6 July 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_xNJJOTJuk EMEX shines in engineering growth If those that Engineering News spoke to during EMEX 2016 are anything to go by, the engineering industry is in pretty good shape. Many exhibitors at the show indicated excellence sales and foot-traffic with the ‘right sort’ of visitors coming through show doors. EMEX’s exhibition sales manager, Aad van der Poel of XPO Exhibitions, says he has heard similar. “We’ve been inundated with emails, phone calls and survey responses saying this was the best EMEX in its proud history,” says Mr van der Poel, adding there’s been strong demand for space at the next 2018 event. Held every two years, the nation’s largest event for the manufacturing and engineering industries, EMEX is a great litmus test of how the overall industry is faring. It’s safe to say from this year’s event that NZ manufacturing is in high growth mode. This year attracted 20-year record crowds, record exhibitor numbers and an overwhelmingly positive response from all those in attendance, according to XPO. The three-day event featured 160 exhibitors and attracted over 4,950 unique industry vis- EMEX NUMBERS ATTENDANCE: 160 exhibitors 4,974 visitors 15% increase on EMEX 2014 VISITOR SURVEY: 83% ‘satisfied’ to ‘very satisfied’ (74% 2014) 81% rated exhibitors as ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ (73% 2014) 71% hold direct authority for, or influence, purchasing decisions (68% 2014) 80% ‘likely’ to ‘very likely’ to make exhibitor contact after EMEX (80% 2014) itors representing a 15% increase in unique visitors against the 2014 show. Over the three days of EMEX we certainly saw this year’s dual themes of Additive Manufacturing and Bringing Manufacturing Home, take a leading role. According to an economic evaluation report, visitors to EMEX bring with them $422 million of buying power and XPO says feedback from exhibitors has been extremely positive with ‘the vast majority confirming strong orders and hundreds of leads captured’. “We had an example of a $1 million machine selling prior to the show doors opening... let alone the spend happening onsite. “It’s fair to say New Zealand manufacturers are certainly investing in CAPEX for their growing businesses,” Mr van de Poel says, adding that this must be a great sign for local manufacturing. “And it wasn’t just large CAPEX orders happening onsite. Many manufacturers were procuring technology, instrumentation and welding technology – we didn’t hear of any product category weaknesses in sales.” In 2018 EMEX will be held May 1-3. NEIDA MEMBER DRIVE The National Engineering and Industrial Distibutors’ Association (NEIDA) is a New Zealand national trade association whose members are involved in the distribution of products, cutting tools, chemicals, abrasives, hand tools, machine tools, power tools, servicing equipment and allied products for the engineering sector and it’s looking to widen its membership base. “Neida’s mission is to foster opportunity within the engineering industry for New Zealand manufacturers, importers, resellers and consumers to interact for the betterment of the industry as a whole,” says president Barry Fisher. Through its elected executive, NEIDA involves itself in matters of specific interest to members. This includes discussions with manufacturers, producers, suppliers and industry bodies on matters that are topical or of concern. The executive liaises with government departments and where appropriate, discussions and negotiations are undertaken on matters of particular interest or concern to members. Opportunities for member participation are provided at regular meetings. Other meetings are arranged from time to time, or at the specific request of members. As well as formal business meetings the Association considers holding conferences, forums, or seminars on matters of topical interest to members. NEIDA maintains a close working relationship with EMEX and SouthMACH through the organisers, XPO Exhibitions with NEIDA members enjoy substantial benefits as a result of these unique relationships. http://www.neida.co.nz/ COMMISSION LIFTS ‘STOP’ ON STEEL MESH The Commerce Commission has lifted its advice to Brilliance Steel Limited (Brilliance) not to sell ductile steel mesh represented as grade 500E after reaching an interim agreement. The agreement, which is consistent with similar agreements reached with other steel mesh companies, allows Brilliance to sell its 147E 500E grade steel mesh provided that each batch passes specific independent testing. All test results must be provided to the Commission. As part of the agreement, Brilliance has signed court enforceable undertakings that require each current and future batch of 500E grade steel mesh to be tested at an IANZ accredited laboratory. The steel mesh must pass 18 tests per batch (3 sheets, 6 tests per sheet) before being offered for sale as 500E mesh, and all test results must be provided to the Commission. FONTERRA APPLIES TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE PRODUCTION An innovative application of common dairy technology is helping Fonterra make savings from waste. The upgrade underway at Fonterra’s Edgecumbe site will allow Fonterra to capture lactose that was previously unable to be extracted from the site’s waste stream by creatively applying existing filtration technology. While the project will cost $8 million, it will double the amount of lactose the site is able to recover in a day, reducing Fonterra’s reliance on imported lactose from overseas suppliers and delivering significant and ongoing cost savings. CUTTING-EDGE PRODUCT WINS AT AUTOMATICA A new non-rotating simultaneous multi-axis scanner was named as a best startup innovations of 2016 in the categories industry automation and service robotics at Startup Work, part of the Automatica trade fair for 2016. TeraRanger Tower is an advanced distance sensors and solutions for automation, robotics, and drones. In the TeraRanger Tower, the French startup Terabee has developed what the company describes as the very first scanner to utilise multiple static sensors rather than conventional rotating or mechanical elements. The advantage of this approach is that it requires no motor, which makes the TeraRanger Tower both virtually silent and highly resistant to wear. This non-rotating simultaneous multi-axis scanner has a great deal of potential to replace lidar scanners, says Terabee. It uses infrared timeof flight (3D systems that measure distances using the transit time technique) that have low energy requirements and are 100% eye-safe. Weighing just 130 grams, the unit is particularly suited to applications on lightweight and fast moving robots. Possible areas of use include simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) and collision avoidance for robots of this type, including drones. IMAGES VIDEO
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