March 28, 2019
In just a few years, 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, has evolved from an alien-like technology confined mainly to labs to a bona fide manufacturing method ready for prime time. GE has already started using it to mass-produce parts for jet engines. In October, GE Aviation’s 3D-printing facility in Auburn, Alabama, produced its 30,000th fuel nozzle tip. It all started a decade ago, when CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture between GE Aviation and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines, was developing the LEAP engine, a new commercial jet engine that promised to burn less fuel than existing engines and release fewer emissions. As ambitious plans for…
March 21, 2019
“The speed of the new machine is unbelievable with a time reduction of 1.5 hours on one complex part alone to just nine minutes fully finished,” said Jason Cameron, Production Manager at Elphinstone. “The new machine complements another recent Okuma machine, a CNC lathe model LB3000EX, also with Okuma’s own CNC OSP Control, allowing us to meet strong demand and drastically reduce production delays, and at the same time bringing work back in-house. The latest machine will also be used for fast prototyping and product development.” The Elphinstone story is a long one, commencing with Graeme Elphinstone moving from Burnie to Triabunna in 1971. Graeme had been a logger and started welding and chainsaw repairs before purchasing a two-hectare block of land in Triabunna and establishing Elphinstone Saw Centre. Graeme’s specialist knowledge of the logging industry led the company to import Australia’s first on-board weighing system fitted to a logging truck. Further developments followed, with a special folding pole tandem…
March 21, 2019
Fraisa is a family-owned business that offers its customers a complete range of solid round tools with endmills, drills and taps, with a full service offering encompassing logistics, customised tooling, regrinding and recycling of tools. Headquartered in Switzerland, Fraisa has a strong position in Europe and has entered the US and Chinese markets in the last ten years as it capitalises on a tap market predicted to reach $699m globally by 2020. “I think opportunities in the tool and cutter market are significant,” says Josef Maushart, CEO and President of Fraisa. “I expect a further growth of 2-3% a year and see especially high growth in solid round tools. To meet this demand, we are moving into a complete renewal of our tap production. “We knew that providing taps was a unique selling proposition for us as most of our competitors only manufacture endmills and drills. However, with high labour costs in Switzerland we needed to incorporate automation into the manufacturing process and that took us to the edge of technology as far as cutting…
March 21, 2019
South Australian company ecoJet Engineering demonstrated its 20kW gas turbine in Canberra in late November. The prototype engine system is only about 10% of the weight of a comparable internal combustion diesel engine and can be configured to run on a range of liquid and gaseous fuels, including propane, natural gas and diesel. ecoJet Engineering received funding at the beginning of this year from the South Australian government and the RAAF Air Warfare Centre Innovation Hub to progress its concept design for a 20kW micro gas turbine into a viable prototype unit. The demonstration unit is the first stage in developing the next generation in deployable power generators for the military. The demonstration unit generator weighs just 48kg, excluding the control system and the fuel tank, compared to 433kg for a current military diesel generator. It is also about two-thirds the size of the diesel engine, measuring about 600mm long and 250mm wide ecoJet Co-director Alexander Wright says the mobility of the unit, the versatility of the fuel source, and its…
March 21, 2019
The materials were launched at Formnext 2018, the leading trade show for additive manufacturing technologies, in Frankfurt in November. Henkel was appearing at Formnext for the first time ever, presenting a variety of differentiated new engineering resin platforms: General Purpose, Flexible, High Temperature, Durable High Impact, Ultra Clear and Silicone Elastomeric. The company showcased its growing solution portfolio for end-to-end-processes. As an enabler for the resins, Henkel also introduced its new Loctite 3D Printer and equipment for functional prototyping applications at an entry-level. For small-run production and industrial manufacturing of final parts the company is collaborating with technology leaders such as HP and others. Henkel also launched its first General Bonding Kit for 3D Printing applications. The kit consists of Loctite 3D Printing Universal Bonder and the Loctite 3D Printing Instant Bonder, as well as activators, primers and cleaning products. The kit aims to easily support customers in bonding prototyping parts for the most-known 3D printing technologies. Henkel also offers bonding solutions for the industrial series production of 3D-printed parts.…
March 21, 2019
Thousands of customers – from small artisanal bakeries right through to large-scale industrial applications, rely on RONDO “dough-how”, the company’s unique combination of expert knowledge and experience in dough and technology. RONDO North America is responsible for sales and after sales support across the US and Canada. As RONDO North America grew, it became clear that its 18-year-old, UNIX-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was struggling to cope with business demands. Jerry Murphy, President of RONDO North America explains: “We had significant problems reconciling sales, managing inventory and creating accurate reports. The user experience was also very poor and employees were frustrated by the limitations of the systems. In many instances hours of additional work had to be done to get the information we needed – so it began impacting our productivity.” After a competitive bid process, the organisation chose Pronto Xi. “One of the key features of Pronto Xi for us, was the ability to organise and track every…
March 14, 2019
The young Australian entrepreneur has been dreaming about designing a vehicle ever since he was six, when he made his first sketch of the new and very different engine configuration. At the age of 14, Dennis shifted his interest to motorcycles. Since then, he has been working on a new concept for an electric motorcycle, which features impressively instantaneous torque and rapid acceleration, all with a vastly reduced environmental impact. This will be the first electric motorcycle company in Australia, manufacturing internationally and assembling bikes locally in Melbourne. Savic Motorcycles, a young start-up, is currently in the design phase and will build their production prototypes in 2019, followed by their first production run in 2020. The company has already received seed investment and is preparing for a Part Series A capital raise. The plan is to focus on sales and production first in Australia, then take the offering to international markets. Driven by his passion to do to motorcycles what entrepreneurs such as Elon…
March 14, 2019
Konstantinos Bountolas, Product Data Solutions Manager at Walter, summarises the company’s data philosophy as follows: “Product data that is ready to use enables our users to find, choose and assemble tools more quickly when it comes to designing, planning, NC programming and purchasing, as well as on the shop floor.” Walter’s strategy of focusing on its customers is also geared towards the customers’ procurement preferences. “We leave it to our customers to choose where they would like to access the product data for our tools,” Bountolas explains. “Everyone has their own preferred channels for obtaining this data. All that matters is making sure that we provide our data exactly where our customers are looking for it.” Walter mainly relies on the “channels” of MachiningCloud, the e-catalogue for TDM, and Tools United. Walter on MachiningCloud Customers around the world can access more than 40,000 Walter tool elements on MachiningCloud.…
March 14, 2019
The company makes a highly-customised range of direct-strike lightning protection products, along with grounding equipment and transient protection goods, for customers all over the world. Due to an increased demand for LPI’s know-how, both in Australia and overseas, the company engaged ABB Robotics to supply it with a YuMi Collaborative Robot – a dual-arm, industrial robot that offers high scalability for short and variable production runs. In a few short months, the robot – supplied by ABB in Melbourne – has not only reduced costs and production lead times, but has also maximised quality within LPI’s production facility, in Hobart’s southern suburbs. Customer demands LPI’s customers are predominantly infrastructure-based, with many of these operating in the telecommunications and utilities sectors. Due to the changing nature of telecommunications industries around the world, the team at LPI has its work cut out for it to ensure customer installations remain up-to-date, and safe from power surges – often with short lead times. “Recently in Australia we’ve been involved with upgrades to 4G networks for all carriers,” says Paul Hollingsworth, LPI’s CEO.…
March 14, 2019
The manufacturing industry is undergoing dramatic changes. Companies face growing demand to deliver quality products with minimum go-to-market time. A recent survey from Statista reveals that by 2020, the industrial manufacturing industry is forecast to invest more than US$175bn in Industry 4.0 endeavours. Therefore, the onus is on the businesses to embrace the required technological advancements in order to become more efficient and build a competitive advantage. The Fourth Industrial Revolution encompasses a range of concepts, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, human-machine interaction through augmented reality and digital-to-physical transfers, and technologies such as 3D printing. The industrial IoT will further enable interconnectivity of technologies to create seamless manufacturing processes. According to PWC, 86% of 2,000 manufacturers are expecting to see cost reductions and revenue gains from their digitisation efforts over the next five years. With investments in digitisation expected to reduce costs by 3.6%, manufacturing will evolve into smart factories with increased productivity and accelerated…
March 14, 2019
The launch of the Export Hub was announced at an event on 13 March at the headquarters of Volgren in Dandenong, south-east Melbourne. The event was attended by Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews, Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC – a partner organisation in the Export Hub), and Paul Fowler, President of AMTIL. AMTIL will receive $1.5m from the Federal Government’s Small and Medium Enterprise Export Hubs Initiative to run the Export Hub. Export hubs are business networks that help SMEs harness opportunities in international markets, particularly where the Federal Government has signed free-trade agreements – including China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. Minister Andrews said the funding will boost the economy by helping more businesses to gain access to new and bigger markets, to increase sales, and create more Australian jobs. “The funding for this Hub is integral to helping Australian businesses grow and will ultimately…
March 7, 2019
The UNLIMIT3D conference will run alongside Austech, Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition, to be held at the MCEC from 14-17 May. Co-located with National Manufacturing Week (NMW), Austech will also feature a special dedicated exhibition area, the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, which will showcase the latest innovations in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. The UNLIMIT3D conference will focus on the industrialisation of additive manufacturing, featuring expert speakers who have implemented this technology in real-world production processes. Their experiences and insights, the challenges they have faced, and the benefits of applying additive manufacturing will be fully explored. Delegates will hear first-hand the trials and tribulations of innovating in this space from companies that can offer practical examples. AMTIL has assembled a diverse line-up of speakers for UNLIMIT3D. Giving the keynote opening address will be Rob Gorham, Executive Director of America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute at the US’s National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Having previously served as Senior Manager of…
March 7, 2019
“The combination of PFG and Keil merges two industry-leading capabilities, PFG’s polymer fabrication expertise and Keil Industries’ exceptional rotational moulding skill,” says Michael Sylvester, CEO of PFG Group. “Both teams have a passion for tackling those challenges which others might consider too hard to solve, creating durable products for harsh environments and a long history of success in doing this for our customers.” The company’s 71 employees are located across two Tasmanian sites, two SA sites and the Victorian site. The three manufacturing sites are at Goodwood, near Hobart; Port Lincoln in South Australia; and Morwell in Victoria, all in regional areas. “All Keil Industries employees have been retained and we are in employment mode right across the group,” Sylvester adds. “We are very conscious as a business that we are a responsible regional employer in three states. So, we have a lot of social responsibility for both the local community and for our employees to provide a…