Nov 28, 2017 - FANUC CORPORATION, the world’s leading supplier of robotics, CNC and factory automation has announced the production of its 500,000th robot. “Automation and robotics are key drivers of manufacturing competitiveness,” said Mike Cicco, president & CEO, FANUC America. “More companies are using automation to overcome inefficiencies, lower costs, increase productivity, and gain market share. Having sold a half million robots is a key milestone for FANUC, and we’re looking forward to expanding our capabilities to keep pace with the growing demand for automation.”
In April, FANUC announced plans to build a new factory scheduled to open in August 2018. FANUC’s new factory will increase its robot capacity from 6,000 to 11,000 units per month.
“The backbone of FANUC’s success is our talented workforce – all automation professionals, including an expanding product development team based in Japan and the U.S.,” Cicco added. “In addition to highly qualified employees, we offer the most reliable automation products in the marketplace. Everyone at FANUC is very motivated and focused on designing the hardware and software that make our products easy to learn and use for all manufacturers, including the practical application of IIoT technologies.”
Recent examples of FANUC’s latest products include:
FANUC is also leading the effort to address the critical challenge caused by a shortage of skilled workers, and help change the perceptions of careers in manufacturing. Its Certified Education (CERT) program provides educators with a STEM-based curriculum centered on robotics and automation training. FANUC CERT automation training aligns with industry and national certifications to prepare students for high-tech careers in manufacturing.
| About FANUC CORPORATION
FANUC CORPORATION, headquartered at the foot of Mt. Fuji, Japan, is the global leader and the most innovative manufacturer of Factory Automation, Robots and ROBOMACHINE’s in the world. With 259 offices in 45 countries, FANUC provides world-class customer service and support. Since its inception in 1972, FANUC has contributed to the automation of machine tools as a pioneer in the development of computer numerical control equipment. FANUC technology has been a leading force in a worldwide manufacturing revolution, which evolved from the automation of a single machine to the automation of entire production lines. For more information visit: http://www.fanuc.co.jp/eindex.htm.
| About FANUC America Corporation
| FANUC America Corporation is a subsidiary of FANUC CORPORATION in Japan, and provides industry-leading robotics, CNC systems, and factory automation. FANUC’s innovative technologies and proven expertise help manufacturers in the Americas maximize productivity, reliability and profitability.
| FANUC embraces a culture of “Service First” which means that customer service is our highest priority. We are committed to supplying our customers with parts and support for the life of their FANUC products.
| FANUC America is headquartered at 3900 W. Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48309, and has facilities in: Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Houston; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Montreal; Pine Brook, NJ; Pontiac, MI; San Francisco; Seattle; Toronto; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, and Manaus, Brazil; and Aguascalientes, Monterrey, and Queretaro, Mexico. For more information, please call: 888-FANUC-US (888-326-8287) or visit our website: www.fanucamerica.com. Also, connect with us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
| A FANUC release || November 28, 2017 |||
Nov 28, 2017 - Kuntai Machinery is a Chinese firm with its headquarters based in the Jiangsu province of China. The company is associated with the fabrication, engineering and supply of industrial grade cutting machines and laminating tool. They are a customer-centric organization and adhere to industrial standards to provide customers with high-end solutions.
Cutting, finishing and lamination is a part of a more extensive range of activities when it comes to the mass production industry. The lamination quality and the finishing of the cutting machines used in the sectors depend on the quality and grade of raw materials used to manufacture the hardware of the same. The machinery and industrial equipment market are flooded with both cheap and big-budget laminating machine that caters to all sectors of the industrial world. It should be kept in mind that the quality of finished products depends on the quality of the machinery and raw materials used to manufacture the same.
China has been supplying quality assured bronzing machine to the world leaders as well as the small-scale enterprises associated with the consumer goods industry for many years. Kuntai Machinery is one such enterprise that has been leading the pack and for good reasons. The company was founded in the year 1985 and for the past 32 years they have been regarded as one of the premier manufacturers of industrial machinery and equipment. The company recently launched their premium service for their high priority clients based both in the overseas and in China. The service binds them to provide customized machinery and equipment to their clients in a set timeline.
Kuntai Machinery heavily invested time and funds to strengthen their research and development wing along with their manufacturing unit. As one of the leaders in this category, the company strives to provide customized and innovative solutions to their clients both in the overseas and in China. The client base of the group consists of organizations associated with automotive upholstery, footwear industry, leather industry, textile industry, etc. The business policy of the firm binds them to adhere to customer-centric approach in their operations and services.
The manufacturing unit of the company is located in the Jiangsu province, Yancheng city of China. Skilled professionals head both the manufacturing unit and the R&D department. The R&D department team consists of technicians, engineers and designers who have years of experience in their respective sectors. Their clients respect the company for their customer-centric approach and prompt service in case a client is facing an issue. The company put in place a hotline backed by 30 professionals that are left open 24/7 for addressing incoming customer queries and complaints. They also provide onsite servicing, repair work and installation services to their clients for their cutting machine no matter where their plant is located in the world.
| About Kuntai Machinery
Kuntai Machinery is a Chinese firm that is associated with the fabrication and supply of quality assured, industrial grade laminating machines and cutting tools. They are a global supplier and conduct their business operations through their official website. For further details, feel free to visit the URL mentioned above.
| A Kuntai machinery release || November 28, 2017 |||
Nov 23, 2017 - New composite material made of carbon nanotubes. Due to their unique properties, carbon nanotubes would be ideal for numerous applications, but to date they cannot be combined adequately with other materials, or they lose their beneficial properties. Scientists have developed an alternative method of combining, so they retain their characteristic properties. As such, they 'felt' the thread-like tubes into a stable 3-D network.
| FULL STORYIn this simple procedure, water is mixed with the carbon nano tubes and dripped into a white ceramic material which is highly porous. Like a sponge, it sucks up the black liquid. If the ceramic scaffolding is chemically etched out, only the fine felted coat remains. The felt made of tiny tubes has thereby interconnected to form a network of larger tubes. The hollow spaces can be filled with polymers, to create a conductive and tear-resistant composite material.Credit: Fabian Schuett
Extremely lightweight, electrically highly conductive, and more stable than steel: due to their unique properties, carbon nanotubes would be ideal for numerous applications, from ultra-lightweight batteries to high-performance plastics, right through to medical implants. However, to date it has been difficult for science and industry to transfer the extraordinary characteristics at the nano-scale into a functional industrial application. The carbon nanotubes either cannot be combined adequately with other materials, or if they can be combined, they then lose their beneficial properties. Scientists from the Functional Nanomaterials working group at Kiel University (CAU) and the University of Trento have now developed an alternative method, with which the tiny tubes can be combined with other materials, so that they retain their characteristic properties. As such, they "felt" the thread-like tubes into a stable 3D network that is able to withstand extreme forces. The research results have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Industry and science have been intensively researching the significantly less than one hundred nanometre wide carbon tubes (carbon nanotubes, CNTs), in order to make use of the extraordinary properties of rolled graphene. Yet much still remains just theory. "Although carbon nanotubes are flexible like fibre strands, they are also very sensitive to changes," explained Professor Rainer Adelung, head of the Functional Nanomaterials working group at the CAU. "With previous attempts to chemically connect them with other materials, their molecular structure also changed. This, however, made their properties deteriorate -- mostly drastically."
In contrast, the approach of the research team from Kiel and Trento is based on a simple wet chemical infiltration process. The CNTs are mixed with water and dripped into an extremely porous ceramic material made of zinc oxide, which absorbs the liquid like a sponge. The dripped thread-like CNTs attach themselves to the ceramic scaffolding, and automatically form a stable layer together, similar to a felt. The ceramic scaffolding is coated with nanotubes, so to speak. This has fascinating effects, both for the scaffolding as well as for the coating of nanotubes.
On the one hand, the stability of the ceramic scaffold increases so massively that it can bear 100,000 times its own weight. "With the CNT coating, the ceramic material can hold around 7.5kg, and without it just 50g -- as if we had fitted it with a close-fitting pullover made of carbon nanotubes, which provide mechanical support," summarised first author Fabian Schütt. "The pressure on the material is absorbed by the tensile strength of the CNT felt. Compressive forces are transformed into tensile forces."
The principle behind this is comparable with bamboo buildings, such as those widespread in Asia. Here, bamboo stems are bound so tightly with a simple rope that the lightweight material can form extremely stable scaffolding, and even entire buildings. "We do the same at the nano-scale with the CNT threads, which wrap themselves around the ceramic material -- only much, much smaller," said Helge Krüger, co-author of the publication.
The materials scientists were able to demonstrate another major advantage of their process. In a second step, they dissolved the ceramic scaffolding by using a chemical etching process. All that remains is a fine 3D network of tubes, each of which consists of a layer of tiny CNT tubes. In this way, the researchers were able to greatly increase the felt surface, and thus create more opportunities for reactions. "We basically pack the surface of an entire beach volleyball field into a one centimetre cube," explained Schütt. The huge hollow spaces inside the three-dimensional structure can then be filled with a polymer. As such, CNTs can be connected mechanically with plastics, without their molecular structure -- and thus their properties -- being modified. "We can specifically arrange the CNTs and manufacture an electrically conductive composite material. To do so only requires a fraction of the usual quantity of CNTs, in order to achieve the same conductivity," said Schütt.
Applications for use range from battery and filter technology as a filling material for conductive plastics, implants for regenerative medicine, right through to sensors and electronic components at the nano-scale. The good electrical conductivity of the tear-resistant material could in future also be interesting for flexible electronics applications, in functional clothing or in the field of medical technology, for example. "Creating a plastic which, for example, stimulates bone or heart cells to grow is conceivable," said Adelung. Due to its simplicity, the scientists agree that the process could also be transferred to network structures made of other nanomaterials -- which will further expand the range of possible applications.
| Story Source:
Materials provided by Kiel University. || November 23, 2017 |||
Nov 22, 2017 - Company to streamline business operations and support a drive for efficiency across the entire organisation. Coda Group, one of New Zealand’s leading and most innovative logistics companies, has commenced deployment of Promapp’s cloud-based business process management software (BPM) to streamline business operations and support a drive for efficiency across the entire organisation.
Coda Group was established two years ago as a joint venture between Port of Tauranga and freight and logistics company, Kotahi, to boost the efficiency of New Zealand’s nationwide supply chain, remove wasted capacity and reduce the costs of consolidating the cargo necessary for big ships.
The joint venture brought together four of New Zealand’s leading freight brands, including DTL, Tapper Transport, Priority Logistics and MetroPack, each with their own processes, many of which were paper-based and held in a variety of formats. Many of these processes couldn’t be shared, accessed and updated across the entire Coda Group business operation.
“In order to support the overall business in driving continuous improvement, optimising freight flows and creating a leaner, more efficient organisation we needed to ensure that our processes across the business could be easily aligned with business objectives,” said Wendy Mallowes, Business Process Improvement Lead, Coda Group.
Coda Group has company-wide processes, including those involving freight management, import-export procedures, and health and safety. These need to be consistently adhered to while individual customer requirements also add to the complexity of processes and procedures with specific legal and compliance requirements.
David Choong, Coda CFO, says, “As the business has grown and gained momentum, we concluded that we needed a central repository of business processes and documents on anything relating to operations, from staff induction and everyday warehouse operation to import and export procedures. We needed these processes to be universally followed and updated by our 310 staff at any time and from any location."
Promapp was selected to support Coda Group’s requirements based on its ease of use, friendly graphical user interface and its central repository which enables individuals in an organisation to store and update processes, supporting continuous business improvement.
“Being cloud-based also means that Promapp gives us the ability to share processes with our customers and provide staff with the comfort that they are always working with the latest information,” said Mallowes.
“Promapp’s feedback options will support Coda Group’s approach to continuous improvement which will enable customers to provide feedback and remove waste from the logistics network, boost efficiency and help streamline operations."
Coda Group has also set its sights on deploying Promapp’s Process Variant Management (PVM) software which will help the company manage or eliminate process variations.
Coda Group will be able to standardise processes across the entire company, while simply incorporating process variations to meet the requirements of a specific location, product, or customer.
PVM will also enable Coda Group to customise activities and manage service delivery for key customers helping to improve customer service.
“Ultimately, Promapp will support our strategy to remove wasted capacity, reduce the cost of consolidating freight and create real change in the logistics network. The end game is to provide greater value to our customers and logistics partners and to meet our target to handle more than five million metric tonnes of containerised cargo annually,” said Mallowes.
Promapp will be gradually rolled out across all Coda Group business units during 2018.
| About Promapp
Established in 2002, Promapp (https://www.promapp.com) works with hundreds of organisations worldwide to foster a thriving business improvement and process management culture. Promapp’s cloud-based business process management (BPM) software makes it easy to create, navigate, share and change business processes, enabling continuous improvement, risk management, quality assurance and business continuity. Providing an intuitive online process repository, an integrated process mapping tool, and a process improvement toolset, Promapp’s proprietary software supports the development of smarter and safer ways to work, while encouraging sharing of information by operational teams rather than limiting it to process analysts and technical specialists.
Promapp’s wide range of public and private sector customers includes: Coca-Cola Amatil, Air New Zealand, WesTrac, Lumo Energy, Toyota, Ricoh, McDonald's, Audi Australia, Department of Justice, Victoria, Adelaide City Council, Waikato District Council and Southland Regional Council. The company is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. www.promapp.com
| A CSO release || November 22, 2017 |||
Nov 22, 2017 - Autodesk launched the "Connect and Construct Exchange," a new BIM 360 integration partner program designed to bring third-party software applications and data into the BIM 360 construction workflow. The Connect and Construct Exchange launched with more than 50 inaugural BIM 360 integrators.
The next generation of BIM 360, built on the Autodesk Forge platform, supports informed decision-making throughout the construction project lifecycle by centralizing all project data in a single place. Autodesk Forge is a connected developer cloud platform which enables customers and partners to create customized, scalable solutions for engineering, construction and manufacturing challenges.
In New Zealand CadPRO Systems are a member of Autodesk's Connect and Construct Exchange.
| A CadPRO Systems FactoryFloor Update || Wednesday 22 November 2017 |||
Nov 21 2017 - Liberio Riosa is not one to get ahead of himself and he has grown his export business, LZ New Zealand, step-by-step over the past ten years. But he is hugely energised by a new patent the company is about to lodge which, he says, will redefine the maglev industry.
Continue to read the full article published in NZBusiness Magazine here || November 21, 2017 |||
Nov 21 2017 - Synlait Milk (NZX: SML; ASX: SM1) has opened its new Auckland site, which is home to its second state -of-the-art blending and consumer packaging facility. Located in Mangere, the site was officially opened today by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff at a ceremony alongside all staff. “We’re expecting customer demand for consumer packaged products to increase significantly in the near term,” said John Penno, Synlait’s Managing Director and CEO.
“We’ve invested $55 million into our Auckland site to meet this demand and expect commercial production to start here in the coming week.” With an annual packaging capacity of 32,000 metric tonnes (MT), the new site doubles Synlait’s overall canning capacity to 64,000 MT. “A tremendous amount of work has gone into this milestone. We acquired this partially-completed facility in May and have executed a significant programme of work to commission it in just over six months,” said Mr Penno.
“We have employed a great team of 30 people to operate this facility and we expect that number to increase to 100 in the coming year as we add additional shifts ,” adds Mr Penno. Mayor Goff said, “It’s a pleasure welcoming innovative, high value businesses such as Synlait to Auckland. The new site in the high growth commercial district around our airport will create 100 jobs in our city and increase the amount of safe, premium dairy products, for which New Zealand is well known, heading to major markets around the world.” The strategic decision to invest in Auckland has helped to mitigate some of the single site risk faced by Synlait with their original Dunsandel site in Canterbury, as well as increasing future growth in business with infant formula customers. “Under the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) infant formula rules coming into effect on 1 January 2018, this second site gives us the opportunity to increase the potential number of our customer brands we can export to China,” said Mr Penno. Acquiring the partially-completed site has also allowed additional consumer packaging capacity to become available much earlier to Synlait than a new development would have.
“We are currently operating at capacity in our canning facility at Dunsandel. Having Auckland in place means we can meet our customers’ needs and continue to grow with them ,” said Mr Penno.
Registration of the new facility with both MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) and CNCA (Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China) is progressing well. “We have conditional approval from MPI and we expect to finalise this, along with other registration requirements, very soon . We expect to commence commercial production this week, ” said Mr Penno.
| A Synlait release || November 20, 2017 |||
17 Nov 2017 - To mark the launch of Deloitte Access Economics in New Zealand, a new report entitled Shaping our slice of heaven: Industries of opportunity was released in Wellington last night. The report identifies five industries with the greatest opportunity to contribute to New Zealand’s future economic prosperity. The industries lie at the intersection of global growth and national comparative advantage, forming the heart of New Zealand’s “prosperity map”. These industries of opportunity are tourism, agribusiness, food processing, international education and advanced manufacturing.
Each of the five industries is expected to achieve above average global growth over the next twenty years, in a large part due to the rise of the middle class in emerging economies, in particular the Asian powerhouse economies of China and India. Consumers in these countries, and around the world, want many things New Zealand can offer – excellent agricultural and food products, high quality education, the latest health technologies and unique tourism experiences.
Shaping our slice of heaven: Industries of opportunity analyses where global opportunities and New Zealand’s advantages will coincide to create growth opportunities for the economy. Recognising that New Zealand’s prospects are as bright as they were a decade ago is not in itself enough. The report asks how New Zealand companies, industries and government can work together to apply these insights and take a longer-term view around how to ensure future economic prosperity.
Deloitte Access Economics lead partner in New Zealand Linda Meade says the report is a call to action.
“The core message of the report is that while global or domestic opportunity and structural advantages are necessary, they are not sufficient. To ensure success, we need to build on New Zealand’s areas of advantage to maintain and improve performance relative to global competitors,” says Ms Meade.
“We need to seize the day - there are plenty of competitors waiting in the wings if we are complacent,” she warns.
Ms Meade says Deloitte is very pleased to be launching Deloitte Access Economics in New Zealand and she expects strong growth in economic advisory as a key component of Deloitte’s client services.
“Demand for expert knowledge and industry experience in economic advisory services has grown for some years now. Growth has been driven by the pace of business and regulatory change and the value inherent in understanding the economics that drive these changes, at national, state, industry and enterprise levels,” says Ms Meade.
Since forming as Access Economics in 1988, and joining Deloitte in 2011, Deloitte Access Economics has experienced significant growth. They are now a team of 160 professional economists across New Zealand and Australia and are the leading Australian economic advisory practice.
Canberra-based Deloitte Access Economics Lead Partner Stephen Smith says Deloitte Access Economics has deep specialist skills across macroeconomics, microeconomics, health economics and social policy, and competition and regulatory policy, and a strong commitment to delivering client value when it comes to providing insights and advice.
“Our team’s success in combining deep economic rigour with practical commercial advice is helping to shape conversations around any number of social, political and business issues, deliver business insights and inform investment strategy in Australia – and now here in New Zealand,” says Mr Smith.
You can download or read Shaping our slice of heaven: Industries of opportunity at www.deloitte.com/nz/slice-of-heaven.
You can learn more about Deloitte Access Economics in New Zealand at www.deloitte.com/nz/economics.
| A Deloitte release || November 17, 2017 |||
14 Nov 2017 - Desktop Metal is a US based company committed to bringing metal 3D printing to engineers and manufacturers, today announced it will begin accepting international pre-orders of its metal 3D printing system, the Studio System™ from companies throughout Asia Pacific. The announcement comes as Desktop Metal is experiencing tremendous interest and demand from manufacturers and strategic partners around the globe.
“Our vision is to make our Desktop Metal 3D printing solutions accessible to engineers and manufacturers around the world,” said Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal. “We plan to begin offering our metal 3D printing technology internationally and will be accelerating production to meet worldwide demand first for our Studio System and later for our Production System. Our partnerships with best-in-class resellers in each of these geographies bring us closer to making metal 3D printing solutions available to all who want to realize the benefits of rapid prototyping and mass production of metal parts. We are excited to see what happens next in manufacturing as we welcome these new countries to our landscape.”
To support its international expansion plans, Desktop Metal has developed strategic partnerships with authorized Desktop Metal international resellers to immediately begin pre-selling its Studio System throughout APAC, including Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Australia and New Zealand. To date, the company has partnered with 13 resellers throughout APAC to pre-sell and support its systems. Availability of the Studio System will vary by country. Interested buyers should visit www.desktopmetal.com/international for the complete list of APAC resellers and country-specific information.
About the Studio SystemThe Studio System, which debuted in May 2017, is the first office-friendly metal 3D printing system for rapid prototyping and is 10 times less expensive than existing technology today. The Studio System is a complete platform, including a printer, a debinder, and a sintering furnace that, together, deliver complex and even impossible geometries of metal 3D printed parts right in an engineer’s office or on the shop floor.
To manufacture metal 3D printed parts at scale, Desktop Metal also debuted the only 3D printing system for mass production of high resolution metal parts today, the Production System.
| A Desktop Metal release || November 14, 2017 |||
|
|