We have a Welding 4.0 research project running on data collection and analysis to assist us in developing our Welding 4.0 capabilities.

In this research we’re exploring the development of a Welding 4.0 readiness assessment tool for our New Zealand metals industry, and will also be supervising several undergraduate students working with us to develop a Welding 4.0 roadmap and design of a testbed for smart welding.

We’ll also be looking to facilitate a technology management course which explores the future of welding inspection.

 

Interested to know more?

Contact our General Manager Welding Centre, Michail Karpenko to discuss further.

The logical starting point to bring our industry on a journey and capture the imagination of the construction sector more generally when it comes to Construction 4.0 was to quantify the value of doing so.

Accordingly, HERA has undertaken two desk top reviews.

The first was via Intern Hayley Ngo who complete a literature review which investigated the state-of-the-art of Construction 4.0 globally and here in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The second, was via the commissioning of BERL to determine the economic contribution that increased adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies would have to the New Zealand economy. This has resulted in the release of HERA Report R5-91.

Both reports will inform future research – as it is obvious that Construction 4.0 is not a term commonly understood or defined and which globally is still in the nascent stages in terms of research and adoption.

More recently BERL modelled the potential impacts of Construction 4.0 in New Zealand in HERA Report R5-92 which shows adoption of construction 4.0 is worth $8 billion to GDP and will have significant benefits to wages and the construction industry more specifically.

We’re currently investigating how Construction 4.0 could benefit from an interface with Mātauranga Māori. This is because the unique epistemology of Mātauranga Māori holds value that is not widely represented in many of the physical, applied and practical sciences within New Zealand.

It makes sense to understand this, given over 19,000 Māori are working in the sector, with construction being the fourth largest employer of Māori following manufacturing, health care and social service, education and training. In addition to this, around one in five Māori who are self-employed work in the construction sector.

Leading this work is University of Auckland student, John Cole, through an internship funded by HERA. John is currently studying Engineering and Law.

John’s investigations are being supervised by Mahonri Owen, Kaihautu- Te Urunga Pae, with Pūhoro STEM Academy. John will also be supported by the wider Kaihautu team at Pūhoro.

As far as we are aware, this is the first time the interface between Mātauranga Māori and Construction 4.0 has been investigated. This will lead to some valuable insights and recommendations for future work. We are also really hoping that this will lead to a bilingual publication of the research results and break ground for more meaningful engagement with Māori in Engineering.

You can find out more in our Stirring the Pot podcast:

HERA is taking Industry 4.0 very seriously. As such, we have invested in the creation of the Fab4.0Lab facilities, New Zealand’s first Fabrication 4.0 Laboratory.

Our Fab4.0Lab is home to state-of-the art technology solutions and training facilities and is focused on assisting our industry in the digital uptake of smart technologies into their fabrication deliverables.

 

Interested to know more?

Contact our Automation and Welding 4.0 Engineer, Holger Heinzel or our General Manager Welding Centre, Michail Karpenko to discuss further.

Change across all facets of our member businesses is no longer the exception – but the norm. And, here at HERA we’ve recognised the need to give our members the room to experiment, develop, and ultimately grow as this fourth industrial revolution plays out.

Our Innovation Centre will be a mix of technological, people and systems innovations. And, it’ll play a key role in building, educating and informing our sustainable future and facilitating technology transfer.

Our Board has recently approved the re-invigoration of creating this Innovation Centre (to be built by the HERA Foundation), which was put on hold due to Covid-19 financial uncertainty. This Centre will see HERA expand its Monitoring 4.0 and Design 4.0 capabilities.

 

Interested to know more?

Contact our Innovation and Transformation Architect, Greg Buckley to discuss further!

Spot welding of car bodies was the first welding operation performed by automated robots in a production scenario, since then, robots have become commonplace. In heavy fabrication this has not been so straight forward. Products differ all of the time and the welds can be quite large. The critical factor is the time and skill it takes to program a robot to the accuracy required to achieve a good quality weld.

Recent development in robot technology have much simplified the programming process. Robots equipped with sensors can adjust the programming when parts are out of position and when weld seems move during welding. Programming, at the same time, has moved away from the traditional step-by step approach using teach pendants. It is now carried out much faster and automated via computers or alternatively using co–operative robotics (cobots).

One of our Fabrication 4.0 activities is to explore uptake of robotic welding via a partnership with Verbotics. We’ll be tracking selected member companies who have access to a one year licence of a Verbotics Weld software package. We’ll use this case study to evaluate the software, and understand how faster robotic programming of existing robots in their production environment impacts their deliverables.

 

Interested to know more?

Contact our Automation and Welding 4.0 Engineer, Holger Heinzel or our General Manager Welding Centre, Michail Karpenko to discuss further.

 

You might also find our Stirring the Pot podcast helpful also:

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 better integrated decision-making tools, requiring the complex data analysis capabilities offered by Industry 4.0.

While Industry 4.0 is starting to gain momentum in manufacturing, it has not been widely explored within construction. The challenge is that complex decisions are being made based on simple data inputs. The decision points in the process are done in linear silos with little inter-connection or data-derived decision support. The process is entrenched but far from optimised. For example, designers and specifiers don’t have adequate tools to optimise designs for ease of manufacture/fabrication, let alone the ability to resolve the conjoint considerations required to deliver design for sustainability, constructability, te ao Māori, resilience and affordability simultaneously. Such decisions require collection, connection and analysis of complex data sets.

This challenge requires an Industry 4.0 approach to solve these long-standing limitations and to revolutionise conventional construction.

In response, HERA put together an international team of global experts to seek funding to undertake the underpinning research needed to take advantage of the massive opportunity Industry 4.0 offers for Construction.

Our partners included the University of Auckland, Massey University, Pūhoro STEM Academy, University of Canterbury, Tufts University, University of Michigan, University of New Hampshire, and BRANZ.

Unfortunately we weren’t successful in gaining the competitive funding to support this work program, and are now exploring alternative funding avenues, and are still keen to hear from anyone interested in being engaged in this research program.

 

Interested to know more?

Contact our CEO, Troy Coyle; or Manager Structural Systems, Kaveh Andisheh to discuss further.