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Shifting to the circular economy could release $4.5 trillion in new economic potential by 2030. The circular economy – an economic model focused on designing and manufacturing products, components and materials for reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling – promises big opportunities for the private sector to drive new and better growth and accelerate innovation. Shifting to the circular economy could release $4.5 trillion in new economic potential by 2030, according to Accenture. But how do we take that vision of a circular economy – which imagines a world without waste – and translate that into profitable and scalable action? Let’s look at how companies are translating their circular economy aspirations into action – and how that in turn drives greater resource productivity improvements, eliminates waste and inefficiency, and contributes to a stronger and more competitive economy. Aramark: Reducing food waste Food services provider Aramark has set a goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030 from its 2015 baseline, such as by setting standards for ordering, receiving, preparing, serving and tracking food production. Through its partnership with food waste reduction experts LeanPath, Aramark is accelerating its waste prevention and minimisation efforts by integrating LeanPath’s tracking and analytics technology platform into its largest 500 accounts. Since 2016, Aramark has rolled out LeanPath’s platform across 161 sites, slashing its food waste on average by 44% and reducing the amount sent to landfill by 479 tonnes. In instances of overproduction, Aramark donates unserved food to local food relief agencies or for composting. Eileen Fisher: The path to 100% circularity Eileen Fisher take-back programme, in which employees and customers can bring back unwanted Eileen Fisher clothing for $5 store credit per piece, started in 2009 under the name Green Eileen. Funds raised from the programme are donated to organizations that support women, girls, and the […]

Mark Cooper is a person who gets on with things. Mark was a shepherd and began coming up with ways which would allow him to still use a ute. He needed a hoist to get his electric wheelchair into the restricted space in the back, but could find nothing available which met his needs, so he made his own device. He designed and built a large arm which lifts his chair neatly into the back cabin, just above where the sheepdogs fit. Mark faced another issue with the ute, however. He needed to be able to easily access the vehicle cab when he left his chair, but most off-the-shelf solutions required extensive modifications to the ute, which he wanted to avoid. With the help of an engineering firm in Nelson, he solved that problem too. He came up with another design utilising a support platform which fits into the seat frame, allowing him to get in and out of the driver’s seat. But he didn’t stop at the ute. Mark has designed a wheelchair hoist for his jetboat too. With no engineering background he has gone through a process of trial and error, with some help from the professionals. Mark is hoping to move into a rural valuation, rural banking or consultancy role when he finishes his studies, though his hoists suggest a future in design. He is doing engineering as part of his degree, but has no special projects lined up, and does not see any commercial potential in the things he has made so far. They were all made to meet specific needs. However, if those needs change, or he has new ones and can’t find anything that meets them, who knows what else he might come up with?

Employee communications software company SnapComms (www.snapcomms.com) has launched a new feature designed for emergency situations in the workplace. SnapComms Panic Button enables first-at-the-scene employees to send a pre-configured emergency alert straight to the mobile phones and desktops of colleagues, as well as large display screens in communal areas. The Panic Button emergency alert overrides all other applications in use at the time. It displays fully across a screen’s real estate, greatly increasing the chance of employees immediately seeing the alert at a time when every second counts. For additional impact, the emergency alert can include an audio notification. Customer demand led to SnapComms developing Panic Button, explains Sarah Perry, CEO, SnapComms. She says: “Organisations are increasingly conscious of their responsibilities to staff in emergency situations. They need to minimise the risk, should the worst happen. “In response, we’ve created a high-impact notification tool that’s exceptionally quick and easy to trigger. It saves valuable minutes during a time of extreme stress.”  An important feature of SnapComms Panic Button is real-time reporting. This provides critical metrics such as delivery and receipt of emergency alerts, highlighting which staff have (and have not) seen the message. Panic Button also eliminates a time-wasting step that most other emergency notification systems still insist upon: the official internal publishing process. In other words, first-at-the-scene staff are empowered to broadcast a pre-configured alert without delay – and without having to waste time trying to track down the person who normally publishes internal communications content. Use-case scenarios include: a severe weather warning; a wide-scale medical emergency; a suspected terrorist threat; an active shooter on site; a natural disaster; a fire; or any other time of duress. The emergency alerts can be sent to targeted staff within 60 seconds (this is the standard setting, subject to network connectivity and third […]

As products age and give way to new technologies, the need arises to proactively plan and manage the transition from existing equipment to leading-edge products and technologies. Automation components, software and systems represent major capital investments that are instrumental to the success of industrial operations. In the face of rapidly changing markets and technologies, the industrial enterprise must keep step to remain competitive. Today’s contemporary automation systems offer unprecedented advancements in performance, flexibility, and security, with the potential to provide a competitive edge. Technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, accelerated by the emergence of the Industrial Internet of Things and advances in enabling technologies, including data analytics, remote monitoring and mobility. Rockwell Automation continues to incorporate these latest technologies in control and automation platforms and although the PLC-5 programmable logic controller has been a valuable part of their portfolio for more than 30 years, no technology can last forever. Modern control systems provide a higher level of integration, driving improved asset utilisation, increased system flexibility and easy access to information. The high performance, Rockwell Automation ControlLogix platform delivers the capabilities to converge production disciplines (discrete, motion, process and safety), including extreme environments and high availability applications, into an integrated plant-wide architecture enabling a connected enterprise. Information shared between Information Technology (IT) and Operations Technology (OT) across a secure network enables: ·         Greater production visibility, for quicker response to customer demand ·         Higher profit margins through improved inventory management, cycle times and quality control ·         Improved capacity and asset utilization, leading to greater Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) ·         Regulatory compliance and reduced exposure to security risks Migrating to the ControlLogix family of programmable automation controllers (PAC) provides the platform to leverage advancements in technology, including improved access to information, more informed business decisions, faster performance for more throughput and […]