I have just come back from a study tour to Germany with the theme “Factory of the Future”. This gave me a fantastic insight into what is going on in Germany in future focused research in the metals-based manufacturing industry. The trip to Germany was sponsored by FRIENZ (Facilitating Research and Innovation co-operation between Europe…
Scotland has around the same population as New Zealand and like New Zealand, the metal fabrication industry has benefited from oil and gas, especially those located close to the oilfields of the North Sea. A large amount of fabrication was needed during the establishment phase of the industry, then ongoing upgrades, maintenance and expansions. With…
For structural steel products to be free from serious problems in production and in service, it is necessary to provide a suitable level of quality management from the design phase, through material selection, into fabrication, and subsequently inspection. Requirements for welding/fabrication activities are given in the Code of Practice of the NZ Steel Fabricator Certification…
There is an increasing dialogue out in the market place about non-standard products being sold into the building and construction industry in NZ. The alleged numbers being reported are significant and almost somewhat unbelievable. But if they are anywhere near reality, we do need to be taking some form of action otherwise ‘Standards creep’ will…
We have an image problem. In experimental evolution, Drosophila (the humble fruit fly) is often used to demonstrate evolutionary processes. It is used because genetic changes for the fruit fly can be observed very quickly in response to natural selection. In business, the equivalent of the fruit fly is the IT or information technology company,…
Budget 2015/16 hit the road on the 21st of May and I am probably the last to comment. But I don’t think the timing of this comment matters as we see no change in policy other than the usual ‘steady as we go’ when it comes to changing innovation behaviour of our metals-based manufacturing sector.…
When the low enthalpy power generation research programme was launched about 4 years ago by the Industry Development division at HERA, a vision existed of how it might look like in the future and what potential it could hold for our future metals industry. The vision was to have a support platform for engaged stakeholders…
As a substantial player in the agricultural space, New Zealand lurches from issues with droughts to floods to kiwifruit vine disease, the ever present danger of importing fruit flies to the proclivities of the global price for milk solids that has seen the Fonterra forecast payout per kilogramme of milk solids drop to a jarring…
After a major refurbishment, HERA House was officially re-opened on 20 March by the Minster of Science and Innovation Hon Steven Joyce. He is also Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Regulatory Reform, Minister of Science and Innovation, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Minister Responsible for Novopay and Associate Minister of Finance; not…
1. Questions… Why do we ask them all the time? Because we want to know the truth. But, quite often, we prefer to be self-deceived, especially in times of crises, when truth of reality confronts our beliefs. Then we stop asking questions. “Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not…
By any measure of our industry networking functions, the official re-opening of HERA House attended by the Minister for Research and Innovation Hon Steven Joyce was a great success. Despite having to defer the starting time by two hours, over 110 invited guests attended the celebration. For me, and I am sure this view is…
After 30 years of service, the building has undergone an extensive $2m refurbishment which allowed the building owners, HERA’s Heavy Engineering Research and Educational Foundation (HEERF), to catch up with long-deferred maintenance, provide for a more efficient use of space, and give the metals industry a meeting place with a more contemporary look in line…