One platform for each and everythingThe machinery belonging to the business area, which focuses on global materials distribution and processing services, is highly diverse: The machines perform a wide range of tasks, were made by various manufacturers and differ in age. Now toii makes it possible to connect bandsaws and bending machines, mobile objects like cranes and forklifts and even complex production facilities such as slitting and cut to length lines and sophisticated processing solutions through milling machines and laser systems digitally in line with the Industrial Internet of Things. The digital platform allows the machines to share data and communicate with one another and with the IT systems. Processes can be planned and coordinated optimally and flexibly – across locations, worldwide. As a further major benefit, the platform simplifies data analysis. Which product has been produced when and in what quantities? Which machine needs maintenance? What could be developing into a problem? What additional materials need to be delivered? The system answers all of these questions and many more by gathering and analyzing data. The results are just a mouse click away – clearly structured and easy to understand.
“We’ve created an end-to-end solution that is tailored specifically to our needs. It will enable us to accelerate the automation of our production operations and make our processes much more efficient,” says Hans-Josef Hoß from the board of thyssenkrupp Materials Services. “We are now taking the digital transformation to the core areas of our business: our production shops, our machinery and equipment, and our materials. Our customers will feel the benefit – and so will we.”
toii has already successfully proven its worth in several pilot projects. For example, at Materials Processing Europe in Mannheim, a new, highly complex cut to length line that cuts sheet from coil was fully connected with the platform. The result: toii transfers work orders directly and in real time from the SAP system to the machine and controls its settings from sizes and weights to volumes. The platform also automatically retrieves the machine information required by SAP. As a result, the status of production and the finished products can be viewed at any time. Other machines have also already been digitally connected and automated using toii, for example measuring the thickness of metal strips for effective quality control and automatic blanking. In the latter case, the platform even made it possible to fully integrate the blanking operation into a production line. In other areas, from high- bay storage to mobile construction machinery, toii is improving efficiency as well.The platform is an in-house development, highly scalable, and can integrate up to several hundred machines a year. An international Materials Services team of IT professionals from Germany, India and the USA worked together to develop toii. Alongside various projects in Germany, there are already plans to deploy the system in the UK and the USA. All data are currently hosted on a central server in Germany. But to be able to comply with all data protection law requirements, local servers will also be created in the UK and USA as part of the further roll-out.thyssenkrupp Materials Services is systematically driving the digital transformation of the business area throughout the entire value chain. In many areas, connected collaboration and interactive processes are already well established – from logistics, warehousing and line utilization to purchasing and administration. The focus is on customers and their individual requirements. The aim: to continuously develop and implement made-to-measure digital solutions that allow for smarter and more effective collaboration and open up completely new possibilities.About thyssenkrupp:thyssenkrupp is a diversified industrial group with traditional strengths in materials and a growing share of capital goods and service businesses. Over 156,000 employees in nearly 80 countries work with passion and technological know-how to develop high-quality products and intelligent industrial processes and services for sustainable progress. Their skills and commitment are the basis of our success. In fiscal year 2015/2016 thyssenkrupp generated sales of around €39 billion.
Together with our customers we develop competitive solutions for current and future challenges in their respective industries. With our engineering expertise we enable our customers to gain an edge in the global market and manufacture innovative products in a cost- and resource-friendly way. Our technologies and innovations are the key to meeting diverse customer and market requirements around the world, growing on the markets of the future, and generating strong and stable earnings, cash flows and value growth.
About thyssenkrupp Materials Services: With around 480 locations in over 40 countries, the Materials Services business area specializes in materials distribution, logistics and services, the provision of technical services as well as services for industrial plants and steel mills. In addition to rolled steel, stainless steel, tubes and pipes, nonferrous metals, specialty materials and plastics, Materials Services also offers services from processing and logistics to warehouse and inventory management through to supply chain and project management.
| A Thyssenkrupp Materials release || August 21, 2017 |||
The first round of long-awaited talks on modernizing NAFTA finished Sunday, with Canada, Mexico and the United States issuing a statement that they had made "detailed conceptual presentations" of their positions. Negotiators from the three countries will meet again in Mexico on September 1 to continue trying to revise the trade pact. But while all say they are keen to see a new deal emerge, they still have to navigate the political risks attached to any commercial agreement.
Donald Trump´s promise to renegotiate trade deals was a key plank of his "America First" campaign platform. One of his first acts in the White House was to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with countries in Asia-Pacific and the Americas, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Meanwhile, negotiations between Washington and the European Union for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have not resumed since Barack Obama left office.
Speculation now centers on the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement, typically seen by many economists as at least a qualified success story. Since 1994, trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada has more than tripled, forming a trading bloc with a combined GDP of around 20 trillion dollars.
However, prominent representatives of both the left and right, from Bernie Sanders and Ralph Nader to Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan, have long criticized the agreement for contributing to a hollowing out of the country´s manufacturing industry and lost U.S. jobs, partly because of increased trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. Right-wingers also accuse NAFTA of undermining U.S. sovereignty and opening up the United States to what they see as an increasing threat from drugs, crime and immigration from Mexico.
From a different standpoint, even some previous advocates of NAFTA have become less enthusiastic about the deal. This is partly because the three countries have been unable to fully address challenging issues like tightened border security.
NAFTA is also seen to have stalled because Mexico, Canada and the United States have increasingly preferred to push bilateral solutions rather than addressing opportunities and problems trilaterally. A key rationale for the prevailing lack of triliteralism in the continent is that the NAFTA architects from Canada and Mexico wanted to curb EU-type political institution building they feared would lead to a Brussels-style bureaucracy dominated by Washington.
Equally, Washington has generally disliked the idea of developing any pan-North American political institutions that could rein in U.S. autonomy.
Trump jumped into this cauldron of criticism in the 2016 election campaign by calling NAFTA "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country." In key electoral states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, his championing of an anti-international trade agenda helped win him significant support last November. (In April, Trump told Reuters that he had been "psyched" to terminate NAFTA, but changed his mind after Canada and Mexico asked for it to be renegotiated instead.)
Many U.S. businesses have urged that forthcoming negotiations should not jeopardize existing market access, and that the key negotiating principle should, in the words of United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, be to "do no harm." Now the USTR and the administration must assess exactly how much overhaul is politically necessary to meet the expectations generated by Trump´s statement that "we´re going to make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA once and for all."
The renegotiations have high political stakes for Canada and Mexico too. If agreement cannot be reached before the Mexican presidential election on July 1, 2018, negotiators could have to deal with NAFTA skeptic and current poll favorite Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The left-wing populist has positioned himself as a critic of Trump and the U.S. president´s "campaign of hatred" against Mexico since the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Uncertainty over NAFTA, the TPP and Trump´s trade policies in general, could create a significant political vacuum. That, in turn, could give China a gap to exploit - a gap Beijing is waiting to take. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baoding said last year, "protectionism is rearing its ugly head...China believes we should set up a new plan to...sustain momentum for the early establishment of free trade areas."
Beijing´s alternative vision includes a Free Trade Area of Asia Pacific (FTAAP), a long-term goal to link Pacific Rim economies from China to Chile that has been debated since 2004. In the shorter term, Beijing is also pushing a free trade pact, for which discussions have been underway since 2012, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). That would include the 10 ASEAN members plus India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, but not the United States.
RCEP, which is smaller in scope to FTAAP, would create one of the largest free trade zones in the world. Collectively, RCEP countries account for around a quarter of global GDP, and some 46 percent of the global population.
While Chinese President Xi Jinping has asserted that RCEP and FTAAP do not "go against existing free trade arrangements," Beijing and Washington have for years had contrasting visions of shaping the regional order through formulation of NAFTA and TPP on one hand, and RCEP and FTAA on the other. From China´s perspective, RCEP and FTAAP would be more conducive to its national interests.
This is not least because, unlike TPP, Beijing would be explicitly part of the new economic agreements and able to shape their design by creating trade deals with China at the center. Reflecting this, former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has despaired that Washington will now "be left on the sidelines as others move forward."
Continued uncertainty over Trump´s trade stance will only increase the prospects of China taking the lead in the competition for regional trade integration. This will potentially not just consolidate Beijing´s own regional power and its global political and economic influence, but also damage hard-won U.S. credibility with its local and international trading allies. No wonder that many in Washington recognize a lot is at stake in the NAFTA talks, and that a great deal of effort will be required in coming months to see a breakthrough. (Reporting by Andrew Hammond)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-4811154/Commentary-The-elephant-room-NAFTA-talks.html#ixzz4qTJwoPwHFollow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook || August 21, 2017 |||
Britain has set out proposals to ensure that goods and services currently approved for sale across the UK and EU can continue to be traded after Brexit.
The plans published by Brexit Secretary David Davis were welcomed by business leaders as an improvement on EU proposals which would require separate regulatory processes on either side of the Channel from the day after UK withdrawal.
Mr Davis said the UK was now ready to begin a "formal dialogue" on elements of the future UK-EU trade relationship, such as customs.
But Brussels indicated it will continue to resist UK pressure to bring forward trade talks, insisting they must wait until after sufficient progress has been made on the divorce deal - something which one EU leader said could drag on beyond the autumn.
Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar told The Guardian: "I think that the process will definitely take more time than we expected at the start of the negotiations.
"There are so many difficult topics on the table, difficult issues there, that one cannot expect all those issues will be solved according to the schedule made in the first place."
But Downing Street said it remained "confident" of making enough progress on the issues of citizens' rights, the financial settlement and borders for the European Council to give the green light to the second phase of Brexit negotiations when it meets in Brussels in October.
Mr Davis's new position paper comes ahead of the third round of formal negotiations in the Belgian capital next week, and is expected to be followed in the coming days by further documents on issues like post-Brexit judicial co-operation, dispute resolution and data protection.
His Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) said the UK's proposals were designed to smooth the way to "the freest and most frictionless trade possible" under a new partnership with the EU.
But Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake dismissed them as a "fantasy wishlist", adding: "Nothing would provide businesses and consumers with more certainty than staying in the single market and customs union.
"That is the option this Government should be pursuing if it was serious about protecting jobs and free trade."
Britain's proposals envisage all goods placed on the market before Brexit day continuing to be sold in the UK and EU without extra restrictions or requirements after withdrawal, and state that the same principle should apply to services relating to these goods.
Approvals granted for products like cars to be sold across the EU should remain valid, and arrangements should be made to ensure continued oversight of the safety and regulatory compliance of goods like medicines.
With EU exports to the UK totalling more than £250 billion in 2016, DExEU argued that this approach would avoid "unnecessary disruption" during the move to new long-term arrangements.
A "narrow" approach to goods like agricultural products or food would risk "significant legal uncertainty and potential disruption for businesses and consumers both in the UK and the EU", the paper warned.
A separate paper recommended a reciprocal agreement on continued confidentiality for official documents shared by Britain with its EU partners while it was a member state.
Mr Davis said the papers provide "certainty and confidence in the UK's status as an economic powerhouse after we have left the EU" and make clear that " our separation from the EU and future relationship are inextricably linked".
He added: "We have already begun to set out what we would like to see from a future relationship on issues such as customs and are ready to begin a formal dialogue on this and other issues."
European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said the publication of position papers was " a positive step towards now really starting the process of negotiations".
But he said any early move to talks on trade would have to be agreed by the 27 remaining EU states, adding: "There is a very clear structure in place, set by the EU27, about how these talks should be sequenced and that is exactly what we think should be happening now.
"The important thing is to realise that the clock is ticking, that we have no time to lose and that we need to get on with it."
The CBI said the UK paper was a "significant improvement" on EU proposals which would create a "severe cliff-edge" for goods currently on the market.
But director of campaigns John Foster said the simplest way to reassure companies was f or the UK to "stay in the single market and a customs union until a comprehensive new deal is in force".
The director of EU affairs at manufacturers' trade body the EEF, Fergus McReynolds, said: "The Government's position is helpful as it reaffirms the concerns of the manufacturing sector to secure the continuity of goods and supply of services from 2019 onwards. Industry now wants to see this resolved as quickly as possible."
And Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: "Businesses here in the UK as well as on the continent will welcome the British Government's desire to maintain maximum continuity in the way goods are traded when the UK withdraws from the EU."
Ukip business spokesman Christopher Mills said: "As far as these proposals go, they appear sensible. Businesses on both sides of the Channel are looking towards the politicians to act responsibly. Today the UK has - over to you, Brussels."
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "These papers come months after the EU published their plans and offer precious little new information or concrete proposals.
"It is increasingly clear that the Government are publishing bland, non-committal papers as a smokescreen to mask their failure to make any meaningful progress on phase one's core negotiating issues - including citizens' rights.
"Instead of preparing the ground for failure, the Government should focus on reaching an early agreement to the first stage of talks and make an early commitment to establish strong transitional arrangements."
| A BelfastTelegraph release ||
National is promising to deliver New Zealand's boldest-ever trade push if it wins the election, creating "shiploads of jobs" and giving the economy a multi-billion dollar boost.
Trade spokesman Todd McClay says a National-led government will work to unlock markets with 2.5 billion new consumers for the benefit of large and small exporters in every region.
"This new trade access will create shiploads of jobs and be worth billions of dollars to our economy and businesses across the country," he said on Tuesday.
Most of the initiatives Mr McClay is committing to following through have already been announced and some, including TPP11, are under negotiation.
National leader Bill English, who was with Mr McClay to make the announcement in Auckland, said it was the first time the entire list of trade initiatives had been brought together.
"We hope to have significant success to help the export sector," he said.
"Labour wants to renegotiate TPP11 - if that happened, it would mean the end of it."
The list of targets for "high-quality and comprehensive" free trade agreements include:
* The European Union
* The United Kingdom (following Brexit)
* Sri Lanka
* Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay & Uruguay
Negotiations to be completed are:
* The Trans Pacific Partnership 11
* Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru (The Pacific Alliance)
Existing agreements to be upgraded with:
* China
* Singapore
* The Association of South East Asian Nations.
Mr McClay told reporters the European Union FTA negotiations could start later this year and he wanted to complete all those that are underway within the next three years.
"We can't say we will take five or 10 years to negotiate deals... this isn't too ambitious."
| A Beehive release || August 21, 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