eye on the ball you will find opportunities not far away.

Contract manufacturing sees companies doing well closer to home, just as our exporters continue to enjoy success overseas.

The mood is changing; optimism is there, conservatively, but enough of it is shining through to show the upward manufacturing trend has no reason to abate.

Many fine products are coming out of Christchurch and as the region recovers, the innovators are at it looking after their markets. Even though relocation has been an issue it doesn’t stop these companies moving forward.

Tell us your story. Get in touch. Are you a Manufacturing Hero? Do you have a story or opinion to share? Has your company overcome enormous challenges lately? Where is your new market?

NZ Manufacturer is for you, it’s your publication both online and in the printed version. Email the editor, Doug Green [email protected] to share your story and keep your company moving forward in its search for new markets.



nz manufacturer november 2011

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