Specialist global steel manufacturer, SSAB, is well known for its Hardox wear plate and Strenx performance steel products, each offering their own certification program that adds value and quality to the end products in the market. Its longstanding Hardox In My Body program has become a simple way to recognise when the exceptional Hardox steel is used in truck and trailer bodies while My Inner Strenx is all about enhancing structural performance for industrial applications with the Strenx range.

SSAB claims that it has over 400 certified members worldwide for its Hardox In My Body program. Members of the program use the Hardox range of steel products – such as its wear plates – in their builds, resulting in equipment with exceptional wear resistance, unsurpassed impact strength and the assurance that end-users will save money and time down the road by using the superior steel-manufactured product.

Once a member of the program, each trailer builder’s product must be approved by the SSAB board before it can earn the certification, a group that consists of wear and structural technology experts that analyse welding quality, manufacturing process and design. The program sticker sign has a unique ID system that provides full traceability for the origins of the materials used, so customers can be assured that they are getting a superior steel product manufactured by a qualified program member.

SSAB recently appointed New Zealand-based Giltrap Engineering as a Hardox In My Body members, which has been using Hardox in its vehicles since 2013. An innovator in agricultural equipment, Giltrap has over 50 years of industry experience and operates a fully equipped processing and fabrication workshop as well as a painting facility.

Giltrap has developed a custom tipper design unique to New Zealand, boasting a 6mm Hardox 450 grade body in a two-plate U-shape design with integrated top rails.

Another newly appointed member of Hardox In My Body, Mid West Engineering needed a distinct point of difference to outlast its waste management competitors, so it retrofitted its waste trucks with Hardox. Mid West has been using Hardox for about a decade and has said that its vehicles look new after years of operation due to the superior surface protection that the Hardox range offers.

In addition to providing enhanced surface protection products, SSAB has also appointed a new member for My Inner Strenx to demonstrate the advantages of using high-strength steel with road trains and similar transport vehicles in the mining industry.

Alongside its Hardox In My Body program, SSAB’s My Inner Strenx program offers superior structural steel for heavy-duty equipment manufacturers. Strenx is made via quality-controlled production techniques and is optimised for a range of demanding applications including truck chassis and body reinforcement. The Strenx certification also comes with a unique identifier, which determines product authenticity and where the materials were sourced.

Joining the My Inner Strenx program, Bruce Rock Engineering (BRE) has serviced the agricultural region around Bruce Rock in Western Australia since 1980 and offers road transport equipment, design, manufacture and maintenance. In 2006, BRE expanded its range to produce side-tipping trucks for the mining industry and has since engaged in lightweight body design using Hardox 450 material grade – making them the lightest steel tippers in the market.

By adding value to its industrial and commercial equipment, BRE uses SSAB’s high strength steel in everything from end tippers and road trains to dollies, drawbars and skel trailers. BRE is capable of producing around two to four trailers a week and takes advantage of the Strenx and Hardox certifications to emphasise its high-quality builds from high-performance steel and exceptional structural reinforcement.

With its Hardox in My Body and My Inner Strenx programs, SSAB does more than just providing the high quality Hardox wear plate and Strenx performance steel to its trailer building membership group – the certification also serves as a badge of honour that reinforces the structural integrity of truck and trailer bodies.

| A  Trailer release  ||  August 1,  2017   |||

CHINA’S manufacturing activity eased slightly last month amid hot weather and flooding.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures vitality in the sector, slowed to 51.4 in July from June’s 51.7, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Though slower than the market’s expected 51.6, it remained in expansionary territory for a 12th consecutive month.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

Zhao Qinghe, the bureau’s senior statistician, said the July reading had remained between 51 and 52 over the past seven months. The slower expansion was partly due to hot weather nationwide and flooding in some areas, Zhao said.

External demand also weakened, with the sub-index for new export orders falling to 50.9 from 52 in June.

However, input and output prices both rose with companies’ increased purchasing, Zhao said.

Chen Zhongtao, an analyst with the China Logistics Information Center, called the July reading a seasonal fluctuation.

“It’s difficult to avoid volatility at such a relatively high level,” Chen said, noting that the PMI has hovered above 51 for 10 months in a row.

The structural upgrade of the manufacturing sector continued. High-tech and equipment manufacturing led the expansion in July, with their sub-indexes higher than the overall sector’s PMI.

In contrast, the sub-index for oil processing and coking, as well as the non-metal mineral products industry, stayed below 50 for the third month in a row, affected by overcapacity and restructuring.

“The shift between the old and new momentum of growth is accelerating,” Chen said.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group attributed the overall weakening to weather conditions, and said the slowdown was temporary.

“Hot weather and flooding in some parts of China temporarily disrupted business activity and dragged the overall index lower,” Betty Wang, ANZ’s senior China economist, said in a note. “The continuous ascent in prices suggests to us a longer industrial recovery. We may see a rebound in upcoming months.”

Despite the slower manufacturing expansion, firms continued to increase purchases with stronger confidence in their future growth, according to Zhao.

The sub-index for the quantity of purchases rose to 52.7 from 52.5 in June, while that for expectations on production and business operations climbed to 59.1 from 58.7, the third consecutive month of increase.

Yesterday’s figures also showed the non-manufacturing PMI moderated to 54.5 from 54.9.

Zhao said a contraction of activity in road transport, real estate and residential services overshadowed faster expansion in postal services, broadcasting and Internet sectors.

“The PMI drop in July was a normal fluctuation and did not show much about the cyclical trend of China’s economy,” CITIC Securities said in a note. “The positive economic outlook remained unchanged.”

For China’s macro-economic policy-makers, the pressure of supporting growth is gradually lessening, according to CITIC Securities.

It predicted no changes to China’s monetary policy stance, which has been set as prudent and neutral for 2017.

Yesterday’s data came after a slew of economic indicators that showed China’s economy steadily stabilizing and improving.

Official statistics put China’s GDP growth at 6.9 percent in the first two quarters of the year, up from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, beating market expectations.

| A ShanghaieDaily.com release  ||  July,  2017   |||

Azelis has acquired Chemcolour, a leading supplier of specialty chemicals and food ingredients in Australia and New Zealand, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition strengthens Azelis’ presence in the region and positions it among the top distributors in the two countries. Australia and New Zealand are wealthy countries, rich in natural resources with growing populations, said Azelis’ CEO, Hans Joachim Müller, adding that Chemcolour is a great platform to extend agreements with its existing, global principal suppliers.

Chemcolour Australia has a manufacturing plant in Sydney and application and development laboratories in both Sydney and Melbourne. The New Zealand business has its primary manufacturing facility in Auckland with secondary blending facilities in Christchurch. The distributor also performs contract manufacture for several well known companies.

The transaction is expected to complete over the next months. All 90 of Chemcolour’s employees will transfer to Azelis.

|  An Azaris release  ||  July 28,  2017   |||

Today’s announcement of adjustments to the proposed changes in the Essential Skills visa are welcome news to manufacturers who continue to face skill shortages that hold back their businesses from expanding, say the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA).

NZMEA Chief Executive, Dieter Adam said, “Despite these changes appearing to be coming from pressure largely from low-wage and primary areas of the economy, they do address some concerns manufacturers had.

“With the adjustments to the medium skilled salary threshold, the majority of skill shortages felt in the manufacturing industry will now be covered as medium skilled. This will help alleviate some of the perceived issues with the previous proposals, especially the 12 month stand down period after 3 years in the low skilled category.

“Some issues still remain, such as how setting one rate for all parts of the economy will affect the regions.

“While immigration continues to be discussed, we need to keep in mind the core need to create a system where we get the right type of skilled immigration into New Zealand. We need to address the skill shortages that hold our manufacturers and productive businesses back from expanding and contributing to higher exports and incomes.

“We recognise the growing concerns that the rapid recent increases in overall net migration have given rise to. The vast majority of those increases, however, are in migrant categories other than work visas for medium and highly-skilled workers. Any reduction in those categories would result in stifling growth in the productive high-value industries that employ such workers, including manufacturing.

“Student work visa and lower-skilled migration predominantly supplies workers to the lower-paid and low-value sectors like tourism and related hospitality industries. As Sir Paul Callaghan taught us, we need to steer our economy to where high-value and complex productive growth leads the way – increasing GDP per capita is a core path to prosperity for all in New Zealand. Part of achieving this requires ensuring we have the skills and talent such industries need to grow and innovate, through improving our education system to train New Zealanders and having effective immigration settings.

“Continually relying on growth of low-value industries for our future can actually take us backwards on this pathway to creating wealth, higher incomes and GDP per capita growth. Manufacturing and our high-value productive industries, on the other hand, have the potential to lead the way in this area. ” Said Dieter.

|  An NZMEA release  ||  July 27,  2017   |||

 One of New Zealand’s longest-running pioneering business success stories, Gallagher Power Fence Systems Limited, has announced plans to expand operations in Kenya at Tatu City.

Gallagher will build 24 warehouses on four-acres at Tatu Industrial Park, the leading industrial area with Special Economic Zone status in East Africa. The warehouses will be used for storage of security products and for lease. Construction will commence in September 2017 and create approximately 100 jobs as part of the multimillion dollar investment.

Whilst visiting Tatu City, Sir William Gallagher, Chairperson and CEO of the company, said that the move was a strategic step in Gallagher’s growth and expansion plans in the region.

“Over the last 18 years, we have experienced immense support from various partners and customers in Kenya. We are proud to be playing a role in creating employment opportunities, and we aim to reach a wider clientele through the facilities that we will be setting up here at Tatu City,” he said.

Gallagher is also in the process of building an electric security fence on the boundary of Tatu City. The fence will will be equipped with CCTV cameras, floodlights and access control at entry and exit points, all monitored in a dedicated control room by Tatu City’s security team.

“We are delighted yet again to attract a global investor and service provider with strong local roots to the ever-growing list of Tatu City partners,” said Stephen Jennings, Founder and CEO of Rendeavour, the owner and developer of Tatu City. “Gallagher is a household name in dozens of countries around the world, and the company’s quality and standards are such that they have built a strong business in Kenya.”

About Gallagher Power Fence Systems Ltd (www.gallagher.com)Gallagher are a global leader in the innovation, manufacture and marketing of animal management, security, fuel systems and contract manufacturing solutions.For 75 years Gallagher has designed and delivered innovative solutions to a global customer base. GPF Kenya was established 18 years ago in Nairobi and established itself as a highly reputable supplier and installer of high quality cost effective security systems.

All installations are designed and installed to comply with National and International requirements. Gallagher inspects and certifies all installations as appropriate, ensuring that the systems comply with Gallagher’s stringent code of practice and quality standards.

About Tatu City (www.tatucity.com) Tatu City is a 5,000-acre, mixed-use development with homes, schools, offices, a shopping district, medical clinics, nature areas, a sport & entertainment complex and manufacturing area for more than 150,000 residents and tens of thousands of day visitors. Schools and businesses are already open at Tatu City, and a range of houses are under construction to suit all incomes. A Special Economic Zone, Tatu City is a unique live, work and play environment that is free from traffic congestion and long-distance commuting.

| A Gallagher release Nairobi, July 11, 2017    |||

New Zealand start-up manufacturer REYEDR (pronounced rider) has announced the latest in augmented reality (AR) smart tech for the safety-conscious motorcycle enthusiast.

The REYEDR HUD is a heads-up display that retrofits to a motorcyclist’s helmet and shows speed, navigation, distance and more. It runs on the REYEDR smartphone App to provide the rider with key information about the bike, route and ride group. It also has the ability to alert emergency services in the event of an accident.

Using a retrofit approach, the HUD fits on the chinbar of any full-face motorcycle helmet and converts it into a smart device. A transparent screen sits just in the periphery of the motorcyclist’s vision, allowing riders to keep their eyes on the road while still maintaining awareness of key riding conditions.

REYEDR reduces distraction by providing information needed within the motorcyclist’s natural line of sight. There is no need to refocus to see the virtual image, so riders can keep eyes on the road at all times. The GUI (graphical user interface) is designed to be non-distracting and display the right amount of information — colours change to draw attention when needed.

For instance, navigation arrows and distance to the next turn-off change from green to orange to red when approaching the corner. Similarly, speed colours change from green to orange when approaching the speed limit and red when riding at the speed limit and over.

REYEDR showcased the HUD device at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The system connects via Bluetooth 5.0 connection and a social-ready smartphone app (compatible with iOS and Android devices).

Motorcyclists can find interesting rides and connect with a larger community of bikers that share similar interests. Riders can save photos and/or a map of their route for a personal log, which they can share with others.

We are pleased to hear that the Government is planning to review incoming immigration changes with a specific focus on how they will affect the regions. Effectively addressing skills shortages in manufacturing and other sectors needs to remain a core part of our immigration system – notwithstanding changes that may be required to address other issues associated with current high levels of net migration, say the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA).

NZMEA Chief Executive, Dieter Adam said, “In particularly, the 12-month stand-down after three years did not make any sense to businesses – having to send quality workers back home not long after they completed the inevitable on-the-job training required to become fully productive and integral to their business operation. The skills they may take with them often simply cannot currently be filled by New Zealanders.”

“Unlike in other sectors, labour shortages in manufacturing are almost completely in the skilled workers category, especially for those with trade skills and experience.

“The Government’s approach to use pay levels as a surrogate for skill level was seen as a sensible approach by some of our members, where it was seen as potentially a smoother pathway to fill high income skill shortages, but others argued it is crude and has a number of issues. It ignores the fact, for example, of regional variation in pay for jobs at the same skill level, and it may unintentionally lead to wage inflation by artificially setting a base line across the country for what machine operators, for example, should be paid.

“The NZMEA is not simply advocating for a continuation of current immigration policies and practises, which have led to immigration outcomes that may well be unsustainable in some areas. The Government needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with changes that address these issues without cutting off the much needed supply of migrants to fill skill shortages, especially in the regions outside of Auckland.” Said Dieter.

| An NZMEA release  ||  July 24,  2017   |||

New Zealanders have long been known for their love affair with the sea, but owning a boat is seen as an expensive exercise for most. Tauranga-based boat design company Hallmarine Design has come up with a solution: its Purekraft boats, which are flatpacked kitsets, a bit like IKEA furniture, making them far cheaper to ship around and easier to construct.

Elly Strang writes in Idealog -  It’s a romantic notion that plays right into the Kiwi ideal of DIY and do it yourself ­– building a boat from scratch. However, aside from professional boat builders, most wouldn’t attempt to build their own for fear of the expenses involved ­– or worse yet, the risk of a poorly put together, leaky boat.

However, Jarrod Hall of Tauranga-based Hallmarine Design says his company has a solution for hobbyists: A boat which has parts that are cut by a CNC machine, with ink markings to show where parts meet and should be welded. It is then folded and are flatpacked to reduce shipping costs.

The result is a boat that’s innovative in the same way IKEA furniture was when it first shook up the furniture scene: A cheaper, build-it-yourself product that can be constructed from scratch, if you follow the (in depth) instructions. There's also the ability to customise the motor, seats and paint job.

“It appeals to those with the do-it-yourself kind of attitude, and they also know that it’s been well built, considering they’ve built it themselves,” Hall says.

Understandably, there’s a few more components to building a boat than say, a bookshelf.

Hall says it depends on the size and the model, but the design process couldn’t get much easier in terms of building a boat. While there may be hundreds of components, parts are printed by the machine and interlock together, while Hallmarine Design folds as many parts of the boat as possible so it reducing welding and build times, as well as wastage.

Continue to read the full article in Idealog here

 July17 Edition Click here to open

Following a two-year hiatus, the Google Glass augmented-reality headset has made a comeback, and is being targeted exclusively at businesses.

Google suspended sales of Glass at the start of 2015 in order to rethink its development.

But yesterday, the team behind the wearable made an announcement on Medium that after a two-year testing period, the headset – now named Glass Enterprise Edition – is being made available to all businesses.

This could see Glass become a competitor to other augmented-reality headsets already on the market, such as Microsoft's HoloLens, which is already favoured by the architecture and design industries.

"Glass, as you might remember, is a very small, lightweight wearable computer with a transparent display that brings information into your line of sight," project lead Jay Kothari wrote in the post.

"In a work setting, you can clip it onto glasses or industry frames like safety goggles so you don't have to switch focus between what you're doing with your hands and the content you need to see to do your job."

The updated design appears much the same as the original, but Kothari says the battery life is improved, and that it is lighter and more comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

Kothari also revealed that a two-year testing period had seen over 50 businesses across the manufacturing, logistics, field services and healthcare industries implement Glass into their working process.

Among them were DHL, Boeing and Volkswagen, which all reported positive feedback from workers – something that prompted Google to make it a widely available business tool.

"We first saw signs of Glass' potential for businesses in the Glass Explorer days," said Kothari. "We're looking forward to seeing more businesses give their workers a way to work faster and in a more focused way, hands-free."

Augmented-reality tools are already being used in some architecture and design practices. Greg Lynn, who used Microsoft HoloLens to design his contribution to the US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2016, told Dezeen that the technology was set to "change the way architects work".

Glass has proved controversial since it was previewed in 2013. After it was unveiled, the UK government considered banning drivers from using the augmented reality eyewear behind the wheel of their car.

In March 2014, the headsets hit the headlines again when a woman was attacked in a San Francisco bar for wearing the device and the technology was accused of "killing" the city.

|  A deZEEN release  ||  July 19,  2017   |||