Industry News

The tour took in CSL Behring’s state-of-the-art production line, where the company develops and manufactures a range of plasma protein biotherapies. It was accompanied by a detailed explanation of the processes used to make CSL Behring’s products, as well as the rigorous quality controls to which the company must adhere. Also in attendance was Frank McGuire MP, Local Member for Broadmeadows and Parliamentary Secretary for Medical Research. CSL Behring is a global leader in therapies derived from human plasma. More than 700 employees work at the company’s purpose-built advanced manufacturing facility in Broadmeadows. CSL Behring manufactures 15 plasma products from blood donors in Australia and the Asia Pacific. The company’s products help treat and prevent a range of human medical conditions, and are exported worldwide. In December 2015, a five-year construction and development project at Broadmeadows culminated with the first shipment of a state-of-the-art, highly engineered immunoglobulin product ‘Privigen’, exported to patients in the US. CSL Behring is a subsidiary of CSL Limited, an ASX…

Market conditions in Australia are changing, though at the core of it all, Australian companies are amongst the most innovative and resourceful in the world. At Applied Machinery, we began seeing signs of renewed optimism from our customers towards the back end of 2015, and it’s with this in mind that the following Top 10 will be where our customers are, and will be continuing to invest their capital. Pro-Plas CNC plasma cutting systems                                                                                                                             With the Pro-Plas series plasma cutting systems from Applied Machinery, we have managed to put together a quality CNC machine, with Hypertherm plasma source and Fastcam software for under $27,000 plus GST. With an edge finish that has to be seen to be believed for a system at this price point, in-house sheet-metal profiling just became accessible to companies where in the past it was just not financially viable. We saw record sales of these machines prior to Christmas 2015 and orders in early…

Dr Mia Woodruff’s exciting vision of ‘hospitals of the future’ is for every Australian hospital to have 3D printers sitting beside its imaging equipment. She also sees a future where patient’s cells will be stored at hospitals, early in the patient’s life, until the cells are needed to custom-make sterile on-the-spot implants. These implants can take the form of bones, organs, cartilage, blood vessels, breast implants and multiple tissues. As Associate Professor and Group Leader of Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Biofabrication and Tissue Morphology Group in Brisbane, Woodruff and her team are working together to achieve this vision by researching the high-tech sciences of tissue engineering and biofabrication. She explains that biofabrication is the production of organs and tissues using 3D printing to address health challenges in medicine. In a 2014 TEDxQUT video, “Absolutely Biofabulous”, Woodruff explained how fabrication of patient-specific replacement tissue and organs is safe, cost-effective and routine: “3D printing is used to build complete houses in China and create clothing for Paris catwalks. So…

According to ‘The Voice of Australian Business’, a bi-annual survey of SMEs across all industries and regions by accounting firm Bentleys, businesses were evenly divided with respect to seeing digital disruption as a threat or opportunity – 25% saw it as an opportunity and 29% as a threat. Michael Ruggiero, Managing Partner at Bentleys SA, said the split could signal a lack of understanding around how to embrace these technologies in a practical way, causing a reluctance to engage. “We are seeing that SMEs that are proactively embracing digital technologies, particularly in the manufacturing and agribusiness sectors, are reaping the opportunities in how it can effectively improve or even change their business model and operations completely,” said Ruggiero. “However, according to our research, that is only a quarter of businesses. Given the rate of development of digital technologies, it’s somewhat surprising this figure isn’t higher. “The ones who are seeing it as threat are worried it will disrupt their traditional way of approaching their business – essentially upsetting…

In some cases, operations may seem impossible to perform, but as such they also provide a potential for being transformed to processes that are efficient and secure. This potential has been the driving force behind the development of vibration-dampened tooling – from initially being a problem solver to today’s position as a recognised productivity booster. Research into the causes and possible remedies of vibration tendencies was started as early as in the 1960s. With vibrations having been a problem in machining as long as cutting metal has existed, a closer look was warranted into the nature of the problem, originating at the cutting edge – especially when related to tool overhang. It was established that a vibration could be seen as a variable deflection of the cutting tool and that with no or minute deflection there was no vibration that would affect machining to any consequence. In cutting tools, vibrations are triggered and maintained by dynamic cutting forces. Even during continuous cuts, forces…

The report tracked the positive impact of the lower dollar on Australian businesses and manufacturers in particular. It found that the lower dollar is clearly helping Australian economic growth transition away from its reliance on mining-related resources investment and output growth, towards a pattern of growth that is spread more evenly across sectors and geographies. Drawing on responses from the CEOs of 248 businesses across Australia, the new report – Business Responses to the Australian Dollar –sees the sustained lower Australian dollar together with greater trade opportunities as having long-term and overall positive impacts on Australian-based manufacturing and services businesses. At the same time, however, the lower dollar is causing increases in some key inputs, with many businesses finding it hard to pass on these cost increases amid intense competition and a generally weak consumer inflation environment that makes it harder to justify price increases. The widespread use of imported inputs means that this is tightening margins…

Complementary to this, the Australian Industry Group announced that the manufacturing sector recorded its longest period of growth since 2006. And over a 10-year period, our exports have grown by 40% despite long cycles of currency fluctuations. Our defence industry is gearing up to build the next fleet of submarines, offshore patrol vessels and frigates. This in itself presents enormous opportunities to showcase and nurture our world-class, yet way too thin layer of advanced manufacturing capabilities. While we can cheer and welcome this current focus and opportunity, we should keep a steady eye on our future. Our achievements to date show what we can do, but do not necessarily show what we must do tomorrow and how. Fortunately, the political debate has moved on from the question of whether we should have manufacturing in the first place. However, what is not being sufficiently debated is what type of manufacturing…

The largest workplace health and safety event in Australia will feature over 20 free seminars on insights and priorities for employee safety. “It’s estimated that over 2,000 workers die from a work-related illness each year, highlighting the urgent need for national improvements to prevent and reduce the number and severity of injuries and illnesses in the future,” says Keith Barks, General Manager at Informa Australia, which is jointly presenting the event with the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA). Running parallel to Safety in Action will be the Safety Institute of Australia’s National Convention, a two-day conference featuring global and Australian safety leaders who will address the theme of ‘Disruptive Safety’. The convention program will include the SIA Annual General Meeting, OHS education awards, OHS leaders and CEO's breakfast, and a Women in Leadership forum. Mental health and physical wellbeing will be a key focus of the free Safety in Action seminar series, which will hear from leading industry professionals discussing this…

With more than 30 years of experience in CNC machine tool accessories, Dimac is the agent for many highly respected brands such as Kitagawa, Cooljet, Reven and Eron. The company also manufactures soft and hard jaws in its own CNC-equipped machine shop. After 30 years at its manufacturing facility in nearby Mulgrave, the move to the site in Dandenong South will, according to Managing Director Paul Fowler, further enhance Dimac’s ability to service its clients’ needs. “These new premises will allow us to operate more efficiently, provide even greater levels of customer service and of course maintain our local manufacturing of soft jaws,” says Fowler. “It will also allow us to develop and expand our product offering of CNC accessories that improve our customers’ bottom line, enhance their productivity and improve machining safety and efficiency.” More options from Mitee-Bite Dimac is the exclusive agent for Mitee-Bite products and…

Lockheed Martin will invest an initial $13m over three years to establish a Science Technology Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR Lab) to undertake R&D to solve the technology challenges of the future, and work in the art of the possible. STELaR Lab, the first leading edge multi-disciplinary facility to be established by Lockheed Martin outside the US, will be situated in the heart of Melbourne’s emerging technology district between University of Melbourne and RMIT. It will constitute Lockheed Martin’s national R&D operations centre for its current research portfolio in Australia, and undertake additional internal R&D programs. Scheduled to open in early 2017, STELaR Lab researchers will explore several fields, including hypersonics, autonomy, robotics and command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Lockheed Martin confirmed the strategic investment in Australia’s future research and development program will create premium jobs for science and technology graduates, with STELaR Lab anticipated to grow to over 20 employees within three years. Speaking at an event in Melbourne on 1 August to announce the decision,…

The figures represent the longest phase of expansion for the Australian PMI since August 2004 (readings above 50 indicate expansion in activity and the distance from 50 indicates the strength of the increase). Six of the seven manufacturing activity sub-indexes expanded in July, with deliveries (up 13.7 points to 62.6), sales (up 6.1 points to 59.8), exports (up 9.0 points to 59.5), new orders (up 4.7 points to 58.8) and employment (emerging from contraction to 56.5 points) all expanding at a stronger pace (see table below). “Manufacturing activity entered its second year of expansion in July with the Australian PMI recording gains in manufacturing production, sales, exports and employment during the month,” said Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox. “The lower value of the local currency has been a key driver behind these gains.” Six of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors expanded (that is, above 50 points in three-month moving averages), led by wood & paper products (up 1.9 points to…

It happened again in 2008 when Kevin Rudd announced a $25bn high-speed rail network connecting Melbourne and Sydney that never got over the line. Julia Gillard then spent time analysing a feasibility study on a network connecting Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane budgeted at $114bn before rejecting the proposal. And in 2013 Tony Abbott showed his hand by winding up the High Speed Rail Advisory Group. That is why we now need to take some decisive action. The latest proposal by the private equity firm Consolidated Land and Rail Australia Pty Ltd (CLARA) claims it can deliver a high-speed rail network from Melbourne to Sydney via Canberra with no government funding required. The…

Precision Metal Group offers a broad range of services including metal fabrication, profile cutting, workshop machining, machinery repairs and maintenance, mechanical and electrical engineering services. It prides itself on the ability to be a one-stop shop, offering 24/7 support for a growing band of loyal customers. Company founder Jason Elias is the driving force behind this innovative operation. Jason set up the business in 2000 at Yennora in western Sydney after finishing a highly successful apprenticeship as a boilermaker – he was named Apprentice of the Year three years running. After operating the business successfully for eight years as a sole trader Elias decided to form a company after moving to bigger premises at Wetherill Park. After four years, the company boasted 16 full-time employees, including Elias – the archetypal hands-on boss. “We then managed to land a couple of big contracts and the company grew from 16 employees to 42 in a six-month period,” he adds. Precision Metal Group now has 51…