Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
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 - Agrophotovoltaics - Agriculture and renewable energy have worked together for more than fifteen centuries, ever since ancient Persians began using windmills to pump water and grind grain. Today, in the Midwestern US, we see cornfields sharing acreage with megawatt-scale wind turbines that produce minimal shading effects on crops, significant power enhancements to the grid, and additional income for farmers. Researchers in Baden-Württemberg, a region in southern Germany, are looking for ways to increase sustainable energy production in an area where wind speeds are relatively slow, making solar the preferred electrical generating technology. But plants need sunlight just as much as photovoltaic panels do, so engineers are working on an elevated solar array that feeds both of society's energy needs: biological and technological.
| Agrophotovoltaics: Edibles and EnergyIn a pilot project known as Agrophotovoltaics - Resource-Efficient Land Use (APV-RESOLA), engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems designed and constructed a 194 kilowatt elevated solar array over a one-third hectare section of cropland. An adjacent section of the farm remains unaltered to serve as a control. In a three-year study, researchers from the University of Hohemhein are assessing crop quality and yield in both the experimental and control fields. Farmers hope to generate appreciable electricity while maintaining crop production levels at the 80% level.
Continue to read the full article here on engineering.com || November 28, 2017 |||
Nov 28, 2017 - Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker welcomed United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox today in Wellington. “Secretary Fox and I have had an opportunity to discuss a range of issues of shared interest and to reflect on the areas of our bilateral trade relationship where we may be able to do more” says Mr Parker.
Minister Parker and Secretary Fox expressed commitment to maintaining maximum certainty and stability in bilateral trade and investment conditions as the UK prepares to leave the EU. This would include a seamless transition of the regulations governing bilateral trade and ensuring New Zealand will not be worse off in its access to the UK market as a result of the UK exiting the EU.
“The United Kingdom and New Zealand have a long-standing, deep and close relationship that is grounded in our shared history, values, institutions, and traditions.
“We are close trading partners, and maintain an ongoing dialogue to discuss trade issues, including the implications of Brexit for our existing and future trade and economic relationship” says Mr Parker.
Secretary Fox and Minister Parker discussed working closely together to identify new opportunities to advance the bilateral trade and economic relationship, including laying foundations to progress towards a comprehensive, modern, high quality free trade agreement once the UK has left the EU.
They also discussed respective approaches to ensuring all citizens share in the benefits from international trade, including by promoting regional development and providing opportunities for businesses of all sizes.
The United Kingdom is New Zealand’s fifth largest trading partner (goods and services combined), and sixth largest export market for merchandise goods.
Link to Joint Statement https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/Trade/UK-NZ-Trade-Joint-Statement.pdf
| A Beehive release || November 27, 2017 |||
Nov 28, 2017 - The next four weeks will mark further significant progress for the Labour-led Government on our 100 Day Plan, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
“When my government was sworn in just over four weeks ago we promised action and we’ve made huge strides on many issues already.
“By Christmas we’ll make further important progress, putting families at the heart of everything this government does.
“On Thursday we will pass legislation extending Paid Parental Leave – lifting it to 26 weeks by July 2020. This will be of huge benefit to working families and the well-being of their young children.
“The Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill will be passed by the House in the next two weeks, underlining our commitment to ensure all New Zealanders can live in warm, dry homes.
“On Friday Finance Minister Grant Robertson will deliver his first major speech where he will announce the date of the Half Year Fiscal Update and Budget Policy Statement. This will incorporate our 100 Day Plan and set us on the road towards Budget 2018. It will show our investment and spending plans are responsible, affordable and in line with our Budget Responsibility Rules.
“The update will also spell out the renewed contribution to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund after nine years of a contribution freeze. This is all about safeguarding super for future generations.
“We will also shortly be introducing legislation to give effect to the Families Package. This includes Best Start, the Winter Energy Payment and increased payments to parents with children under Working for Families. This package will make a huge difference to low and middle income earners.
“We promised to make post-secondary school education and training more affordable and accessible. Last week’s increase of $50 to student allowances was the first stage of that plan. In the next weeks we will outline our policy on making the first year of post-secondary school education and training free from 1 January, 2018.
“There’s much more for this government to do, but I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and the difference we’re making to the lives of many New Zealanders,” says Prime Minister Ardern.
| Note: Progress to date on 100 Day Plan
| A Beehive release || November 27, 2017 |||
Nov 28, 2017 - Political scientist Bryce Edwards calls on public servants, academics and journalists to form a coalition to fix the Official Information Act. Calling all journalists, academics, public servants, political activists, and members of the public who believe in the need for government to be more open with its information. We need to form a coalition to fix the Official Information Act (OIA).
It’s time for everyone who believes in reforming the OIA processes to join together and campaign to make that actually happen. Such a coalition could guide the new government in making the necessary changes so that New Zealand is once again a world leader in open government, the way we were in 1982 when the extraordinary act was introduced.
The OIA itself may still be fit for purpose, but the wider official information system desperately needs review, especially in the way that the act is adhered to by government. At the moment, it often functions more as the Closed Government Act. See more from Sam Sachdeva earlier today on the Government's refusal to release a 38 page agreement signed when the coalition Government was formed.
Now is the perfect time to act. Whenever a new government is formed, it’s normally enthusiastic and idealistic about fixing problems in the system. And when it comes to problems with the OIA, the parties coming in from opposition are highly sensitive to its faults because they’ve been on the receiving end of governments keeping an overly-tight grip on information.
The parties making up the new coalition government have protested strongly against abuses of the OIA that occurred under National. So, hopefully they’ll want to prioritise some sort of review aimed at fixing the problems.
Clare Curran is the minister with responsibility for “Open Government”, as part of her role as Associate Minister for State Services. She has already committed her government to doing much better than the last government in terms of releasing information. But in a recent interview with the Otago Daily Times’ Eileen Goodwin, Curran wasn’t very clear about whether any reform of the OIA would be forthcoming.
Instead, journalists are now leading the way in calls for reform. Newsroom’s Shane Cowlishaw has recently explored all of these issues in his must-read article, The OIA is broken, can it be fixed? He says, “the spirit of this law has dissolved in an air of contempt that has spread, like a stain, from the top down”.
Cowlishaw reflects on his own experiences as a journalist, noting the growth of government department spin-doctors, and saying that the “ever-growing mighty wall of 'comms staff' has seemingly forgotten its obligation to the public in a desire to protect its Ministers from embarrassment."
"The effect on the OIA has been chilling. I started my first journalism job in 2008, the same year that the John-Key led National stormed to power. Since then I have witnessed the slow erosion of good-faith as more and more information is withheld, for more and more dubious reasons. By all accounts, this problem had begun escalating before 2008 under the previous Labour government, but it gathered steam under National.”
The window of opportunity on OIA reform is particularly narrow because, by its very nature, the Act is generally much more useful to opposition parties than governments. Even the most democratically-minded MPs, who come into government with a fresh memory of how damaging OIA abuse is to democracy, quickly find themselves less keen on a properly-observed OIA and more comfortable with the advantages that such abuse now affords them.
On becoming Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern announced “I also want this government to feel different, I want people to feel that it’s open, that it’s listening and that it’s going to bring kindness back.”
Researcher and journalist Max Rashbrooke pointed out “This sounds very promising. It is, though, the sort of thing that new leaders often say but which is much harder to sustain when they are under full attack from an Opposition searching for dirt, embarrassing official information act requests are landing, and so on.”
Matthew Hooton wrote in Friday’s NBR on the urgent need to encourage reforms right now: “Let us therefore give Ms Curran the benefit of the doubt and encourage her in her work. A functioning official information regime is absolutely essential to our democracy. For that reason, let us hope she also acts speedily in her work – and also because the Ms Curran facing re-election in 2020 will inevitably no longer have the same honourable attitude toward government transparency as the enthusiastic new minister we see in November 2017.”
The new government – as well as the opposition – need some constructive encouragement to take this key area of democracy very seriously and make sure it’s fit for purpose.
I’m keen to bring together participants, set up forums, and help establish a way for interested parties to come up with ideas about how to move ahead. At the very least, such a campaign could compile all the complaints and examples of how the OIA isn’t working, or is being thwarted and put everyone in touch who has an interest in OIA reform.
There’s a lot to consider. For example: Does the legislation need fixing, or just the way that the OIA is observed? Is there a need for a new Information Authority that would be responsible for overseeing the operation of the OIA, and teach government departments and the public how to use and adhere to it? Or is the Ombudsman’s Office best placed to carry out these functions? And is it resourced and empowered enough to fulfil such a role? Should there be stronger penalties for abuse of the OIA? Does the OIA need to be extended to Parliament, or at least to some of its agencies such as the Parliamentary Service?
The new coalition government has specifically made a commitment to “strengthen New Zealand’s democracy by increasing public participation, openness, and transparency around official information”. This wording is in the confidence and supply coalition agreement between Labour the Greens, and it could quite easily also be the stated focus of a new Campaign for Open Government.
If you’re interested, please get in touch. Contact me: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
| A Newsroom 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 28, 2017 -Christchurch apps design company LWA Solutions is launching a world-first virtual reality pilot training app with the Ports of Auckland early next year. Maritime pilots people guide ships safely into harbours all around the world. As part of their job, they have to get on and off moving cargo ships by means of a rope ladder – a demanding and risky job. The LWA app uses virtual reality to safely simulate the experience maritime pilots go through when getting on and off ships. LWA chief executive Atta Elayyan showcased the virtual reality training solution at the recent New Zealand Maritime Pilot Association’s 30th anniversary annual conference in Christchurch and it received overwhelmingly positive feedback from pilots and trainers. “It’s a highly cost-effective training method, safely simulating highly variable conditions making it superior to current training methods,” Elayyan says. “We believe virtual reality training will become an industry standard in the very near future. It provides a risk-free way to prepare trainee pilots for the tasks they will need to undertake during their job and can also efficiently vet out those who may not be cut out for the role. “We understand there are no solutions like this anywhere in the world using virtual reality headsets. Our simulation is targeting the ‘embarkation training’, which is the physical process of safely maneuvering outside the pilot boat and climbing a nine metre ladder to board the ship, while both the pilot boat and ship are under way. “Some ports overseas use ship bridge simulators, which are very costly to set up or hire. We are using a highly cost-effective virtual reality training system which requires minimal physical space and is portable. We can see this disrupting bridge simulation in future.” LWA Solutions has also produced a special app for the Ports of Auckland which is significantly helping in the improve piloting of ships into the harbour. Their app is the first fully digital piloting application of its kind in Australasia. It has increased the efficiency and reduced potential human error by consolidating multiple processes into a single app highlighting ship schedules, tidal calculations and manouvre drawings. The Ports of Auckland has about 1500 shipping arrivals a year.
Ports of Auckland Senior Pilot John Barker says they we are always looking for ways to do more with less. “We use a crane and straddle simulator to train our crane and straddle drivers, a move which has improved our efficiency and saved $3 million dollars in training costs. “Our pilot app, developed with LWA Solutions, has made the master-pilot transfer safer and more efficient. Now we are introducing the virtual reality pilot training app, which aims to enhance safety by improving training for one of the most-risky manoeuvres in port operations. It is another step in our journey to becoming a world-class sustainable port.” Elayyan’s LWA team recently produced a cool app to help courier drivers in the Middle East, for multi-billion Dubai-based company Aramex. With 13,900 employees at 354 locations across 60 countries, Aramex is the largest logistics and transport services company in the Middle East. Last year, Aramex bought New Zealand courier firm Fastway, which has an annual turnover of $500 million. For further information contact LWA Solutions chief executive Atta Elayyan on 021 1453358 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188
| An LWA Solutions release with MakeLemonade || November 28, 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
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