Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

Business grandee speaks of “Ordinary Brit.”

VALLEJO, Calif. (BRAIN) July 6, 2016 — Wren Sports, LLC has appointed Llevant Carbon Fatbikes as its New Zealand distributor and authorized service center. Llevant is also using Wren's suspension forks on its fat bikes.

Kevin Wren, owner of Wren Sports said, "The quality of the Llevant build is second to none and we are thrilled to be equipped on such a fine bike." Wren has recently introduced new models to accept standard and plus-sized hubs.

Rod Mudge, owner of Llevant, said, "We deliberately didn't want to build just a snow bike and worked for years testing different components to present the best 'ride it anywhere' type of fatbike. When we came across the Wren fork, we were impressed by the performance and versatility to fit various wheel sizes. Wren's service center program is outstanding. We received factory training and service parts before our first fork delivery."

Along with the Wren forks and components, Llevant will be stocking all service parts and providing service and warranty repairs through their factory-trained service department.

Connexis is leading the way with its strategies around creating a more gender diverse workplace in New Zealand's infrastructure industries.

Connexis has been working to attract more women into trade and technical roles within New Zealand's infrastructure industry in a bid to fill a large void in the workforce. These strategies have been led by Connexis Board Chair Frances Hague, who since 2010 supported by her all male Board, has worked to gain buy-in from the Chief Executives and key decision makers in Electricity Supply Companies, to address the under representation of females within their industry in an initiative called 'Ultimit'.

In 2015 the initiatives run through Ultimit were rolled out wider beyond just the Electricity Supply arena to all the industries Connexis services, including Civil Infrastructure, 3 Waters and Telecommunications.

As a result the Connexis strategies have been instrumental in changing the mindset of a significant number of large companies within the industry about the value women bring to non-traditional trade and technical roles, resulting in a whole of industry movement towards the active recruitment of women.Women in Governance Awards 2016Frances' work with Connexis was recognised at the recent Women in Governance Awards 2016 where she was awarded the Inclusive Leader – Gender Champion award. This accolade recognises a woman who has made a remarkable contribution to championing gender balance and equality of opportunity in her organisation. It recognises the vision, leadership and enduring commitment to support, and mentor female talent resulting in a lasting culture change.

Frances says, "It has been an enormously rewarding challenge and privilege to establish and lead this initiative for the wider infrastructure sector. As Chair of Connexis I have had a very real opportunity to influence businesses to embrace diversity at the highest level in the infrastructure sector. I see myself as having had to work consistently and with relentless commitment for inclusiveness and diversity in a male dominated business community. I will continue to focus on this initiative as I have the fundamental belief that women should have the opportunity for career choices irrespective of their gender."

Connexis also won the Not-for-Profit Gender Diversity award at last week's awards, which recognises an organisation that has put in place programmes, initiatives or strategies that are effecting change at an organisational and cultural level to create a more gender diverse workplace.

A key initiative is Girls with Hi-Vis, which encourages Infrastructure companies to open their doors for a day and allow women to gain insight into the industry and careers available to them. Another annual activity is the Women in Infrastructure awards, which brings together key decision makers in the industry to challenge increased activity to addressing the gender imbalance.

Connexis CEO Helmut Modlik says, “Diversity is a key focus for Connexis – both in terms of the industries we serve and within our own organisation. Over the last five years, our Ultimit initiative has made great inroads in increasing female participation in the infrastructure industries.

“I would like to thank the Women in Governance Awards for recognising our achievements and giving us the opportunity to share our story. We are in great company with the other finalists – their calibre is testament to the fact that New Zealand is becoming a world-leader in promoting diversity.”

A release from Connexis by Abi Kibble | Jul 06, 2016

Words have made transition from officialese & gobbledygook to standard usage

A virtually unknown motorsport in New Zealand will be showcased for the first time at CRC Speedshow in Auckland this month.

An internationally competed for series, known as Formula SAE, will see both engineering students from Waikato and Auckland Universities work hard to outwit each other, and battle it out on the race track during the two-day event at the ASB Showgrounds, 16-17 July.Formula SAE is an international student engineering design competition organised by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International). It’s performed on tight tracks demanding fast-accelerating, agile cars more suited to autocross courses rather than open circuit racing.

The group holds competitive meets throughout the world – currently Waikato University’s team, which has only been participating for 10 years, is ranked 85th out of 528 teams representing competing university and technology institutes from around the world.

The Waikato team, WESMO (Waikato Engineering Students Motorsport Organisation), has only nine members, who are all in their final year of an engineering honours degree. Many overseas teams have 30 to 70 people, says Wesmo’s sponsorship coordinator and suspension engineer, Nathan Senior.

“Generally, New Zealanders haven’t encountered Formula SAE because it’s held outside of the country and is limited to university students who are studying engineering,” he says.

There are only three Kiwi teams involved; Waikato’s WESMO and one each from Auckland University and The University of Canterbury.

“Currently Formula SAE is a relatively unknown sport here. It’s only people who become directly involved who truly know about it. Kiwi teams are always complimented on the quality of our cars, and we’re competitive in the Australasian region which has about 30 cars,” he says.

Senior describes this scene as basically students playing F1, and there’s always a professional, competitive, yet good humoured atmosphere at get-togethers. Students work next to each other and learn about their rivals’ designs – it’s a great learning environment.

“It would be awesome to see more of the New Zealand universities and polytechs get involved in Formula SAE to increase the Kiwi presence. It would be great to send Kiwi teams to other competitions in Europe and the USA.

“At CRC Speedshow we taking part in the Ultimate Speed Machine Challenge and running our 2015 model against the Auckland team, and other types of vehicles in the arena. We’ll also have a stand in pit lane and people are welcome to come by and talk with us,” says Senior.

His team is constantly looking for companies to help represent them – both at home and overseas.

“We’re really looking forward to attending CRC Speedshow and being able to display our 2015 car. It’s going to be interesting to see how both of the SAE cars perform - not only against each other - but also against the different types of speed machines.”

The concept behind Formula SAE is that a fictional manufacturing company has contracted a student design team to develop a small Formula-style race car. The prototype car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item.

The target marketing group for the race car is the non-professional autocross racer. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype based on a series of rules, the purpose being to ensure on-track safety (the cars are driven by the students themselves) and trigger problem solving.

The prototype car is judged in a number of different events, both static and dynamic.

Static events assess the overall design, manufacturing quality and business logic, where teams are able to share their design ideas and display excellence in the aspects such as marketing and finance.

Dynamic events test a vehicle’s track performance, acceleration, skid-pad and autocross track handling, and endurance.

The competition regulations mean that teams have to work to strict restrictions. These include a 20mm air restrictor on the intake, E85 or 98RON fuel only, 1525mm minimum wheel base, combustion engine limited to 610cc maximum engine displacement, 232kg weight, and the ability to reach - 100km/h in four seconds.

Senior says the Waikato’s WESMO aims to produce a reliable and strongly competitive race car, while at the same time offering students an experience to develop valuable engineering skills that will help with their future careers.

A CRC press release

Fibrelite has grown and evolved through its core values of quality and innovation into a brand whose name is synonymous with product excellence, innovation and great customer service.

Fibrelite will be launching its new branding this week to reflect its new global market positioning. Fibrelite claims it has led the way in composite technology since 1980 with the design of the world’s first composite manhole cover as a prototype for Esso UK to eliminate health and safety issues associated with traditional heavy metal covers. From there, Fibrelite says it grew as the retail petroleum industry adopted their covers as the industry standard, now selling to over 80 countries worldwide with manufacturing facilities on three continents.

This commitment to innovation continues to drive its approach today, and shape tomorrow, as it creates bespoke solutions that reflects its global reputation and heritage.

Fibrelite says it continues to evolve, with key events including the opening of a US manufacturing plant in 2005 and Malaysia in 2010, which saw record sales the year immediately following its opening. Fibrelite was then acquired by OPW in 2013, a fully integrated fuel handling and control solutions which also values innovation.

Fibrelite puts its sustained growth down to continued investment in product innovation and commitment to providing customer specific solutions for clients worldwide, frequently resulting in entirely new products. These range from creation of the world’s first composite cover back in 1980, to the first composite multiport covers and the only 90 tonne rated composite trench covers on the market, both of which were created in the last two years.

Fibrelite says it has access to a collaborative worldwide network with almost limitless skills, resources and experience. This breadth of knowledge allows it to consistently deliver forward-thinking, cutting-edge solutions at scale and speed.

Considering the myriad successes of recent years, Fibrelite decided that it was time to innovate its branding as a reflection of its new market positioning on a global scale as part of OPW and Dover, whilst maintaining its commitment to innovation as it continues to grow into an increasing number of new industries.

Fibrelite’s new branding has launched this week. This is the first stage of Fibrelite’s new global brand positioning, which will be followed by a new mobile friendly responsive website in the coming months, reflecting its continuing dedication to growth through innovation and strong customer relationships.

A Fibrelite.com news release

South Seas Think Tank put reputation on the line to make unqualified early and correct EU forecast

July 6, 2016  - Singapore  Airlines is letting economy class passengers bid to be upgraded to premium economy, using a new system called mySQupgrade – which works a bit like the bidding process on eBay.

mySQupgrade is not as simple as it sounds. For a start, not anyone can bid. Invitations “are made at Singapore Airlines’ sole discretion based on certain criteria and combination of factors, which are dynamic”, the airline says. That means, in essence, that you don’t know what the factors are and they are not going to tell you.

“To stand a chance of being invited, please ensure that your email address is correctly indicated when making a booking, so that we are able to contact you if you are deemed eligible,” SIA advises.

The airline stipulates a minimum and maximum for bids and passengers can pitch their bid anywhere between. For successful bidders, the bid is charged to the credit card they nominate.

A “strength meter” indicates the strength of the bid – just like some sites measure the strength of a password – but it does not mean the bid will necessarily be successful.

Flyers can’t bid for just any flight, either. “Not all flights in your booking are necessarily eligible for bidding. The eligible flights are decided at Singapore Airlines’ sole discretion, and will be listed in the email you have received. For example, if a flight is not operated by Singapore Airlines, or you do not have a confirmed reservation for the flight, those flights will not be eligible for bidding.”

The emails go out about a week before departure and bids must be received 50 hours before take-off. Passengers can make, change or cancel their bids anytime before that.

Australian Business Traveller says the airline has assured loyal KrisFlyer members that any points-based upgrade requests will receive priority over cash-based bids received via mySQupgrade.

mySQupgrade is confined to premium economy so far, but Singapore Airlines has hinted that the scheme may spread. Who knows, the airline may one day extend it to business class, first class and even the ultimate, suites class.

Singapore Airlines website has details of mySQupgrade.

Written by Peter Needham on eGlobal travel Media

Port Future Study reports

The study's Consensus Working Group submitted its recommendations report to Auckland Council in July 2016.

The report will be formally received by Auckland Council at the Auckland Development Committee meeting on Wednesday 6 July 2016.

Consensus Working Group recommendations report file (PDF 1.3MB)

As part of its work over the study period, the Consensus Working Group commissioned consultants to analyse options for the future of the port. The consultant's report was appended to the Consensus Working Group's recommendations report.

Consultant's report to the Port Future Study (PDF 5.4MB)

Appendix (PDF 7.4MB)

Port Future Study scope

The Port Future Study scope directed the consultants in their work to provide an analysis of options for the future of the port. Their work formed the evidence base for the recommendations that the consensus working group made to Auckland Council in July 2016.

The Port Future Study scope was finalised by the consensus working group in September 2015.

Port Future Study scope (PDF 101KB)

Information released by Port Future Study commissioned by Auckland Council

A clear pathway for the future of Auckland port has been outlined in the Port Future Study report, released today.As a member of the Consensus Working Group (CWG), EMA is pleased the study has provided certainty and direction on how to maintain the critical freight links for Auckland and New Zealand businesses, while accommodating the long term growth of the city.

"The Consensus Working Group put aside their various individual positions to come up with what appears to be a workable plan that will guide the transition of the port to another location in the long term while maintaining the city’s critical position in the regional and national import and export supply chain in the interim," says Kim Campbell, CEO, EMA.

"Social pressures and/or freight capacity issues will drive the timing of the shift but it is likely to be 30 - 50 years. Even if you start the process today you are probably looking at a minimum 25 years for consenting and construction."

The CWG recommendations, derived from the Port Future Study carried out by EY and various peer reviews of key components of the EY Report, recommends two possible alternative locations in either the Manukau Harbour or the Firth of Thames acknowledging both options require much greater in-depth analysis before settling on a final location.

While that work continues and the complex process of consenting any of those options begins, the CWG agreed that a minor berth extension is required to cope with current and future cruise and freight traffic at the current downtown Auckland port.

"The Port company has taken the contentious issue of reclamation completely off the table but does need to extend berth space to cope with general cargo currently managed on Bledisloe Wharf.

"Now there is a clear pathway to eventually move the port, the community should acknowledge the efforts of the port and accept a short-term answer to achieve the long-term goal of moving the Port. You can’t achieve a move until there is a viable consented alternative and you weaken the business case for a move if you don’t allow the current port to continue to be highly competitive and highly efficient."

Mr Campbell says both the Manukau and Firth of Thames options present a wide variety of very complex issues including environmental, community, iwi concerns, transport links, funding and ownership questions.

"What the EY Report and the CWG have achieved is to clearly identify the two best options. On balance we’d probably favour a large-scale East Coast option as the most attractive to shipping companies and business as that also appears a logical alternative when Port of Tauranga eventually reaches its capacity.

"Now the really hard work begins on finding and consenting that viable long term option."

An EMA press release