Selwyn_Times: July 05, 2023

Selwyn Times Wednesday July 5 2023
16
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Invention bags couple $10,000 prize
• By Daniel Alvey
A HUSBAND and wife who
invented a solution to their malt
business headaches took out the
grand prize at an agriculture
technology competition.
Doug and Gabi Michael own
and operate Gladfield Malt, a
202ha farm near Dunsandel.
They grow six different grain
varieties and produce more than
50 types of malted grains for
the domestic and international
market.
They are the brains behind
the Gladfield pallet consolidator,
which beat out 10 finalists to win
the $10,000 top prize at the Food,
Fibre and Agritech Challenge.
The invention provides an
automated solution to optimise
how dry goods are stacked on a
pallet efficiently and using less
pallet wrap resulting in better
stability, storage capacity and
less chance of waste.
Doug said before the Covid
pandemic they would stack
the pallets by hand, a timeconsuming
process.
Then staff shortages forced
them to rethink the method.
They purchased a robot palletiser
but found it was unable to stack
the bags efficiently.
“It stacks bags onto a pellet
automatically, but that’s all it
does,” Doug said.
“The robot will pick up a
perfectly presented bag but,
by the time it drops it onto the
pallet, that bag loses its integrity
and assumes whatever shape it
feels like.
“Pallets were falling over,
we were using far too much
pallet wrap and we couldn’t get
enough product into a shipping
container.
“So we decided to build and
invent the Gladfield pallet
consolidator – GPC.”
The robot stacks the bags
onto a vibrating box and uses
liquefaction-like movements to
organise the bags into a more
stable and more efficient stack.
“The GPC consolidates the
product on the pallet by up to
15 per cent. The GPC increases
TECH: Doug
and Gabi
Michael’s
Gladfield
pallet
consolidator
won the
$10,000
grand prize
at the Food,
Fibre and
Agritech
Challenge.
the utilisation of warehouse
space, reduces the need for pallet
wrap, reduces shipping costs and
improves the stability and safety
of a pallet,” Doug said.
He said the invention is a
world first, can fit into any
existing palletiser line and has
patents in Australia and New
Zealand.
Doug and Gabi have estimated
the invention could earn them
$85 million in New Zealand,
$650 million in Australia and
$29 billion across the world.
The challenge was organised
by ChristchurchNZ and
Canterbury University’s centre
for entrepreneurship and
supported by B.Linc Innovation,
Agnition Ventures, KiwiNet and
Smart Christchurch.
Centre for entrepreneurship
director Gerard Quinn said
Gladfield showed what an
established business can
undertake at the grassroots
development level.
AgResearch Lincoln centre
engineer Paul Middlewood
won the sustainability award
for Keratinite, a natural melt
binder. The emerging technology
award went to Blake List and
John Ingram from the New
Zealand Institute for Plant and
Food Research Ltd in Lincoln
for Digital Diets, an advanced AI
pre-screening tool which
could revolutionise the discovery
of novel health properties in
food.
The other two prize winners
were based at Canterbury
University, with the emerging
product award going to Renee
De Luca for Rōhi, a portfolio
of women’s wellness products,
while Reid Williams, Lachlan
Mackay Crawford and Harry
Dobbs claimed the Agnition
future farming and growers
award for CropGuard, a laser
bird deterrent to protect crops.
THE SELWYN COMMUNITY IS INVITED TO MEET
Luke Jones
our 2023 general election
candidate, and celebrate with
us as we launch our campaign!
Afternoon tea and drinks will be provided
Saturday 8 July | 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Rolleston Community Centre
Contact luke.jones@labour.org.nz
for further information
Authorised by Rob Salmond, 187 Featherston Street, Wellington.