AMT MAR 2014

mar14 Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Aerospace: Set for take-off Trailer ansehen:

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contents

Volume 14 Number 02 MARCH 2014 ISSN 1832-6080

AEROSPACE Aerospace and the challenges of fabrication planning Aerospace embraces additive Thermal imaging for fast, accurate aircraft inspections New solutions for machining advanced composites

38 40 42 44

MATERIAL REMOVAL New solutions for machining composites Elsa’s portable mechanic Quick Turn upgrade for ACIM

51 52 53

ROBOTICS/AUTOMATION Automation – the benefits and the challenges

56

SOFTWARE Omnichannel ecommerce in Australian manufacturing Delcam unveils latest FeatureCAM Cutting time to market using CAM systems

60 61 62

SAFETY Nanoparticles and nanosafety: the big picture Pilz sets out safety agenda Creating safe workplaces using a modelling approach Assessing fire protection needs accurately

64 65 66 67

From the CEO From the Industry From the AMWU

10 12 14

INDUSTRY NEWS Manufacturing counts cost of Toyota exit Archer completes major Japan installation Australian PMI: Manufacturing slips again Byron opens vehicle manufacturing plant Quickstep delivers first wing flaps Swinburne: Electric buses for Malaysia Global demand for mining machinery to grow

16 17 17 20 20 22 22

PRODUCT NEWS Our selection of new and interesting products

26

ONE ON ONE Albert Goller

46

AMTIL INSIDE The latest news from AMTIL

74

AMTIL FORUM Forum OHS - New depths Forum Law - Anti-Bullying Forum Finance - Trade finance – avoiding dumb debt Forum Lean - Why so few companies become big

68 69 70 71

Manufacturing History – A look back in time

72

mar14 AustrAliAn MAnufActuring technology

your industry. your Magazine.

Aerospace: Set for take-off PAGE 34

.AerospAce .Material

6 |

.Software .Safety Removal .Robotics & Automation

AMT March 2014

34

Australian aerospace – A $4bn industry Australia’s aerospace sector contributes significantly to the Australian economy, employing over 14,200 people in 892 businesses. Over the next 20 years, nearly 36,000 aircraft will be required globally, with 13,000 in the Asia Pacific region. This is an area which Australia is well located to supply.

48

Machining challenges of glass-filled plastics Plastics reinforced with glass present more machining variables to manage than conventional metals. However one shop has developed a process to overcome those challenges and has become more adroit at short-run work along the way.

58

Cover The latest Boeing: Current Market Outlook 2013-2032 report, shows massive long-term global demand for new planes, valued at US$4.8 trillion over this period. With air traffic in the Asia Pacific region growing rapidly, Australia is well placed to supply the sector in this area. Page 34

Maric Flow Control – Half-century, not out From its premises in the Adelaide foothills, the family-owned business has today firmly established itself as a globally recognised, highly specialised producer of flow control valves.

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FROM THE

Editor William Poole

The whole story You may have seen news stories recently reporting a seismic shift in our industry, with Sydney dethroning Melbourne as the country’s manufacturing centre.

The stories stem from a report by SGS Economics & Planning, which valued Sydney’s manufacturing industry at $21.7bn in 2012-13, compared with Melbourne’s $18.9bn.

However, Sydney-siders shouldn’t be too quick to celebrate. The bigger picture for both cities is of a shrinking manufacturing base. According to SGS, manufacturing’s contribution to the overall economy of Sydney fell from 13.8% in 1992-93, to 6.4% last year (in Melbourne, it dropped from 17.1% to 7.4%). Sydney may have pulled ahead, but less as the result of an industry in growth, more by virtue of a slower decline.

Overall, the report makes for uncomfortable reading for all Australia’s cities. The strongest growing areas in Australia last year were regional WA, regional Queensland and the NT, while Perth was the only city above the Australian average. Factor in population growth, and Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth actually recorded economic contractions. It’s no big leap to deduce that it’s the mining boom driving this shift in economic activity from the cities to our remoter regions, and it highlights a persistent concern about Australia’s recent economic performance: that the boom has essentially been happening far from where most people live.

Meanwhile, its knock-on effects have created well-documented problems for other, largely city-based sectors – notably manufacturing.

Moreover, SGS identifies service industries such as finance replacing manufacturing as the drivers of urban economies. But businesses in these sectors tend to be concentrated in city centres, whereas manufacturers more often base themselves around (and provide jobs in) the suburbs. This increasing economic centralisation creates policy challenges in numerous areas, like housing, infrastructure, traffic congestion and suburban unemployment. The SGS report ultimately sheds fresh light on the implications of allowing the continued decline of Australian manufacturing – perhaps not fully understood by many in political and media circles. **************** AMT does not have a “letters” page, but we do get feedback (both good and bad) from readers. A striking example came this month, from a manufacturer based in Melbourne, who wrote: “While it is great to hear about companies that are successful and new innovations and technologies in our field, perhaps only half the story is being told… There is a real living dark side to the manufacturing industry in Australia, but unfortunately I feel the majority of those affected are too small to stand up and be heard.”

Fair point. Our policy has been to highlight success stories for others to emulate, and showcase innovations they might profit from. There’s enough negativity about manufacturing in the mainstream press – AMTIL has a responsibility to balance that by emphasising positives. Equally, it would be misleading to ignore the issues facing the industry. To present a balanced picture and tell the whole story, we depend enormously on editorial material from our contributors. So it cannot go unremarked that this month there is no column from Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane. The Ministry has notified us that: “At this stage the Minister has decided not to contribute a regular column to AMT.” No reason was provided for the decision.

AMT does not take strong positions on government policy. But we have to say it’s a shame when the Minister declines the opportunity to communicate direct with the industry he represents, particularly in a month like the one Australian manufacturing has just had. We will continue efforts to persuade Minister Macfarlane to reconsider – the door is always open for his return.

AMTIL DIgITAL MeDIA KIT 2013 8 |

AMT March 2014

Editor WIlliam Poole wpoole@amtil.com.au Contributors Carole Goldsmith Sales Manager Anne Samuelsson asamuelsson@amtil.com.au Publications Co-ordinator Gabriele Richter grichter@amtil.com.au Publisher Shane Infanti sinfanti@amtil.com.au Designer Franco Schena fschena@amtil.com.au Prepress & Print Printgraphics Australia AMT Magazine is printed using FSC mix of paper from responsible sources FSC© C007821

Contact Details AMT Magazine AMTIL Suite 1, 673 Boronia Rd Wantirna VIC 3152 AUSTRALIA T 03 9800 3666 F 03 9800 3436 E info@amtil.com.au W www.amtil.com.au Copyright © Australian Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

All rights reserved. AMT Magazine may not be copied or reproduced in whole or part thereof without written permission from the publisher.

Contained specifications and claims are those supplied by the manufacturer (contributor)

Disclaimer The opinions expressed within AMT Magazine from editorial staff, contributors or advertisers are not necessarily those of AMTIL. The publisher reserves the right to amend the listed editorial features published in the AMT Magazine Media Kit for content or production purposes.

AMT Magazine is dedicated to Australia’s machining, tooling and sheet-metal working industries and is published monthly.

Subscription to AMT Magazine (and other benefits) is available through AMTIL Associate Membership at $165 (inc GST) per annum.

Contact AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 for further information.

The bIgger pIcTure In A sMALLer pAcKAge For further information call Anne Samuelsson on 03 9800 3666, mobile on 0400 115 525 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au

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FROM THE

CEO Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

We all need to share some responsibility With the wave of negative publicity in recent weeks following announcements by Toyota, Alcoa and the SPC dilemma, it’s time we all stopped apportioning blame and learned from our behaviours that have contributed to these decisions.

Both sides of Government need to share the responsibility and learn from their mistakes. Unions have contributed to the problem.

The businesses themselves and the decisions they have made, or not made, over time have resulted in closures. Even the general public, as consumers, need to share some of the blame and learn from it.

Previous governments have introduced Free Trade Agreements.

In many cases they have not been “fair”. The Thailand FTA is the one most referred to and by its own admission the previous Government agreed it wasn’t their best effort. Then why wasn’t something done about it! How can we let a partner country agree to reduce tariffs but at the same time introduce a punitive sales tax on vehicles with engines over three litres? The result compromised the prospective export opportunities for Australian car manufacturers, whilst at the same time vehicle imports from Thailand soared. A double whammy that nothing was done about. Steve Bracks, in his role as the Australian automotive envoy, said “we should never have signed that agreement without knowing what the Thais could do to prevent the export of our manufactured motor vehicles into that country”. I hope this Government, and future leaders, learn from our mistakes when signing FTAs in future. There must be a process for reviewing them put in place to avoid the issues we have had with Thailand and Malaysia.

One of the poorest judgement calls, in my opinion, in the past decade was the introduction of the Carbon Tax. At a time when we were recovering from a global financial crisis and when our manufacturing industry was at a critical juncture, what we did not need was a further impost on our manufacturing base and cost of inputs. Furthermore the negative impact it has had on business confidence and industry’s perspective of government has been further damaged. This was a decision made at the wrong time for the wrong reasons – to keep one person in a job. I trust that Government decisions in the future will be made at the right time for the right reasons.

The current Government may not have been able to stop the collapse of the automotive industry, but it’s the speed of the demise that has surprised everybody. It was plainly obvious that the support for this industry sector from our Government was not even close to what was required to keep it. In the recent Productivity Commission Position Paper released prior to the Toyota announcement, one of the recommendations was that “The Australian, Victorian and South Australian governments have in place fleet purchasing policies that favor Australian manufactured vehicles. These

10 |

AMT March 2014

Businesses need to better understand their markets and become better leaders policies restrict the choice of cars available for government use, which can impose costs on taxpayers. Any benefits of such policies to the automotive industry in Australia appear to be limited.

These policies should be removed.” What message did that send to Toyota?

We need to look closer at the root cause of issues faced by our manufacturing sector. For the automotive companies, the root cause was that the Australian public was simply not buying enough Australian-made cars. I cannot recall any government over the past decade with any sustained initiatives to address this fundamental problem. This is another mistake I believe we can learn from.

Unions have been quick to editorialise the blame game. At some point they too need to accept some responsibility for the pressure they put on businesses regarding workers’ rights. One of the issues identified at SPC was that workers had entitlements that were deemed to be overly generous. Unions need to understand that sometimes the best long-term interests of the employees is job security, not an extra dollar an hour. There have been many cases were companies have gone to the wall due to over-zealous union officials thinking they are doing a good job.

Businesses need to better understand their markets and become better leaders. The fact that our car makers were still generally making family-size sedans when the market had shifted to purchasing small 4-cylinder cars and SUVs highlights the lack of foresight and change that this industry demanded. One of the main reasons cited by Alcoa was a substandard manufacturing facility that was costprohibitive to upgrade. Investment in technology, plant and equipment is not something that should be ignored or allowed to get to a stage that it is too late to address. More learnings on that score.

Consumers, all of us, need to be more conscious of our buying habits and the impact that can have on our manufacturing sector. The US car making industry was under great duress less than ten years ago.

It has been reinvigorated by a Government led “buy USA campaign”, backed by a patriotic public. We should learn from that. It could have happened in this country as well – and it’s a great shame that it didn’t.

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FROM THE

Industry Innes Willox – Chief Executive Australian Industry Group

Fragile economy calls for cautious budget With an economy that continues to exhibit weakness, and which is likely to do so for some time to come, now is certainly not the time for deep program cuts in the upcoming Federal Budget.

Indeed, industry is looking to the Federal Government’s first Budget to encourage and facilitate the efforts of large sectors of the economy as they undergo transition and adapt to the winding down of the mining boom.

While the substantial fiscal policy challenge over the rest of this decade is to move federal, state and territory budgets out of structural deficit positions, the reality is that the economy at present is very unlikely to withstand big aggregate spending cuts or tax increases in 2014-15 without provoking slower growth and lower revenue collections. This is essentially a short-term challenge and is about the timing of measures and their near-term impact, rather than their extent over the remainder of the decade.

Within this context, there is also the need to build a more balanced diversified economy, away from the recently increased exposures to commodity prices and demand for resource and energy commodities in a handful of countries. This will require not just a lift in aggregate growth but also, as the Governor of the Reserve Bank has recently pointed out, a development direction that sees a particular lift in the trade-exposed sectors of the economy that have been squeezed by the high exchange rates that have prevailed over recent years. For this to occur we need to lift productivity in order to restore the competitiveness of Australian businesses, particularly in the non-mining, trade-exposed sectors of the economy.

Manufacturers in particular will benefit from such measures.

According to our annual Business Prospects report – this year titled Slowly Changing Gears – 40% of manufacturing CEOs are expecting another year of contraction in 2014, while one-third are anticipating an improvement. Around half of the respondents expect stronger sales revenue. Manufacturers’ investment intentions are mixed for 2014, with 32% expecting to increase their expenditure but 31% proposing a cut. The top five growth concerns among manufacturing CEOs for 2014 are: a lack of customer demand (24%); import competition (17%); the exchange rate (15%); wage pressures (11%); and the inflexibility of industrial relations arrangements (10%).

To help meet these challenges and those of the greater economy, Ai Group used its submission to the 2014/15 Federal Budget to urge the Government to back businesses’ efforts to innovate, build business capabilities and develop the skills of their workforces.

In particular, Ai Group is seeking the retaining of the National Workforce Development Fund (NWDF) or a similar enterprise-based co-contribution fund to upskill existing workers and significantly expand funding allocation for English literacy programmes like WELL to provide Language, Literacy and Numeracy skills program access for existing workers.

In the important area of apprenticeships, we would like to see: pilot demand-side apprenticeship reform models through ‘Gateway for the Trades’; a strengthening of group-training arrangements for apprenticeships by ensuring continuation of Joint Group Training Program funding; and the implementation of a genuine national approach to apprenticeships by establishing a National Apprenticeship Commission or similar.

A focus on innovation and capability will also be important. Adequate resourcing of the Government’s Strategic Growth Action Agendas aimed at lifting industry competiveness and capabilities is essential,

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AMT March 2014

The economy at present is very unlikely to withstand big aggregate spending cuts or tax increases in 2014-15 without provoking slower growth and lower revenue collections. in particular ongoing funding to the Cooperative Research Centres Program and Industry Innovation Precincts/Centres of Excellence in order to support collaborative links between research institutions and business. Key programs including Enterprise Connect, which provides ongoing strategic advice to Australian businesses as well as core digital economy programs, such as the Digital Business Kits and Digital Careers programs, also need to be maintained.

Other areas that will assist business investment and confidence in the current climate include: • Providing certainty to industry on Emissions Reduction Fund funding availability.

• Further attention to infrastructure, including encouraging the Government to partner with private sector where appropriate to build and/or operate infrastructure.

• Increasing the Defence budget to 2% of GDP over the next decade.

• Increasing the migration planning level for 2014-15 from 190,000 to 220,000, with a sharper focus on lifting the proportion of the program devoted to skilled migration.

Of course, not every area that will help boost productivity is included in the Budget: specifically, the important area of workplace relations, where industry continues to seek improvements to remove growth barriers and improve flexibility, which will ultimately improve competitiveness and productivity.

FROM THE

AMWU Paul Bastian – National Secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

Support for industry is necessary to secure prosperity The first few months of 2014 have seen an unprecedented derogation of the Federal Government’s role in industry policy, which has resulted in the disastrous decision of Toyota to end Australia’s car manufacturing industry.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made the line “no country has ever subsidised its way to prosperity” his single justification for cutting support to crucial manufacturing, sacrificing countless jobs and our national prosperity in the process. The problem with this one liner is that it is neither true nor does it lead to a wealthier, more economically secure Australia.

The truth is that support for industry isn’t sufficient to secure prosperity, but it is necessary – as has been proved by the decisions of the multinational car makers to leave the country. A lack of coinvestment certainty in Australia was a deciding factor in the car industry leaving the country – no matter what the Prime Minister says in the press.

Be it Japan, the USA, Germany, China, India or Brazil, all governments use subsidies and other forms of industry support to champion their local industries’ capabilities, promote investment and secure jobs, whether it’s auto manufacturing or other areas.

In fact, regardless of what Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey proclaim, their policies reflect this reality. Are we really expecting the PM to deny the mining industry the $700m of assistance it receives annually, or the finance industry its $915m? No. In reality this Government is not against all industry support, it is against industry support for sectors it views as backwards, uncompetitive or old. Unfortunately, it wrongfully perceives much of manufacturing this way, including automotive. This situation is distressing to workers and businesses across the country.

We know that manufacturing is not an outdated sector. In fact, it is crucial to any prosperous advanced economy. Manufacturing is a high-technology, high-skill sector that promotes efficiency and economic growth across the rest of the economy.

Manufacturing deploys a huge variety of skills, from engineering and trades to finance and law, from metallurgy to advanced sciences.

The auto companies brought the latest in design, engineering and managerial skills from overseas into the Australian economy. That has spilled over to other industries, from logistics and defence to agriculture, mining and retail services.

Perhaps most crucially, manufacturing has the highest concentration of research and development (R&D) spending of all industries. Holden and Ford have centres of excellence in design here. In 2011-12, automotive manufacturing’s R&D intensity (as a share of value added) was 11% and manufacturing more broadly was 4.4% – higher than mining (3.1%), agriculture (0.8%) and electricity, gas, water and waste services (0.98%).

Innovation, new technology, new products and processes spur the growth of an advanced economy. No-one knows where the next breakthrough will come, but to capitalise on it we need a strong, dynamic and vibrant manufacturing sector. No advanced economy can hope to stay that way without a core manufacturing sector.

So why does this Government sit idly by while the sector struggles under pressures not of its own making?

14 |

AMT March 2014

It could be that it is simply applying what it believes to be principles of policy professed by neo-classical economists the world over.

Yet we know that these theoretical principles, which call for little or no intervention in markets, are never blindly followed by other countries, including our trade competitors.

Any businessman or union official can tell you the real world is much more complicated than the theory which supports non-intervention.

The real world involves spill-over effects, inefficiencies in markets, irrational actors, rigidities in prices, transaction costs and countless other complications that many neo-classical economists happily gloss over. No country ignores industry policy, nor ever will.

If economic purity was motivating Coalition policy we wouldn’t see Cadbury receiving support and we would see the removal of the diesel tax rebate for mining.

The fact is Abbott is being motivated by pure politics. He sees the pressures manufacturing is under as another opportunity to weaken or eliminate political rivals, particularly unions. It’s why the SPC Ardmona decision was accompanied by an attack on workers’ conditions and the AMWU’s role in fighting for these conditions. It’s why the Government is still trying to shift the blame for Toyota’s future away from the lack of government support to workers’ conditions and pay.

That decision is only the latest sign Australian manufacturing is under intense pressure, suffering an extreme case of Dutch disease through the high dollar, a high required return on financial capital, and high input costs. Added to this is the impact of other countries’ currency manipulations and the biased trading environment.

International trade is too large for any single Australian business to influence, but Government should ensure our industries compete on a level playing field. In fact, Australia’s trading environment was singled out by Toyota when explaining their decision, and it is central to the troubles of SPC. Upcoming Government decisions such as the Trans Pacific Partnership will add further uncertainty to our export market.

This Government says business needs to get its house in order. It is the Government that should get its house in order.

It is the Government’s responsibility to ensure trade is fair and growth is balanced, so one sector’s boom doesn’t spell death for others. It is the Government’s responsibility to take the future prosperity of the nation seriously, and make serious policy with that aim.

The $60m the Federal Government has stumped up to support the two states hit by Holden’s demise was aptly described by the SA Premier as pathetic when at least $4.7bn will be needed.

It is time for the entire manufacturing sector, not just the union movement, to vigorously make its case to the Australian people.

The nation cannot maintain its living standards with continued politically motivated derogation of Government responsibility.

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industry news

Manufacturing counts cost of Toyota exit Representatives from across the manufacturing industry have responded to the news that Toyota Australia is to stop building cars in Australia.

The company announced on 10 February that local manufacturing of the Camry, Camry Hybrid and Aurion vehicles, as well as the production of four-cylinder engines, will cease by the end of 2017.

Toyota Australia President and CEO Max Yasuda said approximately 2500 employees directly involved with manufacturing will be impacted when the plant stops building cars, with further impacts on the company’s corporate divisions.

“This is devastating news for all of our employees who have dedicated their lives to the company during the past 50 years,” said Yasuda. “We did everything that we could to transform our business, but the reality is that there are too many factors beyond our control that make it unviable to build cars in Australia.”

Toyota attributed the decision to several factors, including market and economic conditions such as the unfavourable Australian dollar, which made exports unviable, as well as high costs of manufacturing and low economies of scale for vehicle production. It also cited one of the most open and fragmented automotive markets in the world and increased competitiveness due to current and future free-trade agreements.

“Our focus will now be to work with our employees, suppliers, government and the unions as we transition to a national sales and distribution company,” added Yasuda. “Support services will be available to our employees and we will do everything that we can to minimise the impact of this decision on our employees and suppliers.”

Toyota’s decision comes within months of similar announcements

by Ford and Holden, who will cease manufacturing in Australia in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Responding to the news, the Minister for Industry, Ian MacFarlane, said the Federal Government will work with industry to set a path for growth in a strategic, long-term way that “identifies and nurtures the industries of the future, new global markets and new opportunities”.

“The car industry has been an iconic sector for Australia. The end of car production will change manufacturing forever,” said MacFarlane.

“The Australian Government understands this is a difficult time for the thousands of workers who are employed in car-making and in associated industries.

“This is a testing time for Australian manufacturing and there will be challenging days ahead. But Australia must now seek opportunities to develop new industries, new markets and new jobs. Australian workers are the greatest asset in local manufacturing. The Government will stand with them and the affected communities and small businesses to address the major changes in the Australian automotive and broader industry sector.”

Richard Reilly, Chief Executive of the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers (FAPM), said it was “a very dark day for Australia”. The FAPM estimates up to 33,000 jobs in the automotive supply chain will be affected by Toyota’s decision, with the loss of thousands of jobs in engineering, design, prototyping, R&D and assembly.

“A lot of our members won’t make it,” added Reilly. “Our only hope now is to diversify, export or attract new models of doing business.

There are still some good companies out there with innovative businesses and world-class technologies. We must have a strategy to save as many as possible.”

Toyota Australia President and CEO Max Yasuda

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AMT March 2014

Australian Industry Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox, remarked that the announcement would have wide implications for the many businesses and jobs up and down the domestic automotive supply chain. Willox said: “Automotive assembly companies have long held key roles in the development and diffusion of technological, process and design-led innovation in Australia and have been pivotal in the training of skilled workers and managers who have taken this expertise and applied it across the economy but particularly in the industrial sector.”

Ian Harrison, Chief Executive of the Australian Made campaign, said Toyota’s departure would lead to “massive transformation and job displacement across our manufacturing and support industries.

Harrison added that it served as a reminder for Australians to think about the consequences of their buying decisions regarding imported products.

“When all is said and done, it comes back to the consumers – be they individuals, businesses or government – as to where and how they spend their money,” said Harrison. “Every dollar spent on locally made and grown products will have a direct impact on the livelihoods of our manufacturers, food processors and growers, and on the standard of living of the wider community. Toyota’s decision is yet another wake-up call, but we are getting dangerously late.”

Shane Infanti, Chief Executive Officer of AMTIL, expresses similar sentiment. “The innovative knowhow and knowledge that has been developed in our automotive supply chain must not be lost to Australia. Government and industry must work together to identify new opportunities and new markets, whether they are here or abroad.” Infanti added, “Whilst there is universal recognition that the loss of our car making industry is a significant impediment to our manufacturing sector, it reinforces the need to find alternative industries.”

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industry news

Archer completes major Japan installation Archer has announced the successful installation of sophisticated laboratory testing equipment it manufactured exclusively for the Japan Fire Equipment Inspection Institute.

Based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Archer developed a unique test device sought after by manufacturers of automatic fire sprinkler systems in order to comply with ISO 6182 performance standard and attain certification. This was achieved via a complex scientific exercise known as the “plunge test” which determines Response Time Index (RTI) and Conductivity Factor (C Factor). Archer is the only company in the world to manufacture the sophisticated RTI Plunge Test Tunnel test equipment.

“The RTI plunge test tunnel is a highly specialised applicationspecific piece of world standard apparatus,” says Operations Director Russell Byrne. “The uniquely shaped wind tunnel is a fully integrated solution with process control for both gas (air) temperature and velocity, sprinkler response time control, and can measure pressure differences of less than one Pascal to a resolution of 0.0001 mmHg. “Before we developed it, organisations carried out testing in large test tunnels which were permanent fixtures of buildings. Our design is just over two metres in length. It is free-standing, fully selfcontained and easily transportable and has become the productof-choice around the world.”

The JFEII tunnel was installed at Japan’s National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster which is where the nation’s fire fighters are trained. It is the 19th made by Archer to date. The team from Archer spent five days installing the tunnel, commissioning it and training the JFEII engineers.

“What was interesting was that they also sought out our expertise and experience to assist them with understanding the ISO performance standard for automatic fire sprinklers,” said Byrne.

“They saw us as an authority in this field.”

“It’s one thing to manufacture a product, it is another thing to ensure that your customer understands it and will get the best return on investment from it,” added Managing Director Brad Byrne. “When you are dealing with international customers it is vital that you go the extra mile. We are up against tough competition from overseas but I believe here in Australia we have the know-how to provide highly specialised technology to the world.”

Australian PMI: Manufacturing slips again in January The Australian Industry Group has revealed that the Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI) contracted for a third consecutive month in January, down slightly by 0.9 points to 46.7 (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity).

The latest seasonally adjusted Australian PMI remained in negative territory across all the major activity sub-indexes. January’s index marked the third consecutive month of contraction.

However, there was some improvement in new orders and employment with those sub-indexes contracting at a slower rate compared with December – 48.8 and 48.3 respectively. Four sub-sectors recorded growth in January: food, beverages and tobacco (54.0); wood and paper products (61.9); petroleum; coal, chemical and rubber products (52.7); and non-metallic mineral products (57.6).

“2014 looks to be another challenging year for many Australian manufacturers, although a handful of areas are showing some positive signs of growth,” said AI Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox. “Non-metallic minerals – which includes key building materials such as glass, bricks and cement – has improved in response to the beginnings of a lift in residential construction.

Some encouraging signs are also evident in food and beverages manufacturing and in petroleum and chemicals manufacturing, possibly due to the lower Australian dollar over recent months.

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AMT March 2014

Production (45.2), stocks (40.1) and exports (34.1) were the weakest activity sub-indexes in January. The relatively small wood and paper products (61.9) was the strongest performing sub-sector. The textiles, clothing, footwear, furniture and other manufacturing sub-sector recorded the lowest reading - 42.7.

The increase between wages and input costs appears to be increasing with the selling prices index declining further to 46.8 in January. Wages increased to 56.9 and input costs recorded 69.8.

“Our other large manufacturing sectors continue to struggle, despite the lower dollar and low interest rates,” added Willox.

“Muted local demand and a difficult export market means they are in no position to assume the lead in generating alternative sources of growth as the mining investment boom fades through 2014.

We urgently need to invest in a more balanced and diversified growth path to smooth this transition and manufacturing will continue to play a key role in any such strategy.”

Compare these Blowoffs

Facts about Blowers

There are a variety of ways to blow the water from the bottles shown in the photo below, but which method is best? To decide, we ran a comparison test on the same application using four different blowoff methods: drilled pipe, flat air nozzles, Super Air Knife™ (each using compressed air as a power source), and a blower supplied air knife (using an electric motor as a power source). Each system consisted of two twelve inch long air knives. The following comparison proves that the EXAIR Super Air Knife is the best choice for your blowoff, cooling or drying application.

Energy conscious plants might think a blower to be a better choice due to its slightly lower electrical consumption compared to a compressor. In reality, a blower is an expensive capital expenditure that requires frequent downtime and costly maintenance of filters, belts and bearings.

The goal for each of the blowoff choices was to use the least amount of air possible to get the job done (lowest energy and noise level). The compressed air pressure required was 60 PSIG which provided adequate velocity to blow the water off. The blower used had a ten horsepower motor and was a centrifugal type blower at 18,000 RPM. The table at the bottom of the page summarizes the overall performance. Since your actual part may have an odd configuration, holes or sharp edges, we took sound level measurements in free air (no impinging surface).

Drilled Pipe

Blower Air Knife

This common blowoff is very inexpensive and easy to make. For this test, we used (2) drilled pipes, each with (25) 1/16" diameter holes on 1/2" centers. As shown in the test results below, the drilled pipe performed poorly. The initial cost of the drilled pipe is overshadowed by its high energy use. The holes are easily blocked and the noise level is excessive - both of which violate OSHA requirements. Velocity across the entire length was very inconsistent with spikes of air and numerous dead spots.

The blower proved to be an expensive, noisy option. As noted below, the purchase price is high. Operating cost was considerably lower than the drilled pipe and flat air nozzle, but was comparable to EXAIR’s Super Air Knife. The large blower with its two 3" (8cm) diameter hoses requires significant mounting space compared to the others. Noise level was high at 90 dBA. There was no option for cycling it on and off to conserve energy like the other blowoffs. Costly bearing and filter maintenance along with downtime were also negative factors.

Flat Air Nozzles

EXAIR Super Air Knife

As shown below, this inexpensive air nozzle was the worst performer. It is available in plastic, aluminum and stainless steel from several manufacturers. The flat air nozzle provides some entrainment, but suffers from many of the same problems as the drilled pipe. Operating cost and noise level are both high. Some manufacturers offer flat air nozzles where the holes can be blocked - an OSHA violation. Velocity was inconsistent with spikes of air.

The Super Air Knife did an exceptional job of removing the moisture on one pass due to the uniformity of the laminar airflow. The sound level was extremely low. For this application, energy use was slightly higher than the blower but can be less than the blower if cycling on and off is possible.

Safe operation is not an issue since the Super Air Knife can not be dead-ended.

Maintenance costs are low since there are no moving parts to wear out.

Here are some important facts: Filters must be replaced every one to three months.

Belts must be replaced every three to six months.

Typical bearing replacement is at least once a year at a cost near $1000.

• Blower bearings wear out quickly due to the high speeds (17-20,000 RPM) required to generate effective airflows.

• Poorly designed seals that allow dirt and moisture infiltration and environments above 52°C decrease the one year bearing life.

• Many bearings can not be replaced in the field, resulting in downtime to send the assembly back to the manufacturer.

Blowers take up a lot of space and often produce sound levels that exceed OSHA noise level exposure requirements. Air volume and velocity are often difficult to control since mechanical adjustments ar required.

To discuss an application, contact:

Compressed Air Australia Phone: 1300 787 688 Int’l: +61 8 8983 3999 email: info@caasafety.com.au www.exairaustralia.com.au

The Super Air Knife is the low cost way to blowoff, dry, clean and cool.

Blowoff Comparison

$986 *Based on national average electricity cost of 8.3 cents per kWh. Annual cost reflects 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.

$2,703

industry news

Byron opens vehicle manufacturing plant in NSW Australian bespoke vehicle manufacturer Byron Group unveiled its new manufacturing plant at Smithfield in Western Sydney on 13 February.

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell officially opened the new facility with Byron Group Chief Executive Bill Pike. Pike said despite the parlous state of the larger and international players in the local vehicle manufacturing market, Byron was continuing to increase its pipeline of orders.

“We are Australian-owned, we develop world-class products and we’ve not only attracted clients from across the nation but also caught the attention of global OEMs,” said Pike. “In fact, Byron Group is the largest designer, manufacturer and exporter of ambulances in Australia. Internationally, we are delivering ambulances to Dubai and Qatar in the Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia.”

Byron recently opened a manufacturing plant in Dubai to meet demand in the Middle East. The company’s domestic clients include state governments, the Australian Defence Force, mining companies, airlines and the taxi, tourism, health care and education sectors. The company is in the process of completing orders for the NSW Ambulance Service, Queensland Ambulance Service, Ambulance Victoria and Tasmanian Ambulance Service from its facilities in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria.

During the past decade it produced specialised four-wheel drive ambulances for the mining sector, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. In addition, Byron recently won contracts to supply stateof-the-art prison vans to the NSW Government and the Victorian prison system.

“Our skills and expertise extends well beyond manufacturing,” said Pike. “We are a full service company that also specialises in market research, design engineering, assembly and distribution.”

Byron employs 320 staff and has an annual turnover of more than $50m. It also produces and supplies of hospital, pre-hospital, retrieval and rescue solutions, such as bariatric stretchers, spinal boards and extrication devices, and specialises in the manufacturing and maintenance of aircraft furnishings, composite structures and inflight equipment for the aviation and military industries. In addition, it delivers software and hardware technologies to assist with integrated data management and control systems for vehicles and fleets, such as satellite navigation and communication.

Previously spread across five sites, the new Smithfield facility enables Byron to consolidate its six divisions – Access Transit Specialists, Byron Aviation, DHS Emergency, Emergency Resource Management, Emergency Transport Technology and Special Heavy Vehicles – in one location. According to Pike said the new facility, which features 18,000 square metres of plant space, will deliver greater efficiencies within the company.

“By housing our skilled engineers and other technical expertise under the one roof we are able to collaborate on projects more easily which helps drive our innovation and productivity,” he said.

“While the larger vehicle manufacturers are struggling and there have been some high-profile announcements about exits from the Australian market, we are here to stay and are confident we can continue to grow our customer base and improve our product line.”

Quickstep delivers first Lockheed Martin C-130J wing flaps Quickstep Holdings, the manufacturer of high-grade carbon-fibre components, has delivered the first ship set of C-130J wing flaps to global security and aerospace company, Lockheed Martin.

Based in Bankstown, New South Wales, Quickstep was awarded the tender to manufacture wing flaps for Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Super Hercules aircraft in March 2012 and signed a US$75m memorandum of agreement (MOA) last December. The C-130J is operated by 16 countries and is the latest model of the C-130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft, which has been in continuous production for more than 60 years. The delivery, completed ahead of schedule, is the first of 24 ship sets of wing flaps to be manufactured by Quickstep under an initial US$12m purchase order that is included in the MOA. The ship sets will be delivered at an approximate rate of two ship sets per month. This milestone also represents completion of the nonrecurring preliminary contract awarded to Quickstep in August 2012.

“Delivery of the first C-130J wing flaps ahead of schedule marks an important

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Quickstep has also secured a second purchase order under the MOA valued at US$9.8m from Lockheed Martin. This order covers manufacture and delivery of 12 further ship sets beginning in the first half of 2015.

milestone for Quickstep,” said Philippe Odouard, Quickstep Managing Director.

“This demonstrates our ability to provide high volume carbon-fibre composites manufacturing for complex international supply chains.”

The Lockheed Martin C-130J wing flaps program is one of two significant aerospace programs awarded to Quickstep, which is also producing components for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program.

“We are delighted to receive a further purchase order from Lockheed Martin, which is a cornerstone client for us. This provides greater certainty for Quickstep.

Over the life of the agreement, we will supply 120 ship sets of carbon-fibre flaps through to 2018.”

Every C-130J ship set has four wing flaps, which each include more than 200 individual parts including carbon ribs, spars and skins. Quickstep manufactures these components at its Bankstown Airport aerospace facility, and has already built a team of more than 40 skilled personnel to service the project.

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industry news

Swinburne signs deal to develop electric buses for Malaysia Commuters in Malaysia will be travelling on electric-powered buses by 2016 that have been developed using research from Swinburne University of Technology.

Swinburne, the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI), ARCA Corporation and the AutoCRC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop and manufacture electric buses, lithium ion batteries and a commercial vehicle tracking system.

“Swinburne’s Electric Vehicle Research Group is one of the leading groups in the world in electric vehicle (EV) research, development, policy and education,” said Professor Ajay Kapoor, Dean at Swinburne’s School of Engineering. “This is an opportunity to showcase some of the research we have been doing which includes battery technology and management, drivetrain and electric motor technologies, lightweighting and vehicle design.”

The MoU was an extension to the existing cooperation between Malaysia and Australia under the Malaysia Australia Free Trade Agreement. The Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad, who witnessed the signing, said he hopes that the production of the new line of electric buses will begin in two years’ time.

The MoU involves research, development and commercialisation in three major areas: lithium ion battery systems for electric vehicles; modular EV driveline systems for application in the electric bus; and a commercial vehicle tracking system suitable for fleet management “We have been studying how we can work on the production and the parts for the electric bus, including the powertrain and batteries

together with Swinburne University, Chinese and Japanese automakers and also with AutoCRC,” said ARCA Chief Executive Officer Datuk Azizuddin. “To jointly develop the prototype electric bus, we have targeted an investment of RM200 million for the production infrastructure.”

The electric buses will have a range of 200km. They will initially be used in Putrajaya and Langkawi, followed by Kuala Lumpur and subsequently Indonesia and China.

Global demand for mining machinery to grow Despite some short-term weakness, the worldwide mining machinery market is forecast to expand 8.6% per year through 2017 to $135bn, spurred by voracious demand for mined materials in China, India, and several other developing nations as industrial output increases, according to new research from Freedonia.

Global patterns of investment in mining capacity will be determined in large part by these industrialising countries, as resource companies look to capitalise on new sales opportunities. Rapid gains in mining equipment demand will occur in large developing markets such as Brazil, China, and India, with China being the largest purchaser by a wide margin.

Additionally, machinery demand will expand in other nations with large deposits of industrial materials, including Australia, Chile, Indonesia, and Peru.

The Asia/Pacific market is expected to post the greatest sales growth through 2017, fuelled by substantial investments in new mine production capacity in several nations. Strong gains will also be recorded in Central and South America, as mining companies look to develop the region’s sizable deposits of bauxite, copper, and iron ore. The Africa/Mideast region will post the next strongest market advances, followed by Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and North America. In developed areas, a recovery in construction spending and manufacturing output will boost demand for nearly all types of mined materials.

While metals mining accounts for a lesser share of mine output than nonmetallic minerals and coal in volume terms, this application represents the largest segment of the global mining

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AMT March 2014

machinery market due to the large amount of material that typically must be removed per ton of metal produced. This slice of the market will also rise at the fastest pace through 2017, stimulated by steel and aluminium production. An expansion in construction spending and agricultural output as world population continues to grow will boost consumption of construction aggregates and fertiliser minerals like phosphate rock, as well as sales of related equipment. Growth in primary metals production and rising global energy demand will spur growth in coal mining machinery sales, as will ongoing efforts to mechanise coalmining operations in China. However, a shift away from coal as an electricity source in developed countries will restrain overall demand advances.

Through 2017, demand for drills and breakers will climb at the most rapid pace of any product segment, as these units are used almost universally across all mining operations, especially during the exploration phase of a project. Additionally, the growing use of in situ mining techniques, where these products are a primary type of equipment employed, will further increase sales. Like drills and breakers, crushing, pulverising, and screening equipment is used in almost every kind of mining operation, and continued gains in world mining output will result in strong sales advances for these products.

WWW.SECOTOOLS.COM/EPB5672

If you want high productivity, high clamping forces, and better surface finish, the EPB 5672 collet chuck will fulfill your wishes. It is also user friendly, reliable and accurate.

With a maximum run-out of only three microns, it offers up to two times the transmittable torque of previous collet chuck models.

DESIGNED WITH HIGH PERFORMANCE MACHINING IN MIND

Tech news

Australia: 3D-printed, Australian-made bikes Lugged frames have become less popular due to limitations with variations in geometry. But by using 3D printing, Perth-based Flying Machine Bicycle Studio has great flexibility and can create machines with geometry tailored to the rider. The company partnered with the CSIRO’s Titanium Technology Division to create one of the first completely customised 3D printed bikes. Dubbed 3DP-F1,the bike parts took only 10 days to produce and ship, compared to 10 weeks for more conventional parts. Because the lugs are produced in Melbourne (CSIRO) and the frame building in the team’s Perth studio, these bicycles are truly Australian-made. “Now, anyone can own a 3DP-F1 bicycle, made to fit their exact measurements and riding style”.

CSIRO and mixed

Australia: Spotting glitches to make better gadgets A Flinders University researcher is undertaking a project to improve the quality, reliability and efficiency of emerging technologies. A $30,000 grant has been received from the State Government’s Catalyst Research Grants Program to enhance the resolution of images from atomic force microscopes. By improving the resolution and reliability of these powerful instruments, any manufacturing faults in new devices will become clearer under the microscope, paving the way for upgrades and improvements to future models. Advanced manufacturing of thin film devices and small electronics will increase rapidly over the coming years, so it’s hoped this technology will help improve the quality of devices manufactured in SA, and support the growing local industry.

nitride (AlN) based energy harvester with record-high power density of 1.5 x 10-3 W/cm3 capable of generating electricity equivalent to three commercial implantable batteries over a 10-year period. The remarkable power density feature translates into massive savings as costs and logistics associated with power source servicing will no longer be relevant.

A*Star

USA: Self-healing polymers Look out, super glue and paint thinner. Removable paint and selfhealing plastics soon could be household products. Researchers have demonstrated the catalyst-free, low-temperature and selfhealing properties of a new dynamic polymer which can be used for healing internal cracks. Other self-healing material systems have focused on solid, strong materials. However, the new study uses softer elastic materials made of polyurea. After the polymer is cut or torn, the researchers pressed the two pieces together and let the sample sit for about a day to heal – no extra chemicals or catalysts required. The polymer bonds back together on the molecular level nearly as strongly as before it was cut. This molecular-level rebonding is called dynamic chemistry. The researchers are exploring how dynamic polyurea could bolster different applications. For example, they could fine-tune the mixture so that a polyurethane coating or paint could be removable.

University of Illinois

Australia: Wave power using low-cost materials

It is envisaged a novel way of making “frozen smoke” could improve machines, including cars. Nano-porous, solid and very low density, aerogel is used for many purposes, (thermal insulation, in windows or in extreme-weather clothing and sensors). This novel creation method allows aerogel to be created in hours, rather than the days or weeks. It is also approximately seven times cheaper.

Commercial amounts of energy can be extracted from relatively small ocean waves, according to a Perth company which has developed technology that it believes is the world’s most economical in harnessing wave energy. The Bombora Wavepower Wave Energy Converter system is a V-shaped device that sits on the sea bed near the shore. The arms capture the energy of waves as they move closer to shore and becomes concentrated into a smaller column of water. “The largest energy resource are westerly facing coastal strips around the continents but the Bombora system can operate anywhere, including lower resource locations” according to the company. The system’s advantage is its low cost of energy production, using relatively low maintenance equipment and low cost materials. The company is seeking investment before starting trials.

Union College

WA Science Network

Flinders University

USA: Making “frozen smoke” the fast way

USA: Herding robots A new system combines simple control programs to enable fleets of robots — or other “multiagent systems” — to collaborate in unprecedented ways. The system factors in uncertainty — the odds, for instance, that a communication link will drop, or that a particular algorithm will inadvertently steer a robot into a dead end — and automatically plans around it. The researchers are currently testing their system in a simulation of a warehousing application, where teams of robots would be required to retrieve arbitrary objects from indeterminate locations, collaborating as needed to transport heavy loads.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Singapore: Low frequency vibrations for infinite power Battery replacement may soon be a thing of the past. Researchers are tapping into low frequency vibrations - an abundant and ubiquitous energy source - to power small-scale electronic devices indefinitely.

This energy harvester has the ability to continuously convert the vibrations – across a wide frequency range in different environments - into electricity.Researchers have demonstrated an aluminium

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AMT March 2014

USA: Black Knight rises A hybrid helicopter/off-read vehicle is set to become the world’s first roadable, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The manned or unmanned ‘Black Knight Transformer’ is based on an innovative technology by Advanced Tactics (a California-based aerospace company). The vehicle combines the capabilities of a rotorcraft, and an off-road vehicle. Eight rotors, four on each side, will spring out for takeoff and fold in for driving. The design eliminates the mechanical complexity and cost of the articulated rotor system, replacing it with a high-speed computerized feedback control system. It is designed for autonomous casualty evacuation and manned or unmanned cargo resupply missions. The flexibility of the vehicle means it can be driven to areas which otherwise cannot support safe rotorcraft operation.

Defense Update

Complete Machine Tools Pty Ltd

product news

Walter adds to Tough Guys family New developments in coatings for solid carbide tools have prompted Walter to further develop its Tough Guys range of solid carbide mills, classing the new tools in the same category as the high-performance end mills of the Protomax family.

The range of Protomax end-mills has now been expanded to four models. Along with the specialist products, Protomax ST for steel, Protomax Ultra for hard materials and Protomax Inox for rust-resistant materials, a capable all-rounder, Protomax TG is now available.

As with the other Protomax lines, it boasts impressive productivity while also offering greater versatility – it can be used with the ISO material groups P, K and M, and in many cases, also with S materials. Therefore, it offers the same application possibilities as the existing Tough Guys range.

“The enormous increase in performance of the Protomax TG is based on the combination of its three new features,” explains Mark Flommer, Product Manager of Solid carbide/HSS mills at Walter. “The substrate, the coating and the cutting edge treatment complement each other perfectly. While the substrate offers the required toughness properties, the coating is essential for protection against wear, and is therefore responsible for the tool life. An additional factor is the special pretreatment of the cutting edge which provides an optimum surface for the TAT coating.”

The Protomax TG shares the same greater chip clearance in the lower section of the 50-degree spiral flute as its predecessors. This feature guarantees sufficient room for the chips for slot-milling up to 0.9xDc. The rear cutting edge is characterised by a reinforced core, giving a high degree of stability. The cutter is available with a reduced neck as an option, and is ideally suited to plunging or inclined plunging for deep cavities. However, it is also suited to pocket milling, contour milling, and shoulder milling. The Protomax TG is available in diameters 2mm25mm, with three, four or five cutting edges.

Walter stresses that changing over to the new tool is not linked to higher procurement costs. Field tests have shown that using Protomax TG reduces both the tool and per-part costs. In one test, grooves were to be cut in the component to be machined, which was made from tool steel 1.2344. In addition, the outer contour had to be shoulder milled. The user achieved an increase in tool life of 50% by switching to the new tool.

New features include an advanced carbide substrate with a high cobalt content, yielding an extremely high level of toughness. This is an important property for counteracting fractures to the cutting edge caused by vibration. The outstanding feature is the new titanium aluminium nitrite coating, TAT, which enables cutting data to be increased by up to 100%. If the user leaves the cutting data at the previous level, the tool life will be increased.

In another field test, the focus was on the machining time. The workpiece, made from case-hardened steel 16MnCr5, is manufactured in large quantities. The user increased the cutting speed by 80%, from 280 to 500m/min. This resulted in a saving of three minutes per component, without compromising tool life.

“Anyone who has been using Tough Guys can change to the new tools without any process conversion,” adds Flommer. “For the same amount of money, the user gets a tool with significantly increased performance, which is also fully compatible with the previous tool.” www.walter-tools.com

BrightLine boost for TruLaser 5030 The Trumpf TruLaser 5030 fibre laser cutting machine is an all-purpose machine for complete 2D laser processing.

Now equipped with the latest BrightLine fibre function for even greater flexibility, the TruLaser 5030 is a 5kw solid-state laser that can cut stainless steel up to 25mm thick to high levels of quality. A genuine all-purpose solid-state laser machine, the TruLaser 5030 can cut through all common material types and thicknesses.

Enhanced with the new BrightLine fibre function, small holes and contours can be seamlessly cut in thick stainless steel. A one-stop shop for beam generation, guidance and focus, the BrightLine function delivers increased quality and productivity in mild steel processing between 15mm to 25mm sheet thickness, achieving a higherquality cut in thicker mild and stainless steel.

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AMT March 2014

The BrightLine fibre function is also suitable for cutting non-ferrous metals such as copper and brass up to 10mm. It can execute finer contours and prevent slag from forming when the laser beam pierces the sheet, and saves time with easier parts removal and extraction from the scrap skeleton. www.headland.com.au/trulaser5030brightline

product news

Siemens LMS software used on Airbus A350 XWB Software from LMS, a Siemens business, has played a major role in the A350-900 structural analysis process, resulting in the software’s expanded use in other Airbus projects.

Airbus created a common stress analysis environment based on LMS Samtech Caesam, one of Siemens’ computer-aided engineering (CAE) software solutions. For the A350-900 structural development and certification, LMS Caesam provided the foundation for deploying Airbus harmonised methods to over 2000 stress engineers at more than 50 worldwide suppliers. LMS Caesam provides a single framework that integrates all Airbus processes, methods, tools and data libraries, replacing over 400 tools.

The A350-900, part of the A350 XWB family, is the first Airbus aircraft developed using the company’s common environment known as ISAMI (Improved Structural Analysis through Multidisciplinary Integration). The ISAMI environment ensures consistency in the A350 structural analysis and certification process. ISAMI is based on the LMS Caesam framework, which is part of the LMS Samtech suite of simulation solutions.

The LMS Caesam framework has helped Airbus tackle its three main challenges on structure analysis – harmonisation, automation and deployment. It manages and automates engineering processes for safety margin calculation, giving a substantial timecost benefit over the full design cycle. The framework allows the integration of harmonised sizing processes and tools, capitalising on company know-how. Furthermore, LMS Caesam is tailored to help aerospace manufacturers manage structural analysis work streams that result from the growing global supply chain.

As a result of the LMS Caesam platform’s success with ISAMI, its use has now been extended to perform detailed structural sizing and certification for the A350-1000 and the A320neo. Additionally, Airbus – together with Siemens’ LMS business segment – has developed a new tool to help estimate aircraft weight early in the development process. Also based on LMS Caesam, PRESTO (Presizing of Structures for Trade-Offs) is used by Airbus for preliminary aircraft sizing. The use of PRESTO on the A350-1000 has already shown a significant time saving over the previous method. www.siemens.com/plm/lms

AMT March 2014 AMT_MT_QuickKnurling_03_14.indd 1

| 27 18/02/14 3:54 PM

product news

VacuMaster – lifting efficiency Whether they involve raw metal sheets, cut parts, semi-finished or finished sheet-metal parts or assemblies such as cases, tanks, bodies and car-body components, all workshop and production processes can be made better with vacuum handling systems The handling of raw materials, semifinished parts, finished products and packed goods with vacuum systems is common today. Metalworking companies – and in particular companies that process sheet metal – can improve their internal material-flow processes with these relatively simple, cost-effective handling solutions.

A pioneer in this area of workpiece handling is J Schmalz, who implement individual material-flow solutions with a comprehensive product range of vacuum tube lifters, vacuum-lifting devices, suction pads, vacuum generators and crane systems. The product range extends from simple vacuum-lifting devices for loading and unloading of sheet-metal machines through special vacuum-lifting devices for handling coils of sheet metal, to complete handling systems including overhead crane systems and slewing cranes with steel or aluminium jibs.

The VacuMaster Basic/Comfort system consists of basic modules with electric vacuum generators, operator handles, longitudinal and transverse beams of various lengths, and a large number of standard and special suction pads for handling parts. There are three basic versions, each available in models for various load ranges: ‘horizontal handling’ from 125 kg to 750 kg; ’90-degree tilting’ from 125 kg to 500 kg; and ‘180-degree turning’ from 75 kg to 250 kg. Tilting and

turning of the loads is carried out with an electric linear drive.

The VacuMaster Comfort version differs from the VacuMaster Basic in that it has some additional functions on the operator handle, such as integrated controls for a chain hoist and for the vacuum and for tilting and turning the load. A solenoid valve for two-hand actuation of the ‘vacuum off’ function provides additional safety. Further features include a regulated vacuum pump with automatic energy-saving function.

The self-powered VacuMaster Eco is a strictly modular system with which individual handling systems for sheet-metal workpieces can be created. In contrast to lifting devices with vacuum generators, the VacuMaster Eco utilises its own weight and that of the lifting tackle to generate the necessary vacuum. The lifting device is simply lowered onto the workpiece until the chains hang slackly. This switches an internal valve, activating the gripping function. When the device is lifted, it generates a vacuum that grips the workpiece so tightly that it can be lifted and moved safely. The VacuMaster Eco is available in various sizes for maximum loads between 250kg and 1000 kg.

The VacuMaster Coil is designed specifically for handling and moving coils and slit strips and is available in three versions for loads weighing up to 500kg, 750kg and 1000kg. The VacuMaster Light is ideal for lighter workpieces (up to 100 kg), such as frames or sections.

This lifting device is characterised by its low intrinsic weight and by the fact that the suction pads can be adjusted quickly and flexibly.

Schmalz can offer customers complete vacuum-handling systems or materialflow solutions, with a wide range of crane systems, along with steel or aluminium jibs and rails. Three types of cranes are available: overhead cranes for large working areas, column-mounted slewing cranes, and free standing slewing cranes with a slewing angle of up to 270 degrees. In addition, Schmalz offers many other ergonomic materialflow solutions, such as special grippers for handling workpieces with holes or apertures, and grippers with oil-resistant suction pads for non-slip handling of oily sheets of metal. www.millsom.com.au

TaeguTec DrillRush drills deeper TaeguTec has expanded on its successful changeable head DrillRush line with a 12xD drill that produces deep holes accurately, repeatedly and economically.

The DrillRush 12xD drill range is designed for deeper hole drilling, with the body’s polished flutes offering smooth chip evacuation without damaging the surface finish. The strong delivery of coolant through its twisted body channels enables a widened gullet design and keeps the drill and workpiece material cool at all times while minimising cycle times when drilling diameters from 12mm to 22.9mm.

The DrillRush 12xD’s offers accurate performance due to the good run-out made possible due to tight manufacturing tolerances. According to TaeguTec, the expansion of the DrillRush 12xD range has resulted in improved repeatability, smoothed surface finish and higher productivity for deep hole drilling applications, which can now be performed without the need for pecking cycles.

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For enhanced machining convenience in hole-making applications, the new 12xD body can be equipped with TaeguTec’s recently released chamfering rings, which drill and chamfer in a single operation in order to minimise cycle times as well as inventory and tooling cost for improved cost effectiveness. For added value, TaeguTec chamfering rings use two TT9080 specially treated, multilayered, physical vapour-deposition coated CRNG inserts on either side, which can machine any type of alloy, enabling stable machining and longer tool life.

TaeguTec also supplies special plugs with an internal thread for coolant connections used on lathes that can be pressed into the cavity on the back end of the shank. www.taegutec.com

CoroCutŽQD – Twice as cool CoroCut QD takes your parting off to new heights. Optimized for bar-feed lathes, it brings unbeatable strength and security for deep grooves and long overhangs with a helping hand from unique new technology: over- and under-coolant for the most effective, trouble-free machining.

The concept includes parting blades, adaptors and shanks, plus tools for sliding head machines.

Unbeatable security: stronger blade design, advanced grade technology and the most stable insert clamping.

Ultimate chip control and tool life: over- and under-coolant with two high pressure jets and dedicated insert geometries.

80%

ase

re *tool life inc

recorded ol life gains *average to stems sy or tit pe m against co (feeds ity tiv uc od worldwide. Pr sed ea cr in so al ) and sp eeds %. by 64

www.sandvik.coromant.com/corocutqd

Easy handling: quick and easy coolant connection with plug-and-play adaptors for many machine types.

product news

Integrated punching and shearing from Danobat The Danobat Cupra Punch+Shear combination machine is designed for rectangular parts and highproduction volumes, thanks to the integration of punching and shearing processes in a single system.

The Cupra Punch+Shear combination can reduce total manufacturing time by an average of 60% while also decreasing material usage by eliminating wasteful skeletons and costly secondary operations such as deburring, and avoiding the need to nibble part edges. Additional advantages offered by the machine are reduced set-up times, greater material use, and low energy consumption, thanks to the Save Energy system developed by Danobat, which can achieve power consumption reductions of up to 60%.

The objective of the Punch+Shear concept is to provide a single machine capable of transforming a full-sized sheet into finished parts. As loading, punching and shearing of parts become automated, the result is finished parts with a dramatic reduction in scrap and manual labour. In principle, the Punch+Shear allows the automated process to begin with a full-sized sheet of material and end with finished parts after automated loading, punching, forming, shearing, and unloading.

The combination Punch+Shear can perform the most demanding jobs with minimal set-up times and provide lights-out operation.

These systems also can decrease material waste through nesting programs. The level of automation can be customised through the manufacturer’s modular systems for raw material storage, loading, unloading, sorting, and stacking. In many cases, these features also can be added later as budgets allow and production demands increase.

When it comes to making rectangular parts for products like electrical enclosures, telecom data centres and cabinets, the punch combined with the right-angle shear has the highest level of productivity. The finished parts are separated from the sheet in seconds.

Every time you pick up material it costs you money, so by combining the punching and shearing in one piece of equipment you reduce the time spent manhandling the material to take it from one process to another. Production is faster with one set-up, and the piece part cost is lower. www. cmts.net.au

Stratasys launches world’s first colour multi-material 3D printer The new Objet500 Connex3 is the world’s most versatile 3D printer, delivering unparalleled colour product realism.

Stratasys has announced the launch of the Objet500 Connex3 the first and only 3D printer to combine colours with multimaterial printing. The Connex3 features a unique triple-jetting technology that combines droplets of three base materials to produce parts with virtually unlimited combinations of rigid, flexible and transparent colour materials, as well as colour digital materials – all in a single print run. According to Stratasys, this ability to achieve the characteristics of an assembled part without assembly or painting will help product manufacturers validate designs and make good decisions earlier before committing to manufacturing, and bring products to market faster.

“Stratasys’s goal is to help our customers revolutionise their design and manufacturing processes,” says Stratasys CEO David Reis. “I believe our new Objet500 Connex3 colour multimaterial 3D printer will transform the way our customers design, engineer and manufacture new products. In general and with the Connex technology in particular, we will continue to push the envelope of what’s possible in a 3D world.”

Similar to a 2D inkjet printer, the Connex3 combines three colour materials – VeroCyan, VeroMagenta and VeroYellow – to produce hundreds of vivid colours. These colour materials join Stratasys’ extensive range of PolyJet photopolymer materials, including digital materials, rigid, rubber-like, transparent, and

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high-temperature materials, to simulate standard and hightemperature engineering plastics.

The Connex3 3D printer also features six palettes for new rubber-like Tango colours, ranging from opaque to transparent colours in various shore values to address markets such as automotive, consumer and sporting goods and fashion.

“As the first true multi-purpose 3D printer, we believe the Objet500 Connex3 is in a league of its own,”says Stratasys VP of product marketing and sales operations Igal Zeitun, “Enabling you to dream up a product in the morning, and hold it in your hands by the afternoon, with the exact intended colour, material properties and surface finish.” www.stratasys.com

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A PIRATE WITHOUT A WOODEN LEG.

Daniel is a product manager at Bosch Packaging Technology in Waiblingen, Germany. Daniel told his nephew he’s a pirate hunter, too. Since 10% of the medicine available worldwide is a fake and sold in counterfeit packaging, someone has to ensure the authenticity of pills. Daniel is that someone, and he’s fighting product piracy using all means. With code readers, scanners, encoders, fork sensors, and photoelectric sensors made by SICK, he develops highly secure packaging technology. The original products can now be separated from the fakes using micro-logos, labels, color codes, special inks, and biological and chemical markers.

Daniel has become the scourge of every product pirate. His nephew has become his biggest fan. We think that’s intelligent. For more information please visit www.sick.com.au or call 1800 334 802 (Tollfree).

Aerospace

Australian

aerospace A $4bn industry set for strong growth

Over the next 20 years, 13,000 new aircraft will be required in the Asia Pacific (AP) region, and nearly 36,000 globally. Australia’s advanced aerospace industry is well located to supply the AP region and meet growing global demand. By Carole Goldsmith.

Australian aerospace is an innovative sector that manufactures, engineers, designs and repairs components, parts and equipment for flying machines of all kinds, from commercial and defence aircraft, helicopters, to missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. It contributes significantly to the Australian economy, with annual revenue of $4bn, and it employs over 14,200 people in 892 businesses, according to IBISWorld’s December 2013 Aircraft Manufacturing and Repair Services in Australia market research report.

The report reveals that Australian parts are key features in both the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. During 201314, IBISWorld predicts that the industry revenue is expected to increase 3.9% as domestic demand from the commercial sector recovers from recent turbulence caused by overseas manufacturing strikes and delays of new aircraft. The development of commercial aircraft and parts represents the industry’s largest product segment, accounting for 33% of industry revenue in 2013-14.

Asia Pacific fuelling growth Air traffic in the AP Region is growing rapidly, according to Aviation/ Aerospace Australia (A/AA), the national association of aviation and aerospace industries.

“With the added air traffic and increased passenger numbers, there will be a massive need for more planes to be built and subsequently a greater demand for manufacturing of aircraft components and parts,” said Tamara Bell, A/AA Director of National/International Programs. “The Australian aerospace industry is very well positioned to supply the Asia Pacific region, with an industry which has high standards, is very advanced and innovative.”

Bell referred to latest Boeing: Current Market Outlook 2013-2032 report, which shows massive demand for new planes in the AP region. The report forecasts that there will be a long-term demand for 35,280 new aeroplanes valued at US$4.8 trillion over the 20132032 period. The Asia Pacific region will have the greatest demand, with 12,820 new aeroplane deliveries expected over that period at a

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market value of US$1,890bn. Europe is next with an expected 7460 new planes (US$1020bn) followed by North America with 7250 new planes (US$810bn).

Boeing’s report also shows that revenue passenger kilometres (RPK – a measure of traffic based on the number of passengers by the distance travelled) are currently highest in Latin America at 6.9%, followed by the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East, (each recording 6.3%), with Europe and North America trailing at 4.2% and 2.7%. .

A/AA is focused on promoting Australian innovation and expertise as well as building capacity and skills, with an emphasis on four industrywide activity areas of: data, research, policy, and development – in both the domestic and international domains.

A/AA’s 75 corporate members include aerospace manufacturers and engineering businesses, state governments, airports, universities and other training organisations. It also has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with several global air transport organisations that assist with connecting Australian companies to their international markets. As well as leading the aviation and aerospace segments of the Victorian Government Super Trade Missions to China, India and South East Asia, A/AA has hosted international guests from India, China, Indonesia, Poland and Vietnam.

With an increasing number of women working in aerospace manufacturing, technology and management roles, Bell spoke proudly about the recent A/AA’s Women in Aviation/Aerospace

Aerospace

Lovitt Technologies – supplying aerospace giants

Australia National Summit. It brought together over 130 aviation and aerospace professionals to discuss the issues affecting gender diversity in the sector and begin the process of mapping a way forward to address these issues.

A/AA is also currently working together with Austrade on an aerospace manufacturing capability research project, which aims to develop an industry-wide database of Australian aerospace manufacturers. Around 200 aerospace manufacturers are currently being interviewed for the project.

“The key is to ensure that Australian companies are able to capture the growing global market,” explained Bell. “When completed later this year, the database, which will be on our website, will list what our aerospace manufacturers produce, their capability, accreditation, key partners and their unique selling abilities. The documented data will assist potential global buyers to connect with our world-standard Australian aerospace suppliers.”

Bell highlighted three A/AA members, Lovitt Technologies, Rosebank Engineering and RMIT University, who are all doing innovative work in advanced aerospace manufacturing and research.

Headquartered in Montmorency, Victoria, precision engineering company Lovitt Technologies Australia has been making components for Boeing Australia’s planes for 25 years. This January, Boeing USA announced that Lovitt, along with fellow Australian firm Marand Precision Engineering, would be making components for its F-15 multi-role strike fighter jets.

“We have been talking with Boeing headquarters in the USA for five years, but it’s only in the past year we have been making components for them,” said Lovitt’s managing director Marcus Ramsay. “The Global Supply Chain (GSC) program helped introduce us to Boeing in the USA.” Launched in July 2009, the Defence Materiel Organisation’s GSC program was set up to assist the Australian defence industry with opportunities available in international business units of large international companies.

Since signing the Boeing USA contracts in January, Lovitt has been engineering and manufacturing trailing-edge fairings for the F-15, the fifth Boeing aircraft program that it will supply. Over the past year, Lovitt has also been making components such as fittings, pylon supports, hinges and aircraft ribs for Boeing USA’s P-8A Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter, the CH-47 Chinook helicopter and the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt rotor.

Continued on page 36 AMT March 2014

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Aerospace Continued from page 35

“The fact that Lovitt has been able to break into a program for which Australia is not a current customer is evidence that the GSC program is working really well,” said Ramsay. “It is a definite source of pride knowing that Lovitt’s high-quality work is a part of multiple Boeing aircraft platforms that serve the needs of customers all over the world.”

Rosebank specialises in component/system-level deeper maintenance.

For almost eight years, Lovitt has been supplying structural wing components to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Australia for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). In June last year Lovitt was awarded a US$2.945m contract with Lockheed to produce titanium longeron keels. These keels form part of the linkage between two structural bulkheads of the F-35’s inner wing assembly.

Explaining his company’s activities simply, he said “we are manufacturing ‘fly away parts’ to put on aeroplanes while they are being manufactured. Our components are all for brand new aircraft. We are a service organisation in that the customer Boeing or Lockheed will digitally send us a component design and say ‘how much and when can it be done?’”

Lovitt’s plant has the latest high-end three-, five- and seven-axis CNC machines for its component manufacturing. Among these machines are the Makino T1 five-axis horizontal palletising machine and fiveaxis equipment from DMG, used to produce flap hinges and other structural components. According to Ramsay, these machines have been specially configured for aerospace and defence manufacturing.

“A lot of our focus is now on titanium machining,” Ramsay advised. “It is much lighter than steel and stronger than aluminium and reduces the cost of transporting components by five to ten times compared with those other metals.” With turnover of $15m-$20m per annum, Lovitt’s workload is entirely derived from the aerospace/ defence industry, and 50% of its goods are exported.

“Although our turnover and workload has increased considerably over the past Tamara Bell, Director of National/ decade, our employee International Programs at Aviation/ numbers have dropped from Aerospace Australia.

80 to around 60 during that period,” added Ramsay. “This is due to the type of components we are manufacturing and the advanced CNC machining now being used.”

Ramsay added that last December, Lovitt acquired Electromold Australia, previously one of its contractors. Electromold is Australia’s only production-oriented aerospace-processing business, having gained accreditations with Nadcap, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney.

component MRO is a core business. Through the development and application of innovative repair technologies on parts that would otherwise be scrapped, Rosebank has, over the last three years, helped improve undercarriage component reliability on the F/A-18 by more than 65% and saved the RAAF more than $4m.

“In some cases, the cost of repair is only 13% of the replacement cost, which greatly reduces life cycle costs,” said Rosebank’s VicePresident of Sales and Marketing, John Teager. “Achieving that requires the significant design engineering skills and knowledge that Rosebank has built up over many years of maintenance and repair operations.”

To counter the deleterious impact of corrosion on critical aircraft components and structures, Rosebank has for many years conducted world-leading research, development and commercialisation of additive manufacturing and other innovative aerospace repair technologies, including supersonic particle deposition (SPD). The SPD or ‘Cold Spray’ technique, which carries a MIL-STD (USA military standard) and Australian Defence technical airworthiness approval, has successfully addressed corrosion impacts on Seahawk helicopter gearboxes and is now being developed for F/A18 applications.

“We have developed our own SPD facility and also have a mobile capability,” said Teager. “In very simple terms, SPD is the application and bonding of metal powder to an existing substrate after corrosion or damage has been removed, which is then machined to an ‘as new’ original form. It may sound easy, but successful application reflects many years of research and testing. We use a number of different metal substrates and powders.”

Rosebank Engineering – Saving the RAAF millions

Rosebank employs 130 highly skilled and dedicated staff and has operations in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. A Rosebank field service representative, based at RAAF Williamtown in New South Wales, provides direct support to the RAAF’s F/A-18 engineers.

Rosebank has well-established relationships with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and has academic and industry partners worldwide with whom they can take SPD technology to the next level. In late 2012, Rosebank was acquired by the RUAG group, the Swiss aviation, space, aerostructures, defence and ammunition organisation, which employs 7700 employees globally and is owned by the Swiss Government. RUAG Aviation provides total through-life support to the Swiss Air Force, which also operates the F/A-18 Hornet, so there are many synergies with Rosebank.

Sustaining Australia’s 25-year-old F/A-18 Classic Hornet fleet is a multi-million dollar activity. Key to the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of the aircraft’s flight control and undercarriage systems is Rosebank Engineering Australia, for whom aircraft

“As well as MRO, we apply our skills and extensive machining capabilities to the manufacture for UTC Aerospace Systems of complex actuators and undercarriage components for the F-35 JSF program,” said Teager. “We also provide machining and metal

“With a wide variety of aerospace treatments such as non-destructive testing, anodise, shot peen (or cold working process) magnetic particle inspection, passivation (used to improve the surface of stainless steel) and painting, Electromold is a valuable addition to the manufacturing capabilities at Lovitt,” said Ramsay. “This additional capability will allow Lovitt to offer a more comprehensive range of services to its customers, whilst at the same time having far greater control and certainty in its supply chain.”

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Aerospace additive manufacturing to local companies and help them improve their competitive advantage globally.

The AMP has the latest in additive technology covering both polymers and metals, offering companies a one-stop-shop for research and development of new products and processes. Along with the Trumpf 7020, the equipment includes Objet Connex 350, Projet 7000, Fortus 900 and SLM 250HL machines. This is complemented by high-end five- and three-axis CNC machining centres and a range of laser scanners for reverse engineering components.

According to Brandt, the AMP and its researchers work with industry through contract research, consultancy, training in manufacturing technologies, testing and analysis, grant-based partnerships, design and manufacturing process support.

The Trumpf Tru Laser Cell 7020 at RMIT’s Advanced Manufacturing Precinct (AMP).

processing for BAE Systems Australia, who are manufacturing JSF vertical tail fins.” Recently, supported by the South Australian Government, RUAG opened a brand new, fully automated metalfinishing and processing capability in Adelaide, the first of its kind in Australia. The facility will be operated by Rosebank.

RMIT – The additive edge Professor Milan Brandt is the Technical Director of RMIT University’s Advanced Manufacturing Precinct (AMP). Using a Trumpf Tru Laser Cell 7020 machine, he demonstrated the precinct’s additive research capability.

“Titanium is increasingly used in aerospace components because of its light weight and high strength,” he explained. “In service, titanium components experience wear, and generally have to be scrapped.

With this machine we can inject titanium metal powders into the melt pool created by the laser on the surface of material. The laser fuses the powder progressively in the part of the component that needs repairing and builds it up to the required dimensions for further processing.”

In another project, AMP researchers are involved with six local companies in a Manufacturing Productivity Network, supported by the Advanced Manufacturing CRC and backed by a Victorian government grant. The project aims to demonstrate the benefits of

The realistic, high-performance CNC simulation Experience • Toolpath Optimization (Reduce machining time from CAM output by 30%) • Eliminate Prove out time and dry run testing at the machine • Verify & Simulate any G-code and Machine builder macros in a virtual environment • Composites lay up simulation & collision checking • Support of unlimited amount of Channels • Review and Share 3D Simulation • Mainstream CAM interfaces • What you see is what you cut • Tool length Optimization

RMIT’s Dean of Engineering and Head of School, Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Professor Aleksandar Subic is also a Director of A/AA. Speaking about RMIT’s research into composites for the aerospace industry, Subic said: “We have a partnership with Boeing Aerostructures Australia to investigate and develop new composite structures and designs for manufacturing supply of global aircraft platforms. We are also researching fireretardant carbon-fibre composites with US research agencies.”

Carbon-fibre composites are often used today instead of metal in structured elements of aircraft, as they are lighter in weight, thus reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Subic believes the growth in aerospace manufacturing based on carbon-fibre composites has the potential to alleviate some of the pressures that other manufacturing sectors are experiencing in Australia.

“As composites used in aircraft manufacturing can be easily damaged, the Department of Defence, Science and Technology and RMIT through the Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Research Centre are developing the knowledge required to repair composite structures. This work is in many aspects world-leading.”

In January RMIT received a $30,000 Victorian Government grant to assist in its development of a bid for a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Future Aviation, to help take advantage of ambitious aviation growth projections in the AP region. According to Subic: “The proposed CRC for Future Aviation aims to spearhead research and development of world-leading technologies and innovative business solutions to support the economy and job creation associated with the growth in the aviation sector.” www.aviationaerospace.org.au www.lovittech.com.au www.rmit.edu.au/advancedmanufacturing www.rosebank-eng.com.au

The Standard in Solids Based Manufacturing Mill-Turn (Multiple Turrets) 4 & 5 axis Simultaneous Machining Production Machining Solution Standalone CAM Solution for all Mainstream CAD Systems Automatic Features Machining Mold & Die Cad to Cam Interoperability Waveform Roughing Strategies Reduced Programming Reduced machining time

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M A N U FA C T U R I N G S O F T W A R E S O L U T I O N S www.gzerofive.com

+61 (3)95 849 733

AMT March 2014

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Aerospace

Aerospace and the challenges of fabrication planning The steady growth in commercial air traffic is driving a surge in demand for new aircraft – and creating new planning challenges for fabricators.

Global aerospace OEMs are forecasting a market of more than 34,000 planes over the 20-year period up to 2031. Of these, they project that 23,000 will be single-aisle aircraft and 2000 will be regional jets.

Industry analysts are forecasting that India’s aerospace industry alone is likely to require 400 airports and 3000 passenger aircraft over the next ten years. This supports the prediction that the Asia Pacific region will be generating 40% of all air traffic in 20 years.

India, China, Russia and other emerging markets are making significant investments in the development of domestic aerospace and defense manufacturing capabilities.

The growth in traffic and demand comes hand in hand with an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. In the shifting landscape of environmental legislation, international agreements, emissions trading and initiatives to reduce pollutants, new regulations will be increasingly tight. For aerospace industries, compliance will require a 50% reduction in carbon emissions, an 80% reduction in NOx emissions, and a 50% reduction in noise levels by 2020.

An estimated 6000 planes will have to be retired and dismantled over the next 15 years, replaced by aircraft with greener credentials. Moreover, companies in fastgrowing countries are expected to become competitive in aircraft manufacturing as their industrial skills improve.

Managing change in a seamless collaborative environment In this continually evolving global environment, the one persistent theme is change. To operate successfully, aerospace OEMs and Tier I and II suppliers have to design and fabricate marketable products in the face of changes in markets, materials, regulations, manufacturing technologies and supply-chain ecosystems.

In response, companies are seeking ways to be in complete control of engineering intent and manufacturing specifications, manage change and operate more efficiently. How can they move products to market more quickly? How can they manage global fabrication requirements?

How can they reduce costs? How can they work more efficiently with components that are increasingly complex? How can they communicate more effectively between disciplines and across the supply-chain ecosystem?

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According to Dassault Systemes, its Delmia digital manufacturing and production software offers a unique high-efficiency solution. It provides easy, seamless communication across all disciplines, from design engineering to work instructions and execution, with photorealistic displays on the shop floor. It also features a threedimensional virtual model that includes geometric and dimensional tolerances, plus material requirements, engineering notes and data-marking requirements. These capabilities make it possible to manage change and requirements effectively, and to take efficiency and productivity to higher levels across the entire fabrication process.

1. Creating a faster path to market The Delmia Fabrication solution for the aerospace and defence industry is designed to enable OEMs and suppliers to accelerate fabrication planning by storing existing designs and best practices for manufacturing in a database. When a Request for Quote arrives, they can begin to plan a process using a similar existing design and arrive at a validated plan far more quickly than traditional methods can permit.

When a new process plan is based on an existing product – a stretch configuration of a production aircraft, for example – fabrication planners can pull up the existing process plan of the earlier version and use that as a starting point for the new process plan.

The basic structure, operations, machine centres, and process plan are all in place.

The plan is well on its way when they start.

When an OEM sends a design in the form of notional geometry or data, the supplier can use Delmia to start planning the major steps in the fabrication process and decide which machining centre and production line will be used. This front-loading will take the design to the point where minor changes – an additional drilling operation, for example, or an altered tolerance – can be accommodated with fewer iterations to move the process forward on a faster timeline.

2. Collaborating seamlessly One challenge that suppliers face is the need for clear, direct communication across all disciplines. An example is the discovery on the shop floor that a part must be modified before it can be added to an assembly. With traditional processes, it may take weeks to communicate a change request and have it take effect so production can move ahead.

The Delmia solution, on the other hand, enables all stakeholders, from engineering design to shop-floor assembly, to have the same clear vision of a single common data model – a complete database containing the DNA of the part. It captures all requirements, regulations and standards, from materials handling to compliance requirements, in a single environment.

The shop-floor manufacturing team, using Delmia operations management systems,

Aerospace

can view the virtual model in the Dassault Systèmes 3DExperience environment, capture the problem, and electronically communicate an engineering change request. The shop-floor-to-engineeringdesign communication delay, and the long production delay during redesign, is eliminated.

The sky is no limit with Objective3D

One long-standing obstacle for many companies is the fact that engineering and manufacturing disciplines may prefer to operate with different versions of the data, creating a communication barrier that can cause production delays. Using the same 3DExperience and a single data model puts engineering and manufacturing on the same page and increases collaboration. Manufacturing can work directly from engineering requirements with the ability to input change requests at any time. Overall process time can be significantly reduced.

The common data model can be extended across the entire global manufacturing ecosystem to OEMs, manufacturers and suppliers.

Working with the same data and the same strands of DNA, they can produce parts that are far more likely to come together in assemblies problem-free. When there is a change in engineering intent, it can be seamlessly communicated to all manufacturers. This disciplined approach reduces costs and accelerates planning and production.

3. Working more efficiently with highly complex parts The increasing complexity of parts and components arises from basic business needs. Airline operators want lighter aircraft that require less fuel to carry payloads a given distance. OEMs respond by designing very complex parts made of composite materials that replace multiple sheet-metal parts joined by rivets and fasteners.

Suppliers, in turn, must develop new manufacturing processes to produce these new parts.

The Delmia Fabrication solution enables OEMs and suppliers to plan the fabrication of these parts with an in-depth view that provides all relevant DNA data, including all geometric and dimensional tolerances, material requirements, engineering notes and data marking requirements. For example, it will include materials requirements such as heat treatment temperature tolerances. When a change is required, the DNA strands that need to be modified can be quickly isolated.

4. Creating greener products and processes Delmia’s virtual design environment enables OEMs and suppliers to work more efficiently with composite materials, reducing scrap and rework. Typically, they reduce the weight of the vehicle after building the first prototype, eliminating or reducing material as they maintain its structural integrity and safety. Delmia enables them to re-plan manufacturing processes and still meet environmental compliances across the entire ecosystem of suppliers and OEMs. The result is a process and a product that are both more environmentally sound.

Operators can commission lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft that provide significant environmental benefits.

OEMs, manufacturers and suppliers must be agile and responsive to change in today’s constantly evolving aerospace environment. This is especially true with fabrication planning. The Delmia Fabrication solution puts change-management efficiencies in place to fill these needs. From the initiation of development to the completion of assembly, it is designed to shorten timelines and reduces costs with powerful 3D visuals, collaborative cross-discipline communication and a single source of truth.

This article is extracted from a Dassault Systemes white paper on Delmia Fabrication. MEMKO is an official reseller and solutions partner of Dassault Systemes PLM Software, Delmia, Catia, Enovia, 3DVia and Exalead for Australia and New Zealand. www.memko.com.au

The professional choice for high quality parts, fixtures, jigs, layup tools & gauges.

Prints accurate, repeatable FDM parts in a wide variety of materials including: ULTEM 9085, Nylon, ABS & PC, as well as soluble materials suitable for Carbon Fibre wrapping and layup tools.

Call us to speak to an industry expert about 3D Printers or 3D Parts

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www.objective3d.com.au AMT March 2014

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Aerospace

Aerospace embraces additive With the benefits and applications of 3D printing constantly evolving, the accuracy and repeatability of additive manufacturing processes are making the technology pivotal to the aerospace industry.

Aerospace has always been at the cutting edge, embracing new technologies and setting future trends in manufacturing across all industries. The early adoption of additive manufacturing technologies has allowed many companies to shorten lead times and find new solutions to a wide array of issues.

Accuracy and integrity are crucial in aerospace. Every part of an aircraft must meet strict guidelines and tolerances. This attention to detail and need for innovative solutions has led many aerospace businesses to either bring 3D printing in-house, or to outsource specialised projects to 3D printing service bureau and additive manufacturing centre RedEye Australasia. With a team of qualified engineers on hand, RedEye Australasia is able to work directly with designers and in-house engineers to ensure that each part or prototype is made from the right material and process for its specific need, saving hours of labour and material costs.

Selecting the right process is critical, but the specific technology is only one aspect of the huge advances in 3D printing. With the development of materials like Ultem 9085, with high temperature tolerances, excellent strength-to-weight ratio, V-Ø rating for flame, smoke and toxicity (FST), flight certification, and high heat deflection temperatures (160 degrees Celsius), thermoplastic materials like Ultem are setting a new standard for prototyping and manufacturing.

Aeronautical Engineers Australia, a world leader in aeronautical design and engineering, took advantage of the material properties of Ultem 9085 and the speed of FDM to make end-use housings for electrical componentry.

“The burn test certification allowed us to take advantage of the FDM process to design a computer housing that incorporated several design features that would have been cost prohibitive for traditional plastic manufacturing processes,” said Andre Wenham, Design Draftsperson for AEA. “This enabled AEA to provide an attractive, functional solution to our customer in a short timeframe. Due to the high quality of the printed finish from RedEye Australasia, we were able to use the parts with minimal surface finishing directly on our product. Another advantage of using FDM was the ability to enhance the design between prototype and final build at no additional cost.”

Aerospace agencies in Australia are not the only companies to embrace additive manufacturing for a wide variety of applications.

SelectTech Geospatial, an advanced manufacturing facility for commercial and defence applications, has been using additive processes in a trial-and-error approach for their unmanned aerial system to avoid lengthy delays for analysis and simulation. Their approach is simple: design, print, assemble, fly, learn, repeat.

NASA printed the flame-retardant vents, housings, camera mounts and large pod doors for their Mars rover using FDM technology because it offered the design flexibility and quick turnaround needed to build custom-tailored parts before committing to expensive tooling.

The custom manufacturing of tools is a major incentive for many aerospace companies. Additive manufacturing can be used to produce jigs, fixtures, aids, gauges and other tools, minimising expenses and delays. Advanced Composite Structures repairs fixedwing and rotary wing aircraft and needs drill guides, cores, mandrels and layup tools. Many of these were traditionally machined, with design iterations and changes causing costly delays and retooling.

Additive technologies have cut lead times and tool costs, with an average tool costing $400 rather than several thousand.

Connecticut Corsair is a volunteer organisation dedicated to restoring historical Corsair aircraft. Every project poses the challenge of finding replacement parts, many of which must be legacy parts as the archived engineering drawings do not actually match what

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was put into production. As a non-profit organisation, costs are paramount and they have found additive manufacturing to be the perfect solution. Connecticut Corsair produces thermoplastic tools, which are then used to hydroform sheet-metal parts. Craig McBurney, the organisation founder and project manager said: “Once we have the file, we print out the forming blocks and have the sheet metal parts hydroformed. It was unheard of in our industry to do that so quickly and so accurately.”

Another company using FDM tools for hydroforming is Piper Aircraft.

In the past they used machine tools for sheet-metal forming, but now they are able to use FDM tools to produce hundreds of aluminium structural parts for new aircraft. Jacob Allenbaugh, manufacturing engineer for Piper Aircraft adds: “I can program an FDM part in 10 minutes, while a typical CNC program takes four hours to write. The FDM machine can be much faster than a CNC machine, and does not require an operator in attendance.”

Additive manufacturing is also used for surrogate parts and fixtures, an important cost- and time-saving application as each project can have hundreds of fixtures, guide, gauges and templates. These can all be printed using FDM, with a 60%-90% reduction in costs and lead times.

Additive processes are also making their way into production.

Kelly Manufacturing is the world’s largest manufacturer of general aviation instrumentation. Instead of making the toroid housing from a urethane mould and soft tool, they have moved to manufacturing the housings using FDM. What would have taken three-four weeks now occurs overnight, with certified production parts delivered in days.

Formerly of Boeing and now vice-president of direct digital manufacturing for Stratasys, Jeff DeGrange emphasises that the technology’s greatest strength is its versatility.

“One week it is used for engineering prototypes, the next to make tools for manufacturing processes and the next o produce finished goods,” says DeGrange. “We haven’t begun to flood all into all the areas in which we can use additive manufacturing. That makes it exciting.”

“With many aerospace agencies bringing 3D printing and additive manufacturing in-house, the support of their local Stratasys representative has become paramount to achieving reliable, accurate parts,” adds Matt Minio, General Manager of Objective3D, Stratasys representative for Australia and New Zealand and partners in RedEye Australasia. “Not only do we install and maintain Stratasys 3D printers to the highest level and tolerances, we also offer a bureau service for other additive manufacturing technologies to help broaden their resource base and material choice.” www.objective3d.com.au www.redeyeaustralasia.com

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Aerospace

Thermal imaging for fast, accurate aircraft inspections Accurate, reliable inspections are essential to ensure the safety of aircraft, but they need to be carried out quickly and efficiently. An effective solution has emerged in the shape of thermal imaging.

Aircraft inspections consist of a wide range of control routines that are necessary to ensure the safety of its passengers during a flight. However, every idle hour that keeps an aircraft waiting on the ground is time and money lost, so inspections need to be carried out as efficiently as possible. To meet these conflicting requirements, Dutch specialist technical inspection agency Thermografisch & Adviesbureau Uden (TAU) turned to thermal imaging technology from FLIR Systems to significantly speed up electrical inspections while at the same time guaranteeing accuracy and reliability.

TAU specialises in independent inspections, often supplying recommendations to the industrial and construction markets. The company’s expertise ranges from building inspections, over climate and mechanical installation inspections, to process control and inspection of electronic components.

For all of these applications, TAU heavily relies on thermography.

“We had a long history of performing inspections of electrical cabinets for industrial applications by means of thermal imaging cameras, but we had never applied this technology for the inspection of cockpit electronics,” says Ralf Grispen, owner of TAU. In fact, that particular question came directly from TAU’s long-term customer Star Air, a Danish cargo airline, part of the AP MollerMaersk Group, specialised in providing highly reliable cargo lift capacity.

“Star Air knew that we could successfully perform inspections of water ingress in composite materials of airplanes by means of thermal imaging cameras,” comments Grispen. “But technicians of the airline company wanted to know if we could use the same technology for the inspections of wiring and cabling inside the cockpit as well.

We decided to give that a try.”

The FLIR P640 allows viewing of the smallest parts and the smallest temperature differences.

Time-saving inspections Thermal imaging is the use of cameras constructed with specialty sensors that “see” thermal energy emitted from an object. Thermal, or infrared energy, is light that is not visible to the human eye because its wavelength is too long to be detected.

It’s the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we perceive as heat.

Grispen and TAU co-owner Rob Huting travelled to Cologne Airport, where Star Air’s aircraft fleet is located. Technicians at the company made the cockpit of a Boeing 767-200 ready for electrical inspections, and the TAU team started its routines.

Infrared allows us to see what our eyes cannot. Thermal imaging cameras produce images of invisible infrared or “heat” radiation. Based on temperature differences between objects, thermal imaging produces a clear image. It is an excellent tool for predictive maintenance, building inspections, research & development and automation applications. It can see in total darkness, in the darkest of nights, through fog, in the far distance, through smoke. It is also used for security and surveillance, maritime, automotive, firefighting and many other applications.

The inspection job was a success: the thermal imaging cameras showed the temperature differences of the cockpit’s electrical cabinets in a high level of detail, and the team was indeed able to detect an initial defect in a resistor. The test resulted in a contract being awarded to TAU by Star Air for the maintenance inspection of 11 Boeing 767-200 freight aircraft.

“Faulty resistors heat up, and that’s exactly the reason why thermal imaging technology can easily detect such defects, even very small problems in an early phase,” comments Grispen. “In the case of Star Air, this technology proved to be a perfect fit for preventive maintenance and electrical inspections inside the cockpit in general.

Especially with older aircraft, which are

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subject to wear, it is critical to inspect connections and fittings on a regular basis.

With thermal imaging cameras from FLIR, we can get this job done in a fast, accurate and cost-effective way.”

Cockpit inspections with thermal imaging technology are very accurate and timesaving. The main advantage of thermal imaging is that you can locate electrical problems very quickly and accurately. With thermal imaging you are able to immediately see which component is causing the problem.

“We encourage the use of thermal imaging for cockpit inspections, because it gives us an accurate view of the condition our aircraft is in,” says Carsten Holm, Vice-President Technical at Star Air. “As a dedicated provider of quality air cargo services, Star Air does everything in its power to guarantee that all equipment is in perfect state and that cargo and crew can enjoy a safe flight. We are glad that thermal imaging technology from FLIR Systems helps us achieve that.”

Seeing the smallest details TAU uses the FLIR P640 thermal imaging camera, a high-resolution thermal and visual camera that has a host of advanced features, which makes it well suited to thermal imaging surveys.

Aerospace

The FLIR thermal imaging camera can detect a temperature increases in electrical wiring and components.

“The camera provides us with a very high resolution, which enables us to view the smallest electrical parts as well as the smallest temperature differences,” says Grispen. “An additional benefit of the FLIR P640’s large colour LCD is that you can simultaneously share your images with your customer or your colleagues. For us, this is a feature that cannot be underestimated, because it allows us to reassure our customers and show them that we do a good job.

with the P640, it is possible to resolve smaller objects from further away and still get accurate temperature measurements.

“Also the possibility to make short movies with the FLIR P640 makes this camera a very handy tool to have. And finally, I think the camera finds a very good balance between robustness and ergonomics.”

TAU also makes use of the services of the FLIR Infrared Training Center (ITC).

The FLIR P640 camera is designed for ease of operation and delivers accurate temperature measurements at safe distances.

The P640 presents more pixels, which means greater temperature measurement accuracy, particularly for small objects. To the professional thermographer, this means clear, practical benefits –

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“The reporting software that comes with the FLIR P640 is very easy to use and allows us to deliver a perfectly documented and detailed report of our findings to the technical staff that will do the actual repairs,” says Grispen. “We regularly receive the latest updates from the FLIR software so we can enjoy extra features.”

“We have a team of three people that are fully FLIR ITC-certified,” comments Grispen. “We regularly attend training sessions organised

by FLIR Systems, so we are always up to date with the latest developments of the company’s product portfolio. We are very pleased with these trainings, because they help us apply thermal www.flir.com imaging technology in real-life applications.”

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Aerospace

New solutions for machining advanced composites Lighter and stronger than ever, the new breed of advanced composites are elevating performance levels in applications ranging from skis to military aircraft. As a workpiece material, however, their main impact has been to elevate the fabrication challenges, especially machining.

While superb in airframes or marine vessel frames, types of fibre-reinforced epoxy, polyester and vinyl are harder on tools and less forgiving of even small vagaries in processing. Moreover, their higher added value pre-machining leaves even less tolerance for scrap. Fortunately, a new generation of cutting tools is emerging tailored specifically to the most frequently required operations on all types of advanced composites.

For instance, Iscar’s PCD line of drills and milling cutters offers a wide selection of proven composite-specific tooling. There are drills suited for thicker materials with aluminium on the bottom, as well as for thinner materials with carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) on the bottom. There are combination drill-countersinks and drillreamers, slotting cutters and combination mill/drill cutters. Possibly for the first time since reinforced composites came on the scene, you can find no-compromise tools for any composite machining task.

According to Iscar, the cutting tool material of choice for composites is presently a solid carbide shank with thin PCD coatings, brazed-in PCD inserts or PCD veins at the cutting edge. In applications on virtually every advanced composite, Iscar reports this type of tool outperforming all others, including CVD diamond coated solid carbide. The harder and more highly reinforced the material, the greater the margin of improvement.

The reason for this is the solid carbide shank, which provides the rigidity and dimensional accuracy necessary to maintain close tolerances on size and location as well as smooth surfaces. Solid carbide also makes it possible to start with an optimal cutting geometry that minimises cutting forces, heat, uncut fibres, cups, fuzz and burrs, while controlling chips. The thin polycrystalline diamond (PCD) coating (or insert) provides the wear resistance at the cutting edge to maintain optimal geometry over long service intervals.

Note the emphasis on thin PCD coatings.

These deliver the wear resistance of diamond while preserving the ideal cutting geometry machined into the carbide shank. By contrast, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) inevitably creates a thicker diamond layer that may detract from optimal geometry.

Whatever the application, there are a few principles to keep in mind when machining CFRPs or other stacked materials.

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Hole-making, close-up Hole-making, mainly for rivet holes, is a mainstay process in composites work, and very unforgiving. Because of their inherent hardness and dimensional stability, FRP composites don’t readily resolve misalignment stresses introduced during fabrication by off-centre rivet holes.

Early solutions centred on orbital drilling on CNC machines with offset and interpolation programming capabilities, using solid carbide tools. This is actually an orbital milling process, not true drilling, which uses a tool smaller in diameter than the hole.

The process does run cooler and reduces thrust forces compared with drilling. It also enables a single tool to produce different diameter holes and irregular cavities, which reduces tool inventory costs.

However, tool wear remained a problem, leading to a common ‘workaround’: programmed tool wear compensation.

While this strategy maintained dimension, it did nothing for surface finish or heat management.

Diamond-enhanced solid carbide drills described earlier have proven very successful, as they stay sharper longer than plain solid carbide tools in composites machining service. Four styles of diamondenhanced tools are now available for composites machining:

optimised geometries, the heads perform roughing, semi-finishing and finishing operations in sequence. This geometry enables opening of cavities and slots and performing shoulder applications. Since the shank is thinner than the cutting tip, contact and friction with walls is reduced, so the operation runs cooler.

• CVD diamond carbide – combines the wear resistance of diamond and the dimensional accuracy of solid carbide.

The downside is that the coating is inherently thick, which can detract from sharpness and geometry right at the cutting edge.

Another promising newcomer is the Iscar Solidrill-Ream, a combination drill and reamer for producing more accurate holes in a single step. Separate brazed-in PCD inserts on the same shank handle the drilling and reaming.

Improving hole-making

• PCD-coated solid carbide – offers the same advantages plus better sharpness and geometry control at the cutting edge.

That said, there are two points to remember for hole-making in composites: cutting forces should be kept light to minimise delamination and stress on the material; and carbide drills will probably suffice in aluminium honeycomb or foam core, solid.

• PCD-brazed-in inserts in solid carbide shanks – suitable where diamond’s wear resistance is needed only at the leading edge.

• PCD-veined solid carbide – features ‘veins’ of PCD bonded into grooves machined into the carbide shank.

One recent innovation for composites and stack drilling is Iscar’s new head for the Multi-Master line. The Multi-Master system features no set-up time, providing the ability to mount a variety of changeable heads on one shank quickly and easily. Comprising PCD cutting edges and composite-

Iscar has developed new ICF drilling heads geometry for CFRP and CFRP laminates drilling, combining small point angles and positive rakes. This provides low axial forces for smooth penetration during the cutting process without splintering phenomenon, which is critical on thin-wall workpieces.

The new heads are produced in the new grade IC107, which combines IC07 hard submicron substrate and CVD diamond coating for prolonged and predictable tool life.

Aerospace

SumoCham for composites is suitable to be used on CNC or parallel kinematic machines (PKM) machines. For robots and powered feed machines, a special connector is available. The fast head replacement and high positioning repeatability provide minimum machine downtime. Relatively small indexable drilling heads with diamond coating provide a real price advantage compared with long full solid carbide drills, as well as easy stock management.

The harder the matrix and higher the reinforcing fibre content, the more you will need PCD coatings/inserts at the cutting edge. When hole size allows it, orbital drilling with a solid carbide endmill or milling interpolation using the Multi-Master with PCD-coated tips is preferable to straight twist drilling.

For shallower holes, use stubby, straightshank drills. For deeper holes, design the process for absolutely reliable ejection of all types of chip. Consider ‘peck drilling ‘ and even coolant flushing, if possible. Moreover, match speeds and feed to the layers in the laminate. Be ready to change parameters for each layer as the drill progresses.

Select the tool geometry based on the last material in the stack. If a plastic, use a tapered drill with a long point angle. If the last layer is aluminium or titanium, a highshear drill with a sharp point angle will exit more cleanly and leave less burr. The tapered drill would just smear aluminium.

In thicker composite structures, beware of heat build-up as well as chip jamming.

Select drills with narrow flutes, wide gullets and tighter spirals that complete the hole before things get too hot – in addition consider coolant.

What about titanium?

When titanium is in the stack, the preferred practice is everything that composites hate.

To avert work hardening and overheating and to keep chips controllable, select tools with low reliefs and rake angles and a low spindle speed. Although coolant or mist is not generally used, it may be unavoidable for titanium because of the heat and/or chip flushing.

In short, take everything into account in tool selection, including the relative thicknesses and location of the metal and plastic layers.

It is a balancing act. A stack heavy toward the metal favours solid carbide tools with internal coolant. If CFRP is the main part, PCD carbide tools would be preferable.

Be sure the process reliably breaks up the titanium chips into small, easily ejected pieces. You especially don’t want to risk a titanium chip jamming the hole in a composite. Again, the most effective remedies are slower speeds and pecking cycles.

Composite milling Milling composites is equally challenging. If the tool encounters several different layers at the same time, you need to engineer the process, taking all limitations into account.

If you are progressing through the layers pass by pass, you may have to change parameters to match the layer.

This is why Iscar has designed many of its most popular styles of milling cutters and routers in versions optimised for CFRPs and complex laminates. Its SolidMill solid carbide endmills for rough and finish end- and sidemilling now come with optimal diamond coatings. TangSlit slitters and TangSlot slotters can now offer PCD tips. Versatile Heli2000 indexable inserts are now available with PCD-tips. All have proven effective in hundreds of wingstrut and airframe, commercial and military applications. On request, Iscar can provide specially tailored solutions in the form of vacuum brazing tools for machining composite materials.

If you haven’t taken a fresh look at tooling for composite materials in the past two years, you are missing out on opportunities for big gains in efficiency, quality and edge life – and competitiveness in a booming field.

In this very demanding sector of machining, ask an experienced full-line tool provider such as Iscar for guidance early. You’ll get better answers sooner and find that your productivity can be improved significantly. www.iscar.com.au

AMT March 2014

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One on one

Following a varied and successful career in manufacturing and engineering, Albert Goller is now the founding Chairman of the new Manufacturing Excellence Taskforce of Australia (META). He spoke to William Poole.

AMT: Let’s start with your professional background, and how you came to your role with META. Albert Goller: I’m an engineer by education, and have spent most of my time in business, almost 40 years. For 11 years I was managing director of Siemens Australia and New Zealand. At Siemens, innovation and technology were always very high on the agenda.

Then I retired, till the Federal Government said: “Look, would you help us create something completely new, an organisation run by industry, financed by the Government, where the industry identifies what has to be done to help manufacturers in Australia not only survive but prosper and grow.”

Some people said “That’s mission impossible”. That got me attracted: “If it’s mission impossible, I want to try”. So I was the first employee.

It’s now been nine months, and we’ve set up the organisation and everything is much more established.

AMT: And META was originally the Manufacturing Innovation Precinct?

AG: Yes it started as that, and of course it has changed since then.

We now call it META, and our emphasis is what we call ‘The Art of Manufacturing’. I believe there’s nothing better than really listening to clients – what they need and want – and then getting your organisation and suppliers involved in creating something, producing that product to the highest quality and seeing that feedback from your clients. It’s an end-to-end thing that successful manufacturers do, and when you see how enthusiastic they are about their business, we think that’s really an art.

But two major elements are often overlooked in Australia. One is interaction, co-operation and collaboration with customers. And the other is co-operation and collaboration with suppliers. With a lot of organisations, they have a Prime and the Prime dictates everything. But dictating won’t get the best result. Assuming you understand what customers want but not getting them permanently involved, you’re not going to get honest feedback for your future development. When people talk about advanced manufacturing, everyone thinks about technology. And technology is important, but it’s not everything. It’s the mindset of having that full supply chain where you’re getting your suppliers and your main clients involved, and the entire value chain in between.

We have two member categories: manufacturers in Australia (our main focus is SMEs); and universities and CSIRO. One of the Government’s demands is that we get better returns on what we prove in research and development, in what feeds back into our manufacturers. Our universities have a good reputation globally, so why can’t we piggyback that and build a manufacturing industry with the same image?

AMT: So you’re effectively a conduit between manufacturers and research bodies?

AG: Yes. When people ask me “What can META do for me?”, that’s already the wrong question. Because META is your organisation, it’s not my organisation. We are facilitators; we want to bring together people with interests in certain areas who want to meet other people, maybe from other industries, to learn from each other.

I’ll give you an example. A university might believe its advanced manufacturing or 3D printing set-up is among the best in the world.

But for me it’s only the best if we bring industries together with the university, listen to how they interact, and see how we can use that technology to produce products, see what it can do for the

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AMT March 2014

business. We also need to ensure that the courses are more relevant to industry, especially in science and engineering, so the students are prepared for a career in manufacturing.

Again, we only facilitate – we have opinions of course, we all have business backgrounds, but we avoid making statements. A lot of people think they know exactly what’s wrong with Australian manufacturing, and most have one thing in common: they’ve never run an organisation. It’s relatively easy then to say what others should do.

AMT: What mechanisms do you employ to facilitate that collaboration?

AG: First: get your members engaged. Over the last nine months we’ve had discussions with approximately 450 companies. We think the most important thing for any company, particularly in manufacturing, is the leadership mindset – having a can-do attitude where when there is a challenge or an opportunity, you always look in the mirror before you look out of the window. Instead of blaming the dollar or industrial relations or whatever, you ask what your organisation can do better, how you get employees engaged in the process? Not waiting for others to solve your problems for you.

We’ve now identified and are continuously identifying what we call ‘Hidden Champions’ – fantastic companies in Australia with absolutely nothing to fear in terms of their set-up, their thinking, in terms of what they do. Most are exporting, all of them have heavy engagement of employees, they’re the best of the best. And ask these companies “What else do you need to further grow?”, they’ll always focus on what they can do themselves, their own shortcomings, what they can learn from others.

We then want to find other companies with the same challenges and opportunities. They can be from completely different industries.

One of my favourites is the textile industry, right here in Australia. I’ve seen very few businesses that are more agile and forward-thinking, because they are the ones who have survived, they are the best. I have to tell you, I meet these businesses, and I’m inspired. This is the kind of spirit we have in Australia, and that’s what we should focus on.

AMT: And what does your role entail on a day-to-day basis?

AG: It’s talking to these companies, as many as we can, understanding their shortcomings and their opportunities, and then identifying projects. We’ll say: “Okay, you have a problem producing a certain product; you want to reduce weight, reduce parts.

Interesting. We have some other companies that want the same thing. And we have a couple of universities that focus on redesign of existing products to do weight-reduction, and part reduction. Would you mind joining a project?”

Importantly, META projects always have to have a described outcome. We’re not running a project and saying “Ah, we’ll give it a try”. We want a weight reduction of at least 20% or 30%, and a part reduction of 50%. Any company that has that kind of goal can join that hub. And for academics coming in, it’s the same. It’s not future material research; that’s all very interesting, but we’re talking about business, about commercialising R&D, so we want a described outcome.

That’s what we’re doing at the moment: identifying these projects and setting them up.

AMT: What’s your current membership and what are your targets?

AG: At the moment, we have 170 members. Our target is in five years to have approximately 2500 Tier A members. We give members the

opportunity to be an A, B or C member, based on their willingness to engage in META personally. For an organisation of 20 employees, for example, we want them to spend two days a year with META and other members addressing challenges and opportunities. We don’t ask for a membership fee, because from our point of view the biggest contribution we can get from these members is their time.

AMT: What can members expect from META? AG: META can only become as good as our members, there must be willingness and engagement – whereby companies are prepared to work on collaborative projects and share that with other members to proper and grow. Our goals are for the most engaged members to have at least double the growth of non-members – that’s number one. And number two is that they are at least 50% better in customer satisfaction reviews that they do on a continuous basis.

These for me are the two elements. You can talk about innovation, you can talk about technology – that’s all very important. But they’re all enablers to having growth in your organisation and satisfying your customers. Everything else has to feed these two elements.

A manufacturer that is in trouble is in trouble because what he manufactures is not what customers want. That was the problem with the Primes within the automotive industry here in Australia. The Primes need to focus on making cars people want to buy – end of story. The Australian people decided to buy other cars, not the ones built in Australia. The fact is if you’re not growing your business something is wrong. If you’re not saying “How do I improve my top line?”, you’re already on a dead-end street.

AMT: What are the biggest challenges facing Australian manufacturers today?

AG: Australia is part of a global economy; most of our manufacturers are affected by a global economy. You have to be globally competitive.

But as a place to do business, we’re one of the most expensive countries in the world – perhaps the most expensive. We also have the biggest distances within our country. And while we’re a highcost environment, we’re not surrounded by cheap-labour countries where we can produce parts and then put them together here.

We have to overcome these natural disadvantages, not only to do export but to fight imports. Therefore, we have to look into highvalue-add products, because if you only have 10% value-add on your business, you’re not going to compete because you won’t overcome these disadvantages.

How do you do that? Well, META isn’t reinventing anything, we’re looking into successful companies. It comes back to what I said before: advanced manufacturing, which is suppliers, customers, and the value chain in between, your own organisation, and employee engagement. And making sure that you satisfy your customers and give them a little bit more.

Look at the world’s best manufacturers and what makes them the best, and you’ll see two things. One is efficiency and their costs of doing business. The other is their reaction time to change. They can change on the spot. What is the cycle time in an organisation if its product is not good enough anymore and it needs a new product?

With good companies, textile companies, for example, if a shop manager says “I want certain clothes in my shop”, it goes from ordering it, manufacturing it and shipping it back to the shop, in a week. Not a month or six months, a week, globally.

AMT: And where do the opportunities lie?

AG: A lot is said about Lean design, Lean manufacturing, and that’s all good. But the single element that’s more important than anything else is the human, in the organisation. And here is something I still don’t understand. Australian culture is so well liked wherever we go, we’re an easy-going people. But we’ve never translated that in business. With a lot of organisations, particularly industries that are in trouble, I too often see interactions with employees that are topdown – it’s order, it’s measurement, it’s not engagement.

If you talk about the resources of Australia, our culture is our biggest resource. Australians don’t like being told what to do, so engage them. Build companies where everyone can speak up, not organisations with top-down cultures where everyone is told what to do. At META we have 25 students working with us, and they’re smart guys. We’re not telling them what we want them to do, we want to hear their ideas on what we should do.

That kind of culture has more value than all the iron ore and all the oil and gas and everything that we have in the ground.

Because any successful company anywhere in the world has successful employees behind it.

AMT: How do you instil that culture?

AG: I would be pessimistic if I had not met so many very good, small and medium companies in Australia that have exactly that kind of culture. Bosses sitting together at lunchtime with their employees because they don’t see it as a waste of time, they see it as an inspiration, to learn what’s going on. And everyone knows they can speak up if they see something wrong, they can go and fix it. That’s why we have the META 500 of our successful members, where we say “Okay, if these guys can do it in Australia, don’t say it’s not possible”.

The META 500 are the change agents for members, these members are learning from projects and creating their own outcomes and sharing their knowledge. Then comes the question: “Why can’t you do it?”

The main point is that we should not try to encourage companies to be innovative but create their own way of building innovation, allow them to explore the business excellence tools like Lean management and make it relevant to their own company. What we should also do is ask: “What do we want?

What is the outcome?” Then innovation comes, collaboration comes. We should not be articulating what the tools are, we should be talking about the outcomes. And META is not about the tools, META is about the outcome.

AMT March 2014

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Material Removal

Machining challenges of glass-filled plastics Plastics reinforced with glass present more machining variables to manage than conventional metals.

One US shop has developed a process to overcome those challenges and has become more adroit at short-run work along the way. By Derek Korn, Senior Editor of Modern Machine Shop.

K&E Plastics has machined plastic components for a range of customers since 1966. It works with both common and engineering thermoplastics as well as advanced, expensive thermoset laminates. Eric Broderson, K&E’s president, says that glass-filled plastics are the trickiest materials the shop machines. These include nylon extruded with reinforcing glass fibres and thermoset laminates such as NEMA-rated G-7 and G-10 that combine layers of glass fabric with resin binder.

Components machined from G-10 thermoset laminate material.

These materials offer excellent electrical insulating properties, dimensional stability and mechanical strength, and are commonly used for electrical housing components as well as an increasing number of medical and aerospace parts. Although they are attractive from a designer’s perspective, they can be ugly to machine.

There are a number of reasons why this is. The glass filler is highly abrasive, which can cause cutting tools and inserts to wear quickly.

Plus, not many cutting tool manufacturers offer tools specifically designed for the non-metallic materials that K&E machines. This means some experimentation is typically required to establish effective cutting parameters for new materials (Speeds and feeds recommended for machining metals with a given tool are typically too high for plastics).

Laminate thermosets are prone to delamination during machining, meaning toolpath changes or wholesale design changes might be necessary. Finally, machining these materials creates a significant amount of abrasive dust that must be managed to maintain a clean working environment and keep machines running reliably.

The process K&E has established for machining glass-filled plastics enables it to overcome these challenges. However, it has also found ways to become more effective at minimising non-valueadding activities.

Only plastics Broderson took over running the business from his father Peter 20 years ago, with the goal of pursuing non-electrical plastic applications, primarily in the aerospace and medical industries, to diversify the company and realise higher margins. Although K&E originally had only manual machines, the 24-person shop now has all CNC production equipment in the new 2800sqm facility it moved into in May in Bennington, Vermont. The vast majority of these CNC machines are Haas models, including vertical machining centres (VMCs), gantry routers and turning centres.

The Haas VMCs and routers have a grease-pack spindle design rather than oil-lube, which Broderson says is important for plastics machining because the lubricant remains sealed within the spindle and can’t contaminate the plastic workpieces. Similarly, nearly all K&E’s thermoset laminate jobs are performed dry or with cold-air guns, though synthetic coolants are used for some thermoplastics.

Petroleum-based coolants can’t be used because they often degrade plastic workpieces.

K&E runs only plastic jobs across its CNCs. That’s because many of the components the shop machines are used for electrical insulation applications; running only plastics eliminates the chance that a stray chip from a previous metal-machining job would contaminate the plastic workpiece. This is also why plastic vice jaws are commonly used instead of aluminium or steel jaws.

Most jobs start from plastic sheet, tube or rod material, but some work is performed on customer-supplied moulded components.

Typical batch sizes range from 35 to 70 pieces, so K&E takes strides to minimise set-up and changeover time. For instance, all VMCs are equipped with a Renishaw touch-trigger probing

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package. This enables machinists to quickly locate vices or fixtures during set-ups, reducing set-up time from a couple of hours to just 20 minutes in many cases.

Similarly, the shop stores its most commonly used tools in known positions in each machine’s toolchanger carousel to minimise the frequency of tool change-outs. When possible, it runs similar parts or part families together to minimise the number of times workholding devices must be swapped out. Some machines are also fitted with vacuum workholding chucks to speed changeovers and enable tools to access five sides of a part.

Vacuum plays a key role in dust removal, too. Unlike metal machining that creates manageable chips that can be conveyed out of a machine, plastics machining creates tiny chips and a good deal of dust. Therefore, all machines are connected to a central dust collection system to minimise dust build-up on machine components and maintain a clean facility.

K&E previously used a traditional bag-type dust collection system. However, that system wasn’t able to keep up as more machines were added, and machine operators spent too much time manually vacuuming the machines. Therefore, K&E recently installed a cartridge filter system from United Air Specialists with a modular design that enables the shop to add plenums as dustcontrol demands increase. Plus, the cartridges typically last two years before replacement is needed compared with bag clean-out every few months. The system also returns clean, warm air into the facility when the weather is cold, which lowers heating costs.

The dust generated during plastic machining causes K&E to take machine maintenance seriously, too.

Continued on page 50

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Material Removal

Each of the shop’s CNC machines is connected to a central dust collection system.

Instead of taps, thread mills are used to create threads in thermoset laminate material such as G-10.

Continued from page 48

The shop runs ten-hour shifts Monday through Thursday, and operators spend the last hour of each Thursday cleaning the machines. In addition, spindle and way covers are removed every six months to eliminate any dust build-up, and machine air filters are replaced on a regular basis.

Cutter considerations In general, the best cutters for glass-filled plastics have positive rake angles and very sharp cutting edges. K&E has traditionally used solid carbide cutters, but it is transitioning to indexable carbide insert tooling, because, Broderson notes, indexable-insert tooling is ultimately less expensive and requires less inventory space and enables higher positive rake angles.

The shop maintains a close relationship with its tooling distributor, Abrasives and Tools of New Hampshire (ATNH), to stay abreast of new indexable insert cutters suited for its plastic materials. One recent project was to identify a new 15cm face-mill that could achieve a feed rate of just 22.9cm/min for a glass-filled nylon component, settling on a Kennametal Dodeka 45-degree facemill using KC410m-grade inserts, which have a titanium diboride (TiB2) coating. This coating offers the wear resistance needed for the material’s abrasive glass filler but is relatively thin so as not to dull the insert cutting edges. These inserts have the sharpness needed to cleanly cut glass-filled nylon while not burning the resin.

For another project, a more productive end-mill for machining a G-10 thermoset laminate component (G-10 uses an epoxy resin unlike G-7, which uses a silicon resin) was required. When using an end-mill with conventional carbide inserts, the fastest speed and feed rate that could be achieved were 1200rpm and 49.5cm/min, respectively. Plus, only one part could be completed for each insert cutting edge. The solution was a Kennametal Mill 1-10 shoulder mill that has a highly positive rake angle and KD1410-grade, polycrystalline diamond (PCD) inserts. The KD1410 inserts have a PCD tip brazed onto one side. Although these inserts are twice the cost of the conventional carbide inserts, and the PCD tip is on just one side of each insert, they achieved five times the life of the previous inserts while enabling faster machining. During roughing, this new tool ran at 2,000rpm and 100cm/min with a 2mm depth cut. For finishing, it ran at 4000rpm and 228cm/min at a 0.5mm depth of cut.

Heat is the big issue when machining any plastic. Burning of the material is possible when tools are run too fast, and machined material can re-weld back to the workpiece without effective chip evacuation. Tool flute geometry plays a key role in getting chips out and away from the workpiece, as do cold-air jets. However, thermoset laminates such as G-7 and G-10 are also prone to delamination depending on the bond strength of the resin and how the parts are machined.

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Thread milling creates less heat and pressure, and is less likely to delaminate the material when threaded holes run parallel to the laminations.

Ball end-mills are typically used for surface profiling of G-7 and G-10, and the step-over used depends on the material and surface finish requirements. When a very smooth finish is needed, stepovers are generally 10%-20% of the value for applications in which surface finish isn’t that critical. That said, because G-7 has lower resin bond strength, custom, precision-ground tools may be necessary to prevent delamination from occurring.

Drilling and tapping can also be problematic. It’s best to enter perpendicular to the laminations; entering parallel to them can cause delamination. However, when threaded holes are required parallel to the laminations, peck drilling should be performed, followed by thread milling. A thread mill is much less likely to split the material compared to a conventional tap, largely because there’s less tool pressure. Another alternative is to drill a hole and install a threaded metal insert.

K&E plans to continue to experiment with new cutting tool options and will soon replace the few non-Haas VMCs it infrequently uses.

It is also looking to add to its quality control capabilities. The shop currently has a video measurement machine (which is especially good for parts with many holes), but will soon purchase a Metris CMM. K&E is also considering upgrading its machine tools’ touchtrigger probing software to enable in-process part inspection.

Broderson says the work for medical and aerospace customers is driving the shop in this direction, because these jobs tend to be more complex than electrical components, making inspection more challenging. Plus, performing measurements with the part still on the machine means there’s less handling as well as reduced machine downtime because operators don’t have to wait extended periods of time while a part is sent to the quality department for measurement. www.keplastics.com Reprinted courtesy of Modern Machine Shop

Material Removal

New solutions for machining composites In order to economically machine the latest generation of hightech material, high-tech tools are required that efficiently prevent delamination or fibre projections on the component as well as thermal damage.

The machining of modern materials such as carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) is a growing challenge for cutting tool manufacturers. With the new CFRP varieties, there is a noticeable trend towards reduced resin content and above all the unidirectional orientation of the fibres. Whilst the fibres in woven condition are firmly embedded in the resin fibre matrix, in the unidirectional CFRP they lie next to each other in the resin.

The result, a lack of interlocking embedding, considerably affects the machining process for these materials as, for example, milling can cause the fibres to easily tear out of the composite. The higher the cutting forces, the greater the effect. It is, therefore, important to minimise the cutting forces that cause the fibres to be torn out. To do so, there are various options.

A sharp cutting edge with a very hard surface that can withstand the abrasive behaviour of the CFRP material and the extreme wear effect on the cutting edges when the fibres are severed is very important. Due to its high hardness, diamond is clearly suited to this application. Diamond’s characteristics enable very high cutting speeds. By utilising the mass inertia, the fibres can be cut without being torn out of the composite.

However, the maximum speed is limited by the machine and the temperature development. The application of tools with brazed polycrystalline diamond (PCD)tipped cutting edges is successful, but a crystalline diamond coating is also possible as cutting edge protection. The disadvantage of the diamond coating is the rounding of the edge through the coating thickness and the necessary pre-treatment, which reduces the important sharpness of the cutting edge. The characteristics of the CFRP invariably dictate which version is best applied.

Guhring set about researching a new cutting edge geometry that would prevent delamination even with tools that had worn cutting edges. As the fibres can easily be torn out of the composite, the load direction when cutting the fibres must be adapted. If the fibre is cut in the direction of the material with a worn cutting edge, then the material edge will exhibit roughness. A clean smooth edge of the material can only be achieved by a stroke of the cutting edge, which is not really possible with a rotary tool.

The solution is to align a component of

the cutting force vertically to the material.

This can be carried out via a helix angle.

Until now it was only possible to design PCD-tipped tools with low helix angles of four to six degrees due to manufacturing capabilities, but Guhring’s research centre for composite materials has developed a new milling cutter with an innovative cutting edge arrangement with a helix angle of 25 degrees. The cutter also possesses unequal spacing of the cutting edges at the circumference – a practice perfected with carbide milling cutters and reamers.

The advantages of this new geometry are: no premature delamination tendency; extremely smooth operation, even with unstable clamping; delamination-free machining; and longer tool life.

In combination with air-cooling provided by special rearward-facing coolant duct exits and suitable suction, dry machining is possible without contaminating the ambient air. High coolant disposal costs are eliminated and savings can also be made as the applied machines do not have to be designed with internal cooling systems. As well as the machining advantages, the new Guhring CFRP milling cutter considerably reduces the machine investment.

Thanks to advantageous characteristics such as rigidity, toughness and low weight, CFRP materials continue to feature more and more in the automotive industry, energy technology, shipbuilding and leisure industries. Guhring’s R&D centre aims to introduce more and more efficient tooling solutions to meet the continued development of this high-tech material. www.guhring. com.au

Right: Milling cutter with diamond coating and new Guhring cutting edge geometry.

Far right: Milling cutter with PCD cutting edges and new Guhring cutting edge geometry.

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Material Removal

Elsa’s portable mechanic A machine tool that is always available for on-site emergencies and that conquers boring work speedily and with maximum flexibility: this is the story of a patent that inspired an entire sector.

Back in 1960, Evangelista Russo was already admired for his creative thinking and innovation, in a world that he knew in the finest details — industrial and earthmoving machinery. This was the birthplace of what would become machine tools company Elsa: a modest repairs workshop in the small artisan environment in the province of Catanzaro in southern Italy.

Over time, experience and fresh ideas led Russo to set up his own components manufacturing business. In 1975 he invented a chain for agricultural and industrial tracked machinery that had great success at Verona’s Samoter trade fair. One of its first clients was the Fiat-Allis brand.

Russo followed his first achievement with the invention of a sealed oil-lubricated pin for the arms of excavators. However; the invention that would change the course of events forever for the small Calabria-based company was just around the corner: the Supercombinata.

Russo had the idea of creating a machine tool that would be capable of boring work on worn holes directly on-site, without having to dismantle the pieces needing repair. Russo’s vision and the dedicated talents of his staff led to a patent on a portable boring machine that can be easily used for both boring and automatic overlay welding. The success they achieved would change the company’s fortunes forever.

In 1997, in Sellia Marina, a coastal town in Catanzaro, Russo established Elsa, a firm dedicated to manufacturing the Supercombinata machine tool. In the same year Russo won an award at the International Inventors Show in Geneva and began a real world tour to promote his creation. The Supercombinata obtains enormous success, which led to full-scale production for the domestic market and international customers in France, Spain, the US, Canada and North Africa.

At the beginning of the new millennium the series expanded with the introduction of the new Supercombinata 60/1 and 60/2 models for work on large diameters, and in 2004 Elsa achieved full distribution of its machine tools models, confidently winning new export sales in Latin America, Northern Europe and the Middle East. In recent years the company has focused on research and technological development with the aim of meeting the needs of an ever-evolving market. The launch of leading-edge solutions and the introduction of systems and accessories has resulted in the completion of a well-established product range valued by repairs specialists across various industry sectors.

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Export accounts for around 95% of Elsa’s output, with very high market penetration in Germany and in German-speaking countries, as well as in Central Europe, the UK, South Africa, the Middle East, China and Russia.

Products and accessories The SC1 (40/1) model is the flagship of the Supercombinata range: a tool suited to boring work on diameters of 45-250mm. Its compact design and low weight represent some of the main distinguishing features of the portable boring machines patented

by Elsa. The Supercombinata SC1 can be used in any position and is designed to deliver high performance and optimal efficiency even in problematic working conditions.

The standard version is equipped to allow immediate use in-situ and the optional accessories further extend the machine’s possible applications. Like all Supercombinata models, the fully optioned standard model is compatible with most MIG/MAG welders available on the market.

The Supercombinata SC2 (60/1) and SC3 (60/2) models are used to work on diameters of 65-500 mm and 65-600mm respectively; with additional optional kits the field of application can vary between 25mm and 1200mm. The machine is as easy to handle as the Supercombinata SC1 (40/1), but it has been designed with a different transmission to provide more power and has a shaft measuring 60mm in diameter for work that requires larger diameters. The Supercombinata SC3 (60/2) model features two 1,800W engines and a double ventilation system. Its boring

bar has a diameter of 60mm, which allows for work on large diameters.

The entire Supercombinata series comes with additional kits to reduce and expand their boring diameters (these include shafts, reducer bushings, tool carriers, cutting edges and, for large diameters, a reduction gear to boost the machine’s performance).

Other pieces of equipment are dedicated to flange-facing operations of orthogonal surfaces: for instance, one of the most requested kits is no. 363 for flange-facing operations between 250 and 500mm, which comes with a protection clutch that adjusts its performance during heavy-duty use. It is fitted on the 60mm bar, is easy to install, and is equipped with a protection clutch that adjusts its performance during heavy-duty use.

Other accessories for the Supercombinata include a digital control panel, joints to connect two or more shafts, and a CAM system. The digital control panel consists of a programmable positioner with microprocessor and relay outputs, and controls right/left/stop movements with positioning at the set height and the gear/stop rotation (only in one direction) of a second movement independent from the first one. Along with the feed height, the device also displays the related speed (in mm/min) and rotation speed (in rpm).

When the machine is off, the data is stored in a non-volatile EEPROM memory, while the CAM system enables operators to carry out automatic welding operations in a discontinuous mode, and the flexibility of stopping operations in the desired areas. www.whitelawmachinery.com.au

Material Removal

Quick Turn upgrade for ACIM The recent acquisition of a Mazak Quick Turn Smart 350M CNC turning centre from John Hart is set to help ACIM’s products outperform larger and more established competitors.

Based in Notting Hill, Vic, ACIM is a small, but focussed and growing business run by Anthony Coleman with his wife Lisa.

ACIM has developed a range of “down-the-hole” products for mining applications, which are creating a distinctive stir within the industry. The interest in its products stems from their innovative design, which has been completed in-house by Anthony and the production quality, which the company prides itself on.

“At ACIM, we manufacturer inflatable packers, down-hole tools and hydraulic fracturing systems,” says Anthony. “Initially, we had only one or two customers, but our customer base has grown quite rapidly. We now service mining companies for hard rock, coal mining companies, a few customers with coal seam gas, and we have entered the market in Chile, as well.”

Under these circumstances, it is vital for ACIM to be able to respond quickly to its clients’ requests, and customise production to suit their needs. According to Anthony, the Quick Turn will help to drive development further, improve designs, enable testing, and allow everything to be completed in-house.

“Programming was the main reason we settled on a Mazak,” adds Anthony. “It has proved to be very easy to learn and being a small business we wanted to make parts straight away. John Hart showed us how to get the jobs started and we became comfortable using the machine quicker than expected.”

Following the implementation of the new Mazak Quick Turn, ACIM has been able to change its production processes, enabling the business to cut costs and process jobs quicker. They recently completed a job that would have been previously impossible.

“A customer requested a custom-sized mining tool, with a tight turnaround,” explains Anthony. “The product needed to be designed from scratch, manufactured on the Quick Turn and delivered to NSW. From the initial order until delivery in NSW; it was completed in less than two weeks.

The changes in ACIM’s production process have opened the door for new product designs and ventures, which before the Quick Turn were too expensive to produce. Producing product inhouse has allowed ACIM to remain price competitive, while driving development and maintaining production quality. The future looks bright for ACIM and the Mazak Quick Turn Smart looks to play a major role in its growth as a company. www.acim.com.au www.johnhart.com.au

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AMT March 2014

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Robotics & Automation

Automation – the benefits, and the challenges Robots are having a huge impact on the economy and providing benefits beyond what was once imaginable – but they are also creating new challenges to overcome. By Per Vegard Nerseth, Group Senior Vice-President at ABB. It is always hard to look into the future and see exactly what it might bring, but if one thing is certain it is that robots will be an integral part of that future, entering parts of the economy and our personal lives that a few years ago we could only imagine.

Per Vegard Nerseth

Over the last several decades we have seen robots go from incredibly expensive machines with limited functionality to today’s modern industrial robots that can do amazing things and offer a quick return on investment—something ABB is proud to continue to play a key role in. Increasingly we even find robots doing everything from vacuuming floors and assisting the elderly to entertaining at concerts and diffusing bombs on the battlefield.

Through movies, marketing and everyday experience, robots have become a normal part of real life. Not only have these robots started working their way into every aspect of our daily routines, they have also reduced injuries in the workplace, increased the competitiveness of companies in a fierce global market, elevated the quality of affordable products, increased profits for countless businesses, and created a whole new ecosystem of high-paying and rewarding jobs.

Of all the points above, it is the last one that strikes a particular feeling of hopefulness for robotics companies like ABB. While many detractors have sounded an alarm of the job-stealing robotic world of the future, real-life experience is showing us otherwise. According to a recent report from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the evidence is that in the countries that have adopted the largest share of robots, unemployment has actually declined over time – indicating a positive relationship between robot adoption and job creation.

In fact, as the IFR report notes, between 2000 and 2008, the robotics industry created 8m-10m new jobs, either directly or indirectly. That’s more than a million jobs globally per year. Although the economic recovery has stalled job growth on all fronts, the prediction is that between now and 2020 another 4m jobs will be created in this “robot ecosystem”.

This is a far more hopeful situation than some would have you believe.

Indeed, the robot economy of the future presents some challenges, but at ABB we find these challenges exciting. In particular we can divide these challenges into the two broad groups of economic and technical.

Economic challenges Based on a huge body of evidence, experience and common sense, it is clear that the companies that adopt robots realise huge financial benefits. More than any other action businesses can take, integrating robots can increase productivity, reduce overheads, provide flexibility, cut waste and enhance quality.

Along with these benefits, however, come some economic challenges. As the IFR study notes, many new jobs are created by robots, but these jobs require skill sets that are sometimes hard to find among the existing population of workers. In fact, it could be said that the needed job skills of this robotic future will change dramatically versus the current mix of skills that are out there – and these job skills will be different for all levels of operation.

For instance, the managers of the future will have to be well-versed in robot operations, service and logistics, as well as be able to train new operators. At the same time they will likely have a reduced emphasis on what are traditionally known as “people skills.” In fact, for every position within the “robot ecosystem,” training or re-training will need to be considered. And for those individuals either out of work or just joining the workforce, systems and institutions need to be in place to ensure they get the right counselling when thinking of how to enter or re-enter the job market.

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While the financial benefits to companies adopting robots are wellestablished, it is clear that an economy based on robots still needs to work for humans. And although there will be many new jobs created, the major challenge we see will be in re-training the workforce.

Technical challenges As robots find their way into an increasing number of distinct applications, they will inevitably find themselves working alongside humans, sometimes within a matter of a few centimetres. This will be especially pronounced during a transition phase in which robots are still incapable of perfectly reproducing human dexterity, but have enough dexterity and ability to work with delicate objects that they can take over some but not all of the jobs that currently require a human touch. The growing need for small parts assembly is a perfect example, with the electronics market leading the charge in this regard.

The industry, working in conjunction with lawmakers and regulators around the planet, will need to agree on ways to mitigate the inherent risks of human interaction with robots, by developing new global standards governing this interaction as well as innovating new solutions to meet these standards.

Ease of deployment and programming is also a large technical challenge that the industry is grappling with. As more and more companies find that robots are within their affordability range, it is clear that one of the final barriers to adoption is the perceived complexity of programming and designing robotic systems. At ABB we feel very strongly that a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) programming interface is one of the main ways to overcome this barrier.

Our PC-based RobotStudio offline programming solution has been around for many years now and continues to make the design and commissioning phase much simpler than in the past. When combined with an increasing number of standardised “off-theshelf” products for the most popular robotic applications, offline programming can be harnessed for maximum efficiency and provide the fastest time to start of production.

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The last piece of the technical challenge puzzle involves the tools that allow robots to interact with the world around them, including advanced sensing and advanced gripping. In order to allow robots to do all the jobs that they are well suited for, they will need to develop more “human-like” abilities to find, identify and manipulate objects.

When combined with powerful processing capability, tools like force control and advanced 2D and 3D vision will create a kind of robotic “independence” and allow the robot to make “decisions” about what to do when it encounters the inevitable hiccups that arise in everyday operation. Already ABB has developed a new generation of Integrated Force Control and Integrated Vision to help make these advanced technologies available to more and more end-users.

And while robots are certainly capable of very precise and repeatable movements, when it comes to things like small parts assembly all that precision is useless without the ability to handle tiny objects with dexterity. In this regard, end of arm tooling is needed that mimics the human hand as much as possible with its touch, flexibility, care and speed.

Certainly these challenges are not small matters, but they are nothing to worry about. In fact, the industry and governments around the world have already begun addressing them in substantial ways. They present exciting opportunities and should be embraced. Instead of reviling robots as job stealers, we should recognise that they are the future and create policies that encourage robotic growth but that also ensure the robotic.

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company focus

Maric’s Managing Director, Grant Schroeder.

Maric Flow Control – Half-century, not out Having just marked 50 years in business, Adelaide-based Maric Flow Control Australia is enjoying further grounds for celebration as it notches up record sales and exports for its innovative range of products.

Maric commemorated its 50th birthday in December of last year, and over the five decades the company has been in operation, it has seen periods both of strong growth and of decline. However, the birthday took place amid a definite upturn in the company’s fortunes.

From its premises in Magill, out in the picturesque Adelaide foothills, the family-owned business has today firmly established itself as a globally recognised, highly specialised producer of flow control valves.

The company began life as Maric Products, back in December 1963. A fitter and turner by trade, Eric Schroeder had a passion for making things and a gift for teaching himself how – he built his own lathe when he was still a teenager. He set up Maric to manufacture the instantaneous electric water heaters he had designed for the domestic market.

The business began operations from a factory in Prospect, South Australia, and the Maric heaters soon became a market leader in Adelaide and the surrounding region. Eric’s designs offered a significant improvement in performance over the existing instantaneous water heaters of the day, and it wasn’t long before Eric saw an opportunity to further improve them.

What Eric needed was a valve that could deliver a constant flow of water, irrespective of any fluctuations in pressure. A constant flow of water would mean the temperature would also remain constant.

At that time, the only flow control valve available on the market was produced in the US and would have cost half the price of the heater. Instead, Eric set about creating his own. He studied rubber chemistry, before designing and patenting his own solution, the original Maric flow control valve.

Like all great inventions, the concept was relatively simple – a precision-moulded rubber control ring that sits in the valve’s body, with an orifice diameter that varies in response to the pressure differential applied to it. The greater the pressure, the smaller the orifice, and vice versa, thereby maintaining a constant flow. The valves are particularly suitable for use in situations where the water quality is poor, because the flow-controlling element is a rubber material, meaning it can flex under normal operation. This minimises the risk of blockage and eliminates the build-up of scale.

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“The Maric valve was born and because of its water-saving capability my father soon realised it had other applications far beyond water heaters,” says Grant Schroeder, Eric’s son and today Maric’s Managing Director.

Given their effectiveness at saving water, the Maric valves were soon found to be suitable for a variety of purposes, ranging from cutting the cost of hot water in the ordinary household bathroom, to improving the bottom line for water companies, mining operations and farms.

Eric repackaged his invention into a half-inch BSP chrome-plated valve, which became a big seller to the hotel and motel market, both nationally and internationally, throughout the 1970s.

Grant joined his father’s business in 1987, at a time when Maric was at something of a low point. Sales of the Maric water heaters had been in steady decline over the course of the 1980s, as they were superseded by mains pressure storage water heaters. Grant’s response was to invest in machinery upgrades and a more concerted commitment to marketing. It was a strategy that paid off, and sales of the Maric flow control valves continued to grow.

“Eventually the valves became our major product and we’ve now reached the stage where we produce very few heaters,” says Grant.

In 2003, the business changed its name to Maric Flow Control Australia, in effective acknowledgement of the fact that the Maric flow control valves had become the company’s core product. The Maric valve has been an Australian success story that continues to evolve to this day.

An international leader Today, Maric enjoys a reputation worldwide as a manufacturer and supplier of a range of products that are widely respected by hydraulic engineers for their simplicity and effectiveness. The valves are reliable, compact and self-cleaning, with a maintenance-free life expectancy of up to 20 years. They are available in a broad range of connection types, sizes and materials.

Overall turnover surged by 11% in the first four months of 201314. Moreover, while many small manufacturers continue to struggle to get their products offshore, Maric is tapping into growing world demand for its hand-crafted water valve technology. Over the past three years, the company has recorded a 32% increase in exports,

company focus

Meeting expanding demand

which now account for 40% of its total sales. Key export markets include: the US, South America, New Zealand, South Africa, the Middle East, China, and Europe, in particular the United Kingdom and Scandinavia.

Maric is a key supplier to various industries, particularly mining companies and mineral-processing, water treatment, irrigation and farming, pump manufacturers and resellers. Flow control valves generally control the flow rate of a fluid in a pipe. They may be adjustable or non-adjustable, and may also be pressurecompensating, maintaining a constant pre-set rate of water flow over a wide range of pressures.

Water authorities use Maric’s valves for various applications, including: maintaining mains pressure; extending water meter life; distribution over long distances while reducing infrastructure costs; and restricting supply to prompt payment of overdue bills. Various processes within the water and wastewater treatment industry require flows to be maintained at a constant rate. Controlling backwash flow rate in a media filter is one of the more common applications of Maric products in water treatment. Flow controllers prevent the excessive lifting of the media bed, which eliminates the risk of losing media out to waste – and allows for flexibility in design of equipment and selection of pumps.

Flow control valves are also used in the mining industry for applications ranging from gland flushing water flow control to pump protection.

Aluminium producers in Australia and the US, including Alcoa World Alumina, are among the company’s biggest clients. Industrial uses for Maric flow limiting valves include – fire-fighting, safety shower and eye-wash equipment, cooling equipment, chemical dosing, vacuum pump seal water control, dust suppression, power station boiler processes, irrigation and sprinkler control, and fertiliser dosing.

In irrigation and farming, one of the more common applications is to protect submersible and centrifugal pumps, which can be easily damaged by high flow rates. Limiting the peak flow rate through centrifugal pumps helps to prevent cavitation, thrust bearing damage, motor overload and nuisance tripping.

Continued investment in new production equipment including a new Moriseiki CNC lathe, (NLX2500SY), with sub-spindle and milling capability, has helped Maric to keep up with its expanding order book. Meanwhile, as the possible applications for the valves have continued to expand, the company has continued to invest in research and development to adapt the valves for different operating environments. Recently, a patented non-return feature was incorporated into the valve for use in the mining sector.

Maric has also begun using some of the latest high-pressure rubber compounds, and titanium and super-duplex stainless steel bodies, so that the valves can be used in more aggressive industrial environments involving high pressures, high temperatures and corrosive water environments. The use of EPDM, Viton, and highpressure control rubber materials has increased for more aggressive industrial environments.

Maric maintains the high quality of all its control valves through the use of a quality assurance program based on ISO9001, with audits undertaken by SAI Global, (a division of Standards Australia). This allows the company to be both quality assured and hold a current WaterMark licence. Above all, it is the company’s ability to tailor highquality, long-life valves to meet very specific customer requirements that is its key point of difference – and that’s achieved by hand.

“The fact that we can deliver thousands of different configurations involving different valve materials, body specifications, flow rates and pressure ranges is unique in the marketplace,” says Grant. “It’s why we’re now regarded as a leading manufacturer and supplier of flow control valves internationally.” www.maric.com.au

In hotels and motels, commercial buildings and even private residences, Maric’s flow control valves are often used to save water in showers, kitchen sinks, bathroom basins and laundry troughs.

Controlled flow can also prevent scalding or freezing when someone uses too much cold or hot water. The valves are used to deliver a controlled stream at drinking fountains , and prevent the potential “continuous flush” in toilet cisterns, and help water heaters maintain a sufficiently hot temperature.

If any part of a business requires moving water, there’s a good chance that it’s using a Maric valve somewhere. And that applies in the home as well.

Maric’s premises in Magill.

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Software

Omnichannel ecommerce in Australian manufacturing It’s a whole new ballgame for manufacturing and distribution compared with 10 years ago, largely driven by two key factors: new opportunities for business growth brought about by the digital evolution, and the changing purchasing behaviour of consumers. By Mark Troselj, Managing Director of APAC and Japan for NetSuite.

Online reviews, price comparisons, product videos and feedback via social media have profoundly changed the consumer purchasing process. Add in same-day shipping and expectations around a seamless, consistent experience across channels, as well as both ordering and return processes, and many manufacturers are struggling to adapt.

on application integration to ensure that transactions and data flow seamlessly between ecommerce, CRM, ERP and manufacturing applications. This will provide better insight into how to optimise inventory and order management, forecast demand more accurately, reduce costs and provide data to help reseller partners understand how changes are improving their own bottom lines.

To maximise the chance of sustaining long-term growth and profitability, forwardthinking manufacturers are realising the need to expand their channels. Omnichannel commerce is a way to achieve these goals by functioning more intelligently, efficiently and collaboratively to meet the growing expectations of mobile-connected and empowered customers.

While the benefits are clear, however, not every manufacturer is keeping up with the move to omnichannel commerce. Only 10% of Australian manufacturers and wholesale distributors can currently receive orders directly over the internet, according to a NetSuite-sponsored study by Frost & Sullivan. Despite strong optimism about growing ecommerce channels, with almost 75% of businesses viewing it as an opportunity, the study indicated just how unprepared they are to handle this growth.

While 76% of respondents envisage that customers will increase online ordering over the next few years, ordering direct from websites is much less common than in the retail sector, with most currently only receiving orders via email. Businesses still identify a number of challenges keeping them from adopting omnichannel commerce, including losing direct relationships with B2B customers, system integration issues, and the feeling that they need to offer lower prices online. Different industries and manufacturers also vary greatly in their level of omnichannel development. At the lowest level of maturity, manufacturers stick to the traditional model of selling through resellers.

They might provide product information on their websites, but they don’t support online commerce.

Manufacturers at the mid-level of omnichannel maturity might offer a limited number of products to buy online, but they’re more likely to create private portals for reseller partners or large-volume business customers to enable ordering online. These manufacturers are also more

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likely to provide basic online services such as product information and documentation, reseller locators, and customer tech support forums.

At the highest level of maturity, manufacturers have full ecommerce capabilities for both B2B and B2C buyers, though they may funnel these orders through to local retailers or distributors for fulfilment. They are more likely to offer popular customer amenities such as free in-store pickup and global shipping for a small fee. These fully omnichannel companies also have a full range of support services, from online documentation and user communities to live web chat with customer service.

How can a manufacturer who’s still at the beginner stage move up? It requires researching customer feedback and buying habits and rethinking reseller agreements and incentive plans to identify the best opportunities for maximising sales while avoiding channel conflict. For instance, pricing is a common conundrum. No manufacturer wants to lose loyal resellers by undercutting them, but a thoughtfully structured pricing agreement can avoid conflict and benefit both parties. A manufacturer, for example, can promise resellers certain categories of customers or types of sales. In addition, resellers can create bundled packages to generate extra profits. Or all resellers could get extra funds or bonuses from the manufacturer when overall sales rise.

An integrated software platform To successfully achieve commerce, manufacturers

omnichannel must focus

According to Frost & Sullivan, however, a major challenge faced by many Australian manufacturers with a web presence is a lack of integration between their web frontend and internal back-end systems, with less than 20% having automated links.

Businesses cite a lack of integration as a major issue for exploiting ecommerce, followed by a lack of systems to service customers that cross between online and other channels, as well as a lack of systems that connect inventory to online sales channels. Without a unified software solution, these businesses face difficulties in maintaining a consistent brand experience in areas such as customer support and pricing, as well as increased operational costs to run and maintain each channel.

Manufacturers have, in general, been unfairly accused of a fundamentally conservative approach. However, we are now seeing thriving, successful businesses embracing change and understanding the generational shifts in process and technology they need to make to remain relevant and competitive and grow profitably.

As the online environment accounts for an increasing proportion of overall sales, getting an omnichannel strategy right can deliver substantial and tangible results, but it can take years to develop. This is where cloud computing opens doors, offering the opportunity for a lower-cost and much lower-risk rollout of the software needed to support an omnichannel strategy. Now they can unify separate channels to provide a single view of the customer, sales and revenue.

The main goals of the omnichannel model are to increase sales across the board, while providing the customer more options. By integrating systems across all channels and working with resellers to create equitable policies, every party in the value chain can increase their sales and profits. www.netsuite.com.au

Software

Delcam unveils latest FeatureCAM Delcam will demonstrate the latest version of its FeatureCAM feature-based CAM at the EMEX exhibition, from 29 April to 1 May at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland.

FeatureCAM 2014 R2 provides support for milling and drilling with right-angle heads, and one-stop programming of multiple roughing operations using Delcam’s Vortex areaclearance strategy.

Other enhancements include better control of Z-level roughing, and improved wire EDM and chamfering.

Right-angle heads allow internal pockets to be milled and internal holes to be drilled that would be inaccessible, and so impossible to produce, using a conventional head. They are now available as an option on an increasing range of machines, including mill-turn equipment.

FeatureCAM 2014 R2 is the first release that has the ability to program and simulate both milling and drilling with right-angle heads, allowing users to take full advantage of the flexibility of machines with this option.

NEW Introducing the HDV300

Video-based Measurement System The power of an optical comparator, meets the precision of digital video.

• Electronic overlays – no more Mylars!

• Easy to use M3 software – for both shop floor and lab • Fast measurement processing • Interchangeable lenses for large part images • DXF CAD Import • Touch-screen Windows 7/8 technology • A new generation of Optical Comparators for the 21st Century.

A growing range of high-speed and high-efficiency area clearance strategies have been included in FeatureCAM in recent years, including Delcam’s Vortex strategy, which was added in the initial 2014 release. Vortex gives significant time savings by taking deeper cuts with solid-carbide tooling. It allows the full flute length to be used as the cutting surface, increasing material removal rates, and also maintains a controlled engagement angle for the complete operation to extend the cutter’s life and protect the machine tool.

In FeatureCAM 2014 R2, multiple tools can be selected for roughing and rest-roughing using these strategies, and the complete machining sequence calculated in one operation. A stock model is created automatically after each tool is applied, which is then used as the basis for the program created with the next smaller cutter.

This regular updating of the stock model ensures that programs for the later tools are only created in areas where material still remains, so minimising air moves and optimising overall machining efficiency.

Rough machining has been improved with an option to set the direction in which Z-level roughing toolpaths are offset. A simple button allows the user to select whether the part should be machined from the outside inwards or vice versa. An automatic option can be chosen where FeatureCAM will decide the offset direction depending on whether a core or cavity shape is being machined.

For parts needing wire EDM, the model is often supplied only with a curve showing the shape to be cut rather than a fully-defined feature. FeatureCAM can now project the curve through the stock and also measure the thickness of the feature. The allows the cutting conditions, including feeds, speeds and power levels, to be set at the most suitable values for the EDM equipment.

Cutter compensation can be specified on an operation level, removing the need to create duplicate features to set different values. The most common case where this will be needed is when different cutter compensation is required for the finish pass and for subsequent chamfering operations. www.delcam.com.au

What company has such vision?

Innovation Rules www.starrett.com.au

Contact Us on (02) 9620 6944 AMT March 2014

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Software

Cutting time to market using CAM systems If the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries was facilitated by the steam engine and coal-fired plants, technology-assisted manufacturing is driving the current revolution. And at the heart of this are cutting-edge CAD and CAM systems. By Vivek Govekar.

Traditional CAM systems are no longer suited to the fast-paced demands of the manufacturing industry. Efficiency and speed of delivery are vital in reducing the time to market. The need today is to apply tools and techniques that will shorten or overlap steps, cut decision-making time, and automate activities from design prototyping to actual production and from order placement to actual delivery.

In this era of personalisation and shrinking product life-cycles, timeto-market is critical for today’s manufacturing organisations, be they in consumer products, automotive, aerospace or medical. Think about how many cellphones you have had in the last three years and the five years before them. Manufacturers need to make their products faster and better, economically. They are always looking for ways to streamline their design and manufacturing processes. They need to keep their costs low, capabilities high, while maintaining a high degree of customer satisfaction.

What role can CAM play? CAM systems are very close to where the rubber hits the road. Those in the manufacturing industry know that we get very little time to make things work. Design teams may take more time than we can afford. However, deadlines are deadlines and it comes down to manufacturing teams to deliver. The manufacturing teams need technology that can help them achieve these seemingly impossible feats. We delve deeper into the technology in the context of machining processes. We believe the concepts can be applied to other manufacturing processes as well.

What we need are intelligent systems that can understand the manufacturing intent, regardless of the design process, and apply the appropriate process automatically. These processes should be based on the best practices of your best programmers and machinists, and no matter who in your team creates the CNC programs, they use the tried and proven processes that have become the knowledge base of your company. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-toface conversation. When a design change is initiated, the system interprets the changes and makes the necessary updates to the processes, referring to the knowledge base that your organisation has built. Automating all or part of this process can remove the drudgery from the process of CNC programming.

We need CAM systems that are intelligent and can acquire intelligence as per the industry-specific requirements. CAM systems need to have the potential to become an integral link in automated product manufacturing processes, from receipt of orders to shipping, using resources globally. The CAM system must have four key characteristics: • Seamless integration between design and manufacturing tools.

• Feature-recognition technology.

• Knowledge-based machining.

• Application programming interfaces.

Seamless integration Integration of CAD and CAM systems brings the world of design and manufacturing a step closer. A product designer may not understand the needs of a manufacturing engineer. The manufacturing engineer who really knows how to manufacture parts and program toolpaths might have limited experience in advanced design techniques used by the product designer. Advancement in the integration of the CADCAM systems automates many or all aspects of manufacturing the parts including design, management, documentation and CNC programming.

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In most CAM software, the CAM data generated is saved separately from the CAD file. From a user perspective, keeping the data together in one single file makes for greater efficiency as chances of using mismatched code when work is resumed after a break are eliminated. Time-consuming file transfers can be eliminated by the use of integrated CAD-CAM systems that allow CAM data to be stored within the CAD part file. Both the CAD and CAM applications should have a consistent user interface that is intuitive and with an extremely short learning curve.

When solid modelling was introduced in CAD systems, more information became available from the model. Yet, many CAM systems still do not capitalise on this extra information. The golden question companies creating CAM systems should ask themselves is: “How do we leverage the more intelligent CAD model to make CAM more intelligent and more useful to the end users?”

The key lies in extracting more information from the solid model so that CAM itself can become more intelligent and make decisions which previously had to be decided by the trained engineers.

The greater level of automation achieved increases efficiency and reduces programming time.

Tight, seamless integration of the CAM system with the CAD environment facilitates associative machining. As a result, any revision to the part designs updates the CAD solid model as well as the CAM file, allowing the CAM system to automatically generate the required new toolpaths, the tool list and, if necessary, fixture/ clamp modifications as well. This results in major time savings for manufacturing companies.

If the CAM system programming is parametric in nature – that is, all the parameters in a program are variables, then it will allow users to change the value of each variable to adjust for size at any time after the CNC program for a part is written. Consequently, it will automatically update the toolpath, changing it to accommodate the change in geometry. It eliminates the need for CNC programmers to redevelop the toolpath every time the geometry of the part changes.

The feature of parametric associativity ensures that CNC programmers don’t have to develop toolpath for each size from scratch. They can simply adjust the toolpath of another size within the same family of parts or even very different looking parts.

Software

Feature recognition A CAM system that understands the manufacturing intent, regardless of the design process, can automate much of the redundant programming work that takes so much time.

When dealing with complex part models, a CAM system’s ability to recognise more features in less time can result in major time savings since the process of manually identifying regions to be machined is eliminated. Automatic Feature Recognition (AFR) enables automatic identification of each machining feature by type while recognising the relationship between a set of features. AFR can be assisted by allowing users to define machining features interactively that can be reused across parts. This capability allows such a system to move beyond prismatic parts.

In addition to automatically identifying regions to be machined, feature recognition should be able to suggest toolpaths based on different part geometries and must recognise features regardless of the CAD system used to create them. This is where the ability to store and reuse knowledge becomes the next key component in a smart system.

The knowledge engine builds on feature recognition capability.

Knowledge-based machining (KBM) systems use machinable feature information identified using feature recognition technology to create operational plans, select appropriate tools and finally generate a toolpath by tapping into the KBM technology database. Given the customisable nature of KBM, this combination provides intelligence and high level of automation resulting in toolpath optimisation and virtually automatic CNC programming.

For example, consider a master model created for designing and manufacturing a particular medical device where multiple customisations are required. Template libraries and family tables for various types of the customised devices can be created that can then be categorised by their manufacturing processes. When someone takes an order, it will be input into the job order system (essentially a database). After passing checks and balances, it can then be passed to the automated design/programming system.

The automation rendered by the CAD and CAM API’s will create the design, regenerates toolpaths and output the G-code. This G-code will then be transferred to the operation site as the job travels through the shop.

The future of CAM systems holds great potential for sure. Some of the key improvements to watch out for are reduced programming time, increased efficiency through greater levels of automation, auto-optimisation of toolpaths for faster machining, highly and easily customisable KBM databases, consistent and predictable outputs.

With the aid of intelligent and intuitive APIs, a CAM system with the right key elements can form a key component of the process that automates the entire manufacturing process. Such automation for a CAM system can be achieved across multiple industry segments to suit industry-specific needs.

Vivek Govekar is the Product Manager and Head of R&D – CAMWorks at Geometric Technologies. This article is an abridged version of a Geometric white paper. www.camworks.com www.geometricglobal.com www.nccs.com.au

It is no secret that the expert workforce of the machining industry is aging. Ability to capture the knowledge of your best machinists in this manner is critical in this day and age.

As CAM systems continue to develop, there has been a growing trend towards KBM. In a world where faster, economical production are the way business is conducted, CAM systems that possess the ability to acquire intelligence using KBM can provide a competitive edge to manufacturers because they offer automation while still retaining control over the machining process.

CAM systems that incorporate KBM typically come with a generalised database of standard tools, pre-programmed speeds and feeds and information on standard material characteristics.

These may also be supplemented by a set of predefined machining features and processes that can be tailored to preference. Such a system has the ability to recognise the machining features – and by using this data, the software automatically retrieves process and cutting conditions information from the database for cutting the part in the most effective way.

Aiding customisation Robust CAM systems must ideally provide a suite of Application Programming Interface (API) programs. Ability to program or adapt to suit industry-specific requirements is a key characteristic of an intelligent CAM system.

The addition of a wide variety of APIs, including one that helps interpret Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI) data, will help advanced users to automate significant portion of their design to manufacture life cycle reducing the drudgery of manual programming. This ability to automate can be harnessed for families of parts but also for uniquely designed components like tailor-made devices and parts.

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Safety

Nanoparticles and nanosafety: the big picture Nanoparticles offer enormous potential for manufacturers and are being used increasingly frequently in a range of applications. However, they also present significant safety risks. By Dr Maxine McCall.

Nanoparticles — or nanomaterials, as they are often called — are chemical objects with dimensions in the range of 1-100 nanometres (nm). Particles this tiny are hard to imagine, but it may help to think that a 1nm nanoparticle could fit up to 80,000 times across a human hair. Nanoparticles occur naturally in the environment, such as in clay, milk, and in volcanic ash and sea spray.

Manufacturers also make nanoparticles for use in a range of everyday products.

The surfaces of your fridge may hold silver nanoparticles to stop bacteria growing.

Sunscreen applied as a clear film to your skin may contain zinc oxide or titanium dioxide nanoparticles to provide broadspectrum sun protection. The frame of your new bicycle may even contain carbon nanotubes to make it stronger and lighter than older bikes.

Nanoparticles are intriguing to scientists because the properties of a chemical — such as silver or zinc oxide — in nano form can be very different to a larger particle of the same chemical. This is because surface properties dominate in the nano form (due to higher surface area). It’s the internal composition that defines the properties of larger particles. This difference opens up a range of new uses for that chemical.

The benefits, and the risks The prevalence of manufactured nanoparticles is increasing.

New developments have led to significant advances across a broad range of electronic, medical and environmental applications (among others). Nanoparticles may be more conductive, stronger or more chemically reactive than larger particles of the same substance. This means smaller amounts of the chemical in nano form can achieve the same effects, making a product cheaper – or the same quantities may be used to create an enhanced product.

However, the same properties that make nanoparticles promising for new manufacturing opportunities may also present new risks to us and our natural environment.

Normally, new chemicals and their commercial use would be assessed by one or more of a number of regulatory bodies within Australia. But if a chemical in traditional form has already been assessed, it may not require further scrutiny by regulators if it is made in nano form. That’s the case even though the two forms of the same chemical may have quite different properties.

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It is this “slipping through the cracks” that has raised some concerns in the community about the large-scale use of untested nanomaterials.

Assessing the risks associated with manufactured nanomaterials is never easy or straightforward. Unlike traditional chemicals, the classification of the properties and potential risks of nanomaterials is not based on composition alone. Rather, it is a complex function of a number of properties, including particle size, shape, surface area, surface coating and even how tightly the particles are clumped together.

Adding to the challenge, many of these properties can change with time and through use as the nanomaterials move through a complex system, such as our own bodies or a waste-treatment plant.

What safety research is being done?

toxicity assessments, and developments on how to make those measurements. While these are important steps forward, more work still needs to be done before such measurements will be routine.

The timeline to achieve this is tight, especially for Australian companies that export internationally. New regulations will be in force this year in Europe that require mandatory labelling of certain nanocontaining products.

This is by no means a simple task. It is not easy to find — let alone count and measure sizes of — these very tiny particles in complex products. This makes it tricky to determine whether they are even captured by the definition of “nano” and hence require labelling.

At present, CSIRO’s nanosafety team is investigating: • Nanoparticles in sunscreens.

In 2007 the Working Party for Manufactured Nanomaterials, in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), launched an international programme to test 13 different types of manufactured nanomaterials that were in the early stages of commercialisation.

OECD member countries were invited to comprehensively test these nanomaterials for their physical and chemical properties, their fate and transport in the environment, and their potential toxicities in a range of biological systems.

• The environmental effects of nanoparticles added to fuels for combustion engines.

Australia took part and tested a number of zinc oxide, cerium dioxide and silver nanoparticles. The CSIRO was a major contributor to the Australian effort.

Dr Maxine McCall is the Research Leader: Nanosafety at the CSIRO. This article was originally published at The Conversation. www.theconversation.com www.csiro.au

This international effort gave clarity on the types of nanomaterial properties needed for

• Whether nanoparticles eaten by freshwater animals are excreted or retained and then transported up the food chain.

• Whether nanoparticles are produced in bush fires.

Ongoing research in this area is both relevant and vital to the future of Australian manufacturing.

Safety

Pilz sets out safety agenda Pilz, a leading supplier of safe automation and safety services, has signalled that safety is high on the agenda for manufacturing companies this year with an unprecedented demand for its training courses.

In addition to its highly regarded MachineSAFE training course, Pilz now offers the internationally recognised Certified Machinery Safety Expert (CMSE) course. Introduced to Australia in 2013, the four-day course is a collaboration between Pilz and TÜV NORD and has set new standards for certified training in the field of machinery safety.

Some 50 attendees attended the course in Australia last year, with 80% passing the examination and gaining the certification.

One of those participants was Ben Johnson, Senior Mechatronics Engineer at Cochlear Ltd Australia. Johnson recommends the course highly to anyone who works with industrial machinery in any capacity.

“I completed the CMSE in 2013 and found the course to be a comprehensive training suite in all facets of machine safety,” says Johnson. “It was clear from the outset that all of the trainers had immense experience in the field through the clarity and depth to which they could explain each of the topics and even quote lines from the standard without any reference.

“One of the best aspects of the training was the many practical examples which were given in addition to the discussions within the group relating the content to our current work. Unlike many other courses I have completed I am actually using what I have learnt in my day to day work.”

During the course, Pilz trains delegates to the level of qualified machinery safety experts, who will then be in a position to apply their knowledge not just domestically but internationally. Divided into five modules with lectures, discussions and workshops, the course covers the key fundamentals of this field.

This year, Pilz has updated its popular MachineSAFE courses.

They now include more international content as well as being structured so that the Advanced course now picks up from where Introduction course finishes. According to Pilz Managing Director Scott Moffat, training appears to be high on the agenda in 2014 with many bookings already received.

WITH GENOX YOUR WASTE WILL BE SHREDDED BUT YOUR BANK BALANCE WON’T BE. NOW THAT’S APPLIED THINKING. • Machines in stock – same day purchase and delivery*

“It’s very heartening to see companies investing in training. This can only lead to higher levels of safety,” says Moffat.

• Wide range of high quality granulators and shredders

Four new CMSE courses will be held across Australasia in 2014 with the first courses taking place in March in Brisbane and Auckland. Courses in Melbourne and Sydney will follow in May.

• Reliable, cost effective, environmentally friendly

• Ideal for companies looking to achieve zero landfill • Australia’s favorite solution for all kinds of waste/materials reduction applications

www.machinesafe.com.au For more information: Call: 03 9706 8066 Email: sales@appliedmachinery.com.au Visit: www.appliedmachinery.com.au

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Safety

Creating safe workplaces using a modelling approach Safety should be a priority in every workplace. As the effects of the recent changes to the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Act continue to take effect, safety has become a critical compliance issue, especially for manufacturers with high safety risks. By Bruce Nixon, CEO of Holocentric.

Failure to comply with the WHS Act can have serious consequences, such as compensation claims due to employee injury or death, heavy fines, and even jail time for directors. The main reason why many businesses in the manufacturing sector struggle to manage safety regulations is a lack of up-to-date, well communicated standard operating procedures that are easy for all employees to access and follow.

This can result in important procedures not being followed correctly (or simply not existing) leading to potential safety risks.

The solution is to adopt a modelling approach so employers can ensure procedures exist and are up-to-date and employees can easily and quickly access information on procedures and regulations.

This will clarify roles and responsibilities across an organisation and link them with relevant safety regulations and procedures.

Modelling internal processes can also help to achieve process standardisation and where possible, consolidation, as well as improving internal controls, especially over manual processes.

Achieving a modelling approach for a safe workplace involves a number of elements including:

1. Develop a business model A business model is a flexible living representation of your business, mapping employee roles, procedures and process to business operations and goals. A model allows a company to visualise its operations from several different perspectives and demonstrates how individual responsibilities contribute to the entire organisation.

Mapping your business this way helps you to assess risks and identify opportunities, and is critical to ensuring organisation-wide compliance with regulations, particularly WHS.

2. Create an organisation-wide system Once a model is created, developing a business management system will enable you to communicate and publish procedures, safety requirements and processes across your operations. It will also provide the core process information that can be used to create related standard operating procedure documentation and training materials.

3. Document standard procedures Without a defined process for maintaining and keeping controls up-to-date, your procedures will soon be non-compliant and potentially unsafe due to normal changes in your business environment. Your business management system should include a central system or repository to provide a single version of the truth. This is where safety regulations, standards, procedures and templates are kept, ensuring consistency, response time and quality control, and saving time and resources.

4. Share policy and standards Effectively disseminating safety policies and standards across your organisation is part and parcel of your governance and compliance obligations. Any employee should be able to easily access a web portal or similar application to see the processes and relevant regulations that relate to them.

5. Checkpoints and accountability An effective way to ensure ongoing monitoring and company-wide adherence to the company’s obligations is to integrate safety and compliance-related checkpoints in procedures and have these reflected in employees’ position descriptions, key performance indicators (KPIs) and tasks. These can even be added to your company’s reward structure to increase accountability and buy-in.

Workplace safety is a serious area and non-compliance can not only lead to fines but also to employee injury and possibly death. Ensuring your safety information and procedures is kept current and made easily accessible to your workforce can help you to reduce risks related to safety. Adopting a modelling approach is an effective way of achieving this. www.holocentric.com

Safety in Action heads for Darwin Safety in Action will be held in Darwin for the first time on 19-20 March, featuring a comprehensive range of the latest safety-related products and services from across Australia.

Over 75 exhibitors will be showcasing their goods at The Darwin Convention Centre, at the expected sell-out show. Safety in Action Darwin will provide attendees with unique opportunities to hear from the industry’s most innovative and safety-conscious brains through the extensive program of free seminars on offer.

Vigil Anti Slip (Prism) and Materials Handling – displaying their innovative A-Safe Polymer Safety Barriers, manufactured from Memaplex with built-in memory and bounce back technology.

Darwin’s import and export trade continues to boom due to its proximity to Asian markets and the Timor Sea. To ensure continued growth, safety procedures and attitudes toward safety must be a primary focus.

Exclusive to Safety in Action Darwin, Safe Work Australia will be hosting a one-off free training session entitled ‘The Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals’.

With previous training having sold out, this exclusive session will provide attendees with the knowledge they need to know with regards to the new labelling classification of chemicals.

Leading manufacturers exhibiting include Arbon Equipment,

www.safetyinaction.net.au/darwin

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Safety

Accurately assessing fire protection needs If a fire occurs, being adequately prepared will help to minimise damage to people and property. However, according to fire protection specialist Wormald, many businesses continue to make simple mistakes which can affect their level of fire protection.

“Having basic fire protection equipment is essential for a business or facility of any size, but it is important that the correct fire protection equipment is in place”, says Garry Kwok, National Technical Services Manager at Wormald. “For example, a water fire extinguisher should never be used on an electrical switchboard; electrical fires are best treated with powder or carbon dioxide extinguishers.

“Carrying out a comprehensive assessment of the premises will help identify potential fire hazards and help determine the fire protection solution required – whether it is a basic fire extinguisher or fire hose reel, a fire sprinkler system, a passive fire solution or a more advanced fire detection and suppression system.”

Wormald’s range of fire suppression systems includes the VanQuish system, a ‘dry’ system specifically designed for cold storage facilities, and the environmentally-friendly Inergen gaseous fire suppression system, which is suitable for data centres and facilities housing mission critical equipment. In addition to having the correct fire protection equipment in place, staff members, particularly those assigned to a company’s fire safety team, should be fully briefed and trained on what to do in the event of a fire.

According to Kwok, fire wardens have a considerable amount of responsibility for the well-being of a building’s occupants but they are often unaware of the full extent of their duties.

“Basic fire safety training should be provided to all staff and it is important that each staff member is aware of the various classes of fire and the appropriate fire equipment to be used for each.

Fire wardens should be fully trained on their responsibilities, fire equipment and the emergency warning and communication systems in their premises.”

that wherever a fire extinguisher or other fire safety equipment is located, the correct signage is provided so a user knows exactly what it should be used for. It is equally important that fire exit signs are in place so that, in the event of an evacuation, people can be directed to escape potential danger quickly.”

Regular servicing and maintenance of fire equipment and fire protection systems are essential to help ensure that they will work appropriately if and when required.

“Well-maintained fire systems can help to save lives and property”, says Kwok. www.wormald.com.au

Providing appropriate signage is also essential to denote the proper use of fire equipment. Kwok continues: “It is very important

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AMT March 2014

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forum – OHS

New depths An award-winning Brisbane company – The TEN Group - is convinced its safety success has led to a change in the overall culture and values of its business. By Ray Thomas.

The TEN Group provides electricity transmission and distribution equipment. Four years ago, it was starting to grow rapidly from primarily a sales-oriented business to one that manufactures, services and repairs products for electrical utilities, rail operators, the mining industry and other major government contractors.

In 2009, Managing Director Corey Scott realised that there was suddenly a lot more risk in his business, and that he wanted to put a special emphasis on safety.

Business deals Scott believes that TEN’s safety culture has increased its capacity to focus and affected the overall company culture. Productivity and profits are up; absenteeism is down.” We are better able to adapt and accept change, and our staff [including management] are working better as a team, knowing that the decisions that they make may impact on the workers next to them and not just on themselves,” he says.

Commitment Scott says that when he set about getting staff to join him on the safety journey, the vast majority supported him immediately and he was able to get the backing of those who had qualms by involving them in safety committees and risk assessments.

Even so, TEN’s Health And Safety Manager Lloyd Smith encountered resistance from a number of workers who had been used to performing tasks in a certain way for a long time without incident and who found it hard to adapt to change.

There was also unexpected resistance when a personal protective equipment (PPE) policy was introduced in the workshop, requiring everyone to wear safety glasses.

in each section of the business. As well, there are continuous reminders about hazard identification.

Scott says initially, employees were slow to identify hazards. But once ideas and opinions could be submitted confidentially, this encouraged many more employees to identify hazards. The person who submits the best hazard identification each fortnight receives a movie ticket.

But Smith believes the management’s promptness in resolving hazards is more important to staff, who will stop reporting them, he contends, if there is no constructive response. Everyone at TEN has been trained in risk management and hazard identification, and the company has set up a risk register that all employees can access.

Supply-chain effects When customers approach TEN to buy tools, plant machinery or equipment, they are provided with a risk assessment that Smith says is fit for purpose: “It is not a risk assessment that has been done by a manufacturer in another country.”

Many companies now choose to deal with TEN, he adds, because the company is making it easier to integrate plant or equipment into their businesses. “They are obliged to do a risk assessment but because we have done 80% of the job, we actually facilitate the customer in doing their own risk assessment, particularly on big plant and equipment.”

Home audit

Scott says 100% commitment is essential from the top echelons and every employee. “We can’t have people out there doing their own thing, because that’s when accidents happen.”

One of the company’s most successful initiatives was when all members of staff, including management, were encouraged to take carryout safety audits in their homes. Scott says they were amazed at just how much risk they uncovered. Scott says there are more people who don’t come to work because of injuries sustained at home than taking time off thanks to injuries at work. “It’s not good enough to have an effective safety management system at work if they can fall off a ladder and injure themselves at home.”

Systems strategy

More than LTIs

As well as setting up a safety committee, it enlisted the help of customers holding high-level positions in business and government, asking them to make presentations to staff on the importance of having an effective and successful safety management system.

In the year before TEN began its commitment to a new safety culture, the company experienced four lost time injuries (LTIs). By January 2013, TEN had amassed a total of 800 days without an LTI and 600 days without any employee having to visit a doctor. Smith says its LTIs are not manipulated: injured workers aren’t forced back to work early to do meaningless jobs. Too often, Smith says, executive general managers are granted annual bonuses of up to $100,000 on the basis of having no LTIs reported.

As well as PPE, TEN introduced engineering solutions to minimise risk.

The company’s OHS management system was launched in 2010 and its development has been ongoing.

TEN’s vision—“We all go home from work without injury or illness”— and a specially developed safety logo were plastered around the business premises. Marketing Director James Brown sees this visual engagement as especially important. “It’s very easy to have a safety management system that sits in a folder on a shelf and gets dusted off now and then and recited, but we saw it as important to develop an internal brand and identity,” he says.

Risk response Challenges addressed by Brown’s team include keeping safety uppermost in the minds of employees and management, and guarding against complacency. He says initiatives include a schedule whereby management periodically spends a half a day

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In 2012, TEN was the winner of a National Safety Award of Excellence for the best implementation of an OHS management system.

The original version of this story was first published in the April 2013 edition of National Safety magazine.

The National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA) is Australia’s premier OHS/WHS skills and solutions, training, consulting, auditing and risk management provider. www.nsca.org.au

forum – LAW

Anti-Bullying New Anti-Bullying Jurisdiction is now in operation at the Fair Work Commission. The definition of “bullying” and the steps involved in reporting an occurrence, are explained by Veronica Belot and Deivina Peethamparam of law firm M+K On 1 January 2014, the new “Anti-bullying Jurisdiction” commenced in the Fair Work Commission (“FWC”). This new jurisdiction gives the FWC the power to deal with workplace bullying complaints. The Anti-bullying jurisdiction is derived from the Australian Government’s response in early 2013 to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment report Workplace bullying “We just want it to stop”. This report quantified the financial and social impact bullying had in Australian workplaces.

What is bullying?

Workplace Bullying occurs when an individual or group of individuals repeatedly behaves unreasonably towards a worker or a group of workers at work, and the behaviour creates a risk to health and safety. Examples of bullying include aggressive and intimidating conduct or belittling or humiliating comments. Importantly, reasonable management action conducted in a reasonable manner is not workplace bullying.

There are a number of “tests” a worker must satisfy so that an application under the anti-bullying jurisdiction can be made.

Firstly, they must be a worker. The definition of worker is very broad. The definition not only includes workers, but also subcontractors, apprentices and trainees, but excludes volunteers. A worker who wishes to make an application must be employed by a “constitutionally-covered business”. A constitutionally covered business includes constitutional corporations (for example Pty Ltd companies, but not sole traders or partnerships).

As the definition of bullying states, the alleged bullying behaviour must be repeated. A one-off incident will not give rise to a worker being able to make an anti-bullying application to FWC. Also, the behaviour must create a risk to the worker’s health and safety.

any grievance procedures already available to the worker. The FWC can also take any other matters it feels is relevant into consideration.

Where to from here

As will be discussed below, the FWC may make orders to stop the workplace bullying. For this to occur there must be a prospect that the bullying will continue. Therefore, a worker is unable to lodge an anti-bullying application, after they have ceased being employed by the employer.

In its first month, only 44 anti bullying applications were made to the FWC. This number is lower than expected, however this could be due to a lack of awareness about the new jurisdiction. It is very important that all employers, no matter what size, have written, readily available and formal policies that deal with bullying in the workplace. It is important that you conduct regular reviews of, and training on these policies. If you receive a claim in the FWC alleging that a worker has been bullied, you should seek immediate advice and assistance in the best way to deal with such claim.

How is it dealt with?

Key Points

Once a worker lodges the application, the FWC must start to “deal with” the application within 14 days. This does not mean that the matter must be resolved or concluded within this time frame, but that steps are taken to deal with the matter. Once it is determined that a worker has the ability to make the application, and a response is sought from the employer and/or alleged bully, generally, the first step will be a mediation which is conducted by a Member of the FWC. If this mediation does not resolve the matter, the matter will then be referred to a determination. It is at this stage that the FWC may make an order.

What can the FWC do?

As mentioned above, in appropriate circumstances the FWC can make an order to stop the worker from being bullied in the workplace.

The orders that the FWC can make are broad, and can be made against the employer or against the “bully” themselves. This may involve the employer having to implement a procedure that would prohibit the “bully” from being within a certain distance of the worker who sought orders. Given this is a very new jurisdiction, the FWC has not yet made any anti-bullying orders.

Before making any orders the FWC must take into consideration any outcomes from investigations conducted by the employer, or

• The new Anti-Bullying Jurisdiction is now in operation at the FWC. • Whilst only 44 applications were made in its first month, it is expected that the number of anti-bullying applications made to FWC will increase as more workers become aware of the jurisdiction.

• It is very important that an employer acts promptly when a worker raises a complaint of bullying in the workplace. When a worker makes a bullying complaint the employer should consider, at a minimum, investigating the complaint. The FWC will take into consideration any investigation conducted by the employer when the worker first made a bullying complaint.

• All employers, regardless of size, should have a formal written policy regarding bullying that is regularly reviewed. Training for all workers should be provided on the policy and the policy must be made readily available to workers.

For any questions, please contact Paul Kirton of M+K lawyers on (03) 9794 6217 www.mk.com.au (1).S 7 Work Health and Safety Act 2011

AMT March 2014

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forum – FINANCE

Trade finance – avoiding dumb debt Vivianne Arnold explains the importance of clever trade finance solutions and gives tips on how to avoid “dumb debt” As the long tail of the GFC recedes, Australian SMEs and corporates are gradually increasing their leverage to pursue growth.

Importers and exporters have the opportunity to use clever trade finance solutions to free up working capital, improve cash flow and present a healthy balance sheet to enable expansion opportunities.

Unfortunately too many importers and exporters simply rely on ‘dumb debt’, often because they have not accessed the trade finance expertise they need.

Australia’s success as a trading nation is vitally dependent on the expertise of trade financiers and the quality of their products and services. Research from executive search and professional development firm Franklin Phillips, along with financial market research firm East & Partners, has revealed a “doomsday clock” in trade finance talent.

Doomsday scenario Top trade finance leaders are, simply put, not getting any younger.

At the Big Four Australian banks, for example, the average age of the executive team is 53. Anecdotally, some of these leaders – stalwarts of the discipline for several decades – are hoping to move into retirement relatively soon.

1. Press your banker to advise you on trade finance solutions.

Talk to your banker about accessing a trade finance expert.

There are a variety of trade finance solutions available depending on the needs of your business. As an advanced manufacturer you may be selling equipment to multiple parties, across multiple currencies. There may be an element of country or payment risk that concerns your company’s CFO. A bespoke structured trade deal could be a smart option.

Letters of credit have been a strong option and provided comfort to suppliers and buyers stretching back throughout Asia for over 500 years. Talk with your trade finance expert to see if your business can gain further confidence in expanding your Asia footprint by using letters of credit.

In the “Doomsday” scenario, the current generation of trade finance leaders could retire before passing on their knowledge to the next generation, creating a memory gap in the trade finance discipline which could take years to recover from.

Although companies that are happy with their trade finance bankers show higher customer loyalty and higher uptake of related products than in other areas of banking, it appears to be a global and cross-cultural phenomenon that no CFOs particularly enjoy the process. Despite newer online, streamlined solutions, trade finance remains an administratively burdensome area of banking. Franklin Phillips and East’s recent Asian trade finance research shows that Asian CFOs rate Trade Finance Process as the most important of 19 different service factors. But they rated their satisfaction with Trade Finance Process as the lowest of all 19 factors.

2. Put the effort in

RMB overtakes Euro Interestingly for Australian companies who trade with China, some Chinese companies are simplifying their own trade finance administration by switching to denominating their letters of credit and documentary credit in Renminbi. SWIFT research shows that the RMB has now overtaken the Euro as the second most used currency in trade finance after the USD. China is going through a remarkable process of internationalising the Renminbi. Direct trading between the Australian dollar and the RMB commenced on 10 April 2013, and China has partnered with Australia to increase liquidity and encourage the growth of Sydney as an emerging RMB hub along with Singapore and London.

China is Australia’s largest trading partner, and it may give Australian companies a competitive advantage to be able to offer invoicing and trade finance denominated in RMB. It may also allow Australian companies to achieve better pricing from Chinese companies, who currently price in a margin for foreign exchange risk.

If your company imports and exports, here are some thoughts to help you avoid relying on ‘dumb debt’ by taking up clever trade finance solutions that will free up your capital and buff up your balance sheet.

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You will need to do a bit more administration to make use of clever trade finance products. It’s worth it to save money, free up working capital and buff up your balance sheet. Practically, it can also mitigate risk, and speed up payment and the movement of goods. If neglected, it can frustrate businesses on both sides of the equation, and can leave potentially profitable goods unpaid for in the warehouse or on the loading dock. Moving your business away from simple banking solutions such as an overdraft is smart for the future growth of your company. So put the effort in and talk to a trade finance expert to set your company on the right path.

3. Add value for your offshore business partner

Trade finance may actually involve less risk and administration for you than it does for your business partner. Can you get a better price and be more competitive by reducing your counterparty’s administration? For example, consider transacting in Renminbi with your Chinese partners. Become a long term trusted partner by investing in processes that make it easier to deal with you.

Vivianne Arnold is the CEO of Franklin Phillips, an APAC executive search and professional development firm that specialises in trade finance, banking and payments. Vivianne was a Worldwide Director for Microsoft and most recently the Head of Marketing for EFIC, Australia’s export finance and insurance corporation. varnold@franklinphillips.com http://franklinphillips.com

forum – LEAN

Why do so few small companies become big companies?

Tim Mclean explains the importance of Lean, which has proven to be the most effective and easilyadopted management system for businesses - particularly manufacturing.

With recent news about the Automotive and Food Manufacturing Sectors in Australia it would seem that big businesses in Manufacturing are becoming an “endangered species”. Whether this is true or not, most experts agree that the future growth of manufacturing in Australia will come from Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s). At TXM over the past decade we have had the privilege of helping over 100 SME manufacturers to improve their businesses. This combined with our team’s experience working in large corporations has given us unique insights in to the differences between big and small companies and what it takes to turn a small business in to a big business.

It is important to remember that every big global company started out small. Hewlett Packard was originally two guys working in a garage. Hershey started out as one chocolate shop (and he even went bust a couple of times before he got it right!) and McDonalds started out with one restaurant. So why is it that that some SMEs go on to become big companies, while most hit a growth plateau or even end up declining and going out of business? From my reading and my experience working with SME manufacturers, four things need to come together for companies to be able scale up and grow from small to medium to big: •

Innovation – successful companies don’t just have good products and services, they innovate constantly to improve those products and services. If you rely on “one idea” for your business then your business will follow the lifecycle of that idea and sales will eventually mature and decline.

• Access to markets – today this usually means the global market. If you limit your horizon to your local or national market, then you are going to limit your growth potential.

Exporting is hard, and risky, but if you want to become big, you have to take that risk and invest in new markets.

• Finance – In my experience, almost as many companies fail from running out of cash when trying to grow as do from running out of cash due to declining sales and losses.

Growth, especially global growth is expensive and cash hungry. Therefore to make sure you have access to the cash you need then manage that cash efficiently. That might mean letting go of some equity to access that cash.

However it is better to own 50% of a $100m company than 100% of a $10m company.

• Leadership.

People and Process – Big companies have effective leadership, develop people and have excellent business processes that they can replicate from location to

location. They develop people, providing rewarding careers that mean that they have a ready supply of future leaders already steeped in the culture, goals and strategy of the organisation ready to be deployed to each new location they open.

Of these four factors, I think that the last one, Leadership, People and Process, is the foundation or the “ticket to play”. This is because it is the enabler with the other three. Excellent Leadership, People and Process means: • Establishing effective business processes to eliminate waste and inefficiency improving profit margins and reducing working capital and therefore freeing up capital to invest in innovation and export growth. A profitable business with a healthy balance sheet is also going to be much more attractive to potential investors.

• Standardising processes and finding ways to lock in learnings so that they can be transferred to each new business and location.

• Developing (rather than just hiring) leadership at all levels with the skills to lead and empower their teams. This will free up senior leaders to focus on where the business going rather than just fire-fighting and reacting to today’s challenges.

Developing and implementing business strategy takes time and focus and leaders whose primary focus is whether today’s orders are going out on time and reworking yesterday’s defect production will never have that time and focus.

The question then is how to establish this level of Leadership, People and Process. Fortunately the answer here is clear: Lean Enterprise is the most successful and proven management system for business (especially manufacturers). It is not true to say that every big business got to where it is using Lean. For SMEs starting out though, Lean provides a ready-made and proven approach to management that can be readily adopted to the needs of each business. Lean will provide your business: • Simple tools and behavioural approaches for Leaders to ensure that they maximise their effectiveness.

• Effective ways to streamline every business process in order to reduce waste, lead time and working capital, improving returns across the business, freeing up cash and delivering better outcomes for customers.

• Simple and logical systems to deploy strategy through a business in order to ensure all functions and every organisational level are aligned to a common strategy and also have a mechanism to provide upwards feedback.

• A focus on developing people to ensure sure each employee has the opportunity and empowerment to reach his or her potential, delivering the maximum return to your business on your investment.

Lean is not simple or quick to implement, it takes persistence, commitment and time. However the key thing is to make a start. Every step you take along the Lean journey will improve your business and build up the strength and capability of your organisation to grow and invest in its future.

Tim Mclean is Managing Director of TXM Lean Consultants www.txm.com.au info@txm.com.au AMT March 2014

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manufacturing history

60 YEARS WITH MEN AND MACHINES – PART 41

Next stop: China!

We continue our instalments from the book “60 years with men and machines” - the autobiography of US machinist and author Fred Herbert Colvin (1867-1965). It was 1929 when Fred visited China, on his way through Asia. By Fred Colvin It was 1929 when we eventually took leave of Tokyo, having said our sayonoras all around, and set out for Mukden (now known as Shenyang) in Manchuria, NE China.

In Mukden, I looked in on two railroad shops—or more correctly, one railroad shop and the university, which had a machine shop in which many railway repairs were made. The head of this university (the equivalent of a vocational school) was a Chinese general who had married a German wife, and she had evidently influenced him in the selection of machine tools—all of them, with but one exception, had been manufactured in Germany. From Mukden, we headed to the port of Tientsin (Tianjin) in northern China. Owing to the shallowness of the river, only small boats could get up to Tientsin. We had just come from the port in Dairen, south Manchuria, on a 1,000-ton Japanese steamer after a trip of two days and three nights, spent in the company of eight Japanese, two Germans, and one White Russian. Nearly all the larger nations are represented by districts in Tientsin. The buildings, street names, and other landmarks proclaim the nation that controls the section of the city. Most of the police are Chinese, although they are in the employ of the different governments in whose territory they serve. And I heard it said that these police did not hesitate to graft upon the poor coolies who staggered under their heavy burdens from one territorial section to another ; for, while no tariff existed between the various sections, it was no great difficulty to convince the unlearned coolie that it cost a copper or two to get from one concession to the next.

After we had finally landed at the Astor House in the British zone of Tientsin, I began to scout around among the small machine shops. I found much that was primitive. The work ran the scale from small repairs on a fractional-horsepower motor to the building of steam-hoisting engines for mine operations. Moreover, the parts for heavy machinery of the latter type could not exceed a certain gross weight determined by the amount that a mule or camel could haul over the pathways that were referred to as roads.

On the labor-handling end of the Chinese machine-tool industry, the situation is pretty much in the hands of a small group of individuals known as “headmen” or “boys,” who hire all the labor, draught animals, and conveyances used in carrying machinery about the

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Street scene, Mukden, Manchuria

1931

countryside. They are paid a fee that is stipulated in advance by the “boy,” and he usually has his own way about the price—at the time of my visit it was averaging about one American dollar a month for every man in the organization.

piston rods, with a cross handle between the two rods providing an excellent grip for the blower boy. I was assured by the Englishman in charge of the shop that such a forge was used to melt iron for small castings.

According to the general manager of one shop, such items as new belts, drive gears, chucks, and other machine supplies that can be removed without too much difficulty, had an annoying habit of disappearing at regular intervals.

The missing parts were usually located in the nearest pawnshop, where the head boy had a running account to tide him over the middle of the month.

By threatening and cajoling, the head boy could usually be prevailed upon to redeem the required parts, but often he had to be fired and the loss written off against depreciation.

From Tientsin, we travelled to Peking, where I contracted a form of Typhoid fever, despite having been inoculated three times against the disease. It was explained to me that there are more kinds of typhoid fever, differing only in degree from the disease caused by Bacillus typhosus and was not often fatal. Here I shivered a bit more. I spent Christmas day on the flat of my back in the hospital, and stayed horizontal for nearly a month. I came through the siege with little serious after effect, apart from the fact that I have really never got over the experience of having a Chinese boy nurse, complete with pigtail, instead of the beautiful female kind you see in the movies.

At another Tientsin shop, I came across my first Chinese “hot- dog” forge.

These forges had their rotary blowers removed, and an air pump or Chinese blower substituted. These Chinese pumps were in evidence all over town, and got their nickname because they were widely used on sidewalk eating stands to keep food warm. In the shops, however, they do a real honestto-goodness job of blowing. They are actually pumps made of a rectangular box and fitted piston, operated by two

To be continued…

Sixty Years With Men and Machines The Autobiography of Fred H Colvin, Master Machinist Original © 1947, McGraw-Hill Publishing, reprinted by Lindsay Publications Inc, 1988, Bradley IL 60915, USA.

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75 ManufactreLink Member Hotspots 76 AMTIL Manufacturing Conference 76 AMT News 78 Enterprise Connect

Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

Open Letter to AMTIL Members As an industry, we have been going through tough times. Many of our members have commented to us over the past six months that our industry is in the worst condition they have ever seen it. Many have commented that AMTIL needs to do something about it. Many have commented that change is needed to our activities. Many have commented that a stronger stance needs to be taken. So I ask our members, and those that are not, to please take time to read this editorial and provide me with feedback.

Yes, our manufacturing industry is under duress and the reality is that many businesses are fighting to stay alive. I have had some feedback that this magazine focuses too much on the pretty picture and that all is good in the world. We are in a predicament.

There is enough negative publicity around through commercial newspapers, television, web news broadcasts and other media that we feel we do not need to reproduce it. We want this magazine to focus on the companies that are doing well and why that is the case. We want to reinforce the message that, moreso than ever before, businesses need to invest in order to compete globally. Promoting the uptake of technology will continue to be our core function. That being said, you will notice some changes to our magazine in the coming months. We will take a stronger stance with current issues and endeavor to report the facts on the issues affecting our sector. It was very disappointing to receive news from the Federal Government that they will not be contributing a regular column from The Minister for the foreseeable future. At such an important time for our manufacturing industry this was a surprise to say the least.

We will continue to discuss this with the Minister’s Department and Media Office in order for that decision to be reconsidered.

Yes, the manufacturing industry requires a boost. What is AMTIL doing about it? Let me say from the outset, AMTIL is not a lobbyist body and never have been. We work with Government on program development and implementation, liaise with them on industry issues and offer advice on things that can be done (I suppose this could be considered lobbying). We are currently in discussions with the Federal Government on implementing some form of incentive program around investment. We would like to see an accelerated depreciation scheme on new technology, or something similar.

This is an area that we believe the Federal Government needs to act quickly and we will continue to push this issue with them.

Yes, we accept we need to take a stronger stance on some issues. One area we continue to focus on is Government procurement and engaging manufacturers of all levels in major projects. If we could solve the issue of how to tap into the supply chain of major infrastructure projects we could open up hundreds of great opportunities for our members. We will work hard in this area to see some change.

Our relationship with other organisations such as the Federation of Automotive Product Manufacturers (FAPM), the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Industry and Defence Network (AIDN), the Aerospace Aviation Australia (AAA), the Industry Capability Network (ICN) and many others continues to be strong. We are currently in discussions with FAPM about how we can assist them in working with Government to provide assistance to the automotive supply chain in transitioning to other sectors.

We are currently working with AAA at a taskforce level on how we can assist further growth in the aerospace industry. This is a potential growth market. AIDN recently invited us to be part of their network in establishing opportunities in the defence industry, in particular around the Future Submarine Project SEA1000. What we need to get to is the point where all this work comes to fruition. We want jobs for Australian manufacturers, who in turn will invest in technology in order to carry it out.

It has been difficult to try and convey our current plans and activities onto one page and the intent with which we are carrying out things. I encourage you to drop me an email with your thoughts and I will respond accordingly.

AMTILinside

ManufactureLink introduces Member Hotspots ManufactureLink - AMTIL’s online industry capability directory - has just had a facelift, and with it comes a new feature called Member Hotspots.

Member Hotspots are a brand new benefit designed exclusively for AMTIL members. They include a wealth of valuable information and resources concerning our industry and the workplace, as well as various useful services available to your business. Most importantly, the Member Hotspots include alerts regarding opportunities for your business to win manufacturing work.

To view these Member Hotspots you will need to be an AMTIL member, which entitles you to a detailed listing in the Industry Capability Directories. A fortnightly email will be sent to all members to keep them up to date with all opportunities as they arise.

Get the news faster With AMT Magazine, we’ve always sought to deliver everything you need to know about what’s going on in manufacturing, both in Australia and worldwide, in a concise, accessible monthly package.

Now, we’ve redesigned the AMTIL website to provide enhanced coverage, bringing you news stories as they break, online and accessible anywhere. The AMTIL website now features an AMT News section, updated daily with the latest news stories on manufacturing here in Australia and from around the world. The new section also offers a selection of highlights from the current edition of AMT. You can even subscribe to have the news delivered to you in a regular email newsletter. Check out the site and register for updates at www.amtil.com.au/News.

For more information visit www.amtil.com.au or contact our Member Services Manager – Peter Lambe at plambe@amtil.com.au www.manufacturelink.com.au

Networking opportunities this month AMTIL will be holding two Networking Events in late March, in Melbourne and in Sydney.

The Melbourne event will feature guest speaker - Roger La Salle who will be giving a talk entitled ‘How to find a business opportunity – it’s not that hard!’. At the Sydney event, Ashton Bishop will share his thoughts on ‘Predatory Marketing’. In addition, both events will offer plenty of opportunities to network and socialise in a relaxed setting.

Timings and locations are as follows.

• Melbourne: 5.15pm-7.30pm, Wed 26th March, at Riversdale Golf Club, Mount Waverley.

• Sydney: 5.15pm-7:30pm, Thur 27th March, at the Novotel Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney.

Tickets for both events cost $15 for AMTIL members and $45 and for non-members (drinks and finger food will be provided).

For further details, visit www.amtil.com.au/Events.

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REGISTER

NOW!

Early Bird rate ends 15 march 2014

Australian Manufacturing Conference – Meet the speakers When was the last time you did something new? When was the last time you did something that was just for you?

At AMTIL’s Australian Manufacturing Conference, in Gold Coast this June, you will have the opportunity to discover new strategies and techniques to help you on a personal level, and in turn to help your business to thrive and prosper. Because if you are stimulated, inspired and intellectually nourished, it is ultimately your business that will benefit.

Introducing a selection of speakers who will be presenting in June: Clive Martell Clive is the CEO of Delcam, a leading supplier of CAD/CAM solutions for the manufacturing industry. In ‘Advances in Robotic Machining’, he will discuss the COMET project – an €8m programme to develop plug-and-produce methods for the adaptive control of industrial robots. The project involved fourteen technical partners from eight countries across Europe, with Delcam as the Co-ordinating Partner.

Tim McLean Tim has a 25-year career in manufacturing in Australia and Asia-Pacific. In 2004 he established TXM, which is now one of the region’s leading Lean manufacturing consultancies. TXM has worked with over 100 manufacturers, from operations with fewer than ten people to some of the world’s largest corporations. His presentation examines ‘Taking on the Chinese: How to compete and thrive in Manufacturing in the 21st Century’.

Linsey Siede Linsey has occupied executive positions in Australia and internationally in both the machine tool and automotive sectors.

He is now the Director of Automotive Supplier Excellence Australia (ASEA) at AutoCRC. In the past six years, ASEA has worked with over 110 Australian companies conducting business assessments, using that knowledge and data to identify a clear path for success. Linsey will discuss this in ‘The Journey of Growth & Success for SMEs’.

Jeremy Nathan Jeremy Nathan is MD of IndustrySearch.com.au, an industrial supplier discovery and collaboration website. His presentation covers the management and leadership of a company through the opportunity that is the Internet. You will gain practical insights into such areas as: customer relationship management (CRM); lead nurturing; content marketing; online branding; website development and management; and supply chain optimisation.

Erol Harvey Erol is the co-founder and CEO of MiniFAB, a developer and manufacturer of lab-on-a-chip diagnostic devices.

He has been involved in commercialisation of micro- and nano-technologies for more than 20 years, working in and with major multinationals, start-ups and SMEs, universities and government research labs. Originally trained in laser and plasma physics, he is currently involved in innovation and product development in microfluidics, biotechnology, polymer micromachining, manufacturing and business creation.

Ashton Bishop Ashton is rare among marketing speakers in that he applies his theories out in the field every day. He has spent 15 years working on some of the world’s biggest brands running million-dollar campaigns based on his Predatory Marketing approach – pinpointing how brands can grow by outsmarting their competitors. Audiences will be equipped with practical tools to develop effective communications and find their predatory position.

Venue Sheraton Mirage Resort, 71 Sea World Drive, Main Beach, QLD, 4217 Tel: 07 5591 1488 Registration Fees

Early Bird Rate (March 2014) Standard Rate

AMTIL Members (per delegate) $1,390.00 Non-Members (per delegate) $1,690.00

$1,590.00 $1,990.00

For more information visit: www.amtil.com.au/Events/AMTIL-Conference Conference Sponsors Gold: Bronze: www.sme.org www.wadesonip.com.au www.businessgoldcoast.com.au www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au Speaker: www.txm.com.au www.delcam.com.au

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Morning Tea: www.tasman3d.com.au

Lanyard: www.tick-off.com.au

AMTILinside

Please note that the Program is subject to change and will be updated as speakers are confirmed. AMTIL accepts no responsibility for speaker changes that are outside its control.

Wednesday 04 June 2014 WELCOME Function Drinks and canapes

07:00Pm – 09:00pm

Thursday 05 June 2014 - DAY 1 Registration, tea and coffee

08:15am – 09:00am 09:00am – 09:15am

WELCOME Shane Infanti, AMTIL CEO

09:15am – 09:30am

OFFICIAL OPENING Federal Government Representative

09:30am – 10:10am

Keynote 1: TopIc Speaker TBC

10:10am – 10:30am

Energy Break Technology

Leadership

Opportunity

10:30am – 11:10am

Additive Manufacturing – No Longer Just For Prototyping Simon Marriot 3D Systems Asia Pacific

Collaboration, Co-operative Research & Commercialisation Andrew McLellan Advanced Manufacturing CRC

Clean Technology Opportunities For The Future Marc Newson Clean Technology Supplier Advocate

11:20am – 12:00pm

Advances in Robotic Machining Clive Martell Delcam

Strategic Planning for Business Success Paul Valentine, Stratas Group

Accessing major domestic and international projects Derek Lark, Industry Capability Network

12:00pm – 01:00pm

Networking Lunch

01:00pm – 01:40pm

Keynote 2: Finance Update Ross Greenwood

01.50pm – 02:30pm

02:45pm – 03:30pm

Emerging Technologies – translating research into production Erol Harvey, MiniFab Another great presentation will be confirmed for this timeslot soon.

Intuition and Creativity: Which global businesses are reaping the rewards of valuing both?

Megan Quinn, Co-founder Net-a-Porter Journey of Growth and Success for SME’s Linsey Siede Automotive Supplier Excellence Australia

Workforce Development: An Investment Opportunity Robert Cugno Swinburne University The Internet: opportunity, or threat to your business Jeremy Nathan, IndustrySearch

03:30pm – 04:00pm

Energy Break

04:00pm – 04:45pm

Keynote 3: Frontline Leadership – The Battle for Success Benjamin Roberts-Smith

06:00pm – 07:00pm

Networking Drinks

07:00pm – 11:00pm

Keynote 4: Conference Dinner Speaker TBC

Friday 06 June 2014 - DAY 2 09:00am – 09:20am

WELCOME Shane Infanti, AMTIL CEO (includes tea and coffee)

09:20am – 10:00am

Keynote 5: Generational Recruitment and Retention Avril Henry

10:10am – 10:50am

Investment – Reaping the Rewards Case Study Session

11:00am – 11:40am

Another great presentation will be confirmed for this timeslot soon.

Aligning Organisational High Payoff Activities to increase productivity and performance Gary Hickingbotham, LMA Intellectual property tricks and traps – simple steps to minimise risk and maximise profit.

Ben Mott, Wadeson

11:40am – 12:00pm

Energy Break

12:00pm – 12:40pm

Keynote 6: TopIc Speaker TBC

12:40pm – 01:40pm

Networking Lunch

Predatory Marketing Ashton Bishop Step Change Marketing

What is an Opportunity? And how to systematically search for one Roger La Salle, Matrix Thinking

01:40pm – 02:20pm

Research Provider Panel - Access to Resource Organisations Damien Thomas, CSIRO Stuart Wallace, R&D Connect Milan Brandt- RMIT University

An insight into what it takes to play on the world stage Goran Roos

“Enterprise Connect and Australian SME’s – Partnerships into the future” Enterprise Connect

02:30pm – 03:10pm

Utilising Technology to Profit from your Client Database Debbie Mayo-Smith

ANCA – A Global Organisation Grant Anderson

Taking on the Chinese - How to compete and thrive in Manufacturing in the 21st Century TXM Lean Solutions

03:10pm – 03:40pm

Recharge and Networking Break

03:40pm – 04:20pm

Keynote 7: Overcoming Adversity Steven Bradbury Farewell Function Networking drinks and canapes

04:20pm onwards

Saturday 07 June 2014 Optional Social Activities Refer to conference website for pricing - Gold Coast Waterways Cruise or 18 Holes of Golf at Royal Pines Resort

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AMTILinside

Cloudy but fine?

Neil Clarke is a National IT Facilitator under the Federal Government’s Enterprise Connect program, providing businesses with assistance in IT system selection. Here he shares his insights on cloud computing.

I was dying to start with a headline that combined cliché and pun, so there it is! In the IT systems world, the ‘cloud’ gets a lot of airtime these days, bringing hopes of a cheap flexible method for ALL levels of business to improve customer service, reduce inventory, boost productivity, and eliminate the need for those expensive IT support contracts for servers and upgrades. But how true is it?

Does it apply equally to Australian businesses, are manufacturers well catered for, and what should you be doing right now?

According to a recent Gartner study, within seven years the large customised enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems used by most of the world’s large companies will be relegated to the status of ‘legacy’ systems, replaced by a new hybrid approach where cloud-delivered point solutions will be used to integrate to a core set of financials and other systems. Gartner predicts that by 2018 30% of service-based businesses will move completely to cloudbased systems, but also, most importantly, that 70% of companies adopting a cloud hybrid approach will fail to improve cost-benefit outcomes. Such reports are not new, but what does it mean to smaller Australian manufacturers?

Currently many manufacturers rely on on-premise ERP systems to deliver functionality such as quoting, sales, material requirements planning (MRP), production scheduling and inventory management.

Should you be throwing these out and jumping head-long into a cloud-based solution?

The short answer is no, for a couple of reasons.

The first is the limited number of true manufacturing systems available in the cloud. The second is that in this instance a ‘waitand-see’ approach will probably allow development of better functionality and more robust systems as the cloud developers and larger ERP vendors come to grips with the rapid movement of cloud systems. Presently there are only two or three offerings that would suit an Australian manufacturer looking for good production planning and scheduling.

What you should be doing is keeping up with current trends. Start to formulate in your own mind what the ‘cloud’ is and what it can mean or do for your business. Every industry and business is different – it may make sense to gain competitive advantage now by implementing some advanced functionality available in a new cloud-based system, or it may be that your business is yet to be catered for by a properly constructed system. Field service companies can find some quite advanced systems at the moment, whereas manufacturing systems with functionality for MRP, production scheduling and planning are still fairly thin on the ground.

Also, consider the whole of your business, not just the main operational processes. For instance, existing cloud-delivered office applications may provide easy access and simple upgrades for your use of Microsoft Word and Excel (via Office 365), or Google Apps and Google+ may help sharing files and information between geographically dispersed sites (including customers and suppliers). The internet has many good cloud-based CRM systems for tracking customer interactions anywhere on Earth, typically for a low monthly cost. CRM alone could provide the impetus for

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adoption of a new cloud-based system, helping reveal the benefits and pitfalls, which may further drive take-up of other systems.

Other than the monthly cost (which can be considerable as it is often charged for the full year up-front), what other issues should you be thinking about?

I doubt that the cost to a developer to create a large cloud-delivered system has reduced lately, but the cloud seems to deliver high function software at much cheaper prices. How is this possible?

The answer lies in how the software is constructed and delivered.

Whereas you used to buy a server, then have the representative spend three days installing it at your site with your own applications and your own data, the new cloud paradigm sees only one installation of the software, which is then delivered as a ‘multitenanted’ application where you share the central application and database.

This reduces a lot of the up-front cost, but leads to other issues that you should address before implementing a new system with any cloud company, particularly relating to data sovereignty (who ‘owns’ your data), which can be enshrined in legislation of the country where the data is actually hosted. How safe is the information? Where is it stored? Who can access it? What happens to the data if you choose to stop using the software, and how do you get a copy of the data anytime?

There have been cases where companies have suddenly found their information is owned by the company providing the hosting service. It is also noteworthy that, while the architecture of these systems lowers costs to the supplier, the effort required to implement an ERP in a business is really no different to what it always has been – you will need to pay out for implementation services to configure the system and help with data migration and training, regardless of how the software is delivered to the end user.

Right now you should try to gain a clear understanding of what the cloud is, what benefits it may provide, and the competitive advantages for you and your company. There may be so few that it’s not worth the trouble – yet! You also need to understand the rights you may have (or otherwise) to your information if you sign up with any given cloud provider – whether it is a line of business applications such as NetSuite or Epicor, or simple business tools like Office 365 or Google Apps, it is usually somewhere in the fine print!

Finally, think of your business as a whole, not just your central systems. There are many businesses getting real benefits from the ease of sharing information that cloud-based systems bring, by using some of the simple applications like DropBox or free CRM systems.

Enterprise Connect is a federally funded program to help SMEs become more innovative, productive and competitive, in industry sectors including manufacturing, transport & logistics, professional services and resources & mining. To discuss how Enterprise Connect can help your business, contact the AMTIL Projects team on 03 9800 3666, or email: gchalker@amtil.com.au.

Neil can be contacted at nclarke@amtil.com.au .

Keeping it Simple.

One Membership Many Benefits.

New MeMBerShip pacKageS availaBle AMTIL membership for companies, individuals and supporters within the precision engineering and advanced manufacturing sector.

For more information visit www.amtil.com.au or contact Member Services Manager Peter Lambe on 03 9800 3666 or plambe@amtil.com.au

www.amtil.com.au

industry calendar

Please Note: It is recommended to contact the exhibition organiser to confirm before attending event

INTERNATIONAL Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo 10-11 March 2014: Berlin, Germany 2-4 April 2014: New York 16-17 April 2014: Sao Paulo, Brazil 12-13 June 2014: Seoul, South Korea 26-27 August 2014: Hong Kong 18-19 September 2014: Tokyo 21-23 October 2014: California, Santa Clara A B2B tradeshow for the 3D printing industry.

Explores the business applications of 3D printing. Includes keynote presentations, the latest 3D printers and services in action. www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting St Petersburg Technical Fair Russia, St Petersburg 12-14 March 2014 Dedicated to the local and global issues of metallurgy, welding, metalworking, tools and instruments http://ptfair.ru/en/index AmCon USA Orlando: 18-19 March 2014 Seattle: 9-10 April 2014 Kansas City: 29-30 April Denver: 13-14 May 2014 Austin: 21-22 May 2014 Design and contract manufacturing expo www.amconshows.com/spring-shows/ orlando-fl/ Manufacturing & Automation Expo Sweden, Stockholm 18-21 March 2014 Includes machine tools, tools, test- & measuring systems and solutions for automation and manufacturing. www.maexpo.se/en Fabtech Canada Canada, Toronto 18-20 March 2014 Fabricating, welding and metal forming event. www.fabtechcanada.com International Machine Components and Metal Working Fair Turkey, Istanbul 19-22 March 2014 www.win-fair.com/en STOM-BLECH Poland, Kielce 26-28 March 2014 Metal Processing, Tools and Machine Tools Fair. www.targikielce.pl MECSPE Italy, Parma 27-29 March 2014 Includes seven trade shows (Logistics, Eurostamp, Plastics, Control, Automation, Subfornitura, Machines & Tools), www.senaf.it/MECSPE/117 Industrie Paris 2014 France, Paris 31 March - 4 April 2014 Includes: forming/cutting sheet metal; machine tools; measurement; robotics; welding. www.industrie-expo.com Arabia Mold United Arab Emirates 7-10 April 2014

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Mould-making, tooling, design and application development. Will be held jointly by Expo Centre Sharjah and DEMAT GmbH (Germany).

Co-located with Plastivision Arabia. www.arabiamold.com

Control Germany, Stuttgart 6-9 May 2014 Quality assurance trade fair www.control-messe.de/en/control/

Hannover Messe Germany, Hannover 7-11 April 2014 Trade fair for industrial technology, energy and environmental technologies, industrial supply, production engineering and R&D. www.hannovermesse.de

FIMAQH Argentina, Buenos Aires 6-10 May 2014 Includes machine tools and technologies www.fimaqh.com

MACH UK, Birmingham 7-11 April 2014 A diverse, engineering-based manufacturing exhibition covering all aspects of manufacturing, supply chain and support services. www.machexhibition.com/ PaintExpo Germany, Karlsruhe 8-11 April 2014 Leading international trade fair for industrial coating technology with comprehensive focus – ranging from pre-treatment to final inspection. www.paintexpo.com SIMTOS 2014 South Korea, Seoul 9-13 April 2014 Includes: machine tools (metal cutting/forming); measurement; CAD/CAM; laser/water jet cutting; welding; automation. www.simtos.org AeroCon 2014 - Charlotte USA, Charlotte 15-16 April 2014 Leading event for manufacturers of aerospace and defense products. www.canontradeshows.com/expo/ aerocon13 Intermold 2014 Die & Mold Asia 2014 Japan, Osaka 16-19 April 2014 Japan Metal Stamping Technology Exhibition. http://intermold.jp Fabtech Mexico Mexico City 6-8 May 2014 Latest technology in metal forming, fabricating and welding. Co-located with AWS Weldmex, METALFORM Mexico and COATech. http://fabtechmexico.com Smart Automation/Intertool Austria Austria, Vienna 6-8 May 2014 Smart Automation Includes entire range of product areas in industrial automation. Intertool caters for the metal processing sector (machine tools and precision tools). http://wien.smart-automation.at/en/index. html Mfg4 USA, Connecticut 6-8 May 2014 Exclusive event for aerospace, defence, medical, and micromanufacturing http://2012.mfg4event.com/2014

Automation Technology Expo Texas USA, Texas 7-8 May 2014 Automation processes. Co-located with Design & Manufacturing Texas and Contract Manufacturing Expo, Quality Expo Texas www.canontradeshows.com/expo/atx_tx13 MTDuo Taiwan, Taipei 8-11 May 2014 Taipai Manufacturing Technology show. For the machine tool, manufacturing technology and automation sector. www.mtduo.com.tw Montreal Manufacturing Technology Show Canada, Montreal 12-14 May 2014 Metalworking technologies. Includes machine tools, metalworking, automation, design. www.mmts.ca Rapid.Tech Germany, Exhibition Centre Erfurt 14-15 May 2014 International trade fair and users’ conference for rapid technologies (additive manufacturing). www.rapidtech.de MTA Vietnam 2014 Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City 8 - 11 July 2014 International precision engineering, machine tool and metal working exhibition. Co-locating with Vietnam tradeshows: Metrology, ToolTec, SubCon, Automation and WeldTech. www.mtavietnam.com EMTE-EASTPO joint event China, Shanghai 14-17 July 2014 EMTE (European Machine Tool Exhibition) and EASTPO (Shanghai International Machine Tool Fair) has announced a joint event to be held in even years, commencing July 2014. www.emte-eastpo.com IMTS USA, Chicago 8-13 September 2014 One of the world’s largest industrial trade shows www.imts.com AMB Germany, Stuttgart 16-20 September 2014 Leading international metal working exhibition www.messe-stuttgart.de/en/amb JIMTOF Japan, Tokyo 30 October – 4 November 2014 Leading international machine tool exhibition www.jimtof.org/eng

industry calendar local Global Iron Ore & Steel Forecast Conference Perth 11-12 March 2014 The world’s largest gathering of iron ore executives. Delivers vital information on the status of the global iron ore and steel sectors. www.globalironore.com.au Safety in Action Darwin: 19- 20 March 2014 Perth: 11-12 June 2014 Sydney: 2-4 September 2014 Includes comprehensive range of safety products and services. www.safetyinaction.net.au 3D Printing Expo 1 May 2014 Townsville Designed to introduce the technology of 3D printing and how it is revolutionising design and manufacture; describes its applications to different industries and trigger ideas for competitive advantage. Includes Rapid prototyping and rapid manufacture and 3D printing in metals. Features world-class speakers. Cost: $199 each. http://3dprintingexpo.org National Manufacturing Week Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park 13-16 May 2014 Manufacturing exhibition showcasing latest products and technologies in the manufacturing market. Includes dedicated product zones and an extensive program of education and networking events. www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au Australian Manufacturing Conference Leadership in Business 5-6 June 2014 Qld. Gold Coast

Advertiser Index Acra Machinery 21 AlfexCNC 17 Amada 82,32 AMTIL AMT 8,15 AMTIL Conference 7 Applied Machinery Aust. P/L 65 CAMCO Cutting Tools 67 CMTS Sheetmetal Machines 28,29 Complete Machine Tools 25 Compressed Air Australia 19 Delcam 63 G-Zero five 37 Hare & Forbes 49 Headland 9 Hi-Tech Metrology 45 Iscar 2,3 LS Starrett 61

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Discover new strategies to help your business to thrive, connect with key industry contacts and be informed by 25 presenters. The Conference, operated by AMTIL, will incorporate a comprehensive speaking program plus a conference dinner. Two cocktail functions will also be hosted. Speakers include: Benjamin Roberts-Smith, Ross Greenwood, Avril Henry, Megan Quinn and Steven Bradbury. Ph: 0417 146 102. Email: kwarren@amtil.com.au www.amtil.com.au/Events/ AMTILConference Foodpro Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre 22-25 June 2014 Showcasing every aspect of the Australasian Food Processing industry. www.foodproexh.com Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo 9-10 July 2014 Melbourne A B2B tradeshow for the 3D printing industry which will explore the business applications of 3D printing through conference sessions, keynote presentations, and the latest 3D printers and services in action. www.mediabistro.com/inside3dprinting Furnitex Melbourne Exhibition Centre 10-13 July 2014 For the furniture & soft furnishings industry. www.furnitex.com.au Queensland Mining & Engineering Exhibition Mackay Showground 22-24 July 2014 Industrial exhibition for the mining sector. www.queenslandminingexpo.com.au

Machinery Forum 73 Metal Cutting Technology 84 57 Millsom Materials Handling MTI Qualos 27 Objective3D 39 OMAX 43 OSG Asia Pty Ltd 4&5 Sandvik 31 Seco Tools 23 Sheetmetal Tooling Tech 54,55 SICK 33 Siemens Industry Software 13 Standaco Machinery Sales 51 Sutton 53 Thyssenkrupp 41 Walter OFC Walter 11

Would you like to advertise in Australia’s No. 1 precision and manufacturing magazine?

Call Anne Samuelsson of AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 or email asameulsson@amtil.com.au

Cleanscene Sydney Olympic Park 2-4 September 2014 National cleaning and hygiene expo. Co-located with Safety in Action. www.cleansceneshow.com.au Queensland Gas Conference & Exhibition Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 10-11 September 2014 Brings together international opinion leaders from the global energy market and senior decision-makers from the Australian LNG industry and supporting infrastructure www.queenslandgasconference.com.au Bulkex Qld, Rockhampton 17-18 September 2014 Latest in bulk handling products, methods and solutions. Includes latest in conveyor systems, thermal imagers, loader innovation, dust collection, stainless steel feeders. www.bulkex.com.au LandForces Asia Pacific 2014 Brisbane 22-25 September 2014 A comprehensive international industry exhibition to showcase land-defence equipment, technology and services for the armies of Australia, Asia and the Pacific region. www.landforces.com.au Mining & Engineering NSW Newcastle Entertainment Centre 8-10 October 2014 The latest products and technologies for the rapidly growing coal mining sector of the Upper Hunter Valley. www.miningandengineeringnsw.com.au

apr14 Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

NEXT MONTH…

AGRICULTURE Growing demand from developing Asian nations is creating major opportunities for Australia’s agriculture sector, and the manufacturers that supply it.

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING CUTTING TOOLS WELDING RECRUITMENT AND TRANING

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SERVO DIRECT TWIN DRIVE New load-levelling power circuit saves electricity Maximum speed maximum punch

EM3612ZRT

Amada’s EM series Sheet Metal Processing machines now pack a real punch thanks to the unprecedented third generation AC Servo Direct Twin Drive.

The results are impressive: • Ultra High Speeds • High Quality fabrication • Maximum Productivity • Low energy and Noise • Oil Free Operation • Scratch less production - full flat brush table

'Automatic tool changer' The EM series machine can change tools automatically in accordance to a program using the Tool Storage Unit (TSU).

The TSU supports two die clearances and can store up to 179 or 300 tools (option).

• Large Tool Storage Capacity - dual clearance

ROAD TO LIGHTS-OUT “The only way to be competitive is to go into automation.”

Jan Halfar Sales Engineer Amada Oceania

Graziano Bratovic Managing Director Amapro W&B

Rick Pawell Managing Director Amada Oceania

“The service we are getting since Amada is in Australia as their own entity is outstanding. They have gone from strength to strength with their service, backup and know-how. It has been a good journey.”

Graziano Bratovic, Managing Director, AMAPRO-W&B Pty. Ltd

It’s a win-win situation for Dandenong-based precision sheetmetal manufacturer Amapro Pty Ltd: Investing in an EM2510 turret punch press and LC-C1 laser turret combination machine – both with automated load/unload system – has allowed a faster turnaround while the ability to operate lights-out is helping to make the investments economically feasible.

Since 1989 Amapro has been a designer and manufacturer of high precision quality products and enjoys a reputation for being a reliable supplier to a variety of industries, including telecommunications, white goods and medical. All work is completed under the careful scrutiny of the company’s highly skilled staff, using the most up to date, most

reliable sheetmetal machinery from Amada Oceania.

“We have been buying their machines from day one and have obviously been looking at machines from other suppliers over the years,” says Managing Director Graziano Bratovic. “But at the end of the day you can’t go past the Amada reliability and innovative machinery.”

The company name Amapro derives from Amada and Promecam, the first turrets and press brakes installed by Amapro, and the most recent investment in an EM2510 turret punch press and LC-C1 laser turret combination machine with automated load/ unload system has significantly boosted

productivity, primarily by enabling lights-out operation. Setup times have decreased, as have labour costs. Capacity has increased, and production planning is more efficient. As a result, the company is better able to meet shortening turnaround requirements, take on more work and respond to diverse, everchanging customer needs.

Much of that flexibility stems from the ASR48M. With six shelves that can each accommodate 2,000 kg of material, the tower can house large quantities of various types of raw sheet. Compared with the previous, manual material-handling system, this enables the shop to schedule lights-out shifts that involve a greater diversity of work.

Lights-out operation machinery lend production speed, capacity High speed: The LC-C1 series processes parts with a stable accuracy of +/- 0.07 mm during high-speed punch and laser operations. Combined with the automatic loader/unloader, Amapro has more than doubled throughput and can use its operators to their fullest potential by eliminating manual parts handling.

Lights-out: The ability to run the machines lights-out for up to 52 hours has more than tripled the company’s capacity, which can now operate 24/7 as compared to the previous one-shift operation, when all the work had to be processed within the one shift.

Unmatched performance: The EM2510 turret punch press’ third generation drive system using AC Servo Direct Twin Drive combines the simplicity of the original clutch and brake technology with the high speeds of the fastest hydraulic ram-driven systems. In lights-out operation, the machine ensures low operating costs.

Ongoing investments: The recently installed AE2510 manual turret punch press and HFEM2-SF press brake with sheet followers support Amapro’s further expansion efforts: While the former is used for low-volume work to ensure uninterrupted production on the automated machines, the press brake has increased output and reduced the amount of required operators from two to one, paying for itself.

Amada Oceania Pty Ltd Sydney 02 8887 1100 | Unit 7, 16 Lexington Dr., Bella Vista NSW 2153 Melbourne 03 9020 1400 | Unit 1, 3-4 Anzed Court Mulgrave VIC 3170 Perth | Brisbane | www.amada.com.au