AMT DEC/JAN 17/18

Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Dec jan

/ 18

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Contents

Volume 17 Number 06 december/january 2018 ISSN 1832-6080

FEATURES AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT Automotive: Where to now?

Turning old tyres into new roads Opportunities: SA auto components Bosch showcases new trailer safety CME – Surviving the transition

44 50 52 54 56

ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION The future of robotics in CNC grinding Network monitoring solution Teleoperating robots with virtual reality Intelligent sensors for smart mobile

58 60 62 63

STATE SPOTLIGHT: NEW SOUTH WALES Key to success for three manufacturers A 40-year overnight success story

66 68

AGRICULTURE, FOOD & BEVERAGES Mapping out Australia’s food future New gas solution for dairy producer Agbot the robotic weed slayer 3D printing helps Thermos

72 75 76 77

CUTTING TOOLS Sutton – A century of achievement Industry 4.0 way to connect with Iscar Turning revolution – A surprising take

78 80 82

MATERIAL REMOVAL Nordon stays “strokes ahead” Flying high after local car manufacturing Tornos keeps watchmaker ticking Elmass – Manufacturing in niche markets Automated precision milling for medtech

85 86 88 90 91

FORMING & FABRICATION Industry 4.0 cutting production Making tube processing simple New Touch drives business with Trumpf Laser upgrade for Catten Industries

92 92 93 94

COMPOSITES & ADVANCED MATERIALS Carbon fibre breakthrough for Australia RMIT - Liquid metal breakthrough Philmac adopts 3D-printed tooling

96 97 98

MATERIALS HANDLING Australia’s first auto, collaborative palletising Why bend a forklift truck?

ATEX and IECEx: Approved crane for hazards

100 101 102

44 Automotive: Where to now?

With this October marking the end of car assembly operations in Australia, what are the implications for manufacturers in supply chains that have been affected?

64 Getting their hands dirty C&S Engineering & Toolmaking has carved out a niche as a versatile, state-of-the-art machine shop, offering quick turnarounds, with a “no job is too small” ethos.

70

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

10 12 14 16

INDUSTRY NEWS Current news from the industry

20

VOICEBOX Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

32

PRODUCT NEWS Our selection of new and interesting products

38

COMPANY FOCUS C&S Engineering & Toolmaking – Getting their hands dirty

64

ONE ON ONE: Craig Hingston AMTIL FORUMS

One on One with Craig Hingston AMT spoke to Craig Hingston, President of the Cumberland Business Chamber in Western Sydney.

72

70 104

MANUFACTURERS’ PAVILION 108 AMTIL INSIDE The latest news from AMTIL

112

Mapping out Australia’s food future

MANUFACTURING HISTORY – A look back in time

118

Keeping food processing onshore is a major theme of CSIRO’s Food & Agribusiness Roadmap, which calls on businesses to act quickly or risk losing future revenue.

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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010

From the Editor William Poole

Ready for the robots

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

The future was on everyone’s minds at AMTIL’s inaugural National Conference in November, as discussions focused on Industry 4.0 and the digitalisation of manufacturing processes.

Our industry is going through a period of radical change, driven by technological advances in areas such as robotics & automation, artificial intelligence, sensor technology and cloud computing. But of course, these changes are not confined to manufacturing. They are sweeping society as a whole, accompanied in turn by concerns about the implications they will have for ordinary people. Automation in particular has long been a focal point for popular anxieties about technology, and yet a new survey suggests most Australians are cautiously optimistic about the potential impact robots will have on society.

According to the research, from YouGov Omnibus, most Australians are ready to welcome robots into their lives, with fewer than one in seven saying they would not want a robot.

Nearly two-thirds of Aussies believe robots will make our lives easier, while three-quarters agree robots can do things people don’t want to do. Of a list of 12 possible uses for robots, the most popular function was helping with cleaning the house, favoured by seven in 10 respondents. Other popular choices included security (selected by 55%) and gardening (43%).

While there appeared to be broad agreement between the sexes when it came to using robots for domestic chores such as cleaning our homes or tending our gardens, women and men emerged somewhat divided on the application of robots to more social tasks.

Nearly twice as many men would want a robot to assist in caring for the elderly (27% of men do, whereas just 15% of women do). Around one in four men would even like a robot for companionship, compared with less than a fifth of women.

Despite such widely perceived benefits, the survey also highlighted some anxiety about robots displacing us in the workplace. Three-quarters of Australians think robots will take many jobs away from them. However, many do not currently feel personally threatened by robots in the workplace, with only one in 10 believing a robot would be better than them at their job.

Interestingly, these concerns were more pronounced among younger generations. While 37% of those aged between 18 and 29 years old think a robot would not be better than them at their job, nearly six in 10 of those over 45 do. Those aged under 45 are also more likely to think that a robot could do their job at least as well as them. Almost half of 18-29 year olds believe a robot could do their job either the same as or better than them. This is true for 47% of 30-44 year olds, but just 21% of over-45s.

With robots poised to revolutionise both our industry and our broader society, there are undoubtedly challenges on the horizon, and perhaps one of the most difficult tasks will be setting the terms under which robots will be allowed to operate. The survey found that almost eight out of 10 Australians agree that robots should be regulated carefully. Whoever is tasked with settting those rules will be forced to strike a difficult balance: reaping all the benefits this new technology can bring, while ensuring that the public continue to enjoy the opportunities, and income, seen by previous generations. *** This being the last AMT of this year, I’d like to round things off by thanking our readers, contributors and advertisers for their support throughout 2017. On behalf of myself, Anne, Gabriele and Franco, and all of the AMTIL team, I’d also like to wish AMT readers and all involved in our industry, a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year.

Australian Manufacturing Technology

Editor William Poole wpoole@amtil.com.au Contributors Brent Balinski 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.

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

Contact AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 for further information.

1372AMTdecjan2018

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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012

From the CEO Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

Don’t put off those health checks

I ummed and aahed over writing this piece and then thought – well, if it sends a message and helps somebody out, then it is worthwhile. It’s a personal matter and is probably not that interesting to most of our readers who don’t know me but I hope the message comes through loud and clear.

My wife turned fifty a few months ago. She won’t like me printing that but it is relevant to the story so I’ll suffer the consequences.

She received in the mail a bowel screening kit courtesy of the Commonwealth. The same type I received a few years ago that sat near my bedside table for some months before I threw it out! At her insistence I went to my doctor and got one as well. It was a five minute job to do the test and drop it into a news agency. I saw my doctor again a few days later and he told me there were some abnormalities and I needed to have a colonoscopy.

Now I am telling you that a colonoscopy is not as bad as everybody says. Drink the fluids and stay near a toilet. The activity itself only takes half an hour.

The results showed some inflamed polyps that needed to be tested and I was booked in for a CT scan a few days later. The tests confirmed that the tumor was malignant and I was then booked in for an MRI. This showed the tumor was confined to a region of the bowel and had not broken through the fat layer into the lymph nodes.

Speaking to my surgeon he decided to go straight to the operating theatre and I was booked in to hospital. This whole process took 10 days!

The good news is that I didn’t need to have any chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

My surgeon was confident that it was restricted to the one area, (he took 11cm from my bowel), put me on a stomo bag for 10 weeks and stitched me up.

I recently had the ileostomy reversed and have an expected five-week recovery period over Christmas which I am really looking forward to. Quarterly CT scans for the next two years are precautionary only and everything will be OK in the long term.

So I consider myself one of the lucky ones.

Now for the message…

I had no symptoms. I felt fine and had no indication that I had a Grade 3 (aggressive) tumor growing inside me. If not for my beautiful wife having a milestone, things may have been quite different. So don’t put off having that regular health check, blood test and so on and when the bowel screening kit comes in the mail do it straight away. Hopefully there is nothing to worry about but the next best case is to be able to tell a story like mine.

Paul Philips becomes AMTIL Life Member On behalf of the Board of AMTIL and our members I would like to congratulate Mr Paul Philips on being awarded Life Membership of the Institute at our recent AGM. Paul was instrumental in the formation of AMTIL almost 20 years ago. In his role on the Board of the AMTA (Australian Machine Tool Association), he worked closely with Mr Phil Hayes, President of the IMTA (Institute of Machine Tools Australasia) and their relevant committees to amalgamate the two bodies and create a new national association – AMTIL – in 1999.

Paul has served on the AMTIL Board as a Director for 16 years and has been a leading figure in taking the Institute to where it is today. I can honestly say that in all that time he has always acted in

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

President of AMTIL Mr Paul Fowler (left) presenting Mr Paul Philips with life membership of the Institute with AMTIL CEO Mr Shane Infanti (right).

the best interests of the industry with no personal agenda. AMTIL members can be proud of the way Paul has represented them during his time on the Board.

He joins other Life Members of the Institute - Mr Bob Corbett, Mr Walter Zillner, Mr Trevor Morgan and Mrs Dianne Kloe.

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014

From the industry Innes Willox – Chief Executive Australian Industry Group

Prosperity through innovation, innovation through design

With protectionism dead, resources booming and China unstoppable, many in Australia thought manufacturing was doomed to terminal decline – and some even cheered what they saw as a rational move to focus on national strengths. But it has become clear that decline is neither inevitable nor desirable nor politically sustainable.

Even as we said farewell to the car assembly industry, Australian manufacturing added around 25,000 jobs over the past year. The sector’s output has also grown strongly.

But if doom is not preordained, neither is success. We are going to have to be clever.

Part of being clever is taking advantage of the new technologies, techniques and business models that make up the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ or Industry 4.0. To many, such concepts remain unfamiliar.

Ai Group’s Business Beyond Broadband report into business technology investment found only 7% of Australian businesses made significant use of big data, while 15% or less used any of the networked technologies we shorthand as the ‘Internet of Things’, such as sensor networks and machine-to-machine communications.

Despite increasing dependence on internetconnected systems, only 22% of businesses reported investing in cybersecurity.

There is a lot of ground to make up. But how are we going to get there?

Part of the answer is suggested by our Joining Forces report on collaborative innovation. New knowledge that creates business value can of course emerge from lone geniuses and disconnected research departments. But a strong body of evidence suggests businesses innovate more successfully when they collaborate with other businesses or research professionals.

Australia has a reputation as a laggard in collaboration. OECD figures suggest Australian businesses are significantly less likely to collaborate for innovation goals. Just 20% of Australian businesses and 32% of large Australian businesses collaborated with anyone to innovate in 2012-13, compared with 30% of OECD small businesses and 53% of OECD large businesses. Business collaboration with public-sector research bodies seems extremely low: fewer than 5% of businesses – less than any other OECD economy.

In our Skills Survey, around 28% of manufacturers had links to universities, including around 10% with research partnerships. This was more than double the ABS figures, and closer to the OECD average of 33% for by all businesses. In our wider annual CEO Survey sample, 43% of large and 11% of small business respondents collaborated with public-sector research bodies. The conclusion is that our rate of collaboration is likely somewhat better than official statistics show.

The second thing we did was gather qualitative information from businesses with a history of successful collaboration and innovation. We asked businesses like Leica Biosystems, Planet Innovation, Siemens and Signostics what they thought about collaboration in Australia, how they approached it, and the practices they had seen lead to success or failure. These businesses observed that most collaborative innovation in Australia is conducted ad-hoc as opportunities and connections arise.

Collaboration within existing supply chains is relatively common. It’s much rarer for businesses to make a strategic decision to engage in collaborative arrangements and search widely for the best partners. In other words, collaborative process itself needs to be designed. Stepping back and taking a design approach to the innovation process makes it much more likely that ‘bolts from the blue’ will lead to success.

The three broad issues that successful businesses urged us to think about were: how to identify and select innovation partners; how to manage those relationships once established; and how to learn from the experience to improve future collaborations.

Partner identification requires businesses to think from the outset about many factors: • What is the motivation for the collaboration, and how will it shape competitive advantage?

Ai Group wanted to probe this performance and find out what makes collaboration work. So we did two things.

• What are their own capabilities, and where are the strengths and weaknesses a partner can complement or compensate for?

Firstly, we gathered our quantitative survey data from a wide range of businesses in services, manufacturing and construction.

We found a somewhat better picture.

• How is the cultural/personal fit between potential partners, including through small exploratory collaborations that can inform larger projects?

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

• What are their internal processes for identifying and following up on partnership opportunities?

Once a collaborative relationship is in place it must be managed for success. Of course, there are unsurprising practices for any successful relationship – like working to ensure genuine mutual benefit. One practice several businesses referred to was the idea of a ‘stage zero’ in collaboration, where partners develop a shared vision for what they are doing. It is important not to jump straight to defining roles in the development of a pre-chosen technical solution – access to partners’ differing perspectives may reveal unconsidered approaches, or whole new opportunities that would otherwise be missed. Extending this fundamental commercial conversation, those early discussions also need to sensibly address intellectual property issues. Successful collaborators also boosted their chances of a genuinely novel outcome by putting together cross-functional teams – people who think in different ways, challenge each other and, as Planet Innovation put it, “broaden how we work and think”.

The third element is learning from the experience. Each project has its unique benefits, but can be a platform to improve the next collaboration. Successful collaborators had a couple of rules for achieving this. One was to ensure there was deep interaction between collaborators. Simple outsourcing and transactional relationships provide little opportunity to learn. Physical proximity to collaboration partners – even through visits and exchanges – was important to many.

Connections back to the business ensure learnings and opportunities for business development are not lost when a partnership ends. Those involved in the collaboration should not become fragmented from the rest of the business. Each organisation’s leadership also needed to be committed to learning from the relationship and backing change based on experience.

The ultimate message is that the primary driver for improved innovation will not be increased spending or greater interest from universities. It will be businesses taking a much more considered approach to designing the process of innovation itself.

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016

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

Manufacturing Future Fund: Putting our money where the jobs are

Everyone reading this will know that manufacturing has been going through a rough patch in Australia lately. While in many other developed nations policy makers have been working hard to secure the good-quality, well-paid, stable jobs that manufacturing provides, we’ve had a complete lack of leadership from our Government.

Other countries bend over backwards to try and attract international investment in cutting-edge technology, yet the current Government dared the major car manufacturers to leave the country and they did.

The closure of Holden last month, following the closure of Toyota and Ford, has left a hole at the heart of our manufacturing industry.

At its peak, the automotive industry and its supply chain trained and employed thousands of Australian workers. Generations of workers in our automotive industry made cars that defined our identity as a nation and helped to move our economy off the sheep’s back and into the modern world. They will never be forgotten.

The loss of these major employers will have ramifications for years to come, but a recent announcement has given me hope that the importance of manufacturing jobs is back at the top of the political agenda again.

Bill Shorten’s announcement that an incoming Labor government would establish a $1bn Australian Manufacturing Future Fund (AMFF) might be the shot in the arm that the industry has been calling for. The AMFF will help to encourage investment in manufacturing by working with the private sector to reduce the risk and increase the attractiveness of investing manufacturing in Australia. This will allow Australian firms that are seeking to establish or expand their operations in Australia to find the capital that they need.

The proposal is based on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which has successfully leveraged finance to support the growth of the Australian renewable energy sector. The CEFC has turned $4.3bn of government money into $11bn worth of investment in renewable projects. That’s the sort of investment we need to see in manufacturing, if we’re serious about building a sustainable future for our industry.

What’s even better about this model is that it won’t cost tax payers a cent. In fact, the CEFC has been able to generate a return to government for its investment in renewable projects and Labor expects that the AMFF will be able to achieve the same.

Recent data has shown that half of manufacturing firms have had trouble modernising their operations and a quarter of businesses said a lack of funds was to blame. If we want to remain a high-wage, high-skill manufacturing country, we need the best plant and the most productive processes. Without access to capital, that simply isn’t possible.

Our own research has shown that the problem of getting good access to finance for new and innovative ideas is particularly difficult for SMEs. We need to do more to help this vital part of our economy to grow. With global supply chains and the ever growing volume of international trade, there has never been a better time to look offshore for new markets for our high-quality, high-value manufactured goods.

The AMWU’s support for the AMFF won’t come as a surprise to many – we’ve been talking about the benefits to our industry from access to cheaper finance for a long time. It is refreshing to see that politicians are finally coming to the party and seeing that our industry has some great ideas about how to secure its long term future.

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

“If we want to remain a high-wage, high-skill manufacturing country, we need the best plant and the most productive processes. Without access to capital, that simply isn’t possible.”

Labor has stated that the initial focus of the scheme will be on supporting “transformative investments in both the automotive and food manufacturing sectors”. The need to diversify and find new markets for the automotive manufacturing sector is obvious and urgent. Food manufacturing on the other hand is a section of our industry that gets far less attention than it deserves.

While the boycott of Streets may have raised the profile of the industry at the moment, it is normally something that is taken for granted in Australia. It is already a major part of our industry and there are significant opportunities for it to expand, with a particular focus on exporting our wonderful products around the world.

Our automotive manufacturing industry will need to be nimble if it is to survive. Custom products, advanced materials and niche markets with a focus on exports will be the order of the day. We’ve got the skills, we’ve got the smarts, and hopefully now we’ll have the money to help these great Australian businesses the support they need to reinvent our auto industry for the 21st century.

Beyond these two target areas, the AMFF will help to diversify our manufacturing industry and assist new and emerging SMEs to find new markets around the world. If we want to have our fair share of manufacturing jobs we need to turn Australian ideas into Australian jobs. The AMFF will have a role in identifying opportunities to leverage finance to help keep Australian firms on-shore. This means more jobs, more investment and more exports.

This brings me back to the point that I made at the beginning – we need to support our growing manufacturing businesses because every other country is looking after theirs. We cannot simply sit back and let high skill, high wage jobs in cutting edge industries move off shore. The AMFF is an important step in securing the future of manufacturing in Australia; let’s hope that there is more good news to come before the next election.

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industry news

AMGC report defines advanced manufacturing in Australia

A report commissioned by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) has found that the Australian manufacturing industry is larger and more dynamic than currently estimated.

The report, entitled ‘Advanced Manufacturing: Under the new definition this would rise to A New Definition for a New Era’, analyses almost 1.3m if indirect workers that supply more than 3,000 global manufacturers to inputs and services to manufacturing are provide substantiated clarity to an industry included – for example, workers exclusively undergoing unprecedented change, while delivering R&D, design, logistics or services also outlining key opportunities for local to manufacturers. manufacturers. The AMGC report also “Our research shows that almost half of all reveals that only 5% of firms drive 99% of manufacturing jobs are in non-production total manufacturing exports, 94% of capital based roles. Being a successful advanced spending and 54% of the sector’s entire manufacturer is no longer just about what Dr Jens Goennemann, research and development. Meanwhile, you make but how you make it and the way Managing Director of the 80% of Australian manufacturers could Advanced Manufacturing you run your business,” Dr Goennemann Growth Centre (AMGC). become more advanced by collaborating continued. with researchers, increasing their information The report contains specific recommendations and communication technology (ICT) spend, introducing a new for Government including policy, regulatory and funding. It also product-related service or by using patents to protect their ideas. outlines three key characteristics of advanced manufacturers, as a “Manufacturing is transforming, so we need a new definition to blueprint for local organisations in the industry to emulate: accurately measure who we are and where we need to go,” said • Advanced knowledge: Innovation leaders that score highly Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director, AMGC. “Our research on measures such as R&D spending, ICT use and number of presents a real opportunity for Australian manufacturers. It shows patents. that we have huge growth potential if we can emulate and adopt • Advanced processes: Process winners that make smarter the advanced manufacturing characteristics unveiled in this report. use of technology, scoring highly on capital intensity, use of “Australia’s manufacturing exports generate close to $9bn every automation, energy and water efficiency, and new equipment. month so just imagine what the possibilities could be if we increased • Advanced business models: Act as niche market players, the number of firms contributing to economic output by even five scoring highly on measures such as trade intensity, linkages or 10%.” with other firms and greater share of services in total revenue.

The report calls for a new definition of advanced manufacturing The AMGC has called on the Government to apply new statistics which would focus less on production and more on the entire to track whether Australian manufacturers are advancing and to manufacturing value chain including higher value pre-production change how manufacturing output and jobs growth are measured and post-production. In May, the Australian Bureau of Statistics in Australia. recorded 905,000 direct jobs in Australia’s manufacturing sector.

Bystronic unveils new Australia HQ Bystronic Australia held an open-house event on 18 and 19 October to mark the official opening of its new Australian headquarters in Cranbourne West, Victoria.

Located in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs, Bystronic’s new Demo Centre marks a major expansion of the company’s presence in the country. The open-house event began with an official opening ceremony, during which the ribbon was cut to open the facility, and in accordance with company tradition, the Australian team was presented with a large Swiss cowbell to mark the occasion. “Over the years, Bystronic’s presence in Australasia has been with another channel,” said Robert Bécsy, Managing Director of Bystronic Australia. “But this year we have finally taken the step of going forward on our own, deepening our footprint and strengthening our presence to serve our customers better.”

Visitors to the event enjoyed an opportunity to take a guided tour of the Demo Centre. The large showroom area featured displays of the latest technology from Bystronic, including the ByStar Fiber

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laser cutting system, as well as the Xact Smart and the Xpert 40 machines from its bending range. There were also a series of symposia throughout the event in the Centre’s training area, with demonstrations of Bystronic’s range of automation and informaion solutions, including its BySoft 7 CAD/CAM software.

Those in attendance could also see Bystronic’s new service & support set-up, as well as its extensive spare parts facility. With food and drinks available throughout, the event was also an opportunity for both exisiting and potential customers to network with each other and with Bystronic staff. “Bystronic would not be where it is if it were not for all the support of our clients over the years,” added Bécsy.

“The Bystronic team has prepared these two days especially for all our clients and stakeholders to show our appreciation and to show that Bystronic is here for them, all the way.”

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Just-in-time implants to radically advance tumour surgery

A major new Australian research project is set to transform the way physicians surgically treat tumours and bone cancer, and dramatically improve patient and healthcare outcomes.

The five-year ‘Just-in-time implants’ project brings together the Australian Government, RMIT University, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and global medical technology firm Stryker. Worth more than $12.1m in research effort, the work is funded

by Stryker with co-funding from the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC), which is contributing $2.36m in cash.

RMIT’s Professor Milan Brandt and the project team will combine 3D printing, robotic surgery and advanced manufacturing to create tailored implants for patients with bone cancer. “Our aim is to bring the technology to the theatre,” said Brandt. “While patients are having their cancer removed in the operating theatre, in the next room, we are custom printing an implant to precisely fill the space left after removal of the diseased bone.”

St Vincent’s Professor Peter Choong said just-in-time implants will transform the delivery of care for people with bone cancer: “By combining specialised imaging techniques, 3D printing and the accuracy of robotic assisted surgery, we are aiming to deliver a personalised implant in time for the surgeon to remove the cancer and repair the patient’s bone in the one operation.” The process represents a major shift in the way implants are designed, manufactured and supplied, and could lead to bespoke local manufacturing. “This is the future of implants and robotic surgery,” said Rob Wood, Director – Research & Development for Stryker South Pacific. “Australia is leading the way globally in developing and implementing new manufacturing models and technology in the

medical space – combining robotic surgery and additive manufacturing.”

David Chuter, CEO and Managing Director of the IMCRC, said the project was a great example of how research-led innovation in manufacturing drives better products, services and processes.

“This is a significant research investment into Australia by Stryker, seeing a global organisation collaborating with two Australian universities and a local hospital,” said Chuter. “It highlights how Australia’s medtech environment offers research partners a unique setting for innovative research programs. Specifically, this project will establish advanced manufacturing capabilities that will ensure competitive advantage domestically and internationally. It will also train a new generation of engineers and researchers in medical robotics and the additive manufacturing of medical implants.” Professor Emmanuel Josserand, Director of the Centre for Business and Social Innovation at UTS, said the project would also have a wider impact for business and the economy as Australia transitions to advanced manufacturing.

“Not only will there be direct business opportunities for Australian companies to become medical suppliers to Stryker, with its global supply chains,” he said. “There will also be an opportunity for the technologies and manufacturing know-how developed within this project to transfer over time to other local industries.

These sorts of advanced manufacturing capabilities will ensure competitive advantage for Australian businesses, domestically and internationally.”

Land 400 opportunity provides future Ford Geelong site potential

Victorian manufacturer plans to breathe new life into the historic Ford factory in Geelong. Marand is currently negotiating with Ford about the future use of the Geelong facility to open up further advanced manufacturing jobs.

Marand is one of Victoria’s largest advanced manufacturing companies, with operations in Moorabbin and Geelong. On 9 November BAE Systems Australia announced that it had awarded Marand a package of Land 400 work worth more than $15m that will contribute to creating 60 new manufacturing jobs.

Marand will manufacture the AMV35 combat reconnaissance vehicle’s turret shell.

400, the team will work together on additional other production opportunities for the Geelong facility.

Marand Executive Chairman David Ellul said: “As teaming partners for Land 400, we would love to produce the BAE Systems AMV35 hulls and turrets here in Marand’s Geelong facility. Marand and Ford Australia have worked together for over 40 years; I’m currently in discussions with Ford to ensure we can make this a long-term reality in the next chapter for the Geelong community.”

“Today is a great day for Marand and local community, as a privately owned family business we have always focused on developing our people,” added Ellul. “Future graduates and apprentices are paramount to the Defence Industry’s success, and I’m proud to say we already have six local apprentices based right here in Geelong engaged in advanced manufacturing.”

The AMV35 is the combat-proven BAE Systems solution for the Commonwealth’s Land 400 Phase 2 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle project. Marand has already contributed production engineering services to the BAE Systems’ low-risk, value-formoney Land 400 solution. If BAE Systems is successful on Land

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Since opening its Geelong manufacturing division on Ford’s site five years ago, Marand already employs more than 40 staff in Geelong. The company has been active in the local community and school STEM programs helping develop diverse career paths for students today.

According to Marand, the Land 400 project will provide it with manufacturing opportunities for the next 10 years, and potential support opportunities for out to 30 years. The additional award of work from BAE Systems will bring the value of potential Marand Land 400 work to more than $80m.

Industry news

High energy costs slash small business investment

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The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has expressed dismay that politicians continue to argue over energy policy while small businesses suffer.

Ombudsman Kate Carnell said the latest East & Partners SME survey of 1,280 businesses showed 70% would reduce investment in capital expenditure because of higher energy prices. The East & Partners SME Transaction Banking survey examines and forecasts demand for transaction banking product lines and service offerings within Australia’s SME segment.

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The survey shows that: • 39.5% of SMEs would scale back in the short term (long-term capex unchanged).

• 20.8% would scale back in the long term (short-term capex unchanged).

• 9.9% would scale back capital expenditure in the short and long term.

Ms Carnell said that despite evidence of spiralling energy costs and reduced business confidence, politicians had not provided investment certainty. In particular, she criticised State Governments for failing to agree with a national approach. “The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has revealed the impact of gas exploration bans on supply and distribution in Victoria and New South Wales, but these governments continue to shift the blame elsewhere,” she said. “The Labor states talk about going alone on a clean energy target, which is putting politics ahead of the national interest. Meanwhile, businesses in South Australia may have to use dirty diesel generators to keep the lights on over summer.

“The Finkel Report provided a roadmap to repair the long-term damage of failed policies. All parties and all governments should endorse the report, remove bans on gas exploration and adopt a bipartisan approach to provide investment certainty. The danger with continued political bickering is that businesses will go to the wall, jobs will move offshore and be lost and consumers will feel even greater pain.”

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industry news

Volvo rolls out Australian Made trucks Australian Made Campaign Chief Executive Ian Harrison on 17 November launched the largest fleet of certified Australian-made trucks at Volvo Group Australia’s headquarters in Brisbane, proving automotive manufacturing in Australia is far from over.

Volvo Group Australia is the largest automotive manufacturer in Australia and is currently the only manufacturer of certified Australian-made trucks in the country.

This is the first time the green-and-gold Australian Made logo will be seen on trucks nationwide. Volvo Group Australia’s Mac and Volvo trucks were wrapped in greenand-gold to celebrate.

“We are thrilled these green-and-gold giants will be trucking around the country celebrating the Australian automotive manufacturing industry,” said Harrison.

“By joining the Australian Made Campaign, Volvo Group Australia is making a powerful statement about its commitment to promoting local manufacturing, both in its direct production operations and through its support of the local automotive components industry.”

President and CEO of Volvo Group Australia, Peter Voorhoeve, said that despite well-publicised reports of recent car manufacturing closures, automotive manufacturing in Australia will remain, highlighting the ongoing success of the Group’s Brisbane-based Wacol plant, and outlining future investment plans.

Voorhoeve said the Australian market was very competitive, but building trucks locally meant the company could meet and exceed customers’ demands by building exactly to their specification.

Volvo and Mac trucks branded with the Australian Made logo.

“We have close to 450 people directly employed in the production process, about 50 dedicated engineers based in Brisbane,” he said. “The Wacol factory also has approximately 85 local suppliers delivering more than 3,500 different components to the Wacol factory – of which, many are produced right here in Australia.

Between the Volvo Group and private partners, approximately $160m worth of investment will have been made between 2014 and 2018 in its dealership and service network. Voorhoeve explained that the investment amounts are considerable because trucking is big business in Australia.

“We are committed to manufacturing trucks in Australia and have invested over $27m in the production facility alone in the last 6 years, and will invest a further $3.7m in upgrading our chassis treatment and cab paint process.”

“The road freight transport industry is generally quite humble, and rarely in the spotlight despite being a $42bn industry,” he said. “Almost everything we touch, eat and use has been on a truck at some stage.”

WEF: Australia misses competitiveness top 20 Australia has again ranked outside the world’s 20 most competitive countries according to the 2017-18 World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness report.

Australia moved up one place from last year and has been stuck outside the top 20 since 2013-14. Australia’s score and ranking for infrastructure and especially electricity and communications infrastructure deteriorated in 2017-18. Australia’s scores and rankings for several other key factors (including in the labour market and in supply chains) improved marginally.

The Australian Industry Group partnered with the WEF in collecting the business data in Australia. Ai Group CEO Innes Willox said: “A big detractor of competitiveness this year was a sharp rise in concerns over policy and political instability. Also detracting from Australia’s performance was a worsening ranking of the adequacy of infrastructure with particular note being

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made of communications and energy infrastructure. These areas combined with the more entrenched areas of restrictive labour regulations, high tax rates and a relatively poor ranking of innovation as the major inhibitors of our competitiveness.”

The most problematic factors for doing business in Australia in 2017-18 are still ‘restrictive labour regulations’ and ‘tax rates’. Concerns about the effects on business competitiveness arising from inadequate supply of infrastructure, policy instability and government instability became more pronounced in 2017-18 than they were one and two years ago.

Nonetheless, Willox stressed that there were a number of positives in this year’s report.

“Australia continues to rank in the top 10 of global economies for our financial markets (6th best) and higher education & training (9th best),” he said. “But while we should celebrate our strengths, the WEF rankings illustrate that our competitiveness performance is well short of our aspirations.

Australians in general are not comfortable sitting this far off the leaders’ board.

“There are areas that we can and should act on to lift our game. Ending the policy uncertainty in the energy area is clearly a sensible place to start. We need also to put more effort into building a strong base of support for measures that would assist in lifting our competitiveness. This includes in the areas of workplace relations and taxation.”

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Swinburne-sponsored team wins F1 in Schools World Championship Four high school students sponsored by Swinburne University have won an international competition to design and race a miniature Formula 1 car.

students globally,” he said. “But also winning the Best Engineered Car award on the global stage is a credit to Kyle and David’s work. It wouldn’t have been possible without Swinburne’s insight.”

At the 2017 F1 in Schools World Championship in Malaysia, Team Hyperdrive from Trinity Grammar School in Melbourne beat 50 teams from 27 countries to be named World Champions as well as receiving the award for the Best Engineered Car. The team, made up of Trinity Grammar students Alec Alder, Kyle Winkler, David Greig and Hugh Bowman, had to engineer, manufacture and race a miniature Formula 1 car at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Swinburne PhD students Nalin Randeniya and Andrew Danylec provided expert engineering, technical and technological support to the team. The support was facilitated by Dr Ambarish Kulkarni, who supervises Randeniya and Danylec at Swinburne’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Product Design Engineering. As winners of the 2017 competition, each member of Team Hyperdrive has been awarded

Randeniya said he played a role in connecting the Hyperdrive team with the individuals who provided the technical support.

“I found the right people and have organised meetings to introduce them to each other,” he said.

scholarships to City University of London and the University College of London (UCL).

Bowman, the team Manager, described the win as Team Hyperdrive’s proudest moment since it formed in 2015.

“Our greatest achievement is becoming World Champions, against millions of

According to Bowman, the most challenging aspect of the design was the aerodynamics: “David was our Aerodynamics Engineer, running many Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations as well as a lot of research and testing on different shapes and design concepts. Continuous aerodynamic refinement and evolution was key to our development strategy to minimise drag and create efficiency.”

WSU partners with Konica Minolta on digital manufacturing Konica Minolta has announced a partnership with Western Sydney University (WSU) to build digital manufacturing capabilities for WSU research staff and students, and the Western Sydney community.

Konica Minolta will support WSU’s School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics as it explores the possibilities of cuttingedge digital manufacturing capabilities with the commissioning of the 3D Systems ProX 300 DMP metal printer. The ProX DMP 300 is a high-performance manufacturing system for the production of high-quality 3D-printed metal parts, offering reduced waste, greater speeds for production, short set up times, very dense metal parts, and the ability to produce complex assemblies as a single part.

Dr Tosin Famakinwa, Technical Manager at WSU’s School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, said: “Western Sydney University is happy to partner with Konica Minolta in making available this 3D metal printer to the community and for the training of the future Western Sydney workforce.

Additionally, this method also has the ability to improve energy productivity —all while creating high-impact job opportunities locally for the manufacturing community.”

“The construction of this new landmark advanced manufacturing facility, combined

with our exciting new partnership with WSU that delivers cutting-edge 3D metal printing, marks a new and promising era for WSU, the Western Sydney community, and beyond,” added Marc Brandon, 3D Printing Product Marketing Manager, Konica Minolta. “Konica Minolta is excited to partner with WSU to ensure leading researchers, educators and engineers within the community can leverage the capabilities this game-changing 3D metal part manufacturing system offers to its full potential.”

Pilz Australia mourns loss of Scott Moffat Pilz Australia wishes to advise its clients, stakeholders and industry colleagues of the passing of its Australian Managing Director, Scott Moffat.

Moffat was in Germany on a business trip when he passed away suddenly. In a statement, the company said that both in Australia and Germany it is still coming to terms with the unexpected loss. Moffat had been with the company as the Australian and New Zealand Managing Director for seven years.

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“We miss this wonderful and highly respected friend and colleague,” said Renate Pilz, Chair of the Pilz board. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.”

Pilz Australia will be led by a local management team in the interim.

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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 Services Manager, Greg Chalker on 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au

amtil.com.au 1311AMTIL/BD

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Industry news

AMTIL National Conference – Manufacturing’s future in focus

‘Manufacturing’s Future in a Digital Age’ was the subject for discussion in Melbourne on 14 November, as delegates from across Australian manufacturing gathered for the 2017 AMTIL National Conference.

Held at Leonda by the Yarra in Hawthorn, the one-day conference was focused on the ways in which emerging digital technologies are revolutionising manufacturing the world over, and explored the opportunities this created for the industry here in Australia. With a line-up of speakers that encompassed manufacturing companies, technology suppliers, research bodies and industry groups, the Conference offered a comprehensive, in-depth perspective of what the future holds. The event also featured 10 exhibitor stands from companies such as SICK, Lightwave Technologies and evok3D, the Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC), and the Conference’s sponsor - William Buck.

Following a welcoming address from AMTIL Board Member Brigitte Stavar, the first presentation came from keynote speaker Brad Howarth. Drawing on two decades as a journalist covering technology’s impact on organisations, society and individuals, Howarth’s presentation offered a wide-ranging view on the impact digital innovations are having on the world of business and wider society.

“Wealth is generally generated by those who drive change,” said Howarth. “So at some stage we have to ask ourselves: how comfortable are we with the risks in being a driver of change, as opposed to the risks of being a follower of change? But the greatest risk of all comes from doing nothing at all. Simply maintaining the status quo today is one of the fastest paths we can take into irrelevance.”

Howarth was followed by David Chuter, Managing Director and CEO at the IMCRC. Chuter took a closer look at Industry 4.0, the wave of technological advances sweeping the world of manufacturing, and how Australia can capitalise on the resulting opportunities. He also described the work the IMCRC is engaged in to help manufacturers in this country to seize that potential.

“We’re seeing an explosion of opportunity with this thing called the Internet of Things (IoT),” said Chuter. “Fifty billion connected devices – it’ll just keep growing. If you look at emerging technology trends, the IoT is the single biggest investment opportunity the world has seen. We’re seeing $1.4 trillion invested in the IoT. So what are the opportunities for Australian manufacturing in Australia?”

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Next on stage was Dr Nico Adams, the IMCRC’s Program Lead for Digital Transformation as well as a Senior Research Scientist in CSIRO’s Data61 business unit.

Adams’s presentation offered more detail on Industry 4.0 and the practicialities of its implementation, with case studies of companies who have taken the lead in this area.

“Forget about the technology,” said Adams. “It’s not about the technology. The technology is merely an enabler to certain business outcomes. What the technology does in essence is to allow you to digitise your value chains, and in that way to change the way in which you create and capture value.”

The real-world challenges of embracing Industry 4.0 were explored next by Dr Steve Dowey, Technology Manager at Sutton Tools and RMIT Senior Research Fellow.

Sutton has been on a digital journey for a few years now, most recently deploying a low-cost IoT solution for factory visualisation at its plant in Thomastown, Victoria. Dowey offered a practical illustration of what steps Australian SMEs can take to reap the benefits of digitalisation.

“We’re entering the ‘Era of Connection’” said Dowey. “In this Era there are lots of opportunities that you can leverage. What we’re seeing is advanced manufacturing technologies that will enable products we’ve never seen before.”

After the delegates broke off for a networking lunch, the afternoon began with two panel discussions examining specific aspects of Industry 4.0. The Research & Training Panel comprised Mark Raphael from RMIT University and Shanti Krishnan and Professor Bronwyn Fox from Swinburne University of Technology, who discussed the challenges of training the workforce of the future and how their organisations are meeting that challenges. This was followed by a Technology Applications Panel, featuring Matt Minio of Objective 3D, Jason Bouyer of Balluff, and Mark Dudman of Kaeser Compressors Australia, who talked about some of the latest innovations at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology.

Finally, Gavin Smith, President and Chairman of Robert Bosch Australia, gave the concluding address. As both a provider of manufacturing technology and a global renowned manufacturer in its own right, Bosch is spearheading the adoption of Industry 4.0 wordlwide. Smith discussed some of the strategies his company is putting in place, and the broader implications for industry.

“For us, we’re not only on the supply side of the Industrial Internet, but we’re also significantly on the demand side,” said Smith. “We understand that we have to change and upgrade our factories, otherwise in our future we may not be competitive.”

Industry news

Positive outlook for the industry One theme that recurred throughout the conference was the current strength of manufacturing in Australia.

“There’s a narrative that exists in this country to say that manufacturing is on the way out,” said Howarth. “Now you and I know that is not the case. When we see headlines about the car industry being shut down, that narrative builds up very quickly. But for anyone to suggest that manufacturing in this country is on the way out is first utterly wrong, and secondly disingenuous about the future of this country.”

Chuter echoed Howarth’s remarks, emphasising current indicators that show a highly postive outlook for the industry.

Brad Howarth

David Chuter

Gavin Smith

Dr Nico Adams

“We’ve had a bit of doom and gloom, but manufacturing’s going really well in Australia at the moment,” said Chuter. “Despite the end of vehicle production, we’re racing ahead next month for a potential 14 months of uninterrupted growth in the sector. In a survey from Commonwealth Bank last year on the proportion of industry that is innovation-active, manufacturing topped the list. We’ve seen in the Budget last year, another $100m invested by the Commonwealth Government. The signs are good.”

A success to build on The AMTIL National Conference was attended by a total of 122 delegates, who between presentations and discussions with exhibitors, also enjoyed a series of networking breaks throughout the day and a cocktail function that brought the event to a close. For AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti, the event was a great success that has lain the ground for similar events in the future.

“I think it’s been a very successful day,” said Infanti. “The presentations have been fascinating, and the feedback from the delegates I’ve spoken to has been really good. I’d like to thank the team at AMTIL, particularly our Events Manager Kim Banks, for delivering a terrific event. This was the first AMTIL National Conference, and our aim is for it to become a regular fixture on the industry’s calender in the years to come. Today’s event has provide a great platform for us to build on.”

There were more positive remarks from Shane Rolton, Director at Wysiwyg 3D and Pro Z 3D Solutions, which were among the companies exhibiting alongside

the Conference: “It was a wonderful experience. The presenters were most informative. I took notes and have actually made a couple of changes to one of our business models, based on one of the presentations. And we’ve probably got three or four really good leads.”

With the industry around the world facing unprecedented change, opportunities to exchange information and learn where the latest technology is heading are vital for Australian manufacuturers. That’s where events such as the AMTIL National Conference are crucial – a point underlined most eloquently in Howarth’s keynote speech.

“What can we do to understand what other options lie out there?” said Howarth. “We need to get some height, get a better view of the environment in which we live. Which is why events like this are so absolutely critical. Your ability to network among your peers, exchange ideas and speak to the exhibitors gathered here, provides you with a level of insight you didn’t have when you turned up. The solutions to the problems that lie ahead are actually already here today. You’ve just got to ask the right questions, and that starts with having the curiosity to do it.” www.amtil.com.au

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Government news

IP Australia helps create world-first trademark database platform

IP Australia, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Melbourne are working together to create a single, internationally linked trademark database called ‘TMlink’.

Currently, trademark databases are country-specific. The TMLink database is a world-first platform that links trademark application numbers across countries, which shows how trademarks are used in different markets, opening up new opportunities for global research in brand behaviour, trends, and patterns. Currently, TMlink includes trademark data from Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand and the US. In future, the database will expand to incorporate trademark data from other major economies around the world, including the UK, Germany, France, China, Japan and South Korea.

Country-specific trade mark databases make it expensive, if not unviable, for analysing global aspects of branding and trademark policy issues. However, TMlink takes the burden away from business and

Craig Laundy, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.

links national trademark data registers on the basis of company names, trademark text, and sector classification numbers to form a comprehensive global database that will facilitate market research. “The aim of the project is to provide insights

into the foreign trade interests of Australian businesses,” said Craig Laundy, Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. “By knowing what is already registered in each jurisdiction, companies will be able to make evidence-based decisions on if they should enter and if they should register IP in that market. This central database will continue to grow and we hope to include every country that the World Intellectual Property Organization works with.”

IP Australia has already contributed 1.4m trademarks to the database, covering the period 1906-2015, while the US register included 7.4m trademarks filed between 1884 and 2015. To receive access to the data, email: chiefeconomist@Ipaustralia. gov.au. www.ipaustralia.gov.au

Jobs of the future on agenda for CSIRO Innovation Fund

Companies developing new ways to diagnose cancer, platforms to connect work and learning, next-generation WiFi chips and quantum computing firmware are among the first to receive investment from Main Sequence Ventures, manager of the $200m CSIRO Innovation Fund.

Main Sequence Ventures is led by veteran venture capitalist Bill Bartee along with a team of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with extensive experience in science and technology.

Acting Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Senator Michaelia Cash, said the launch of Main Sequence Ventures is an important step to ensure we can further harness Australian innovation to create new enterprises and the jobs of tomorrow.

“As part of the Turnbull Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda, the CSIRO Innovation Fund is designed to ensure our world-class research can be turned into the jobs and economic growth of the future,” Minister Cash said.

Main Sequence Ventures will support new spin-out and start-up companies, and SMEs engaged in the translation of research generated in the Australian publicly funded research sector. Main Sequence Ventures’ first investments – in Q-Ctrl, Intersective, Morse Micro and Maxwell MRI – are expected to create more than 60 new jobs.

CSIRO Chief Executive Larry Marshall said Australia has never been short of great ideas, but the value is rarely captured domestically: “Australia’s scientists are world leaders, but investing in sciencedriven innovation is hard – it needs the

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Bill Bartee leads the Main Sequence Ventures team ©Copyright Wheeler Studios.

horsepower of Australia’s national science agency behind it. Science can drive change across the economy despite global disruption, improve our nation’s health and sustainability and make business globally competitive.

“This is a Team Australia effort, with the Fund investing in the best ideas across the research community. This will help Australia better capture the value of science, deliver impact and drive the jobs and industries of the future.”

“Our first investments are giving us a great start in backing ambitious entrepreneurs to build important and growing companies,” said Bartee. “Q-Ctrl has the potential to provide the firmware framework for quantum computers, Morse Micro is building the next generation of WiFi chip, Intersective is using data science to better equip our workers for the future, and Maxwell MRI is changing the way we detect and diagnose prostate cancer.

“This is some of the best and most exciting research from the Australian innovation sector, and we look forward to working with them to realise their potential in the commercial market. We at Main Sequence Ventures know that this is only the beginning, and many more high-potential companies will be able to grow from our investments. We look forward to working with Australia’s deep tech founders to build epic companies.” www.mseq.vc

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voice box Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

CSIRO’s new chapter

On 8 November, CSIRO CEO Dr Larry Marshall addressed the National Press Club on the topic ‘Building tomorrow’s industries from today’s science’. Below is an edited excerpt from his speech.

We used to be a nation of proud innovators.

Aussie ingenuity created industries out of a barren landscape. But as we’ve become more connected to the rest of the world, our reliance on Aussie ingenuity has waned. Instead of pride in our powers of innovation, we’re now proud early adopters of solutions from across the seas.

So I want to tell you about a new chapter in your national science agency, a chapter written to solve these seemingly unsolvable problems – because that’s what science does. I’m going to talk to you about three changes at CSIRO: Speed; Market Vision; and Reinvention. Speed to take science off the lab bench and turn it into real world benefit at an accelerated pace, recognising the speed of change in the world around us. Market Vision to find the pivot in our national industries that will secure our advantage, before someone else beats us to it. And Reinvention to realise the next leaps forward for each of our industries.

CSIRO revealed its machine to the public in 1970. It was smaller, quieter, used less power, and spun wool 12 times faster than anything on the planet. By 1976, more than 1,600 machines had been exported and Australian wool was once again competitive with synthetics. But the story doesn’t end there. The following decade, we developed ‘Sirospun’ to spin and twist yarns in one operation, cutting costs by 40%. And it still isn’t over – as you’ll see later.

Australia’s history shows we have a rich heritage of innovation – so why have we self-twisted this yarn? Why are we more comfortable adopting other people’s innovation than investing in our own?

Whatever the cause, Australians don’t look to science for solutions the way they used to anymore.

CSIRO isn’t changing because science has changed, but because in times of change it’s easy to forget that we’ve been here before.

We’ve been disrupted. We’ve closed down old industries and we’ve created new ones.

And the answers weren’t always obvious, but we knew where to start looking.

Innovation is about highest value not lowest price; lowest price is a race to the bottom. Silicon Valley’s foundation was the silicon chip, the science that created Intel.

Intel manufactured domestically, retrained automotive and white goods workers, and created massive economic value. Then Intel expanded to Israel, and laid the foundation for Israel’s own innovation ecosystem.

Science created thriving ecosystems that drove platforms of prosperity for generations.

Australians have historically been phenomenal innovators, going all the way back, at least 65,000 years. From rendering poisonous seeds edible, to the aerodynamic genius of the boomerang, to the environmentally attuned practise of ‘firestick farming’, Australia’s first people invented incredible breakthroughs to support life down under. Even as Australia became more connected to other nations, we took pride in our own ingenuity.

In Australia, we don’t have that ecosystem… not yet. But CSIRO can do for Australia what Intel did for Silicon Valley and Israel. I’m not saying we should copy other country’s innovation, that’s not very innovative. We have our own potential, our own strengths, and our own opportunities – Australia will be its own, unique ecosystem.

I said we were writing a new chapter for CSIRO – it’s about three changes: Speed, Vision, and Reinvention.

Let me tell you briefly about one invention.

In the 1940s and 50s, the textiles industry was disrupted by synthetics, most notably the invention of polyester. Australia’s wool industry had to respond, but the process of spinning wool into fabric hadn’t changed in more than 200 years. Then one wet Wednesday in February 1961, CSIRO physicists David Henshaw and Gordon Walls unravelled the challenge that had tied their peers up in knots. They reinvented the wool itself. They called it self-twisting yarn, created with a new kind of machine.

The pair was given a shed in Geelong where they secretly tinkered with the new machine.

Speed

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We’re increasing speed through two new programs, with support from the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA).

Two years ago, we created the national science accelerator, called ON. ON teaches Australian scientists how to build a bridge from lab bench to customer. It’s designed to take the best ideas from the whole Australian research sector out into market, speeding up their ability to make a difference in people’s lives. More than 200 teams, from 30 institutions, have taken their benchtop breakthroughs to beta concepts.

It brings the entire research sector closer to

Australian industry – aiming squarely at our ranking as one of the lowest collaborating nations in the OECD. These amazing solutions from science include a polymer called Transpirational which is sprayed onto soil to lock in moisture and fertiliser for crops, while reducing evaporation and nutrient runoff into nearby bodies of water, like the Great Barrier Reef. There’s a livestock feed supplement called FutureFeed made from seaweed that’s lower cost and more nutritious, and reduces methane emissions from cattle. And there’s a facial recognition technology called ePat that identifies when non-verbal patients are in pain. These are just three examples out of 200 teams delivering Australia’s brilliant science into the hands of real people where it can solve real problems. And they’re creating some of the jobs of the future, in AgTech, ecofarming and MedTech.

But in Australia, science is perceived as a risky investment. That’s why we launched Main Sequence Ventures, the national Innovation Fund. The Fund is designed to bridge the challenges many deep science ideas face when starting up. It will support new start-ups and existing SMEs engaged in the translation of science from all Australian Universities, once again strengthening our national innovation ecosystem. Very appropriately the Fund includes money created by another Australian innovation, WiFi. Like WiFi, the name of the Fund comes from space science. Few stars make it to the Main Sequence, but when they do, they burn longer and brighter, and nurture growth for all around them. Growth of Australia’s own, unique innovation strengths – a lot like that shed out the back in Geelong.

Last week we announced the first investments. Q-CRTL is developing firmware to control the chaos of quantum computing. Morse Micro is developing low-energy WiFi to connect everything to everything. Intersective provides experiential learning to retrain us for those jobs of the future. And Maxwell MRI is using Artificial Intelligence to detect prostate cancer.

Again, we can see here the industries of the future: quantum computing, the Internet of Things, and better healthcare through artificial intelligence.

With ON taking Australian research from benchtop to beta, and Main Sequence Ventures funding the jump from beta to

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buyer, CSIRO is speeding up the creation the industries of the future.

Vision The second change I want to talk about is Market Vision, a fundamental shift from science push, to market pull. Companies like Intel had a vision of computers that others couldn’t see because it was impossible, but science makes the impossible, possible. Intel used science to make their vision happen.

We have a market vision for Australia’s future, one that’s already beginning to deliver. To deepen the connection between our science and the needs of industry, over the past 12 months we’ve developed a series of Industry Roadmaps, in partnership with Industry Growth Centres.

They pinpoint Australia’s opportunities to transform our major industries with science, and there’s a common thread running through them – sometimes it’s selftwisting wool, sometimes carbon fibre.

Commodities compete on price – unique products compete on value. Science creates new value. In the past, we’ve unleashed our science on the world as an idea, undeveloped like a raw material dug from the ground. And much like our mineral wealth, which we’ve dug up and shipped away, our ideas have realised their potential elsewhere, creating value, jobs and opportunity in other countries.

This isn’t sustainable. For decades, we’ve made money exporting mineral sands, worth pennies per pound. It’s time to shift our focus to creating our own high-value products.

We started with a small step, by turning sand into titanium ink for 3D printing.

Then we thought bigger, and created a replacement sternum that saved a young woman in New York – a first for the US – and in so doing, propelling a small Aussie SME called Anatomics to the world stage.

We’ve seen where this story leads before: Intel turned sand into a unique high-value material, silicon. With the right market vision, science is the fulcrum to pivot our economy.

Now I can tell you the rest of the wool story…

After reinventing wool, we partnered with another Aussie SME called Textor to invent a novel way to weave paper in three dimensions. The novel process required a completely new approach to manufacturing, but the resulting paper was so absorbent, it’s now being used in nappies around the world by Kimberly Clarke. But that’s still not the end of the story, because next they looked at new kind of fibre.

Carbon fibre is a next-generation material, delivering ultra-low weight, superb stiffness, and high conductivity. It’s being used in everything from bicycles and tennis rackets, to wind turbine blades, right through to my personal favourite: aviation and space. In fact, we’ve already helped yet another Aussie SME, Carbon Revolution, to develop carbon fibre wheels, for the latest model Ford Mustang.

But carbon fibre is only made by a handful of manufacturers around the world, each of whom hold their own secret, patented recipe. In partnership with Deakin University, CSIRO has cracked the code [and made] carbon fibre from scratch in Australia, from Australia’s own top secret recipe. Just as their forebears created new industries and jobs in wool with their invention, the CSIRO and Deakin team has taken the first step towards reinventing generations of new jobs in carbon fibre manufacturing here in Australia – not far, in fact, from that historic shed in Geelong.

It’s also worth noting that our Advanced Manufacturing Industry Roadmap has mapped the path for carbon fibre in Australia over the coming years, and the future is in good shape. So we’re picking up the pace with ON and Main Sequence ventures, and we’re delivering higher value and vision to industry.

Reinvention The third and final change is the power of science to reinvent. Science creates new value when it makes the impossible possible; it inspires us to take leaps of faith into the future, well beyond what seems possible today. It inspired me as a kid in primary school, watching the Moon landing. And it inspires kids in schools today, entranced by our Pluto fly-by or the Cassini crash into Saturn – all received, by the way, by Australia’s national science agency as part of our 50-year partnership with NASA. So to ensure our reach exceeds our gaze, we’ve created six Future Science Platforms (FSPs), each closely aligned with the market vision we created for reinventing each of Australia’s major industries. Now, let me tell you about two new FSPs that we haven’t even announced yet, designed to create industries that don’t even exist yet.

The first is Hydrogen Energy. We invented the hydrogen “cracker” – it creates hydrogen from ammonia. Ammonia is already transported all around the world using existing liquid fuel infrastructure, so it’s faster in every sense than charging an electric car. In May, we launched a project with BOC, Hyundai and Toyota to turn ammonia into fuel for cars. Not only

is hydrogen a renewable energy source, but it’s also energy storage, something we need to stabilise the grid as we introduce more renewables. Those same renewables, like solar energy, can produce hydrogen directly, enabling Aussie sunshine to be exported around the world as a renewable liquid energy.

The second new industry is Precision Health, creating a healthier future for all Australians. We all know Australia has exceptional medical research, but it’s largely focused on treatment rather than prevention. We’re creating new foods and new diagnostics to reduce diabetes, obesity, infectious diseases and certain cancers. In fact, we’ve demonstrated the first scientific proof that data saves lives. We developed new software tools to accurately forecast demand and help ensure access to emergency care and a hospital bed, and we’re currently rolling this out in Queensland hospitals. The tools have 90% accuracy, and if the entire country used the tool, we could save a huge $23m from the health budget every year.

In partnership with universities and industry, our FSPs are imagining – and creating – the industries of the future, that will grow the jobs of the future, that we and our children need.

I hope I’ve reassured you, and perhaps even intrigued you, that your national science agency is speeding up the delivery of solutions from science, has a market vision to see the global changes before they hit us, and is reinventing industries to deliver the jobs of the future. I hope you’re also a little more optimistic about Australia’s future now you’ve had a glimpse of these ephemeral “jobs of the future” – how our children’s imaginations will turn the commodities of old into custom aerospace or electric car components, or unique foods that extend life itself, or export 100% renewable clean fuels to power the engine of the world.

My biggest hope is that as a nation, we will start to back ourselves again – because if we don’t, we can’t possibly succeed in tomorrow’s world. If we don’t back our own abilities, we will see these industries – and the jobs they create – being developed in other countries, at our expense.

In times of change, it’s easy to forget we’ve been here before. We’ve been disrupted.

We’ve reinvented old industries, and we’ve created new ones. We’ve woven our own success and we’ve spun out new industries – and not just the ones relating to fibre.

We can – we must – we will do it again. www.csiro.au

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voice box Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

Digital twinning: The future of manufacturing?

Today, the most innovative manufacturing businesses are often the ones taking advantage of the new wave of industry-transforming technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). Industry 4.0 is the next phase of the digitisation of the manufacturing sector, and a term called ‘digital twinning’ is gaining in popularity. By Terri Hiskey, Vice President Product Marketing, Manufacturing at Epicor Software.

The concept of digital twinning has gained momentum in recent years as more manufacturers invest in smart machines that are transforming the industrial landscape. Defined as the mapping of a physical asset to a digital platform, digital twinning is enabling manufacturers to gather data from sensors on their machines to find out how they are performing in real time.

Earlier in the year, Gartner (an American research and advisory firm), named digital twinning as number five in its top ten strategic technology trends for 2017. It predicts that within three to five years, billions of things will be represented by digital twins, and a recent Research and Markets report suggests that up to 85% cent of all IoT platforms will contain some form of digital twinning capability by 2022.

Furthermore, this survey found that 75% of executives across a broad spectrum of industry verticals plan to incorporate them within their operations by 2020.

So why should manufacturers be taking digital twinning seriously? It is because when we start connecting IoT endpoints, devices and physical assets to datasensing and gathering systems, the data extracted can be turned into valuable insights and ultimately optimise and automate processes. Consequently, the potential for digital twinning to positively impact business outcomes are almost endless.

Bridging the physical-digital divide Digital twins are possible for all kinds of physical products—from microchips to luxury cars. In fact, one industry that has trail blazed the use of the technology is Formula 1. Here, crucial, race-winning insights can be gained from a digital twin running exactly the same race as the physical car, taking into account factors such as road conditions, weather, and temperature.

For manufacturers, digital twins are used to boost efficiency and productivity by enabling companies to monitor the construction of plants, manage assets, and to test its final products.

Take predictive maintenance, for example.

This is where sensors continuously collect machine condition data which can be used to calculate component wear rates, production loads and life spans. With digital twinning, the machine operator is able to determine the optimal time for maintenance, avoiding the cost both of major repairs and premature or unnecessary maintenance.

The potential savings from digital twins are enormous, especially when it comes to prototyping. With conventional product development, physical prototypes tend not to be built until very late in the process. Having twinned a device, a digital prototype can be used to run simulations in virtual reality that can be modified at any time at minimal cost through the entirety of the production process. This means that manufacturers are then able to not only reduce development time and costs, but to also move into the area of being able to predict failure scenarios and potential downtime – an insight that provides a significant and valuable step forward to increasing efficiencies in product development.

Gaining real insight By creating a virtual representation of each physical device, manufacturers suddenly have a wealth of data on production processes and performance at their fingertips. But what can they do with all this information?

Software platforms are available that collect data directly from equipment and operators on the shop floor in real time.

This information is presented on touchscreen technology, which arms operators and managers with a 360-degree picture of the what, why and when of downtime, cycle time, quality, and scrap.

From on-the-fly production schedule changes, to daily operations meetings, to management dashboards and reports, manufacturing execution systems (MESs) give everyone in the plant, and throughout the business, an opportunity to take action to improve manufacturing performance.

These systems can also be linked with enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to connect the entire business to the actual manufacturing process.

Digital twinning in action We’re seeing innovative new ways in which the information derived from digital twinning is utilised in different businesses around the world, and ‘immersive analytics’ has become a popular term to describe the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other new display technologies to support analytical reasoning of sensor data.

Donning wearable technology such as smart glasses, manufacturing engineers can enter a new world of visualising data relating to a specific product or task. For example, a maintenance team arriving at a building can gain access to an augmented reality view of hidden systems (for instance, equipment behind a wall) to see what is there as well as information and its status.

With a touch of a button, the worker is linked to real-time information about the object, such as specs and usage data, ownership, maintenance history and performance.

Though AR use is growing, it’s still in the early phases of awareness and adoption.

But for early adopters, AR has helped drive operational efficiency by reducing production downtime, identifying problems quickly, and keeping processes moving.

With so many benefits for manufacturers it is clear that the digital twin is here to stay. In a world where new products need to reach the market in ever-faster cycles and on demand, companies cannot afford to miss out on the power of digitalisation to improve efficiency, quality and productivity. Making these savings on time and money will not only streamline business in the short term but enable manufacturers to refocus that time and money into preparing for growth.

The technology offers manufacturers a chance to be ahead of their machinery and anticipate and prepare for costly downtime.

Those who realise the value in investing in digital twinning now will be able to work smarter and harder in the future, however, those who are unwilling to commit to investment are at risk of falling behind more efficiency-driven competitors. By bridging the gap between the physical and digital world, the future of manufacturing is already here. www.epicor.com/australia

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Does the next industrial revolution spell the end of manufacturing jobs?

Robots have been taking our jobs since the 1960s. So why are politicians and business leaders only now becoming so worried about robots causing mass unemployment?

It comes down to the question of what a robot really is. While science fiction has often portrayed robots as androids carrying out tasks in the much the same way as humans, the reality is that robots take much more specialised forms. Traditional 20th century robots were automated machines and robotic arms building cars in factories. Commercial 21st century robots are supermarket self-checkouts, automated guided warehouse vehicles, and even burger-flipping machines in fastfood restaurants.

Ultimately, humans haven’t become completely redundant because these robots may be very efficient but they’re also kind of dumb. They do not think, they just act, in very accurate but very limited ways.

Humans are still needed to work around robots, doing the jobs the machines can’t, and fixing them when they get stuck. But this is all set to change thanks to a new wave of smarter, better-value machines that can adapt to multiple tasks. This change will be so significant that it will create a new industrial revolution.

collectively studied using what is known as “big data” analysis. This will help identify ways to improve operating performance and production quality across the whole plant, for example by better predicting when maintenance is needed and automatically scheduling it.

to deploy cost-effective, multipurpose and collaborative machines as standard.

This will lead to industrial growth and market competitiveness, with a greater understanding of production processes leading to new high-quality products and digital services.

For small-to-medium manufacturing businesses, Industry 4.0 will make it cheaper and easier to use robots. It will create machines that can be reconfigured to perform multiple jobs and adjusted to work on a more diverse product range and different production volumes. This sector is already beginning to benefit from reconfigurable robots designed to collaborate with human workers and analyse their own work to look for improvements, such as Baxter, SR-Tex and CareSelect.

Exactly what impact a smarter robotic workforce with the potential to operate on its own will have on the manufacturing industry, is still widely disputed. Artificial intelligence as we know it from science fiction is still in its infancy. It could well be the 22nd century before robots really have the potential to make human labour obsolete by developing not just deep learning but true artificial understanding that mimics human thinking.

While these machines are getting smarter, they are still not as smart as us. Today’s industrial artificial intelligence operates at a narrow level, which gives the appearance of human intelligence exhibited by machines, but designed by humans.

This era of “Industry 4.0” is being driven by the same technological advances that enable the capabilities of the smartphones in our pockets. It is a mix of low-cost and high-power computers, high-speed communication and artificial intelligence.

This will produce smarter robots with better sensing and communication abilities that can adapt to different tasks, and even coordinate their work to meet demand without the input of humans.

What’s coming next is known as “deep learning”. Similar to big data analysis, it involves processing large quantities of data in real time to make decisions about what is the best action to take. The difference is that the machine learns from the data so it can improve its decision making. A perfect example of deep learning was demonstrated by Google’s AlphaGo software, which taught itself to beat the world’s greatest Go players.

In the manufacturing industry, where robots have arguably made the most headway of any sector, this will mean a dramatic shift from centralised to decentralised collaborative production.

Traditional robots focused on single, fixed, highspeed operations and required a highly skilled human workforce to operate and maintain them. Industry 4.0 machines are flexible, collaborative and can operate more independently, which ultimately removes the need for a highly skilled workforce.

The turning point in applying artificial intelligence to manufacturing could come with the application of special microchips called graphical processing units (GPUs).

These enable deep learning to be applied to extremely large data sets at extremely fast speeds. But there is still some way to go and big industrial companies are recruiting vast numbers of scientists to further develop the technology.

For large-scale manufacturers, Industry 4.0 means their robots will be able to sense their environment and communicate in an industrial network that can be run and monitored remotely. Each machine will produce large amounts of data that can be

As Industry 4.0 technology becomes smarter and more widely available, manufacturers of any size will be able

Ideally, Industry 4.0 will enable human workers to achieve more in their jobs by removing repetitive tasks and giving them better robotic tools. In theory, this would allow us humans to focus more on business development, creativity and science, which it would be much harder for any robot to do. Technology that has made humans redundant in the past has forced us to adapt, generally with more education.

But because Industry 4.0 robots will be able to operate largely on their own, we might see much greater human redundancy from manufacturing jobs without other sectors being able to create enough new work.

Then we might see more political moves to protect human labour, such as taxing robots.

Again, in an ideal scenario, humans may be able to focus on doing the things that make us human, perhaps fuelled by a basic income generated from robotic work. Ultimately, it will be up to us to define whether the robotic workforce will work for us, with us, or against us.

Jeff Morgan is a manufacturing research engineer at Trinity College Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. This article was originally published by The Conversation. www.tcd.ie/mecheng www.theconversation.com

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Tech News

Hong Kong: Twisted tower of 3D-printed bricks

full alloy strength. Employing low-cost materials, this new method can be applied to additional alloy families such as high-strength steels and nickel-based superalloys.

A winding, 3.8m tall pavilion utilising nearly 2000 L and T-shaped hollow 3D-printed terracotta bricks is reaching new heights for 3D printing and robotic technology. The “Ceramic Constellation Pavilion” departs from traditional brick bonds because, while it may initially seem like skilled bricklaying, closer inspection reveals something exponentially more complex. The pavilion articulates a load-bearing composite structure with timber and each of the 3D-printed bricks is unique, enabling varying degrees of transparency and morphological shifts. Around 700kg of raw terracotta clay was printed over three weeks into individual bricks that were then fired at 1025 deg.C, requiring 2-3 minutes average printing time per brick. This impressive feat of contemporary architecture poses new questions into the future of 3D printed brick as a building and design material.

HRL Laboratories

University of Hong Kong and mixed

USA: 3D printing with two different alloys Engineers have tested NASA’s first 3D printed rocket engine prototype part – an igniter - made of two different metal alloys (a copper alloy and Inconel). The innovative advanced manufacturing process is called automated blown powder laser deposition. 3D printing with more than one metal is more difficult than using one metal alone, and this process could reduce future rocket engine costs by up to a third and manufacturing time by 50%. Results of testing showed the two metals had inter-diffused, which helps create a strong bond. In traditional manufacturing, igniters are built using a process called brazing which requires significant manual labour. This new process eliminates brazing and allows bi-metallic parts to be built in a single machine. By diffusing the two materials together, a bond is generated internally with the two materials and any hard transition is eliminated that could cause the component to crack under the enormous forces and temperature gradient of space travel.

NASA

Germany: Machinery that repairs itself Researchers are developing maintenance technology capable of forecasting machine downtimes in production before they occur.

The system – named the SelSus Project - even corrects some defects automatically. The aim is not just to monitor the status of the machines and components. Using intelligent software and sensor networks, weak points or signs of wear and tear are detected early enough for the system to be able to predict potential malfunctions.

A welding control on which a sensor has failed, for instance, can continue to work almost seamlessly in a secure mode, without any serious disruptions.

Fraunhofer

USA: Preventing 3D printed alloys from cracking Many alloys cannot be used in 3D printing because they tend to crack from the quick melting and cooling phases, but a metallurgical breakthrough has been developed for successfully 3D printing high-strength aluminium alloys. These alloys are among thousands that were not amenable to 3D printing. 3D printing metals typically begins with alloy powders that are applied in thin layers and heated with a direct heat source to melt and solidify the layers. Normally, if high-strength unweldable aluminium alloys are used, the resulting parts suffer severe hot cracking. This technique solves this problem by decorating high-strength unweldable alloy powders with specially selected nanoparticles. During melting and solidification, the nanoparticles act as nucleation sites for the alloy microstructure, preventing hot cracking and allowing for retention of

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The two metals - copper alloy and Inconel mix and interlock to form a strong bond

USA/Russia: Ultra-light aluminium Aluminium, in its conventional form, is denser than water. But if restructured at the molecular level using computational modelling, an ultra-light crystalline form of aluminium that’s lighter than water can be produced. The researchers started with a known crystal lattice, in this case, a diamond, and substituted every carbon atom with an aluminium tetrahedron. Such a structure is a new, metastable, lightweight form of crystal aluminium. To their amazement, it has a density of only 0.61 grams per cubic centimetre, in contrast to convention aluminium’s density of 2.7 grams, allowing it to float on water. Such a property opens a whole new realm of possible applications for the non-magnetic, corrosive-resistant, abundant, relatively inexpensive and easy-to-produce metal. Nothing is as yet known about its strength, however the breakthrough discovery marks a novel way of approaching material design.

Utah State University

USA: Breakthrough with 3D printed stainless steel “Marine grade” stainless steel is valued for its performance under corrosive environments and for its high ductility. However, conventional techniques for strengthening this class of stainless steels typically comes at the expense of ductility. Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in 3D printing one of the most common forms – called 316L – that promises an unparalleled combination of high-strength and high-ductility. Researchers first had to overcome

Tech Heading News a major bottleneck limiting the potential for 3D printing high-quality metals - ie the porosity caused during the laser melting (or fusion) of metal powders that can cause parts to degrade and fracture easily. Researchers addressed this through a density optimisation process involving experiments and computer modeling, and by manipulating the materials’ underlying microstructure. The team was able to 3D print real components in the lab with the steel, and the material’s performance was actually better than those made with the traditional approach. The methodology could open the floodgates to widespread 3D printing of such stainless steel components, particularly where strong and tough materials are needed to tolerate extreme force in harsh environments.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

UK/USA: Luxury submarine Aston Martin in collaboration with Triton Submarines has produced a uniquely built, three-person, limited-edition submarine codenamed Project Neptune. Aston Martin expects the sub will be available in about a year and will be priced around $4m. The company plans to only build a dozen per year. At 180cm tall and weighing 4,000kg, it’s the lightest and smallest three-person submarine in the world. It’s capable of diving to 500m and has a speed of 3 knots.

USA: Robotic gripper can screw in light bulbs An engineering team has designed a gripper that can pick up and manipulate objects without needing to see them or requiring training. The unique gripper can twist and sense objects and build models of the objects it’s manipulating, allowing it to operate in low light. It can do this with a wide range of objects, from lightbulbs to screwdrivers. Possessing three fingers, each finger is made of three soft flexible pneumatic chambers, which move when air pressure is applied. Each finger is covered with a smart, sensing skin (conducting carbon nanotubes), conductivity of which changes as the fingers flex, allowing the sensing skin to record and detect when the fingers are moving and coming into contact with an object. The data the sensors generate is transmitted to a control board, which puts the information together to create a 3D model of the object the gripper is manipulating.

University of California

Aston Martin/Bloomberg

Singapore: New fire-resistant coating for steel buildings Australia: 3D printed sternum & rib cage A partnership between CSIRO and Australian medical device company Anatomics has led to the first successful implantation of a 3D printed titanium and polymer sternal and rib cage in a New York patient. Last August, the 20-year-old bone cancer patient, underwent further surgery to replace her implant with a customised sternum and partial ribcage made from 3D printed titanium and combined with Anatomics’ ‘PoreStar’ technology, a unique porous polyethylene material providing “bone-like” architecture to facilitate tissue integration. It is the first time this technology has been used in the USA and only the second time in the world that a 3D-printed composite sternum and ribcage has been implanted.

A few extra coats of ‘paint’ could be all that the steel in a building needs for fire protection. This is via an affordable 3-in-1 coating which also offers corrosion protection (which no other material offers). Named FiroShield, the new coating is cheaper and less laborious to apply, and can function aesthetically like normal paint.

Applied on bare steel without the need for sand blasting, it will protect the material against fire for two hours without falling off. It has also been tested on other materials such as reinforced concrete and laminated timber with the same excellent performance. The base material is made of synthetic resins and the strength comes from a balanced mix of additives, including one that is endothermic – absorbing heat to start a chemical reaction that causes the coating to adhere firmly to the steel. FireShield is expected to last longer when exposed to elements such as moisture and UV rays.

Nanyang Technological University

CSIRO

“Additive manufacturing sets us free” - NextAero. An offshoot of Monash University, NextAero was created to take their world-first rocket engine concepts to the global aerospace industry. Most rockets use a big bell nozzle to guide the exhaust gas. However a rocket is less efficient as it passes through a range of altitudes. There are a few other nozzle shapes which can overcome the problem – one of which is the aerospike. However it is extremely difficult to build. The opportunity for these researchers to work with cutting edge additive manufacturing enabled some of the problems associated with the lucrative aerospike nozzle to be solved.

Over only four months, the team designed, built and tested the extremely complex aerospike which is capable of producing optimum thrust at any altitude - unlike typical designs.

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SPEE3D announces global launch of “game-changing” metal 3D printing

SPEE3D has announced the official global launch and availability of its industrial 3D printers, the world’s first metal 3D printer technology leveraging supersonic 3D deposition (SP3D) to deliver manufacturing-grade printing at production speeds. Designed for scalable, just-in-time production, SPEE3D prints metal parts in a matter of minutes, compared with an industry standard of multiple hours or days.

Headquartered in Melbourne, SPEE3D is committed to helping manufacturers print their parts, their way, when they need them.

The company’s patented technology is designed to solves the key issues the manufacturing industry faces – cost, speed and repeatability. SPEE3D’s printers can manufacture fast, low-cost, casting-grade parts that are ideal for a range of commercial and industrial applications. SPEE3D produces parts from brackets and manifolds to engine components in single or high-volume production quantities, economically, on demand and at speeds that are 100 to 1,000 times faster than traditional metal 3D print technologies.

“SPEE3D was started after I experienced the slow pace and lack of rigor in the high-cost, traditional metal 3D printing industry,” said Byron Kennedy, CEO and co-founder of SPEE3D. “In the past, users had to wait hours or even days to have a standard part delivered to them. Now, SPEE3D can print these same parts in mere minutes, on-site and in real time. This enables the accessibility of just-in-time production – allowing manufacturers the choice and flexibility of printing 10,000 parts or just a single part with ease.”

SPEE3D’s industrial printers are now available globally and give control back to manufacturers by increasing the speed and simplifying the process of metal 3D printing. The global casting market was valued at almost US$200bn in 2015, and in 2017 $56bn was focused specifically on aluminium parts. Rather than using heat to melt metal powders, SPEE3D’s patented technology uses supersonic deposition in which a rocket nozzle accelerates air up to three times the speed of sound to deliver manufacturing-

grade metal and high-density parts. Aluminium and copper are SPEE3D’s initial focus.

SPEE3D is currently installed at Charles Darwin University where the institution is researching new applications for the technology.

“Being the first organisation to install and run SPEE3D’s technology positions Charles Darwin University at the forefront of advanced manufacturing,” said Rebecca Murray, Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Alliance (AMA) at CDU. “SPEE3D and CDU have developed a strong partnership with the AMA, which is a unique university-industry-trade partnership with the goals to develop real world applications, create procedures and standards, and drive material development.” www.spee3d.com

Seco re-engineers Perfomax to further optimise drilling performance With a new re-engineered design, the Seco Perfomax indexable insert drill delivers higher drilling parameters and longer tool life as well as exceptional chip control and evacuation. The drill’s innovative features include new flute designs with special anti-friction surfaces and laser hardened fronts for added strength, stability and accuracy.

Perfomax flutes feature larger helixes and centre chip areas along with smoother chip flute exits and Seco’s engineered wave pattern that minimises contact between chips and flute surfaces. The drill generates shorter chips that evacuate quickly and easily to significantly reduce the risk of chip jamming for higher application security.

For up to 140% longer drill body tool life, Seco laser hardens the fronts of Perfomax’s flutes. A hardness of HRC 60 allows the drill to withstand chip erosion for much longer periods of time.

The re-engineered design of the Perfomax also creates a bigger radius at the bottom of the drill’s insert pockets for added rigidity.

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The DS2050 and DS4050 insert grades for Perfomax are especially well suited for heat resistant materials like titanium and titanium alloys. The grades enhance productivity and extend tool life thanks to recently developed free-cutting MP and MC geometries. DS2050 are inserts for periphery cutting and DS4050 are those for center cutting. Perfomax drill bodies are available in diameters ranging 15mm to 59mm; in length to diameter ratios of 2xD, 3xD, 4xD and 5xD; and in most spindle interfaces. www.secotools.com

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Rockwell – new line of industrial computers and thin clients Many manufacturers struggle with unreliable human machine interface (HMI) applications that use obsolete operating systems. With the new family of Allen-Bradley VersaView 5000 industrial computers, thin clients and monitors from Rockwell Automation, manufacturers can modernise their standalone or distributed HMI applications to support smart manufacturing.

“The VersaView 5000 portfolio is our latest open architecture HMI or industrial computer offering,” said David Black, Product Manager – Small Controllers & Connected Components at Rockwell Automation. “An open architecture design gives manufacturers greater freedom to install the software that fits their needs. The portfolio also includes our largest ever full-HD screen size, which can display more information and replicate control room displays on the plant floor for more efficient data sharing.”

The VersaView 5000 portfolio, part of the Rockwell Automation scalable compute offerings, includes five products: VersaView 5400 display and nondisplay computers; VersaView 5200 display and nondisplay thin clients; and VersaView 5100 monitors. The display options include an edge-to-edge glass display, a new 22-inch widescreen option, full HD and ten-point multitouch capabilities to help improve operator productivity.

When combined with FactoryTalk View Site Edition software from Rockwell Automation in distributed applications, the VersaView 5400 industrial computers can provide cost-effective compliance with 21 CFR Part 11. The software stores, processes and transmits electronic records and signatures to show which employees have made changes. This is critical for highly regulated industries like life sciences.

The VersaView 5200 thin clients, the first from Rockwell Automation, are designed to be the preferred thin client hardware for use with the company’s ThinManager software. The software centrally manages content and visualisation for every aspect of modern industrial operations. It can help reduce downtime and maintenance by simplifying the management of all devices and users. And its location-based Relevance technology from Rockwell Automation can deliver the right content, to the right worker, at the right time and place.

When used with the ThinManager software, the VersaView 5200 thin clients can start receiving information as soon as they are plugged in. Device configuration is not needed, resulting in faster device replacement. Because information is stored on a server instead of locally, sensitive information is less likely to be lost if a device goes missing. The ThinManager software also provides multifactor user authentication, including biometric authentication using fingerprint scanning.

In addition to the new 22-inch screen size, the VersaView 5000 portfolio includes 12-inch, 15-inch and 19-inch widescreen options.

All screens have 10-point multitouch capabilities.

The VersaView 5000 portfolio also helps reduce maintenance needs. It uses a supercapacitor, which mitigates the need to replace batteries and simplifies air shipment logistics. In addition, an edge-to-edge, all-glass touchscreen reduces cleaning efforts by eliminating the residue buildup that can occur on traditional systems. www.rockwellautomation.com

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Walter – Universal becomes even more universal

Walter’s latest range of system inserts for its universal M4000 milling system has been updated to incorporate a whole new application, adding the milling of aluminium to its range of options. cutters make it such an incredibly costeffective solution. Because the inserts can be used in different cutter types, they make handling much simpler, as well as reducing procurement and storage costs.

Thanks to the new G88 indexable insert geometry, the system has expanded its scope to include the machining of non-ferrous metals such as aluminium.

Available in all three insert sizes – SD06, SD09 and SD12 – the latest G88 geometry variant offers a high degree of flexibility in terms of feed rates, depth of cut, and speeds.

For existing users of Walter’s M4000 system, the new insert geometry has succeeded in making an already universal solution even more universal.

And for those who have yet to try it, the M4000 just became a whole lot more interesting as it debuts its new capability to machine non-ferrous metals such as aluminium. www.walter-tools.com

Even with the added advantage of the new G88 variant, the real selling point for M4000 users is still its system concept, in particular the fact that its universal system inserts and milling

Technology keeps workers safe on site

The new Onsite Safety app uses mobile technology to help enable businesses across Australia to manage the health and safety of their workforce.

According to SafeWork Australia, each year there are more than 107,000 workplace injuries or illnesses, costing employers and the community over $60bn.

Worse, Safe Work Australia data estimates that there were 178 workplace fatalities across Australia in 2016. The Onsite Safety app assists businesses to achieve their safety goals by giving them the ability to connect with employees and contractors out in the field through a smartphone or tablet to help ensure individuals assess the hazards of a task before starting work.

“Managing the health and safety of employees and contractors when they are working out in the field can be extremely challenging for businesses,” says leading health and safety lawyer Michael Tooma.

“It is, nevertheless, an important part of the duty of care that all businesses have. With the increasing remote nature of work, it is crucial that businesses use technological solution to ensure that their workers are not exposed to risks at work. “The new Onsite Safety app helps address this problem by harnessing mobile technology to facilitate vital communication about health and safety risks between businesses and those working out in the field. The Onsite Safety app is free, easy-to-use and a must for businesses across the country.”

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sites, confined spaces and working with chemicals. The information entered by workers using their smartphone or tablet is automatically logged in a portal allowing businesses to track and manage vital safety records in real-time.

The new app has a number of features that businesses in all sectors can access for free including: • Pre-prepared hazard assessment checklists for high risk activities.

• The ability to develop customised hazard assessment checklists.

• An incident-reporting function.

• The ability to share live hazard and incident notifications with GPS tagging.

• A health and safety newsfeed from SafeWork regulators.

The pre-prepared hazard assessment checklists have been developed in consultation with SafeWork NSW and cover the six key high-risk activities responsible for the majority of workplace incidents, including working at heights, electrical work, plant use, vehicle use on construction

Grant Nelson, Director of The Fast Makeover Company, says that Onsite Safety has already proved to be an invaluable workplace tool: “Since we started using the Onsite Safety App, my team now has a straightforward, easy way to manage their safety requirements daily and document any hazards or risks they come across onsite.

“It empowers my team to take responsibility for their own safety and the safety of each other, plus contractors, and keeps them accountable to the company safety policy in a manageable and practical way. This gives me confidence as a business owner when my team is out on the job.”

Onsite Safety is available for download on iOS and Android via the App Store and Google Play. The Onsite Safety app is an Australian-engineered mobile software tool developed by Chocolate Coded. www.onsitesafetyapp.com.au

Product news

Freddy – Comprehensive coolant recycling Coolant management is an important part of efficient CNC machine tool operation, and it is well known that degraded coolant can seriously impact cutting performance and contribute to health and safety issues.

Freddy’s range of coolant recycling machines are designed to vacuum out coolant from machine tool sumps, machine beds, drip trays, conveyors, and even the shop floor using dedicated floor tools, and then recycle it for re-use. The coolant can then either be disposed of or reused.

However, a Freddy does so much more than just vacuuming out the coolant. The in-built filter removes fines, swarf, and any particulates larger than the filter rating of the filter bag - ensuring a significant amount of microscopic particles are removed from the coolant, thereby increasing the life of the coolant and the cutting performance of your tools. Using a Freddy vacuum also reduces the need to come into contact with the coolant, thus removing the likelihood of a worker contracting a skin condition through prolonged contact or having an allergic reaction.

“The cost savings of refiltering coolant are enormous,” said Dimac Managing Director, Paul Fowler. “Regular filtering means that the coolant degrades much slower, therefore lasting longer and requiring less to be bought. And because it remains uncontaminated, the associated WHS risks lessen, and your machine tools live longer.”

Freddy’s extensive range kicks off with the Superminor. The Superminor range is the most widely used and well-established coolant vacuum in the world. It is designed to be easy to maneouvre, featuring a tilt and lift design so it is effortless to empty and is the only Freddy with interchangeable drums to prevent cross contamination between fluids.

The Freddy Micro is the newest addition to the Freddy family. Designed and built to the high standard and specifications that has made Freddy a trusted and respected name, the Freddy Micro offers a new solution to coolant recycling needs. With a smaller footprint, smaller 50-litre capacity and weighing less than any previous Freddy, it offers versatility, mobility and affordability.

3D Printing High Strength Composite Carbon Fibre

The Freddy Midi has the smallest footprint in the Freddy coolant vacuum range measuring just 620mm in width, making it easy to manoeuvre in all workshops.

The Freddy Ecovac is unique in the Freddy coolant recycling vacuum family, as it is the only vacuum to vacuum out and recycle the coolant continuously using an independent pump for return coolant.

The Mark V is one of the largest coolant recycling vacuums that Freddy makes, with tank capacity ranging from 310 to 500 litres. It has a tilting filter tank enabling quick and easy emptying of the 60-litre filter basket. The battery-propelled Mark V is the largest in the Freddy range, with a capacity ranging from 500 to 1,000 litres. Like the standard Mark V, It has a tilting filter tank. Easily manoeuvrable on a battery-propelled chassis, the Mark V can also be battery-operated so it can be used anywhere.

Freddy is a well known and respected UK-based company established in 1962, which supplies international markets with the renowned Mark I filtration machines, originally complementing the de la Pena Oil brand. Since then the company has designed and manufactured the entire Freddy family of industrial vacuums and coolant filtration machines.

“Whichever Freddy you choose you’re guaranteed outstanding quality, ease of use and most importantly - longevity,” added Fowler. “We see Freddys that are almost 30 years old come back to our workshop for an overhaul – once completed, we know they will perform for many more years to come.

“Freddy has always led the way in coolant recycling and the company’s expertise and innovation in this area is unquestioned. Quite simply, Freddy can extend the life of your coolant, lower your operating costs and extend the life of your equipment whilst at the same time protecting your employees.” www.dimac.com.au

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Dassault Systèmes launches SolidWorks 2018

Dassault Systèmes has announced the launch of SolidWorks 2018, the latest release of its portfolio of 3D design and engineering applications.

SolidWorks 2018 features an integrated, end-to-end solution for the design to manufacturing process that enables businesses of any size to rethink their approach to how parts and products are made and quickly bring innovative ideas to market in today’s experience economy.

Powered by Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform, SolidWorks 2018 supports a business’ complete design-through-manufacturing strategy with solutions that simplify the interactions between disciplines across the product development workflow. This unified process leverages smart manufacturing — a connected and seamless flow of data that is available to all teams involved in product development whenever, wherever and in whatever format is needed without having to port data from one system to another.

“Lots of designs involve welding plate and sheet metal parts and most people use ‘tab-and-slot’ techniques for self-fixturing the parts for welding,” said Edson Gebo, owner of design company Digital Detail & Design. “The new tab-and-slot feature saves a lot of time versus having to create these features manually. This will really help get designs to the shop faster.”

In today’s marketplaces, competition is fierce and consumer loyalty is nurtured by businesses that can create compelling experiences that go beyond simply purchasing or using a product. While this inspires businesses to innovate in all aspects of their operations in order to thrive, obsolete organisational structures, processes and tools separate the design and manufacturing aspects of product development and can lead to mistakes impacting collaboration, schedules and budgets. With SolidWorks 2018, teams can collaborate concurrently to more rapidly and cost-efficiently design a product or part, validate its function and manufacturability,

manage its data and related processes, streamline and automate its manufacturing, and inspect it. Any changes in design or manufacturing are fast and easy to manage and automatically flow to all related models, programs, drawings and documentation, thanks to intellectual property embedded early on in the design process.

A key feature of SolidWorks 2018 for this process is SolidWorks CAM, a new application that provides rules-based machining with knowledge capture to allow for the automation of manufacturing programming. Designers and engineers can gain a greater understanding of how their designs are made, make more informed decisions, and quickly create prototype parts and manufacture in-house to control quality, cost and delivery. This application also enables teams to execute new “build to order” strategies with custom parts that are automatically designed and programmed in seconds rather than hours.

“A successful consumer experience must have a well-designed product at its core and an efficient way to produce it. SolidWorks 2018 brings more than just a smarter approach to manufacturing parts or products, it helps businesses translate imagination into innovation and build ecosystems,” said Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, SolidWorks, Dassault Systèmes. “As with past releases, many of SolidWorks 2018’s new tools and enhancements respond to the SolidWorks community’s insight and feedback, equipping them with more power and capabilities to bring great designs to manufacturing faster, with higher quality and at lower costs. Over the next few months, we will roll out additional end-to-end process solutions aimed to help the community further improve its business outcomes.” www.solidworks.com

Magna-Power – DC power supplies up to 2000kW Magna-Power Electronics, a worldwide leader in programmable high-output DC power supplies, has appointed Emona as its Australian and New Zealand distributor.

Magna-Power designs and manufactures robust programmable DC power supplies ranging from 1.25kW to 2,000kW and more. This extraordinarily high DC output range is unique among power supply manufacturers and is a testament to Magna-Power’s renowned expertise in power electronics design, manufacture and service.

Magna-Power’s products are used by thousands of customers worldwide, feeding power to national laboratories, universities, defence and utilities, as

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well as a wide range of industrial sites. Applications for Magna-Power’s DC power supplies include aiding in the manufacture of electric vehicles, simulating solar arrays for development of inverters, steering magnets for particle accelerators, powering radar systems, driving traction controllers for locomotive development, or for cutting-edge energy research at a wide range of universities. www.emona.com.au/magna-power

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AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT

With this October marking the final ending of car assembly operations in Australia, how has the automotive industry responded, what are the implications for manufacturers in supply chains that have been affected, and what does the future hold?

By William Poole.

At 10.45 on the morning of Friday 20 October, a VFII Commodore Redline rolled off the production line at GM Holden’s Elizabeth plant in north Adelaide. A private ceremony was held to commemorate Holden’s manufacturing history and pay tribute to the employees past and present who had helped build the company. And then the factory closed its doors for good.

“Today is about paying tribute to the generations of men and women across Holden and our supply network who have given so much to our company,” said Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mark Bernhard. “Holden is the icon it is today only because of these passionate people. On behalf of everyone at Holden, I thank you for your service from the bottom of my heart.”

The shuttering of the Elizabeth site followed close on the heels of Toyota Australia closing its Altona plant on 3 October, with a ceremony attended by approximately 3,000 people. Ford Australia had already ceased operations in Geelong and Broadmeadows a

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year earlier, so when that Commodore rolled out of Elizabeth, it rolled straight into the history books, as the very last vehicle produced in three-quarters of a century of Australian mass-market car assembly.

All three companies have talked up plans to maintain a continued presence in Australia (beyond their sales dealerships). Holden plans to retain its world-renowned Design Studios and the Lang Lang vehicle Proving Ground near Melbourne, while Toyota intends to develop a Centre of Excellence at Altona, housing expanded design and engineering capabilities. Ford has also retained a product development centre here.

Nonetheless, there’s no avoiding the fact that the closures have marked the end of an era, not just for the big car-makers’ direct employees, but for the numerous small and medium-sized Australian manufaturers who were engaged in their supply chains. So what happens now?

Heading

Toyota Australia held a special ceremony for its employees on 3 October to mark the closure of its Altona plant. Front cover: The final Holden Commodore rolling off the production line at Elizabeth.

VACC – Facing the consequences of the closures As Executive Director of the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC), Geoff Gwilym has a pretty comprehensive perspective on the automotive industry in Australia, and he’s candid in his view that the Government should have done more to prevent the recent closures.

“I think they saw an industry with its hand out, looking for incentives,” he says. “What they didn’t see was 25,000 people employed inside car plants (that’s just inside car plants), a huge contribution to GDP, and a voice that said to the world ‘We can make a car’. When you can make a car, you can make lots of things. When you don’t make cars, that perspective changes entirely. I think there are unintended consequences, which I don’t think Government has any sight of whatsoever.”

With 5,200 members, VACC provides a range of advisory and support services while also engaging in advocacy on automotive policy at a state and federal level. Its membership extends beyond manufacturing to encompass the entire automotive industry; from vehicle dealerships through to mechanics’ workshops, as well as commercial vehicles. It also represents a sizeable constituency of parts manufacturers. Two years ago it took over the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers (FAPM) when that body went into liquidation.

According to Gwilym, having an automotive production sector provides a foundation for boosting capabilities across a country’s manufacturing industry. Originally hailing from the UK, he saw firsthand the consequences of neglecting that foundation, and how hard it can be to rebuild.

Continued next page

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I hope so. While Australia enjoys one of the broadest and most diverse vehicle fleets in the world, its Achilles heel is where small vehicle volume exposure acts as a disincentive for manufacturers to hold parts locally.”

Gwilym believes the recent closures may not ultimately mark the end of Australian car-making: “I’ve said publicly that in 10 years, we can build cars again. Electric cars. If you think about electric cars, you can build a car in a different way. You may be building high-quality, low-volume vehicles. I think our capability here allows us to move into a different type of car manufacture – highly mechanised, highquality, low-volume.”

Overall Gwilym anticipates some contraction in the sector, but he believes that those companies that had taken prompt action to prepare should survive and thrive.

Geoff Gwilym, Executive Director of VACC. Continued from previous page

“The capability in auto can be pushed across a whole range of industries and processes,” he explains. “We need to capture that and capitalise on that now, because in five years most of that would have washed out. When the UK decided it didn’t want to make cars any more, they lost a lot of capability and it took them a long time to regain it. Now, they’re making well over 1.5m cars again, but rebuilding that capability has taken a long time.”

Another concern lies in the erosion of the framework that provides skills that are needed throughout manufacturing.

“If we want a community full of baristas with double-degrees, keep doing what you’re doing because that’s where we’re going,” says Gwilym. “I worry about the universities that teach automotive engineering or design. It will be a challenge for them to encourage students into those degrees when the industry we’ve got left is much smaller. If you want to work in vehicle manufacturing, unless it’s with parts or special vehicles like Tomcar, its less likely you will be working locally. You’ll be somewhere else. I’d be interested to see how universities retain the student flowthrough for automotive enginnering students, that they need to maintain course viability.

Even with that great ‘windfall’ for Australia of attracting international students into higher education – I’m wondering how we’ll sell courses around automotive design and manufacturing without a car manufacturer in town. So those are just some unintended consequences of Government not supporting the industry.”

“There’s still 2,500 automotive parts manufacturers in Australia, manufacturing parts for cars, buses, trucks, trailers – anything with wheels. My feeling is you’ll get about a 20% immediate drop in business and employment, but I think we’ll find an equilibrium where manufacturers can survive, particularly around specialist, highquality products. If they started to diversify five years ago, they’ve probably got a positive future.”

Indeed that move towards diversification is already being reflected in VACC’s plans for the FAPM. “We’re changing the word ‘Automotive’ to ‘Advanced’ – the Federation of Advanced Product Manufacturing,” Gwilym explains.

“That’s being rebuilt right now – new website, new strategic direction –and early next year we’ll go to the market and do a membership drive. It will be automotive-plus. This recognises that lots of manufacturers who make automotive parts now will continue to make them, but they’ll be engaged in advanced manufacturing across a range of products. I don’t think in the future we’ll be talking about automotive parts manufacturers, instead we’ll be talking about parts manufacturers that also make automotive stuff.”

Parish Engineering – Diversification through acquisition One company that didn’t delay in diversifying has been Parish Engineering. Established in 1932, the company manufactures precision components for industries including defence, aerospace and mining from its factory in Moorabbin, SE of Melbourne. However, the automotive sector had long provided the bulk of its business, leaving it significantly exposed. Around five years ago, Parish began seeking to diversify, culminating in late 2016 with the takeover of Longworth Engineering.

“We were very heavily into automotive, probably around 70%80%,” says Paul Rafferty, Parish’s Business Development Manager.

Despite these issues, Gwilym believes Australian manufacturers have the skills and ingenuity to overcome the challenges in a landscape that the large auto-makers have left.

“I think we do have a positive future,” he says. “We have a highly skilled workforce, a high level of general education, a labour pool you can draw upon to make and do things. The after-market is going to continue to grow. Here’s a big challenge for Australia: when you make cars, you make parts. When you don’t make cars, your focus on local parts manufacturer also changes, dramatically.

I am concerned about the availablity and wait times for parts in the future, because they’ll predominently be manufactured offshore, unless parts manufacturers in Australia get into that supply chain. If you have to wait six weeks for a brake cable it’s because the parts are not being held locally. There’s a role there for a local manufacturer under a licence to global manufacturers. Ironically the wait for parts may actually help facilitate local manufacturing.

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Parish Engineering’s Executive Director Paul Rafferty.

AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT Parish Engineering’s plant in Moorabbin.

further expansion of the Longworth Air Fitting range, both locally and overseas, is very positive. A lot of these fittings are brought in from overseas, and we’re finding our product is actually competitive price-wise. It was surprising to hear how many people were of the belief that products such as these were no longer manufactured in this country.”

Rafferty believes the fact Parish saw that the Australian automotive industry did not offer long-term security, and began planning for that fact promptly, has been crucial in ensuring its future.

“There was a lot of moving offshore, with the components that were being supplied,” he says. “They started off with pressed components originally, going back 10-15 years ago, then they started moving onto turned components, which is what we do. The amount of work coming from offshore was going to really hit us hard.

“We’d be in a very different position now, had we not started working back then, because to get into new product and get it into the market, you really need a good 5-10 years. It’s not something you do overnight. Any companies looking at trying to get out of automotive just now – it’s just too late. You had to really be working on it at least five years ago.”

While Parish’s measures to diversify have clearly been a success, the company does still have some automotive clients. However its current arrangement is very different to the days when it was heavily dependent on the local car-makers.

“But we started working vigorously in the last five years on getting out of the industry because the writing was on the wall. When we took over the Longworth operation we were pretty much nonautomotive locally. The Longworth business now has taken over about 40% of the Parish operation, so we’ve just balanced up what we’ve lost in automotive.”

Founded in the 1950s, Longworth specialised in repetition engineering, but also produced its own range of air fittings. Parish has now moved the entire operation down from Longworth’s old site in Nunawading, east Melbourne, to Moorabbin retaining some of its CNC machinery and centralising production.

“We’re sort of bedding it down now,” says Rafferty. “It’s taken a good 12 months to get a handle on it. Now we’re at the point of setting a website up, getting brochures done, and once we’ve got all that bedded down we’ll take it further and market the product a bit more.”

For Parish, Longworth was a good match because the two companies were engaged in more or less the same types of work.

The key benefit of the acquisition, however, was the opportunity for Parish to have its own product line, in the form of Longworth Air Fittings, which will be retained as a brand under Parish’s ownership.

“Now we’ve got our own product that we sell, we’re not relying on a customer giving us an order,” explains Rafferty. “We’re sending the product out to a diverse range of industries; there’s the trucking industry, however air fittings are used throughout all different types of industries. So we’re a bit more in charge of our own destiny now, whereas before we were relying on what our customer does.

Therefore you don’t take such a hit when somebody slows down.

You’ve got a wider base. So that’s the big thing.”

According to Rafferty, the team at Parish knew they were on the right track with Longworth, when the company exhibited within the Manufacturers’ Pavilion section of the Austech 2017 trade show in May. “As first-time exhibitors we didn’t quite know what to expect,” he says. “But the exhibition confirmed to us that the potential for

“We do still supply a lot of products to the US, for the Ford Ranger,” says Rafferty. “That’s still very healthy. It’ll probably last until 2020; it’s uncertain after that what will happen to that, but that still gives us plenty of time to look at that avenue further, or for further development of the Longworth range. The automotive side now would probably be under 20% of the business.”

Meanwhile, the Longworth venture will be dominating Parish’s plans for the time being, though Rafferty suggests further expansions along similar lines may be an option in the future.

“What we can see in this type of industry, is that you’re not going to pick up any major work by going out knocking on doors and picking up a job here and there. The only way to expand in a big way is either merging with somebody, or a buyout. So we’ve got our eyes open.

If anyone’s looking at closing their business, selling their business, merging their business, we’re looking at that all the time. It’s not outside the realms of possibility.”

SEA Electric – A new niche Of course, the technology underpinning road transport is undergoing a period of rapid and drastic change – and, indeed, cars are not the only type of vehicle on the road. One Australian company with big plans in that regard is SEA Electric, based in Dandenong, Victoria.

The company has been in business since the early 2000s, primarily as an importer of buses, coaches and trucks, but in recent years it has created its own product range in the field of electric-powered commercial vehicles.

“Four or five years ago we identified that electric drivelines in commercial vehicles were to become economically viable,” says Tony Fairweather, SEA Electric’s Executive Chairman. “And they had a very strong application synergy, even more so than in passenger cars – and in particular in the light-to-medium-duty truck segment.”

SEA began developing its own technology with the aim of being ready to come to market at the point when electric vehicles (EVs) for commercial applications became viable. While EV technology has been around for years, it had been imposssible to get similar ranges to internal combustion engines at acceptable costs. However, according to Fairweather, a tipping point has been reached, and much sooner than anticipated.

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AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT SEA Electric’s EV10t light-duty truck.

Continued from previous page

“Around 2010, automotive analysts from various countries around the world agreed that a quantum shift to EVs was pending,” he explains. “The cost of lithium-ion battery technology then was around US$1,500 per kilowatt hour, and their forecast was that, when it got to around US$280-US$300/kWh, the quantum shift would occur. However, at the time, they all agreed it would take around 15 years. But the breakthrough actually came at the end of last year, and there are now forecasts for the cost of lithium-ion to be below US$100/kWh by 2020. So the cost-base transition is significantly faster than forecast, hence all the activity in commercial and passenger EVs at the moment.”

With that tipping point reached, the team at SEA Electric is being very specific in terms of the types of vehicle where its technology would fit, and accordingly the niche market that it is targeting.

“The ideal application for EV at the moment is in the PUD-type (pickup and delivery) application,” says Fairweather. “Metropolitan work, where those companies – be it express freight guys, linen service companies, food service companies – need vehicles to go out in the morning, typically drop off stuff, often pick it up in the afternoon, and back to base. They’re typically doing less than 200km per day, which is what our technology is designed to achieve on a single charge. They typically have dwell time overnight where they sit in the depot – we require around 3-5 hours to charge to full – and go out again the following day.”

SEA Electric’s core product is an integrated driveline system, the SEA Drive, in a range of sizes. This can be fitted into a “glider” platform – cab chassis or van platforms that SEA Electric imports with no engine or transmission – as part of three complete vehicle offerings: the E4V van; the EV10t light-duty truck; and the EV14 medium-duty truck. Alternatively, the company can work with OEMs in Australia or internationally, offering the technology on an underlicence basis.

Given the nature of the technology it employs, SEA Electric’s plant in Dandenong is essentially confined to assembling pre-existing components, often from overseas. The batteries are purchased from one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers; the motors and controllers come from Canada. However, Fairweather stresses the company’s emphasis on utilising Australian manufacturers.

“We’re using local manufacturers for as much local content as possible,” adds Fairweather. “Unfortunately there’s not a motor manufacturer in Australia we can source from, nor a battery manufacturer. But all the fabricated components, the wiring, harnesses, the software – it’s all developed by Australian suppliers.”

Fairweather likens the company’s strategy to computing giant Dell: “The model and concept of just-in-time assembly and integration of readily available components is very similar to what Dell did in the

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Assembly work underway at SEA Electric’s Dandenong plant.

early 1990s. Their primary competitors were trying to manufacture full computers and producing all their own hardware. Dell said: ‘Well there’s a supplier who produces circuit boards cheaper and better than we could.’ Our business, as with Dell, is about integrating and optimising components in the most cost-effective form to come to market with a competitive advantage over others.”

While it remains early days for SEA Electric, Fairweather stresses the potential for diversification is significant. Plans are in progress for a heavy-duty truck product, and the company has had talks with a customer about electrifying prime movers for metropolitan work.

Another area is buses, though these would require longer ranges and faster charging times – challenges that are not insurmountable, Fairweather maintains.

“As the cost of batteries comes down, the only limitation on range with electric technology is how big a fuel cell you can fit,” he says.

“How many batteries can you physically fit? And the batteries are not only getting cheaper, but they’re getting smaller and lighter, which means over time we can simply add more batteries. The cost isn’t going to go up, the weight will in fact decrease, and we’ll be able to get ranges of 200… 300… 400km over time.”

One segment SEA Electric will not be targeting for the time being is ordinary passenger cars.

“It’s probably an area that I think the passenger car OEMs are already very well progressed in,” says Fairweather. “Volvo is talking about effectively being 100% EV by 2020; Volkswagen is doing a lot in that space; all the OEMs are doing a lot in that space. At this stage our core focus is light-to-medium duty trucks, with a progression into heavy-duty trucks.”

Nonetheless, Fairweather believes the EV sector represents an area with huge potential for innovative Australian manufacturers. They have, however, got some catching up to do.

“I think there’s enormous opportunity; it’s about the Australian industry and economy understanding where that opportunity might be. It’s disappointing to see how slow Australia has been in providing subsidies and incentives for EV use alone. I’d go as far as to say Australia is one of the least progressive developed markets in the world in relation to EV incentives.

“There’s so many components we’re importing from overseas purely because they’re not available here, and they could easily be developed and available here. Not just for us, but for the burgeoning global EV space. And battery technology is really something we could grab hold of. EVs are a segment that’s going crazy, and if Australia doesn’t grab hold of that soon, it will miss the boat.” www.vacc.com.au www.parishengineering.com.au www.seaauto.com.au

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Turning old tyres into new roads

With millions of tyres dumped in Australia, a new innovation could turn used tyres into permeable surfaces – helping the environment and our future infrastructure. By Holly Bennet, University of Melbourne.

A staggering 51 million used tyres are discarded annually in Australia, causing environmental and health problems like the sea of stockpiled tyres in Stawell in western Victoria. Only 5% of used tyres are recycled locally in Australia, but researchers from the University of Melbourne have teamed up with Tyre Stewardship Australia and Merlin Site Services to come up with an innovative way to reuse the rubber.

Project technical lead, Dr Mahdi Disfani from the Melbourne School of Engineering, has spent the last 18 months working on a pilot project with his colleauges Associate Professor Lu Aye, Dr Guillermo Narsilio and Dr Alireza Mohammadinia, that increases the number of uses for permeable pavements made from recycled tyres.

“While there are a number of recycling solutions for tyres, like using them in children’s playgrounds, in landscaping or in asphalt layers, but the applications for high volume are limited,” says Dr Disfani.

“Roads and pavements are everywhere. With the right product, we could have a serious impact on reducing the number of tyres that end up in landfills, stockpiles or illegal dumps.”

Permeable pavements made out of recycled tyres are already a popular paving option that is flexible and resilient. As opposed to conventional asphalt paving, permeable paving allows water to pass through the surface, reducing storm water runoff and possible pollution in our waterways. But this flexibility means it is unsuitable for roads or bike paths as they can’t carry heavy loads.

That is, until now.

Dr Disfani and a team of researchers from the University and Merlin Site Services are trialling the use of recycled tyres to create the “optimum blend” of paving that provides some flexibility to reduce cracks caused by movement of natural ground or tree roots, but not so much that it becomes unstable under traffic loads.

“It’s a fine balance between recycled tyre particles, rigid rock aggregates and the binder,” says Dr Disfani. “Using all of the qualities that make our humble tyre – sturdiness, elasticity and reliability – we want to create a surface that will deform when no load is present, and squeeze tyre particles tight to bring rigid particles together quickly to support heavy loads such as trucks, cars, buses and bikes.”

The pilot trial at the University of Melbourne campus involves four different pavement recipes. Each recipe tests a different application such as footpath, bike path, car park and low-volume traffic roads. On top of this, various performance requirements are continuously tested and monitored including skid resistance, pavement movement, water infiltration and run-off, and resilience of the pavement under applied service loads.

“Skid resistance ensures pedestrains, bikes and cars can travel safely over these new pavements,” says Dr Disfani.

With storm water management a common issue in most major cities, Dr Disfani also sees this project as a viable solution to saving water and reducing pollution to waterways.

“Currently, when Melbourne is hit with a major downfall of rain, within minutes we see busy inner-city roads flooded,” he says. “The open structure of the permeable pavement allows enough water to infiltrate and flow through to the many collection systems and nearby gardens around the city. We’ve found that by modifying the design and adding extra layers beneath the surface, we can guarantee no surface run-off, even under the heaviest rainfalls Melbourne has ever experienced.”

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However, permeable pavements bring a new set of challenges.

Acting as a filter for debris, leaves and sediments, they can become blocked over time warns Dr Disfani.

“Blockage is a big challenge,” he says. “Permeable pavement’s ability to filter water needs to be balanced against creating a pavement that’s skid resistant and safe to travel on.”

With promising early results, Liam OKeefe from Tyre Stewardship Australia is hopeful this research will deliver real world impact.

“Once we can verify this blend of permeable pavement and the value it provides, the next step is trialling it on a larger scale,” says O’Keefe. “One that can take thousands of tyres from landfill and have a dramatic effect on sustainability.

“Currently permeable pavement is expensive, but if we can create the right product that is cost-effective, skid-resistant, durable and with the right amount of flexibility, we can diversify the applications of used tyres. It’s about creating a more robust market for tyre usage and pavement that leads to less tyres ending up in landfill, stockpiles or exported overseas.”

For Dr Disfani, this is the ultimate goal.

“While it’s still in the early stages, we’re very excited about what this product can do.”

This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article at: https://goo.gl/2nWd25. www.unimelb.edu.au

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Engaging the experts

Bruno Bello works with AMTIL as a Business Adviser on the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme. Here he explains how a personal hobby informs his work advising Australian businesses.

What, you may ask, is a picture of a classic Aussie car doing in a manufacturing magazine? For the enthusiasts, it’s a HZ Kingswood with a “Monaro pack”, as released by Holden in 1979. And yes… it’s got ventilated disc brakes, bucket seats and an enthusiastic V8.

While my background includes farming, boilermaking, engineering and running businesses in Australia and abroad, in recent years as part of Entrepreneurs’ Programme, I have been providing advice and assisting with grants for businesses that want to make the most of their situation. This car, which has been in the family since new, is a reminder to me of the need and importance to engage experts to help in areas where I do not have the time, tools or experience to fix, maintain or optimise.

Having reviewed, advised and support over 250 business in recent years, here are some topics and areas where businesses can benefit from engaging with the Entrepreneurs’ Programme: • Lean. The great thing about Lean is that it delivers a huge competitive advantage. While folk defend the ways it’s always been done, they allow those that are willing to consider a better way to improve their business to be more profitable and competitive.

• Business plan. While this sits in a person’s head, it’s really difficult to gain input and ownership from people in or external to the business. While a costly 20-page document that complies to ISO-9001 is interesting, the process of developing and documenting a plan or strategy with key staff really helps.

• Demand generation. We are increasingly informed and influenced by digital technology, so fewer and fewer business can rely on the Yellow Pages or a sales rep. Those that build a market presence and brand through use of a global medium will be better equipped to generate interest and information for

their target customers. This also helps the sales representative to promote the business offering.

• IT & technology. Sure, all businesses are different, but having a system that captures key financial, manufacturing, supplier and customer data in an efficient manner can be really helpful. As a matter of fact, if you qualify and participate in the Entrepreneurs’ Programme we provide advice on this at no cost and with no vested interest in what technology or provider you may choose to work with.

If you want to maximise the potential of your passion, investment and time, think about key actions that will help you on your journey.

It’s difficult to be an expert on every topic and have the time to do all things. Participating in the Entrepreneurs’ Programme will provide free advice and funding to help you.

For more information about the Entrepreneurs’ Programme, please contact Greg Chalker, Corporate Services Manager at AMTIL, on 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au. www.business.gov.au/EP

Kaeser compressor stands test of time at KBW A Kaeser Airtower 11 rotary screw compressor with integrated refrigeration dryer is continuing to supply leading vehicle repair company Koudsy Body Works (KBW) with reliable, high-quality, clean and dry compressed air.

Based in Artarmon, New South Wales, KBW is a family-owned and managed business with over 30 years of experience in vehicle repairs. KBW caters for both vehicle repair insurance and private work as well as specialising in car and motorcycle custom and restoration work. Dedicated to completing work at the highest standards, KBW keeps its team trained in an evolving industry while investing in state-of-the-art machinery to ensure each motor vehicle leaving the shop looks better than ever.

From powering air tools to the spray paint booth, compressed air is integral to the operation. Just over a decade ago, an ageing compressed air system prompted KBW’s Manager Charles Koudsy to contact the company’s longstanding compressed air partner Fracks for a solution. Fracks – an authorised Kaeser partner – recommended and subsequently installed an Airtower 11 from Kaeser. The Airtower was a compact compressor solution that incorporated a rotary screw compressor and refrigeration dryer within one housing. This series was recently superseded by Kaeser’s SM T series. Like the SM T models, the Airtower 11 was designed and manufactured in Germany to Kaeser’s superior standards. At its heart lies a premium-quality screw compressor block equipped with the Kaeser ‘Sigma Profile’ rotors, which achieve power savings of up to 15% compared with conventional screw compressor block rotor profiles.

The Airtower 11 at KBW also features an integral refrigeration dryer.

This has kept space requirements to a minimum while ensuring that the compressed air is clean and dry – a key criteria for spray painting in vehicle repairs. As with all Kaeser compressors, the Airtower was designed and built to be maintenance-friendly, with excellent component access from one side.

“If our compressor doesn’t work, our business doesn’t work,” says Koudsy. “Especially for the spray painting side of the business, without quality and reliable compressed air we cannot function. The air also needs to always be clean with no moisture in the line. If this were to occur it would jeopardise the quality of the finish and be costly to re-do. We pride ourselves on the quality of work we do and it is essential that we use quality equipment. We have had the Kaeser compressed air system for quite some time now and it continues to work reliably and efficiently for us.’

The current SM T series of rotary screw compressors with integrated refrigeration dryer from Kaeser are available with working pressures 7.5 to 13 bar, motor power 5.5kW to 9kW and free air deliveries 0.56 to 1.50 cubic metres/min. www.kaeser.com.au

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New opportunities arise for SA auto components suppliers

Automotive parts manufacturers in Australia are finding new avenues to keep their once booming businesses afloat as the nation’s car industry closes its doors.

South Australian-based car battery handle supplier Rope & Plastic Group had a successful business in Australia and the United States before the automotive industry’s decline. However, the company has now begun manufacturing clotheslines. According to owner John Sutton the transition was an obvious choice.

“We were supplying car battery company Exide with handles, cases and lids, so it was a very lucrative business,” he explained.

“In the meantime about five or six years beforehand we got involved with a company called Mrs Peggs Clotheslines, and started to manufacture, warehouse and distribute clotheslines in China.

“About the same time that Exide decided to close down their manufacturing operations, Mrs Peggs came to us and said they were going to take back the business and run it themselves. We had a double whammy.”

With the automotive industry offering no real future, Sutton decided to draw on the company’s experience in clothesline manufacturing to design and manufacture his own washing line. The venture was assisted by a $200,000 grant through the SA Government’s Automotive Supplier Diversification Program, which provides assistance to automotive supply chain companies effected by the impending closure of Holden’s car manufacturing facility in the state’s north.

The ‘Ecodry’ clothesline is designed to cater for the aged care and disability sectors and people living in small apartments. The clotheslines are manufactured and assembled in South Australia.

The company produced 1,000 units in its first production run, and has its sights set on an international market.

SMR makes medical intervention SMR Automotive is one of the largest manufacturers of passenger car rearview mirrors in the world, with 24% of the global market share in production of exterior mirrors for light vehicles. It is also a leading expert in camera-based sensing systems. However, the decline of car manufacturing prompted the company to seek opportunities in the medical device industry.

Through SMR Technologies, it has formed a collaboration with the University of South Australia (UoSA)’s Future Industries Institute to develop non-invasive diagnostic tests for bladder cancer in Adelaide. The sensors are set to simplify testing for bladder cancer recurrence, replacing the need to run tubes through the urethra to the bladder with a urine test. It is now being scaled up in a $9.2m project and will be trialled on 1,000 patients at Flinders Medical Centre to further test its commercial potential.

However, the introduction in 2015 of Ocloc trellis posts and entire vineyard systems designed for Australian vineyards has seen business boom. Conma’s General Manager Richard Rebbeck expects vineyard products to soon become the largest part of the business. Although demand remains for aftermarket car components, the new car component side of the company is almost finished.

“It used to be the biggest part of our business but over time Mitsubishi closed and then Ford went last year and production is winding down at Toyota and Holden so it’s been drying up over a period of time,” says Rebbeck.

Conma has also diversified into other industries such as the manufacture of heat exchangers for air conditioning units and metal pressings for rural pipefittings.

“It’s always a challenge, you’ve just got to get out there and be known as a good supplier and innovative and people come and talk to you,” says Rebbeck. “The more these products get out in the field the more people see them and want them.”

In September the company received a $328,700 grant from the SA Automotive Supplier Diversification Program to progress its diversification into the wine sector. Conma will use the funding to help manufacture specialised tooling and modernise and expand machinery to develop additional products that will enhance the Ocloc steel trellis system range and support further growth in the horticultural market.

An SMR spokesman says the company is interested in exploring opportunities in the area of cancer research: “Cancer is a global issue and we hope that these sensors will play a key role in the fight against the deadly disease.”

The company manufactured about 100,000 posts in the past year and will have the capacity to produce up to 250,000 posts next year. The posts can be used to replace broken treated pine posts, of which there are millions in Australia every year, or be used as a cheaper, more durable alternative to traditional toxic wooden posts in new vineyards.

Vineyard lifeline for Conma Industries

Solar re-energises Precision Components

Conma Industries made components for the car industry for 35 years, but now a collaboration with a vineyard supplies company is helping it stay in business. It began making parts used to repair metal vineyard trellis posts for another Adelaide company Ocvitti about six years ago. The products have enjoyed success in California following a ban on toxic wooden vineyard posts there in 2000.

Previously heavily reliant on the automotive industry, Precision Components is seizing the opportunity to branch out into new fields, and recently partnered with the UoSA in a field trial to develop highly efficient solar energy heliostats. The partners will open the concentrated solar research field in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, and also look to develop a Wi-Fi-controlled system to manage heliostats remotely.

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AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT

by the CSIRO at its test facility near Newcastle, New South Wales.

“It was estimated that 5GW of solar thermal power was installed worldwide in 2015 and it’s predicted to be 22GW by 2025 and the heliostats are an absolutely vital component of this,” adds Monro.

Last year Precision Components and Heliostat-SA, which share a factory, manufactured 150 heliostats for a solar project in Yokohama, Japan. Precision Components has also partnered with Bustech to form Precision Buses. That joint venture last year secured $2m in SA Government funding to manufacture advanced diesel and electric buses on the same site as the heliostat field.

“This is another significant step in the diversification strategy we implemented to safeguard the future of the business and to create employment opportunities for South Australians,” says Precision Components Director Mat Fitch.

Heliostats concentrate sunlight onto a tower where, depending on the type of receiver, molten salt is heated to generate steam to power turbines and generate electricity, or sunlight is converted directly into electricity using a high-efficiency solar cell. The trial includes 25 heliostats each measuring 7.2sqm, and a 16m-tall concentrated solar photo-voltaic (PV) receiver, which can generate about 30 kW of electricity per hour. The tower at the trial site can be adapted to trial both direct PV and molten-salt technologies.

Tanya Monro, UoSA’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, says the field would enable a rapid cycle of testing and product development, building on existing technologies developed

SA Premier Jay Weatherill said the solar field pointed to a new manufacturing prospect for the state. “Out of the ashes of old manufacturing we’re seeing new manufacturing, new technologies.

We’re imagining a new manufacturing future with projects like this.

We’ve got abundant solar resources but for us to optimise the technologies associated with solar thermal will put us at the centre of that thinking around the world.” www.ropeplas.com.au www.smr-automotive.com.au www.conmaindustries.com.au www.precisioncomponents.com.au

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Bosch Australia showcases new trailer safety system

Bosch Australia on 4 October unveiled Trailer Safety Control (TSC), an innovative new trailer safety system featuring ABS and sway mitigation technology to be released early in 2018.

Many of us have experienced that nervous feeling you get when you’re following a trailer that has begun to sway and it would appear that at any moment it could fishtail out of control. Worse still is the feeling of a loss of control while negotiating the twists and gradient of the road with a trailer in tow. Both circumstances can be stressful, and for both driver and surrounding traffic, potentially very hazardous.

Testing of the Bosch Trailer Safety Control at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC)

Trailers can easily become unstable and cause accidents when braking, swerving, overtaking, driving in high winds or on difficult roads. In 2016, loss of control accounted for 30% of caravan accident claims, with oversteering and fishtailing among the main causes.

The need for a solution to this problem was identified by Bosch’s Australian Vehicle Safety Systems engineering team. This prompted an innovation idea and subsequent R&D project in 2014. The parent company acknowledged the local engineering capability and market opportunity, which led to the establishment of a Bosch global Centre of Competence for Trailer Safety in Australia by 2015.

As a leading provider of technology and services, Bosch is at the forefront of innovation in vehicle technology. Its new Trailer Safety Control (TSC) system has been designed for fitment to caravans and trailers equipped with electric brakes and towed by passenger vehicles. The system demonstrates state-of-the-art vehicle safety technologies developed by Bosch over more than 40 years. It shows how Bosch Australia is diversifying into new products and markets including the global caravan and trailer sector, building on 30 years of local automotive engineering expertise.

TSC testing with protective outriggers

“Despite the end of volume passenger car production in Australia this year, Bosch Australia’s 200 strong automotive engineering team is busier than ever,” said Gavin Smith, President of Bosch Australia.

“Trailer Safety Control is a great example of how to apply existing capability to an adjacent and attractive niche with global potential.”

The launch of the first system, an active safety system, will aid accident prevention by incorporating ABS, sway mitigation and other value-adding functions for new caravans and trailers with electric brakes. It has the potential to reduce the number of trailerrelated incidents by up to 45%. Furthermore, the comfort of knowing that the system will automatically intervene when necessary at the first sign of instability or wheel lock, will help alleviate driver stress levels while towing.

Mounted to the trailer’s chassis, the system comprises an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) with integrated motion sensor, and wheel speed sensors. These sensors determine the movement of the trailer and the speed of each individual wheel, respectively. The brain of the system, the ECU, will be manufactured at Bosch’s production facility in Clayton.

Bosch has been a leader in automotive safety systems such as Antilock Braking (ABS) and Electronic Stability Control (ESC), also referred to as Electronic Stability Program (ESP), for 40 years. Mark Jackman, the head of Bosch Australia’s Vehicle Safety Division explains: “Our extensive vehicle safety systems experience is carried over into the TSC system, making it a system you can rely on.”

Bosch is in the final stages of development and readying the TSC system for sale early in 2018, with the support of DexKo Global, a global leader in highly engineered trailer running gear and chassis assemblies and related components. The system will be offered

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initially in Australia and the USA. In these two markets alone, there are approximately one million new trailer registrations annually (including caravans), and 12 million registered trailers.

Production on the Bosch TSC system will depend on fitment decisions by caravan and trailer manufacturers, but is expected to be within 12 months. The system will also be made available as an aftermarket retro-fit, though the release date for this has not yet been set. It is the first “on-trailer” system from a recognised leader in vehicle safety systems to combine trailer sway control and ABS. With the exception of truck trailers, the first-generation product can be applied to all other trailers, regardless of type, that are fitted with electric brakes. The TSC system is “one size fits all”, with one hardware and software variant across all applicable trailers. www.bosch.com

Bosch Australia recently completed a project with Philmac, a global leader in the design manufacturer of specialist valves and fittings. To watch a video about the project, scan the QR code or enter this into your browser: youtu.be/46ir-u7MjZA.

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CME – Surviving the transition

Composite Materials Engineering (CME) is one of many local manufacturers that were left exposed when the major car-makers announced they would close their Australian manufacturing operations. On 18 October, CME Managing Director Brian Hughes addressed the Victorian Manufacturing Showcase and shared some of the lessons his company has learnt in managing the transition out of automotive. The following is an edited excerpt from his presentation.

It’s an honour to stand here and talk to a group of people about a business that we’ve owned since 1989, and talk through what we’ve been able to achieve. I’d like to preface something like this to say that this is just what we’ve done, it’s not at all what I’m telling anyone else they should do – it’s just some of the lessons and things that we’ve done over our journey.

CME Managing Director Brian Hughes addressing the 2017 Victorian Manufacturing Showcase.

CME (Composite Materials Engineering) is a family business and until last Thursday was a supplier to the Australian automotive industry. Our main customer was GM Holden, and we supplied everything in the boot of the Commodore except the carpet.

This included a spare wheel tub, spare wheel cover, all the assemblies… you open the boot, it was us.

As you know, the last Commodore came off the line last Friday, meaning we’d supplied our last parts, and all the OEMs manufacturing in Australia have now moved to a distribution-only model. It’s a major blow to our company, and while the decision didn’t come as a surprise to us, I think most of us in the industry had been working to a 2020 timeframe – that’s when we thought those changes would come.

What this meant to us is that we had to pull forward our future plans with increased urgency, because 80% of our business came from the auto sector.

We’d already started that transition 10 or 15 years ago, but we’d limited the nonautomotive side of our growth because we decided that auto was the best place for us to function in. The transition is a continuous process, and at some point I think we all realised, just as I replace somebody, somebody will replace me. So we’ve always had a strategy of trying to find the next opportunity and moving to what we think the next level of technology is. I think if I’ve learnt nothing else over 30 years of having a business, the ability to replace yourself is something that we all really need to think about.

Today we’ve moved our business from 80% auto to 25% auto this September, and we’ll be between 5% and 8% during the month of October. We’ve been able to replace the sales that we’ve lost in the reduced automotive sector, as those sales have come off particularly since that announcement four years ago. Our sales are much broader, as we’ve focused more in the building industry and the food sector, mostly selling our own branded

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products,and these branded products represent about 60% of our sales, of which we now export about 30%.

in their field, and we like to target these customers when we look for the new opportunities.

There are many lessons in our journey and whilst it may sound easy, if I was a duck, I’m hoping the only thing you’d see is me gradually making my way across the pond, and not my feet and all the rubbish that comes underneath. Because the last four years have probably been the toughest four years in my years of business.

In looking at the new opportunities, one of the things that I learnt in the early days was to do your homework, stay focussed, and trust your judgement. It’s something I’ve become more comfortable with as I’ve become older. I actually turned 60 on the weekend and can’t believe that I was 30 when I started working for myself. When you talk about four years, 30 years goes quick; imagine how quick four years has gone! You need to listen to those around you, but you also need to trust your judgement.

If I had to summarise the things I’ve learned in those four years, I’d take it down to four things. One of the first things we needed to do was understand our capabilities. We needed to write, a plan, we needed to trust it, and I want to talk a little bit about that trust and your role in that trust. You want to pick your customer, be specific with your customer and what his offerings are. And make sure you employ the right people.

In our strategy of diversification, we followed the same strategy we followed in auto when we started there in the late 1980s. We positioned CME as a technical business, and we focused around proven and well-developed technology and product offerings.

Generally, the things we do require some degree of engineering, and perform to a level which is difficult to copy or achieve in other forms of technology. We felt this gave us some protection long-term from competitors. Our investments are usually high, our customers blue-chip or leaders

Now I need to tell this story. Back in the late 80s when we bought our business, it was focussed on Ford – 80% of one product was supplied to Ford. Ford decided they were not going to use that technology going forward, so we needed to find some new product opportunities. Given that we were young guys and we weren’t too sure about how to do this, we decided that we’d focus on finding a product that we could readily market instead of trying to develop it ourselves. We really weren’t confident in our ability at the time to develop a product, and we were time-critical.

We found a product that a lot of you would see on the road today: it was called the Triton Road Barrier. It had recently been developed by a company called Energy Absorption Systems in the US, and it had Vicroads and the RTA showing great

AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT CME has diversified into sectors such as building and construction, where it manufactures products such as roof tiles.

I was doing, I’d probably put more stable plans around it, and I’d just go a bit slower.

Because if you try to do things too quick, you always seem to get it wrong. You miss something. It’s like preparing a speech – if you have to prepare a speech really quickly, you’ll finish and you’ll say: “I really wanted to tell them that, but I forgot about it.”

So I encourage you, go as quickly as you can, but just take your time. Make sure you have it all covered.

interest in it. It’s a plastic, water-filled barrier, which was developed, tested and approved as a crash barrier, and the only one of its type in the world. It fitted our core strategy: it had a technical element; it was a new product; it was fully tested and approved; it had a high barrier to entry; and the end-user was a blue-chip customer. We signed a distribution agreement, we did all the work about bringing this product to market.

invest. Not everyone will agree with you and everything that you bring, including your wife, your kids, your bank, and sometimes yourself when you look in the mirror.

About four years later we agreed that we’d sell the product. I had external partners at the time. During the time we distributed the product, we had no issues with its performance, it provided consistent sales, consistent margins, it was growing, and in my mind, the market was largely untapped.

My financial controller and two external partners convinced me to sell and I agreed.

The product is still being sold today, but not by us. The people that bought it went on to make all the money. We did all the work, but I didn’t trust my own judgement, and my judgement wasn’t flawed.

In saying that, if I had to redo some of the things in the last four years, there’s a couple of things I’d change. One of the things I’d do is I’d just go a bit slower. I’d look at what

But that’s ok – it’s ok to make a mistake.

The biggest thing you’ve got to be careful of is not making one, because it means you’re not doing anything. And remember at some point in time, someone will replace you just as you’ve replaced them.

In concluding, I think the things I’d like to suggest to people that we’ve learned over the journey are, first, understand your business, what is stands for, what you want it to stand for. You love it and stay focussed on it. Make sure you’ve got the right people. Respect them as you need to respect your customers and your suppliers.

Too many people don’t understand that.

That to me is the key to being successful, in understanding what your suppliers, your customers and your people do. With that, you pick your customer and make sure when you give them something, they get the benefit just like you do. Respect them and always tell them the truth; stay focussed; believe in yourself, in your product, your people; and I think you’ll be okay.

As a last message, I’d encourage everybody to think that technology does move and just as you’re replacing somebody, somebody will replace you. www.composite.com.au

What I’m trying to reinforce is: we’re the leaders of the business; we need to set the strategy, we need to follow it, and we need to trust we’ve done the work and our strategy is in place and it will succeed. I live by that lesson now, and it’s helped me bring new products to market as we’ve moved mostly in the last four years from auto to non-auto.

Our customer base now includes products in food, transport and building, which in some cases we manufacture for the customer, and in a lot of cases, they’re our own products. They buy the products, and we’ve helped them develop the market and the product for them. We focus on these principles that we’ve learnt from the Triton Barrier, so long as it fits our parameters to

CME manufactures all of its products in its plant in Bayswater, Victoria.

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Robotics & Automation

The future of robotics in CNC grinding Factories around the world are investing like never before in robotic assistance. For users of CNC grinding solutions, things are beginning to get interesting.

In high and low-wage countries, interest in the many benefits of industrial robots has never been higher. Released last year, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Industrial Robots report showed unit sales figures in 2015 up 15% on the year before, reaching an all-time high of 253,748. Since 2010, technical improvements in robots and automation have turbocharged investment, according to the report. Furthermore, double digit percentage growth is predicted to continue every year up to 2019 .

However, within CNC machining, robotics applications have been dominated by machine tending. Overall, the benefits enjoyed by industrial users of robots – such as accuracy, productivity and capacity utilisation – have been under-realised by machine tool users. According to 2012 IFR research, only 1.5% of machine tools were being automated in conjunction with robots.

Nonetheless, this trend is starting to shift, with robots becoming increasingly affordable and easy to program – making the technology more accessible to the CNC grinding market. Global influences are also having an impact, such as the South Korean government stipulating that working hours be reduced, driving industry to look for alternatives to traditional labour.

Figures released by leading tool and cutter grinder manufacturer ANCA have shown that since 2014 the number of its customers ordering CNC grinding machines with robot loaders has increased from 10% to 50% of all machines sold. As the pace of change ANCA’s multi-robot production cell was exhibited in September at the EMO 2017 trade fair in Hannover, Germany.

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picks up, other improvements have meant robotics have greater capabilities and have more flexible applications in the grinding process. With increased capability, simple automated loading applications have been followed by wheelpack changes and now newer possibilities.

says ANCA co-founder Pat Boland. “For example, the large robot can load wheel packs and parts into the machine whilst the smaller robot undertakes secondary operations such as metrology, laser etching, or part washing – at the same time the main component is being ground.”

Adding capability

Enabling multiple manufacturing operations on a single machine cell has obvious benefits such as reduced capital equipment, better productivity and reduced work in progress (WIP) and inventory.

One recent innovation and a market first has been ANCA’s multi-robot production cell. It has been predicted that factory robots will soon have the ability to integrate several different manufacturing operations on a production line as they become more capable, and this is demonstrated by the new cell solution.

It works by having a larger robot devoted to wheelpack changes and part loading, while a second, smaller robot is free to “multi-task” other operations within the cell. This opens a whole range of machining possibilities, as one CNC grinder can essentially become a flexible manufacturing cell.

Customers who have already invested in this technology have found that having two robots in the one manufacturing cell has been successful in managing components that are difficult to hold, such as turbine blades and knee joints. In these examples the smaller robot loaded the parts into a fixture and the larger robot loaded the fixture into the machine.

“Another application that is made possible by having dual robots is to have two processes running at the one time,”

Boland continues: “What is exciting about this new dual robot technology is that it opens the door for unlimited possibilities for the industry, no matter how complex the grinding requirements. To date we are seeing this applied in component manufacture within the aerospace and medical industry, but it has wider potential in other industries such as automotive.”

The world-first system has been provided as a turnkey solution to a number of customers globally so far and was exhibited in September at the EMO 2017 trade fair in Hannover, Germany.

User-friendliness means greater usefulness Within industrial robotics, there is a push to make machines simpler to program and use through more intuitive human-machine interfaces (HMIs), programming and other means, with companies sometimes even using the word “teach” in place of “program” for their robot. The benefits of having a robot

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Robotics & Automation ANCA co-founder Pat Boland.

targetted audience 8000+ contacts

impact 20.02% average open rates

“What is exciting about this new dual robot technology is that it opens the door for unlimited possibilities for the industry, no matter how complex the grinding requirements. To date we are seeing this applied in component manufacture within the aerospace and medical industry, but it has wider potential in other industries such as automotive.” simple enough to be programmed for a new task by a line worker – rather than having to commission, employ or train a specialised technician – are obvious.

“Traditionally many of our customers were afraid of the amount of training required to use robots with our machines,” adds Boland. “The first area of concern was robot maintenance – how to recover from a minor crash or create a new pallet. The second was the daily interaction of the operator with the robot – how to instruct the robot on changing from one part to another or inspecting a tool during a batch run for example.

“We invested in developing software packages that simplified what had been very complex requirements and now have RoboTeach to facilitate easy robot maintenance and RoboMate for operators to set up a grinding application.”

Another ANCA product, the RoboMate loader, enables an operator to be trained on a single automation system. Loading parameters; such as tool pick-up height, or collet insertion depth, are controlled by the RoboMate software which has the flexibility of running multiple tool types within a pallet.

Not only does the RoboMate increase output with full robot automation, it also reduces training requirements.

Robotics will be part of day-today operations The CNC market has seen that what initially seems like a cutting-edge product capability, become industry standard over time as the technology is refined and improved.

Boland concludes: “As when my business partner and I added a CNC control to a manual grinding machine, I see robotics as a similar game changer to the market. We are now actively developing our own robotic solution for our customers.”

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AMTIL PRODUCT E-BLASTS call anne samuelsson on 0400 115 525 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au for all enquiries.

Within CNC grinding and elsewhere in manufacturing, expanded capabilities within robotics and increasingly userfriendly automation solutions are combining to make the future an exciting one. www.anca.com

www.amtil.com.au

AMTIL1305

ANCA released its RoboTeach solution last year, delivering greatly simplified programming on its robotic automation products. Cutting the task from several hours to under 30 minutes, RoboTeach enables an unskilled operator to program the Fanuc LR Mate 200iD loader used on the RoboMate Loader. It uses a touch probe (held in the robot gripper), a sphere (held in the machine work head), and the grinding machine’s built-in high positional

accuracy, and guides an operator through the calibration process.

outcome

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Robotics & Automation

Manufacturing a network monitoring solution to suit your needs Manufacturing is entering a new era of networked, automated devices. So what do manufacturers need to know about monitoring the rise of the machines in the industry? By Daniel Sultana, Director of Security and IoT Systems – APAC, at Paessler.

Manufacturing companies today are embracing more cutting-edge technologies than ever before. In fact, global market intelligence firm IDC predicts that by 2019, 75% of large manufacturers will have updated their operations and operating models to incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT) and associated software applications to help mitigate risk and increase efficiency. This increased connectivity of IoT devices, robotics, and human-machine interfaces as a way to improve automation means that there are now an overwhelming number of connected devices and technologies within manufacturing that need to be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure they are delivering top performance at all times.

For organisations in the manufacturing industry, a high-performance network is becoming a basic ‘must have’ in this automated world – particularly when it means ensuring a functioning IT infrastructure is properly maintained. To ensure smooth operating procedures, all processes in the production line should run without complications, as malfunctions and failures in operational processes can result not only in a loss of time, but also significant financial and reputational losses. For this reason, the careful selection of a suitable network monitoring solution is a must.

Manufacturers need to understand the role of network monitoring when it comes to the rise of machines in the industry. When it comes to selecting the right monitoring tools for manufacturing processes, there are certain considerations that IT administrators in the industry need to be aware of:

1. Know your requirements The basic function of network monitoring solutions is to provide IT administrators with the time needed for more constructive tasks, rather than having to keep a constant watch on infrastructure and connected systems. This is particularly useful if the IT team is smaller in size.

Selecting an appropriate solution will need administrators to take into account the size of the network and the scenarios to be controlled. In the manufacturing industry, this would not just include your typical IT infrastructure, but any number of production machines, automated processes, and robotic technologies.

2. Machine control In the manufacturing industry, particularly one moving towards automation, there are a number of different machines and technologies that need to be monitored to ensure processes are functioning correctly. Network monitoring offers IT administrators more control over these machines, through providing a comprehensive overview of the entire network infrastructure.

Not only will software provide detailed insights into network processes and individual resources, but they can also provide immediate alerts to the IT team if there is an error or malfunction.

With a number of solutions also providing remote access and complementary smartphone apps, this can ensure that the infrastructure is monitored at all times.

3. Monitoring of things As automation in the manufacturing industry increases, so too will the need for robust network monitoring systems. The IoT has already had a considerable effect on industry and manufacturing,

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and this is not likely to slow down. The IoT ensures everything is connected, and the implications for the industry mean more and larger things are needed to connect; each machine and device with its own intelligence and data set will need to communicate with all others, making the network a complex web of activity.

Not only will IT administrators need to be able to monitor infrastructure on a production line, but networks will also need to communicate with each other and be monitored across multiple sites. As we move further into the automated space, driverless vehicles will also be added to this network, requiring monitoring and maintenance around the clock.

Manufacturers need to implement robust monitoring systems that are capable of monitoring both the common IT systems that admins need to be across, as well as the production machinery and special environments in which they are deployed. If at any time a machine has a fault and stops functioning correctly, network monitoring tools should be set up to ensure this is flagged to the IT or system administrator, as well as any other necessary staff to address the problem. For systems in which automatic alerts are triggered by the system when it detects an unusual or uncommon occurrence, malfunction, or even failure, the security level of network monitoring can increase even more.

As such, it is crucial that monitoring tools provide appropriate options, such as email, text, or even mobile app notifications, to immediately raise an alert to the IT manager. This is something that must be considered when selecting a network monitoring system.

Knowing what the problem is, how long it has been an issue, and which services may be affected can help the IT administrator be more proactive. They can maintain systems rather than having to fix them after they ‘break’. www.paessler.com

Bosch Australia Manufacturing Your partner in Automation & Robotics

INDUSTRY SECTORS • AGRICULTURAL • PHARMACEUTICAL • AUTOMOTIVE • MEDICAL • MINING • MANUFACTURING • ENERGY The team at Bosch use a cross functional approach to identify current manufacturing issues and work with the teams on site to develop solutions based on the needs of the business. I have been impressed by the ability of the Bosch team to engage our production staff to open up about current manufacturing issues and ensure their suggestions and proposals are explored and assessed.

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Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions is uniquely positioned to deliver you bottom line results from efficiency and productivity gains achieved through the deployment of robotics and automation solutions. Our teams of industry experts specialise in designing, developing and deploying bespoke solutions that are tailored to the individual needs of our industry partners.

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Robotics & Automation

Teleoperating robots with virtual reality A new virtual reality (VR) system from the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) in the US could make it easier for factory workers to telecommute.

Certain industries have traditionally not had the luxury of telecommuting. Many manufacturing jobs, for example, require a physical presence to operate machinery.

But what if such jobs could be done remotely? In September, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) presented a VR system that lets you teleoperate a robot using an Oculus Rift headset.

The system embeds the user in a VR control room with multiple sensor displays, making it feel like they’re inside the robot’s head.

By using hand controllers, users can match their movements to the robot’s movements to complete various tasks.

“A system like this could eventually help humans supervise robots from a distance,” says CSAIL postdoctoral researcher Jeffrey Lipton, who was the lead author on a related paper about the system. “By teleoperating robots from home, blue-collar workers would be able to tele-commute and benefit from the IT revolution just as white-collars workers do now.”

The researchers even imagine that such a system could help employ increasing numbers of jobless video-gamers by “gameifying” manufacturing positions. The team used the Baxter humanoid robot from Rethink Robotics, but said that it can work on other robot platforms and is also compatible with the HTC Vive headset.

There have traditionally been two main approaches to using VR for teleoperation.

In a direct model, the user’s vision is directly coupled to the robot’s state. With these systems, a delayed signal could lead to nausea and headaches, and the user’s viewpoint is limited to one perspective.

In a cyber-physical model, the user is separate from the robot. The user interacts with a virtual copy of the robot and the environment. This requires much more data, and specialised spaces.

The CSAIL team’s system is halfway between these two methods. It solves the delay problem, since the user is constantly receiving visual feedback from the virtual world. It also solves the the cyber-physical issue of being distinct from the robot: Once a user puts on the headset and logs into the system, they’ll feel as if they’re inside Baxter’s head.

The system mimics the homunculus model of the mind — the idea that there’s a small human inside our brains controlling our actions, viewing the images we see, and understanding them for us. While it’s a peculiar idea for humans, for robots it

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fits: inside the robot is a human in a virtual control room, seeing through its eyes and controlling its actions.

Using Oculus controllers, users can interact with controls that appear in the virtual space to open and close the hand grippers to pick up, move, and retrieve items. A user can plan movements based on the distance between the arm’s location marker and their hand while looking at the live display of the arm. To make these movements possible, the human’s space is mapped into the virtual space, and the virtual space is then mapped into the robot space to provide a sense of co-location.

The system is also more flexible compared to previous systems that require many resources. Other systems might extract 2D information from each camera, build out a full 3D model of the environment, and then process and redisplay the data. In contrast, the CSAIL team’s approach bypasses all of that by simply taking the 2D images that are displayed to each eye. (The human brain does the rest by automatically inferring the 3-D information.)

To test the system, the team first teleoperated Baxter to do simple tasks like picking up screws or stapling wires. They then had the test users teleoperate the robot to pick up and stack blocks. Users successfully completed the tasks at a

much higher rate compared to the direct model. Unsurprisingly, users with gaming experience had much more ease with the system.

Tested against current state-of-the-art systems, CSAIL’s system was better at grasping objects 95% of the time and 57% faster at doing tasks. The team also showed that the system could pilot the robot from hundreds of miles away; testing included controling Baxter at MIT from a hotel’s wireless network in Washington.

“This contribution represents a major milestone in the effort to connect the user with the robot’s space in an intuitive, natural, and effective manner,” says Oussama Khatib, a computer science professor at Stanford University who was not involved in the paper.

The team eventually wants to focus on making the system more scalable, with many users and different types of robots that can be compatible with current automation technologies. Lipton co-wrote the paper with CSAIL Director Daniela Rus and researcher Aidan Fay. They presented the paper at the recent IEEE/ RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Vancouver. The project was funded, in part, by the Boeing Company and the National Science Foundation. www.csail.mit.edu

The VR system from CSAIL could make it easier for factory workers to telecommute. Photo: Jason Dorfman, MIT CSAIL.

Robotics & Automation

Intelligent sensors for smart mobile machines The rapid pace of progress in electronics and sensor technology is determining the level of innovation in mobile machines today. The manufacturers and users of agricultural and forestry machines, construction and mining machines, as well as special and municipal vehicles, are harnessing the potential of intelligent sensors.

Integrating sensors and sensor systems makes for intelligent solutions suited for daily use that deliver both increased productivity and lower process costs. Processes are being made more efficient, more precise, and more environmentally friendly. This development makes SICK an important partner on the way towards highly automated and even autonomous mobile machines.

Agriculture, the food industry, and construction enterprises are constantly faced with new challenges on a regional, national, and global level. Population growth is constantly increasing the demand for food, while cultivation areas are dwindling. In the construction sector, the expansion of infrastructure must be promoted, and existing spaces must be used much more efficiently.

The range of technical requirements for the automation of municipal vehicles such as street cleaners, salt or fire trucks is wide and highly varied. Due to the variety of application possibilities, a broad range of tasks has been opened up concerning the operation, control and networking of special functionalities. To overcome these challenges, forward-thinking technologies and system solutions are indispensable in the automation of mobile machines.

In the automation of machines and vehicles, SICK can draw on its broad technology portfolio as well as extensive experience. Its range of mobile solutions for the material flow within factory buildings extends from cellular conveyor systems and pallet shuttles to freely navigating automated guided vehicles, narrow aisle trucks, and indoor cranes. Moreover, solutions for mobile outdoor applications, where changing weather conditions are a primary concern, and solutions for underground applications are not new challenges for SICK sensors either. They have proven effective for many years in ports, mines and other demanding environments.

developments are transferable to mobile machines. This includes telematics solutions, which are already found in cars under the umbrella term “connectivity.” These kinds of remote data transfer systems can be used for Smart Services such as fleet management or early detection of wear. As, in contrast to factory automation, there are no buildings or any other infrastructure in mobile automation that enable grid-bound networking of the individual process participants, cloud-based networking as well as cable-free machine-to-machine communication are particularly important in this sector.

As a sensor manufacturer, SICK is a data provider for intelligent machines. SICK already offers globally leading products for many of the tasks in this sector and also relies on solutions based on the clever linking of hardware and software. The main tasks of sensors in mobile automation include solutions for driver assistance. With these in mind, SICK offers a portfolio ranging from standard sensors and intelligent sensors with integrated application algorithms through to complex system, IoT and cloud-based solutions.

In the development of 3D streaming cameras LiDAR sensors or laser scanners, ultrasonic sensors, inclination sensors, encoders or inductive proximity sensors, as well as intelligent assistance systems and Safety Solutions, SICK applies a wide range of technologies.

Sensors and systems are key technologies for many of the major technology-driven future markets. Thanks to “Sensor Intelligence”, products can perform so much more tasks combined than they could alone. www.sick.com.au

With hundreds of thousands of installations and implemented applications, SICK knows these industries and their processes inside out. Every industry has special procedures, yet in principle the tasks of the sensors are identical: measuring, detecting, controlling and monitoring, protecting, networking and integration, identification, and positioning. This puts SICK’s specialists in a position where they can transfer successful automation solutions to other applications across different industries. Nonetheless, it remains vital to adapt sensors to the requirements stipulated for mobile machines if necessary.

Manufacturers and users of mobile machines are watching the current trends in the automotive industry very closely. Many of these

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Company Focus

C&S Engineering and Toolmaking – Getting their hands dirty “Not much comes to the door that we steer away” according to C&S Engineering and Toolmaking, based in Smeaton Grange, south-west of Sydney. By Brent Ballinski.

As with many other success stories, C&S Engineering and Toolmaking began in a shed in a backyard. Trading since 2003, Craig and Steven Darvill’s business got started after Steven got tired of commuting from The Oaks to Greenacre, and joined his dad – who repaired trucks – in the family workshop, with Steven’s brother Craig subsequently joining in his off-hours. The brothers invested in an old manual machine, and word got out that if a job needed doing, then Craig and Steven could get it done. Neighbours were early customers, then they told their friends, then those friends told their friends and so on.

“Once we got our first CNC machine, it was only a month and Craig had to give up his full-time job,” says Steven. “Very daunting, of course, because we’d never taken a wage out of the company at that stage. And I think a month or two after that, once they knew someone was there all the time, we just got flooded. We purchased two more CNC machines, and we were still at the parents’ place.

After a short while we were forced to move.”

C&S relocated to 24 Anzac Avenue, Smeaton Grange, roughly 60km south-west of Sydney’s CBD where it still operates to this day. It has carved out a niche here as a versatile and state-of-the-art machine shop, offering quick turnarounds and the ability to move a rough idea from back-of-the-envelope drawing to a manufactured job, with a “no job is too small” ethos.

“Not much comes to the door that we steer away,” adds Steven.

“The things we don’t do on-site are heat treatment, because it is a specialist process or it’s a field on its own. For example, gear cutting we tend to farm out, because it’s a specialist trade.”

Until the second half of 2017, the company did not have a website or any serious thoughts about marketing its expertise. Describing the company’s primary focus, Steven says: “We’ve got dirty hands - that’s what we’re good at!”

Almost purely through word of mouth, the company has now nearly outgrown its Anzac Avenue unit, and is ready to take things to the next level. This will take capital investment, giving new attention to networking, and finding the right staff.

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“I never know what job I’m going to do tomorrow” C&S’ client list includes Total Aerospace Solutions, Jennmar Australia, Yamaha and Tyco, though it happily takes small walk-in jobs and any other random challenges that are thrown its way. It has worked in sectors as varied as resources, automotive, and food and beverage.

A team of only three, the business has had to stay focused while remaining versatile in its capabilities, according to the Darvills. This has meant not chasing big volumes, a point of difference against other machine shops.

“Many companies focus on large runs of products such as 3,000 to 5000, but we took a different direction and started doing prototype work and one-offs, and small runs, and that’s still what we do. If we make 100 of something, that’s a big run for us, but it doesn’t mean we can’t do more, it just hasn’t worked out that way. Our other employee says ‘The one thing I likes about this job is I never know what I’m going to do tomorrow!’ It’s so varied.”

Machining makes up an estimated 80% of the work, with the other 20% consisting of a mix of R&D, prototyping, fabrication and welding.

NEW SOUTH WALES Heading

Steven Darvill.

Craig Darvill using the company’s GibbsCAM software.

“For example - we’ll work very closely with our customers’ design engineers,” says Steven. “They come with a bit of sketch on a paper, and say what they need to achieve. They have the brains, and they understand what has to be done, but they don’t have the machining background, so they ask us. We can say ‘Hang on, it looks good on paper, but practically it’s not going to work.’”

C&S’ prototyping work includes environmental solutions, mining, aerospace, and motorsport, ranging from go-karts to Top Fuel dragsters and other genres of vehicle.

“Basically, when they’re in a pitstop for circuit racing cars, if they can save a half a second filling the car up, they’ll pursue that,” Steven explains of one client. “It’s that sort of thing. We do R&D work for those guys.”

C&S is also skilled in design work in GibbsCAM, boasts a wide fabrication offering, and has three sink EDM machines. Among planned upcoming investments is wire EDM machining.

Both brothers did their trade in toolmaking – Steven at International Tool & Gauge, and Craig at MF Dippert – though this is a small part of their current business. C&S will also meet a need for press tools and injection moulds, which can be manufactured if a customer comes in with a plastic or die-cast component, “It wasn’t a huge part of our business, but we had a company come to us and we did some sharpening of their punches and then that led into a larger job,” recalls Steven. “The customer said ‘I need this press tool made to do this.’ And he trusted us, we designed it, we commissioned it not long ago, and it’s now in use.”

Head down, bum up Running a diverse engineering business with only two or three people has not allowed much time for marketing or networking, the Darvills admit. At the same time, they’ve avoided some of the issues their peers have run into.

“We went to the last AMTIL meeting and they were talking about [economic shifts] and I don’t want to sound stupid, but it was sort of news to us,” says Steven. “We’ve just been so focused here – head down, bum up – and we’ve been somewhat oblivious to those other things. Because we’ve had our niche we’ve been less affected by these peaks and troughs in the market.”

Wanting to take its operation to the next level means that C&S is stepping a little out of its comfort zone. Part of the brothers’ recent efforts to network with their peers have included joining AMTIL in May during a visit to Austech, an event they have only ever attended as visitors.

At the time of writing, the Darvills are looking to buy a larger workshop to expand so they can invest in new equipment, and to take on the staff that might free the owners up to do things other than remain chained to their workbench.

“Basically, at the moment our focus is on getting the job done and growing the business. Finding a good work/life balance can be a bit of a challenge at times,” says Steven. “Marketing is the key in trying to get new customers and build. We have employed a marketing company to take care of that, so we can concentrate on what we do best!

“Finding good employees is the one area we’re thinking is going to be the hardest, and that’s the first step to ensuring we meet any increased demand. We need to get someone to train and understand how things happen in this workshop, after all every workshop is going to be different. There’s a real shortage of good machinists these days. However, new employees would allow us to step away from the day-to-day operations now and then to focus on growing the business. It would take a little adjusting to, but we’re willing to take on the challenge to see the business move forward.”

Some things are bound to stay the same, though, such as the very first machine the Darvills invested in all those years ago. That still runs alongside new high-tech machines, every single day. And it’ll be hard to stop Craig and Steven from getting their hands dirty. If either of them steps back from the workbench, it won’t be very far or for very long.

“We have some pretty high-profile customers here, big businesses, and they like the fact that they can come in and talk to the guy that owns the business, who manufactures the parts, who has handson control over everything,” says Steven. “They know that they can come to the door and meet us and check what’s happening with their job. Everything’s above board, there’s no pushing stuff under the rug and [saying] ‘We’ll start it next week.’ They can see it for themselves!” www.candsengineering.com.au

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State Spotlight

Investment and innovation key to success for three NSW manufacturers With high levels of confidence and innovation, three leading manufacturers from New South Wales (NSW) have made significant investments in the some of the most advanced CNC machines and robotics to provide a competitive edge both within Australia and internationally.

Eilbeck Cranes – Lifting capabilities A third-generation family-owned business in its 110th year in operation, Eilbeck Cranes is now Australia’s largest and most advanced crane manufacturer, towering over the Australian crane market due to its engineering and manufacturing excellence.

Today Eilbeck has manufacturing facilities in Sydney, Western Australia, Mackay in Queensand, and a new facility currently under construction in Melbourne, as well as service centres around the country.

Eilbeck Director Tom Eilbeck took the bold move in 2015 and invested massively into the development of the Eilbeck Heavy Machining Centre. This daring decision was not only aimed at gaining competitive advantage, but also an investment in the future of Australian manufacturing and the security of future Australian jobs.

Investment over the last two years has been significant for this company, with the installation of the Okuma MB8000H CNC horizontal machine centre with OSP P300M control in 2016, followed this year by an Okuma Genos M560V S15 CNC vertical machining centre with OSP P300M control, and an Okuma Space Turn LB4000 lathe with OSP P300L control. Moving forward, an Okuma VTM-100 vertical machining centre is due to be installed in January, while an Okuma MCR V A5C 35x80 double column machining centre – the largest Okuma machine in Australia – is due to be commissioned in February 2018.

“When establishing our own machining division, high-end, Japanese-built Okuma machines were selected to provide a strong competitive advantage for the company due to their state-of-the-art technology, robustness and capacity, [which is] suited to the Eilbeck product range,” says Charlie Eilbeck, Head of Eilbeck’s Heavy Machining Division. “The Okuma control program is simple and easy to use, and keeping uniformity of controls throughout the workshop is definitely an advantage, as this allows machinists to increase versatility.”

Today the Eilbeck Cranes product is widely respected across the industrial and civil sectors, plus private and corporate bodies, both nationally and globally. The product range is wide and diversified, including: custom-built overhead cranes and electric

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wire rope hoists; tunnelling/mucking cranes; explosive-proof hazardous area cranes and hoists; winches, sheaves and wheel blocks.

In addition, Eilbeck is now promoting and pushing for the rise of its CNC machining section as a service in itself. Equipped with state-of-the-art Okuma machines, the Eilbeck Heavy Machining Centre has been a key factor in the exponential rise and success of Eilbeck Cranes’ custom-built and engineered lifting solutions. Keeping the machining local and in-house gives Eilbeck the ability to manufacture exactly what the client requires and in a short-time frame. Additionally, it provides the client the comfort of being able to see their product being built locally with their own eyes.

The commissioning of the latest Okuma CNC vertical machining centre and the installation of the Okuma MCR A5C 35 x 80 double column machining centre in early 2018 will secure a strong competitive edge in the Australian manufacturing market, while also opening the doors to entirely new machining opportunities.

Alongside the Eilbeck Heavy Machining Centre, Eilbeck has its own full R&D and design departments, fabrication and welding capabilities, a modern blast and paint facility, mechanical fit-out bays and electrical and commissioning specialists.

Its production processes meet quality standards to ISO 9001, ISO 140001, AS/ NZS 4801 and accredited NATA Technical Competence.

Alongside the facilitation of crane component manufacture, positive new business opportunities are being focused

on within the Eilbeck machine shop, with an eagerness and determination to become a leader in the machining sector. The company aims to utilise its machines and its high capacity to gain a large, loyal customer base for its machining service.

“With the current boom in Australian manufacturing, we have major prospects in Sydney and Melbourne’s infrastructure projects,” says Charlie Eilbeck. “These require large custom-built lifting equipment, and Eilbeck Cranes has the capacity to facilitate the requirements being the only Australian crane manufacturer who is equipped to do so.”

Hedweld Engineering – World-leading innovations Hedweld Engineering, a proud family business based in Mount Thorley, offers unique solutions to a number of industries globally, producing world-leading innovations for the mining sector for almost 40 years. Known for its Trilift range of component handling and maintenance support equipment for large earthmoving trucks and its Safe-Away range of ladder and stair access systems, the company has been heralded for increasing maintenance productivity and minimising workplace injuries within the mining and construction industries in particular.

Hedweld has had a strong relationship with Okuma Australia going back more than ten years and has recently added a cutting edge Okuma CNC Multus U30001SWx1500 lathe with OSP-P300SA control to its advanced machining facility.

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“Okuma was selected for its consistent precision, reliability and outstanding technical support, including unlimited training for operators,” says Hedweld General Manager Chris Eccleston.

The commissioning of cutting-edge machines and the opening of an advanced manufacturing facility this September have provided a broader scope of work to be undertaken by the company, allowing component machining to be undertaken in-house, and enabling the redesign and reengineering of some components to achieve cost reductions and improve efficiency. At the same time, these major investments have provided additional manufacturing capabilities to Australian manufacturers.

The Hedweld team actively collaborate with key stakeholders, encouraging innovative thinking to design, manufacture and provide unique solutions that solve customer problems while increasing workplace safety and efficiency.

“Investment in the latest technology and advanced CNC machines is opening up new business opportunities in construction, defence, agriculture and general engineering,” adds Eccleston. “Although there has been a downturn over the last three years, particularly in the mining area, the Australian economy is coming out of this and we forecast a steady growth for the company with an emphasis on innovation and new markets.”

in the Australian Export Awards for three years in succession; and the Austmine Craig Senger Award for ‘Export Excellence’; among many others.

Austex Dies – Maintaining an edge Located in the south-western extremity of Sydney at Minto, Austex Dies Pty Ltd is Australia’s leading extrusion die manufacturer. Its staff collectively boast approximately 500 years of experience in the design and manufacture of extrusion dies for aluminium extrusions. In addition to utilising modelling software, Austex draws on its staff experience to produce dies that in turn maximise productivity for its customers, extending the life of the die and reducing costs. The company’s capabilities include CAD/CAM, design, a full range of CNC machining processes including turning and milling, EDM erosion, wire cutting and in-house heat treatment facilities.

The company has a number of Okuma machines and its latest investment is the cutting-edge Okuma MA-600 HII CNC horizontal machining centre with OSP P300MA control. The investment in this six-pallet machine is intended to ensure the company remains highly competitive in the international market.

Austex General Manager Alex Ferrari has extensive experience in Europe and the selection of the new Okuma CNC machining centre was based on this experience, with a clear requirement for a strong, reliable machine that would allow his company to expand in a competitive and qualityconscious environment.

“The machine is everything we could have wished for and our decision was also based on the service and technical support from this key supplier,” says Ferrari. “The operators were already familiar with the earlier operating system and have easily adjusted to the advanced controls and feel that it is a privilege to work on the machine.”

The new machine is now operating 24 hours a day unmanned because of its strength, speed and reliability, providing great efficiencies and making the company more competitive in the production of extrusion dies for aluminium extrusions.

“Australia is surrounded by low cost countries,” adds Ferrari. “And this latest investment will allow us to be internationally competitive and develop our business further with a strategy to increase market share and important export sales.” www.eilbeckcranes.com www.hedweld.com.au www.austexdies.com

Currently Hedweld exports to 33 countries including USA, Canada, South Africa, Russia, Mexico and South America, representing more than 50% of sales, with the balance of sales throughout mainland Australia. The company has won an outstanding array of awards, dating from back in 2012 to the present day, including: the NSW Mining Council’s ‘Supplier of the Year’ – Mining Technology Award; three NSW Premier’s Export Awards; Hunter Manufacturing Awards for ‘Excellence in Export of Manufactured Goods’ and ‘Excellence in Innovation; a finalist’s place

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State Spotlight

New South Wales

A 40-year overnight success story

Third-generation precision engineering and manufacturing company Archer Enterprises, located on the Central Coast of NSW, is celebrating a major milestone with its 40th anniversary.

What began in a garage when fitter and machinist Barry Byrne identified a niche requirement for locally produced bespoke precision engineering and manufacturing, is now a world-class 800sqm Manufacturing Centre of Excellence. Archer began by making marine equipment and sprinkler head units for automatic fire extinguisher systems. A decade later Barry was joined by his son Stephen, who had skills in machining, fabrication and electrical, and a certificate in fire control.

Archer co-Directors Russell (left) and Brad Byrne.

The duo moved into a 60sqm industrial unit and their reputation for producing high-quality precision engineering led to a wide variety of projects – from tooling and truck body fit-outs to the first lightweight polystyrene bicycle helmets, to critical-performance parts and backup support for the Collins-class Royal Australian Navy submarines.

Their products remain in operation on the subs 20 years later.

Archer became known globally when the company designed and built sophisticated scientific test equipment that enabled manufacturers of fire sprinkler systems to comply with strict international operating standards. Conventional equipment was very expensive and took up whole buildings. Archer’s radical idea was to replace the massive test chambers with a 2m trolley-mounted apparatus called the RTI Plunge Test Tunnel, which revolutionised the industry. It is now being used in laboratories acround the world.

This project highlighted Archer’s evolution into a full-service designto-manufacture Product Realisation Centre, involving design, manufacturing, electronics and controls, fabrication, assembly, bench testing and publishing of operation materials.

Other landmark precision engineering projects have included the manufacture of complex titanium and stainless steel components with very fine tolerances for the world-first GRANEX renewable energy turbine generator. This included going beyond the brief and providing the client with fraction-of-a-millimetre variants demonstrating the changing behaviour of the materials under extreme operating conditions.

Archer designed and manufactured new-generation Pop-up Underground Pressurised Nozzles for the protection of the Royal Australian Navy’s latest MRH-90 helicopters at HMAS Albatross.

This required recalculating spray patterns to accommodate new fuselage dimensions.

Archer Enterprises’ facility in Somersby, NSW.

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In 2003 the third generation of Byrnes joined the business.

Russell, with his mechanical-technical background, operated the CNC equipment, while Brad stepped in to look after the day-today operational and administrative responsibilities. Since then the company has grown dramatically, with the construction of the stateof-the-art Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, and investment in the latest engineering and manufacturing equipment from suppliers such as Okuma. Today, there are 11 people who make up the Archer team.

“This business has always been central to us,” says Brad Byrne. “I remember working part-time for Dad after school for pocket money.

He had me putting slots in pistons, de-burring, and polishing engine nozzles.”

“The business we run today is a legacy of our grandfather’s courage and determination, and our father’s philosophy,” adds Russell Byrne. “They had an eye for detail. They were perfectionists. They looked at every job with a can-do attitude.”

“They were willing to take risks,” adds Brad. “And they were longterm thinkers. In everything they did they planned for the future, and this is why we have been so focused over the past decade in making ourselves unique, being able to think outside the box, having a holistic approach to each project, and building up a complete end-to-end solution for world-class product realisation.” www.archerenterprises.com.au

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DAMPING VIBRATIONS, SHOCKS & NOISES

Manufactured with natural rubber NR, hardness 40, 55, 60 or 70, combined with zinc-plated steel or AISI 304 stainless steel threaded inserts, Elesa+Ganter damping elements are from now available in a wide range of dimensions and shapes.

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one-on-one

Craig Hingston is the President of the Cumberland Business Chamber in Western Sydney, as well as a member of the Greater Western Sydney Regional Advisory Council.

AMT: Tell us firstly about the Cumberland Business Chamber and its membership.

Craig Hingston: Cumberland Business Chamber was formed 30 years ago in the Smithfield-Wetherill Park region of western Sydney, which is home to the largest industrial business park in the Southern Hemisphere. This is a strategic hub representing a board cross-section of the manufacturing and engineering sector.

There are over 20,000 people employed here and many of these businesses have been here for decades.

Because we are an industrial-centric chamber, as opposed to a strictly geographical one, we attract people from all over Sydney.

Our members range from CEOs and management at multinational corporations to owners of SMEs and micro-enterprises. They represent manufacturing and the many sectors which support it.

Our purpose is to encourage and stimulate business growth. We are advocates for ‘Support Australian Industry. Buy Australian Products.’

AMT: What sort of services and projects does the Chamber engage in on behalf of its members?

CH: Our role is to educate, equip and inspire business leaders.

We provide a number of member benefits that we call ‘The Four Pillars’. The first is Leadership. We provide an informal and friendly forum where business leaders can meet, share experiences and be motivated.

The second pillar is Knowledge. This includes providing practical business building expertise and industry information. For example, our guest speakers have included the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), AusIndustry, Western Sydney Airport, and Telstra on the NBN roll out. Our members present Ten Talks on a variety of topics – we have learned about new mandatory hearing tests, exporting to China, developing business apps, and overcoming major challenges.

The third pillar is Connections, and we are in contact with local councils, state government politicians and industry bodies. We advocate on behalf of our members on issues ranging from illegal parking of trucks, flawed infrastructure upgrades and abandoned waste, to alleviating traffic congestion. We use our media connections to raise the profile of what our members are doing.

Our calendar includes ‘After Fives’, Cumberland Womens Network breakfasts, Business Over Beer and other networking opportunities. And we identify member-to-member and external sales opportunities for our membership.

The fourth pillar is Inspiration. It can be lonely at the top for business leaders and this is why the Chamber places so much emphasis on providing a positive environment for likeminded people. We believe these benefits combine to deliver a competitive advantage for our members.

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AMT: What does your role as President entail?

CH: I am an Ambassador for the Chamber promoting our capabilities and vision to local businesses. I educate them about how a business chamber can cost-effectively contribute to the growth of their enterprise. This is where I discover how well they are performing in the current economic climate.

I am a point of contact for our various stakeholders and for those business people enquiring about us. I sit on a number of panels and committees where I learn about changes in industry and technology and pass that information back to the members. I lead a great executive team who share the desire for us to be ‘the voice for Western Sydney’. They are always coming up with new and exciting ways to deliver more benefits to our members, and I lead and encourage our members at our events. You are doing something every day.

AMT: And what are the objectives of the Greater Western Sydney Regional Advisory Council?

CH: This is where I learn about the future journey of Western Sydney at the ‘helicopter level’. We are in direct contact with the NSW Business Chamber Council and are presented with big picture plans, such as the development of Sydney’s second and third CBDs at Parramatta and Liverpool, the Western Sydney Airport, light rail links and freight inter-modals. We look into business activity, skills shortages, business precincts for med-tech and aerospace, and so on. This information is vital to Chamber members for their forward planning and investment decision-making.

I have recently become a member of the Federal Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) for the same reason, to be fully informed about the transformation to Industry 4.0 and how we can get as many manufacturers onboard as possible.

AMT: You’ve got quite a wide-ranging perspective on manufacturing in Western Sydney and throughout NSW, both in these roles and in your other job as Director of Your Image Marketing & Media. What’s your view on the current state of manufacturing in the state?

CH: I am always excited when I meet or hear of cutting-edge companies embracing new technology and methodologies, and pushing the envelope. We certainly have our champions. This is very encouraging, however the reality from my perspective is that they are in the minority. Most industrial companies I meet in our region are somewhere between ‘Doing okay’ and ‘Finding things a bit tough’.

There is incremental growth, a new customer here and there, but I don’t see much dramatic improvement. Business owners tend to be hopeful about the future rather than optimistic or strongly confident. It is very concerning.

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AMT: What are the key challenges facing the sector there, and what are the real opportunities?

CH: Key challenges include: a difficulty in progressing systems, procedures and technology to the ‘advanced manufacturing’ level; a lack of confidence in the future of the market place brought on by State and Federal Government decisions; difficulties in being able to commercialise new innovations; big increases in operating costs; government red tape; and of course overseas competition.

After a stint in marketing for a few multinationals I launched Your Image Marketing and Media in 1992. I provide clients with strategies to build their brand and market presence, copy writing, public relations, and graphic design and web development via my Creative Director. I help them look for unique points of difference and present the right messaging to market. This includes copy for their online and offline sales and marketing and technical materials, their customer case studies, and magazine editorial.

From what I have seen, the benefits of Industry 4.0 are not properly understood. There is real confusion about the characteristics of advanced manufacturing and the steps required to attain it.

Business owners need this evolutionary change spelt out in simple language with explicit details of how to start out, what to do next, how long it will take, and what is required – for example, business mentoring, additional finance, training, new technology, and so on. I am hopeful that the AMGC will be instrumental in fixing this.

My love for engineering and manufacturing began when I was very young through my grandfather, who was an engineer. I became curious about how products function and how they are made. To this day you will find me watching videos or reading about all types of components. Last Christmas I got the workshop manual of the Ferrari 312T and a book about how Colin Chapman pioneered ground effect cars in Formula One. I am about to join a team working on a new type of jet aircraft.

The topic of finance seems to be a sore point. We have had AusIndustry, Austrade, PWC and a business grant specialist speak at the Chamber on how to secure government grants and rebates.

However those who went down this path eventually gave up because of the high cost of consultants and how difficult it was to complete the approval process.

I have a huge respect for engineers and product developers. As a good friend of mine said: “Everything we touch and use from the time we get up in the morning came from the mind of an engineer.”

They are very clever people and, for some, self-promotion and communication is not a strong point, so I have made a career out of speaking of their achievements on their behalf and helping them attract more customers. I want to see them succeed. I want Australia to be revered as the number-one supplier of new ideas to the world.

Rhetoric coming out of Canberra only makes matters worse. We see high-level promotion of initiatives which mention automation, robotics, simulation and so on, but it is not reaching the audience.

Industry is encouraged to collaborate with educational institutions for product development and commercialisation of new ideas, yet the institutions are reluctant to partner unless they have control of the intellectual property. We are told about millions of taxpayer dollars available for SMEs, but the documentation turns them away. We have the business community asking for a reduction in government red tape and lowering of company tax and payroll tax, but it falls on deaf ears. On top of this, the industrial community, which consumes a lot of energy is being hit hard with huge spikes in energy costs – and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight.

In short, the industrial community has low expectations of being assisted by the politicians. What this has done is foster a reluctance to change across the sector. There is a real hesitance to step out.

A lack of confidence. Our State Government has to take the blame for some of this. They awarded a $2.3bn contract for 500 doubledecker railway carriages to an overseas consortium instead of supporting onshore businesses. They are also importing 100km of steel train tracks from Spain rather than using local product. You can’t take revenue and business confidence away from the local market and still expect it to take risks in the interests of growth.

This is why I am involved in the Chamber and those organisations.

In some small way I want to contribute to us becoming more competitive on the global stage. My mentor, Dr Michael Myers OAM, who is the founder of Re-Engineering Australia Foundation and a Fellow of Engineers Australia, birthed that desire in me many years ago and it drives me every day.

AMT: What’s the most rewarding aspect of your work?

CH: Definitely the journey. I have had the privilege of working alongside a number of companies every month over the past six to seven years. My longest client relationship is 14 years. I get so much satisfaction out of being involved in the planning and execution of change, contributing to improvements, seeing clients progressing step by step and reaching their goals. www.cbchamber.com.au

My own clients who possess the fortitude to ‘have a go’ have embraced change and experienced the benefits such as winning global customers. I want this success for everyone in our region, but it is going to take a lot of work to sit down with them, win their trust and guide them forward.

AMT: Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got involved in these roles.

CH: I grew up in a family with both parents involved in design, branding and advertising. I always knew I would end up in a marketing-communications role – this has been a lifelong passion – but firstly I went into journalism. This gave me my interest in the media, which continues to this day.

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Agriculture, Food & Beverages

Mapping out Australia’s food future

CSIRO’s Food & Agribusiness Roadmap charts a course for products, technology and innovation to secure future success in the sector, as new technologies could see us eating algae-based sources of protein, developing allergenicfree nuts and tolerable varieties of lactose and gluten, and reducing environmental impact through edible packaging.

Keeping a greater share of food processing onshore and better differentiating Australian food products are major themes across the Roadmap, which calls on businesses to act quickly or risk losing future revenue streams to the competitive global market. Developed with widespread industry consultation and analysis, the Roadmap seeks to assist Australian food and agribusinesses with the desire to pursue growth and new markets.

According to Dr Martin Cole, Deputy Director of CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Australia is well positioned to act as a delicatessen of high-quality products that meet the needs of millions of informed and discerning customers both here and abroad.

“Australian businesses are among the most innovative in the world, and together with our world-class scientists, can deliver growth in the food and agribusiness sector amid unprecedented global change,” says Dr Cole. “Less predictable growing conditions, increasingly global value chains and customers who demand healthier, more convenient and traceable foods are driving businesses to new ways of operating.

“Advances are already being made through the use of blockchain technology and the development of labels that change colour with temperature or time, or are programmed to release preservatives.

This Roadmap will set us on the path to sustainable growth in the sector.”

The Roadmap was developed in collaboration with the government-funded food and agribusiness growth centre: Food Innovation Australia Limited (FIAL).

Recently, FIAL launched their Sector Competitiveness Plan, which outlines the over-arching industry vision to grow the share of Australian food in the global marketplace and the necessary strategy to achieve the vision.

“With the growing Asian middle class, Australia is in the box seat to take advantage of the many emerging export opportunities,” says FIAL Chairman Peter Schutz.

“Consumers are looking for differentiated products that cater to their needs. This is especially exciting for Australian food and agribusinesses which have the capability to respond with customised and niche products.” Australia exports over $40bn worth of food and beverages each year with 63% headed for Asia. According to Dr Cole, Australia is a trusted supplier of sustainable, authentic, healthy, high quality and consistent products.

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“We must focus on these strengths and enhance the level of value-adding to our products,” says Dr Cole. “Recent Austrade analysis shows early signs of such a shift, as for the first time in Australia’s history value-added foods have accounted for the majority (60%) of food export growth.”

The Roadmap outlines value-adding opportunities for Australian products in key growth areas, including health and wellbeing, premium convenience foods and sustainability-driven products that reduce waste or use less resources. Five key enablers for these opportunities are explored in the Roadmap: traceability and provenance, food safety and biosecurity, market intelligence and access, collaboration and knowledge sharing, and

skills. These enablers align with FIAL’s knowledge priority areas that are central in helping the food and agribusiness industry achieve its vision and deliver increased productivity, sustainable economic growth, job creation, and investment attraction for the sector. The Roadmap calls for improved collaboration and knowledge sharing to generate scale, efficiency and agility across rapidly changing value chains and markets.

“To survive and grow, the challenge facing Australia’s 177,000 businesses in the food and agribusiness sector is to identify new products, services and business models that arise from the emerging needs of tomorrow’s global customers,” says Dr Cole. www.csiro.au www.fial.com.au

Fast Facts

• Australia exports over $40bn worth of food and beverages each year, and 88% of these exports are bulk commodities.

• While Australian SMEs rank among the most innovative in the world, FIAL has found that only 5% of our employing food and agribusinesses are ‘businesses of tomorrow’ that actively pursue new markets, take risks, connect well to end markets, and continually invest in capability and knowledge.

• By 2021, markets for naturally healthy (US$291bn), food intolerance (US$42bn) and organic products (US$45bn) are expected to have grown at up to 4.5% compound annual growth rate.

• The global edible insect market is expected to grow from US$34m in 2014 to over US$520m by 2023.

• Australian businesses are increasingly value-adding. For the first time in Australia’s history, value-added/premium foods accounted for the majority (60%) of food export growth in the three years to 2016.

Agriculture, Food & Beverages

New spray dryer boosts efficiency and cost savings for industry

A new spray dryer developed at the University of Sydney could offer food and medicine businesses a more efficient and cost-effective method for producing their goods.

Spray dryers use hot gas to convert liquid to powders and are widely used by industry for the creation of dry foods – including powdered milk, instant coffee and cereal – and pharmaceutical products, including antibiotics and some medications.

Researchers in the ARC Training Centre for the Australian Food Processing Industry in the 21st Century at the University of Sydney have developed and tested a new pilot-scale spray drying system that is particularly well suited for materials with heat-sensitive compounds, such as foods, pharmaceuticals, waste and bioactives (non-essential compounds such as caffeine and fatty acids). The new design also has advantages for product purity and recovery in other applications, such as detergent manufacturing.

“The benefits for industry will include both cost savings and quality improvements for foods and pharmaceuticals to give health gains,” said Professor Timothy Langrish, who is leading the research with PhD

candidate Harry Huang. “We have only tested the new spray dryer with salt so far, but all foods and pharmaceuticals will potentially benefit from this new design.

Many waste products will also be treatable in ways that current designs cannot do.”

The new system also overcomes one of the major issues plaguing spray dryers today – the settling of particles and sediment onto the inner surface of the dryer.

“The new design features of this spray dryer have created a stable air flow, which reduces the likelihood of particles colliding with the wall, thereby reducing the amount of deposition and improving product recovery,” said Professor Langrish.

Tests of the new system showed a low amount of wall deposition, with less than 5% of solid materials remaining in the drying chamber. This result is promising in comparison to more than 30% wall deposition in most standard spray dryer designs.

PhD candidate Harry Huang and Professor Timothy Langrish work on the new spray dryer.

“This outcome means almost all of the dried particles can be recovered from the system without being exposed to high temperatures for a long period of time,” said Huang. “This is particularly important for products such as foods, pharmaceuticals and bioactives, as the short times reduce the likelihood of degradation of heat-sensitive compounds.”

Professor Langrish said the next step was to develop the system further to dry materials at a higher capacity. The specific design feature that reduces pressure fluctuations is also being patented. www.sydney.edu.au

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Agriculture, Food & Beverages

Marking on glass gives Australian wines permanent traceability

The wine industry is a competitive market that requires the production of exceptional wines, but tracing each bottle all the way to the consumer ensures quality is maintained.

Producing Australian sparkling wines is a challenge gladly accepted by boutique wine-maker Peterson House in the Hunter Valley, which has achieved standout success with its sparkling wines. However, being able to track each bottle as it left the winery and travelled along the distribution chain to local or international destinations was a longstanding concern, particularly when it came to feedback on quality.

Several years ago Peterson House opted to use a laser system that would make a permanent mark on each glass bottle. The Linx CO2 laser system form Raymax Applications in Sydney was easily integrated into existing operations, providing markings at speeds of some 2,500 bottles per hour. The system offers both accuracy and durability, as the laser process removes, or ablates, a layer of substrate (glass) leaving a traceable permanent mark.

As each bottle passes along the line, the bottles are dried, warmed to an ambient temperature of around 20 deg.C, then coded just prior to labelling. For identification and traceability purposes, each bottle is coded with a unique identity, including company information and a Julian code.

Australian sparkling wine-makers are forging ahead with the production of their own traditional bottle-fermented sparkling wines. While using the same wine-making techniques as those from Champagne in France, the term ‘Champagne’ is now protected for wines produced in that region. Building expertise in these winemaking processes has allowed the production of high-quality, highly competitive sparkling wine products, to the extent that the Peterson House winery now makes quality produce for small growers and other wineries.

Traditional bottle-fermented sparkling wine-making involves ‘disgorging’. Wine is transferred to the bottles with yeast and sugar for secondary fermentation and capped with a crown seal – much like a beer bottle cap. After secondary fermentation is complete, the wines are aged on yeast lees. At Peterson House this ageing

can vary from two to 10 years. When ready for final finishing, the bottles are ‘riddled’, finishing in an inverted upright position – a process once conducted by hand, but now performed through an automated process.

The bottle necks are then placed in a brine bath at -24 deg.C to freeze the yeast and around 20mls of wine. The crown seal is removed, with the frozen plug of yeast and a small amount of wine ejected by the pressure of the bubbles. A dosage of liqueur is then added, the bottle is corked, wire applied and dressed with a hood.

Coding and labelling follow, before packing and distribution to the waiting consumer. www.petersonhouse.com.au www.raymax.com.au

New technology partnership for GP Graders AMTIL member GP Graders has entered into a technology partnership with Ellips of Holland to revolutionise the ability for apple packers to identify apples with internal defects.

GP Graders has been designing and manufacturing turn-key grading and packing lines for apples and various other fruit at its factory in Melbourne since its foundation in 1963, with hundreds of packing lines in operations throughout Australia and the world. The multi-award winning company’s new system uses light spectrometer technology and takes 10 images sliced across each apple to detect internal browning and core rot wherever it is located in the fruit. “This cutting-edge technology will change the industry and strengthen the packer’s ability to provide defect-free apples to supermarkets,” said Stuart Payne, Managing Director of GP Graders. The technology doesn’t just shoot a beam of light through the centre of the apple to look at the core in isolation, it also analyses the entire mass of the apple, slicing the apple at 10 incremental stages in order to check for internal rot or browning wherever it is located through the fruit.

This is a standout feature of the technology, as older technology

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only took one light image through the centre of an apple.

Ellips Chief Executive Officer Erwin Baker oversaw the installation in operation first-hand at GP Graders’ headquarters, where the technology has been fitted to an operating apple line. Bins of apples were run through the system allowing GP Graders to intensively test and demonstrate the technology.

“The results were remarkable,” said Payne.

Of those apples discarded to an exit with a reading of internal browning and core rot, 100% of them in fact showed those characteristics when cut open. Of those apples that were deemed not to have a reading of internal or core rot, only one single apple showed specific characteristics when cut into during the collation of test results. The total sample size was 1,500 apples. www.gpgraders.com.au

Agriculture, Food & Beverages Heading

Say cheese: New gas solution supports Victorian dairy producer

Faced with a surge in production levels, Victorian cheese producer Ferraro Dairy Foods turned to BOC for assistance with its gas requirements.

Based in Tullamarine, Ferraro is a tight-knit family-run business that supplies more than 25 varieties to some of Australia’s leading food manufacturers including Arnotts, Paddy’s Pies and Goodman Fielder. As production of shredded mozzarella, shredded parmesan and grated parmesan increased, Ferraro needed larger volumes of nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas, which resulted in a new solution to support its modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) process.

“Since moving to BOC, we’ve had no gas supply issues and can confidently increase our cheese production knowing that we have the right gas solution,” says John Ferraro, the company’s owner.

“We don’t change for the sake of change – but BOC’s offer was competitive and they have really looked after us.”

The challenge Ferraro had outgrown its existing gas system from a previous supplier, and now required more nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas flows and larger vessels to support increasing quantities of cheese packs being produced using a MAP process.

“We have a single chamber and double chamber machines that need gas all day long,” says Ferraro. “The high-pressure mixed-gas cylinder packs we had were connected directly to each individual machine which meant a higher risk of pipe freezing and interruption of gas flow.

“After hearing about what BOC did from one of our contacts, we were impressed and got in touch to tell them what we needed.

They were able to offer us a perfect solution for our consumption that was competitive and different to what we had heard or seen elsewhere.”

The solution

The benefits

BOC’s experts assessed the factory set-up and processing area and provided recommendations to Ferraro. BOC’s solution involved installing gas storage vessels, incorporating a mix-onsite unit and liquefied gas delivery by BOC’s CryoSpeed operators.

Since installing the pipeline and vessels, Ferraro has been able to increase its productivity with a consistent flow rate of gas achieved to all its packaging machines. The stationary vessels located outside the factory are replenished automatically by BOC with a telemetry system installed on the cryotank vessel to indicate when a refill is required. This has reduced the need for Ferraro and his team to manually handle cylinder packs and placing orders for new supplies thus creating a convenient and safe work environment.

“We took the BOC expert into the factory and processing area, showed him the machines we had and the gas line that was coming in,” explains Ferraro. “It wasn’t left up to us – we’re not the experts on that. BOC nutted it all out.”

BOC installed a gas system comprising a two-ton cryotank vessel for liquid nitrogen, two 350kg Gasmatic vessels for the food-grade liquid carbon dioxide, and a mix-onsite unit to create the 30%/70% carbon dioxide/nitrogen mixture required for the packaging process.

Pipework was also designed and installed to ensure the flow rate requirement for each machine was met. This provided Ferraro with a convenient, efficient and cost-effective gas supply solution that met its growing needs.

With high volumes of carbon dioxide being used indoors, BOC ensured Ferraro was compliant with Australian Standard 5034, installing a CellaGuard carbon dioxide monitor with four CellaGuard repeater displays at each entrance to the factory. The vessels and equipment have a small footprint and take up minimal storage space. All vessels can be refilled directly from BOC’s specialised CryoSpeed trucks, instantly removing the need for manual handling and switchover of cylinder packs.

“We found that the gas was very competitively priced and have already seen some savings since the solution was installed,” adds Ferraro. “There is no longer a need to spend 20 minutes each time we have to changeover a cylinder pack.

“We don’t need to think about our gas deliveries – every second Monday they top it up. BOC can track the usage levels and will refill it when it gets low. They have also installed a cylinder backup system to cater for any issues from the vessels but we have never needed to use them.

“BOC is always making sure any problem is addressed straight away and we are really looked after. We feel really comfortable with the setup. Every six months they come to the door to service our vessels. Most importantly, this solution has given us the confidence needed to expand our business while maintaining the strict food safety requirements of our industry.” www.ferrarodairyfoods.com.au www.boc-limited.com.au

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Agriculture, Food & Beverages

Agbot the robotic weed slayer

Agricultural robot Agbot II, designed and built by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with support from the Queensland Government, could save Australia’s farm sector $1.3bn a year by reducing the costs of weeding crops by around 90%.

Farmers saw the robot in action at Bundaberg on 20 October, when the fully-autonomous Agbot ll was demonstrated for the first time. Professor Tristan Perez, leader of QUT’s agricultural robotics program, said Agbot II’s sensors, software and other electronics enable it to navigate through a field, detect and classify weeds and then kill them either mechanically or chemically. The robot can also be used to apply fertiliser.

“Agbott ll’s vision system can identify weeds and decide in real time which are better to spray and which are better dealt with, for example, mechanical or thermal methods,” he said. “The light weight of AgBot II, which is about 600kg, will help reduce soil compaction that affects the yield by limiting the root development of the crops. Also due to weight, the robots can be deployed faster onto fields after rain to keep a tight control of weeds before they drop their seeds.

“In future versions, the robots could also feed back data on such things as soil and crop health and the state of diseases as they conduct their operations. This would enable better management decisions driven by paddock specific real-time information,” he said.

“In addition AgBots are designed to work in groups and this increases the reliability of weeding operations. If one robot has a problem and fails, the others continue operating. This is not the case with a single tractor or single sprayer operation.”

The robot was also demonstrated for the State Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Leanne Donaldson.

Professor Perez said Agbot ll is solar-powered at present, which is better for the environment and the farmer’s budget. He said QUT’s Farm Robotics team was at the forefront of innovation in agricultural robotics.

“The Robotics partnership between the Queensland Government and QUT is a great example of how government and can work together to help our agricultural industries,” said Minister Donaldson.

“My Department invested $3m into this project to help producers use technology to increase efficiencies, profitably and sustainably. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is committed to investing in innovative technologies to develop Queensland’s agriculture and food industries.”

Professor Perez said Agbot II has demonstrated an outstanding performance in the use of robotic vision and artificial intelligence for the detection and classification of different weed species.

“The cutting edge robotic vision gives Agbot II the ability to spotspray selected weed species and use mechanical tools to remove other weeds species that are herbicide-resistant,” Professor Perez said. “To date, we have concentrated on the three weeds that are relevant to Queensland: volunteer cotton, sow thistle and wild oats, and the vision system operated with 99% accuracy in the classification of the correct species based on the images collected by the robot cameras.”

Professor Perez said one of the key problems is that weeds are becoming increasingly immune to chemical control and that was why it was important an agricultural robot could not only detect, but classify the weed species on the spot and decide which actions to take to treat them.

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“We are integrating deep agricultural knowledge and systems science with powerful digital technologies such as big data analytics, economic modelling and decision science into these farm robots,” said Professor Perez.

The QUT team is currently in discussions with potential commercialisation partners to take this technology to Australian farmers soon. QUT’s program on Strategic Investment in Farm Robotics (SIFR) is co-funded by the Queensland Government, through the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The three-year program, conducted at QUT under the ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision with the support of QUT’s Institute for Future Environments, aims to develop and fast-track farm robotic technology that will reinvigorate agricultural productivity by increasing production and reducing costs.

The SIFR program takes an integrated approach and focuses not only on technology, but also on key enabling factors for its adoption, including economics and business, risk, regulation and policy; and social aspects such as workforce education and training. www.qut.edu.au

Agriculture, Food & Beverages Heading

3D printing helps Thermos lead its industry Founded in 1904, Thermos Company is an icon in insulated food and beverage containers. Along with its venerable coffee vessels, Thermos manufactures children’s lunch boxes and other consumer products. The household name continues to innovate, building on its impressive list of firsts that includes vacuum-insulated food jars and personal bottles, and ultra-portable titanium bottles.

“We always think of product development as making something that will change people’s lifestyle,” says Shin Matsuyama, Manager of R&D at Thermos.

Traditionally, cold and hot beverages were cumbersome, served only in large batches such as iced jugs or heated urns. Now personal beverage containers are routinel taken for granted. Matsuyama refers to this cultural change as ‘revolutionary portability’, and it’s his goal to keep pushing it forward by delivering better products.

Last year, customers showed their approval by purchasing three million Thermos mugs.

Better design, faster and at less cost To use a Thermos product is to touch it. Because Thermos customers handle their products extensively — with their hands and their mouths — an impressive look, feel and ergonomics are vital. Innovating these products requires numerous physical design iterations, and Matsuyama’s team must be able to create prototypes quickly and easily. That’s why Thermos’s state-ofthe-art R&D facility In Niigata, Japan, includes two Stratasys 3D printing technologies. Matsuyama’s team brought fused deposition modeling (FDM) Technology in- house in 2006, when designers moved to an advanced engineering platform using high-end 3D CAD. The team chose a Dimension 3D printer for its ability to make relatively large models with strong thermoplastics.

“It also offers excellent cost- performance,” says Matsuyama.

Before producing this cap, Thermos engineers tested pouring performance using 3D printed prototypes.

The final product (left), and a 3D printed model.

Consumers are always looking for impressive new products, and Thermos strives to answer with lighter weight, better usability and better pouring performance. 3D printing gives the company the agility to innovate fast and maintain leadership in its industry.

Stratasys PolyJet production systems are available in Australia through Objective3D, the leading provider of Stratasys printer solutions for designers, educators and manufacturers. Objective3D is ISO 9001 certified and has been awarded the Stratasys Customer Excellence Award in 2013 and 2015. www.thermos.com www.objective3d.com.au

Since adopting 3D printing, Matsuyama’s team has been able to build prototypes faster and at a reduced cost. Previously, outsourcing a typical prototype took three to five days, he says: “But now we can do it internally, and finish a prototype in hours. If it’s a small part, the job is done in minutes.”

Moreover, for Thermos, building a prototype in-house costs just one-fifth the price of outsourcing. “With 3D printing, we mostly pay for materials and nothing else,” Matsuyama adds.

Beyond improving speed and cost, 3D printing helps Thermos make better products. “We can make as many prototypes as we need until we achieve our design goals. It allowed us to optimise the fit of the cap stopper and pouring performance of the best-selling Thermos mugs,” says R&D Engineer Takahiro Maruyama.

Compared with conventional methods, 3D printing creates prototypes with more of the finished product’s features.

“Threads in the mug’s inner cylinder are hard to cut using traditional machining, but the Dimension produces it with no problem,” says Maruyama. “All you have to do is send the STL (STereoLithography) data to the printer and press the start button. Even a young engineer with little experience can make prototypes without a thick user’s manual.”

Once they had seen the benefits of 3D printing, Matsuyama’s design team expanded its capabilities, adding a second Dimension 3D Printer in 2008, and adopting PolyJet technology in 2012 with an Objet260 ConnexTM 3D Printer. PolyJet 3D printing empowers the team to make detailed, smooth models in multiple materials.

Impressively, a prototype can emerge from the 3D printer with a mixture of clear and rubberlike features suitable for liquid and gas testing. Together, the two 3D printing technologies enhance design reviews and streamline development, quality testing, and even production, where Thermos uses custom FDM tooling built in-house.

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Cutting Tools

Sutton Tools – Learning from a century of achievement

It’s been a big year for Sutton Tools, marking a century in business, as well as winning a Manufacturer of the Year award at the 2017 Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame. At the Victorian Manufacturing Showcase in October, Managing Director Peter Sutton shared some of the lessons his company has learnt over the years. The following is an edited excerpt from his presentation.

As you’d expect, we are incredibly proud of our achievements, and also humble, in reaching the milestone of 100 years – an achievement pretty special for a family business, and also importantly for a manufacturing business in light of the tragedy of the recent automotive closures. Undoubtedly to reach this point it has taken the efforts of countless hardworking, talented and dedicated staff. There are also many other factors that have contributed – not discounting some lucky breaks. I would like to share with you a couple of our insights into what has enabled our company to be here today to share our story.

A pivotal point in our recent history happened back in the mid1990s. We had been fortunate enough to navigate our way through our last official recession. Unfortunately many other manufacturers, including our customers, hadn’t. We had also finally gained the upper hand in a long David and Goliath battle against our major domestic competitor. Things were looking okay for us and I guess we were feeling quite pleased with ourselves.

great companies, not only in your industry. Borrow or steal these ideas and adapt them for your businesses, make them your own, but most importantly improve on them and make them even better.

This has certainly always been a core part of the Sutton ethos. Each year many of our staff travel the world attending trade shows, visiting suppliers, customers and other great manufacturing companies, gaining inspiration, and incorporating these lessons into our own business. I very much welcome the Victorian Government’s recently announced Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives, in particular the Global Discovery Exchange, which provides manufacturers an opportunity to study first-hand world’s best practice.

It is without debate that if we had not pursued this export journey, it would have been a matter of just a few short years before our local market and Sutton Tools would have been overrun with better quality and cheaper tools.

“Embrace the Difficult”

However, we had learnt some lessons from that recession, and one of them was that if we were to grow, let alone maintain our production levels, we needed to look at markets outside of Australia. Along with other Australian manufacturing companies, there was a major push at the time for us to embrace our geographical neighbours in Asia and have less of a tie or a focus on our traditional trading partners in Europe and North America. So this was where our first significant drive into exporting began.

A second element important to our development has been to ‘Embrace the Difficult’.

My cousin Robert Sutton was appointed our first Export Manager.

He was literally loaded up with a suitcase full of our finest tools, bought a ticket, and sent on his way to harvest “the rivers of export gold”. I think you can imagine how it turned out. How naïve and wrong could we be! And somewhat arrogant.

For us this was the ultimate challenge: a 1mm diameter tool with a thread pitch of 0.25mm – or the equivalent of the thickness of 2 human hairs. For us this was certainly Embracing the Difficult.

At the time we had touted ourselves as Australia’s premium tool manufacturer – which we probably were. But due to our focus on the domectic market and local competitors rather than what was happening further abroad, the world had passed us by and we had fallen behind and we missed it. Exporting quickly uncovered some sobering truths. Our specifications were out of date, our geometries were old-fashioned. Wrong material, inconsistent quality, too expensive. Even our packaging was no good!

One such example relevant to this is in the development of our micro-diameter forming taps for the electronics industry. A tap is a cutting tool used for making an internal thread in a hole. In many electronic devices such as your smartphones or laptops or iPads, there are dozens of these micro-holes, all requiring threads, machined with this tool.

The development of this tool has taken literally over a decade – and it is still going. Every aspect of the product had to be painstakingly engineered, starting from material selection, blanking, heat treatment, form and thread grinding, micro-polishing, PVD coating – not even to mention the capital investment required. Ten years of development, which included countless setbacks, costly errors, customer returns, and scrapped production.

It was at this point that we had to make an important decision. Do we retreat back and just focus on our domestic market? Or do we do what needed to be done to take on the challenge, compete on a global scale, and get our products where they needed to be? So perhaps somewhat out of pride and a large amount of stubbornness we chose the latter, doing what was required to make us globally competitive.

“Steal with Pride” So where do you start? For us it was benchmarking. Benchmarking ourselves against the best tool companies in the world, and setting the goal of not only matching but surpassing them.

Another term I like to use for benchmarking, one I first heard used by Archie Cowen, the founder of the wonderful ‘Insights to Excellence’ program (which is still operating today and I would encourage anyone to take up), was: ‘Steal with Pride’. Look outside your business and gain the learnings and inspirations from other

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The micro-diameter forming tap from Sutton Tools is a 1mm-diameter tool with a thread pitch of 0.25mm – or the equivalent of the thickness of two human hairs.

Cutting Heading Tools Peter Sutton addressing the Victorian Manufacturing Showcase.

Often we contemplated just giving up – too hard. But we stuck at it, not only for the pride of getting that product to successfully work, but more importantly what it also did for all our other products and our manufacturing processes. Those learnings, taken from that development, were incorporated across our entire product range.

Pleasingly, I can say that today we are one of only a few approved, accredited suppliers to Foxconn, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer electronics, employing over 1.3m people across multiple continents. For those of you with iPhone, a Kindle or a Nintendo – it was made by Foxconn – and hopefully there’ll be a few of our tools that went towards making them.

So here we are 100 years on. This year we received the honour of being awarded the Victorian Manufacturing Business of the Year.

And more importantly our exports now represent over 50% of the products we manufacture. The journey has not stopped and never will; however, today we can travel to any market globally with a high degree of confidence that the tools that we make cannot only compete with the best in the market, but often surpasses them.

So to summarise: • Never rest on your past successes – Remain humble and avoid complacency.

• Benchmark yourself on what’s going on globally, and yes – Steal with Pride.

• Embrace the Difficult – it drives innovation and improvement.

• Seize your opportunities from the luck you make for yourselves.

To finish, I took a picture in Europe recently while wandering an old cemetery prior to attending an engineering exhibition in Germany. It was a statue of a man struggling to push a large rock up a hill. Not knowing its exact meaning, I did some research and discovered it was King Sisyphus, from Greek mythology. This task, of pushing this rock up a hill for eternity, only to have it come back down and roll over him, was a punishment from the gods.

I quickly found a bit of a parallel with a career in manufacturing: difficult, frustrating and sometimes with little reward. However, it is this struggle and the endeavours towards continual improvement in the processes and our products that gives us all our enormous satisfaction in this great industry. www.suttontools.com

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Cutting Tools

The new Industry 4.0 way to connect with Iscar Iscar offers several Industry 4.0 standard digital tools, which enable accessing data and making machining calculations easy and readily available.

Iscar’s best cutting tool recommendations and cutting data can be downloaded anywhere and at any time. The Iscar Tool Advisor (ITA) will automatically calculate the preferred cutting tools for the job. All that the user has to do is enter a few machining parameters.

The ITA is an Industry 4.0 standard, consisting of a userfriendly, cyber-based tool selection software package that uses a unique mathematical algorithm. The tool selection process maximises productivity and is based on objective technical data as opposed to an intuitive method of search. For this Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is a optimal tool advisor based on application parameters and available machine power. It works in conjunction with Iscar’s electronic catalogue, from where the tool parameters are accessed and used for continuing machine processing. The ITA also includes sub-applications such as machining power, grades and chipformer selection tools.

Iscar’s ITA package reduces tooling scenarios while accounting for cutting conditions, workpiece material, machine power and metal removal rates. The ITA places emphasis on customer profitability while assuring the right method of tool search for any application.

To receive quick results, users need to enter only a few mandatory fields (between two and six). For more detailed data, users can complete additional detailed fields specifying machine parameters, tool diameters, tool type, and workpiece material. The calculations will present the three most recommended tool selection results. Up to 24 additional tool recommendations will be available. The results include tool details, insert details, cutting conditions, power, metal removal rate and cutting time. ITA supports both inch and metric platforms and supports 25 different languages.

In addition to ITA, Iscar’s Complete Machining Solutions electronic catalogue is a search engine with multi-tasking capabilities. It enables fast searching for all Iscar tools and inserts and shows parametric values alongside technical specifications. The electronic catalogue is constantly updated and provides users with the very latest guide information.

The Iscar electronic catalogue displays 2D and 3D tool models, pictures and links to product videos. It also provides an anti-collision and verification tool path for CAD-Cam users. The ITA software is available free of charge, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a direct connection to an ITA support team member.

To meet the growing standards of the Industry 4.0 era, Iscar has launched additional apps aside from the ITA, to assist its many users in their daily routines concerning metal cutting. Iscar is present on the Machining Cloud application where cutting tool assemblies can be built quickly and easily. The IQ Cloud is available through the Machining Cloud application and is designed for desktop computers and popular tablets.

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The Iscar IQ Cloud enables programmers to build and download 3D assembly models for CAD CAM users. The Tool Selector section of the application provides users with a method of selecting cutting tools from a tree structure using either a hierarchy or parametric search.

Iscar’s Catalog Application offers many hundreds of technical pages and user guide information, which appear in the main Iscar hard copy catalogues and are available for downloading from the App Store or Google Play.

The electronic catalogue pages feature the same interface used in the paper catalogues, with an additional search method for users who seek online or offline catalogue related information.

“Industrealize” is an added Industry 4.0 feature on the Iscar website. Industrealize provides explanations and illustrative animations which depict industry oriented metalworking processes in a vivid and descriptive manner. The Industrealize section shows popular metalworking applications for many industry sectors such as automotive, aerospace, die & mould, oil & gas, medical and many more industries associated with metal cutting. The Industrealize section also recommends the best tools for each application type.

Iscar’s new Matrix is an additional Industry 4.0 tool management system to control inventory, streamline purchasing and drive down costs. Matrix combines the most innovative automated tool dispenser with Matrix-TM, a powerful management software program. Access to an item stored in Matrix’s locked bins is electronically controlled by the management software, according to pre-defined authorisations. Flexibility is the key to any storage solution and Matrix excels.

Modular drawer and bin configurations can be exchanged for different bins, giving the user an infinite number drawer of configurations.

Add-on cabinets for additional space may be connected with a click of a cable. Multiple cabinets can be deployed in different locations and networked to run from one common database. The system is a truly modular and comes in different sizes and configurations, with the possibility to grow as your needs change. Matrix technology includes a patented locking system, touchscreen, plug-&-play “smart” electronics, ergonomic design and remote diagnostics.

Iscar is always developing additional technical applications which will continue to assist and simplify metalworking with Iscar tools. www.iscar.com/ita

www.ctms-imc.com

Hotspots is proudly owned and managed

by AMTIL

Press our buttons and we’ll be there to help you •

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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Cutting Tools

Turning revolution – A surprising take on a mature process

Turning is a mature machining process that has seemingly been around forever. However, those thinking that their process is rock-solid – tweaking and fine-tuning parameters to maximise output and profitability – need to think again.

What if there was a new way of turning that questions established and preconceived ideas about this age-old process?

The time has arrived to join the new turning revolution and break through existing production barriers to revel in newfound productivity. By Håkan Ericksson, General Turning Product Manager, Sandvik Coromant.

Throughout its long history, turning in the conventional direction – namely starting at the end of the workpiece and working longitudinally towards the chuck – has prevailed. Although this technique has proved successful, as the process has matured, ongoing advances in productivity and profitability have been increasingly difficult to achieve. Many are bound by the limitations of traditional turning. For instance, while experienced operators are aware that factors such as small entry angles permit increased feeds, they are restricted to around 90 degrees in conventional turning in order to reach the shoulder and avoid the long, curved chips that small entering angles characteristically provide.

In recent years, the advent of globalisation has led to a trading environment for machined parts that is becoming increasingly challenging. Manufacturers need to reduce their costs in order to compete. Production engineers are under pressure to increase cutting parameters and/or reduce tool set-ups, but find that turning is slowing them down. In many cases it has become a bottleneck operation.

Turning in a new direction Machine shops around the world have only known one way of turning – and that approach has been around for decades, arguably spanning back not just one but two generations. But what if there was something that could deliver genuine competitive gain? To make such a leap, the very principles of conventional turning would have to be challenged.

This is the exact thinking applied by Sandvik Coromant in its development of a revolutionary new process called PrimeTurning. The company’s engineers began by investigating the potential for longitudinal turning to start at the chuck end and cut material ‘backwards’ as the tool traverses towards the end of the component. Although some machine shops have already tried such a method, the problem has always been chip control.

In PrimeTurning, Sandvik Coromant has developed a solution that aims not only to overcome the chip control issue, but

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CoroTurn Prime in action – as cutting is performed in the direction moving away from the shoulder, there is no danger of chip jamming.

to provide multiple additional benefits. For instance, it allows a small entering angle to be applied, which in turn provides considerable productivity gains. In fact, the potential exists to effectively double feed rates and increase speed in comparison with conventional turning. This is because small entering angles or higher lead angles create thinner, wider chips that spread the load and heat away from the nose radius, resulting in increased cutting data and/or tool life. Furthermore, as cutting is performed in the direction moving away from the shoulder, there is no danger of chip jamming, a common effect of conventional longitudinal turning.

representing a step-change for the future of turning and delivering advantages such as better machine utilisation (due to less set-up time), substantially longer tool life, fewer production stops, less tool changes and reduced tool inventory.

Multi-directional benefits

With PrimeTurning, a combination of advanced strategies, tooling and programming codes provides perfect reach at the shoulder and allows for entry angles of 25 to 30 degrees. The result is significantly enhanced metal removal rates, excellent chip control and well-maintained tolerances. Depending on the current setup, PrimeTurning can boost productivity to levels that are presently unattainable.

If this sounds appealing, how about if the concept could be taken a step further, allowing for ‘all-directional’ turning? This would mean instead of having new inserts dedicated to ‘backwards’ turning, these tools could also perform conventional direction turning, as well as facing and profiling – one tool for all directions.

PrimeTurning offers precisely that,

Although the process is relevant for the general turning arena, there are certain applications and machining environments where it will act as a significant gain provider.

For instance, it will certainly suit the turning of short and compact components, but still be capable of machining long, slender parts (using a tailstock).

Turning enters a new era

Cutting Tools The new PrimeTurning methodology and CoroTurn tools from Sandvik Coromant enable turning in all directions for the first time .

CoroTurn Prime A-type features three 35-degree corners and is designed for light roughing, finishing and profiling.

Any machine shop not maximising its productivity is not as competitive as it could be. If turning is a bottleneck operation, for example, the company is suffering a restriction on the number of components produced per run. Similarly, if machine utilisation is low, the potential to make more components in less time is being missed.

PrimeTurning can help turn these limitations into opportunities and offer companies a quick return on investment.

Suitable for use on CNC turning centres and multi-tasking turn-mill machines, this fresh take on a mature process also offers the flexibility to turn in all directions for extraordinary productivity. A single insert is able to perform longitudinal turning (in both directions), facing and profiling.

Temperature control is also improved because heat is generated in a wider and different area to conventional inserts. This means that heat can more easily move away from the cutting zone. The chip is also straight and easier to form.

Parts made from ISO P (steel), S (heatresistant super alloys and titanium) and M (stainless steel) materials are set to benefit initially, with expansion to more materials in the near future. Additionally, the process will evolve into internal turning operations, providing an indication that this trailblazing development will continue to drive the turning revolution forwards.

First step-change in decades PrimeTurning represents the first significant step-change in turning strategy for many decades. Of course, it would be remiss to state that this methodology is suitable for all applications – the existing Sandvik Coromant offer for turning will continue to provide optimised tools and tooling systems where PrimeTurning is not the most appropriate solution. For instance, for longitudinal and face turning in steel workpieces, CoroTurn 300 can offer high component quality, increased handling efficiency and long tool life. The tool integrates the latest advances in

iLock, Inveio and high-precision coolant technology to take steel turning into the future using an insert with eight, 80-degree cutting edges. More edges also means fewer inserts, which in turn means reduced inventory.

So which type of manufacturer is likely to benefit the most from PrimeTurning? Any company performing conventional external turning in large batches – automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and tier one, two and three suppliers for example – as well as machine shops working in industries such as aerospace, where several set-ups and tool changes are often required. Essentially any company seeking a boost in productivity; companies that know their cutting data and its current limitations; and companies open to embracing new technologies and industry trends.

Just when machine shop managers, engineers and operators thought they had gleaned every last bit from their production, all-directional turning has arrived to deliver even greater recompenses. The tools, methodology and software provide significantly greater metal removal rates, excellent chip control and achievable tolerances. Ultimately, those wishing to increase cutting data and profits, should simply join the turning revolution. www.sandvik.coromant.com/ primeturning

CoroTurn Prime B-type with its ultrastrong corners is designed specifically for rough machining.

Scan this code or type ‘goo.gl/o2aknT’ into your browser to watch a video of PrimeTurning and CoroTurn Prime.

The history of turning Records of an early industrial lathe exist from 1772, when a horizontal boring machine was installed at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London. It was horse-powered and featured a workpiece that turned, rather than the tool, making it technically a lathe. This period of the industrial revolution also witnessed the arrival of mechanised power via water wheels or steam engines. Between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, electric motors started to take over as the main power source. Then, beginning in the 1950s, servomechanisms were applied to the control of lathes, which were subsequently coupled with computers to yield computer numerical control (CNC).

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Process reliability for aerospace – dry machining of CFRP-aluminium stacks A new drilling/countersinking tool from Mapal for dry machining carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP)-aluminium stacks combines the properties of a drill for machining aluminium with those of a drill for CFRP machining.

The fuselage, wing, flaps as well as the horizontal and vertical tail of the latest generation of aircraft are produced from CFRP aluminium stacks. For the assembly of aircraft, innumerable bores including countersinking are drilled in these components for the rivet connections. In most cases drill feed units are used for machining. The dimensional accuracy of the bores is crucial. The bore must feature exactly the same diameter in both materials.

Drilling always takes place from the outside to the inside – bore entrance and countersinking in CFRP, bore outlet in aluminium.

Previously minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) was applied for this manufacturing step. After machining, the components had to therefore be disassembled, cleaned and remounted. In addition machining was often carried out in several successive steps.

Different tools were used for drilling, reaming to the final diameter, and countersinking. The complete process was therefore timeconsuming and costly, and the required dimensions were often not reliable. For example, the bore and countersinking often did not align on one axis.

To optimise this process, Mapal has developed a drill with a countersink step for dry machining. The tool’s special geometry ensures the heat caused by machining is not transferred to the

component. As a result, MQL can be eliminated and neither the component nor the working environment are contaminated with coolant.

The drill’s two cutting edges are made of solid carbide, combining the properties of a drill for machining aluminium with those for CFRP machining. It also has a double point angle. This ensures good centring of the drill and minimum burr formation at the bore outlet. Reliable removal of chips is ensured by the specially designed chip spaces. Any delamination and fibre protrusion is to be avoided for the countersinking in the CFRP. Mapal achieves this with a rake face correction at the countersink step. As CFRP is an extremely abrasive material, the drill is diamond-coated. This means that eight times the tool life is achieved compared with an uncoated drill.

The drilling/countersinking tool for the dry machining of CFRPaluminium stacks has been successfully used by customers. A speed of 5,000rpm and a feed of 0.1mm are applied. The tool is not only impressive in practice because of the results with regard to process reliability, tool life and the machining result, but also because of the steady boring process. The drill is available with a diameter between 4.1mm and 11.11mm with the associated countersink step. www.mapal.com

Dormer Pramet opens Experience Centre

Dormer Pramet’s new Experience Centre aims to bring together more than 100 years of industry knowledge to develop new materials and technologies.

The purpose-built facility is a major investment by the company that aims to provide expertise, training, research and development and equipment to further increase the scope and performance of its wide assortment of cutting tools. The Experience Centre, or XP Centre for short, is located at Dormer Pramet’s indexable production unit (PU) in Šumperk, Czech Republic.

The Centre was officially opened at a special ceremony, with the ribbon cutting performed by Klas Forsström, President of Sandvik Machining Solutions (SMS); Stefan Steenstrup, President of Dormer Pramet; Marek Kotrlý, Managing Director and Production Manager at Dormer Pramet; and Zdenek Broz, Mayor of Šumperk.

During the ceremony Forsström said: “We often talk about R&D, application development, proximity to the customer and that is very much what this Centre represents. This is the future of our industry, to interact with our customers and at the same time, bring it in to our own production, so this facility is very important.” “Šumperk is a very important location for Dormer Pramet and the ideal place for our XP Center,” added Steenstrup. “More than 600 of our 1,400 employees are based there and around 40% of everything we sell is manufactured there. The XP Centre is, though, very much a global facility and will be a focal point for a number of activities. It will help us to expand our knowledge in order to develop new solutions for our customers.” The XP Center will be home to Dormer Pramet’s materials team, who are currently focusing on researching the properties of substrates and developing new CVD

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and PVD coatings. The XP Centre features a modern laboratory equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as electron microscopes, 3D scanners and a machine for measuring material wear during repeated stress.

The very core of the XP Centre is a modern testing room featuring a variety of machine tools and measuring equipment. This will allow Dormer Pramet to test the functional properties of product prototypes and verify whether the cutting tool meets expectations before being put into production. Further machines will be reserved for customer tests, forming part of a comprehensive training base with a presentation hall and several conference rooms. www.dormerpramet.com

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Nordon stays “strokes ahead” by focusing on quality

As every engineer knows, poor-quality system components can result in downtime, and in turn calamitous financial losses, whereas specifying high quality results in reliability and long life. A ‘quality first’ philosophy is deeply embedded in Brisbane company Nordon Cylinders, whose products play a key role in delivering the hydraulic power that is absolutely essential to the economics of industry in Australia and further afield.

What comes in a cylinder and is extraordinarily powerful? The answer is hydraulic power, which is a cornerstone of kinetics – the part of physics that is concerned with the relationship between motion and its causes – specifically, forces and torques. This power is seen everywhere in the industrial world, from tipper-trucks and rockcrushers in the civil engineering and mining industries, to extruders and press-brakes in factories and workshops, not forgetting cranes and earthmoving machines.

Nordon has been in the hydraulics business since 1974, and has built a solid reputation for its expertise, product quality, and commitment to customer service. Nordon’s customers at home and abroad require hydraulic cylinders from tiny to enormous, and they don’t always want them today – sometimes, they want them yesterday.

At its manufacturing base in the scenic Moreton Bay region just north of Brisbane, the long-established company continuously manufactures cylinders in bores ranging from 3.8 to 25.4cm – and units with strokes of up to 7m, if required.

The Brendale workshop produces high-quality cylinders with a wide range of specifications – bore, stroke, pressure, speed, gland, mounts, etc – all supplied with a warranty. These Australian-made hydraulic cylinders are now commonplace in such industries as manufacturing, processing, mining, construction and agriculture.

To ensure rapid response to customers throughout Australia and internationally, Nordon offers a complete range of 350-grade cast, machined mounts and accessories. This provides engineers with extensive and flexible configuration options. According to Norm Johnson, Director at Nordon, the Queensland manufacturer is “strokes ahead of the rest”.

“In addition to providing high-spec cylinders to companies in major industries, we meet the needs of the hydraulics sector,” he says. “In Brendale, we manufacture roundline welded-construction hydraulic cylinders in Australia’s most modern and best-equipped cylinder manufacturing facility. Our product range incorporates Australia’s widest range of high-quality cast-steel mountings, supported by a market-leading catalogue, and client access to 3D modelling.”

Boosting capacity and capability Nordon’s engineering knowledge and day-to-day problem-solving experience proved to be invaluable when choosing a new machine to add further capability and flexibility to its cylinder manufacturing capacity in Brendale. After ascertaining its needs, the Nordon team chose a YCM H500B CNC machining centre from 600 Machine Tools, configured for their specific applications.

An ISO-9001 accredited manufacturer, YCM was founded in 1954 and has built a worldwide reputation for technological innovation. Its latest design – a machining centre – won the Supreme Excellence Award of the Taiwan Machine Tools Industry Award 2017.

The H500B machining centre boasts high-rigidity construction and high-speed machining ability, with a rapid feed speed of up to 30m per minute. The machine’s direct transmission design on all three axes, along with pre-tensioned ballscrews, ensure motion rigidity, and machining accuracy. Its high-precision linear-motion guideways ensure low friction, high speed, and optimal damping-force.

Noted for its high speed and high-precision spindle design, the H500B model has ceramic ball bearings for high-speed machining, featuring a low thermal expansion coefficient and excellent rigidity performance. Maximum torque is 36kg per metre, providing serious cutting capability. Pallet changes take only eight seconds, and the table is programmable when undertaking machining from various axes.

“The new YCM machining centre will add to our capacity to produce components, even quicker, and with our customary precision,” says Johnson. “We enjoyed a good working relationship with the Brisbane office of 600 Machine Tools, especially during the installation and commissioning of the new machining centre, and then during the operator training process.”

“It is a pleasure to work with the Nordon team because they know what they want – precisely!” says Wally Nujin, Queensland Regional Manager for 600 Machine Tools. “It is our job to ensure that the machine we recommend could not be bettered for a particular application, either in specification or price.

“The H500B is the right machining centre for the tasks envisaged by the Nordon team, now and in the foreseeable future. 600 Machine Tools is proud to be the exclusive distributor of the high-precision YCM range in Australia. We can see how the manufacturer’s combination of thoughtful design and engineering excellence has been the cornerstone of their steadily-increasing popularity in the world’s workshops.” www.nordoncyl.com.au

www.600machinery.com.au

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Flying high after the conclusion of local car manufacturing.

There is a fear that the shutdown of Australia’s passenger vehicle production will erode the advanced manufacturing capabilities developed through manufacturing for the automotive sector. However, one Australian manufacturer is proving that these capabilities will continue to thrive in other industries such as the defence and aerospace manufacturing sectors.

Axiom Precision Manufacturing is a familyowned company founded by Neville Grose in 1979 in Edwardstown, South Australia.

Axiom originally started by manufacturing plastic injection moulds for the automotive industry, working for Ford, Holden and Toyota. They continued to work for Ford and Toyota until their respective shutdowns.

Craig Maynard, General Manager of Axiom Precision Manufacturing and the new Mazak Variaxis i-800.

It was about 10 years ago when Axiom identified the need to transition away from automotive manufacturing. They were finding it harder to meet the demands of the automakers and remain profitable. At the same time a lot of tooling projects were going to China forcing a serious re-think about the company’s source of work in the future.

Axiom specialised in the manufacture of “A”class injection moulds, lighting, interior and exterior moulds. These were manufactured in hard steels and usually quite complex to machine. The company felt these machining capabilities would give them an advantage in the manufacturing of complex defence and aerospace components.

Axiom embarked on a strategy to establish a reputation for high quality, reliability and affordability in the aerospace, defence, medical and electronic hardware industries.

Today many companies around the world rely on Axiom to deliver products and projects on time. Key clients in the defence and aerospace industry include ASC Pty Ltd, BAE Systems, Raytheon and the DST Group.

Axiom’s purpose-built manufacturing facilities deliver precision machined components and assemblies, precision tooling and moulding, plus a range of surface treatments. The company’s high-quality CMM (co-ordinate measuring machine) inspection and assembly departments allow Axiom to provide assemblies and sub-assemblies to the exacting standards required by their defence and aerospace clients.

Axiom’s machining facility occupies approximately 2,200 square metres and is equipped with 26 CNC machining centres and six CNC lathes. The company also has two vertical five-axis machines; the remainder are three-axis machines, some with fourth-axis tables. Axiom also has a few manual machines, which are used for the training of apprentices.

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Upgrading capability In 2016 the company upgraded its capabilities with the purchase of two new Mazak Variaxis five-axis machines. Both Mazaks were purchased to machine titanium components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, and the new capability that the machines have brought has enabled Axiom to win orders for four additional components from an existing customer.

One Mazak Variaxis is used to machine one of the most complex components in the vertical tail of the F-35. This part is machined in two operations, and Axiom says it wouldn’t be able to do this without the machine’s five-axis capability.

Every F-35 built contains parts and components manufactured in Australia.

Axiom is one of a number of local companies realising the industrial benefits of the JSF program. Australian industry has already secured more than $800m in production contracts to date through the global F-35 program, with an additional $6 9bn of production and sustainment work being forecast through to 2050.

The team at Axiom has found all their Mazaks to be strong, accurate and reliable machines. These features are very important when using the machines to manufacture titanium aerospace components. Additionally, the price of a Mazak is very attractive when compared with other machine brands in the same category.

One of the big concerns of aerospace customers is how machine breakdowns and lost machine time are dealt with.

Having local support from John Hart for its machines is another of the main reasons Axiom selected Mazak. Axiom says the support it receives from John Hart is first class. If it has a breakdown or a machine issue, the company can rely on someone from John Hart coming out to their facility within hours to get them back to production very promptly.

At John Hart, staff have a thorough understanding of the importance of providing timely, reliable and skilled support. That is why they boast an Australia-wide service network with a team of highly experienced and qualified application, mechanical and electrical engineers. In addition, they have an in-house Electronic Repair Facility and a comprehensively stocked Spare Parts Department, enabling them to provide the best overall support of any machine tool company in Australia.

John Hart engineers have a thorough understanding of the unique applications of machine tools and technologies required to process various aircraft components out of titanium, heat resistant super alloys, aluminium or stainless steels. They are available to discuss specific part challenges and how the Mazak technologies make machining these complex parts easier and more efficient. www.johnhart.com.au www.axiompm.com.au

CoroTurn® Prime and PrimeTurning™

The biggest innovation in turning ...since turning

Our new turning concept, the PrimeTurning method and CoroTurn Prime tool, allows you to do turning in all directions giving you huge gains in productivity as the result. Delivering a 50% increase in productivity or higher compared to conventional turning solutions, it is unlike any other turning concept available today. This innovation presents countless possibilities to do an existing turning operation in a much more efficient and productive way.

This is not just a new tool, it’s a totally new way of doing turning.

2X

Double the speed and feed

Longer lasting inserts

Seeing is believing, visit our website to see PrimeTurning in action: www.sandvik.coromant.com/primeturning

>50% Productivity increase

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Tornos keeps watchmaker ticking

Based in the heart of the Swiss watch-making industry, DPRM crafts the most intricate parts for the most beautiful timepieces. To achieve sustained success, DPRM relies on Tornos and its EvoDeco 10 and SwissNano machines for its in-house bar turning processes.

Based in the town of Arch, DPRM regards itself as a watch manufacturer that is mainly focused on the bar turning of micro parts that constitute the working features of a watch. The company also performs all peripheral activities in the fields of production, quality control and even assembly.

Established in 1947 under the name ‘ASKA’, DPRM has been built upon a unique knowledge base that its employees have gained during the course of time. Using bar turning and gear cutting technologies, the company can develop and produce all kinds of components that meet the requirements of the high-end watch market. Today, DPRM is a part of the Dubois Dépraz Corporation, a famous manufacturer of exceptional watch components.

To manufacture components that set the benchmark in the watchmaking industry, DPRM utilises 44 machine tools. Besides specialised machines for blanking, burnishing, decoration, thermal and surface treatment, the Swiss company employs seven EvoDeco machines, four Delta and one SwissNano from Tornos.

High degree of specialisation DPRM specialises in the production of arbors, pinions and wheels for high-end watches by means of gear cutting. Through its commitment to the luxury watch manufacturing industry, the company is used to meeting even the most demanding challenges.

“Imagine any component that may be possible to produce from bar stock,” says Laurent Forster, Managing Director at DPRM. “You can rest assured that we are able to produce it, even if the production of the part does not involve turning operations.

“Our staff is used to success. We fully meet even the most complex demands. In any case where we encounter problems, we work hand in hand with the customer to jointly find a solution. Our knowhow is recognised by our customers throughout the industry and we are pleased to offer them our support as a co-developer for the industrialised production of even the most complex components.”

High demands Meeting tolerances in the range of four to six microns is a routine requirement for almost all of the parts DPRM produces. Additionally, it has to meet high aesthetic standards and deliver high levels of surface finish. For instance, the company can machine holes of 0.3mm in diameter with a length of 7mm. That is a length more than 23 times diameter! On the EvoDeco 10, it can produce prismatic parts without any turning processes.

Forster explains: “In addition to machining operations, the company offers highly complex assembly services. For instance, we produce and assemble cannon pinions (including friction spring adjustment), third wheels, counter wheels, reversing wheels, second wheels and much more.”

A cannon pinion for manufactured by DPRM.

Laurent Forster, Managing Director at DPRM.

Unrivaled response These days, responsiveness is the key to success. To address this, DPRM has set up a manufacturing cell for prototype production to respond quickly and efficiently to customer requests.

“This unit was a great success and we have separated it deliberately from the production area to have a dedicated machine inventory, especially for such tasks,” says Forster. “It was obvious from the very beginning which machines we should use for this cell. We installed two EvoDeco 10 machines. Compared to competing products in the market, these machines provide us with outstanding flexibility.”

The EvoDeco 10 machines enable DPRM to manufacture both simple and highly complex parts. Thanks to its fully modular machining area, the EvoDeco 10 can be converted to a milling centre in no-time. Furthermore, these machines can be equipped with numerous high-frequency spindles. Moreover, the machines allow gear cutting in main and back machining operations.

“The EvoDeco machine is the first-choice solution for the production of our components,” explains DPRM’s micro-turning/CNC division manager. “It is the ideal machine to meet the ever-growing demands on the complexity of the parts to be machined. If for large batches a finish gear cutting process is the most appropriate option, this machine enables gear cutting without the risk of positioning errors.

At the same time, the machine cuts down the tooling costs.”

Tornos’s TB-Deco software facilitates machine programming even when it comes to complex operations. The machine can be set up rapidly and the pre-setting device allows substantial time savings during machine set-up. The next process can be prepared while the current machining process is still active.

“The EvoDeco quickly reaches its operating temperature and boasts optimum thermal stability during the production process,” the CNC Division Manager adds. “Thanks to the warm-up system, the machine is ready for production just when desired. The self-

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Material Removal A DPRM watch assembly manufactured on a Tornos turning centres.

Tornos machines at DPRM.

cleaning filter brings about considerable time advantages and the oil tank is large. The capacity of the chip bucket is better than on competitive machines. All in all, the EvoDeco machines deliver extremely easily maintenance processes. You can see that every detail has been conceived in a most intelligent manner with the operator in mind.”

SwissNano: High speed and precision With its ergonomic features and its easy programming, the SwissNano also appealed to the DPRM team.

“It’s amazing how easy it is to get familiar with this machine,” stresses the CNC division manager. “The machine is very precise and it works wonders in the production of small components where tight tolerances must be met. With its ability to machine usually less complex workpieces than with an EvoDeco machine, it perfectly matches our requirements and enables us to quickly respond to any

type of request. The SwissNano can perform front machining and polygon cutting tasks to our complete satisfaction.” “We know that we will always get the best solution for our problems from Tornos,” adds Forster. “Whether we have mechanical problems, problems with the software or simply with programming, we will get help from competent partners like Tornos. And, what’s more, excellent availability of any spare parts is guaranteed. On the whole, we are highly satisfied with the service Tornos offers for its products.” www.dprm.ch www.tornos.com

Big on… CHOICE, QUALITY & VALUE Dealing with 600MachineTools means you aren't limited to a single brand, style or build of the machine tool you are looking for. We are focussed on meeting your needs, so have assembled the best selection of quality brands that meet the requirements of today's fast paced industrial economy.

From CNC machining centres and lathes, mills, bandsaws, drilling machines, chucks and lasers we also have the experience and credibility to assist you in selection and support over the lifetime of your purchase!

Contact us today for a NO OBLIGATION assessment of your requirements.

SYDNEY BRISBANE Phone: 02 9674 4738 Phone: 07 3277 4844 Email: machines@600machinery.com.au Email: qldbch@600machinery.com.au Website: www.600machinery.com.au

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Elmass – Manufacturing in niche markets

Keyways and splines are slots used to transmit mechanical forces in a wide variety of mechanical parts in all engineering disciplines. Because broaching internal keyways and splines typically accounts for only 1% to 2% of all work performed on a machined part, not many companies invest in dedicated machines to perform this type of work. It is therefore a highly specialised niche market and remains an engineering discipline that hardly any one likes to do.

Keyways and splines are generally manufactured through broaching, slotting, milling, EDM or wire cutting. Each method has its own restrictions, particularly in the length they can achieve. Misalignment, deflection, vibration and size limitations are common problems faced by engineering workshops using conventional methods to cut keyways or splines in long parts.

However, one Queensland-based company is providing a solution, promising a fast and reliable turnaround, cost effective production, tight tolerances and a high quality finish in difficult parts, with keyways up to 700mm long. Elmass (Australia) discovered this niche market 18 years ago and has been manufacturing precision keyways and splines for a wide range of industries across Queensland and Australia using its patented broaching tools and machines.

Starting its operation using specialised tools on a pedestal drill, Elmass has evolved into a highly specialised broaching workshop operating four CNC-controlled broaching machines in Northern Brisbane.

The company is capable of broaching up to 700mm long internal keyways or up to 500mm long splines, hexagons and other shapes. As the only company in Australia utilising the Belgian-manufactured Elmass broaching machines, it currently services a wide range of industries including mining, agriculture, hydraulics and general engineering throughout the country.

Across its four easily-programmable CNC-controlled broaching machines, the company is able to broach keyways and splines to suit any application. The P36-700 three-axis machine can broach keyways up to 36mm wide and 700mm long, and splines up to 500mm long, in blind or through bores. The P36 has a usable machine frame height of 1,400mm.

This allows it to accommodate very long shafts that require a blind keyway or spline.

Recently a 5mm wide and 75mm long keyway was broached in a 1150mm long shaft, using a 100mm long tool bar. There

was plenty of room left to operate the machine comfortably. For another company a 38-tooth DIN spline was broached in a 654 long shaft using a similar set up.

On the opposite end, the fast and efficient P10-200 machine can broach 2mm-10mm keyways and splines in small parts up to 200mm long, and is highly suitable for mass-production.

Elmass’s exceptional precision and capabilities can be attributed to a number of factors in its manufacturing process. The hydraulically-driven toolbars are guided at the point of cutting. Therefore they cannot deflect or vibrate during broaching, resulting in accurate keyways that meet tight tolerances. The flexibility regarding the bore size, keyway size and keyway length is due to the interchangeable toolbars, cutters and guide bushes which can be assembled to meet individual job specifications.

Furthermore, the Elmass machines are equipped with interchangeable mounting chucks and adjustable turntables, to fit the length of the part. Custom toolbars, cutters and guide bushes can also be created in a short time-frame to meet any specific product requirements.

The eccentric guide bushes are selfcentring. This ensures that the keyway or spline is always perpendicular to the bore and maintains the depth of the cut over the

entire length of the bore. These machining characteristics of the guided tools facilitate the broaching of 10mm wide and 400mm long keyways in JS9 tolerance in quills for the oil and gas industry that have a bore size of only Ă˜38mm.

The distinctive design of the cutters allows them to be resharpened on a surface grinder without losing their tolerance.

Additionally the shape of cutters can be designed to deburr the tooth in the final broaching strokes, which reduces the overall production time of the part. The final product is a precise, high-quality keyway or spline without the drawbacks or limitations of traditional broaching or manufacturing methods.

Elmass offers a priority breakdown service where the required machine can be booked in advance. The machine will be set up during the time the part is in transit. Once received, the part is often broached while the customer is waiting. This service is essential for time-critical repairs in mining and manufacturing where a breakdown can cost a company tens of thousands of dollars per the hour in lost production.

The company also designs and makes guide bushes and cutters to meet any nonstandard application within a few days. www.elmass.com.au

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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

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Automated precision milling in the medical technology sector

Based in Tuttlingen, Germany, Fetzer Medical & Co employs Hermle machining centres in its role as an OEM partner manufacturing a wide range of surgical instruments and medical technology components to customer specifications.

‘From the idea to the finished product’ is the mission statement for Fetzer Medical, a medium-sized company established in 2008 by Peter Fetzer. The family business has a longstanding background in the development and manufacture of surgical instruments and medical devices. To build on this, Peter set the company a target: to operate exclusively as an independent OEM, establishing all the necessary human and technical resources to that end. Fetzer Medical launched an extensive capital investment, qualification and certification programme, beginning its five-axis machining in 2008.

This was rolled out with the stated aim of offering a flexible and swift approach to delivery for varying product and batch sizes. All relevant materials, including titanium, are machined and Fetzer Medical supplies its customers with ready-to-use products – from prototypes/individual parts to large production runs and complete systems. The business currently employs 45 highly-qualified employees and stateof-the-art equipment. Roughly 75% of the work involves complex milling/drilling operations, which have been performed at Fetzer Medical from day one using highperformance five-axis machining centres from Hermle.

Fetzer Medical Production Manager Bernd Zepf comments on the choice of Hermle machines: “The Hermle machines featuring a robust gantry design, the machine concept of three axes in the tool and two axes in the workpiece (which results in optimum tool accuracy), and last but not least excellent accessibility are ideal for five-axis complete machining in one or two setups.

“Further, our employees, including myself, had already had very good experience in the past with Hermle machines: their control and programming, their comparatively simple operator control, including responsive and highly competent service backup. That experience helped us to immediately get started with five-axis technology, which we launched in 2008 by acquiring a Hermle C40U high-performance five-axis CNC machining centre.”

As the business has flourished, capacity had to be increased, and a number of Hermle machining centres – some of them highly automated – have been added.

Fetzer Medical today runs five machining

The working area of a C22U highperformance five-axis machining centre featuring the 320mm diameter CNC swivelling rotary table with a multi-clamp system installed.© Hermle AG.

centres, assuring the prompt execution of its OEM production orders.

While the first purchased five-axis C40U machining centre was initially used to cement the business’ manufacturing expertise and add valuable additional know-how, the machine is now primarily used for pre-fabrication and for machining prototypes, samples and short runs.

Additionally, two further C22U highperformance five-axis machining centres are equipped with 11-pallet changers/ magazines of type PW150, and are used for the automated flexible production of a wide range of components in runs of up to 300 pieces.

A further automation level includes a C12U high-performance five-axis machining centre combined with an RS05 robot cell for the production of modular designed scissors. A C800V CNC machining centre was added to the range to provide flexible and universal operation in pre-production, including making reference surfaces and jigs and fixtures.

machining centres with the pallets and robot system also run overnight and at weekends for automated machine loading.

These ‘hard facts’ are complemented by a number of ‘soft facts’, which are essential for the highly complex machining of surgical instruments and medical technology devices. Since – according to specifications set by EU and US institutions – production and quality assurance equipment needs to be fully validated and certified in the surgical and medical technology sector, it is a major advantage in terms of US certification that many US medical technology firms use already validated Hermle machining centres for their production lines. This also ensures simpler and faster validation cycles for Fetzer Medical, thus resulting in a faster time to market for the company’s customers. www.fetzermed.com www.hermle.de

Since all the installed Hermle machining centres are essentially based on the same concept and on the same control and operating philosophy, operators are quickly familiarised with running the various machines, and staff confidence and acceptance of the machinery is enhanced as a result. This is definitely advantageous in terms of the productivity of the machines, which are run basically in single-shift mode under operator control, though those

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Industry 4.0 cutting production for enterprise and one-man business

Cutting is a process found in many different industries, yet most manufacturers that use the process have not adopted cutting automation. ProfiStop and OptiCut1D present simple and inexpensive solutions that streamline cutting in its entirety, from order to finished parts.

Saw profile cutting is a low-value process that ranks among the most widespread production methods, so it is surprising that most Australian and overseas manufacturers today cut the same way as what they did at the dawn of circular saws more than 100 years ago. Typical cutting businesses rely mostly on manual labour for all aspects of cutting, even though the cutting process is dull and very intensive on the mind and body of the operators.

ProfiStop machines and OptiCut1D ERP software work in tandem to provide a simple, inexpensive all-in-one solution allowing manufacturers to seamlessly streamline cutting, from order to finished parts.

How can a typical cutting business benefit? ProfiStop machines speed up the cutting process and dramatically reduce the cutting labour intensity. Instead of operators spending 30 seconds setting the stop and five seconds cutting each time, ProfiStop automated stops take seconds to accurately go to position. ProfiStop automatic saws go to the next level with continuous automatic cutting-tolength, eliminating all associated labour. Compared to ordinary manual cutting, the productivity improvement is typically several times more. In addition to mechanical automation, OptiCut1D turns your cutting production into one simple integrated system.

OptiCut1D is a cloud-based ERP management system that allows you to manage and optimise your daily cutting BOMs, job lists and material procurement seamlessly. OptiCut1D is automatically connected to all ProfiStop machines via an internet connection, and the cloud-based software allows you to know the status of your production in real time from any computer with internet.

A job might begin with an onsite quote or job technician measuring the job. He or she would enter the measurements in an app on a tablet. This data is automatically sent to OptiCut1D, where it is converted into a cut list required from your saw, based on equations.

At the end of the day all of the day’s jobs are automatically compiled, optimised, and sent to the ProfiStop automatic saw, ready for cutting the next day. Next day at the saw, the operator receives and opens the new job list, which first instructs what material stock is required. Once the stock is obtained, the operator simply puts the material through the machine, which produces all required cuts with minimum waste, counts the cuts for all jobs, and produces a label for each part with the original site job number for sorting. ProfiStop and OptiCut1D streamline your cutting business from order to finished parts. www.reconeng.com.au

ByStar Fiber – Makes tube processing simple Insert tube, start laser, unload completed part: laser cutting of tubes is now this simple, using the ByStar Fiber, with a new rotary axis for tube processing.

Having recently launched sheet processing with up 10kW of laser power, Bystronic is now upgrading the ByStar Fiber laser cutting system with the rotary axis for tube processing. The new function enables users to switch between flatbed laser cutting and tube processing in just a few simple steps.

The standard version of the new tube processing upgrade enables tubes with a circumscribed circle diameter of between 30mm and 315mm and a variety of lengths to be processed. When purchasing a new ByStar Fiber, it can be now be equipped with an integrated rotary axis. The operator simply inserts tubes to be processed through a hatch on the side of the machine housing or directly through the sliding door on the long side of the machine. The sliding door means ByStar Fiber users always have unlimited access to the parts to be processed. This facilitates both the set-up for tube processing jobs and the fast unloading of completed cut parts.

The standard scope of delivery also includes the Tube Cutting software module. This is an expansion for the BySoft 7 programming software. It allows users to design parts for tube processing, input existing CAD files, and edit them. Thanks to the intuitive software design, cutting plans for tubes are created in no time at all. To support fast set-up times for tube processing, Bystronic has integrated an assistant function into the ByVision Cutting user interface. This assistant guides the machine operator through the set-up of tube processing jobs. Every set-up and operating step is visualised on the ByStar Fiber’s touch screen.

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To process longer tubes, Bystronic offers a mobile upgrade, the rotary axis box. The rotary axis box is easily attached to the ByStar Fiber. It enables tubes up to a length of 3m to be fed in through the hatch on the side of the machine housing for processing. The rotary axis box enables precise positioning of long tubes and provides reliable shielding against laser radiation. When the rotary axis box is not in use, the machine operator can detach it in just a few simple steps. When cutting tubes up to 6m in length, users can expand the rotary axis box with an additional extension box. Upon request, Bystronic offers this extension box as an upgrade. The extension box also enables the precise positioning of tubes and reliable shielding against laser radiation. www.bystronic.com

Forming & Fabrication

New Touch drives business with Trumpf machinery and Stopa storage New Touch Laser Cutting is renowned for providing high-quality laser cutting and marking services at competitive prices, offering an expanded range of services to meet its clients’ laser cutting and fabrication needs.

Starting out in 2001 with just two employees, New Touch now employs approximately 65 staff across multiple sites in Victoria. The laser cutting and fabrication specialists now operate five machines, 24 hours a day in the Melbourne suburbs of Bayswater and Clayton South. New Touch understands the importance of staying ahead of the game in such a competitive industry. By travelling both overseas and to exhibitions held in Australia, it remains up to date on the latest technology.

Brad Drury and Alex Vandenbroeck of New Touch Laser Cutting.

Another key focus is company culture. Brad Drury, Managing Director, explains: “We are very focused on attracting, training and retaining great staff members. We truly believe that there is little point in having the right equipment and services without the staff to drive them. We believe that happy staff are great staff.

“Our unique selling point is that we are an ISO9001-accredited ‘one-stop shop’, capable of offering high-quality finished products at a fair price. We focus on quality, service and delivery – and we are always striving to improve in these areas. If a customer needs something turned around quickly, they are relying on us to deliver.”

New Touch values quality machinery that can aid it in producing the best possible work for its customers. The company recently purchased a Trumpf L68 fibre laser cutter linked to a Stopa large-

scale storage system, providing space for raw sheets, finished parts, scrap and tube profiles. The Stopa storage system supplies machines seven days a week, 24 hours a day – and consumes 25% less energy than other systems. The company also recently purchased a Trumpf 5170 Press Brake.

Trumpf was chosen because its machines are renowned for their quality and reliability.

“We can now process thicker plates up to 25mm and much more intricate profiles, along with much smaller holes in thicker plates, which was once impossible with our previous machinery,” says Drury. “Now, we can now cut a 8mm diameter hole – sometimes even smaller - in 16mm M/S plate. In the past, this would have been pierced then the customer would need to drill it out. The fibre laser also allows us to process copper and brass materials, which was not possible on the older CO2 machines.”

The team at New Touch is confident about the growth of manufacturing, and its recent machinery investments reflect this.

According to Drury, the focus for the future is on the customers: “We want to provide the best possible customer service and ensure that we are continually improving in all areas of our work, especially quality, service and delivery.” www.newtouchfab.com.au www.headland.com.au

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Laser upgrade for Catten Industries

Based in Bayswater, Victoria, Catten Industries is a premier fabrication sheet metal job shop specialising in short and long-run orders.

The company’s success has been in keeping tight control of every aspect of their operation. By investing wisely in all their vital manufacturing processes, and moving them in-house. Catten offers customers short delivery times for a quality product at a competitive price.

Catten’s latest machine acquisition is a Bodor fibre laser sheet cutting system from Industrial Laser. Catten purchased the demonstration machine that was exhibited and demonstrated at the Austech 2017 trade show in Melbourne back in May. “Until the Austech show we were under the misconception these machines were financially cost-prohibitive for our requirements” says Ian Cubitt, Managing Director of Catten. “At the show, we realised the price of this technology had reduced dramatically since last investigating this option – from around $500,000, to $150,000 installed.”

Richard Ladley, Technical Director of Industrial Laser, explains why the Bodor machine was the right choice for this particular client: “The price, speed and cut quality over Catten Industries’ range of materials was a perfect match. Offering the right laser system for the application and providing technical support has been our speciality over the past 19 years”.

What happened after the machine purchase was also a critical factor for Catten.

“The quality of after-sales support and depth of product knowledge from the service staff at Industrial Laser gave our Company the confidence to purchase a lesser-known brand with our eyes open” says Cubitt. “Knowing you are going to be supported by a respected Australian laser company with spares stock is paramount.

“During the installation, Industrial Laser trained our staff from scratch, and held our hands through the usual teething problems of a new machine installation. It has been quite a pleasant experience considering our expected steep learning curve into laser cutting technology”.

The machine has now been in production for over five months and processed many tons of steel. It has allowed Catten Industries to take further control of their operational costs sooner than originally anticipated and opened up new opportunities’.

For Industrial Laser, the sale to Catten was part of a very successful time at the Austech exhibition.

“As an exhibitor we have had an overwhelming response from Austech,” says Ladley. “Several or our machine orders were directly linked to our participation in the show, and the opportunity to explain the benefits of the latest laser technology to the visitors of Austech.” www.industriallaser.com.au www.catten.com.au

Trotec Laser celebrates 20th anniversary Trotec Laser has marked 20 years in business, during which time it has grown from a start-up to world market leader in laser machines for cutting, marking and engraving.

Trotec was formed in 1997 from a research branch of Trodat – the world’s largest manufacturer of stamps – and since then has become a world leader in the field of laser technology. As part of the Trodat Trotec Group, Trotec develops, manufactures, and markets laser machines for marking, cutting and engraving, as well as engraving materials.

With an installed base of over 30,000 systems, Trotec now serves customers in more than 90 countries and employs more than 550 people worldwide. In 2015, sales volumes exceeded €100m for the first time. In 2016, the latest completed financial year, Trotec increased sales by a further 9.1% to almost €110m. The high growth rate has continued in 2017, too. Trotec has now set itself a major target for its sales volumes in 2020, with a predicted sales increase of 20%.

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Dr Andreas Penz, spokesman of Trotec’s management, said: “This increase in sales seems incredibly high at first sight, but the laser business is an extremely dynamic one, and laser applications are now found in all major areas of life. For example in medical engineering, we manufacture stents with our laser machines. Or in the field of research, where laser applications are simply indispensable, for example in the development of the Mars Rover. Trotec laser technology plays an important role in industry and trade as well.

“The pivotal question is: Why do we make lasers? Answer: We make our customers successful, and this sustainable strategy allows us to grow overproportionately.” www.troteclaser.com.au

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Composites & Advanced Materials

Carbon fibre breakthrough for Australian industry

CSIRO scientists have produced Australia’s first entirely home-grown carbon fibre, paving the way for Australian industry to mass-produce the next generation materials, used in everything from bicycles and tennis rackets to satellites and fighter planes.

The breakthrough was announced by CSIRO’s Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on 8 October.

“Cracking the carbon code will allow industry to manufacture this incredibly strong and lightweight material for the first time from scratch, using Australia’s own top secret recipe,” Dr Marshall said.

“Together with Deakin University, we’ve created the seed to grow our manufacturing industry in Australia – generating jobs of the future built on home-grown innovation.”

Carbon fibre is only made by a handful of manufacturers around the world, each of whom hold their own secret, patented recipes.

“From wind turbines to aerospace, even the latest Mustang wheels, a carbon fibre industry signals the kind of reinvention needed across Australian industry, shifting our focus from raw exports to high value products to retain our global competitive advantage,” Dr Marshall said.

“This is another chapter in the innovation history of Geelong, where Australia’s first carbon fibre was created from scratch using CSIROproduced white fibre. It’s a major leap forward in turning the region into an international carbon fibre hub.”

Carbon fibre combines high rigidity, tensile strength and chemical resistance with low weight, and is used in everything from aviation and defence to space and car manufacturing. The announcement that Australia has joined the elite club of carbon fibre manufacturers using CSIRO patented technology is the first step in creating a generation of carbon fibre that is stronger and of a higher quality.

“We want to unlock carbon fibre’s full potential,” said CSIRO Research Director Dr John Tsanaktsidis. “On our first attempt we created car-quality carbon fibre – we now expect to improve on that result and produce aerospace-standard carbon fibre. “CSIRO’s Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap, released in November 2016, called on Australian industry to play to its strengths by focusing

CSIRO and Carbon Nexus researchers inspect Australia’s first carbon fibre.

on high value advanced manufacturing. Creating a future industry based on carbon fibre is an excellent example of bringing that to life.”

Australia’s first carbon fibre was produced using polyacrylonitrile fibre, spun on the joint CSIRO/ Deakin University wet spinning line, then carbonised at Deakin’s Carbon Nexus facility. www.deakin.edu.au www.csiro.au

Penguin Composites secures multimillion dollar defence contract

Tasmanian company Penguin Composites has signed a contract with Thales Australia to build bonnets and various parts for the new Hawkei protected Army vehicles.

The three-year contract, worth over $8m, represents the company’s first major defence-related contract, and is expected to create around 15 jobs at its facility at Penguin in north-west Tasmania.

Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence Industry, congratulated Penguin Composites and said the contract would provide a significant boost to Tasmania’s share of the nation’s defence investment.

“This contract will not only create new jobs in Tasmania, it will also involve the up-skilling of existing personnel to help deliver this work,” Minister Pyne said. “The manufacture of prototype parts is already underway with production parts scheduled to be available from late December. This is a textbook example of how Australian small-tomedium enterprises are building their capabilities and contributing to

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our sovereign defence industry capability.” In October 2015 Thales Australia signed a $1.3bn contract with Defence to supply 1100 Hawkei vehicles and more than 1000 trailers, and is now ramping up for low-rate production. Penguin was engaged after Thales identified a number of Australian suppliers who could provide these components.

Founded in 1976, Penguin is a home-grown Tasmanian company specialising in the manufacture of composite products. The company’s capabilities include design and engineering of moulds and plugs, fibreglass and composite component manufacturing, in addition to specialist composite product manufacturing. www.penguincomposites.com.au www.thalesgroup.com

Composites & Advanced Materials

RMIT reseachers in new liquid metal breakthrough

Researchers from RMIT University have used liquid metal to create two-dimensional materials no thicker than a few atoms that have never before been seen in nature. The incredible breakthrough will not only revolutionise the way we do chemistry but could be applied to enhance data storage and make faster electronics.

The researchers dissolve metals in liquid metal to create very thin oxide layers, which previously did not exist as layered structures, and which are easily peeled away. Once extracted, these oxide layers can be used as transistor components in modern electronics. The thinner the oxide layer, the faster the electronics are. Thinner oxide layers also mean the electronics need less power. Among other things, oxide layers are used to make the touch screens on smart phones.

The research is led by Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh and Dr Torben Daeneke from RMIT’s School of Engineering, who with students have been experimenting with the method for the last 18 months.

“When you write with a pencil, the graphite leaves very thin flakes called graphene, that can be easily extracted because they are naturally occurring layered structures,” said Dr Daeneke. “But what happens if these materials don’t exist naturally? Here we found an extraordinary, yet very simple method to create atomically thin flakes of materials that don’t naturally exist as layered structures.

Metal droplets leave no thin layer of oxide skin on the surface, if this oxide skin is dissolved in an alkali base or acid.

“We use non-toxic alloys of gallium (a metal similar to aluminium) as a reaction medium to cover the surface of the liquid metal with atomically thin oxide layers of the added metal rather than the naturally occurring gallium oxide. This oxide layer can then be exfoliated by simply touching the liquid metal with a smooth surface. Larger quantities of these atomically thin layers can be produced by injecting air into the liquid metal, in a process that is similar to frothing milk when making a cappuccino.”

This image of a liquid metal “slug” and its clear atom-thick “trail” shows the breakthrough in action. When dissolved in a liquid metal core, certain metals leave behind this clear layer of their oxide, which is no thicker than a few atoms and can be peeled away by touching or rolling.

It’s a process so cheap and simple that it could be done on a kitchen stove by a nonscientist.

“I could give these instructions to my mum, and she would be able to do this at home,” Dr Daeneke said.

Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh said that the discovery now places previously unseen thin oxide materials into everyday reach, with profound implications for future technologies.

“We predict that the developed technology applies to approximately one-third of the periodic table,” he explained. “Many of these atomically thin oxides are semiconducting

or dielectric materials. Semiconducting and dielectric components are the foundation of today’s electronic and optical devices.

Working with atomically thin components is expected to lead to better, more energy efficient electronics. This technological capability has never been accessible before.”

The breakthrough could also be applied to catalysis, the basis of the modern chemical industry, reshaping how we make all chemical products including medicines, fertilisers and plastics. The research is funded by the Australian Research Council Centre for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET). www.rmit.edu.au

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Composites & Advanced Materials

Materials critical as Philmac adopts 3D-printed tooling

When pipe fittings manufacturer Philmac needed to create a 3D printed tool for complex component manufacture, 3D Systems’ On Demand Manufacturing experts were crucial not only in selecting processes, but also in choosing the most suitable materials.

Improving the design of a part within a system is rarely straightforward. From the simplest enhancement to the most complex, a cycle of iterations can be expected to verify the design during prototyping and implement it in production. During a recent test for a new valve product design, this experience played out for Philmac, a global leader in designing and manufacturing specialist fittings and valves for the transfer, control and application of water.

Accustomed to accelerating its design cycle with 3D printing for prototyping, Philmac expanded its use of 3D printing to prototype tooling in order to enable a more complex geometry. Teaming with 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing experts in Australia, Philmac conducted a successful trial of this new methodology to bring its new concept to life. 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing delivers the technologies, materials and expertise to support the entire product development lifecycle from fast turn and advanced prototypes to appearance models and low volume production.

Fast design validation As one of Philmac’s new valve product designs was undergoing testing, an opportunity to improve its function in silty water applications was identified. Comprised of a body, piston, cap and spring, the valve design was revised accordingly and a prototype was 3D printed for testing. After refining the designs based on prototype test feedback, they were reprinted for another test cycle and confirmed.

Bringing the design revision into production meant two of the components would need a tool adjustment before samples could be manufactured. Whereas one of the tools could be adjusted by remaking a core, the other tool was far more complex and could not be achieved easily with the existing equipment. With a range of options available for component manufacture, Philmac had a decision to make. It could use aluminium prototype tooling, machine parts directly from Acetal rod, or seize the opportunity to trial a 3D printed tool. After discussions around cost and timing, Philmac decided to explore a 3D printing solution.

Philmac and 3D Systems met to discuss the solutions available.

Though the project would be the first of its kind for each local office, the initial design review left both companies feeling confident about their choice in partner. With 3D printed tooling design guidelines provided by an overseas sister company in the Aliaxis group, Philmac began researching desirable material properties to begin benchmark testing. In parallel, 3D Systems produced a series of material plaques for evaluation and provided Philmac’s team with background technical information to bolster its research.

Time and cost considerations led Philmac to explore 3D printing for its production tooling prototype.

Testing material properties Philmac conducted comparative testing on the material plaques to determine the suitability of the various materials. Testing included heating the plaques to analyze material behavior at elevated temperatures, after which several plaques were ruled out. Following temperature testing, Philmac switched gears to measure pressure performance.

The four remaining plaques were subjected to compressive loads of 85kN and 100kN. Pressure performance results reduced the contending plaques to two. To determine the final material, Philmac repeated heat testing - this time heating each material to 180˚C, as the final selection would need to withstand the 220˚C melttemperature of Acetal. On the basis of retaining both it shape and lettering, Philmac’s testing pointed to DuraForm HST, a fibrereinforced SLS material with high temperature resistance.

Philmac’s final evaluation involved comparing the properties of DuraForm HST with other 3D printing materials that had been identified in previous research on successful 3D printed production tools. 3D Systems provided additional plaques in DuraForm HST enabling Philmac to evaluate the material for machining and polishing suitability. Philmac was especially pleased with machining results.

Many of Philmac’s injection mould tools are family-based and use change-over cores and cavities. To test the 3D printed tooling, Philmac selected an existing tool that suited the 3D-printed cavities based on the insert size required. For installation, the test team designed a steel ejector sleeve and nozzle inserts into the initial tool concept.

With its design finalised and material determined, Philmac placed an order for the cavity set with 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing and received finished parts within the week. From there, the inserts were machined to fit the ejector, nozzle and gate inserts and sized for fit into the tool.

Trial day and results

DuraForm HST withstood Philmac’s heat and pressure tests and was selected for prototyping.

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For the initial trial, Philmac loaded the tool to the injection machine to test the ejector function. Cooling circuits had been designed into the inserts, and air was connected to the tool for cooling, along with manual air directed onto the insert surfaces in between shots.

Continued next page

Composites & Advanced Materials

3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing delivered Philmac’s 3D printed production tooling prototype in a matter of days.

Philmac’s 3D printed tool was a success and should be capable of making an additional 50 parts without incident.

As part of Philmac’s testing precautions, the tooling team first applied mould release to assist with the release of the part. Beginning with 75% of the calculated weight and lower pressures for the initial shot, Philmac started the molding process and incrementally increased the shot and pressure until a full part was produced. At each stage, Philmac’s team checked the 3D printed blocks with an infrared thermometer to ensure recommended temperature ranges were reached at the surface and target before commencing the next cycle.

In the next phase, Philmac increased hold pressure to achieve a packed part. To mitigate the risk of material sticking to a thin rib on the core side of the tool, Philmac’s team reapplied mould release and hand-polished the rib with sandpaper between shots to help keep the surface smooth. The settings were then increased until a stable part weight was achieved. According to Philmac’s tooling team, the 3D printed tool was a success and should be capable of making an additional 50 parts without incident. www.philmac.com.au au.3dsystems.com

Luxury watchmaker secures SA ceramic manufacturing deal

Australian watchmaker Bausele has strengthened its ties with Flinders University to form a Bauselite ceramics supply and manufacturing company in South Australia.

Australian Advanced Manufacturing was launched in October and will continue to produce Bauselite componentry for luxury watches.

The components will be made at Flinders University campuses in Adelaide, more than 15,000km from Switzerland where the majority of luxury watch componentry is made.

Bauselite is a very strong, very light ceramic material developed by Dr Jonathan Campbell and colleagues from the Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science & Technology. It was used to create Bausele’s Terra Australis watch, released in 2015, which became the first watch from Australia to be accepted for showing at Baselworld, the world’s largest watch and jewellery trade fair.

“The new material and method of production solved a number of issues specific to using ceramics in watches,” Dr Campbell said.

“It’s a significant accomplishment that watch components are being produced here, signalling a major step forward and a powerful statement about Flinders’ delivery of elite engineering.”

Bausele CEO Christophe Hoppe said Australian Advanced Manufacturing aimed to expand its production of high quality watch components.

“Controlling manufacturing is really important and it can be both difficult and costly but with Australian Advanced Manufacturing I think there’s a real opportunity to make key components here in Australia,” he said. “Having the company will give us the flexibility, the freedom and the control – I think it will just make everything work better.”

The Bausele Terra Australis watch design has been heralded as the first world-class timepiece ever made from parts designed

Bausele CEO and founder Christophe Hoppe.

and crafted in Australia. A five-pronged diamond clasp to secure the watch face is topped by a distinctive black crown, made of Bauselite. This crown contains the idiosyncratic design feature of grains of red earth from Australia’s Kimberley region.

The watch is sold in five stores worldwide, and its prototype has enjoyed international exposure after it was worn by Australian actor Dominic Purcell’s character Lincoln Burrows in the international hit TV series Prison Break. Hoppe now plans to create the next iteration of the Terra Australis watch, which sells for about $4,400.

“It will be on a bigger scale, it will cost a little bit less and there will be a higher quantity,” Hoppe said. “It’s something that’s very exciting to me and I am so proud to be manufacturing in Australia.” www.flinders.edu.au www.bausele.com www.australianadvancedmanufacturing.com

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Materials Handling

ADDE launches Australia’s first automated, collaborative palletising system Andrew Donald Design Engineering (ADDE) has developed the first end-of-line automated palletising system for Australian standard pallets, incorporateing a Universal Robots UR10 collaborative robot to create a collaborative and flexible palletiser.

With most packing operations still finishing with an operator loading a carton onto a pallet manually, ADDE saw an industry need to find a solution that could automate one of the most physically demanding – and liable to cause back injuries – tasks on the production line. ADDE’s response was to create the Zero Footprint Palletiser (ZFP), which takes no more space than a pallet on the floor and an operator, and allows manufacturers to generate greater efficiency and safety across operations, while also enabling employees to work closely in collaboration with the palletiser.

To create the ZFP, ADDE started with a UR10 robot, which can work without safety caging or barriers (subject to a risk assessment), and then added the hardware and software needed to achieve an affordable, minimal footprint and easyto-deploy solution that can reach an Australian standard pallet.

“The intuitive nature of the UR10 provided a great starting point for us to build a flexible, easily programmable solution that takes up minimal factory floor space,” said Barry Hendy, Managing Director at ADDE. “The ZFP enables workers to continue to perform production line tasks in collaboration with the robot, while relieving factory staff from the risks of the repetitive task of stacking pallets.”

Manually handled palletising can lead to a number of occupational health and safety (OH&S) issues for both manufacturers and their employees. In fact, body stressing, manual handling and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common cause for workers compensation claims in Australia. Many claims are due to muscular stress created by common packing tasks such as lifting, carrying or putting down crates/boxes.

However, beyond the health issues related to manual handling, there are also a number of financial costs involved. In fact, according to a 2016 research report from the Institute of Safety, Compensation and Recovery, MSDs accounted for 59.5% of the $61.8bn that work-related injuries cost the Australian economy in 2012-2013.

Commenting on the introduction of the ZFP, Shermine Gotfredsen, General Manager, Universal Robots, Southeast Asia & Oceania, Universal Robots said:

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“With the ZFP, the OH&S issues associated with manual handling can be avoided as workers can be freed up to work on less laborious tasks. However the collaborative nature of Universal Robots’ UR10 robotic arm also means that staff are enabled to work in conjunction with robots along the production line, unlike with traditional industrial machines where safety barriers often prevent employees from working close to machinery.”

Case study: Baxter Laboratories The first customer to take advantage of ADDE’s innovative ZFP solution is Baxter Laboratories. Baxter Laboratories is a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)licensed manufacturer based in Boronia, Victoria.

ADDE created a collaborative case packing and palletising system for Baxter Laboratories, which uses a UR5 robotic arm to assist packing 12 Aerogard insect repellent spray bottles into a semiautomatic carton assembler. An ADDE’s ZFP, which integrates a UR10 robotic arm, then packs the boxes onto a pallet, ready to be distributed.

The ZFP can place up to six cases per minute onto a pallet and carry boxes weighing up to 8kg. No safety guarding is required to use the system, though this should be subject to a risk assessment first. The ZFP can also be configured for single pallets for a minimum footprint or in a double pallet configuration for automatic pallet changing.

According to Ian Tilley, Operations Manager at Baxter Laboratories, the company employed three staff members working along the production line prior to implementing ADDE’s solutions. Two workers were responsible for packing the manufacturer’s Aerogard insect repellent sprays, while a third person placed the boxes onto a pallet by hand.

“The whole process has become safer and more efficient,” said Tilley. “We now have one employee who erects the box, waits for it to be filled by the UR5, then pushes the box to the tape sealer before it is then passed along to the ZFP, which picks up the finished box and places it onto a pallet for distribution. The other employees formerly performing the palletising and packing have been redirected to safer, more value adding tasks that are less monotonous.

“One of our most monotonous and difficult jobs is actually stacking pallets so we looked at the market and couldn’t find anything in the traditional space without big robots and big cages – we needed something safe and space-efficient. Having the minimal factory floor footprint that we required, we selected and thoroughly riskassessed the ZFP before deciding it could be safely operated without guarding.”

Baxter Laboratories has plans to implement four more ADDE-designed palletisers, which are already on order and soon to be installed. www.universal-robots.com www.adde.com.au www. baxterlaboratories.com

Materials Handling

Why bend a forklift truck?

The conventional four-wheel counterbalanced forklift truck is the most widely used type of pallet-stacking device the world over because it is practical, versatile and cost-effective. However, it also requires a lot of space relative to the size of load, meaning aisles between four and five metres are not uncommon.

Three-wheeled counterbalance trucks were designed to reduce the stacking aisle to approximately three metres. In general these machines, while a more cost-effective alternative, can lift less weight and are less able to work on rough terrains, so they are more associated with internal warehousing and minimal yard work.

Reach trucks have a mast or tines that ‘reach in or out’ from the body of the truck to further reduce aisles and can work in aisles approximately three metres wide, offering valuable savings. To enhance performance, reach trucks are designed in a compact manner and this necessitates harder tyres to overcome stability issues resulting from the high centre of gravity.

These smaller, harder tyres mean the reach truck is only suitable for inside work or very smooth yards. More often than not a counterbalance truck is required to load vehicles from the warehouse.

VNA (very narrow aisle) trucks are capable of working in much narrower aisles, approximately 1.7-2 metres, making maximum use of space. UK forklift designer Freddy Brown was responsible for many developments in this area prior to designing the original Bendi articulated truck.

Due to the close tolerances within the VNA aisle, a number of criteria must be fulfilled.

Expensive floors with very fine tolerances are required to meet the flatness required by VNA machines. Rail or wire guidance is used to enable the truck to be millimetre perfect while travelling along the aisle, and this guidance adds significant cost. Ironically, large spaces (transfer aisles) measuring 4 to 6m at the end of each aisle are required to allow the VNA trucks to transfer from one aisle to the next, which wastes valuable storage space and is a slow process.

Moreover, this type of truck is also only suitable for in-aisle operation, so other more conventional trucks are required to feed the VNA system and take goods away.

Every VNA truck is tailor-made for each warehouse, product and racking system, which means that the product can’t vary too much and the trucks cannot easily be relocated. Short-term hire or replacement in the event of a breakdown is virtually impossible to find. For many companies this inflexibility combined with the operational costs limits the size of the VNA marketplace.

Bendi recognised that all efforts to reduce aisle size come with compromises, and as more space is saved, more compromises arise. To remove all of these issues, Bendi

developed a fast-moving, narrow-aisle, general-purpose forklift that could do everything – inside and outside – and that was mass-produced to fit all applications.

The result was the Bendi, the original and still the world’s most popular articulated truck.

The real benefits of the Bendi?

Rising property and land values, heating, lighting and maintenance costs are all major factors increasing the cost of operating a factory or warehouse. Businesses throughout Australia are being forced to streamline their operations, which in extreme cases can result in closure of some locations. This in has led to an increased number of companies trying to condense their operations under one roof and this is when the Bendi comes into its own!

Bendi’s 220-degree mast and axle rotation enables the truck to operate in aisle widths of only 1,800mm with Australian pallets – less than half of what it would take to operate a conventional 2T counterbalance truck.

This means double the storage capacity or increased area for the production facility.

It also means fewer trucks and increased productivity, which in turn can mean huge cost savings.

Companies in the manufacturing and production industries are benefiting from significant improvements in handling efficiencies thanks to the Bendi articulated truck. Manufacturing, unlike many other sectors, has to cater for numerous and varied handling tasks, including offloading and storage of raw materials, transportation throughout the manufacturing plant,

feeding production lines, and storage and distribution of the finished goods. Historically this would have resulted in the need for different types of handling equipment, much of it ultimately being underutilised, leading to increased truck fleet costs and doublehandling of products, thereby producing operating inefficiencies and increased risk of damage.

Thanks to the innovative design of the Bendi, which enables the truck to operate safely in working aisles and spaces of only 1,800mm with Australian pallets, doublehandling is a thing of the past. Manufacturing customers of Bendi are using one truck to unload vehicles, transport and feed the production lines, store the finished product, and then distribute it. This has led to huge cost and efficiency gains throughout the manufacturing process. www.bendi.com.au

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Materials Handling

Five reasons to specify an ATEX and IECExapproved crane in hazardous environments Cranes and hoists often operate in hazardous, dangerous and potentially explosive areas, where a single incident can cause significant personal injury, damage, downtime and loss of income or production.

In addition to being indispensable to manufacturing, processing and distribution operations – where often, if the cranes stop, business stops – cranes and hoists are also regularly lifting valuable pieces of equipment, or are next to or above valuable machinery and plant.

An explosion or failure of a crane can cause even greater collateral damage to these, compounding the problem for a host of industries encountering or using flammable substances, chemicals, vapours, gases from liquids, volatile substances and dust.

Konecranes expert David Wilson, Industrial Crane Sales Manager, believes there are five major reasons why companies should always specify an ATEX and IECEx-approved crane in hazardous environments:

Industries commonly affected include manufacturing, bulk handling and distribution, transport, including road and rail logistics and ports, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, logistics, mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, materials handling, mechanical, production and process engineering, industrial logistics, water, waste water and biomass recycling. In these environments, safety is paramount.

1. Safety. The single most important reason to specify an ATEX and IECEx-approved crane is safety. Without the proper cooling systems in place, a crane’s engine may reach very high temperatures and cause minor sparks that are harmless in other situations, but deadly in explosive environments, where vapours, mist, dust and other contaminants can react with a single spark with devastating consequences. In dusty environments, it’s also essential to have motors and engines completely covered, to avoid flammable dust particles coming into contact with a heated area. Non-ATEX and IECEx-approved lifting equipment may have these safety features, but ATEX and IECEx-approved equipment confirms it.

As a leading global crane manufacturer and the world’s largest crane service organisation – with more than 450,000 pieces of lifting equipment of all brands under service agreement worldwide – Konecranes has extensive experience in explosion-proof and ATEX and IECEx-compliant cranes. Konecranes manufactures its EX ranges to the globally respected ATEX and IECEx compliance standards aimed at improving the health and safety protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres

2. Compliance. ATEX and IECEx are living things – they are constantly being expanded and improved, so companies need to learn the latest requirements and to incorporate them into their duty of care. In many regards, this can be a specialised and expert process, which many companies choose to ascribe to experts such as Konecranes.

The ATEX directive also gives strict rules for constant production and product quality follow-up. For Konecranes, having that certificate is its assurance to its customers that it is doing everything possible to

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Materials Handling

provide them with the highest levels of safety and compliance. Konecranes even has multiple certifications to substantiate the quality of its products: IECEx for the world, ATEX for Europe, CSA US for the US, and INMETRO for Brazil.

3. It makes good business sense to do so. The small initial saving you might make up-front buying a non-ATEX and IECEx-certified crane will be dwarfed by the costs and downtime if an explosion or incident occurs, where you could be looking at replacing the crane, replacing other machinery, loss of inventory and significant downtime. And even more important than this, a worker may have been injured in the incident. Konecranes understands that staff are any company’s most valuable asset and it designs cranes to the highest levels of safety to minimise any risk to human life.

4. It avoids additional risk. In addition to the safety risks outlined in point one, there may be liability issues for crane operators and owners if they were aware they were working in a potentially high explosive environment in industries such as petro-chemical, power and gas, steel, mining, ports and infrastructure, pulp and paper, general manufacturing or automotive and didn’t select a crane with ATEX and IECEx certification. If a person is injured and finds out that an ATEX and IECEx-certified crane was needed for that environment, there may be legal consequences for the owner/operator.

5. You get the most out of your crane. Design life for ATEX and IECEx-compliant cranes is as good or better because maintenance of these cranes has to be subjected to additionally close scrutiny.

In order to maintain compliance with ATEX and IECEx regulations, these cranes have to be regularly inspected, serviced and quality control checked, which means there is a high level of traceability and a lower chance of problems occurring that would reduce design life.

While Australia has an exceptionally good safety record and culture when it comes to equipment like cranes, it still adds further value to have constant traceability and to optimise the efficiency and design life of the crane.

As the leading crane service organisation in the world, Konecranes performs Crane Reliability Studies, inspections, service and maintenance on all makes and models of crane. Konecranes technicians are well versed in all aspects of compliance, and are constantly updating their knowledge of ATEX, IECEx and other important standards.

For hazardous and explosive environments, Konecranes believes specifying an ATEX and IECEx-approved crane is essential. It operates under the slogan ‘hooked on safety’ and every product it produces or services has safety as a core focus. For Konecranes, if you see a product with EX in front of it, you know that it has been certified for use in explosive environments, often with multiple certifications.

These products have the same features and advantages as the regular ranges, but with additional safety features to safeguard them in explosive environments. These additional features include special continuous temperature control; thermal protection; sparkproof, flameproof and dustproof covers; enclosed parts; electrical enclosures; overload switches; pushbuttons and limit switches.

Konecranes EX Cranes E X C X T electric wire rope hoists. The Konecranes EXCXT electric hoist with wire rope brings a new approach to lifting in hazardous environments.

A special version of Konecranes’s popular CXT hoist, its unique mechanics reduce ignition risks under standard operating conditions. Constantly updated with the latest technology, the EXCXT has, according to Konecranes, created a new industry benchmark that’s hard to beat.

International EX certification, namely ATEX, CSA US, IECEX and INMETRO for gas and dust is one important factor to prove that safety is always the highest priority for Konecranes. Class F insulation, IP65 protection for electrical enclosures and IP66 for motors comes standard.

The electrical components and motor are designed and built to EX regulations, and are carefully shielded inside enclosures with deprotection.

EXN electric chain hoist cranes. The Konecranes EXN electric chain hoist crane offers an impressive level of safety and versatility in small load lifting. Using a sturdy steel structure and a full set of components designed specifically for use in cranes in hazardous areas, one can rely on the EXN crane to lift up to five metric tons in most hazardous environments. Full EX certification shows that the equipment is designed to maximise crane safety in hazardous environments. A unique mechanical configuration reduces the likelihood of sparks and other ignition risks under normal operating conditions.

Electric chain hoists. The Konecranes EXN electric chain hoist offers the high level of safety and reliability needed in a hazardous environment. High-performance motors, reliable 48V contactor controls and easy maintenance contribute to keeping hoists running with a minimal amount of down-time. EX certification, namely ATEX, CSA Canada, IECEX and INMETRO indicates design for safety in hazardous environments. A special mechanical configuration minimises the chance of sparks under normal operating conditions.

Flameproofing, EX enclosures and epoxy paint give physical surfaces strong protection.

EX workstation cranes. Konecranes EX workstation cranes give productivity a boost when installed. With ATEX and IECEX-certified electrics and a strong metal structure, a 2,000kg capacity and an optimised working area below, they fit perfectly into most hazardous environments. Machined wheels and quality bearings ensure smooth travelling and reduce noise. Available in both steel and aluminium, the weld-free modular system makes the cranes safer and easier to install, maintain and modify.

EX manual hoists and trolleys. Konecranes EKM2 manual chain hoists and EKPT manual trolleys don’t need electrical power. That means they can be lifted in places where electricity is not available or difficult to connect. They are a cost-effective solution when they don’t need to be lifted every day. Safety is always crucial at Konecranes. The mechanics of the EKM2 and the EKPT have been designed to reduce the risk of sparks under normal operating conditions, earning them an ATEX certificate. No electronics means no risk of a short circuit in a hazardous environment. www.konecranes.com.au

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Forum OHS

The Grey Fleet – a legal grey area for car drivers

Road crashes in Australia represent the most common form of work-related fatalities and one problematic area in regard to safety and risk management is the Grey Fleet. Kylie Field explains this term and highlights a guide to help organisations improve their systems.

Grey Fleet drivers are employees that drive their own cars for business (not just driving to and from work). The car is owned by the driver or another entity rather than being directly provided by the organisation employing the driver.

In order to address Grey Fleet risk and often neglected driving safety issues, the National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP) Grey Fleet Working Group has released a guide to help organisations improve their existing systems and provide direction on how to implement better practices when it comes to Grey Fleet.

NRSPP Manager Jerome Carslake says work-related vehicles are the highest risk to any organisation and employee. “Organisations will focus risk management processes on previously established traditional risks that often relate to their core business or general operational environment. For example, risks associated with office ergonomics such as is your computer set up the right way? Is the power plug audited? Are there any exposed cords? In fieldbased industries working in particularly harsh environments or with particularly hazardous material, there are all these systems in place to protect people. But a lot of organisations don’t understand the greatest risk to their employee is driving on the road.

“Safework Australia states two thirds of workplace fatalities involve a vehicle and half of them are directly from a related crash. Work undertaken by NRSPP found that organisations are increasing the size of their Grey Fleet as a potential economic solution to reducing the size and costs associated with their traditional fleet. Although increasing Grey Fleet can provide initial economic benefit, the transport tasks and consequently work driving risk remains the same or even increases.”

Carslake says one of the key questions in the report is if you want to provide a safe workplace how do you ensure people using Grey Fleet are properly insured? “The moment a person begins to drive for work-related purposes, the safety risk increases and exposure begins to double because you’re on the road a lot more.

The insurer will change the premium which is a cost pushed back on to the employee. It also raises questions like - is the vehicle well maintained? What are the skills and safe driving capability of the driver? Are Grey Fleet drivers properly licensed? What is their driving history? What journey management systems are in place?

The idea of the guide is to begin to explore how organisations can identify the systems that they have in place with their Grey Fleet.

“The risk is also not a one size fits all. An employee might be an occasional driver that drives once a month or someone that drives every couple of weeks and then there are those people on the road more than 10 hours a week that are part of a sales force. The guide is about providing organisations with simple measures to start with and as the organisation moves forward and better manages the risks. The guide is designed as a living document with the aim of going back and revisiting the strategies and processes over time.

In addition to the guide, a one-off pilot study with the University of Melbourne will commence over the next few months and will be a randomised controlled trail designed to explore whether Grey Fleet vehicles are more at risk than company-owned vehicles. Data will be collected using an On-Board Diagnostic (OBD-II) unit and

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participating organisations will be allocated 50 devices. Once the data is collected it will be scored using telematics.

Carslake suggests as people develop and manage their own fleet they can continue to improve on the guide. “Organisations can provide feedback on how they do things so we can build that into it as well. We’ve had a fantastic response from organisations.

Throughout the guide, there are case studies, so we are trying to make it real and each of the case studies is based on different organisations we have engaged with plus they are all anonymous in the guide.

“We have to sow the seeds, and be constructive so the risk management approach is not all about the driver but is a systemsbased approach.

“The NRSPP is a supporting element of Vision Zero in Australia, and everyone is doing their part to share the responsibility and take ownership of improving road safety. We are providing input and questioning the way we mobilise workplaces and encourage organisations to become involved and reduce risk on the road. We are also trying to raise a better understanding of work driving safety risk.

“The legal implications are a multifaceted component of Grey Fleet, so it is especially important that organisations consider and apply this section to their operations” concluded Carslake.

Kylie Field is a journalist. Brendan Torazzi is CEO of AlertForce - a registered training organisation, AlertForce provides a number of courses, which could be the key to decreasing businesses costs, avoiding fines and legal trouble and of course keeping your valued employees safe. Brendan is passionate about empowering people with the highest quality WHS/OHS training and services available. Through AlertForce, thousands of people have been helped to reach their goals in the workplace and create positive outcomes in their careers.

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

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Strategy

Top tips for managing the strategic planning process

Lloyd Snowden shares key steps for companies looking to successfully manage the strategic planning process.

For any company, strategic planning is central to swift and reliable decision-making. Done well, strategic planning brings shared ownership of the business direction, and its challenges and opportunities, right across an organisation.

The best companies have an integrated strategic planning process that defines the business direction over five years or more. The principle objective should be to establish and manage the vision, strategy, and direction needed to become a top-performing business.

1. Understand the internal and external business environment The fundamental first step to planning what type of business you want to be, is to understand what type of business you are. Start by gathering all the relevant information both from inside and outside the company, so you get a firm perspective on your products and services, your competition and future business opportunities. By fully analysing and understanding your market offering, you can properly define your company’s value proposition, play to its strengths and address its weaknesses.

It is also important to have a properly balanced view of the goals and targets of all the company’s major stakeholders, and to examine your products and services portfolio accordingly.

2. Define your vision, mission and values Next, create meaningful vision and mission statements; these should be inspiring and memorable and understood by all staff.

Avoid platitudinous statements such as, “we aspire to provide the highest quality and best customer service in everything we do”; it won’t mean much to anyone.

It’s simple but not straightforward. You’ll need a proper deployment process, which prioritises your SBOs (strategic business objectives) and determines the skills and capabilities you need for projects.

Your existing corporate communications infrastructure can be used for this torrent of information. This will ensure the greatest possible understanding and commitment throughout the organisation, as well as facilitating valuable peer-to-peer discussion.

By the end, each employee should have grasped their role in the strategic plan and have clear targets and objectives.

6. Evaluate and control How are things going? You’ll only know if you set up both formal and informal periodic reviews at all levels to confirm everything is on track. The external business environment is constantly evolving and unforeseen changes will occur. Therefore, the strategic plan needs to be continually reviewed to ensure it remains relevant to the organisation.

Furthermore, try to ensure the strategic plan is systematically and rigorously analysed for risk; contingency plans exist to mitigate identified risks. As well as including a monthly review of the strategic plan into your Integrated Business Planning process, there are two other important reviews you should conduct: an annual diagnostic review of the strategy deployment, plus six-monthly informal reflection reviews.

7. Measure performance

The leadership team should also capture the business’ core values in a separate value statement.

Monitoring is one thing, measuring is another. You’ll need a set of balanced measures to assess your performance against your strategic business objectives, and to drive improvement. These measures should be hierarchically structured and integrated so the impact of performance on the business is visible and understood by everyone.

3. Develop your Strategic Plan

8. Develop behaviours and competencies

Once your mission, vision and values are set, it’s time for the leadership team to bring them to life in a strategic plan. You’ll typically need four to six strategic business objectives (SBOs) that will be the driving force for change in the business over the next five to 10 years. They should be simple statements such as ‘Grow the business by 30% in the next five years’. This will make sure there is a mutual awareness of the direction the business is moving in.

All too often when implementing business transformation programmes, organisations overlook the importance of their people.

It is essential you recognise that people are the key drivers and that success depends on your organisation’s ability to cultivate the right environment for change. You’ll need strong leadership, shared ownership and excellent communication. Harnessing the unique skills, talents and proficiencies of your team, with individual accountabilities, ensures success across the whole business.

4. Bring the future forward Though your strategic business objectives may be long-term, it’s crucial that they are kept in the present day. People throughout your entire organisation, must understand the strategic direction of the business to make effective and well-informed decisions today, which will have a positive effect tomorrow. This means you must have clear ‘roadmaps’ and ‘critical success factors’ for all your core processes.

These drive long-term business goals into the here and now.

5. Deploy your strategy Your strategic plan should be waiting in writing, alongside copious information you’ve recorded in guiding your strategic process. You are now ready to deploy this across the breadth of your organisation, cascading material down through the business. As a result, each individual will understand your long-term plans, mission and vision, and get behind them.

Lloyd Snowden is Associate at Oliver Wight – a consultancy firm which believes sustainable business improvement can only be delivered by your own people; so, unlike other consultancy firms, Oliver Wight transfers its knowledge to you.

Pioneers of Sales and Operations Planning and originators of the fundamentals behind supply chain planning, Oliver Wight professionals are the acknowledged industry thought leaders for Integrated Business Planning (IBP).

For further tips and guidance on reaching business excellence, purchase The Oliver Wight Class A Standard for Business Excellence - 7th Edition - $54.00 www.oliverwightasiapacific.com

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106

Forum Law

Does your business engage others to transport goods in Victoria?

The Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act seeks to address the bargaining position of owner drivers. The Act is explained by Rob Jackson, Victoria Comino and Stephanie Burn.

If your business hires contractors to transport your goods in Victoria, you must know whether your business needs to comply with the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act 2005 (Act). The first major review of the Act was undertaken this year, culminating in the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Regulations 2017 (New Regulations), which took effect from 21 October 2017. The Act was updated on 1 November 2017. While the law is only applicable to Victoria, it is relevant for any business nationally who is engaging in business in Victoria.

The New Regulations make it an opportune time to consider your own business’ arrangements in relation to the transport of its goods, and whether these arrangements impose an obligation on your business to comply with the Act. More than ever, a failure to comply can be costly for your business.

Overview The Act seeks to address the bargaining position of owner drivers and also forestry contractors. This article considers only owner drivers. A key feature is the Code of Practice (Code), which promotes fair industry practices and outlaws unconscionable conduct and unjust or unlawful contractual terms.

Does Your Business have to comply with the Act? The Act applies only to transport businesses (whether a sole trader, non-public company or partnership) which have up to three vehicles and where the business owner drives one of those vehicles.

If your business is not aware of whether its transport service provider(s) fall within this definition, you must find this out to ensure your business complies with its obligations under the Act. Your business must also consider whether other criteria apply, thereby establishing a link to Victoria (which might mean that the Act applies). Ask yourself the following questions: • Was your transport contract made in Victoria?

• Are the goods transported in Victoria?

• Are goods transported to or from Victoria, where a substantial part of the services are performed in Victoria?

If the Act applies, then your business is a hirer (a person who engages a contractor), and your transport provider is a contractor (owner drivers, haulage contractors, and harvesting contractors).

How does your business comply with the Act? If your business is a hirer, then your business must give a rates and costs schedule and Victorian Owner Driver Information Booklet (among other things) to its contractor(s) at least three business days before the engagement commences.

Your business can only enter an open ended contract (that is, not for a specified length of time or the expected duration is at least 30 days), unless the contract is in writing.

A contract with a hirer must satisfy certain minimum terms: • set a minimum notice of termination (three months’ notice for owner drivers of vehicles weighing over 4.5 tonnes or one month’s notice for a lighter vehicle) • specify the minimum income or hours

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• not make deductions for expenses (unless clearly specified) • not be contrary to the Act or Code (otherwise it is void) • state that disputes must first be dealt with by the Small Business Commissioner, or failing that, by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) While the Transport Industry Council provides a model contract, your business must actively consider the suitability of its terms.

Further, your business must keep accurate records to show its compliance with the Act.

What happens if your business has a dispute under the Act? Your dispute must fall within the meaning given by the Act. Your business (as the hirer) or the contractor may make a complaint to the Victorian Small Business Commissioner (SBC). For a party to lodge a dispute with VCAT, the SBC must have first issued a certificate that alternative dispute resolution has not succeeded.

If your business (as hirer) terminates the contractor’s engagement, the contractor must file a claim within 12 months from the date of the alleged termination, if the contractor alleges unlawful termination of the contract. For any other claims, the contractor has a six year limitation period.

VCAT may make a range of orders, including for damages, ordering payment of money, mediation, preventing a contractor from entering into any future regulated contracts and can also make an order prohibiting a person from entering into regulated contracts if they decide a contract is unjust.

What changes do the New Regulations make?

The New Regulations acknowledge that “vigorous negotiations” have a role to play in entering into a transport contract, they also provide clarity as to what may constitute “unconscionable conduct”.

Some examples include: • using “fine print” or “difficult language” in transport contracts • taking advantage of a contractor who lacks business experience • where the hirer is in a monopoly position The New Regulations also set out what constitutes “best practice”, detailing how a hirer should allow a contractor opportunities to communicate and consider contracts terms.

Lessons The most important step your business can take is to identify whether its transport contracts comply with the Act and the New Regulations.

Only then can your business make informed and legally correct choices when engaging and managing owner drivers, and terminating contracts.

Rigby Cooke Lawyers is a full service law firm providing commercial expertise and industry knowledge to private and public sector clients across Australia. Rob Jackson, Victoria Comino and Stephanie Burn advise in the areas of employment, industrial relations, occupational health and safety, and employment-related migration. www.rigbycooke.com.au

Forum

Heading

Logistics

A healthy supply chain = a healthy business!

It is imperative for a company to undergo a supply chain ‘health check’ to keep up with global supply chain changes and innovations and to have a correct understanding of what ‘supply chain management’ entails.

Lawrence Christoffelsz explains.

If you consider the analogy of your business being like the human body, your supply chain is the critical lifeblood and arterial network.

When your products are unavailable for sale, it ‘starves’ a vital parts of the business, such as revenue/cash flow.

When inventory levels are too high, it puts enormous ‘pressure’ on warehouse storage capacity, productivity and available funds.

When poor order management and delivery lead times are out of control, it ‘haemorrhages’ profit margins in order to compensate for urgent shipments and customer service.

When customer service and business reputation is adversely effected by inaccurate or slow delivery processes, it creates a ‘plaque-like’ build-up across your organisation and can have an extremely negative effect on staff productivity and company culture.

It constantly amazes me to find that, regardless of the size of the business, many organisations do not prioritize improving the overall health and efficiencies of their supply chains and are not overly interested in analysing what the true impacts are.

Apart from all of the possible cost savings, improved operational efficiencies and reduction of stress throughout the organisation when done correctly, the biggest gain comes from having…. (drum roll please)… SATISFIED CUSTOMERS! There’s always hype and the latest buzz-words around how to improve your business and supply chain, but let’s get straight to the simple point.

The majority of companies have an incorrect understanding of what supply chain management entails. Supply chain is not the same as logistics or warehousing. Supply chain is (as the name suggests) managing ALL of the links between raw materials, manufacturing, order processing, shipment co-ordination, inventory control, order fulfilment and customer service.

Of course, the critical success of any supply chain and its management team relies upon the support and ability to embrace change and innovation by the owners and/or the senior managers of the organisation as a whole.

It is no point having a fantastic Supply Chain Manager (or any manager for that matter) who is not supported by their superiors.

There is an old saying which is very true when it comes to supply chain…. “It is worthless hiring people smarter than yourself, when you’re not prepared to listen to their advice!”.

All too often in organisations supply chain is split between procurement and logistics functions or departments and both often point the finger at each other when things go wrong.

Unfortunately, organisations which are not prepared to change and embrace the wave of supply chain innovations will be left behind and if they’re lucky enough to have future-thinking staff, they may not stick around for long either.

This is an increasingly costly mistake. “Why?” you may ask…. Well, as the evolution of e-commerce and online marketplaces rapidly shape the way consumers both purchase products AND judge brands, your supply chain performance has direct impact on your sales and customer feedback.

To further emphasise this point, there is a growing trend with the curriculums of supply chain and logistics courses in universities.

The world is struggling to keep up with these shifts and it appears even more of a struggle to find teachers/lecturers who are able to facilitate such learning to the Supply Chain Managers of the future.

If you’re able to create a real competitive advantage against your competitors through consistently growing more satisfied customers, then you will have a very healthy, profitable and successful business.

So, in closing, it is critical for every organisation to conduct (either by themselves or by an outsourced professional) a thorough “supply chain health check” of their operation/s. Again, this is not limited to shipping, logistics or warehousing, but MUST be a broader assessment of order processing and customer fulfilment with an ‘end-to-end’ supply chain scorecard matrix.

In the past logistics managers, procurement managers and warehouse managers who put in the long hours and fantastic work were promoted to roles of “Supply Chain Manager”, however although they are probably well-deserving of promotion and recognition, the rapidly growing trend of market-leading Supply Chain Managers must have the skills to capture and analyse data and to embrace innovation and technology which provides seamless visibility for all the stakeholders across the supply chain.

They must be willing to keep up with global shifts which are taking place through methodologies such as blockchain, Industry 4.0, free trade zone consolidations and value-added services, omni-channel distribution along with automation advances within warehousing and logistics.

It is only once you’ve captured a true assessment of your supply chain, that you’ll uncover where the opportunities for improvement lie – they often surprise you as they may not be as visible as you first think!

Lawrence Christoffelsz is an international trade & supply chain advisor, the head of the International Trade Special Interest Group (SIG) for ASCI (Australasian Supply Chain Institute), and is a representative on many other industry associations and committees.

Email: lchristoffelsz@gmail.com Phone: +61 (0)433 559 258

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108 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 Heading Pavilion

High-quality supplier and re-grinder of machine knives and precision grinding services Davis & Jenkins offers a unique ability to handle large workpieces – including grinding – with extreme precision and at precise bevel angles on any kind of steel, plus a reputable refurbishment service for companies Australia-wide.

Recently, Davis & Jenkins acquired a new precision surface grinding machine, which substantially increased the company’s capacity. With that new machine, it is possible to handle work pieces with dimensions as large as 3,000mm x 1,000mm x 1,040mm, and weighing as much as 3,000kg. The ability to process such large workpieces, with a height up to 1,040mm, is rare in Australia. It allows the grinding of large workpieces including machine beds, bases, fixtures, jigs and large steel plates, with extreme precision. Davis & Jenkins has four more machines with a swivellable magnetic chuck capacity, which is also very large at 5,500mm x 300mm x 250mm, enabling the grinding of precise bevel angles on any kind of steel to a length of 5,500mm. This machine has also been utilised to provide a refurbishment service for press brake tooling, in particular, MultiVee Block Dies, helping other companies to save much money by not needing a new replacement tool. Various industries use machine knives in varying qualities in

paper or metal cutting guillotines, paper or metal slitters, newspaper presses and wood chippers, just to name a few. Davis & Jenkins is a manufacturer, supplier, and re-grinder of industrial machine knives for the printing, paper, wood, plastics, and metal industries.

A core service provided by the company is precision surface grinding with very largecapacity magnetic tables. Davis & Jenkins also supplies spare parts, accessories, and consumables for the printing industry.

The company originated as engineering arm of Alex Cowan & Sons (later known as Spicers Paper) in the late 1800s. Cowan sold that arm to Messers Davis & Jenkins in 1927, who remained a partnership until being incorporated in 1955. Currently, the company has eight employees in Melbourne providing supply and grinding services for companies throughout Australia. As the Australian agent for the German TKM Group (formerly IKS Klingelnberg), Davis & Jenkins has achieved an excellent reputation as a high-quality supplier and re-grinder of machine knives and for precision grinding services.

Davis & Jenkins Pty Ltd 198 Christmas Street Fairfield Victoria 3078 T: 03 9499 2858 F: 03 9497 1992 W: davisandjenkins.com.au E: info@davisandjenkins.com.au Patrick Vlahos Production Manager T: 03 9499 2858 E: info@davisandjenkins.com.au Currently, Davis & Jenkins has eight employees in Melbourne providing supply and grinding services for companies throughout Australia. Being the Australian agent for the German TKM Group (formerly IKS Klingelnberg), Davis & Jenkins has achieved an excellent reputation as a high quality supplier and re-grinder of machine knives and precision grinding services.

Quality+precision = reputation.

Davis & Jenkins – high quality supplier anD re-grinDer of machine knives anD precision grinDing services.

• Workpieces up to 3000 x 1000 x 1040mm, with a weight of 3000kg • Swivel-able magnetic chuck capacity is 5500 x 300 x 250mm, enabling precise bevel angles on any kind of steel to a length of 5500mm.

davisandjenkins.com.au 198 Christmas Street • Fairfield VICTORIA 3078 • Tel: 03 9499 2858 • Fax: 03 9497 1992 AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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Manufacturers Pavilion

Innovative industrial design and engineering Overcoming complex design challenges through unique and innovative industrial product design and engineering has provided Integra Systems’ clients with improved productivity and sales both locally and globally.

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 empowers clients in key areas of industrial design, product design engineering and mechanical engineering through highly efficient in-house advanced manufacturing systems and project management expertise.

The company focuses on working collaboratively with clients so they may secure new market opportunities and overcome complex design challenges in a highly diverse range of industries. Offering a unique design process – no matter what the industry – is what distinguishes Integra, and provides you with the ultimate solution.

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. Industry recognition for this is supported by the many awards Integra has received.

Integra TransForm – Innovating for Performance Integra Systems has created a new division – Integra TransForm – which specialises in product design and manufacturing of proprietary products owned and commercialised by Integra, right here in Australia. Global research and usercentric design inform the innovation of Integra TransForm products that have been conceived with the primary purpose of improving business, productivity, sales, service and personal performance.

AeroSMART & BioSMART

BioSMART cleverly converts your office furniture to sit–stand Delivers one–touch electronic simplicity Elegant design, built for strength A quality investment that will last All Australian made

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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.

THE WORKSMART COLLECTION

Enquire about our BioSMART 30 day free trial *conditions apply

Integra is proudly a multi-award winning enterprise

197 Northcorp Blvd Broadmeadows, Vic, 3047 T: 03 9359 3133 F: 03 9359 3166 W: www.integrasystems.com.au E: enquiries@integrasystems.com.au

Ultimately, Integra’s business relationships are centred around its ability to ‘Make your Vision Real’.

Boost your workplace performance with beautiful sit–stand solutions that deliver health and productivity improvement results.

The strong and sturdy WorkSmart Collection uses world–class electronic technology and user–centric designs to deliver elegant sit–stand solutions to the highest quality, right here in Australia.

Your workplace will directly benefit from Integra’s drive to provide elegant ergonomics that deliver results.

A division of Integra Systems Pty Ltd Telephone +61 3 9359 3133 Facsimile +61 3 9359 3166 Email sales@integratransform.com.au www.integratransform.com.au

Integra Systems

Integra BioSMART

Integra AeroSMART

Manufacturers Pavilion

TRJ Engineering – fine street furniture TRJ Engineering continues to lead from the front when it comes to supplying street furniture for major projects.

TRJ Engineering is proud to be working on numerous high-end street furniture projects at the one time. As of just recently, the company has been awarded the opportunity to supply the city of Perth with street furniture for the next three years, with a further twoyear extension. This will include many and varied seats, benches and fountains which will be installed in numerous locations around the city of Perth as the city goes through a major re-development of their city precinct.

TRJ will be fabricating the furniture using cast ends to create a nice uniform finish to all the seats which will also enable the company to make many seats at a moment’s notice.

This will have many benefits for the local industry, as TRJ will be relying on many local suppliers to help furnish the city of Perth.

Another project that TRJ is working on is the Gumbaya World upgrade. As with the city of Perth upgrade, this will include seats, benches, fountains and bins. Further down the track, it can potentially include new shelters and picnic areas. Gumbaya World has recently been bought out and will undergo a major transformation to create a unique attraction which will draw in many

TRJ Engineering Group 47-51 Westpool Drive Hallam Victoria 3803 T: 03 9703 1701 F: 03 9702 3288 W: www.trjengineering.com.au E: jeremy@trjengineering.com.au David Murphy Managing Director T: 03 9703 1701 E: david@trjengineering.com.au TRJ has the ability and experience to fabricate and machine using all types of steels and quantities to excel beyond customers’ targets. This sets the foundation for TRJ to fulfil its company’s goal of: “To be recognised as the complete engineering solution provider in Australasia”

visitors, not only local, but international. In order for Gumbaya World to fulfill the stage one opening for December, TRJ will have to supply a substantial number of bins and seats. This short time frame is going to be a real test for the company’s systems but they will endeavor to meet this deadline and deliver a superior product at the same time.

These two high profile jobs will only enhance TRJ Engineering’s reputation as a supplier of fine street furniture, Australia wide. earthmoving

Corporate Identity for TRJ Engineering group

TRJ Engineering Group…

All designs are copywrittien to webfirm ©2008

tranSport

Your first choice for precision metal fabrication and general engineering.

TRJ Engineering has been providing steel fabrication and engineering services throughout Melbourne for 40 years – Australian owned and operated. Experienced in private and government projects, TRJ Engineering is a leading Victorian supplier, dedicated to excellent service and state-of-the-art engineering solutions for all applications, from truck chassis manufacture to street furniture, shop fit-outs and stainless steel components.

Street Furniture

47/51 Westpool Drive, Hallam, Victoria 3803 T: 03 9703 1701 • F: 03 9702 3288 • E: sales@ trjengineering.com.au www.trjengineering.com.au

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018 Corporate Identity for TRJ Engineering group

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Amtil Inside

The year in review The world is changing somewhat with the advance of the fourth industrial revolution.

Our physical and digital worlds are combining to transform the ways both our personal and business lives are planned out. The ongoing shift in the way we communicate, how we operate from day to day, how we seek knowledge and how we learn is completely transforming our working lives. The one constant is change. Change does not have to be rapid or radical. It can be subtle and seamless. But if you are not constantly changing aspects of your business and personal lives, you are at risk of being left behind.

So as I look back over the last year and plan for the next year or two, I am conscious of the minor changes we have made to our business and how we operate. One internal change is our commitment to work/life balance and providing flexible working arrangements for staff. There is certainly a mind shift to the way we employ staff and keep them invigorated, accountable and productive.

Our biennial flagship exhibition – Austech - ran in May 2017 and was a great success with over 12,000 visitors and fantastic feedback and results for our exhibitors. We also ran around 20 other events including business breakfasts, plant tours, member focus sessions, networking functions and social activities. We are continuing to change the range and type of events to engage with the membership and provide them with the networking and opportunities they are looking for.

The decision to produce a bi-monthly 120-page AMT magazine was a positive one.

This change has allowed our magazine to continue to go from strength to strength and our resources now allow us to have even more focus on great Australian stories and positive news. Another subtle change to our magazine has seen more focus on each state in each issue and this has been well received. I would like to thank our members that have supported our magazine over the past year. We are very proud of the regular feedback we receive which iterates AMT is very well regarded and respected in the industry.

We changed the way we communicate information to our members with our regular Hotspot communication and e-newsletters. This is our way of passing on anything that comes across our desks that we feel is of interest to members, whether it be opportunities for work, networking functions, information on running a business, funding prospects from Government or specific industry information, the Hotspots have been well received by members and we look forward to continuing this service in the future.

Our work with the Federal Government continued through our involvement as a Partner Organisation for the Entrepreneurs’ Program (EP). We now have nine staff delivering business reviews and specialist hard and soft technical advice at a national level and we continue to support all the components that make up the EP. This is a great national initiative and one we hope will continue to be supported by the Federal Government in the future.

We have been working with both the Innovative Manufacturing CRC and the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre as they establish themselves and we are looking forward to having an intricate involvement with both these bodies in the coming year. The work we have been doing in this area has brought us closer to other industry groups and government departments and this is certainly an advantage to us as we seek to address the industry issues facing our membership. This will be a core focus for us over the coming years.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our members that have been involved in our activities over the past 12 months and wish everybody a great Christmas and merry festive season.

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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Amtil Heading Inside

Entrepreneurs’ Programme – Bringing positive results

AMTIL is a partner organisation in the Entrepreneurs’ Programme (EP), a Commonwealth Government flagship initiative focused on raising the competitiveness and productivity of eligible companies at an individual level.

John Lochery, an EP Business Adviser with AMTIL, discusses some of the benefits of the Programme.

I began working with AMTIL as a Business Adviser for the Entrepreneurs’ Programme in early 2014, bringing to the role some 25 years of commercial experience in sales and marketing in the food industry, across all channels including retail, food service and export, as well as business-to-business sectors. While running two of the businesses that I was responsible for, I had the benefit of going through the EP process twice, both times bringing positive results for the business.

Since commencing in the role I have been able to engage with some 66 businesses, all with varying needs and opportunities. The Programme has assisted these businesses in a number of ways including: • Development and implementation of strategic plans.

• Brand and marketing development.

• Process and system improvements.

• Revenue growth.

• Profit growth.

I am fortunate to have tools that enable me to benchmark a business across a range of criteria against best practice for the industry. Doing this can often show a business where they are doing well and where there may be opportunities for improvement. The fact that I get to assist a business for 12 months to implement the recommendations of our evaluation and plans makes the role very interesting.

It is great to be able to offer a professional independent service that is fully funded by the Department of Industry, Science and Innovation, meaning no charges or costs to the businesses I assist.

There have been some good outcomes along the way, such as: • The development of a brand for a company that was packing only private labels; this brand was exported to China and continues to sell.

• Benchmarking a company that was concerned about the EBIT (earnings before interest & taxes) it was delivering. The benchmarking showed the EBIT was better than the industry average, so the actions became about product and market diversification.

I have also helped businesses to source grants (we have a matched $20k to implement the actions of the evaluation), as well as looking for other grants for capital equipment that have assisted business grow. Strong connections within the Department and across industry also assist in pointing businesses in the right direction.

Even universities such as Monash and RMIT have been able to help with product development for some clients. I am very fortunate that I get to share my experience and assist where I can to help manufacturing businesses grow.

For more information about the Entrepreneurs’ Programme, please contact Greg Chalker, Corporate Services Manager at AMTIL, on 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au. www.business.gov.au/EP

At your service.

AMTIL supports its members through its select range of AMTIL Service Partners.

1271AMTIL

www.amtil.com.au/Membership/Service-Partners

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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Amtil Inside

AMTIL AGM looks back on a successful year AMTIL held its 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 19 October at Riversdale Golf Course in Mount Waverley.

Footy legend David Parkin got the breakfast event under way with the keynote speech. Parkin gave an illuminating, wideranging address that touched upon his achievements both as a player and as a coach in the AFL. It also drew upon his more recent accomplishments in broadcasting and as a lecturer in Sports and Exercise Science at Deakin University, as well as his work as an advocate for various charity organisations including the Prostate Foundation of Australia.

Following Parkin’s speech, AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti gave a round-up of the Association’s activities over the course of 2017, most notably this year’s highly successful Austech exhibition, held in Melbourne in May. Infanti also provided the members present with details of the Association’s plans for the coming year.

AMTIL President Paul Fowler also spoke on the current state of Australian manufacturing and AMTIL’s position within the industry, and AMTIL board member Paul Philips delivered the financial report. Fowler has been reappointed for another 12 months as AMTIL’s President, while the board remains unchanged. There was also a presentation from Don Matthews, Executive Director of Industry Capability Network (ICN) Victoria about his organisation and its activities.

Finally, Paul Philips’ long years of service as a member of the Board were recognised

as he was made a Life Member of AMTIL. Philips was presented with a special gift to mark the occasion.

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all our members that have been involved in our activities over the past 12 months – your input is valued highly,” said Infanti.

“I would also like to thank the Board and Directors of AMTIL, who have given such good guidance and support to the Institute over a long period of time. To all the staff at AMTIL, your commitment and dedication to the members is valued highly by myself and the Board. I thank you sincerely and look forward to the coming year or two with great anticipation.”

AFL coaching legend David Parkin delivered the keynote address at AMTIL’s AGM.

AMT – Give us your feedback, for a chance to win a Google Home

AMT Magazine is conducting a survey of its readers, and those who take part will have a chance to win the latest Google Home smart speaker.

AMT surveys its readers on a regular basis to obtain your views on the magazine, its strengths and its weaknessees. The aim of the survey iis to gather information that will enable us to continue to shape AMT into a source of news and information about your industry that is relevant to you. With your invaluable feedback, we can ascertain what sections you find beneficial, what you enjoy reading, what you’d like to see more of, and what you’d like to see less of.

We have three Google Home voiceactivated speakers to give away to the lucky respondents who are drawn out of the hat. For your chance to win, fill in the survey included with this magazine and return it no later than 15 December, or complete it online (see right for details).

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

Terms and conditions apply, check the survey for further details. Good luck!

To complete the AMT Magazine 2017 Readers’ Survey, scan the QR code below, or enter the following into your address field of your internet browser: goo.gl/bTMMd8.

1 of 3 to win!

ManufactureLink proudly owned and operated

by AMTIL

Follow our members on

Go Get linked!

Manufacturelink is your directory for all things Manufacturing. processes. services. technology.

1186AMT

We’ve got the link to make it happen.

Visit www.manufacturelink.com.au to learn more.

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Industry Calendar

Please Note: It is recommended to contact the exhibition organiser to confirm before attending event

INTERNATIONAL Metal Middle East UAE, Dubai 17-19 December 2017 Metallurgy, foundry mach., metal working. www.metalmiddleeast.com

Advanced Factories Spain, Barcelona 13-15 March 2018 Machine tools, automation, Industry 4.0. www.advancedfactories.com/en

SteelFab UAE, Sharjah 16-19 January 2018 Metalworking & steel fabrication. www.steelfabme.com

GrindTec Germany, Augsburg 14-17 March 2018 Grinding technology exhibition. www.grindtec.de/en

NORTEC Germany, Hamburg 23 – 26 January 2018 Manufacturing tech.; Industry 4.0. www.nortec-hamburg.de/en

MECSPE Italy, Parma 22-24 March 2018 Innovations for the manufacturing industry. www.mecspe.com/en

IMTEX India, Bangalore 25-30 January 2018 Metal forming technology exhibition. www.imtex.in

Mashex Siberia Russia, Novosibirsk 27-30 March 2018 Metalworking exhibition. www.mashex-siberia.ru/en-GB

EXPO MANUFACTURA Mexico, Monterrey 6 – 8 February 2018 Manufacturing tech., Industry 4.0, AM. www.expomanufactura.com.mx

INDUSTRIE Paris France, Paris 27-30 March 2018 Includes MIDEST (subcontracting), Tolexpo (sheet metal), & Industry 4.0 www.industrie-expo.com

MachAuto Expo India, Punjab 16-19 February 2018 Machine tools & automation exhibition. www.machautoexpo.in Bautec Germany, Berlin 20-23 February 2018 For the building & construction industry. www.bautec.com/en METAV Germany, Dusseldorf 20-24 February 2018 Exhibition for metalworking technologies. www.metav.com Inside 3D Printing Singapore - 6-7 February 2018 Germany - 21-22 February 2018 Turkey - 15-16 March 2018 Brazil - 11-12 June 2018 South Korea - 28-30 June 2018 USA (NY) - 30-31 October 2018 A leading 3D Printing and AM conference. https://inside3dprinting.com Asiamold China, Guangzhou 4-6 March 2018 Machine tools, mould & die exhibition. www.asiamold-china.com

SIMTOS South Korea, Goyang 3-7 April 2018 Seoul International Machine Tool Show. www.simtos.org CCMT China China, Shanghai 9 -13 April 2018 China CNC Machine Tool Fair. www.ccmtshow.com/enindex.jsp MACH UK, Birmingham 9-13 April 2018 UK’s premier engineering/manufacturing technologies exhibition. www.machexhibition.com Die & Mould India India, Mumbai 11-14 April 2018 Includes AM; CAD/CAM; cutting/machine tools; metrology. automation. www.diemouldindia.org Intermold Osaka/Die & Mold Asia Japan, Osaka 18 – 21 April, 2018 Die & mould manufacturing technology. www.intermold.jp/english

SIMODECFrance, La Roche-sur-Foron 6-9 March 2018 Machine tool show. http://en.salon-simodec.com

SIAMS Switzerland, Moutier 17-20 April 2018 Trade fair for microtechnology production tools. www.siams.ch

Indonesia Metal Working Week Indonesia, Jakarta 7-9 March 2018 Sheet metal working exhibition. www.indonesiametalworkingweek.com

FEIMEC Brazil, Sao Paulo 24-28 April 2018 Machinery & equipment exhibition www.feimec.com.br/pt/HOME.html

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

EMEX NZ, Auckland 1-3 May 2018 Engineering, machinery & electronics exhibition. www.emex.co.nz iMT Taiwan. Taipei 9-12 May 2018 Taipei Intelligent Machinery & Manufacturing Technology www.mtduo.com.tw METALLOOBRABOTKA Russia, Moscow 14-18 May 2018 Includes metal cutting/forming/welding/tools, metrology, software. www.metobr-expo.ru/en Intertool Austria, Vienna 15 – 18 May 2018 Intl. trade fair for metal processing sector. www.intertool.at/en INTERMACH Thailand, Bangkok 16 – 19 May 2018 Intl. metalworking & automation. www.intermachshow.com BIEMH Spain, Bilbao 28 May -1 June 2018 Intl. machine tool exhibition. www.biemh.com Intermold Nagoya Japan, Nagoya 13-16 June 2018 Metal working exhibition. Co-located with: Die & Mold Asia & Japan Metal Stamping Technology. www.intermold.jp/english CIMES China, Beijing 26-30 June 2018 Intl. machine tool exhibition www.cimes.net.cn MTA VIETNAM Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City 3-6 July 2018 Intl. precision engineering, machine tools and metalworking. http://www.mtavietnam.com/ AMTEX India , New Delhi 6-9 July 2018 Asian machine tool exhibition. www.amtex-expo.com/amtex_delhi IMTS USA, Chicago 10-15 September 2018 International Manufacturing Technology Show. www.imts.com EuroBLECH Germany, Hanover 23-26 October 2018 Sheet metal working technology exhibition. www.euroblech.com/2018/english

Industry Calendar Heading local Australasian Oil & Gas Exhibition & Conference Perth 14-16 March 2018 Showcasing latest products &technologies for the Australian oil and gas industry. https://aogexpo.com.au WA Major Projects Conference Perth 21-22 March 2018 Western Australia’s largest major projects & infrastructure conference. As WA’s economy is readjusting after the mining boom, the conference will feature presentations on evaluating opportunities in other sectors.

Industry professionals will present their insights, while also focusing on important infrastructure projects. www.expotradeglobal.com/events/ wamajorprojects Vic Transport Infrastructure Conference 2018 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 11-12 April 2018 With the Victorian State Budget allocating over $10.4bn towards public transport and road projects, this includes the latest updates on the largest transport projects shaping Victoria.. The theme for this year is “Looking Ahead Towards Victoria’s Transport Priorities”. www.expotradeglobal.com/events/ victransport AusMedtech 2018 Adelaide, Adelaide Convention Centre 1-2 May 2018 Australia’s premier medical technology conference. http://ausmedtech.com.au MEGATRANS 2018 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 10-12 May 2018 Debut event involving the future of global multimodal freight and logistics. This event is a key connection bringing together the entire logistics and supply chain. www.megatrans2018.com.au

Advertiser Index

Northern Australia Food Futures Conference NT, Darwin 2-4 July 2018 Science & technology for development.

Seeks to enable effective policy action to maximise agricultural development in Northern Australia. www.foodfuturesntfarmers.org.au

600 Machine Tools Alfex CNC

89 18-19

Applied Machinery

11

Avian Machinery Pty Ltd

77

Bolts & Industrial Supplies

13

Bystronic P/L

6-7

Complete Machine Tools

43

QME (Queensland Mining and Engineering Exhibition) Qld. Mackay Showground 24-26 July 2018 Includes innovative products and machinery for the mining industry and live demonstrations of the latest mining equipment and technology. www.queenslandminingexpo.com.au

D & D Barry

69

Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo Sydney 29-30 August 2018 Features Australia’s most comprehensive marketplace of recycling, manufacturing, waste collection and landfill professionals. https://awre.com.au

IMTS Laser P/L

17

Industrial Laser

23

Integra Systems

110

PrefabAUS Conference 2018 Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 11-12 September 2018 For Australia’s rapidly changing building manufacturing industry which is at the forefront of the global market. Provides knowledge and networking opportunities to explore the future of the growing sector.

Will include keynote speakers, project case studies and workshops, networking opportunities and an extensive exhibition. www.prefabaus.org.au/conference-2018 Safety in Action Sydney 9-10 October 2018 Australia’s leading workplace Health & Safety Event – Includes three dedicated safety zones, free safety seminars and workshops, the latest innovative products and services and interactive opportunities. www.safetyinaction.net.au

25

Emona Instruments

41

Getac Technology Corp.

95

Hare & Forbes

4-5

Headland 120

Iscar 2-3 Machinery Forum MTI Qualos

119 39, 73

Okuma 9 Premium Tools Aust Pty Ltd

53

QuadS Technology

63

ReconEngineering cover Robert Bosch

61

Sandvik 87 Seco Tools

49

Sutton Tools TRJ Engineering

15 111

VM Federation

93

Whitelaw Machinery

21

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Feb Australian Manufacturing Technology

Oct NOv

ology

AustrAliAn MAnufActur ing techn

Call Anne Samuelsson of AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 or email asameulsson@amtil.com.au

109

ECI Solutions

Your Indus trY. Your Maga zIne.

AEROSPACE & DEFENCE

Your Industry. Your Magazine

Advertise in Australia’s No. 1 precision and manufacturing magazine

Davis & Jenkins

Business Management STATE SPOTLIGHT: Tasmania construction

Medical

& infrastru

cture state spotlight : Queensland additive Man ufacturing Forming & Fabr ication Cutting tools Material rem oval software safety

Additive Manufacturing Quality & Inspection Compressors & Air Technology Cutting Tools Forming & Fabrication Material Removal

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

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history

Big wheels & little wheels – the story of Sir Laurence John Hartnett (1898 – 1986)

Ratifying Fishermans Bend

Part 22

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 was 1935 and Laurence set about preparing the infrastructure for Australia’s future auto manufacturing industry, starting from a rat-infested building.

I

n 1936, when I’d discuss the timeline for the Australian car, we would sometimes settle for six years, or sometimes we’d make it eight, depending on national economic forces, plus the readiness to get on with the job. At that stage, the immediate requirement was brains - men and women with the basic qualifications who could be trained and applied to the job.

I began looking at the technical colleges and universities for young men and women to fill the gaps. Wherever possible, I brought them in and put them on work that was sometimes beyond our actual needs in those pre-war days. We put in a chemistry laboratory, a physics laboratory, materialstesting laboratories - all essentials for the big job that was coming some day. Those labs proved a Godsend to us when we eventually began the task - and they served Australia well too, during WW2.

My enthusiasm for Australia and Australians, my confidence in our ability to lick every problem, helped to convert the General Motors-Holden’s organization from a divided part-American, part-Australian setup into one which, in spirit and purpose at least, was wholly Australian. This “Australiafirst” outlook spread throughout the GM-H plants in all States.

Having a personal conviction that a car could and should be made in Australia was one thing; getting Governments and other industrialists to the same state of appreciation was another. But I set out quietly to gain their support by a reasoned, highly factual series of arguments. In 1935 I became convinced that the day was not far off when the integral style of car design, in which the chassis and the body were made as one unit would become general.

This would strike at the very foundation of the Australian motor industry, built around the importation of separate chassis with the matching bodies made in Australia.

Put simply, Australia would simply have to make her own cars, complete in almost every detail. But it was hopeless for us to plan complete-car manufacture until we had the definite viewpoint of the Federal Government whose Cabinet Ministers were intelligent men, but slow to arouse. And they were constantly listening to the arguments of men who had no real knowledge of car manufacture.

The volume of sales needed to justify making our own car was currently higher than that in many countries already producing complete cars; Australia, with its resources of coal, iron, limestone and many other raw materials, and backed by her own skilled craftsmen and an outstanding ability to tackle difficult problems in engineering, should be able to manufacture successfully a car and a truck to suit Australian requirements. Nothing dramatic came of that first move, but from then on I became aware of an interest by governments in the need for an Australian car.

Possibly the greatest single contribution I was able to make in those years was in 1935, just thirteen years before the first Holden was produced. That was the year we planned and built the great GM-H plant at Fishermans Bend - a project that was a milestone in the story of the Holden, and a most significant chapter in the postdepression history of Australian industry.

As mentioned in the last instalment, until 1936, our Melbourne offices, (the Australian headquarters of GM-H), were in the same run-down, rat-infested building in City Road, South Melbourne. Financial constraints prevented us moving at the time, however gradually, through good management on everyone’s part, and a continuation of the recovery in the national economy, things started to look better. We got rid of our red ink and began to make good profits. Once

more we allowed our thoughts to turn to new premises, but we held off, promising ourselves it would not be much longer.

The climax came one Monday morning when Jim Welker, the service manager, came in after having spent the weekend in the office dictating reports into a recording machine only to find that the rats had gnawed the scratch-wax on the machine’s cylinders, ruining all his work. He appeared in my office, fuming, “I’ve had this damned dump of a place. Look what’s happened!” he exploded. And he laid an armful of the rat-ravaged cylinders on my desk. The poor fellow was close to tears of rage and frustration. That was the last straw. Our lease was coming up for renewal and none of us wanted to go on living with the rats. So I wrote to New York suggesting we build our own plant in Melbourne.

Two cables and one letter later, New York gave approval. Here, to me, was the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to select a site and build a plant for General Motors, with no interruptions, no disturbances and no one in New York telling me how to do it. We began looking at sites. The ideal one was at Fishermans Bend, a former wasteland of sand-dunes and swamps, just two miles from the Melbourne GPO.

This is an extract from ‘Big Wheels & Little Wheels’, by Sir Laurence Hartnett as told to John Veitch, 1964. © Deirdre Barnett.

AMT DEC 2017/JAN 2018

To be continued…

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Salvagnini offers you L5, a productive and versatile solution, containing all you need: laser machine, automation, software and services: this is laser cutting by Salvagnini.

Machinery Forum NSW Pty Ltd 43 Brodie Street, Rydalmere NSW 2116 Phone: +61 2 9638 9600 - Email: machinery@mafosyd.com.au

Maximise Efficiency and Expand with a TRUMPF Large-Scale Storage System New Touch Industries, laser cutting and fabrication specialists, are maximising their business growth and production efficiency through automation. Their TRUMPF large-scale storage system and TRUMPF laser cutting machine combination is providing their most efficient machinery set-up to date.

Read more at www.headland.com.au/newtouch

TRUMPF Large-Scale Storage Systems Known as the logistics centre of a manufacturing production, the large-scale storage system is customer centric in design. This system efficiently stores raw sheets, finished parts, scrap skeletons, and tube profiles with full flexibility in terms of length, width, height, and sheet format.

1300 592 061 www.headland.com.au