Industry News

In the packaging industry, floor space costs money; the wider the machine, the fewer lines you can operate. Triangle, a Chicago-based manufacturer of vertical form fill seal machines primarily for the food packaging industry, was presented a unique challenge by its salad industry customers. Triangle’s research with clients revealed they needed a high production rate on each line, but a lower machine speed to allow leafy greens to fall nicely in the bag. To answer that need, Triangle’s research & development team designed its new Compact Sanitary Bagger (CSB), which is narrow enough to install two machines per line in a twin configuration. Triangle knows the demands of the food packaging industry very well. A sanitary design is a necessity, so the Triangle team knew they’d build a solid stainless steel frame, fully welded, with round bars so…

Their 3D printing bureau offers services such as rapid prototyping, functional production items and short-run manufacturing. Due to customer demand they also offer reverse engineering, as well as 3D design, equipment hire and training. The business was established in Sydney in 2013. It was Australia’s first ever 3D printing retail shop and the fifth worldwide. The business expanded to Perth a year later, and then to Melbourne in 2017. In December, Howard and Stuart realised their vision to open a factory of the future where they specialise in mass personalisation – that is, functional items personalised for customers. Repeat short-run products can save customers large production set-up costs and cut down on waste with a just-in-time production approach. Howard and Stuart’s factory of the future vision was realised with a world-class additive manufacturing solution supplied by John Hart: an EOS P396 industrial 3D printer, capable of producing thousands of high-quality plastic parts per week. “We purchased the EOS because…

According to RAM3D, the world has, at long last, woken up to the benefits of additive manufacturing. For more than 10 years the company has been leading the way in metal 3D printing in the Southern Hemisphere, and prints parts for a range of industries worldwide. The sectors it serves include aerospace, defence, marine, food manufacturing, industrial and speciality. Many of the industries that it engages with have Non-Disclosure Agreements in place, meaning RAM3D can’t usually talk about its clients or the parts that it prints for them. However it has been allowed to discuss its working relationship with Oceania Defence. An early adopter of additive manufacturing technology, Oceania Defence has been able to secure patents on firearms suppressors made using metal 3D printing. The company supplies suppressors for defence and law enforcement clients all over the world. Health & safety regulations around the world are driving the demand for suppressors as regulators and firearm users look to reduce significant hearing risks to themselves and others. Oceania Defence has been working in collaboration with RAM3D…

Aurora developed and flew the first 3D-printed jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), capitalising on the strength of fused deposition modelling (FDM) ASA thermoplastic for the main wing and fuselage structures. The aircraft’s main purpose was to demonstrate the speed at which a design can go from concept to a flying aircraft. It also illustrates the validity of AM for flight-capable parts, beyond the traditional role of prototyping. While AM methods and applications may differ among these companies, the reason they use it is common: it provides multiple benefits that collectively improve their bottom line. That might come in the form of meeting delivery schedules, improving performance, reducing waste, optimising the supply chain, or a combination of the above. From rapid prototyping to flight parts Since its inception, a common use case for AM has been rapid prototyping, allowing aerospace companies to validate fit, form and function…

This is particularly true of solid carbide tools (round tools), which are primarily used for holemaking, milling and threading. Estimates calculated by tool specialists Walter indicates that these tools already make up around half of the machining applications in the automotive industry today. Depending on the characteristics of the component, drilling and threading work with round tools influences approximately 15% to 50% of the total costs per part. Being able to reduce costs once again here remains a key factor for success. All aspects of machining The transition from combustion engines to electric motors or other alternative drives, which is gaining momentum as a result of tighter environmental regulations, touches every area of the automotive industry – right up to every last detail in the production processes. Walter has been on hand to actively accompany the sector through these changes from the very start: the company presents car manufacturers and suppliers around the world with a comprehensive portfolio of tools and services, which is…

Australian businesses in the manufacturing, transport and logistics industry are seeking new ways to connect processes to more accurately capture analytics and use data insights to improve workflow from the factory floor to the store shelf. One way to harness the connected network is through the Internet of Things (IoT), and connecting existing physical hardware to an edge computing system to collect and analyse data. The nuts and bolts of IoT IoT isn’t one plug-and-play solution. It’s an interconnected network of sensors and data collection that helps make the most of company-owned devices. Installing IoT sensors into your business can drastically change the way your hardware works. For instance, if you have a production centre, its primary purpose would be to create products. But with the right IoT implementation, every machine in the centre can have a secondary purpose – to feed you data, and improve your business. Businesses across industries such as construction, manufacturing, healthcare, mining and agriculture are already using IoT sensors to measure and…

Headquartered near Barcelona, in the Catalonia region, Vilardell specialises in the production of precision parts with a high added value. The company comprises two divisions: the Medical Division and the Industrial Division. Jordi Roy Torras, Manager of the Industrial Division, says Vilardell has specialised in the production of highly complex parts for some time. “This is our core competence. Something we have developed year after year and part by part,” he explains. “We employ 165 staff and they are very important to us. Almost every day, we are faced with new challenges. Even with the best machines, we wouldn’t be able to tackle these challenges, if we didn’t have such a strong team! “Our customers know that they can count on us and on our expertise when it comes to meeting any machining challenge. We have to keep our minds open and focus on innovation as one of our key values. Each and every one of us has to remain innovative, irrespective of his or her position…

4D printing is a subset of 3D printing where the printed object can transform its shape in response to certain conditions.Repairing and reusing plastics and delivering cancer drugs more effectively are just two potential applications for the new 3D/4D printing technology, based on a research collaboration between UNSW Sydney and the University of Auckland that successfully merges 3D/4D printing and photo-controlled/living polymerisation – a chemical process to create polymers. The new controlled polymerisation method, where the researchers used visible light to create an environmentally friendly “living” plastic or polymer, opens a new world of possibilities for the manufacture of advanced solid materials. Polymers can be synthetic, such as plastic, as well as biological, for example, DNA. The research built upon the UNSW Sydney Boyer Lab’s 2014 discovery of PET-RAFT polymerisation (Photoinduced Electron/energy Transfer-Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer polymerisation), a new way to make controlled polymers using visible light, using the Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerisation technique discovered by the CSIRO (Graeme Moad, San Thang…

While the majority of Australian PMI respondents remain concerned about drought, weak demand from the construction sector and a general slowdown in the economy, coronavirus emerged as a concern for respondents for the first time in February, impacting negatively on the exports of Australian manufactured goods. “The manufacturing sector recorded a fourth consecutive month of contraction with the impacts of drought and the devastating bushfires continuing to be a drag on the sector,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox. “The disruptive effects of the coronavirus, including on supply chains, are deepening and adding to the slowdown that has been in train since the closing months of 2019. The large food & beverages sector was the only sector that expanded in February with all other sectors experiencing steeper falls than in January.” Six of the seven activity indices in the Australian PMI contracted in February, with employment the only index being…

Ignite Digi was co-founded by cinematographer Tom Waugh and Chris Fox, an aeronautical engineer with 10 years experience in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The company started out as a drone and camera operating team, hiring out their services to film and television productions. However, they found their creativity and vision were being limited by the capabilities of accessories available at the time – so they invented their own. Self-taught, Fox began producing carbon-fibre camera attachments with a 600mm x 900mm CNC router, before progressing to aluminium. Before long, other people in the industry began noticing their time-saving components via social media and began asking the pair to manufacture parts for them, so they began milling custom orders in Chris’ garage. Today, while Ignite Digi remains involved in the film and television industry, its core business…

Targeted at inspiring future growth in advanced manufacturing processes and production, the Advanced Manufacturing Expo 2020 conference and exhibition will be held 13-15 May at the Sydney Showgrounds and is free to attend for manufacturing industry professionals, engineers and industrial tertiary students. With an annual contribution to Australia’s GDP of more than $100bn, and supporting 1.27 million jobs, the Australian manufacturing industry has the potential to increase its national value by between $25.3bn and $34.6bn by 2026, if manufacturers continue to adopt more sophisticated processes, take advantage of cutting-edge technologies, implement robust business models and invest in highly skilled staff or high value services. Advanced Manufacturing Expo has been developed to inspire the Australian manufacturing industry to maintain its status as a source of economic strength and innovation and increase its global competitiveness by adopting advanced state-of-the-art technology, R&D and design processes, and emphasising value creation. The exhibition and conference will also highlight the opportunities available to the nation’s manufacturers if they take full advantage…

Founded in 1994 and with its headquarters in the town of Pfullingen in Baden-Württemberg, to the south of Stuttgart, Germany, Tibo today is one of the leading suppliers of single-spindle and multi-spindle gun-drilling and BTA deep hole drilling machines for a broad range of applications. Embedded into a medium-sized group consisting of 14 companies and more than 1,000 employees, its customers benefit from quick turnaround in all aspects of their deep hole drilling requirements, with many applications tailored to customers’ individual requirements. As a German machine tool builder, Tibo manufactures exclusively in its own plant in Pfullingen. And a predominantly local supply chain means it can proudly claim that its machines are made in Germany. Whether it’s gun drilling or the BTA method, or whether it’s a single or multi-spindle system, Tibo deep hole drilling machines boast impressive precision, speed, quality and durability, as well as a unique design consisting of modular sub-assemblies that are well proven in harsh and demanding applications.…

Perth-based project development company Neometals has developed a patent-pending process that converts aluminosilicate residue – a waste material produced when extracting lithium from ore concentrates – into an advanced material know as synthetic zeolites. Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as molecular sieves, sorbents and catalysts in applications such as gas separation, water purification and green chemistry. Chris Reed, Managing Director of Neometals, explained that his company’s research has shown a gap in the market and high potential to add upstream value to the lithium production chain. “Australian mining companies involved in the lithium production chain have the opportunity to convert aluminosilicate residue to zeolites to offset production costs, add value to a waste material which is abundant in the mining sector, and at the same time mitigate issues with environmental responsibility,” said Reed. In partnership with QUT, Neometals plans to advance the proof-of-concept zeolite synthesis method, which has been successfully demonstrated at bench scale. Over the next two years, QUT will be establishing and road testing a digitalised…