Robotic arm lifting products per head

In its policy of continuous improvement Pacific Helmets is looking to automate production on two fronts - as well as developing new products.
"We've got a whole lot of balls in the air at the same time," general manager John Matheson said.
Automation was the key to keeping manufacturing in New Zealand, he said. It could mean job losses but not in this case - Pacific Helmets may need to take on more.
The Wanganui factory is looking to a "robot arm" to make its helmet shells, and it wants to find a new method of painting them. Ultimately both could be done as a single step.
The company bought a robotic arm in 2008. It then had to extend its building to accommodate the large machine. After many trials the arm finally sprayed fibreglass on to a helmet-shaped mould for the first time this month.
That could soon become a standard part of the helmet-making process, Mr Matheson said.
The company is also working towards automating the painting of the helmets, because hand painting creates a bottleneck in production.
For two years Pacific Helmets has had a partnership with Industrial Research to streamline the painting. The Government is paying half the cost of coming up with a solution, in a technology transfer arrangement organised by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
So far the partners have searched the world for a solution, at a cost of $12,000, without finding anything they can use. The second stage was to verify the concept, and that cost $60,000 altogether.
The next stage, just beginning, will be to build something that works in a laboratory. That will cost $140,000. After that the solution will have to be installed in the factory.
At the same time as production is improved the company has several helmet innovations in the pipeline, marketing manager Grant Bennett said.
One is a new European-style full-face helmet. It has an eye protector that releases at a touch and an injection-moulded face shield that is made in China to the company's design.
Two new water rescue helmets will also be launched - a high-speed one developed for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute in the United Kingdom and a low-speed one for kayakers.
A new urban search and rescue helmet is also in the offing.
Three research and development people worked full-time on new models and models customised for clients, Mr Bennett said.
"Part of our strength is constant development and constant new models."
And just to keep things even more dynamic, the business is embarked on the Lean Manufacturing journey.
Mr Matheson introduced the concept in 2008. He said it was about following workers' suggestions to increase efficiency and eliminate waste.
"My philosophy is that the role of management and engineers is to provide an environment where employees can perform to their best ability."
The idea was to step up the aspects that added value, and do away with aspects that didn't.
Production had increased, Mr Matheson said, using the same number of people and the same resources.
Pacific Helmets was a family business, and the family were determined to keep it in Wanganui and keep it growing. It has about 55 staff and makes 75,000 helmets a year, with 90 per cent of them for export to more than 60 countries.