Month: June 2022

Okuma Australia has been expanding its service and technical support for its current and ever-growing list of Queensland customers in line with the Okuma business Monozukuri philosophy – ‘the art of making things better’. With modern new Queensland premises in Hamilton and a growing team of four engineers and technical support personnel, each with a passion for Australian manufacturing, Okuma Australia is well placed and committed to advance its strong market position in Queensland. Northern Regional Manager for NSW & Queensland, Sydney based Steve Norbis, has more than 30 years in the industry. Steve leads a team of eleven in New South Wales and Queensland and his passion for the industry filters down through the entire team. “We currently have a broad range of advanced technology machine orders in hand and a growing level of enquiries in the pipeline,” said Steve Norbis. “The new team appointments and expanding branch structure will ensure that Okuma’s solid presence in the Queensland market is maintained and supported thus enabling our Queensland team to maintain the level of service our customers currently enjoy and have…

The key trends in tube bending include lightweight construction, customised machine configuration and automation. The figures provided by Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) speak for themselves: Among all newly registered vehicles in Germany in the period from January to November 2021, the share of those with alternative powertrains amounted to almost 35%. The share of vehicles with purely electric drives was at around 11% of all new registrations in this time. But an increase of new electric vehicles (EVs) becomes particularly clear when looking at passenger cars. In that segment, the EV share in all newly registered passenger cars was 6.7% for the entire year 2020. This share has substantially risen to over 25% when looking at the period of January to November 2021. The effects of this shift are being felt not just by the automotive manufacturers themselves but across the entire supply chain. Lightweight construction is a major theme here, since the lighter the vehicle, the less energy it needs. And this increases the range, crucial for EVs. It also leads to a change in requirements for tube bending, with…

VALO, which is targeting domestic and international markets in premium stadium lighting, will use Kent Town to ramp up production, bringing its manufacturing back onshore and centralising operations in its new, carbon-neutral facility. Founder and CEO Aaron Hickmann said VALO had grown its local staff from four to 15 over the past 12 months and was rapidly growing. The company has invested heavily in research and development, plant and equipment – including surface mount technology and an assembly line, VALO is ready to manufacture its most advanced lighting systems in Adelaide. “Having production move back onshore will allow us to increase employment in South Australia and provide economic benefits for the state in an emerging advanced manufacturing industry,” Hickmann said. “VALO is future focused and we’re constantly researching and developing smart lighting products which will improve sustainability, reduce carbon footprints and provide significant benefits to wide-ranging communities,” he added. “We’re accelerating the use of disruptive technologies, not just in premium sport stadium lighting, but also in street lighting, and producing cutting-edge,…

The compact Additive Engineering stand was this morning buzzing with people. All are interested to dig into the details of the titanium, SWaP-C, biocompatible medical devices that are being delivered ready for surgery for their clients. Additive also develop for its aerospace market-specific carbon-fibre parts for wings, engines, and propellers. I visited the Zeiss stand to rediscover my cinematic roots. Once upon a time Zeiss just made camera lenses and glasses. Now, Zeiss visualises bone parts for thalamic microscopy, they create diagnostic instrumentation, they also have a precise vision division. They do still make lenses for glasses; they mainly do R&D but their aim is to create bionic eye parts for direct implants. A phenomenal range of applications and all I can think of is the surgeon on Blade Runner. Over at Objective3D, I was shown several examples of 3D models brought together from the VRML and OBJ files, which also include colour data for specific opacity in models. With the polyjet technology, they can now generate photorealistic results out of the 3D printer which truly will replicate the best…

A clear sunny morning in Sydney once again. Up on the third floor above the trade show, the accounting firm William Buck was staging a Business Breakfast for manufacturing business owners full of advice I know manufacturers would benefit from, but some things I’m sure some owners don’t want to hear about. “One third of business owners do not have a succession plan,” said Mark Calvetti, Director at William Buck. “There should be more future proofing for businesses, especially manufacturing, because there are so many attached careers to that business. Staff, share-holders and creditors. In fact, 65% of the manufacturers in a recent survey had done no business valuation over the last three years. They had no idea of the value of their business.” Invariably something goes wrong along the way in a lot of business stories. Disputes in family businesses perhaps, in a company without a shareholder agreement. The plea from lawyers speaking this morning, was that manufacturers and owners need to know to do a ‘financial due diligence’ on their nest egg.  Be ready for that unforeseen circumstance before it…

First up this Wednesday morning, the second day of AMW, was an official visit from the NSW State MP. The Hon Stuart Ayres MP is Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, and Minister for Tourism and Sport, and Minister for Western Sydney. Great to have him check out the show floor. The AMRF Make the Future event started today upstairs on the fifth level, well away from the show floor, with an opening by Minister Ayres. Presented by the NSW Government and the Western Parkland City Authority. The brief for this massive facility is exciting on so many levels. Stage One will be the next generation fabrication district in Western Sydney, built in the new Bradfield City. Aiming to be opening in the third quarter of 2023, next year. The full-scale AMRF will incorporate advanced electronics and semiconductor manufacturing to service defence, aerospace and emerging industries I’m sure only the people in this little room have any concept of. The Western Sydney International Airport will be built and active right next door. AMW definitely boasts the most full-on veritable procession of cobots,…

Here we are.  In bright Sydney sunshine, Australian Manufacturing Week has begun down at the ICC at Darling Harbour. Hats off to all the crew who pushed in over the weekend and made the starting day such a success. That is a mighty job. The stands are thumping out great vibes, every last one.  Great waves of visitors buzzed the stands throughout the first day, starting at opening, quieting down just around midday and powering back up again in the afternoon. Gavin New, General Manager of Ronson Gears, showed me through the range of wheels, fitted cogs and spiral screws that the company produced. From the smallest order of spare parts for old machines, in whatever medium, to mass production of assembly line gears. I’ll go back there again. On the ADDE stand, I was taken by Barry Higgins on a very novel trip using VR. Activating cobots, moving pallets of stock around in an automated sensing environment. They appeared out in the aisles as well, among the people. Back in the real world, they also had a display of world’s…