AMT OCT/NOV 2016

Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Oct Nov

Renewable & Clean Technology Rail

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Contents

Volume 16 Number 05 October/November ISSN 1832-6080

42

FEATURES RENEWABLE ENERGY & CLEAN TECH A bright shining future Australian Tech Competition highlights innovation K-TIG – Environmentally sustainable welding Green Power – Making the switch SA companies clean up on clean water tech Clean tech innovation in Australia

42 46 48 50 52 54

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING Hydraulic block manifold redesign for AM Metal powders + additive manufacturing Jigs & fixtures: More profitable production

60 62 64

FORMING & FABRICATION Jonda steps up the game Mitcham Laser invests in the future Press brake safety and ergonomics

66 68 72

RAIL Australian rail manufacturers: Get innovative Keeping reliability and quality on track

76 78

MATERIAL REMOVAL Eastgate: An advantage on precision

80

CUTTING TOOLS Walter: Mobile, faster and smarter Evolution of chip thickness models for milling Evolution in tool life

82 84 86

SAFETY Integra Transform - Boosting health & productivity Best practice cleaning in manufacturing

89 90

A bright shining future Renewable energy and other clean technologies are taking off around the world, driven by rising investment and technical advances, and Australian innovators are seizing the opportunities. In Australia, records are being broken in areas including solar steam generation and photovoltaic efficiency.

56 Wade Noonan - Victorian State Minister for Industry, Employment & Resources

QUALITY & INSPECTION Improving the quality & speed of inspecting aerospace parts 92 Faro releases higher-resolution Cobalt Array Imager 93

The Minister speaks to AMT about the programs which the State Government has invested in to generate confidence and new opportunities in Victoria. This is anticipated to drive approx. $60m worth of new exports.

REGULARS From the Editor From the CEO From the Minister From the Industry From the Union

8 10 12 14 16

INDUSTRY NEWS Current news from the industry

20

VOICEBOX Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

28

PRODUCT NEWS Our selection of new and interesting products

36

ONE ON ONE Wade Noonan - Victorian State Minister for Industry & Employment and Minister for Resources

Andrew Donald Design Engineering ADDE’s engineers, industrial designers and robotics experts design and build turnkey industrial automation solutions, including developing the largest robot palletiser in Australia. The company takes AMT on a site tour.

56

COMPANY FOCUS Andrew Donald Design Engineering

74

AMTIL FORUM Forum Law Forum R&D Forum Finance Forum Strategies

94 95 96 97

MANUFACTURERS’ PAVILION

98

Your IndustrY. Your

MANUFACTURING HISTORY – A look back in time

114

MagazIne.

Oct NOv

technology

106

AustrAliAn MAnufActuring

AMTIL INSIDE The latest news from AMTIL

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

74

y Renewable & Clean TeChnolog Rail additive Manufacturing Forming & Fabrication Material removal Cutting tools safety Quality & Inspection

Cover A breakthrough in harnessing the sun’s power has been achieved by ANU scientists . Page 42

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008

From the Editor William Poole

Winning the manufacturing vote

The next time I write this column, the world will be a different place. That’s because, on 8 November, the strange spectacle that has been the US presidential race will finally be settled. The contest has hogged headlines so long, it’s hard to remember a time when it wasn’t going on. Regardless of the outcome, it’ll seem quiet when it’s over.

But amid all the commotion about border walls and email servers, a debate about US manufacturing has been rumbling along in the background, with both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump pledging to revitalise the industry and create more jobs.

Clinton’s proposals are more modest, with measures to support manufacturers and manufacturing communities, promote skills, and upgrade infrastructure. She promises efforts to discourage offshoring and incentivise reshoring, and stronger enforcement of international trade regulations.

Trump, unsurprisingly, has adopted a more radical stance, condemning US companies who have moved manufacturing operations abroad, particularly to China, which he accuses of gaining unfair advantage through IP theft, product dumping and currency manipulation. He promises a raft of protectionist measures, renegotiating trade deals and compelling US companies to reshore.

His stance has drawn charges of hypocrisy from the Clinton camp, who have highlighted numerous Trump-branded or related products made in other countries, from clothing to furniture to construction parts for his hotels. Such accusations are fair enough given Trump’s campaign rhetoric, though it misses the point regarding how global manufacturing works these days.

For a start, many of those products are in low-value-add, low-skill categories where the US can’t compete with low-cost countries. Regarding his clothing ranges, Trump himself said: “It’s very, very hard to have anything apparel made in this country.” One could argue that, just because offshoring might make economic sense to him as a businessman, that doesn’t mean as President he wouldn’t seek to change that equation.

But that doesn’t make his ideas any less of an over-simplification. In one speech, for example, Trump voiced his aim to get Apple to move production from China to the US. This trades on the misconception that China’s success is simply down to a vast army of cheap labour. That may be part of it, but it’s less and less the case. China has ploughed massive investment into – in technology, in infrastructure, in skills, in optimising supply chains. The US hasn’t kept up.

Getting Apple to reshore would take more than simply inducing it to pay US wages. For instance, Apple CEO Tim Cook has stated that it’s not about wages, but vocational skills, citing as an example China’s overwhelming numerical advantage in terms of tool and die makers. Addressing that gap alone would require a huge commitment to retraining US workers, which sits at odds with Trump’s commitment to cutting taxes. And it would take years. Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the US-Mexico border might grab more headlines, but his pledges regarding manufacturing are arguably just as unworkable.

Yet both candidates have been guilty of promising more than they can deliver, talking up plans to restore manufacturing’s former role as a driver of mass employment in pursuit of votes in areas hit by the industry’s decline. US manufacturing is unlikely to ever provide the huge numbers of low-skilled jobs it once did. Indeed, as it embraces automation and digitisation, China is heading the same way.

As visitors to IMTS in Chicago last month will have seen, US manufacturing is in fact already strong, built on advanced processes and innovation. Clinton’s more measured, realistic policies might well help strengthen the sector. But promises from both candidates to return the industry to its former glories are just a misleading grab for votes. This presidential race has seen US manufacturing treated as a political football. It’ll be a relief when it’s over.

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Australian Manufacturing Technology

Editor William Poole wpoole@amtil.com.au Contributor Carole Goldsmith Sales Manager Anne Samuelsson asamuelsson@amtil.com.au Publications Co-ordinator Gabriele Richter grichter@amtil.com.au Publisher Shane Infanti sinfanti@amtil.com.au Designer Franco Schena fschena@amtil.com.au Prepress & Print Printgraphics Australia AMT Magazine is printed in Australia 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.

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Contact AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 for further information.

1325AMTOctnov2016

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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010

From the CEO Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

Assessing the global manufacturing outlook

AMTIL is a member of the world Manufacturing Technology Association Network. Each year 21 industry associations from around the world get together at a major international show to share knowledge and network.

This year at IMTS, held in September in Chicago, we had a number of meetings and presentations focused on global manufacturing trends, as well as current and future issues that may impact on certain economies. The Network commissions Oxford Economics to produce a 100 page bi-annual report which takes into account the sum and consumption of manufacturing technology across 23 key economies and eight key industry sectors. This is combined with key economic data and other factors to come up with a modeling report that has proven to be an accurate forecast for manufacturing growth over the years.

Jeremy Leonard from Oxford Economics gave a thorough overview of the statistical data that went into the latest Outlook Report. It was reported that there has been disappointing growth in all parts of the world, leading to world GDP growth of 2.2% over the past 12 months. When you consider that China (6.9% increase in GDP) and India (7.2% increase), whilst down on expectations, still had reasonable growth levels, it shows how sluggish the rest of the world’s economies have performed during that time.

It was reported that world trade and world GDP are both forecasted to grow between 2-3% per annum for the next three years, with multiple risks being identified that may have impact.

One of those risks is the rebounding of oil prices. From August 2014, oil prices have dropped from over $100 per barrel to around $40 per barrel and operational oil rigs in the US have dropped from 1600 to 400. The massive market volatility of oil prices is relatively unseen but it does potentially have a significant impact globally on automotive sales, consumer spending and ultimately inflation.

Another risk highlighted in the report is a severe downturn in the growth of China. This past year is the first non-double digit year of growth for China and whilst a 6.9% increase in GDP may appear strong from a local perspective, this level of growth will not sustain the rapid expansion of infrastructure within China. The impact of single digit growth for this burgeoning economy will be hard to forecast and therefore poses a real threat to future predictions.

Believe it or not, the impact of a Trump presidency on the US economy has been identified as a major global risk to the

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

manufacturing sector. The Oxford Economics report has forecast five consecutive quarters of negative growth under a Trump administration with his current proposed policies in place.

Another significant risk to global economics is the Brexit-related uncertainty that is weighing heavily over Europe at present. Since the 52:48 decision in June to leave the EU stunned most of the pollsters, we have been in this state of flux not really knowing for certain when the next steps in the process will be taken. The final process of negotiations will only take place once the UK triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – now predicted to eventually happen early next year – almost a full year since the landmark referendum.

Until then, the UK remains a full member of the EU although they have already declined to take up the rotation of the Presidency of the EU that was due in 2017. Meanwhile, all of this delay and speculation has had a negative impact on the economy already.

The Manufacturing Technology Association (MTA) in the UK has reported a sharp deterioration in business confidence and declines in export planning and investment intentions over the past few months. An August 2016 survey by the Bank of England asked the question of what impact the decision to leave the EU will have on business and the response was that negative impact will occur on capital spending, corporate activity and hiring of staff. So whilst these projections are not good for the UK in terms of jobs and growth, we are yet to see the impact on the global stage of the Brexit decision.

Geopolitical tensions was another risk factor that remains a bit of a mystery. Talking to my counterpart with the Turkish Association it was evident the impact their recent events has had on the economy in general but manufacturing specifically. Tensions across the Middle East and South China, for example, have the potential to impact so this is a risk and we will wait to see what happens.

However, whilst the Outlook Report forecasts only modest growth and the risks identified are real, we still remain positive about the future of the global manufacturing sector. The key question is, how does Australia position itself within global supply chains to improve on its potential? But that is a story for another time.

Real Business Real People Real Members New Touch Laser Cutting have been members of AMTIL since 2001.

This membership has resulted in many benefits from access to experienced professionals who I often seek second opinions and advise from, to helping us grow our business via networking events, advertising in AMT and appearing at Austech, by far the best manufacturing magazine and exhibition in Australia. AMTIL have put us in contact with many business specialist in all fields who have offered invaluable support and assistance over many years. On behalf of myself and the whole team at New Touch Laser Cutting I would like to thank AMTIL for many great years of service, assistance, help and friendship.

Brad Drury, New Touch Laser Cutting

Since 1999, AMTIL has been connecting business, informing of opportunities and growing the manufacturing community.

To be become an AMTIL member contact our Corporate Servcies Manager, Greg Chalker on 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au

amtil.com.au 1311AMTIL/BD

012

From the ministry The Hon Greg Hunt MP – Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science

Innovation is in our blood

At its core, the Industry, Innovation and Science portfolio is about jobs, and I can’t think of a better portfolio to lead as we look to create a bright, prosperous future for all Australians.

The word innovation may have a renewed popularity around the world in recent times, but the idea resonates with our history.

Innovation is in our blood. From the ultrasound scanner and solar hot water, to WiFi and the cervical cancer vaccine, Australians have developed a reputation for identifying problems and applying insight, intellect and determination to solve them.

Innovation matters because it delivers tangible outcomes for business and for the economy. Innovators are around 60% more likely to report increased sales income and profitability than businesses that do not innovate. And innovators are about twice as likely to increase productivity and employment as non-innovators.

Forty-five per cent of our firms are involved in innovation in some way and it’s a major driving force for productivity growth. The Turnbull Government’s task is to ensure the policy environment not only nurtures existing businesses, but also encourages new businesses to grow, thrive and survive. It’s about striking a balance between helping existing businesses succeed and grow, and increasing opportunities for high-wage jobs for the skilled workforce Australia will need to remain globally competitive.

Innovation is occurring in existing businesses of all shapes and sizes across the country, from the mechanic in Melbourne to the coffee roaster in Sydney to the mining services firm in Central Queensland.

It’s happening on the factory floor, on our farms, in the office – and we see leading-edge research occurring in our science laboratories.

It’s all about turning ideas into a commercial opportunity—to create jobs and a better quality of life. It’s about new or improved goods or services, new processes or new business models.

Innovation is of course about new businesses as well. Over the years 2002-03 to 2013-14, start-ups drove the creation of 1.6m new jobs.

The Turnbull Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda is fundamental to this and one of my portfolio priorities is to continue to implement its measures. We recently launched three key initiatives as part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda to encourage investment in innovative start-ups, foster new enterprises and promote entrepreneurship.

The Biomedical Translation Fund is a $500m venture capital fund to assist in the commercialisation of new biomedical products and services. These investments are expected to help solve the funding problem which holds back the commercialisation effort of groundbreaking new medicines, therapies and medical devices.

On 1 July, new tax arrangements came into effect for angel investors, to encourage more investment in start-ups. These new measures include a 20% tax offset based on the amount of their investment, capped at up to $200,000 per investor (for ‘sophisticated investors’) and a 10-year capital gains tax exemption for investments held for 12 months or more.

And our changes to early-stage venture capital limited partnerships allows for a broader range of investment activities. The changes include increasing the maximum fund size from $100m to $200m and provides a 10% non-refundable tax offset on capital invested during the year.

In 2016-17, we are on track to provide $10.1bn to support research and experimental development. This is an increase of 3.55% on the Budget Estimate of $9.7bn in 2015-16. Our challenge is to turn this investment into real benefits for Australians.

We need to remain competitive globally, and while the Australian economy has shown resilience, there are increasing risks to the economic outlook. We can’t afford to be complacent, particularly as our competitors drive their own innovation agendas. We must be responsive and forward looking.

On 1 September, I introduced a bill to parliament that will create a new Innovation and Science Australia board. Innovation and Science Australia will help us complete the first wave of the National Innovation and Science Agenda, pursue a second wave based on investment attraction, and a third wave built around business simplification and our 2030 science and innovation plan.

Beyond that, it will work across government – providing guidance for around our $10.1bn annual investment in innovation, science and research – and will directly engage international, business and community sectors to improve the national innovation system’s overall performance.

Chaired by Bill Ferris, with Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel the Deputy Chair, the board of Innovation and Science Australia includes some of the best minds in Australia today, with a proven track record of success in areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship.

We’ve shown we’re a nation that can harness its ingenuity to create opportunity and prosperity. But our future strength depends on our ability to innovate. The Government will continue to play its part, getting the settings right to encourage existing firms to grow and new firms to start, creating new opportunities and driving jobs and prosperity.

Innovation matters because it delivers tangible outcomes for business and for the economy. Innovators are around 60% more likely to report increased sales income and profitability than businesses that do not innovate.

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From the industry Innes Willox – Chief Executive Australian Industry Group

Australia can move from laggard to leader on collaborative innovation

OECD statistics rank Australia last among advanced economies for collaboration between business and universities.

This runs counter to Australia’s needs for innovation to keep businesses competitive and our economy growing.

Strong evidence exists to show businesses that innovate do better.

They are better able to adapt and respond to changes in their external environment, are more productive and more profitable.

Data from the Department of Industry and Science highlight that innovative businesses account for a disproportionately large share of Australia’s employment, capital expenditure, business income and internet income – and businesses benefit regardless of their size or their sector.

Government, for its part, can improve the rules and incentives it provides. Public research funding decisions need to incorporate data on commercial impact, as well as the existing emphasis on academic citations. Programs to build business capability and foster industry growth sectors can further emphasise and support collaboration. Above all, Government needs to lead by holding steady: building continuity and stability in innovation policy, rather than the regular upheaval of the last two decades.

Successful innovation is more likely where people and organisations with different capabilities work together – but this is not happening anywhere near the levels our economy requires. Indeed, despite the evidence that collaboration in innovation is much more strongly linked to commercial performance than innovation spending, there is an absence of practical and easily accessible information for business on how to enter successful innovation partnerships, engage external stakeholders, and manage these relationships to achieve commercial success.

Commonwealth and State Governments have made efforts to boost innovation collaboration over many years, including Co-operative Research Centres (CRCs), industry clusters, precincts, growth centres and more. These efforts have had important successes but they have also faced challenges:

With this in mind, Ai Group has surveyed hundreds of businesses and interviewed leading innovators to shine a light on our collaboration performance and the ways to improve it. The resulting report, Joining Forces: Innovation Success Through Partnerships, launched by the Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science Greg Hunt at Parliament House in September, confirms that Australian collaboration is low, but also identifies a range of positive and productive collaborative practices.

Informal relationships between businesses and universities are nearly three times more common than formal research partnerships (28% of surveyed businesses versus 10%). Businesses are much more likely to collaborate with each other on new products, processes or business models (59% of medium-sized business respondents) than with public sector researchers (23% of mediumsized business respondents).

• Attracting participants, particularly among smaller and medium-sized businesses.

• Achieving sustainable collaboration that can continue without public funding, which is usually either temporary or unstable.

• Utilising and listening to all the partners to the collaboration to achieve successful commercial outcomes for each.

• The tendency to focus on creating networks or partnerships for their own sake, rather than on relationships that serve a larger purpose or reflect a long-term confluence of interests.

• Over-emphasis on achieving pre-determined technical outcomes (new intellectual property) rather than commercial outcomes (new or increased revenue streams).

Failure is an unavoidable part of the innovation process, and indeed a valuable one when lessons can be derived from the failure and applied to build future success. However, when collaborative innovation initiatives go more fundamentally awry in these ways they may deter people from exploring opportunities associated with collaborative innovation in the future.

There are substantial barriers to more and better collaboration.

Lack of skills and time for collaboration were the most widely cited barriers for SMEs, while larger businesses were most likely to find difficulties in aligning objectives with public researchers.

The level and outcomes of collaborative innovation in Australia could be greatly improved if more attention was paid to the:

The report collates practical insights on how businesses can make collaboration work from leading Australian innovators including Leica Biosystems, Planet Innovation, Pollenizer, Siemens Australia and Signostics. Business leaders can boost their partnership potential by building collaboration into their strategic plans; taking smart steps to identify and attract partners; and building a business culture of openness, cross-fertilisation and readiness for risk.

• Factors that contribute to successful collaboration on innovation – how we should be approaching it.

Strong collaborators’ practices identified in the report include: • Realistic assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, to enable selection of partners with complementary capabilities.

• Inviting partners to explore underlying problems together, not just advance an already-identified technical solution.

• Forming joint innovation teams who can later embed their knowledge and experience in their home organisations.

The research sector can also rethink some of its practices and priorities. For instance, an overriding emphasis on acquiring IP rights from innovation partnerships is often self-defeating – dissuading business from collaborating with universities in the first place.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

• Barriers to and incentives for greater collaboration on innovation and what can be done to address or leverage them.

Multiple initiatives are converging on this agenda. The Federal Government’s recent National Innovation and Science Agenda includes measures to boost collaboration by reweighting the funding formulae for public research. The university sector is examining itself and devising new strategies for connecting with industry effectively. Ai Group will continue to play our part, providing services to improve the performance of our member businesses and tirelessly advocating for effective policy.

Embedding collaboration in Australia’s culture is vital, but challenging: we are building up from a low base, where collaborative innovation is rare and shallow. Despite strong interest and effort from industry, government and the public research sector, improvement is slow.

Innovation is not just an abstract concept, but a source of new products and business models that create jobs, investment and possibilities for all of us. We can do better – together.

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From The Union Paul Bastian – National Secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

Consensus needed on apprenticeship reform Reform is a word that is overused and often misused. Often it is used to disguise a process designed simply to make something cheaper, or to shift the costs onto someone else. The costly debacle that is the VET FEE Help student loan scheme is an example.

The AMWU is always up for a debate about genuine reform, particularly about the pressing need to improve Australia’s apprenticeship system.

For over 600 years in the Western World, apprenticeships have been the most directly vocational – and successful – way of producing skilled workers. Those of us who have done a highquality apprenticeship understand very clearly how important they are to building the capability we need to drive the sort of economic prosperity we want for coming generations.

A skilled workforce is a public good worthy of public investment.

But an apprenticeship system that is hijacked in the name of a rigid political ideology, which becomes just another arm of the corporate welfare system and is relegated to the status of an employment subsidy favouring employers, is not.

High-value manufacturing advocate Jon Bradshaw made some pertinent points in a recent article, “Let’s talk apprenticeship reform”.

I suspect many AMWU members would share his views on what passes for reform these days. Our take on the Federal Government’s Apprentice Reform Advisory Group (ARAG) report was that it represented a lazy analysis of what are relatively simple issues.

Sadly, these are often made incredibly and unnecessarily complex by introducing a mix of political, ideological and budget management objectives. I note that not a single member of the ARAG group has done an apprenticeship.

We share Jon’s concerns about the lack of attention being given to the “specific skills, delivery structure and training needs of a scaledup sovereign defence industry capability”. It would be a cruel blow to Australians, having fought so hard to secure commitments in shipbuilding and other defence capability, if an inability to produce the skilled workforce needed were to turn what should be a stunning success into catastrophic failure. The fact that the ARAG report completely ignored this point is of deep concern.

Our trade apprenticeship system is not broken, but if it’s to be reformed we must face some hard questions. What problem are we trying to solve? In whose interests? Who will ultimately carry the risk for what we do in the name of reform?

The primary purpose of apprenticeships is to produce skilled workers for the long term, which will help boost productivity and our living standards. But the reforms being raised through ARAG, the NSW apprenticeship legislation review and others appear to be geared to driving the apprenticeship system ever further from this primary purpose.

Recently one of our senior specialists in vocational education and training visited Germany and saw how things were done in a manufacturing nation so admired around the world. The Australian and German trade apprenticeship systems share many structural similarities, so there are lessons for us despite differences both culturally and in practice. Germany operates a federated system where the powers of the Federal Government and the 16 states are exercised within a collaborative framework, as do we. They set nationally recognised occupational standards. They also set standards for training delivery. They have employment-based

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training contracts to underpin the employment and training of apprentices. They register training providers – as do we.

But there are notable differences that we could learn from. The German system is genuinely vocational. The development of standards starts with an occupational need expressed by industry and defined through genuine and longstanding consensus. There are enforceable federal standards set for in-company training as part of the training contract, not just at a vocational college. There are minimum qualification standards for company trainers.

One of the truly surprising facts of the German dual system is that government spending on the system is about €3bn per annum while company spending is about €24bn. They recognise that the cost appears high, but they also recognise the return they get from apprentices is significant resulting in an estimated net cost of only €4,000-5,000 per apprentice.

And we shouldn’t forget that Germany ranks as one of the highestcost nations in which to do business.

The German Office for International Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training describes the underpinning culture in terms of: “We want to jointly steer VET“; “We share the responsibility for VET“; ”VET should be practice-oriented, coherent and of highquality“; “VET standards need to be demand-driven and up-to-date“; and tellingly, “VET is the precondition for competitiveness on the global market.“ In short, in Germany VET is seen as an accepted, shared societal responsibility and is a highly valued and successful valued pathway, as evidenced by the fact that about 40% of university entrance qualifications are acquired through VET. I wonder what the Germans would think of reform proposals that include upfront delivery of training followed by ‘internships’ with no employment relationship. Or programs that offer only ‘skillsets’, that don’t lead to nationally recognised, portable and transferable qualifications. These are being proposed in Australia at the very time everyone understands that more agile and mobile workers with higher-level qualifications are what this nation desperately needs to transition from our reliance on commodities.

I wonder what they would think of the merits of “integrating preemployment and pre-apprenticeship programs” with “work-based welfare programmes”, as proposed in the ARAG report. It’s as if apprenticeships in our nation should become part of the punishment meted out by this Government for being unemployed.

It’s unlikely the German employers and employees that the AMWU consulted would be impressed by the deliberate undermining of TAFE and the degradation of its capability in the pursuit of free market ideology.

If we are genuinely interested in reform of our apprenticeship system, perhaps we could lift our gaze a little. We need to think about whether the barriers to international competitiveness and prosperity reside in our systems and processes, or in our conservative ideological culture.

The AMWU is up for that debate, but it should be a genuine debate.

WHEREVER YOU'RE GOING, WE'RE STILL HERE FOR YOU Despite the challenges in manufacturing, we’re investing more, not less.

This ranges from local manufacturing & stock holding to reconditioning and ‘on the ground’ service support across Australia.

We’re right here to help you achieve whatever you set your mind to.

Go with the sure thing in tooling, call us on 1800 639 991 or visit our website: www.guhring.com.au

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industry news

Rebounding manufacturers look forward to more profitable 2017

Australia’s manufacturers have rebounded strongly in recent months and are confident of improving profits next year due to rising turnover and a lower Australian dollar, the September quarter Australia Chamber-Westpac Survey of Industrial Trends has found.

The Westpac-AusChamber Actual Composite index rebounded in the September quarter to 57.3 points, up 2.3 points, returning the index to near its 2015 average. The above-par reading for the Composite index, which trended higher in 2014 and 2015, reflects strength across new orders, output and overtime, and an emerging resilience in employment.

past year, but remains far from strong. The modest uptrend in exports appears to have stumbled in 2016, with respondents reporting export deliveries were unchanged in the September quarter. Expectations are for the uptrend in exports to resume, supported by the relatively low Australian dollar, but constrained by weak world trade.”

“Manufacturing is benefitting from a strong upswing in new home building activity, although rates of growth have moderated, and a lift in renovation activity,” said Andrew Hanlan, Senior Economist at Westpac. “It is also benefitting from a significant improvement in competitiveness flowing from the sharply lower currency, down 28% against the US dollar since the 2013 peak.”

Equipment investment intentions strengthened over the past two years, consistent with a trend reduction in the sector’s spare capacity and improving profitability. A net 21% of firms expect to increase equipment spending in the next year. Investment plans for building investment are more muted, a net positive 8%.

The report found that businesses are looking to 2017 to be a positive year for profits, driven by rising turnover and a lower Australian dollar boosting export returns. A net 25% of respondents expected profits to rise in the 12 months to come.

Positive expectations among manufacturers were centred on new orders and output, with firms planning to respond by increasing overtime and, at the margin, adding to their existing workforce.

However, Hanlan stressed that the cycle remains constrained.

“Mining investment is turning down sharply and global fragilities persist,” he remarked. “Consumer spending was solid over the

The Survey, which closed on 2 September, canvassed 304 respondents from across the manufacturing sector. James Pearson, CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it showed that Australian manufacturing is turning circumstances to its advantage.

“Manufacturers are tapping into new home building and renovation activity in Australia and a more competitive currency internationally to make sales at home and abroad,” said Pearson.

“The emerging resilience in employment is pleasing to see, as is the renewed strength across new orders, output and overtime.

BAE win FATS contract with Navy

BAE Systems Australia has won a $32m, three year contract to provide the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) with an improved anti-ship missile test capability.

The Future Advanced Threat Simulator (FATS) is an airborne radar system designed to closely emulate the in-flight behaviour of a range of anti-ship missiles. It has been designed to provide a test and evaluation and fleet training capability to assist with the development of advanced maritime self-protection concepts for the RAN. BAE Systems will design, develop, manufacture, test and deliver the FATS capability suite. Work on the project will start this month and will support 20 specialist engineering roles at the company’s Edinburgh Parks facility in Adelaide.

“At the heart of this impressive technology is local innovation,” said BAE Systems Australia CEO, Glynn Phillips. “The simulator is an advanced capability, developed by our specialist engineering team here in South Australia. It underscores to our Defence customer that we have an airborne test and evaluation capability unmatched within Australia.

“We are very pleased to play such a pivotal part in the development of the next generation of threat emulation capability for Defence.”

In its flight mode, the FATS is configured in an underwing pod and flown against the target ship at low altitude from a Defence contracted Learjet carriage aircraft. This enables the FATS to simulate the flight profile of a sea-skimming anti-ship missile whilst also closely emulating the behaviour of the missile’s seeker. The ship’s crew and its self-defence systems are exercised as the ship performs actions aimed at defeating the incoming missile.

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The FATS is a third-generation technology that leverages BAE Systems’ existing capabilities from the successful Generic Threat Simulator and Airborne Millimeter-wave Stimulator (AMS) product lines.

industry news

CSIRO launches new hybrid energy centre

On 8 September, CSIRO launched its Centre for Hybrid Energy Systems, a collaborative facility to research cutting edge renewable and hybrid energy technologies.

The Centre will be a hub for researchers and industry to identify, improve and then tailor energy technologies to meet specific requirements. Combining two or more forms of energy generation, storage or end-use technologies, hybrid systems deliver overall cost and efficiency benefits, compared with single source energy systems. Configurations include renewable or non-renewable energy sources, electrical and chemical energy storage and fuel cells, often connected via a smart grid.

The collaborative space will be used to share the benefits of emerging hybrid energy systems with industry and government to maximise the value of local energy sources. CSIRO Fellow Dr Sukhvinder Badwal said there was a rapidly growing global demand for hybrid energy systems based on increased availability of renewable and modular power generation and storage technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, and household solar.

“These technologies are becoming cost competitive, but the key to greater use is to combine them in connected hybrid systems,” Dr Badwal said. “By doing this, we can offer substantial improvements in performance, reliability of power, flexibility and cost.”

Centre for Hybrid Energy Systems partner, Delta Energy Systems Australia, is a developer and manufacturer of environmentallyfriendly electric vehicle, solar-supported, fast-charging technologies.

Delta’s Director Allen Chao said his company was set embark on a range of collaborative research projects with CSIRO in this field.

“The opening of the Centre for Hybrid Energy Systems will expand research in this area and marks a significant milestone to ensure the success of any industry co-operation,” said Chao.

Bernie O’Connor, Senior Executive Advisor to the Board of Toyota Australia, congratulated CSIRO on the opening of a research hub for these important technologies: “Toyota Australia recognises the importance of research into alternate green energy sources, as well as its role in the development of future infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles, which are powered exclusively by hydrogen.”

The Centre for Hybrid Energy Systems will also provide education, testing and certification services for emerging storage batteries, hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. It is underpinned by CSIRO’s research across low-emission energy technologies that create value for industry and households and provide the knowledge which will help guide Australia towards a smart, secure energy future. www.csiro.au/ches

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industry news

World-first solar electric cars to be manufactured in Brisbane A new innovation, design and manufacturing hub in Brisbane will see world-first commercial, road registered, custom Australian solar electric cars built in Queensland.

Queensland State Minister for Energy Mark Bailey officially opened Clenergy TeamArrow’s new workshop at Macarthur Avenue, Eagle Farm, on 19 September. He also revealed the team’s ambitions to have a road-registered, ‘Cruiser Class’ race version on the starting grid of the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Darwin.

“Clenergy TeamArrow is one of the most successful Australian solar racing teams of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and I’m excited about this new innovation and design hub here in Brisbane,” Bailey said. “The Palaszczuk Government is a strong advocate for renewable energy and a cleaner, greener energy future and I’m pleased to say that Economic Development Queensland has given the home team a flying start by providing long-term access to the Eagle Farm site and workshop facilities.”

Bailey also unveiled the design of the new sleek, hi-tech and

aerodynamic vehicle at the Eagle Farm hub with Clenergy Team Arrow’s Cameron Tuesley. Tuesley said they drew inspiration from their extensive experiences crossing Australia’s outback.

“We aim to be the first Australian company to manufacture and sell solar electric vehicles and we are proud to be working with energy partners such as Clenergy and Tritium to showcase Australian innovation, science and renewable energy technology to the world,” Tuesley said. “What better stage to launch than the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge? Our ‘race’ version of our car of the future will also be the first road-registered solar vehicle to compete in the Challenge.”

2017 will mark 30 years since a band of pioneers began a 3,000km adventure across the Australian outback in the inaugural World Solar Challenge. Up to 50 teams from 25 countries are expected in 2017.

Lockheed Martin launches leadingedge R&D facility in Melbourne

Melbourne has been confirmed as the location for a leading-edge multi-disciplinary research & development (R&D) facility by leading global technology company Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin will invest an initial $13m over three years to establish a Science Technology Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR Lab) to undertake R&D to solve the technology challenges of the future, and work in the art of the possible. STELaR Lab, the first leading edge multi-disciplinary facility to be established by Lockheed Martin outside the US, will be situated in the heart of Melbourne’s emerging technology district between University of Melbourne and RMIT. It will constitute Lockheed Martin’s national R&D operations centre for its current research portfolio in Australia, and undertake additional internal R&D programs.

Scheduled to open in early 2017, STELaR Lab researchers will explore several fields, including hypersonics, autonomy, robotics and command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Lockheed Martin confirmed the strategic investment in Australia’s future research and development program will create premium jobs for science and technology graduates, with STELaR Lab anticipated to grow to over 20 employees within three years.

Speaking at an event in Melbourne on 1 August to announce the decision, Dr Keoki Jackson, Lockheed Martin’s Chief Technology Officer, confirmed Melbourne’s growing international reputation for research was a key factor in the consideration of a location for the Laboratory.

“The decision to establish a multi-disciplinary R&D facility in Australia was partly based on Lockheed Martin’s own track record of Research & Development success with Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group and Australian Universities over the last 20 years,” said Jackson. “Lockheed Martin laboratories operate

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on the frontline of applied research and development, and have been responsible for many advanced technology breakthroughs. It is our vision that STELaR Lab will add to that unparalleled legacy of technological excellence, and contribute to the advancement of human knowledge.”

Engineers Australia hosted the initiative’s announcement, which was attended by Greg Hunt, federal Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science; Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews; Victorian Minister for Industry & Employment Wade Noonan, and Stephen Conroy, Senator for Victoria.

“This multi-faceted facility will represent a significant step forward for research and development once it is up and running,” said Engineers Australia Executive General Manager for Commercial Services, Ben Leaver. “One of the most effective ways of progressing Australia’s innovation agenda is for there to be closer alignment between researchers and business leaders. Big businesses playing a more active role in research and development will help with overcoming this challenge.”

Raydon Gates AO, Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin ANZ, confirmed STELaR Lab marked a significant step change in Lockheed Martin’s capabilities in Australia, paving the way for deeper collaboration with partners and customers.

“Lockheed Martin technologies and best practice capabilities ensure our local partners can meet the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly changing world,” said Gates. “The establishment of STELaR Lab further reinforces our position as an industry leader in defence and technology, and we are proud of our ability to bring best practice and leading edge concepts to Australia to support growth and innovation.”

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industry news

Austech 2017 – Manufacturers’ Pavilion selling fast

Preparations for next year’s Austech exhibition are continuing to pick up pace, with bookings for the Manufacturers’ Pavilion section of the show selling fast.

The Manufacturers’ Pavilion highlights the capabilities of Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry, offering component manufacturers, precision engineering firms, toolmakers, advanced manufacturers and general engineering companies the opportunity to promote their unique capabilities.

Next year’s Pavilion promises to offer a diverse cross-section of Australian manufacturing today, with exhibits from ANCA & ANCA Motion, Andrew Donald Design Engineers, Capral Aluminium, Catten Industries, Harrop Engineering, JBO Engineering, Mastercut Technologies, Parish Engineering, Stahl Engineering, Thyssenkrupp Materials Australia, TRJ Engineering and Ultimate Laser.

“Over 40% of the stands have already been booked, meaning next year’s event is already well on its way to surpassing the 2015 Pavilion,” says Anne Samuelsson, AMTIL Sales Manager. “We are delighted to see so many of our manufacturers moving so fast to confirm their participation. Any companies who are keen to take part are advised to book their space as soon as possible to ensure they secure a good spot.”

The strong sales for the Manufacturers’ Pavilion are being matched by the rest of the Austech exhibition. A key milestone was reached on 16 August, when the ballot was held to establish the order in which exhibitors who have already booked a place get to choose the location of their stands. More than 2,700sqm of space had already been purchased when the ballot was drawn, equating to roughly 60% of the available space for the entire exhibition.

Meanwhile, it’s been confirmed that Inside 3D Printing will once again be co-exhibiting with Austech, presenting a showcase of the very latest innovations in the fast-developing field of additive manufacturing. The Inside 3D Printing Conference will be held on 9-10 May, while its exhibition component will run throughout Austech.

“It’s great that Inside 3D Printing will again be working with AMTIL to create a fantastic Digital & Additive Pavilion within the exhibition,” says AMTIL Events Manager Kim Warren. “There’s still a few months to go but already next year’s Austech is shaping up to the most exciting yet.”

Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition, Austech 2017 will take place at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 9-12 May 2017. For more information on Austech, please call 03 9800 3666, or email Events Manager Kim Warren on kwarren@amtil.com.au. www.amtil.com.au/Austech

Ai Group to lead Industry 4.0 apprenticeship initiative

The Australian Industry Group has announced a major collaborative project aimed at reinventing apprenticeships in Australia to support the higher skills needed for the emerging fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0.

Ai Group’s Higher Level Applied Technology apprenticeship project has funding approved under Stream Two of the Apprenticeships Training – alternative delivery pilots initiative by Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills - Karen Andrews. The project will be implemented with Siemens, leader of the Prime Minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce, and Swinburne University of Technology.

“This is a ground-breaking initiative,” said Ai Group CEO Innes Willox. “Not only will this provide higher-level qualifications, it will also appeal to a broader cross-section of young people who will gain qualifications while working in a company that is a technology leader.”

Siemens and related companies will benefit from apprenticeship skills through a new Diploma and Associate Degree in Applied Technologies developed in collaboration with Swinburne. The qualification will meet industry needs with a focus on adoption of

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high-level technology skills and the tools for the future workforce.

The qualification brings together industry initiatives such as the National Science and Innovation Agenda and the Growth Centres initiatives, in a practical experiential learning environment.

The pilot combines university and vocational learning models to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) with skills in business and design. Participants will be highly capable post-Year 12 school leavers. The pilot will initially involve 20 participants with guaranteed pathways for graduates to a relevant Bachelor Degree by 2020.

Siemens CEO Jeff Connolly said: “The industrial environment has entered a phase of digital revolution. Australia needs to continuously modify education content and delivery models in order to equip today’s youth with the skills needed to be a part of the digitalised future.”

“ Efic’s Small Business Export Loan helped us with new opportunities for Worldpoly in Africa.”

Rob Hall and Nikita Hall Director and Marketing Manager Worldpoly

Small family business Worldpoly had world domination in its sights with an opportunity to establish a new distributor of their butt-welding machinery in South Africa.

With their bank unable to help, Worldpoly turned to Efic’s online portal, EficDirect. An easy online application with a quick turnaround time, EficDirect provided the financial solution Worldpoly needed.

Find out more about how Rob and Nikita are growing their business:

Call 1800 740 557 or visit

www.efic.gov.au/worldpoly

Helping build your business overseas

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Industry news

Grants to help businesses meet public sector challenges

The Federal Government has launched a new pilot program to help drive innovation within Australian small and medium businesses (SMEs) whilst addressing Government service delivery challenges.

The Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) selected five challenges set by different Government agencies, ranging across biosecurity, child protection, water markets and policy design. Eligible businesses can apply for grants to develop ideas that address the five challenges and commercialise products that the Government may then buy and use to improve its services.

As well as creating jobs and commercialising ideas in Australian businesses, the BRII program is intended to change the nature of Government procurement through sourcing the most innovative solutions possible. Under a two-step process, businesses can submit proposals for ideas that address the challenges.

Successful applicants will receive grants of up to $100,000 to develop ideas and test feasibility over three months. The most successful ideas may then be eligible for a further grant of up to $1m to develop a prototype or proof of concept over the following 18 months.

The BRII programme provides critical early stage support for

Linking SMEs with researchers to drive innovation

The Federal Government on 18 August announced the STEM+ Business Fellowship program, providing $7.9m to foster links between businesses and researchers.

The STEM+ program provides grants of up to $105,000 per annum to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) undertake two-tothree-year projects with early career researchers from Australian research organisations. With co-investment from research organisations and matching cash contributions from SMEs, this program has the capacity to deliver up to $24m of research projects over the next four years.

R&D can be expensive for SMEs, so this initiative and others offered through SME Connect make it easier and more viable. The program is being managed by SME Connect, which has helped more than 180 Australian SMEs create jobs, expand products, services and customer base, and access international markets.

Victorian company Textor partnered with CSIRO to develop a moisture-trapping fabric that is highly absorbent and comfortable.

The material is used by global company Kimberly-Clark in millions of nappies around the world. In another collaboration with Victorian biotech company Anatomics and St Vincent’s Hospital, CSIRO helped develop a 3D0printed titanium heel implant for a patient with cancer of the bone who was facing amputation of the leg.

SMEs are critical to the Australian economy, making up 99.7% of businesses and employing 70% of the workforce. SME Connect not only links SMEs to CSIRO researchers but also universities and other research organisations. The SME Connect team is looking for SMEs to partner with research organisations on innovation projects. www.csiro.au/SMEconnect

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testing new ideas, developing pathways to market, and helps SMEs establish a track record of providing products and services to Government. Importantly, the SMEs will retain the IP and the right to commercialise their ideas in Australia and overseas The first challenges are: • On-the-spot technology for measuring pyrethroid surface residue.

• Tracking the effect and value of information products.

• Digitally enabled community engagement in policy and program design.

• Improve transparency and reliability of water market information.

• Sharing information nationally to ensure child safety.

Applications close on 30 November. To find out more on the BRII Program, including how to apply for a grant, visit www. business.gov.au/BRII or call 13 28 46.

Vic Government buys Holden site at Fishermans Bend The Victorian State Government announced on 14 September that it has purchased the General Motors Holden site at Fishermans Bend, paving the way for plans to develop a leading design and engineering precinct.

The Labor Government is in advanced talks with Holden about the company’s future plans to remain on the site, as well as major global companies and leading education partners for the new development.

The entire site is 37.7 hectares or the equivalent of approximately nine CBD blocks and is just five kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD. Fishermans Bend has been home to Holden for more than 80 years.

According to the State Government, the purchase of the site means more jobs, more investment, more research and more development.

It aims to bring together industry leaders in the cutting edge areas of aerospace, defence, marine design, automotive design, and more. The site will be the centrepiece of the Fishermans Bend Employment Precinct, and will support 80,000 residents and 60,000 jobs by 2050. “We will keep the spirit and ingenuity of Australian manufacturing alive and well at this iconic site with a new precinct for design, engineering and technology that will retain and create jobs for Victorians,” said Minister for Industry and Employment Wade Noonan. “We have a clear vision for this historic site and the future of Fishermans Bend, which builds on our strengths in defence, education and advanced manufacturing.”

“This was a once in a generation opportunity to secure a site of this size and proximity to the CBD – we didn’t want to see it wasted,” said Martin Foley Member for Albert Park. “This announcement is a real game changer for the future planning of Fishermans Bend. High skilled knowledge jobs driving the jobs of the future will be central to the precinct.”

Commonwealth Government Entrepreneurs’ Programme partnering with AMTIL

It’s all about you.

Incubator Support

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme (EP) is a Commonwealth Government flagship initiative focused on raising the competitiveness and productivity of eligible companies at an individual level. The programme forms a part of the Australian Government’s Economic Action Strategy and will deploy over 100 experienced Advisers and Facilitators, offering support to businesses through three key elements: 1. Business Management 2. Innovation Connections 3. Accelerating Commercialisation 4. Incubator Support The Incubator Support initiative will provide funding to incubators to deliver support services to Australian start-ups with an international focus.

Funding will be available to support the establishment of new incubators in regions or sectors with high innovation potential, and for existing incubators looking to expand their services. Funded incubators will deliver a range of activities designed to improve the prospects of commercial success of innovative start-ups, allowing them to realise their economic potential faster than they otherwise would.

The initiative will support entrepreneurial activity and contribute to the development of the innovation ecosystem, including in Australia’s regions.

The Incubator Support initiative provides funding through two components, both of which require matched funding from applicants.

Support for New and Existing Incubators: • to help develop new incubators in regions or sectors with high potential for success in international trade, and • to boost the effectiveness of high performing incubators, including funding support to expand their services and/or develop the innovation ecosystem.

Support for Expert-in-Residence: • to provide access to top quality research, managerial and technical talent through secondments of national or international expert advisers who will improve their chance of commercial success in international markets.

Every business has different needs.

www.amtil.com.au

1302AMTILEP05

To find out what the Entrepreneurs’ Programme can do for you, call 13 28 46 or visit www.business.gov.au or contact Greg Chalker 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au

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voice box Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

Is Australia ready for moveable factories?

The emergence of moveable factories offers the potential to enable sustainable widespread modern manufacturing, particularly by local people in regions without manufacturing skills and infrastructures. By Dr Stephen Fox (pictured) and Dr Mark Richardson.

Moveable factories can bring efficient, flexible production to many sectors and any location. For example, mobile crop-processing factories are used in Africa to maximise yields; mobile abattoirs are used in northern Europe to reduce transportation of live animals; mobile factories are widely used for packaging. Mobile factories are used to bring production processes such as roll-forming to construction sites, and mobile factories are used to bring the most advanced CNC manufacturing to remote locations in challenging environments such as Afghanistan.

This article explains how movable factories add value, and how they can be used to meet some big Australian challenges, such as the tyranny of distance and creating manufacturing jobs outside metropolitan areas. The article is based on 10 years of international research and a preliminary study recently carried out in Australia.

Making value Moveable factories add value when it is counterproductive to centralise production. For example, when mangos and other bulky crops are collected and transported to a distant factory, valueless air often takes up load volumes. So, value can be added by processing big fruit locally. This use of mobile factories also increases yields because harvesting and processing can be done incrementally as crops become ready to harvest. Also, local crop-processing with moveable factories can reduce the costs of multiple handling, crop damage, and other post-harvest losses.

Similarly, valueless air gets transported when livestock are transported to distant abattoirs, alongside the increased chance of animal injuries and shipping fever, which all have cost implications.

By contrast, moveable abattoirs can reduce these costs by bringing livestock processing, including packaging, to where the livestock are.

When beer needs to be canned and wine needs to be bottled, mobile factories can reduce bulk transportation to distant packaging plants. Instead, breweries and vineyards have much more control over the timing and scope of canning and bottling. Similarly, farms can have a lot more control over the packaging of dairy products.

Using moveable factories can bring advantages throughout product lifecycles, such as when using mobile roll-forming machines to manufacture fascia and guttering on construction sites. This saves labour costs by reducing the number of joints that have to be cut and fixed by hand. Then, this has the added advantage of fewer leaky joints to be repaired in the future.

Moveable factories can also reduce the transportation of valueless air at the end of product lives when goods are to be recycled.

Autogenous milling machines can be used to grind bulky unwieldy goods, such as banners and tarpaulins, into separate groups of particles for subsequent use in production of new goods.

Moveable factories are not restricted to just one or two production processes. The US military, for instance, uses movable factories to produce very sophisticated components at remote locations. This involves combining advanced computer-controlled additive and subtractive manufacturing to radically improve upon the cost and time involved in getting new components sent out from far distant fixed factories.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

The tyranny of distance Since the Industrial Revolution, production has been centralised and distance has been a big problem. Moveable factories enable efficient flexible production to be highly distributed, so distance doesn’t have to be a big problem anymore. For example, moveable factories are ideal for the highly distributed production of better infrastructure for energy and water, such as solar-powered desalination of underground water.

At the other end of the size scale, moveable factories can enable efficient flexible local production of medical goods ranging from shaped door handles for arthritic hands to prosthetics for accident victims. Medical goods can be matched exactly to anybody’s unique physical features through portable scanning machines. At the same time, they can be styled to anybody’s preferences for colour, texture and shape.

The centralisation of production since the Industrial Revolution, has contributed to mass urbanisation. Sometimes, production is located away from urban areas, for mining for example, but as a result, rural employment is vulnerable to changes in world commodity prices and other factors far beyond the control of rural communities. By contrast, moveable factories need only a fraction of the enormous capital investment needed for setting up large fixed factories.

Most importantly, they can enable local artisanal value-adding production ranging from farm-branded agricultural production to township-branded production of mechanical goods. By combining moveable factory production with the global reach of the internet, people can set up businesses that minimise middlemen and maximise the delivery of unique value to end-users. For example, the US web-based car company LocalMotors.com shows how vehicle design, manufacture, and assembly can become a globally local enterprise.

Technological advances reduce the number, size and weight of machines needed to carry out production operations. This introduces new opportunities for more factories to be moveable.

Moveable factories are well suited to Australia: a big country needing to turn distance from a tyranny into an opportunity. This is because moveable factories add value by: reducing the transportation of valueless air; reducing losses arising from multiple handling; and reducing labour that doesn’t add value such as jointing standard lengths of fascia.

At the same time, moveable factories add value by increasing flexibility and responsiveness through carrying out production when the time is right to maximise value, rather than carrying out production to suit the timetable of a distant big processing plant.

By driving down costs and driving up responsiveness, moveable factories drive increased value creation.

Dr Stephen Fox is a Senior Scientist at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Dr Mark Richardson lectures in Industrial Design at Monash University. www.vttresearch.com www.monash.edu.au

voice box Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

From motors to mice: The automotive industry’s legacy for advanced manufacturing The impending exit of Ford, GM Holden and Toyota from Australia by 2017 will be accepted with some sadness.

However, the automotive industry will leave a powerful legacy for flourishing sectors such as pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology. By Michael McLean.

The automotive industry’s legacy is steeped in value-adding activities learnt from exporting engines, vehicles and other components.

Upon deeper analysis, the lessons learned from this industry’s systems and processes can be, and are being adapted and adopted to benefit other sectors.

Scratch the surface of other industries’ managers, engineers and technologies and you will find a pedigree, passion and language that is positive about their time in the automotive sector.

The Bathurst 1000 will still run but maybe not so much with the Ford Blue V and GM Holden Red, but in a different canvas and colours.

Motor racing will still be in Australia, just with different players. The motor vehicle industry has brought us advanced manufacturing technologies that we need to race – so to speak – in different valueadding markets.

One automotive legacy can be found in the symbiotic relationship that Perth bio-medical company Ozgene has established with Toyota, Nissan, GM Holden and their local and global suppliers.

With deep automotive industry and supply chain experience, McLean Management Consultants and Lean Design Australia determined the strategies, structures, systems and processes from the automotive industry that can be migrated to Ozgene to give both productivity and quality step-change.

Ozgene supplies customised genetically modified mice for drug validation and medical research trials worldwide. The company has explored various practices from diverse industries, and found an affinity with the automotive industry. Its connection to the automotive industry tells a story of motors to mice, a lesson that demonstrates how an existing body of knowledge has powerful applications in terms of realising the new economy and digital age.

At first glance, the world of DNA research might seem unrelated to vehicle manufacturing. Yet the process behind designing, engineering and manufacturing DNA into medical research mice, which involves knocking-in and knocking-out specific genes of interest, shares many common elements with processes of the automotive industry. Motor vehicle manufacturers thus have a valuable, if unexpected, legacy for genetic research, shaping Ozgene’s strategies to drive “human Lean” and foster humanisation, stability, harmonisation, improvement and innovation.

The Lean management model seeks to build trust and confidence by focussing on the core values of humility and respect. It is centred on creating value for the client and is characterised by a desire for continuous improvement.

Similar to the automotive sector, Ozgene wanted to build in quality at the design stage, as downstream processes and activities are dependent upon such outputs and inputs being correct the first time around. By implementing relevant aspects of the Toyota Production System (TPS) in its laboratory, Ozgene streamlined the flow of delivery, minimised waste and enabled a more flexible operation to variable client demands in Australia and internationally.

The implementation of processfailure-mode-and-effects analysis (PFMEA) provided Ozgene with a framework proven in the aerospace and automotive sectors for identifying ways that its processes could fail. With particular focus placed on the failure modes and effects on its clients, the causes and associated risks and implications, Ozgene has been able to better plan risk mitigations and ‘step-by-step’ procedures, embedded in an innovative iPad-enabled standardisation.

Ozgene’s use of A3 storyboards as a structured problem-solving and continuous improvement approach are a further adaptation of a lean, automotive sector-based medium, capturing and visually demonstrating the progress in resolving an issue. Ozgene used the scientific “IDEA” in their A3s, which works with the PFMEA technique to comply with the Risk Reduction and Reaction Plan.

Finally, linking back to the Lean management model, Ozgene executed a relentless and continual engagement of its people, including both its staff and its client base around its own Huddle Board design. Together these processes, originally inspired by the automotive industry, have been applied to suit the Ozgene organisational context.

Since following this model, Ozgene has seen a dramatic 600% increase in productivity and quality gains. Ozgene CEO Frank Koentgen says the model has resulted in shorter timelines for clients, has helped clients better access their projects, and fostered the implementation of Ozgene’s revolutionary technology. Other key performance indicators have also been achieved, such as meeting and exceeding animal husbandry compliance.

This success has differentiated Ozgene in the biotechnology and biomedical market, reflecting the adoption of automotive processes management frameworks. For example, by identifying processes specific to the automotive industry, Ozgene has been able to select the most suitable processes to adapt to their organisation.

Looking beyond Ozgene and the life sciences sector, these standards, processes and capabilities are now being applied to a diverse array of sectors. Other companies that have benefitted from the automotive industry approach include Asciano, BHP, Boral, CBA, Colorpak, CSR, Electrolux, Nissan, RAAF, RAN, ResMed, RPC Technologies, Thales, Westpac and Zurich Insurance.

Michael McLean is the Managing Director of McLean Management Consultants. He will present Retained Learnings: Applying Automotive Strategies To Bio-Tech Advanced Manufacturing at the Advanced Manufacturing Summit, to be held from 15-16 November in Sydney. Mr McLean will be joined by Ozgene Research and Finance Manager Maya Koentgen. The Summit, hosted by AusBiotech, Australia’s biotechnology organisation, will explore the potential of advanced manufacturing to drive the future of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical technology. www.mclean-mc.com.au www.advancedmanufacturingsummit.com.au

030

voice box Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

Are you ready for the jobs of the future?

The flow of reports about the impact of automation, mostly dire, continues, writes Professor Ron Johnston.

The latest is from StartupAUS, Australia’s national start-up advocacy group. This report follows the now familiar line captured in the phrase “exponential technologies”: exponential improvements in computer power and advances in technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things will have a profound impact on future employment, with almost 5 million current jobs (that is 40% of the workforce) in Australia becoming obsolete by 2030.

This follows in the footsteps of a detailed CEDA report in 2015, which conducted the modelling used by StartupAUS. Is this doomsday chatter? It is certainly true that technology has been at the heart of dramatic change and improvement in the economy over centuries. In the process, the nature of many jobs has changed dramatically. Some jobs have disappeared.

Many new ones have been created. Every change has involved some level of disruption, with some receiving an advantage and others falling on hard times. So economic advance has never been without pain for some. The big question is whether we are facing more of the same, or whether the exponential technologies will usher in more dramatic changes. In considering forecasts of job losses, we need to bear in mind that they are almost always better publicised than job creation. The former tend to clump (as in the demise of the Australian car manufacturing industry), whereas the latter are more diffuse and system-generated.

In the CEDA Report, Phil Ruthven has documented the loss of 146,800 jobs in the five years to June 2014, compared with the creation of 944,500 jobs over the same period.

But most of the job titles will be the same as today’s. We will still have carpenters, nurses, road repairers, even teachers. But the nature of what they do and the skills they need will have changed, just as they have over the past 20 years.

The second claim is that “innovation hubs” designed to nurture and attract clusters of start-up companies are the key to addressing the threat posed by the digital technologies. Thus “developing a core of innovation jobs is critical to capturing and maximising the opportunities presented by digital transformation”.

We can agree that the “start-up” phenomenon is an increasingly important part of our economy, that it is well suited as a vehicle of change via digital disruption, and that it provides a new and exciting tool to drive and achieve innovation.

According to Bernard Salt, job creation has outstripped job loss by 10:1 since 2000. So maybe our focus should shift to the skills and conditions required for future employment.

But it is apparent that it does not have the reach or scale required for transformation of our post-mining economy. More and betterfunded innovation hubs can make a useful contribution, but much more is needed.

Going solo

I suggest two avenues for urgent action:

The StartupAUS report makes two more important points. The first is that “independent work” is becoming increasingly important to our economic structure. It is changing what we think of as a job.

The first is reshaping our education systems towards the development of the skills required for the future. That is not just (or even) coding, although it may form an important part of digital literacy. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills will also be crucial. And broader skills like intuitive pattern recognition, flexibility and tolerance of ambiguity, information sifting and evaluation, and personal resilience and agility will be important.

This is part of the trend away from workers being committed to one or few companies throughout their career. Instead, they are striking out independently as consultants, contractors, or in ad-hoc relationships with customers or clients.

The growth of specialisation in companies linked with the dramatically enhanced ability, via the internet, to identify and engage with specific individual skills, regardless of physical location, is allowing far more people to become self-employed. Think of the “tradie revolution”, but applied to managers and administrators, indeed all suppliers of knowledge-based services.

What will the jobs of the future be like? There are regular competitions to imagine the strangest new job titles. Try bot lobbiest, productivity counsellor, meme counsellor, big data doctor, or corporate disruptor.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Second is recognition by governments of their important role in preparing for and lubricating change. This could be building awareness, including new role models of work, further facilitation of new company formation and the design of a social safety net readily available to those caught up in the challenges of change.

Professor Ron Johnston is Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Innovation (ACIIC) and a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering & IT at the University of Sydney. This article was originally published in The Conversation.

032

Tech News

Germany: Bonding metals with nearly all surfaces Researchers have discovered how the surface properties of metals can be changed without affecting the metals’ characteristics.

Named “nanoscale-sculpturing”, the new method uses an electrochemical etching process, in which the uppermost layer of a metal is roughened on a micrometer scale. Metals such as aluminium, titanium, or zinc can thereby be joined permanently with nearly all other materials, become water-repellent, or improve their biocompatibility. The process, unlike other etching processes, does not damage the metals, nor affect their stability. Metals which previously could not be directly joined (ie copper and aluminium) can now be permanently connected. Extremely robust and weatherresistant, potential applications are broad, ranging from metalwork in industry through to safer medical implants.

Kiel University

USA: Carbon nanotube “stitches” strengthen composites

defrost where needed, are embedded in the composite. A healing efficiency of over 100% at temperatures of -60°C was obtained in a glass fibre-reinforced laminate. The technique could be applied across a majority of self-healing composites.

University of Birmingham

USA: World’s largest 3D printed object A 3D printed trim-and-drill tool – the 777X wing trim tool - has received the title of largest solid 3D printed item by Guinness World Records. Boeing plans to use the tool to secure a jet’s composite wing skin for drilling and machining before assembly. The tool was printed in 30 hours using carbon fibre and ABS thermoplastic composite materials. It is 5.3m long, 1.7m wide and 45cm tall and weighs 748kg. The existing, more expensive metallic tooling option currently used takes three months to manufacture using conventional techniques. This tool was designed with less material and without compromising its function.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Advanced composite materials reduce a plane’s weight by as much as 20% compared to aluminum-bodied planes, but they are vulnerable: the many layers in composites can break apart due to relatively small impacts. Engineers have found a way to bond composite layers in such a way that the resulting material is substantially stronger and more resistant to damage. The engineers embedded carbon nanotubes within a glue-like polymer matrix, then pressed this between layers of carbon fibre composites. The nanotubes, resembling stitches, worked themselves within the crevices of each composite layer, serving as a scaffold to hold the layers together. The stitched composites were 30% stronger than existing composite materials. This lead to stronger, lighter airplane parts — particularly those that require nails or bolts, which can crack conventional composites.

MIT

Singapore: Bendable concrete Scientists have invented a new type of concrete called ConFlexPave that is bendable yet stronger and longer lasting than regular concrete, halving the time needed for road works and new pavements. It is also requires less maintenance. ConFlexPave’s hard materials are mixed with polymer microfibres. These synthetic fibres, besides allowing the concrete to flex and bend under tension, enhances skid resistance. The hard materials give a nonslip surface texture while the microfibres which are thinner than the width of a human hair, distribute the load across the whole slab, resulting in a concrete that is tough as metal and at least twice as strong as conventional concrete under bending. The product has been tested in laboratories and will be scaled up for further testing over the next three years.

Nanyang Technological University

UK: Self-healing composites at very low temperatures Scientists have developed a method of allowing materials, commonly used in aircraft and satellites, to self-heal cracks at temperatures well below freezing (-60°C). It could be applied to fibrereinforced materials used in situations where repair or replacement is challenging (ie offshore wind turbines), or even ‘impossible’, such as aircraft and satellites during flight. Before this development, healing was deemed insufficient in such adverse conditions. 3D hollow vessels, to deliver and release the healing agents, and a porous conductive element, to provide internal heating and to

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Tech News

USA: Nanolayered composites – new method

Australia: New material revolutionises water proofing

Researchers have found a way to efficiently create composite materials containing hundreds of layers that are just atoms thick but span the full width of the material. Ways have been sought to use nanomaterials to add strength to composite materials. The biggest obstacle has been finding ways to embed these materials within a matrix of another material in an orderly way. The insight was in finding a method without having to stack each layer individually. The team cut a block - consisting of alternating layers of graphene and the composite material - into quarters. They then slid one quarter on top of another, and then repeating the process. A uniform stack of layers was quickly produced, with the composite material already embedded in the matrix material (eg polycarbonate), to form a composite. The team produced composites with up to 320 layers of graphene embedded in them - demonstrating that even though the total amount of graphene added was minuscule, it led to a clear-cut improvement in overall strength.

Scientists have developed a new spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water. Its surface is a layer of nanoparticles, where water slides off. It is transparent and extremely resistant to UV radiation. Its uses could include waterproofing mobile phones, preventing ice formation on planes’ wings or corrosion-protection for boat hulls. The team created a much more robust coating than previous materials by combining two plastics - one tough and one flexible. The key innovation is that this coating is able to stabilise very fragile nanomaterials resulting in ultra-durable nanotextures with numerous real-world applications. The team developed two ways of creating the material, both of which are cheaper and easier than current manufacturing processes.. It could be applied to a wide range of other coatings – ie anti-corrosive, self-cleaning or oil-repellent.

MIT

USA: Geothermal drilling tool takes the heat Downhole hammers are not new, but the older design, with its reliance on oilbased lubricants, plastic and rubber O-rings, isn’t suited for the hotter temperatures of geothermal drilling. A tool has been developed that can be used in high-temperature environments that can help increase the drilling rates and the rate of penetration to maybe 5 to 10 times that of conventional drilling operations.

Developing lubricious coatings was critical. This helps reduce friction between parts, which is important in geothermal operations: as temperatures increase, the oils essentially cook. The team worked with Sandia on a multilayer solid lubricant capable of operating at high temperatures.

Sandia National Laboratories

NZ: Innovative wireless EV charging A major advance has resulted following a US licence agreement with the Uni. of Auckland to commercialise its innovative wireless electric vehicle charging technology. In 1986 two Uni. of Auckland professors pioneered wireless or inductive power transfer technology. Their technology is now used globally. A refinement of this technology to enable drivers to charge up while driving is being undertaken. This technology makes it possible for power to be transferred without cables, instead transporting the current across the magnetic field between two close points. This eliminates the need for plug-in battery chargers and enables cars to recharge as they travel on highways. This is considered a major step towards clean, green electric vehicles by the end of the decade.

University of Auckland & NZ Herald

Australian National University

Russia: Inexpensive ceramic laser scalpel Scientists have developed a novel compact and powerful ceramicbased laser. It will be used for cutting and engraving composite materials and for surgical operations. The ceramic was obtained from compounds of rare-earth elements – lutetium oxide with added thulium ions. This laser converts energy into radiation with an efficiency of more than 50%, while other types of solid state lasers have an average efficiency of approx. 20% It generates infrared radiation with a wavelength of about 2 microns (useful for medical purposes). Another potential application is the composite industry. Widely used 1-micron lasers are good at cutting metal, but polymers are practically transparent to them. This ceramic laser can effectively cut and engrave plastics, such as composite materials.

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

USA: Sponge creates steam via sunlight Engineers have invented a bubble-wrapped, sponge-like device (made of graphite and carbon foam) that soaks up natural sunlight and heats water to boiling point even on cool, overcast days. Called a “solar vapor generator,” it converts 20% of the incoming sunlight to steam and requires no mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight, but relies on a combination of low-tech materials. Composed of a thin copper sheet and an absorber — a thin, blue, metallic-like film - it absorbs radiation in the visible range of the spectrum, but it does not radiate in the infrared range. The structure is mounted on floating foam and simple bubble wrap applied. Once the heat was trapped, the copper layer conducted the heat toward a single channel that was drilled through the structure. When the sponge was placed in water, that water crept up the channel, where it was heated to 100 C, then turned to steam. The device eliminates the need of the expensive optical concentrator.

MIT

“It’s beyond what we ever thought it would be - it’s much, much bigger,” Prof. John Boys, Uni. of Auckland, on the accidental discovery 24 years ago of the wireless inductive power transfer system (IPT) (ie power is transferred without cables). Today, at least 70% of the world’s LCD screens and other electronic equipment are manufactured on systems using the technology.

The technology was bought for $70m from Auckland University in 2011. The current focus is on charging electric vehicles.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

033

036

product news

GC1130 overcomes machining challenges

Machine shops faced with identifying ways of achieving secure machining with long and predictable insert life in steel milling operations can turn to GC1130, an insert made with Zertivo production technology from Sandvik Coromant.

GC1130 helps to overcome challenging machining conditions with a clean and intact edge, delivering high metal removal rates and performance levels in both wet and dry machining operations.

The grade is offered as the first choice for shoulder milling cutters CoroMill 390 and CoroMill 490, and chamfer cutter CoroMill 495.

Flaking, abrupt chipping and thermal cracks are common issues encountered when milling materials in steel applications, especially when faced with unfavourable tool paths and deep cavities or when using coolant.

GC1130 has been specifically developed to help production engineers combat the subsequent unwanted effects of short insert tool life and unstable production.

It is manufactured with Zertivo, a unique production technology that helps amplify the grade’s benefits, offering peace-of-mind through greater edge-line security and reduced flaking.

Furthermore, a high-Cr content fine-grain substrate delivers high resistance to thermal cracks generated as a result of temperature fluctuations during machining, helping to ensure long and reliable tool life.

According to Mikael Eiritz, Product Manager for milling grades at Sandvik Coromant: “The choice of insert geometry and grade is just as important as the choice of tool when looking for secure machining. The tool and insert together is what contributes to the overall performance in an operation. Many times, when using grade GC1130, customers can move from one component to the

next without having to stop production. That saves them time and money.”

When repeated shoulder milling is required, the combination of GC1130 with CoroMill 490 provides a suitably light cutting action and smooth profile that can efficiently reduce the need for a finishing operation. Also available for the CoroMill 390, this grade is best when multiple component features are required. Bringing an added dimension of security and predictability to machining in challenging conditions, the assortment includes many different types of tools and a wide selection of corner radii. Applications such as shoulder milling, linear and helical ramping, turn-milling, deep shoulder milling, edging and pocketing can be performed.

In applications where trouble-free chamfering in various steel types is required, pairing CG1130 with CoroMill 495 reduces downtime and allows for higher machine utilisation.

Along with the chamfering of holes and edges, typical applications include back chamfers, welding preparation and deburring.

Thomas Wikgren, Product Manager for shoulder milling at Sandvik Coromant, states: “Greater process security, productivity and tool life are all within reach with GC1130. At the end of the day, our customers are looking for a reliable tool and insert combination that will help them achieve a lower cost per component.” www.sandvik.coromant.com

Star and Miyano move to HS CNC

HS CNC Machines, a long established and trusted supplier of machine tools in Australia, has expanded its range with the addition of two highly respected CNC brands.

The Japanese brands Miyano and Star are now represented in Australia

by HS CNC Machines.

For Mal Durdin, Director of HS CNC, the new acquisitions are an appropriate addition to his company’s existing lineup of products.

“While the Feeler product range has been the backbone of our business for more than 20 years, the addition of Star and Miyano products complement our existing range as they are also leaders in their individual fields,” says Mal Durdin Director of HS CNC. Miyano, regarded as world leaders in precision CNC-fixed headstock lathes, has long been the machine of choice for any repetition and manufacturing engineers who are seeking high levels of accuracy with an impressive degree of productivity.

Meanwhile Star’s range of CNC automatic lathes occupies a dominant position in the Australian market for Swiss-type sliding headstock lathes and its products are held in very high regard by their users.

An important aspect of after-sales support for Star and Miyano users is the availability of spare parts, which can now be sourced promptly through HS CNC. Gary Schultz, a long-time service and applications engineer for both Miyano and Star, will be working together with HS CNC providing service and application support, and can offer a wealth of knowledge and passion for sliding headstock machines. www.hscnc.com.au

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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26/09/16 12:36 PM

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038

product news

Iscar expands ChamIQDrill family

Prompted by global customer demand, Iscar has expanded its popular ChamIQDrill line with the addition of products in the drilling range of 33-40mm, with 1.5-8 length-to-diameter ratios.

HFP-IQ Drilling Heads are now available in the drilling range of 33-40mm diameters, in 0.5 mm increments.

A unique self-centring geometry enables the HFP-IQ drills to be used at up to 5xD long overhang without the need for a pilot hole operation.

Produced from grade IC908, a PVD-coated fine submicron grain substrate, the HFP-IQ drills’ singletype geometry is suitable for ISO P/K materials.

Available in 1.5, 3, 5 and 8 diameter-to-length ratio in 1mm increments, the range’s innovative pocket design eliminates the need for an open/flexible construction, which may weaken the tool. This enables a high number of drilling head indexes on each tool.

The drills’ bodies are produced from highly durable steel, while a special stopper prevents the drilling head from being extracted upwards from the pocket. Long stoppers provide high resistance to cutting forces, enabling applications under very high cutting

conditions. The drill heads’ robust structure with concave cutting edge design enables drilling at high feed rates, providing very accurate IT8–IT9 hole tolerances. High flute helix and polished flute surfaces provide a smooth and easy chip evacuation process. In addition, an internal coolant supply provides efficient cooling and lubrication throughout drilling processes.

ChamIQDrill is suitable for interrupted cut applications, it enables large diameter drilling in demanding cutting conditions and represents the best design for long overhang drilling without the use of a pilot hole at up to 5xD. The range represents a practical replacement for semi-effective large diameter drills when machine power is sufficient, while the system’s unique cutting edge inserts provides excellent performance and increased productivity when drilling on inclined and round surfaces. www.iscar.com.au

Retrofit automation solution for CNC machine tool operators Dimac Tooling is offering CNC machine operators a unique new retrofit automation solution to improve both productivity and efficiency while protecting the finished product.

The solution is achieved through a Hydrafeed barfeeder and a Royal Rota Rack working in conjunction. Hydrafeed, a UK-based company, has established a reputation for designing and building a range of barfeeders that offer unrivalled performance and accuracy, plus a user-friendly set-up.

“Hydrafeed barfeeders increase the productivity of any CNC turning centre and can be retrofitted to any entry level CNC machine as well as multi-tasking turning centres,” says Dimac Managing Director, Paul Fowler. “This provides a solution for increased productivity from your machine tool.”

Standard features include complete servo control on all axes, fully automated set-up through a user-friendly HMI screen and the versatility to accommodate different bar diameters and lengths including random bar lengths. A wide variety of models are available to suit any application.

Rota-Rack is a lean, cost-effective device that safely collects finished parts as they come off a CNC lathe, providing a competitive advantage to manufacturers by enabling their machine tools to run unattended for extended periods. Rota-Rack is manufactured in the USA by Royal Products. For more than 65 years, Royal Products has been designing and building precision metalworking accessories to help manufacturers squeeze every last drop of performance out of their machine tools.

“Equipping your bar-fed CNC lathes with a Rota-Rack enables you to continue making parts long after the last employee leaves for the night or weekend,” Fowler adds. “Crucially, it eliminates parts damage and can give you up to ten extra hours of unmanned production every single day.”

One of the most important aspects of the Rota-Rack is that no machine interface is required, electrical or mechanical; the unit simply plugs into a 240v AC outlet and the operator sets the index functions with a simple touch-screen PLC. The unique rotary spiral

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

gently guides finished parts to the centre as the turntable rotates, while a low-friction UHMW material covers all contact surfaces for superior part protection.

The Royal Rota-Rack is especially good at protecting straight edges of milled parts – often a difficult task with other collection methods.

In addition, its universal height-adjustable design adapts to virtually all CNC lathes. Importantly, the Rota-Rack can be powered using the Hydrafeed Barfeeder’s existing power source.

“Quite simply, for a CNC Machine tool owner, the combination of a Hydrafeed Barfeeder and Royal Rota-Rack is a marriage made in heaven,” says Fowler. “It’s easy to retrofit and will add a massive dose of productivity, keep your machines running long after your last employee has left for the night or weekend and improve your competitiveness in the market. The combination of a Hydrafeed Barfeeder and Royal Rota-Rack will ensure the highest quality of the finished product and typically pay for themselves within a reasonably short timeframe.” www.dimac.com.au

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product news

RF 100 SPEED – HPC milling in steel and VA The new RF 100 Speed from Guhring’s Ratio programme is the sharpest and quickest HPC milling cutter on the market.

RF 100 Speed features a 48-degree high helix and unequal cutting edge spacing for a smooth and quiet cutting operation.

There are various options of the milling tool available. The long option possesses chip breakers to fracture short chips and ensures a friction-free chip evacuation.

RF 100 Speed possesses the appropriate geometry to do justice in materials such as tough, low- and high-alloyed steels and difficult to machine materials – particularly in modern application techniques such as HPC milling strategies.

The tool possesses an optimised face geometry, with large chip chambers on the face and improved web thinning to allow process reliable plunging. Unequal cutting edge spacing ensures improved running smoothness and results in outstanding surface finishes and longer tool life. The optimised corner protection chamfer and face correction protect the outer corner, the

RF 100 Speed has an oversize DIN shank for high stability. The reinforced core creates more chip room in the front area making full slots up to 0.8xD possible without a problem. The optimised face also enables plunging in helical or oblique ramping.

most susceptible part of the tool, on both sides, so the cutting edge withstands even heavy shear loads as well. This combination improves the tool life considerably.

With previous face milling cutters applied in HPC strategies, chips of the length of the ap (feed) are created. Subsequently, many chips are created in a short space of time that can only be removed from the process with difficulty. Chips remain on the workpiece and are evacuated with difficulty. Thanks to the chip breakers, the chips gather closer together, evacuation is improved. With internal contours and cavities in particular, the chips can be evacuated more effectively, bringing process reliability benefits. Machine loading is reduced thanks to the light cutting operation and the volume output is increased. www.guhring.com.au

MiniFAB gains transparency with NetSuite MiniFAB has moved to underpin its future growth with cloud-based, advanced manufacturing solution, NetSuite.

Established in 2002, MiniFAB provides custom development and manufacturing of disposable polymer microfluidic and micro-engineered products. MiniFAB’s growth in the US and Europe has paved the way for global expansion, having worked on over 900 projects worldwide.

The business estimates the introduction of NetSuite could increase productive capacity by up to 20%.

A cloud-based business management platform was essential for MiniFAB, minimising infrastructure costs and providing a nimble system accessible anywhere. Dean Maxwell, MiniFAB’s CFO, says the business has operated successfully on many manual processes, but future expansion requires an integrated system that provides timely information to assist decision making.

The MiniFAB solution provided by Klugo is unique to the manufacturing industry as it is a complete, end-to-end advanced manufacturing solution that caters to PLM engineering, machine automation, advanced manufacturing, right through to the back-end core financials, CRM and inventory management. NetSuite’s Advanced Manufacturing Suite, together with its SuiteApp Arena is helping manufacturers innovate, ensuring global compliance and reduce costs through a cloud-based platform that enables full visibility with real-time business intelligence.

“Rapid growth has really been the key driver in reassessing our systems and processes to ensure we can keep aligned with our information and maintain the flexibility to innovate as a business,” he says. “Reducing our current financial reporting timeline and gaining real-time visibility over the business financials were also key in our evaluation of systems.

We were looking for a solution that was cloud-based and was able to scale with our growing business.”

Arena PLM provides highly regulated medical device companies with a superior enterprise-wide approach to quality. This holistic solution offers visibility, crossfunctional team collaboration, and longterm tracking of quality resolutions. The system allows manufacturers to meet regulations by managing information to show compliance as well as streamlining management of bill of materials (BOMs), design history files, device master records and change orders.

MiniFAB currently uses a constructionbased solution with several siloed databases and fragmented processes.

It was Arena PLM’s decade-long industry experience that gave MiniFAB assurance that the solution was the right fit for their

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

business. Due to NetSuite’s status as a global market leader in ERP solutions and significant continued investment in the product’s development, the business was comfortable investing in the technology, knowing they could be rid of unwieldy upgrades in the future and benefit from over 30,000 global businesses using the platform.

MiniFAB has been a customer of Klugo’s parent company Headland Machinery, but it wasn’t this connection that prompted them to work with Klugo.

Maxwell says it was the “honesty and openness from the Klugo sales team” that played a big part in the decision, as well as their implementation methodology: “Klugo supported MiniFAB’s approach, listened to what we wanted, and they are prepared to make it happen.”

Annaliese Kloé, Director of Klugo, says helping local manufacturers transform their business is extremely rewarding: “As the Managing Director of Headland, I’ve been in the manufacturing space for about 30 years and have seen the effects first-hand of software that just gets you by. It’s great to see that Klugo can provide an advanced manufacturing solution that is tailored to MiniFAB’s needs and help them on their path to growth.” www.minifab.com.au www.klugogroup.com

FACTORY TRAINED SALES & SERVICE STAFF FOR MITSUBISHI LASER.

Applied Machinery, one of Australia’s largest and most respected Dealers of new and used machinery is proud to be the authorised sales and service representative of Mitsubishi Laser in Australia.

Proof of Applied’s commitment to the brand is evidenced by a sales and service delegation that has just returned from Japan after intensive training at the Mitsubishi plant in Nagoya.

Applied’s team of laser sales and service experts are now fully factory trained

by Mitsubishi, so you can rest assured that when investing in Mitsubishi you have the local knowledge and support required to ensure that your transition to Mitsubishi is seamless.

Following on from this factory visit, one of Applied’s key customers who also made the trip to Japan placed an order for a Mitsubishi ML-3015 45CFR. If you’re considering upgrading your current laser, or adding laser processing to your production capabilities, Mitsubishi Laser will be an exceptional choice for your organisation.

Featuring laser power up to 6kW and sheet capacities up to 6000 x 3000mm, there’s a Mitsubishi laser for practically all applications.

NOW THAT’S APPLIED THINKING.

To find out more: Call: 03 9706 8066 YOUTUBE LOGO SPECS Email: sales@appliedmachinery.com.au PRINT on light backgrounds Visit: www.appliedmachinery.com.au main red

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Renewable & Clean Technology ANU researcher Felix Venn working on the solar thermal dish.

A Bright Shining Future Renewable energy and other clean technologies are taking off around the world, driven by rising investment and continued technical advances, and Australian innovators and manufacturers are at the heart of it.

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Renewable & Clean Technology

This July saw a surge in wholesale electricity prices in South Australia, rising to an average of $321 per megawatt hour, compared with $80/MWh for July 2015. The price spikes drew extensive media coverage, with some commentators claiming SA’s extensive adoption of renewable power had left it exposed in a month of unusually low winds. The Minerals Council of Australia claimed that SA’s decision to “disproportionally rely on intermittent wind and solar power” raised the risk of “higher prices, supply instability and greater reliance on imported power”.

through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to fund installation of 1,000 battery storage systems in homes and businesses throughout South Australia.

These claims were met with equally vocal counter-arguments. The Climate Council published a report suggesting that electricity price spikes in SA had actually fallen as renewable electricity had risen.

Professor Hugh Saddler of the Australian National University (ANU) argued that the problem lay with broader flaws in the SA wholesale electricity market, and that wind power in fact helped to smooth out more frequent price spikes.

Developments like these are being mirrored overseas. In its Renewables 2016 Global Status Report, REN21 (the UN-backed Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century) described 2015 as “an extraordinary one for renewable energy” with the largest global capacity additions to date, against the backdrop of last November’s historic Paris climate agreement.

The SA episode demonstrates that renewable energy remains the focus of persistent dispute, over both the viability of the technology, and the necessity of its adoption. However, while the debate is likely to rumble on, renewables and clean technology are indisputably experiencing a wave of accelerating innovation and growth.

A further $17.4m of ARENA funding has been assigned to a project to build a 10.8MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant with 1.4MW/5.3 MWh of battery storage in far north Queensland. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) committed a record $837m to new investments in the Australian clean energy sector in the 201516 financial year, contributing to projects with a total value of $2.5bn.

This context offers enormous commercial potential that Australia is particularly well positioned to exploit. Moreover, as the SA case perhaps shows, this remains a relatively new technology, with scope for enhancement and innovation. And across Australia, researchers and businesses are seizing the resultant opportunities.

Breaking solar records

According to the Clean Energy Council, renewable energy provided 14.6% of Australia’s electricity in 2015, up from 13.5% a year before, despite a significant drop in hydro-generation due to lower rainfall. Rooftop solar is now at 5GW capacity – enough to light every home in Brisbane and Perth. Five new wind farms were built in 2015, as well as eight solar farms larger than 1MW capacity.

In August, ANU scientists announced a new world record for efficiency for a solar thermal dish generating steam. The team designed and built a new receiver for the solar concentrator dish, halving losses and achieving a 97% conversion of sunlight into steam. The breakthrough could lead to cheaper base-load electricity from renewable energy, and reduced carbon emissions.

This wave of activity is underpinned by government policy. On the ABC’s Q&A on 15 August, during a discussion on climate change, Industry Minister Greg Hunt said: “Our policy is that it’s real and it’s important and it’s significant.” Earlier that month, Josh Frydenberg, Minister for the Environment and Energy, announced that the Government will provide up to $5m

“When our computer model told us the efficiency that our design was going to achieve, we thought it was alarmingly high,” says Dr John Pye, from the ANU Research School of Engineering. “But when we built it and tested it, sure enough, the performance was amazing.”

Concentrating solar thermal systems use reflectors to concentrate sunlight

The Australian National University (ANU)’s record-breaking solar thermal dish.

and generate steam. This can drive conventional power station turbines, and may be combined with efficient heat storage systems to supply power on demand more cheaply than solar PV energy stored in batteries. Global capacity has grown tenfold in the past decade, with large installations in Spain, the US and South Africa.

At 500 square metres, the ANU solar concentrator is the largest of its kind in the world, focusing the power of 2,100 suns.

The receiver’s design comprises a cavity resembling a top hat with narrow opening and a wide brim. Water pipes spiral around the underside of the brim and up into the hat. Sunlight focused on the pipes heats the water to 500 degrees Celsius in the deepest reaches of the cavity, minimising heat loss. Heat that does leak out can be absorbed by cooler water around the brim.

The ANU team is part of a broader group of scientists working in the area, with funding from ARENA. The ANU team’s solar thermal system is already attracting commercial interest.

“Ultimately the work in this project is all about reducing the cost of concentrating solar thermal energy,” said Pye. “Our aim is to get costs down to 12 cents per kilowatthour of electricity, so that this technology will be competitive. This new design could result in a 10% reduction in the cost of solar thermal electricity. I’m optimistic that our technology can play a role in the grid, by helping to provide power at night without fossil fuel power stations running.”

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Renewable & Clean Technology “What’s remarkable is this level of efficiency had not been expected for many years,” says Green, a pioneer in solar research for 40 years. “Things are moving faster in solar cell efficiency than many experts expected, and that’s good news for solar energy.”

Power packed UNSW researchers are also making giant leaps in the next key element in renewable energy provision: power storage.

“You can have the best solar cell in the world, but if the sun’s not shining, it’s not going to produce any energy,” explains Dr Neeraj Sharma from UNSW’s School of Chemistry. “But with the right battery, you can produce constant energy output.”

The Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) set a world record for solar conversion using a prism configuration that splits sunlight into four bands.

Dr Mark Keevers and Professor Martin Green of the ACAP at UNSW. Continued from previous page

Trapping the light fantastic More records are being broken at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Dr Mark Keevers and Professor Martin Green of the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) have dramatically lifted the efficiency of photovoltaics, setting a world record for sunlight-to-electricity conversion. The record was set using a prism configuration that splits incoming rays into four bands, with a hybrid four-junction receiver squeezing more electricity than ever before from each beam of sunlight.

Not content with simply making a more powerful battery, Sharma is doing it using non-toxic, environmentally friendly materials. His next-gen rechargeable batteries may even one day run on seawater.

Today’s phones and laptops run on lithium-ion batteries, which work well and have drawn significant R&D investment from heavyweight companies. In 2015, both Tesla and Panasonic unveiled lithiumion batteries for residential energy storage. Tesla’s Powerwall unit is already available in Australia for around $9,500. However, many researchers consider lithium-ion batteries too expensive, while alternatives such as lead-acid batteries are heavy and inefficient.

Sharma is taking a different tack, replacing lithium with sodium in the form of readily available salty water. He believes this would be about one-fifth the cost, affordable for households and communities. To make a simple sodium battery, you need to stick two electrodes into seawater. The challenge is making that battery more sophisticated.

Sharma is doing so by tweaking the electrodes at structural level, so the battery can provide eight-to-ten hours of constant electricity.

The team has already made significant improvements with its positive electrode, or cathode, and has it performing as well as a modern lithium-ion battery. They’re now working on getting the negative electrode, or anode, up to scratch. Once done, Sharma believes the battery could be key to cheap, sustainable electricity.

“Energy is a massive challenge for humankind,” says Sharma. “If we can control the chemistry to make a better battery, it would make renewable energy more affordable and reliable. We’re essentially producing a way to get people off fossil fuels.”

The UNSW module converts 34.5% of received solar energy into electricity. The result, confirmed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is almost 44% better than the previous record, set by Atla Devices of the US. This reached 24% efficiency, but over a larger surface area of 800sqcm. The UNSW module is 28sqcm.

“There are still advances to come in photovoltaics research to make solar cells even more efficient,” says Keevers. “Extracting more energy from every beam of sunlight is critical to reducing the cost of electricity generated by solar cells as it lowers the investment needed, delivering payback faster.”

The team set a world record in 2014 with electricity conversion of more than 40%, but using mirrors to concentrate the light. The new result was achieved using normal sunlight with no concentrators.

According to Green, Australia’s research in photovoltaics has already generated flow-on benefits of more than $8bn to the country. Efficiency gains alone are forecast to save $750m in domestic electricity generation in the next decade. The recordsetting UNSW mini-module is perfect for solar towers, like those being developed by Australia’s RayGen Resources. However, solar cells of this type are unlikely to find their way onto rooftops soon due to high manufacturing costs and complexity – a problem the UNSW team is working on.

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Dr Neeraj Sharma from UNSW’s School of Chemistry.

Making light work of efficiency Energy efficiency is another area of clean-tech where Australian researchers and businesses are collaborating and innovating.

In July, Greenearth Energy announced a project with CSIRO to develop advanced manufacturing processes for the design and development of energy-efficient lighting solutions. The collaboration involves various research projects focused on production methods, materials and technologies used by Greenearth subsidiary Vivid Industrial in lighting applications.

Greenearth received a grant to begin work with CSIRO through CSIRO’s SME Connect program, which facilitates grants for small and medium businesses to access research expertise. The grant

Renewable & Clean Technology was provided under the Innovation Connections element of the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme.

Vivid Industrial provides customised, intelligent and energy-efficient lighting solutions for industrial and infrastructure clients. The collaboration has already seen the development of technology to reduce one of its manufacturing processes from 24 hours to one minute. This will yield substantial productivity and quality benefits for Vivid’s locally designed and manufactured intelligent LED lighting products, helping it compete in global markets dominated by products manufactured in low‐cost countries. Such process improvements also assist Vivid to rapidly scale its capacity in response to demand.

Greenearth’s Chief Operating Officer Urbain Du Plessis believes the collaboration shows how the research community and companies can collaborate to deliver tangible commercial outcomes: “We have found when we focus CSIRO’s broad scientific vision and deep knowledge base, combined with its capacity, enthusiasm and mental agility on specific areas, highly innovative, commercially‐ relevant solutions are rapidly developed.”

Dr Timothy Hughes, a manufacturing research team leader at CSIRO, also emphasises the advantages of researchers and industry pooling their expertise.

“The partnership with Greenearth Energy highlights the commercial benefit that can be achieved when commercial organisations work with research institutions like CSIRO,” says Hughes. “The outcome from this collaboration has been a significantly improved manufacturing process providing Greenearth with a distinct advantage, in being able to ensure their ability to be competitively viable on a global stage.”

Smart solutions Another company that recently received Entrepreneurs’ Programme funding is Renewable Energy Solutions Australia (RESA). Based in Queensland, RESA specialises in developing unique products specifically for the renewable energy space. On 17 August it won a $490,070 Accelerating Commercialisation grant to assist in bringing its VoltLogic energy management system to manufacture.

“We’ve been running since about 2010,” says Michael Le Messurier, RESA’s General Manager. “And we’re now at a stage where we’ve jumped from what I guess you’d call an innovation start-up into a fully-fledged business making real products. And that’s what this grant is really designed to do, to accelerate that.”

The company currently has two products: VoltLogic, and Eco Whisper. In development since around 2010, Eco Whisper is a small wind turbine designed for urban and remote environments.

Unlike the large, propeller-like three-blade turbines seen on windfarms dotting the rural landscape, the Eco Whisper’s design more resembles a jet engine. It also boasts a smaller footprint, and crucially is extremely quiet.

“Because it’s virtually silent, it addresses a number of consumer concerns over noise,” says Le Messurier. “There’s a lot of negative press around wind turbines and noise and apparent effects on health, which is more related to the larger-scale, megawatt-class turbines. The Eco Whisper is targeted more at the smaller end – four or five homes, or a small factory. It has application

Right: The VoltLogic energy management system from Renewable Energy Solutions Australia (RESA).

in off-grid environments as well, remote or mini grids.”

VoltLogic in part complements the EcoWhisper, as it can operate as an inverter for the turbine, but it is also compatible with multiple forms of renewable energy. According to Le Messurier, in simple terms, VoltLogic is a smart energy solution that manages electricity generated from wind, solar or aqua turbines, controlling its flow into homes, small communities or factories, or into battery storage, and then regulating its distribution for local use or into the grid.

“It has a lot of benefits for the consumer in that it can manage the power quality, and therefore improve efficiency in the use of power on the site,” says Le Messurier. “It also has benefits the other side of the meter, for the utilities, in that it can manage voltage rise, phase imbalance, power factor correction, and so on. We’re bringing multiple functionalities within one platform, and that platform is expandable. It can work within a residential environment, or it can be expanded to commercial environments.”

RESA has a partnership with Geelong-based Austeng for earlystage, small-volume manufacture of the Eco Whisper, and is looking for partners to manufacture VoltLogic. The company is keen to keep production on-shore, but given the cost-sensitive nature of the market, it is also considering manufacturing overseas.

“The costs of solar versus wind turbines are kind of worlds apart,” says Le Messurier. “So that’s our challenge, getting the cost down, through partners either in Australia or overseas. There’s a lot of cost base, particularly on the components side.”

The recent grant will help guide RESA’s decision-making in this regard, allowing a manufacturing run on VoltLogic aimed at finding efficiencies. It will also enable RESA to investigate other potential improvements, such as reducing the product’s physical size.

“I guess tying in to the backing is: where does it fit for partners in Australia?” says Le Messurier. “Not so much the physical making-of, but the design and facilitation, the management of it. That’s where opportunities for Australian partners lie.

And that’s where I think we’ve got a really strong competitive advantage, a lot of great expertise in Australia. And that’s what we’ll be engaging in.

RESA’s Eco Whisper wind turbine.

“What is critical for us is that if we can find a partner that has the expertise, in particular with some of the components such as enclosures, printed circuit boards, and so on. Basically, is there a partner out there that can provide a full turnkey solution, final testing and verification, that’s at a cost structure that’s will enable us to be competitive in the market? That’s what it comes down to.”

Le Messurier believes it’s an exciting time right now for Australian innovators and manufacturers in the renewables and clean-tech space, with a lot of opportunities up for grabs.

“There’s a number of new initiatives going on from a high level in driving innovation,” he says. “And from a manufacturer’s perspective, that’s exciting. Australians have a lot of good ideas. We’re good at creating things, doing things differently. We’re extremely good at being innovative. That’s what I think we do well and do differently compared to other advanced economies.

“The opportunity’s there, but the question for manufacturers is how we tap into that, to enable and nurture that growth so it keeps giving. I’d love to be able to say Australia is competitive on cost in a general manufacturing sense, but it’s not. We’ve got to be different, we’ve got to innovate, and think outside the box.” www.arena.gov.au www.cleanenergyfinancecorp.com.au www.anu.edu.au www.unsw.edu.au www.vividindustrial.com www.resau.com.au

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Australian Technologies Competition highlights manufacturing innovation

Brainwave monitoring, a 3D-printed heat exchanger, and innovative long, joint-free piping have been named among the best advanced manufacturing technologies for this year’s Australian Technologies Competition (ATC).

The ATC has shortlisted 38 of Australia’s most exciting technology companies for the ATC16 Business Accelerator. These semifinalists are industry-leading innovators with the capability to become gamechangers across the sectors of advanced manufacturing, energy, food & agricultural technology, mining, medical technology, cyber-security and smart cities.

“This year we have partnered with the Federal Government’s Industry Growth Centres to identify and work with technologies from the Government’s priority sectors,” says John O’Brien, the competition organiser. “The semi-finalists will have unmatched opportunities with industry, investors and partners that will help them get to market and realise their potential in Australia and globally.”

The Advanced Manufacturing category is being supported by AMTIL to showcase some of the country’s most exciting manufacturing companies. Now in its sixth year, the ATC finds, mentors and develops Australia’s best technology companies with the greatest global potential. The Business Accelerator program aims to help turn good technologies into great businesses.

In addition to support from industry associations such as AMTIL, the 2016 program has the support the NSW Department of Industry, National Energy and Resources Australia (NERA) and, to access export opportunities, both the UK Department for International Trade and the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council.

The judging panel features the country’s leading experts in commercialisation, finance, intellectual property and technology development, from companies such as Deloitte, Bird & Bird and FB Rice.

With a focus on building global success stories, the judges are looking for not only the best technologies but also the best managers and the best business plans.

This year’s 146 entries have so far jointly spent $190m developing their technologies and have more than 600 employees. While many of the semi-finalists are already selling solutions, others are jointly seeking an additional $80m to bring all the solutions to market. The companies are developing a range of incredible innovations that address the big growth opportunities and challenges of the future.

This year’s semi-finalists in the Advanced Manufacturing Award category are as follows: • Advanced Fertigation Systems (WA) provides SWAN (Scheduling Water And Nutrients), a cost-effective management platform that helps to manage water resources, allocations and nutrient inputs precisely and to plan. www.afsag.com.au • Aglive (Vic) has developed a system and method for digital supply chain traceability that has significantly enhanced tracking of red meat from the farmer to the end consumer. www. aglive.com • Conflux Technology (Vic) uses metal additive manufacturing (3D printing) to produce a smaller, lighter and more

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Previous winners of the Advanced Manufacturing Award have included: • Ocius Technology, the 2015 winner, developed the Ocius Bluebottle unmanned surface vessel (USV), with between two and five times the power, payload and performance of its competitors. www.ocius.com.au efficient heat exchanger with intricate geometry and a high surface area density. www.confluxtechnology.com • Cortical Dynamics (WA) has developed a disruptive brain function monitor, the Brain Anaesthesia Response (BAR) monitor, which better detects the effect of anaesthetic agents on brain activity and aids optimal anaesthetisation. www.corticaldynamics.com • Gamechanger Technologies (Vic) has developed VForce Compound Motion technology for wind turbines and other airfoils, providing variable angle of deflection and extension (morphing) that other systems cannot achieve. www.gamechangertechnologies.com. au • Long Pipes (WA) is the developer of the Fluid Highway, which produces continuous joint-free pipes at a rate of at 20km per day, using composite pipe technology cured onsite to provide the lightest, strongest, toughest, fastest-to-install, longest-lasting, cheapest solution for long distance transportation of gases and fluids. www.longpipes.com.au

• Rheology Solutions, the 2014 winner, has developed an ‘OnLine Rheometer’, delivering real-time data to enable improved production process quality control by measuring flow curves for liquids in pipes. www. rheologysolutions.com • BluGlass, the 2013 winner, is a listed semiconductor company bringing to market a breakthrough LED manufacturing technology called Remote Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition (RPCVD). www.bluglass. com.au “We are thrilled to see so many amazing companies with their eyes firmly set on global markets,” says O’Brien. “We receive incredible feedback on the value of this program and it is always a privilege to work with so many talented entrepreneurs.”

The winners of the Advanced Manufacturing award will be announced at a Gala Awards Dinner in Sydney on 2 November. Many of the semi-finalists will also be presenting at the ATC Showcase event alongside the All Energy Conference in Melbourne on 5 October. www.austechcomp.com

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Renewable & Clean Technology

K-TIG – Environmentally sustainable welding For Australian manufacturers looking to future-proof their business, environmental sustainability must be a major consideration. However, many manufacturers equate sustainability with expense, believing that while sustainable operations may be a value-add in terms of market position, it won’t bolster their bottom line.

K-TIG not only leads the way for environmental sustainability within the welding industry – its state-of-the-art technology and process is proven to reduce welding and fabricating costs by an average of 80%. Developed by the CSIRO, K-TIG is a high speed, single-pass, full-penetration welding technology that eliminates the need for wire, edge-bevelling or skilled operators. K-TIG, or Keyhole TIG (tungsten inert gas), is a variant of gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW).

K-TIG operates exceptionally well across a large array of applications, demonstrating working speeds up to 100 times faster than conventional welding technologies like TIG/ GTAW. K-TIG’s stable keyhole penetrates materials up to 16mm in thickness with a fraction of the maintenance requirement of other processes. The technology has eclipsed past technologies through massive reductions in gas and power usage, and through single-pass welds, which eliminate, or significantly reduce, grinding and reworking at a faction of the price of laser systems.

According to Attila Szabo, Principal Joining Engineer at GE, “K-TIG delivers the penetration of a high-powered laser at a small fraction of the cost and complexity.”

K-TIG makes light work of longitudinal and circumferential welds across many surfaces, from pipe, plate and spooling, to vessel, tank and more. Generating unprecedented productivity gains, K-TIG is able to perform a standard TIG weld that once took six hours in a mere three

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minutes. All this is achieved without compromising on quality: K-TIG meets the most stringent industry standards and code requirements. K-TIG can easily weld in 1G and 2G positions, and on pipe diameters as low as 3 inches (7.6cm). It can work with titanium between 3mm to 16mm, stainless steel between 3mm to 13mm, and alloys between 3mm to 9mm.

Environmental efficiencies Industrial fabrication, and the welding process in particular, is a highly energy-intensive process involving the consumption of large quantities of gas, electricity and consumables. So how does K-TIG meet its commitment to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint in fabrication?

“K-TIG offers an extraordinary speed and efficiency advantage, which is up to 100 times faster than TIG or GTAW welding,” says K-TIG’s CEO, Neil Le Quesne.

“This means that both energy and gas consumption are reduced by up to 95%.

K-TIG achieves incredibly high levels of accuracy, and requires significantly fewer consumables to produce best-in-class results that exceed industry standards. This means less waste.”

For example, a three-metre TIG weld in 16mm titanium will consume approximately 14,900 litres of welding grade argon gas.

The same TIG welding action performed

by K-TIG will consume approximately 720 litres, a saving of 95%.

“All of this means that, when compared to traditional welding technologies, K-TIG has achieved a revolution in sustainable welding,” adds Le Quesne. “By offering exponentially faster welding speeds with increased accuracy, energy and gas consumption is significantly reduced, whilst materials wastage is cut.”

Case Study: General Electric K-TIG technology was deployed at General Electric (GE) in the production of exhaust diffusers made from 8mm 347 stainless steel. GE’s conventional GTAW process required extensive edge preparation, a V-groove preparation as well as joint cleaning for each joint, resulting in slow set-up times.

GTAW’s inability to fully penetrate the material created a requirement for four to five passes, plus tacking to complete each joint. Weld inspections were also required throughout the process, resulting in long welding and processing times. The need for a V-groove preparation and multiple passes created a requirement for large quantities of filler wire and consumables, while gas consumption, power consumption and arc-on times were correspondingly high.

With the application of K-TIG technology, GE’s welding time was reduced from more than 260 hours to 14 hours, with

Renewable & Clean Technology Longitudinal and circumferential seams are K-TIG welded from the outside, leaving a slightly proud reinforced weld on the outside and a small penetration bead on the inside, which is wire buffed.

corresponding savings in gas, power, consumables, preparation, labour and overall cost. The quality of K-TIG welds were found to be exceptional, with the single-pass welding process dramatically reducing the opportunity for porosity, inclusions, lack of fusion, rework and repairs.

“K-TIG welding is a new productivity benchmark,” said Attila Szabo, Principal Joining Engineer at GE. “It sets an entirely new bar for what can be achieved with an arc welding system. The speed, penetration, quality and overall savings generated by the process are extraordinary.”

The results achieved by GE included: • A 93% cost saving.

• 100% reduction in edge preparation time.

• 95% reduction in welding time.

• 66% reduction in defects.

• 99% reduction in wire consumption.

• 75% reduction in number of passes.

• 90% reduction in gas consumption.

• 84% reduction in grinding and cleaning.

Case Study: Bilfinger The inherently slow welding speeds of Bilfinger’s conventional metal inert gas

Bilfinger’s results were impressive: • A 92% cost saving.

• 100% reduction in edge preparation time.

• 90% reduction in welding time.

(MIG) welding process on 10mm 321 stainless steel plates had resulted in long welding times, high gas consumption and high power consumption.

• 99% reduction in wire consumption.

As MIG isn’t able to fully penetrate 10mm 321 stainless steel, the material required significant edge preparation which couldn’t be handled in-house. The outsourced edge preparation created significant expense, increased lead time and introduced another party into the delivery schedule. The existing MIG process also required large volumes of high-cost wire consumables and multiple weld passes, which were prone to weld quality issues. Job set-up times for each weld were excessive, while the need for extensive cleaning and grinding between passes further strained productivity.

• 75% reduction in number of passes.

Bilfinger now uses K-TIG technology on the plates, with a square plasma cut edge only—no preparation is required.

• 87% reduction in gas consumption.

• 66% reduction in job setup time.

• 73% reduction in grinding & cleaning.

Of particular interest, environmentally speaking, is the fact that wire consumption was virtually eliminated, while gas consumption was reduced by 87%. So it’s clear that from a sustainability perspective, K-TIG has made an incredible contribution to reducing Bilfinger’s carbon footprint.

K-TIG leads the way in environmental sustainability within the welding industry because it drastically reduces the carbon footprint of a given product, while giving companies every incentive imaginable to invest in the technology. www.k-tig.com.

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Green Power – Making the switch

With concerns over the use of fossil fuels growing, many businesses are switching their energy supplies to green power sources. Mark Pollard of Make It Cheaper gives some pointers on how your business can go about making the switch.

Green power is a term for electricity generated from renewable energy sources rather than through the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum.

Australia’s electricity-related emissions are high due to the fact that we rely on non-renewable sources for 88% of our electricity generation, with coal being the most greenhouse-intensive fuel.

Green power provides an opportunity to mitigate greenhouse gases associated with electricity generation and promote natural energetic processes such as hydropower, solar energy and wind energy. Collectively these technologies make up the remaining 12% of electricity generation.

• Hydropower – The largest source of renewable energy, contributing 60% of all renewable generation. The Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme is the country’s largest hydropower generator contributing to almost half of the country’s total hydro output.

• Solar energy – Australia has the highest average solar radiation per square metre of any continent in the world and is a largely untapped resource. However, solar power cannot be relied upon for consistent power generation – storage technologies are still a while off being a viable commercial solution.

• Wind power – A proven and mature technology with low operating costs.

Both wind and solar are known as intermittent energy sources because of daily and seasonal variations.

The manufacturing industry is the largest user of domestic energy, accounting for 26% of total consumption. Households follow shortly after, accounting for 25% of total domestic energy use. According to research, large businesses were more likely to improve the energy and water efficiency of their business, with 75% reporting they aimed to improve energy efficiency.

Switching to green power involves a tradeoff: • Help the environment and hurt your business – Although green power does incur an additional charge to your standard electricity bill, households and businesses that purchase green power can ensure that their electricity has come from accredited renewable energy generators and have met stringent environmental standards.

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Green power costs more than standard electricity because it entails building completely new infrastructure for the electricity grid. However, as with any new technology, development and improvement will see the costs reduce as the infrastructure and demand for it grows.

your next contract based purely on price we can do that for you; but it is important to realise that we are equally willing and able to discuss any more environmental options with you too. Make It Cheaper can provide advice and assistance with regard to the green power plans that it has on offer (though it should be noted that not all retailers allow customers to add green power to their energy plans). We can also provide you with referrals to our energy efficiency partners if you want to go even greener.

An estimate of the cost of green power is around 5-8 cents per KWh more than your current electricity rate, if you elect to purchase 100% green power. But every little bit counts towards an investment for future generations. A smaller contribution of between 10% and 25% green power will cost as little as between 80 cents to $1 a week, equating to less than the cost of a cup of coffee over a month.

AMTIL has teamed up with saving experts Make It Cheaper in a service partnership aimed at helping members to reduce their power bills in one easy phone call. To have a consultative chat with an energy expert, call Make It Cheaper directly on the AMTIL Members Hotline, 02 8880 5523, or simply email a recent bill with contact details to amtil@ makeitcheaper.com.au. www.makeitcheaper.com.au

• Being green is a catalyst for innovation – Both business and the environment can win. Instead of being a cost of doing business, being green brings new market opportunities and wealth creation.

Major manufacturing and business sectors are always looking at improving environmental performance to cut waste, improve economic competitiveness and gain other important benefits. The service offered by Make It Cheaper is designed to make your life easier and greener if you so wish.

Make It Cheaper is one of Australia’s largest business energy brokers, specialising in offering bespoke energy saving solutions to business, commercial, industrial and residential customers. If you want to set up

Hotspots is proudly owned and managed

by AMTIL

Getting the right job, making the right piece •

You need a specific component made, but don’t have the capabilities in house.

•

Your company has landed a major project, but your workshop or your workforce just aren’t big enough to handle the volume required.

•

Your business is diversifying into an area where the expertise available within the company is not sufficient.

HotSpots is a service designed to connect AMTIL members with opportunities to help their businesses grow. That piece of work that you need done might be just the sort of opportunity they’re looking for. And by featuring that opportunity as a HotSpot, you gain access to a wealth of Australian manufacturing capability and expertise.

Our regular AMTIL HotSpots email goes out to over 1,000 people every month, making HotSpots an incredibly powerful way to reach large numbers of key decision-makers from across the manufacturing sector.

Provided your opportunity meets our criteria for listing, inclusion in AMTIL HotSpots is free. If you have something you feel will meet our criteria, please forward it to AMTIL for assessment by emailing info@amtil.com.au with the subject line HOTSPOT. www.amtil.com.au/Membership/Hotspots

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Renewable & Clean Technology

SA companies clean up on clean water tech From industrial waste water in China, to Canadian sewage systems and the Ganges River in India, a raft of South Australian companies are taking their sustainable water-cleaning technologies and selling them to the world. By Andrew Spence and Caleb Radford.

Micromet – Gearing up for mass production Staff from Adelaide company Micromet spent much of August in the major port and industrial city of Ningbo in China testing the company’s Generation 3 water treatment machine, which uses electrolysis to remove pollutants from contaminated water such as sewage, grey water, and industrial effluents. The in-situ tests are a pre-cursor to the establishment of a mass production model in Adelaide.

Micromet Engineering Sales Director Andrew Townsend said the Gen 3 device could treat the desired two litres of water a second, adding that its one-tank design enabled mass manufacturing at a relatively low cost. According to Townsend, Australian products have a good reputation in the water treatment space in China.

“They are very happy with ‘Made in Australia’,” he says.

Micromet’s process uses continuous flow electrolysis methods with special anti-passivation technology that has eluded such systems in the past. The Micromet equipment is also very energy-efficient, using just 0.25KWH to process 1000 litres compared to a reverse osmosis system that can require 20-40KWH to process the same amount.

Micromet has been manufacturing mainly irrigation control technology in South Australia for two decades. However, it was forced to look for new opportunities in wastewater treatment when the Millennium Drought almost brought the company to its knees.

Until now Micromet has been mainly focused on wastewater treatment research and development, producing only a handful of commercial bespoke machines. The new plant will aim to produce 50 six-module machines a month within a year.

“What Micromet has developed is a fair bit cheaper in terms of the actual machine in the first instance and on top of that is a fair bit cheaper to run than most other types of systems,” says Townsend.

“We’re up to Generation 3, we’re imagining Generation 4 will be our first solar-powered model, and Generation 5 we’re hoping will literally be able to float on a dam, be powered by solar and treat the dam while floating on it.”

Micromet took a prototype machine to China in November and successfully treated three highly contaminated industrial wastewaters – electroplating water, machining emulsion and garbage permeate as part of a demonstration. Non-industrial water treatment applications include sewage and mining waste such as fracking water. The treated “A Class” water can then be reused in factories or mines or used for irrigation. The pollutants removed from the wastewater account for about 6% of the original volume.

“My hope is that we can eventually get to the point where we can return the treated water to the environment,” Townsend adds.

“Water doesn’t wear out - many factories will be able to use the water again and again.”

Micromet signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese industrial group Dadongwu in March. Dadongwu is a partially stateowned industrial group based in Huzhou, south-west of Shanghai.

It has a wide range of business interests including construction of hotels and ports, automotive manufacturing, and water treatment technologies. Dadongwu is directly investing $2m in Micromet while the SA Government has given the company $26,000 to develop and implement a marketing and brand strategy for Australian and international markets.

Townsend points out that the Chinese Government has made water and air pollution a priority in its five-year plan.

“That’s a massive market for us because at the moment there’s no incumbent technologies,” he says. “It’s estimated that China will make up 50% of the world water treatment market over the next five years. We’ve estimated that our slice of the pie could be anywhere up to $20bn Australian dollars over the next five to seven years.

“India is also going gangbusters so when we’re trying to plan this facility we don’t want it to be just maxed out producing machines for China, we want to have some additional capacity to supply other markets as well.”

It is not the company’s first international venture. Micromet partnered with a Canadian business to create a joint venture called Living Sky Water Solutions in 2014 after Canada’s Water Security Agency outlawed the “lagooning” method of treating effluent in small communities. In February it signed a deal to build a one megalitre-per-day wastewater treatment plant for the prairie town of Kerrobert in Saskatchewan.

“We have another five (Canadian towns) on the books in various stages of negotiations,” Townsend says. “And the number of communities over there that need a service similar to ours is about 1,800 so we estimate the potential value of Canada to us is about $1bn over five to seven years.”

Hydro-dis – Cleaning up the Ganges Another SA company kicking goals in the water treatment industry is Hydro-dis Water Treatment Systems. The company, based in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, has developed a new device that provides immediate disinfection, improves the efficiency of metal removal and includes residual chlorine to reduce contamination after treatment.

Hydro-dis’ treatment technology uses insitu electro-catalytic generation of chlorine to disinfect water and can be used for various

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Renewable & Clean Technology

industries to treat potable, non-potable and wastewater.

The unique technique creates chloride ions from salt already present in the water even when it is present in very small amounts, making it suitable for freshwater and saltwater sources. The device also works to prevent scaling and fouling.

The company has several machines operating in rural areas in Western Australia. It is ramping up production in Adelaide with the aim of targeting international markets.

Managing Director Mark Carey travelled to India in August as part of a SA delegation to the arid state of Rajasthan to help provide water disinfection solutions. The company was also invited to provide advice for cleaning up the Ganges – India’s holy river. He says the Hydro-dis technology was a simple alternative to other contemporary treatment methods and would be highly beneficial for rural communities.

“We are reducing environmental footprints, health and safety in the workplace, and costs across the board,” says Carey. “Our product is in the same boat as ultra-violet (UV) and ozone systems because it has immediate killing power but we provide a residual to chlorine, which gives the water a level that meets the standard of drinking water.

“In a rural community with a gas plant (to treat water), once the gas runs out they have to keep replenishing it – trucks are having to travel out there all the time and refill the gas station.”

The machine can be attached to a pipe so that dirty water flows in one end, is treated and then flows out the other side clean.

Systems are scalable and can churn up to 10m litres a day. In July, Hydro-dis was awarded the Water Treatment and Re-Use Award for its disinfection technology at the 2016 Smart Water Awards in Adelaide.

Factor UTB – IoT-enabled wastewater treatment Adelaide company Factor UTB was also recognised at the awards, for Excellence in Environmental Practice. The company has developed technology that uses the Internet of Things to alter the treatment environment for winery, industrial and municipal wastewater.

Factor UTB CEO Rex Gibbs says the monitoring technology allowed the company to target and strengthen the bacteria that cleaned the water in holding tanks. He explains that native bacteria that attacked organic pollutants and excess nutrients in wastewater were harvested from sewage pipes, winery drains and waste streams.

“Then we train them up like Olympic hopefuls so they do what we want,” Gibbs says. “We are achieving nutrient results that are far better than almost anything else that is being produced. We are also able to achieve this at less than a dollar of chemicals per kilolitre treated.”

Beyond the wine industry, the company has also built water tanks for Acacia Prison in Western Australia – the nation’s largest correctional facility. Factor UTB uses 3G networks to access water tank controls to manipulate the environment. It is also able to control the pumps remotely across large distances.

Tanks are fitted with sensors to detect pipe leaks, which can send an immediate notification to company personnel. The tanks are also fitted with probes and sensors to detect changes in alkalinity or oxygen levels and automatically adjust settings to optimise water treatment.

“We remove about 90% of the pollutants and then when re-treated we remove 90% of what’s left,” says Gibbs. “The treated water can be used for many things without further treatment.

“The biggest tank we built for a winery is in Marlborough (New Zealand) and is about 1800sqm. If an Adelaide home churns through 500 litres a day, the one in New Zealand can churn about a 22,000-house equivalent.”

Gibbs says Factor UTB is in talks with wineries in South Africa. www.micrometonline.com www.hydro-dis.com.au

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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Renewable & Clean Technology

Clean-tech innovation in Australia

After years of doom and gloom, a new optimism is building in the renewable energy sector. Clean technology research, both public and private, is again on the rise and commercial-scale projects are being commissioned. By Ray Tettman.

Historically, renewable energy technologies could not compete with conventional fossil fuels and were reliant on government subsidies to be competitive. However, continuous innovation and economies of scale have driven down the cost of at least the more mature clean technologies, such as wind and solar, to the extent they are now near parity with conventional electricity production.

Another perceived obstacle to large-scale implementation of wind and solar farms is the variable nature of these energy sources.

However, fast developing energy storage technologies are addressing this obstacle.

A world-first large-scale solar farm with integrated battery storage is being built in the Lakeland region of north Queensland.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)’s CEO Ivor Frischnecht has said: “Battery storage will play a critical role in our future energy systems. The benefit of adding batteries to solar farms is simple; they store energy from the sun for use at peak times and overnight. They can also smooth solar energy output on cloudy days”.

One of Australia’s first “Tesla towns” is being built on a former paper mill site in the Melbourne suburb of Alphington. The project will include 60 homes fitted with Tesla battery packs and solar panels as a standard inclusion, not an optional extra.

Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, opened the Tesla Gigafactory on 29 July. The Gigafactory will be the world’s largest producer of lithium ion batteries, not only for Tesla electric vehicles but also for stationary energy storage, like the battery packs used in the Alphington Tesla town. Tesla made intellectual property (IP) news headlines in June 2014 when it open-sourced its considerable number of patents relating to its electric vehicles and battery technologies. This move was viewed skeptically at the time by commentators and investors, because it went against conventional wisdom that dictates that technology start-up companies must protect their R&D using patents. Tesla, however, is different to other technology companies because it really has no viable competitors and, as such, making its patents available for everyone to use is actually good business. According to Musk, Tesla and other electric car companies will all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform.

A larger market helps spread the cost of building the vehicle charging infrastructure necessary to establish wide-scale adoption

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

One example of an innovative Australian company in this field is Bombora Wave Power. The company was founded in 2012 and is located in Perth. Its innovative mWave converters deliver environmentally friendly, large-scale energy for national electricity grids, and can be deployed in coastal locations throughout the world.

of plug-in electric vehicles, and also leads to a de facto standardisation on the Tesla battery format and charging system.

However, not all clean-tech companies are in Tesla’s enviable position of having no viable competitors. These companies generally rely on patents to protect their R&D, especially if their product is easily reverse engineered and thus not protectable by trade secrets.

The filing of patent applications is often cited as being an indicator of innovation, at least for technologies considered commercially important. According to Australian Patent Office statistics, the total number of patent applications filed in Australia grew a modest 12% over the 10-year period 2006-15.

However, the number of patent applications for systems that supply, store or distribute electric power increased by 342% in Australia over the same period, and 411% internationally. Battery charging and electrically-powered vehicle propulsion systems also experienced substantial growth rates internationally, with both increasing 450%.

In the somewhat niche clean energy field of wave power, the rise in Australian innovation is even more dramatic, with Australian patent activity increasing by 625% over the ten-year period, with 79% of the published applications naming Australian inventors.

This is set against an international increase of 215% over the same period.

The mWave converters harness wave energy in the form of pressure on the sea floor. Waves passing over rubber membranes cause air within the membranes is be squeezed into a duct and then though a turbine. The turbine spins a generator to produce electricity. This innovative arrangement greatly reduces the risks associated with surviving extreme storms and enables a simpler and more cost effective design.

The concept for the Bombora converter began in 2007 with founding engineers Glen Ryan and Shawn Ryan. The two brothers initially built and tested a smallscale mWave prototype device using a tractor to generate waves in a swimming pool-sized tank. They filed an international patent application in 2012 and progressed to mid-scale trials in the Swan River near Perth in 2015. In 2016 the company completed a feasibility study for a 60MW wave farm in Portugal, where a full-scale installation is planned for 2017.

Not only are Australian innovators getting excited, Australian investors are also optimistic. The Australian CleanTech Index, which provides a measure of the performance of about 60 listed clean-tech stocks, significantly outperformed the wider market for the full 2015-16 financial year.

The Index recorded a strong gain for the year of 21.3%, compared to the ASX200’s loss of 4.3%. This capped off a stellar three years for the Index with returns of nearly 70% for investors. Finally, there seems to be a renewed confidence for Australian clean-tech innovators and investors.

Ray Tettman is a Principal, Patent and Trade Marks Attorney at Watermark Intellectual Asset Management. www.watermark.com.au

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one-on-one

Wade Noonan is the Victorian State Minister for Industry and Employment and the Minister for Resources.

He spoke to William Poole.

AMT: Firstly, what’s your view on the state of manufacturing in Victoria.

Wade Noonan: There’s a lot said about manufacturing, and I guess the point that needs to be very clear from the outset is manufacturing is alive and well in Victoria. It’s a big employer. It employs more than 270,000 people. Manufacturing is in essence probably going through a period of transition. Someone said to me last week that advanced manufacturing was “the new black”, and I think that’s a reflection of the proud heritage of manufacturing in Victoria and a desire from those including in the Government to see a bright future for manufacturing in Victoria ongoing.

AMT: What do you think are the great strengths we’ve got in the state?

WN: In the three months that I’ve been the new Industry Minister, I have regularly visited manufacturing workplaces and I have been exceptionally impressed with the resilience of manufacturing, the capacity of large and small businesses to find new markets and new opportunities, the fact that they leverage the great skill base which has been really the foundation of manufacturing in Victoria. And when I talk about that skill base I’m talking about generating new ideas and being able to convert those ideas into something which can be exported to every corner of the globe.

I think the other thing that has struck me very clearly is the advanced nature of research & development (R&D) in terms of those manufacturers here in Victoria that are doing well. And I think broadly you probably can’t move away from the quality infrastructure that sits here in Victoria. The fact that there are some very commercially valuable assets here in Victoria. We have the largest container port, a 24-hour curfew-free airport. And when you pick through what sets Victoria aside, there are also very good collaborations and partnerships, particularly with our academic and research institutions.

Which all position Victoria very well in terms of its future. Not that everyone can define what advanced manufacturing is easily, but everyone understands the future of manufacturing here in Victoria is about creating value. Value that can be exported anywhere in the world. And of course the Victorian government is keen to support the manufacturing industry as well.

AMT: What are the biggest challenges for the sector?

WN:: I think clearly many people see the decline of auto manufacturing to closure later next year as a challenge, because those manufacturers that I’ve spoken to over the last number of months have wanted to emphasise that the strongest role that Government can play is to talk about manufacturing being alive and well. That is not a challenge that other sectors face.

But it’s one where Government does have a key role in assisting the industry and businesses within the industry and those that collaborate ongoing. That’s why shortly we will establish an advanced manufacturing council, which will be given the task of producing a clear statement to create a positive vision for manufacturing in Victoria at a time where there will be our traditional auto manufacturing base ceasing in Victoria, and throughout Australia.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

I think it’s important for Government to play a role with the industry – and the industry is absolutely up for this – to be talking positively and to be setting a clear vision about where we are going, and also matching that vision with investment as well, both investment on behalf of Government but also generating confidence for further investment in Victoria.

AMT: What sort of programs does the State Government have in place to help the sector?

WN: I have some data which is relevant in relation to manufacturing in particular. You’d probably be aware that last year the Future Industries Manufacturing Program was launched, and this was really to drive innovation and new opportunities for manufacturing in Victoria, with a $5m fund as part of that launch. I am very pleased that already six projects have been funded, and we have already allocated $1.2m, and 53 new jobs have been created out of those investments. And most importantly, in terms of the value capture, those small investments that we are making with manufacturers are anticipated to drive about $60m worth of new exports.

We’ll have more grant announcements to make in the coming months, but it’s an exciting endorsement in terms of our Government’s view in relation to the future of manufacturing. We are co-investing, we are looking for opportunities where manufacturers want to invest particularly either driving efficiencies or new opportunities.

I’ll give you just one example – it’s a great story. I went out to a small manufacturer in Melbourne’s west which makes car mats. They make car mats and they’re exporting them to the USA. And you’d think that this would be an area that would be captured somewhere else in the world. They’ve seen an opportunity, they’ve thrown themselves at that opportunity and what they’ve done through a grant from the Victorian government is take a manual process essentially of cutting out car mats, which come in all shapes and sizes, and then invested in a new automated piece of equipment which can take a pattern and cut that car mat out, which then allows them through global buying networks to be able to export those products in a very efficient way; so all a purchaser in the US would need to do is name the type or make of the vehicle, simply indicate how many mats they might be looking for, and we can produce those right here in Victoria.

And again making those sorts of investments will drive those new opportunities. That’s where the Future Industries Manufacturing Program is taking manufacturing in the future. It’s terrific that the Victorian government could be co-investing with businesses large and small in order to facilitate that, in the way that we facilitate largescale investments through our investment arms of the Victorian Government as well.

I could talk to you about Tyrrells, for example. Tyrrells – if they’re not the largest, they’re one of the largest potato crisps producers.

They’re selling on supermarket shelves in Victoria, but they’re not manufactured in our area. So Tyrrells was attracted through our investment offices in the UK to come here and have a look at a joint venture, which was successful. They’ve now set up with Yarra Valley

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Snackfoods, with 90 new jobs to be created. They will manufacture and use potatoes from Victoria in our food manufacturing area to produce those potato crisps right here in Victoria, not just for Australia but for our region. Victoria is deliberately out there trying to set that sort of opportunity because this is one of the areas where we see real growth opportunities for Victoria. That’s a manufacturing opportunity coming to Victoria, and we will continue to work hard to drive those opportunities for Victoria in the future.

AMT: You mentioned the car companies. What can the state government be doing to ease the impact of their impending departures?

WN: We have very deliberately mapped the supply chain businesses – of which there are about 130 Tier 1 and Tier 2 businesses here in Victoria. We have contacted all of those supply chain businesses.

We have also allocated funding out of our $46m Auto Transition package deliberately for supply chain businesses to assist them in the first instance with assessing their businesses, and we’ve already supplied 25 supply chain businesses with grants between $16,000 initially and in some cases a second tranche of money up to $71,000, to essentially have a business facilitation specialist come in to sit down with those supply chain businesses and talk about their future. That has led to many shifting from where they may have been a year ago to where they are today, where they’re actually starting to be much more positive about not only maintaining the viability of their supply chain business, but actually growing because they’ve established opportunities in new markets.

This is one of the untold stories – it’s still an emerging story – but through our own work, we’ve been able to establish that about 70% of the supply chain businesses supplying auto at the moment are likely to remain and in many cases prosper from new opportunities they’ve been able to identify.

An extreme case for example: a small auto component company, which was providing a sealer on nuts used to bind together the vehicles, that company is moving away from that and moving into an organic fertilizer, potentially supplying vineyards across the Yarra Valley in Victoria. This is a company that was, in their own words, going out of business and going out rapidly. Through the support and a small grant to bring in a business specialist, they’ve been able to sit down and talk about the skills that they have and think about and map out where they would go in the future. Based on their entrepreneurial base and their skill capacity, they’ve been able to shift from auto into something very different – the point of difference being that they have already produced prototype fertiliser that doesn’t have high odour level, and they’ve also been able to generate the organic material from a Melbourne-based hospital in terms of food waste product. It’s actually a very exciting story, and it’s just one story out of many that I’ve heard through visits.

I went to another small business in Burwood (Melbourne), which in fact was supplying the plated petrol caps for one of the major auto manufacturers. That company has diversified into plumbing products - taps and other fittings for bathrooms and kitchens.

They have become so good at what they’re doing that they have even taken an order from a very well-known Melbourne restaurant to supply black-plated spoons of very high value. So what they’ve done is taken a very low-value product, in terms of tapware, and enhancing it with a black finish, which is really high-value product.

Essentially they’re moving away from automotive, and through the business transition support that they’re getting from the Victorian Government, which is $5m in totality, they’ve been able to look at new markets and new opportunities based on the skills they have and based on the entrepreneurial base, in order to diversify. That’s a very positive story and one that is emerging out of the supply chain businesses that we’re regularly engaging with.

There’s also the workforce. The workforce is obviously very important, and the support that we’re providing them in transition is about assisting them with base skills to essentially understand how to prepare a résumé, interview skills, job matching, and obviously job placement. We’re investing very heavily in that regard through our jobs and skills centres – we have four of them – mapped around our larger auto manufacturers. We are also providing additional funding through our Jobs Victoria employment network, which is also very deliberately aimed at helping retrenched auto workers, including those who work for component or supply chain businesses, to also be placed into new future work opportunities down the track.

AMT: Tell us about your professional background prior to taking this role.

WN: I’ve been in the Parliament for nine years. I’m the Member for Williamstown, and I live happily in the electorate with my wife and two sons. We’re all mad Western Bulldogs supporters, and I’m very fortunate to be the no. 1 ticket holder at the Williamstown Football Club as well. The western region of Melbourne has a very large industry base, including a traditional manufacturing base, so I feel very fortunate to have landed in the role of Minister for Industry, Employment and Resources, which I was appointed to in May of this year.

Continued next page

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one-on-one Continued from previous page

Previously I was Minister for Police & Corrections. I had some challenges in relation to the role and had to have a break from Parliament, but I’ve come back a much stronger and more balanced person. In the Parliament I spent some time in Opposition in both the Police Emergency Services bushfire response area, and before that I was Opposition Parliamentary Secretary for Health & Mental Health.

Previous to that I was engaged in many Parliamentary Committees including the Economic Development & Infrastructure Committee, the Public Accounts & Estimates Committee.

I worked both in the private sector before coming into Parliament in the travel and tourism industry largely, and I then worked for two trade unions as well. Those trade unions had the absolute majority of their members in the private sector as well. I did some university training through Swinburne University, and was fortunate enough to participate in the Williamson Community Leadership Program as well and became a Williamson Fellow back in 2005.

I think the best and most important skills I picked up all the way through both pre-parliamentary life and parliamentary life is that you need to be a sponge. You need to soak up advice and ask lots of questions. You need not present yourself as an expert because the answers will eventually come in terms of setting policy and making wise investments, ultimately about Victoria’s future in my

case in relation to Industry, Employment and Resources. I make it my business to spend a lot of time out in the field, ask a lot of questions, and to seek as thorough an understanding as I can so that, on behalf of the Victorian Government and on behalf of the Victorian manufacturing sector, I can promote the best and most positive agenda I can in the position I now hold.

AMT: And what might an ordinary day on the job look like?

WN: Very long days. You could start the day with an industry breakfast at 7am. Find your way through anywhere from three to eight different meetings or public events each day. And then find yourself at an evening event, supporting manufacturing or another part of your portfolio. Only to find yourself at home at nine or ten o’clock, reintroducing yourself to your family! The days are long, the job can be challenging, but the privilege of representing the Victorian community and working for the Andrews government is enormous and I never get through a day without thinking about the privilege that we all collectively have as Members of Parliament, but in particular when you become a Minister, and also the responsibility that that carries in order to deliver good government.

So that’s what a typical day looks like. They can be long, they can be challenging, but ultimately it’s a privilege to be serving the Victoria community.

New grant propels Lovitt Technologies Australia State Minister for Industry and Employment Wade Noonan and Member for Eltham Vicki Ward visited Lovitt Technologies Australia (LTA)’s factory in Montmorency, Victoria, on 10 August to announce a $387,000 funding boost for the manufacturer.

The funding is part of the Labor Government’s Future Industries Manufacturing Program, which is supporting Victorian-based manufacturers grow and create jobs. LTA will use the money to invest in new equipment, create five new full time jobs and boost its exports by more than $4m. It builds on recent announcements, including grants to: Guala Closures in West Footscray; Southern Cross Ceramics in Mulgrave; CE Bartlett in Wendouree; Medical Developments International in Scoresby; and Fitmycar in Ravenhall.

“We are helping Victorian manufacturers like Lovitt Technologies invest in new technologies to help them grow and create new jobs,” said Minister Noonan. “As car manufacturing winds down, it’s important we support those businesses that will transition Victoria towards an advanced manufacturing economy.”

Established in 1954 as George Lovitt Manufacturing to manufacture cutting tools for the Australian automotive industry, LTA has evolved continuously over the subsequent six decades.

Quick to anticipate the decline of Australian car-making, it branched into fields as diverse as communications, defence and food & beverages. However, the company has really specialised – and made its name – in the field of aerospace over the last 20 years. Today LTA is a provider of high-technology precision engineering and support services to the aerospace, defence and general commercial sectors.

Aerospace components account for around 95% of LTA’s business. The company is a key supplier to Boeing, working on the 787 ‘Dreamliner’ as well as the 747 and 737 airliners.

In the defence space, the company supplies parts for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter, the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet and F15 Eagle fighter jets, the V-22 Osprey V/ STOL military transport aircraft, P-8 Poseidon and the CH-47 Chinook helicopter. It also supplies some components for smaller commercial aircraft such as the Gulfstream private jet.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Bruce Ramsay, LTA’s Manufacturing Director, with Member for Eltham Vicki Ward and State Minister for Industry and Employment Wade Noonan.

The grant will go towards the purchase of a Mazak Vortex i-800V/8 next-generation CNC machining centre, which will enable them to manufacture the floor structure, bulk heads and the engine mounts of the F-35 aircraft. The Vortex i-800V/8 is a vertical machining centre with a 80cm square pallet, and a tilting spindle that allows for five-axis simultaneous machining of complex contours on large parts, such as jet engine casings, airframe components and gearboxes, made from titanium, aluminium and steel. The machine comes with a two-pallet changer that provides unattended operations and off-cycle part set-up, allowing operators to load, unload and inspect parts on one pallet while the machine works on the other undisturbed.

Companies can apply for grants of up to $500,000 under the Future Industries Manufacturing Program to invest in new manufacturing technologies and processes that will create jobs and increase productivity. More information about the Manufacturing Program is available at the Business Victoria website or by calling 13 22 15. www.lovittech.com.au www.johnhart.com.au www.business.vic.gov.au/fimp

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Hydraulic block manifold redesign for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is highly suited for the design and manufacture of manifolds due to its ability to build internal features and passageways.

First design iteration

Renishaw recently collaborated with a customer to redesign a hydraulic block manifold with additive manufacturing in mind. The main goal of the project was to reduce the mass of the existing component while retaining its robustness. Due to the increased design freedom associated with additive manufacturing, an opportunity to increase the efficiency of the flow paths was also identified.

A hydraulic block manifold directs the flow of fluid in a hydraulic system, linking valves, pumps and actuators. It enables the design engineer to manage the operation of a hydraulic circuit while combining the components in a compact unit. Traditionally, hydraulic block manifolds are manufactured from an aluminium alloy or stainless steel billet which has been cut and machined to size, followed by drilling to create the flow pathways. Specialised tooling is often needed due to the complex drilling that is required. Passages require blanking plugs to properly direct flow through the system.

The nature of the manufacturing process results in abrupt angled junctions between flow paths, which can cause flow separation and/or stagnation – a major contributor to efficiency loss. Aluminium alloy manifolds are generally less costly due to lower material costs and ease of machining, but they can be less abrasion-resistant, and so any loose particles in the flow will abrade the surface and increase wear.

For this reason, stainless steel manifolds are sometimes more desirable. However, due to the higher density and hardness of stainless steel compared to aluminium alloy, these come with a significant weight increase and added cost of machining.

Benefits of additive manufacturing • Optimised flow paths for a more efficient component functionality.

The first step was to de-construct the part into just the essential passageways that provide the functionality of the hydraulic block manifold. The flow paths of the original cross-drilled design were extracted using computer-aided design (CAD) software, and any drilled areas that are not required for the flow path were removed, leaving the essential pipe network. Each hydraulic circuit was then reduced and simplified in preparation for piece-wise computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, using SolidWorks Flow Simulation.

Original block manifold. Flow passages are cross drilled and plugged to direct flow.

• With full design freedom, a manifold can be designed to pack into a significantly smaller volume.

Direct benefits to customer • Mass reduction of up to 79%.

• Single piece construction, fewer opportunities for defects.

• Rapid design and development iterations.

• Compatibility with existing design.

• Improved flow efficiency of up to 60%.

Design scope Additive manufacturing allows a higher level of design freedom, so the component geometry could be adapted to reduce material mass and improved functionality, within the same space. Renishaw was given certain design and function guidelines by the customer, which had to be considered when redesigning the component:

• Inner diameters of flow passages.

• Reduction in the requirement for fixturing.

The customer’s main requirement was weight reduction, while still maintaining its rigidity and functionality. Renishaw design engineers also recognised scope in the redesign for additive manufacturing to improve the efficiency of the flow paths within the system.

• No requirement for block extraction passages.

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Finally, permanent support structures were designed and added in to the CAD geometry, creating a self-supporting, efficient structure. Generally support structures are added to a final geometry in post processing of the component design in order to anchor the object to the baseplate and dissipate heat.

However, making the supports part of the component design reduces the potential waste material associated with removable support structures or anchors.

• Defined connection ports.

• Wall thicknesses of the flow passages.

• Significant weight reduction is achievable.

Wall thickness was then generated, in this case based on the customer specification, but alternatively this could be done by using finite element analysis (FEA) stress modelling based on pressure readings taken during CFD analysis.

Geometry

• Ability to fully utilise computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to aid the design process.

• Minimal requirement for removable support structures.

Next, the flow paths were optimised after identifying areas of flow separation and stagnation gained via CFD analysis.

• Fixture points and interfaces.

Function

Second iteration geometry. The block extraction passages have been removed and the support structures reworked for increased stiffness and rigidity.

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supporting structures, this was seen as an opportunity to redevelop the design. It had been suggested that iteration 1 might be subjected to flexure, torsional distortion and/or chatter during machining due to the now reduced volume of material relative to a solid block. While simultaneously increasing its stiffness, the redesign resulted in a final manifold that was just 21% of the volume of the original.

Extracted flow path section highlighting abrupt junctions

This significant reduction in volume now opened up the option of producing iteration 2 in the more desirable stainless steel 316L. This resulted in a net reduction in weight of 37% even in a material with higher density (8 grams per cubic centimetre for stainless steel, and < 3 grams per cubic centimetre for aluminium alloy).

To get the best possible components from an additive manufacturing process, the user needs to understand that designing for additive manufacturing has a higher level of freedom compared to

traditional manufacturing techniques such as subtractive machining and casting.

Renishaw provides training and design for process support even after the purchase of an additive manufacturing system.

For companies who are considering integrating additive manufacturing into their production processes, Renishawâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s global Solutions Centres act as a gateway to entry. Renishaw Solutions Centres provide secure development environments in which customers can expand their knowledge and confidence using additive manufacturing technology. They will be equipped with the latest additive manufacturing systems and staffed by knowledgeable engineers to allow fast access to deploying the technology, all at fixed predictable costs. www.renishaw.com

Flow path section generated after CFD analysis; severity of corner angles have been reduced for optimised flow.

The first design iteration resulted in a reduction in volume of 52% compared to the original block manifold, as well as an improvement in flow efficiency of up to 60%. CFD analysis informs the designer on the theoretical efficiency of the fluid flow of a system based on the interaction of liquids and gases.

Second design iteration The first iteration was built at Renishaw and evaluated by the customer, who assessed the new geometry in the context of its function as a hydraulic manifold; the original manifold is designed to be used modularly, with multiple units installed in series.

Individual hydraulic block manifolds will occasionally need to be extracted from the line-up for servicing; making it necessary to include threaded â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;block extractionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; passages. The first iteration for additive manufacturing geometry has features that an engineer can use to extract the manifold manually without the use of tools, negating the requirement for the block extraction passages.

While the removal of these block extraction passages from the CAD model immediately disrupted the intricate network of self-

First iteration geometry. Flow paths have been extracted, optimised and wall thicknesses applied. Support structures act to hold the flow paths in place and connect fixture points.

Results summary Design stage

Material

Volume (cubic cm) Mass (kg)

Original hydraulic manifold

Aluminium alloy

9600

25.6

Design for first iteration

Aluminium alloy

4650 (-52%)

12.3 (-52%)

Design second iteration

316L stainless steel

2040 (-79%)

16.3 (-37%)

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Metal powders + additive manufacturing Metal parts production is the fastest growing segment of the 3D printing market, indicating the value placed on additive manufacturing (AM) as a critical sector in the future of manufacturing. A vital aspect of this is the metal powders used in the process.

Two key laser-generated processes of powder metallurgy are currently in use: selective laser melting (SLM), and laser metal deposition (LMD).Both have the potential to produce high-quality, high-functionality load-bearing parts from metal powder, but critical to the production process is an understanding of metal powders.

While metal in powdered form is certainly not a newcomer to the manufacturing industry, AM requires its own set of understandings associated with the technique of building layer-by-layer using fine powders in a laser-generated environment.

Important to this process is identifying the most suitable metal powder, as powders vary widely in particle size and shape, and this affects the processing characteristics. For AM, metal powders should meet the following requirements: • Spherical shape. This is important to ensure good flow and ‘coating’ capability. The ‘shape’ of particles is influenced by the methods used in processing the powder. The water atomisation process occurs where high-pressure water is forced into a molten metal stream. Rapid cooling follows, resulting in tough but irregular particle shapes. Plasma atomisation uses multiple non-transferred direct-current arc plasmas to accelerate the atomisation gas – metal wire is fed into the apex of the plasmas, melts and is atomised in a single step, producing spherical powders. However, the preferred method for producing AM powders is gas atomisation.

During gas atomisation, inert gas jets atomise molten steel into fine metal droplets that cool as they fall in the atomising tower to be collected at the bottom. The result is perfectly spherical shapes, highly suitable for AM processes with an additional benefit of high cleanliness. Whichever process is used, the powder can be characterised according to various standard techniques for granular materials. These standards usually accompany the metal powders on delivery to the manufacturing site.

• Particle size. This is usually produced at 50 or even 150 microns. Selection of size will depend on powder type, machine type and required surface finish. In AM, tiny amounts of material are melted at a time during fusion, creating unique microstructures with low porosity and uniform properties.

Researching the appropriate powder is essential to attain key characteristics of a finished product.

• Particle size distribution. This must be tailored to the application and part properties as it impacts the density of the finished item. Different powder types offer different densities.

While processing parameters can adjust for varying densities, particle-size distribution also effects mechanical properties and the surface quality of the finished part.

Metal powder is available for AM across a range of industry groups such as medical, aerospace, jewellery and automotive, with each area in turn presenting development opportunities for parts production. Demand from these sectors has led to the availability of metal powders on the open market such as titanium, tool steel, stainless steel, aluminium alloys, cobalt-chromium, nickel-based alloys, copper alloys and precious metals.

Fundamental to the use of metal powders are putting secure safety procedures in place at all times during powder handling and manufacturing. When shipped to AM sites, powders are packed in robust, moisture-resistant high-density polyethylene containers.

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Pure titanium and alloys are packed under argon, while other powders are packed under normal air pressure. Transporting and handling powders demand specific safety measures, generally detailed with the supplier information. While this new area of manufacturing offers exciting opportunities, companies have an obligation to meet safety standards required with their AM processes.

As indicated above, metal powders can vary in size and shape.

Subsequently processing characteristics will also vary. To overcome these related issues and to ensure manufacturers find consistency and repeatability in quality of both powder and process, machine manufacturers are working closely with powder suppliers. Indeed many laser system manufacturers now supply powders suited to the specifications of their laser systems. If growth in this industry sector is to be successful, consideration of the features and benefits of metal powders, along with safety procedures, will be critical considerations to successful additive manufacturing. www.raymax.com.au

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing with metals requires the supply of metal powders. SLM Solutions Group offer a range of suitable powers such as: • Titanium (including Ti Al6 Nb7) – suitable for lightweight parts such as medical implants.

• Tool Steel and Stainless Steel – suitable for automotive product manufacture.

• Aluminium – suitable for products such as boat propellers.

• Cobalt-chrome – used in dentistry to build individual bridges and crowns.

• Nickel-based alloys – with performance specifications suitable for jet engines.

All of these metals have been trialled by SLM Solutions or partner organisations such as research centres and universities.

As more laser systems find their way into manufacturing, SLM Solutions will soon begin its own aluminium powder production to meet the concomitant growth in consumables.

Aware of the importance of knowledge about the processing parameters on achieved microstructures and their relationships with mechanical properties in SLM processes, SLM Solutions provides extensive operator training with every installation along with factory visits and follow-up support.

Centre for Additive Manufacturing

Your Partner of Choice for Developing Additive Manufacturing Solutions RMIT University’s Centre for Additive Manufacturing (CAM) brings together key research staff to generate critical research mass in additive manufacturing technology and design.

The Centre focuses on: — manufacturing processes and methods — materials science and the development of new powder alloys and polymer feedstock — advanced design using topology optimisation, and development of novel approaches to topology optimisation CAD model of a lattice implant

— applying design and optimisation of components into industrial based products.

The Centre assists industry through a range of services including: — contract research and development — consultancy — training in the latest additive manufacturing technologies — grant-based partnerships The Centre has the latest in metal and polymer based 3D printers together with high-end multi-axis machining centres making it a one-stop shop for industry.

A variety of organisations in the defence, aerospace and biomedical sectors are currently working with the Centre to develop innovative and economically viable addictive manufacturing products and processes.

Manufactured lattice hip implant

Contact Details For further information on engagement with the Centre please contact:

Al lattices for light weighting 14258 1215

www.rmit.edu.au

Professor Milan Brandt Centre Director Email: milan.brandt@rmit.edu.au Tel. +61 3 9925 4197

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Jigs and fixtures: More profitable production The ability to create production tools without tooling delivers real value to manufacturers using 3D printing.

Additive manufacturing has moved beyond prototyping. The current state of 3D printing systems, materials and parts-ondemand providers makes 3D printing jigs and fixtures and other manufacturing applications practical and accessible to manufacturers. Mainstream manufacturers are wise to seize on the economic and efficiency advantages offered by this technology, as well as the new possibilities it opens.

New possibilities are born of new capabilities. The ability to dramatically lower production times and costs on complex, lowvolume components, often while increasing functionality, is a game changer. What’s at stake for manufacturers are the prospects to improve current operational efficiencies and reduce costs, as well as capitalise on new product and market opportunities.

Ultimately, 3D printing may enable strategic initiatives that change manufacturing and business models, and provide disruptive competitive advantages.

Underlying the operational value of 3D printing are new ways to mitigate risks inherent in traditional manufacturing: • Product and production risk due to imperfectly designed parts.

• Missed opportunities to supply new products to customers due to delays using traditional processes.

When machined fixtures were quoted at $12,000 and seven days, Thermal Dynamics opted to make them with FDM to save $10,000 and several days.

• Missed opportunities to innovate parts and Products using new design and manufacturing capabilities.

With 3D printing you have the power to:

Organisations realise that short-term opportunities are real, but the implications of not developing proficiency with this new capability could be even more significant.

• Lower inventories by producing on demand instead of inventorying.

A valuable starting point

• Reduce scrap and rework.

As 3D printing grows beyond just prototyping, manufacturers are finding a valuable asset in the production of jigs and fixtures. 3D printing jigs and fixtures typically yields lead-time reductions of 40% to 90% and cost savings of 70% to 90%.

Practical examples

The fundamental objectives of manufacturing — quality improvement, decreased cycle time and reduced costs — are the primary reasons that jigs and fixtures are so ubiquitous. It doesn’t matter if an operation is fully automated or entirely manual: jigs and fixtures are deployed throughout manufacturing operations.

Going beyond jigs and fixtures, manufacturing tools that serve as operational aids further broaden the opportunities. They range from organisational bins and tool holders for implementation of the 5S workplace organisational methodology, to templates, guides and gauges. They include sophisticated robotic end-effectors (grippers) and rudimentary trays, bins and sorters for conveyance and transportation. No matter the name, description or application, manufacturing aids increase profit and efficiency while maintaining quality. Even though manufacturing tools like jigs and fixtures are widespread, many manufacturing facilities don’t use these tools to their fullest. Making them takes time, labour and money. However, 3D printing stretches limited resources. It provides a simple, automated, fast and inexpensive method to fabricate customised parts and products.

Smashing barriers Substituting 3D printing for traditional methods of making jigs and fixtures can reduce their cost and accelerate delivery. In these terms alone, 3D printing systems are justified with short payback periods.

But this ignores the larger impact on the bottom line: 3D printing lowers the threshold for justifying a new tool. It does this by simplifying the process, lowering the cost and decreasing lead time.

This allows you to potentially address unmet needs throughout the production process.

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• Improve process throughput.

• Reapply skilled workers more productively.

Thogus Products is an injection moulder that specialises in lowvolume manufacturing and highly engineered materials. According to Natalie Williams, quality manager at Thogus: “It is so much easier for me to model a fixture and print it myself than it is to design it and work through an outside machine shop.”

For Thogus, 3D printing is easy and fast. Williams explains: “For one 12-cavity CMM fixture the lead time, if outsourced, was seven to 10 days. I built it overnight [with 3D printing].”

Manufacturers using fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printers and 3D production systems to create custom manufacturing tools often experience lead-time reduction of 40% to 90%. In many cases, jigs and fixtures are manufactured with only 15 minutes of hands-on labour.

3D printing increases return on investment by reducing the cost of a jig or fixture. Typically, companies realise savings of 70% to 90% when compared to outsourced fixtures that are machined or fabricated. Thogus saved 87% on its 12-cavity fixture.

“The machine shop wanted $1,500 for the fixture,” says Williams. “I made it for less than $200 in materials.”

Better designs, better performance 3D printing also optimises tool performance. Previously, designs for jigs and fixtures rarely improved past what was sufficient to do the job. Due to the expense and effort to redesign and remanufacture them, only malfunctioning tools received revisions. This “good enough” thought process may have added a few seconds to an operation or increased the scrap rate by a small percentage, but the savings might not have warranted further investment in the tool.

3D printing changes that thinking. The cost is so low, it can deliver the next-generation manufacturing tool in time to have it in service the next day. A simple tool like this requires only a little time and

Additive Manufacturing

An operator at Xerox modified 350 connectors in about an hour on this toggle press.

Oreck uses this jig during assembly of its vacuum cleaners. Here a vacuum top cover is placed into the pallet upside down.

initiative to redesign. While a redesign may only drive out a few seconds from an assembly operation, that time adds up. If the fixture is used to make 500 items per day per worker, a two-second savings reduces direct labour by 70 hours per person per year.

For the same part, a one percent reduction in scrap would save 1,250 parts per year. The bottom line: more jigs and fixtures with optimised designs in service mean more money to your companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bottom line.

materials, benefit from 3D printed parts on demand as well.

Print on demand Stop thinking of your jigs, fixtures and other manufacturing tools as assets. Instead, think of them as expenses, and disposable.

As assets, jigs and fixtures are stored (inventoried) between uses.

They remain in inventory until the product line is retired or they are worn beyond repair. With the time, cost and effort of making manufacturing tools through conventional methods, they are too valuable to be discarded.

This approach carries many indirect costs, however. There is cost for the shelf space (warehousing expense), cost to manage and track the inventory, and cost to locate a jig or fixture when needed. For sporadically used tools, these costs can be quite significant.

3D printing can lead to big changes that maximise profits by driving out every wasted second and penny from the manufacturing process. Rather than replacing traditional manufacturing methods, it should be viewed as a complementary technology that adds value and opens new possibilities. Savings on the manufacturing floor and in jig and fixture production will be substantial.

If you have a 3D CAD file and access to a 3D printing system, you are ready to start fabricating manufacturing tools with as little as 15 minutes of hands-on labour. Combine the simplicity with typical time and cost reductions of 40% to 90%, and you will understand why 3D printing spurs companies to make more jigs, fixtures and other manufacturing tools than ever before. Perhaps most importantly, starting now with jigs and fixtures and other tools puts you and your manufacturing team on the path to rethinking your production process and even business model. www.objective3d.com.au

The opposite can be true with 3D printing. Often, it takes more resources to inventory jigs and fixtures than it does to remake them. So, companies adopt a management approach called digital warehousing where only the digital file is carried in inventory. It may seem unthinkable to scrap a perfectly good manufacturing tool, but for those with infrequent use, this approach reduces cost and labour.

Now companies make a fixture when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needed, and then digitally warehouse its design for future uses. This print-on demand approach is also handy when a replacement is needed for a broken manufacturing tool or duplicates are needed for increased production to meet an unexpected surge in sales.

Additionally, parts-on-demand providers deliver a simple, low-cost, service-assisted method of starting for new adopters of 3D printing.

These providers bring expertise, flexibility and finishing services that accelerate results. Organisations with internal systems that experience capacity constraints, or projects that require special

BMWâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jigs and fixtures department used a Fortus 3D Production System to manufacture assembly tools. This tool is used to affix the rear name badge.

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Jonda steps up its game with new Up-and-Down-Folder

Jonda Sheetmetal is a lucky case of an Australian manufacturer inundated with too much work! Its latest acquisition – a state-of-the-art folding equipment from Variobend – is helping the company get on top of its strong demand.

Based in Heidelberg West, Victoria, Jonda was founded some 30 years ago by John Nikolopoulos and his wife Dani. The company currently offers a wide range of sheet metal products as well as general manufacturing services such as CNC punching, profile cutting, folding and guillotining. Its main specialties are the manufacture and supply of roofing products and rainwater goods.

“We started off making box gutter brackets, and then we went to flashings and all sort of sheet-metal goods, and we’re still doing the same today,” says Nikolopoulos, now Jonda’s Managing Director.

“We’re still making the brackets we started off with years ago.

We’ve got a good product.”

Perhaps these brackets are too good - judging by the increasing level of demand for them. While some Australian manufacturers struggle to keep their businesses going, Jonda faces difficulty keeping up with the high demand and fulfilling orders on time.

As Jonda’s supervisor Harry Gurlu puts it: “We’re too busy at the moment. That’s the problem.”

While a nice problem to have, it needs swift addressing. Jonda recently invested in a new Variobend DB8. 1,50 Up-and-Down folding machine, by the German company ASCO, one of the leading manufacturers of long folding machines in the world. Nikolopoulos initially saw the machine online and was immediately struck by its speed in comparison to other similar equipment on the market.

Since the machine’s arrival in Jonda’s workshop it already made quite an impact.

“It’s increased productivity by a lot,” says Gurlu. “Before, we were getting about 22 or 23 pieces an hour, now we can get to about 67, at the last count. We’re eventually going to be able to cut overtime down dramatically. We used to work from 6am to 8pm. We’ve reduced that and we’ll reduce it even more, stop Saturdays and all that. Hopefully the machine will pay itself off in a year or so.”

“The new machine is definitely helping us keep up with demand,” adds Nikolopoulos. “It’s very fast; probably one of the fastest machines on the market at the moment; and the hydraulics are far superior to comparable competitors. It saves a lot of time, plus the way it folds up and down means the boys don’t have to spin the jobs around. It’s all computerised with drawings on the screen.

“I basically sold all my old machinery – the last one went about two weeks ago finally after 20 or 30 years. They’re all gone and this is the new way of doing things now.”

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Speed meets efficiency Variobend’s superior speed is immediately apparent when seen in action. To demonstrate its impressive performance, a metal sheet was folded in Jonda’s workshop to produce a flashing. Each fold took less than three seconds and was performed to extremely high precision. No handling by an operator was required as the process of manipulating and positioning the metal is fully automated.

The Variobend folding machine delivers efficiency savings in more ways than just speed. The machine only requires a single operator, the system’s user-friendly design simplifies back-up staff training considerably, and the innovative operating system reduces machine downtime even further.

Programming of the machine by Jonda can be done offline without interference/interruption of ongoing production. Customers send in their jobs via email or by SMS; the required panels often drawn only in rough sketches. The machines’ software converts these pictures into a running program. A full job folder for that specific customer is then sent to the Variobend, where the operator opens up that directory and selects the requested panels. The operator is therefore continuously folding without the need for time-consuming reprogramming of the machine.

Forming & Fabrication

The Variobend operating system runs on open-source software and can therefore be used by the customers themselves. They can directly input their drawings into the system remote – even from an actual roof where a specific flashing or gutter is required – streamlining and speeding up the process further!

increase the success rate of our customers, which in turn is ours as well. I prefer our customers’ workshop floor to be the showroom and for them to visit our own here.”

At the October 2016 Hannover Fair in Germany, Variobend will launch its latest operating system, which will be fully compatible with smartphones and tablet computers.

“We provide the customer with the initial training to use the machine efficiently but we also bring in technicians from Germany to handle the top-end-stuff,” says Staebner. “And should that not be sufficient enough, we have a particular customer who is happy to subcontract his own programmer out to assist our other customers – which in effect means that a sheet metal operator is talking to another sheet metal operator, a discussion between professionals, which is different from us as only technicians.

“We also have a system where you can draw the sketch on a piece of paper, with all the angles and the lengths written in, scan this in, and the moment it’s scanned into the program is written,” says Peter Staebner, Managing Director of Stamac. “You don’t have to do anything! This means we are lowering the required skill levels to make these products in twice the speed of our opposition and with much reduced waste/rejects.”

The Jonda team is so excited about the new Variobend that they shifted their old folding machine aside to make room for a second Variobend, which is scheduled to be delivered imminently.

“The second machine got purchased within the space of six months” said Staebner. “We are looking at an $500,000-plus investment – spending that much money in such a short timeframe must mean the product is really, really good! Reducing overtime and its associated cost as well as increasing productivity means speedy repayment of the purchase and increasing profits for the customer.”

Stamac took over the Variobend agency only at the beginning of 2016, but has already sold eight machines into the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Stamac also takes an innovative approach to customer training on the machines.

“We actually prefer to engage an operator who knows the machine inside-out and send him to the new customer for a day to provide him with the last remaining 10% of knowhow to full proficiency.”

Stamac strongly believes that Jonda is taking the best approach to adapt to changing times and building up its business to stay on top.

“Australian manufacturers who diversify will survive – I’m seeing this first-hand,” says Eriksen. “The customers that are surviving are building their businesses up bigger and bigger, and they’re diversifying. That’s where they’re gaining. They’re not sitting and thinking ‘We’ll just wait and ride it out’. The ones that are being proactive and are prepared to take the gamble and embrace the technology are the ones that are doing well. Guys like Jonda, who’ve got the guts to give it a go.” www.jonda.com.au www.stamac.com.au

“A Variobend machine is simply forward thinking,” says Staebner.

“In Germany, some customers have 30 of these machines in their factory! We also have one customer in Poland with only three machines, but they have now run for four years uninterrupted.

Variobends don’t miss a beat and run continuously. The oldest equipment has made 3.5 or 4 million bends or some incredible number until now!”

Nils Eriksen, a technician with Stamac, adds: “I just came back from Germany, from some training over there at the Variobend factory in Ainring in Bavaria, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. What they’re doing in there, there’s fantastic things to come.”

A technology partnership Stamac is not only Variobend’s agent but also represents a number of other European brands such as Cy-Laser, Schlebach and G.A.D.E. Despite its expanding range, Staebner will stay true to his maxim: operate on a lean-as-possible basis, minimising overheads to maximise customer value!

“We sell quality machines, which means few – if any – breakdowns and minimal service issues. We have no fancy showroom and flashy offices – we focus on providing quality, high-standard service to

Jonda’s Managing Director John Nikolopoulos with Peter Staebner and Nils Eriksen of Stamac.

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Mitcham Laser invests in the future

Continuing the company’s tradition of enhancing its capabilities by investing in the latest technology, Mitcham Laser Cutting and Metal Fabrication has upgraded its workshop again with the acquisition of a Salvagnini L5 fibre-optic laser.

Mitcham Laser Cutting and Metal Fabrication is a growing familyowned Australian business based in Mitcham, Victoria, with a vision to meet the increasing demands of its expanding client base.

Founded by Robert and John Keating, the company’s origins go back to 2002, with the purchase of its first profile-cutting machine, a turret punch-laser combination. In 2006 it added a 3kW CO2 laser, and a short time later the company moved into its current premises, where it expanded into sheet metal fabrication.

Salvagnini has a long history in manufacturing machinery for the sheet metal industry; most importantly, it has strong experience in fibre-optic lasers with the highest number of optical fibre laser cutting machines in operation. The Salvagnini L5 model stood out due to its compass structure head, which enables 5G dynamics without the need for a high energy input. The L5 is equipped with cutting-edge technology that enables it to reach the very highest levels in terms of speed, accuracy, reliability and performance.

Since then Mitcham Laser has grown to offer complete sheet metal services from product design through to fabrication. The Mitcham Laser team takes pride in producing high-quality, highly accurate products. It works with fine tolerances and always strives to provide the best services possible. The company offers complete services from concepts, design and prototyping through all aspects of manufacturing and delivery to ensure its high standard is always met.

The decision to invest in an automated loading and unloading system was relatively straightforward. The Compact Tower installed alongside the L5 gives Mitcham Laser the capacity to operate 24/7, including “lights out” operations. This enables the company to complete large-scale projects and high-volume contracts reliably with short lead times. The Tower also provides flexibility in being able to cut different material types and thicknesses in a single set-up.

The company has always been committed to investing in the latest equipment and technology in order to build the business and continue to provide the best quality and service for its customers.

Robotic welding is one of its more recent new capabilities.

Having started as a contract laser cutting business with a CO2 laser, it was in 2008 when Robert and John decided that fibre laser technology was the next step forward. In October 2015 that plan finally came to fruition with the arrival of a brand new Salvagnini L5 fiber optic laser, which is now operating from its manufacturing facility.

There were a significant amount of factors considered when deciding upon its newest machine. The team’s focus was to find a proven well designed and reliable machine that could reinforce the core service of its business. Optical fibre technology was chosen as it offers the flexibility of high cutting speeds on light-gauge materials combined with low running costs. With Australian manufacturing faced with ever increasing costs, fibre technology offers significant advantages in reducing power and gas consumption, allowing Mitcham Laser to offer clients the most competitive prices it can.

Rob Keating, Director, of Mitcham Laser Cutting and Metal Fabrication, and Scott Glover, General Manager, with the new machine.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

The new fibre laser has been installed adjacent to Mitcham Laser’s existing CO2 laser, and on top of greatly improved cutting efficiency and quality, the L5 also offers the capability to process brass and copper, both of which are not easily cut on traditional lasers.

The new machine has performed extremely well and exceeded all expectations. Within weeks of commissioning the L5, Mitcham Laser was able to reduce lead-times and confidently accommodate extra work, which it previously was not able to do. The machine has given the team at Mitcham Laser the increased flexibility, in terms of both its capabilities and its capacity, to better service its clients, and has opened up numerous opportunities for the company to grow its business.

Mitcham Laser’s staff are motivated knowing that they are working with cutting-edge technology, and they have confidence in the L5 to get the job done. This major investment demonstrates Mitcham Laser’s commitment to continually improving the service and quality that it provides to its clients. Salvagnini technology is supported Australia-wide by Machinery Forum. www.mitchamlaser.com.au

www.machineryforum.com.au

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Precitec All-In-Light – From beam source to cutting head

Precitec’s new All-In-Light package offers an attractive solution for the complete optical chain from the laser, and the laser light fibre to the cutting head.

Available in Australia through Industrial Laser, the All-In-Light cutting package from Precitec combines disc laser technology, laser light fibres and state-of-the-art cutting heads. The package is made possible due to a new, long-term strategic co-operation partnership between Precitec and German laser specialists Trumpf. Manufacturers of laser cutting machines can now benefit from this strategic co-operation, which makes the disc laser technology available for manufacturers of flatbed and tube cutting machines.

The Precitec-Trumpf collaboration delivers the complete optical chain for laser cutting from a single source, and more specifically enables the advance of new developments in order to provide a perfectly co-ordinated, optimal package with a range of sophisticated features.

Moreover, it has the benefit of combining state-of-the-art laser technology with innovative cutting head technology, along with the additional advantages provided by a ‘One-Stop-Shop’, leading to a reduction in complexity and easier sourcing and purchasing of parts. Precitec will continue to maintain its independence and co-operate closely with all laser source manufacturers. Therefore, the company can optimally respond to its customers’ wishes and offer tailored solutions.

For several years now, disc laser technology has been proving its extraordinary worth in industrial laser cutting and welding. This technology is characterised by the highest performance stability,

easy servicing and low costs. Precitec is offering the All-In-Light cutting package internationally with a power of 1kW to 6kW. An 8kW version is currently being tested and solutions for up to 10kW are already being developed. With various targeted product developments in recent months, Precitec has been successful in significantly improving cutting quality, especially nitrogen cutting of stainless steel with thicknesses exceeding 30mm. In this way OEM customers and job shops are given the opportunity to equip their cutting systems more competitively, for both thin and thick sheets.

Users are provided with comprehensive service around the clock via the global Precitec network. In-house Precitec service employees in Asia, Europe and North America are intensively trained on disc laser technology and the ProCutter, LightCutter and MiniCutter cutting heads. Precitec offers training for services and sales staff on the entire optical chain at its application and distribution centres across the USA, Australia, Europe and Asia, and remote maintenance via remote diagnostics, and stocking of spare parts on-site guarantee the shortest response times. www.industriallaser.com.au

Limited only by imagination

Steve Lintott can point to the purchase of an XR5000 router from Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) as the beginning of a period of growth that saw him expand from fibreglass into metal products. Today his company’s S&S Fibreglass and ProCut keep the machine fully employed manufacturing and prototyping for clients across Australia.

The three-axis, 4m x 2m machine features an additional C-axis to enable the use of steered tooling such as variable angled knives, steered reciprocating knives for duct board and fibreglass insulation, or steered pizza cutter wheels. Powered by an AC servo-motor, it is capable of rotating up to 500rpm.To decrease production time, ART has equipped its XR Router series with a gantry-mounted covered automated ten-position tool changer, which turns variable-angle cutting, V-grooving and routing into one efficient fully automated process.

Soon after purchasing his XR5000 router two-and-a-half years ago, Lintott saw the potential for expanding its use from his existing fibreglass business, based in Woodford, Queensland, to supplying CNC routed products to existing and new clients.

“The machine suddenly expanded the scope of the work we could do,” he says. “Along with the potential for involving ourselves in areas we hadn’t previously been able to consider.”

The machine’s versatility has enabled him to fast-track the development of his 41 Willys Hotrod project, with parts machined

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

from 6061 aluminium plate. Patterns and moulds have also been routed.

“You are limited only by your imagination as to what you can create on this machine,” says Lintott.

Lintott had little knowledge and no experience of computer controlled machinery prior to buying the router.

However, through ART’s in-depth software and operator training system he was soon able to learn what was needed to operate the router. Just as importantly, the machine opened a world of new manufacturing possibilities to him.

The purchase of the machine has brought with it substantial gains in productivity for him and his five employees. However, any machine is only as good as the support behind it and Steve has been impressed with the back-up that ART provides.

“When you’re a manufacturer and a machine breaks down you need that fixed ASAP,” he says. “And that’s what ART does for me.” www.ssfibreglass.com.au

SPeeD meeTS eFFiCienCy VARiOBenD’S new FlAgShiP

Read more on page 66

STAmAC engineeRing iS PROuD TO PReSenT ThiS FlexiBle AnD innOVATiVe mAChine in AuSTRAliA AnD new ZeAlAnD. The twin folder type DB 6.2,00 is a powerful high end machine with a bending capacity of 2mm Steel and 3mm aluminium. Packed with technical features that guarantee precise metal parts in every respect. Fully automated Crowning & Radius control, over-gripping

on existing bends as on open or closed hem- folds, Touch-screen 3D , servo hydraulics with high speed bending and a unique 270 degree clearance of apron angle allowing parts to be made that in the past were considered impossible or very difficult.

For more information or a demonstration contact us on the details below.

AustrAliA

Stamac Enginnering •Peter Staebner • T: +61 451 665 316 • www.stamac.com.au New ZeAlANd

Fribesco •Martin Fribesco • T: +64 21 115 7132 • www.fribesco.com

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Forming & Fabrication

Press brake safety and ergonomics

Safety has always been a priority for many manufacturers, but how has this affected machine productivity? Recent developments in the safety and ergonomics of press brakes have also resulted in significantly higher productivity.

Safety and ergonomics are inextricably linked with productivity.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ergonomics as “the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment”. The use of press brakes is still a predominantly manual operation and global manufacturers are applying their safety and ergonomic principles especially in markets where compulsory safety regulations apply.

Light guards Some machinery manufacturers are being inventive and have integrated light guard systems into the machine’s control. This enables the light guard operation to be “programmed”, which can result in productivity benefits. The primary function of a light guard is to inform the machine when an operator is in the danger zone.

It is therefore evident that the machine can also know when the operator is out of the danger zone and can use this information intelligently.

An integrated light guard system can actually increase productivity by acting as a switch to ensure the machine is always ahead of the operator while maintaining a safe operating environment. This programmable light curtain allows the upper beam and back gauge to move to the next step without using the foot pedal freeing the operator to concentrate on handling the sheet. Furthermore, the servo-driven belt and pulley press brakes fitted with programmable light guards can carry out the bending of simple components without the operator even touching the foot pedal while maintaining the highest standards of operator safety.

Using the light guard as a switch means less fatigue of the legs making the operator less tired, more productive and less prone to accidents. These features alone can deliver significant reductions in cycle times and enable the use of light guards to be justified for their productivity advantages, with the positive “side effect” of improving operator safety.

Ergonomic machines Many press brake operations carried out in the Asian markets are on small parts in high volumes. These often lend themselves to smaller machines and seated operators. As a result there has been an increase in the number of small machines on the market. It is however important for these machines to be ergonomically sound.

The higher-specification ergonomic machines are ideal for seated operation when manufacturing smaller components, though they retain the benefits of the standard press brakes, with large beam opening, long stroke and full back gauge capacity. They can be operated seated or standing, ensuring the operator has the most comfortable and most productive position at all times.

These machines have adjustable tables, seats and control panels all contributing to an ergonomically sound system with operator safety and comfort at the centre along with the resultant productivity benefits. Side tables can be fully or partially collapsed, enabling the operator to bend components while standing. This allows the machine to be used for larger sheet metal work as you would a regular machine.

Controls Ergonomics does not just apply to physical attributes of a machine.

The machine control can also be enhanced. The latest touch screen controls can be customised to suit individual operators.

For example operators can have individual password access to the machine control. The system administrator can assign various levels of authority to each operator ensuring they only have access to that for which they are trained and have authorisation.

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On logging in, for example, the control will revert to that operator’s preferred language, icons will be displayed for left-hand or righthand operation, and the control will take up the desired height position. The most sophisticated systems are so ergonomically designed that only those icons which are relevant are displayed at any one time, and even the position of the icons are such that they are in the most practical position.

Some manufacturers offer machines with dual screens on the control. The dual screens are a useful option for companies wanting to have a paperless workshop and give operators access to additional information at the machine. This gives operators the ability to access many types of additional information without having to switch from the control screen.

The additional screen can be used for the following: • To view files coupled to current bending projects, in formats such as DWG, DXF, PDF, JPG, PNG, BMP or WMV. • To display custom applications like ERP, time management, etc.

• To create a paperless environment and prevent loss of information, which reduces errors by ensuring operators have all the information necessary.

It is even possible to view video on the second screen, which can show less skilled operators how to best handle complex and awkward products.

Tool set-up Subcontracting companies are being asked to produce smaller batch sizes, leading to more set-ups per day. Consequently, anything that can reduce set-up times is an advantage. The major area to address here is tool set-up. There are an abundance of

Forming & Fabrication

All batches of material vary in thickness and even the best machines can only work with the information provided. Thus if a machine is told the material is 1.0mm and it is actually anywhere between 0.9mm and 1.1mm, the end result will also vary.

quick clamping systems available, but one stands out above others as it not only addresses the time issue but also improves safety and reduces operator fatigue.

The Wila clamping system can be fitted to most press brake brands can reduce set-up times by up to 70%. The tools are mounted into the machine vertically, as opposed to from the side, and safety clicks in each tool means that the operator can release the tool once it has been located in the top beam, leaving them free to lock the clamps.

In the hydraulic clamping version, all tools are clamped or released by the press of a single button. In addition the machine will not commence a bend until a safe clamping pressure is reached. This cannot be said for manual clamping systems, which can lead to accidents, tool damage and loss of production.

This version of tool clamping can be further enhanced with a system called Smart Tool Locator. This system of LED lights linked into the machine control can inform the operators where to place tools during the set-up process, and then during the bending process it illuminates the position where each bend is to take place.

This tooling system generally uses a tool length of 515mm, which not only allows a higher accuracy than the old fashioned 835mm system but also means the weight of the tools is much more manageable for the operator.

Right First Time Increasing production demands and material costs means that operators are constantly under pressure to get the product “Right First time”. Often the problems are beyond the operator’s control such as variations in material thickness and tensile strength.

Automatic sheet thickness measurement systems address this issue in a very quick way and can be used on all material types.

The operator sets the thickness tolerance that is acceptable in the machine control. The sheet is presented to the device, which is adjacent to the back gauge fingers where it automatically measures the material thickness. If it is within thickness tolerance, the control will automatically adjust the programme and pinch point for the actual thickness rather than the theoretical thickness, resulting in a more accurate result. If the material is outside the set tolerance, the machine will not bend, reducing scrap and improving productivity.

The whole process takes just a couple of seconds.

Where the tensile strength and spring back is also a problem, then a laser angle measurement system could be the solution. These systems automatically measure and correct angles during the bending process, ensuring every component is Right First Time.

When handling larger components that require a high level of accuracy, it is beneficial not to have to make corrections to bends that would require additional handling of awkward, large and heavy products, which is both a safety issue and causes the operator to tire more quickly. Two CNC-controlled laser sensors are mounted on either side of the machine table. The system continuously monitors and corrects the position of the Y-axis based on the required product angle and thus guarantees an end product of the highest angle precision. The system automatically adjusts the crowning and at the same time takes into account the spring back.

Both of these systems (Sheet Thickness & Laser Angle Measurement) improve quality and dramatically reduce handling and fatigue of the operator.

Material handling For many products it is not the actual bending process that is a problem but more the handling of the material pre- and postbending. Handling can pose significant safety issues and place unnecessary strain on the operators. In addition awkward and/or heavy products, if handled poorly, can also give quality problems.

For this reason manufacturers are offering a range of handling and bending aids, some of which are CNC-controlled.

Each type of product poses different problems. For example very thin materials can be so flexible that they need greater support than a mere individual operator can provide. For heavier components the physical weight can make it impossible for manual operation and so a range of weight capacities is available.

Bending aids differ from sheet supports in that they follow and support the component during the actual bending process. CNC bending aids can be programmed to follow the component during bending, even pausing to allow for decompression of the material where heavy bending force has been applied. The speed of the aids is synchronised with the bending process, and is programmable to a speed that matches the operator’s capabilities. Some bending aids can even be detached and shared with other machines.

It is evident that productivity and operator safety can be improved by investing in some of the above-mentioned press brake options.

The challenge for machinery manufacturers and users is to ensure that safety and ergonomics will be at the forefront of all product development. www.sheetmetalmachinery.com.au

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Company Focus

Andrew Donald Design Engineering – Designing and building automation solutions

When Barry Hendy first graduated as an engineer from RMIT in the early 1980s, his first boss was Andrew Donald, then the Engineering Manager at Machine Dynamics, a leading Australian robotics manufacturer where they worked together for 12 years. Little did Hendy know then that he would one day head up a company that Donald would establish a few years later. By Carole Goldsmith.

Now the Managing Director and co-owner of Andrew Donald Design Engineering (ADDE), Hendy recalls: “After that job, Andrew and I went our own separate ways. I worked for several companies globally, among which were Kodak and ANCA, in business development and marketing. Andrew started ADDE 20 years ago and built up the business to what it is today.”

Headquartered in Bayswater, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, ADDE designs and builds turnkey industrial automation solutions.

The company’s team of engineers, industrial designers and robotics experts work on projects for clients across a wide range of industries, ranging from pharmaceuticals, food, aviation, defence, automotive to general manufacturing. It has 30 employees, including 15 engineers covering mechanical, electrical, control system, robot and programmable logic controller (PLC) programming.

“When Andrew wanted to retire around six years ago, I was his succession plan,” Hendy adds. “Our Finance Director - Sophie Collis and I bought the company as co-owners. I came to ADDE with an international business and marketing background as well as foundations in the automation industry.”

Although retired, Andrew still maintains an interest in the business, offering guidance on projects.

“When we build an automation system for a client we work with them from concept development right through to production,” Hendy says. “We have a major strength in the pharmaceutical industry. Generally our clients don’t have in-house engineering departments. They want custom-made automation equipment such as an assembly line for production of a particular product. So we build it and deliver it to their premises.”

ADDE is an authorised value provider of ABB Industrial Robots and a distributor for Universal Robots’ industrial robotic arms.

Consequently it can offer traditional industrial robot solutions as well as the latest collaborative robots.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Collaborative robots in action Hendy explains that collaborative robots can safely operate and be integrated into the workflow beside operators, without the need for a cage around them, as would be required by traditional industrial robots. ADDE’s website includes various videos showing collaborative robots in action, working beside operators doing a range of metal tooling tasks. When asked if there are any possible safety risks with operators working around the collaborative robots, Hendy says: “It all depends on the task you are doing. It is certainly not safe it if you put a chainsaw on it, but for most handling tasks they are safe.”

The brain of every automation system is the control system, and it is often the control that sets it apart. It can be as simple as a PLC controller, or it may require high-speed processing, communications and data collection. Human interfaces, product and configuration settings plus the traceability of data are all areas in which ADDE has extensive experience.

Hendy explains the ways in which ADDE can help manufacturing businesses: “If you can’t find the machine you need on Google, come to us and we will build it for you. Firstly, make sure you fully understand your requirements, then we can visit your site to discuss your needs. What we like to see is documentation of all your products, rates and processes, then we can design, build, install and commission custom-made automation solutions for your specific needs.”

Meeting manufacturers’ needs.

ADDE’s customers include Thales, George Western Foods, Davey Pumps, Boeing, Ward McKenzie Foods, AWTA and MiniFab. It also boasts a strong customer base in the pharmaceuticals industry, servicing the Australian operations of major global players such as AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Hospira, Pfizer, MSD and CSL. ADDE extensive pharmaceuticals experience means it has a strong understanding of the sector’s quality, environment and process requirements.

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“We have completed handling, vision inspection, sorting, buffering and packaging systems for a range of products including syringes, vials and ampoules,” Hendy explains. “Also we have considerable experience in ampoule finishing processes including corona surface treatment (surface modification technique), pad printing, vision inspection, leak testing and serialisation.”

Most of ADDE’s clients are in Victoria, but New South Wales-based AstraZeneca is one of its major customers, delivering automation solution projects at its Australian manufacturing operations in North Ryde, north of Sydney.

“Over the past four years we have designed and built eight finishing lines and matching case packing and palletising cells. These lines are inspecting, printing and packing respule products for asthma treatment for the Chinese export market. Now we are working on another three manufacturing lines for AstraZeneca to support their continued growth in this market.”

Hendy describes some other projects ADDE is currently undertaking for Australian manufacturers. “We are building a major manufacturing line for defence and aerospace company Thales, to produce mining boosters at its Munitions’ plant in Benalla, regional Victoria. This will take about 12 months to complete.

“We’re also working on two case packing systems for food manufacturer Ward McKenzie in Altona, west of Melbourne.

McKenzie is moving to shelf-ready packaging driven by the supermarket chains who want trade packaging ready to remove the top and place directly on the shelf.”

McKenzie needed two new case packers, but they had to be flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of their products and produce smaller batch runs, typical for Australia.

At the AWTA (Australian Wool Testing Authority) in Kensington, inner Melbourne, ADDE built a wool keeper cleaning system in 2015 based on an ABB industrial robot. AWTA maintains wool samples in plastic ‘keepers’ stored in racks in their warehouse, which are kept for 30 days after testing. Up to 2,000 of these keepers have to be emptied, cleaned and the wool sorted every day. The ADDE cell has automated this process increasing efficiency and reducing RSI issues.

ADDE has also developed the largest robot palletiser in Australia.

Built for George Weston Foods in Castlemaine, it has 17 robots, 32 pallet stations and four pallet shuttles and handles more than 9,000 cartons per hour. Every palletising system has its own unique requirements of product range, mix, rates patterns and pallets.

Inside the workshop To view some of the automation projects the company has on the go, Hendy takes AMT Magazine on a site tour. On the way down to the manufacturing plant, we see a range of the products made on an ADDE client’s automation systems. Hendy opens the AWTA wool keeper to show the wool inside and then points to a range of pharmaceutical capsules and bottles plus packaged products.

We also pass a Universal Robots UR5 that was used for handling products for a client.

Moving on through to the main workshop, it looks more like Q’s laboratory in a James Bond film than a conventional manufacturing facility, with a number of production lines and machines in the process of being built and tested by employees. At one workstation, an electrician is working on part of the Thales project.

The Ward McKenzie case-packaging machine is almost complete.

Hendy points to a large machine that his engineers have custom designed and built. It works together with an industrial robot-based system to make and fill the shelf-ready packaging. ADDE has conducted trial runs of the custom packaging using McKenzie’s various household name food products, such as bicarbonate of soda, mustard, pepper and other spices.

“This machine will be transported to their factory in three parts,” Hendy says proudly. “It has been built to package up to 90 cartons per minute.”

We then move on to a tube filler system designed and built for Brisbane microbiology company BioMerieux. This system will be taking tubes, removing the cap and filling them with the company’s products. It uses one Universal Robots UR3 robot to pick the tube and take the lid off, while a second robot fills the tube and puts the lid back on, completing the process. The machine is still in commissioning and is not yet meeting the specified rates, so the team are taking video of it working and discussing how to speed the system up.

Challenges and moving forward “Over the years, we have designed and built lots of automation systems and I have distilled our experience into what I call ‘The three P’s’,” says Hendy. “To have a successful automation project you need to think about the product, the process and the people.

Product – know the details of all the products and all their variations and rates. Process – understand everything you need to do including quality, inspections and processes. And people – your team have to buy-in to the goal of automation. The smoothest projects are when you have champions that want to see it work.”

Hendy says that the biggest challenges in the industry are the peaks and troughs.

“We do however have a dedicated group of highly skilled, long term people. We all enjoy the diversity of the projects. Each one is a challenge to work on and conquer.” www.adde.com.au

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Rail

Time for Australian rail manufacturers to get innovative

Rail is undergoing a significant resurgence across Australia. With the current boom in rail projects in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast and Newcastle, this strong pipeline of work is underpinning the sustainability of the rail manufacturing sector. By Dr Stuart Thomson, CEO of the Rail Manufacturing CRC. Modern international rail manufacturing has increasingly evolved to focus on the production of high-tech, high-value components.

For Australian manufacturing to keep up, there is much work to do to continue the evolution of advanced manufacturing in rail, focusing specifically on innovative research and development (R&D) activities. This is why the formation of the Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) is great news for both the sector and Australia as a whole.

It started with a roadmap

With the significant public focus on its performance, safety and reliability, rail is widely acknowledged by those in the industry as being conservative and therefore somewhat cautious in implementing new innovation. However, the advent of robotics, new technologies and materials in manufacturing offer considerable opportunities for rail manufacturers to increase productivity and profitability.

To ensure the rail industry continues to grow and remain viable, this conservatism needs to be addressed by policies that promote and encourage innovation, at a Government level and within industry.

The strategic direction for Australian rail manufacturing was outlined in the On Track to 2040 – Preparing the Australian Rail Supply Industry for Challenges and Growth Roadmap. Commissioned by the former Department of Innovation Industry Science and Research (DIISR), through the Rail Supplier Advocate, the roadmap was developed through intensive collaboration between industry stakeholders, government and the higher education and research sectors. It represented the consensus view of 210 industry participants from 110 organisations on the strategic pathway towards industry growth.

Some supporting key Government mechanisms now available include:

One specific recommendation was the need for a collaborative research entity dedicated to rail manufacturing innovation, with the establishment of the Rail Manufacturing CRC a direct result.

Beginning in 2014, the Rail Manufacturing CRC was established to drive the development of new products, technologies and supply chain networks to enhance the competitiveness of Australia’s rail manufacturing capability.

• Tax incentives through a concessional tax treatment for investors who support innovative start-ups, including a 20% non-refundable tax offset based on the amount of their investment capped at $200,000 per investor, per year; and a ten-year capital gains tax exemption for investments held for three years.

Co-funded by Industry and the Business Cooperative Research Centres Programme of the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the Rail Manufacturing CRC manages collaborative research and commercialisation partnerships between key stakeholders. This includes rail manufacturing multinationals, innovative small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), leading research and development providers, industry peak bodies, and Federal and State Governments.

The current state of play The benefits of greater innovation for businesses are well known – it leads to improved wealth creation, employment growth and more efficient production. Innovative Australian businesses are 31% more likely to increase income and 46% more likely to report increased profitability.

In rail manufacturing, innovation is lagging.

We live in a country with a landscape and cityscape made for rail. Australia’s combination of vast distances and highly urbanised centres means that as we look to the future, railway manufacturing will continue to play a key role both as an important manufacturing industry and an essential means of transportation. Yet, as an industry, rail manufacturing has some key features that need to be better understood and addressed if a truly positive and sustainable future is to be secured.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

• The Global Innovation Strategy, which includes measures that provide seed funding to assist Australian businesses and researchers to collaborate with international businesses and researchers.

• Innovation Connections, a new $18m programme established as a component of the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme to drive new industry-led collaborations between researchers and SMEs, particularly in regional areas.

• The Victorian Government’s local manufacturing content weighting for tender evaluations.

And our response The Rail Manufacturing CRC’s goal is to foster innovation in our rail manufacturing industry and to facilitate links between research and industry. A number of co-funded projects are already underway, which we believe will benefit the rail sector and increase innovation in Australian rail products.

These projects entail partnerships between rail manufacturing industry participants such as Bombardier, Downer, Faiveley Transport and Sigma, and some of Australia’s leading educational and research institutes, including CSIRO, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Monash University, the University of Queensland,

Rail

Central Queensland University, Swinburne and RMIT. One leading Rail Manufacturing CRC project is a partnership between the UTS and Downer Rail, led by Dr Alen Alempijevic from the Centre for Autonomous Systems and the UTS Transport Research Centre.

Downer and UTS are creating a Complex Dwelltime Diagnostics tool that uses robotic sensors to anonymously monitor passenger behaviour and train operations. The sensors diagnose problems leading to passenger congestion on platforms and near train doors that can lead to extended dwell-times (the time a train spends at a station without moving) and disruption to services. This tool is a critical component of a new technology developed at UTS called Responsive Passenger Information Systems, which enhances the ability of public transport service operators to respond to customers’ behaviours and needs.

Information from the diagnostics tool will enable train operators to improve platform management procedures and advice to passengers, potentially stabilising and reducing dwell-times and increasing the number of potential train paths and capacity of existing tracks. The technology can provide great benefits not only to the Australian rail industry, but also internationally.

Projects like this demonstrate the capacity for Australian-based companies to collaborate to develop high-value products and services. However, more still needs to be done to support greater innovation in rail.

Many rail businesses lack management expertise in R&D adoption and also lack dedicated resources to act as a liaison between production systems and research development. This is borne out in a 2011 report into the Australian rail industry, which found less than 1% of employees in the sector are scientists or researchers.

Naturally, the Rail Manufacturing CRC offers a pathway by which industry groups can partner and foster innovation with research experts.

While there’s no doubt that the Australian rail industry has a significant task ahead to embrace the innovation challenge, the Rail Manufacturing CRC team is always keen to hear from businesses and SMEs, including those not already in the rail supply chain, to join in and build the railway industry of the future.

The Rail Manufacturing CRC’s research program focuses on three research themes – developing innovative rail technology and products in: • Power and Propulsion – including energy regeneration and storage, advanced braking systems, and electronic motors and systems.

• Materials and Manufacturing – including high-performance materials for heavy haul, advanced manufacturing, advanced lightweight materials, and low-cost manufacturing systems.

• Design, Modelling and Simulation – including advanced design and simulation, automated health monitoring, advanced data analysis and information systems, advanced operations management systems, and energy-use management systems.

With the Rail Manufacturing CRC co-funding new projects within these three areas, translating research-based industry solutions into timely market innovations and products will support the development of technologies that lead to new opportunities for Australian rail manufacturers. www.rmcrc.com.au

Integral part of your business

Getting involved Securing a gateway into rail manufacturing has never been easier with Rail Manufacturing CRC now offering funded partnerships for businesses wanting to join the rail sector. Coupled with the strong pipeline of projects flowing now underway across the country, rail businesses have a golden opportunity to take advantage of this positive business environment.

Measures that support innovative businesses, grow private sector investment in research commercialisation, and increase the flow of venture capital to high potential start-ups will flow across the manufacturing sector and inject some much needed confidence in business investment.

The Rail Manufacturing CRC recently rolled out its Innovation Gateway Projects, where businesses either currently working in the rail manufacturing industry supply chain or with the potential to do so were given the opportunity to enter a partnership with a research organisation to work on a commercial project to benefit the rail industry.

This program is designed to take advantage of the current boom and attract manufacturing businesses into the rail supply chain, while at the same time boosting much needed innovation in the rail industry. It has resulted in the selection of three new projects to commence shortly.

Quality Transport Solutions

17 Freight Road, Tullamarine,VIC 3043 AusTRAlIA. Tel: 03 8676 5693 • www.eif.co.nz

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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Rail

Keeping reliability and quality on track for rail industry

More and more travellers use train services because of their ease, cost-effectiveness, comfort and safety. It is therefore a matter of course for manufacturers of rail and train components to ensure that they consistently deliver quality products and services. Increasing reliability through new tools, materials and machining techniques, as well as supporting productive and cost-effective maintenance of existing infrastructure, is crucial.

In 2013, the global market for railway technology was approximately €150bn. This is expected to see an annual growth of 2.7% over the next few years, reaching an average annual value of €176bn before 2019.

The railway segment has been a focus for Dormer Pramet for many years, with the company offering customers a wide range of cutting tools to help with both production and maintenance. Tomáš Hantek is International Application Manager for Railway at Dormer Pramet.

“Railway wheels and rails are the most important components in any railway operation, as they represent the interface between vehicle and track,” he says. “Therefore, both rail and wheel surfaces must always be of the highest quality. Any roughness or irregularity in surface quality can create undesirable forces, friction, vibrations and wear, developing unwanted effects on the vehicle and infrastructure. In the case of passenger vehicles, this can influence not only the comfort of the occupants, but also their safety.

“As an established partner to the rail industry in many locations around the world, Dormer Pramet supports the manufacture and re-profiling of wheels, as well as machining of axles, chassis, rail profiles and renovation, switches, base plates, mounted axles, junctions and other rolling stock components.

“With any contact between the vehicle wheels and rail surfaces, the materials must be strong enough to resist the normal (vertical) forces exerted by regular and heavy loads. The forces in the contact zone must be low enough to allow heavy loads to move at speed with little resistance and also large enough to generate acceleration, braking, and guidance of vehicles.”

Rail treatment “The most common mechanical noise from a train is generated between the wheel and rail contact,” Hantek explains. “These ‘vibrations’ are transmitted through the ground and can even be felt in nearby buildings. Vibrations (in the range of 4 to 80Hz), or lowfrequency rumbling noises (between 30 and 250Hz), can also be transmitted into the vehicle itself, affecting passenger comfort and vehicle life. “To combat against this constant force between track and vehicle, there is a need to make sure the rail remains in a good condition. There are several reasons for rail treatment, but primarily it is an issue of operational safety. With the mechanical stresses in wheel and rail contact, cracks can appear on the surface of the rail.

These have to be removed quickly before they spread and destroy the track area.

A pitted rail which requires renovation.

A railway line after profiling treatment.

“A regular assessment of the rail profile is important for limiting damage to the track and rolling stock. Also, another objective is to enable modern high-speed trains to use existing lines, while maintaining reliability and safety standards.

“Rail treatment can be performed in several ways. The most timeconsuming involves the use of track relaying machines, which replace old rails with new. It is also possible to subject the existing rails to grinding operation, however, the disadvantage with this is that it offers a small depth of cut and can create sparks, presenting a potential fire hazard.

“However, an alternative option is dynamic rail milling. The reprofiling of a railway line without removing the tracks represents significant time and financial savings. It is therefore no surprise that dynamic milling of rails has become one of the most popular methods. But this ‘on the-move’ application requires specialised equipment to achieve optimum results.

“Dynamic milling can be performed by specially designed trains, operating at a constant speed of 700 meters per hour. Rails made of R350HT steel have good abrasion resistance, with a hardness of between 900 and 1,200 MPa. Sometimes the passage of trains results in the rail head being hardened up to 1,500 MPa. “To re-profile the rails, two milling units are used. The first roughens the surface, the second one finishes it, and the two units act on both rails simultaneously. The final rail profile and high-quality surface finish are ensured by the grinding units, while metal chips produced during milling are transferred to a nearby container, making sure no debris or swarf is left on the track.

A train dynamically milling a railway line.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

“Another option is the use of a truck, which can switch between road and rail by changing its wheel type. This uses only one milling unit on each side, so the cutters perform only a finishing operation.”

Rail

Pramet inserts specifically for use in railway applications.

The Pramet dynamic rail milling cutter.

Safety “It is standard practice that during the re-profiling of rails, insert indexing due to wear is done on board the train performing the milling,” notes Hantek. “To reduce downtime, operators often change the whole milling cutter, and to do this, they must leave the train.

“However, renovation of railway infrastructure is usually done at night when there is less traffic. To improve safety it is advisable to avoid changing the cutter during a shift, especially at night. The normal distance covered when milling during a standard shift is between 3,000 and 3,500 metres. Dormer Pramet’s rail milling inserts and cutters have a durability of more than 3,700 metres, meaning staff can stay on the train for the whole shift.

“Our range for the rail industry includes disk mills, cartridges and indexable inserts for dynamic rail milling. Pramet’s rail milling cutters, for example, have a diameter of 600mm, a cutting speed of between 220 and 280 metres per minute, and each cutting tooth can deal with between 3.5 and 5mm of rail length, cutting to a depth of between 0.5 and 1.5mm.

“A variety of universal and removable cassettes are also available, with each consisting of a casing which is identical for left and right hand rails, supporting both roughing and finishing applications.

These cassettes are also used for different rail profiles – the AHC (Anti-Head-Check) for rails used by trains operating at speeds up to 160km/h, and the UIC 60E2 profile for high-speed lines. When the profile needs to be changed it is only necessary to replace two out of the 11 inserts in each cassette.

“This delivery of cutting tools specifically for dynamic rail milling applications, and our aim to continuously develop new products for the industry, has allowed us to develop strong partnerships with some of the world’s leading railway companies.

“Dormer Pramet was recently appointed by Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany to supply the dynamic milling cutter equipped with removable cassettes and inserts. DB serves more than seven million passengers and a million tons of freight every day in Germany. The company also has significant presence around the world, operating in 130 countries, generating revenues of around €38bn.”

“One of the main challenges is to determine the optimum chip thickness and heat distribution. By co-operating with manufacturers around the world with a combined annual production of more than eight million wheels, Dormer Pramet is close at hand to provide technical support and expertise in this area.”

Future development “A continuous dialogue over many years between ourselves, manufacturers and suppliers ensures Dormer Pramet is ideally placed to meet growing industry demands for quality and reliability,” Hantek concludes. “While we already have a large number of products in this segment, more are added to our assortment every year. However, before being released to the market, all our new tools must meet a strict list of key requirements. This includes the ability to offer reliability in the cutting process, longevity and productivity for the customer, optimum chip fractionation, dimensional accuracy and stability and high surface quality.

“Only when these features are guaranteed, will we offer them to manufacturers, ensuring continuous development for the railway sector as a whole for years to come.” www.dormerpramet.com

BLACKFAST Room Temperature Blacking of Iron & Steel Either 2 pieces or 2 tonnes for the best BLACK finish – conveniently, safely, so it’s so easy with BLACKFAST – you can DO IT YOURSELF

Railway wheels “As well as re-profiling of rails, Dormer Pramet has experience in the machining of railway wheels, and is constantly looking to meet customers’ requirements for reliability and productivity,” notes Hantek. “Similar to rails, railway wheels have to be treated regularly.

It helps to improve running behaviour, noise level and safety.

Machining of railway wheels also requires specific technology based on the principle of copy forming with a round cutting edge.

BLACKFAST AUSTRALIA

Tel:

07 5554 5411

Mobile: 0419 507 713 E-mail: sales@blackfastaustralia.com.au Website: www.blackfastaustralia.com.au AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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Material Removal

State-of-the-art machinery gives Eastgate the advantage on precision Production machining and finishing specialist Eastgate Engineering is a terrific example of a company embracing technological modernisation and continuous improvement to lock in its status as an industry leader.

Eastgate is a family-owned and operated repetition engineering company that brings a 60-year-old reputation for quality together with high-tech precision and state-of-the-art machinery. Located in the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo, Eastgate is a one-stop-shop for custom-made component manufacturing. The company’s services encompass assembly, welding, bending, polishing and coating components.

Eastgate is staffed by versatile and multi-skilled tradespeople, enabling it to serve a diverse range of industries. Its clients come from just about every industry under the sun, spanning from construction to rail to marine sectors, and include large multinational companies and government agencies.

Founded in the 1950s, by the 1960s Eastgate established itself as a successful and highly regarded machine shop. In recent years, the company has embraced automation, resulting in a sharp improvement in work quality and allowing it to expand beyond its traditional high-production, high-volume work to encompass small, customised production runs.

Eastgate’s transformation originated three years ago when a change of ownership instigated a drive to improve efficiency and accuracy. That saw the company set up a continuous improvement plan and make a considerable investment in high-tech equipment.

“In the last three years, we’ve changed owners, and from that time we’ve evolved to more modern state-of-the-art machinery, with a focus on automation and quality,” says Craig Williams, Manager of Eastgate’s Brisbane branch. “Automation has not only cut production costs, it enables us to do intricate, high-tolerance work.”

With Williams’s background, he was well placed to work with the team to deliver on the company’s modernisation drive: “I believe Eastgate to be one of the most efficient places for this sort of work in Brisbane – I would even say Queensland.”

The centrepiece of Eastgate’s automation push was upgrading to CNC machines, which have provided the company with the programming, drawing and quality assurance capability to ensure production perfection, every time. One machine that has been

pivotal to enhancing Eastgate’s capability is the Doosan Lynx 220LSYC, purchased from Hare & Forbes last year. The machine is a twin spindle with fifth axis and a 4m bar feeder.

“We found the Doosan at the Austech trade-show in Melbourne, but our relationship with Hare & Forbes goes back years,” Williams says, adding that Eastgate is “very, very happy” with the new Doosan.

“The machine is serving us really well, and the after-sale service from Hare & Forbes has as usual been fantastic.”

Eastgate’s technological transformation has enabled it to expand into new markets, including made-to-order retail.

“The previous Eastgate was all high-production, high-volume work,” explains Williams. “But since we’ve got the new machinery, including the Doosan machine from Hare & Forbes, it’s enabled us to get into the retail market more as well, and the smaller quantity market, including very intricate work.

“We can do our full-on production of 2,000-30,000 parts, as well as being able to our 10-20 small runs, which we weren’t very effective at previously. Now we’re very competitive at this sort of work.

“We still do quite a lot of wholesale high-production work for very large companies and government agencies, but now we also do small production of retail made-to-order parts.”

Williams said customers are impressed by Eastgate’s “fast turnaround and quality of work, and also the customer service”.

Eastgate prides itself on its attention to detail and strict quality assurance. The company is responsive and highly flexible, working with a broad array of materials, including various steels, brass, bronze, copper and aluminium. All grades of plastic are within their scope. When it comes to outstanding precision – whether for one item or for one-hundred thousand items – it’s worth looking into Eastgate.

“We have an in-house QA system,” Williams says. “Which has been accepted by a number of multinational companies that have been into our company, examined our processes, and placed their trust in what we do.” www.eastgate.net.au www.machineryhouse.com.au

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Material Removal

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Okuma adds world-class versatility for Archer Precision engineering company Archer has expanded its domestic and international manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a fourth Okuma CNC machine – the Okuma MB-56VA. “We first invested in Okuma in 2007 and since then we have increased the size of our purchases each time,” said Managing Director Brad Byrne. “To remain competitive you have to have the best world-class equipment.

“The reason behind getting the MB-56VA was to strengthen our standard engineering output and to diversify into other areas of work to meet the needs of new customers. We have seven- and nine-axis Okuma multi-tasking machines for the complex tasks and this takes care of mainstream jobs for our customers in Australia and overseas.”

The Okuma MB-56VA is a three-axis vertical machining centre with a high-speed, 40-taper, 15,000rpm spindle and 22kW VAC integral motor. It has a work area of 1300mm by 560mm. The compact (2,500m x 3,100mm footprint) mill features Okuma’s Thermo Friendly Concept (TFC) and Collision Avoidance System (CAS).

TFC accounts for the amount of heat generated in and around the machine space and uses sensors and feed axis position data to control against thermal deformation during machining to maintain cutting accuracy. CAS runs real-time simulation of the cutting path milliseconds before cutting takes place in order to detect any clashes and it will shut down the machine to prevent damage.

“As with our other Okumas, we heavily customised this machine”, added Operations Director Russ Byrne, who runs the thirdgeneration family owned company alongside his brother. “So it has the 32-position auto tool-changer as well as other optional upgrades. These ensure that we have the full capability we need to take on new and different projects in the future.

“From the time we ordered the MB-56VA to installation, commissioning and starting its first job was less than a month and it has been flat out ever since. It gives us the confidence to take on all kinds of precision and zero-fail projects from anywhere in the world.

A good example of this is the sophisticated scientific laboratory plunge-test tunnels we designed and manufacture for international manufacturers of fire sprinkler systems.”

Steve Norbis, Branch Manager – NSW, Okuma Australia, said: “What is exciting about our partnership with Archer is their positive attitude towards quality and customer satisfaction. Brad and Russell are not just looking for standard machine tools. They invest in options that enhance productivity for their business. In turn, this helps them to be competitive and offer quality far beyond normal expectations. Okuma is proud to be partnered with such a visionary customer such as Archer Enterprises.” www.archerenterprises.com.au

www.okumaaustralia.com.au

Archer’s Managing Director Brad Byrne with Steve Norbis, NSW Branch Manager, Okuma Australia.

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Cutting Tools

Mobile, faster and smarter

In the age of Industry 4.0, tools can also be virtual. Apps and software solutions are simplifying daily work at the machine and increasing productivity. Tools can be selected at the click of a mouse and managed optimally – while on the move and at any time.

Walter AG has a wide range of solutions tailored to its customers’ individual needs.

This means that they can always select the best tool and the most cost-efficient machining process. In addition, starting values and cutting data can be determined in a matter of seconds. The user benefits from process reliability and saves valuable time and money. These innovative solutions enhance Walter’s range of machining services and ensure a consistently smooth process – even from outside the production hall.

Dramatically reduce wear with the wear optimisation app The latest solution from Walter helps users to get the best use out of their tools by reducing wear rates and therefore associated costs. The app can identify all wear patterns on indexable inserts and solid carbide tools in turning, drilling, threading or milling applications. Each wear pattern is shown with a zoom function, both graphically and in high-quality photos.

For every wear pattern, the app provides the user with recommendations on how to reduce wear, increasing the service life of their tools and saving costs. The app works offline on current mobile devices such as smartphones, notebooks and tablets, with the iOS or Android operating systems, as well as on a Windows PC that operates on Windows 7 or later. Available in 24 languages, it can also be used online from Walter’s website.

Select the right tools with Walter GPS Designed to ensure you always have the right tool for turning, drilling, threading and milling, Walter GPS is the world’s most comprehensive recommendation software for metal cutting tools. It takes just a few steps for you to find the best solution for the component to be machined, whether online or offline – simply use the tool search or the application recommendation.

The recommendations from Walter GPS are so precise that users can choose to search with or without a tolerance for the diameter, with or without a regrind length, or even according to complex pilot-drilling strategies. This means that the user receives not just the best tool recommendation, but also the perfect machining strategy, including the cutting data. This can be printed out as a PDF document and then entered into the CNC program on the

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

processing machine. Thanks to an interface with the Walter TOOLSHOP, recommended tools can be kept in a wish list and ordered at the click of a button.

Determine starting values easily with Feeds & Speeds The Feeds & Speeds app determines the starting values for milling, drilling and turning operations. Navigation is intuitive: from the application, workpiece material and tool type, to the cutting tool material, the feed and the cutting speed. The user always has the very latest data. This also saves considerable time since there is no need to search in the tool catalogue.

Calculate cutting data accurately with the machining calculator The Walter machining calculator is an enhancement of the successful “Tools & More” app. It can be used to accurately calculate the cutting data for turning, drilling, threading and milling. This includes torque, drive output and machining volume, as well as operating time, main cutting force and chip thickness. The data can be exported, and it can now also be uploaded via CSV import. In addition, the calculated results can be shared via a smartphone. A simple cost comparison of two tool solutions with the integrated profitability calculator rounds off the application. The app is available in 24 languages.

Access all the tool catalogues with the e-library Viewing catalogues, finding tools, setting bookmarks, adding tools to your basket… you can do it all with the e-library. This digital library contains full and supplementary catalogues as well as selected brochures. You can look for tools in a matter of seconds using categories or a search function. These can be transferred to the Walter TOOLSHOP via an interface.

Available in 17 languages, the app works offline on all current mobile devices with iOS or Android, as well as on Windows PC with Windows 7 or later.

Easily select tools with the Toolguide The Walter Toolguide app provides mobile access to all the tools you require from the Walter range. The user is also shown 2D and 3D tool models as well as a detailed tool data sheet.

In addition to numerous apps and software solutions, Walter has now also adapted its website to its customers’ needs. Content is displayed using responsive web design (RWD), which means that the content is automatically adapted to the screen size of the device being used. For users of smartphones or tablets in particular, this makes using the website significantly more convenient. www.walter-tools.com www.apps.walter

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Cutting Tools

Evolution of chip thickness models for milling

Multiple factors determine the results of metal cutting processes. Among the most important and the least understood factors is the ‘thickness of the chips’ cut by the cutting tool. By Patrick de Vos, Corporate Technical Education Manager, Seco Tools.

Basically, ‘chip thickness’ is the measurement of the thickness of the non-deformed material at a right angle to the cutting edge.

Chip thickness correlates closely with the forces that affect the tool and workpiece. Excessively large chip thickness results in chipping and breakage of the cutting edge, while insufficient chip thickness causes rapid edge wear.

Determining and controlling chip thickness enables a manufacturer to maximise metal cutting productivity and efficiency, tailor cutting processes to specific workpiece materials and control costs. A lack of understanding of the importance of chip thickness leads many manufacturers to either overload or underutilise cutting tools, with negative effects on tool life and productivity.

With that said, there exists mathematical models that aid in understanding the functional significance of chip thickness. Chip thickness models have evolved from simple equations describing chips generated in steady-state turning operations to complex formulas that take into account numerous variables in the interrupted cutting environment of milling.

cutter, chip thickness is 100% of the feed rate. But at a 45-degree cutting edge angle, chip thickness is 70% of the feed rate because the chip forms on a greater length of cutting edge. Reducing the cutting edge angle makes the chip thinner, and feed rate must be increased to maintain the desired chip thickness.

Application of the average chip thickness equation The average chip thickness equation takes into account the tool’s cutting edge angle and the radial engagement of the cutter. Figure 1 graphs the equation’s application in side milling in blue and central milling in red. On the main graph, the radial engagement of the cutter is compared to the cutter’s diameter, expressed as the Ae/Dc ratio. The smaller graph in the corner of the figure plots the effect of the cutting edge cutting edge angle.

Chip thickness models for milling In a continuous turning operation, chip thickness does not change.

In milling, however, chips continually vary in thickness as the cutting edge intermittently enters and leaves the workpiece.

To simplify understanding of chip thickness in milling, approximately 40 years ago, metal cutting researchers developed the concept of average chip thickness. The formula they produced mathematically creates a theoretical chip of a consistent average thickness. The average chip thickness model led to better understanding and control of the milling process.

When determining the average chip thickness, one has to take into account the cutter’s radial engagement with the workpiece, along with the cutting edge geometry, cutting edge angle and feed rate. Adjusting the feed rate enables a machinist to manipulate chip thickness.

The degree of radial engagement of the cutter in the workpiece may range from a small percentage of the cutter diameter up to 100% of the diameter in a slotting operation. Smaller radial engagement produces thinner chips. As the radial engagement grows, chip thickness reaches its maximum at 50% of cutter diameter. When radial engagement rises above 50%, chips begin to thin again.

The preparation of the cutting edge also affects chip thickness. As a general rule, chip thickness must be at least as large as the radius of the cutting edge. For example, a 60µm edge radius requires feed to be adjusted to produce chip thickness of at least 60µm. At a feed rate that is too low, the edge will rub and fail to cut the workpiece material.

Milling tool cutting edges usually feature preparations that increase the edge radius to provide protection from chipping and breakage.

Such preparations include hones, chamfers and T-lands. These preparations permit more aggressive feed rates when milling difficult materials or rough surfaces. The goal is to form the chip behind the cutting edge and thereby avoid concentrating pressure and impact where they will accelerate edge wear or breakage.

Adjusting the feed rate moves the location of chip formation and controls chip thickness. Increasing feed rate creates a thicker chip and decreasing feed produces chips that are thinner.

The cutting edge angle has a direct effect on chip thickness. When the cutting edge angle is 90 degrees, as with a square shoulder

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Figure 1

The figure illustrates a situation where the average chip thickness formula is not fully effective. When side milling with radial engagement that is very small compared to the diameter of the milling cutter, the formula does not function correctly (see dotted line). And in central milling, when 50% or more of the cutter is engaged in the cut, the red line shows continually increasing feed rate. That is contradictory to practical experience, where greater cutter engagement usually dictates feed rate reduction. Accordingly, the average chip thickness model is most useful when radial engagement is greater than 20% to 25% of the cutter diameter and smaller than 50% to 75% of that amount.

The average chip thickness model is based on geometric factors and simplifies a complex situation. Decades of application have shown that use of the average chip thickness model in tool life equations provides estimates that are accurate within plus or minus 15%. That level of accuracy is sufficient for power and torque calculations and for many operations in routine workpiece materials. Further, the time and effort for the calculations needed to manually solve the average chip thickness equation are reasonable.

However, when applications require a higher degree of accuracy or when milling involves so-called difficult-to-machine materials, a model that includes additional factors is needed.

Equivalent chip thickness Swedish researcher Sören Hägglund developed a more global model that provides a measurement called equivalent chip thickness, which can produce tool life predictions with accuracies of plus or minus 2%. In the model shown in Figure 2, the yellow arc represents the varying thicknesses of the actual chip as produced

Cutting Tools

by the milling cutter. The orange bar, which illustrates the average chip thickness approach, is an unfurled version of the yellow chip.

The blue bar represents equivalent chip thickness. A key difference is that the equivalent chip thickness model factors in the time the tool edge spends in the cut. That is significant because as the amount of the cutter engaged in the workpiece varies, the cutting edge spends a different length of time in the cut and the thickness of the chip that is generated changes as well.

Figure 2

The equivalent chip thickness model also takes into account the influence of the tool’s nose radius on chip thickness. The model employs a concept originally developed for turning operations

by Swedish engineer Ragnar Woxén in the early 1930s. Woxén’s formula calculates theoretical chip thickness along the tool nose, essentially straightening out the nose radius and enabling the chip area to be described with a rectangle.

Chip thickness calculations help manufacturers avoid problems that arise when chips are thinner than a certain minimum or are thicker than a specific maximum level. When the radial engagement increases in relation to the cutter diameter, feed rate must be lowered to maintain the same chip thickness. This ensures that maximum chip thickness does not become excessive, a condition that will reduce tool life and eventually break the cutter.

On the other hand, producing chips thicker than a certain minimum is especially important when machining strain-hardening materials such as superalloys and titanium. A cutting edge producing chips that are too thin creates a work-hardened zone that is cut by subsequent cutting edges. Cutting the resulting layer of strainhardened material accelerates tool wear and can shorten tool life by as much as a factor of three.

Many shops machine strain-hardening materials the same way as hardened steels, employing lighter depths of cut and lower feed rates. As a result, milling cutters often run at parameters that produce insufficient chip thicknesses, with poor results. The choice of conventional or climb milling techniques also affects chip thickness and the machining of strain-hardening materials.

Conclusion Control of chip thickness is a key factor in successful milling operations. Taking full advantage of chip thickness concepts involves first calculating equivalent chip thickness, then determining minimum and maximum chip thickness limits.

Because the complex equivalent chip thickness model includes a collection of variables, the calculations required to solve the equation consume a much greater amount of time and effort than the simplified model for average chip thickness. Manually making the calculations in a production environment is neither cost nor time-efficient.

However, the availability of computer software programs for calculating machining parameters, such as those available from Seco, enables users to enter data and solve the equations in seconds. The result is optimised milling processes that boost productivity and profitability. www.secotools.com

Chip thickness and milling technique A partner to the equivalent chip thickness concept is consideration of the manner in which the chips are formed.

Milling chip formation occurs in two different ways, depending on the rotation of the cutter in relation to the movement of the workpiece. The two methods are conventional (up) or climb (down) milling. In conventional milling, the cutter rotates against the direction of the workpiece feed. In climb milling, the cutter rotates in the same direction as the workpiece feed.

In conventional milling, the cutting edge enters the workpiece at zero depth of cut. The chip begins to form at minimum thickness and finishes at maximum thickness. Conversely, the chip generated in climb milling begins at maximum thickness and tapers to its minimum.

When milling with the conventional approach, the cutting edge rubs the workpiece before it cuts, and the thin chip absorbs heat poorly. Both conditions contribute to strain hardening of the workpiece surface and reduction of tool life. Chips fall in front of the cutter where they can be recut and degrade surface finish. In horizontal milling, upward cutting forces may lift the workpiece, necessitating use of complex workholding fixtures.

Climb milling is preferred for a number of reasons. It eliminates rubbing of the cutting edge as it enters the cut, maximising tool life and reducing heat generation. Less machine power is required, and chips fall behind the cutter to minimise recutting and improve surface finish as well as tool life. The cutting action generates downward force, which helps stabilise the workpiece and simplify fixturing. The initial thickness of the chip enables it to carry away heat and minimise strain hardening of the workpiece surface when machining materials such as superalloys, stainless steels, and titaniums.

However, the downward forces created in climb milling can cause backlash of the machine table, especially on older and/ or manual milling equipment. Backlash hinders accuracy and increases the chipload on the cutter to the point that it may break. As a result, the conventional milling approach may be required in situations involving less stable machines and workpieces.

Conventional milling may also be preferable when milling castings, forgings and case-hardened material. That is because the conventional cut begins under the hardened or rough surface of the material, while the entry of the tool into the part at full chip thickness in climb milling may cause chipping of the cutting edge as it encounters the material’s hardened zone.

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Cutting Tools

Evolution in tool life

A job shop in the US Midwest has cut insert costs in half and tripled tool life with Beyond Evolution grooving and cut-off tools from Kennametal.

Since the day some ingenious machine tool engineer first mounted a metal tube on an engine lathe, machinists have been looking for a better way to cut off parts. From hand-ground bits to high speed steel blades to indexable carbide inserts, cut-off tool technology has continued to improve over the years, increasing metal-cutting efficiency and lowering operational expenses along the way. One large step in that evolution came with the development in recent years of multi-purpose cut-off tools able to switch hit as grooving, turning, and profiling tools, giving manufacturing companies the ability to simplify setups and shorten production cycles, and in some cases keep fewer tools in the crib.

One such company is EMC Precision, a family-owned and operated precision machining job shop headquartered in Elyria, Ohio. Since 1925, EMC has provided prototype to production machining and value-added services to a range of industries including fluid management, hydraulic fluid & power, automotive, recreational, and other OEMs. Ian Dotson, manufacturing engineer at EMC’s facility in Sheridan, Indiana, says he was happy with the tool life and performance of his existing cut-off solution, and was only looking for a reduction in his tooling costs when he called his local Kennametal distributor - CCA. The salesperson there introduced him to Kennametal’s Beyond Evolution, a single-sided grooving and cut-off system with multidirectional turning capability, through the tool coolant, proprietary chip control, and “Triple V” secure seating geometry.

Dotson admits he wasn’t too concerned about the bells and whistles, as long as the tool performed as well as what he was already using, and saved the company some money. He was pleased with the results.

“We were using a 3mm wide PVD-coated insert to cut off 19mm diameter 4140 steel hydraulic actuators,” he says. “We swapped out the old tool for a Kennametal Beyond Evolution cut-off and kept the feeds and speeds the same. After several runs, we determined tool life was essentially identical, so from a performance perspective there was no difference, at least not on this job. But the Beyond Evolution inserts are dramatically less expensive, roughly 40% of what we were paying for our legacy tools. It was a clear win for us”

Triple time The next win came on a job Dotson was running on one of EMC´s Daewoo Lynx 220 CNC lathes, a transmission gear shaft made of 32mm 8620 steel, and using a 6mm wide tool to back turn a journal

Specially designed coolant delivery channels in the Beyond Evolution system, separate and direct cutting fluid to where it’s needed most.

on the left side of the part prior to cut-off. In this application, insert cost was still a concern, but Dotson’s primary goal was tool life improvement.

“The Daewoo isn’t equipped with high pressure cutting fluid, and the standard pump was unable to generate enough pressure for us to utilise coolant through the tool on our old cut-off system,” he explains. “Because of this, we’ve been stuck with flood coolant, and have always had some chip control issues as a result – the chip would roll back on itself and starve the cutting edge of coolant.”

Despite the less than perfect cutting conditions, the Beyond Evolution performed beyond expectations.

“We achieved very good results,” says Dotson. “This time we increased the cutting speed a bit, from 350 to 400sfm, and bumped up the feedrates by about 30%. Even so, tool life increased threefold, to just over 2600 pieces per insert. I’m confident we could have cranked up the feeds and speeds even more, especially if we had plumbed the tool for coolant through, but there was no need.

“This operation supplies another machine, and that one was already running as fast as it could go. The big thing for us was getting more parts between tool changes, and that’s exactly what the Beyond Evolution did. It’s an excellent product at a very competitive price point.”

Many options through multiple ports

Beyond Evolution’s direct delivery of cutting fluid to the work zone together with a variety of application-specific chipbreakers provides robust chip control while substantially extending tool life.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Not having the right adapter or hose is not a problem with Beyond Evolution toolholders, which are ported for KM, VDI, and virtually all machine platforms, and is capable of pressures up to 350 bar.

Even without high-pressure coolant, Beyond Evolution increased tool life three to one compared to EMC’s legacy cut-off system www.kennametal.com

Manufacturing Engineer Ian Dotson keeping an eye on machining progress with the Beyond Evolution grooving and cut-off system from Kennametal.

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Safety

Safety and compliance in the age of Industry 4.0

As we move closer to achieving the Industry 4.0 vision – where man and machine work together on the smart factory floor – the need to consider the safety and compliance requirements of this new kind of workplace has become paramount. By Shermine Gotfredsen, General Manager, Universal Robots APAC. Unlike traditional factories, the smart factory sees employees working side-byside with collaborative robots or ‘cobots’, using these robots as a multi-functional tool, like a screwdriver, packaging device or palletiser. Ensuring the safety of this type of working environment becomes particularly vital when bearing in mind that 85% of manufacturers now believe the connected workforce will be commonplace in the industry by 2020. In fact, US consultancy IDC suggests that plant modernisation is a key technology priority for 2016 in the Asia Pacific region.

Taking into account the changing nature of manufacturing processes globally, new guidelines on how to ensure the safety of human workers in collaborative robotic systems were published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in February this year. The long awaited guidelines, ‘ISO/TS 15066’ were developed as a supplementary document to support the ISO 10218 ‘Safety Requirements for Industrial Robots’ standard. ISO/TS 15066 is a comprehensive document that aims to help integrators of robotic cells conduct risk assessments when installing collaborative robots.

Universal Robots (UR) has spent a lot of time ensuring its robots are not just meeting compliance standards but taking safety to a new level while advancing productivity and process innovation. In fact, due to the

advanced functions embedded within UR’s patented safety system, robots can be operated cage-free (subject to mandatory risk assessment) in 80% of the thousands of applications now installed worldwide.

This lack of a need for safety caging encouraged TCI New Zealand, an Auckland-based plastic injection moulding company to purchase a U3 robotic arm from UR. Previously the company employed two people to manually add rubber feet and labels to the company’s EasiYo yoghurt maker line, in two 12-hour shifts per day. According to Quintin Fowler, Managing Director at TCI, a key factor leading to the company’s decision to purchase a UR robot was the fact that no guarding was needed.

“One thing I loved about Universal Robots was that we didn’t have to worry about guarding,” he says. “With a lot of the other robots in the market guarding was an issue because you’d have to use safety barriers for all the machines which just complicates the situation.”

UR’s safety system features eight adjustable functions that allow users to alter a range of parameters to reduce risks involved with industrial robot applications. These include limiting the force, speed, power or momentum of the robot, or restricting

its workspace using safety boundaries, to reduce risk of injury. For example, the speed of UR’s cobots can be reduced while the worker is working beside it to minimise the possibility of contact with staff.

Undoubtedly, the collaborative workforce – featuring human and robots complementing each other in their roles – offers significant opportunities to enhance manufacturing productivity and innovation, as well as safety and overall job satisfaction in the workplace. While a conventional approach towards robot safety is necessary, there remains a lot of ongoing research into how we can define practical guidelines to ensure safe human-robot interactions and unleash the full potential of collaborative robots. It will certainly be interesting to see how this work evolves. www.universal-robots.com

Materials handling with a difference

The inaugural Safe Work Australia Award for Good Design winner, the Makinex Powered Hand Truck replaces the need for a forklift and has the potential to cut back injuries in the workplace by 34%.

The Powered Hand Truck is a universal materials handling solution that enables one person to safely lift and load small equipment or bulky goods weighing up to 140kg. It provides a quick and easy alternative to using a forklift or tailgate loader for small loads. The Powered Hand Truck was selected from finalists across all categories in Safe Work Australia’s 2016 Good Design Awards in May. “A focus on health and safety in design helps eliminate hazards and risks before they enter the workplace,” said Safe Work Australia Chief Executive Officer, Michelle

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Baxter. “Good work design can radically transform the workplace in ways that benefit the business, workers, clients and others in the supply chain.”

Makinex is an Australian-owned private company that has designing, developing and distributing a range innovative products since 2004. With plans to expand the existing designed product range, growth in local and global markets with offices in Los Angeles, and a global dealer network, the company retains a commitment to ongoing research & development. Makinex is experiencing exponential growth,

particularly in its own line of designed and manufactured products.

“Makinex is about making inefficiencies extinct, where the name itself comes from this driving force,” says Makinex CEO Rory Kennard. “Makinex strives towards continuous improvement by looking closely at its business to find unique, innovative and practical product solutions that provide a better way to do jobs to save time, physical effort and money. We believe that ‘good enough’ is never enough for our customers.” www.makinex.com.au

Safety

Integra TransForm – Boosting health and productivity Broadmeadows (Melbourne)-based Integra Systems has formed a new division, Integra TransForm, focused on products that enhance the safety and efficiency of employee workstations.

Since 1991, Integra Systems has worked with hundreds of Australian businesses and helped them deliver award winning results that enhance their prosperity in both local and global markets. With innovation as the cornerstone of its culture, Integra has enabled and empowered clients in key areas of industrial design, product design engineering and mechanical engineering, via highly efficient in-house advanced manufacturing systems and project management expertise.

Integra TransForm focuses mainly on innovative ways of enhancing business performance. The division was created this year with the acquisition of Integra’s revolutionary Salvagnini L5 fibre-optic laser cutter. The fibre optic laser technology has empowered Integra to manufacture its own new products and bring them to the market. It has also provided Integra with the ability to experiment, co-create and involve their customers in the entire process, from design through to manufacture.

The AeroSmart relieves workers from health issues associated with sedentary behaviour.

Integra TransForm’s most recent releases are the WorkSmart Collection and the Pro-Click Collection. The WorkSmart collection comprises of sit-stand ergonomic solutions, the BioSmart and the AeroSmart, aimed at relieving desk-bound professionals and industrial workers from health issues associated with sedentary behaviour. The Pro-Click collection designed for safe and efficient tool and product display in industrial environments. Both product ranges are integrated solutions that not only transform workstations into futuristic and modern environments but also help their users to operate in a safe and environment-friendly manner.

The AeroSmart boosts workplace performance with beautiful electronic workstations that deliver health and productivity improvement results. The strong and sturdy desk uses world-class electronic technology and well researched user-centric design to create a high-quality workstation. It can be easily customised according to the user’s specific requirements.

The BioSmart is an investment in your furniture as an asset, converting it into an elegant standing desk. With minimum deskspace footprint, the BioSmart is an electronic standing desk converter that is elegantly designed, has a smooth, quiet height adjustment operation and a strong and sturdy computer platform, that focuses on the ergonomic benefits of sit-stand desk variations.

It can be adapted to accommodate up to three monitors, including a laptop facility, and provides additional space for paperwork and telecommunications. With the simple touch of a button, it lowers and raises the user’s monitor, keyboard and mouse to a perfect position.

The Pro-Click Tool system enhances job efficiency by encouraging its users to neatly organise and display tools and products and rewards them with immediate access. It provides great flexibility while also enabling standardisation across multiple workstations.

The main aim is to clear away benchtop clutters in order to create a safer workplace.

The WorkSmart collection is generally suitable for desk-bound professionals in an office environment, though they would also be compatible with monitor-mounted industrial applications such as off-line software-driven machinery, ERP systems and machinery programming in industrial workshops. The AeroSmart can also be combined with the Pro-Click Collection to act as a 6s safety operating system for sorting, storing and selecting workshop tooling.

Integra TransForm’s team of engineers and manufacturers combine their passion and expertise in product and industrial design engineering to develop and inject innovative technology into existing prototypes of the WorkSmart and ProClick collection. This leads to a culture focused on constant development of new products based primarily on user experience and feedback.

The Pro-Click tool system enables safe and efficient tool and product display in industrial environments.

www.integrasystems.com.au

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Safety

Best practice cleaning in the manufacturing industry

Traditional cleaning methods in the manufacturing sector usually require manual scrubbing together with chemicals, large amounts of water together with high-pressure washing, and industrial vacuum methods. Unlike other industries where cross contamination is a key focus, the manufacturing industry mainly focuses on ensuring large areas are covered, as well as saving time and reducing manual effort. By Murray McDonald, Director of Duplex Cleaning Machines.

Modern technology and processes for the manufacturing industry now commonly include ‘steam vapour technology’. This is the number-one cleaning method for sectors such as healthcare and accommodation, and the manufacturing sector is now beginning to follow suit. The following are key elements of what makes up a best-practice cleaning process for the manufacturing industry, the use of steam vapour as a leading manufacturing cleaning method and common cleaning applications.

Ensuring best-practice OH&S The type of cleaning processes used can impact on occupational health and safety (OH&S).

The cleaning of dirt and oils off industrial floors is vital to the manufacturing cleaning process to prevent slips and falls. However, when processes such as water and chemicals are used, it only “wipes” dirt, transferring the grime from one surface to another.

Overuse of chemicals is a common hazard when using outdated cleaning processes.

Not only does it create a slippery surface that creates the risk of slips and falls, but it actually prevents the removal of dirt.

Instead it creates a sticky surface due to trapped dirt and oils, leading to a build-up of grime.

When heated at 180 degrees Celsius and above, dry steam breaks down and melts all dirt and grime, and kills mould and bacteria without the need for drying time, eliminating the hazard of slippery floors.

Also, today’s modern industrial steam cleaning equipment can now be battery operated, minimising trips on cords and electrical hazards. These machines have been designed specifically to cater for large flooring areas and the safety-focused culture of the manufacturing sector.

Passing the ‘cleanliness’ test A key cleanliness test in the manufacturing sector is running water across a surface and seeing whether it runs smoothly or if it results in beaded water. If the water is broken up rather than producing a smooth stream, the result is that there is most likely some form of residue still left on the surface.

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When cleaning with traditional chemicals and hosing down surfaces with large amounts of water, the chances of the cleaning process passing this water test decrease greatly. Steam vapour technology is designed to disintegrate dirt and together with industrial machine brushes, it agitates the surface and picks up any remaining residue. Together with its infection control capabilities, high temperature steam ensures that all manufacturing surfaces, whether they are benches, flooring or equipment will pass the cleanliness test.

Parts or equipment cleaning Due to steam being a vapour, it can detail clean and get into hard to reach areas or awkwardly shaped surfaces that can be involved in parts cleaning. Steam on metal surfaces, such as equipment, removes all impurities by getting into the “micro holes” of the metal. Getting into the pores of metal produces that lustre and shine that can commonly be seen when metal receives a deep clean.

Although the sanitation of equipment is an important step to the manufacturing cleaning process, it is also important that the cleaning method used doesn’t ruin a surface or equipment. Steam vapour

technology doesn’t leave behind any moisture that could cause blockages and rusting, and because it is a natural cleaning agent it won’t cause surface erosions.

Infection control Although infection control procedures in cleaning are not as significant a concern in the manufacturing industry as it may be in other sectors, there are still major risks that can harm the health of staff or contaminate a production line.

For examples, outbreaks of legionnaires’ disease can be caused by the build-up of moulds and spores, which typically grow in moist and damp areas such as factory refrigeration systems, warehouse storage units, cold rooms and industrial air conditioning systems. The use of steam vapour is a top infection control process as bacteria and microbes are unable to survive at the high temperatures that steam vapour can reach.

Surfaces such as conveyor belts, production lines and benches are critical contact points where product, in a raw state when touching these surfaces, increases the risk of contamination. www.duplexcleaning.com.au

Safety

Workshop managers need to get a grip

As the drive for productivity continues to increases in the engineering workshops of Australia, the pressure builds on managers and supervisors to minimise set-up times in order to optimise production. The other side of the same coin is that workshop managers need to deliver a safe working environment for machine operators and ensure compliance with regulations concerning occupational health & safety (OH&S).

In workshops with turning machines such as lathes and machine centres, one of the most dangerous risks is that the workpiece may not be firmly held by the chuck. Worldwide, there have been a number of horrendous accidents because the grip of the chuck was not checked before machining commenced.

“We are glad – and relieved – to see that this century-old problem has now been overcome,” says Cliff Purser, AsiaPacific Managing Director of Sydneybased 600 Machine Tools. “Our parent company in the UK, the 600 Group, has launched yet another innovative product that underscores its global reputation for safety.”

Suitable for use on all makes of chuck, the Gripsafe gripmeter has been developed to help customers comply with health and safety legislation, enabling them to ensure that their chucks remain fit for purpose. The device attracted crowds at the recent MACH 2016 exhibition in Birmingham, UK, where visitors saw how it accurately measures and records chuck gripping-forces within seconds, under either static or rotating conditions.

Gripsafe is compatible with all types of lathe, from manual models through

to full CNC lathes and turning centres – in industrial, educational or military applications.

It is foolhardy to ignore the loss of grip that chucks succumb to over time, a factor that can rapidly become a lethal hazard if not frequently monitored and corrected.

The Gripsafe accurately measures static and dynamic chuck gripping-forces up to 100kN per jaw, at rotational speeds up to 6,000rpm, and is compatible with all three- and two-jaw chucks. The product is supplied with extension rings to enable use with increased diameter chucks, and is able to connect via WiFi to any compatible device. The Gripsafe’s in-built software provides real-time data capture incorporating all essential functions needed to conclude analysis. A short video about Gripsafe products can be viewed at goo. gl/xHaJTY. “In August, 600 Machine Tools announced that a new service will enable even ‘oneman band’ workshops to take advantage of this important breakthrough in workshop safety,” adds Purser. “Paul Fowler of Dimac Tooling in Dandenong, Victoria, is to offer the Gripsafe gripmeter for hire.” www.dimac.com.au www.600machinery.com.au

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Quality & Inspection

Improving the quality and speed of inspecting aerospace parts

Alphacasting has quickly become a worldwide leader in precision investment casting, pouring more than 120 different types of alloys, including aluminium, stainless steel, carbon steel, bronze, titanium and other exotic alloys.

The company specialises in the production of innovative and modern castings for a variety of different industries, including transport and aerospace. Alphacasting has carved an enviable reputation for the quality, precision, reliability, compliance and on-time delivery of all the casting projects it works on with clients. It is through its commitment to high standards that Alphacasting has perfected a rigorous quality control system to inspect all the parts it produces.

An operator pours melted aluminium during the investment casting process.

The challenge Alphacasting uses traditional tools, such as conventional fixed co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs), X-ray inspection systems, callipers and fixtures, to perform quality control inspections on the parts it manufactured. However, according to Steven Kennerknecht, Head of Engineering for Alphacasting, getting good information quickly on every occasion a part needed to be inspected was difficult at best.

In particular, for the development of a recent aluminium casting for the lube and scavenge pump on the passport engine for Bombardier’s Global Express ultra-longrange business jet series, quality control processes were to last several months, entailing multiple iterations to correct elements of the manufacturing process and produce the part precisely according to specifications. With so many iterations, a new approach had to be found in order to shorten the development time and ensure impeccable part quality.

“It is important to take measurements of each iteration during the development of a new casting,” explained Kennerknecht.

“Particularly one as highly complex as this one, to better understand the impact of previous changes and determine what modifications need to be made for the next iteration.”

Above: Real-time 3D scanning of the part with a Creaform 3D laser scanner.

Left: A casting for the lube and scavenge pump for a business jet aircraft engine.

accurate and reliable inspections in industries such as aerospace where impeccable quality control cannot be compromised.

How Creaform stepped up to the plate

Moreover, Alphacasting worked closely with Creaform’s experienced 3D metrology services team to carry out the surface inspections.

The time-consuming setup, slowness and lack of high-quality information with traditional methods was just not going to cut it. Consequently, Alphacasting turned to Creaform’s 3D scanners and metrology services for the Bombardier project. The company uses the HandySCAN 700, a metrology-grade handheld scanner developed specifically for discerning manufacturers looking to perform highly

“The team used the HandySCAN 3D to scan the entire casting very quickly,” said Kennerknecht. “Having 100% of the surface and the inspection report was so vital for us to understand the changes to be made and also to make sure there is enough material before machining. The quality of the scanned data enabled us to make better decisions and reduce development time.”

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Moreover, the professionalism and expertise of Creaform’s 3D metrology services team did not go unnoticed.

“They provided the quality information we needed on time,” added Kennerknecht.

“We were impressed not only by how fast the set-up, scanning and reporting time was, but also with their knowhow in getting the scanning done right, the first time.”

Hi-Tech Metrology, the Australian distributor for Creaform products, is fully equipped with demonstration equipment and application specialists ready to evaluate and recommend solutions to any 3D scanning and inspection need. www.hitechmetrology.com.au

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Quality & Inspection

Faro releases higher-resolution Cobalt Array Imager Faro has announced the launch of a higher resolution version of the Faro Cobalt Array Imager solution, geared toward quality inspection, factory automation and in-process verification (IPV) applications.

The new 9MP version of the Cobalt Array Imager is a higher-resolution model of the Cobalt platform, which Faro introduced earlier this year. The 9MP version is ideally suited for manufacturers, particularly automotive and aerospace manufacturers, where there is a need to capture fine details and features on edges and surfaces including stamped, machined or engraved parts. The current 5MP version remains the ideal solution for customers who do not require high-resolution data capture. Both versions feature on-board processing, blue light technology, interchangeable lenses, high dynamic range and automatic exposure.

On-board processing, an industry first, means that the Cobalt Array Imager is a smart sensor. This capability enables unique multi-imager array configurations of an unlimited number of Cobalt sensors.

Multi-imager arrays expand the scan area to deliver rapid and automated inspection of all surfaces of an object, dramatically reducing cycle time. The actionable data is delivered as a simple go/no-go result or an easy-to-read dimensional deviation colour map.

“Faro’s portfolio of Cobalt Array Imagers is designed for the factory floor and

production environments so they can be used anywhere inspection is needed,” stated Joe Arezone, Chief Commercial Officer of Faro. “The Cobalt is deployable in both near-line and in-line inspection applications, which allow this solution to align with Lean manufacturing principles of eliminating unnecessary movements and time. The new 9MP version enhances Cobalt’s attractiveness for applications requiring higher resolution scan data and provides our customers with more options to select the version best tailored to their needs.”

Arezone added: “Our initial release of the Cobalt Array Imager was well received as a product which allows businesses to simultaneously improve both quality and productivity. The Cobalt is a simple-to-use solution, ideal for maximising productivity and automated workflows throughout the factory. This is particularly true when using the Cobalt in automated inspection processes that may include deploying multiple Cobalt sensors in multi-imager array configurations or attaching one or more Cobalts to a robot. Moreover, Cobalt is priced for rapid return on investment and offers unparalleled value.” www.Faro.com/Cobalt/sg

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AMTIL PRODUCT E-BLASTS call anne samuelsson on 0400 115 525 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au for all enquiries.

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94

Forum Law

What to do when an inspector calls

Is your workplace equipped to handle a visit from WHS inspectors following a workplace incident? Using the example of an incident in a manufacturing plant, Nicole Fauvrelle and Sam Jackson look at ways to manage the situation.

In the event of a workplace incident, many employers have been caught unprepared - resulting in unnecessary business disruption with further investigation activity, prosecution and in some cases, significant penalties.

The scenario An incident occurs at your plant, where a worker is seriously injured because a guard was removed for maintenance work and not replaced. After notifying the safety regulator of this incident, an inspector attends the workplace to investigate. The inspector asks to speak to the plant manager (you) — what do you do?

Immediately following the incident 1. Ensure the safety of workers and others Depending on the incident, this may require: • applying first aid (by a qualified officer) • calling emergency services • isolating the plant or equipment where necessary, and • preserving and cordoning off the incident site to ensure other workers or passers-by are quarantined from the area and to comply with the duty to preserve the incident site (explained further below).

2. Notify regulators of certain incidents and preserve the incident site Notification In all jurisdictions, legislation requires that you must immediately phone the relevant regulator when a particular category of incident becomes known and then report it in writing within 48 hours.

Regulators provide the necessary forms for written notification on their websites and it is advised that you keep a copy of the written notification as a record. If you are unsure whether or not you should notify the regulator about an incident, contact an experienced work health and safety (WHS) lawyer as soon as possible for legal advice.

Preservation If you are required to report an incident, the incident site must be preserved until an inspector arrives or the regulator otherwise advises that the site can be disturbed. The site should be cordoned off as soon as possible and not disturbed, other than to ensure the safety of workers and others. Failure to notify (where required) and preserve the incident site may constitute an offence and result in significant penalties being imposed.

3. Control of communications and documentation Care should be taken when drafting incident reports, regulator notification forms and safety alerts, as all non-legally privileged communications may be required to be provided to a regulator during an investigation. This includes emails, reports, safety documentation and board papers. To control and monitor the flow of information with the regulator, a company representative should be appointed to accompany and liaise with the WHS inspector in the workplace.

TIP: Workers should be regularly reminded that they are not authorised to speak or provide documents on behalf of the company.

However, workers should not be directed on whether or not to speak to inspectors on their own behalf—this is a matter for the individual worker.

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When an inspector calls Inspectors can exercise a broad range of powers. (ie inspect, examine and seize anything at the workplace, including any document, unless the document is subject to legal professional privilege). It is an offence to refuse the inspector access to the workplace or to hinder or obstruct the inspector.

To effectively manage the provision of information to the regulator: • encourage inspectors to formalise any requests for documents in writing, and • retain a complete copy of all documents provided to the inspector for the company’s records.

Before formally requiring a person to produce a document, an inspector must warn that refusal or failure to comply is an offence unless the person has a “reasonable excuse”. Reasonable excuses may include: • taking time to consider any questions raised • reviewing the documents the inspector requested • obtaining legal advice regarding the request, or • the document is privileged (if you are unsure, seek legal advice).

Answering an inspector’s questions In Victoria and South Australia, a person may refuse to answer a question or provide information to an inspector if it may tend to incriminate them. In South Australia only, this also extends to documents. In other jurisdictions, a person must answer all questions asked by an inspector, even if the answer may incriminate the person. Interestingly, the answers can’t be used as evidence against the person in civil or criminal proceedings, but may be used against someone else or a company. This protection for individuals only applies if the question is asked by the inspector when he or she is exercising their formal powers under the relevant legislation.

It is therefore important that a person does not provide information voluntarily (i.e. without the inspector compelling the person to answer the question). A company cannot refuse to provide information on the basis that it is incriminating. Legal advice should be sought before answering questions.

Statutory Notices Inspectors can issue improvement and prohibition notices. It is important to carefully review any notice received to determine if the measures contained within it can be complied with and are reasonably practicable. If practicable, you should enhance your systems and procedures in line with the notice. If the measures are not practicable, consider appeal options. And if you’re unsure, obtain legal advice.

Failure to comply with a notice constitutes an offence and may result in significant penalties being imposed.

Nicole Fauvrelle is Partner, Workplace, and Sam Jackson is Senior Associate at Sparke Helmore Lawyers - a firm of more than 600 people working from eight offices across Australia. Sparke Helmore serves the needs of the insurance, government, financial services, technology, mining, construction and property sectors. Expertise spans corporate and commercial to construction, workplace to insurance, IP to IPOs, mining to manufacturing, and property to procurement.

Ph: 03 9291 2333 www.sparke.com.au

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Forum R&D

Five tips to avoid an R&D claim review by AusIndustry

To avoid a time-consuming review by AusIndustry, Dr Rita Choueiri suggests ways this can be prevented.

The R&D tax incentive scheme promotes and boosts innovation, research and development and productivity in Australia by providing tax offsets to businesses that undertake R&D in Australia.

Eligibility for R&D tax incentives is self-assessed by the applicant so may be subject to a review by AusIndustry by way of: • pre-registration reviews • registration reviews • desk reviews • activity reviews • large business innovation reviews.

Reviews can delay the process and increase the time spent on the claim, both of which can have a negative impact on the business.

I’ve been fortunate as an R&D tax incentive consultant for over 10 years to not ever have an application reviewed for any of my clients (where I have been involved in the R&D claim).

This article outlines how to achieve the same result by offering the following tips:

Tip 1 – Put yourself in the AusIndustry assessor’s shoes Review your own application and ask yourself: “would someone who knows very little about my company and project be able to understand what the activities relate to?” Have you used acronyms that don’t make sense to anybody external to the company? Have you given enough background detail to set the scene and provide context? Have you included enough specific details and measurable parameters of intended outcomes? Have you adequately described the knowledge gap? Have you set out and described the scientific method? The aim is to limit questions that AusIndustry may need to ask to gain an understanding of the eligibility of the activities.

Tip 2 - Write a meaningful hypothesis A hypothesis is a statement that can be validated or invalidated. Use your experience and knowledge on the topic to form an ‘educated’ likely answer to the scientific question that requires investigating.

The hypothesis: • should have an “experimental” and “control” comparison • should demonstrate how success will be measured • should give the reader a fair idea of what you plan to achieve and an idea of the experiments that would be required to test the hypothesis.

Example of a poorly written (fictional) hypothesis: Implementing new RF scanners on Line A will enable defective goods to be removed from the production line.

An acceptable hypothesis: Designing and implementing new RF scanning systems (involving developing new software and algorithms for off-the shelf scanning products) into Line A at Aust Co P/L’s Widget manufacturing facility will allow operators to identify, tag and remove faulty Widget As during the manufacturing process to decrease packed defective goods incidents from x% to y%.

Tip 3 - Provide specific, relevant experimental detail that took place during the financial year Don’t use the same generic experimental details that come from the experiment planning phase. They describe the various activities that will be undertaken as opposed to what actually was done.

I suggest a list of all the steps that were undertaken to test the hypothesis during the financial year (in past tense). Set the scene by briefly describing the activities that took place in the preceding financial year and following financial year expectations. Example for a FY16 application: “During FY15 the machinery required for the experiment was installed and we expect to continue observations during FY17”.

Ensure the activities listed in the experimental section relate to the hypothesis or tweak the hypothesis. Include whether anything went wrong and how it was rectified. Did you need to go back and retest anything or create new tests to answer new questions? Some companies describe the first set of activities but do not adequately describe any reiterations, changes in direction etc.

Tip 4. Include a conclusion that validates or invalidates the hypothesis A conclusion should be consistent with the hypothesis and indicate if further investigations will be required or if the product/process/ service is ready for implementation/commercialisation. Do not leave the reader guessing.

Example of a conclusion: By conducting our manufacturing trials, it was found that designing and implementing new RF scanning systems (involving developing new software and algorithms for off-the shelf scanning products) into Line A at Aust Co P/L’s Widget manufacturing facility did not allow operators to identify, tag and remove faulty Widget As during the manufacturing process to decrease packed defective goods incidents from x% to y%. Further investigations are required to determine the causes for not achieving the intended outcome.

Tip 5. Include at least one supporting activity Describe the preliminary research and activities undertaken before the commencement of the experiments (eg. literature research, planning, purchasing of equipment, set up of experiment etc.) and include them as a supporting activity. Comprise any supporting activities that took place after the new knowledge was achieved, eg. monitoring type of activities and why they are relevant.

In summary, as you prepare the project descriptions, ask yourself, does the reader have enough details to make an assessment on the eligibility of the activities? Don’t leave holes that may potentially instigate a question. If AusIndustry doesn’t understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, how you are doing it then you may certainly expect a review!

Dr Rita Choueiri is an R&D Tax Incentive specialist at William Buck. She has over 10 years of experience advising clients on all matters relating to the R&D tax incentives and works across all industries including manufacturing. She has a PhD in chemistry from (Monash University) and has worked as a research scientist in the mining industry.

Email: rita.choueiri@williambuck.com Phone: 03 8823 6840 www.williambuck.com

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Forum Finance

Budgeting for innovation

Many businesses use innovation to grow, however the challenge and failure of many companies that carry out innovation projects is to inadequately budget for the innovation, as explained by Stephen Carroll.

This failure to budget adequately for innovation is normally not because the company does not undertake a budgeting process, it is primarily because the company does not incorporate the full cost of innovation into the budget.

To address this common problem, we have broken up the budgeting process into a number of steps which can make a significant positive difference to the management of the financial challenges intrinsic to innovation.

Step 1: The Valley of Death The Valley of Death is normally related to the fund-raising gaps and challenges that startups have in taking their project from idea into full commercial operation. The same financial challenges and concepts apply to existing businesses that undertake an innovation project. In fact, it is more difficult in an existing business to manage the cost blow outs of innovation as the full costs of the project are often “lost” in the regular business operational costs, and are not recognised until it is too late.

For example, existing businesses may decide that a project needs to be carried out to develop a new product to expand their market reach. The company applies its normal (and to date a proven successful) project costing methodology to the innovation project, which includes an estimate of time and materials to design, manufacture and test the new product. This process is doomed to fail from the beginning as it does not take into consideration the issues we will identify below.

Step 2: Triple the budget An analysis of the Valley of Death shows that approximately the first third of the funding cycle is the product development and testing.

The rest of the funding cycle is the feedback modifications and full commercialisation time/costs for the project. The budgeting process an existing business uses normally only takes the first third of the total innovation costs into account. One of the main reasons for under-budgeting is failing to recognise that innovation projects normally require extra or different marketing and sales.

Sales and marketing budgets should be extensive and cover all the direct and indirect costs, such as: • extra website development; • expo costs; • travel needs; and • consumables and ancillary costs associated with demonstrations.

Step 3: Multiple versions and trials are necessary

Step 5: The management team Most innovation projects require substantial input from the most experienced staff of a company. It is often the case that many of these people are seen as overheads and not added into a budget. For innovation, these people will often be required significantly to assist with the innovation, from: technical, financial or commercial perspectives. It is important to ensure that the budget includes the management team and appropriate measures are put in place to address their lack of time on other business.

And don’t forget to include the budgeting and reporting time/ costs for innovation as they can often be more compared to other aspects of the business.

Step 6: All the costs It is now time to add up all the direct and indirect costs, including time, for the entire project. All of the costs of the project should take into consideration: • Intellectual property needs.

• Legal & insurance requirements.

• If fund raising is required, how much will that cost and how long will it take.

• Step 2, 3, 4 and 5; and • Business overheads.

What a company should now be able to do is assess the innovation project in a more realistic way and to consider if it has the resources, including time, to carry the project all the way.

Step 7: Strategic assessment Now that the budget is complete, the critical step should be to reassess whether the project should go ahead. The strategic assessment must take into account: • Cashflow and financing needs.

• Impact of the innovation budget on the rest of the business.

• An assessment of the likelihood that the long term market success will be appropriate.

• Confirm that the innovation aligns with the strategy and vision of the business.

Another common budgeting mistake is the assumption that the “first version” will be the final version. Most innovation goes through a feedback and redevelopment loop, and this needs to be addressed and incorporated into the budget process. Budgets should also include the costs of the trials.

Step 8: Tracking and ongoing assessment

Step 4: Feature creep and bespoke

Stephen Carroll is a partner of the Perth Tax Services division of RSM Australia, providing specialist research and development tax incentive and innovation consulting services. Stephen commenced his career in 1999 and has provided advice across Australia to a diverse range of industries, from start-up innovators to large multinational corporations.

Ph: 08 9261 9100 www.rsm.global/australia

If companies don’t get caught out at Step 3 they get caught in the big problem of “not finishing” the product. What happens for many technical experts is that they get caught up in continuing to improve and modify the product. While it is important to understand Step 3 it is equally as important to know when to stop developing and start selling.

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Once an innovation project has commenced, the business must ensure sufficient management oversite is maintained. It is critical that management and strategic reviews are made at regular intervals during the project.

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Forum Strategy

Innovation – is it KISS or MIC?

The process of innovation used to be KISS (Keep It Simple), but it is now MIC (Make It Complex). Roger La Salle elaborates how minor innovative changes to products or procedures can have big effects.

Remember KISS? Well now it’s MIC

argue the same about bringing colour to TV, or speech to movies and so on.

As innovation seems to grow ever more complex, it seems we now also have “Scientific Innovation”, “Science Based Innovation”, “Creative Innovation” (this term seems to reek of repetition) and now the “Psychology of Innovation”, presumably the latter being a term coined by the technically challenged.

Let’s take the taxi for example, a commonly used means of transport, and innovate that offering to create UBER. With the old fashioned telephone tethered to a wall by a cable, let’s remove the cable, classic incremental improvement with no market risk.

There can be no doubt that looking at everyday activities and creating small changes provides a great way to build a business with little or no risk. But there are caveats.

Some time ago I wrote an article entitled “Onions” and suggested that the purveyors of the art of innovation seem to be forever inventing new terms to describe the simple art of changing things to add value – the true definition of innovation. I first coined this definition in a book I wrote some 15 years ago.

Fittingly, many others have now adopted this definition, but that has not stopped the flow of new invented terms to keep the innovation consulting space alive and well.

It’s not always easy The above-mentioned innovations, though in essence incremental and lacking in market risk, all took a long time and significant expense in development. However that said, the market risk in these was in essence negligible.

Will any product be OK to sell?

Unfortunately not, as too many innovators and start-ups find out the hard way.

No longer is it KISS (Keep it simple) now it seems to be MIC (Make it complex).

Can increments be really called innovations?

Some operators in this space shun incremental innovation, indeed they even fail to recognise this as true innovation suggesting that the term should be reserved for major things.

Each to their own opinion of course, but personally I would call any change that is made for the purpose of adding value and thus winning new or more markets is innovation.

Similarly, changes though slight, can have a profound effect. I just wonder where those types of innovation fit into the landscape of the big change thinkers.

Some examples, insignificant in the context of major change, but dramatic in effect: • The hollow point bullet • Winglets on the tip of aircraft wings • Sterilisation preceding surgery • Shatterproof glass • Star drive headed screws • Serrations on the blade of a knife, and so on.

Maybe only big changes are innovation!

Minor changes can have big effects, like those mentioned above that can be easily developed, but that should not diminish their status as innovations.

Still others - though minor in the context of change can present high technical challenges, but the challenges, alone should not be what allows them to wear the badge of true innovation. The Harrier vertical take-off jet fighter would be one such innovation. Simple in nature but immensely complex in development.

Some game-changing increments Let’s take a product firmly embedded into every household in the 1920’s: the wireless. Let’s innovate that and add a picture, now you have TV. Highly disruptive and zero market risk. One could well

Just taking a common product and making it better is not the answer without the essential ingredient of “a route to market”.

I am sure at times we have all been appalled at some of the well-respected branded products, brands we trust but that have delivered real trash to the market. One may ask, how can this happen, how can these products get through the supply chain?

The answer lies in them already having an established distribution network.

As an American man many years ago once said to me, “It doesn’t matter what you’ve got, you gotta have distribution”. If you lack that vital element of distribution you may find the going tough.

KISS In my view those pushing these new terms of “Scientific Innovation”, Science Based Innovation”, “Creative Innovation” and the “Psychology of innovation” should remember the old axiom: Keep it Simple.

In short don’t be led astray by the ever-growing layers being added to the innovation onion. Keep it simple, identify the opportunity and then innovate, or in simple terms, make changes that add value.

The tools of innovation are the power that drives these changes whether they are large or increments – who really cares, it’s the effect that counts.

Roger La Salle, trains people in innovation, marketing and the new emerging art of Opportunity Capture. “Matrix Thinking”™ is now used in organisations in more than 29 countries. He is sought after as a speaker on Innovation, Opportunity and Business Development and is the author of four books and a Director and former CEO of the Innovation Centre of Victoria (INNOVIC) as well as a number of companies both in Australia and overseas. He has been responsible for a number of successful technology start-ups and in 2004 was a regular panelist on the ABC New Inventors TV program. In 2005 he was appointed to the “Chair of Innovation” at “The Queens University” in Belfast. www.matrixthinking.com

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98 Manufacturing matters in Australia.

Our manufacturers lead the world in numerous products and industries.

Australia’s manufacturing industry is a major contributor to our economy each year, and our manufacturers employ large numbers of people, offering them challenging, rewarding work, and providing the basis for stable, diverse communities.

Welcome to the Manufacturers’ Pavilion, the section of AMT Magazine dedicated to celebrating some of the best, most dynamic, most innovative manufacturing companies working in Australia today.

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The Manufacturers’ Pavilion highlights the capabilities of Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry. Over the following pages, we will look at companies delivering products and services across a variety of industrial sectors, and employing a diverse array of processes.

It builds on the successful Manufacturers’ Pavilion exhibition area within the Austech trade show and is sure to enhance the profile of the leading edge manufacturers in our sector.

If you feel your company should be featured in a future edition of the Manufacturers’ Pavilion, please contact AMTIL Sales Manager Anne Samuelsson, on 03 9800 3666, or by emailing asamuelsson@amtil.com.au

Manufacturers Pavilion

Engineering fasteners to customer needs Fuji Fasteners has been producing metal fasteners for over 40 years, offering valuable expertise to customers in Australia and overseas.

Obtaining metal screws, bolts, studs, pins etc for customer-specific application requirements is where Fuji Fasteners Pty Ltd can be most beneficial - not only obtaining the right fastener for the job at hand, but also the required quantity and with the appropriate plating or finish to suit the application.

Fuji Fasteners has been producing metal fasteners for Australian Industry and indeed for overseas markets for over 40 years and the company’s expertise can guarantee customers will receive well-credentialed advice and support to assist with their specific needs.

Fuji Fasteners Director, Ross Tidswell, says there are a number of key areas the company likes to assist its customers in selecting the right fastener for their specific application or job: • Ensuring the right fastener shape and thread type to ensure the best possible fastening solution and is aesthetically attractive.

• Producing a viable and economical quantity of fasteners to suit the application.

• Ensuring the most appropriate fastener material is chosen.

• Making sure the most appropriate finish is applied to the fastener - ie a plating or coating to suit the environmental conditions of the finished application.

Far too often a standard fastener is used because of availability and even price, only to find it compromises the end result due to issues such as aesthetics, poor thread choice, material not strong enough and/or the fastener is showing signs of rust.

A most common example of a costeffective fastener solution is screw SEMS assemblies. These are screws or bolts with a captive spring or flat washer; or both washers captive rather than the labourintensive task of hand-applying washers that often fall off if the fastener has to be applied in the downwards position. These washers are specifically designed with a finer inside diameter dimension so that they are held on by virtue of the larger diameter of the threaded section of the fastener.

Tapping Screws Metric Set Screws Metric & Imperial Bolts Cup Head Bolts Construction Bolts Sems Assemblies Screws with Captive Washers Weld Studs & Weld Nuts Wheel Studs Solid Rivets Headed Pins Double Headed Studs Fuji Lock Nuts

Fuji Fasteners 5 Swift Way Dandenong South, Victoria 3175 T: 03 9706 6652 F: 03 9706 6651 W: www.fujifasteners.com.au E: sales@fujifasteners.com.au Ross Tidswell Director E: ross@fujifasteners.com.au Nathan Salske General Manager E: Nathan@fujifasteners.com.au Advantages of cold forming Material cost savings Enhanced product Characteristics Higher-quality surface finish Reduced production costs Consistent and improved Tolerance control

Fuji Fasteners 5 Swift Way, Dandenong South Victoria 3175 T: 03 9706 6652 • F: 03 9706 6651 www.fujifasteners.com.au

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Manufacturers Pavilion

Precision forging dies, gauges and componentry Australia-wide since 1990 Waddell Engineering is a quality manufacturer of precision components dedicated to customer service, exceptional and consistent quality and advancements in technology, equipment and infrastructure.

Based in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, Waddell specialises in dies and tooling for the brass forging industry, and componentry and precision gauges for the packing/can manufacturing, prototype medical and aftermarket automotive industries. The Waddell team has more than 25 years of experience in the manufacturing of highly complex parts, aided by state-of-the-art CNC equipment, CAD/CAM software and co-ordinate measuring machinery. From simple to complex five-axis machining, Waddell Engineering has the team, the systems and the infrastructure to create the precision components required by businesses, and has invested in the best technology to provide highly precise, high-speed machining, with extremely tight tolerances.

The company was founded by David Waddell in 1990, with its roots in the design and manufacture of special purpose machinery for the LPG gas cylinder industry. Eventually the company moved into forging dies and peripheral tooling for the manufacture of

brass fittings and door hardware, and more recently acquired a precision grinding business specialising in gauges and tooling for the packaging and canning industries.

Waddell Engineering is a company that prides itself on a quick response time to any question proposed and efficient delivery for all the parts needed. Recently Waddell Engineering became ISO 9001 accredited, ensuring the company always delivers more than what clients expect. Whether at the tail-end of the design process, or just about to commence production, Waddell Engineering will help turn your concept into reality. Waddell Engineering’s qualifications include: • • • • • • • •

CNC milling – Three, four and five axes CNC high-speed machining CNC mill-turn CNC wire electrical discharge machining (EDM) Cylindrical grinding Surface grinding Co-ordinate measuring (CMM) Low-volume production.

Best Technology High Precision High Speed Machining

Waddell Engineering is a precision CNC machining company, specializing in dies and tooling for the brass forging industry, precision componentry and gauges for the Packaging/Can manufacturing industry, prototype Medical and aftermarket Automotive.

2 Commercial Road, Highett, Victoria, Australia 3190

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T: +61 3 9555 8971

Fax: +61 3 9555 9637

Waddell Engineering 2 Commercial Road Highett, Victoria 3190 T: 03 9555 8971 F: 03 9555 9637 W: www.waddellengineering.com.au E: enquiries@waddellengineering.com.au David Waddell Managing Director T: 03 9555 8971 E: david@waddellengineering.com.au Established in 1990, Waddell Engineering is a quality manufacturer of precision components situated in south-east Melbourne. Currently with eight employees, it is expanding to accommodate new customers. Waddell offers highly sought after workmanship at competitive prices, building a business around strong, long-term relationships and a loyal, experienced and dedicated team.

Manufacturers Pavilion

Flexible manufacturing of thin parts, signs and custom shim packs are our speciality.

Mastercut Technologies is the industry leader in the manufacture of precision thin metal parts.

Specialising in thin stainless steel, copper and brass, Mastercut has a variety of cutting techniques to suit the application. One of the most flexible is photo chemical milling (PCM). This method is the closest thing to photocopying of metal and is a great intermediate step between laser cutting and stamping. Mastercut also has lasers for cutting and marking and these methods can be combined for specific requirements.

In addition to precision parts, PCM is used for half etching ID plates and signage from stainless steel which will remain perfectly readable in all conditions.

Mastercut also manufactures a range of building signage including fascia signage, door numbers, elevator plaques and directional signage – for apartment buildings, office buildings, hotels and high-rises.

Signs are generally made form marine grade 316 stainless steel; copper and brass are also available. These signs can last decades and can be colour-filled or powder-coated for an added finish.

Mastercut serves the following industries: electronics assemblers; mining, oil & gas; medical devices; defence industry; RF shielding designers; model makers; sign, trophy & plaque makers; jewellery, gifts & souvenirs; and the architectural sector.

Mastercut is a major stockist of stainless steel shim off 600mm wide coils in both grades 304 and 316 in thicknesses starting from 0.025mm. Supplying to mining, oil and gas, Mastercut produces shims in a ‘pack’ of thicknesses to meet a customer’s specific design requirements. Mastercut can assist with drawing the shape if electronic files are not available.

Mastercut Technologies Pty Ltd 22 Leda Drive Burleigh Heads, Queensland 4220 T: 07 5576 1900 F: 07 5576 1910 W: www.mastercut.com.au E: sales@mastercut.com.au Toby Poulsen Sales Consultant E: toby@mastercut.com.au Based on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Mastercut specialise in deep acid etching and laser cutting of thin metals. Operating for over 20 years, we are OEM suppliers to many manufacturers throughout Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia.

Commenting on the benefits his company has to the mining industry, Managing Director Jim Cove says: “We often get calls from miners needing shim packs for operations in remote locations. Because we carry in stock a broad range of stainless shims starting from 0.025mm, we can get the job cut and despatched pretty fast. All we need is a drawing of the required shape and the required thicknesses.”

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High-volume, precision, custom-machined

Successful repetition engineering company manufacturing custom-machined components to a wide range of customers in diverse fields worldwide.

One of the biggest component manufacturers in their field, Jodek has been operating for over 20 years. That timespan has seen the development of a dedicated team with complementary skillsets which has grown to cover all aspects of the industry. The ISO 9001-accredited company boasts well over 3,000,000 components produced per annum, machining more than 120 tonnes of steel per month.

The company has invested considerably in equipment, tooling, processes and people, enabling it to run 24/7 with up to 8 hours per night running unattended. Its positive outlook is evidenced by the company’s recent investment over the past three years.

Relocation to a larger premises – almost double the size of the previous one – and the installation of another eight CNC machines, an extra bandsaw, various special-purpose machinery, inventory management systems and the hiring of 10 new staff.

Jodek’s acquisitions include 21 late-model CNC machines (including Mori Seiki, Mazak, Miyano, Star and Hardinge.) Many machines are multi-spindle, multi-turret lathes with milling capability. Material types

that can be machined include steel, hightensile steel, stainless steels, brass, plastic, aluminium, copper and castings. Machinery is continually updated, with at least 1-2 new machines purchased per year.

When Jodek commenced operations 20 years ago, there were 100 or more companies in Australia performing highvolume machining work – now there is only a handful left. The company’s consistent investments have resulted in extreme flexibility, with the ability to react quickly to market needs – swapping from high-volume jobs on all machines to low-volume work very quickly when required.

At present, around 60% of Jodek’s components are supplied into major projects worldwide. A recent project involved the dispatch of almost 50 tons of finished components to Hong Kong for the construction of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai– Macau Bridge.

Jodek 17 Mills Road Braeside, Victoria 3195 T: 03 9587 4677 F: 03 9587 4977 W: www.jodek.com.au E: info@jodek.com.au Derek Hyde Managing Director T: 03 9587 4677 E: derek@jodek.com.au Jodek is a leading manufacturer of precision machined components situated in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The company is a familyowned husband and wife team who have each spent more than 25 years in the industry. Jodek currently has 21 machines in a manufacturing operation of 2,400sqm with 20 employees.

“You would be hard pressed to find a major project completed within Australia during the past 20 years that does not contain something manufactured at Jodek,” concludes Managing Director Derek Hyde.

Precision CNC Machining Jodek has forged a reputation that can be truly envied. Our attention to detail and innovative approach enables us to deliver precision componentry reliably, within budget and on time – getting it done right first time.

• CNC Turning & Milling • Multi Axis Machining • CAD CAM • Finished Product Assembly • All industries serviced 17 Mills Road, Braeside, Victoria 3195 • T: 03 9587 4677 • F: 03 9587 4977 E: info@jodek.com.au • www.jodek.com.au

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Manufacturers Pavilion

Heavy-duty industrial shelving and hybrid drawer storage for flexible layouts BAC Systems is best known for its award-winning range of drawer storage cabinets and workbenches, but a lesser known fact is that BAC Systems has a very dynamic range of heavy-duty industrial shelving for all applications.

The BAC 77 system combines different types of shelving with BAC’s worldfamous drawers to create what is likely the world’s most flexible hybrid shelf storage system. The BAC 77 starts as a racking system and can be fitted with a quality pallet rack, a long span shelf or a mesh shelf with mesh separators. The shelves can be either the width of a single pallet or of two pallets in order to get best use out of your floor space.

What is unique about the BAC 77 is that the BAC Pallet Rack, the BAC Mesh Shelves and the BAC Long Span can be fitted into a single bay using one structure! This means flexible warehouse layouts may be created, perhaps placing hand-loaded items on the bottom and pallets up high, or whatever suits the particular application.

BAC has a range of drawer options to enhance the BAC 77 system. BAC’s design award-winning high-density drawers are a key element of the BAC 77, providing a solution for storing small or medium-sized

parts with minimal space wastage. These drawers can be integrated among the racking, forming an allpurpose storage system.

Another drawer system that is part of the BAC 77 structure is the BAC Heavy-Duty Drawer. Available in two different sizes, the larger of which will accommodate a full-sized pallet, the BAC Heavy Duty Drawer can hold up to 500kg. It can be loaded with a forklift or an overhead crane and is popular in manufacturing facilities for this flexibility.

The BAC 77 system does not stop with racking and drawers. The system also incorporates a Vertical Drawer, which is a pull-out shelving system, and a long pullout rail, fitted with hooks or a large mesh frame, that can be used for storing large and irregularly shaped items. This modular system is so flexible, and can be assembled in so many different combinations, that a storage solution can be configured for nearly every application.

BAC Systems 193-195 Power Street Glendenning, NSW 2761 T: 02 9832 2777 F: 02 9675 3645 W: www.bacsystems.com.au E: bacsales@bacsystems.com.au Robert Griffin BAC Technical Sales T: 02 9832 2777 E: Robert.griffin@bacsystems.com.au BAC Systems is an Australian manufacturer of quality workshop and storage equipment. For nearly 40 years it has been providing customised warehouse storage, industrial workbenches and high-strength storage solutions to industry in Australia and world-wide. Contact BAC’s Technical Sales team to arrange a complimentary site visit where we can survey your storage requirements or workshop layout needs.

BAC Drawer Storage & Industrial Workbenches World-Leading Warehouse Drawers & Workplace Systems

Support AUSTRALIA N Innovation and manufactu ring

Fully Modular Systems customised to suit your space and Inventory

BAC Systems Pty Limited 193-195 Power Street, Glendenning NSW 2761 Tel: (02) 9832 2777 www.bacsystems.com.au AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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Australia’s largest manufacturer of soft jaws offers customised solutions Dimac Tooling’s success in a very competitive marketplace is aligned to a high quality product range and a strong focus on customisation.

Dimac’s focus is to develop and deliver productivity-enhancing accessories by combining in-house design and manufacture with products sourced from quality suppliers worldwide, tailored to customers’ needs. As well as being Australia’s largest manufacturer of soft jaws for CNC turning, Dimac also exclusively imports machine tool accessories from around the world and is a full-service support distributor for those brands. The company’s success in a very competitive marketplace is aligned to a high-quality product range and a strong focus on customisation. As a significant part of business includes imports from overseas, Dimac’s strategy to remain competitive and relevant to the Australian and New Zealand market is to couple these products with expertise for designing and in-house manufacture of customised solutions; much of this around workholding. One of the biggest challenges the company regularly sees for its customers is dealing with small batch quantities and this characteristic of the market drives solutions aimed at reducing setup times and setup complexity. Dimac

regularly attends overseas tradeshows to work with international suppliers and partners and to look for emerging trends and technologies and bring them to CNC users who are seeking to stay competitive and ahead in the market. The company frequently supplies customers with a turnkey package by not only offering them products, but more importantly a finished solution, tailored to their needs. A significant area where customers can see productivity and quality benefits is with custom workholding for CNC turning and milling (mill/turn). Dimac’s history and experience in this area is extensive. By providing a solution that safely anchors the workpiece (even if irregular in profile), with consideration for balance and tooling access, they have found many parts that might have been previously only considered for CNC milling can be processed in one setup on a mill/ turn lathe with clever and innovative workholding. This reduces WIP, improves quality through reduced setups and overall reduces manufacturing costs, leading to a more productive and profitable outcome.

Over 30 years of innovation designed to improve your bottom line, enhance productivity and improve machining safety and efficiency.

NEW PREMISES 69-71 Williams Road, Dandenong South VIC 3175 sales@dimac.com.au • www.dimac.com.au

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Dimac Tooling Pty Ltd 69-71 Williams Rd Dandenong South VIC 3175 T: 03 9771 6121 W: dimac.com.au E: sales@dimac.com.au Paul Fowler Managing Director T: 03 9771 6121 E: paulf@dimac.com.au Dimac Tooling is a provider of CNC machine tool accessories and workholding systems for the Australian & New Zealand markets. A strong focus is given to productivity-enhancing accessories and in-house manufacture of its own products as well as offering solutions tailored to customers’ needs.

Manufacturers Pavilion

Integra Systems - Make your vision real Empowering you to ‘Make Your Vision Real’ is what drives Integra Systems.

Breakthrough product and engineering design, followed by world-class execution is the method.

Since 1991, Integra Systems has worked with hundreds of Australian businesses and helped them enjoy prosperity in both local and export markets with product designs that blow their competition out of contention. Integra Systems is proud to be a 100% Australian-owned family business, supporting customers globally.

With innovation as the cornerstone of Integra’s culture, Integra enables and empowers clients in key areas of industrial design, product design engineering and mechanical engineering, followed by empowerment through highly efficient inhouse advanced manufacturing systems and project management expertise.

The company focuses on working collaboratively with clients to enable them to secure new market opportunities and overcome complex design challenges in a highly diverse range of industries. Overlaying a unique design process across a diverse range of industries is what distinguishes Integra, and provides you with the ultimate solution. Industry recognition for this is supported by the many awards Integra has received.

Enhanced business outcomes are the key focus of solutions that are driven by: • User centric design, utilising deep knowledge and insights.

• Improved productivity and reduced labour on-costs, resulting in total cost savings.

• Enhanced product appeal and sales turnover.

• Agile and flexible production processes.

• Design for manufacture which achieves bottom line results.

• Reduced cost of deployment.

Integra Systems 197 Northcorp Blvd Broadmeadows, Vic, 3047 T: 03 9359 3133 F: 03 9359 3166 W: www.integrasystems.com.au E: enquiries@integrasystems.com.au Paul Hughes Managing Director T: 03 9359 3133 E: paul@integrasystems.com.au For over 25 years, Integra has empowered clients to achieve their aspirations through integrated solutions – innovative, creative and break-through product design engineering and advanced manufacturing from ideation to delivery.

• Attention to production precision.

• Increased speed to market.

• Enjoyable product experience.

Business relationships are centred around Integra’s ability to ‘Make Your Vision Real’.

AGILE. PROGRESSIVE. REVOLUTIONARY. Empowering you to Make Your Vision Real is what drives us.

Break-through product design, followed by world-class execution is how we make it happen. We work with you to collaboratively deliver an integrated solution from ideation through to production and delivery, which creatively solves your challenge.

The result of this is revolutionary, award winning products that will enhance your business outcomes.

www.integrasystems.com.au Integra is proudly a multi-award winning company

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Australia on show at IMTS Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve just returned from a visit to the US which centred around the IMTS exhibition held in Chicago from 12-17 September. IMTS had over 2000 exhibitors from 112 countries covering 1.3 million net square feet of exhibition space and over 114,000 people registered to attend.

Four Australian companies exhibited at the event this year. Over the past 40 years, ANCA has grown to become one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foremost CNC tool grinding machine manufacturers. This year at IMTS ANCA launched their premium machine, the TX7 Linear, and reported strong interest from visitors from around the world.

ANCA Motion designs and manufactures flexible control systems specialising in high precision solutions for CNC machines.

With a product range including servo drives, I/O devices, motors, CNC controllers, software and user interfaces, they have quickly established a reputation world-wide and is building on that brand by exhibiting at major trade shows around the globe. Their linear motor technology drew particular interest at the show.

John Hart is well known in Australia as a provider of CNC machine tools and turn key systems, most notably the Mazak range of CNC machines but the company is also the manufacturer of the Command range of chip management systems and briquetters and the CellPro modular robotic systems. These products were the focus of their display at IMTS this year. CellPro is a robotic machine tending system for Mazak machines which has a state-of-the-art, user-friendly interface requiring virtually no robot programmimg knowledge. I am sure it will be a popular product within Australia as well as internationally.

TECHNI Waterjet again strengthened their presence in the US with a display of its profile waterjet cutting systems and Quantum Electric Servo Pump (ESP). The event also saw the release of their Advanced Diagnostics with virtual maintenance intelligence , a package that allows remote feedback to deliver maximum capacity and performance of their systems.

AMTIL also had its own presence in the International Association area and, in addition to helping promote and support the Australian exhibitors, continued to develop strong relationships with our international manufacturing technology network. Overall, the show was another good success story for our technology providers on the world stage.

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Amtil Inside

Silvan Australia benefits from Entrepreneurs’ Programme assistance AMTIL is a partner organisation working with the Department of Industry delivering the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme (EP). One company that has benefited from participation in the EP is Silvan Australia.

Based in Dandenong South, Melbourne, Silvan Australia has been a pioneer in the development and manufacture of agricultural machinery since its establishment in 1962. In more recent years it has diversified into distribution of products from overseas manufacturers, as well as light manufacture of hardware products.

The company’s involvement with the Entrepreneurs’ Programme began with a series of meetings between AMTIL business adviser Vineet Ahuja, and Silvan’s CEO Michael J Tricarico, its CFO David Young, and General Manager Frank Scotta. Through detailed discussions, data collection and site visits, Vineet developed a full understanding of Silvan, its operations, and the opportunities for assistance and support.

“Vineet certainly understands companies like us,” says David. “I assume he’s had a lot of exposure to privately owned and operated businesses. He could see a lot of things we were doing right, and where we could improve.”

A Business Evaluation was submitted in August 2015, containing the Winning Measures benchmarking analysis for Silvan’s operations both in Australia and internationally. David believes Vineet’s perspective as an outsider provided valuable insight into the company.

“The business has evolved from a full manufacturer to doing assembly, light manufacture, and a lot of sourcing products from overseas,” says David. “Any company that’s evolved from manufacture to import distribution is going to require different skillsets, a changing mindset. There were a couple of things in the supply-chain, logistical side of things that stood out, where a little bit of improvement could have a significant outcome.”

In the wake of the Business Evaluation, the Silvan team has set about implementing the action plans suggested. Key recommendations included the adoption of new enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, as well as measures to streamline assembly processes for the Sherlock wheelbarrow it supplies to Bunnings Warehouse.

The company has taken on Innovation Connections assistance, and a Business Growth Grant to support its ERP implementation.

Silvan also started on a Supply Chain Review, though this has been put on hold temporarily to allow the ERP changes to bed in. Work is also underway on enhancing the wheelbarrow assembly line – David notes that this area has long been due for re-evaluation, with processes created when the initial contract with Bunnings was signed.

“I think sometimes you need to make things work, and the solution might not be the best solution, but it’s a solution,” he explains. “And because you’ve got a solution, you move onto something else. I think we’re all guilty of that, where you set something up, and you set it and forget it.”

Silvan’s engagement in the Entrepreneurs’ Programme is still a work in progress. However, David is confident of the benefits it will bring.

“If anything, this has forced us to look at some obvious areas for improvement,” he says. “And maybe they’re not obvious to people here because you can’t see the forest for the trees. Sometimes you need that external set of eyes, and Vineet certainly showed patience and flexibility in helping us through this process.”

To find out what the Entrepreneurs’ Programme can do for you, call 13 28 46 or visit www.business.gov.au/EP, or contact Greg Chalker 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au. www.silvan.com.au

At your service.

AMTIL supports its members through its select range of AMTIL Service Partners.

1252AMTIL

www.amtil.com.au/Membership/Service-Partners

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AMTIL links up with Network Insurance

AMTIL has formed a new service partnership with Network Insurance Group offering tailored services to our members.

Craig Linssen explains some of the benefits on offer.

Manufacturing has been the backbone of the Australian economy for decades and, despite recent pressures from overseas, it still plays a vital role in generating innovation, technological change, and high-skill jobs. Manufacturing suppliers and user businesses have unique exposures due to the nature of their activities, and your insurance program must cater for these risks accordingly.

Typical exposures include Fire and Business Interruption, Public and Products Liability, Machinery Breakdown, Professional Indemnity and Marine Transit. Furthermore, specialist insurances such as Product Recall and Trade Credit can be important elements of a comprehensive insurance program for a manufacturing business.

Similarly, the risk of potential Statutory Liability exposures arising from your workplace can be transferred, and the threat of your Intellectual Property being compromised through Cyber-attack is ever-increasing.

Through our relationship with AMTIL and many existing AMTIL clients, Network Insurance Group provides AMTIL members specialised insurance and risk management services in General Insurance, Workers Compensation and Life Insurance. Network Insurance delivers its clients a personalised, tailored service that comes from its boutique broker background coupled with the negotiating strength from being part of the Steadfast Group, an ASX-listed company that placed $6.1bn in insurance sales in FY15 and with 1000+ offices in Australia and New Zealand. Being a Steadfast broker gives us access to an exclusive range of products and services that help us create better solutions for you.

We have a dedicated team of trusted insurance advisers with extensive experience supporting the manufacturing industry, coupled with wide-ranging facilities and programmes with preferred insurers. We will work with you and your insurers to source a range of insurance policies that will protect your assets and your business, providing you with the peace of mind that you have an insurance programme tailored to meet your specific needs.

A critical element of our service is claims management, where we look to ensure you receive your full entitlements in the event of a claim against your insurance policies. This is supported by our dedicated Claims Management team to ensure efficient resolution of claims, allowing you to remain focussed on your business. In addition, we have recently established a Workers Compensation department with experienced consultants who can support your organisation with your Claims and Injury Management requirements to reduce your exposures in this area.

Supporting our General Insurance and Workers Compensation offerings, we are able to provide specialist advice on your Life Insurance requirements. Not only is appropriate Life Insurance important in providing protection for you and your family on a personal level, it is often overlooked as a mechanism to ensure the continuity of a business in the event of a serious injury, illness or untimely death of one of the business owners or a key staff member. A well-constructed Life Insurance program can support contingency plans such as those for repayment of debt upon death or disability, financial assistance for dependants, and protection against subsequent loss of income to safeguard the individual and their family while allowing the business to continue. Whether you are involved in importing, manufacturing, wholesaling, or a mixture of all three, Network Insurance Group can assist in the provision of your business insurance and risk management services.

Craig Linssen is a Team Leader and Account Manager at Network Insurance Group. For more information on AMTIL’s service partnerships, contact AMTIL’s Corporate Services Manager Greg Chalker at gchalker@amtil.com.au. Craig Linssen can be contacted on (03) 8420 8704 or craig@ networksteadfast.com.au.

EIF International comes onboard as service partner AMTIL has entered into an exclusive service partnership with EIF International Limited, helping our members with all their freight and logistics needs.

EIF International is a privately owned international freight forwarder and third-party logistics (3PL) provider. The team at EIF boast a wealth of knowledge and experience that enables them to provide a comprehensive range of solutions at a cost-effective price that is flexible, reliable and customised to meet your needs.

According to EIF, its point of difference lies in its ability to provide each client with their own dedicated account manager, as communication is essential to a smooth transaction of cargo. Your EIF account manager will be a hands-on operator who will handle all your shipments, from order placement, through track-and-trace, arrival and customs clearance – to delivery.

EIF’s people have a passion for you, the customer, which enables the company to go the extra mile in assisting in the growth of your company. Your dedicated account manager will get to understand your business requirements and ensure all of your particular needs are met.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Communication is paramount to a seamless service and key to strategic partnerships.

EIF’s quality staff are all handpicked and have long-term industry experience to provide the solutions and service the company prides itself on. EIF’s approach is “Our business is an extension of your business” and bases its success on assisting in your success.

EIF is confident that, with its highly skilled team, it can satisfy your freight and logistics requirements and exceed your expectations.

It’s people that make a difference, make it happen, and create solutions.

For more information and to take advantage of EIF’s partnership with AMTIL, please contact AMTIL’s Corporate Services Manager, Greg Chalker, on 03 9800 3666, or by emailing GChalker@amtil.com.au.

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Amtil Inside

AMT Magazine – 2017 Media Kit now available AMTIL has just completed the Media Kit for AMT magazine and our online services for 2017 and they can now be viewed on our website.

The AMT Media Kit lays out all the opportunities available for companies wishing to promote their businesses via advertising in AMT magazine next year.

Advertising rates for 2017 have been held at 2016 levels, with prices having only risen by 5% since 2011.

“AMT remains the number-one industrytrusted magazine for manufacturing in Australia,” says Anne Samuelsson, AMTIL Sales Manager. “It’s still the most reliable, effective way to promote your products and services and reach the key decision-makers in our industry. I’m very proud to be able to say we offer the industry’s lowest rates for advertising, offering the best value for your marketing dollars.”

In addition to advertising options, the AMT Media Kit also details our editorial plans for 2017, with a full list of our upcoming features for each issue. While many of the regular product and industry features will be making their return as expected, the year to come will also see several new categories of coverage.

“We took a long hard look at our coverage for next year and how we might freshen it up a bit,” says AMT Editor William Poole.

“So alongside our usual features we’ve got things like the State Spotlight, which will look into what’s going on in manufacturing around the country by focusing on one state each issue. And we’ve got some exciting special features lined up too, such as Industry 4.0, in the first issue of the year.”

The Online Media Kit sets out the marketing opportunities available through AMTIL’s ever-growing array of digital platforms.

AMTIL has restructured its Digital Online Banner Packages to take better advantage of targeted areas of the AMTIL Website that attract more traffic. And with the Austech 2017 exhibition coming up in May, history tells us our website traffic will double from September onwards. Packages can be booked on a month to month basis or for a longer term to suit your needs.

AMT Media Kit 2017

AMT MediA kiT 2017

“There is a great opportunity for our audience to get on board our print and digital options to best promote their business, especially now things are revving up for Austech,” adds Samuelsson. “As business’ needs vary, packaging up an option specific to each company is going to be vital in providing them with better value for their spend. In 2017, combining print and online options is definitely the way to go. Bookings are already open, and from the enquiries coming through, I expect a year of solid bookings in both AMT and our digital options.”

For further information about advertising opportunities either in AMT Magazine or via AMTIL’s online services, please contact AMTIL Sales Manager Anne Samuelsson by emailing asamuelsson@amtil.com.au. To submit editorial or discuss our article ideas, contact AMT’s Editor William Poole at wpoole@ amtil.com.au. www.amtil.com.au/AMT-Magazine

AMTIL on show at IMTS

The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) took place in Chicago on 10-15 September, and AMTIL was there promoting Australian manufacturing and supporting our members.

As the premier manufacturing technology show in the Americas, IMTS is one the biggest events on the international calendar for our industry. This year’s event featured more than 2,000 exhibiting companies from 112 countries, spread across four enormous halls at the McCormick Place complex, with more 114,147 visitors registering to attend. AMTIL had a stand among the international associations area of the exhibition, receiving a steady flow of enquiries from exhibition visitors keen to know more about manufacturing in Australia and the opportunities here. In addition, the show offered the chance for AMTIL to strengthen its relationships with manufacturing associations from countries all over the world.

Among the exhibitors was a contingent of Australian companies, with impressive stands from AMTIL members John Hart, Techni Waterjet, and ANCA and ANCA Motion. There were also a number of Australians who had made the trip to Chicago just to visit the show, and AMTIL’s stand provided a focal point for our members to drop in, say hello and catch up.

Your advertising never sleeps with AMT

Market your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from only $250 per week.

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

1305aMT

AMT & AMTIL Digital Media Kit 2016 Call Anne Samuelsson at AMTIL on 03 9800 3666, mobile on 0400 115 525 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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Amtil Inside

AMTIL AGM – Are you FutureCurious?

AMTIL will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 20 October, and business futurist Morris Miselowski will be there to provide the keynote address: ‘FutureCurious’.

Morris has been hailed by industry leaders as “the secret weapon to future-proofing your business”. A powerful combination of experiences, successes, networks, insights, traits and skills have made him incredibly adept and eerily accurate at navigating the rapidly evolving and shifting technological, business and social landscapes over the past three decades.

Morris is constantly making intuitive, pragmatic and profitable judgments on how the world might evolve amidst informationabundance, where sparse facts mingle loosely with datadrenched opinions. With an insatiable appetite for new ideas, new practices, and all things future, he finds incredible ways for his clients and audiences to be more profitable, productive and happy.

Following Morris’s one-hour presentation, AMTIL’s AGM will offer members the opportunity to hear about the association’s latest plans and initiatives, as well as getting an update on the previous year’s activities.

It will also offer the chance for AMTIL members to network with each other and with members of the AMTIL team.

Please register in advance at the Events page of the AMTIL website to attend. The AMTIL AGM will be held from 7.30am-10.30am on 20 October at Riversdale Golf Course, Mount Waverley Victoria. Breakfast will be served at 7.30am, with presentations to commence at 8.00am. Free parking is available at the venue.

More upcoming events AMTIL continues to add a variety of events to our schedule for the coming months.

Keep an eye on the Events page on AMTIL’s website as fresh details are confirmed all the time. Upcoming events include: • Swinburne Factory of The Future – Joint Site Tour with Aviation/ Aerospace Australia (A/AA)

27 October, 8.30am-10.30am

Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre, John St, Hawthorn, VIC

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

AMTIL has teamed up with Aviation/ Aerospace Australia (A/AA) to present a joint site tour of the Factory of the Future at Swinburne University and Technology. Located in the Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre at Swinburne, the Factory of the Future showcases unique and integrated value-adding capabilities for advanced design, manufacturing and materials engineering.

• AMTIL 2016 Corporate Golf Day & Christmas Lunch

2 December – Golf commences at 7.30am

Riversdale Golf Club, Mount Waverley, VIC

Join us for a relaxed social event to kick off the festive season. AMTIL’s Corporate Golf Day includes a fourball Ambrose event with participants invited to nominate teams of four, as well as a light breakfast, lunch and drinks, plus trophies, prizes and giveaways.

• AMTIL NSW Members Christmas Function

6 December – 7.00pm to 10.00pm (dinner)

Nicks Seafood Restaurant, The Promenade, Cockle Bay Wharf, Sydney NSW 2000

AMTIL FOOTY TIPPING 2016

Kick off the festive season with dinner at one of Sydney’s great seafood restaurants. Includes three-course meal and drinks.

• AMTIL QLD Members Christmas Function

9 December – 12.30pm to 2.30pm (lunch)

Georges Paragon Seafood Restaurant, Eagle Street Pier, 1 Eagle Street, Brisbane QLD 4000

Network with other AMTIL Members in a relaxed environment, bring your colleagues and share in some early Christmas cheer.

Includes three-course meal and drinks.

For more information on the AGM or any of AMTIL’s upcoming events, please call 03 9800 3666, or email Events Manager Kim Warren on kwarren@amtil.com.au. www.amtil.com.au/Events

At the time of going to print, we were heading into the penultimate round – Preliminary Finals week.

We are about to witness history with the AFL backed GWS about to slog it out with everyone’s ‘second favourite team’ the mighty Western Bulldogs to see who would contest the 2016 AFL Grand Final the following week against either the Cats or Swans… But who cares?

This was about celebrating a real winner. Ladies and gents, I present and congratulate Raff, AMTIL’s 2016 Footy Tipping Champion – you bloody champion! Raff jagged it by a single point, but that’s all you need my friends. To the others, well done but nothing better than rounding off the top 10 with a great of Australiana names – Shazza! That’ll do me for now, look forward to next year where it all starts again. Catch ya in paradise, Sanchez ROUND 17 1 Raff – (Parish Eng) 147 (466) 2 Mal 146 (500) 3 Matthew Ferguson 146 (620) 4 The Axe 145 (569) 5 Vineet Ahuja 145 (704) 6 Shane Infanti 144 (471) 7 Kweenslanda 143 (570) 8 Abs 143 (685) 9 Brendon Stephens 143 (700) 10 Shazza 142 (587)

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

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got the link to make it happen.

Visit www.manufacturelink.com.au to learn more.

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Industry Calendar

Please Note: It is recommended to contact the exhibition organiser to confirm before attending event

INTERNATIONAL Global Manufacturing & Industrialization Summit (GMIS) UAE, Abu Dhabi 10-12 October 2016 This global initiative - the world’s first GMIS - brings together leaders of both the public and private sectors. The aim is to identify fundamental challenges in the manufacturing sector and provide transformational ideas that support and benefit the private and public sectors and advance inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Organised by the UAE Ministry of Economy and the UN Industrial Development Organization. http://g-mis.com IMTES Russia, Moscow 10-14 October 2016 International Machine Tool Exhibition Stankostroenie. Includes metalworking, sheet metal processing equipment; tools; hydraulic, press-forging equipment; surface treatment technology; 3D additive technology exhibtion. www.stankoexpo.com/eng AMTS USA, Ohio 12-13 October 2016 Advanced Manufacturing Technology Show. The latest manufacturing solutions, technology, and machinery www.daytonamts.com Mining & Engineering Indonesia, Indonesia, Jakarta 12-14 October 2016 International mining expo which delivers significant opportunities for local and international suppliers to launch latest products, technologies and services and network with mining professionals from Indonesia and the surrounding region www.miningandengineeringindo.com MTE Saudi Arabia, Dammam 17-19 October 2016 Saudi Arabia International Machine Tools and Machinery Exhibition. Includes lathes; machining centres; milling/drilling/grinding/ sheet metal machines; metrology; automation; EDM; welding. www.mtearabia.org Amcon USA 18-19 October 2016, Utah 1-2 November 2016, Detroit 15-16 November, Florida Design & contract manufacturing expo.

Includes: aluminium, sheetmetal, steel fabrication; laser cutting; software; moulds; software; 3d printing; dies; EDM. www.amconshows.com/fall-shows Indo Metal Indonesia, Jakarta 25-27 October 2016 International metal & steel trade fair for Southeast Asia, includes metallurgical & thermoprocess technology, metal cutting machine tools and accessories www.indometal.net

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

Mashex Russia, Moscow 25-27 October 2016 International exhibition for sheet metal working and pipe bending technologies. www.mashex.ru/en-GB Euromold Germany, Munich 25-27 October 2016 International exhibition for mould- and patternmaking, tooling, design, additive manufacturing and product development. http://euromold.com/en Euroblech Germany, Hanover 25-29 October 2016 Leading exhibition for the sheet metal working industry. Presents the entire sheet metal working technology chain with an emphasis on future production processes. Includes sheet metal, semi-finished and finished products, handling, separation, forming, flexible sheet metal working, joining, welding and surface treatment, processing of hybrid structures, tools, quality control, CAD/CAM systems & R&D. www.euroblech.com Industrial & Tool show USA 26-27 October 2016, Missouri Showcase of industrial products and services. www.expoindustrialshows.com CeMAT China, Shanghai 1-4 November 2016 Materials handling, automation, transport/ logistics exhibition www.cemat-asia.com/EN Industrial Automation Show China, Shanghai 1-5 November 2016 Concurrent exhibitions: Metalworking & CNC Machine Tool Show and Energy Show www.industrial-automation-show.com/EN Metal-Expo 2016 Russia, Moscow 8-11 November 2016 International Industrial Exhibition Latest products for the metal construction industry. Includes a program of more than 40 events for steel industry professionals to discuss of steel industry development, power engineering, transportation etc. www.metal-expo.ru/en Advanced Manufacturing Expo Mexico City 15-17 November 2016 For the first time in Mexico, key buyers for the processing, packaging, automation, advanced design & manufacture industries will assemble.

Includes live demonstrations of the newest products and technologies. and an Innovative conference agenda... www.manufacturingmx.com/en

Prodex Swizterland, Basel Exhibition Centre 15-18 November 2016 Includes Machine tools, lathes, sheet metal forming/drilling/boring/milling/grinding machines; automation, measurement, software; 3D printing www.prodex.ch Mactech Egypt, Cairo 17-20 November 2016 Includes machine tools, industrial tools, welding and cutting equipment and related manufacturing processes. Co-located exhibition: Handling Expo 2016 (logistics and materials handling). www.mactech.com.eg Fabtech USA, Las Vegas 16-18 November 2016 USA’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing event. www.fabtechexpo.com Jimtof 2016 Japan, Tokyo 17-22 November 2016 One of the largest international machine tool exhibitions in Asia. www.jimtof.org/en Metalex Thailand, Bangkok 23-26 November 2016 Exhibition for the machine tools and metalworking technology sector. Includes machine tools, automation, metrology, metalworking tools, robotics, welding, mould/ dies, material handling and accessories. www.metalex.co.th Taiwan International Machine Tool Show Taiwan, Taichung City 23-27 November 2016 Includes cutting/forming/machine tools; workholding; software; metrology; automation. www.tmts.tw/en Aluminium Messe Germany, Dusseldorf 29 November – 1 December 2016 Exhibition for the aluminium industry - from primary aluminium production to semi-finished and finished products. Includes the Themes Pavilions - Competence Centre Surface Technology, Foundry Pavilion, Primary Pavilion, Welding and Joining Pavilion, Magnesium Area, and Recycling Pavilion, Smart Factory, Recycling. www.aluminium-messe.com

2017 EMO Germany, Hannover 18-23 September 2017 The world’s premier trade fair for the metalworking sector will be held in Germany following a four-year break. EMO will take place at the Hannover Exhibition Centre (the world’s largest exhibition venue) in September of 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2025. www.emo-hannover.de/hom

Industry Calendar local

Advertiser Index

PrefabAUS 2016 Annual Conference Sydney, University of Sydney 10-12 October 2016 Delivering Next Generation Buildings.

Showcasing the best in prefabricated and offsite technology and design; exploring the future of the built environment. Features some of the industry’s most highly regarded leaders, showcasing ground-breaking projects, exploring innovative technology and host tours to some of Sydney’s most exciting locations for the offsite construction industry. www.prefabaus.org.au/conference Perth Technology Expo Process & Instrumentation Trade Show Perth Convention Exhibition Centre 13 October 2016 Includes products related to the Instrumentation, Control and Automation Industry. www.iica.org.au/info/events Sydney (Western) Technology Expo Sydney, Marconi Club 26 October 2016 Includes products related to the Instrumentation, Control and Automation Industry. www.iica.org.au/info/events International Mining & Resources Conference (IMARC) Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre 7-10 November 2016 Australia’s leading mining business event will connect global mining leaders with Victorianbased resources companies and those organisations supporting the mining sector http://imarcmelbourne.com Launceston Technology Expo TAS. Launceston 9 November 2016 Includes products related to the Instrumentation, Control and Automation Industry. www.iica.org.au/info/events Ausrail 2016 Conference & Exhibition Adelaide 22-23 November 2016 Largest rail event in Australasia and is supported by the leading industry associations. The conference theme is: Rail – Moving the economy forward. The agenda will address rail’s role in effectively enhancing Australia’s productivity, liveability and international competiveness. www.ausrail.com

Motor World Sydney Sydney Motorsport Park 30 November – 4 December 2016 Inaugural event which presents the Australian automotive industry to Australian and Asia Pacific visitors. Comprehensive program for motoring enthusiasts includes education, product and technology presentations, entertainment and retail precincts.. www.motorworldsydney.com

2017 Australian International Airshow 2017 Victoria, Geelong (Avalon) 28 February – 5 March 2017 The Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition - AVALON 2017- will again showcase products, technologies and services in this vibrant and vital region. High levels of economic growth and technological development have resulted in growing demand for aviation and aerospace services, products and technology - from general aviation to airlines, air forces and space. www.airshow.com.au Austech Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 9-12 May 2017 Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition. The only show specifically targeted at the metalworking, machine tool and ancillary market held in Australia. Inside 3D Printing will once again be co-exhibiting with Austech, presenting a showcase of the very latest innovations in the fast-developing field of additive manufacturing. The Inside 3D Printing Conference will be held on 9-10 May, while its exhibition component will run throughout Austech. www.amtil.com.au/austech AusMedtech Conference Melbourne 24-25 May 2017 AusMedtech & International Conference on Mechanics in Medicine and Biology (ICMMB).

Will bring together key stakeholders of the Australian and international medical devices and diagnostics sector to explore topics such as biomaterials, medical devices, assistive technologies for an ageing population, tissue engineering, 3D Printing and the mechanics of future medicine. www.ausmedtech.com.au

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

Alfex CNC

18-19

Applied Machinery

41

BAC Systems

103

Blackfast Chemicals

79

Bolts & Industrial Supplies

83

Complete Machinhe Tools

55

Compressed Air Australia

23

Dimac Tooling

104

DMG Mori

34-35

ECI Solutions

47

Efic

25

EIF Australia

77

Fuji Fasteners

99

Guhring 17 Hare & Forbes

4-5

Headland 116 Hi-Tech Metrology

91

IMTS 37 Industrial Laser

13

Integra Systems

105

ISCAR 2-3 JODEK P/L

102

Kaeser Compressors

49

Machinery Forum

115

Mastercut Technologies MTI

101 21, 81

Okuma 7 Raymax 59 Renishaw Oceania

FC

RMIT 63 Sandvik 31 SECO Tools

15

Sheetmetal Machinery

69

STAMAC

71

Teco Tooling

87

Waddell Engineering

100

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Oct Nov

Australian Manufacturing Technology

AGRICULTURE, FOOD & BEVERAGES As 2016 winds down and the festive season draws near, our main feature appropriately takes a look at food and drink, the journey it makes to reach our table, and how manufacturers are enabling that process.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT CUTTING TOOLS FORMING & FABRICATION MATERIAL REMOVAL ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION COMPOSITES & ADVANCED MATERIALS MATERIALS HANDLING

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

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114

history

Big wheels & little wheels – the story of Sir Laurence John Hartnett (1898 – 1986)

Part 15

Russia: Reaching for the moon UK-born Sir Laurence Hartnett arrived in Australia in 1934. The visionary Sir Laurence became known as Australia’s ‘Father of the Holden’ – and much more. It is now 1933 and Lawrence’s arrival in Australia is only one year away.

But before that, post-revolutionary Russia beckons.

I

n 1933 when I announced to my friends in London that I was about to visit Russia, the only response was, “good grief, whatever for?” This was typical of the average Westerner’s feelings about Russia in the 30s – only 16 years after their Revolution. Newspapers were likely to predict that before long the country that had come into being by bloody revolution would collapse and fail. The feeling was caused partly by Russia’s selfimposed isolation from the rest of the world. They had a fantastic amount of work to do following the Revolution and had set the task of advancing their backward, illiterate nation at twice the pace of the rest of the world, and they wanted to do it in their own way.

4 October 1957. USSR, Moscow, Sputnik

As a rule they did not welcome people from the outside, but I think anyone who had a fair and legitimate reason for wanting to go to Russia could always get there.

Within a few days of my accepting the invitation, Bob Batchelor from Vauxhall and I set off. Travelling via Sweden and Finland, we boarded a train for Leningrad, where all the border buildings were painted a bright red. At Leningrad Station a Lincoln limousine with a chauffeur and an interpreter awaited us.

The question of automotive spare parts was among the first that Bob and I had to answer when we began our technical discussions with five earnest Soviet automotive men - the top technical men of the Soviet automobile industry, such as it was at that time. And the simple questions they asked us! They pounded question after question at Bob and I, and their pencils flew as our replies went into their notebooks. These sessions lasted for hours at a time. I could sense their feeling of mission, their dedication. On them rested the responsibility for creating an industry that was vital to the progress of their nation. We knew that, somehow, they would succeed.

For several days we held conferences with the Russians about the Bedford trucks. We were asked why we were insistent that they should also buy such a large range of spare parts? “Obviously”, one particularly aggressive fellow said – “we had no faith in our Bedfords. We were getting rid of some dud stuff … people like us in the capitalist countries deliberately made things that would wear out in a short time, so that the buyers would have to replace them!” I had to be careful in my reply and explained the varying conditions in different countries. If you catered for the worst possible conditions, then those motorists who had more fortunate conditions would be heavily penalised by the added weight and cost which it would be necessary to build into the vehicles. So, the manufacturer struck a compromise with the inclusion of spare parts. Now in Russia, at that time, the roads were bad, the petrol and oil were poor and, under, such conditions, wear and tear on cars which were made for less arduous conditions, would be heavier. So, in order to get the longest possible life from the vehicles, it would be prudent of them to carry adequate supplies of spares. After that explanation, most of them seemed to be satisfied.

The Armo factory was a typical Russian factory. They were trying to meet a schedule of roo trucks a day, but could only manage 18 or 20. As Bob and I walked through the plant we could see why.

Their production departments were completely out of balance. The Russians asked my reactions. I knew what was needed and I went through their problems. They were very grateful. Would I come back in one week and ‘see how they would try to put my ideas into action? “Rather,” I said.

One week later I was back at the plant and I was amazed at what they had done. The improvements were proof to me that they really did take notice; I realised I was not just speaking to one firm, but to a whole nation. An industry in embryo, a nation rising dramatically out of the mire of ignorance and backwardness. I was happy to be able to help them. Those Armo trucks, thousands of them, were used as troop carriers in Russia during the battle against Hitler. I like to think that my early help might have contributed, in some way, to the Russian victories at Stalingrad and Moscow - victories which spelled the doom of Nazi Germany just as surely as our own victories at Alamein and Normandy.

Only 24 years after my visit, Russian Sputnik satellites (the world’s first artificial satellites) streaked through the heavens, a Russian rocket circumnavigated the moon and brought back the first pictures of the other side ... Russian astronauts made history by becoming the first men into space. It’s hard for me to believe that the people doing all these things a short time after my visit, were the same Russians who were so unsophisticated technically, that they couldn’t see the reason or the need to buy spare parts when they ordered a fleet of brand new trucks.

This is an extract from ‘Big Wheels & Little Wheels’, by Sir Laurence Hartnett as told to John Veitch, 1964. © Deirdre Barnett.

AMT Oct/Nov 2016

To be continued…

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