Cooperation between the companies could go deeper than manufacturing.
Deepening ties between Tesla and Panasonic could help the U.S. car maker fast track its ambitious plan for solar-powered systems that charge smart homes and electric cars.
The two companies said Monday that Panasonic will use what would have been a SolarCity factory in RiverBend, New York, to manufacture up to 10,000 solar panels per day. Tesla will buy the panels for use on houses as part of the deal, which is contingent on its acquisition of SolarCity.
The partnership extends work between the two companies that began with Panasonic's Gigafactory in Nevada. The multi-billion-dollar factory is a huge manufacturing facility for lithium-ion batteries used in Tesla's electric cars.
But the companies share a grander vision: one where energy from solar panels is pumped into storage batteries in each house rather than being sold to the power company. Combined with smart home technology, the batteries could virtually eliminate reliance on the power grid and recharge Tesla electric cars each night, but adoption of the batteries remains an elusive goal due to their high cost.
Bystronic, provider of state of the art sheet metal processing systems and services has agreed an innovation partnership with Lantek, leaders in software solutions and the development and deployment of software systems for the optimized production of sheet metal, tube and profile parts.
The two companies have entered into a long term technology partnership and a strategic global alliance whereby Lantek will provide Bystronic with manufacturing management software systems and consultancy expertise.
Bystronic wants to satisfy its customers’ needs with a reliable and robust manufacturing management system which has been widely tested worldwide to support its excellence in machines and its global sales network. Lantek brings its global presence, its software engineering expertise, and its unique and powerful manufacturing management system, providing an ideal match for the manufacturer. Together, Lantek and Bystronic will be able to accelerate the pace of key developments.
The aim is for the companies to collaborate to develop an MES system which will be seamlessly integrated with Bystronic‘s machine systems and software, resulting in a solution which will excel in cooperating with the Bystronic’s systems, raising them to the next level of productivity and efficiency.
The collaboration between these two industry leaders will help in the realization of the digital factory for both Lantek and Bystronic customers. The combining of the resources and experience of these two industry pioneers in machine tools and software is a critical step in driving innovation and making the digital factory a reality. Together, Bystronic and Lantek have a great legacy and will be instrumental in building the most advanced sheet metal production facilities ever constructed.
Alberto Martinez, CEO, Lantek said, “I am thrilled that Lantek is now a technology partner for Bystronic, a symbol of innovation for machine tool builders worldwide. The Lantek technology portfolio is wide and deep, and Bystronic’s excellence in machine construction is world renowned. With innovation a part of the DNA of both companies, this partnership will help Bystronic’s customers transform how they manage Bystronic machines and transcend the established boundaries in the sheet metal industry.”
Bystronic CEO, Alex Waser, says: “With Lantek, we have gained a strong partner who will help us expand our existing software portfolio with new solutions. This partnership will provide our customers with twofold know-how. Together, Bystronic and Lantek will develop innovations that will guide users into a world of digitally networked manufacturing.”
Both Lantek and Bystronic are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, so the alliance marks this milestone for the two companies. For Lantek, the agreement will underpin its strategy which focuses on the digitalization of sheet metal companies worldwide.
A vessel carrying 23,000 tonnes of palm kernel expeller (PKE) will not be permitted to discharge its cargo in New Zealand.
The Ministry for Primary Industries initially prevented discharge from the MV Molat after finding some of its cargo had come from an unregistered PKE facility in Malaysia.
The vessel arrived at Tauranga on 6 September.
MPI’s decision comes after considering an application from the importer to have the PKE treated in New Zealand.
“We spent a lot of time assessing whether there was a solution that would meet biosecurity requirements, but unfortunately nothing ticks all the boxes in terms of mitigating the risk of pests and diseases entering New Zealand,” says Steve Gilbert, MPI Border Clearance Services Director.
In making the decision, MPI considered the amount of product involved, the availability of heat treatment facilities in the region, transport and storage.
“My decision ensures that potentially contaminated PKE will not enter New Zealand,” says Mr Gilbert.
MPI has strict biosecurity requirements for importing PKE. They include heat processing to least 85 degrees and that foreign facilities be approved and regularly audited by the exporting country.
“MPI has a lead role in protecting New Zealand from biosecurity risk. It’s a job we take very seriously.”
WELLINGTON, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- The New Zealand government Monday said it is to review its free trade agreement (FTA) with Southeast Asia, citing a rising number of non-tariff barriers and other concerns, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA) - covering New Zealand, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - had helped lift New Zealand trade with the region by 25 per cent since 2010, said Trade Minister Todd McClay.
However, McClay said in a statement he was concerned that New Zealand businesses were "leaving money on the table."
Since coming into force in 2010, the FTA has reduced or eliminated tariffs across many of New Zealand's exports into key Southeast Asian markets, and was expected to deliver NZ$71 million (US$50.42 million) in cost-savings for New Zealand exporters this year.
This was expected to rise to around NZ$96 million (US$68.18 million) once the staged elimination of tariffs was completed after 2020.
"However, from a New Zealand perspective, it is not clear that all businesses use the FTA when exporting to Southeast Asia and this means they could be paying unnecessary tariffs," said McClay.
"Exporters of both goods and services also face an increasing number of non-tariff barriers in Southeast Asia, such as import quotas, subsidies, customs delays and technical barriers, which are holding them back."
The government review would take place ahead of a comprehensive review of AANZFTA by New Zealand, Australia and the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries next year.
"This review will help us better understand the New Zealand business perspective going into that broader review and equip us to seek possible improvements to the FTA," said McClay.
The introduction of more liberal and transparent trade rules under the FTA had helped grow New Zealand's trade with ASEAN from NZ$12 billion (US$8.52 billion) in 2010 to over NZ$15 billion (US$10.66 billion) last year.
"This region is home to 600 million people, with a combined economic output of NZ$3.5 trillion (US$2.48 trillion). It is a huge market for the goods and services we produce and an important source of competitively priced imports that make everyday items cheaper for New Zealanders," he said.
Trade Minister of Todd McClay has established a trade policy dialogue with his United Kingdom counterpart, Secretary for International Trade Liam Fox in London today.
"For New Zealand, this is about being ready to cement our formal trading relationship with our fifth largest trading partner, once the UK is in a position to negotiate independently of the European Union.
"I discussed with Secretary Fox the importance of remaining closely engaged, particularly as New Zealand advances our priority of a free trade agreement with the European Union.
"I thanked Secretary Fox for assurances that New Zealand's trade interests will not be compromised by Brexit," says Mr McClay.
Mr McClay is also scheduled to talk with EU Trade Commissioner Malmström later in the week.
"The trade policy dialogue with the U.K. will also be an important forum for engaging across a range of shared trade policy issues, such as the World Trade Organisation, as it develops its approach to trade policy.
"Secretary Fox and I commend the value of this engagement, both to underpin our strong economic relationship, but also given New Zealand's recognised perspective in international trade policy."
The Trade Policy Dialogue will be convened at senior officials' level and cover market access and trade policy issues of mutual interest, including WTO processes and current and prospective negotiations. The first meeting will take place by early 2017, with subsequent talks to be held roughly every six months
The joint statement by Mr McClay and Secretary Fox is available on MFAT's website.
Three 2,000-year-old pieces of history currently sit in the middle of the Engineering Quad. And hardly anyone even knows they exist The Daily Pennsylvanian reports.
“I can’t believe I’ve never noticed them!” said Engineering sophomore Caroline Atkinson when asked about the columns.
These items, two columns and an elaborate pillar head, were given to the City of Philadelphia by King Hussein of Jordan to mark America’s 1976 bicentennial. The pieces came from a column from the ancient city of Philadelphia, which was located in present-day Amman, Jordan. Despite the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology's promise to look after the artifacts for Philadelphia, these items have been left exposed to the elements for around 40 years, currently serving as a makeshift bench for mid-day diners and furniture for squirrels.
Why is Penn treating these pieces of history as such?
After Julian Siggers, the current Williams Director of the Penn Museum, arrived in 2012, he said the conservators there suggested moving the columns inside the museum.
“In Jordan they would be outside but their climate is less brutal than ours," he said. I don’t want Philadelphia winters to do any more damage than they already have."
The columns have remained outside without a sign even denoting what they are.
“People remove a lot of signs on campus ... it’s sort of a game. It’s possible that sign was removed at some point in the past,” Siggers said.
An additional problem is the lack of clarity as to who owns the columns — Penn or Philadelphia.
“[The city] may not even know about it,” Siggers said. “Somebody at Penn is looking into it, tracking down the records they may have about the actual transaction."
The museum plans to renovate most of its galleries and, as it moves the exhibits into storage beforehand, will also try to bring the columns inside, Siggers said.
“The only delay we have in that is that the museum has launched a renovation of 70 percent of our public galleries ... it is a giant 3-dimensional chess game," he said. "In the short term we will store them off-site until we can move them into the museum."
Anthony Pratt, the executive chairman of packaging companies Visy Industries and Pratt Industries, has encouraged other businesses to invest in expansion rather than boosting dividends to shareholders.
The Australian, which visited Pratt Industries’ Beloit, Wisconsin factory, reports that Beloit, the company’s newest factory, is rolling out robotics at this site as the first step in a $200 million deployment of such automation.
“You need to take a 20-year view of robotics,” Pratt told The Australian.
The availability of Solar Gard Ecolux 70 window insulation product into the New Zealand market has meant new ways and reasons to consider when thinking how could such a thin product provide window insulation properties.
The secret is gold that is part of this product and specifically a function of gold which is its emissivity. Emissivity is the ability to reflect radiation (energy). It’s why you often see satellites coated with gold, it has a natural ability to reflect energy.
The emissivity of gold is around 0.03 so what that means is it wants to reflect 99.7% of the energy back!
In comparison the emissivity of glass on its own is around 0.82 meaning it can only reflect 18% of the energy and hence why glass on its own is not a good insulator.
“This great news when you are considering installing an insulation product that provides all year round benefits ,365 days/24 hours” says Mr Ross Eathorne ,Managing Director of SWF Distribution that company that imports and distributes Solar Gard window film. He goes onto say that this is a cost effective solution causes no inconvenience to customers and is supplied with a manufacturers limited life time warranty.
When Solar Gard sputter gold onto a film they do it extremely thinly so it can still transmit the visible light (so you can see through it) but it retains its ability to reflect what’s called far infrared energy. Far infrared energy is what comes from a fireplace or a heater in the home and by having the thin layer of gold on the glass we are able to selectively reflect that type of energy (heat) back into the room.
So it’s the inherent emissivity property of gold that provides insulation ability and it doesn’t need to be thick, in fact making the layer thicker will not make it more reflective of the energy.
This type of insulation through emissivity is a different way to insulate versus double glazing or roof insulation batts. Those types of insulating products use a combination of different materials and air pockets / layers to make it hard for the heat energy to pass through. Every time the energy encounters another material it has to change its wavelength to pass through it so when you have 2 layers of glass plus an air gap in between or you have a fibrous roof batt which is layers of fibreglass with many air pockets it is hard for the energy to pass through and so you are not losing as much heat. This type of insulation is not reflecting the energy, think of it as trapping the energy so more can’t get through and escape.
Thermodynamics can be a very complex area and we understand it is hard to grasp that a thin sheet of film can provide high insulation ability but it’s all to do with the gold and its special properties.
As something to refer to as an example of this ,there is good reason quality kettles are shiny metal. They are polished because it makes the metal lower emissivity so it keeps the water inside hotter for longer.
Eathorne comments that home and building owners need to be more open to new technology and the fact that there is more than one option to achieve a result. The shiny kettle example is a good example. You don’t see kettles with a thick outer casing that incorporates an air gap. Shiny kettles have been around a long time and Ecolux 70 with gold just takes this a stage further. You don’t need to necessarily have installed insulation product that is thick and bulky.
A Solar Gard release and for more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
WorkSafe has released guidance for managing and removing asbestos in the workplace, the first of its kind in New Zealand. The Approved Code of Practice for the Management and Removal of Asbestos will help contribute to WorkSafe’s target of a 50% reduction in asbestos-related disease by 2040.
Asbestos is the single biggest cause of deaths from work-related disease. On average about 170 people die every year from asbestos-related diseases. Breathing in airborne asbestos fibres is a serious risk to health - once the fibres are breathed in, they lodge in the lungs and may cause asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma.
Designed for the web so that it can be used on the go, the code was developed in consultation with unions, employer organisations, other key stakeholders and the public. “WorkSafe received the most responses for any guidance consultation in its history,” says WorkSafe Chief Executive, Gordon MacDonald. “By working together with industry, we were able to establish a common view of what ‘good’ looks like. This lessens the need for businesses to obtain independent advice, which may reduce compliance costs.”
Previous asbestos guidance focused only on asbestos removal, while this code is applicable to a more comprehensive range of people who are exposed to asbestos. The code sets out WorkSafe’s expectations for working safely with asbestos and is designed for businesses that manage or control workplaces, carry out asbestos removal, or asbestos-related work, and licensed asbestos assessors. The code applies to landlords too, but not to home occupants doing DIY.
Included is information and guidance on keeping safe around asbestos, like the types of work allowed when working with asbestos, how to identify and manage asbestos and asbestos-containing material in the workplace, prohibited and restricted tools and equipment, personal protective equipment and health monitoring.
The code is available online at: http://construction.worksafe.govt.nz/guides/acop-management-and-removal-of-asbestos/
Note:
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242