Industry News

Mineral and energy resources contributed 50% of Australia’s exports and 7% of its GDP in 2017-2018, reports MinEx CRC. This contribution is at risk because of the declining delivery of major new mineral deposits. Increased mining exploration, with more productive safer drilling and improved data collection technology is required to halt this decline. If this does not occur, there will be fewer mines in the future. This in turn will decrease the long-term prospects for both mining companies and their mining manufacturer suppliers. To address these issues, the Federal Government in 2018 provided a $50m grant to MinEx CRC over 10  years through its Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) program, to undertake vital mining exploration research to create new opportunities for finding minerals. The outcomes are expected to also grow the high-value Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) sector.…

Based in Highett, Victoria, Ronson Gears was established in 1954 by Melbourne engineer Ron New. Ronson’s current Managing Director - Gordon New - commenced his career as a cadet at Robert Bosch Australia before a stint working and travelling in Germany and Europe. A mechanical engineer, he returned to Australia and joined the family business in 1976. Today the company manufactures gears, associated power transmission components and proprietary gearbox assemblies for a range of customers and industries. Ronson could be regarded as a ‘traditional’ manufacturer, as gears themselves are indeed a ‘traditional’ mechanical component. Dating back to hundreds of years BC, gears are among the oldest equipment known to mankind. Originally carved by hand, the first mechanical machines built specifically to cut more accurate gear profiles date back to the 19th Century, when English inventor Joseph Whitworth patented the first gear hobbing process in 1835. So how do businesses like Ronson transition from such deep ‘traditional’…

Triple Eight – also known as the Red Bull Holden Racing Team – is an Australian motor racing team that competes in the Virgin Australian Supercars Championship, Australia’s premier motorsport category. Parts inside Triple Eight cars need to be structurally fit-for-purpose and durable enough to endure the harshness and vibration that come with racing. High temperatures inside the cars can exceed 65 degrees Celsius. During racing, these cars reach speeds in excess of 300kph and generate g-forces up to 2.5 times gravity. In early 2017, EVOK3D, a Melbourne-based 3D printing solutions company and HP partner, visited Triple Eight’s workshop to show HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) parts. “We were blown away with the part quality and strength, compared to what we were used to,” said Mark Dutton, Race Team Manager at Triple Eight. “We realised we needed to have access to this technology to improve a whole host of components”. This aligned with a broader discussion with HP and resulted in a joint partnership with EVOK3D, HP, and Triple Eight. The…

Many manufacturers and suppliers supply goods to customers on retention of title (ROT) terms ROT security interests must be registered on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) If a registration is not made, and the customer enters insolvency or defaults, a supplier will have no claim to recover unpaid goods supplied on ROT terms The COVID-19 pandemic brings a heightened risk of insolvency Recent legislative changes give suppliers a longer window of opportunity for the registration of security interests in goods supplied on ROT terms Goods supplied on ROT terms It is common for manufacturers and suppliers in many Australian industries to supply goods to their customers on ROT terms. This means that while the customer takes possession of the goods, the supplier retains legal ownership of the goods until they are paid in full. Since the introduction on the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPSA), a supplier can only enforce its rights to goods supplied…

BHP tasked ACW with designing a winch that could haul double the capacity, 100 tons, within the same physical space as its previous 50-ton winch, for one of its major Australian underground mining operations. “The solution was to integrate two 350,000Nm wheel drives inside the winch drum,” said Grant Barrett, Director of ACW, who has more than 25 years’ experience in designing and building industrial winches. “The winch is to be used to remove longwall machines once the longwall is finished and being moved to another seam. Current methods involve the use of hydraulic cylinders, but these can be limited in stroke length, meaning a lot more time re-rigging the haul rope. The winch has 300m of rope, allowing for a continuous haul.” ACW focuses particularly on ensuring winches are suited to the particular task, and have the correct documentation and certification to operate under any appropriate regulations. “The new winch has an onboard closed loop hydraulic system that is driven…

AMT: Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about what the business was doing before the coronavirus pandemic hit? Jeremy Fleming: Sure. We’ve been around for five years as a business. We worked specifically on decorated structures for festivals and events – so, big stages with a lot of set pieces involved. We’ve done some pretty big stuff like the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony; we’ve done Shakespeare’s Pop up Globe Theatre, which we built three times around the country; we built the replica Edinburgh Castle set for the Edinborough Military Tattoo; as well as a lot of big music festivals stages.   AMT: When the pandemic really hit in March, how did that affect your business and the way it operates? JF: So the pandemic hit on Friday the 13th. Mick and I were in Melbourne, where we’d built a…

AMT: Tell us a little bit about Sheet Metal Solutions (SMS) and what you do. Luke Williams: We provide sheet metal cutting and bending services to a wide variety of businesses and within various industries. We service agriculture, engineering, construction, mining, architectural, transport and trucking SMS has been in business since 2007. We received our first TRUMPF laser in January 2010, which is when I joined. I’ve been working with lasers and programming ever since. While originally I was thrown in the deep end at the time, I do love working with the laser technology. Over the past ten years I’ve received extensive software training on-the-job and acquired the skills to run the machines for the greatest productivity. I also schedule the work for the bending machines and help run the entire factory’s production. AMT: How has the company evolved over the years? LW: Over the past 10…

Times are tough in Australia’s – and the world’s – manufacturing sector. In the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we’re all trying to balance our need for preserving cash versus investing in capital infrastructure to get through and be ahead in the recovery beyond. However, given that the lead times for ordering and deploying large machines is long, we cannot always afford to delay. To illustrate this, here at Sutton Tools we are working on some very large projects in Europe that called for further capital expenditure to increase our capacity to deliver. In March we received a $1m thread grinder from SMS in Germany that is already in production making automotive forming taps for South-East Asia and Europe, and is proving very effective. Despite the crisis, we are still receiving orders for these types of products. In April a large Indonesian subsidiary of Honda ordered 3,000 automotive forming taps – and that order will go straight onto that machine. Investing to compete For Sutton Tools, as an Australian manufacturer up…

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, Australian manufacturing had suffered many years of decline. The pandemic has already had the effect of increasing production locally, particularly personal protective equipment (PPE), medicines and medical devices. It’s impossible to know exactly what the long-term effects will be, though there are plans emerging for stronger exports, with food and renewable energy leading the way. With COVID-19 and the recent oil-price volatility, manufacturers have been among the most affected. The simple human cost of COVID-19 is already being measured in lives changed, economies and supply chains disrupted, plants and factories closed, futures made uncertain, and loved ones lost. Every manufacturer in Australia is facing the startling fact that their business plans for 2020 and beyond are now worse than outdated; they are irrelevant. Choosing to follow the current plan could be detrimental to the success, or even the survival of the business. The truth is, the way manufacturers buy, sell, and engage with customers, distributors, and…

The need for stringent workplace health & safety (WHS) compliance in the manufacturing sector is well justified. Manufacturing has one of the highest incidence of Australian workplace-related accidents, injuries and fatalities, accounting for 9% of all worker fatalities in 2018. Ensuring a manufacturing business is fully compliant with WHS regulations is therefore a hugely important commitment. Non-compliance carries huge financial and personal risk for employers and employees respectively. But many manufacturing employers find themselves burdened with the heavy administration of WHS compliance, and struggle to efficiently manage it. The current public health crisis has made occupational health & safety (OHS) compliance even more important. Not only must manufacturers deal with minimising risk associated with the day-to-day operations of a manufacturing business; they must also take up proactive risk management strategies to minimise the potential for COVID-19 transmission in their workplace. After all, manufacturers can’t work from home. When it comes to dealing with the workload of WHS…

The family-owned and operated business, which turns 25 next year, has been built upon inherently sustainable values, including local manufacturing, designing long-lasting products and a reuse-and-repurpose outlook on production. The Melbourne-based company owns and operates its own foundry, where brass is melted down and recycled into swarf, which forms the brass rods that eventually become tapware. This circular system is supported by Sussex’s manufacturing workshop, which recently underwent a multi-million-dollar expansion with plans to implement new technology to further improve its manufacturing capabilities. At the heart of Sussex’s business model is a commitment to retaining the artisanal aspects of its product output, where design and local manufacturing come first. Creative Director Vanessa Katsanevakis explains that this rubric is fundamental to Sussex’s operation as a sustainable design and manufacturing business and has set the business up to ask broader questions about the life cycle of the products it creates. “We operate under the mantra that good design is sustainable design,” says Katsanevakis. “To us, that really comes down to asking ourselves three core questions: How is the product designed? How…

ProtoSpace is unique in offering access to both high-end equipment and technical advice and expertise beyond the reach of many manufacturing businesses. It encourages direct, hands-on experimentation, and offers training and consultation alongside access to AM capabilities supported by operational and engineering teams. “We want to collaborate with industry partners by providing access to cutting-edge expertise in 3D printing technology, software, engineering and design,” says Hervé Harvard, Director of both ProtoSpace and UTS’ Rapido facility. “We have assembled a highly advanced suite of printers, with eight individual AM machines on-site, and provide guidance on how AM technologies will best fit a business. And we can bring together multi-skilled teams from across UTS drawing on specific discipline areas including artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics and automation to work closely with businesses to develop their best solution.” As AM has matured from design/prototyping and tooling, a new era in bespoke 3D printing promises great potential for further innovation, says…

On 25 March, the Government effected changes to the Corporations Act to protect the economy from the stress of the ongoing pandemic. Understanding these changes and what hasn’t changed can help you protect against: Being held personally liable for Company debts incurred, and Losses from trading with insolvent customers and on Director / Shareholder Loans. What has changed? Relief from insolvent trading Relief has been provided to Directors who act in good faith from insolvent trading claims for the period of six months from 25 March 2020. Insolvent trading is the act of incurring debt whilst the company is insolvent, and this debt remains outstanding at the point of liquidation. A liquidator can bring an action against a Director personally for these debts. An example of how the relief will work in practice is: We have Jim who runs a chain-link fencing manufacturing business with expenses in the form of rent, wages and wire. Jim’s company becomes insolvent on 1 April 2020; however, he keeps trading until 31 December 2020 when his…