Lean startup is an innovation process with an unfortunate name. Although it is based on lean principles, it isn’t the same. And, although it was based on startup evidence, it also applies to businesses of all sizes, Government agencies and not-for-profits. It also applies to well established businesses who are well past the startup phase!…
There are many logical and psychological barriers stopping people from uptaking exponential technologies. In fact a study of US manufacturing firms’ adoption of exponential technologies has many similarities to feedback that HERA receives from its members. Key findings being, that companies are too focused on the day-to-day operations to respond to longer-term disruption opportunities. And,…
Business disruption is experienced on an almost daily basis. Just recently, HERA lost email and file access for several days, which was hugely disruptive. Could that have been avoided? Yes! We should have moved to the Cloud earlier. But we didn’t because we didn’t think our server would have such a dramatic failure. We foresaw…
After a long history with HERA as our longest serving employee – we’d like to announce that our Welding and Inspection Engineer Peter Hayward is retiring at the end of July. Fore-telling the future Peter came to New Zealand in 1983. He left a good job, with the Atomic Energy Commission in the UK,…
Mikaela is a process engineer at New Zealand Steel. Looking after the process variables to produce molten steel to various specifications. New Zealand Steel is the sole producer of steel in New Zealand and the only in the world to make steel solely from iron sand. Their process is unlike any other in the world meaning…
We’re coming up to the International Day of Women in Engineering on 23 June 2018. And, with almost all member companies that we visit stating that attracting and retaining talent is a key issue for them, we thought we would share some ideas with you. The aim – to provide some insight on how to…
That was the provocative title of my Keynote at MAD2018: A Collaborative Future for NZ Manufacturing and Design. It’s a question that is well worth considering. Though, I’m not sure the answer is one that we all want to hear. Manufacturing BERD looks great. GERD not so much. According to Statistics NZ R&D Survey…
Manufacturing companies make significant contribution to NZ’s BERD according to a report released recently on the state of manufacturing in New Zealand. “Manufacturing Report 2018. Beyond commodities: Manufacturing into the future” identified that in 2016, national BERD was just $1.6 million, with manufacturing accounting for 42% of that ($671 million). The report also identified that the metals…
BRANZ is New Zealand’s independent, impartial research, testing and consulting organisation for the building and construction industry. However, there is a current perception that they aren’t as impartial as they should be – and have a bias towards timber. But is that really true? Our CEO Dr Troy Coyle decided to take a closer look,…
This month the idea of work culture has been playing heavily on our mind. In particular, how we go about fostering a good one. In the end, the answer couldn’t have been more simpler – he tangata! (the people). That’s why we’d like you to meet a gleaming example of this – our Accountant, Kam…
Stop wasting time. Get products to market faster. Maximise success. These are the key outcomes from implementing The Lean startup methodology. Lean startup is transforming the way that businesses develop and launch new products. The handbook behind it is “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries and it is a must read for any Innovation Manager.…
Recently our CEO Dr Troy Coyle was invited by the National Business Review to weigh in on our thoughts around New Zealand’s approach to supporting innovation research. An opportunity off the back of one of our ThinkTank pieces ‘LanzaTech: the one fish that shouldn’t have got away,’ published last year. This article reflected on the…