Microchip your employees —why not? (United States)

Received from Rob Hamlin
Fri, 4 Aug 2017 at 9:27 am

Ugh!! …if it doesn’t scare you it should do.

VIDEO: Employees at a Wisconsin firm got embedded with microchips pic.twitter.com/mQAEnZ619U

— azcentral (@azcentral) August 3, 2017

### ODT Online Thu, 3 Aug 2017
US company microchips workers
A Wisconsin vending machine company is offering its employees a chance to have a microchip implanted in their hands that they could use to buy snacks, log in to computers or use the copy machine. About 50 employees at Three Square Market have agreed to the optional implant of the chips, which are the approximate size and shape of a grain of rice, said Tony Danna, vice president of international sales at the River Falls-based company. The company, which employs 85, said it was the first in the United States to offer staff the technology which is similar to that used by contactless credit cards and chips used to identify pets. The implants made by Sweden’s BioHax International are part of a long-term test aimed to see if the radio-frequency identification chips could have broader commercial applications, Danna said.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Councillor don’t tell us, we know Dunedin industry and manufacturing is Tops

But Rachel Elder did need to inform Mr Mayor, since it’s he who opines that [singularly ???] “weightless” manufacturing will one day make Dunedin great.
A while back Mr Mayor lauded expansion at Speight’s, Emerson’s and Greggs ….but recently, dreadfully, when interviewed by John Campbell on RNZ Checkpoint, Mr Mayor had trouble remembering these and other multimillion-dollar manufacturing investments in the good people, raw products and knowhow of Dunedin City. As well, he slipped past the convenient fact that the deputy mayor is a director of Scott Technology Ltd, and his old flower Mr McLauchlan, advisor and confidant, is the company’s board chairman.

Notwithstanding, Ms Elder thought it necessary to set herself a free writing project, an op-ed to ‘tell’ Mr Mayor, as well as advertise her paid work skills. Yes, yes, we’re all for free speech and pumping political mileage; however, we are the converted and connected, we know just how great Dunedin manufacturing is and can be —if not for DCC.

It must be said, though, that Mr Mayor’s speech at the Cadbury protest in the Octagon last Saturday was a large complimentary step up from the fatal Checkpoint phone interview.

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“Messaging that it is too expensive to export from Dunedin and that we are too far away from markets and that manufacturing is best not done here does not support the many families and individuals who work in this sector.”
–Rachel (take that Dave Cull) Elder

### ODT Online Wed, 15 Mar 2017
We have skilled workers and can make it all here
By Rachel Elder
OPINION As an employment consultant and someone who advocates for a wide range of jobs in Dunedin, I am keen for Dunedin to be advertised nationwide as a place that is great for manufacturing and production as this will supply jobs to our skilled workers. The fact is Cadbury is owned by a multinational that has caused its demise. Manufacturing can be done here well and efficiently.
Read more

Comment published at ODT Online:

ej kerr Wed, 15/03/2017 – 7:59pm #
As a city councillor Ms Elder should be overtly aware that the Dunedin City Council-owned power distribution company Aurora Energy Ltd does not and cannot offer a safe and secure electricity supply network for businesses, manufacturers and other large power users (this aside from the now obvious inability to offer safe supply to residential users). The mayor and councillors are not listening and not communicating clearly on the state of Aurora’s burnt asset. Thankfully, the Otago Daily Times has filled that void with strong news reporting. At a cost of one billion dollars to repair and upgrade the existing lines and facilities – not counting the cost of new development work required in Central Otago and Lakes District to meet growth and increasing infrastructural demand – there will shortly be a very heavy impost landing on all local businesses via rates increases. Such an unpopular debating topic at the head-in-the-sand Dunedin City Council.

****

Truly fine examples of the sort of thing your grandmother and mother will tell you about Dunedin that Mr Mayor can’t:
. . . .

McMeeking Manufacturing, 123 Maclaggan St

Jaytee Baking Cups have been a household name since the 1930s, when the company was founded by a printing engineer James Thomas Williamson, hence the name Jaytee. Since acquiring the company in 1979, McMeeking Manufacturing has been the largest supplier of Baking Cups in New Zealand with exports to Australia and the Pacific Islands. Due to the dramatic increase in bakeries, cafes etc, the range of products – all manufactured in the Dunedin factory – has grown to fulfil customers requirements and follow the latest trends. Read more at https://www.jaytee.co.nz/

. . . .

### ODT Online Wed, 15 Mar 2017
Machine tool smart, versatile
By Simon Hartley
Farra Engineering’s latest $1.3 million machining kit not only has the capacity to work 24/7, but can text its progress to operators day and night. The DMG Mori “multi-pallet (work bench) horizontal machining centre”, supplied by a German-Japanese merged company, has been running for about a fortnight, at Farra Engineering, Dunedin, chief executive John Whitaker said. The DMG Mori could work on castings weighing just a few grams, on pieces weighing up to three tonnes, and castings up to 1.4cu m in size. “Being so productive, we’re going to the marketplace to fill the spare capacity,” Mr Whitaker said.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: jaytee.co.nz – jaytee baking cups

What local body elections ?

Ecologist appointed to Dunedin City Council
News via Art Festival aside at ODT

### ODT Online Tue, 11 Oct 2016
Won a painting, now for a wall
A new Dunedin resident has won a painting auction; now he just needs a wall to hang the artwork on. Aalbert Rebergen recently moved to Dunedin and his admiration for the work of local artist Frank Gordon prompted a visit to his exhibition at Gallery De Novo on Saturday. The gallery was about to close when he saw the Frank Gordon painting The City of Magic & Song but could not find a price tag. […] Mr Rebergen has moved to the city to take on a new role at the Dunedin City Council as an ecologist.
Read more

We’re probably long overdue to have an ecologist on council staff.
We hear good things about Mr Rebergen, who has been with ORC.

Ecologists are specialist scientists who survey ecosystems and assess the diversity, profusion and behaviour of the different organisms within them. Ecologists tend to work for government agencies, environmental trusts, conservation charities and research institutes.
Or indeed as private consultants.

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Another sort of ecology IS Dunedin City Council.
When the DCC doesn’t check leaks and drains in the hill suburbs – completely misses them despite ratepayer queries and concerns! But City Care to THE RESCUE (the company from Christchurch, best practice in hand) finds was it five burst water mains in less than a day within the same street area, where for YEARS DCC had not noticed a Cuckoo.

Infrastructure Services needs to gaze at its navel CLOSELY (another ecology!) —and Councillors, you need to check within your constituent areas for problems and complaints as well as DCC works not fully investigated and not done. (Councillors, stop desk hugging on those too generous stipends!)

Message to Residents and Ratepayers: DO NOT leave DCC alone

Void the leaks. Void the drainage problems of your surrounding subdivisions. Void the DCC desert that ‘serves’ us. Backfill DCC with people who know how to run infrastructure efficiently and who KNOW civil engineering for ratepayer benefit.

That is All.

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BUT THEN

Job Vacancy at Dunedin City Council

CHANGE DELIVERY MANAGER
[nope, not the sort of comprehensive change we lust for at DCC but integral]

The Change Delivery Manager is responsible for leading the development, maintenance and delivery of the council’s long term application development plan as well as overseeing the implementation …
Location: Dunedin Central | Job ID: 3086108 | Closing Date: 28 Oct 2016
http://dcc.recruitmenthub.co.nz/Vacancies/3086108/title/Change-Delivery-Manager

More:
[key words below: “supports the IT Strategy”]

Change Delivery Manager
Dunedin Central

Reference: 3086108

The Change Delivery Manager is responsible for leading the development, maintenance and delivery of the council’s long term application development plan as well as overseeing the implementation of new solutions and systems and application upgrades and enhancements.

Extensive experience in programme and project management and the ability to establish and maintain a professional, customer focused service delivery culture is a must. Leading a highly motivated team of 12, you will have proven experience providing leadership, guidance and mentoring to members of the team.

Success in this role means:
Delivering the agreed requirements of the programme/project to the appropriate level of quality, on time and within budget, in accordance with the programme plan.
Ensuring our business applications are current, and implemented in manner that supports the IT Strategy.
Setting and meeting the customer’s expectations
Ensuring compliance with Governance requirements.

We are ideally seeking the following skills and experience:
Proven programme and project management delivery background.
At least 4 years’ experience leading a team.
An appropriate tertiary qualification in ICT/Business and/or well-developed ICT skills to be able to understand the technical aspects of Change and Application governance and architecture.
A demonstrable broad and deep understanding of principals of change and a range of change techniques.
Ability to capture requirements from multiple sources and translate those into effective and high performing solutions.
Excellent customer and stakeholder engagement/communication skills.
Excellent understanding and application of project/programme management, Business Analysis and ITIL practices, tools and techniques.
If you have the skills and experience we are looking for and the drive to succeed, we welcome your application.

Applications Close: 28 Oct 2016

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: pixabay.com – nature

Mobile app goes viral: Animation Research Ltd #Dunedin

Tweet:
Dave Goosselink @kiwidaveg
America’s Cup mobile app created by Dunedin’s Animation Research goes viral – 3news.co.nz/Kiwi-Americas-…
12:41pm · 17 Sep 13 · Twitter for iPhone

Team Emirates New Zealand [3news.co.nz]

The official America’s Cup mobile app – produced by Dunedin company Animation Research Ltd (ARL) – is making waves around the world. The iPhone and iPad app has been downloaded almost 300,000 times and is the most downloaded free sports app in New Zealand this week. The app has hit the top 20 charts in the US and Australia and has been featured in iTunes stores worldwide.–3News

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Dunedin and the southern region’s business future

THE CLIMATE
(we’re sluggish, indebted and unproductive, working long hours for unremarkable results, there’s little or no ability to pay all our living expenses even if we can afford a mortgage — few Dunedin businesses are on the global map, very few of our citizens invest in ‘research and development’ or know what export truly involves — there is splendid isolation, no cohesion, and a striking absence of astute regional leadership)

—

Our economy is drifting in very dangerous shoals. The only plausible avenue to sustained growth will be export-led. The high value of the dollar precludes this. Unless we act now the painful process of rebalancing our economy will be forced upon us at some future stage. At that point the pain will be even greater.

### ODT Online Fri, 4 May 2012
Opinion
Boosting export sector only way out of malaise
By Peter Lyons
We are living in a world of zombie economies including our own. These economies are characterised by high debt levels, stagnant or shrinking economies and policies of austerity that offer no solution. Finance Minister Bill English is promising a budget of little hope. He offers austerity almost with relish. It fits his ideological bent towards smaller government. A further unexpected $1 billion budget shortfall precludes any positive spending initiatives. Meanwhile the governor of the Reserve Bank wrings his hands over the high New Zealand dollar which is shredding our export sector. He has maintained this ineffective stance for a number of years.

Positive economic management appears beyond the scope of our policy makers.

New Zealand has been in or on the verge of recession since 2007. Most of the Western world has followed a similar path.
Read more

****

LOCAL SENSELESSNESS
(where the ad hoc stadium spend has crippled the council, all the time missing the bigger outlook of how to serve the South Island’s contribution to export-led economic recovery — oh hey, the council’s junior bureaucrats and mayor say let’s play dress-ups with a few central city warehouses and six suburban amenity centres — the Dunedin City Council has to undergo major attitudinal and structural change)

—

Apart from the ongoing clusters, there has never seemed to be any straightforward strategy to push economic growth in the city or the region.

### ODT Online Sat, 5 May 2012
Planning for future of Dunedin Inc
By Dene Mackenzie
Dunedin’s economic development draft strategy will be released on Monday. For the first time, the document will be signed off by stakeholders representing diverse areas of the city. There are several things business editor Dene Mackenzie hopes will be included in the new 10-year plan. For about 25 years, Dunedin’s economic strategy has doddered along. Past plans have included Dunedin City Council officers travelling to visit large-scale manufacturing enterprises in a bid to persuade them to establish themselves within the city boundaries, through to catchy slogans and billboards at airports. During that time, the city has seen its large-scale manufacturing base shrink with the loss of thousands of jobs.

Reviews of city council funding strategies need to be undertaken and the strategy must be inclusive of the needs of the business community. It seems that, often, funding decisions are applied on an ad hoc basis, when better value could be extracted from ratepayer funds.

More than 90% of Dunedin businesses are said to have no intention of exporting in the future and the city captured only 2.5% of the country’s recent migrants. That must change for the city to grow and prosper.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC ‘money go round’ embedded

Comment by Phil
February 6, 2012 at 9:08 pm

Hopefully the new policy of doing away with the DCC “Money Go Round” game will apply throughout the entire organisation. The IT department charges each DCC employee $1,500 per month for the lease of a standard PC. That’s nearly $20k a year, for a standard office computer. Can you even buy a computer today for $20k?

Building Control charges DCC departments for processing internal building consents. Those departments in turn pay Building Control from ratepayer income.

City Property charges other DCC departments for work in preparing leases and the buying or selling of property on behalf.

Citifleet bills each department every month for the use of their vehicles.

The staff involved in looking after Community Housing (there’s about 6 in total, including maintenance staff) are funded entirely by rental revenue gathered from the city’s pensioners. The level of costs determines the cost of the rent. Remember the $20k annual charge per PC from the IT department and the charging for bathroom renovation building consents from Building Control ?

The Civic Centre building is rented by the DCC, to DCC departments, at standard CBD rental rates. Where does the money for that rental profit come from ?

The list goes on.

[ends]

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Related Post and Comments:
14.12.11 Davies “in the middle of a conversation” – how to fudge DVML, DCC, ORFU and Highlanders

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Idealog: R&D and innovation

“Kids are missing out in New Zealand because there’s no connect between the education system and a vision for where we’re going to grow our economy.” -Sir Paul Callaghan

### idealog.co.nz 18 October 2011 at 3:36 pm
Let’s end the flip-flopping on R&D
By Sarah Robson
What do Rakon, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Tait Electronics, Gallagher Group and Weta Digital have in common? Aside from being successful and enjoying a high profile in business, they’re also the benefactors of the government’s first round of technology development grants, announced late last year. (A second round was awarded in August, with recipients including accounting startup darling Xero.) National pulled no punches in scrapping the Labour government’s all-encompassing R&D tax credit in favour of a targeted, grant-based approach. It’s not a given – businesses have to apply for a slice of the funding pie along with every other man and his dog, and there are no guarantees. But it’s time for government to stop flip-flopping on the issue. Cuts to government spending aren’t going to lift New Zealand out of the economic doldrums. Investment in R&D just might.

Prominent scientist and New Zealander of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan believes New Zealand needs to diversify its economy if its goal is to expand GDP per capita, and start selling ‘brain content’. That means you’re selling products where the manufacturing costs aren’t the main costs of the products – it’s the R&D content.

Read more

Related Posts and Comments:
24.9.11 Idealog: Paul Callaghan’s business plan for New Zealand
21.9.11 John Montgomery: The Economy, Culture and Design of Cities
23.6.11 Kathryn Ryan interviews agribusiness pioneer George Harrison
22.5.11 Audacious idea: New Zealand X-Prize Environmental and Energy

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium survey for cool imaginative people, or anyone

### voxy.co.nz Friday, 2 July, 2010 – 11:49
Forsyth Barr Stadium technology in hands of public
Forsyth Barr Stadium is gauging the level of public interest in the latest Stadium technology through a nationwide survey. The results from the survey, which measures the public appetite to use Stadium technology, will be used to enhance the customer experience before, during and after the event. Decisions such as how people prefer to purchase and receive tickets, whether they would opt in to text message updates, and their preference for paying for food, beverage and merchandise are all explored in the survey.
Read more

So it says at the stadium website:

Complete the Forsyth Barr Stadium technology survey for your chance to win an iPod touch.

We want to know what technology will help you enjoy your experience more before, during and after an event.

Take the survey here

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

The Chronicles of Yarnia

With apologies to CS Lewis, the thread formerly known as “What else! Future options for Dunedin include…”.

Or, How We Ascend/Descend (Your Choice) Into Mud And Cloud Data, Again.

In the (slight but positive) delay to launch duned.in, the multi-author blog Paul is working to develop, I’m starting this new thread – it’s a BRAINSTORMER looking-forward place for your ideas and comments.

What if? threads will flow into the new duned.in so nothing’s lost. Time to ‘generate’. I’ve copied over comments received at High Street Cable Car to start things off. Away we go.

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Peter November 25, 2009 at 11:22 am

Is the High St cable car option the only other one available if the upper Stuart St option is not viable? Isn’t it possible to run a rail car of some description – somewhere flat – like up to the North End, past the uni and Botanical Gardens to, say, the bottom of Baldwin St or out to South Dunedin / St Clair? It strikes me that the cost of going uphill makes the project more prohibitive because of health and safety issues and engineering difficulties. I’m no expert or authority on this. Just a curious citizen.
Whatever happens we need a railcar system that is practical and cheap for both city commuters and tourists. The Christchurch tram system is expensive to run, and to buy tickets for, and just seems to do a little meander around a relatively small area for the tourists. You may as well walk. There’s something kind of fake about it too.
For those real visionaries who are promoting this project – as opposed to the ’stadium visionaries’ – I don’t fancy the chances of anything happening soon or at least for many many years. (We know why, don’t we). I wouldn’t feel encouraged, but nevertheless good on them for persisting. Call me cynical, but the council’s response seems a nice way for gently letting people down and not completely dashing their hopes. If I was a cunning politician I would give such a sop to a sincere and dedicated group who are seen to be promoting something that is beneficial for ALL the people of Dunedin. The city kitty, unfortunately, has already been plundered – and the council knows it.

===

Phil [Cole] November 25, 2009 at 8:57 pm

I have to agree with you there, Peter. I think the idea of a cable car or tram system is great. And I congratulate Richard and the team for their work to date. Bill Campbell must be as pleased as. I’m not convinced about the route, however. Ok, it’s historical. So maybe it will mean something to the people who live in the area. But is that the target audience? No, I don’t think it is. The market, if not for commuters, is the tourist market. And the history of a tram route means absolutely nothing to them. I just wonder, when they get to the top of High Street, what are they going to do? What are they going to spend their tourist dollars on during the 24 hours they have in Dunedin, when they are spending 2 or 3 of those hours in Mornington? And, to be fair, the view on the way up is not going to make it onto a lot of video cameras to show back home.

Brilliant idea, and I don’t want this to appear as a brickbat. I do question that we have the best location for the market we’re hoping to attract. Stuart Street would have been ideal, down to the Railway Station, through the CBD, or a route to the beach. But no one will get past Don I suspect.

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Elizabeth November 25, 2009 at 10:11 pm

I diverged off the Dunedin Cable Car organising group before it formed the charitable trust to do further investigation. A very nice group all up.

I hesitated at the time to take on another trusteeship due to workload and priorities – but also, as discussed with the group members, I’m interested in contemporary forms of transit, design and engineering, mobility access (the accessible journey) – and yes, BEST future market(s)… they being on the “flat”, and via route(s) looped, as I see it.

I can’t live in museums. San Francisco is a great experience. Christchurch trams are not. What can Dunedin do differently with new forms of public transport into the future, utilising the city’s great engineering base!!?? Remains one of my deepest interests.

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Richard November 26, 2009 at 8:22 am

Now that’s the line of thinking, I applaud. One in which I am trysting with ‘Pukeko’ at ODT Online. His interest is an aviation musuem on lines (planes?) that have little connection with Dunedin.

I’ll come back and develop my thoughts on cable cars, trams et al when I get some time. The sort of things that form part of what Dr. Rodney Wilson sees as making Dunedin “a heritage city”.

“Big thinking does not happen in small spaces.”

We need a new thread, EK?

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Calvin Oaten November 26, 2009 at 9:47 am

I can’t believe that anyone genuinely thinks that a cable car would fit into the modern transport modes of this city. On the basis of economics, the hopeless task of integration and so called novelty factor, it wouldn’t get past first base. Move on, get over it. Look to the future, not the past. Think outside the square, and outside current traffic ways. For a similar amount of expenditure a gondola from Bethunes Gully up to Mount Cargill would give an experience to die for. The trip would be memorable, the views from the top are 180 degrees, and the overview of Dunedin total. Take a trip up by road and see if I am not right. But hey! don’t forget, the stadium has put paid to any of these dreams.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr