INSPIRED BY KIWI INNOVATION
Wellington Drive Technologies is doing its part to reduce greenhouse emissions worldwide through innovative new energy management systems.
Sales of electric vehicles are on the increase and the electric motors that power these vehicles can run for years with little attention. Electric motors have been used in commercial refrigeration and cooling systems for decades, and today these systems are the world’s largest single consumer of electrical power. It means that worldwide, hundred’s of thousands of old refrigeration systems keep running - still providing cooling, but operating very inefficiently. It has been suggested that the single most effective action to fight climate change is widespread smart refrigerant management. Rising energy prices, concern over greenhouse emissions and government regulations bring challenges, and new government incentives are expected to fuel strong growth of energy-efficient cooling management systems. Albany based Wellington Drive Technologies is a leading global provider of energy-efficient electronic motors and refrigeration control solutions for commercial refrigeration. With a global footprint, Wellington Drive serves some of the world’s leading food and beverage brands and refrigerator manufacturers, with products and solutions that reduce energy consumption and improve product sales. Whilst electrical motors still remain as an integral part of Wellington Drive’s business, it is no longer simply a motor company. Wellington Drive are developing and acquiring technologies that help food and beverage brands better manage their point of sale equipment (including coolers) and help them grow their sales by enabling direct connection with the consumer. Through proprietary smart refrigeration controllers and management software, customers move into the Internet of Things (IoT) where there is increased opportunity to add value, create higher energy savings and bank government power saving incentives. Wellington Drive has always valued research and innovation. Since beginning in 1986 as a patent licensing organization it has retained a strong culture of innovation. CEO, Greg Allen explains, “Our priority is our customer; we take customer innovation, continuous improvement and service excellence seriously. It is also the foundation of our future growth.” Wellington Drive is headquartered in the Grow North Innovation District from where it manages supply chain, logistics and R&D. It is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. Wellington Drive Technologies For more information on how to feature your business here, please contact Kel Marsh, kel@grownorth.co.nz
3 Comments
Designing ‘eyes’ for electronic products puts Teknique at the forefront of a new global industry.7/8/2018 Technology is increasingly helpful, however technology limitations constantly remind us that it never fully understands what we want to achieve. That's going to change.
Technology can’t predict what we want to do until it can learn, and it learns when it can ‘see’ what’s happening. An image contains thousands of pieces of information, a video millions – millions of clues about who the lens is looking at - their habits, what’s going right and what’s going wrong, even picking up people’s moods. Giving technology ‘sight’ is enabling a new level of benefits without the user continually giving instructions. Example: Not long ago car-reversing cameras were novel, then multiple car cameras began making highway driving a lot safer - and now cars that can ‘see’ can find their way to a destination and park with one push of a button. Our world is evolving into one where smart appliances, intelligent personal assistants and automated vehicles will remember our preferences, make smart decisions and become a lot more intuitive to use. This could mean 45 billion connected cameras in use in five years and this provides a big opportunity for Albany based Teknique which is already a leader in this field. Teknique creates better ways to view, interpret and understand the world by integrating smart camera platform technology into electronic products. Teknique’s team of designers, thinkers, engineers and prototypers are dedicated to intelligent product development that creates better ways to view, interpret, understand and interact with what’s going on in the world. Since he founded Albany-based Teknique with his brother 14 years ago, Teknique CEO Ben Bodley and his team has grown Teknique to the point where over 95 per cent of their customers are offshore primarily in the United States, and Teknique recently celebrated an annual growth rate of 607% ranking 8th in the Deloitte Fast50. Talk to the Teknique team and they say what they enjoy most is seeing their technology in some of the worlds most successful commercial and consumer products. Being able to say “Hey I was part of that” gives the team the motivation to continue breaking new ground and inventing what the world hasn’t seen yet. “There is no limit to how cameras, computer vision, and AI are going to change user experience across the world” says Bodley. www.teknique.com For more information on how to feature your business here, please contact Kel Marsh, kel@grownorth.co.nz When there is a power outage in remote areas it can take hours for technicians to travel, find and fix the problem. Technicians often have to return to base to pick up gear or send a second technician.
Transpower New Zealand has 174 substations nationwide and 25 of those are in remote locations. On average, a Transpower technician travels 90 minutes to reach a remote site. Transpower and Massey University have been working together on a built-for-purpose robot that can quickly diagnose remote substation problems. The project began as a final year student ‘capstone’ project at Massey’s School of Engineering in Albany. Robotics student engineers worked under Professor Johan Potgieter and with Transpower’s Mark Ryallto come up with two robots they have named Wall-E and Eve. The robots feature a hydraulic neck and wheels that allow them to travel both inside and outside substations to observe the state of vital power equipment. They can be remotely controlled by a Transpower operator or engineer anywhere in New Zealand using a modified Xbox 360 controller or a laptop, says Transpower's Mark Ryall. These robots have the potential to be our eyes on the ground.” Transpower and Massey have recently begun a four-week trial at their Albany substation in the Grow North Innovation District. The trial will see the robots put through their paces to test their capabilities, then all going well the robots will then live in charging sheds at some of Transpower's most remote substations. Manapouri is one of the first sites Transpower have in mind given its significance to the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter and it can take a technician six hours to organise a boat trip across the to the site. Looking towards the future, Transpower and Massey can see potential for these robots to learn and carry out other tasks such as making regular inspections around each site to identify the progression of terrain erosion. Robots like Wall-E and Eve don’t replace employees, instead they enable Transpower’s people to solve problems quickly and restore power a lot faster to their customers across the country. Massey School of Engineering For more information on how to feature your business here, please contact Kel Marsh, kel@grownorth.co.nz Walk into any shared-work space building in any modern city and you’ll find yourself in a high-energy environment as entrepreneurs go about commercialising their business start-ups.
In New Zealand shared-work space tenants are likely to be ambitious technology enterprises with export aspirations. Even small amounts of success can see staff numbers grow, requiring more desks and space. Moving is expensive and disrupts businesses so fixed-space fixed-term rental contracts bring challenges that entrepreneurs would rather avoid. What makes much better sense is a flexible environment that allows businesses to evolve and grow in one location without disruption. Research shows that co-located businesses become more goal-focused when they rub shoulders with similar businesses. When owners hear the lessons learned from others who are ahead of them, it helps keep them on-track and focused, speeding up their journey which helps reduce business risk. The B:HIVE is a purpose-built ecosystem that actively encourages the cross-pollination of ideas and collaboration with complimentary fast-growing pioneering businesses. Inspired by an altruistic vision for a human-centered work environment, B:HIVE developers visited many of the world’s successful innovation districts before developing a vision for a building that stimulates innovation, delivers the benefits of co-locating, and also incorporates many latest technologies that create a very healthy and productive place to work. Award winning architects BVN and Jasmax, together with builders Leighs Construction have created a new sort of building within which to innovate and productively build businesses and the occupation rates at the B:HIVE and feedback from tenants would suggest that they were right. While it’s still possible to work within an exclusive business environment, the co-working premises are tenanted by business people keen to explore the synergies of working alongside others. Companies aren’t locked in to traditional leasing arrangements. The rental includes fit-out, furniture, power, high-speed internet, cleaning, security, a concierge service, kitchen and the use of any of the shared meeting spaces on any of the floors. Home to more than 1,000 people the B:HIVE is NZ’s largest co-working space. It offers unparalleled flexibility for tenants with the adjustable partitioning systems developed specifically for the B:HIVE allowing space to expand or contract based on business ‘flex’ creating a building that keeps adapting to future demands. By the end of 2018 5,000 employees will work on Smales Farm. This will make Smales Farm a critical mass business centre and a hub of innovation at the heart of the Grow North Innovation District, able to positively impact the future New Zealand economy. The B:HIVE For more information on how to feature your business here, please contact Kel Marsh, kel@grownorth.co.nz |
AuthorsGrow North articles are written by CEOs that call the Grow North Innovation District home. Edited by Kel Marsh. A free service. See more Innovative Kiwi stories
March 2019
For more information about the Grow North Innovation District or feature your business here
kel@grownorth.co.nz FREE for pioneering businesses. The fastest way to grow a business is to learn from others who think like you, who are successfully making the journey ahead of you |
Home |
About |
Menu |
Contact |
Copyright © 2017