Industry 4.0 is driving an unprecedented transformation across global industry, as new technologies promise to save time, boost productivity, reduce waste, expand business models, and be more responsive to fast-changing environments and consumer demands. While companies have the opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of this new Industry 4.0 wave, they can struggle to…
HERA has identified a need for greater uptake of Industry 4.0 technologies to improve productivity in the construction industry. At the same time, we are also building our own capabilities in Industry 4.0 focusing on Construction 4.0, in particular in what we have coined “Fabrication 4.0”,”Sustainability 4.0” and “Monitoring 4.0”. We have already previously announced…
We’d like to advise industry that a Heavy Engineering Research Levy Act Amendment Order 2021 was signed by the Governer-General on 5 July and published 8 July. This has been something that we have been working on with the MBIE innovation policy team and Customs for quite some time. MBIE’s role has been to coordinate…
HERA is pleased to report the release of our updated Living Standards Framework assessment and supporting resources. This comes following our work which started in 2018 when we commissioned BERL to assess the metal industry’s contribution to the NZ economy using the Living Standards Framework (LSF). That was a pivotal publication as it was the…
Our recently commissioned HERA Report R5-89 shows steel plays a key role in the circular economy. The study was undertaken by thinkstepANZ and showed an impressive 72% of steel scrap in New Zealand is recycled, and that recycling steel scrap produced in Aotearoa New Zealand provides significant environmental benefits – despite the need for transport…
Aotearoa New Zealand’s construction industry reached over $15 billion in 2019, making it a major contributor to GDP and employment, as well as developer of critical national infrastructure. Despite this, it’s an industry that requires radical transformation and has long been criticised for its low productivity, inefficiencies, and contribution to New Zealand’s carbon emissions. It requires…
HERA is pleased to announce the publication of HERA Report R4-152, authored by Nandor Mago, HERA’s Finite Element Analyst. The report checks the validity of the simpler structural design methodology for steel framed carparks using detailed sequentially coupled thermal-stress analyses, which models a 17m x 30m composite floor system supported by steel framing. The steel…
We want your ideas – because our HERA sustainability fund is now open for ideas from our members! 2021 is going to be an exciting year for us at HERA in the space of sustainability. Even more so, because we’re so very excited to announce a $80K research fund for projects aimed at improving steel’s…
HERA is pleased to announce the publication of HERA Report R4-153 – Steel building guide to NZS 3404:1997 amendment 1 and 2 worked examples. Authored by Dr Amir Yousefi, Dr Gary Djojo and Dr G. Charles Clifton of the University of Auckland. It’s primarily intended to be used as a learning resource for undergrad and…
HERA Structural Systems is pleased to announce an update to HERA Report R4-142, “Eccentric Cleats in Compression and Columns in Moment-Resisting Connections”. This moment-resisting connections report update is the result of member feedback on a couple of typographical errors on the worked example. While these errors did not affect the results of the calculations, they…
HERA is pleased to announce the publication of HERA Report R4-155 – Optimised Sliding Hinge Joint (OSHJ): Design and Installation Guide for a Low Damage Seismic Resisting System. This report has been authored by Dr Shahab Ramhormozian of AUT and Dr G. Charles Clifton of the University of Auckland, and is the culmination of several…
In order to achieve a durable, high strength, structural steel (weathering steel) in the unpainted condition, some requirements for designing, fabrication, construction, site climate condition, inspection and maintenance need to be taken into consideration. Weathering steel, or to use its technical title of “structural steel with improved atmospheric corrosion resistance”, is a high strength, low…