Month: May 2017

Hilco Industrial Acquisitions began the private treaty sale process on all machinery and equipment assets located at the Toyota manufacturing facility in Altona North, Victoria. The sale is scheduled to run until the plant officially closes on 3 October. Upon closing, Grays Online will begin a comprehensive online auction of all remaining assets, a process which will continue until the end of February 2018. The Altona North manufacturing facility boasts an extensive range of state-of-the-art machinery and equipment. The site had produced over 3.4million Toyota Camry, Aurion and Avalon vehicles, including Hybrid automobiles, since 1994, all of which were sold within Australia and for export throughout the Middle East and Asia. The equipment offered in the sale includes all categories of production from powertrain lines, the press shop, the weld shop equipment, the paint shop surface treatment and heat treatment equipment the resin shop including plastic paint spraying and the assembly equipment. Hilco directors have indicated that there has already been substantial interest in the machinery and equipment from…

HMPS designs and builds the bespoke robotic systems to fill specific industry needs, including packaging, organising, weighing and x-raying materials to ensure there are no foreign substances. The company has become one of the largest automation manufacturers in the country. HMPS’ machines, which are fitted with cameras to allow remote troubleshooting, are being used in a number of countries in South-East Asia including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. It also has machines operating across Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The company won the Export Achievement Award at the 2015 Auspack Awards for the unique dual-function machine it supplied Nestlé in South Africa. The device processes sachets of food into boxes and trays simultaneously. Design, prototype, final build and testing all happen at the local HMPS factory near Adelaide Airport. HMPS Business Development Manager Linh Bui said its base location near Adelaide Airport made it ideally placed to service South-East Asia because of time-zone similarities and geographical proximity compared with European and American competitors. He said Asia’s rising middle-class growth and the expansion…

To increase the quality of its products and reduce costs at the same time, Canadian supplier Deco Automotive replaced three existing older bending machines with three state-of-the-art automatic CNC 100 E TB MR VA pipe bending lines by Schwarze-Robitec. The company will profit from the integrated high-performance control system NxG by increasing its output and optimising cycle times. “Based on their own constant optimising processes, our customers demand high requirements from their pre-products and with that, as a supplier, our requirements are also increased,” says Ray Metzner, Manufacturing Engineer at Deco. “In order to provide the customer with products in different versions and large quantities at a consistently high quality, we continuously invest in the further development of our production processes.” The company, headquartered in Toronto, belongs to the global Magna Group and manufactures various automotive components including vehicle frames and structures, and engine cradles. Among the customers of the automotive supplier are international original equipment manufacturers. Deco uses a total of four production lines and manufactures more…

Roy Morgan research recently revealed that more than two thirds of Australians (69.9%) would give preference to buying genuine Australian-made products. In fact, the Australian-made attribute is particularly important to consumers across a number of product categories, including food, complementary health, pet care, furniture and bedding, as well as building and renovation. “It comes as no surprise that consumers are increasingly demanding authentic, premium-quality products that originate from our clean, green environment and are made to demanding Australian standards,” said Australian Made Campaign Chief Executive, Ian Harrison. What is clear from the research is that businesses that make products in Australia and market this key point to consumers have an advantage in the marketplace. “It makes absolute sense for businesses that produce products locally, to leverage consumer preference for Aussie products,” said Harrison. “And the best way for business to tell consumers that their products are genuinely Aussie is by branding them with the Australian Made logo. “The famous green…

Under the agreement, the two organisations will work together to develop a broader understanding of existing technology footprints and build a program of benchmarking, capacity building, training and certification activities. In particular, the WTIA and DMTC will help build industry capacity in areas of Defence priority, such as the welding of high-strength steels. According to WTIA CEO, Geoff Crittenden: “Together with DMTC, the WTIA will help Australian welders, suppliers and contractors embrace new technology, upskill the workforce, and gain a deeper understanding of the requirements of Defence industry primes. “Governments at all levels are becoming increasingly aware of the potential shortfall in qualified welders that will be required to deliver the Commonwealth’s ambitious $100bn Defence equipment programs. The WTIA is committed to ensuring that all new Defence equipment is built by Australian welders and that Defence contractors have no reason or excuse for importing skilled labour to deliver these projects.” Crittenden and his counterpart at the DMTC Dr Mark Hodge signed the agreement at National…

In the report ‘Digital Transformation – an Internet of Things Perspective’, IDC predicts that the installed base of Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints will grow from less than 13bn units at the end of 2015 to 30bn by 2020. The industries that IDC predicts will spend the most on IoT solutions are manufacturing, transport, energy and utilities and retail, with a wide range of IoT use cases. In other words, the IIoT clock is ticking, and businesses not already addressing the opportunity this offers need to create and implement plans – quickly! So why are some companies still hesitating? One answer is that there are several myths regarding IIoT that are making decision-makers delay projects or stop them altogether. A focus on standards, exorbitant expected costs, and the fear of big changes are all cited as reasons. Let’s look at each of these in more detail. Myth #1: We should wait for standardisation Unlike consumer markets, where standardisation – formal or by…

The firm believes strongly in quality and design, and is constantly investing in research & development to ensure it continues to be a leading vessel and tank manufacturer. As part of this, they enlisted the external expertise of BOC to examine their workshops to address inefficiencies in their welding practices. BOC provided solutions that helped A&G Engineering deliver faster and better quality welds that have in some business areas increased output substantially. The challenges Moving to automated welding – A&G Engineering was welding dimple stainless steel sheets to regular stainless steel sheets by hand for their pressurised tankers at an operating speed of 220mm per minute. This at times created some visible inconsistencies in the welding process. Given the nature of this welding, with the main external sheet being only 2mm thick and the dimple plate…

AMT: Tell us about what your role with Microsoft entails. Andrew Hill: I lead and manage the Mechanical Design team for the Surface Book business. Previously I led those same teams in work on the Surface Pro 1, Pro 2 and Pro 3 tablet computers. AMT: How is digital technology altering the way designers and engineers work? AH: Digital creation and collaboration tools remove friction from the creative process and allow people to share and iterate on ideas together much faster. For example, an engineer may have an idea about how to solve a problem in the hinge, and can quickly share a digital sketch of even a simple CAD model with other members of the design team. Because the idea is shared in a digital medium the people the idea is shared with…

The plan includes a $1.3bn injection of funds to modernise construction shipyards in South Australia and Western Australia in order to build the Navy's next generation of naval vessels. The Federal Government is investing around $90bn in the rolling acquisition of new submarines and the continuous build of major ships such as future frigates, as well as minor naval vessels. The Plan will ensure delivery of these modern defence capabilities set out in the 2016 Defence White Paper, creating thousands of jobs and securing the naval shipbuilding and sustainment industry for future generations of Australians. Work will commence this year on the development of infrastructure at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia. The Henderson Maritime Precinct in WA will also be upgraded. This will encompass construction of new cranes and heavy lift transportation capability, welding stations and upgrades to workshops and storage facilities including new steel framed sheds. The naval shipbuilding workforce is expected to grow to around 5,200 workers by the mid to late 2020s, with more than…

The demands made on manufacturers in the aviation and aerospace industry are becoming ever-more extensive and complex. And what applies to production businesses also applies to the machining industry that provides them with the tools they require. To be more cost-efficient, manufacturers need to not only use tools with perfect performance and a long tool life, but also continuously optimise their machining solutions and processes. In this area in particular, Walter Tools has taken on the task of supporting its aerospace customers. The goal is to create complete solutions that address the complexity of the task and help to increase productivity and cost-efficiency. “Today customers expect their tool supplier to have a high level of expertise in all key operations that are carried out using its tools,” explains Thomas Schaarschmidt, Director Business & Application Development at Walter. “This reduces the increasing cost pressure and compensates for the loss of expertise which arises as a result of outsourcing a large number of tasks.” More specifically this means that, in addition to the tools required for the relevant…

With so many marketing technologies promising the next big thing in winning new clients, it’s no surprise business owners and managers alike find it hard to choose what they need to draw new business cost-effectively. The key is to recognise that successful marketing has little to do with choosing and buying what you perceive to be the right ‘space’. It’s really about locating and identifying everything about your potential market, its needs and buying habits, and the delivery methods that work best to reach them fruitfully. Because they are probably looking from inside the fishbowl, very few industrial businesses ever step back and properly analyse exactly what kind of marketing mix would actually work best for them before they spend big. This is because most are confused by what tactics to use when in reality it is the strategy that needs changing. Businesses should pull back and have an in-depth, independent look at their current marketing…

1414 Degrees has developed a technique to store energy by heating and melting silicon – the second-most abundant element in the Earth’s crust after oxygen. It is being billed as a storage solution for renewable energy producers such as wind farms and solar arrays, which have come under scrutiny in recent months as South Australia grapples with issues surrounding its electricity supply. A tonne of silicon can store enough energy to power 28 houses for a day. The process also produces cheap, useable and clean heat. The company completed its first trials in September with a small prototype test system using about 300kg of silicon to store about 150kw of energy. 1414 Degrees is now scaling up its technology to grid scale thermal energy storage systems with the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of wind and solar farms. Chairman Dr Kevin Moriarty said 1414 Degrees had two target markets: a device capable of storing 10MWh of energy aimed at industry; and a second…

In Hanover, the first specific solutions for the energy-efficient production operations of tomorrow will be unveiled, not least by Bosch Rexroth. The company is working closely together with the researchers at Darmstadt University. Professor Eberhard Abele, Director of the Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools at Darmstadt, saw his heart’s desire granted in 2000. After 15 years in the industrial sector, the cybernetics graduate, with a doctorate in mechanical engineering, wanted to build a factory at the university, to educate students under realistic conditions. Abele has seen his wish come true twice: in 2007, he founded the Process Learning Factory (CiP) in Darmstadt; and in 2016 the Energy-Efficiency, Technology and Application Centre (ETA factory).…