Industry News

For more than 70 years, the core competence of Gloor Brothers, an owner-managed family business based in Burgdorf, Switzerland, has been the regulation of pressure and flow of technical gases. When the business earned its EN ISO: 13485 Certification in 1994, this competence was extended to medical technology, and it has been continually expanded upon ever since. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for fittings for therapeutic oxygen delivery devices has risen sharply, resulting in a capacity bottleneck in the turning department at Gloor. Thanks to a longstanding collaboration between Gloor Medical and Tornos, both of these leaders in their respective fields were able to react quickly and make valuable lifesaving contributions. Gloor Medical is an industry-leading supplier in Switzerland in the medical gas supply field, and its services range from the planning and implementation of the pipeline network in hospitals and doctors’ practices, to the fittings for supplying patients with the required medical gases. Its product range covers the supply of medical gases from central gas…

Formed in the Melbourne suburb of Burnley, Tighe Metal Spinners is a family-owned company operated by brothers Rod and Jeff Tighe. Early in the 1960s the business moved to Moorabbin where it remained for many years until moving into a brand new 1,600sqm state-of-the-art production facility based in Keysborough in 2014. Tighe Metal Spinners has always been involved in the specialised area of metal spinning (also known as metal forming), a process by which sheet metal is rotated at high speed over a mandrel to form round metal parts for domestic or commercial use. One of the more unique products that the company spins each year is the AFL Premiership Cup for Cash’s Awards and Promotion Solutions – something it has been doing since 1999. Virtually any metal can be spun or formed, including stainless steel, hot and cold rolled steel, aluminium, zinc, copper and brass. Metal products can be spun using one piece of material to produce parts without seams or welds. Without seams, a part can…

Tom Macrokanis founded the company in 2018, and with his business partner John Nicolaidis, SLIK Build aims to tackle the ever-increasing problem of housing affordability across Australia. The availability of affordable housing is a longstanding issue in this country, both from the perspectives of home ownership and affordable rental. Responsibility for the availability of affordable and social housing supply is governed by state and local governments, and these bodies are exploring ways to create mechanisms that will help to resolve what is a growing crisis Australia-wide. Despite most local councils having strategies in place, they are yet to materialise. For Macrokanis and Nicolaidis, both research and experience point towards a key underlying issue that “high construction costs are the inhibitor”. The SLIK Build team concluded that the only way out of this crisis would be to develop an industry specifically designed to service the social housing market segment,…

Australia is poised to become a leading provider of green hydrogen, produced by using renewable energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hypersonix has teamed with BOC for the supply of green hydrogen fuel for its reusable Spartan scramjet engines, which can take small satellite payloads to lower earth orbit (LEO). “We’re very pleased to have found a strong clean hydrogen partner in BOC,” said Hypersonix CEO and co-founder David Waterhouse. “We both share a desire to bring the principles of the Green Space to the small satellite launch market, and this is something that sets us apart. We are determined to go to space, but in a way that is sustainable for our planet by design.” Hypersonix secured an Accelerating Commercialisation Grant from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources last year, for the design and build of a re-usable satellite launch vehicle scramjet engine powered by hydrogen. “Our deep-tech solution will ensure that our precious oceans do not become dumping grounds for single use rockets and boosters, and…

CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) announced on 22 April that the University of Melbourne, RMIT University, and global consultancy Stratagen will form an Australian contingent to contribute to the Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) consortium. G-PST is an international group of electricity system operators collaborating with leading international researchers to accelerate the transition to low-emissions, low-cost, secure and reliable power systems. The move signals a major commitment to implementing the technologies and approaches to permanently reduce emissions trajectories, while simultaneously improving grid reliability, resilience, and security. Dr John Ward, Research Director of CSIRO’s Energy Systems Research Program, said CSIRO and AEMO were pleased to draw on their experience in research-industry collaborations to lead the Australian research delegation contributing to G-PST. “The energy sector is a central tenant of our net zero future,” Dr Ward said. “It accounts for 54% of Australia’s emissions and has the most mature range of low-emission technology options for immediate and long-term opportunities. The cost of renewable energy…

In almost all industries, it is important to efficiently protect plant and machinery as well as the drive technology used from external influences like dirt, moisture, spray water and aggressive media. NORD motors and drives are already designed with a high level of protection. Furthermore, high-performance coatings, paints and finishing processes protect the surfaces of drive systems and ensure an aesthetic and uniform appearance. For paint finishes, NORD uses the latest generation of high-solid paints, which considerably reduces the emission of solvents far below the legally required limits. With up to 80%, high-solid paints contain a large proportion of solid material and combine the emission benefits of hydro paints with the functionality of solvent-based coating materials. In addition, the lower solvent proportion of only 20% allows for very short drying times in production – a decisive advantage over water-based coating systems. For the electrical industry, NORD offers robust and long-life powder coatings.…

AMT: Tell us firstly about your background and how you ended up in your role with William Buck. Ian Cattanach: I’ve been in practice for more than 30 years. I started off at a firm called Bell Partners, which had the original connection with AMTIL. Indeed I’ve continued to act for the family of Bob Corbett, who was the founding chair of AMTIL, and we’ve been AMTIL’s auditor right the way through. In 2013, Bell Partners merged into William Buck, and we brought the AMTIL relationship with us. Since then AMTIL’s corporate partnership has morphed into what it is today, a much more structured, organised, symbiotic relationship. AMTIL staff will often refer members to William Buck representatives within our space, and likewise, we’re here to support the broader AMTIL membership, even though they may not be our clients.   AMT: And what does William Buck do? IC:  William Buck is an accounting and advisory firm with offices across Australia and New Zealand. We are over 125 years old and have tax,…

When COVID-19 overwhelmed hospitals around the world, Sentient’s team of engineers, supervised and funded internally by CEO Dr Paul Boxer, realised that low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), unlike developed countries, don’t have access to sufficient effective oxygen resources. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 32 million people will require oxygen therapy. Sentient is a registered charity whose vision is to create a device with social benefit, with a passionate team of engineers behind it. Aaron Duivenvoorden, lead engineer of the project, explains: “We are a small team providing a necessity that will make a big difference and have a lasting impact in the world and people’s lives!” Sentient’s project has resulted in Sentox, a low-cost oxygen machine compact enough to fit inside a briefcase. SentOx is rugged, hand-portable and designed to WHO specs, which makes it ideal for countries who have scarce medical equipment. Since the beginning, Sentient’s project has evolved a lot: the design has been validated and local production…

Holemaking is the most common of all machining processes, but it is also the one most often taken for granted. Many machine shops see little reason to change or upgrade their existing holemaking setup and have been using the same tools and cutting parameters for years. But, as the unpredictable effects of COVID-19 continue, this is all set to change. McKinsey & Company’s recent briefing note COVID-19: Implications for business calls the present industry situation a “next normal”, where manufacturers can expect unpredictable and lasting shifts in customer markets. The report advises that “resilience will be needed if manufacturers are to navigate an economically and socially viable path”. Most manufacturers, for example, are exploring new vendor bases and products. Consequently, machine shops that once specialised in a certain area of production are now opening their CNC lathes and mills to a wider variety of tough and challenging materials. At the same time, manufacturers must explore new ways to increase profits…

The March 2021 edition of ScotPac’s SME Growth Index found almost half (48%) of SMEs predicting revenue growth. However, the proportion of SMEs expecting revenue to decline hit a new high at a critical moment on the road to long-term COVID recovery – one in four small businesses have forecast a revenue drop, on average by 5.5%. ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton said revenue uncertainty is more marked at the smaller end of the SME sector, with SMEs with revenues between $1m and $5m feeling the brunt more than their $5m-$20m revenue counterparts. The survey showed particular uncertainty among manufacturers, with manufacturing revealed to be the second-least confident major industry (after retail). Almost one in five manufacturers (19%) are looking at closing, 27% say they will sell either immediately or within six months, and 17% of manufacturers are unsure if they will have to close or sell. In comparison, fewer than one in 10 retailers are confident enough that they will not have…

If you happened to be in Tonsley, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, 13 years ago, you might very well have been standing in the middle of Mitsubishi’s car production line. The shell of the factory left behind when Mitsubishi relocated in 2008 has now been reinvented as the Tonsley Innovation District. Now Tonsley is the home of Line Zero – Pilot Factory of the Future. It’s at this new facility that new technologies, manufacturing techniques and processes are being tested, trialled and adapted for the Osborne shipyard, where nine Hunter class frigates will be built. The Hunter Class Frigate Program is the biggest surface ship project in Australia’s defence history, contributing towards Continuous Naval Shipbuilding capability for the nation. Line Zero – Pilot Factory of the Future is a collaboration between Flinders University, BAE Systems Australia and its subsidiary BAE Systems Maritime Australia (formerly ASC Shipbuilding). It marks the beginning of an exciting new era for developing Australian Industry Capability in support of the Federal Government’s sovereign capability objectives. The…

Professor Yu Bai from Monash University’s Department of Civil Engineering will lead an interdisciplinary team from seven Australian universities to develop a one-of-a-kind facility centred on structural assembly and construction automation. It will feature a flexible, adaptive design, with space for a team of collaborative robotics in an interactive environment to achieve automated prefabrication, assembly and building. The outcomes are expected to transform the current labour-intensive construction industry to one that uses highly automated and accurate prefabrication processes, with significant benefits to the economy and worker safety. Professor Bai said many industries, such as manufacturing and transport, had adopted automated practices to speed up, optimise, and economise production. However, the construction industry was lagging behind, failing to take advantage of such technological advancements. “Robotic technology has made significant progress in a number of industry domains in the last several years and construction can benefit from this advancement,” Professor Bai said. “The use of robotic technology can be a game-changing step as seen in other…