Industry News

Vibrations always accompany a cutting action, and have a forced or self-excited nature. Machining vibrations are referred to as “chatter”, highlighting their specific nature, which inheres in every processing where chips are formed. Even if cutting is considered as stable, it does not mean that vibrations do not take place. In this case, the vibrations simply remain on a level that provides the required machining results and the task is considered as a “no vibration” operation. In fact, vibrations in cutting are a damaging factor that reduces performance. Manufacturers make every effort to diminish vibration and, ideally, bring them to a level that does not affect machining results. Chatter is a subject of serious research that has already provided manufacturers with ways to model vibrations in machining which, despite their complexity, can be very effective in finding a way to reduce chatter. However, this modelling takes time and requires various input data, including sometimes additional measurements. In most cases, when manufacturers face vibrations…

If you were to ask almost any business in Australia which relies on imported or exported goods to comment on their supply chain costs, the resounding groan and corresponding eye-roll should provide a fairly good indication of the pain being felt by many. Let’s not beat around the bush, moving freight globally and even domestically can be downright expensive. We’ve all heard the horror stories of freight costs equalling or exceeding the actual value of the goods being transported – whilst that’s a terrifying scenario, unfortunately it’s nothing new. The real question is ‘why?’ – Why does it cost so much to move something from point A to point B? Surely it can’t be that complicated, right? The truth is, it kind of is complicated. Correction – it can be complicated. The sheer number of parties that may be involved in any one shipment can knock the uninitiated about – seller, buyer, shipper, consignee, consignor, notify party, manufacturer, shipping…

Australia has a long, proud history of manufacturing throughout the 20th Century. With the federation of Australia in 1901, customs barriers were eliminated between the states, so they could more easily trade with another. This saw the first wave of manufacturing expansion, particularly in Victoria and NSW. By 1913, manufacturing employment totalled at 328,000 and accounted for 13% of GDP. During World War One, the Government quickly realised that our economy was too reliant on imports; it was near impossible to source many products in wartime. As a result, Australia started to manufacture a range of products on-shore, from aspirin right through to chlorine. Our steel industry also experienced enormous growth. BHP opened a new steelworks in Newcastle in 1915, which generated huge profits due to unprecedented demand for steel to build ships, ammunition and artillery. Australia quickly matured from a rural economy into a substantial manufacturing power. The…

Roughly 80% of the mass that makes up our universe is material that scientists cannot directly observe — known as dark matter. While we are unable to see dark matter, physicists are confident it exists because of its gravitational effects. For many organisations, dark data is of a similar character. But what use is unseen, unused data? Gartner defines dark data as “the information assets organisations collect, process and store during regular business activities, but generally fail to use for other purposes”. Just like dark matter in space, dark data comprises most businesses’ universes of information assets. Also like dark matter, many know little of its existence. So, what qualifies as useful data, and how can manufacturers make sure they’re getting the most out of it? Volume Doug Laney, a Gartner analyst, defined big data using three words — volume, velocity and variety. Big data is, unsurprisingly, large in volume.…

The European Space Agency (ESA) wants to study the Sun up close. The Solar Orbiter space probe is equipped with 10 measuring instruments, and scientists hope that the mission, which will last several years, will provide them with new insights into phenomena such as the solar wind, as well as the complex dynamics that are responsible for solar eruptions. Solar Orbiter will fly to within 45 million kilometres of the Sun – closer than Mercury, its nearest planet. At this distance, the side of the probe facing the Sun will be exposed to intense heat: more than 500°C. A heat shield will protect the important instruments on board the probe, equipped with shutters to provide a view of the Sun only when measurements are being taken. The same applies to the spectrometer-telescope for imaging X-rays (STIX), whose purpose is to study solar eruptions more closely, possibly enabling large-scale eruptions to be predicted in future. STIX was developed at the University…

Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, with the rapid depletion of disposable masks, hospitals were suddenly desperately seeking alternatives to disposable masks. “The need is very real and very urgent; we have had to quickly adapt our manufacturing to respond to the need,” says Dr Alex Birrell, CEO of CleanSpace Technology. “Our manufacturing facility in Sydney was upscaled and had to hire a lot of people and train them in advanced manufacturing and logistics.” Initial risks around airfreight (with restricted commercial flights) were quickly overcome with assistance from Austrade, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Government’s International Freight Assistance Mechanism (IFAM), and logistics company DHL, who organised CleanSpace priority status and secured regular flights into Australia. Well before the COVID-19 crisis, CleanSpace’s HALO product was protecting the lives of thousands of frontline healthcare workers globally. Since the outbreak, this unique system has become the ‘standard of care’ for protection of high-risk healthcare teams in anaesthetics, surgery and general care. The advantages of reusable systems with superior…

The Seabin Project came about from a simple idea: “If we can have rubbish bins on land, then why not have them in the water?” Co-founders Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski set about answering this question, ultimately creating the Seabin – an innovative device that removes marine debris such as trash, oil, fuel and detergents floating on the surface of marinas or waterways. The company was launched in 2015. The Seabin moves up and down with the tide collecting floating rubbish. Water is sucked in from the surface and passes through a catch bag inside the device, with a submersible water pump capable of displacing 25,000 litres per hour. The water is then pumped back into the marina, leaving litter and debris, including micro-plastics down to 2mm, trapped in the catch bag to be disposed of properly. Each Seabin can catch an estimated 3.9kg of floating debris per day, or 1.4 tons per year – the equivalent of 90,000 plastic bags,…

When Vawdrey’s Quality & Manufacturing Engineer, Bradley Kent, went in search of a bench for a recently acquired robot being used for welding, he was advised to take a look at the Demmeler modular table system. This led Kent to Wollongong-based Leussink, the exclusive Australian distributor of the German-made Demmeler modular table system. “In my role with Vawdrey I’m constantly looking at ways to improve how we manufacture our trailers and truck bodies,” says Kent. “When this search led me to acquire a robot for welding, I was impressed when I discovered the way in which the Demmeler system allowed us to clamp the work. “We estimate that we are saving about 20% in the time it takes to manufacture the smaller parts, with the added bonus of accuracy. The Demmeler system is more precise, allows us to set up jigs, and clamp anywhere, not just at the sides of the bench. It allows us to repeat…

As our country locks down and migrates indoors to flatten the curve, our consumer-based economy is suffering. We could be heading into a worldwide COVID-19 recession with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) expecting more than 80% of Australian businesses to be adversely impacted before the end of April. That’s 80% of businesses impacted in the first four months of a crisis that could last anywhere from six to eighteen months with the economic downturn possibly continuing beyond that. It is this uncertainty that makes implementing business strategies a long-term challenge, with many of the businesses experiencing a decline in sales and future concerns on cashflow, redundancies and potential closures. So, what can you do to ensure your company thrives and not just survives in the following months? Re-purpose products and services First, businesses can repurpose their products and services to meet the changing market. We’re sure you’ve already seen some examples in the last month as distilleries start…

The Ai Group’s Australian Performance of Business Index (Australian PBI) fell a further 12.6 points to 27.2 in April – the lowest monthly result in the Australian PBI and the largest single-month drop since the series commenced in 2005. The Australian PBI is a weighted composite of Ai Group’s indexes for Manufacturing, Services and Construction. The news regarding the Australian PBI came on the back of last Friday’s announcement that the Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) dropped by 17.9 points to 35.8 in April. This represented the largest month-to-month fall in the 28-year history of the index as Australian manufacturing contracted at its worst pace since April 2009. amtil.com.au/australian-pmi-march2020-amtil-2 The Safe Work Australia website has been updated to provide a central hub of work health and safety (WHS) guidance and tools to help Australian workplaces manage the health and safety risks posed by COVID-19. The website gives users easy access to guidance that is directly relevant to their…

With 80 years of experience, Tecalemit has become a name synonymous with lubrication equipment, fluid transfer, fluid measurement and workshop equipment for the automotive, transport, agriculture, industrial and mining industries around the globe. Customers include well-known companies such as Caterpillar Underground, BHP and Rio Tinto. Tecalemit has a long-standing relationship with John Hart, a testament to the longevity and reliability of the first Mazak machine the company purchased. Nobin Thomas, Production Supervisor at Tecalemit, comments: “We bought our first Mazak in 2001, and it’s still going strong today due to the world-class service and spare parts from John Hart.” Tecalemit recently purchased a new Mazak, a Quick Turn Compact 100MY CNC turning centre. The machine features milling capability and Y-axis functionality and is equipped with a high-rigidity integral spindle/motor for unsurpassed machining performance. It is equipped with a 12-position turret with high-speed indexing and minimum tool interference. High-accuracy positioning is ensured by the high-rigidity linear roller guides…

Founded in 1984 and located in southern Maine, Arundel Machine has evolved into one of New England’s leading CNC manufacturers of precision-machined components. The company has built a fantastic team of manufacturing engineers that produce more than 1,500 CNC programs each year while also designing many custom fixtures and tooling. Arundel Machine manufactures products to support clients including the US Department of Defence and the US Navy – all with stringent level one and safety critical requirements. It also serves the oil & gas industry, with level one subsea components that sustain the extreme pressures and temperatures of the ocean floor. A third major industry is aerospace, providing parts for engine and propulsion components, actuation, landing gear, and sensor components. Finally, the company provides flow and pressure components for the semiconductor sector, which requires a deep understanding of…

Tooling manufacturers offer a wide variety of tool holder styles, with each engineered for optimum performance in certain machining applications. A machining shop, therefore, should base its choice of tool holders on its specific operations as well as on the parts it produces. Nevertheless, while shops seek to acquire the most advanced machine technology and cutting tool materials, they often place minimal importance on selecting, applying and maintaining tool holders that best fit their specific production needs. All holders are not created equal No one tool holding method is appropriate for all possible applications. A tool holder engineered to carry out high-speed finishing operations typically will lack the rigidity and strength needed to be effective in, for instance, deep roughing of raw castings. Conversely, a holder meant for rough machining usually will lack balance qualities that would allow it to run smoothly at high speeds in finishing operations. Addition, the robust design and bulk of a roughing…