Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

Businesses not only depend on the world’s precious stock of natural capital assets, they can also impact them, and there are risks and opportunities involved in this dynamic.

By making nature visible in business decisions through measuring and valuing it as a form of capital, businesses can not only contribute to its sustainable management but enjoy associated benefits suchas competitive advantage, increased resilience, greater transparency, supply chain security and a deeper understanding of the risks to business continuity.

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Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based company Continuous Composites has introduced a novel process, known as Continuous Scaled Manufacturing (CSM), that some believe could revolutionize 3D printing. CSM allows Continuous Composites to rapidly 3D print and cure multiple materials at once to form complete, functional parts in real time.

So far, the company has worked with carbon fiber, Kevlar, fiberglass, fiber optics, and continuous copper wire materials using a 3D printing setup with up to 16 different material extruders. According to Continuous Composites founder and inventor Ken Tyler, the combination of continuous fibers and ultraviolet curing is what makes the technology capable of reaching speeds unheard of in 3D printing.

As the continuous curing takes place, the machine reaches speeds of up to 1200 inches per minute – creating freeform and functional components, complete with circuits and wires.

“By combining continuous fibers and rapidly cured proprietary thermoset resins, users are able to print exponentially faster than current industry capabilities,” said Tyler. “In addition, a greater throughput of material results in an overall cubic volume output unrivaled by the traditional appliance approach of 3D printing.”

In addition to speed, Tyler said another benefit of CSM is how little energy the curing process takes.

“This is crucial for applications where power constraints exist,” Tyler said. “Our process also has the ability to integrate fiber optics for real-time analysis of a printed structure as well as printing flexible circuits capable of handling high current and high temperatures, reaching upwards of 300 C.”

Tyler envisions the technology drawing interest from nearly every market that relies on composites.

“Currently we are focused on aerospace and defense markets, as these industries are forward thinking with a lot of resources for R&D,” he said. “Automotive, recreational, marine, medical and construction are other large industries we see our technology having a large impact.”

To see the printing in action, check out this video

Kiwi-born tech pioneer Ian Wright has a simple vision: he wants to rid garbage trucks of diesel motors within five years.

Wright is the founder of Wrightspeed Inc, a manufacturer of range-extended electric vehicle powertrains, which has a $US43 million deal with Infratil-owned NZ Bus to retrofit existing and new buses with its electric powertrains to replace conventional piston engine and transmission systems.

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The mining giant Rio Tinto is using 69 driverless 400-ton trucks in Australia. They operate 24 hours a day, year-round.  Komatsu last month unveiled the D85PXi-18 dozer, which uses satellites to automatically control the machine’s blade.

When Fady Masoud was pursuing his degree in civil engineering, he didn't envision the technological changes in construction that would eventually guide his career in a new direction.

Masoud, vice president of Tapestry Partners of Auburn, these days divides his time between working in the Northwest and frequent trips to Hawaii, where Tapestry consults with local contractors on software and hardware for semi-autonomous machinery that is part of a transformation in the way construction sites operate.

“We use this technology every day,” Masoud said, “from excavators to dozers for grading roads.”

New GPS-guiding technology for heavy machinery is flourishing as contractors search for ways to work more efficiently, he said.

This technology — combining software and GPS systems — is making it possible for contractors on large highway and earthwork construction projects to use semi-autonomous equipment for bulldozing and road grading, as well as quarry work.

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Youth organisation, Zeal, has designed and built their very own ‘Event Box’ – an all-in-one mobile, customizable stage system which impressively unfolds from a 10 tonne truck. Taking as little as 45 minutes to set up, the Event Box promises to be a quicker and cheaper option to traditional stage set-ups, whilst also generating funds for a charity helping New Zealand’s youth.

The idea behind the Event Box started back in February 2015. Originally looking at converting containers, the team moved on to the idea of a truck due to constraints on mobility and stage height. Zeal has completed the project with the intent to create a social enterprise which is fully self-sustainable.

The benefits for those renting the Event Box are great, according to Nate Telford, who has headed up the project: “The Zeal Event Box takes the stress and hassle of dealing with multiple suppliers out of the equation. It is an all-inclusive solution for your event’s needs.”

As well as being much quicker to set up, the cost of renting the Event Box compared to a traditional set up is substantially lower. The basic set up mode costs as little as $2500, at least 25% cheaper than similar options on the market, according to Telford.

Although the project will provide a revenue stream for Zeal’s charitable work, the purpose of the Event Box is bigger for Zeal. “The Zeal Event Box is part of Zeal's social enterprise department that seeks to offer young people creative avenues for employment. The goal is to launch young people into the events industry, giving them hands on experience at an industry level from day one”, explains Telford.

The Zeal Event Box has been used for Wellington’s Homegrown Music Festival, Cuba Dupa and Kapiti Youth Festival as well as Zeal’s own youth events – and the team are planning for a busy summer following considerable interest both locally and nationally.

This project also ties in with Zeal’s plans for the future, with the organisation looking to build more versatile and moveable infrastructure so they can move and flex with the changes in youth culture and the wider events scene.

For more information check out www.zeal.nz/eventbox

Sorted Logistics has signed up with Southpark Corporation which will develop a $20 million modern warehouse at Waterloo Business Park in Christchurch.  Sorted will move all its operations from nine sites around Wigram, Hornby and Middleton to the new 12,300-square metre facility next year.

It had its genesis in the 2011 earthquakes when Kris and Sarah Webster had to relocate their gumboot, shoe and apron manufacturing business, Sandford Industries (2010) after their building was damaged.

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The arrival of a ship with capacity for nearly 10,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units is one of the most concrete payoffs from Tauranga's $350 million five-year investment program to boost capacity and productivity.

The Aotea Maersk will become the largest container ship ever to visit New Zealand when it calls at Tauranga on Oct. 4 as the port nears the end of a $350 million investment plan that has enabled its terminals to handle larger vessels.

Aotea Maersk's capacity of 9,640 twenty-foot-equivalent units will dwarf the 5,000-TEU ships that are at the upper end of the vessels currently operating on New Zealand services, according to Alphaliner.

Maersk Line will insert Tauranga on the westbound northward leg of its AC-3 Asia-West Coast South America service, a weekly service connecting Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Peru and Chile directly to New Zealand.

Alphaliner said the new New Zealand link would only be provided in the WCSA-NZ-Asia direction, but will complement the eastbound-only WCSA-NZ-Asia link offered since July on the AC-1 West Coast South America-Asia service.

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A survey of Australian and New Zealand business executives has revealed that a full quarter of organisations collect data, but don’t analyse it. If data really is the new oil, it seems a shocking waste of resources. In fact only 39 percent of respondents to the survey, commissioned by data warehousing and analytics company Teradata, said that they were using real time analytics, and an even scanter 15 percent said that they considered themselves “data centric” in that they constantly analysed data in real time to aid decision making. It’s an issue which has been called out by a data scientist at one of New Zealand’s top SAP partners, too. Andrew Peterson said recently that there is too much emphasis on ‘data’ and not enough on ‘analytics’.

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A recent Treasury report showed the 90-day Trial Period has failed to create more jobs. Instead, it has caused more problems for small business people, say Max Whitehead, CEO of the Small Business Voice.

"The government and Business NZ promised that the 90-day trial period would get young people into jobs - employers would be less fearful of having unjustified dismissals against them," says Mr Whitehead, "However, Treasury now says there has been no increase as promised. Instead, there have been a massive 564 employment law cases regarding the 90-day trial period."

"John Key says everyone he talks to thinks the 90-day trial is working. Here’s the problem: The Prime Minister doesn’t talk to small businesses, and it’s them who are facing legal problems."

"There are 12 technical points in law that are unknown to small employers that cause them to get the trial period wrong. For example, there are pre-employment obligations, and the clause has got be worded specifically right."

Mr Whitehead says this isn’t a problem for big businesses; they have in-house legal and HR people. Small business people, however, don’t have that luxury.

Prime Minister John Key will travel to Laos next week for the East Asia Summit, before heading to the Federated States of Micronesia for the Pacific Islands Forum.

“The East Asia Summit brings together leaders from across the Asia-Pacific to discuss ways to address important regional and international issues including maritime security and counter terrorism,” Mr Key says.

“It also provides an excellent opportunity to meet with the leaders of some of our most important economic and security partners to further those ties.”

In Vientiane Mr Key will meet with Prime Minister Thongloun of Laos.

“Our two countries already share a strong relationship, working together on important issues like the removal of unexploded ordnance and tourism development in Laos. I look forward to building on that further.”

Mr Key will then travel to Pohnpei to attend the 47th annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting.

“Discussions at this year’s Forum will focus on key regional issues, including climate change, economic integration and sustainable fisheries management,” Mr Key says.

“New Zealand values the opportunity to meet with our Pacific partners to build on our efforts to address the issues affecting our region.”

Mr Key leaves for Laos on September 6, returning on September 11.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully will also attend the Pacific Islands Forum.