Month: January 2016

VCE is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction equipment. The company’s broad product line includes haulers, loaders, excavators, compact equipment and road equipment. Volvo engineers in the US recently designed a new water pump housing for the company’s A25G and A30G articulated haulers. Engineers used simulation to optimise the design of internal flow passages in the housing, but needed to build a prototype to perform functional testing to validate the new design. Until recently, the company would have invested in tooling. The tooling cost for this project would have been approximately $9,090, with the part cost around $909. The lead time for producing the prototype would have been 20 weeks minimum. VCE management tasked the engineering team with cutting development costs and reducing the lead time on large engine projects from 36 to 24 months. Engineers felt that 3D printing would be a good benchmark to determine if printed parts could withstand functional testing. Water pump housing prototypes must be able to survive the heat and high pressure of the engine compartment. As…

Businesses can save a lot of money by reassessing how they use energy in the day-to-day running of their business, with ever-larger effort being invested in ensuring that all equipment has a greener footprint. Industrial motor and drives technology has improved greatly in the last decade, so even straightforward initiatives – such as the adoption of variable-speed drives instead of fixed-speed drives – can produce significant energy savings. Variable-speed drives can typically reduce the speed required for particular operations by 20%, cutting power bills by more than 30% in common instances (such as those following) and achieving payback in less than a year. The biggest problem is that the technology is growing so quickly that it can be hard to keep up with all the changes and understand the most suitable option available for individual companies – especially for firms that haven’t looked at their options for a few…

One of the first actions for companies undertaking a Lean journey is initiating 5S, a system for organising office, warehouse and factory work. 5S enhances general productivity, perpetually, by ensuring ‘a place for everything and everything in its place, clean and ready for use every time, forever’. Any time you find yourself spending more than 30 seconds looking for something – a stapler, a hammer, stationery, raw material, a computer file – there is an opportunity for improving 5S. The sequence for implementing 5S typically starts with Sorting, followed quickly by Setting in order, Shining, Standardising and Sustaining. During the Sorting stage, unnecessary items that have little or no value should be discarded. Necessary items that are required for current work are retained and should be given ‘home positions’ during the Set in order phase. A third category, items that have value but are not needed for current work, are affixed with a 5S Red Tag and physically quarantined in an area that is distant from operations in order to get them out of value-creating…

Plenty of people out there will say you won’t need a consultant at all to implement Lean, but the reality is there are a lot of consultants meeting a real need in helping businesses to get started. Implementing Lean manufacturing has its challenges and most companies engage or employ experienced experts or Lean consultants such as TXM to get their Lean transformation underway. However, there are many Lean tools and principles that you can do yourself, without the need for a Lean consultant or hiring an internal expert. You can even try the following five tips at home – they are that safe! Kamishibai – Red-Green Tee Card Boards. One of our favourite and simplest Lean tools is the Red-Green Tee Card board, or Kamishibai. These are a really effective tool to make sure that everyone can see whether everyday tasks in your factory or office are getting done. A red-green task…

The KingFlor composite steel formwork system was first released in 2000. Used between levels on multiple-storey buildings, it has since become the largest formwork range in the construction industry. According to Nathan Jack, National Commercialisation Manager at BlueScope Building Components, the system’s adaptability has made it the product of choice for several notable recent developments. “We’re currently working with architects and builders to supply KingFlor to a range of projects across the country, with the product consistently improving project efficiencies due to reduced concrete, labour and propping requirements,” says Jack. “One key advantage is the versatility in the different deckings available, meaning we’re able to deliver an effective solution regardless of the demands of the project.” Fielders has recently been contracted to provide 20,000sqm of KingFlor CF210 decking for the prominent $200m Meriton residential tower in North Sydney, the first high-rise residential building in Australia to be constructed purely from structural steel, eliminating the use of the traditional concrete frame building method. “Historically, traditional steel construction depth…

The report, entitled ‘Tackling Foundation Skills in the Workforce’ reveals that 93% of employers surveyed identified inadequate literacy and numeracy as negatively impacting their business. Of the 300 employers surveyed, poor completion of workplace documents was the greatest frustration as a result of low literacy and numeracy – reported by 42% of employers, material errors and wastage (32%) and teamwork and communication problems (28%). This supports recent international data – Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) – which found 44% of Australians have literacy proficiency skills levels below level 3, considered to be the minimum to operate effectively in the workplace and society. Worse still was Australia's ranking in regards to numeracy proficiency, with 55% of adults below level 3. “These results indicate a deepening concern about the level of foundation skills in the workforce and a continuing drag on the nation's productivity,” said Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox. “As Australia continues to evolve towards the digital economy, increasingly more sophisticated skills within the…

One such company is Iscar. Rather than being an expensive policy to pursue, Iscar finds that the use of greener strategies such as recycling and the pursuit of reduced energy consumption, increases profitability. In addition, the kudos gained by adopting more sustainable methods raises potential customers’ perceptions and often leads to improved levels of business. To help support the global manufacturing industry’s search for greener means of production, suppliers such as machine tool companies and tooling manufacturers have introduced a wide range of impressive innovations. Led by Germany’s mechanical engineering association, schemes such as the Blue Competence Machine Tools initiative focus on sustainability. Under the Blue Competence initiative, machine tool companies agree to meet pre-determined ecological, economic and social values and principles, while implementing sustainable production solutions in their production plants, products and business services, with the aim of achieving greener manufacturing. Increasingly, Iscar and other major machine tool manufacturers are introducing advanced energy-saving features to…

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme is the Australian Government’s flagship initiative for business competitiveness and productivity at the firm level. The $7.8m has been offered to assist the 17 Australian companies launch their innovative products, processes or services into the global marketplace and help advance Australian industries. Some of the products, processes or services include: A device to optimise carbon use and maximise gold recovery for the gold mining industry A software and training platform for the agribusiness sector to help improve farm profitability, business management and sustainability A real-time, cloud-based data management system for intelligent buildings and smart cities Laser-based 3D printing for lighter, more easily produced metal components for aerospace and defence applications Advanced manufacturing for reliable, cheaper and highly efficient silicon solar cells A world-first clinical diagnostics device to help assess the health of the human gut. The Entrepreneurs’ Programme commercialisation grants help Australian entrepreneurs, inventors and businesses address the challenges associated with commercialising novel intellectual property. It aims to: Accelerate the commercialisation of novel intellectual property in…

Based in New Zealand, 3D Hub specialises in mechanical products, helping companies turn product ideas into assets and reducing manufacturing costs with computer-aided engineering (CAE). 3D Hub now uses 3D scanning as part of its service catalogue, which features product and industrial design, mechanical design, reverse engineering, structural optimisation, prototyping, CAD modelling, finite element analysis (FEA), and much more. Among its many projects, 3D Hub has played a central role in adapting US-manufactured, left-hand-drive vehicles for right-hand drivers in Australia and New Zealand. 3D Hub was called upon to convert a left-hand heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit into a right-hand unit to fit the modified interiors of Chevrolet and GMC trucks. The project was carried out both at the customer’s premises and 3D Hub’s offices. The entire project took approximately three months to complete over the course of several visits. The main challenge was the reverse engineering aspect to the project: the team wanted to develop a right-hand HVAC unit by acquiring the 3D measurements of the current left-hand…

ANCA Machine Tools celebrated its 40th anniversary of operations at the end of 2014. Founded by Pat Boland and Pat McCluskey 40 years ago in Melbourne, ANCA has grown into a truly global organisation with manufacturing sites and branch offices all around the world. Today, ANCA is a market leader in quality CNC grinding machines. ANCA’s success is a result of its continuous development of cutting-edge technology and a focus on innovation. Continuing in that tradition, ANCA has recently launched a number of new machines and products aiming at strengthening the value proposition the company can offer to its customers. One particularly significant addition to the ANCA range has been the FX Linear and MX Linear machines. Both machines are powered by LinX linear motor (international patent pending) developed by ANCA Motion, a sister company of ANCA. Prior to the introduction of the FX Linear and MX Linear machines, ANCA had been a silent observer on linear motor technology for many years. “ANCA was aware of the benefits that can be brought…

A family-owned business, Watkins Steel has been delivering steel fabrication and metalwork services to south-east Queensland since 1968. Watkins Steel specialises in metalwork, small structural steel, urban artscapes and architectural structures, and employs 50 staff across steel detailing, fabricating, drafting, estimating and installation. With steady growth since its establishment, Watkins Steel is currently operating from a 3,500 sqm factory in Brisbane. The company knows that its recent investment in technology will play a huge role in their future growth. Watkins Steel has a significant focus on refurbishments, which are not easy, clean or straightforward. These jobs generally involve two people having to be on site for three to four hours and then revisiting two or three times just to get the initial site measurement correct. Often it is the case that this work needs to be done outside of normal business hours so as not to disturb operations or create hazards for customers. The process is highly inefficient and puts increased pressure on…

“The idea of the project is to develop a technology that can be used in reinforcing the manufacturing industry in the region,” says Marlene Johansson, director of Umeå University’s Sliperiet facility. “For Sliperiet the project, entitled the +Project, is a part in the strategy of forming collaboration in an open and interdisciplinary innovative environment.” One goal of the project is to produce cellulose-based materials for full-scale 3D printing, which can be anything from printing weather-stripping and doors, to walls and, in the end, complete houses. Together with various collaborating partners, Sliperiet has received 17.6m Swedish Krona ($2.91m) from EU Structural Funds in an interdisciplinary development project aimed at building a strong area of innovation and a regional cluster in digital manufacturing, sustainable building and 3D technology. In total, the collaborative project is worth SEK35.3m ($5.84m). The target audiences for the +Project are small and medium-sized industries in the construction and wood sector as well as creative…

Australia has long had a close relationship with Japan, which has resulted in strong business ties between the two nations. Japan is Australia’s second-largest export destination and trading partner, presenting a broad range of opportunities for Australian SMEs wishing to export their products or services. Japan’s size and proximity has meant that it has always been a promising destination for Australia’s export industries. Australian exports to Japan were worth US$50bn in 2014, and with Japan’s high levels of disposable income and demand for premium, high-end goods and services, this is likely to continue at a similar level, even grow. Research recently conducted by the Export Council of Australia, the Australian International Business Survey 2015, found that 64% of Australian businesses that operate in Japan expect business to get better over the year ahead,…