Month: August 2024

New modelling reveals that low-carbon concrete developed at RMIT University can recycle double the amount of coal ash compared to current standards, halve the amount of cement required and perform exceptionally well over time. In 2022, more than 1.2 billion tonnes of coal ash were produced by coal-fired power plants. In Australia, it accounts for nearly a fifth of all waste and will remain abundant for decades to come, even as we shift to renewables. Meanwhile, cement production accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions, and demand for concrete—which uses cement as a key ingredient—is growing rapidly. Addressing both challenges head-on, engineers at RMIT have partnered with AGL's Loy Yang Power Station and the Ash Development Association of Australia to substitute 80% of the cement in concrete with coal fly ash. RMIT project lead Dr Chamila Gunasekara said this represents a significant advance as existing low-carbon concretes typically have at most 40% of their cement replaced with fly ash. "Our addition of nano additives to modify the concrete’s chemistry allows more fly ash to be added without compromising…

Water and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are going to have to work harder as Australia’s weather patterns turn drier with the arrival of the El Nino forecast by the Weather Bureau to be with us by the end of this year. One of their first lines of defence against process disruption, blockages and environmental spills will be WWTP headworks comprising mechanical screens, screening compactors, grit removal systems and grit washing systems installed in municipal and industrial plants. The challenges for WWTPs during El Nino may include widely variable flow patterns, including extended lower flow rates bringing with them greater concentrations of solids, debris, and grit carried in the reduced volumes of inlet water. Headworks will be asked to efficiently process throughputs without clogging and environmental spills – and continue to do it with less on-site maintenance because many local authorities today can afford fewer specialist operations and engineering staff on call or on-site. Prevention is better than downtime Prevention is better than expensive downtime. Damage or weakness is…

Advanced Composite Structures Australia (ACS Australia), based in Port Melbourne, specialises in designing and manufacturing composite structures. With over three decades of experience, ACS Australia is best known for taking on composites development in the ‘too hard basket’. In recent years, this has expanded to the automated manufacture of ultra-high temperature composites for hypersonic and space vehicle parts. ACS Australia has made significant investments supported by a Federal Government Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority (SICP) grant, which has assisted in the funding of a $400k project to further advance the production capabilities of ultra-high temperature composites for hypersonic vehicles and space applications. This contributes to a total investment of over $1m for the past year. Ultra-high temperature composites utilise materials capable of withstanding hypersonic speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (≥ Mach 5) and temperatures up to 2,500°C. Under these conditions, conventional materials tend to break down through surface-level reactions. Production of UHT composites is complex and costly and involves advanced manufacturing processes. Thus, ACS Australia has been developing ultra-high temperature materials and automated processes to…

Markforged has unveiled the FX10 Metal Kit, a print engine that makes the FX10 capable of metal printing. With this kit, the FX10 becomes the world’s first industrial 3D printer to print metal filaments and composites with continuous fibre reinforcement. The new metal printing capability for the FX10 will accelerate adoption on the factory floor. “Customers no longer have to choose between a metal and a composite printer. Years of R&D investment and field experience have come together to provide an all-in-one solution for 3D printing to provide immediate return on investment once installed on a factory floor,” said Shai Terem, CEO of Markforged. “The FX10 supercharges other equipment on the factory floor to be better utilised and run more efficiently, increasing productivity and reducing potential line down events.” The FX10, released in November 2023 as a composite-only printer, was designed to be the most versatile tool on the factory floor and has received tremendous feedback from early customers. With its modular architecture, upgrades like the Metal Kit enable FX10 customers to gain additional value from the machine…

The Victorian advanced manufacturing industry supports jobs for more than 283,000 people. Victoria is the manufacturing base of choice for local and multinational manufacturers. Victoria’s advanced manufacturing capabilities attract investment in health tech, zero and low emissions technology, food, defence, aerospace and digital technologies. In addition to its established and rapidly growing pharmaceutical manufacturing base, which is the largest in Australia and includes CSL; the fastest growing brand in the biopharmaceutical industry globally. Victoria also has a range of local and global manufacturing and supply chain capabilities for medtech products. Victorian manufacturers’ top export markets include New Zealand, the United States, China and Japan. Victoria is home to 41 ASX-listed medtech companies with a combined market capitalisation of $14bn. The MedTech manufacturing sector in Victoria includes large-scale state-of-the-art ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 qualified contract manufacturers with rapid scale-up capability that provide responsive manufacturing services through all stages of design, development and market supply. Industry players include Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions, Hydrix, Invetech, Planet Innovation, SCHOTT MINIFAB and SRX Global. The Victorian Medical Device Prototyping and Scale-up…

In January this year, a deadly red imported fire ant (RIFA) was discovered in Tasmania in an Australia Post parcel that originated in Queensland. First discovered in Australia in 2001, the highly invasive species can wreak havoc wherever they spread, destroying animals that nest, feed, or simply go near the ground. Fire ants have now established colonies in Southeast Queensland with the pests jumping the border with their discoveries in northern NSW. The USA failed to prioritise their eradication program and it now costs the industry and agriculture sector US$7bn a year to manage. Fortunately, Australia has access to a locally developed solution that has been proven. “The challenge is to drive its wide adoption,” said Sundew Solutions CEO, David Priddy. His company has spent ten years developing, testing, and refining a treatment to deal with fire ant infestations. The company’s ANTagonistPRO rapid response large area treatment is currently Australia’s only approved spray treatment that can be applied rapidly over large surface areas by tractors, utes, quad bikes, and other farm vehicles equipped with…

Hare & Forbes Machinery House has expanded its footprint, opening a new store in Adelaide, South Australia. This exciting development marks a significant milestone for the family-owned Australian business as it seeks to serve its customer base in the region better. The new store, boasting over 4,300sqm, will offer a wide range of machinery and equipment catering to various industries, including metalworking, woodworking, automotive, and fabrication. This is the fifth Hare & Forbes Machinery House store, with existing branches in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. “We’re really pleased to be trading in Adelaide finally,” said Rick Foster, General Manager. “This project has been in the plans for almost five years. It’s really exciting for us to invest in a brick-and-mortar store in a new location.” The new store's launch underscores Hare & Forbes' dedication to innovation and growth and its ongoing commitment to providing industry-leading solutions to its customers, as it has done for over 90 years. Through its extensive product offerings, knowledgeable staff, and dedication to customer service, Hare & Forbes aims to become the go-to destination for engineering…

Monitoring the health of humans hundreds of kilometres above the Earth and in the infinite space beyond is a major challenge in the complex microgravitational environment of space. Australia’s population, dispersed across a vast geographic landscape, offers a similar challenge to health professionals. The ability to access real-time data that could aid in precise diagnosis, predictive assessment, and, consequent treatments during human spaceflight could in turn save lives for those operating in isolated areas such as mining, defence, or those living in remote environments on Earth. Australia is already a world leader in delivering medical care to remote regions. This iLAuNCH Trailblazer project will build on this expertise, transferring the capability to predict and monitor physiological changes to human spaceflight. “I applaud Aspen Medical for making the leap into the demanding environment of space, and showcasing how space technology can help us here on Earth. It's a great project led by the Australian National University, partnering with industry leaders including Saber Astronautics, Aspen Medical, and Liquid Instruments,” said iLAuNCH Trailblazer Executive Director, Darin Lovett. Aspen Medical is one partner…

Brothers Steve and Grant Frisken used to have regular phone hookups on Sundays. Steve, an optical physicist, worked in the telecommunications industry, and Grant led the software development for a corneal topographer (using reflectance light to measure the front surface of the eye). Grant knew that if you could find a way to keep the eye perfectly still, then optical coherence tomography (OCT) would have a whole new life in the ophthalmic field, beyond imaging the back of the eye. If you could remove motion artefacts (caused by the eye's movement), then the micron-level accuracy of OCT could be used to measure the critical surfaces at the front of the eye. These are the measurements you need for the precision of cataract and refractive surgery and monitoring other important ophthalmic eye diseases such as myopia and keratoconus. Grant challenged Steve to devise a new way of using OCT to image the eye, knowing that eye movement will always be present. They…

Increasing production capacity in a manufacturing business is often costly. It can involve purchasing new machinery, employing additional staff, and renting or buying additional buildings. However, before investing in these costly options, first ensure you are using all the hidden capacity in your factory. Here are three places to find it. Downtime I frequently visit factories and see many machines stopped without any clear explanation. While breakdowns can often be a factor, the biggest reductions in downtime usually come from simple process and organizational changes that are quick to implement and cost nothing. There are dozens of improvements you can make to reduce downtime and liberate hidden machine capacity. The start point is measuring your downtime and analysing the potential causes. You then chart these on a Pareto chart and focus on reducing the top two or three causes to have the biggest impact. Wasted space We are often approached by clients who have run out of factory space. They are often considering the difficult and expensive…

Every four minutes, someone in Australia is hospitalised with a head injury, with 24 per cent of all concussive episodes caused by sport. The time taken for a patient to be diagnosed with concussion has largely been based on rudimentary field assessments, and diagnosis is often delayed as patients are transported to scanning equipment in hospitals. As a result, the potential for misdiagnosis or delay in treatment is high. With support from AMGC, Headsafe will change this, with the introduction of a ‘brain scanner in a briefcase’ dubbed Nurochek. Nurochek is a world-first device able to be deployed in mobile and clinical settings for rapid assessment and response to head injuries at the point of injury and at treating doctors or clinics. Verified extensively in the United States and Australia, this USA FDA-cleared portable headset uses patented technology to measure the brain’s electrical activity and sends the results to an online AI algorithm for analysis and later to the ‘cloud’ for secure storage. In a two-minute assessment, Nurochek will…

The Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance, together with the Job and Skills Council, has released the 2024 Manufacturing Workforce Plan, highlighting the numerous opportunities the multi-billion-dollar sector presents to jobseekers and the country. The plan is a roadmap outlining the key skills and emerging workforce needs for the industry. With projected employment growth indicating a likely increase in employment equivalent to around 120,000 additional workers (16.8%) by the year 2033, the plan is designed to turn challenges into solutions and begin to build the capacity of the manufacturing workforce in Australia. It highlights sectors with the greatest opportunities for growth, development and expansion including the defence, clean energy, medical and space sectors, and the urgent need for skilled workers. Australia’s highly diverse manufacturing industry, which encapsulates everything from food manufacturing to machinery, metals to transport and robotic engineering, is the fifth largest industry in Australia and contributed $124bn to the economy in the 2021-2202 FY, according to the Manufacturing Alliance. Sharon Robertson, CEO of Manufacturing Alliance, said that most people’s understanding of manufacturing is that it is dying out in Australia, when in…

Headland Technology has successfully acquired Noble Industrial Machinery Repairs (NIMR), a well-respected business servicing machinery in the steel and fabrication industry, based in Western Australia. This acquisition represents a key milestone in our growth strategy, significantly expanding our geographical reach and enhancing our service capabilities. This acquisition of NIMR accelerates Headland’s market reach and coverage in Western Australia, strengthening its position in the local fabrication industry.  By complementing its existing business lines, NIMR enables Headland to provide clients with a more comprehensive service capability. NIMR brings specialised knowledge in repairing plasma lasers, drill lines, coping lines, beamlines, and other industrial equipment.  As we integrate Noble Industrial Machinery Repairs, we prioritise providing exceptional value and superior service to our clients. Jacques Strauss, our WA State Manager, will oversee a seamless transition while upholding our high service quality standards. Our combined strengths will allow us to serve a broader range of industries and enhance our service offerings, ensuring our clients receive the highest quality service and innovative solutions. This strategic acquisition aligns perfectly with Headland’s commitment to growth and…