The BIRD has landed Safety is one of your top priorities – and now you can ensure a safe working environment even on one of the most traditionally dangerous jobs, with the Gates BIRD. The latest innovation from Gates Australia, the BIRD - or Belt Installation and Rotation Device – minimises the risks to your employees during routine belt maintenance. While a belt drive is shut down, locked out and tagged out, the BIRD reduces the risk of finger and hand injuries due to hands getting caught in pinch points during belt installation and maintenance, by safely facilitating a rotational inspection of a drive. Prior to the launch of this gamechanger, in order to inspect or install a drive, personnel would pull on the belt or grab the edges of the pulley or sprocket to turn the drive. Regardless of the care taken, this procedure is inherently dangerous: a split second can see a hand or finger pulled into a pinch point, causing a horrific injury to your employee. And injury is only the tip of the iceberg in a power transmission installation incident. Your business could find itself liable for direct medical expenses, legal expenses and increased insurance premiums – all while suffering the flow on effects of loss of production and downtime. The BIRD changes that. This easy-to-use tool features a pair of powerful permanent magnets that are attached to the belt sprocket. Once fully engaged, the comfortable aluminium handles allow operators to safely and easily rotate the drive, facilitating maintenance and installation in the safest way possible. “The BIRD is revolutionary: until now, there existed no product that addressed the risks associated with belt maintenance,” says Gene Halden, national sales manager – industrial at Gates Australia. “Now, it’s easy for plant operators to ensure that their belt drives are properly maintained while also keeping employees safe and preventing injury. It takes care of it all for you 12 June 2017 Magnetism attracts new C-Suite Rockwell ceo discusses future of Industrial Internet of Things Blake Moret, president and ceo of Rockwell Automation, spoke on Internet of Things (IoT) adoption and its impact on industrial productivity, sharing insights with more than 1,200 business leaders at Cisco’s IoT World Forum in London. Rockwell Automation is uniquely positioned to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with harnessing the future of smart manufacturing. As Mr Moret described, the positive outcomes associated with IoT will continue to accelerate as organisations progress from pilot or proof-of-concept IoT projects to scalable IoT deployments. According to the Global IoT Decision Maker Survey published by International Data Corporation (IDC), nearly one-third (31%) of those surveyed have already launched IoT solutions, and another 43% are looking to deploy solutions in the next 12 months. Rockwell Automation is seeing a similar trend in its deployment of IoT solutions, and continues to increase its number of pilots across industries, applications and geographies. “Manufacturers and industrial operators are discovering practical ways to apply IoT across their operations, and they’re deriving measurable business value as a result,” Mr Moret said. “Combining IoT technology and expertise in specific industrial applications enables better collaboration, faster problem solving and increased productivity.” Mr Moret referenced several factors driving the adoption of industrial IoT and connected operations, including lower cost of computing and connectivity, and the convergence of information technology and operations technology. He explained how a connected enterprise that adopts IoT technologies can generate better insight into industrial operations and deliver greater value by providing the right information at every level of their business through scalable analytics. He cited Great Lakes Brewing Co. as a Rockwell Automation customer that is adopting scalable analytics to improve visibility and productivity for different parts of their operations. The 2017 IoT World Forum explores the impact of IoT on business, technology and society. As strategic partners, Rockwell Automation and Cisco have long collaborated on industrial networking and security solutions required for industrial digital transformation. Together, they help manufacturers improve business performance by bridging the technical and cultural gaps between plant-floor and higher-level information systems. “We have great technology, good people and a strong culture, but another component that sets us apart from our competitors is our ability to partner with companies such as Cisco. Together, we deliver expertise and solutions for highly secure, smooth connectivity from the plant floor to the enterprise network,” says Mr Moret. Successful New Zealand manufacturer and global exporter of precision electro magnets, Buckley Systems, has appointed four C-Suite executives. The Board has appointed Bill Dodge as its chief executive officer and Arron Sands has been appointed as chief operations officer. Following an extensive recruitment process, Doug Lennon has been appointed chief financial officer and Dion Orbell joins the company as chief people officer “These four appointments strengthen our executive team,” says Bill Buckley, the company’s founder and managing director. “We have a full complement of senior staff as we move through 2017 and the global growth opportunities that it presents.” Mr Buckley says the company had hunted for leading professionals in their field who would also fit Buckley Systems’ unique culture of ingenuity and practical “can do” attitude. LOADS OF EXTRA MULTIMEDIA CONTENT SIGN UP FOR YOUR FREE EMAG www.engineeringnews.co.nz N E W S Arron Sands, left, and Bill Buckley
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