Month: June 2021

Riding on the coat tails of AMTIL’s ongoing promotion of AMW is just one of the advantages of locking in a stand early for next year’s exhibition. The sooner you get your stand locked in and announce it to your target markets, the quicker you can start putting yourself in the box seat to develop great early interest in your company’s presence at the event. It’s never too early to start publicising your participation in a major industry event such as AMW. And when your promotional work is doubled up with the marketing being undertaken by the event organisers, it has a multiplier effect, and starts to create a real buzz of expectation throughout the industry. At AMTIL we are already starting to see that effect, and the earlier you book, the bigger the benefit. Booking your stand and being part of the pre-show publicity has several benefits: It encourages visitors to put you on their list of companies to…

The report, Scaling Up: Developing Modern Manufacturing through a Skilled Workforce, is the result of extensive national industry engagement by not-for-profit workforce skills organisation The IBSA Group. The report has been welcomed by Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, Stuart Robert, and will be presented to Industry and Education and Skills departmental officials. “I would like to thank IBSA Group for the work that has led to the Developing Modern Manufacturing through a Skilled Workforce Report,” Robert said. “The report is welcomed for its extensive collaboration with industry, unions and the training sector, as well as Government, to help inform the skills agenda. We are looking forward to continuing to drive the Australian economy forward with a skills-led approach.” IBSA Group CEO Sharon Robertson said there was strong and clear consensus from manufacturers, training organisations, peak bodies and unions operating within the sector of the need to provide more work-based learning and apprenticeship training opportunities that create pathways to higher skills development. “To…

Professor Nunzio Motta from the QUT Centre for Materials Science, and Dr Kamal Gupta, from Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) are investigating the use of graphene as a printable shielding material. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. Developments in micro-electronic technologies have led to the design of miniaturised circuits and subsystems for high speed and high capacity communication systems that are accurate, reliable, sophisticated with advanced functionalities, and are much smaller in size, light weight, and exhibit lower power consumption. “These electronics systems are also potentially susceptible to electromagnetic radiation, whereby circuits can be upset, reset or thermally damaged, which can lead to the failure of system functionality,” Dr Gupta said. An example of how unwanted electromagnetic radiation can impact on communication systems is when a microwave in the kitchen can interfere with a home’s wi-fi network. The research team will investigate a locally developed inkjet printing technology for…

Operating in 27 countries, Boon Edam is a global supplier to some of the world’s biggest companies and multinational groups, as well as public and private agencies. Boon Edam’s global clients include dozens of Fortune 500 companies, including major Australian companies and household names. To mitigate the risk of spreading coronavirus through building entrances, Boon Edam decided to expand its range of touchless entrance solutions. Touchless entrance systems are not only more hygienic, but they can have security measures installed to prevent tailgating and other unauthorised entry. Boon Edam engaged Leussink to create a robust, functional and aesthetically pleasing visual display unit to show the appropriate lift as an authorised person walks through the speed gate security entrance at the front of a prominent Melbourne office building. “The visual display unit needed to clearly show the user which lift to proceed to, and it needed to seamlessly integrate with our product,” said Michael Fisher, Managing Director of Boon Edam. “Leussink was able to…

Berg Engineering has been successfully growing its business with the mining sector and other industry sectors for almost 50 years. Since joining the family business in 2007 as CEO, Derek Berg and his team, together with his father Roger as chairman, have grown the $3m workshop they had in 1996 into a very successful global business. Berg Engineering manages around $90m in rotable assets and collects revenue in manufacturing and construction of more than $45m per annum. “Rotable assets in our industry are those assets that can be charged out and shut down,” explains Derek. “It includes fixed plant equipment, and within that, pumps, valves, gearboxes, autoclaves and other specialised equipment. Components of those assets can be removed from site when special work needs to be done on them – so they rotate out of the business.” Roger Berg, the company’s founder, trained as a fitter and turner and started the business in 1972, working out of his parent’s garage, making rivets and bolts. His…

Professor Fox, CSIRO’s fourth female Chief Scientist, joins the agency from Swinburne University of Technology, where she is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise). CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said Professor Fox brings great depth of scientific experience to the role. “Bronwyn exemplifies the CSIRO way – driven to deliver, brilliant but humble, leading by listening, and a generous collaborator,” Dr Marshall said. “She has a long history of bringing together researchers from across multiple scientific domains and institutions, leveraging digital science, and helping industry to translate brilliant ideas into real world solutions. “Her sustained commitment to supporting the growth of the manufacturing industry in Australia strongly supports our purpose to deliver solutions from science that drive Australia’s economic recovery and resilience.” As a materials and engineering scientist, Professor Fox was the founding director of Swinburne University’s Manufacturing Futures Research Institute, with a mission to support the transition of Australia’s manufacturing sector to Industry 4.0 – the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Professor Fox said she had worked with CSIRO scientists for…

By way of a joint media release issued on 15 June by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan, a summary of the positive commercial outcomes for Australia were summarised as below. The FTA is the right deal for Australia and the UK, with greater access to a range of high-quality products made in both countries as well as greater access for businesses and workers, all of which will drive economic growth and job creation in both countries. Australian producers and farmers will receive a significant boost by getting greater access to the UK market. Australian consumers will benefit from cheaper products, with all tariffs eliminated within five years, and tariffs on cars, whisky, and the UK’s other main exports eliminated immediately. The UK will liberalise Australian imports with 99% of Australian goods, including Australian wine and short and medium grain milled…

The Adelaide-based company is also growing its contract manufacturing operations from its Edinburgh Parks facility, as customers from around the world utilise the technology to produce components for the marine, defence and mining industries. In May, one of AML3D’s Arcemy units was unveiled at Rowlands Metalworks in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, which the sheet metal manufacturer says is a key to expanding its defence work nationally. The Arcemy unit is capable of producing up to 10kg of product an hour and will be used to diversify Rowlands’ product offering and help it meet the demands of next-generation defence projects in South Australia and nationally. The launch follows the export of an Arcemy unit to Singapore last year. A unit is also being shipped to West Australian company IKAD Engineering. AML3D Managing Director Andy Sales says there is increasing interest from around the world in the additive metal layering 3D printing technology: “Some of these manufacturing and fabrication companies are realising they have to diversify so they are going out and buying new machinery…

Based on findings in the recruiter’s FY21/22 Hays Salary Guide, another 39% of the more than 3,800 professionals surveyed said they are open to new opportunities. Of the reasons cited, a lack of promotional opportunities topped the list, cited by 43%, ahead of an uncompetitive salary (39%). Other factors driving people into the jobs market today include a poor management style or workplace culture (37%), a lack of new challenges (33%), concerns about job security (also 33%) and poor training and development (25%). Moreover, Hays found that only 46% are satisfied with their current job. Just 49% and 55% are satisfied with their current employer and direct manager respectively. “A new financial year is fast approaching, which traditionally brings fresh activity to the jobs market as new budgets are set and employers look to add to their headcount,” says Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of Hays in Australia & New Zealand. “Financial year end, like New Year, is also a seasonal peak time of the year for people to…

Dr Evans has been appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for significant service to engineering, to standards and to medical technology. An electrical engineer by background, Dr Evans has been a passionate mentor of young engineers in all sectors. She has spent much of her career contributing to innovation initiatives in the medical devices sector, including through establishing the Growth Centre for MedTech and Pharmaceuticals (MTPConnect) and in her executive role as Senior Vice President of Quality, Clinical and Regulatory at Cochlear. She was the CEO of Standards Australia and on the President’s Committee at the International Standards body, ISO, before taking on her current position leading the engineering profession’s peak body. Engineers Australia National President and Board Chair, Dr Nick Fleming congratulated Dr Evans on the recognition. “Bronwyn is a tireless advocate for engineers and the benefits the engineering profession brings to our community, whether she’s speaking to school children, to politicians or to corporate leaders,” Dr Fleming said.…

AMT: What were Sutton Tools’s plans for 2020 before the pandemic took hold? Peter Sutton: Like every other business around the world, most of our plans were put on hold, preparing for who knew what was to come. Having been through the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) just over a decade ago, we had some experience with what was to potentially come. We ran various scenarios on the impact on the business, from modest to extreme. At the time, we believed we were going to be in a fight for our survival. If a word defined the year, it was ‘uncertainty’. Each day brought on a new challenge for our staff, not only in the way they worked but also for their personal lives. As time progressed, we started to re-establish our business plans where we could but, in reality, we were reacting to…

Additive Assurance has developed a novel quality assurance system for metal additive manufacturing (AM). The technique aims to enable qualification of metal additive manufactured parts across multiple industries, allowing for serial production and unharnessing the full potential of Additive Manufacturing. Additive Assurance’s solution involves a sensor package that can be retrofitted to additive manufacturing equipment and combines with software to interpret the data and monitor the build in real-time. An early prototype of the sensor package was produced and tested on several additive manufacturing machines successfully. A commercial version of the sensor package, AMiRIS, is being developed for use in industrial settings. Project scope The electrical components within the Additive Assurance sensor unit were becoming increasingly complex, particularly with the introduction of autofocus capabilities to ensure each sensor is correctly focused on the 3D printing process. The AM Hub’s Build it Better voucher program allowed Additive Assurance to engage with Outer Space Design (OSD), a registered service provider as part of the scheme, to gain…

Launched by IMCRC in 2020, IMCRC activate supports highly targeted, cost-effective and innovative R&D projects in collaboration with IMCRC partner universities and the CSIRO, allowing SMEs to quickly identify and solve key challenges within their businesses through the uptake of emerging technologies and new business models. To date, IMCRC has invested $2m in more than 15 innovative manufacturing and Industry 4.0 related activate projects spanning multiple industry sectors, including medical products, building and construction, clean energy and minerals. Current activate project participants include Biomedbank, Alcolizer, 3D Dental, GTET, HYDAC, SPEE3D and FormFlow. One of the first IMCRC activate approved projects, led by Perth-based technology company Alcolizer in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), has focused on developing a medical device called Virulizer. The device will be used at the point of risk as a qualitative detection of the Nucleocapsid and Spike protein antigen to SARS-CoV-2…