Customs Minister Nicky Wagner today welcomed the completion of a key trade system.
Trade Single Window, which is a major component of the Joint Border Management System programme by Customs and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), is an e-commerce platform that enables importers and exporters to meet all border requirements in one place.
“Trade Single Window first launched in 2013 and last month hit a major milestone with its five-millionth transaction. The final elements successfully rolled out over the weekend, meaning the system is now complete,” Ms Wagner says.
“This is the culmination of an incredible amount of hard work by both Customs and MPI. The completed system features four new lodgement types that will further streamline the border clearance process for goods and craft.”
The new lodgements will be available gradually over the coming months.
“Trade Single Window also incorporates the World Customs Organization’s latest data model (WCO3), which will allow border agencies to collect better data for risk assessments,” Ms Wagner says.
“Ongoing support from the wider import/export industry has been crucial in developing a system that works well not only for Customs and MPI, but for industry too.”
| A Beehive release || April 10, 2017 |||
The BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) today released the second in its series of reports on energy scenarios to 2050. This report looks at the contribution the energy and transport sectors can make to emission reductions (BEC 2050: A deep dive into the New Zealand energy and transport sector emissions).
"The challenge of meeting our Paris Agreement target of a 30 percent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 lies ahead of us," said BEC Chair Hon David Caygill.
"In taking our scenarios work to the next level we can now better understand both the scale of the challenges and the nature of the opportunities to reduce emissions.
"As a country we aspire to both high growth and emissions reductions to help us meet our Paris Agreement commitment. We also need to balance this with energy security and affordability.
"If we knew the future, reducing our energy and transport sector's emissions would be easy. But we don't. Our scenarios help us move beyond the usual practice of assembling disconnected technical possibilities to focus on what levers we have available to practically unlock our emissions reduction potential.
"Our two scenarios describe different ways the energy and transport sectors can contribute towards emissions reduction. But the scenarios are more than just storylines. They also show how different assumptions about the future – for example, economic and population growth, and the price of carbon - affect how much reduction can be achieved, and which levers should be investigated further by policy makers.
"For the first time across the entire New Zealand energy and transport sectors, we now have modelling that reveals just how sensitive New Zealand's energy emissions are to the key uncertainties the sector is grappling with – technology, economic transformation, the pursuit of higher renewable energy levels and transport behaviour.
"With this work we can better understand the range of choices and trade-offs for the energy and transport sectors to meaningfully contribute towards New Zealand's emission reduction target.
| A BusinessNZ Energy Council release || April 10, 2017 |||
The latest release of Autodesk’s Advance Steel 2018 promises to both streamline the 3D modeling tool and improve interoperability with other Autodesk software, such as Revit, Navisworks and AutoCAD. This article will examine the software's new features, and explain how they impact the architects, structural engineers and construction workers who use it.
Figure 1 above – Advance Steel 2018 adds 130 parametric steel connections that may be transferred to the Revit model. Image courtesy of Autodesk.
Improved Level of Detail
The first big highlight is Advance Steel 2018's ability to offer “seamless consumption of LOD 350 Revit models.” LOD, short for “level of detail”, is defined by BIMForum as a measure of the amount of description attached to items in a Building Information Modeling (BIM) model - or example, at LOD 100, a light fixture might only have cost information, while at LOD 350, it would also include things like its geometric shape, in the form of a CAD model. The ability to read CAD models directly from Revit files should give engineers more accuracy in their designs, let them issue bills of material, and let them respond more quickly to architectural design changes.
Added Parametric Steel Connections
A second major update is the addition of over one hundred and thirty parametric steel connections. To sweeten the deal, these connections also transfer to the model in Revit to improve coordination between engineers and fabricators.
The new software also supports Revit families for custom sections, a feature long demanded by users, as well as the ability to transfer code checks for customized parameters.
Streamlined Installation
Advance Steel 2018 has also been integrated with the latest AutoCAD drafting platform, meaning users will only no longer need to license and install it separately.
Migration of CustomizationFigure 2 -Advance Steel now has one interface to move settings from one version to another. Picture from Autodesk.
Another change concerns control of documentation and customized model information. You can now combine model views with cameras to simplify the making of general arrangement drawings, and blow up details of the model to add callouts in less steps.
Figure 3- Blow-up details and create callouts. Picture from Autodesk.
Better Overall Interoperability
Finally, this release of Advance Steel continues Autodesk’s integration of the product with their other AEC software. As construction and engineering continues to evolve toward automation, Autodesk has sought to create increasingly seamless BIM-to-fabrication workflows by integrating Advance Steel with their other engineering and construction tools, such as Revit and Navisworks Manage. However, Advance Steel is not actually an Autodesk original - it was created by French structural steel software vendor GRAITEC, which Autodesk acquired in 2013. As a result, Autodesk has had to spend years integrating it into their software family, rather than building it that way from the ground up.
The idea is to give project teams access to a transparent system that supports the entire lifecycle of steel projects, from design to detailing to fabrication.
Advance Steel is available as a quarterly, annual, or multi-year subscription through Autodesk. The Autodesk AEC Industry Collection is a software bundle that includes Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks Manage, and more. Advance Steel 2018 becomes available on April 1, 2017, while Autodesk Steel Connections for Revit 2018 drop April 14.
| An Engineering.com release || April 10, 2017 |||
New Zealand contact for Autodesk 2018 CAD is Lewis Worthing from WorthyCAM
The 2017 Young Engineer of the Year is Rocket Lab’s Lachlan Matchett, it was announced at the IPENZ Fellows’ and Achievers’ Awards in Wellington last night.
Aged 26, Lachlan has led a large team of engineers to design and deliver Rocket Lab’s innovative Rutherford Engine.
The other two finalists for Young Engineer of the Year were Virginie Lacrosse of Tonkin + Taylor, who has been at the forefront of liquefaction work in Christchurch, and Oliver Whalley, who has been working on sustainable transport in the Pacific for the World Bank.
Other awards announced last night included the William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership, which went to Keith Turner for his outstanding career in the electricity industry, spanning technical, management and governance excellence.
Sjoerd van Ballegooy of Tonkin +Taylor won the Freysinnet supreme technical award for building and construction, in recognition of his ground-breaking work on the effects of liquefaction after the Canterbury earthquakes.
The Angus supreme technical award for water, waste and amenities went to Rex Corlett of Opus for his work on effluent pond design and construction.
Engineer and University of Auckland educator Colin Nicholas won the Turner Award, which recognises extraordinary commitment to the engineering profession and to the community.
Jack Robinson became the first software engineering student to win the Ray Meyer undergraduate award, thanks to his work on a web-based traffic management system. Jack has completed his studies at Victoria University of Wellington and is now working as a graduate developer for Xero.
The IPENZ President’s awards were also announced on Friday night. The Fulton-Downer Gold Medal, which recognises engineers’ service to the profession and the public, was awarded to Ian Fraser for his leadership, governance contributions and support of young engineers. The Fulton-Downer Silver Medal went to Dipal Raniga for her dedication to promoting IPENZ among students and graduates. And the McLean Citation went to Tiina Hall-Turner for commitment and service to IPENZ, over a wide range of its boards and groups, throughout her professional career.
IPENZ named the following new Distinguished Fellows: Bryan Leyland, Murray Milner and Peter McCombs.
These engineers were named as new Fellows: Paul Campbell, Derek Chisholm, Glen Cornelius, Joe Edwards, Tim Fisher, Gordon Hughes, Steve Jay, Charlie Price, Bill Paterson, Richard Snow and Tania Williams.
| An IPENZ release || April 8, 2017 |||
Much of the buzz around potential Hyperloop systems of late has centered on how they might first make tracks in countries outside the US, but for its latest announcement, startup Hyperloop One is looking much closer to home. The LA-based company has today outlined 11 potential routes for Hyperloop routes in the US that it says would massively reduce transport and cargo time through the nation's more heavily used passages.
Hyperloop One is just one of the transport companies vying make the futuristic transport system a reality. First described in an Elon Musk white paper in 2013, the Hyperloop would shuttle passengers and cargo through low-vacuum tubes at close to the speed of sound, a velocity made possible by the minimal aerodynamic drag inside.
Hyperloop One has agreements to explore the feasibility of such a system with Russia, Finland and Dubai, among others, but this week it is turning its attention to US soil. Presenting at the Vision for America Conference today, the company has outlined a set of potential routes for a US Hyperloop system that would link more than 35 states.
Such a network of high-speed transport tubes is a ways off yet, however. The 11 proposals are finalists in the Hyperloop One Global Challenge which kicked off last May and drew more than 2,600 participants. The 11 will be whittled down to three teams, who will then work with Hyperloop One's engineers to explore further development.
The proposals under consideration include a 121-mile (194 km) route from San Diego to LA, a 257-mile (413 km) route connecting Miami and Orlando, a 640-mi (1,029) "Texas Triangle" and a monster 1,152 mi (1,853 km) route between Cheyenne and Houston that would run through four states. This final example would cut a 17-hour car trip to a one-hour and 45 minute journey.
Hyperloop One also revealed that it has added the finishing touches to its 500-meter long test track (0.3 mi) in Nevada, which will function as a testbed for its propulsion, vacuum, levitation and control technologies.
| A Hyperloop One release || April 07, 2017 |||
Leading New Zealand grower, Bostock New Zealand, is processing a whopping 100 tonnes of onions per hour with new automated handling equipment from Tong Engineering.
Based in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, in what is claimed to be one of the cleanest and purest growing environments in the world, Bostock New Zealand has been exporting a wide variety of quality produce including onions, apples and kiwi fruit for over 30 years. As part of the company’s commitment to producing premium produce, Bostock needed to increase the capacity and efficiency of their onion handling process, and Tong equipment, supplied by their local Tong dealer Dobmac Agricultural machinery, was a natural choice.
“After many years of positive growth, we are now exporting produce to over 20 different countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America,” explained Neville Gillespie from Bostock New Zealand. “With demand for our onions continuing to grow, we needed to upgrade our handling equipment to allow us to achieve a much higher throughput whilst improving our cleaning and inspecting capabilities.”
“We chose to purchase Tong equipment, as our experience has proved it to deliver on capacity, and at a quality which lasts,” said Neville. “We have a good relationship with their New Zealand dealer Dobmac, so we were confident that our new equipment could be specified to do the job we required.”
Simon Lee, Sales Manager at Tong Engineering comments “The first phase of equipment upgrades at Bostock New Zealand allowed them to effectively receive their harvested onions with a 2.4m wide Tong Caretaker machine, incorporating 6 rows of adjustable coils for effective removal of onion waste prior to a 4 man inspection area. Further to this we have just commissioned two fully automated custom built EasyFill-style box fillers to suit their large 5 tonne onion boxes.”
Neville adds “Following the increased capacity achieved with the Caretaker, we added automation to the bin filling function on our bulk unloading line. We fill 5 tonne harvest bins at up to 100 tonnes per hour in good product conditions, which means we are now capable of a throughput of over 1000 tonnes per day. Even better, when Tong and Dobmac last visited the facility, we shaved an extra 17 seconds off the time to fill each bin. Across 200 bins for the day, that’s the equivalent of another hour of operation, allowing us to process another 100 tonne into storage. The Caretaker, coupled with the fully automatic fillers, has resulted in our throughput growing out of sight!”
“By upgrading their handling systems to higher capacity, automatic onion loading, cleaning and filling equipment, Bostock have really turned the efficiency of their processes around. With our dedicated Tong dealer Dobmac Machinery on hand, Bostock have a local point of contact to discuss any future projects to ensure labour continues to be utilised in the most efficient way, whilst keeping downtime to a minimum,” added Simon.
| A Farmers REview Release | April 7, 2017 |||
Automation is rapidly becoming less an option and more a necessity when it comes to machine tools, and just like machine tools, automated handling systems are continually being updated and improved.
Most recently, Makino announced the availability of a new design configuration for its Modular Machining Complex (MMC2) automated pallet-handling system, making it compatible with the company’s a61nx-5E 5-axis horizontal machining center.
The updated MMC2 retains the same modular design and capabilities of its predecessors, but with a new pallet-transfer interface on the system’s rail-guided vehicle (RGV). As a result, manufacturers are able to achieve spindle utilization rates upwards of 95 percent on a61nx-5E machines, according to Makino.
“Based on feedback from current a61nx-5E owners, we’d come to realize that the machine’s productive capabilities were so high that most operators were struggling to keep their machines fed with raw materials,” said David Ward, product marketing manager at Makino. “By providing this optional pallet interface on the MMC2, we’re able to help manufacturers keep up with the productivity rates of the a61nx-5E to get the most value out of their investments.”The MMC2 can integrate up to 15 machining centers and four work-setting stations into a single system. Each system can hold up to 200 pallet stockers—stacked either one, two or three layers high—with a variety of parts and fixtures.
The system’s RGV is supported by a floor rail and upper-guide rail for enhanced stability and high-speed movement. The system’s work-setting stations provide access for operators to load and unload parts either by hand or crane.
The MMC2 can also be equipped with optional workpiece washing guns.
The pallet-handling system enables the a61nx-5E to receive a continual flow of parts and can run unattended for extended periods, including over nights and weekends.
The updated MMC2 retains the same Microsoft Windows-based MAS-A5 control software. The MAS-A5 main PC hard drive stores and manages all NC programs, including those that exceed CNC memory.
Tool data, both in and out of the a61nx-5E machines, can be accessed and modified from the MAS-A5 user interface. A variety of file formats for tooling and part information are supported and can be displayed to assist with part loading/unloading and tool-setting operations.The Tool-Life Predict function enables the MAS-A5 to gather tool-life data per NC program. When a request is opened, this function informs the operator of how long a tool will be used in each NC program execution, as well as how many spare tools per machine are required to finish any work that is currently loaded or awaiting processing at the time that the request was placed. The MAS-A5 then schedules work only for the machines that meet tool-life and availability requirements for the desired process sequence.
Interfacing with a tool presetter can also reduce errors by automatically capturing tool-offset data, which can be transferred from the presetter to the MAS-A5 system control.
Standard control features include in-cell production scheduling, equipment status monitoring, NC program management and on-board reporting. These capabilities enable the MMC2 to assign work and initiate operations automatically, based on machine and material availability, using maximum spindle capabilities and monitoring all automated procedures.
| A machinery.com release || March 30, 2017 ||
Better known today as an existential author and public ethicist John Wareham (above) originally burst upon the national commercial consciousness with a series of proclamations and books that explored the changing nature of New Zealand management techniques and attitudes that began to take shape in the later 1960s. He expanded his management consultancy into Australia and then to the United States. The onetime New York resident has returned to live in Wellington.
Five questions for John Wareham...
You once claimed that the unsuitability of a wife for an achieving careerist would become grounds for divorce. How do you see this statement in the light of today?Times changed. The subsequent Yuppie generations self-selected on the basis of earning ability, and then married, if at all, after living together and thus jointly accumulating their wealth. Since I originally made that statement familial capital formation has become shared.
John Maynard Keynes believed that the transfer of enterprise from industrial families to shareholders at large would engender a more compassionate era. He believed that the non-family professional managers would serve the wider community instead of just the whims and wishes of the ruling dynasty.On this point, Keynes failed to foresee the future. Sadly for us all.
In New Zealand especially there is this constant call from politicians for more people to become entrepreneurs. Universities have courses in it. Your opinion?It is difficult to distil entrepreneurialism to a formula. One can teach marketing techniques but the key to being an entrepreneur is the willingness to take a risk. The bigger the risk,the bigger the potential reward. Figuring out what one might do is not the same as having the courage to do it, and courage can’t be taught—and for over-anxious wannabe entrepreneurs, judgment goes out the window when risk enters the door.
In one seminar we attended you claimed that the truly successful entrepreneurs were the ones who loved the business that they were in – that this passion in fact counted for more than material success?Still true!
Can you now as the founder of Oceania’s first management selection organisation give us five tips on likely applicants who should NOT be hired for anything at all?Candidates who:
| From This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Friday 7 April, 2017 |||
Robotics and smart machinery could help accelerate efficiency, quality, safety - and it could save companies money, according to Professor Mike Duke from the University of Waikato’s School of Engineering.
More than 70% of the country’s exports come from the primary industries. By 2025, the MPI wants double exports to more than $64 billion.
Duke says that the way to achieve that goal could be robotics - especially in the face of increasing labour costs.
He says that the cost of importing labour, labour reliability, environmental and safety legislation are putting many companies on the back foot when it comes to profitability.
Robots, however, may cut through these issues.
“Robots have been used for decades in automotive factories and, more recently, they’ve been introduced in horticultural pack houses. However, ‘in field’ robotics is a much more difficult nut to crack, as the variability of the environment and products makes it far more difficult,” he says.
“Recent developments in computing power, algorithms and sensing, combined with advances in computer aided design and manufacturing technologies are resolving many of the problems. This will quickly lead to an army of ‘in field’ robots and smart machinery, replacing imported labour for many repetitive tasks.”
He believes that there are several examples of ‘in-field’ prototypes that are commercially viable - or a very close to it. Built in New Zealand, those prototypes can start the primary sector’s revolution.
That revolution includes harvesting, pollination, weed spraying, thinning, transportation, quality control and pasture repair.
“As the revolution progresses, we’ll have to get used to the sight of robots roaming the fields and orchards of New Zealand,” Duke says.
“There are interesting developments and opportunities linked to the introduction of robotics. One is the redesign of agricultural spaces to better utilise robots. A second is that New Zealand has a fantastic opportunity to not only improve its primary industry performance, but also export hi-tech, high-value machinery and services,” he concludes.
| A BizEdge release || April 06,2017 |||
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