Offbeat new year destinations

New Zealand and Vietnam today signed an Agriculture Cooperation Arrangement at an dialogue held virtually by New Zealand Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, Ray Smith, and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Le Quoc Doanh. At the dialogue. At the dialogue, the two sides voiced their commitment to the two countries’ deepening agriculture and trade relationship. Smith and Doanh affirmed that the Strategic Partnership, which was jointly announced by Prime Ministers in July last year, has created a solid foundation for increasing bilateral agricultural cooperation and connections between the two countries. Speaking at the dialogue, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, Mr Ray Smith, emphasized that this is a valuable opportunity to consider what both sides can do together as they build resilience and vitality back into their agriculture economies following COVID-19. The Agriculture Cooperation Arrangement will enable both sides to advance their key agricultural interests in enhancing bilateral trade, reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, promoting food safety, utilising agriculture research and technology, and in rural development. Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Minister Le Quoc Doanh of MARD said: “Agriculture is critical to the economic wellbeing of our countries. Both nations are strong agriculture producers and exporters, with complementary products. The establishment of the New Zealand – Viet Nam Agricultural Dialogue and the signing of the Agriculture Cooperation Arrangement today will boost our connections, cooperation and two-way trade, in line with what our two Prime Ministers highlighted during last years’ Strategic Partnership dialogue.” The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries is already supporting agriculture cooperation with MARD with activities in plant health, veterinary epidemiology and …

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Derek Ong, Electronic Industrial Software Solutions manager, Keysight Technologies Squeezing every last drop of productivity from invested manufacturing equipment on the factory floor was the goal, and hence a lot of focus was on downtime and throughput. Predictive maintenance and asset utilisation are important business outcomes from any successful Industry 4.0 implementation. Then COVID-19 happened. Other than the race to 5nm chips, 5G, and cloud computing, some sectors of the electronics manufacturing industry have seen a drastic drop in volume, leading to a surplus of production assets on the floor. For some, machines have idled. For others, COVID-19 has caused massive supply chain disruptions. The necessary steps taken by governments around the globe to manage and halt the spread of this epidemic, has restricted movement of factory employees and subsequently lowered productivity and output. The trade situation between the US and China has forced manufacturers to shuffle operations for business continuity. There are everlasting shifts in manufacturing paradigms as a result of COVID-19. The new “norm” needs a rethink on how Industry 4.0 technology enablers will be used to address the new challenges. Quality over quantity Before COVID-19, Industry 4.0 adoption mostly revolved around asset utilisation. In the current situation, it may be better to ensure that every single manufactured product is of the highest quality the process allows. Due to shortages of materials and parts, rising logistics costs and restricted factory employees, manufacturers will have to minimise Return Merchandise Authorizations (RMA) even more than before. Better quality may also prove to be a compelling value differentiator to win more business. Quality has always been one of the most important manufacturing performance metrics but rather than the usual narrative of adopting Industry 4.0 technologies such as big data analytics, AI, and the Industrial Internet-of-Things …

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Dead Japanese man in Hanoi diagnosed with new Covid-19 variant The Saigon Times A medical worker performs Covid-19 tests. A Japanese man who died in Hanoi City on February 13 was identified to be infected with a new variant of Covid-19 that has never been reported in Vietnam before – PHOTO: MOH HCMC – A Japanese man who died in Hanoi City on February 13 was identified to be infected with a new variant of Covid-19 that has never been reported in Vietnam before. Speaking at an online meeting on February 24, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that the new Covid-19 strain has become the fifth variant to be reported in Vietnam. Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dac Phu, senior advisor at the Center for Emergency Response to Public Health Events of Vietnam, said that the spread of the new strain is not too rapid. The Covid-19 strain appears mainly in South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and India, Phu added. Earlier, Vietnam had reported three variants of Covid-19, which originated from Britain, South Africa and Rwanda, and another variant appearing in Danang City in July and August last year. The Japanese patient, tagged as the 2,229th Covid-19 case, was an expert at Mitsui Vietnam. The 54-year-old man entered Vietnam through the HCMC-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport on January 17 and was sent to a concentrated quarantine center in Tan Binh District’s Ward 2. He tested negative for the disease on January 17 and 31. On February 1, the man flew to Hanoi City and stayed at a hotel in Tay Ho District. He was found dead in his hotel room at 7.00 p.m. on February 13. His positive test result came out on February 14. Two of 586 people linked to the patient tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. …

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