Worksafe New Zealand has launched a new website on manufacturing safety, full of helpful tips and guides. Manufacturing is vital to New Zealand’s economy employing around 240,000 people. It represents around 10% of the New Zealand workforce but contributes to 21% of workplace severe injury claims. There were 38 fatal accidents between 2008 and 2014…
Everyone has their views when it comes to the 2016 Budget. “Funding lift a thrill for scientists,” NZ Herald. “Top-ups for research bodies part of (business) growth agenda,” Minister Steven Joyce. “It’s likely that business will be feeling more rather than less confident,” BusinessNZ CEO Kirk Hope. “Budget 2016 held few surprises for business and sent a strong…
“Quenched and tempered” (Q&T) steels for welded structures and pressure vessels provide enhanced hardness and strength properties compared to “regular” steels while maintaining adequate ductility, weldability and toughness. Steel manufacturers obtain these properties by using low alloy chemistries, heat treatment and controlled rolling. The regular structural grades of steel are designated by the specification, grade…
A regular enquiry received by HERA has been the application of fatigue design in steel bridges. On one hand, some designers have had trouble interpreting the current design rules; whilst on the other, many fabricators have expressed concerns on more expensive butt welds being specified for fatigue details where this might not be entirely necessary.…
During the last month, HERA asked members to endorse or reject a draft policy statement that “all critical building work independent of building material should be required to have reliable third party verification enforced by the MBIE-driven regulatory framework”. With the support of SCNZ, HERA described a pathway for a joint journey to get to…
Resolving industrial problems through our heat transfer research. May302016 Three dimensional image of heat exchanger to be used with the model of a single tube from the heat exchanger, and the fin tube heat exchanger assembly (left) and ANSYS CFD model of a single finned heat transfer tube (right). Our AGGAT heat transfer research addresses…
Quite simply put – yes we can! Low enthalpy-based power generation has recently seen a number of new entrants into its research and development sphere – strongly reaffirming its untapped potential. Couple this with growing climate concerns – it seems the time has never been better to serve a growing energy need worldwide. At HERA, we’ve…
HERA has significantly progressed the ongoing research work on this project initially reported in October 2015. This two-year research project is BRANZ Levy-funded and HERA is working in partnership with the National Association of Steel Framed Housing Inc., (NASH) on the project. HERA/NASH would like to gratefully acknowledge the material contribution of Frametek Ltd, Howick Ltd,…
The new Workplace Health and Safety legislation has been in force for a month and a good level of discussion has been happening within business circles. Certainly directors, owners and managers are far more ‘tuned into’ the requirements of this business critical function than previously as they become more familiar with new accountabilities. This is…
The Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) scheme continues to go from strength to strength with the latest group of five structural steel fabricators to achieve certification recognised at our recent SCNZ 10th anniversary event in Queenstown. A total of 21 New Zealand fabricators have now achieved SFC certification ensuring that 70% of the local industry output…
In response to recent media coverage involving allegations that some building products are unfit for purpose or non-compliant with the Building Code, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has established a dedicated email address to collect product complaints for analysis and investigation. Even though a number of concerns have been raised in the…
We work in an industry based on well-established and traditional materials. Metals have been fabricated for millennia. Applications have historically ranged from warfare, tooling, building and construction and are now evolving into emerging applications such as geothermal energy extraction and biomedical technologies. Metals, such as steel, are known for their high strength, ductility, and formability.…