In February 2016, Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels or ACRS asked industry and stakeholders to have their say on “The Future of ACRS.” Asking “What do you think of ACRS? What should ACRS be doing? Or not doing? What steel and related products should ACRS assess and certify, and how?” Initial responses…
Firstly, I would like to thank the members for voting me onto the HERA Executive for a third term, and secondly a ‘Thank you’ to the HERA Executive for endorsing me as Chairman of our industry-owned research association. Being on the Executive since 2010 and having served as Deputy Chairman in the last three years…
The New Zealand Geothermal Association Board met earlier this month to discuss the future direction of our geothermal industry. Dr. Boaz Habib, Senior Research Engineer, HERA also attended this meeting as NZGA board member. The board meeting was hosted at Te Puia in Rotorua by Te Puia General Manager, Mr Taparoto Nicholson. NZGA is reviewing…
Representatives of the geothermal industry from all over New Zealand met in Auckland this month to discuss recent international geothermal marketing initiatives – as part of Geothermal NZ Inc’s meeting convened by Dr. Mike Allen. This was a great opportunity to understand what future business opportunities are out there for our members – particularly in…
In May, I wrote an article ‘Preparing Our Industry for Disruption’. Going one step further – what are the specific opportunities for our industry to not just respond to disruption but to initiate disruption and reap the benefits ourselves? I recently read an External Research Report by BRANZ titled When Did Disruption Become a Good…
Around mid July 2016, Fairfax Media raised the spectre of NZ ‘steel dumping’ claims on imports from China. The response from our Prime Minister was to play it down, whilst MBIE would not even confirm or deny whether it had received two complaints from NZ producers. Trade Minister Todd McClay, whilst in Indonesia, said it…
As previously announced the terms of HERA Executive members Mike Lehan, John Frear, Thomas Neitzert, Craig Stevenson, and Paul Bryant expire with the upcoming September AGM. Additionally member Peter Hutton handed in his resignation effective the September AGM, and therefore HERA has six vacancies on the HERA Executive. The nominations of HERA member representatives to…
As members may have heard from Radio New Zealand’s interview of Stewart Askey on 19 August 2016 -concerns have again been raised on the quality of steel imports. Whilst the interview was largely on steel products used in reinforced concrete construction, comments were made in the closing remarks about sub-standard structural bolts. The Kathryn Ryan-led interview outlined in a…
The concern of skills shortages is something worrying many businesses around the world, and for the New Zealand engineering sector it’s no different. We’re starting to see serious skills gaps in our workforce which could strongly affect our ability to deliver quality work for our future pipeline. To address those and other issues COMPETENZ has…
Long gone are the barriers separating New Zealand and Australia from doing business together – and nothing showcases this more than our recent attendance at the Australian Steel Research Hub workshop where we were invited to share our expertise with industry leaders across Australasia. Aug52016 Not only was this a fantastic networking opportunity to identify…
The steel industry continues to face a challenging economic environment due to the economic slowdown in China, volatility in financial markets, sluggish growth in global trade, and low prices of oil and other commodities. In the first quarter of 2016, per the World Steel Association, global steel production decreased 3.6% to 386 metric tons (Mt)…
“Yes We Can” says the recently held and aptly named symposium of low carbon associations – of which HERA is an active part. As a research levy funded organisation, R&D is in our blood. Our focus on clean energy technology development through our AGGAT programme and upcoming foray into the wave and tidal space, made our…