BLOG – Harvest Technology Group

IN CONVERSATION WITH ROSS MCKINNON, NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT HARVEST TECHNOLOGY GROUP

Marnie Fulmer — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 05:07:00 +0000

Harvest Technology Group Non-Executive Director Ross McKinnon.

An avid adventure racer, Harvest Technology Group’s newest board member, Ross McKinnon, knows how to focus his efforts for maximum return. From childcare to human performance technology, Ross has channelled his passion for business transformation, leadership and problem-solving, to drive results. A technologist himself, Ross is excited to apply his knowledge and experience at Harvest after contributing to the growth of several other Australian technology companies.

Tell us about your background as it relates to growing tech companies.

I’ve had a very diverse background. I started my career as a mining engineer doing everything from leading shifts in open cut coal operations to working as a drill and blast engineer in the Hunter Valley. At 23, I became an open-cut examiner in NSW. After emigrating to the UK, a shift in career was needed from mining to technology. I was able to utilise my technology degree and ended up helping a UK aerospace company transform their technology platform to comply with international manufacturing standards.

After returning home to Brisbane, I worked at Michael Hill as a digital transformation executive and in 2001 stepped up to act as global CIO. During my time there, the tech team built technology to generate revenue beyond jewellery sales. The team created a cohesive technology ecosystem to centralise and scale the business across Australia, New Zealand and into the US and Canadian markets.

At the start of 2015, I began my current trajectory, joining the board of several companies from technology to childcare. Most notably, I sat on the boards of Fusion Sport and Grabba, where I was able to use my leadership and strategy to help grow two Aussie tech companies.

My core function has remained the same no matter the industry – identifying a problem and developing or using technology to solve that problem in the most profitable way for the business.

What attracted you to joining the HTG Board?

Initially, the technology. As a technologist myself I thought the tech stack was really cool and saw a lot of potential. High-fidelity, secure communication is a problem in many markets as satellite technology just isn’t reliable. I’ve also previously worked with Harvest’s Chairman, Jeff Sengelman, on the board of Fusion Sport, another Australian technology company.

The future for Harvest is exciting. I’m glad I joined the board; the team I’ve met are extraordinary and I’ve been so impressed by what I have seen. Like every business, Harvest has its challenges, but that’s where I operate – that’s my strength and what keeps me interested.

What’s the most important thing the Board does to help customers, partners, and investors?

My objectives for Harvest are to minimise distractions, focus on the problem the technology solves, what people will pay for the solution and optimise the revenue structure. The focus is to create a strong resilient scaling business. Technology businesses can be challenging with markets valuing hardware and software differently. Moving the market expectations to create the optimal revenue structure that’s advantageous to investors, stakeholders, and the business, is a gradual process that pays off in the long term. The Board’s role is also to help to mentor and support the CEO and provide strategic advice and guidance to the business.

Challenges and Opportunities for personnel

Remote video and data streaming over constrained networks is something I’ve seen as a gap in the market for many years, so I was interested to know how Harvest was solving it. The globe has a problem: overcrowded satellite infrastructure and increasing data requirements – particularly in remote or long-range applications where terrestrial solutions cannot be utilised. Harvest is uniquely positioned to solve this fundamental problem.

At my core, I love creating and I love helping people. I am happiest when I can do both, and that’s what I can do for Harvest.

You are based in Brisbane, Queensland which has some remote places. Have you ever found yourself relying on communications in those areas?

I worked as a nipper in underground mines while I was studying mining engineering in the late 80’s. As a nipper, my role was to drive around underground all shift checking the isolated workers to ensure everyone was okay and that they have the supplies they needed. I worked underground at both Mount Isa and Selwyn gold mines in Queensland. At Mount Isa, my base of operation was 1.9 kilometres underground. It was a very bizarre feeling when you turned off your headlight and not seeing your hand in front of your face. There was no communication network underground at that time and no possibility to transmit video back then.

Do you have a particular career highlight or something you’ve been most proud of?

The mentoring work I’ve done has been some of the most rewarding. On one board, I came in at a challenging moment when the business was struggling but the leadership team had the talent and drive to learn. Over the next 4-5 years I spent time mentoring the CEO and developing those skills. Seeing them grow to become globally recognised as a leader in their field is a career highlight for me.

Do you have downtime? How do you spend it?

I really enjoy adventure racing as an amateur. It is a team sport that involves a continuous race navigation to reach as many checkpoints as you can within a time limit. Races can go from 3 hours up to 10 days, often in remote untouched locations and involve a combination of running, mountain biking and kayaking. In 2011 our team of 4 competed in the world championships in Western Tasmania and came 54th out of 90 teams finishing in 9 days of continuous racing.

Adventure racing is the perfect combination of mathematical problem-solving and physical endurance; you need to work out how to reach the most checkpoints in the maximum amount of time to get the most points. You must solve for your current physical condition of not only yourself, but of all of your teammates as well.

Is there a parallel between your approach to adventure racing and your approach to business?

Yes, 100%. At first, I was training 30 hours a week and realised it was unsustainable. Now my strategy is to focus on intense strength training for an hour three times a week. It means in a race you’ve got all the strength you need to move at speed, but you can reduce your effort and keep going for days. The same is true in business – you don’t want to waste time, energy and effort to end up burning out. Identify the total addressable market, streamline your product and costs, maximise value, minimise wasted expenditure and distractions. Understanding the end customer’s problem, who’s going to pay for it and how much they’re willing to pay – that’s where you need to focus your efforts for maximum return.

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DRONES TO THE RESCUE: POLICY PRIORITIES TO DELIVER

Marnie Fulmer — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 06:56:00 +0000

Industry and governments are continually looking for efficiencies – opportunities to improve safety and productivity, while reducing environmental impact, response times and costs.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to revolutionise many industry sectors including emergency services, security, energy, transport and logistics, resources, and infrastructure.

Need to move urgent medical supplies like blood or a donor organ to a hospital hundreds of kilometres away? Need to assess damage after a fire or flood without sending in a spotter crew on the ground?

These activities and more can be done safer and more efficiently using drones, satellite communications and software that enables true beyond horizon situational awareness using secure and reliable livestreaming of high-quality video and data.

HTG’s Chief Product Officer Damiain Brown and Carbonix Founder Dario Valenza explore the future of UAVs, so big ideas can continue to take off into the future.

WEBINAR RECAP: IMPROVING REMOTE MONITORING AND SUPPORT OF VESSELS USING VIDEO AND OTHER DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Marnie Fulmer — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 07:08:00 +0000

Harvest Technology Group (ASX:HTG) is pleased to announce a successful first webinar on November 22 with Digital Ship, discussing the drivers and challenges to digitalisation in the maritime industry.

Leading the webinar was Technical Sales Manager – EMEA, Andy Freeman with Chief Product Officer, Damiain Brown, joined by the team at Vallianz Holdings to discuss the application of our Nodestream technology to their vessel.

Thank you to those who attended, please click here if you would like to view the recording. In this presentation, Andy Freeman discussed the drive for digitalisation in the maritime industry focusing on improving remote monitoring and support vessels using video and other digital technology. Please see the summary of the presentation below.

Digitalisation in the maritime sector

Technology is constantly evolving to transform how organisations manage their operations. Digitalisation in the maritime sector opens the door to a spectrum of possibilities, from simply viewing offshore CCTV camera footage in an onshore control room, to providing offshore workers with two-way communications and video-based support from onshore expertise, through to completely removing personnel from offshore environments to instead work from an onshore operations control room.

Drivers of digitalisation

There are many drivers for digitalisation in the maritime sector including the need to:

Automate data capture and tracking
Meet legislative, compliance, or industry requirements
Improve decision making in real-time
Increase operational awareness
Improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs
Improve safety outcomes by reducing the number of crew on vessels
Provide situational awareness remotely for routine monitoring or inspection

Challenges facing digitalisation

Barriers to the uptake of digitalisation in the maritime sector include:

Perception of digitalisation being cost-prohibitive, especially for larger fleets
Lack of connectivity or limited bandwidth capacity available on vessels offshore and the expense involved in upgrading to sufficient capacity for streaming video/data through satellite connections
Legacy vessels not being equipped with the latest technology or systems interfacing requires additional equipment and support
Perception that transitioning to remote operations will be too significant a change for an organisation

The key to digitalisation is bandwidth efficiency

Technology to enable an array of data-intensive processes depends on connectivity. Advanced digital solutions can provide owners with insights into the efficiency of multiple shipboard systems and vessel performance, as well as provide applications for remote monitoring, inspection, and compliance, to reduce costs and downtime.

With shipboard processes and technology becoming more sophisticated, maritime data usage is skyrocketing. This requires considerable bandwidth and greater network stability. Data usage across the maritime sector in 2022 averaged 45% higher than in 2021 according to Inmarsat Maritime’s recent study, demonstrating the demand for efficient bandwidth optimisation in the industry.

How Harvest’s Nodestream technology transforms organisations

Harvest’s Nodestream proprietary protocol enables the ultra-secure transfer of real-time high-fidelity video, audio, and data across ultra-low bandwidth with extremely low latency. Nodestream enables up to 50% more efficient use of bandwidth and is equipped to survive up to 90% packet loss, allowing vessels to maximise operational efficiencies with minimal connectivity. This is achieved regardless of network quality, congestion, or location.

Our technology has a vast array of applications to transform operations in the maritime industry utilising where possible, existing vessel systems and infrastructure to perform tasks such as maritime surveillance, remote situational awareness, and remote inspection.

Case Study – Vallianz Holdings

Vallianz Holdings is an established provider of offshore support vessels and integrated offshore marine solutions across the global offshore renewable and conventional energy sector. With a steadily growing fleet of 115 vessels, Vallianz was lacking situational awareness of its vessels from its onshore headquarters in Singapore. Recognising the need to transform its operations through digitalisation, Vallianz required an advanced solution to livestream video to shore from up to 12 onboard CCTV cameras.

Harvest presented Nodestream as the most efficient and cost-effective way to efficiently livestream Vallianz’s onboard CCTV cameras across the Inmarsat VSAT network to their operations centre (V-Hub) based in Singapore.

For Vallianz, the adoption of the Nodestream technology addressed the need for remote situational awareness at a reasonable bandwidth and enabled video livestreaming with ease. This allowed them to better monitor crew and operations, improve communications between the crew and onshore team during troubleshooting, improve the onshore team’s decision-making capabilities, and facilitate a better understanding of vessel operations.

Who is Harvest Technology?

For more information about how Harvest Technology can transform your organisation’s remote operations please contact us here. Our expert team are excited to support your digitalisation journey.

HARVEST TECHNOLOGY WEBINAR: MONITORING AND SUPPORTING VESSELS USING VIDEO AND OTHER DATA

Marnie Fulmer — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 07:06:00 +0000

Harvest Technology Group (ASX:HTG) (Harvest, Company) is pleased to announce our first webinar in partnership with Digital Ship will be held on Tuesday November 22, 2022 at 10:00am GMT / 6:00pm AWST.

In this webinar we will discuss the drive for digitalisation in the maritime industry focusing on better ways to monitor and support vessels using video and other data, making the best use of existing communications infrastructure, cameras, and other shipboard systems.

Leading the webinar will be Andy Freeman, our Technical Sales Manager – EMEA and Chief Product Officer Damiain Brown, who will be joined by guest, Elisa Woodward, Head of Engineering, Shipbuilding & Technology at Vallianz.

Global trends toward digitalisation are driving the demand for data access in increasingly remote environments. Through digitalisation, operators can gain true situational awareness for real-time decision making, streamline existing processes, and access emergency support.

We will also explore how digitalisation can improve operational efficiencies, safety, and costs, including connecting crew with remote technical expertise and management in emergency situations, as well as reduce the carbon footprint associated with crew travel and additional or unplanned vessel movements.

This webinar will offer maritime operators insightful and practical knowledge on applying digitalisation in real terms and how Harvest Technology can support vessel operations.

Digital Ship is the leading publication for maritime technology including satellite communications and software systems. Register to join the Digital Ship webinar here or to receive the recording.