BEUMER Group - a leading global supplier of automated parcel and post distribution systems - has been awarded the contract to supply an automated material handling system in Freightways’ new South Island Hub at Christchurch Airport, New Zealand.
BEUMER Group’s automated sortation system will be based on a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient LS-4000CB cross-belt sorter with the capacity to handle up to 15,000 items per hour. The system has been specifically designed to enable efficient handling of the high volume of items in a short window, including wine boxes and fresh fish polystyrene containers which are shipped through the Freightways Courier Network. “The decision to award the contract to BEUMER Group was influenced by the fact that they took the time to understand our business and operations, and transferred that knowledge into a system design that met and exceeded our operational requirements,” explains John Charles, National Operations Manager, New Zealand Couriers, part of Freightways. The Freightways group, which also includes Post Haste, Castle Parcels and Now Couriers, is New Zealand's largest independent courier network. “In addition to industry-leading energy-efficiency and high-speed sortation the LS-4000CB sorter will provide the flexibility to enable Freightways to increase system capacity to meet future growth forecasts,” says Stephen Clark, Sales Director Logistics Systems BEUMER Group Australia. The new hub will provide Freightways with direct airside access when it goes live in June 2017.
Source: Packaging europe News, July 11, 2016
The latest New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA) Survey of Business Conditions completed during June 2016, shows total sales in May 2016 increased 5.37% (year on year export sales increased by 1.43% with domestic sales increasing by 13.87%) on May 2015.
For results table and historical series, click here.
In the 3 months to May, export sales increased an average of 0.5%, and domestic sales increased 3.9%.
The NZMEA survey sample this month covered NZ$347m in annualised sales, with an export content of 66%.
Net confidence fell to 33, down from 40 in April.
The current performance index (a combination of profitability and cash flow) is at 102, up from 99 last month, the change index (capacity utilisation, staff levels, orders and inventories) was at 101, no change from the last survey, and the forecast index (investment, sales, profitability and staff) is at 104, up on the last result of 102. Anything over 100 indicates expansion.
Constraints reported were 44% markets, 28% production capacity, 17% skilled staff, and 11% capital.
A net 22.22% of respondents reported productivity increases for May.
Staff numbers for May increased 0.73% year on year.
Supervisors, tradespersons, managers, professional/scientists reported a moderate shortage and operators/labourers reported a minor shortage.
“May’s export sales moved back into year on year improvements, however modest, after a fall last month. On the 3 month average measure, exports remained slightly positive at 0.5%. Domestic sales showed a large year on year increase, 13.87% in May, a significant improvement on the 2.72% increase last month, and the year on year fall seen in March. May’s improvement moved the 3 month average up to 3.9%.” says Dieter Adam, Chief Executive of the NZMEA.
“The performance, forecast and change indexes all reported increases on April’s result and all were in expansion – manufacturers continue to implement changes and improvements in their businesses. However, the capital constraint was reported at the highest level since September 2014.
“Brexit has added more uncertainty into global markets, and has had immediate effects on our exchange rate, but the longer term effects are yet to be seen – in times of uncertainty orders can become more cautious, which could hit some New Zealand exports into the UK and EU.
“The currency continues to be reported as a risk in comments – our dollar has increased more than 5 cents on the Trade Weighted Index in the last month, to over 77. This is also about 5 cents above the level the RBNZ was forecasting for June in their last Monetary Policy Statement.
"We have now hit record highs against the British Pound, and our currency has gained significant ground against the Australian dollar, now sitting at very challenging levels for exporters. We need to see action from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to bring down our overvalued currency, in conjucntion with restrictions on housing investor lending and additional measures from Government to relieve the housing pressure that is tying the RBNZ's hands." said Dieter.
For further comment contact Dieter Adam, 027 495 3276.
The New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association survey gathers results from members around New Zealand. It provides a monthly snapshot of manufacturers and exporters’ sales and sentiment.
The Reserve Bank today, Monday 11 July 2016, published a Bulletin article that explains the monetary policy decision-making process.
Seven times a year, the Reserve Bank makes a decision on the appropriate Official Cash Rate (OCR) setting.
The Reserve Bank conducts monetary policy to achieve the goals of the Policy Targets Agreement, but is faced with significant uncertainty when making OCR decisions.
A robust system is needed to address the inherent uncertainty that the Reserve Bank faces when making these decisions. The Bulletin article describes the detail of this process. The article discusses: the research behind a monetary policy decision; how the Governing Committee reaches a monetary policy decision; how the Bank communicates the decision to its key stakeholders; and how the decision-making framework is reviewed in the face of new developments.
The Bulletin article notes that a key element of the monetary policy decision making process is the need for constant review and innovation, and the Reserve Bank’s approach to decision making will continue to evolve over time.
Read the article: Behind the scenes of an OCR decision in New Zealand
Source: A RSBNZ press release
Doors fly open with global re-alignment. But payment and copying pitfalls still haunt manufacturers & production engineers
New rules to move more with fewer trips
Proposed changes to the Vehicle Dimensions and Mass (VDAM) Rule 2002 mean heavy vehicles can carry more freight or passengers on fewer trips, increasing efficiency while maintaining safety for road users, Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss says.
“This is the first comprehensive review of the VDAM Rule in 13 years,” Mr Foss says.
“Trucks move 91 per cent of New Zealand freight tonnage — about 215.6 million tonnes per year — around the country. That’s projected to increase by over 50 per cent in the next 30 years so it’s essential that we make changes to manage the increase and enable growth.”
The VDAM proposals include:
Re-defining the width limit for trucks from 2.50m, plus 50mm for load securing devices; to 2.55m, inclusive of securing devicesIncreasing weight limits for some trucks and buses to allow operators to carry more freight or passengers
“Safety is always the Government’s primary consideration. These changes will encourage the purchase of newer vehicles aligned to international dimensions with more technology and safety features,” Mr Foss says.
“The changes also have tangible benefits for both the heavy vehicle industry and other road users. For example, the re-defined width limit will allow enclosed vehicles such as refrigerated trailers to load three more pallets side-by-side, increasing capacity by 10 per cent and reducing the number of these vehicles on the road by a similar amount.
“Increasing weight limits will help reduce the number of trips heavy vehicles currently make and therefore ease congestion. One operator says it will result in 100 less tanker loads a day for his operation.”
Road Controlling Authorities, such as local councils, will still have the authority to approve specialist vehicles and decide where heavier vehicles can travel.
Make a submission: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/vdam-2016
Source: beehive press release
July 9, 2016 - When programmers at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory set out to develop the flight software for the Apollo 11 space program in the mid-1960s, the necessary technology did not exist. They had to invent it.
They came up with a new way to store computer programs, called “rope memory,” and created a special version of the assembly programming language. Assembly itself is obscure to many of today’s programmers—it’s very difficult to read, intended to be easily understood by computers, not humans. For the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC), MIT programmers wrote thousands of lines of that esoteric code.
Here’s a very 1960s data visualization of just how much code they wrote—this is Margaret Hamilton, director of software engineering for the project, standing next to a stack of paper containing the software:Margaret Hamilton(NASA)
The AGC code has been available to the public for quite a while–it was first uploaded by tech researcher Ron Burkey in 2003, after he’d transcribed it from scanned images of the original hardcopies MIT had put online. That is, he manually typed out each line, one by one.
“It was scanned by a airplane pilot named Gary Neff in Colorado,” Burkey said in an email. “MIT got hold of the scans and put them online in the form of page images, which unfortunately had been mutilated in the process to the point of being unreadable in places.” Burkey reconstructed the unreadable parts, he said, using his engineering skills to fill in the blanks.
“Quite a bit later, I managed to get some replacement scans from Gary Neff for the unreadable parts and fortunately found out that the parts I filled in were 100% correct!” he said.
The effort made the code available to any researcher or hobbyist who wanted to explore it. Burkey himself even used the software to create a simulation of the AGC.
As enormous and successful as Burkey’s project has been, however, the code itself remained somewhat obscure to many of today’s software developers. That was until last Thursday (July 7), when former NASA intern Chris Garry uploaded the software in its entirety to GitHub, the code-sharing site where millions of programmers hang out these days.
Within hours, coders began dissecting the software, particularly looking at the code comments the AGC’s original programmers had written. In programming, comments are plain-English descriptions of what task is being performed at a given point. But as the always-sharp joke detectives in Reddit’s r/ProgrammerHumor section found, many of the comments in the AGC code go beyond boring explanations of the software itself. They’re full of light-hearted jokes and messages, and very 1960s references.
Continue here to read the full article
Source: GitHub
Global Deployment agency Schawk has won a Gold Award at New Zealand’s Pride in Print Awards.
The winning entry, Allen’s Sherbies, was produced for Nestlé and utilised the highly technical HD Flexo print technique.
Working closely with the Christchurch NZ plant Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific and Brandpack, the Allen’s SKU won the award in the Food and Beverage category. The winning entry was part of the suite of premedia work that Schawk continues to produce globally for Nestlé.
“The award builds on industry recognition of the quality result delivered with HD Flexo printing and colour management for Nestlé. The award demonstrated the alignment of all key stakeholders in the graphics supply chain process to deliver the high quality result. The ability to work closely with Nestlé, Amcor Flexibles and Brandpack was key to the success of the project,” said Ryan Sharratt, Operations Manager for Schawk Australia.
“Further adding to the two awards at last year’s ANZFTA print awards, and this New Zealand award, HD flexo work is delivering high quality results in industry for brand clients such as Nestlé. The new proofing profiles developed for the project were based on precise colour matching of fingerprints. The colour management process was effective in reducing the number of print colours while creating eye catching colour fidelity for standout packaging.”
The judges were impressed by the finished results and recognised the prepress expertise of Schawk, coupled with the print skills of Amcor Flexibles in awarding Gold in the highly contested, Food and Beverage category.
Source: Food & Beverage Industry News, July 8 2016.
Work is now underway on the final project which will complete the upgrades of Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway, Transport Minister Simon Bridges has announced.
Prime Minister John Key and Transport Minister Simon Bridges today turned the sod on the $100 million Lincoln to Westgate project.
The upgrade will widen State Highway 16 from two to three lanes in each direction, creating extra capacity on Auckland’s motorway network to service the needs of the growing population in the west of the city.
“The extra capacity will cater to the increased traffic which will use the Western Ring Route and the Waterview Tunnels when they open early next year,” Mr Bridges says.
“This section is the last piece in the puzzle that will see the Northwestern Motorway widened to at least three lanes all the way from St Lukes near the city to Westgate, when it’s opened to motorists in early 2019.”
Walking and cycling improvements will also form a key part of the improvements project.
“We want to make it easier for people to move around the city via a range of transport modes. The project will build dedicated bus lanes in each direction and extend the Northwestern Cycleway.
“This will ensure transport infrastructure is able to support growth in Auckland’s western suburbs and will provide customers with an efficient additional route to State Highway 1. By building resilience and choice into our transport network, we can provide customers with more predictable travel times.
Mr Bridges says the project is part of the Government’s strong focus on meeting Auckland’s transport needs.
“Reducing congestion in Auckland is a Government priority. That’s why we’re investing more than $1 billion each year in Auckland’s transport, delivering new and improved roading motorways, strengthening public transport services and accelerating the urban cycling network.”
For more information on the Lincoln to Westgate project visit: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/the-western-ring-route/sh16-lincoln-to-westgate/
Follows state approval of non-treated timber, leaky house design & pull-back on apprentices
GP MP has had two runs at becoming leader of the Conservatives.
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