Index Engineering December 2022 Newsletter

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DECEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

We would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and refreshing holiday.
We will be closed for business for 3 weeks, from noon on Friday, 23rd December through to Sunday 15 January 2023.

Tompkins Wake 2022 Business Awards

We feel really honoured to have been named "Employer of the Year" at the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce Business Awards event this year.

At Index Engineering, people are at the heart of what we do, and we are thrilled that we have been able to attract and retain exceptional people due to our workplace practices, values and culture. We are super proud of our amazing team!

Index Engineering was also a finalist in the categories of Professional Services and Kaitiakitanga Environmental Sustainability & Climate Change.

- - INDUSTRY NEWS - -

ENGINEER REGISTRATION

In our last newsletter, we discussed how MBIE had announced that it was progressing a new regulatory regime for professional engineers and would be undergoing a period of consultation.

Engineering NZ held discussion sessions with engineers in May and June on this, and then made a submission to MBIE. The fundamental points of the Engineering NZ submission were:

support of the occupational regulation of engineers, as it is good for the profession and the public
support of the widespread, mandatory registration of engineers and allied professions
support of licensing being introduced
support of a new regulatory system, where the Regulator (Board) is accountable to a Minister and has the power to delegate regulatory functions to a service provider. Engineering NZ welcomes MBIE's suggestion that the regulatory service provider be Engineering NZ.

MBIE's consultation period closed on Friday 25 June. It is anticipated that legislation will be introduced to Parliament in early 2023, but that after the legislation is passed, it may be up to six years before the new regime is fully implemented.

REVISED NATIONAL SEISMIC HAZARD MODEL

On 4th October 2022, GNS Science, MBIE and Toka Tu Ake EQC released a revised national seismic hazard model.

No changes to regulatory settings have been made as a result of the model's release, however Engineering New Zealand and its technical societies are working with MBIE to understand how this new information may be applied. The model provides much deeper scientific knowledge about the shaking hazard presented by earthquakes in New Zealand.

- - NEWS FROM OUR PEOPLE - -

Staffing Changes

We said goodbye to Lynn, and welcomed our new CAD Draftsperson, Stephan Nell.

Stephan has a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering and has worked with machinery for a number of years. Stephan was introduced to Solidworks two years ago and has quickly settled in as a part of our team.

We wish the best to our former Lead Engineer Hadi Shirgir, who left in November to take up a new position in New Plymouth. Tom is the new Team Lead.

Social Events

In October, Holly organised a session for the team at the Cambridge Velodrome. It was great fun, and was well attended. (see top photo)

And in September, Mark, Pierre, Laurence, Tom and Josh got together an Index team to enter the Tough Guy and Gal challenge!

- - RECENT JOBS - -

Oji Kinleith PM6 primary arms are at end of life and the original drawings do not exist. Index Engineering was engaged to reverse engineer the PM6 primary arms and develop fabrication drawings so the pope reel assembly could continue to be used without a full replacement.
Index completed 3D scanning of the lower quadrants and top boxes in Holster Engineering's workshop, processed the point cloud data, developed a 3D assembly, and then supported Oji through fabrication and commissioning of the lower quadrant replacement. Holster Engineering manufactured and finish machined the equipment.

Index completed a complex FEA of a cement tanker for Fabrication and Pipe Services* to ensure compliance with ACOP Appendix J for Transportable Vessels. The FEA took into account the relevant G-forces generated by road conditions.

*Fabrication and Pipe Services Ltd is a renowned engineering company in the Waikato for Pressure Vessel manufacturing.
http://www.pipeweld.co.nz

We provide tank compliance inspections for the storage of hazardous materials aligned with the Hazardous Substances Regulations. On a recent job for Juken NZ Ltd, we completed tank inspections, measurements, shell and nozzle thickness testing and checking of secondary containment volumes. Seismic calculations will be completed on the tanks to obtain minimum wall thicknesses required to sustain both the hydrostatic and seismic loading conditions.

- - OTHER NEWS - -

Ingrid and Tom were pleased to attend the September ACE New Zealand conference. This was a great opportunity to take time out to listen to some interesting speakers, as well as to network with other consulting engineers and business owners.

In October, Eham and Tom attended the MESNZ National Maintenance Engineering Society NZ conference and in December, Nicky will be attending the APPITA 2022 conference.

We are pleased to support the Rotorua Mountain Bike First Response Unit (FRU) as one of our Pledge 1% donation recipients. This Unit provides a crucial service to bikers in our Whakarewarewa forest. For the twelve month period to 30th June 2022, the FRU responded to 226 patients, with the majority of these being from Rotorua but many also from throughout the North Island.

Injuries ranged from straight forward pain relief or assessment (28% of the time), to wound dressing and cleaning (36% of the time), to splints and slings being applied (21% of the time), to ambulances being called to extract the patient to hospital (15% of the time).

We would like to do a Shout-Out to the team at IANZ, who celebrate their golden jubilee this year.

IANZ was established as a result of the Testing Laboratory Registration Act in 1972 (TeLaRC). Around 1997, Telarc New Zealand split into Telarc and IANZ and around 1996, the inspection body programme was created, led by Programme Manager John Wydenbach, a position that was later handed over to Geoff Hallam who is still with IANZ today.

For an interesting write-up on the history of IANZ, check out:
http://https://www.ianz.govt.nz/news/ianz-golden-jubilee-history-through-the-eyes-of-our-employees/https/www.ianz.govt.nz/news/ianz-golden-jubilee-history-through-the-eyes-of-our-employees

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense."
—Thomas Edison

A reminder: We will be closed for business for 3 weeks from Christmas Eve, reopening on Monday 16th January 2023.

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