Matthew Weake is a valuable member of CADPRO System's Autodesk training and support team. In regular conatct with operators he is in the unique position of being able to identify those procedures that require a little more attention - creating drawings in Autodesk Fabrication ESTmep and CAMduct is one of them.
Here is an article that has been prepared by Matthew and can be accessed in full on the CADPRO Systems website
Creating drawings in Autodesk Fabrication ESTmep and CAMduct is not the most intuitive or CAD-like experience so I thought I would share a few tips here to get you started.
Setup Report Printer
When designing your reports, you may find you use up lots of paper only to find the report is not quite right.
A useful tip here is to add a pdf printer as your report printer until you have the Report looking like you want. This will save paper and many trips to the printer.
Most printers can be made to print black and white as default and the options can be found in the printer setup dialog box. Try the awesome Bluebeam Revu CAD – it does a lot more than just creating great pdf’s. Bluebeam Revu
Add Layouts
To create drawings in Autodesk Fabrication ESTmep of a selection of items you should add a layout with those items in it.
Most of us have seen the Global Tab at the bottom of the page but paid no notice to it. It is, in fact, the second tip here. You should add your own Layout Tab and give it a short meaningful name. My example uses really good names – test and test2!
McLaren Automotive has awarded its first international internship to a student from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
Following in the footsteps of the McLaren founder, Bruce McLaren, Andrew McLaren (no relation), a third-year student in the Faculty of Engineering studying Mechatronics Engineering, will spend nine weeks at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, working alongside the company’s Research and Development engineers.
Nearly 60 years beforehand, the McLaren founder, Bruce McLaren, travelled to England on a similar ‘Driver to Europe’ scholarship to pursue his motorsport aspirations and founded his own racing company in 1963.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Bruce McLaren studied at the Auckland University of Technology and was an accomplished engineer and innovator as well as a successful racing driver.
Andrew McLaren was born in Dargaville, New Zealand and attended Dargaville High School before starting his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics.
Mechatronics is a mix of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. Andrew McLaren’s particular focus is in the Research and Development of future products, and especially the company’s efforts to reduce the emissions of the next generation of sports and supercars.
Andrew said: “I can’t wait, it’s a field that is very hard to get into because there is very little opportunity in New Zealand, so I thought I would never get a chance like this.
"I would love to be at the forefront of that kind of innovative thinking. I’d really like to do something that would benefit society."
Brand Ambassador for McLaren Automotive and daughter of Bruce, Amanda McLaren added: “I’m delighted to welcome Andrew to McLaren Automotive to continue his education.
"Even though my father passed away many years ago, the connection between McLaren and New Zealand still remains very strong and the parallels in both of their early careers is especially poignant.”
Workers in elementary occupations such as cleaners, rubbish collectors, and labourers had the highest rate of injury in 2015, Statistics NZ said today, as the rate for agriculture and fishery workers moved down from the top spot for the first time in eight years.
Elementary occupation workers, which also includes jobs such as pest controllers, hotel porters, and courier drivers, had 238 claims per 1,000 full-time equivalent employees in 2015, which was the same rate as the year before.
However, the injury rate for agriculture and fishery group workers, which includes forestry workers, fell from 242 per 1,000 workers, to 233 in 2015.
The provisional figures are based on work-related injury claims accepted by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). They also show workers in elementary occupations had the highest rate of claims for more serious injuries, with 40 entitlement claims for every 1,000 full time workers. These claims could include death benefits, weekly compensation, lump sums, and rehabilitation payments.
Injury Statistics – Work-related Claims: 2015 – for more data and analysis
The future of manufacturing has always been a topic of much discussion and debate. In a rapidly changing economic and technological environment, this future may be more volatile and hard to predict, but bring with it greater opportunities for those who adapt and lead.
Despite recent improvements in confidence and sentiment in the manufacturing sector, many of our members are quite uncertain about future orders, both in the short and long term. Is this part of a current crisis or part of a new and developing economic reality for manufacturers in New Zealand?
Globalisation comes with many benefits; allowing our manufacturers to get over the problems of distance and a small domestic market. On the downside, volatility has increased through greater exposure to conditions and competition in overseas markets, global commodity cycles, and even larger currency fluctuations; due to financial liberalisation and larger monetary flows, particularly with the large global stimulus (a.k.a. printing of money) following the Global Financial Crisis.
This increasing exposure to global markets, paired with ever improving communication technology, means changes in markets can quickly affect demand and prices for our exporters, and allow purchasers to easily find a more competitive supplier if we can’t keep up. These changing dynamics could explain some of the increased volatility manufacturers have continued to experience – trends that are likely to continue and potentially accelerate, particularly around the use of new manufacturing technologies, and represent significant challenges as well as opportunities for our manufacturers in the future.
Looking forward, the coming wave of technology-led disruption has been referred to as “Industry 4.0”. Industry 4.0 is described in a recent report on manufacturing by McKinsey & Company, saying "we define Industry 4.0 as the next phase in the digitisation of the manufacturing sector, driven by four disruptions: the astonishing rise in data volumes, computational power, and connectivity, especially new low-power wide-area networks; the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities; new forms of human-machine interaction such as touch interfaces and augmented-reality systems; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3-D printing.”
These advancements will affect different sub-sectors of manufacturing in different ways. For many manufacturers, this may mean increased use of more advanced and adaptive robots, and increased use of real-time data to analyse production systems and more complex supply chains across different firms. This could lead to huge increases in productivity and potentially make production processes more adaptive and customisable for making multiple products. Given that being highly responsive in terms of volumes and delivery times has become a big part of the value proposition for a lot of our manufacturers, does the increased flexibility awarded by new manufacturing technologies pose a big threat to our manufacturers? It could do – but it should also equip New Zealand manufacturers with the tools to get much better at something they excel at already.
It is impossible to predict how exactly all these changing technologies will effect manufacturing businesses and global markets - whether it will be a revolution in how manufacturing is done, or just a continuation of current trends. But we do know many of these technologies are being used in some manufacturing operations already, and will become more widely used in the next five to ten years. We will all need to prepare for this, first and foremost by being aware of the potential changes that will affect your business, and starting to plan and invest in them early. Investing will be essential both in the technology and systems required, but more importantly in your staff through training and recruitment, as a new and changing mix of skills will be needed.
As well as individual manufacturers preparing for these changes, government also has a big role to play. Firstly through education, ensuring modern skill requirements are focused on throughout our education system, and providing opportunities for people to retrain and develop new skills. A longer term view of education will be needed, as new skills take time to work through the system. Secondly, there may be areas in which the government can invest to encourage the uptake of new technologies, particularly where up-front cost is large, as well as incentivisingbusinesses to conduct R&D to stay ahead.
Technology change in manufacturing will have ramifications for jobs and workers. It is true some lower level jobs may be replaced by advanced robots. But these new technologies will also create new jobs that are more highly paid and require a new, more adaptive skill set. These jobs require a mix of production knowledge and IT skills to make full use of even more automated systems.
This continual adaption and development of technology may well mean that market volatility is indeed the new normal for businesses operating on the world stage. Continued volatility coupled with technological disruptions may mean many manufacturers need to revisit and adapt their business models as time goes on. But in the mean time, the most important thing is trying to be aware of the potential changes to your businesses, prepare, and invest early.
Emirates has partnered with LinkedIn to provide select LinkedIn Learning courses on ice, its award-winning inflight entertainment (IFE) system.
Emirates, which offers five daily New Zealand services operated by double-decker A380 aircraft, is the first international airline to make these courses available on board.
The new offering on ice is available from this month and is part of Emirates’ continued commitment to providing new and diverse IFE content. The free expert-led LinkedIn Learning courses range from 20 minutes to over two hours long and cover topics such as Leadership, General Management, Marketing, and Creative Lifestyle.
The courses feature high-quality, personally curated and easily digestible information to cater to varying interests and profiles of customers on board. Among the featured content are courses such as Managing Stress and Learning from Failure by Todd Dewett, TEDx speaker, writer and coach in the leadership and life skills space.
For those looking to improve their photography skills just before landing at their holiday destination, David Hobby, photographer and author of the Strobist.com lighting blog, hosts two courses - The Traveling Photographer: Dubai and The Traveling Photographer: London for quick tips and tricks.
Other courses available include lectures on productivity at the workplace by David Allen, the creator of GTD®, the popular Getting Things Done methodology and Gretchen Rubin, writer of the New York Times bestsellers Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. The LinkedIn Learning courses will be regularly updated to include new topics.
This year, Emirates clinched its 12th consecutive World’s Best Inflight Entertainment award at the Skytrax World Airline Awards. The courses complement the current IFE offering of up to 2,600 on-demand entertainment channels including the latest blockbuster movies, award-winning television series, dedicated children’s entertainment, a huge music library and seat back games.
Currently, 85% of Emirates’ fleet is equipped with free Wi-Fi on board, including all A380 aircraft. In addition, 108 aircraft are equipped with live TV, which has up to nine channels of live news and sport.
New Zealand has enjoyed good growth in average income since the global financial crisis. Labour participation is strong and our public finances are in relatively good shape. But one area holding the economy back is our persistently weak labour productivity, with the OECD estimating that New Zealand had the fourth lowest labour productivity growth of OECD countries between 1995 and 2014.
Fortunately New Zealand is in a good position to address this area of persistent weakness.
Achieving New Zealand’s productivity potential is the Productivity Commission’s commentary on New Zealand’s productivity performance. The report shows that New Zealand needs to shift from a model based on working more hours per person to one that is focused on generating more value from time spent at work. “With labour force participation forecast to decline with population ageing, the focus now needs to go on lifting productivity” says Paul Conway, Director of Economics and Research at the Productivity Commission.
The report draws on powerful new data (the Longitudinal Business Database) to provide a fresh and practical insight on New Zealand’s productivity performance.
“There is a view that some businesses stop growing once the owners achieve ‘the three Bs – a bach, boat and BMW’. But new evidence means we can look beyond this and better understand what in the business environment is holding back some Kiwi firms. We can measure the impact of small domestic markets, low levels of competition in services, and the role of barriers to export success, like market knowledge and financing.” says Mr Conway.
With technology creating new opportunities for small and remotely-located firms, an important challenge is to improve the flexibility and resilience of the economy to make the most of important changes in the global economy. The Government has implemented a Business Growth Agenda (BGA) with the aim of building a more productive and competitive economy. The report’s analysis shows that the BGA is targeting the right areas.
“The BGA is subject to annual review. This means that it can respond and evolve as knowledge of the New Zealand economy deepens. Our report gives the Government further insight into why our productivity performance is not as good as it could be and informs possible changes to the BGA that could make a difference” says Mr Conway.
The report highlights several areas for further work, including housing market reform so that people can live where their skills are most valued, and lifting the skill composition of migrants. The report also emphasises practical measures to lift competition in the services sector. Connections across the innovation system could also be strengthened, and the Foreign Direct Investment regime and remaining tariffs need review in the context of growing international trade in services and digital products.
Pacific Partnership union Presidential sinking welcomed---but public displays of globalisation grief still mandatory
The pending collapse of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade union will be secretly welcomed by New Zealand traders and policymakers alike.
One reason is that New Zealand offers no finished goods challenge to United States manufacturers.
The other reason is that the Trump Exit evaporates dangers to still flourishing trade with China which would have been tarnished by New Zealand belonging to what is in effect an anti-China bloc.
New Zealand exports to the United States are overwhelmingly raw materials for further processing.The president-elect vows to restore United States pre-eminence in manufactured goods of all description.
Mr Trump claims that over the past 20 years that the United States has financed the rise of the Chinese middle class.
This he claims has been at the cost of the careers and jobs of the United States whose own middle class has been relegated in many states to low paying jobs, if they have jobs at all.
Mr Trump’s overwhelming loyalty is to the productivity of United States rust belt states, as they are known, which saw him through to the presidency.
Mr Trump is pledged to revive specific United States industries. They are in:-
None of these compete with anything coming from New Zealand. Indeed, New Zealand can claim common cause with the United States in seeing its own textile industry shrink in the face of exports from the Orient.
In the last analysed statistical year New Zealand was the United States’ 57th largest supplier of imports.
The main categories were: Meat (frozen beef), albumins, modified starch and glue (mostly caseins), wine dairy, eggs, and honey, along with milk protein concentrate .
The one challenge in the process finished consumer product category is wine (USD296 million.)Wine though is focussed on the West Coast, notably California. None of these wine states are by definition rust belt states.
They overwhelmingly voted for Hillary. They can expect no favours in protective tariffsfrom the incoming administration.
On the president-elect global hit list meanwhile are countries such as Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, and Vietnam, and Japan. These all compete in manufactured products with the United States.
They are all members of the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement and nations which the Trump Doctrine blames for taking away manufacturing jobs from his American constituency.
January 21 next will be the first day in office for President Trump with the proclaimed cancellation of the Trans Pacific Partnership as his first executive priority.
From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Monday 28 November 2016
Chinese-made $100 billion city near Singapore 'scares everybody'
Goff wants $5 bed levy for Auckland visitors
New Zealand's weak labour productivity
Non-tariff barriers costing Kiwi firms billions each year, NZIER says
NZ dollar little changed as financial stability report, US jobs data loom
World Week Ahead: US jobs, rate outlook
Edendale plant most energy efficient
New Customs and Excise Bill introduced
Tasman Bay engineering operator convicted after employee injured in fuel tank explosion
Clearer labelling for oils and sugars a step closer
Air New Zealand lays on extra flights for Adele fans
Air New Zealand will test Wellington runway extension consent application
KiwiRail has entered the coastal shipping freight market with a new NZ Connect service.
The service responds to customers’ expectations of KiwiRail as a logistics partner and is a logical solution to provide innovative freight connections between Auckland and Christchurch following the Kaikoura earthquake earlier this month.
NZ Connect has been developed with the support of Ports of Auckland, Lyttelton Port of Christchurch and ANL Shipping.
“The disruption to New Zealand’s key supply route between Auckland and Christchurch will continue for many months as the rail and road links are rebuilt,” says KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy.
“Coming up with an alternative way of shifting freight for our customers was important, and KiwiRail is pleased it has been able to do this so quickly.”
The new service will shift cargo from Auckland’s Wiri Inland Port and KiwiRail’s Southdown Freight Hub to Lyttelton’s Midland Port or KiwiRail’s Christchurch terminal via ANL shipping services. Using rail in Auckland and Christchurch has the added benefit of further reducing truck congestion from already busy roads.
The new services will be available immediately.
A plan to extend the service to include return of freight from the South Island to the North Island is being finalised and should be announced soon.
“KiwiRail has always played a key role in keeping people and freight moving,” says Mr Reidy. “This is another example of our commitment to keeping New Zealand moving and helping to drive economic growth, even in the most difficult and volatile of times.”
From Melbourne ANL’s Managing Director John Lines says "ANL is committed to this new partnership opportunity supporting KiwiRail, and ANL has ample available capacity from Auckland to Lyttelton and around the New Zealand coast to ensure the continuity of KiwiRail's service to their customers."
Customer contact details for NZ Connect are: 0800 202 484, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The new Customs and Excise Bill will strengthen border management and make life simpler for businesses, says Customs Minister Nicky Wagner.
“The Bill will take the place of the out-dated Customs and Excise Act 1996, which is difficult to understand and apply, creating unnecessary compliance costs for business,” Ms Wagner says.
“Businesses’ obligations will be clearer and there will be more flexibility in meeting them in the new modern legislation.
“We have addressed concerns raised by the public during consultation around Customs’ powers to search e-devices at the border.
“Customs’ powers to examine and access electronic devices will be restricted through a two-stage search threshold. This means that Customs will only be able to search a device if they have a reasonable suspicion or belief of offending under the Act.
“The new search powers strike a balance between protecting privacy and ensuring that Customs can continue to protect our borders.
“There will also be greater assurance for all New Zealanders that border risks and non-compliance will be identified and minimised.”
The Bill proposes a number of changes that support the movement of travellers and goods across the border, protect New Zealand from harm, and support the collection of Crown revenue, including:
“The Bill modernises but does not substantially change most of the provisions in the current Act, and will provide Customs with modern flexible legislation needed to protect the border.”
“Some detail has been moved into regulations to enable changes to be made in response to emerging risks and new technologies and risk management approaches,” Ms Wagner says.
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