March 14, 2019
The company makes a highly-customised range of direct-strike lightning protection products, along with grounding equipment and transient protection goods, for customers all over the world. Due to an increased demand for LPI’s know-how, both in Australia and overseas, the company engaged ABB Robotics to supply it with a YuMi Collaborative Robot – a dual-arm, industrial robot that offers high scalability for short and variable production runs. In a few short months, the robot – supplied by ABB in Melbourne – has not only reduced costs and production lead times, but has also maximised quality within LPI’s production facility, in Hobart’s southern suburbs. Customer demands LPI’s customers are predominantly infrastructure-based, with many of these operating in the telecommunications and utilities sectors. Due to the changing nature of telecommunications industries around the world, the team at LPI has its work cut out for it to ensure customer installations remain up-to-date, and safe from power surges – often with short lead times. “Recently in Australia we’ve been involved with upgrades to 4G networks for all carriers,” says Paul Hollingsworth, LPI’s CEO.…
March 14, 2019
The manufacturing industry is undergoing dramatic changes. Companies face growing demand to deliver quality products with minimum go-to-market time. A recent survey from Statista reveals that by 2020, the industrial manufacturing industry is forecast to invest more than US$175bn in Industry 4.0 endeavours. Therefore, the onus is on the businesses to embrace the required technological advancements in order to become more efficient and build a competitive advantage. The Fourth Industrial Revolution encompasses a range of concepts, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, human-machine interaction through augmented reality and digital-to-physical transfers, and technologies such as 3D printing. The industrial IoT will further enable interconnectivity of technologies to create seamless manufacturing processes. According to PWC, 86% of 2,000 manufacturers are expecting to see cost reductions and revenue gains from their digitisation efforts over the next five years. With investments in digitisation expected to reduce costs by 3.6%, manufacturing will evolve into smart factories with increased productivity and accelerated…
March 14, 2019
The launch of the Export Hub was announced at an event on 13 March at the headquarters of Volgren in Dandenong, south-east Melbourne. The event was attended by Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews, Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC – a partner organisation in the Export Hub), and Paul Fowler, President of AMTIL. AMTIL will receive $1.5m from the Federal Government’s Small and Medium Enterprise Export Hubs Initiative to run the Export Hub. Export hubs are business networks that help SMEs harness opportunities in international markets, particularly where the Federal Government has signed free-trade agreements – including China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. Minister Andrews said the funding will boost the economy by helping more businesses to gain access to new and bigger markets, to increase sales, and create more Australian jobs. “The funding for this Hub is integral to helping Australian businesses grow and will ultimately…
March 7, 2019
The UNLIMIT3D conference will run alongside Austech, Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition, to be held at the MCEC from 14-17 May. Co-located with National Manufacturing Week (NMW), Austech will also feature a special dedicated exhibition area, the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, which will showcase the latest innovations in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. The UNLIMIT3D conference will focus on the industrialisation of additive manufacturing, featuring expert speakers who have implemented this technology in real-world production processes. Their experiences and insights, the challenges they have faced, and the benefits of applying additive manufacturing will be fully explored. Delegates will hear first-hand the trials and tribulations of innovating in this space from companies that can offer practical examples. AMTIL has assembled a diverse line-up of speakers for UNLIMIT3D. Giving the keynote opening address will be Rob Gorham, Executive Director of America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute at the US’s National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Having previously served as Senior Manager of…
March 7, 2019
“The combination of PFG and Keil merges two industry-leading capabilities, PFG’s polymer fabrication expertise and Keil Industries’ exceptional rotational moulding skill,” says Michael Sylvester, CEO of PFG Group. “Both teams have a passion for tackling those challenges which others might consider too hard to solve, creating durable products for harsh environments and a long history of success in doing this for our customers.” The company’s 71 employees are located across two Tasmanian sites, two SA sites and the Victorian site. The three manufacturing sites are at Goodwood, near Hobart; Port Lincoln in South Australia; and Morwell in Victoria, all in regional areas. “All Keil Industries employees have been retained and we are in employment mode right across the group,” Sylvester adds. “We are very conscious as a business that we are a responsible regional employer in three states. So, we have a lot of social responsibility for both the local community and for our employees to provide a…
March 7, 2019
High surface area density, combined with optimised fluid pathways and 3D surface features, results in a high thermal exchange, low-weight, low pressure-drop heat exchanger. The performance advantages were achieved within a rapid development timeline that was underpinned by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and Design for AM expertise. With no tooling implications to consider, multiple variants can be manufactured simultaneously. Heat transfer is a ubiquitous challenge that is at the heart of the First Law of Thermodynamics. A heat exchanger, simply speaking, is a device that effectively transfers heat between two or more fluids, typically liquid-liquid, liquid-gas, gas-gas or multiple fluids. You can find them in products like air conditioners and car engines. One practical benefit of such devices is energy recovery. There are numerous others — it is a complex technology with broad applications. Heat exchanger designs and manufacturing methods have evolved with the prevailing technologies available and, consequently, have been limited by those technologies. Conflux’s Founder and CEO, Michael Fuller,…
March 7, 2019
The high-feed milling method is based primarily on two principles: the geometry of a milling cutter; and the high-speed feed drive of a machine tool. A typical fast-feed milling tool features a small cutting edge angle, normally 9-17 degrees. This design characteristic results in three important outcomes. The first is the possibility of considerably increasing feed per tooth due to a chip thinning effect. For example, in the face milling of low-alloy steel, 0.2mm per tooth is a near-maximum value feed, but high-feed milling the same material with a 2mm per tooth feed is normal. The second is a shallow depth of cut that ensures this geometry for the tool. Milling with reduced depth of cut diminishes cutting force…
March 7, 2019
AMTIL has unveiled details of UNLIMIT3D, a two-day conference on additive manufacturing and 3D printing, to be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) from 14-15 May. The UNLIMIT3D conference will run alongside Austech, Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition, to be held at the MCEC from 14-17 May. Co-located with National Manufacturing Week (NMW), Austech will also feature a special dedicated exhibition area, the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, which will showcase the latest innovations in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. The UNLIMIT3D conference will focus on the industrialisation of additive manufacturing, featuring expert speakers who have implemented this technology in real-world production processes. Their experiences and insights, the challenges they have faced, and the benefits of applying additive manufacturing will be fully explored. Delegates will hear first-hand the trials and tribulations of innovating in this space from companies that can offer practical examples. AMTIL has assembled a diverse line-up of speakers for UNLIMIT3D. Giving the keynote opening address will be Rob Gorham, Executive Director of America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute at the US’s National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Having previously served as Senior Manager of the Manufacturing Exploration and Development…
March 5, 2019
The 2019 AFL Season is building up to be a big one! Kicking off on Thursday 21st March. AMTIL is once again running its annual AFL competition GREAT CASH PRIZES FOR FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD PLACES! This year the big prize is $1000. Entry fee FREE for AMTIL Members Non AMTIL Members $50.00 The prizes will be awarded to 1st Prize $1000 2nd Prize $500 3rd Prize $300 Monthly leaderboard will be published in AMT and available on the AMTIL website. This competition does not include the Finals games. TO REGISTER Step 1. Register to be a member on www.footytips.com.au this is free. (You may already be a member from last year you will need to reactivate your account) Step 2. Join AMTIL AFL 2019 group, click here. The password is AMTIL_AFL Step 3. If you are an AMTIL member you are ready to start tipping. If you are a non AMTIL member you will need to pay your registration fee of $50. Contact Louise on 03 9800 3666 or email lbarnes@amtil.com.au to pay for your registration or you have any further questions. Make sure you register and pay before Thursday 21st March so…
