Industry News

Akubra is an iconic Australian brand, manufacturing classic bush hats made of rabbit fur felt with wide brims that are worn widely across rural Australia and internationally. Founded in 1874 by Benjamin Dunkerley, Akubra is now arguably the world’s greatest fur felt hat-making business. Each hat is handmade, with more than 70 pairs of hands touching each one before it is finished, in a process taking over one month. Akubra hats have been sported by Prince Harry, Crocodile Dundee, the Australian Olympic team and the Australian military. According to Ron Palin, General Manager Operations at Akubra, the key to hat-making is forming the “cone”, and this is done in the forming machine. “The fur is sucked onto a large revolving cone and, as it rotates, hot water is sprayed onto the fur,” he explains. “This interlocks the fibres in each direction. It is critical to maintain the relative humidity at…

As part of a commitment to Industry 4.0 transformation, the kiosks feature Integra’s own software, developed in-house, and integrated with the organisation’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, computer-aided design (CAD) and live machine monitoring data to deliver a wide range of efficiencies – from smarter ways of working to ensuring quality. The development of the kiosks and associated software has been so successful that Integra has now commercialised the technology as a customised product and service – the DigiSMART Collection – which it can now deliver to fellow manufacturers as well as industry sectors such as retail, logistics, defence and so on. Integra’s Managing Director and Co-Founder Paul Hughes describes the platform created by Integra’s computer scientists for the kiosks as nothing less than the framework to his business. The touchscreen system accumulates a range of data which, in turn, provides valuable analytics for engineers, designers and customers. “We create a virtual job bag in the…

Get in front of a targeted audience. Trade shows and exhibitions usually attract the key decision-makers from an entire industry. For example, Australian Manufacturing Week 2022 (AMW 2022), to be held in Melbourne next March, will bring together business owners, CEOs, general managers and more from across Australian manufacturing. And they’re there with an intention to buy. There are few better ways to reach your target market. Generate new leads. Having a stand at an exhibition like AMW2022 is a great way to meet and engage new prospects who are ready to give you their time and attention. They may not buy anything at the show itself, but by establishing relationships with these potential customers, you lay the ground for future sales. Enhance existing customer relationships. As well as new business, trade shows are a fantastic opportunity to catch up with your existing clients, find out about their ongoing…

Manufacturing businesses are critical to the economy yet are increasingly being targeted by cyber-attackers. Physical damage to equipment and facilities is perhaps the most significant and growing threat manufacturers face from cyber-intrusions. Hackers could take control of machinery and force unsafe conditions like overspeeding, or they could disable the safety systems designed to detect and intervene in these situations. It’s vital that Australian manufacturers get on the front foot with this growing threat. Many manufacturers are becoming technologically sophisticated, implementing more robotics, automation and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) , and thereby increasing their attack surface. This is only set to increase as the Federal Government pushes ahead with plans to grow our advanced manufacturing industry. The irony is that within this super-connected IIoT environment, ageing industrial control systems (ICS) control and monitor industrial processes, increasing…

When it comes to cranes, gone are the days where a fault would present itself, and then you’d call in a technician to fix it. The crane would be isolated and taken offline until the issue was identified and then repaired, creating costly downtime for busy facilities that just cannot afford unnecessary downtime. Konecranes has always had a corporate culture of putting safety first and advocates for an intelligent preventative maintenance programme over a ‘fix it once something breaks’ approach. All companies want every employee and visitor to return home safely at the end of the day, and preventative maintenance is an ideal way to keep crane machinery operating at optimal levels of safety. Crane machinery is generally designed for 10 years of operation, and crane structures for 25 years. For companies looking to extend or change usage, calculate remaining design life and maintain top levels of safety and Standards compliance, Konecranes can perform a Major Assessment. Major Assessments are a vital part of an ongoing preventative maintenance programme and a requirement…

The innovations in recycling, manufacturing and critical materials processing, sought through the 2020 Federal Budget, could not have come at a better time. Years of research underpinning newly developed recycling science and technologies in these areas can help supercharge these Budget ambitions and what I call a new ‘green manufacturing’ future. And the widespread call for using hydrogen and other ‘renewable’ resources in steelmaking, comes more than ten years after I developed Green Steel technology, patented as Polymer Injection Technology. Our Green Steel technology is already paving the way for green manufacturing globally, using the elements of hydrogen and carbon from old rubber tyres and plastics as an alternative for coal and coke, traditionally crucial ingredients for electric arc furnace steelmaking. Recycling in new ways like this, using new technologies can be a foundation for the manufacture of high-quality materials from our waste resources, as we seek to develop greater sovereign capability and improved economic prosperity. Recycling and reforming waste materials for…

The Wohlers Report 2021 discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the additive manufacturing (AM) industry. Even with the pandemic, Wohlers Associates found that the industry expanded by 7.5% to nearly $12.8bn in 2020. However, growth was down considerably compared to average growth of 27.4% over the previous 10 years. Most established manufacturers of AM systems saw a decline in equipment sales, but many less-established companies grew in 2020. An increase in business by AM service providers supported industrywide growth. Independent service providers worldwide recorded 7.1% growth, resulting in nearly $5.3bn of revenue from this group. The Wohlers Report 2021 marks the 26th year of publication of the industry-leading annual report on additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing. The study provides trends, perspectives, and forecasts as a tool for decision-making, education, and knowledge acceleration. The report gives readers new to AM a comprehensive understanding of the technology and industry. Veterans of the technology benefit from up-to-date information on growth, recent trends, and important developments worldwide. The Wohlers Report…

IMS Gear manufactures gears, assemblies and components primarily for the automotive sector at three German sites and plants in China, Mexico and the US, with some 3,400 employees worldwide. Gears and drives from IMS Gear are in operation in almost every car on the road, providing steering assistance, electric seat adjustment, lumbar support, electronic parking brakes, automatic tailgate opening and more. Reinhold Gnädinger, Manufacturing Manager at IMS Gear, says: “The core competence of our business unit is the production of precise, long-lasting transmission components from 2,000 to 3,000 metal and plastic elements. By overmoulding the metallic hubs and shafts with purpose-developed plastic materials, use of the specific material properties can be optimised so that high torques can be transferred reliably and quietly. Noise is an issue.” When you must produce half a million drill holes cost-effectively, optimisation is key. For the production specialists at IMS Gear, the goal was to significantly improve process reliability and reduce noise levels in the…

In September 2020, The Guardian published the first article ever written by AI. GPT-3, an OpenAI language generator, was set up with a few guiding principles and a central theme, and was let loose on the page to pen a 500-word opinion piece. The prompt given to the language generator was “Convince us robots come in peace”. Whether it be commentating on intelligent software or the (unnerving) door-opening robots designed by Boston Dynamics, AI technology has certainly come a long way in the past few decades.  The idea of AI technology taking over our jobs is one that has struck fear into many people – and given the exponential speed of the technology’s development, it has certainly given me cause to think. As a global leader in enterprise applications, IFS partners with manufacturers across the globe. Our work with manufacturers has made it clear to me that there is so much to gain from investing in AI and automation technologies – so much so, I don’t…

As part of the long-term CO2 supply agreement, Air Liquide will build, own and operate a brand new CO2 processing and purification facility. This facility will be constructed next to the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, owned by Gippsland Basin Joint Venture and operated by Esso Australia, which will capture CO2 from its operations and supply it to Air Liquide for purification and reuse. The Gippsland Basin Joint Venture is a 50-50 joint venture between BHP Petroleum (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd and Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd. Construction of the new Air Liquide facility and modifications to the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant are expected to begin in 2021, subject to regulatory approvals. Approximately 60 local jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase of the project. The purified CO2 will serve Australian businesses in a broad range of industries where quality and reliability of supply are a necessity. This includes food, beverage, water treatment, desalination, hospitality, manufacturing and medical industries.…

Both aerospace and defence have been early adopters of additive manufacturing, mainly because complex geometries can be achieved that would be difficult to create using traditional manufacturing. Organic shapes, non-uniform sections and hollow areas become possible - leading to a part optimised for function and cost using metal 3D printing. RAM3D’s services include metal 3D printing in stainless steel 15-5ph and 316L, titanium 64, Inconel 718 and aluminium (AISi10Mg), as well as consultation on design for additive manufacturing. Last year, RAM3D printed more than 3,500 parts for spacecraft, while closer to earth it has been working with companies like Oceania Defence and Aeromotors. Oceania Defence – A partnership going from strength to strength It’s no secret that RAM3D has been working in collaboration with Oceania Defence, a world leader in firearms suppressors since 2012. Oceania Defence relocated its business to RAM3D’s bespoke factory in Tauranga in July 2019, and the business relationship continues to move from…

It’s early days in my tenure as Australia’s Chief Scientist but I have already been struck by how central science is to the national policy agenda. I knew this as an observer, but since I took up the post it has become clear how many initiatives are looking to science to lead the way. As we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia is looking to boost its manufacturing capacity in areas such as medical manufacturing and low-emissions technologies including clean hydrogen. This is good news for Australia’s science and research community. It is an enormous opportunity. It is also a considerable challenge and responsibility. After the pandemic One of the first events with which I was involved as Chief Scientist was a US-Australia Dialogue on Medical Innovation in Response to COVID-19.…

Last year, Australia’s lack of self-sufficiency and its dependence on China for many key supplies was demonstrated to be a greater problem than many previously assumed. This was true in the pharmaceuticals sector most obviously, but other sectors, such as chemicals and automotive, have felt the impact of an over-reliance on China. In many places, there is serious and often excited discussion about the possibility of reshoring manufacturing. In Australia, talk of this phenomenon certainly predates the current crisis. The pandemic occurred at a time where mounting structural pressures were already reducing the appeal of offshoring. Structural context Across the Western world, many companies moved their manufacturing capacity offshore, to take advantage of lower labour costs in Asia. The trend began in earnest in the 1970s, was especially prominent in the 1990s, and has continued into the 21st Century. Australia has been impacted by this development more heavily than most. Remarkably, no cars are manufactured…