November 7, 2019
To a great extent, customer satisfaction is based on minimising the time between the placement of the customer’s order and delivery of the finished product. In the past, manufacturers minimised lead times by machining thousands of identical parts and creating large inventories from which they could ship products immediately. This low-mix, high-volume production (LMHV) scenario enabled manufacturers to meet customer needs in a timely way throughout gradual development of the machining process and unanticipated production errors and interruptions. Today’s market requirements, however, are radically different. Customers increasingly order small batches of products tailored to specific needs. As a result, manufacturers rarely make long production runs. Groups of duplicate components are not produced in the thousands, but rather in hundreds, tens or even single units. These high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) scenarios leave no room for ongoing process development or unanticipated interruptions. Manufacturers are under pressure to develop machining processes that are…
November 7, 2019
Started by father and son Mike and Barry Koster in 1972, the business has steadily grown with an increased workforce and a quest for new revenue streams such as repair work in the earthmoving industry. During its nearly 50-year history, there has been some important milestones along the way. It wasn’t until the 1980s, as it moved into the bucket and attachment market for construction and mining, that the sub-brand name JAWS became commonly known. From humble beginnings this Queensland-based company now employs more than 120 staff, with a stronghold across Perth, Mackay and the Hunter Valley, and an increasing global footprint with the export of OEM parts worldwide. Incredibly, the company’s export sales now equal its national figures. JAWS has also added several new complementary products to its portfolio, including tyre handlers, high production coal dozer blades, water tank modules, service modules, truck bodies, mining buckets, face shovels and a vast array of construction and mining class equipment. The continued successful evolution of JAWS can be attributed to many things: innovative…
November 7, 2019
About two million construction workers were let go in the United States alone between 2007 and 2011, and the industry has not been able to fill this vacuum during the recovery period. Additionally, with the impending Brexit in Europe, the industry faces huge gaps in terms of skillsets. Such macro-economic trends hamper the growth of the construction industry as numerous timelines may be extended, leading to overall project delays. How is the industry responding to these challenges? The industry is adopting innovative techniques to overcome productivity challenges, borrowing heavily from the manufacturing sector. The construction industry is now open to building homes in a factory off-site and installing the built homes onsite. The industry stakeholders are increasingly adopting such buildings, known as modular or prefabricated buildings, as these help them in completing projects in about half the time as traditional construction practices, leading to high savings. The growth in adoption of modular and prefabricated building practices paves the way for…
November 7, 2019
Early-stage development of selective laser melting (SLM) saw the first commercial machine delivered in 1998. It met the specifications of making ‘unbreakable’ metal parts and stood as a testament to the two pioneers Matthias Fockele and Dieter Schwarze, who together worked in conjunction with researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology. Since then, 3D metal printing has evolved into one of the greatest influences on metal part production in recent history. The SLM process sees parts built in a chamber layer by layer with metal powder injected in a controlled manner then melted by laser beam to form a strong, solid structure. The technology has fast evolved from single lasers passing over the powder melting it layer by layer, to multi-lasers with high wattage increasing build speed, product quality and reliability, while reducing costs. In a recent interview, Dr Simon Merk-Schippers, Director – Business Development for Aviation and Aerospace at SLM Solutions, said: “Lightweight construction, functional integration and production…
November 1, 2019
Three of the six manufacturing sectors in the Australian PMI expanded in October (according to trend data), led by food & beverages (up 1.3 points to 61.8) and machinery & equipment (up 0.2 points to 54.2), which increased their pace of expansion (readings above 50 points indicate contraction in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase). The chemicals sector (down 0.7 points to 52.0) expanded, albeit at a slower pace in October. Metal products (up 1.5 points to 43.5), building materials, wood & other manufacturing (down 3.4 points to 48.5) and TCF, paper & printing (up 1.1 points to 43.8) sectors all contracted. “The broader manufacturing sector expanded in October with strong contributions from businesses in the food & beverage, chemicals and machinery & equipment sectors,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox. “Growth in these sectors was sufficient to offset further weakness among building products, metals and TCF, paper & printing…
October 31, 2019
From humble beginnings in 1982, the company has grown to become a world-leading brand that exports to more than 100 countries worldwide and counts its customers in the millions. A recognised innovator in the field of plastics manufacturing, the company operates from a new state-of-the-art production facility in Auckland that’s packed with automation and robotics technologies. The challenge To ensure its products remain internationally competitive, Sistema wants to maximise production output and quality in the most cost-effective way possible. “Based in New Zealand, we’re a long way away from many global customers, so optimising manufacturing performance is mission-critical for offsetting the impact of high logistics costs on our business,” explains Greg Heeley, Chief Technical Officer at Sistema Plastics. Ten years ago, the company implemented Epicor Mattec MES to manage its production and assembly processes. Handling everything from scheduling to the monitoring of 10 assembly lines, Epicor Mattec collects and analyses data directly from equipment and operators on the shop-floor to provide an up-to-the-minute view of machine and production availability. “Without Mattec MES, our shop-floor wouldn’t know…
October 31, 2019
The Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) came into effect in January 2012 and effectively abolishes ownership (title) of an asset as the right to recover it from a customer or client in liquidation. The requirement is not widely known by business owners, but it can cause significant delays when financing equipment or selling existing equipment. The Personal Property Security Register (PPSR) allows lenders and businesses to register their security interests. Secured parties, buyers and other interested parties can search the PPSR to determine whether a security interest is registered over the personal property. Examples of personal property include: Art Cars, boats and caravans Crops and livestock Inventory Plant and machinery Shares Non-material items included Accounts Intellectual property Investment instruments Licences Business owners purchasing second-hand equipment need to establish if a security interest is registered over the personal property prior to taking on the additional equipment. If assets are to be sold and they are not de-registered when finance is repaid, there can…
October 31, 2019
Not unlike previous industrial revolutions throughout history, its occurrence highlights a need for change, modernisation and an upheaval in the way current processes are carried out. The mantra, ‘out with the old, in with the new’ certainly applies here. Thousands of manufacturing hubs are embracing the current technological changes by actively adopting new machines and software in their factories. So what does this mean for your business? The four crucial areas of transformation High-performance machines First things first – in order to be in with a chance to beat your competition, you will need to ensure that you are operating machinery that is adding, rather than detracting, value to your business. If you have an older machine model that is constantly in need of repairs and services, isn’t too flexible in its output range, and isn’t quite cutting it (excuse the pun) then an upgrade may be in your favour. Without being aware of it, dealing with older machinery can be a hindrance to your company’s performance,…
October 31, 2019
Radiotherapy aims to deliver a curable radiation dose to tumours while sparing surrounding healthy tissue, which is achieved by the accurate conformal delivery of ionising radiation via an external beam using linear accelerators, or an internal beam using sealed radiation source (called brachytherapy). Modern radiotherapy involves CT-simulation, 3D-treatment planning and its quality assurance processes prior to patient treatment to produce highly conformal dose distributions and to ensure its safe and accurate delivery. It is common to build anthropomorphic RDPs through moulding and casting, to mimic the radiation properties of humans as a radiation dose cannot be directly measured in patients. As part of quality assurance (QA) of patient treatment plans, patient-specific dose measurements are often performed using RDPs combined with various dose measurement tools. Unfortunately, anthropomorphic RDPs manufactured through traditional moulding and casting techniques…
October 24, 2019
Held annually, the Victorian Manufacturing Showcase promotes the state’s exceptional manufacturing capability. The Showcase provides attendees and exhibitors with connections to strengthen their networks and find new ways to grow locally and internationally. Victoria’s high-growth manufacturing sectors are represented, including construction, defence, transport, food and fibre, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals. Hosted in partnership with the Industry Capability Network (Victoria), this year’s showcase attracted the highest number of exhibitor and attendee registrations in its six-year history. The event included a speaker program featuring presentations by some of Victoria’s most successful and innovative manufacturers, including the likes of Trajan Scientific and Medical, PACCAR Australia and DuluxGroup Australia. The event also included a sizeable exhibition space, with stands from companies across sectors ranging from medical & pharmaceuticals, to transport, and food & beverages – as well as manufacturing technology. AMTIL also was an exhibitor, as were several AMTIL members such as Amiga Engineering, Balluff, Catten Industries, Eci Solutions, Hi-Tech Metrology, Integra Systems, Mobile…
October 24, 2019
AMT: Let’s start with a quick outline of what the AM Hub is. How was it set up and what are its objectives? John Croft: The AM Hub was formed to introduce Australian manufacturing companies in Australia into additive manufacturing. It's been born from a $1.85m Victorian government grant and will run for three years. It was officially launched in September 2018, and has now been running for a year, and since its inception, we now have 153 member companies under the Hub. I think the Hub needs to be the catalyst. What that means is, if you look at a pie, you’re going to have several segments around the pie, with the Hub at the centre acting as the catalyst. What we're trying to do is to bring together the service providers, the technology providers, government mechanisms, industry participants, and we’re working with research…
October 24, 2019
With a fibre laser, the laser beam is generated in an active optical fibre. It is then guided to the cutting head of the machine through a transport fibre cable. Fibre lasers are best suited when using nitrogen as an assist cutting gas for thin and medium sheet thicknesses, up to 12mm, and non-ferrous materials such as copper and brass. New higher-powered fibre modules allow thicker materials, including mild streel and stainless steel, to be cut with comparable CO2 cut quality and speeds. For thicknesses below 6mm when cutting using nitrogen as the assist gas, fibre lasers are up to five times faster than CO2. To cut mild steel with oxygen the fibre laser beam is defocused to the same diameter as the CO2 kerf width, so the exothermic reaction can take place, the same as oxy fuel gas cutting. Fibre lasers are more compact than CO2 lasers but deliver more than double the power output, with the same input power supply. The comparative wavelength of the fibre…
October 24, 2019
The bid has been led by Monash University, Lendlease, The University of Melbourne (UoM) and Donovan Group. If successful, the Building 4.0 CRC research initiative will use digital solutions to transform Australia’s building industry from pre-industrial practices to a future where the customer is at the centre of each building experience, and buildings are built faster, cheaper and smarter. “R&D carried out in the CRC will demonstrate that the building industry can come together to solve the big challenges of our times, delivering buildings that are more efficient, cheaper and sustainable, without sacrificing quality,” said Monash University’s Professor Mathew Aitchison, Interim CEO of Building 4.0 CRC. “With our involvement in the CRC, we want to transform the way the industry collaborates, which we think is the key to unlocking major improvements in the sector.” Building 4.0 CRC will bring together expertise in the fields of architecture, design, planning, construction, engineering, business, information technology and law to develop industry-wide practices and…