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John Lim, Managing Director for Sandvik South East Asia, cuts the ribbon and delivered a speech at the opening of Sandvik’s new distribution center in Singapore (photo: Sandvik)

Sandvik has opened a new distribution centre in Singapore to meet increasing demand for its advanced stainless steel and special alloy products, particularly in South East Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

The new Sandvik distribution centre, which is strategically located adjacent to Changi Airport, East Singapore, is key to the company’s customer service commitment as well as its expansion plans in the region.

“To improve our customer service in the Asia region, we are establishing a distribution center in Singapore offering significantly shorter lead-times to the market. Opening the new facility means we are able to bring our products closer to our customers, cutting response times significantly and enabling quicker deliveries,” explains Pär Burefjord, Logistics Manager for Sandvik in APAC.

“Our aim is to be able to offer 24 hour delivery to all APAC markets including India, China and Australia by air and three-to-ten days by vessel.”

Sandvik already operates two distribution centers in Singapore for its mining and machining products, but will now open a third for tube, strip, wire, welding products and heating systems.

“With an expanded and consolidated stock profile and automated stock replenishment, we can provide customers with an even greater service,” said Pär Burefjord. “By taking full advantage of our local material stocks and more efficient logistics, customers could actually reduce their own stock profiles, freeing up valuable manufacturing space.”

The new distribution centre boasts an impressive capacity and will accommodate tube products such as seamless high temperature tubes and furnace tubes, as well as stainless steel hollow bar for component manufacturers. The center will also stock an extensive program of welding consumables, precision wire and Kanthal® resistance wire and furnace products.

Magnus Brodin, Regional Sales Director for Sandvik in APAC, Tube Core & Standard Products, adds, “Inauguration of our new distribution centre in Singapore demonstrates our commitment to our customers in South East Asia and the wider APAC market. It expands our presence in the market, increasing competitiveness and facilitating Sandvik’s growth in the region.”

A Sandvic release out of Singapore

Last month, customs officials at the Gongbei Port of Entry began using Sanbot, a humanoid robot designed and built by QIHAN Technology Company, to help increase efficiency, security and customer experience at the busy border crossing.

According to QIHAN, Sanbot is a service robot powered by a cloud-enabled app ecosystem designed to be deployed in a wide variety of settings including retail locations, schools, hospitals and more.

“The use of Sanbot by Gongbei Customs demonstrates just how versatile Sanbot’s AI platform truly is,” said Zhuang Yongjun, chief technology officer at QIHAN. “We truly believe that robots like Sanbot have the potential to change how service industries operate–and that includes helping customs workers operate and secure ports around the globe. By equipping Sanbot with an incredibly powerful, cloud-based development platform, QIHAN has been able to allow our partners at Gongbei Customs to tailor Sanbot’s capabilities and behaviors to the needs of their specific use case.”

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Private equity-owned Patties Foods, the maker of brands such as Nanna’s, Herbert Adams and Four’N Twenty pies, has bought New Zealand company Leader Products, a manufacturer of frozen convenience food products.

Patties Foods, bought by Pacific Equity Partners for $232 million in September, says the two companies are natural partners, both focused on manufacturing high quality frozen foods.

Leader, started by Tony Peterson and Richard Crabb in 1998, exports to Australia and Asia and has doubled revenue in the past five years. The product range includes meatballs, burger patties, toppas, finger foods and meal solutions under the brands Leader, Tony’s Tucka and Kauri Coast.

Peterson will continue as managing director and will maintain a stake in the combined business.

Paul Hitchcock, CEO of Patties, says the combination of Patties and Leader will provide significant growth opportunities for both companies.

“Leader is a great New Zealand success story and we are very keen to support the team in their continued growth,” he says.

“For example, we see immediate opportunities to leverage the Patties sales force in Australia to bring more of Leader’s great product range to Australian customers.”

The cost of the acquisition hasn’t been revealed. The transaction is expected to complete in early 2017 following regulatory approval.

November 25 saw the first coming together of Unitec’s new alumni group for its former engineering students and tutors. Pictured are Engineering alumni Dominic Hurley, Shannon Wallis & Stuart Hume

“Unitec’s engineering pathway supports the formation of this group so as to foster and maintain relationships with our alumni, many of whom have gone on to do great things within the New Zealand and global engineering industries,” said David Nummy, Unitec’s acting Head of Engineering.

“This alumni group will help Unitec strengthen and build the reputation of our programmes and our graduates. It will also help ensure our tertiary institute has good links back into industry for the benefit of current Unitec students.”

The main instigator of the new alumni group, Aidan Cooper, is a Unitec Bachelor of Engineering (environment) graduate. Mr Cooper is a board member of the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ (IPENZ) and has served on the Auckland IPENZ Branch committee since 2010. He is currently a senior engineer with Chester Consultants.

At this year's Autodesk University (AU), which was attended by 10,000 people, Autodesk made several announcements that make its software quite attractive for manufacturing firms of all sizes. The company and its partners showcased several applications that address latest trendssuch as generative design, augmented virtual (AR) and virtual reality (VR), additive manufacturing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. As CEO Carl Bass said, “Unless your team is collaborating well, you can’t even compete, much less win.”

Autodesk's core strategy has been to democratize design software so that smaller companies with limited resources can use them to design and deliver the latest high-quality products. Subscription-based cloud delivery fits the core strategy of making its software affordable and enables collaboration in and among teams. The company is on a trend away from desktop applications, with an emphasis on delivering applications in the cloud.

Autodesk is building a cloud portfolio for each industry that it says is complete, connected and on-demand. Its cloud-based Fusion 360 and BIM 360 are built on the Forge developer platform that will now be available through a browser in addition to native mobile applications.

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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.”

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