Month: November 2019

The Federal Government recently released a report called ‘Bedtime Reading’, in which it was estimated that sleep apnoea costs the Australian economy $26bn annually due to lost productivity, accidents and shorter life spans. It’s more than just feeling tired all day and keeping your partner awake with loud snoring. If you have sleep apnoea, the walls of your throat come together while you sleep. This blocks off your upper airway and stops you from breathing properly. Airway blockages mean you can stop breathing for 10 to 60 seconds or until your brain registers this and tells you to wake up. This is often followed by a snort or gasping sound as your upper airway opens. Most of the time you won’t notice; however your partner certainly will. The pattern of waking can repeat itself hundreds of times per night, leaving you exhausted the next day. Not only that; it affects your overall health. How sleep apnoea affects your health It’s important to know that…

Based in Limerick in the Republic of Ireland, Takumi Precision has been investing heavily in the last few years. The company recently completed a factory expansion that has taken floor space to  4,645sqm and invested more than €5m in new machine tools and CAM software to further extend its market-leading position on the Emerald Isle. Takumi Precision is a prominent figure in the medical device, pharmaceutical, aerospace and precision engineering sectors in Ireland. The company manufactures orthopaedic implants and instruments, cardiovascular assembly aids, medical grade rasps, balloon moulds and delivery system components, as well as aluminium wing brackets and fuselage components for clients in the aerospace industry, and electrical, electronic, mechanical and optical engineering parts for the industrial precision machining sector. Over the years, Takumi Precision has invested in turning centres from Tornos, Doosan and Miyano with three and five-axis machining centres from Doosan, Spinner and most recently Matsuura adding to the plant list. One of the company’s core investments has been hyperMILL CAM software from OPEN MIND…

According to State Minister for Manufacturing Cameron Dick, the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub, would be developed in partnership with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and global leading-edge company Urban Art Projects (UAP). “The Hub will attract more than $10m in additional investment from QUT, UAP, and other partner organisations to bring the total investment to almost $18m,” Minister Dick said. “Few things are reshaping the world faster than the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems. But the good news is that for every robotic system that UAP acquires, new high-value jobs are created, often entirely new jobs or jobs that would have otherwise been off-shored to other countries. Dick cited a report, ‘The robotics and automation advantage for Queensland’, commissioned by QUT which found the most likely economic benefit from the adoption of robotics and automation in Queensland over the next 10 years would be 1.5% added growth, a $77.2bn boost to Gross State Product and 725,810 new jobs. The Queensland Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap identified that…

AmPro Innovations designs and manufactures 3D metal printers, including the critical powder management systems required for the production of advanced metal parts. Established to bring fast and lower cost printers to market for industrial and research applications, AmPro Innovations was founded three years ago by Professor Xinhua Wu, currently Director of the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing. Since long before her time at Monash University, Wu has been building an impressive record of achieving in materials science and additive manufacturing, most notably her pioneering work in developing the first 3D-printed metal parts certified for use on commercial aircraft. Operating from a small facility on Monash’s campus in Notting Hill, in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs, AmPro designs and manufactures metal-based 3D printing technology, drawing on the expertise of Wu and her team. AmPro Innovations identified several key gaps in the emerging 3D printer market: a fully inert system for printed part compliance; printers designed for industrial applications where the…

To a great extent, customer satisfaction is based on minimising the time between the placement of the customer’s order and delivery of the finished product. In the past, manufacturers minimised lead times by machining thousands of identical parts and creating large inventories from which they could ship products immediately. This low-mix, high-volume production (LMHV) scenario enabled manufacturers to meet customer needs in a timely way throughout gradual development of the machining process and unanticipated production errors and interruptions. Today’s market requirements, however, are radically different. Customers increasingly order small batches of products tailored to specific needs. As a result, manufacturers rarely make long production runs. Groups of duplicate components are not produced in the thousands, but rather in hundreds, tens or even single units. These high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) scenarios leave no room for ongoing process development or unanticipated interruptions. Manufacturers are under pressure to develop machining processes that are…

Started by father and son Mike and Barry Koster in 1972, the business has steadily grown with an increased workforce and a quest for new revenue streams such as repair work in the earthmoving industry. During its nearly 50-year history, there has been some important milestones along the way. It wasn’t until the 1980s, as it moved into the bucket and attachment market for construction and mining, that the sub-brand name JAWS became commonly known. From humble beginnings this Queensland-based company now employs more than 120 staff, with a stronghold across Perth, Mackay and the Hunter Valley, and an increasing global footprint with the export of OEM parts worldwide. Incredibly, the company’s export sales now equal its national figures. JAWS has also added several new complementary products to its portfolio, including tyre handlers, high production coal dozer blades, water tank modules, service modules, truck bodies, mining buckets, face shovels and a vast array of construction and mining class equipment. The continued successful evolution of JAWS can be attributed to many things: innovative…

About two million construction workers were let go in the United States alone between 2007 and 2011, and the industry has not been able to fill this vacuum during the recovery period. Additionally, with the impending Brexit in Europe, the industry faces huge gaps in terms of skillsets. Such macro-economic trends hamper the growth of the construction industry as numerous timelines may be extended, leading to overall project delays. How is the industry responding to these challenges? The industry is adopting innovative techniques to overcome productivity challenges, borrowing heavily from the manufacturing sector. The construction industry is now open to building homes in a factory off-site and installing the built homes onsite. The industry stakeholders are increasingly adopting such buildings, known as modular or prefabricated buildings, as these help them in completing projects in about half the time as traditional construction practices, leading to high savings. The growth in adoption of modular and prefabricated building practices paves the way for…

Early-stage development of selective laser melting (SLM) saw the first commercial machine delivered in 1998. It met the specifications of making ‘unbreakable’ metal parts and stood as a testament to the two pioneers Matthias Fockele and Dieter Schwarze, who together worked in conjunction with researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology. Since then, 3D metal printing has evolved into one of the greatest influences on metal part production in recent history. The SLM process sees parts built in a chamber layer by layer with metal powder injected in a controlled manner then melted by laser beam to form a strong, solid structure. The technology has fast evolved from single lasers passing over the powder melting it layer by layer, to multi-lasers with high wattage increasing build speed, product quality and reliability, while reducing costs. In a recent interview, Dr Simon Merk-Schippers, Director – Business Development for Aviation and Aerospace at SLM Solutions, said: “Lightweight construction, functional integration and production…

Three of the six manufacturing sectors in the Australian PMI expanded in October (according to trend data), led by food & beverages (up 1.3 points to 61.8) and machinery & equipment (up 0.2 points to 54.2), which increased their pace of expansion (readings above 50 points indicate contraction in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase). The chemicals sector (down 0.7 points to 52.0) expanded, albeit at a slower pace in October. Metal products (up 1.5 points to 43.5), building materials, wood & other manufacturing (down 3.4 points to 48.5) and TCF, paper & printing (up 1.1 points to 43.8) sectors all contracted. “The broader manufacturing sector expanded in October with strong contributions from businesses in the food & beverage, chemicals and machinery & equipment sectors,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox. “Growth in these sectors was sufficient to offset further weakness among building products, metals and TCF, paper & printing…