AMT JUL 2014

jul14 Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Mining: On shifting ground

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contents

Volume 14 Number 06 JULY 2014 ISSN 1832-6080

MINING Driving mineral productivity higher Minelab – leading the gold rush Innovation: Getting ready for the Future Turning mining wastewater into rainwater QME 2014: Revolutionising mining through technology

40 42 44 45 46

ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION Your new robot colleague – coming out of its cage Okuma Australia unveils RoboJob link-up Industrial automation — Challenges and opportunities

50 52 56

MATERIALS HANDLING Rio Tinto’s clever coal conveyor B&D Doors partners with Konecranes Automation boosts throughput

60 62 64

FINANCE & LAW Shakeup to Chinese trademark laws 65 66 Trade Finance Talent - the clock is ticking Finance ain’t rocket science, despite what your bank says 68 WORKHOLDING Maintaining tolerances = Maintaining workholding

70

From the CEO From the Industry From the Union

10 12 14

INDUSTRY NEWS Current news from the industry

16

GOVERNMENT NEWS The latest Government News Wins for AMTIL in Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame

22 24

PRODUCT NEWS Our selection of new and interesting products

29

COMPANY FOCUS Baum Cycles

48

One on One Ben Eade - Executive Director of Manufacturing Australia 58 AMTIL FORUM Forum OHS: Forklift safety and traffic management Forum Strategies: Can Australia make things?

Forum Training : It’s not about training Forum Recruitment: Employment needs are changing

72 73 74 75

Manufacturing History – A look back in time

76

AMTIL INSIDE The latest news from AMTIL

78

jul14 AustrAliAn MAnufActuring technology

your industry. your Magazine.

Mining: On shifting ground PAGE 36

.MINING .Robotics & Automation

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Handling .Workholding .Law & Finance .Materials

AMT JULY 2014

36

Mining – Weathering the storm With sharp falls in commodity prices, reduced investment and a contracting labour market, many in Australia’s mining industry are facing conditions they have never experienced before. As a result, productivity is high on mining leaders’ agendas as is staying strong and not losing focus on trying to spot opportunities.

54 Service robots revolutionise Sydney Harbour Bridge clean-up The world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of the heaviest and longest steel arch bridges in the world. A team of Australian robotics specialists has demonstrated how service robots will soon revolutionise how steel structures such as this are serviced, by developing an automated sandblasting robot.

56

Cover Staying strong and not losing focus is high on the agenda of Australia’s mining leaders as they grapple with new challenges.

Page 36

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FROM THE

Editor

Editor WIlliam Poole wpoole@amtil.com.au Contributors Barbara Schulz

William Poole

A design model for success We’re all used to hearing about the problems facing Australian manufacturing, and we’re getting pretty accustomed to being told what the solutions are.

“Boosting competitiveness”, “fostering innovation”, “creating high-value-add products”... such phrases get bandied about with increasing regularity, not least in the pages of this magazine, and they’re all valid, well-argued points. But what’s often missing is the follow-through, the concrete details of putting these ideas into practice. Yes, we need to do all these things, but how?

Design for Manufacturing Competitiveness, a new report from the CSIRO in collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), attempts to tackle this (read it at: bit.ly/1iYfOL4). It examines a group of companies managing to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. There are familiar names in there, the likes of ANCA, Futuris, RØDE Microphones… successful Australian companies competing globally by manufacturing innovative, high-value-add products.

Their success is largely attributed to a mindset that enables them to understand their customers, allocate resources and develop export opportunities. CSIRO describes these factors as “designled innovation” (DLI), identifying five core practices common to all the companies interviewed.

They are:

• Clarity of purpose – Organisations need a clear purpose, communicated openly internally and externally to ensure cultural alignment.

• Become your market – Organisations need to immerse themselves in the world of their customers and stakeholders to achieve competitive insights that facilitate market disruption.

• Be the disruptor – To be globally competitive, organisations must create business models that envisage future markets and services as well as future products.

• Integrated business model – Organisations that innovate through integration along the value chain will be globally competitive.

• Own the change experience – Organisations must be dynamic, agile and flexible, embracing change to remain relevant amid global competition.

The report goes on to develop a framework for instilling a DLI ethos, focusing on four key areas: 1. Raising awareness of DLI among Australian SMEs and shifting the thinking of these companies.

2. Scaling the support for SMEs in DLI adoption in an integrated way across the innovation system.

3. Developing an industry-focused, action-led, futures-focused research base.

4. Developing a broad-based capability- and capacity-building approach across industry, industry support programs, the education system, universities, research organisations, and the public sector.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane launched the report, saying: “Manufacturers need to continuously improve their products and services to meet market demands that constantly change. This report has practical advice to help manufacturing firms remain competitive.”

But the onus does not rest with manufacturers alone. The report’s recommendations encompass the education system, the research community, and of course, government. Here at AMTIL, we see Australian manufacturers working hard every day to adapt and innovate to meet the challenges they face. What is needed is robust policy framework, executed with commitment and consistency, to ensure those efforts are not in vain. It can’t be left to manufacturers alone.

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.

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FROM THE

CEO Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

Good news stories – Please I was recently talking to the Victorian Minister for Manufacturing, Hon David Hodgett, backstage at the Victorian Hall of Fame award night and his frustration at the media reporting of the manufacturing sector was quite evident.

He was telling me the story that a journalist from a mainstream newspaper had picked up on an old story relating to some job losses in the automotive industry and had called him to ask some questions. Rehashing an old “bad news” story the same week we are celebrating excellence in manufacturing and admitting many great companies into the Hall of Fame typifies the attitude of some journalists more intent on trash talk than promotion.

OK, I accept that there are pressures on manufacturing at present and we don’t want to paint an unrealistic picture, but there are positive signs and many, many great companies that deserve to be promoted in the mainstream press as well as in industryowned magazines such as this one.

The most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (www.abs.gov.au/ ausstats) highlighted that the Australian manufacturing industry employed 896,000 in June 2013. When you add on the jobs associated with servicing the manufacturing sector, this figure is well in excess of 1 million.

Another statistic often overlooked is our manufacturing contribution as a percentage of Australia’s GDP. Whilst Australia’s manufacturing output as a percentage of GDP has dropped to around 7%, it is worth noting that this is only relative to growth of other industries. That is to say, Australia’s total manufacturing production over the past 35 years has actually increased from $26.3b to $111.7b per annum, equating to around 1% of the global manufacturing output of $11,360b as indicated in the latest McKinsey Global Report into manufacturing.

Whatever way you look at it, the manufacturing industry is still a critical piece of our economic landscape. So let’s focus on some good news stories.

New Age Caravans is a great Australian success. Started by husband and wife team Joe and Gabby Barrasso and having their first caravan coming off the production line in 2009, the company has grown exponentially year upon year and now produces 70 customised caravans per month. They also recently received funding from Melbourne’s North Innovation and Investment Fund (MNIIF), a tripartite agreement between the Commonwealth Government, Victorian Government and Ford Australia. This grant will allow New Age Caravans to undertake a $3.7m project to establish an advanced robotic manufacturing centre to improve the productivity and quality of its manufacturing

10 |

AMT JULY 2014

activities. This will create 65 new jobs, many of which will be suitable for ex-Ford and automotive supply chain workers affected by the impending changes to the automotive sector. This is a great example of Australian ingenuity, commitment and passion leading to a quality product. How good would it be to have this story plastered over the front page of The Australian, highlighting employment being generated rather than lost.

RODE Microphones, based in Silverwater, was established in 1967 but it wasn’t until 1990 when the company manufactured their first microphone in Australia. From the humble beginnings of the entirely Australian designed, built and manufactured NT2 in the 1990’s, RODE has gone from strength to strength and is now recognised as a global leader, producing world class microphones of all shapes and sizes. Their state-of-the-art plant has over $30m in precision machinery and a staff of more than 140 people. They have won numerous design awards over the years and last year was recognised as the Australian Manufacturing Exporter of the Year at the Endeavour Awards. Managing Director Peter Freedman, has a dream to make the world’s smallest microphone. Anybody who knows Peter will have no doubt on him achieving this sometime in the near future. Another great story of how passion, good design and the latest technology can develop a world-class product and a globally recognised company. How good would it be to have this story on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, highlighting the investment in technology and jobs growth.

ANCA is another Australian company that keeps on keeping on. The Australian Export Awards, presented by the Australian Trade

Commission (Austrade) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) is the most prestigious business award program in the country. ANCA won the Large Advanced Manufacturer award in 1995 and again in 2012. During that time employment has grown from around 300 staff to over 700 staff globally. ANCA is another outstanding example of a company that has built a reputation on innovation, quality and a commitment to research and development. How good would it be to see a front page story from The Age highlighting a global manufacturer based in Bayswater (Melbourne), with innovation, job growth and export marketing strategies as good as any company in the world.

These are just three quick examples of the hundreds of hidden champions in Australia.

Congratulations to the Victorian Government for putting some of them on a pedestal last month (see pages 24-27). Hopefully it generates some positive messages for Australia to take notice of.

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FROM THE

Industry Innes Willox – Chief Executive Australian Industry Group

Minimum wage hike will hurt manufacturers As if trade-exposed businesses, including manufacturers, weren’t facing enough challenges, they now have to deal with an overly generous increase to the national minimum wage.

The decision by the Expert Panel of the Fair Work Commission to lift the minimum wage by 3% – which equates to an increase of around $19 per week on the national minimum wage, $22 on the base trade rate, and up to $36 for professionals – is far too high and will increase the pressure on businesses. Of course, this is on top of the 0.25% increase in the Superannuation Guarantee, which employers will be required to pay from 1 July.

While we are pleased that the Commission rejected unrealistic, unaffordable and unsustainable minimum wage increase of $27 per week proposed by the unions, the decision is far higher than Ai Group’s 1.6% proposal.

At a time when the soft labour market is seeing more moderate wages growth in line with the fragility of the domestic economy, employers will find it very hard to understand why the Fair Work Commission has decided to award a particularly generous wage increase this year. This decision will add to the relative costs of employing minimum wage employees. It is likely to make it more difficult for them to find employment while making it less likely that employers will offer part-time minimum wage employees the additional hours of work that many of them are seeking.

According to the latest ABS figures, 6% of the workforce is unemployed and another 7.5% is underemployed (meaning they would prefer to work more hours). Amongst the underemployed, more than half a million part-time workers would prefer to work full-time. Raising minimum wages by too much dampens the prospects of unemployed people finding a job and, for underemployed people, reduces opportunities for securing more work.

Recent GDP data, aside from the welcome growth in mining exports, shows the Australian economy did not grow at all in the March quarter.

Many key industries are actually contracting. Manufacturing shrank by 3.1%; professional services shrank by 2.1%; transport by 2.2%; and wholesale trade by 0.4%.

The economy is not generating strong jobs growth. Total employment has lifted by only 0.9% over the past year, compared with population growth of 1.8%. Unemployment is higher than this time last year.

The wage rise is a risky decision that puts the interests of workers with secure jobs ahead of the unemployed and those in less secure jobs. It raises the likelihood that jobs will be lost in industries that are doing it tough.

This decision also means that Australia increases its lead with the highest minimum wage level in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). International comparisons of minimum wage levels support the widely held view that Australia’s real wage costs are relatively high.

On a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis, Australia has long held the mantle of highest real minimum wage, among countries with a similar industry base and level of development. Indeed, among OECD countries, only Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium had a higher real minimum wage in 2013. On a PPP basis and prior to the recent rise, Australian minimum wages have been 1.2 times more than in the UK, 1.3 times more than in the US, and (until 2013) 1.5 times higher than in Japan.

Moreover, while Australia’s minimum wage has kept rising in PPP terms, other major competitor countries – including the US, the UK, Japan, and even Ireland – have reduced theirs, widening the gap between Australian minimum wages and those in comparable competitor nations even further.

This will no doubt further dampen our international competitiveness at a time when we need to make ourselves more attractive for international investment while also giving Australian-based companies a fair go to compete and grow.

At a time when the soft labour market is seeing more moderate wages growth in line with the fragility of the domestic economy, employers will find it very hard to understand why the Fair Work Commission has decided to award a particularly generous wage increase this year. This decision will add to the relative costs of employing minimum wage employees.

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AMT JULY 2014

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FROM THE

AMWU Paul Bastian – National Secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

Which way is up for industry policy?

The Abbott government came into power pledging an end to “corporate welfare”, while also claiming support for innovation, a skilled workforce, collaboration between industry and researchers, and expanded access to new markets.

This was seen by many as confirmation that the government intended to end the ‘old’ industry policy of direct support through subsidies and tax breaks and replace it will an emerging ‘new’ industry policy of support for innovation, skills, market access and advice.

The government’s end to “corporate welfare” was best demonstrated by its pulling of automotive manufacturing industry support, which led to its announced closure. It was also on display with their refusal to support SPC Ardmona, as well as domestic naval shipbuilding.

However, when we look at the promised ‘new’ industry policy, what we saw in the budget was nothing short of a full-scale retreat on this front too.

By eliminating Commercialisation Australia, the government has ended the premier support agency for small firms in taking new products and other innovations to market. In short, the agency provided targeted, tailored and hands-on support for the growth of new businesses and jobs.

As just one example of what Commercialisation Australia did, in November 2013, Sun Mining Services Pty Ltd won its first business contract worth over $1m, supplying over 1200 tons of advanced explosives. The contract was secured thanks to product testing made possible by Commercialisation Australia.

This is just one example of over 503 businesses that have benefitted from Commercialisation Australia’s support since its establishment in 2010. With a Budget of just $82m per year, it is a telling sign that the government has chosen to end this program claiming it is unaffordable.

But Commercialisation Australia is far from the only ‘new’ industry program that has been ended by the government. Enterprise Connect supported businesses to improve their management and organisation; it has been ended. The Australian Industry Participation Authority supported local businesses gaining access to work on large investment projects; it has been ended. The National Workforce Development Fund supported businesses to improve the skills of their workers and managers; it has been ended. Industry Innovation Precincts were intended to bring businesses and researchers together to promote more collaboration; they have been scrapped.

The Innovation Investment Fund provided finance to SMEs with large growth potential; it is also gone.

We need to compete on skills, quality, technology, after-sales service and the other real drivers of productivity…

Manufacturers need to know that they are supported by programs designed to help them improve productivity and grow their business.

While the government claims its new Entrepreneur Infrastructure Fund will plug the gap created by this wholesale wiping of ‘new’ industry policy programs, the fact remains that the level of support for SMEs through these types of programs has been more than halved. The facts speak for themselves; the Abbott government is dramatically cutting ‘new’ industry policy aimed at supporting manufacturing and other business growth.

At the same time, the government sees no problem with ‘old’ industry support as long as it doesn’t go to manufacturers. It has left untouched the assistance to non-manufacturing sectors, which far outweighs assistance to manufacturing in total. According to the Productivity Commission, total industry assistance in 2011-12 included $700m of support for the mining industry, over $900m of support to the finance industry, and more than $1bn of support for utilities.

Yet this assistance doesn’t seem to count as “corporate welfare” and has been left intact.

I am not arguing that assistance to other sectors needs to be cut, but it is very troubling that the validity of assistance seems to depend on what sector is being assisted, and most troubling is that manufacturers appear to be singled out as unworthy of government support. As far as manufacturing is concerned, the message from the government is clear; for big and small business the government is dramatically cutting the support it provides.

Instead, what we have heard and what we will no doubt increasingly hear from the government is that manufacturers will need to cut costs, and in particular labour costs. But it will never be possible for Australian businesses to compete with Asia’s developing economies based on labour costs, especially when these relative costs are warped by a record high Australian dollar.

We need to compete on skills, quality, technology, after-sales service and the other real drivers of productivity. Any attempt to compete on wages is not only futile, it damages the trust and co-operation between managers and workers that we know is crucial for real productivity improvements. Especially at a time when labour productivity is growing strongly, as it currently is with an increase of 2.4% in the last year and with last quarter’s labour productivity growing at an annualised rate of 3.2%.

Manufacturers need to know that they are supported by programs designed to help them improve productivity and grow their business.

They need support to grow through real productivity gains, innovation and new markets, not asking workers to cut their pay when costof-living pressures are getting worse and workers are getting more productive.

Unfortunately, what we are getting from the government not only falls far short, it makes the situation worse, not better.

14 |

AMT JULY 2014

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industry news

Manufacturing remains in red in May Manufacturing remained in negative territory during May, according to the latest Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI) from the Australian Industry Group.

The seasonally adjusted index rose 4.4 points to 49.2 to remain just below the 50-point mark separating an expansion and contraction in activity. Respondents noted a dampening in confidence following the Federal Budget.

There were rises in manufacturing production, which rose by 9.0 to 51.6 points, and new orders, which gained 13.3 points to reach 55.1. Manufacturing sales – a newly added sub-series this month – recorded 53.7 points in May. However, manufacturing employment contracted further in May – falling to 40.8 points, its lowest reading since April 2013.

Falls were also seen in supplier deliveries

(down by 6.0 to 46.8), inventories (down 3.2 points to 46.1) and exports (dropping by 6.4 to 47.8).

“The manufacturing sector continues to be buffeted by weak household demand, a lack of business confidence and fierce competition in both domestic and export markets heightened by the renewed strength in the Australian dollar,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox. “While there was an encouraging rebound in new orders after a particularly weak April, the public reaction to the Federal Budget appears to be weighing negatively on consumer sentiment and business confidence.”

Across the eight sub-sectors, four expanded and four contracted in the month, with the relatively small wood and paper products sub-sector recording the highest reading at 55.5 points. The printing and recorded media sub-sector had the lowest sub-sector reading this month at 37.3 points. The metal products sub-sector’s index remains extremely weak, at 41.4 points in May. “The ongoing uncertainty over a number of budget measures is adding another layer of concern for local manufacturers,” added Willox.

UN reports steady growth in global manufacturing World manufacturing is in a phase of steady growth due to the improved financial condition of industrialised countries, especially in Europe, and China’s continued growth, according to a report released by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Output rose by 5.1% in the first quarter of 2014, the highest rate in several years. According to the report, world manufacturing has entered a phase of steady growth after a prolonged period of recession. UNIDO attributed the current growth mainly to the improving financial condition of industrialised countries, especially in Europe. Higher growth in the production of durable goods, such as household equipment, electronic goods and motor vehicles, indicated rising consumer confidence in long-term stability, the UN agency reported.

The base of current growth in industrialised countries has considerably broadened. Manufacturing output rose in all industrial sectors, including such traditional sectors as the manufacture of food products, textiles and wearing apparel.

Industrialised countries accounted for almost two-thirds of valueadded world manufacturing, and growth in these economies has significant impact on global manufacturing. Manufacturing output rose by 3.3% in industrialised countries and 9.4% in developing and emerging industrial economies in the first quarter of 2014. However, excluding China, manufacturing growth in emerging industrial economies was just 1.4%. China’s manufacturing output grew by 13.1%.

The report’s authors concluded that the major risks to a recovery of these economies relate to the reversal of capital flows, as an external factor, and the rise in the cost of production as an internal factor. As the market in industrialised economies stabilises and the demand for consumer goods, as well as input items, rises, exports from developing countries may eventually increase, which should boost their industrial production. In this context, the current recovery is likely to have a positive impact on global manufacturing.

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AMT JULY 2014

The manufacture of machinery and equipment rose by 6.4% in Canada, by 17.7% in Japan, and by 6.0% in the United States.

However, growth prospects for developing and emerging industrial economies remain fragile. Manufacturing output in Argentina fell by 1.8%, in Brazil by 0.2% and in India by 1.6%.

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industry news

NMW builds on strong results Reed Exhibitions has confirmed that National Manufacturing Week 2015 will take place in Melbourne next year, again co-located with Austech.

This year’s NMW – held from 13-16 May in Sydney – reportedly delivered solid outcomes for participants, with more than 300 exhibiting companies making new links within Australia’s fastchanging manufacturing industry. Preliminary figures revealed that around 6300 trade visitors attended NMW 2014, taking advantage of a host of new features to build very strong links with industry suppliers.

According to Reed, over 40% of visitors were executives with purchasing power, representing an increased ratio of decisionmakers. Also notable was the success of new programs put in place for NMW 2014, to spark closer interaction between exhibitors and visitors. NMW Exhibition Director, Anthony Reed commented that, by bringing different sectors of industry together under one roof, NMW had helped create real opportunities for participants.

“It is always fantastic to see people from so many different industry sectors making new connections and talking about new ideas,” said Reed. “There was a real buzz across NMW 2014 – which I am sure will translate into real opportunities in the weeks and months ahead.”

Co-located with the SMART Supply Chain & Logistics Conference & Expo, Austech and NMW 2015 are expected to draw strong visitor numbers, and a record number of industry’s leading players have already booked exhibition space event. The events will be held from 26-29 May 2015 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Melbourne set for Inside 3D Printing expo The Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 9-10 July.

Amid ever-rising media coverage detailing the latest advances in additive manufacturing, the two-day event will provide a showcase for some of the key players that are playing a part in moving the 3D printing revolution forward. The exhibition will feature some of the leading organisations from across the industry. A Maker Summit & Pavilion will give visitors an opportunity to explore the ever-increasing variety of ways in which 3D printing can be employed effectively.

Inside 3D Printing has assembled an impressive line-up of speakers over the two days of the event. Professor Milan Brandt of RMIT University will cover the latest developments in additive technology and how the research conducted at the RMIT Advanced Manufacturing Precinct is helping companies create new market opportunities. Terry Wohlers of Wohlers Associates, named the most influential person in rapid product development and additive manufacturing, will examine trends in the industry and predict where 3D printing is headed AMTIL will also be participating in Inside 3D Printing, where we will be showcasing our involvement in the new Additive Manufacturing HUB. Come and see us, at Stand 116.

For more information about Inside 3D Printing, visit www. inside3dprinting.com.

Geelong firm lands $5m Thales contract Thales Australia has pre-awarded a $5m contract to RPC Technologies, an Australian specialist engineering company, to manufacture dashboard assemblies for the company’s new Hawkei vehicle.

The work is conditional on Thales securing a long-term contract with the Department of Defence for Hawkei. It would be carried out at RPC’s manufacturing facilities in Geelong, Victoria, and help sustain jobs over the four-year period of the contract.

“RPC has the expertise required for the production of military vehicles,” Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said. “Their commitment to excellence in manufacturing and value for money will benefit the Hawkei project, while also securing supply chain skills in Victoria.”

“RPC is thrilled about the opportunity to work with Thales on the Hawkei project supplying the dashboard assemblies,” added Tony Caristo, Managing Director of RPC Technologies. “RPC has a history of supporting Thales, having been involved with the Bushmaster program and also Thales Underwater Systems. This contract will help to secure the workforce of the Geelong plant and build RPC’s presence in Defence.”

Thales Australia is currently leveraging its specialist procurement experience developed during the Bushmaster program to source industry participants to supply Hawkei components. The company is also using the industry’s technical and design capabilities to help reduce cost and weight.

The Bushmaster supply chain itself comprises around 120 Australian SMEs, with more than 100 based in Victoria, and 30 in the Bendigo area. The Bushmaster vehicle contains 65% Australian content, generating long-term revenues for a wide range of local component manufacturers and supporting hundreds of Australian jobs.

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Thales has delivered six Hawkei vehicles to the Department of Defence, which are currently undergoing testing under the LAND 121 Phase 4 project, which seeks to provide up to 1300 protected light vehicles.

Subject to successful testing, final approval of the project is expected around 2015.

• Effective up to 6.1 metres •

and is effective up to 6.1 metres away. Other styles

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• Cleans and neutralizes up to 4.6 metres •

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industry news

UTS unveils new FEIT building The University of Technology – Sydney (UTS) launched its new Faculty of Engineering & Information Technology (FEIT) on 12 June.

The first and largest of three state-of-the-art buildings in the UTS’s billion-dollar City Campus Master Plan, the new building was officially opened by the Honourable Dame Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of NSW. Located on the corner of Broadway and Jones Street in Ultimo, the FEIT Building features a striking, innovative design that reflects its position as a hub where creativity meets technology.

The FEIT building and the facilities it offers have been designed to change the way students learn, with cutting-edge technology including robotics, computer and human-centred design labs, and a 3D data visualisation facility – the Data Arena – which will be the most advanced research facility of its type in Australia. In order to nurture graduates and researchers to drive technology innovation, traditional, large lecture theatres will be replaced by smaller, collaborative classrooms and theatres.

In addition, the building itself will operate as a ‘living lab’, embodying features such as wind turbines, water-recycling and solar panel technology, all captured in real time on wireless sensors. The data captured will be used for teaching and research purposes.

“The building’s design has a student-centred strategy at its core, which aims to support graduate outcomes closely linked to both future trends and industry needs,” explains Professor Ross Milbourne, UTS Vice-Chancellor.

Swinburne opens Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre Swinburne University has opened its innovative new Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre (AMDC), allowing students to collaboratively work and learn in an environmentally friendly space.

Floors one to six of the AMDC have opened, including classrooms, laboratories and caféstyle lounge, with the facility’s state-of-theart 274-seat lecture theatre already in use. The remaining floors of the ten-storey building will not be unveiled until later in June, including the engineering and design student workspaces.

Swinburne’s second five-star Green Star building, certified by the Green Building Council of Australia, has been designed to ensure it left a minimal carbon footprint. Swinburne Associate Director of Major Projects Vince Persi, who oversaw the design and construction of the project, said that the AMDC created a welcoming atmosphere for students and staff.

“Not only are the indoor spaces great, but the building also has an outdoor sky garden on level three, with landscaping, decking and a vista across tree tops and the city skyline,” said Persi. “This provides an extension of the traditional workspace, while allowing students to step out and get some fresh air.”

The AMDC cost $100m and was built with the support of the Commonwealth Government, which provided $30m through its Education Investment Fund. Construction on the building, which was designed by UK-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects with Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) Service engineers, started in March 2012.

Australian first for FWA Friction Welding Australia (FWA) held an official open day on 5 June at its site in Brendale, Queensland, to showcase its latest state-of-the-art friction welding equipment.

The event was attended by representatives of both Federal and State Government, including Bob Baldwin MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry.

Over the course of the day, those in attendance were able to enjoy a series of demonstrations showing the advantages of the new technology.

Friction welding offers a number of significant benefits over traditional welding processes, notably allowing dissimilar metals, such as copper to aluminium, to be joined together. Speed is another major benefit – for example, friction welding of a 100mm-diameter shaft will take five minutes compared with around four hours when using traditional MIG welding.

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Operating as a subcontract service to the mining and manufacturing industries, FWA is a proudly Australian-owned company. The first of its kind in Australia, the new equipment

is the latest step taken by the company in a strategy to expand its already successful hydraulic cylinder-manufacturing business.

industry news

Biotech survey shows advanced manufacturing heading overseas

23rd International Sheet Metal Working Technology Exhibition

Advanced manufacturing associated with biotechnology – widely cited as an area of significant future potential for Australian manufacturers – is following trends previously seen in traditional manufacturing, with a new survey revealing a sharp increase in the number of companies heading overseas.

The annual Biotechnology Industry Position Survey 2014 showed that 73% of respondent companies are engaged in manufacturing: 44% in Australia and 54% overseas (with a crossover of 25% that manufacture both in Australia and overseas). Conducted by AusBiotech and supported by Grant Thornton Australia, the survey saw a clear shift towards manufacturing overseas, rising to 54% from 36% in 2013.

The survey revealed a bullish outlook for the coming year, with 81% of respondents expecting their business to grow and 70% of companies intending to hire more people. The number of companies identifying the Australian operating environment (economic conditions and public policy) as conducive to growing a biotechnology company improved significantly, up to 38% from 16% in 2012 and 24% in 2013.

Positive shifts in investor sentiment, both locally and internationally, have translated into an improved funding position for many respondents.

(The number of companies holding less than 12 months’ cash fell to 22%, from 37% in 2013). Interestingly, only 33% of respondents were definitely planning on raising capital in the coming year, while a further 17% flagged fund raising as a consideration.

Respondents were cautiously optimistic regarding the change of government, with a significant majority are opting for a ‘wait and see’ approach. The R&D Tax Incentive was very well received by the industry and its intact preservation remains the number one public policy issue. The findings have prompted calls for further tax reform to enable Australia to be internationally competitive.

“Australia would benefit enormously from a well-targeted tax incentive to attract and retain R&D once it reaches commercialisation, its benefits, and the associated high-tech manufacturing,” said Dr Anna Lavelle, CEO of AusBiotech. “Sympathetic policy settings are critical to aid the structural transformation of Australia’s economy toward high-tech, knowledge-based industries, which have the capacity to generate a globally-competitive economy, higher exports and sustainable, high-skilled jobs.”

According to AusBiotech, building Australia’s capacity as a technologically innovative country is vital as the window of miningrelated prosperity begins to close and car manufacturing phases out.

Australia has a strong competitive advantage in high-tech, high-cost, low-volume manufacturing, to elaborately transform goods such as medical devices and bio-pharmaceuticals, and a burgeoning, globally impressive biotechnology and life sciences industry.

“It’s imperative that Australia takes action to remain competitive and relevant on the world stage, especially when other economies including the UK or Singapore are already reaping the benefits of their tax regimes,” said Michael Cunningham, National Head of Life Sciences Grant Thornton Australia. “Maximising Australian innovation and reinvigorating the manufacturing sector in Australia, largely depends on the existing R&D Tax Incentive being complemented with a tax regime that can secure Australia’s competitiveness for the future.”

21 - 25 October 2014 Hanover, Germany Sheet metal, Tube, Sections Handling Finished products, Parts, Assemblies Separation, Cutting Joining, Welding Forming Flexible sheet metal working Machine elements Tube / Section working Composites Surface treatment Tools, Dies Data capture / processing Safety at work Controlling, Regulating, Measuring, Inspection Factory and warehouse equipment

Research and development CAD/CAM systems Environment protection, Recycling

www.euroblech.com

EB_Australian_Manufacturing_Technology_88.5x262_en.indd 1

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Government news

Accessing assistance with R&D and innovation If you’ve been in manufacturing for a while, you would know that there are always new ways to reduce costs or to improve your products.

You may be able to reduce electricity consumption, water or trade waste costs, or use new materials, surfaces or manufacturing technologies to put you ahead of the competition. However, sometimes it can be a challenge to find the relevant expertise to help make these improvements and innovations.

Now there is a network of people and technologies in Victoria who are available to assist you by helping think through your problem. The Victorian Platform Technologies Network (VPTN) provides an online directory of facilities that house world-class instrumentation, services and products. The expertise available can help you work through your R&D or innovation challenges. Members of the network know how to get the best out of their equipment in order to meet your particular need.

The VPTN collates core facilities, housing publicly funded equipment located at research institutions and universities, which are open for access by all areas of industry. These core facilities are run by highly skilled people who know their technology, services and products exquisitely and can deploy them to generate high quality outcomes, report VPTN Managers Gerard Gibbs and Karen Clarke.

“VPTN member facilities have a very strong focus on customer service and, where appropriate, collaboration. The VPTN is a great resource for researchers and industry looking to use a wide range of innovative services.”

The VPTN comprises over 125 core facilities in Victoria. The network has facilities that have additive manufacturing capabilities, surface characterisation resources, micro- and nano-technology fabrication capabilities, supercomputing and 3D visualisation, just to name a few.

Through the VPTN, you can access nano- and micro- indentation

to test the mechanical properties of materials, or help to research anticorrosion, thermal control or antimicrobial coatings for surface protection. Other VPTN facilities make proteins for drug discovery or sort huge data sets using experts in molecular dynamics, genomics and bioinformatics.

Once you have found your supplier, the Victorian Government offers technology vouchers for eligible applicants to test new materials, construction or manufacturing methods and innovation vouchers to access business innovation skills opportunities (www.business. vic.gov.au/grants-and-assistance/programs/technology-voucherprogram). The VPTN is funded by the Victorian Government and supported by Monash University and Biomedical Research Victoria to enable industry to take advantage of the expertise and cutting edge technologies available in publicly-funded research organisations.

You may be surprised at how easy it is to find an expert to help you improve your products or find a quicker or better way of doing things.

By using the equipment and expertise available locally, you could save on capital expenditure and reduce the risk of development costs.

For more information search online at: www.platformtechnologies.org/ facility-profiles

Applications open for MPN grants The fifth round of grants under the Victorian Government’s Manufacturing Productivity Networks (MPN) Program will be open for Stream One and Stream Two applications on 7 July.

Grants are available under the MPN program to assist manufacturing networks to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Victorian manufacturing businesses. MPN is a major initiative under the Victorian Government’s manufacturing strategy: A More Competitive Manufacturing Industry: New Directions for Industry Policy and Manufacturing.

Stream Two grants of up to $600,000 over three years are available to assist networks to undertake significant projects designed to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of their members, such as employing a facilitator for a productivity initiative, contracting supply chain or expert manufacturing advice, exploring new manufacturing technologies or undertaking a significant research project.

The program is designed for manufacturers to collaborate on activities and projects that increase productivity, competitiveness and export readiness, providing matched funding for up to $600,000 for approved projects. Collaborative activities include research, gap analysis, feasibility projects, productivity audits, product development, workshops, supply chain improvements and Lean assessments.

The MPN program is not intended to support:

All grants must be matched by a minimum co-contribution from the network of $1 for every $1 granted.

• Activities and projects that support less than five manufacturing businesses.

Who can apply?

How are applications assessed?

Applications are sought from Victorian networks with a minimum of five members that support the interests of small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses. The networks can be formally constituted networks or informal networks of businesses with a common productivity agenda, supply chain or problem.

MPN is delivered in competitive funding rounds. There will be two opportunities to apply for Stream One grants and one opportunity to apply for Stream Two grants per year. All applications are assessed competitively against the following criteria:

What types of projects are eligible?

2. Impact of the project on the productivity and competitiveness of Victorian manufacturers.

Stream One grants of up to $50,000 over one year are available to assist networks to undertake planning, scoping and information activities that will improve network members’ knowledge and understanding of productivity issues and to explore, plan for and scope productivity enhancements.

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• The purchase of new or upgraded equipment or technology.

• Network functions or business activities not directly connected with the enhancement of productivity or competitiveness including normal business activities.

1. Identified business and industry need for the project.

3. Reach of the project.

4. Capability of the network to successfully deliver the project.

More details can be accessed at: www.business.vic.gov.au/mpn

Government news

Jobs assistance for Campbellfield companies Two manufacturing companies in Campbellfield, Victoria, are to receive assistance to help them expand operations and create new jobs, under a new initiative from the Federal and Victorian State Governments, in partnership with Ford Australia.

Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said on 16 June that two grants totalling $900,000 from the Melbourne’s North Innovation and Investment Fund (MNIIF) would enable Kitchen Innovations and Premier Extrusion to undertake re-developments worth a total of $1.92m.

“These substantial business investments will create 28 full-time jobs and position Kitchen Innovations and Premier Extrusion for the next ten years of growth by expanding their existing plants in Campbellfield,” said Macfarlane. “This will establish state-of-theart facilities for the production of kitchen and bathroom cabinets and laminate bench-tops from Kitchen Innovations; and plastic extrusion, hoses and tubes from Premier Extrusion, for a wide range of industries.

“The MNIIF is about attracting new investments and businesses to this significant manufacturing region and sustaining a strong and competitive manufacturing sector,” Macfarlane added.

Victorian Minister for Manufacturing David Hodgett said Kitchen Innovations had been allocated $600,000 to support its $1.2m redevelopment, which would create 20 full-time jobs. The company will use the grant to help expand its capability to produce stone bench-tops in-house, as market demand has switched from laminex bench-tops. The funds will facilitate the purchase and installation of a bridge saw, straight-line polisher, water treatment plant and materials handling equipment to process the stone. Meanwhile, Premier Extrusion has been awarded a $321,000 grant to help with a $722,000 project that will create eight full-time jobs. The company will use the grant money to install new equipment that will allow the development of technologically advanced foamed polyethylene products for new markets. “Both these important projects reflect the Victorian Coalition Government’s strong and ongoing commitment to our manufacturing industry, which is facing significant structural change,” added Hodgett.

“The expansion plans being announced today by both Kitchen Innovations and Premier Extrusion demonstrate how MNIIF continues to generate innovative and exciting projects for the communities of Melbourne’s North,” said Bob Graziano, President and CEO of Ford Australia. “By providing investment support for business, MNIIF encourages local entrepreneurs to pursue commercial opportunities that will deliver increased economic activity, new sustainable jobs and a diversified economic base for the region.”

The MNIIF is a $24.5m package developed by the Victorian Government in partnership with the Federal Government and Ford Australia in response to Ford’s announcement that it will cease local production in 2016. The ten MNIIF grants that have been allocated so far are worth a total of $12.1m and are leveraging $44.6m in private sector investment. They are expected to create more than 470 new full-time equivalent jobs.

“Ford Australia is proud to be associated with MNIIF,” said Graziano. “It’s an important element of Ford Australia’s transition plan to become a full-line vehicle importer while also providing support for all stakeholders affected by our business changes.”

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Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2014

Wins for AMTIL in Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame AMTIL members Australian Precision Technologies (APT) and Maton Guitars were among the winners at the 2014 Victorian Manufacturing Industry Hall of Fame last month.

APT and Maton were among nine companies that were inducted into the Hall of Fame at a special ceremony in Melbourne on 16 June on a night when a total of 16 individuals or companies received recognition as representing the very best of the state’s manufacturing industry.

Victorian Minister for Manufacturing David Hodgett commended a total of 16 individuals or companies that received prestigious awards.

“These awards were established in 2001 to celebrate manufacturing excellence in Victoria,” Hodgett said. “Now in its fourteenth year, the awards have celebrated 140 innovative companies, added 28 recipients to the Honour Roll and recognised 11 Young Manufacturers of the Year.”

The young manufacturer of the year award went to Matthew Arblaster, the Production Manager of Bayer MaterialScience of Cheltenham, while the Technology in Manufacturing Company of the Year award was won by Laucke Flour Mills of Bridgewater on Loddon. In addition, a pair of industry legends were added to the Hall of Fame Honour Roll: Tom Hartley, the Chairman of Hilton Manufacturing of Dandenong South; and Ralph Wilson Snr, the proprietor of Willow Ware Australia of Tullamarine.

“I would like to congratulate Tom and Ralph for being included on the Hall of Fame Honour Roll,” said Hodgett. “Both men lead visionary Victorian manufacturing companies that have been operating productively and creatively for many years and have contributed significantly to export sales and the training of skilled staff.

Congratulations also go to the Victorian

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AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti was among those presenting awards on the night.

Left: Victorian Minister for Manufacturing David Hodgett.

Manufacturers of the Year in the Large, Medium and Small business categories.”

The Manufacturer of the Year award – Large went to SRX Global (Australia), of Dandenong South, Australia’s market leader in electronic manufacturing services, which partners with major domestic and global innovators.

Future Fibre Technologies of Mulgrave, a global leader in fibre-optic intrusion detection systems, was awarded the Manufacturer of the Year – Medium awards. The Manufacturer of the Year – Small went to Thermofilm Australia of Springvale, which designs, manufactures and supplies world-beating electric heating products.

A total of nine companies were included in the Hall of Fame. Along with APT (of Berwick) and Maton (of Box Hill), they were: Bervar (trading as Della Rosa Foods) of Campbellfield, Boundary Bend Olives of Lara, Flavour Makers of Braeside, Laurent Bakery of Clayton, Pemara Labels Australia of Notting Hill, Transglaze of Dandenong South, and Willow Ware Australia of Tullamarine.

“These competitive and export-focused manufacturers were recognised for their innovation, productivity and contribution to the Victorian economy in the face of increased global competition and the strong Australian dollar,” added Hodgett.

Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2014

Manufacturer of the Year – Small Business

Thermofilm Australia Pty Ltd Established in 1988, Thermofilm Australia is a privately owned company specialising in the design, manufacture and supply of world-leading stylish, energy-efficient electric heating products.

The company manufactures a range of innovative products, including the award-winning Heatstrip radiant heaters, convective and radiant panels, OzFlame fireplaces, wine tank heaters, wall controllers, Envirotouch controllers, custom-made elements, and pet heating and propagation heaters. Thermofilm exports to the Netherlands, the UK, Turkey, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Japan, the USA, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.

Innovation, quality and service are the drivers for Thermofilm, with all products designed and developed by an engineering team with extensive experience in research, testing, validation and product approvals in the broader global market. Thermofilm was the first company to develop a wall controller that is electrical and not mechanical, resulting in increased accuracy and electrical efficiency through a reduction in the heat generated.

With continued research into materials and design applications, the range of heaters continues to improve in functionality and aesthetics. www.thermofilm.com.au

Manufacturer of the Year – Medium Business

Future Fibre Technologies Pty Ltd Future Fibre Technologies (FFT) is the global leader in fibre-optic intrusion detection systems, with a track record of delivering award-winning, highly intelligent, reliable intrusion detection solutions for protection of critical sites and infrastructures.

From its Mulgrave, Victoria site, the company designs and manufactures a range of photonic detection systems based on proprietary laser and fibreoptic technology and advanced signalprocessing techniques. As well as application engineering support, the company adds value by providing software integration services to enable security system integrators to tightly integrate FFT’s solutions into larger security applications along with other sensors and security functions.

with a range of industrial design firms around Australia to provide full turnkey solutions to meet its customers’ design and manufacturing needs.

SRX Global has manufacturing facilities located in Jahor Bahru, Malaysia, and Wellington, New Zealand. However, its Dandenong site is the cornerstone of the company’s manufacturing capabilities, servicing the broadest range of customers, market sectors, product complexity, mix and volume.

The core market segments served by the manufacturing group are medical devices, communications and defence, supplemented by aftermarket automotive, industrial lighting, rail and general industrial markets, ensuring the company is well diversified.

The company brings together the key elements that its customers demand, offering IP protection, high quality, process control, and ease and speed of doing business. www.srxglobal.com

Young Manufacturer of the Year

Matthew Arblaster – Production Supervisor Bayer Materialscience Matthew’s love of manufacturing commenced as a child, when he enjoyed pulling things apart to see how they were made. Things didn’t end well for his mother’s kitchen mixer at the time, but Matthew went on to achieve First Class Honours in a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Monash University.

In 2003, Matthew approached Bayer MaterialScience for unpaid summer work experience a year before completing his degree. During this time, he focused on increasing plant capacity, winning the 2005 Association of Consulting Engineers Australia National Student Engineering Project Award. Continuing his career with Bayer, Matthew enjoyed projects including managing the Maintenance Department, project-managing a $6m new production line, and a large upgrade to the existing machinery.

A move to Fosters Wine Estates followed, where Matthew became the plant engineer at the state-of-the-art Wolf Blass Packing Centre to help implement Lean manufacturing. He then took a position implementing a government environmental program, as well as capital projects in the engineering team.

Developing its highly innovative technology over the last 12 years, FFT has grown to become the technology solution provider of choice for security perimeter protection applications, pipeline monitoring and communications/data network security. With more than 700 systems installed in more than 55 countries in some of the most hostile environments on the planet, FFT has the experience to deliver highly reliable, advanced, yet cost-effective intrusion detection solutions.

Following a stint in the Napa Valley, California, Matthew returned to Bayer, where he is currently responsible for the Production Department at its Australian site. He cites his biggest and most challenging task as mentoring the Production and Maintenance teams to ensure a culture of safety, quality and efficiency. Recently, Matthew has been promoted to the Bayer’s Head Office in Shanghai to oversee production and reliability best practice.

www.fftsecurity.com

www.bayermaterialscience.com.au

Manufacturer of the Year – Large Business

Technology in Manufacturing Award

SRX Global (Australia) Pty Ltd

Laucke Flour Mills Pty Ltd

SRX Global is the Australian market leader in electronic manufacturing services, partnering with major innovators domestically and abroad.

Founded in 1899, Laucke Flour Mills is Australia’s oldest flour milling business. Now in its fourth successive generation of Laucke family ownership, the company has operating mills in Victoria and South Australia.

The company provides manufacturing services as well as electronic service and repair from its Australian site. Where full design services are required as well as manufacturing, the company has partnered

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Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2014 Continued from previous page

Laucke’s site at Bridgewater on Loddon has a rich heritage, having operated continuously as a flour mill since 1876. The company recently commissioned a new mill capable of taking wheat direct from local farms and creating seven value-added grain products simultaneously.

Incorporating over 350 motors and 600 sensors, the process may be controlled either directly by artisan millers or remotely via tablet or even smartphone. The pressurised, humidity- and temperature-controlled mill utilises the most hygienic and advanced building systems available to ensure a pure food production environment. CCTV covers 28 key production points to help personnel control all aspects of operations.

Laucke is proudly the only miller in Australia to operate both laboratories and pilot milling and baking facilities, where every parcel of wheat, undergoes rigorous end-product suitability assessment prior to procurement and as part of processing. www.laucke.com.au

Honour Roll

Ralph Wilson Snr – Proprietor Willow Ware Australia Pty Ltd Ralph Wilson Snr has served as Managing Director, Chairman and Proprietor of a national icon, Willow – manufacturing in Australia for 127 years.

As a young boy, Ralph worked at the factory during holidays. After leaving school, he worked in all areas of the business, covering metal manufacturing, engineering, lithographic tin printing, injection-plastic and blow-moulding, product development, logistics, marketing and sales.

In the 1950s, Ralph took over the running of the company from his father, ensuring the survival of the business by purchasing its first vacuum-forming plastic machine and beginning to make vacuum-formed baby baths, before commissioning the first injection moulder in 1960. In the 1960s and 1970s, Ralph oversaw the introduction of new injection-moulded products, blowmoulding and expanded foam styrene, as well as the invention and manufacture of Heat Beads.

Ralph has cultivated a family company with strong family values. Back in 1965, he was the first in the manufacturing industry to introduce superannuation to all employees, including backdating payments into the fund for long-term workers. To this day, Ralph continues to contribute by coming to the business every week. www.willow.com.au

Tom Hartley – Chairman

Hilton Manufacturing Pty Ltd Tom Hartley has been an outstanding Victorian manufacturer and employer who has contributed significantly to manufacturing, export sales and the continuous training of skilled staff.

Following his early training as a toolmaker with Repco Engineering, Tom launched his own business, Hilton Manufacturing, in Dandenong in 1975. A year later, Tom and his wife Margo bought out the other two partners and set a course for the company as it stands today, a highly diversified and skilled sheet metal manufacturer. In the early days, Hilton Manufacturing was known for producing high-quality truck fuel tanks and components. This continues today, as a key original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) to some of the principal names in the trucking world.

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However, Tom had the vision to see that diversification was essential.

Under Tom’s stewardship, the company has grown to become one of Australia’s most diverse subcontracting sheet metal manufacturers, with products ranging from a hospital bed, bus chassis, bull-bar, traffic management trailers, exhaust pipe, fuel tank and BBQs. The company has embraced international quality and environmental systems, Kanban and Just in Time management techniques, and the world’s best practice to ensure its long-term sustainability.

Tom’s dedication to the empowerment of young people and the development of their skills is evident, with more than 300 employees over the past five years achieving Certificates 3, 4 and Diplomas in Competitive Manufacturing Systems. www.hiltonmanufacturing.com.au

Company Inductions

Australian Precision Technologies Pty Ltd Privately owned, Australian Precision Technologies (APT) has achieved a reputation as a leading manufacturer of simple to highly complex precision components, instruments and assemblies.

APT’s engineering solutions include an extensive array of CNC turning and machining capabilities to provide proto type, low and high volume production to both the local and global supply chains. Through investing in qualitycontrol systems and leading-edge technologies, staff development training, CAD software for CNC and verification, APT ensures it delivers to the highest of global standards.

Now in its 22nd year, the scope of APT’s world-leading CNC technologies places it in the top 2% of precision engineering manufacturers in Australia. The company has achieved preferred supplier status with a number of global companies for precision CNC machining and assembly of components in key industry sectors such as aerospace, automotive, defence, mining, medical, construction, energy, water control and environmental. Current products manufactured include assemblies for defence, precision components for alternative fuel systems for automotive, instruments for the global market and locking systems for security. www.aptengineering.com

Bervar Pty Ltd (Trading as Della Rosa Foods Group) Della Rosa Fresh Foods has forged a reputation as a leading Australian pizza manufacturer by constantly focusing on quality, innovation and reliability.

Currently operating out of three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, Della Rosa’s customer base includes Foodworks, IGA/Metcash and Woolworths supermarkets nationally, as well as an increasing list of food service clients. Locally, the Della Rosa Food Group has five ranges and three brands: D’Agostino, Bambino and the Della Rosa brand. Internationally, Della Rosa is developing a new pizza range with a global top five commercial company for markets in the Asia Pacific region.

The company places high importance on constant innovation and technology, investing heavily in large-capacity dough mixers, blast freezer tunnels and two brand new large-capacity freezers, enabling simultaneous production, storage and distribution nationally. Della Rosa’s automated production process and cutting edge technology have reduced lead times for customers, simplified production and reduced handling to improve efficiency on a commercial scale. Della Rosa distinguishes itself by emphasising outstanding quality, innovation and reliability for its customers. www.dellarosa.com.au

Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2014

Boundary Bend Olives Boundary Bend Olives is Australia’s largest olive farmer and producer of extra virgin olive oil. The company owns 2.3m producing trees on 6240 hectares of farmland in Northern Victoria.

Boundary Bend owns and produces Australia’s top two homegrown olive oil brands: Cobram Estate and Red Island. The company produces private-label products for Australian producers and retailers and exports olive oil products to over 20 countries including China, USA, Japan, Singapore and a number of countries in Europe. To meet ever-growing sales, it produces over a million bottles per month at its Lara site - over 80% of all the extra virgin olive oil in Australia. The group owns two of the world’s top ten olive oil-processing plants, with a combined capacity of 95 tons of fruit per hour, and Australia’s largest olive oil storage facility in Lara.

Maton has developed an international dealer network to over 25 countries including North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, with exporting key to consolidating the business’ growth. Whilst the company is still making instruments to strict quality and craftsmanship guidelines set out over 60 years ago, Maton now utilises a range of advanced technologies to manufacture with greater accuracy and consistency. www.maton.com.au

Pemara Labels Australia Located in Notting Hill, Pemara manufactures packaging labels, lids and cartons for the pharmaceutical, FMCG and food and beverage industries. In addition to this, Pemara invented, developed and patented the world’s first self-adhesive postage stamp.

The company also manufactures and services the Colossus olive harvesters, a self-propelled olive picker capable of harvesting 100 trees per hour. The company commenced building these when the capability of existing harvesting machinery did not meet its requirements.

More recent product innovation has focussed the company on developing foil lids and carton technology. This includes the development of digital cartons with pharma code validation that meet stringent international pharmaceutical requirements.

www.boundarybend.com

Pemara has led the way in the uptake of digital printing technology. HP Indigo digital presses enable businesses to take a more sustainable approach to printing and packaging by reducing paper waste, energy usage and consumables. The company is also using its advanced technical manufacturing capability to develop its serialisation and sequential numbering functionality, to provide track and trace and anticounterfeiting solutions for pharmaceutical customers.

Flavour Makers Established in 1992, Flavour Makers manufactures dry blended spices, glazes and pre-mixes for the meat, poultry, seafood and bakery industries. The company also manufactures wet sauces and gravies, as well as retorted products. The products are gluten-free, low-allergen and halal-certified. The group consists of four businesses: Flavour Makers, Passage Foods, Celebrate Health and Easy Meals.

Flavour Makers works with customers in the development of new products, tastes and applications, including a range of products that are gluten-free, low-fructose, peanut-free, dairy-free, soy-free and preservative-free, aimed at sufferers from food allergies or intolerances.

The strict manufacturing standards required to produce these products illustrate the company’s ability to adapt to manufacturing a broad cross-section of products.

This privately owned company recently invested millions of dollars to upgrade its wet sauce and retort production facilities with state-ofthe-art equipment to ensure the company remains highly efficient and cost-effective as one of Australia’s leading food manufacturers. Sales are Australia-wide and to the USA, Canada, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. www.flavourmakers.com.au

Maton Guitars Pty Ltd Maton is an Australian icon specialising in superbly crafted guitars, basses and ukuleles using Australian timbers.

From a small backyard workshop, Maton was founded by Bill May, a jazz musician, woodwork teacher and luthier who had a vision of making hand-crafted guitars at affordable prices that were as good as any in the world. Almost 70 years on, still 100% owned and run

by Bill’s family, Maton has gained acceptance on the world stage as an instrument of the highest quality, sold worldwide including North America, Europe, China and Japan, and is played by artists including Tommy Emmanuel, Keith Urban and Paul Kelly.

www.pemara.com.au

Transglaze Pty Ltd TransGlaze specialises in the manufacture of mass-transit glazing systems.The company’s unique approach to design and quality, coupled with a demonstrated commitment to innovation and service, have resulted in the business rapidly evolving to become an industry-leading supplier to both domestic and international markets.

TransGlaze’s design services cover industrial and mechanical design and engineering, virtual prototyping (3D), statistical process control, new product development, choice modelling, optical and energy engineering and design, as well as systems engineering.

Products manufactured by TransGlaze include windows for buses, metro passenger rail, regional high-speed rail, freight rail, trams and marine, as well as roof hatches, door systems for trams, and passenger information display systems enclosures. Windows for rolling stock and buses have been exported to the Czech Republic, Austria, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the USA and Fiji. TransGlaze credits its success to its client focus and search for continuous improvement. www.transglaze.com.au

Willow Ware Australia Pty Ltd Willow has been manufacturing in Victoria for 127 years and is in its fifth generation of family ownership.

Ralph and Richard Wilson began the business in 1887 manufacturing jam, sauces and food containers. The company grew to become a provider of metal house-ware products and supplied ammunition boxes to the Australian war effort during the Boer, First and Second World Wars. In the 1950s, Willow ventured into plastics and moved to its purpose-built showcase factory in Tullamarine in 2003.

Willow is now one of Australia’s largest privately owned plastics manufacturers. The company manufactures and markets Willowbranded products for all major retailers and is a key automotive supplier to Toyota Australia. Willow’s manufactures 96% of its products in Victoria, including leisurewear, hard coolers, jugs and ice bricks, laundry baskets, hampers, basins and buckets, laundry pegs, indoor and outdoor rubbish bins, storage tubs, carry cans, fuel cans and air conditioning ducts. Willow provides a full in-house marketing, design, manufacturing and distribution service, Australia-wide and for export. www.willow.com.au

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Tech news

USA: High-quality metal parts using additive manufacturing Researchers have developed a new and more efficient approach to a challenging problem in additive manufacturing -- using selective laser melting (SLM). Building functional parts to specific standards and performance specifications can be challenging because a large number of parameters must be set appropriately. Researchers have developed an efficient approach, based on simple simulations and experiments, to identify optimal parameters to print 3D high-density metal parts. The metal density reduces if the speed is too low, due to voids created as a result of keyhole mode laser melting, where the laser drills into the material. Too high a speed results in insufficient melting. The key is to find the right parameters where the melting is just enough. The findings will eventually be used to help certify properties of metal parts built using SLM. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Germany: Simultaneous lubrication/corrosion protection Researchers have developed a functional coating which lubricates without grease and protects against corrosion at the same time. It is suitable as a coating for metals and metal alloys (steel, aluminium or magnesium). Platelet-like solid lubricants and particles are incorporated in a binder. When this mixture is applied to a surface, it produces a well-ordered structure in which these various particles are arranged in a roof tile pattern. This forms a transfer film between the low friction coating and the object through which surfaces can slide with the minimum of friction. The roof tile structure not only provides low-friction sliding, it also acts as a barrier - an advantage because the material also prevents moisture or salts penetrating metal surfaces.

INM Leibniz Institute for New Materials

Australia: Composite welding process reduces assembly time A new process allows carbon-epoxy composite materials to be welded by incorporating a thin layer of weldable material during the manufacturing process. The process has been adopted by Airbus.

This new process can significantly reduce the assembly time for aircraft made from composite materials – and consequently the cost. Using this process, welding composite materials takes only 15 minutes, compared to a typical two-hour process for conventional adhesive bonding methods.”

University of Queensland

USA: Inexpensively removing CO2 from gas Scientists have created an Earth-friendly and inexpensive way to separate carbon dioxide from natural gas at wellheads. A porous material sequesters carbon dioxide at ambient temperature with pressure provided by the wellhead and lets it go once the pressure is released. The material shows promise to replace more costly and energy-intensive processes. This technique allows the removal of carbon dioxide at the source, without transportation to a collection station for the separation. The material, a nanoporous solid of carbon with nitrogen or sulfur, is inexpensive and simple to produce.

Rice University

Sweden/Germany: Stronger than steel cellulose fibres A new method for the production of ultra-strong cellulose fibres has been tested. The novel procedure spins extremely tough filaments from tiny cellulose fibrils by aligning them all in parallel

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during the production process. The filaments are stronger than both aluminium and steel per weight. The real challenge is to make bio based materials with extreme stiffness that can be used in wind turbine blades, for example. With further improvements, in particular increased fibril alignment, this will be possible.

DESY

USA/South Korea: Fuel cells for increased airplane efficiency Researchers have developed the first fuel cell that can directly convert fuels, such as jet fuel or gasoline, to electricity, providing a dramatically more energy-efficient way to create electric power for planes or cars. Using a unique catalyst material and a novel processing technique, researchers have produced a highperformance fuel cell that operates when directly fed with a jet fuel surrogate.

Washington State University

Germany: Damage-free handling even in vacuum Components with highly sensitive surfaces are used in automotive, semiconductor and display technologies as well as for complex optical lens systems. During the production process, those parts are transferred in between many process steps. Each pick-up and release with conventional gripping systems involves the risk of either contamination of the surfaces with residues from transportation adhesives, or damaging due to mechanical gripping of such surfaces. Suction cup systems diminish residues, but fail in a vacuum or on rough surfaces. Researchers have enhanced the Gecko adhesion principle whereby that adhesion can be switched on and off in vacuum. With the currently developed system, objects with smooth surfaces can be lifted and released, with a weight of approximately 100 grams per sq.cm. In the test runs, the system has proved successful even after 20,000 runs.

INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials

Switzerland: Long-range plane Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range solar-powered aircraft project.

The project hopes to achieve the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power. Theoretically, the plane can stay airborne indefinitely. The Solar Impulse 2, took its maiden flight on 2 June, taking off in Switzerland and landing two hours later. Its predecessor made it across the US last year. The new plane has larger wings and roughly 17,200 solar cells and improved batteries. Requiring the development of new materials and new construction methods, Solvay has invented electrolytes that allow the energy density of the batteries to be increased; Bayer MaterialScience is allowing the project to make use of its nanotechnologies and Décision is using carbon fibres that are lighter in weight.

Mixed

Australia: Solar breakthrough CSIRO has used solar energy to generate hot and pressurised ‘supercritical’ steam, at the highest temperatures ever achieved in the world outside of fossil fuel sources - a breakthrough which means that one day the sun could be used to drive the most advanced power stations in the world. Supercritical solar steam is water pressurised at enormous force and heated using solar radiation. The world record, set in May, was at a pressure of 23.5 megapascals and temperatures up to 570 deg.C. It is the combination of pressure and temperature demonstrated at scale that makes this such a breakthrough.

Commercial solar thermal power plants use subcritical steam. If these plants were able to move to supercritical steam, it would increase the efficiency and help to lower the cost of solar electricity.

CSIRO

Product news

MLG-2 – detecting everything, or even nothing!

Reliable and robust sensors for detecting presence, checking for projections, and measuring the height of load carriers and their loads are necessary for ensuring stable and error-free material flows in materials handling and storage processes in high-bay or vertical stores.

Automation light grids measure the height of the load so that, for example, a height-dependent storage space can be reliably determined. SICK’s new generation of intelligent automation light grids is called the MLG-2. The product family sets new standards regarding resolutions, response times, evaluation potentials and user-friendliness.

The MLG-2 product family meets the needs of standard and demanding applications with the current ‘Prime’ and ‘Pro’ variants. The measuring light grids permit monitoring heights of up to 3,200mm – with modular configuration within a 150 mm grid. Objects with a minimum size of 2mm can be detected thanks to the cross-beam function of versions with beam distances of 5mm, 10mm, and 25mm to 50mm.

With two versions currently available (one with integrated volume measurement), the MLG-2 adapts to differing automation requirements. There is no longer anything in even the most demanding applications because the MLG-2 detects everything, even if there is practically nothing to detect. With optimised speed, resolution and optics, the MLG-2 even makes transparent, small and rapid objects visible.

Both versions can transmit analogue measurement values, permit flexible beam evaluation, are easily parameterised, offer common interfaces, are ready for IO-Link integration, and offer energy-saving Green Mode. The ‘Easy Concept’ function ensures maximum ease of commissioning and userfriendliness – the MLG-2 is also rapidly ready for operation without the need for any specialist personnel. The cloning functionality saves time during the identical parameterisation of several light grids or in the case of a replacement.

The basis of the new light grid platform for automation technology is a specially developed ASIC that enables numerous new intelligent functions. When combined with the consistent modularity of the MLG-2 regarding the beam grid, monitored height, range and interfaces, this means that the light grid can be configured for every application – precisely covering the desired demands and automation requirements.

The automation light grid offers versatile use thanks to its integrated intelligence. The above-mentioned application potentials in intralogistics are complemented by uses in machine tools, traffic technology, automotive construction, the wood-processing industry or robotics. www.sick.com.au

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AMT JULY 2014

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product news

CoroCut QD – a new deep grooving and parting-off system Sandvik Coromant has introduced a brand new parting off concept for deep grooves and long overhangs.

For volume bar-fed parts manufacturing, producers are continually seeking solutions that offer more efficient material usage to control overall costs and support increased bar feed capacity. Ensuring process security through a predictable and consistent tool life is also important to ensure reproducible parts quality, particularly for parting off. Sandvik Coromant has introduced a range of solutions covering parting and SL blades, adaptors, shank and Swiss tools, and a new generation of inserts for parting off. CoroCut QD builds on the well-proven Q-Cut and CoroCut ranges, and expands the options for these processes with a flexible, simpleto-use and easy-to-select tooling range.

The focus during the development of this new concept has been key aspects such as new tool material and a tooling design for greater process stability. The tool attachment is achieved via a smart-yetsimple user-friendly clamping mechanism. The tool tip seat is tilted 20 degrees and incorporates a back-stop to withstand high cutting forces. For insert widths two millimetres and wider, the insert interface has a rail to increase stability.

LVD extends Adaptive Laser Cutting availability Following the success of Adaptive Laser Cutting (ALC) on its Impuls laser cutting range, LVD has announced that it will be installed as a standard feature on all Sirius and Sirius Plus 4 kW lasers.

ALC technology automatically optimises laser-cutting results in thicker mild steel materials, using dynamic feedback to monitor and regulate laser power, speed and assist gas pressure in real time during the cutting process, automatically optimising cutting parameters, and ensuring a consistently accurate cut, high productivity and reduced scrap. Unlike other process control systems, ALC does not rely on pre-defined parameters but measures and adapts in process to achieve the best cutting results.

ALC is ideal for processing thicker materials in an unmanned environment. In such applications, machine speed is often restricted to ensure reliability and account for potential variations in material properties, limiting productivity and increasing the cost per part. ALC automatically adjusts to changing conditions, processing at the highest speed with the most efficiency and so alleviates the need to restrict or control the laser cutting system, providing up to a 10 percent increase in productivity. Consistently accurate processing also eliminates scrap or rework of expensive thicker materials.

ALC is available now for all models of LVD Impuls and 4 kW Sirius and Sirius Plus laser cutting systems. www.gwbtools.com.au

In developing CoroCut QD, attention has also been paid to the development of new and upgraded parting geometries. When parting off a component, minimised cutting forces and efficient material removal are important. An insert should be as narrow as possible and have a geometry that makes the chip narrower than the groove to provide a parting off operation with good chip control and surface finish. Within the CoroCut QD concept are inserts with five parting geometries and one turning geometry as well as options for ‘do-it-yourself’ grinding and tailor-made options for a broad range of material types. The PVD insert coating offers better adhesion, improved edge-line qualities and better ER tolerance. www.sandvik.coromant.com

Knoxbrooke – enhancing quality of life Knoxbrooke Industries is a not-for-profit Australian disability service provider providing quality services for adults with intellectual and other disabilities.

Knoxbrooke is a multi-function, flexible product assembly and packaging provider that creates supported employment for 25 workers doing a variety of work servicing the needs of companies.

It provides day programs, education, training, employment and accommodation support services to people with disabilities in Melbourne’s Eastern Region.

Situated in the Knox area (Melbourne) in Ferntree Gully, Knoxbrooke currently works with two companies, establishing a daily production function for products that would not fit in the usual company process.

It assembles auto switches, electrical appliances and power points,

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and packages a variety of different consumer and other products, from confectionery to hardware products. In addition it does a variety of ad hoc reworking jobs in packaging, labelling and shrinkwrapping.

Knoxbrooke offers a range of programs and opportunities designed to enhance independence and maximise the quality of life of its workers. Revenue generated from the service helps in the running of its ongoing operations. www.knoxbrooke.com.au

Product news

Top marks for new Kemper Smartmaster Kemper has released SmartMaster, a new, compact and highly affordable mobile fume extraction unit.

Distributed in Australia by SMENCO, the SmartMaster mobile unit has been designed to offer all the features of larger fume extraction systems but in a compact, mobile, easy-to-use unit that is low-priced so that even smaller companies can now afford fume extraction to protect their employees from dangerous welding fumes. Kemper’s latest product release will appeal to businesses that require a mobile welding fume extraction system for smaller workspace areas with a quality filtration system at a low price.

The SmartMaster uses a three-stage disposable filter to remove more than 99% of all dangerous potentially carcinogenic substances that are emitted during welding of stainless steel or other high-alloy metals, such as nickel oxides or chromium compounds. Certified to IFA W3level, the purified air can be recycled back into the work area.

A 360-degree rotatable arm, easily positioned exhaust hood and suction capacity of 950 cubic metres per hour at the exhaust hood, ensures that weld fumes are effortlessly removed from the work area. The SmartMaster can also be used for confined work areas by connecting a flexible hose from the back of the unit instead of using the exhaust arm. The unit even has an audible alarm to warn you when the filter requires replacement, further protecting the employee.

German-based Kemper is the world market leader in extraction and filtration systems for the metalworking industry. Specialist areas include extraction and filter technology as well as storage and automation.

This also includes, among others, highly efficient filter systems which also filter ultra-fine dust particles from the air, extraction tables for cutting processes and a complete accessory line with regards to work safety and air pollution control for the metal-processing as well as the electrical and automotive industry.

SMENCO is one of Australia’s leading distributors of welding equipment, consumables, and associated welding technology from around the world. SMENCO’s trained and experienced field staff are backed by a comprehensive national distributor network. www.smenco.com.au

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product news

Lean implementation delivers on exports Macnaught, a Sydney-based manufacturer of hose reels, lubrication equipment and industrial flow meters, relies heavily on exports, but productivity and production agility were creating problematic lead times. Lean manufacturing was the answer.

“Initially, we looked to improving productivity,” said Macnaught CEO Robert Hill. “With a small local market, a single export order can represent the equivalent of a month’s worth of local orders. What we didn’t have was the flexibility to respond quickly enough to those export orders and consequently our lead times would often be in the order of 10-12 weeks. The flow-on effect was variable demands on labour and inventory was difficult to forecast; we were running out of parts on a regular basis and working a lot of overtime.”

Manufacturing consultancy TXM worked with Macnaught to convert production of one product line from a batch process to a singlepiece workflow. Prior to this, the production line was at full capacity to satisfy Australian orders with four full-time staff. To accommodate an export order, they needed to work overtime for several weeks, causing long delays and extending lead times for local customers.

Since the Lean implementation, the Australian orders now represent about two days’ work, while exports can be managed in the remaining three. Now, instead of a 12-week lead time, most of these orders can be turned around in several days.

“We quickly realised with these results, that we needed to look at Lean manufacturing across the whole business,” said Steve Gavin, Operations Director at Macnaught. “Our core goal was lead time reduction – delivery at the right time, at the lowest possible cost, with no defects.”

TXM conducted a complete business health check, assessing opportunities for improvement across all facets of the company including customer service, administration and production. Armed with a set of goals to reduce inventory, product development cycles and customer service, Macnaught set about implementing 5S, Kanban, and other Lean tools under TXM’s guidance. TXM provided training to staff to create 5S champions to work with teams around the organisation to improve business processes and productivity.

Productivity and capacity across all product lines has improved and inventory of raw material and finished goods is significantly lowered.

Staff are now engaged in all facets of the business and participating in recognising problems and resolving them. Reworks have also been significantly reduced. Rather than fixing supplier problems onsite and wasting time and resources, the company resolves the problem at the root cause.

“The most startling result for us was seen in the reduction of lead times. Before, export customers would wait as long as 12 weeks for their order, but now we can deliver many within a week,” said Hill. “The other important thing we have learned is that Lean, 5S and continuous improvement are processes that never end. The more you improve, the more areas you find that can be improved upon. With TXM’s guidance, we continue to improve our business internally and service our customers more easily.” www.macnaught.com.au www.txm.com.au

Walter drills deeper with XD range Walter has expanded its XD range of high-speed deep-hole drilling tool systems.

Walter’s XD technology (XD stands for extremely deep) enables holes of up to 70 x diameter to be drilled in one operation without pecking, in steel, cast iron or non-ferrous metals. Until now, the standard range of XD drills reached up to 30 x D, with the user receiving longer tools as special versions. This limit has now been pushed upwards, with the D40 Xtreme – capable of 40 x D drilling depth – available in the standard range.

The tool is based on the most recent production technology and has an advanced TiALN-tip coating for a long tool life. Additional features include internal coolant channels for optimum heat dissipation and reliable chip evacuation. The latter is also supported by polished flutes. Four lands keep the drill exactly on its intended course.

All features ensure a high level of process reliability, even with angled hole exits or cross holes. A high-pressure coolant system is not required – in order to plunge without “coming up for air”, a standard system with a coolant pressure of 40 bar, such as is integrated in every machining centre, is sufficient.

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The XD technology has been verified as superior to classic gun drills. In one example, when machining piston rods made of ST523 for the hydraulics industry, increases in tool life of more than 300% were achieved.

In this case, the feed rates and resulting time-savings were as much as 400% higher.

Walter supplies the deep-hole drilling tools

in the popular diameter range of 4.5mm12mm. Typical applications in which these diameters are frequently required are general mechanical engineering, hydraulics and automotive industry. Other diameters, even special intermediate sizes, are available as special versions. www.walter-tools.com

Product news

Ladder takes Pilz to the top The Pilz PSS 4000 is now even easier to use to manage all your automation tasks, with the integration of Ladder Diagram programming into the PAS4000 software tool.

Users can now select three of the five programming languages from the International Standard IEC61131-3; Function block diagram, Instruction List and Ladder Diagram, providing a higher level of usability and flexibility. All the programming languages can be combined with the innovative PASmulti editor to simplify the design of complex programs – a feature unique to the Pilz model.

The introduction of the Ladder Diagram programming follows from the release of Ethernet/IP connectivity in the previous release of PAS4000.

The Pilz safety and standard control system can communicate with the common systems via ModbusTCP, Profibus-DP and Ethernet/IP natively, and utilising the additional gateway modules, CANopen and Ethercat.

According to Scott Moffat, Pilz Managing Director, the incorporation of the new Ladder Diagram programming means it’s now even easier for users to pick up the software tool and get to work without any specialist training.

“Ladder Diagram, or what is also known as loader logic, is the most common programming language used in Australia, so it’s an important step in the evolution of the PSS 4000 as a complete safety and automation solution,” said Moffat. “What’s more, the Ladder Diagram is easy to follow when you’re fault finding a program so it’s great for troubleshooting or diagnosing faults.”

Coupled with the PASmulti editor, the PAS4000 Ladder Diagram editor makes setting up a programmable logic controller (PLC) system a breeze. The PSS 4000 is versatile enough to be either used as a combined standard and safety PLC or as a standalone Safety PLC. “Pilz has invested heavily in communication protocols to integrate with a variety of other manufacturers’ control systems,” said Moffat.

“With the raft of communication protocols available we can communicate to the majority of systems on the market today, reliably and robustly.”

PSS 4000 has been implemented in solutions for manufacturing, mining, railway, bridge control, cable cars, oil platforms, hospitals, building fire protection and amusement rides. Pilz released the first programmable safety system (PSS) in 1995, and since then it has been a market leader with the safety PLC. www.pilz.com.au

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product news

NDF – Breaking new ground Based in country NSW, NDF Disc Planters are breaking the trend of importing over manufacturing.

“Built in China, assembled in Australia. How’s that Australian made?” asks NDF Managing Director Dale Foster (in a typical Aussie accent). “We do it all here in our purposebuilt factory.”

When asked why NDF felt it necessary, Dale replies just one thing: “Our gear is made to last, not made to a price. Imagine what a breakdown costs a farmer? If that machine fails part way through sowing a 3000 acre paddock it can mean huge losses for our customer.”

NDF started life just ten years ago, with a humble budget but a ‘can-do’ attitude towards getting things done. The company locally designs and builds disc seed planting machines for the local and international market.

“We cover all aspects of the disk planting machine. All components are machined inhouse and we utilise an automated welding cell for the major fabricated components,” states Dale. “At first inspection, NDF is a very impressive facility” observes Paul McDermott, National Sales Manager at DMG MORI. “From design on Inventor and SolidWorks through to machining of all components, fabrication of the frames through to final assembly and testing – it is all done here on a 5000-squaremetre facility.”

NDF has just completed a full rejuvenation of its machining capability including an investment of around $1.5m in the last two and a half years. Its factory efficiency has substantially increased with the successful installation of DMG MORI’s NHX5000, two NLX2500SY/700 machines and the purchase of a new NVX5080.

“We chose DMG MORI for the same reason as our customers choose us,” Dale remarks.

“Their gear is also built to last. Like my customers, I can’t afford downtime.”

All turned components are covered on the NLX machines, with turning and milling in one operation, and sub spindles on both

machines. Raw material is loaded in to the machines and finished parts are removed, saving valuable time and effort in second and third operations. The built-in motor turrets on the NLX machines allow all heavy milling to still be completed on the lathe. This is a massive improvement in production from past methods.

All fabricated parts up to 250kg are robotwelded on the ABB robot cell and are machined on the NHX5000. The accuracy of all components is of very high importance as each part of the planter must be in perfect orientation to prevent premature machine wear.

“We find the NHX to be a very stable and accurate machine. With the BT40 spindle and full one-degree index, it makes machining those large parts a breeze” explains Dale.

NDF will also be looking to expand their investment with the purchase of a robot for 3000kg fabrications down the track.

All four DMG MORI machines share the same control system – MAPPS IV, which simplifies the operation of the machines greatly. NDF also has an apprentice training program in place and having the same programing system on all machines is a great advantage.

The company is proving, via automation and investment in quality equipment, that local manufacturing is not only sustainable, but growing at a rapid rate. www.ndf.com.au www.dmgmori.com

FineBall intensified with expansion TaeguTec has expanded its FineBall line to include steel and carbide shanks, and modular head types.

Fineball offers smooth and stable machining for the mould and die and aerospace industries. The expansion of the line not only provides the same optimal solution manufacturers the world over expect in their cutting tool, but also enables more cost-effective machining solutions on a wider range of applications.

Inserts for the FineBall line are available as either Ball type or Corner R types. In this insert and holder line expansion, the corner radius insert diameters are available in 11, 13, 17, 21, 26, 30 and 32mm. Moreover, five of the different insert corner radius sizes that have been introduced – from 11mm to 26mm – can be mounted in the corresponding standard holders smaller than 1mm, thus providing

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additional clearance between insert and tool shank, which prevents interference between the tool and the workpiece.

FineBall’s run-out and precision includes TaeguTec’s TNF holders, which have been expanded to include various neck and overall lengths while the development of the TNFR holders now includes 30mm and 32mm diameters for the offering. The expanded FineBall line of standard inserts and holders is ideally suited to machine on a wide range of finishing applications and is characterised by more rigid and secure clamping, while its internal coolant system permits excellent chip evacuation and prolonged tool life. www.taegutec.com

Aluminium Round Bar 6061 from Australia’s largest stockist

We supply fully certified 6061 round bars for all your machining needs from 25.4mm through to 508.0mm.

We meet all your aluminium requirements by stocking 2000, 5000, 6000 & 7000 aluminium plate, square/flat bars, sheet & tread plates.

We cut bars to customer’s requirements with - 0 /+ 1.5mm tolerance, we water jet cut discs and rings up to 3000mm and up to 254mm thickness out of 5083, 6061 or 7075 sheet and plate.

Fast turnaround and deliveries out of our extensive range of stock.

If you want to find out more, please contact our customer service team to discuss your needs (02) 9757 7777 Or email brad.foster@thyssenkrupp.com

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace Materials division

Mining

Min Weathering the storm With sharp falls in commodity prices, reduced investment and a contracting labour market, many in Australia’s mining industry are facing conditions they have never experienced before.

As a result, productivity is high on mining leaders’ agendas – with potential opportunities for local manufacturers currently suffering from the decline in the number of resources projects.

By Barbara Schulz.

Quarry Mining has dedication and passion in its DNA. Founded in 1983 in Beresfield, NSW, with a focus on underground mines, the team of drilling experts and engineers works together to design and develop drilling equipment to get the best results for the specific ground conditions and drilling challenges it faces.

“Growth is difficult at the moment, but staying strong and not losing focus on trying to spot opportunities is so important,” says Quarry’s Managing Director Kari Armitage. “I am optimistic that we will weather the storm.”

Being an Australian manufacturer in the mining industry is not easy at present. The industry is facing many challenges, as the euphoria that has dominated global mining in recent years is largely spent and miners across the board adopt aggressive cutbacks amid escalating cost pressures and softening commodity prices.

Large miners are reconsidering ambitious capital expenditure projects, while a growing number of smaller miners are struggling to stay afloat as funding from traditional capital markets evaporates.

The rise of low-cost production centres combined with lower tariffs has pushed some Australian firms offshore or out of business. BHP recently closed two central Queensland mines and more are likely to go. Mining jobs are being cut across Australia; thousands have been lost in NSW and Queensland alone. Just as in the boom years a multiplier effect cascaded through the economy, we are now seeing the end of the boom follow that same path, affecting support industries, government revenues, terms of trade, and jobs.

Many companies complain that there are also too little opportunities in current projects for local manufacturers, such as in the Queensland Curtis LNG project on Curtis Island, Gladstone. According to Andrew King, owner of Crown Tooling, local Gladstone businesses have been left out due to imports from low-cost countries.

So what does it mean to be an Australian manufacturer in the mining industry at the moment? Is it really all doom and gloom, or are silver linings on the horizon?

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ing

Mining

From investment to production

Manufacturing companies involved in the construction of the mines and the required infrastructure will most likely continue to struggle as Australia is now seeing a transition from the investment phase of the resources boom to the production phase. Following an unparalleled expansion in resources and energy investment where the annual capital expenditure of the sector increased from 20% to 60% of Australia’s total private sector capital, investment in the sector is entering a downturn.

Crown Tooling’s situation is certainly reflecting this trend. King’s company manufactures precision metal parts mainly for engines and drivetrains in underground mining machines. While his customers in far north Queensland, the Hunter Valley and Newcastle had all been very busy up to October last year, things came to an abrupt halt from then on.

At the same time, newly developed projects commenced commercial production. Between October 2013 and April 2014, 21 projects worth a combined $25.6bn were completed as the shift into the production phase of Australia’s commodity investment cycle continued, according to the Resources and Energy Major Projects—April 2014 report from the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE)).

As at April this year, there were 48 projects at the Committed Stage with a combined value of $229bn, compared with 63 projects with a combined value of $240bn six months earlier. The completed projects contributed to this decline, but was partially offset by the approval of Hancock Prospecting’s $10.7bn Roy Hill iron ore project.

“While the investment cycle has peaked, Australia is now moving into a period of significant increases in the production of resources and energy commodities,” says Wayne Calder, Deputy Executive Director of BREE. “In the past year alone there have been large increases in production capacity including 215m tons of iron ore, 43m tons of coal and more than 1100 petajoules of gas.”

Maintenance and repair For Armitage and her business focussing on underground mining drilling technology, increasing production of resources is good news. It is also good news for manufacturers focusing on maintenance and repair work, such as Nordon Cylinders, which opened a new manufacturing plant in Brisbane in June.

The new plant, operating under Friction Welding Australia, is the first company to make available locally a friction welding service for products including hydraulic cylinder shafts and drill rods, which are heavily utilised in machinery used in the resources sectors. The new friction welding machinery, worth about $2.5m, can weld components together in under five minutes, a process that can take up to four hours using traditional welding methods to complete the same job with the same quality.

Continued next page AMT JULY 2014

| 37

Mining Far left: Andrew Clingeleffer, Manufacturing Director, Rockdrill Services Australia (RDSA) Left: Quarry Mining’s Managing Director, Kari Armitage.

Opposite page: The outlook for resources and energy investment remains subdued in the near term with the investment cycle having peaked.

Continued from previous page

New projects on the horizon There are also opportunities for those manufacturers and suppliers to the mining industry with a focus on infrastructure and the construction of new mining sites. In the six-month period from November 2013 to April 2014 (inclusive), BREE identified eight projects as receiving a positive Final Investment Decision worth a combined $12.8bn, which were progressed to the Committed Stage on the Major Projects List.

By comparison, in the previous six-month period, five projects worth $1.7bn were added to the Committed Stage.

The rebound in new committed project value is dominated by the approval of the Roy Hill iron ore project, which is valued at around $10.7bn. Despite the downturn in iron ore prices, five of the eight new project commitments relate to iron ore, BREE reports.

Then there is also coal, of course.

Armitage is confident of underground coal mining projects and opportunities in Queensland, where the company has recently opened a new office in Mackay.

“Mackay is an obvious choice for us to have great people and to grow,” she says. “There is still 80-plus years commitment to coal out there in central and far north Queensland and this is where our expertise lies.

Moreover, we’ve never lost the passion and excitement to provide a genuine and unique service, innovative product range and world-class professional staff. Now we’re committed to doing this in Mackay.”

Despite recent discussions, coal will remain the dominant form of fuel for electricity generation in the near future, given its price and ready availability. According to the Australia Mining Report, Q3 2013 published by Business Monitor International (BMI), Australia is the fourth-largest coal producer in the world, accounting for 6% of global mined output. BMI expects long-term demand for Australian coal to remain robust, with Asia’s top coal importers, Japan, China, South Korea and India, expected to remain dependent on coal-based power generation over the next decade. India’s coal consumption is expected to grow the fastest due to the country’s inability to maximise the potential of its domestic coal resources.

Partnering for efficient operations Armitage also identifies huge potential in the coal mining industry, and despite the decrease in investments for new project developments, there are opportunities.

“For us there are still opportunities out there, such as Eagle Downs Coal, the current Anglo American Grosvenor Project, and Bandanna Energy’s Springsure Creek Mine on the horizon,” says Armitage.

“These mines will demand the high standard of products unique to Australian underground coal-mining methodologies and therefore provide the chance for experienced manufacturers who understand these requirements to assist.

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“I think the big opportunities at present are in working in partnership with these big companies to increase productivity and make sure both their operations and SMEs like us all survive.”

The Mining Business Outlook Report 2013-14 (Newport Consulting, Sydney) comes to a similar conclusion: mining leaders must improve operational efficiencies and focus on input and labour costs.

“Now is the time for mining companies to operate their assets at an optimum level,” says David Hand, Managing Director at Newport Consulting. “Delivering a return to investors will improve the lending environment and we should see investment flowing into the sector and other areas of the economy again.”

Suppliers like Quarry or Melbourne-based Rockdrill Services Australia (RDSA) are working closely together with their customers to help them run their mines as efficiently as possible – with undeniable success.

“We are very optimistic about future growth of our business into the future,” says RDSA Manufacturing Director Andrew Clingeleffer. “We have excellent customers that we partner with to improve their drill maintenance and drilling operations. Working together, we have achieved and continue to achieve great results. We are looking towards sustainable growth that in no way compromises our quality and service capability.”

RDSA started as a services and repairs business in Kalgoorlie in 2001 to address a gap in the mining industry not serviced by the OEMs. Today it is one of Australia’s leading manufacturers of mining rock drills (drifters) and drill parts. RDSA also provides a full range of training and maintenance services for their customers’ drilling equipment. RDSA partners with its customers to optimise their drilling performance and therefore reduce their costs.

“You can have the best product in the market, but unless it is operated and maintained as it should it won’t reach its full potential,” Clingeleffer continues. “We don’t just manufacture and sell products, we provide solutions to make our customers’ operations more efficient. The whole ethos of our business is to provide a complete service to the customers, partnering with them, understanding what their needs are.

RDSA help its customers to optimise the hours they can get out of their OEM drills through better maintenance and drill practice.

“We have been very innovative in finding solutions to issues with the OEM drills and have retrofitted our own parts to drills which has increased service life and performance,” says Clingeleffer. “From that experience, we have developed our own proprietary drills, which have been well accepted on the market.”

Embracing innovation Advancements in the mining industry through innovation and new technologies have also opened up opportunities for new suppliers, stimulating employment and growth in other industries. Mining production uses an increased level of automation and robotics now.

Mining

Mr Clingeleffer says. “Although we are aware of this, we don’t let it distract us from our mission which is to provide a complete customer service and support package. Our edge is delivering tailored solutions for our customers.”

Automation, passion and dedication In order to remain competitive, RDSA runs its manufacturing on Lean principals.

Many suppliers, such as Hoffman Engineering, are tapping the export market, making and exporting products and services around the world.

For Armitage, export opportunities are also on the agenda when it comes to remaining competitive – especially at a time when the decline of the automotive industry has opened the door for increased competition for existing suppliers.

“We are always looking for export opportunities that suit our core business and ensuring we keep our focus on the hard rock side of the business and give our best to service our large tunnelling infrastructure projects, currently on the east coast,” she explains. “There is always someone wanting to take market share. We need to maintain excellent relationships with our customers so they value our service and technical input highly as well as our product, and are less likely to consider other alternatives. Safety is always the priority in Australian coal mines though, and the high standards of manufacture we maintain are critical to ensuring the safety of miners using our products.”

RDSA is also experiencing some pressure from competitors.

“Although our business operates within a small niche of the mining industry there is still significant competition in certain aspects of this,”

“As we are not mass producing components, we need to remain flexible. Therefore we develop specific processes that work for us allowing for us to respond quickly to our customers’ needs,” says Clingeleffer. “This involves a no-compromise approach to quality. We achieve this by investing in the best people that can perform at the highest level across the full range of our equipment. We partner with the best machine tool, tooling, material and heat-treatment suppliers.”

Facing the constant battle of maintaining the high standards of Australian manufacturing while competing with cheaper imported products, Quarry has a high focus on streamlining its manufacturing processes using automated and unmanned technology.

“Overall I believe the key to running a competitive and successful business is dedication and passion from the owners and senior management,” Armitage concludes. “Extremely long hours and hard work are required to fight the constant battle that this industry brings. Continued success wouldn’t be possible without this kind of commitment to Quarry Mining and its customers. It’s not for the faint-hearted but is so rewarding when achieved, and the fact we can manufacture in Australia, continue to be innovative and keep people employed is something I am enormously proud of.” www.bree.gov.au www.businessmonitor.com www.newportconsulting.com.au www.quarrymining.com www.crowntooling.com www.nordoncyl.com.au www.rockdrillservices.com

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AMT JULY 2014

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Mining

Driving mineral productivity higher ABB has delivered and commissioned one of the world’s most powerful drive systems for high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) at the Boddington Gold Mine in Australia.

The solution is part of a series of orders that ABB has won for some of the most powerful drive systems in all main grinding applications – semi-autogenous (SAG) mills, ball mills and HPGRs – that are taking cement and mineral productivity to new levels. For the Boddington Gold Mine, the four 2 x 2.8MW drive systems for the HPGRs are among the most powerful and largest in the world. ABB has delivered similarly powerful systems to the Karara iron ore mine and Cadia East gold and copper mine, both also in Australia.

Over the past decade, ABB drive systems have been pivotal in helping HPGR technology become a high-throughput and energy-efficient grinding process and a competitive alternative to SAG mills. During this period ABB has raised the power rating record for HPGR drive systems on three separate occasions – from 2 x 1 MW for the São Luís iron ore pelletising plant in Brazil in 2002, to 2 x 2.5 MW for the Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru in 2006, and now 2 x 2.8 MW for Boddington and the Karara and Cadia East mines. ABB also has the designs in place to meet HPGR power requirements of around double the present record. By currently having the largest installed base for HPGRs worldwide, ABB can draw from vast experience to continue optimising HPGR drive systems.

Maximum process control ABB variable-speed drive systems for HPGRs are complete solutions.

They encompass the medium voltage circuit breaker, converter transformer, motors and frequency converters. Such is the efficiency and accuracy of ABB drive systems that they enable the HPGRs to always operate optimally, whatever the grinding conditions. For a mine like Boddington, with four HPGRs running 24 hours a day, 360 days a year, this can significantly improve the operating margins of the mine.

HPGRs consist of two counter-rotating rolls, one fixed and the other floating. The ore is fed from a hopper into the gap between the rolls for crushing at high pressure. ABB variable-speed drive systems enable the grinding rolls to operate at optimal speed. They provide accurate load sharing between the two rolls, and are network-friendly.

The drive systems allow the speed of the rolls to be varied. This makes it possible to adjust the HPGR to the actual grinding conditions and the properties of the ore, which can change considerably throughout the lifetime of the mine. They also enable throughput to be maintained at nominal values by compensating, through the increase of the motor speed (rpm), the reduction of the circumferential speed caused by the roll wear.

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Thanks to ABB’s Direct Torque Control technology, the drives have the fastest torque/speed response on the market. This enables them to respond quickly and accurately to the frequent load transients typical of HPGR applications. The power factor is greater than 0.95 throughout the entire speed range, which eliminates the need for power factor correction equipment. The overall result is maximum process control and continuity, and minimum wear and tear of mechanical equipment.

Australia’s largest gold mine Owned by Newmont Mining, one of the world’s largest gold producers, Boddington Gold Mine lies about 130km south-east of Perth. Production at the mine began in September 2009 following the complete modernisation and expansion of an existing mine, which was closed in 2001. The new state-of-the-art Boddington mine produced 20,525kg of gold and 30.4m kg of copper in 2012. As at December 31, 2012 Newmont reported 527,000kg of gold reserves and 988m kg of copper reserves at Boddington.

The four HPGRs at Boddington were provided by Polysius, the world’s leading supplier of HPGRs. Polysius has a market share of 60% in the mineral industry and an installed base of more than 260 HPGRs in various industries.

Located upstream of four ball mills, the HPGRs have a roll diameter of 2.4m, a width of 1.7m and a design throughput of 2313 tons per hour. They are driven by two ABB variable-speed drive systems, each of which comprises two converter transformers, two mediumvoltage frequency converters and two squirrel-cage induction motors.

Each drive system has a power rating of 2.8MW. ABB adapted the drives to meet Australian electrical and safety standards and provided transformers manufactured at an ABB Australia transformer factory to meet a request from the mine’s owners for locally produced equipment.

ABB’s ability to deliver a complete drives system represented a key advantage for both Polysius and Newmont Mining. The key components – circuit breakers, transformers, drives and motors – are all products in which ABB is the market and technology leader. It is also a leader in drive systems for grinding mills and a key provider of complete power and automation solutions for mines, cement plants and mineral processing facilities. The company’s portfolio includes industry-leading collaboration production management solutions.

This expertise means that ABB could provide a complete grinding roll solution that matched the exact requirements of the plant and the

Mining

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Video-based Measurement System The power of an optical comparator, meets the precision of digital video. customer. For Polysius, this translates into low risk, supplier reliability and proven technology; for Newmont Mining it means all of those things and – most importantly – a lower cost of ownership over the entire life cycle of the drive system.

Sharing the load A key factor determining HPGR performance is load sharing between the two rolls. The circumferential speed of the two rolls has to be as close as possible to minimise wear, and the torque has to be equal to avoid permanent overloading of one of the rolls and the drive train. The ABB drive system has inbuilt, fibre-optically connected master-follower control modes, which perform accurately and with co-ordinated load sharing.

To ensure the HPGRs operate at peak efficiency and with maximum protection, Newmont has opted for ABB’s remote diagnostics services.

This package of tools and services combines remote connectivity, communications security, and advanced monitoring and analysis with global technical support.

• 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.

The package uses a remote access platform to provide secure, realtime monitoring and control of the HPGRs. The platform consists of a virtual support engineer located at the mine that monitors the supported products and systems; a service centre that acts as a knowledge repository, control centre and communications hub; and a communication server that provides secure, encrypted and authenticated communications between the service centre and the virtual support engineer. (The measurements in figure 1 were extracted by means of this remote access platform).

The benefits for Newmont are considerable. Remote monitoring minimises unplanned interruptions and improves the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of system components over their life cycle. It provides Newmont with round-the-clock access to ABB engineering expertise and support, as well as a structured range of tools and services that support maintenance programs and schedules.

The HPGR drive systems are not the only instance of ABB’s involvement at Boddington. In a separate contract not connected to the HPGR solution, ABB provided a turnkey 132kV substation, comprising 132kV air insulated switchgear, three 132/33kV 110MVA transformers, control and protection panels, substation automation equipment, and capacitor banks and detuning reactors. The capacitor banks improve the power factor of the entire mine and reduce line harmonics. They are activated automatically and typically control power factor between 0.98 lagging and unity. Harmonic filtering is not required at the mine and total harmonic distortion figures are very low.

The success of the Boddington HPGRs has provided the market with the confidence it needs to accept HPGR technology as proven, reliable and beneficial. The Polysius-ABB solution for Cerro Verde in Peru in 2006 was the turning point in this process of acceptance in that it was large (four units), powerful (2 x 2.500 MW) and fast (1200 rpm). Although subsequent solutions for mines in Canada, Australia and Peru helped cement confidence, the sheer size, throughput and power rating of Boddington has brought final proof that HPGRs are a proven, productive and highly efficient alternative to SAG mills. www.abbaustralia.com.au

What company has such vision?

Innovation Rules www.starrett.com.au

Contact Us on (02) 9620 6944 AMT JULY 2014

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Mining

Minelab – leading the gold rush Headquartered in the Adelaide suburb of Torrensville, Minelab has gone from humble beginnings to become a world-beating manufacturer of hand-held metal detectors. By Noel Probert.

South Australian physicist Bruce Candy was working as an academic in the early 1980s when he was visited by a gold prospector and a lawyer.

“They asked me if it was possible to design a better metal detector,” recalls Candy. “The answer was ‘yes’. The answer is always ‘yes’ to that kind of question.”

Candy soon forgot about the meeting, but a couple of months later the pair turned up again.

“They said ‘We’ve raised the money’,” Candy remembers. “They thought I was going to work for them. I kind of got dragged into it really.”

‘It’ was the beginning of Minelab, now a global leader in hand-held metal detection. The company, which has a global distribution network that serves customers ranging from amateur treasure hunters to the United Nations, sold more than $166m worth of metal detectors last financial year. Underpinning this success is Candy’s solution to a particularly Australian problem: the ancient soils of the continent are high in iron and other magnetic minerals.

“You need to work out a way electronically to not see the minerals and see the target metal instead,” Candy says. “First of all, you need to understand the mathematics of how magnetic minerals respond to an applied magnetic field, then apply physics to overcome the subtle problems that limit the performance of metal detectors.

“I don’t want to sound bombastic, but the standard of physics and mathematics is very high indeed. We’d be in the top ten electronics companies in Australia in terms of rigorous application of maths, physics and engineering. We have a huge R&D team working on this stuff all the time.”

Minelab’s customers fall into three main categories. Its counter-mine products are used by defence forces, aid and humanitarian groups, and the UN. The consumer range is used by hobbyist treasure hunters and gold prospectors. The third division is small-scale artisanal gold mining.

The counter-mine units are in use in more than 55 countries, including Angola, Vietnam, Mozambique and Sri Lanka, where they’re used to clear mines, grenades and other explosives from former conflict zones.

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Gold detection is even more widespread, a recent push into Africa making Minelab detectors available on every continent. For both hobbyist and professional gold-seekers, each improvement in Minelab’s technology opens up old goldfields to new discoveries. The latest product, due for release later this year, is a compact, waterproof unit that is capable of picking out tiny traces of gold.

Queensland gold prospector Jonathon Porter has been using Minelab detectors since he went professional in 1993.

“Minelab is known throughout the world,” says Porter. “The company has a habit of releasing new products that allow you to go over old goldfields and find more gold. They are both innovative and superior products – they spend more money on R&D than they do on marketing.”

Porter says the cost of buying a Minelab detector can be recouped quickly and easily.

“In 1995, I needed to find 10 or 12 ounces of gold to pay for a highend detector. With today’s gold price I need to find five ounces.”

To put that in perspective, Porter’s best day as a prospector yielded 215 ounces in two hours.

“I do it for a living, but there are a lot of retirees subsidising their super this way. I know hundreds of people traversing the country every year,” Porter says. “You take the caravan to Western Australia and come back with $20,000 or so.”

He stresses that successful prospecting requires hard work and knowledge, but the right tools are vital.

“Every time a new model comes out I automatically buy it,” he says.

“Without Minelab I wouldn’t be able to do this for a living.” www.minelab.com

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Mining

Innovation: Getting ready for the Future Whether the mining boom continues or not, reducing the cost of production will always be a desirable result. Innovating in the mining industry, by improving efficiency, developing new processes or in other ways, is an important way of achieving those reduced costs. By Ian Lindsay of Wadeson Patent & Trade Marks Attorneys.

Rio Tinto recently announced a milestone, having loaded 200m tons of iron ore into its 53 autonomous trucks in the Pilbara.

The autonomous trucks are one aspect of the mining giant’s “Mine of the Future” concept. The recent announcement on their autonomous trucks highlighted the benefits that they achieve through autonomy, including significant savings in maintenance, tyre life and fuel, decreased variability, improved schedule efficiency, and early identification of bottlenecks.

Rio Tinto files patents under the name ‘Technological Resources Pty Ltd’ in Australia and has numerous patent applications related to autonomy. For example, Rio Tinto has a patent application relating to a robotic “vehicle wheel changing method” for the company’s trucks.

Autonomy is not the only solution to the future of mining. Increased efficiency in extraction of ore, improved testing methods, better dust suppression are among the numerous important innovations that do not necessarily mean autonomous solutions.

Nor is innovation restricted to giants like Rio Tinto. For example, Rock Drill Services Australia markets, and has a patent application covering, a hammer drill incorporating an innovative hydraulic feedback circuit that automatically adjusts the drill’s stroke length to suit varying rock conditions. This can double the drilling rate (depending on the type of rock) and reduces equipment failure due to over-stroking.

Protecting innovations Typically, the most appropriate form of protection for “technical” innovations is a patent, which can provide a monopoly on an innovation for up to 20 years. A “standard” patent can be obtained on any non-obvious improvements or new ideas, but Australia

also has a secondary patent, called an innovation patent, which is more easily and quickly obtained, but only lasts for eight years. Innovation patents can validly cover obvious modifications of existing ideas, as well as new ideas.

Patents are territorial and, therefore, have to be obtained in each country where protection is required, though there are international patent systems that help to reduce financial risk in the short term and spread costs of obtaining those patents.

Patents are required to be published at least 18 months after they have been filed. It is possible to find out about your competitor’s innovations and any innovations in the technical area that your company operates by maintaining a patent watch. Understanding what others in the marketplace are doing can help to avoid being left behind.

Importantly, it is possible to apply for a patent to improvements to an existing product or process, so understanding what areas the marketplace are innovating in provides opportunities to direct R&D in these areas, where appropriate. So even if you do not expect to want or need to file patents yourself, understanding others’ need to file patents can be just as important.

Getting ready Whilst the lofty goals of an autonomous mine are still some way off, it is clear that innovation in the mining industry will be required for any business to keep up with its competitors. Understanding how innovations can be protected and provide returns is an important part of getting ready for the future.

Understanding what your competitors are innovating can be just as important and having regular patent watches conducted is one way to do that. www.wadesonip.com.au

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Mining

Turning mining wastewater into rainwater A new cost-effective technology to treat mining wastewater and reduce sludge by up to 90% has been used for the first time at a commercial mine.

The technology, Virtual Curtain, was used to remove metal contaminants from wastewater at a Queensland mine, safely discharging the equivalent of around 20 Olympic swimming pools of rainwater-quality water. Sludge is a semi-solid by-product of wastewater treatment and reducing the amount produced has huge environmental and economic benefits.

“Our treatment produced only a fraction of the sludge that a conventional lime-based method would have and allowed the mine water to be treated in a more environmentally sound way,” said CSIRO scientist Dr Grant Douglas. “Reducing the amount of sludge is beneficial because the costly and timely steps involved to move and dispose it can be reduced.”

The Australian mining industry is estimated to generate hundreds of millions of tons of wastewater each year. Consequently, the technology opens a significant opportunity for companies to improve water management practices and be more sustainable.

“The technology can produce a material high in metal value, which can be reprocessed to increase a miner’s overall recovery rate and partially offset treatment costs,” Dr Douglas said.

Virtual Curtain utilises hydrotalcites, which are minerals sometimes found in stomach antacids, to simultaneously trap a variety of contaminants – including arsenic, cadmium, and iron – in one step. Dr Douglas and his team developed the technology after discovering that hydrotalcites could be formed by adjusting the concentrations of common wastewater contaminants, aluminium and magnesium, to an ideal ratio and then by increasing the pH. “By using contaminants already present in the wastewater we have avoided the need for expensive infrastructure and complicated chemistry to treat the waste,” he said. “If required, the treated water can be purified much more efficiently via reverse osmosis and either released to the environment or recycled back into the plant, so it has huge benefits for mining operators in arid regions such as Australia and Chile.

“It is a more efficient and economic way to treat wastewater and is enabling the global mining industry to reduce its environmental footprint and extract wealth from waste.”

The licensed technology, which can be applied to a range of industrial applications, is available through Australian company Virtual Curtain Limited. www.csiro.au

Above: The new treatment in progress to remove a range of metal contaminants.

Left: The mine pit following the release of the treated water.

AMT JULY 2014

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Mining

QME 2014: Revolutionising mining through technology The Queensland Mining & Engineering (QME) exhibition is celebrating its 21st Birthday from 22-24 July at the Mackay Showground, with a focus on innovative technological solutions designed to improve efficiency, increase productivity and optimise mine site operations.

First held in 1993, QME 2014 will be the eleventh edition of this biennial tradeshow and is set to be the biggest that Reed Mining Events will hold in Australia this year.

Paul Baker, Director of Reed Mining Events, describes the exhibition as an indicator where the Queensland mining industry is currently situated and where it is headed.

“QME is really a snapshot of where the QLD mining industry is positioned and where it is heading,” says Baker. QME 2014 is focused on providing solutions that result in better productivity, better efficiency and better optimisation.”

Despite the impact of the current global economic climate, Baker cites the number of high-profile exhibitors as evidence that QME remains a necessity for mining companies looking for the latest products and services to enhance their mine site operations.

“We already have Hastings Deering (CAT), Hitachi, Siemens, Sandvik, GE Intelligent Platforms, Atlas Copco, ABB, Becker Mining Systems, Schneider Electric and many more leading suppliers ready and primed to showcase the latest innovative technology,” Baker explains. “Any sentiment relating to a ‘shift’ or ‘realignment’ within the industry has not challenged QME’s status as the premium platform for mining companies to source the latest innovations and technology.

“In fact, what is clear is that resource companies are looking for solutions that will better their operations. Therefore, the necessity and importance of QME has never been greater. The healthy response from the industry confirms that QME provides unrivalled opportunities for sourcing operational solutions and networking with industry peers, and this is again validated by over 550 suppliers already locked-in for 2014.”

QME’s impact of this industry event extends beyond the mining industry, as substantiated by Reed Mining Events’ recent announcement with Mackay Regional Council that the 2012 event generated an estimated increase of $17.1m in Mackay’s gross regional product and $220m in direct sales for exhibitors. Since its inception, QME has offered the Queensland mining sector a platform to access and source innovative mining products, services and technologies, attracting over 75,000 visitors, 4600 exhibitors and 800 international exhibitors over the course of its history.

New features Reed Mining Events has introduced a range of measures aimed at providing attendees and suppliers at QME with the best

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experience possible. New initiatives include theme days such as the Women in Mining Day, a new mechanism that maximises the time of visitors with suppliers of their choice, and a hub for step-change technology. Reed Mining Events is also providing a standalone QME mobile app, available on Android and iOS and operable offline, serving as a userfriendly palmed-sized guide offering users the ability to create a profile, preselect suppliers of interest, and engage with other identities visiting the show.

“This year at QME we have incorporated various strategies to ensure that visitors’ time onsite is as efficient as possible, by connecting them with the suppliers of their choice, to maximise their experience,” says Baker. “As a result decision-makers and attendees will be afforded an unrivalled platform to source the latest ground-breaking solutions that stem from technological advances and innovation.”

A series of ‘TechTrails’ will be introduced and implemented to ensure customers’ time onsite is productive, by filtering attendees to stands based on their product or service categories, maximising face-to-face time with suppliers that have the solutions to meet their business needs. The TechTrails that will feature at QME include: Automation; Engineering; Environmental; Materials Handling; Minerals Processing; Open Cut; Safety; and Underground.

“Pioneered at AIMEX 2013, the TechTrails initiative will act as a ‘filtering system’ that navigates attendees to suppliers who have the solutions that relate to their business needs,” Says Baker.

The TechLab, a key feature of QME 2014, will showcase the latest in step-change technology and supports the focus of the exhibition as a platform for mining companies to source the latest innovative and technological solutions to better their processes. Displaying the latest technological innovations, this hub will be situated within the Interactive Zone at QME. Additionally, as part of this focus on technology there will be a series of TechTalks delivered by various exhibitors, as just one component of several free education streams available at QME. As with all Reed Mining Events exhibitions in 2014, QME will hold a ‘Women in Mining Day’ dedicated to showcasing the contribution women make to mining, while highlighting the opportunities available to women in the industry.

Many in Mackay label the ‘community feel’ of the exhibition as what makes it a highlight on the local calendar. In keeping with this focus on community, at QME there will be a Community Hub located between Pavilion A and Pavilion B, featuring the organisations Mining Family Matters and Mackay Community Foundation, along with a designated seminar presentation area.

“At QME exhibiting suppliers will be offering solutions that are designed to improve efficiency, increase productivity and optimise mine site operations,” concludes Baker.

“Solutions designed to result in ‘better mining’.”

Visitor registrations for the QME 2014 are now open. www.qldminingexpo.com.au

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company focus

Baum Cycles Even when buying a car, most people wouldn’t travel further than the nearest town. Few would board a plane. And fewer still would contemplate flying long-haul, not for a car but a push-bike. Yet those are the lengths customers of Baum Cycles will go to. By William Poole.

Personally endorsed by Cadel Evans, Baum makes customised, personalised bicycles that inspire such devotion that customers will fly in from the US or Europe to get fitted for one. Visiting clients are offered a lift to and from the airport, but the red carpet treatment ends there.

Fitting sessions take place at the company’s modest factory, on a quiet street in the Geelong suburb of North Shore. And founder and owner Darren Baum can be quite frank when it comes to what customers actually need from a bike.

“We make a custom bike seen through the filter of my idea of how a bike should ride,” says Darren. “It causes some problems when we walk someone through this experience. If you don’t like our philosophy, how I describe a bike and how it rides, don’t buy a bike off us. That’s how a Baum rides.” Customers visiting Baum undergo a process spanning the entire creation of their bike, starting with a detailed assessment of the customer themselves. Riding a stationary “fit bike”, they are measured up so their bike can be tailor-made to their exact biomechanical requirements. They are interviewed about their current bike, how and where they ride it, what they want from the new bike in terms of handling, character and performance.

Armed with this information, the Baum team works with the customer to design the bike, establishing geometries and sizings, the stiffness of the frame to best suit the rider. Materials are selected; Baum builds with steel and titanium. Components from external suppliers – such as wheels, gears or brakes – are chosen. Regarding aesthetics, a vast array of personalisation is on offer: the paint scheme and colour, options for the frame and accessories. With final CAD drawings approved by the client, Baum gets to work, and months later, the finished bike is delivered.

“They can’t test-drive the product, because we haven’t made it for them yet,” says Darren. “So we have to create a trust scenario first. If we don’t have that trust, we prefer to turn that customer away.”

If trust is established, the customer will end up with something unique.

I mention during my meeting with Darren that my bike cost around $400; a Baum might set you back around 30 times that sum. Given the cost of parts at this end of the market, many customers will just buy a frame, fork and head-set, which Baum produces entirely inhouse, from design through tube mitring, butting and welding, to the final paintwork. If a complete bike is required, Baum will assemble all components with meticulous precision.

Yet while the product’s quality is indisputable, Darren places equal emphasis on the experience. Visiting customers are immersed in the entire process of creating their bike, participating in its design and

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Baum Cycles founder Darren Baum.

seeing where and how it will be produced. Darren draws an analogy to the restaurant trade: “There’s lot of restaurants around the world, from McDonalds through to the places with multiple chef’s hats. They all need a strong product, but what can make just as much difference is the actual experience.”

And the experience doesn’t end with delivery – the company runs regular group rides and events that former customers are invited to join. When you’ve got the bike, you’re part of the Baum family.

Self-taught success Baum Cycles produced its first commercial frames in 1996, but the story goes back a little further. Growing up, Darren Baum had two obsessions: cycling, and engineering. Unable to afford a European bike frame, he decided to create his own. “Being an arrogant 16-yearold I believed I could actually do it better,” he recalls. “From a very young age I’ve been in workshops. My father was an earth-mover, I worked under one of his mechanics. You have to learn something at some stage.”

At the age of 17, Darren began an apprenticeship as an aircraft maintenance engineer. However, at around the same time, a car accident would be the real catalyst for the evolution of Baum Cycles.

While his injuries were a severe setback to his cycling, they also provided the impetus for a fascination with biomechanics, and how bike design can increase performance. “That’s where I learnt about biomechanical fitting,” says Darren. “I didn’t try to learn all that for a business plan, I tried to learn it to fix my own problems – the same as I didn’t build bikes to start a bike company, I started to build bikes to gain a competitive edge.”

company focus

and so on all take place under the one roof. Indeed, just as Darren actively sought out the skills and knowledge he needed, Baum seems like a company that above all likes to do things for itself, and figure out how. For example, all around the workshop are evidence of Lean manufacturing and Agile management processes – card systems, whiteboards, the box wall – yet there doesn’t appear to be any single, externally conceived philosophy, but a variety, blended to suit Baum’s requirements.

“We haven’t stuck to one stream of thinking – far from it,” confirms Darren. “The main thing that we think about is: What is the conversation it’s provoking? Is it value-adding? We don’t apply any one method – Six Sigma or whatever it may be – we very much personalise and customise.”

Managing the challenges Despite a global reputation and a devoted customer base, Baum has not been spared the challenges that have beset Australian manufacturing in recent years. Darren is candid that the systems and processes the company has put in place were not undertaken on a whim; they were a necessity to ensure its survival.

Darren worked in the aircraft industry for ten years, building bikes on the side throughout that period, before taking it up full-time around 15 years ago. Today, Baum employs seven people, and has established itself not just locally but globally.

“Locally we’ve got one-man shows that are extremely good at what they do, but we don’t view them as opposition,” says Darren. “Around the world there’s a number of custom frame-builders that we’d have to view as opposition. But they’re somewhat more limited, because we do a complete bike, a complete package.”

Two-thirds of Baum’s work is direct, with the customer either visiting the factory or providing their measurements and requirements via email. The business has a more traditional side, where customers can be measured up and place their orders through a network of bike shops around the world, though here again Baum is uncompromising in the standards it sets.

“We only have one bike shop per country,” says Darren. “We choose that shop – they don’t choose us. To become a dealer of ours, the first thing you have to do is hop on an aeroplane and spend a week with us. Then you have to buy X amount of product from us.”

Dominating Baum’s workshop is the ‘box wall’, a bank of racking carrying wooden crates on rails. Each crate contains a bike at some stage in its production – whether it’s merely a set of CAD drawings, or a finished frame and components. As each bike moves towards completion, it moves along the wall. Baum devises its production schedule at the start of the year, allocating slots in the queue either to direct sales, or to the dealers. The overseas shops then try to sell their slots as custom bikes, or Baum will simply provide them with an off-the-shelf frame to hang in the shop.

“If you buy a Baum overseas, you basically buy a slot,” says Darren.

“We’ve worked hard on our systems and how to integrate direct sales and our partners’ sales. It’s taken us some time to get that as a fair system.”

Besides building the frames, Baum tends to keep things in-house whenever it can – sales and marketing, photography, social media

“Manufacturing in Australia is more expensive, and the field we’re in is definitely more expensive. And the product being made overseas is extremely good. So we always look at how we can value-add. We have to behave like a global company, because our local customers are looking on the internet and looking abroad. You can’t think that you’re insulated from that.”

Nonetheless, Baum continues to move forward, examining the possibilities presented by 3D printing, and engaging with Deakin University to investigate new materials such as carbon fibre. Meanwhile, the factory is in the midst of a major expansion.

“Our limiting factor at the moment is our ability to train. We can sell more than we can produce quite easily. Our biggest sticking point is how to train the people to go forward, so with the current expansion of our facility, a lot of space is actually dedicated to training. That’s the last bit we’ve got to really crack.”

An intriguing aspect of Baum’s development, as a business and a brand, was that it was initially reluctant to capitalise on its Australianmade credentials.

“Being Australian is not a good reason to buy my product,” Darren explains. “I want to be known as a fantastic product that’s fun to ride, that brings a big smile. So for the first eight years, we built the brand around the fundamentals of good strong engineering and manufacturing. We only started putting ‘Handcrafted in Australia’ when exports started expanding and the overseas market wanted it emphasised that it was made in Australia.”

In that light, and as head of a manufacturing business competing globally with a niche, high-value-add product, Darren offers an interesting perspective on the outlook for Australian manufacturing.

“I personally feel we haven’t truly felt the hard times. America felt its manufacturing industry hit a lot harder, so they had a hard look and changed. We haven’t had the real hard hit yet, so we haven’t changed our culture. But I don’t see doom and gloom. Companies that have managed to change their culture will thrive and go from strength to strength.” www.baumcycles.com AMT MAY 2014

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Robotics & Automation

Your new robot colleague – coming out of its cage Next-Gen, New-Gen, co-worker – call it what you may, a robotics revolution is rolling into manufacturing, warehousing, materials handling, and supply chains worldwide. By Esben Østergaard, Chief Technology Officer, Universal Robots.

When asked how they envision a robot, most people either think of huge, unwieldy robots working in fenced off areas in large factories. Or, they think of futuristic cyberbots mimicking human behaviour.

But somewhere in between these two scenarios lies a new emerging reality: A new class of robots, dubbed “collaborative robots” due to their ability to work directly alongside employees with no safety caging.

These co-bots are poised to bridge the gap between fully-manual assembly and fully-automated manufacturing lines. Nowhere is that more obvious than among small or medium-sized businesses, which up until now viewed robot automation as too costly and complex to even consider.

Unlike their big brothers working behind glass at automobile plants and other big assembly lines, collaborative robots are lightweight, flexible and can easily be moved and reprogrammed to solve new tasks, meeting the short-run production challenge faced by companies adjusting to ever more advanced processing in smaller batch sizes.

The automotive sector still accounts for roughly 65% of all robot sales in the US, and the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) reports that only 10% of companies that could benefit from robots have installed any so far. The reason that number is so low is primarily due to three challenges now addressed by the new collaborative robots: cost, userfriendliness, and applicability.

Plug & play Let’s start with the financial issue. Even where workers are affordable, the next generation of complex products will require assembly adaptability, precision and reliability that are simply beyond the skills of human workers.

Meanwhile, according to the old rule of thumb, the cost of a robot would be equivalent to one worker’s two-year salary. But collaborative robots are closer to one-quarter of that price. Combine that with the faster turnaround time that robots bring to the workplace, and robotic technology demonstrates that the offshore exodus doesn’t make good business sense any longer.

Instead, the new robots become a high-tech currency that’s changing the wage wars into a competition over increasing product quality and quick turnaround.

With traditional robots, the capital costs for the robots themselves account for only 25%-30% of the total system costs. The remaining costs are associated with robot programming, setup and dedicated, shielded work-cells.

The “out of box experience” with a collaborative robot is typically less than an hour. That’s the time it takes to unpack the robot, mount it, and program the first simple task.

Which leads us to user-friendliness: instead of requiring skilled programmers, this new class of robots come with a tablet-sized touchscreen interface, where the user guides the robot arm by indicating movements on the screen, or by simply grabbing the robot arm, showing it the desired path of movement. The interface is compliant with most industrial sensors and programmable logic controls (PLC).

Programming for new tasks is easy—as experienced by Danish manufacturer of hearing aids, Oticon, when it discovered the intuitive user guidance and the precision of the new co-bots. Oticon needed a flexible robot that would be economically viable for short runs. Rapid advances in medical engineering have resulted in constantly changing production processes and a broader range of hearing aid models that require a robot handling smaller batch sizes.

The new robot addresses the issues around applicability and portability not met by the traditional robots that Oticon had employed in the past.

The parts for modern hearing aids are getting smaller and are often only a millimetre in size. The company was looking for a solution that could suction small parts out of a mould. This was impossible manually, and not suitable for their “old” two- or three-axis robots, which were only able to perform lateral and vertical movements. If, for instance, a small part is stuck in a mould, the robot had to be able to tip it out.

It took just one day to install the robot for its new task in Oticon’s moulding shop. Mounted firmly to the injection moulding machine, the new robot could position itself over the mould and suction the plastic elements using a specially designed vacuum system, while more complex moulded components are handled with pneumatic gripping tools. Because of its six axes, the new robot is very manoeuvrable and can rotate or tilt the parts in order to lift them quickly out of the mould.

Scandinavian Tobacco employees are spared from repetitive backbreaking work now that a UR5 from Universal Robots handles processes.

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Robotics & Automation

Cascina Italia automated a line packing 15,000 eggs per hour using a UR5.

The robot works in cycles of four to seven seconds depending on the size of the production run and the component. Due to the optimised production process, the payback period was only 60 days.

Space constraints and safety At Cascina Italia in Italy, a collaborative robot works on a packing line handling 15,000 eggs per hour. The robot is equipped with a pneumatic gripper and fills boxes with egg trays containing ten eggs each. The job demands very precise handling and the careful placement of nine layers of ten eggs each in box.

Cascina didn’t expect to be able to use a robot for the job, but after seeing a demo of the robot at its own factory, it was easy for the company to visualide the benefits. Ninety days later, the new robot was running on the line. Weighing only five kilograms, the robot colleague can easily be moved between packing lines, which is crucial for Cascina as it handles four different egg sizes. The company also needed a robot that could work within significant space restraints right next to their employees.

Safety has been a hot-button issue and the major thrust of research and development in robotics labs for some time. With human collaboration in mind, the new generation of industrial robots consists of rounded joints, back drivable motors, force sensors, and lighterweight materials.

Johnson &Johnson employees liked working with their UR5 so much they gave it a name: “Clio”.

The bottles are vacuum-lifted and transferred cleanly without any danger of scratching or sliding. The dexterity of the robot plays a crucial role as the label is not printed on the same side on all products and the bottles are various shapes and sizes, which means the robot has to grasp from both the right and the left.

Any member of Johnson & Johnson staff can reprogram the robot for new tasks, saving the company the cost of hiring external programmers.

These examples show how the new generation of robots are solving real-life challenges not previously addressed by robots. When it comes to human collaboration and flexible manufacturing, features of the classic industrial robot must evolve on nearly every level: from fixed installation to relocatability; from periodic repeatable tasks to frequent task changes; from intermittent to constant connectivity; from no interaction with humans to frequent collaboration with workers; from space separation to space sharing; from profitability within years to near-immediate ROI. The near future will see even more advances in this nascent field of robotics, changing the way we work and interact with technology. www.universal-robots.com

If the robots at Cascina come into contact with an employee, the builtin force control limits the forces at contact and does not cause bodily harm, adhering to the current safety requirements on force and torque limitations. In most applications, this safety feature enables the robot to operate with no safety guards after risk assessments have been conducted.

Avoiding back-breaking movements This is the case at Scandinavian Tobacco Company, where a collaborative robot now works directly alongside employees handling the lids for tobacco tins in a set-up where tobacco is packed. The new robot spares the employees from having to make back-breaking repeated movements and freed one or two employees who previously performed the tasks by hand. They now carry out other tasks at the factory. There was no room to screen off the robot in the factory, so employing a collaborative robot simplified the set-up and costs considerably.

Scandinavian Tobacco developed its own gripping tool and had one of its own technicians do the initial programming. This kept the knowhow in the building, ensured high productivity while avoiding downtime in production, and eliminated paying for expensive external consultants if the automation solution failed. The optimised production convinced the owner to keep production in a high-wage Scandinavian country.

The ROI for the tobacco company’s new robot was 330 days.

From 45 to 70 bottles per minute Larger manufacturers also benefit from the new robots. At Johnson & Johnson’s plant in Athens, Greece, a collaborative robot has significantly optimised the packaging process of shampoos and skincare products. The robot arm works round the clock, picking up three bottles simultaneously from the production line every 2.5 seconds, orienting them, and placing them in the packing machine.

Manual handling processes 45 bottles per minute, robotic-assisted production handles 70 units.

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Robotics & Automation

Okuma Australia unveils RoboJob link-up Leading precision CNC machining equipment and robotic solutions supplier Okuma Australia has announced an exclusive distribution agreement for Australia and New Zealand with Belgian robotics technology and solution company RoboJob. The agreement followed a networking seminar, where representatives from RoboJob provided an insight into its own experiences within the world of manufacturing and the pressures that prompted it to develop its own robotics solutions, which are now being sold throughout Europe.

“After researching the markets we found great similarities between our market in Western Europe and those in Australia and New Zealand,” said RoboJob CEO Helmut de Roovere. “In Western Europe we have similarly high labour rates and a large number of small-to-mediumsized job shops. Our own manufacturing experiences led us to pursue all the available days in a year for production and even to extend our operations to a second and third shift.”

When nothing was available off the shelf, this innovative company set about designing equipment that would to meet the needs of its own precision machine shop. The result was a range of compact, highquality and industrially durable automation robotics with minimum components that are simple to use, flexible and low cost.

“When we analysed our employee structures we found that like most businesses, there are repetitive and creative tasks. We wanted to take people doing repetitive tasks and give them new creative roles in our operation,” added de Roovere. “This boosted our planning, innovation, output and work satisfaction enormously. The changes we initiated using newly developed RoboJob technology delivered us massive gains in efficiency, productivity and business returns.”

The concept developed by RoboJob is based on six key elements:

• Labour savings.

• Fast payback.

• Ease of use and fast set-up and changeover times.

• Extendable operation hours without penalties.

• Portability from machine to machine potential.

• Accountable customer support.

Two product groups, ‘RoboJob Turn-Assist’ and ‘RoboJob Mill-Assist’ are available principally, with the same DNA but tailored to suit parts that are either turned or milled. A key element of each is the interactive controller, whereby basic dimensions are asked for and input by the operator, allowing quick set-up or changeovers to occur, making important short batch work much more viable. The portability of this equipment between machines is also a major advantage. Once set up, ‘after hours’ performance monitoring can be added via the internet or simply by phone for alarms or completion signals.

The implementation of a RoboJob system is designed to fundamentally reduce salary costs for machining and significantly increase the number of spindle hours with fewer working hours. CNC operators can focus on creative tasks such as quality control or programming the next machine instead of spending up to 60% of their time manually loading and unloading CNC machines.

Creating opportunities locally Businesses throughout Australia and New Zealand have the capacities and skills in place to thrive, add growth and develop markets. However, continuing increases in the areas of wage rates, superannuation, long service leave, work-cover, payroll tax, annual leave entitlements and personal leave continue to add pressures at a time when global factors are rapidly adding to the pressure to reduce manufacturing costs.

The combined markets of Belgium and the Netherlands are of a similar size to that of Australia, and there are additional similarities in the size of the countries’ job shops. A critical factor in RoboJob’s efforts to develop innovative new productivity tools was the cost of labour. The manufacturing industry in Belgium has the third highest labour costs in the world, according to the August 2013 report International Labour Comparisons from the US Bureau of Statistics, which places Australia close behind at number six in the rankings.

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During the initial discussions between the representatives of Okuma Australia and RoboJob, it was quickly established that the hourly rates for general machining in Belgium and Australia were similar. The only significant difference was the profit line, which was coming under increasing pressure year on year.

RoboJob’s Business Development Manager Jelle de Roovere stated that having invested the time to visit Australian customers, they had come to understand the capabilities of Okuma Australia and found a very high level of technical support for customers plus a very high level of trust by their customers.

“We saw that Okuma Australia had been strongly involved in applying robots to the job shops and their experience and knowledge were important factors for our market considerations,” he said. “The great advantage of RoboJob is its complete flexibility and ease of use and setting.

“We developed our own interactive operator interface screen that only requires the customer to input the main features of the job, a procedure that can be done in a matter of minutes. Our robot units are so uniquely compact that machine door access for the operator is always clear for manual intervention and it is also possible to move the unit from machine to machine.”

From Okuma Australia’s perspective, Managing Director Phil Hayes commented: “When we first saw the RoboJob product at EMO in Hannover (Germany), we could see the great potential for Australian and New Zealand engineering shops downstream, which is now in

Robotics & Automation

reality. We studied the RoboJob range in detail and decided it delivers tremendous potential for increasing efficiency, productivity and improving profitability.”

Okuma has extensive experience in robotic automated cells throughout Australia and New Zealand, with technicians trained to support the industry with advanced, flexible and cost-effective technology. Okuma Australia ensures the following mandatory criteria:

• CE Mark for assured and independently audited safety designs.

• Appropriate documentation.

• Ergonomically smart.

• Robustness.

• Coolant, swarf, mist, heat and cold-proof.

• Adequate operator quality via comprehensive training and support.

• Shop floor and management ownership for the use of robotics as a tool of progress.

As a company specialised in advanced technologies, Okuma Australia has long campaigned for greater overall acceptance of automated systems and, where applicable, the use of quality robotic technology.

From Okuma Japan, the company offers integrated, on-board production gantry robots, and in addition Okuma Australia offers tailor-made stand-alone robotic solutions. The collaboration with RoboJob extends the Australian and New Zealand offering to provide an extended range with even more flexible cost-effective solutions for its customers.

Complete Machine Tools Pty Ltd

www.okumaaustralia.com.au

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AMT JULY 2014

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Robotics & Automation

Service robots revolutionise Sydney Harbour Bridge clean-up Using the world-famous Sydney Harbour Bridge as an example, a team of Australian robotics specialists have highlighted how service robots will soon revolutionise how steel structures are serviced.

The team of specialists demonstrated the new robust lightweight robotic systems at a recent Schunk Expert Days event on Service Robotics. While research continues under laboratory conditions, the plan is for the systems to go into serial production at the end of 2014. At their core is a lightweight arm designed by Schunk, the competence leader for clamping technology and gripping systems.

The idea of automating the cleaning of steel structures was born in Sydney about seven years ago, under the direction of Professor Dikai Liu and in co-operation with NSW Roads and Maritime Services and the Centre for Autonomous Systems (Department of Engineering and Information Technology) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). These parties developed an automated sandblasting robot for servicing steel bridges. Today, SABRE Autonomous Solutions is responsible for pre-commercial implementation.

Precision and persistence After a successful testing stage, the sandblasting robot has become part of the standard equipment used by the maintenance team of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. With a span of 503m, an arch crown height of 134m and 52,800 tons of steel, it is one of the heaviest and longest steel arch

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bridges in the world. As with any steel bridge, it must be continuously maintained and protected against corrosion. This includes sandblasting and repainting 485,000 sqm of steel, the equivalent of about 68 football fields. A single coat requires about 30,000 litres of paint.

Rosie and Sandy, the two blasting robots, remove any dirt, rust and old paint from the steel girders. While some of the workers would have to take a break every 15-30 minutes due to the extreme physical strain the work entails, the robots confidently and tirelessly blast their way through metre after metre without interruption – much more persistently, quickly and precisely than a human ever could. The robots take about 50 minutes to complete a segment.

“Due to the fatigue while sandblasting, even experienced workers are unable to achieve such consistent results,” said Peters.

Each lightweight robot is manually positioned on a simple rail system. It then automatically scans the steel structure, generating a threedimensional map. The work begins once the operator initiates the sandblasting process by remote.

Lightweight, heavy load At the core of both sandblasting robots is a LWA 4 lightweight arm with very high load capacity designed by Schunk. Secured under a protective cover, the lightweight arms remain unaffected by rust, dust and humidity, as well as the vibrations and shifting

Using a Kinect sensor and special algorithms, a mapping system calculates the sandblasters’ exact path, preventing collisions. The operators, in turn, can monitor the sandblasting process from a safe distance.

Since the two service robots have been in operation, the safety, cost effectiveness and quality of the sandblasting work has risen markedly, confirms Greg Peters, Engineering Design Manager at SABRE Autonomous Solutions.

The robot can produce a completely even surface in only one pass with the blasting gun.

Robotics & Automation the lightweight arm, the system does not require a separate control cabinet. Instead, the entire control and regulator electronics are integrated into the joint drives. Position, speed and torque can be regulated flexibly.

The sandblasting robot works more quickly and reliably than a human.

It also uses fewer abrasives.

Integrated intelligence, universal communication interfaces, and data transmission and power supply cable technology allow the lightweight arm to be integrated quickly and easily into existing control concepts. It can also be controlled by embedded PCs. The individual modules can also be easily controlled using the CAN interface that comes standard in Schunk LWA arms, with optional speed or power control.

The lightweight arm is particularly energyefficient due to its rigid, lightweight design, which pays dividends in mobile applications in the form of long runtimes.

Manual sandblasting is extremely strenuous.

Whereas before, sandblasting required teams of up to three workers as well as significant safety precautions, on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one operator can now control and monitor up to two robots.

Hazardous, physically straining and, at times, even harmful routine tasks are almost entirely performed by robots. Once a robot finishes a segment, a worker takes the blaster gun and sees to the more complicated detail work.

With a maximum weight of 65 kg, the sandblasting robot is very easy to transport.

stresses of sandblasting. To change location, the robot can either move along the tracks to another location on-site, or be dismantled into compact units and taken away by hand.

optimal conditions for precise operations. The lightweight robot is portable and movable, as well as mobile. It can carry a maximum load of 15kg.

The unique combination of mobility, robustness, power and lightweight construction make the LWA a multi-functional helper in service robotics. A consistently high repeat accuracy of +/- 0.1 mm provides

The modular design allows the number of degrees of freedom, drive power, and type and length of spacers and joints to be freely defined. Since the boosters and drive control system are directly embedded in

The payback period for the robot system is around two years. SABRE is currently developing another mobile sandblasting robot in addition to those used for bridges, weighing a maximum of 65kg and that can be easily transported and used for numerous other applications. A central element of this new robot will again be an LWA lightweight arm by Schunk.

According to Schunk, its LWA range is simply unbeatable in its weight class, with an unrivalled weight-to-load capacity ratio.

Industrial robots may be less expensive, but they are far too heavy form many applications. They also require more effort and extensive controls, and are usually connected to a 380V cable. The Schunk lightweight arm has simple controls, can be operated remotely, is driven by a simple 24V DC generator, and is so light that two people can move it several times throughout an entire day. Compared with other lightweight arms, it is also significantly more robust. The system will come on the market in Australia in October 2014. The US and Europe will follow at the start of 2015. Schunk hopes to have a few more things standardised ahead of the launch, with work underway to make the robot as compact and light as possible, and plans to integrate a remote maintenance option in the future. www.schunk.com

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AMT JULY 2014

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Robotics & Automation

Industrial automation — Challenges and opportunities The challenging mining and manufacturing landscape in Australia is seeing companies adapt to changing needs through automation of their systems.

Throughout last year, Australia’s economy showed limited growth and commodity prices stagnated. While a high cost base continues to hurt the country’s competitiveness, boosting productivity continues to drive strategy for both the mining and manufacturing sectors in 2014.

“This generates a series of challenges and opportunities aided by rapidly advancing technologies that surround the productivity issue,” says David Hegarty, Managing Director Australia and New Zealand, Rockwell Automation.

“A high manufacturing cost base calls out for productivity and improving productivity has always been a priority for organisations,” adds Mauro DelleMonache, Marketing Director at Rockwell Automation. “It’s likely that this will become more important.”

Companies are moving towards integrating automation with mobility, big data and analytics to create connected enterprises and help enhance productivity. Mining companies are no longer able to rely on bulk exports at surging commodity prices and have become more open to incorporating different technologies into their business; often these are technologies already being utilised in other industries, such as manufacturing.

This overlap in technology extends to moves by both industries to common infrastructure systems through increasing demand for Ethernet and Internet Protocol (IP) technologies. However, as these strategies to improve technology prove successful they also expose miners and manufacturers to new security concerns.

According to Hegarty, “the proliferation of Ethernet technologies into manufacturing and mining has enabled significant technological advance for these industries in recent years and we are already seeing the flow-on effect with technologies such as wireless, and Cloud computing.”

Industrial Ethernet provides companies with a way to help improve processes and productivity while reducing expenses, which is crucial in today’s marketplace.

Companies that are not currently using a common network infrastructure stand to lose several advantages of this modern-day commercial tool. “The increased uptick of Ethernet technologies is part of a change from within these industries related to network infrastructure, data availability and network investment,” says Hegarty. “I would expect that this trend will continue in the coming years, if not accelerate.”

Addressing security concerns Hegarty is the first to admit that while Ethernet is paramount for achieving the

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David Hegarty

flexibility, visibility and efficiency required for a competitive industrial environment, security has becomes a key issue that requires consideration. “Usage of Ethernet is growing rapidly and many users aren’t on top of the evolving security requirements that come with it.”

The need to provide reliable security around network infrastructure is viewed

by Rockwell Automation as a key growth market in 2014. Through a partnership with network manufacturer Cisco Systems, Rockwell Automation intends to expand its capability for providing solutions for network security. Further investigation into the use of mobile devices and their ability to enhance productivity will be targeted in line with this focus.

“New mobile applications are being released at a rapid pace and we are becoming more aware of how they are adaptable to process automation,” says Hegarty. “At the same time this opens up more security issues where a new breed of innovation will be required.”

Innovation and the economic environment

Mauro Dellemonache

for the company, related to productivity improvements.

“The capital expansion phase may be tough at the moment, but looking at the productivity side of business it’s expected that a lot of opportunities will appear,” says Hegarty. “Our focus is on process automation and productivity and we believe a lot of the answers in these areas rest with us.”

According to Mauro DelleMonache, “Australia needs to support innovation and we are currently seeing pockets of tremendous innovation in the country, as well as in New Zealand. The growing trend of Australian companies implementing remote operations is an ideal way of overcoming some of the common issues documented in the country, such as a skills shortage.”

With Australia’s geography, having the right people in the right places has always been a major challenge. However, with the growth in technology for remote operations, particularly in the mining industry, the door is now opening for technological opportunities that come with it.”

The pursuit of productivity has largely been in response to Australia’s challenging economic environment, which remains an issue for industry. Although the Australian dollar has fallen recently, a further drop would aid improvement in the local manufacturing industry.

Rockwell Automation plans to maintain a strong focus on the mining industry, a sector that has softened but still provides the company with a solid opportunity base for growth. Another area of focus will be developing architecture for machine builders where Rockwell Automation is planning to release new products in the coming year.

Australia’s mining industry has also softened and raising capital to fund new projects is proving difficult for companies around the country. However in spite of a high cost base in Australia, Hegarty is optimistic of a higher level of capital investment in the coming quarters. While these economic challenges impact the services provided by Rockwell Automation they also create opportunities

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“We plan to continue to expand our capability around process automation, which has been a key area of growth in the past decade through acquisitions and architecture development,” says Hegarty. “We will continue to focus on innovation to help our customers improve productivity and competitiveness in the current challenging marketplace.”

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One on one

Ben Eade is the Executive Director of Manufacturing Australia, a CEO-led coalition of Australia’s largest manufacturers.

AMT: Let’s start with your professional background and how you came into this role.

Ben Eade: I have been working with Manufacturing Australia since its inception in mid-2011, when the founding member companies saw a need for a stronger voice for the large enterprise manufacturing sector. Initially I worked as Manufacturing Australia’s Corporate Affairs Manager before being appointed Executive Director at the beginning of this year. Previously, I ran a corporate consulting business specialising in the manufacturing, energy and skills and training sectors.

AMT: Tell us about Manufacturing Australia and what it is aiming to achieve.

BE: Manufacturing Australia (MA) is a CEO-led coalition of Australia’s largest manufacturers (Allied Mills, BlueScope Steel, Brickworks, Capral, Cement Australia, CSR, Incitec Pivot, Orora, Rheem and Teys Australia). MA champions Australia’s large manufacturing base, working with stakeholders in government, business and the community to address the sector’s challenges and create opportunities for the sector to grow.

AMT: What kind of projects is the organisation working on at the moment?

BE: MA has identified four priority areas that require urgent action by government and industry to ensure Australia’s manufacturing sector remains internationally competitive.

The key issues that we are currently prosecuting include: reducing the burden of non-value adding regulation and the cumulative cost of manufacturing in Australia; increasing workplace productivity

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AMT JULY 2014

through extensive direct engagement with employees and workplace flexibility; safeguarding domestic gas supply at competitive prices until export markets mature; and ensuring that free trade is also fair trade, through a strong anti-dumping system and reforms to Australia’s coastal shipping system.

AMT: What might an ordinary working day entail for you at Manufacturing Australia?

BE: I may be writing submissions or policy documents on behalf of members, speaking with members about the big issues impacting their businesses, representing members in the media and industry forums, or liaising with politicians concerned about the challenges facing the manufacturing sector.

AMT: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Australian manufacturing right now?

BE: First and foremost, we need to bust the myth that Australian manufacturing is a sunset industry. Australian manufacturing still employs around 900,000 Australians and contributes around 8% of GDP. We have a wealth of strong manufacturing industries and significant competitive advantages, including abundant energy resources, outstanding R&D, proximity to Asian markets, and a highly skilled workforce.

Of course, there is no doubt that the challenges facing Australian manufacturing are significant: the high Aussie dollar, high input costs, unbalanced competition with international importers, and excessive or inconsistent regulation. None of these challenges are insurmountable, as several

international examples illustrate. Germany remains a manufacturing powerhouse against the broader malaise in the European economy, and the recent resurgence of the manufacturing sector in the US is an example of what could be achieved in Australia with strong policy and industry action.

If we address those four key areas – of workplace productivity, fair trade, deregulation and energy policy – large enterprise manufacturing will remain internationally competitive and underpin a balanced domestic economy.

AMT: And what do you regard as the sector’s greatest strengths?

BE: Australia has a wealth of strong manufacturing industries.

Innovative building products, medical technologies, value-added food and packaged goods, chemicals, industrial equipment, advanced engineering and appliances are all areas where we have demonstrable strengths.

In Australian manufacturing, we run lean, efficient, innovative businesses because we simply have to in order to compete. That resilience stands us in very good stead.

Manufacturers have weathered the storm of the last decade by cutting costs, improving productivity, re-tooling, restructuring and internationalising their operations. They are fundamentally well-structured and well-run organisations with significant opportunities.

AMT: What should the government be doing to support and promote the sector?

BE: There’s no silver bullet when it comes to reinvigorating the Australian manufacturing sector, but the four key areas I mentioned earlier are where we think government has a key role to play.

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Manufacturing is not like other industries.

It is a highly strategic industry whose importance to society is measured in more than just its economic value. We can grow our manufacturing capacity by identifying our competitive advantages and providing policy settings that capitalise on those advantages.

AMT: Where do the real opportunities lie for manufacturers in this country?

BE: The opportunities will vary for different industries within the sector, and indeed for different businesses. Typically people talk about Australia’s future being in “advanced” manufacturing. That’s true, but we need to be careful that we recognise that advanced manufacturing doesn’t mean “high-tech” products. Advanced manufacturing is applying technology, processes and skills along the whole manufacturing value chain.

It’s about continuous improvement, good management and efficient operations, regardless of what the end product might be.

AMT: Where do you see the industry in Australia heading in the coming years?

BE: The answer to that really depends on whether we collectively ask ourselves a simple question: do we want manufacturing to be an important part of Australia’s future or not? If we take that question seriously, and answer it honestly, as other successful manufacturing nations have done, we can start to ensure the right policies are there to support the sector and drive innovation.

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1166AMT

Material Handling

Rio Tinto’s clever coal conveyor Combining engineering innovation and efficiency with built-in safety and environmental excellence, the Ellton Group has completed a 2km coal conveyor system for Rio Tinto Coal Australia’s Coal and Allied Hunter Valley Operations.

The 1400mm belt conveyor system – driven by ground-mounted Bonfiglioli Power Pack drives – includes an overland conveyor and a skyline stacker conveyor system that eliminates the previous need for heavy trucks to transfer coal from another load out facility during peak production. Delivered safely and within budget, the unique conveyor design also overcomes numerous environmental and structural challenges as it traverses reclaimed and subsidence-prone land to deliver high volumes of coal to an existing stockpile facility, through a cost-efficient design that incorporates recycled previous structures.

“One of the many unique aspects of the design was the complete incorporation of an existing skyline gantry system contained within the new structure,” said Mark Elliott, Managing Director of the Ellton Group. “The old gantry had a tripper running through it. We built our new, higher-capacity structure around the existing tripper gantry, running the conveyor in the opposite direction but sharing a radically improved and strengthened structure that easily and safely handles higher conveyor loadings but is designed to minimise additional mass and wind loadings.

“I think one of things that impressed Rio Tinto was that we didn’t attempt to impose standard solutions on their unique technical and site issues. Working in consultation with their operations staff and their consultants, we evolved numerous options that made good use of existing infrastructure while observing their rigorous safety and environmental standards.”

An example of the benefits of this innovative approach was seen in the way in which Ellton Group repaired and strengthened existing trestles and piers to withstand new loads, providing a solution for less than half the expected price.

“That’s the sort of thing you can do as a younger, nimble and innovative supplier,” added Elliott. “While we have had plenty of experience, particularly in the Hunter Valley, we are not bound to old ways of doing things or regimented thinking that says we have to tear down everything that’s already there and start again.

“As a company committed to efficiency, sustainability and minimising the impact on the environment, I think Rio Tinto was impressed by our close attention to their wishes. We certainly had to submit a very competitive tender and pass thorough scrutiny of our credentials and experience, but I believe one of our winning edges was the ability introduce fresh thinking to issues facing mine operators.”

The project introduced a number of design, safety and environmental initiatives, such as the design of the trestle structures carrying the overland conveyor above extensive areas of reclaimed and previously mined land that is prone to subsidence. The solution included trestle structures and roof sections that were not only structurally independent of each other, but also independently adjustable in three dimensions if and when issues arise.

The innovative drive mounting

Sound economics as well as a focus on environmental results meant that maximum utilisation of existing infrastructure was a prime objective. However, the desire to incorporate existing structures that were not originally rated for the revised duty was only part of the design challenge. Upgrade works had to occur while the plant continued to operate, so the new design had to be suitable for construction in and around equipment that could not be stopped or demolished.

Minimised additional wind and mass loading on the existing structure was achieved by adopting a ‘wrap-around’ gantry design to support the new conveyor and tripper. The gantry design had to be as light as possible and still allow the existing tripper to operate inside the old gantry both during and following construction. Extensive containment and protection of the load and environment surrounding it were also required. In addition to full coverage of the conveyed load to minimise spillage and dust, the areas traversed by the overland conveyor are protected by civil works including bunding, side dish drains, channeling and settlement ponds. These works separate and redirect clean water run-off from the surrounding landscape to avoid possible contamination, and capture water emanating from the conveyor path and direct it to one of several dirty water settlement ponds constructed along the route. By containing run-off and run-on, recycling is optimised and contamination of the environment is avoided.

Old gantry structures were stripped, refurbished, painted and refitted and incorporated into the elevated stages of the overland conveyor.

In addition to saving money and avoiding waste, the refurbishment and reuse program cleaned up the entire Refurbished and site where they were strengthened previously located. The foundations and fully enclosed tipper structures feed structure now spans a busy local road, removing the need for trucking by providing a clean and safe alternative. The overpassing of a public road and elimination of truck movements further enhances community relations, which are a high priority at Rio sites.

The innovative Power Pack heavy-duty fully

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Material Handling

The new gantry structure encloses the existing skyline gantry system

Extensive environmental protection including civil works and fully enclosed structures

coupled drive combinations used in the project were engineered by Bonfiglioli for optimum ease of installation, rugged service and low maintenance in materials handling and process applications.

“The drives were specified by Bonfiglioli Business Development Manager Kris Jaryn, with whom we have worked well before,” said Elliott. “He is a proven performer, and Bonfiglioli is a respected supplier that gave us what we needed, when we needed it to provide on-time performance.”

To ensure ease and safety of maintenance, the drives and take-ups were mounted at ground level rather than with elevated drives and vertical take-ups.

“A problem with off-ground mounting is that access is difficult and it is hard to isolate the belt and remove the energy load from within it,” said Elliott. “With our on-ground concept, it is simple and safe to detension the belt and remove the stored energy, thus enhancing safety. The hazards associated with isolating suspended gravity weights are

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Headquartered at Gosford in NSW, Ellton Group is a full-service design-and-construct business known for its mining, and engineering services, including core strengths in bulk-handling belt conveyors and associated equipment. The company has more than tripled its size in recent years by winning major projects and executing them on time and on budget, with design innovation allied with ease and safety of ongoing maintenance. The business is structured to execute multiple design-and-construct projects in the $20m-$50m range, in addition to service and component sales activities.

According to Elliott, a key to the group’s success is “innovation and customer responsiveness borne of hiring the best people available and providing them with a company environment they absolutely want to be with”. www.ellton.com.au www.bonfiglioli.com.au

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| 61

Material Handling

B&D Doors partners with Konecranes Konecranes has delivered a complete materials handling package to B&D Doors and Openers’ manufacturing facility at Revesby, NSW, fully replacing 11 single girder cranes with more efficient, lower-maintenance and higher-safety models.

Initially, Konecranes carried out Crane Reliability Survey (CRS) reports on the old cranes, which ranged from two tons to six tons, after which it determined in partnership with B&D that it would be more economically viable to supply 11 new cranes than to pay for maintenance and upkeep of the ageing cranes.

“Of course price was a major factor in the decision to upgrade, and Konecranes gave us great value for money,” says B&D Maintenance Supervisor, Brian Allen. “But it was the professionalism, expertise and efficiency of the Konecranes staff that made us feel confident we’d made the right decision.”

Established in Australia for over 50 years, B&D manufactures highquality commercial and residential garage doors at their facility in Revesby. The company prides itself on engineering ingenuity and innovation and invented the original roller door.

B&D also place a high emphasis on efficiency, safety and standards compliance, for which Konecranes performed additional upgrades.

These included modifying one existing crane from two tons to 3.2 tons to meet B&D’s requirements, and upgrading four power supply systems to the Koneductor down shop power supply system, as the previous ones did not comply with the latest standards.

Koneductor is Konecranes’ conductor bar system for crane power supply. It is a method of conducting electricity from the power grid to the crane. The absence of plug connectors provides an extremely smooth connection that minimises brush wear on the connector trolley.

The system’s structure is very sustainable and safe, avoiding problems associated with added resistance at joints and increased voltage drop characteristics when joints loosen or corrode.

“Konecranes was really good when it came to compliance,” said Allen.

“They recommended inspections, surveys and upgrades without being

too pushy about it. Since Konecranes was given the service contract for the upkeep of our cranes about 12 months ago, we haven’t had any problems and I can be confident that everything meets the rigorous safety standards of the industry.”

Konecranes crane condition and compliance inspections are based on more than 50 years as an industry leader in both crane service and as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of cranes. Its inspections are designed to ensure compliance with local regulations, and to identify issues that may affect safety and productivity. The inspections provide information for planning predictive maintenance actions designed to improve the reliability and safety of cranes, leading to optimum uptime and whole-of-life efficiency.

As well as ongoing crane maintenance services for many of Australasia’s leading companies, Konecranes has introduced dedicated Crane Reliability Surveys and Third Party Inspections services designed to ensure that users of all makes and models of cranes are fully compliant with the latest Australian Standards governing their use.

The Konecranes Group – which has more than 420,000 cranes of all makes under service contract worldwide – utilises RailQ and RopeQ surveys on crane componentry vital to reliability and safety. The technologies utilise laser alignment verification of the rails or runways on which overhead cranes must run smoothly and safely, and real-time monitoring of the wire ropes vital to the safety and reliability of all lifting equipment.

For B&D, Konecranes recommended a RailQ inspection on five crane runways, which varied from hook-bolted to welded-rail types.

After this was carried out, Konecranes followed up with the repairs and modifications required to have the rails comply with the latest standards.

One of the 11 Konecranes single girder cranes at B&D lifting a steel coil in the production line

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Material Handling

THE MITSUBISHI CUTS EVERYTHING, EVEN YOUR COSTS. A smaller XN Chain Hoist

Cranes and hoists are one of the most common items of worksite machinery yet they have the potential to be among the most dangerous if they are not properly maintained and safety compliant.

All of the upgrades, and the installation of the 11 new cranes, were undertaken according to an agreed program that provided the minimum downtime and disruption for B&D. The success of the operation has also involved Konecranes obtaining the maintenance agreement for the ongoing service of the cranes, which is by no means a foregone conclusion in these circumstances.

According to Konecranes’ Sydney Sales Manager Glenn Cresswell, obtaining the maintenance contract has help build a strong relationship with B&D Doors, with a focus on safety and compliance.

“The fact that we were able to provide a complete package has helped cement our relationship with B&D Doors,” said Cresswell.

“All programmed work was finalised and the new cranes commissioned over the Christmas period in 2013 to minimise any interruptions to the facility. We even removed and disposed of the old cranes for them.

Konecranes has a worldwide culture of safety as a first priority for all customers and staff – an ethos that it seeks to instill across every employee within Konecranes Australia and New Zealand’s 31 locations.

“Cranes and hoists are one of the most common items of worksite machinery yet they have the potential to be among the most dangerous if they are not properly maintained and safety compliant,” Cresswell added. “B&D is a leader in ensuring safety and compliance, and we at Konecranes share these values. We pride ourselves on being the leader in crane inspections, safety and compliance, so it’s always nice to pass that level of confidence on to our customers.” www.bnd.com.au www.konecranes.com.au

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Material Handling

Automation boosts throughput By automating tasks that require lesser skills, Hy-Tech Machine was able to increase throughput and use its operators to their fullest potential.

Finding skilled workers to bring on board has become a challenge for many manufacturers. This was the case at Hy-Tech Machine. Adding to that problem was the fact that the skilled employees it already had were spending their time handling material, loading and unloading parts, and completing other tasks that were not the best use of their talents. By automating some lower-skill-level procedures, Hy-Tech was able to improve throughput and use its employees to their fullest potential.

Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hy-Tech Machine is a 90-year-old company that employs 60 individuals to perform turning, milling and grinding operations on 38 CNC machines in its 4600sqm facility. The company produces a comprehensive line of impact wrenches and other industrial-grade pneumatic tools, as well as replacement parts for a variety of brands.

In an effort to reduce set-up time and operator involvement, Bob Ober, Hy-Tech’s President, turned to his long-time Okuma CNC machine dealer, Morris Great Lakes, for a solution. According to Ober, adding automation was a big investment for his company, so it was important to work with a dealer that would listen to what the company needed before it came up with an automation approach.

The automated system turns and mills the steel slug on the right to make one of the 11 critical impact hammer components, shown on the left.

Working together, they decided that one particular job, turning and milling 11 critical impact hammer components, was a good candidate for automation because the parts are complex and they share the same configuration and machining characteristics that make automation a good option.

A key benefit of the automation system is its flexibility, says Ober. He can run 50 to 500 pieces of any one of the 11 configurations in the family of impact hammer components and then quickly change over to another part by simply replacing the chuck and the robot gripper and then calling up the new program.

Once they decided on the part family, Morris Consultant John Rodgers recommended a multifunction Okuma Multus turn-mill and brought in Gosiger Automation, the integrator that supports the North American Okuma distributor network for automation applications, to design the robotic-based system.

Operators can even interrupt a part run to make a different part, and then resume the original run.

Gosiger’s plan was simple: it combined a flexible and multifunctional Okuma Multus B-300 CNC turn-mill with a Fanuc M-20iA six-axis industrial robot and a fixtureless conveyor system. Instead of using skilled workers to load and unload steel slugs from the machine, Gosiger positioned the robot directly in front of it, while still allowing the operator to have access to the machine.

Interlocked perimeter guards surround the robot work area to ensure worker safety. To accommodate the amount of material removed from steel slugs during the machining processes, the robot is equipped with a dual gripping system. This enables it to reliably handle the part both before and after each machining cycle.

Using the Fanuc IRVision system, the robot arm locates and grips the steel slug, which sits on an incoming conveyor, loads the slug into the machine’s main spindle chuck, unloads the finished part from the subspindle chuck and places it on the outgoing conveyor belt. The robot then closes the machine’s door before the next cycle begins.

A key benefit of the automation system is its flexibility, says Hy-Tech’s president Bill Ober.

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“All of the tooling resides inside the machine’s automated tool changer, so we don’t have to worry about that aspect,” he says.

Using this automated production process has enabled Hy-Tech to reduce cycle time from 32 minutes to 21 minutes on its largest volume part, with similar savings being realised on all parts run through the machine, according to Ober.

While the machining centre benefits the company in terms of reduced cycle time, increased throughput has become a cornerstone. Since automating its manufacturing process, one machining centre produces as many parts as the company previously ran on three machines— and with no operator intervention. The ability to operate unattended even enables the company to run a lights-out shift with nobody in the building.

“What we’ve really done is eliminate a lot of dead time for our people so they can accomplish more, plus we have greater consistency and better quality parts,” says Ober. “We’re now in the process of expanding the number of SKUs from the original 11 parts to 40, and looking forward to a second multifunction turn-mill installation.” www.hy-techinc.com Reprinted courtesy of MMSOnline.

The Fanuc M-20iA robot is surrounded by interlocked perimeter guards to ensure operator safety.

Steel slugs are loaded on an in-feed conveyor and finished parts are placed on the outgoing conveyor.

Law & Finance

Shake-up to Chinese trademark laws Amendments to the Chinese trademark law came into effect on 1 May 2014. Georgina Hey examines the implications for Australian manufacturers.

Many of the changes are designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Chinese trademark system. Most of the changes will be welcomed by brand owners, such as the good faith obligation for all new trademark applications, aimed at deflecting trademark pirates. It is anticipated that the effect of some changes will take time to be settled in practice.

The changes include:

• A new obligation of good faith for new trademark filings and all trademark agents. This is aimed at deterring trademark pirates from seeking to register the brands of others, including in the context where distributers or manufacturers register brands of their business partners.

• An increase in the maximum compensation available for trademark infringement. This has been increased to around US$500,000, which is substantially higher than the previously available amount and is intended to further deter trademark infringers.

• Multi-class trademark applications will now be allowed, which will be welcomed by brand owners with trademarks that span goods and services in multiple classes.

• The ability to register new (nontraditional) trademarks such as sounds.

• The need to record a trademark licence for the licence to be enforced.

It should continue to be considered a crucial step to record any licence arrangements in China.

• Stricter timelines for trademark examinations, opposition decisions and reviews, where these could previously take several years. As a basic guide, examinations should occur within nine months of filing, and opposition decisions issued within 12 months (with extensions available).

Greater certainty around these timeframes will be welcome.

defence to an infringement action. This will be a welcome change in a system that gives priority to the first party to register a mark, rather than to the first party to use it.

Of particular interest to Australian brand owners who manufacture in China will be the new laws specifying that the use of a trademark includes its use on goods, packages, containers or in trading documents, advertising, exhibitions or any other business activities, which identify the source of the goods. This will no doubt impact the ongoing debate in China as to whether simply manufacturing your branded goods (but not selling those goods) in China is trademark use.

At the present time, some cases in Shanghai have found use for manufacturing purposes only by the owner of a registered overseas mark was considered ‘reasonable use’.

However, there are also cases in Shanghai that have found that manufacturing for export purposes can constitute use sufficient for a finding of trademark infringement in relation to a similar mark registered by another party in China if there is a likelihood of confusion in the market.

This issue has not been settled by the new laws, but Chinese commentators do generally note that the prudent approach is to assume that application of a trademark in China on manufactured goods should be regarded as trademark use. Chinese sources do anticipate that this issue will be clarified shortly as the Supreme People’s Court issues its rolling interpretations of the new laws.

What we do know is that any Australian manufacturers exporting branded parts or goods from China, without a Chinese registered trademark, could have their goods seized by Chinese customs if a conflicting Chinese trademark exists in the name of an unrelated party. Getting these goods released is always a time-consuming and costly process that is best avoided.

Georgina Hey

Companies ordering parts from China will also need to be especially vigilant where those parts are manufactured under a licence arrangement, as these licences will need to be registered if they are to be enforceable against third parties. Getting these arrangements right will be a major consideration when choosing a new manufacturing partner, as well as in maintaining relations with existing suppliers.

In summary, from the perspective of Australian brand owners, the changes are generally positive. It will be interesting to see how some of the changes are applied in practice, particularly in relation to the need to record trademark licences, and use of a trademark for manufacturing purposes.

Australian manufacturers working with Chinese companies will need to remain vigilant in relation to their intellectual property rights, as is the case in any manufacturing arrangements.

Georgina Hey is a Senior Associate with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia. www.nortonrosefulbright.com

• Trademark opponents will no longer be able to request a review of an unsuccessful opposition decision.

This highlights the need to ensure an opposition is fully supported at the time of filing, which may create additional frustrations for brand owners given the short evidencegathering period allowed before the China Trademark Office (CTMO).

For those who have been dealing with Chinese manufacturers but have not registered their trademarks in China, these changes to the law will introduce a ‘prior use’ AMT JULY 2014

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Law & Finance

Trade Finance Talent - the clock is ticking Australia’s success as a trading nation is vitally dependent on the expertise of trade financiers and the quality of their products and services. But within the trade finance discipline is a “doomsday clock”, which threatens to count down all the way to midnight. Do the banks have the top trade talent to deliver the services their customers need? By Vivianne Arnold.

Good trade financing is a vital part of the equation for success for both importers and exporters. Done well, it can cut costs, mitigate risk, and speed up the movement of both goods and payment. Done badly, and 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.

Trade is the lifeblood of a business, and – in the words of a leading trade finance executive – good trade products are like giving a customer “a blood transfusion”. Replacing dumb debt with smart and structured trade solutions helps clients achieve balance sheet efficiencies and frees up valuable working capital.

However in Australia, businesses from smalland-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to corporates are unable to access some of the specialist trade finance products that larger institutional businesses are able to take advantage of. Some of this is based on risk assessment, but another reason is that banks do not have enough trade finance executives to adequately service the whole market.

The danger is that the banks’ ability to continue to service their trade finance clients, even at current levels, could be compromised if the talent pipeline dries up. 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 that could take years for the industry to recover from.

Executive search, professional development and consulting firm Franklin Phillips, along with financial market research firm East & Partners, recently concluded the first round of their Trade Finance Talent Index (TFTI) – a regular look at trade finance staff levels across domestic and global banks. Already, banks are reporting difficulties in recruiting suitable trade finance experts, and with the forecast headcount to grow by 26.6% over the course of 2014, those difficulties are only likely to become more acute. At regional banks, the TFTI index shows that headcounts are expected to grow by 40% during 2014.

Where all these new trade financiers are going to come from is unclear. Poaching from each other will only go so far, and the top trade finance leaders are not getting any younger.

At the Big Four, 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. Those stalwarts began learning the trade by starting their careers in the back office, but that traditional training ground has been offshored or centralised.

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AMT JULY 2014

The banks need a robust, independent, certified, Asia Pacific-focussed professional development program for trade finance and structured trade. APAC knowledge is vital to the new trade finance executive. The Big Four and most of the multinational Australianbased trade finance teams have direct or dotted reporting lines to Asia, and they, along with their clients, are looking to the region for growth. The Australian teams may need to look to Asia to help fill the coming Australian trade finance talent gap.

For the banks, trade is a highly profitable business and delivers significant benefits to other areas. Trade finance requires less capital for revenue than other products. Trade brings in revenue in foreign exchange, cross border payment fees, and other transactional banking, and dramatically increases crosssell. Not only that, but it makes the whole banking relationship even “stickier.” Primary trade finance customers are reportedly 68% less likely to “churn” their banking relationship than on other products or relationship areas.

As Franklin Phillips has expanded throughout the APAC region, it has become apparent that the decline in senior, experienced trade finance talent is not restricted to the Australian market. Countries such as Thailand, Vietnam

and Indonesia are also concerned about having enough expertise to meet their growing trade business. China, Singapore and India on the other hand have trade finance expertise at the branch level, and have been tailoring trade banking solutions for exporters and importers for years as they have moved up in their banking careers.

Banking was built on trade, and Australian banks and their clients are looking to APAC trade for growth. Australia is a trading nation and our businesses need intelligent trade finance solutions. Yet within the banks, trade finance has the reputation as an old, paperheavy, complex area and in recent years it has failed to attract the best and brightest.

This needs to change, and change soon.

We need to rebrand trade finance as a sexy, dynamic, international and profitable discipline. We need to look beyond poaching, look to Asia, and provide a professional development solution. Otherwise, Australia will have a broken pipeline of trade finance talent, and that will be to everybody’s detriment.

Vivianne Arnold is a founder and director at Franklin Phillips. www.franklinphillips.com

Finance made easy for Manufacturers

Old fashioned, face to face service

Manufacturers now have access to a dozen competitive lenders

can make the whole process easy for manufacturers, you will find Finlease a breath of fresh air compared to the banks.

via a dedicated “one stop shop” with Finlease.

The buying power of $350mil p/a Competition can reduce your costs.

and the experience of 25 years in machinery finance is what Finlease brings to the manufacturing sector.

Having access to a wide range of lenders competing for your business, Finlease can source the best outcomes for manufacturers both in terms of interest rates and conditions.

Spreading your debt exposure across a range of lenders ensures that you are not exposed to just one or two who can suddenly make life difficult for you. The good news is that you don’t need to do a thing, Finlease can arrange pre-approved facilities as a viable alternative to your existing lenders.

better than a bank

A dedicated Finlease account manager in your area can provide finance alternatives across your entire range of equipment, IT and vehicle requirements.

Long term support Finlease is here for the long haul.

By making the whole process easy, Finlease will be working hard to deliver ongoing support as long term customers are the best business for all parties, just ask our many customers who have been with us for decades.

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Law & Finance

Finance ain’t rocket science, despite what your bank says After 25 years of funding machinery into the manufacturing sector, one thing is clear – the client will already have approved the machine purchase in their own mind, they know why they are buying it, what it will earn or save them and the risks involved, writes Mark O’Donoghue.

Whether the machine is being purchased to improve processes (by increasing production speed, boosting capacity, or lowering production costs, including reduced labour), to cover additional workload, or to reduce existing outsourced subcontractor costs, the business owner has already gone through a mental approval process or justification for buying the gear.

However, this very concept and what it really means are all too often lost on the banks, or at least not heard as clearly as it needs to be. Moreover, it is worthwhile addressing the relative “skin in the game” – the monetary risk if it all goes wrong.

For the bank, any default can create a potential loss, and the approving officer may be “hind-sighted” on the transaction to see if they had made an error in approving the loan on the information initially presented. For the client, it gets very personal, in that they typically have their personal guarantee on the line and with that an obligation to make good any debt shortfall even if that means their need to sell other assets to clear the debt or face the prospect of bankruptcy. So, it is fairly easy to see who has the most “skin in the game”.

Good finance is not about jumping through hoops for the bank. It is absolutely about assisting the bank in understanding why the decision has been made to buy the machine, how it will be paid for, and the defence trenches in place in the event something goes awry. This needs to be communicated well and translated into “bank speak”. If it is not, either a finance approval won’t happen, or if it does it will be “roped and chained” far more than it needs to be.

Let’s not get confused about any complexity here, finance comes down to three fundamental questions:

1) Can you afford the payments?

2) If it all goes pear-shaped can you sell the gear and pay out the debt?

3) Have you always honoured your commitments (historic finance report card)?

Whether the asset cost is $20,000, $200,000 or $2m, these three fundamentals will always apply. Yes, it’s true that the larger the asset cost, the more detail will be needed. If we are seeking the finance approval for a $1m transaction, we typically address over 20 individual areas, but these are all in reality simply subsets of these three fundamental questions.

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Mark O’Donoghue

As an example, under “can you afford the payments?” – or to put it another way, are there areas that may indicate a significant risk to the ability to pay – the following will typically be addressed:

• Do their present trading results indicate they can pay even if the machine being financed does not contribute to any additional income/ profit? If not, what tangible savings or additional income can reasonably be expected?

• Are there existing debts that are currently running off, which will free up cash to service the new debt?

• Does the client have a good spread of clients and/or industries that they supply to, so as not to be too exposed to losing a single client or industry sector? And if exposed, is that an acceptable risk (such as a major or government contract)?

• How much do they owe (creditors) versus how much are they owed (debtors)? Owing as much as you are owed is probably not a good thing. Are the majority of both ledgers trading in reasonable 30-60-day terms, or is there something there that looks like an issue? How are their cash levels or access to cash (cash at hand, overdrafts, etc)? Are their taxes up to date?

• What is their management structure?

If their managing director falls off their twig, can the business carry on?

On the asset exposure side, if a $1m machine is seen to have a $700,000 auction value, the perceived shortfall exposure is $300,000 on day one. Lenders can be comfortable with this exposure if they know the client has other equipment that is either wholly owned or in which the client has equity, meaning the resale value is greater than their debt.

Similarly, greater confidence is instilled where the business owner has good equity in property (either personal or through the business). Let me make it clear here, they are not after a mortgage, simply the reassurance of knowing the borrower has resources that could assist in paying any shortfall if called upon to do so.

These issues all simply address the question “can you sell the gear and pay out the debt if it all goes pear-shaped?” There is nothing complex about the areas shown above – they are in so many ways simply common sense.

It’s definitely not “Rocket Science”.

Any savvy company owner has already addressed such matters in their own mind as a function of contemplating the purchase of the equipment. After all, they are the ones who are taking the real risk and will suffer the consequences of an incorrect decision.

Mark O’Donoghue is the founder and CEO of Finlease www.finlease.com.au

We’re building the partnerships that build Australia.

Efic is a specialist financier that delivers simple and creative solutions for Australian companies – to enable them to win business, grow internationally and achieve export success.

1800 093 724 www.efic.gov.au

Workholding

Maintaining tolerances = Maintaining workholding Workholding maintenance can affect downtime, part tolerances, and tool life consistency. Each type of workholding will have its own maintenance needs, depending on the movable parts and material composition. By Joe Thompson.

Workholding comes in many forms, including clamps, chucks, and vises, all are designed to hold workpieces securely while being machined. Vises are the most widely used, and come in numerous shapes, sizes, and styles. However, no matter what type of system you use, proper care must be taken during operation, maintenance and storage to ensure long life and repeatability.

As workholding gets more complex, proper use and maintenance become even more important.

“The workholding device, no matter what kind, is a mechanical apparatus that requires proper care and maintenance,” says Mike Chester, technical services representative for Kurt Workholding. “And, if it’s not properly cared for, it will not perform as desired.”

Chester’s advice is simple: Create a maintenance schedule for each device, and stick to it.

“It’s very important to maintain these devices properly because you need them to last,” says Chester. “It’s similar to getting an oil change for your car every 3000 miles. You cannot expect peak performance levels if you don’t take the time to perform maintenance.”

Know your device Each type of workholding will have its own maintenance needs depending on the movable parts and material composition. Some workholding devices are hardened and some are not. If the device is not hardened, wear can occur from repetitive use only, for example on a screw or jaw plate. When this wear occurs, inconsistencies will begin to appear in the part.

The metallurgical makeup of the part can also affect workholding.

Certain metals can chemically interact with the metal of the workholding device.

“Dissimilar metals interacting with each other can cause wear on your workholding, and when you introduce coolant to the equation, it’s just another negative variable that is attacking the metal of the workholding,” says Chester. “It’s just the nature of the beast.”

The interior of a machine tool is a hostile environment. Coolant and chips will hit — and can become lodged inside — the workholding device.

Paying close attention to part tolerances can identify workholding wear before scrap parts are produced. According to Chester, workholding should always be treated like it will be used again very soon.

“At a bare minimum, when you are done running a part, or even just at the end of a shift, you need to cycle the vise and clean it out,” he adds.

Cycling the device simply means operating it at its minimum and maximum capacities.

“Cycling the vise is very important,” says Chester. “This allows you to push out any coolant or chips and make sure the device is working properly for the next job.”

The next steps should be to protect the device by lubricating it, covering it, and storing it where it cannot be damaged.

“Store it with the next user in mind,” says Chester. “The device should be ready to go the minute you take it out of storage. Doing this properly will ensure that the device isn’t full of dust, dirt, and debris when it is needed for the next job.”

Holding tolerances The most critical aspect of workholding is creating repeatability.

Performing repetitive operations on parts while keeping the necessary tolerances is the function of any workholding device. If tolerances cannot be held, you will be in constant battle with the overall machining process.

The tolerance/repeatability equation can be solved with proper workholding use. It is a good practice to become familiar with your device’s clamping forces. Too much clamping force could damage parts, and repeatable clamping pressures will help achieve better accuracy.

“If you consistently clamp a part with the exact same amount of pressure, the pressure points are going to wear evenly and you will get longer life from your workholding,” says Chester. “If you don’t have consistent pressure, you will get inconsistencies in your part and inconsistent wear on your tools.”

It’s also wise to avoid certain practices while clamping a part. When tightening a vise, for example, never use a cheater bar or hammer to strike the handle. This can damage the workholding’s internal parts.

One part of the whole Understanding that workholding is part of the overall production process is important. Using the proper device in the correct way can reduce non-productive time and chatter, while creating longer, more consistent tool life.

2. Visually inspect the device for damage after each use.

“Whether you are producing five parts or 5000 parts, the last part that comes off the machine has to be as good as the first one. The ability to be consistent from part to part shows how good the process is and how professional the shop is,” says Chester. “It’s a direct reflection of your ability. If you want to maintain your reputation, you must be able to meet the necessary quality.”

3. Clear any chips from the device.

Part of this ability can be augmented by training.

4. Visually inspect screws, seals, and movable parts.

“It’s important to understand the effects that improper use and care of your workholding devices can have on the overall process,” says Chester. “Knowing the device, and learning as much as possible about its operation and care, will have a direct effect on the machining process, and on the company’s bottom line.”

Eight tips for maintaining your workholding 1. Constantly pay attention to how the device is performing.

5. Cycle the device completely.

6. Air-dry and apply rust-inhibiting oil.

7. Lubricate before storage.

8. Follow the maintenance schedule of the device.

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Reprinted courtesy of CIM - Canadian Industrial Machinery. www.kurtworkholding.com

Your total HR Solutions

forum – OHS

Forklift safety and traffic management in factories Forklifts can pose serious OHS risks in factories. Fortunately, a traffic management plan can help, as explained by Brendan Torazzi.

Forklifts are heavy and often unstable vehicles which can pose a significant occupational health and safety (OHS) risk in factories and workplaces across Australia. Due to the weight and power of this equipment, accidents involving forklifts commonly result in serious injuries or death.

The individuals most frequently injured in an accident are pedestrians, according to Work Safe Australia. More than half of those killed in forklift-related incidents are bystanders who are either struck by loads or hit by the vehicle itself.

Forklifts can weigh up to five tonnes when fully laden, which means they can easily crush pedestrians or the driver, even travelling at low speeds. Furthermore, when a forklift is incorrectly loaded, there is a significant risk that the unstable cargo may fall from the truck, potentially striking a pedestrian or other worker.

These accidents and deaths are largely preventable, particularly when employees receive adequate training in forklift use and factory supervisors enact comprehensive traffic management plans.

Traffic management in factories Forklifts and pedestrians do not mix in the workplace. Allowing employees to walk within the same space as an industrial lift truck increases the risk of a serious accident.

The simplest way to address this issue is to create a traffic management plan which physically separates the forklift traffic from pedestrians.

By creating independent road and footpath systems throughout the factory, you essentially eliminate the risk of collisions.

However, creating dedicated pedestrian and forklifts exclusions zones is not always possible within a manufacturing environment. Factories often require workers to operate within the same space as forklifts to remain efficient and productive. Fortunately, there are a range of traffic control practices that can be put in place to help reduce the risk of accidents, injuries and death.

This includes ensuring the load is centred to avoid unbalanced weight causing the forklift to tip when travelling around corners and not exceeding the forklift load capacity. If operating the forklift with a raised load, drivers must ensure they comply with strict speed limits and avoid driving near pedestrians.

Avoiding uneven surfaces Forklift operators should avoid driving or stopping on uneven surfaces whenever possible. Any form of incline can significantly impact the stability of an industrial lift truck.

In some cases, a downward sloped surface can increase the stopping distance a forklift travels when braking, as the weight of the vehicle and its load preserves momentum.

Additionally, uneven surfaces may affect the weight and balance of a forklift and its load, heightening the risk of tipping. When creating a traffic management plan within your factory, you should ensure that dedicated forklift roadways avoid inclined or uneven surfaces.

Setting speed limits

Following the road rules

When a forklift driver sees a pedestrian in their path, they will most likely enact the vehicle’s brakes in an effort to stop the forklift from hitting their colleague. However, planting their foot on the brake can have adverse consequences, particularly if the forklift load is unstable.

While operating a forklift within a factory environment means individuals are not required to adhere to the public road rules, a comprehensive traffic management plan should enforce the same or similar restrictions on site.

Stopping too quickly can cause a forklift to tip forward or lose its load, putting both the driver and the pedestrian at risk. It is therefore crucial that forklifts are restricted to a safe speed when operating in spaces shared with other vehicles and pedestrians.

To avoid confusion among multiple forklift drivers and reduce the risk of collisions between pedestrians or multiple vehicles, it is recommended that your traffic management plan follow the normal road rules, such as the “right-of-way” regulations.

Furthermore, it is important drivers are aware of how their load and speed can affect the forklift’s stopping distance. When a fully laden forklift is travelling at 6 km/h it will typically take 3.2m to come to a complete stop. Comparatively, the same forklift travelling at 10 km/h will travel 6.2m before stopping.

In doing this, you ensure that visitors to your factory can understand the protocols, mitigating the hazard of collisions and accidents on your internal road system.

Similarly, a forklift carrying a load will gather significantly more momentum when moving, taking longer to stop in an emergency than an unladen vehicle.

When a forklift is in use inside a factory, the driver should slow their speed to a walking pace in order to improve OHS outcomes.

Correct load carrying When a forklift is carrying a load, it becomes significantly more unstable, increasing the risk of tipping or losing control. To protect the driver, pedestrians and the workplace, it is crucial operators follow the manufacturer’s specifications when loading, carrying and setting down cargo.

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Factory-wide training It is recommended that you offer relevant training to all employees within your factory.

While only the drivers require forklift licences, pedestrians and operators both need to be made aware of the traffic control and forklift safety plans and practices. The simplest way of achieving this is to provide traffic control training to your entire staff.

Brendan Torazzi is CEO of AlertForce - a Registered Training Organisation. AlertForce specialises in compliance training for Workplace Health and Safety by offering quality online, face-toface and/or blended training approaches to create fast, flexible and competitive OHS training & compliance solutions.

Ph: 1800 900 222 www.alertforce.com.au

forum – strategy

Can Australia make things?

– The future of manufacturing The verdict that Australian manufacturing’s future is limited is not accepted by all, writes Barry Burgan.

Popular opinion is that manufacturing in Australia is under pressure, and our future of making things is limited. But this is not accepted by all. For example, when I was presenting at the Productivity Commission hearings into the automotive sector in Adelaide, one of the Commissioners suggested that, while there had certainly been a loss of manufacturing jobs, this did not mean that the sector was under stress - it was part of increasing efficiency; turnover and value added had remained strong. ABS data on GDP indicates that over the 80s and 90s, manufacturing’s share of GDP only declined slowly (but it did decline, and steadily). But since the GFC, there have been more substantial declines. Unsurprisingly the metals and nonmetallic minerals sectors have held up the best, but more surprisingly, machinery and equipment did as well. In more recent times, the extent of closures seems to have accelerated, with the automotive sector at the forefront.

What is the root of this pressure on the manufacturing sector?

The exchange rate is most often blamed. The price manufacturers have received for their products has increased 1.5% per annum over the period since the GFC (or 1% pa less than inflation) – and much of this would be due to the need to remain competitive, discovering export markets and import competition. It needs to be recognised that movements in exchange rates are more pronounced against the US dollar than against other currencies.

Labour costs are also talked up, and again while there are some issues in that wage rates have increased at around 0.5% per annum above general inflation, the impact for the sector as a whole has not been extreme, in that labour costs represent only around 15% of production value in manufacturing.

Some of the pressure has certainly been found in more general costs; specifically energy, water and compliance costs. One issue that is not often mentioned is the impact of interest rates. Australia has had consistently higher real interest rates than most developed economies over the longer term, which impedes investment. Even recent declines need to be compared to very low and even negative real interest rates in many other countries. Risk-related shifts mean that post GFC higher relative interest costs are borne by smaller businesses.

It is unlikely these pressures will go away soon. Nor really do we want them to (ie higher exchange rates keeps consumer prices for petrol and consumables down).

The importance of manufacturing The other question that is often asked is whether Australia needs a manufacturing sector. At a regional level, some regions will bear the brunt of the restructuring. Recent work I did with John Spoehr (as presented to the Productivity Commission) suggests that the supply chain linked to automotive manufacturing sees up to 15,000 jobs lost in South Australia from Holden’s closing (from the base as at 2011).

At the national level, while it was written for the previous government, the Prime Minister’s Manufacturing Task Force non-government members report makes a strong case for policy adjustment to maintain a manufacturing base, and presents evidence that other high cost economies have highly effective manufacturing sectors. They look at the importance of manufacturing in terms of not just its contributions to employment and exports, but also its linkages within the economy, and its role R&D. It also points to the need for a diversified economy to ensure that adjustments within one sector have offsets. In South Australia, we have Professor Goran Roos as a strong advocate of the importance of a dynamic manufacturing sector – and I suggest people should take the opportunity to read his insightful work.

What all of these reports have in common, is that while we can have a viable and prosperous manufacturing sector, it will be different to that of the past. They suggest that the manufacturing sector will increasingly be based on value added on natural resources (obvious for minerals based, but the new opportunities are seen to be in food products) and on smarter end manufacturing (based on creativity and innovation and higher value products). As the Asia Pacific continues its strong growth demand for a variety of food products – and Australia has a strong competitive advantage in quality product (including the environmental context), this provides opportunities to add value and therefore create employment and income in manufacturing activities.

It should be remembered that these businesses would in turn require inputs, providing further opportunities.

It seems to me that there are formal and informal processes requiring significant attention to make this work. Given my role in Australia’s newest University(Torrens University Australia), one of my observations is that people cannot really work harder (the statistics show that we as a nation we work as hard, and harder than many other countries).

Therefore the solution is surely to work smarter. The Australian Workplace and Productivity Association recently gave a consistent message to this, highlighting the need for intelligent manufacturing with the ability to export. To do this, we need to introduce better products and processes on the one hand, better management practices on the other, and improved and innovative education and training has a very important part to play.

Barry Burgan is Academic Director, Torrens University Australia and is actively involved in international Business program accreditation. Barry’s research expertise is in the area of infrastructure valuation and financing issues, with extensive experience in public policy evaluation, real estate markets and financing, public private partnerships, the application of microeconomic theory at a managerial level; and in applied econometrics. Torrens University Australia www.tua.edu.au AMT JULY 2014

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forum – Training

It’s not about training Ron Pollak answers questions relating to whether training courses achieve anything tangible.

Will sending someone on an anger management course achieve anything?

If it’s a short anger management course, say one two or three days, there’s the likelihood that the participant is only being sent there to reduce the likelihood of a significant payout for wrongful dismissal. I’ve seen them sitting there in training area reception, waiting for the anger management class to start. It’s like a scene from a Woody Allen movie.

They are hiding in the corner waiting for the organiser to come and shout out, “Who’s here for anger management?”

Will sending someone on a time management course achieve anything?

In a similar way, the person who has been poorly ‘time managed’ all of their life is unlikely to change what they do. While I have heard of people who are poorly time-managed at home, but well time-managed at work, it’s a rarity. In this case however, the candidate is hoping the organiser shouts out, “Who’s here for time management?” Here, the candidate is like Kieren Perkins in the Sanitarium advertisement, where the champion swimmer jumps up, and shouts, “Kick it to me, kick it to me!’ Someone attending a time management course is there because they’re so busy at work that they need help managing their time. Poor time-management skills are a badge of honour. And the big difference between this course and anger management is that they can go back to work proudly saying, “I have just been on a time management course.” The person on anger management slips back into work, hoping no one asks them where they have been.

Will sending someone on a leadership course achieve anything?

When the organiser calls for participants on the leadership course, participants put down their iPad, throw away their takeaway cappuccino container, then nonchalantly step forward to join the leadership class. In their case they have every confidence that this course is going to bring out their innate leadership capabilities. But they need to be careful. They are going to return to work and someone is going to ask, “So, you’ve just completed a leadership course, lead me somewhere!” Okay, maybe no one asks that question exactly like that, but why not?

If you’re expected to manage your anger or time better after a training course, why shouldn’t you be expected to come out of a leadership course and show your leadership skills?

Will sending someone onto ANY course achieve anything?

Training is a multi-purpose intervention. Amongst the benefits training provides, are the following.

• To understand where you are now.

• To gain new knowledge, or confirm that current knowledge has merit. (Most management theory is just common sense wrapped in a structured and researched framework, that makes it easier to understand the components.)

• To understand how this new knowledge can be applied to current and possible future situations.

• To trial the newly acquired skill in a safe environment.

• To begin the task of gaining fluency in the new behaviours, and the confidence that this provides.

So, will sending someone onto a course achieve anything tangible?

How many time have trainers heard that a manager is happy if a person picks up 10% of what was covered? Dumb! There needs to be a clearer set of expectations placed in front of the learner against which the training session can be assessed.

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For example, would the following be a better set of expectations than: “Do your best, to pick up as much as you can”?

By the end of this program I would like you to know the different types of delegation. I would like you to be able outline when you’re going to delegate and when not. To know who to give what task to, and how, and how you are going to support the person to whom you’re delegating.

This level of clear expectation only occurs if the learner’s manager has the know-how him/herself. And that doesn’t always happen.

It’s not about training Ultimately, what management is looking for is not a well-trained person. Management needs a person who performs well, in spite of their lack of training.

So, on a time management course, the outcomes include, understanding the way a person likes to work and how this affects the way they work. For example, a worker who likes handling lots of problems - a juggler - will drop a ball or two every now and then. A worker who deals in details, ensuring that the work that’s being done is accurate, is going to find it takes more time than others might expect to complete a task.

On an anger management course, the tangible is that management wants to be seen as trying to deal with an issue that goes way beyond what a business needs to deal with.

Finally, with leadership the greatest return comes from the confidence it provides those individuals sent on a Leadership course, that their management have in them. It adds a dimension. The focus is not to negate weaknesses. It’s about building on those attributes that are already present.

Pollak Consulting &Training, with experience in sales, management/leadership, personal development and customer service, provides over 80 courses which can be delivered as open publicly-scheduled courses, or as customised in-company training, conference training and consulting services.

Ron Pollak is Managing Director, Pollak Consulting & Training Pty Ltd. Telephone: 02 90 990 543 or 0407 200 617 www.ronpollak.com.au

forum – recruitment

Employment needs in the manufacturing sector are changing The latest results of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey are summarised by Lincoln Crawley.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey measures the hiring intentions of 1500 employers across a range of sectors and regions in Australia. The latest results reveal hiring in the manufacturing sector will grow in the third quarter this year, based on a Net Employment Outlook (NEO) of +7%, up from -2% last quarter.

are all important parts of workforce development.

The survey, found 18% of employers in manufacturing plan to increase hiring in the third quarter, 12% plan to decrease hiring and 69% will make no changes. The overall hiring outlook of +7%, is up a substantial 9 percentage points from the previous quarter’s results, but is still sitting below the national average of +9%.

This partnership approach can resolve client issues around skills shortages, while providing nationally-accredited qualifications and skills growth for the individuals involved. Moreover, organisations that undertake these programs are seeing a reduction in turnover, increased morale and improved productivity.

Demand for jobs in the manufacturing sector has fluctuated over the past two years, following tough economic conditions and significant changes to the industry. There also continues to be extensive media coverage of high profile shutdowns in the sector, such as in the automotive industry, which amplifies uncertainty.

While the job market has softened, we are seeing two significant and related trends impacting the market. On one side, clients are telling us they can’t find the right people for all of the roles they have open.

While on the other, experienced candidates are finding new positions hard to come by.

Structural change We know that manufacturing is undergoing a fundamental change, as low-value work goes to cheaper, off-shore markets. Coupled with a high Australian dollar, this trend is seeing the type of work we do here in Australia evolve over time.

There are pockets of demand in ‘smart manufacturing’ industries, such as medical technology, driven by the continuing need to produce devices with a high intrinsic value which are subject to strict quality controls in Australia. These shifts have flow-on effects to the labour market, as the skills in demand change along with the type of work being done. This has helped to create what we call a ‘talent mismatch’.

The Talent Mismatch: skills versus demand As the nature of manufacturing work evolves to use more technology and rely less on unskilled or semiskilled workers, there is a mismatch between the talent available and the talent needed by employers.

This is by no means restricted to manufacturers: our 2014 Talent Shortage Survey found 40% of Australian employers can’t find the skills they need, with engineering, sales and skilled trades among the most acute shortages.

However, given the manufacturing sector’s traditional need for less-skilled labour, the structural changes occurring at the moment make this trend even more pronounced.

These trends impact both employers and jobseekers, who must navigate a changing job market.

Employers: investment in skills must be a priority The key to creating a robust talent pool is developing training strategies that build on the talent an organisation already has, and develop the skills it needs for the future.

Implementing traineeships, apprenticeships and upskilling through on-the-job and formal training courses

Innovation and creative thinking can help to make investment in training more cost-effective. For example, ManpowerGroup has developed customised training programs that tap into programs and funding available through government and education institutions.

Jobseekers: skills and flexibility needed For job seekers in the manufacturing sector, flexibility is critical. In an ever changing industry, individuals need to continue updating their skills, whether it’s through external education or on-the-job programs.

The growth of online courses and government-funded training opportunities has allowed education to be more accessible than ever; the key is to find out which skills are in demand and focus efforts in that direction.

When it comes to the job search process, it is increasingly important to develop an online presence. Being active on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn will make you visible to recruiters, HR professionals, and people that might refer you to job openings.

There are various LinkedIn groups for manufacturing professionals that promote job openings, and also provide industry news and issues for discussion.

Another option is to look at temporary roles, especially if you’re looking at moving into a different area within the industry. Taking a contract role can be a good way to get a foot in the door.

Ultimately, the economy is undergoing significant change, so job seekers need to focus on the areas that are growing and be willing to adapt. The key is to understand how the job market is changing and develop the right skills to meet employer demand.

So, what does the next six months look like for the manufacturing sector?

While employment in the manufacturing sector is under pressure, there are Australian businesses who are adapting what they do and shifting into high-value, specialised areas, where they continue to drive employment. In order for that shift to happen we need to ensure we develop a skilled workforce.

Our results suggest a moderate recovery could be on the cards for the sector, investing in people needs to be an ongoing focus for management and leaders if they are to find the talent needed for the sector now, and into the future.

Lincoln Crawley is Managing Director, ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand. The ManpowerGroup is a world leader in innovative workforce solutions which has been helping clients and candidates win in Australia since 1965.

With 50 branches across the nation, ManpowerGroup Australia provides unique value to clients and candidates through recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. ph: 132 502 www.manpowergroup.com.au AMT JULY 2014

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manufacturing history

60 YEARS WITH MEN AND MACHINES – PART 45

Machine tools and global warfare Part 4 Machinists – the unsung heroes

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 is 1942 and America is catapulted into WW2. Fred is now 75 years young, and with his retirement interrupted, finds himself agreeing to work for the Aeronautics division in the US Navy. By Fred Colvin By early 1942 I found myself working for the US Navy after having been assured that the work would be connected with airplanes and not submarines! It was only fair that I work in the Navy, for in the last war I had worked for the Army.

the Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk. But then came the historic battle of Midway of June 3 to 6, 1942, fought with submarines, Flying Fortresses, Navy flying boats, Marine bombers and fighters, in addition to the full complement of Navy fighters and bombers from such carriers as the Hornet, the Enterprise, and the old Yorktown. At least twenty Japanese ships were sunk or damaged, including four Japanese aircraft carriers and three battleships, and at least 275 Japanese planes were destroyed or lost at sea. The battle of Midway ended the retreat in the Pacific and marked a turning point of the war.

One of my first assignments was to design (with the assistance Lieutenant Commander Karl Herrmann) a new method of manufacturing the air frames for a certain type of carrier-based plane. The specifications called for the use of a very heavy aluminum forging, weighing approximately 100 pounds. This was very difficult to make - it required the use of very expensive dies and a 35,000-pound hammer.

There were only two or three 35,000-pound hammers in the entire country - and these were in constant use turning out airplane propellers.

Karl Herrmann and I accordingly insisted that the original specifications be modified so that the unit might be built in sections rather than forged in one piece.

After the usual arguments and discussions we won our point. The net result of our studies and propositions was that we deemed it wisest to compromise by using several smaller forgings and bolting them together.

Another important item of production that needed investigation and survey was the landing-gear apparatus– particularly the “oleo” or hydraulic shock-absorber part. The designer – the Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Company happened to own the Champion DropForge Company in toto. This made it almost a prerequisite for the use of solid forgings in both cylinders and pistons, inasmuch as welding was still in a rather embryonic stage in terms of permanence and reliability.

The use of solid forgings meant boring the cylinders. The development of these facilities naturally delayed the production of landing gears.

Another cause of delay was the lack of standardization based on the work to be done by the oleo. It was generally

conceded that the requirements of the oleo part of the landing gear depended primarily on the weight of the plane and the speed at which it landed, a possible third factor being the type of surface on which it was to land. It was something of a surprise, then, when I discovered that one shop alone was making over sixty different types of oleos, many intended for use in the same class of plane.

Karl Herrmann and I immediately urged that tubing be used instead of forgings. We were gratified to find out that the A. C. Smith Company was making landing-gear apparatus by this method. This company later developed a steel propeller blade made entirely of welded parts. Landing a plane on a carrier can be one of the roughest jobs, next to actual combat, that a navy pilot has to do.

And all on. The Malaya, Burma;

the time the war was going Japanese had spread all over the Dutch East Indies, and Singapore had been lost and

Towards the end of October General Montgomery launched his great attack at El Alamein and started a sweeping march across northern Africa to meet the American and British forces under Gen. “Ike” Eisenhower, which had landed in Morocco and Algiers. This led, as everyone should remember, to the invasion of Italy and the eventual defection of the least notable of the Axis partners.

In all these engagements the airplane played a vitally important part, and this fact by extension and inference, takes us back once more to the machine tools that are the underlying theme of the present story. Not too many people realized at the time that whenever a Japanese carrier was sunk or a battleship put out of action, the machine-tool operator at home on the production line was deserving of credit as well as the American pilot who flew over the target.

For the unsung heroes of the machine shop and assembly line made possible not only the fighter plane or bomber, but the precision instruments that directed them in their flight, the bombs and other ammunition they fired on the enemy, and the complicated machinery of the aircraft carriers and warships that assisted in the attack.

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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AMT JULY 2014

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Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

Austech – better and stronger Austech will be back in Melbourne better and stronger in 2015. Having made the decision not to run our exhibition in Sydney this year, we are looking forward to a huge presence from key suppliers of machine tools and manufacturing technology in Melbourne next year. The Exhibitor Prospectus is being released on 7 July.

The fact that we did not run our event this year has led to many industry visitors questioning the difference between Austech and National Manufacturing Week. I know I am repeating myself with this explanation but it needs to be understood.

National Manufacturing Week (NMW) and Austech are completely separate and independent shows. NMW is owned and managed by Reed Exhibitions and Austech is owned and managed by AMTIL. We have had an agreement for many years to run our shows next to each other and have a joint registration process so that a visitor that comes to one show can also have immediate access to the other. Whilst both shows are similar in size, I believe we have done such a good job of making it appear they are one show that most visitors would believe that is the case.

Without going into detail of our arrangement with Reed Exhibitions, both parties agree that the co-located events in Melbourne will be delineated according to the following product categories: National Manufacturing Week covers product zones including air technology, automation & robotics, electrical, electronics, engineering, health & safety, information technology, materials handling, metals & composites, process control & instrumentation, sustainable manufacturing clean technology, welding technology and international country exhibitors such as China and Taiwan.

Austech covers metal cutting technology, CNC machine tools, forming & fabrication technology, cutting tools, CAD/CAM software, workholding and tooling, robotics, additive & digital manufacturing, quality & inspection, contract manufacturing and ancillary services (inc finance, training, recruitment).

Last year AMTIL made the decision that we are only going to run Austech every two years, in Melbourne. This is in keeping with major international machine tool and manufacturing technology shows that also run on two-year cycles in major cities around the world. This decision was driven and supported by our exhibitors and AMTIL members.

The underlying strategy is that, like many countries, the rate of change of technology, costs to exhibit, costs and time to travel and visit a trade show and the return on any investment by either exhibitors or visitors means Australia can only afford to have one major, all-encompassing, manufacturing and machine tool show every two years. That show is set for Melbourne from 26-29 May 2015 and it promises to deliver.

In addition to a commitment from the key machine tool suppliers to have a major presence, there are also two relatively new areas of the show that will be greatly expanded. The Manufacturers Pavilion is an opportunity for local Australian manufacturers to showcase their capabilities and engage in supply chain opportunities they may not know about. As well as the potential to market themselves through their exhibit, there are also networking functions, key buyer meetings and an on-the-floor speaking programs with keynote speakers throughout the week.

Another growing area is the Additive & Digital Manufacturing Pavilion. AMTIL has a great interest in this enabling technology and have recently established a new network, called the Additive Manufacturing HUB. The Additive Manufacturing HUB is an industry driven collaborative network of organisations that will foster and grow the additive manufacturing sector. AMTIL has an established membership of technology suppliers and companies wanting to explore the potential of this enabling technology. Built on the foundation of strong support from the research community, particularly CSIRO, government agencies, including META, and other service providers, this network will have access to services from which the additive manufacturing community can develop and mature. The key benefits of this network are education & knowledge transfer, networking & communication, marketing & promotion, research capability and market access. Membership of the Additive Manufacturing HUB is free to AMTIL members.

AMTILinside

Get ready for tax time Meeting the members With 2014 now past its half-way point, it’s that time when we all have to think about something we spend the rest of the year avoiding: taxes.

We’ve linked up with MYOB to deliver affordable Cloud accounting for AMTIL members, through access to MYOB AccountRight Live.

As a business owner, we know that you’re looking for ways to be more efficient, wanting to reduce cost in your business, and keen to explore ways to work with more flexibility. MYOB is keen to help AMTIL members understand how Cloud accounting can do exactly that.

AccountRight Live provides a seamless Cloud accounting solution, with clever features like Bank Feeds, Anywhere Access, and Real Time Collaboration. This functionality means you can link your bank accounts to AccounRight Live to get automatic statement feeds straight into your accounting software, eliminating tedious data entry. You can also invite key stakeholders like your bookkeeper or accountant to have access remotely to your accounts, providing real-time advice, activity and remove the need for onsite meetings.

Even better, you can now work on the go – accessing your accounts from any internet-enabled computer, no matter where you are. You can generate quotes and invoices on the spot and save everything in the Cloud – all while enjoying the convenience of knowing that the most current version of your data is saved securely in the Cloud, and the peace of mind that you can make a local backup to your PC whenever you like.

AccountRight Live is offered across three products: Basic, Standard and Plus, which are designed to deliver the perfect solution for your specific needs with GST & BAS, invoicing, expenses, payroll and inventory. If you’re interested in getting access to the great benefits of Cloud accounting, give MYOB a call today on 1300 555 111.

AMTIL’s Sales Manager Anne Samuelsson was out on the road visiting some of our new members in June, and she came back with some very positive impressions.

“I was thrilled to be with one of our new members while he flicked through the AMT June 2014 issue,” Anne recalls. “He stopped and pointed to an ad and said ‘I need one of these. Do you mind if I rip out the ad from the mag?’. Of course I said it was his magazine and he could do what he wanted with it.”

The member then continued to flick through the rest of the mag, and went on to rip another two ads from companies who looked like they could assist with the purchase of the unit as well. Anne knows all AMT’s advertisers very well, so she was able to offer their company contact details to help this new member in his enquiries.

“I was just so glad to be there to experience the power of the AMT Magazine,” adds Anne. “It was tremendous to see the magazine deliver on sales leads in such a tangible way. I guess this does happen, but it is not often I am actually there to witness it. I was very pleased to see this great result for our advertisers.”

For more information about advertising opportunities in AMT, call Anne Samuelsson on 03 9800 3666 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au.

ManufactureLink proudly owned and operated

by AMTIL

Follow our members on

Go Get linked!

Manufacturelink is your directory for all things Manufacturing. processes. services. technology.

1186AMT

We’ve got the link to make it happen.

Visit www.manufacturelink.com.au to learn more.

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AMTILinside

Goody bye and good luck AMTIL recently said a sad goodbye to two team members, with Peter Lambe and Luke Hoare both moving on to explore fresh challenges.

Peter joined AMTIL in June 2008 and served as Member Services Manager. During that time, he became a familiar face among AMTIL members both old and new, getting out and about on a regular basis to visit manufacturers around the country and talk about their concerns.

In addition, Peter was closely involved in a number of key AMTIL projects over the years, notably the development of our ManufactureLink industry capability directory, its predecessor The Source, and numerous other member services and benefits. Peter is moving on to pursue a senior position with an electronics company based in south-east Melbourne.

Luke didn’t rack up as many years as Peter – he joined the team in September 2011 – but he will be equally missed. As our IT Administrator, his arrival brought an end to a long period of digital misery for AMTIL, sorting out our systems, and solving the many problems we still managed to create for ourselves.

On top of all that, Luke was integral in the development and roll-out of our new website and online presence, as well as helping out at Austech and countless other AMTIL events.

Luke has left to take up an exciting new role with a software company in the city.

“All of us at AMTIL are very sad to see Luke and Peter go,” says AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti. “They both brought a fantastic degree of commitment, enthusiasm and expertise to their respective roles, as well as being wellliked members of the team. Although they will both be missed here at AMTIL, I’d like to wish them both the very best of luck for the future.”

Should you have any questions about your membership, please now contact our Corporate Services Manager Greg Chalker, on 03 9800 3666, or email gchalker@amtil. com.au.

More of the same

Peter driving the drinks carts at the AMTIL Golf Day.

Luke with Franco and Shane in the AMTIL team.

Luke Hoare (left) and Peter Lambe (right) enjoying a drink at AMT’s 10 Year Anniversary celebrations

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Round 14 End of Round 14 and the cream is rising to the top. Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Sydney maintain their position as clear favourites for the flag. Freo are coming and so are Gold Coast with another demonstration the kids are turing into men with a convincing win against the Cats. Big news of the round with GWS beating the hapless Blues, Carlton a once proud club who demanded success is now stumbling through mediocrity (and doing it quite well I might add) much to the delight of Laurie. The World Cup has brought some interest with Timmy Cahill smacking in one of the goals of the tournament against The Netherlands and planning to go out on a high against the disappointing Spaniards. Tipping wise it continues to be a tight affair. Laurie Sanchez 1 Fethers

88 (300)

2 SKN

87 (284)

3 Shane Infanti

86 (342)

4 Daniel Fisher

85 (280)

5 Brendan Smith

85 (348)

6 Jeff Hedger

85 (355)

7 WSG

83 (335)

8 mike.k

82 (350)

9 Seco

82 (353)

10 Raff

82 (444

Manufactureres Pavilion proudly owned and operated

by AMTIL

Save the Date Back in 2015!

26th – 29th May 2015 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre Profiling Australian Business for Australian Opportunity • Australian Manufacturers • Speaker Program • Networking Opportunities For more information visit www.amtil.com.au Austech and the Manufacturers Pavilion are proudly owned and operated by AMTIL. Manufacturers Pavilion is within Austech 2015

AMTILinside

New AMTIL Members

ADVANCED MACHINE TOOLS

ABB Australia P/ L 601 Blackburn Rd Notting Hill, VIC 3168 Tel: 1800 222 435 www.abbaustralia.com.au

Advanced Machine Tools 12/15-21 Rhur St Dandenong, VIC 3175 Tel: 03 9793 0053 advancedtools@bigpond.com www.advancedmachinetools.com.au

Automation Equipment Australia P/L 2 Dunstans Crt Thomastown, VIC 3074 Tel: 03 9460 1166 simon.ambrose@anthonygroup.net www.autoequip.co.nz

Cadimage PLM 11 Spring St Beecroft, NSW 2119 Tel: 1800 367 332 vernon@cadimagegroup.com wwwcadimageplm.com

Communicace - Commercial Powerpoint Production 29 Lyall St Leichhardt, NSW 2040 Tel: 0466 550 751 indy@communicace.com

Filblast P/L 3 Ferrier Rd Narangba, QLD 4504 Tel: 1300 929 349 sales@filblast.com.au www.filblast.com.au

Glenco Air & Power 21 Resource St Parkinson, QLD 4115 Tel: 07 3386 9999 sales@glencomfg.com.au www.glencoairpower.com.au

K-TIG 22 Acrylon Rd Salisbury South, SA 5106 Tel: 08 7324 6800 sales-enquiry@k-tig.com www.k-tig.com

Leussink Engineering 16-18 Doyle Ave Unanderra, NSW 2526 Tel: 02 4260 7777 info@leussink.com.au www.leussink.com.au

Pacwel Pty Ltd 2/30 Catherine St Coburg North, VIC 3058 Tel: 03 9355 7099 gary.tempany@pacwel.com www.pacwel.com

Pakuranga Engineering Ltd 50 Sir William Ave East Tamaki, AUK 2163 NZ Tel: 0011 64 9 273 8001 sales@techniturn.com www.techniturn.com

Rapid Advanced Manufacturing Ltd 70 Windermere Dve Poike, Tauranga 3143 NZ Tel: 0011 64 7557 0344 info@rapidman.co.nz www.rapidman.co.nz

Symmetry Innovations 1/6 Dacre St Mitchel, ACT 2911 Tel: 02 6248 6611 info@symmetry.com.au www.symmetry.com.au

Technical Forging NZ Ltd 4 Bancroft Cres Glendene, Waitakere, Auckland. NZ Tel: 0011 64 9813 3270 karolina@techforge.co.nz www.technicalforgings.com

STAETITE FASTENERS®

Staetite Fasteners 53-55 Sheehan Rd Heidelberg West, VIC 3081 Tel: 03 9455 0500 sales@staetite.com www.staetitefasteners.com

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Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Limited

Keeping it Simple.

One Membership, Many Benefits.

connect.inform.grow.

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 corporate services Manager greg chalker on 03 9800 3666 or gchalker@amtil.com.au

1220AMTIL

www.amtil.com.au

industry calendar

Please Note: It is recommended to contact the exhibition organiser to confirm before attending event

INTERNATIONAL 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 AMTEX India, New Delhi 25-28 July 2014 Includes: CNC machines; metal forming/cutting tools; milling/grinding/boring machines; welding machines; material handling. www.amtex2014.com CMF /Metal & Weld 2014 Vietnam 30 July – 2 August 2014 www.cmfvietnam.com TAIROS Taiwan, Taipei 31 July – 3 August 2014 Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show. Includes industry & service robots; system integration; sensors; AI; software; automated equipment, processing, testing, welding. www.tiros.org.tw/en Cambodia International Machinery Industrial Fair Cambodia, Diamond Island Convention Centre 15-18 August 2014 Includes metalworking & automation; tools & hardware; Plastics & Rubber; Printing & Packaging; food processing; agriculture; medical equipment; energy & electricity engineering. www.camboexpo.com/CIMIF Euromold Brasil Brazil, Joinville 18-22 August 2014 Fair for Moldmaking and Tooling, Design and Application Development. With its relatively young exhibition, DEMAT GmbH extends its range of exhibitions to five continents. DEMAT formed a joint venture with “Messe Brasil” to present this exhibition, which debuted in 2012 www.brasilmold.

IMPE China, Tianjin Binhai International Convention and Exhibition Center 21-24 August 2014 Metals processing exhibition, includes metal-cutting/EDM, laser machine tools, forging machinery, metal cutting and welding equipment, moulds and sheet metal processing equipment, robotics/automation,software, testing/measuring instruments. www.chinaimpe.com.cn Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo 26-27 Aug 2014: Hong Kong 18-19 Sep 2014: Tokyo 21-23 Oct 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

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MTT Malaysia Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 26-29 August 2014 Inaugural international machine tools, metalworking technology, precision engineering & tooling exhibition www.mtt-kl.com/2014 Vietnam Manufacturing Expo Vietnam, Hanoi 27-29 August 2014 Includes: machine Tools; Metalworking Technology; Sheet Metalworking Technology ; Welding Technology; software. www.vietnammanufacturingexpo.com Taipei International Mould & Die Industry Fair Taiwan, Taipei 27-30 August 2014 Includes: machining centres, electric discharge machines, wire cutting/milling/grinding/ engraving machines, lathes, cutters, tools, testing equipment, moulds/dies; software. www.odm-dmi.com/en IMEX India, New Delhi 4-6 September 2014 International machine tools expo. includes machine tools and allied products.(Software, material handling; machining/turning/grinding centres, lathes, drilling/boring/milling machines; sheetmetal equipment) www.imexonline.com IMTS USA, Chicago 8-13 September 2014 One of the largest industrial trade shows in the world. Includes more than 15,000 new machine tools, controls, computers, software, components, systems and processes. www.imts.com AmCon New York: 10-11 September Texas – 7-8 October Utah – 22-23 October Michigan – 11-12 November A one-stop-shop design & contract manufacturing expo which includes forming/ fabricating; machining; engineering; prototyping; finishing; assembly. www.amconshows.com Jordan International Industries & Machinery Exhibition Jordan 15-18 September 2014 A leading Sourcing Exhibition in the Levant region. Includes metal working machinery, machine tools, plastic processing, food processing, welding equipment. www.jordanmachineryshow.com METAL Poland, Targi Kielce 16-18 September 2014 International Fair of Technologies for Foundry.

Includes: melting of casting alloys, Design and production of foundry equipment, moulding and core-making machines, moulding materials, sand, bentonite, binders etc. www.targikielce.pl

Korea Metal Week South Korea, 16-19 September 2014 Includes Fastener & Wire Korea, Die Casting & Foundry Korea, Automobile & Machine Parts Korea, Press & Forging Korea, Tube & Pipe Korea, Metal Surface Treatment & Painting Korea, 3D printing Technology Show. www.korea-metal.com AMB Germany, Stuttgart 16-20 September 2014 Leading international metal working exhibition www.messe-stuttgart.de/en/amb MSE2014 Manufacturing Solutions Expo Singapore, Suntec City Convention Centre 8-10 October 2014 www.smfederation.org.sg (click on Calendar/Trade Fairs) Mining and Engineering (M&E) Indonesia Indonesia, Jakarta 29-31 October 2014 Delivers significant opportunities for Australian and international suppliers to enhance their business profile, launch latest technologies and services and network with mining professionals from Indonesia and the surrounding region. www.miningandengineeringindo.com JIMTOF Japan, Tokyo 30 October – 4 November 2014 Leading international machine tool exhibition www.jimtof.org/eng MACTECH 2014 Egypt, Cairo International Convention Center 27-30 November 2014 The14th edition for MACTECH – the regional manufacturing, trading and networking forum serving the markets of the Middle East and North Africa. Specialising in Machine Tools, Industrial Tools, Welding and Cutting Equipment www.mactech.com.eg local 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 Queensland Mining & Engineering Exhibition Mackay Showground 22-24 July 2014 Industrial exhibition for the mining sector. www.queenslandminingexpo.com.au Defence and Industry Conference Adelaide 29-30 July 2014 Will bring together Defence officials and representatives of Defence Industry from across the country and overseas. Discussing available work for SMEs, not just in the Defence sector, to maximise local business opportunities. www.defenceandindustry.gov.au

industry calendar local - continued Cleanscene Sydney Olympic Park 2-4 September 2014 National cleaning and hygiene expo. Co-located with Safety in Action. www.cleansceneshow.com.au

Mining & Engineering NSW Newcastle Entertainment Centre 8-10 October 2014 The latest products and technologies for the coal mining sector of the Upper Hunter Valley. www.miningandengineeringnsw.com.au

Safety in Action Sydney Olympic Park 2-4 September 2014 Includes comprehensive range of safety products and services. www.safetyinaction.net.au

Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo Sydney 9-10 October 2014 Innovations in the collection, sorting and processing of waste from the municipal, commercial and construction sectors. www.awre.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

Advertiser Index 8 3D Printing Systems Asia Pacific Acra Machinery 9 AlfexCNC 17 Amada 86-87 12, 59 AMTIL AMT AMTIL Membership 83 AMTIL Austech 81 79 AMTIL ManufactureLink Applied Machinery Aust. P/L 63 61 BAC Systems Complete Machine Tools 53 19 Compressed Air Australia Delcam 51 88 DMG Mori Seiki Epilog Laser 31 EFIC 69 Euroblech 21 67 Finlease G-Zero five 55

All Energy Australia 2014 Melbourne Convention Centre 15-16 October 2014 an annual, free-to-delegate, business-tobusiness conference and networking forum hosted alongside an exhibition showcasing renewable energy, clean energy, sustainable transport and energy efficiency. www.all-energy.com.au Sustainability in Business Melbourne Convention Centre 15-16 October 2014 Looks at the core fundamentals needed for a company’s sustainable future and how sustainable innovation can help drive them forward to improve their profitability and social responsibility while reducing their impact on the environment. www.australiansustainability.com.au Queensland Gas Conference Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 25-26 November 2014 Dedicated to the latest developments surrounding Coal Seam Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas in Queensland www.queenslandgasconference.com.au

Hare & Forbes 43 Industrial Laser 15 Iscar 2,3 LS Starrett 41 Machinery Forum 77 MAPAL 33 23 MTI Qualos 7 OKUMA OMAX 29 OSG Asia Pty Ltd 4 5 Recruit Australia 71 47 Sandvik SEW Eurodrive 63 Siemens Industry Software 13 Standaco Machinery Sales 45 Sutton Tools 29 Thyssenkrupp 35 Walter Cover, 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

2015 Australian Motoring Festival Melbourne Showground 26-29 March, 2015 Showcasing the largest cross-section of vehicles ever assembled in this country, including new and historic cars and motorcycles, SUVs, and special interest vehicles. www.australianmotoringfestival.com.au Austech Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 26-29 May 2015 Australia’s premier advanced precision manufacturing and machine tool exhibition.

The only show specifically targeted at the metalworking, machine tool and ancillary market held in Australia. www.amtil.com.au/Austech-Exhibition National Manufacturing Week Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 26-29 May 2015 Fully integrated annual manufacturing exhibition showcasing the latest products and constantly evolving technologies in the expanding manufacturing market www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au/ Avalon 2015 Victoria, Geelong 25 February – 1 March 2015 Australian International Airshow & Aerospace & Defence Exposition www.airshow.com.au/airshow2015

aug14 Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

NEXT MONTH…

FOOD & BEVERAGES Our main feature takes a look at how Australian manufacturers are taking advantage of fresh opportunities in the food and drinks industry.

DIRECT/ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING CUTTING TOOLS FORMING & FABRICATION SAFETY

AMT JULY 2014

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Expanding the support of the sheet metal working industry.

Seminar for Operator and Programmer Targeted towards machine operators and programmers, the contents is how to use.

Sydney

Melbourne

Aug

Software

Software

Sep

Punching

Punching

Oct

Laser

Laser

Nov

Bending

Bending

Open House for Owner / Manager Targeted at owners and managers, the content is on how to realize the value of a new machine purchase.

Also used to introduce new machines by explaining the benefits in capability, capacity and cost reduction.

Sydney

Melbourne

Aug

Yes

Yes

Sep

Yes

Yes

Oct

Yes

Yes

Nov

Yes

Yes

Study tour Aug

Domestic

Sep

Japan

Oct

Domestic

Nov

Japan

Dec

Domestic

You can opt in to receive email notification of each event at www.amada.com.au/optin Amada Oceania Pty Ltd www.amada.com.au

AMADA OPEN DAY You are invited to the Amada Open Day on Wednesday 20th August 2014 where we will be displaying the NEW Amada LCG 3015 Laser Machine.

We d n e

sday

2 0th Au g u st 2 0

14

Booking is essential so to reserve your place, please contact Andrew on andrew.r@amada.com.au or call 0404 311 491

LCG 3015

Amada introduces the new LCG3015 flatbed laser cutting machine.

Setting a new benchmark for performance and price at this level of investment, the machine ensures optimum productivity and value.

Aimed at any sheet metal shop looking to achieve high speed cutting of thin to mid-thick materials, the LCG3015 sets new standards for quality and value on a flatbed laser cutter. In fact, the CO2 machine is capable of processing 20mm mild steel.

• • • • • •

Rapid feed rates: 170m/min, the fastest in class Lightweight Y Axis carriage with low centre of gravity - 30% weight reduction New helical rack drive ensures high speeds and smooth operation New 3.5kW CO2 Oscillator - Highly tuned for quality and stability Energy saving - ECO Cut and reduced power consumption VPSS Software Solution Pack for seamless part processing and programming

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

COOPERATION SUSTAINS INNOVATION

NVX 5000 II Series

Vertical Machining Center with Unparalleled Rigidity and Durability

The NVX 5000 II Series offers improved machining efďŹ ciency thanks to a spindle with an increased maximum spindle speed of 13,000 min-1 , as well as excellent features of the previous model, including slideways with high damping performance.

Its new cover designed with workability in mind offers better accessibility, operability, and visibility. Additionally, an external chip conveyor (option), designed in-house and capable of handling any chip in any shape, ensures higher productivity All of the latest news available at: www.dmgmori.com

Highlights NVX 5000 II Series _An extreme benchmark in price and performance _Excellent stability and cushioning due to slideways on all axes _Integrated cooling system in the machine bed to control and improve thermal displacement (optional) _MAPPS IV with 10.4" TFT-Display