Concrete planning makes a big splash in Rotorua

Construction of the concrete flume section in Rotorua of Rainbow Springs new Big Splash water ride broke all records thanks to the Barfoote Group, an innovative Northland based company.

With 400 kilometres of road separating their Whangarei base and the construction site in Rotorua, the company decided to take an innovative approach to building the 431-metre concrete flume section of the ride.

After being told by Swiss based ride design company Intamin, that the flume had to be poured on site as there was barely a couple of millimetres leeway allowable in the finished flume size, Kiwi ingenuity came to the fore.

"We knew we could do it, so we designed moulds to pour the concrete flume in sections that could then be easily transported to Rotorua and slotted into place," says Barfoote Group managing director Trevor Barfoote.

"We poured the first one, put it on the back of the ute and drove to Rainbow Springs, and that's how we won the contract."

Ever since then a steady flow of concrete flume sections arrived on site from Whangarei. This innovative method sped up construction of the ride eliminating the need to pour the concrete on site, which was a weather dependent job with the potential to delay a time critical project.

Due to the success of pre-casting the flume Intamin is considering using this construction method for future rides it builds around the world.

The nine-minute long Big Splash ride is a journey through time that will feature an informative narrative, state-of-the-art animation bringing to life dinosaurs, moa and the haast eagle, with an adrenalin boosting plunge at the end.

It opened to the public on January 20.

Smart lifting helps ensure efficiency and safety

In its first production base for infrastructure materials outside of Japan, Nippon Steel has set up a company in Vietnam for the manufacture of steel pipe piles used for wharf pilings, motorway foundations, wall retention during excavation, land protection from sea encroachment, and similar applications.

Nippon Steel Pipe Vietnam chose the Phu My II industrial zone in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, for its new factory.
It began producing spiral welded pipe and seamless steel pipe from hot coil and ribbed hot coil this year.
Konecranes provided the large overhead cranes needed to lift and move the hot coil as well as the manufactured product about the factory.
The three Konecranes cranes used at the Vietnam plant include one 35 ton overhead crane for moving the raw materials and two 23 ton overhead cranes that are commonly employed in tandem for lifting and shifting the long lengths of manufactured pipe.
Steel pipe piles are typically made in lengths up to 30 metres, with orders for hundreds of pipes at a time. The pipes have high drivability into earth substructures and high reliability in use. As well, they require only a small foundation size and a short construction period.
The Konecranes cranes at NPV are a new type of high performance crane called SMARTON, designed as a customised, intelligent and environmentally sustainable solution for demanding heavy process uses. SMARTON cranes are designed to maximise safety while minimising energy consumption and downtime.
“We chose the Konecranes brand because of their advanced technology and safety,” says general manager (Mechanical), Construction Group, Yoichi Maeda.
The company benefits from an innovative tandem-crane method of moving the lengthy completed pipes within the factory. This method has improved the handling of the pipes, while contributing to operator safety and ease of use, and also extending the life of the crane lifting cables.
“Using the two cranes in tandem works very well for us,” Mr Maeda says.
“By suspending the long sections of pipe from two points at once, we have good control over the lifting process. The pipe doesn’t sway, which is a big safety benefit for the protection of the operators on the factory floor.
“The operators don’t require specialised knowledge or training in moving and positioning loads when the tandem method of lifting is used. They find it very good and simple.
“Prevention of swaying of the load also ensures long life of the wire ropes supporting the load. They’re not subject to stressful twisting motions,” he said.
Further safety protection for the crane operators is provided by the radio controls of the overhead cranes, which means that the operators can be well clear of the load when it is moved, Mr Maeda says.

For more information:
Steve Gagnuss
Konecranes South-East Asia
Tel: 65 6861 2233
Website: www.konecranes.com.sg

Altitude lightens the load with composites

The delivery last month of the first 787-8 Dreamliner, claimed by Boeing to be 20 percent more fuel efficient than similar-sized current planes, highlights the importance of lightweight composite materials in the aviation industry.
Air New Zealand’s wholly-owned subsidiary Altitude Aerospace Interiors is in the thick of shedding weight in airline interiors, is launch customer for the longer 787-9 version with an order of eight aircraft.
Aviation has always been a big driver of composites use, and the airline industry has always used composites. That’s because aircraft are relatively high-performance vehicles that can’t afford to have weight where it’s not necessary.
Air New Zealand, the country’s flag carrier, has quite a large composites capability largely focused on the repair and maintenance of aircraft. For new interior fits and refits, its wholly-owned subsidiary Altitude Aerospace Interiors is in the forefront.
Altitude is a supplier of customized aircraft interiors for both commercial jet transport aircraft and VIP aircraft.
Baden Smith, head of commercial - airlines at Altitude said the company has the engineering design and certification teams necessary to produce the interiors, and it manages the entire supply chain.
“We design for a particular aircraft for retrofitting, or install new equipment in a new aircraft. What we do is try to increase an aircraft’s performance, using materials with a high specific strength and specific stiffness and reduce its weight. So virtually all the interiors that we build will be of composite,” Baden said.
Weight is one of the biggest constraints in an aircraft interior because ultimately it has to get it up in the air and operate in the most cost-efficient manner.
Costing will be different for each aircraft but Baden said US$400/year/kg of weight is a ballpark figure.
“So if you’re talking about a lifespan of 15 years, that’s a lot of money.
“A 747 is a couple of hundred tonnes. Any weight you can get out of that interior is a huge benefit to the airline for two reasons – the opportunity to save money via fuel which is good for the environment as well, or earn revenue by potentially loading another passenger or carry some more cargo.”
Altitude does all its interior design in New Zealand.
For a commercial transport aircraft, it manufactures the composite products mostly in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the US.
“There’s a bunch of reasons for that,” Baden said. “It’s just a lot easier because the aircraft has to be US FAA-certified. To have it done in the US is a lot easier.
“In New Zealand, the CAA refers to the same design standards as the US FAA Part 25 which defines the standards for the design of new and modified aircraft. There’s differences in the interpretation of those rules and the way you show compliance against those rules but it’s always the same rule.”
Interior installation is largely done at the Boeing, Airbus or the manufacturer’s facility.
It’s different for a VIP transport aircraft. It comes out of Boeing or Airbus or wherever it is empty with no interior at all. It will be flown down to either Auckland or Christchurch where a complete interior is fitted by Altitude.
“But we still manage the entire design. We might do some of the manufacturing in New Zealand and overseas but all the installation of that interior is done here,” Baden said.
When manufacturing is done in New Zealand, it is often at the engineering facilities of Air New Zealand. Occasionally, Altitude subcontracts some parts to other manufacturers.
Altitude has virtually never used anything but composites for primary structural components.
“We might use metallic materials from time to time like aluminium but largely they’re just for fittings, attachments and things that you need to machine or makes more sense to machine because of the way it’s going to be attached to the aircraft or something else is going to be attached to it,” Baden said.
Interior composite structures are sandwich-constructed to maximise local bending stiffness. The external skins are made of fibreglass reinforced composite and a phenolic honeycomb makes the core. In some specific circumstances the core may be replaced with aluminium honeycomb. In some very unusual situations carbon fibre skins with a honeycomb core is used.
The combination of phenolic honeycomb and fibreglass or carbon fibre meet flammability requirements.
“The fibre materials and the resin systems that we use tend to be very limited because of the flammability criteria,” Baden said.
“We’d use carbon fibre when we’re really at the limits of the strength that the material needs to carry. We try not to use it because fibreglass tends to suit us in most situations as it’s a relatively cost-effective material. Fibreglass is strong and stiff but also quite tough. With carbon fibre, you start to have to worry about things like galvanic cell corrosion if you’re using it close to any metallic material,” Baden said.
Carbon fibre will not corrode but it may create a situation which encourages corrosion in metallic materials, and of course, in an aircraft metallic materials are everywhere. With fibreglass that doesn’t happen.
While Kevlar may be used in different parts of the exterior of the aircraft, Altitude hardly ever uses it in interior components.
“Kevlar is a hygroscopic material. You don’t want to use it on the interior of the aircraft. You don’t want absorption of water into the material because it adds weight. It also creates health and safety issues.
As a provider of a very niche product for the international market, Baden said the future of composites is “very rosy”.
“The activity that we’re doing at the moment and the types of work that we’re doing with composites have a very strong application internationally and we expect that to continue.
“Right now, we’re working on programmes where one airline has a fleet of five aircraft, another has a fleet of seven, and another has 20 aircraft, and again another has 62.
“For us it’s not necessarily a volume game, it’s about how many different programmes we can be on because that’s where we really add value as a design and engineering company.”
Altitude has a mixture of 65 designers and engineers.
“Like any good designer or engineer you have to consider a good range of factors. Certainly you have to make sure that your design complies with the rules and meets certain regulatory standards like crash load considerations. They have to account for forward load under emergency landing considerations. There are certain flight loads that need to be considered both up, down and side loads that need to be considered if you’re experiencing turbulence for example.
“A flammability criterion needs to be considered, making sure that you’re not using a build up of material that is ultimately going to produce a product that doesn’t pass the flammability test.
“Abuse loads, passengers and flight crew/attendants walking through the aircraft, leaning or swinging on doors. In some situations it could be having to allow for a thousand pounds of load on a door because that’s the sort of abuse load criteria that you’re likely to see.
“Those are just quantitative criteria. Then there are the qualitative criteria as well like having to consider manufacturing methods and constraints and aesthetics.”
One of the biggest areas of value in the aircraft interiors market is the use of monocoque construction.
It does not have a whole lot of joints and no separate pieces of composite joined together with aluminium extrusions. It’s a single piece structure with load bearing capability.
“That’s where we’re a little bit different compared to some of our competitors internationally. They will build up a lot of their interiors from flat panel composites and then join them together with aluminium edge extrusions, just bolt them together.
“What we try to do, if the situation allows, is to try to have single piece construction.
“There’s a whole bunch of Boeing 777s flying around with all of the closets in the business class section designed by us. I know that sounds simple, just closets, but if you build a closet in a standard way, it will weigh a certain amount. The way that we design and have them built gives us anywhere between 20 and 30 percent reduction in weight.
“That’s the sort of thing that you could do with composites that you couldn’t do with metallic materials.”

For more information:
Altitude Aerospace Interiors
Baden Smith
Tel: 09 2558909
Email: 021 713209
Visit: www.altitude-ai.com

Tell me it can’t be done – and we’ll do it

By Les Watkins

A thin trail of flour across the floor of a supermarket, together with patches of it on customers’ shoes and supermarket checkout counters showed there was clearly a problem. It was a problem which would be impossible to resolve. At least, that’s what international experts told Aurora Process Equipment director Mike Goddin.
“But impossible is a word we don’t like,” he says. “In fact, we hardly understand what it means.”
Mr Goddin’s typical Kiwi can-do attitude explains why he claims with confidence that his Hamilton-based company does more than sell essential equipment to the fluid processing and materials handling sectors.
“No, it goes far beyond that,” he says. “We are selling efficient solutions.”
Solutions, for example, to that persistent trouble with the flour.
It stemmed from the manufacturer wanting a totally new type of user-friendly packaging, which could be filled through the top but still retain the plastic carry handles.
“At that time no satisfactory way had been found to seal the bottom valve after the filling the bag and so the flour kept dribbling out,” says Mr Goddin.
“A leading American firm which we represented here told us there was no way this could be satisfactorily fixed and that, of course, was a challenge we couldn’t resist”
Mr Goddin and his team designed a new type of bag which could be filled at the top, where the handles were to be fitted, and the leaking flour became history.
“We have a team of design and installation engineers who, in addition to providing exactly what customers request, are qualified to give the best advice,” he says.
“What sort of bagging plant do they really need?
“How exactly do they plan to use it?
“How much do they want to invest?”
“We can cover everything from a basic manual system at very low cost to something highly automated – and make sure customers get the right equipment without spending a cent more than is necessary. We feel that we haven’t done our job if we and our customers are not completely happy.”
That was the pattern his father set when he started the company in 1995 and it has helped attract clients throughout New Zealand and Australia as well as the Pacific Islands.
The many top-quality lines offered by Aurora includes the comprehensive range of Galaxy bagging equipment for handling all aspects of the operation, such as open-mouth and valve bag filling, bag closing and bulk bag-loading and unloading.
Others of particular importance for process industry – which can save immense sums from being wasted and reputations from being sullied – are Aurora Magnetic Separators.
Huge costs have been incurred by companies around the world, including New Zealand, from product recalls from metallic contamination.
“Here we can be talking of costs well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” says Mr Goddin.
“Apart from the most obvious ones, such those incurred in the return and disposal of contaminated product, a major recall can severely damage a brand’s reputation and consumer confidence. “
And there are so many potential causes.
“Flour, for instance, is extremely vulnerable – starting from when the wheat is harvested. Tiny fragments of broken metal or flakes of rust from the harvesting equipment can end up in the grain. These may then go into the silos and flour mills and eventually into the final product.
“And, what’s more, expensive equipment can be seriously damaged by a few pieces of rust to fine metallic particles getting into the equipment,” says Mr Goddin.
Aurora Magnetics reduce the risk by removing metal contaminants including work-hardened stainless steel and magnetic stone fragments.
However, the fight against contaminants needs to be continued after the flour has been cleansed by the separators.
Bread-makers and biscuit manufacturers, for example, also use metal equipment in their processes and so recontamination is a distinct possibility and highly risky at this stage – so close to the final products.
This can also be effectively tackled by Aurora Magnetics, especially the high quality MAGNATTACK range.
The range is suitable for viscous liquid lines as well as dry product lines. It offers sealed pipeline magnets for liquid and slurry units as well as grate and probe magnets for powder or granular products.
These are just a few of the quality products provided by Aurora.
“We understand the business of keeping your process running, we know it’s important to you and that makes it important to Aurora,” says Mr Goddin.

For more information:
Tel: 0800 55 77 33
Visit: www.aurora-nz.com

Nerves of steel as Culham continues to grow in style

by Romy Udanga

Culham Engineering has become one of the largest family-owned and operated businesses in the heavy engineering sector after its yearly turnover jumped from some $10 million to $15 million a decade ago to about $40 million today.
Steel fabricator Culham Engineering is looking to enter the Australian market and increase its capitalisation to sustain the growth momentum it has been experiencing over the last decade.
Shane Culham is managing director of the Whangarei-based steel fabricator. The company was established in 1958 by Dave Culham, Shane’s dad.
The company primarily services the construction, petro-chemical and marine/ship repair industries.
With a 12,000-square meter covered workshop and a 400-tonne capacity slipway to the Whangarei Harbour on its eight hectare site, Culham Engineering produces steel structures for buildings, bridges and structural support, pressure piping systems and storage tanks.
It also provides industrial coatings, hot zinc spray and shot blasting, heavy lifts and haulage services.
The company invested about $1.5 million a year ago to install Python X, a 6-axis CNC robotic plasma cutting machine that can flexibly fabricate structural steel. With the robotic system, production capacity increased by about 400 percent, Shane says.
“We can now produce up to 80 tonnes a day. This is the only robotic system of its kind in New Zealand. There’s another one in New South Wales and one in Western Australia.”
With the newly acquired production capacity, Shane is looking to grow the company even further by venturing into projects in Australia.
“We see that as key to our growth. With all the projects happening at the moment, there has to be capacity uptake. You look at the projects in Queensland and in the Northern Territory; they’re all multi-multi-billion dollar projects. I’m pretty sure New Zealand can get into some of the contracts.”
The company had earlier forays into the Australian market but Shane says the timing was not optimal.
“We’ve been to see some key people in eastern Australia and southern Australia. We’ve made some pretty good relationships over there. They are more aware of our presence now than they were before.”
Looking to the future, Shane says they have to think about the “next leap” in terms of management and company structure.
“Reinvesting in our business rather than ourselves would be critical,” he says. Part of the thinking is investing several millions more in robotic infrastructure for some of the “very significant” projects the company is working on.
The recapitalisation may be best managed by getting a minority partner from New Zealand or offshore, and opening up the board to external directors, Shane says.
“I would probably prefer someone who is interested in a means to an end, in terms of growing Culham Engineering, and interested in what it does and where it’s going.”
Shane recalls working in the company with only about 60 employees in the late 90’s. It now employs more than 160.
“We had the equivalent of 250 full-time employees in 2009/2010, which was the best year we’ve had in our 52-year history. The past year was not really good, coming out of the global recession, but we are starting to see a lift in the industry again.”
Shane says Culham Engineering, which is ISO 9001:2008 certified, “prides itself in continually improving its facilities and investing in new technology” to gain competitive advantage.
Because of the scale of the projects it undertakes, the company “tended to concentrate” its business on about a dozen of clients, which includes The New Zealand Refining Company and Fletcher Construction. Shane says they want to keep it that way but the challenge of growth “means being open to other markets.”
Culham Engineering supplied the façade structure and video stands for the upgraded Eden Park Stadium and is currently fabricating steel structures for construction projects at the AUT University and the Auckland Viaduct.

Success Tips
Challenge your processes, invest in technology
Shane says that while Culham Engineering continually invests in new technology, its latest foray into robotic equipment is a direct result of the company challenging its processes.
What started it off was the simple process of drilling holes, Shane says.
“We were in the structural market and we couldn’t compete just by the typical old methods of physically drilling them.”
The company came across the Python X system, which was a plasma system that thermal-cut, not mechanical-cut, holes.
But previous engineering work codes did not allow thermal cutting of holes, Shane said.
“Not because they weaken the structure, but because generally, when components don’t line up, workers would take out the gas and cut holes to join them. So we looked at the codes as well.”
After 18 months of “due diligence” they finally acquired the CNC robotic system, which significantly increased their production capacity.
“It’s more efficient, more accurate. And it’s got a manpower cost ratio of 30:1”.
The next process the company is looking into is its information system, Shane says.
“We are linking all our departments together – drawing, design, estimating, procurement, production. It’s one of those ‘eurekas’ of this game. We’re growing in numbers and there’s information all over the place. We need a system that will allow full modeling capability to support our equipment.”

Watch for dangers when scaling up
Business plans don’t necessarily turn out to be as planned, and this is especially true when scaling up or when growing a company, Shane says.
“Managing growth is just as difficult as growing the company, basically. And you’re continually doing rain checks on yourself.
“Don’t just punch above your weight. It’s very easy to get a mess of it if you don’t read what’s coming.”
He cites as an example the impact of increased capacity to their production flow after they installed their CNC robotic system in 2010. It raised production volume by 400 per cent to between 60 to 80 tonnes daily but at the same time it introduced an anomaly in their process.
“We also do shot blasting and painting. So while we have steel flying out of the workshop, we realised we created a bottleneck in the blasting and painting section.
“Now we are looking for a solution so we can blast and paint what we produce.
“At least it’s a good problem to have.”
Scaling up also changes the “cost of doing business” equation, Shane says.
“It may just be bureaucracy but the cost of doing business eats into your margin.
“When we were a smaller company, we had the basic compliance requirements and just got on and did our business.
“But now, we make a point of being ISO 9000 certified, tertiary certified for ACC, and so on. Doing business comes at a significant cost.
“So whenever your margin shrinks significantly, that means you’ve got to get smarter at what you’re doing and be more productive.”
Have a succession plan in place
Shane says a succession plan, especially in family-owned and run companies, is very important.
For a better part of half a century, Culham Engineering was managed by its founder and family patriarch, Dave Culham. Some 15 years ago, Dave put a succession plan in place that saw Shane at the company helm.
“I’m the only son, and I’ve got two sisters. When I was sixteen, Dad wanted me to serve my time and that is exactly what I did.”
Shane’s management transition was a gradual process, spanning 12 to 15 years. “There was no specific time frame. Dad and I still work together. He’s 80 now and he still sits on the board, but he comes to work less and less often.”
Now at 54, Shane is finding it “pretty hard” to run the $30 million company by himself.
“I have a son who’s in the same trade who wants to be involved. But like my father before me, I said, ‘You gotta earn your stripes first, mate,’ and that is what he is doing. He doesn’t work for me, he works in Auckland,” Shane says.
“I’ve got Rob Kirwan, the general manager here to help me. I’m too busy trying to do the top end of the business now. I have to start working on it rather than in it.”
He says the coming five years may see some “integrated management” or “some participation of independent directors”, especially if the company’s planned recapitalisation pushes through.
But a succession plan and a recapitalisation programme are not just a catalyst for further growth, Shane says.
“The recapitalisation may be best managed by getting a minority partner from New Zealand or offshore. I’d rather have someone with a more secure tenure and have buy-in. Money talks, but it’s not all of that, it’s about having relationships.”

For more information:
Culham Engineering
Shane Culham
Tel: 09 438 7145
Visit: www.culham.co.nz