The company is investing in training and growing local talent to combat a skills shortage in the engineering industry through closer relationships with the regional tertiary provider, Ara Institute of Canterbury.
Wyma Solutions Production Manager Michael Anderson says that the company often struggled to find the people it needed, so instead turned to young talent and more investment in training.
“We’re growing quickly and we need more highly-skilled people to compete internationally. It’s difficult to find people with the right skillset in the market so we’re investing in apprentice training through Ara to grow our team and our production,” he says.
The post-harvest equipment manufacturers currently have nine apprentices training through Ara and aim to double that number over the next two years to meet their specialised staffing needs.Engineers working in the manufacturing industry need to be multi-skilled and creative thinkers, Anderson says.“We don’t just plonk our staff at one point in an assembly line to do the same thing day in, day out. Every machine we make is customised and we need staff that can problem-solve and complete a variety of tasks.“We choose to train through Ara because their tutors are experienced and have broad knowledge. They are recognised in New Zealand as a leading tertiary educational institute who provide world-class training and have top-notch facilities and equipment.”
Apprentices attend block courses and night classes at Ara. They also have a ‘buddy’ at Wyma Solutions to teach them the basics and help them progress through their training.“Ara provides them with the skills to become competent tradespeople and we assist them in growing.”
Wyma Solutions also enhances their apprentices’ training further through exchanges with other companies to expose their young talent to the many different aspects of engineering.“Engineering is broad and that’s what makes it exciting. We want our apprentices to go out and experience other things, then come back to us with added skills and fresh eyes,” Anderson says.
Many of Wyma Solutions’ former apprentices now have key roles in the company and their career development doesn’t stop there. The company is currently looking at Ara courses to upskill team leaders and front-line management. They also often take on young pre-trade graduates from Ara, with the aim of progressing them into further training.
Ultimately Anderson says that Wyma Solutions wants to get as many staff as possible through formal training in order to enhance its already highly-skilled workforce and compete with large manufacturers overseas.“By choosing to train staff through Ara, we are investing in the future of Wyma and boosting our ability to compete on the global stage.”
| An ARA release || August 8, 2017 |||
Management at one of McCain Foods’ processing plants in Timaru, New Zealand, has found over 100 opportunities for improvement in its logistics following a two day “energy blitz” from employees.
Production Manager Sonny Quilliam explains the thinking behind the move, with energy efficiency being key to the facility’s operations. “We’d picked all the low hanging fruit through previous work but we needed ideas to generate more energy and water saving opportunities. We knew they were there but we needed to shine a light on possibilities.”
Twenty people from all areas of the facility that produces 146,000 tonnes of chips annually took part, from management to factory floor workers. The team scoured every area of the plant, resulting in a spreadsheet of 113 viable ideas designed to improve logistical efficiency.
Ideas at the top of this list include the optimisation of refrigeration systems, recycling heated water and fixing general leaks.
“Completing the prioritised projects will reduce energy and water use and save thousands of dollars a year,” Quilliam continued. “This frees up energy and water for the local community and allows us greater freedom to invest back in the business.”
Research exercises like this can be greatly beneficial to businesses, with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority quoting that firms can save up to 20% on energy costs with smarter energy use.
| A Supply Chain Digital release || August 7, 2017 |||
Rocket Lab has completed an internal review of data from its May 25 test flight of its Electron rocket. The review found the launch had to be terminated due to an independent contractor’s ground equipment issue, rather than an issue with the rocket. Rocket Lab’s investigation board has identified the root causes and corrective actions.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the primary body responsible for licensing the launch, has overseen Rocket Lab’s comprehensive investigation and will review the findings.
Rocket Lab’s engineers have spent the last two months working through an extensive fault tree analysis to ensure all factors that may have influenced the outcome of the launch were thoroughly evaluated. The investigation involved the review of over 25,000 channels of data collected during the flight in addition to extensive testing at Rocket Lab facilities in California and New Zealand.
Rocket Lab’s investigation team determined the launch, named ‘It’s a Test’, was terminated due to a data loss time out, which was caused by misconfiguration of telemetry equipment owned and operated by a third-party contractor who was supporting the launch from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1.
Four minutes into the flight, at an altitude of 224 km, the equipment lost contact with the rocket temporarily and, according to standard operating procedures, range safety officials terminated the flight. Data, including that from Rocket Lab’s own telemetry equipment, confirmed the rocket was following a nominal trajectory and the vehicle was performing as planned at the time of termination.
“We have demonstrated Electron was following its nominal trajectory and was on course to reach orbit,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO. “While it was disappointing to see the flight terminated in essence due to an incorrect tick box. We can say we tested nearly everything, including the flight termination system. We were delighted with the amount of data we were able to collect during an exceptional first test launch.
Rocket Lab’s telemetry systems provided data verifying Electrons capabilities and providing us with high confidence ahead of our second test flight. The call to terminate a launch would be tough for anyone, and we appreciated the professionalism of the flight safety officials involved.”
The telemetry data loss that led to the termination of the flight has been directly linked to a key piece of equipment responsible for translating radio signals into data used by safety officials to track the vehicle performance. It was discovered a contractor failed to enable forward error correction on this third-party device causing extensive corruption of received position data. The failure was first indicated by the fact that Rocket Lab’s own equipment did not suffer similar data loss during launch. Further confirmation of the cause was demonstrated when replaying raw radio-frequency data - recorded on launch day - through correctly configured equipment also resolved the problem.
The fix for the issue is simple and corrective procedures have been put in place to prevent a similar issue in future. No major changes to the Electron launch vehicle hardware have been required and the company has authorized the production of four additional launch vehicles as it prepares for commercial operations ahead of the test flight program. Rocket Lab’s second Electron rocket, named ‘Still Testing’, is undergoing final checks and preparations ahead of being shipped to Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 shortly.
| A RocketLab release || August 7, 2017 |||
Yusen Logistics (Australia) Pty. Ltd., has commenced ocean and air freight forwarding operations to and from New Zealand servicing our global network and partners. We initially commenced in late 2016 servicing business customers to and from Australia and now offer global coverage that includes sophisticated logistics services across the entire supply chain.
In March 2016, we acquired Hitech Asia Pacific, a company that owned bases in Australia and New Zealand and focused on the transportation of sensitive and specialty projects. This marked our first step into New Zealand’s domestic logistics market. The expansion with these services has therefore enabled us to provide our New Zealand customers with a supply chain logistics service that now also caters and utilizes our global network.
Our new facility site is located near Auckland Airport and offers a full range of integrated supply chain solutions, including air and ocean freight services, land transportation, customs clearance and contract logistics and transport services including sensitive freight capabilities. Ocean freight forwarding is mostly to and from the Port of Auckland, which is New Zealand’s primary port; though we have coverage with all New Zealand Ports, Air freight forwarding also takes place to and from the country’s major airports, including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch Airports. At the same time, we have established logistics facilities that will enable us to provide contract logistics services suited to our customers’ needs.
Establishing our own operations in New Zealand was ultimately essential to increase our global network and office coverage. Our aim was increase our in-market customer contact with New Zealand customers and provide them with not only various global tradelanes but also various specialty industries like Retail, Healthcare, Automotive, Technology, Aerospace to name a few key business verticals.
We are very excited with our future in New Zealand and will continue to look to enhance our array of services to compliment the Yusen Logistics global network.
| A Yusen Logistics release || August 7, 2017 |||
The captain of the 30,700 dwt containership Shansi was arrested in New Zealand for sailing the vessel while he was under the influence of alcohol.
A pilot, who was assisting the docking of the ship, thought the captain of the ship appeared to be intoxicated as he was having trouble docking the vessel. The pilot contacted Maritime New Zealand, who subsequently asked the Whangarei Police for assistance on the matter.
The police breath tested the ship’s captain, a 53-year-old Englishman from Devon, at Port Northland, Marsden Point.
After the captain blew what was described as an exceptionally high reading, he was arrested and charged with an offence under the Maritime Transport Act.
The limit for a ‘seafarer’ is 250 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath and carries a 12 month term of imprisonment or a $10,000 fine.
The captain appeared in Whangarei District Court earlier and was remanded on bail.
| A World Maritime News release |August 7, 2017 |||