Author: yinghui

ALIBABA OPENS AUSTRALIAN HEADQUARTERS

y Staff Writer 06 February 2017
Editorial

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Alibaba Group has opened its Australian and New Zealand headquarters in Melbourne, Australia.

Speaking at a ceremony with over 350 business, industry and government figures, Alibaba Group Founder and Executive Chairman, Jack Ma, said: “With a local office and expert team, Alibaba Group will help Australian and New Zealand businesses share their world-famous products with billions of customers around the world. Whether a large company with existing links to China or a mum-and-dad run exporter operating out of a garage, Alibaba Group is here to make it easy to do business anywhere.

“Australia will always have a special place in my heart and that’s why I am so pleased to come back to contribute to supporting Australian businesses to create opportunities and jobs in a country that has meant so much for me,” Ma said.

Ma yesterday met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney. During those discussions, Ma and Turnbull shared a common vision of promoting much greater cross-border trade, particularly to benefit SME’s and young business people.

There are over 1300 Australian and 400 New Zealand brands on Tmall and Tmall Global, many of which entered China for the first time through these platforms. The success of Australian products was illustrated through the 2016 Double 11 Global Shopping Festival, with Australia ranked the fourth highest selling country.

The ANZ headquarters will be led by Maggie Zhou, Australian and New Zealand Managing Director, and supported by a strong local team.

Zhou and her team have been operational in Australia for nine months, introducing new brands to Alibaba’s platforms and supporting existing clients with the challenges of operating abroad.

“A physical Alibaba headquarters is a key step in ensuring Australian businesses have the support and information they need to succeed in China and the rest of the world,” Ms Zhou said.

“Longer term, Alibaba Group’s vision for the ANZ region is to build the entire operating infrastructure needed to enable local businesses to expand globally. Alibaba Cloud launched its services and opened its data centre in late 2016 and there are now more than 1,000 bricks-and-mortar stores accepting Alipay across Australia and New Zealand. This is just the start, with further growth planned in the areas of cloud, payments, digital entertainment and logistics,” Zhou said.

Alibaba Group signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia Post today to strengthen trade opportunities for Australian businesses selling to the millions of consumers across Alibaba’s platform.

The agreement will involve Alibaba Group collaborating with Australia Post to develop the first Australian marketplace within the Lazada eCommerce Network in South-East Asia.

Australia Post storefronts will be established on all Lazada platforms with pilots in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia to begin in 2017.

The partnership builds on Alibaba Group and Australia Post’s relationship established in 2014, and will enable Australian businesses, particularly SMEs, to perform more effectively across key platforms, like Tmall Global, Taobao Global and 1688.com, through the sharing of data, increased marketing activities and improved logistics.

Australia Post will also collaborate with Cainiao to improve data integration and develop a co-branded cross-border service (and packaging) for Australian outbound parcels to China.

Smart mining market set to boom

The smart mining market is on track for substantial growth in the coming years, a new report by Transparency Market Research has found.

According to the report, the global smart mining market was valued at $US5.98 billion in 2014 and is projected to reach $US22.59 billion by 2024. This equates to a growth rate of almost 15 per cent from 2016 to 2024.

“The global mining industry has witnessed as significant transformation in the past few decades,” the report outlines.

“The prime reason behind such transformation is the introduction of numerous smart mining technologies for carrying out mining operations.

“These smart mining technologies include several automated mining equipment, sensors, RFID tags, and various types of mine monitoring and analytics software.”

Key players in the global smart mining market include Rockwell Automation, Trimble Navigation, Hexagon, Komatsu, Sandvik, Joy Global and Hitachi.

The report stated that introduction of smart technologies not only enabled efficient connectivity among miners but also allowed optimal production and recovery with minimum wastage.

“They are also much safer and environment-friendly as compared to the traditional mining technology,” the report continued.

“Operational costs associated with smart mining technology are also very less as compared with the traditional technology. However, deployment of smart technologies in a particular mine involves very high capital cost.

“Mining companies across the world also lack skilled labour force to successfully run such smart technologies and they are investing aggressively in training their existing workforce in order to ensure efficient operations.”

The smart mining market involves automated equipment, hardware and software.

SUPPLIER TO DIVERSIFY WITH ARTIC TRUCKS

OPS Equipment, which has built its reputation as a supplier of fixed and mobile crushing, screening and conveying plant and equipment within WA and the NT, is now the western states agent for Terex Trucks.

OPS has become the official distributor of Terex Trucks products in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The company has traditionally been the official dealer for Osborn, Terex Finlay, Terex Washing Systems, Terex Environmental Equipment, Telestack conveyors and Kiverco recycling plant, mostly within WA and NT. It also stocks a comprehensive range of plant spares and associated products at its Jandakot warehouse which are available to its customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Terex Trucks, now a division of Volvo Construction Equipment and headquartered in Motherwell, Scotland, is a manufacturer of off-highway rigid and articulated haul trucks that are used in mining, quarrying and construction applications worldwide. OPS will distribute the manufacturer’s three models of articulated haulers – the TA250, TA300 and TA400, with payloads ranging from 25 to 38 tonnes – and provide an extensive aftermarket care service to customers that purchase the trucks.

Terex Trucks’ Clement Cheong and OPS managing director Shane Czerkasow at the official signing.

Terex Trucks’ Clement Cheong and OPS managing director Shane Czerkasow at the official signing.

“OPS prides itself on providing quality support to its customers in the segments served, which include mining, earthmoving, civil construction and quarries, and these are areas that fit extremely well with Terex Trucks’ client base,” said Clement Cheong, the Asia-Pacific director of sales and marketing for Terex Trucks.

“The company has gained a good reputation in the market for the products and services it delivers, and we are confident that OPS will bring the same enthusiasm to Terex Trucks’ customers.”

Shane Czerkasow, the managing director of OPS, said the company was delighted to be partnering with Terex Trucks in WA, SA and NT. “We believe the two organisations’ values and objectives are aligned, such as the simplicity of product for maximum operational effectiveness, quality customer service and a leading, first class aftermarket back-up offering,” Czerkasow said.

“OPS is committed to providing all our existing and new Terex Trucks customers with a new level of service and support and we look forward to fostering a long partnership with Terex Trucks.”

The articulated trucks are set to become available in the first quarter of 2017.

In the eastern states, Terex Trucks are already available through Terrequipe, based in Rockhampton, Queensland.

 

Roy Hill partners with IT provider Ajilon

Roy Hill has partnered with IT consulting and services provider Ajilon to boost its business analytics processes.

Built on Microsoft Azure, Ajilon’s Business Analytics platform will allow Roy Hill to gain key insights across its operations by rapidly processing, amplifying and visualising information.

It will further enhance Roy Hill’s operational processes; increasing productivity and driving down costs.

Jeremy Dennis, national analytics aead at Ajilon, said the platform is capably of processing vast amounts of data (big data), streaming analytics (Internet of Things), visual analytics, data science and model management, from a single technology stack.

The platform can ingest large volumes of data in real time, enabling data scientists and engineers to self-serve visualisation tools, develop predictive algorithms, and combine disparate information sources to discover real value.

Using IoT technology, the platform can also stream near real-time sensor data from the mobile assets to allow faster process analysis.

Four Google resources every entrepreneur should know about

It is almost impossible these days to run a small business without an online presence of some sort. And it is almost impossible to have an effective online presence without at least a little knowledge of how to use the many tools Google puts at the disposal of businesses.

A business owner who learns to use these tools puts themselves at a huge advantage over those who don’t. You will have more potential customers visit your website; you will be able to market your business more effectively; and you will be able to monetise your online presence.

Google is constantly developing and evolving its offerings for SMEs, so it’s worth staying up to date with what the search giant has in its pipelines for small business. Video, local, and mobile are the three key trends business owners need to stay on top of when it comes to Google and small business marketing.

Here are four fantastic resources you can use to learn more about using Google to benefit your business.

1. GOOGLE FOR ENTREPRENEURS

This Google initiative is aimed squarely at startups and is designed to put aspiring entrepreneurs on the path to achieving their business dreams. It’s a vast resource of information that can connect entrepreneurs to startup spaces, incubators, co-working spaces, and more recently, Google campuses around the world.

The Google for Entrepreneurs website also houses easy access to a suite of business tools such as Google Analytics, AdWords, and Google Cloud Platform. It’s basically a one-stop shop with all that you need to learn about integrating your business into the Google ecosystem.

Learning about the online world can sometimes seem daunting to even the most seasoned of digital professionals (trust me!). It is constantly changing, everyone has an opinion (often wildly divergent), and there’s an overload of information out there, with much of it not of the highest standard.

That’s why it’s always worth going back to the source and learning from the people who know their stuff inside out—in this case, Google. The Digital Garage is a designed as an online learning hub that can facilitate individual learning for a wide range of topics, from SEO through to the basics of setting up an e-commerce store.

Another great thing about it is that it’s free. The people at Google are smart (as if we didn’t already know that …) and while the altruism of free courses is commendable, it’s also all about enmeshing and deepening engagement between small businesses and Google. People who know all that Google can do in terms of services and tools are more likely to make use of those tools and services, which is only a good thing for Google.

3. THINK WITH GOOGLE

This is a resource I use almost every day. Think with Google is targeted at marketing professionals but so much of it is totally relevant to anyone who is even remotely involved in running a business online.DiscoverGoogle AnalyticsCoworkingWeb search engine

It has brilliant and instructive articles and videos on topics such as consumer trends and behaviour, as well as marketing for tech trends like virtual reality and plenty more. It makes for great inspiration for your business strategies and ideas.

4. GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

You should certainly be aware of this Google site as it’s the starting point for making sure people can find you through the search engine. It’s a pretty straightforward portal with plenty of resources to help guide even online novices through the process of making sure their business shows up in basic search.

ONE MORE THING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

YouTube Director is an initiative, launched in the US and UK last year, that helps make it easier for small businesses to make their own YouTube videos. There are three main components to Director:

  • The YouTube Director for Business app, which helps you shoot, edit and upload an ad to YouTube with a minimum of fuss;
  • YouTube Director on-site, which gives businesses the services of a professional videographer when the business spends at least $150 to advertise on YouTube; and
  • The YouTube Director automated video, which creates a video ad automatically from existing assets like logos and app screenshots in the App Store or Google Play Store, and is available globally.

Considering video is such a potent way to reach customers, it’s worth keeping an eye on when YouTube (which is owned by Google) will roll out this complete suite of products to markets such as Australia. Hopefully, it will be soon.

Rio Tinto to offload Hunter Valley coal assets to China’s Yancoal

Rio Tinto plans to sell subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries to China’s Yancoal for up to $US2.45 billion ($3.23 billion).

Coal & Allied is Rio Tinto’s thermal coal division in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Its assets include majority shares in the Hunter Valley Operations mine, the Mount Thorley mine and the Warkworth mine. The three operations produced 25.9 million tonnes (Mt) of thermal and semi-soft coking coal in 2016, of which 17.1Mt were Rio Tinto’s share.

The proposed deal with Yancoal involves a $US1.95 billion upfront payment and the potential for a further $US500 over five years. Once the deal is completed, Rio Tinto will also be entitled to potential royalties.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said the proposed sale was consistent with the company’s strategy of reshaping its portfolio to ensure the most effective use of capital.

“We are confident that Coal & Allied will continue to contribute to the NSW economy and the communities of the Hunter Valley under a new owner,” Jacques said.

Rio Tinto has announced or completed at least $US7.7 billion of divestments since 2013, it said in a statement. The company also restructured the ownership of the Coal & Allied assets with joint venture partner Mitsubishi Development in 2016.

Yancoal, which is 78 per cent owned by China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining, would expand an Australian portfolio that already includes seven sites across Queensland and NSW with the transaction.

The ASX-listed Chinese company intends to fund the transaction through a capital raising and entitlement offer of its shares.

Yancoal chairman Xiyong Li said the Coal & Allied deal would be a transformative acquisition for the company and form the basis of its future growth in Australia.

“Via the acquisition of Coal & Allied’s high quality asset portfolio, we will be delivering substantial cash flows to the company, quality coal products and long-term relationships with end-users in key global markets,” he said.

The transaction must still be approved by the Australian Government, NSW Government and Chinese regulatory agencies.

Hexagon Mining snaps up Perth-based tech company MiPlan

Hexagon Mining has acquired Perth-based technology company MiPlan, a developer of mobile mine software applications for field data collection, fleet management, production management and reporting.

Hélio Samora, president of Arizona-based Hexagon, believes MiPlan’s solutions suite will be a formidable addition to the company’s technology portfolio.

“Safer, more productive mines depend on making sense of their data,” said Samora. “MiPlan’s range of apps represents a scalable, real-time mobile production management solution.”

Samora said MiPlan’s MiiNT platform would be particularly significant for Hexagon as it supports the data management, analysis and reporting needs of any sized operation.

The solution streamlines data flows between traditionally disparate systems and departments, simplifies on-demand data interrogation, trend analysis and reporting over live operational data.

Samora added that blast engineers would welcome the addition of MiPlan’s MiD&B application, which provides immediate enhancements to Hexagon Mining’s blast design solution.

“This will close the loop on design, field data capture, reconciliation and reporting,” said Samora.

The MiFleet solution will enhance Hexagon’s operational offerings and appeal to a wider variety of mining operations. It will deliver lightweight fleet management capability with near real-time infield feedback.

“Applied to our unparalleled suite of technologies for planning, operations, and safety, these solutions will empower our customers to act – not react – on real-time data at any stage of the mining value chain, no matter their location,” Samora said.

MiPlan managing director Robert Daw said the range, experience and calibre of the Hexagon group would contribute to the continued improvement of its existing offerings and provide a great platform for the next generation of solutions that mining businesses need to stay competitive.

“An acquisition by Hexagon held great appeal from the beginning due to our complementary solutions delivering immediate benefit to the market. It is also a big leap forward in our vision of aligned mines,” Daw said.

Atlas Copco plans to spin-off mining division

Swedish equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco plans to split into two companies next year, with its mining and construction tools division shaping as the basis of a new entity.

NewCo, the working name for the spin-off company, will focus on mining and civil engineering customers and include the mining and rock excavation technique business area and the constriction tools division, according to Atlas Copco.

The business has about 12,000 employees and annual revenues of 28 billion krona ($4.2 billion). Atlas Copco will propose the split at its 2018 annual general meeting.

If a split does occur, the remaining Atlas Copco business would focus on industrial customers and include the compressor technique, vacuum technique and industrial technique business area, plus the portable energy division and speciality rental division.

Atlas Copco president and chief executive officer Ronnie Leten said the two businesses have different demand drivers and demand characteristics.

“A split will increase their respective abilities to add value to customers, grow the business and attract talent,” Leten said.

If approved by shareholders, the split would take place through a share distribution, whereby Atlas Copco shareholders receive shares in NewCo in proportion to their existing stake.

Meanwhile, Atlas Copco has appointed Mats Rahmström as its new president and CEO, effective April 27. Rahmström will replace Leten, who has resigned after eight years in the position.

RCR Tomlinson secures EPC contract at Pilbara lithium project

Lithium developer Pilbara Minerals has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract at the Pilgangoora project in Western Australia to RCR Tomlinson.

The contract, worth a maximum $148 million, involves the EPC of Pilgangoora’s two million tonnes per annum lithium-tantalum processing plant, including wet-and-dry circuit with concentrator, associated plant and commissioning of the mine.

Pilgangoora’s processing plant is scheduled to start production in first quarter 2018.

The contract has a maximum value of about $148 million with an incentivised target price of $138 million. It has been awarded in two stages, with the first stage being a two-month FEED (front-end engineering and design) program, which will determine the final scope of work, timeline and target price. Pilbara Minerals has committed about $10.3 million to stage one.

Stage two of the contract is dependent on Pilbara Minerals making its final investment decision (FID) for the project, which is expected by March 2017.

The Pilgangoora contract win adds to RCR’s recent activity in the Pilbara region, including the delivery of two processing plants for Fortescue Metals Group at the Solomon iron ore operations. RCR also won a $120 million contract to provide materials handling systems at Rio Tinto’s Silvergrass iron ore mine in August last year.

RCR managing director and chief executive Paul Dalgleish said the Pilgangoora contract win, when added to recent awards, firmly placed the company as a leader in the EPC of processing plants in the mining sector.

“It will also increase RCR’s order book to a new record high of approximately $1.1 billion,” Dalgleish said.

RCR has selected sub-contractors, Primero and Minnovo, to provide it with technical and engineering support at Pilgangoora.

Pilbara Minerals managing director Ken Brinsden said the combination of the three contractors made for a “very compelling offering.”

“Primero’s experience in building and operating lithium plants, Minnovo’s design experience, and the construction capability of RCR ensures Pilbara will be well served,” Brinsden said.

“With project funding discussions well advanced and final environmental approvals now under way, Pilbara looks forward to starting the major construction works by the end of this quarter.”

Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals has awarded the first stage of a 300-room camp relocation package and reestablishment works contract worth $4.8 million to OTOC Australia.

Terex closes manufacturing facility in China

Terex Cranes will close its crane manufacturing facility in Jinan, China, according to the president of Terex Cranes, Steve Filipov.
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Steve Filipov

In an exclusive interview with American Cranes & Transport, Filipov told the magazine that the plant closure falls in line with Terex Cranes’ recent restructuring, which has involved reducing its worldwide footprint as part of a strategy to allow new product development and accommodate lower demand.

Filipov also said that his team was evaluating the launch of the LC line of crawler cranes, which had been planned to be produced at the Jinan plant. Three prototypes of the first LC crawler, the 330 US ton (300 metric ton) capacity LC 330US / LC 300, have been produced so far.

“I’ve decided not to show the 330 on ConExpo,” said Filipov adding that he doesn’t feel the crane is 100% ready to be on show.

“Right now, the analysis is obviously focused around Oklahoma City where we have a lot of our product. But we have to go through that analysis, and we’ve got some work to do with that product. It was a tough decision to make, but in my mind it’s the right message to the market, that Terex Cranes is going to show a product that’s ready for prime time.”

– See more at: http://www.insideconstruction.com.au/site/news/1050897/terex-closes-manufacturing-facility-china#sthash.mYQJ5q9r.dpuf