Member News

Under the program, targeted advice and guidance is available to help small businesses navigate the economic challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 market changes. Through a panel of experienced Business Mentors, businesses can get help in the specific areas of business planning, strategy development and deployment, market transformation and supply chain diversification. Importantly, having been in lockdown for some months, this business recovery program is funded by the Victorian government and is available at no cost to the participating business. BizAdviser, an association of consulting professionals, is an approved Business Mentor provider under the program. BizAdviser Principal Mal Clark said: “With around 90 years combined executive management experience in private industry and over 30 years collective experience supporting SMEs, our BizAdviser mentors have helped many businesses to grow and prosper across a broad spectrum of industries”. The program’s aim is to mitigate business risks and financial exposure. Where possible it will connect to other government support and local professional services. Through the program, eligible business owners can receive up to…

The Early Adopter Program (EAP) aims to accelerate technology adoption among SMEs in a range of industries, including manufacturing, supply chain, mining, energy and construction. The program provides technologies that are easily adoptable, translatable and reasonably priced to deliver fast ROI. The first of this tech being made available to SMEs is Wildcat. Developed by CSIRO’s Data61, the technology enables ground robots and drones to autonomously map and navigate complex environments, such as mines. Wildcat can help boost safety and productivity for companies in mining, agriculture and defence that rely on robots to navigate complex and unstructured environments where there are no GPS systems or pre-existing maps. It is being trialled by commercial partners in Australia including CSIRO spin-out Emesent, BIA5, AutoMap, Stealth Technologies, as well as GeoSLAM in the UK. It is part of a push by CSIRO’s Data61 to make low-cost, easily adoptable technologies available for SMEs in a range of sectors, including manufacturing, supply chain, mining, energy and construction, to…

Australian Made Campaign Chief Executive, Ben Lazzaro, said the instantly recognisable (99%) and widely trusted (92%) green and gold kangaroo logo is the easiest way for shoppers to identify authentic Aussie products. “When you buy Aussie made and grown products, you know what you are getting – products grown in our clean, green environment and made to the highest of manufacturing standards,” said Lazzaro. At the same time, you are pumping money back into the economy, which helps to keep Aussie jobs, strengthen local industries and supports local communities. Remember, you can be sure it’s a genuine Aussie product by looking for the Australian Made, Australian Grown logo. “This Christmas, we are urging consumers to think about the knock-on effects of their purchases. When you buy Australian Made products you are helping to support Australians at all stages of the supply chain, from the local makers and growers to wholesalers and retailers, the flow-on effects from your purchases can be extremely impactful.” Australian Made retail supporter Remarkable Humans is…

Founded in 1978, Evolve Group’s status as a company at the very forefront of competitive Australian manufacturing has never been more apparent than in its response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. In a vivid demonstration of the benefits of manufacturing in Australia, Evolve Group was able to provide an advanced design and a commitment to manufacture 100,000 P2/N95 respirators and medical face masks per day, with the construction of a clean room and production commencing within just two weeks. Working closely with local Queensland hospital surgical teams, Evolve Group’s design of a new face shield is now being heralded as the most comfortable face shield in the healthcare industry. Studying how a face shield is used by medical professionals has delivered the outcome of a shield featuring a comfortable gel pad relieving pressure on the forehead of the wearer, a removable vent cap for ventilation, an easily replaced shield with anti-fog and scratch properties, and an ergonomic design for all-day comfort. With…

AMT: Does every company that manufactures need a product lifecycle management (PLM) strategy? Reece Moore: I believe they do. A PLM system brings data together and provides a single source of truth. Every business needs that in today’s competitive manufacturing environment. I think companies – even if they don’t have a PLM system today, and they are paper managing their product information and product lifecycle – eventually they are going to need to move to deploying a PLM strategy. Usually companies start to realise they need a formal PLM System when they notice they’re actually doing the basics of a PLM system through various different systems and spreadsheets already, and not getting any benefit from the data. Basically, they’re doing the work anyway. Deploying a PLM system brings all that data together to make the data more usable; in turn, it makes doing business that much easier. Most…

Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, TBGA is the world’s largest independent additive manufacturing engineering consultancy. It helps companies work through the adoption of additive manufacturing processes, covering strategy, design, leadership, training, materials and economics. TBGA’s CEO and founder John Barnes previously worked with CSIRO, where he helped establish the Lab22 Innovation Centre, one of Australia’s leading centres for metallic additive manufacturing. TBGA’s team of specialists collectively boasts well over 130 years of experience in additive manufacturing. The company already has a well-established presence in the UK and Europe as well as across the US. With its new partnership with the AMHub, TBGA’s additive manufacturing training is now available on five continents. Initially TBGA will be offering the Additive Manufacturing Certificate for Engineers, Managers and Executives, delivered in collaboration with Purdue University’s Online College of Engineering. The Additive Manufacturing Certificate Program is ideal for professionals with a manufacturing background and is designed to bring you from novice to broad awareness. As an online course, training can…

A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. In addition to the many positive environmental impacts that circular economies provide, this digital licensing agreement – officially recognised and endorsed by the Netherlands Consul-General and Head of Trade and Investment missions to Australia, Frank van Beuningen – paves the way to overcoming a number of transport barriers and opening access to markets in Australia and the Netherlands for both companies. “Sustainability is an important part of our economic policy, as well as our foreign policy more broadly,” explains Dai Forterre, Senior Policy Officer – Economic Affairs of The Netherlands Embassy in Australia, who helped facilitate the partnership. “I spend my time not just in what you would call economic diplomacy but what I call ‘green diplomacy’, and that’s where this really important collaboration meets – a balance between economic innovation and development, and the adoption of sustainability ideas. Circularity has…

Based in Sefton, New South Wales, Romar Engineering is well known across the industry for medical device manufacturing, yet it also has remarkably diverse proficiency across silicone, micro moulding, precision moulding, clean room manufacturing, elastomers and several other areas of industrial manufacturing, including precision inspection, five-axis machining, metal additive manufacturing and design for manufacture. Romar’s success lies at the intersection of manufacturing expertise and cautious innovation. It has continually looked at ways to strengthen and expand its capability, while remaining committed to core objectives of high-quality, commercially viable, scalable manufacturing solutions. In recent years Romar has invested in technology and additional expertise to build an entirely new arm, in the field of advanced additive manufacturing. “Currently, around 65% of our business is with the manufacture of medical devices,” says Alan Lipman, CEO of Romar Engineering. “In recent years we’ve built up deep knowledge and capability in…

Kaeser Compressors has been present in the Australian market for 30 years, establishing its head office in Dandenong, Victoria, in 1990. Over the past three decades Kaeser has opened branch offices and developed a dedicated network of distributors that are strategically located to be able to deliver Australia-wide sales and service support. Globally, Kaeser celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2019. From humble beginnings in Germany, the company has grown to become one of the world’s largest compressed air system providers and compressor manufacturers, today employing in excess of 7,000 people worldwide and represented throughout the world through a network of branches, subsidiary companies and authorised partners. The company remains owned and operated by the Kaeser family, now in their third generation, with all products proudly manufactured in Germany. An innovative spirit An innovative spirit continues to pervade all aspects of Kaeser, as Eckberg explains: “This has resulted in a steady…

With the X·treme Evo solid carbide drills from the DC160 Advance range of drills, Walter aims to forge a link to the ‘next generation of drilling’. By introducing lengths of 16 to 30 x D, the tool manufacturer its expanding its range to now include deep-hole drilling. Like its predecessor the Alpha 4XD drill, which has been established on the market for a long time now, the DC160 Advance makes deep-hole drilling possible in a single operation without pecking – and therefore boasts the advantages of XD Technology. The coating and geometry have been optimised. Just like the existing versions of the DC160 Advance, the deep-hole drills also feature the innovative new thinner web with 140° point angle and the fourth land in an advanced position. The former ensures increased positioning accuracy and reduced cutting forces in the centre, while the latter optimises the guidance of the drill. The grades of the drills (WJ30ET and WJ30EU) are another new addition. These comprise the K30F fine-grained substrate and a TiSiAlCrN/AlTiN multi-layer…

Pneumatic actuators, which run on compressed air, have been around since World War II. They are well-understood, cheap, and suited to harsh environments. However, they also come with their penalties. Obviously, compressed air must be generated to power them. Depending on the expansiveness of a factory, this can mean numerous compressors and/or a complicated reticulation system. A reliable level of pressure must be maintained, or pneumatics will work poorly or not at all. Air leaks can be expensive. According to a leading compressor technology company, one leak in one unit costing 15 cents/kW/hr to operate will represent well over $2,000 a year to a power bill. With a single point of failure – for example air leakage at one location – the air pressure of the whole plant will drop, and operations will be affected. Then there is the noise. “If you are working in or visiting a factory, you will usually hear…

Professional services and global consulting firm Deloitte recently published a study – The heart of resilient leadership: Responding to COVID-19 – into what effective leadership looks like in a crisis. Integra’s leadership team – Managing Director and CEO Paul Hughes and Commercial Director Erika Hughes – discussed how their organisation is meeting Deloitte’s benchmarks for resilient leadership in the context of COVID-19. Stabilise today, spark innovation tomorrow The Integra team is using the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to emerge stronger on a number of fronts. One of the key strategies of Integra has been to use what otherwise would become a bit of downtime for an informal internal review; an opportunity to prepare, refine and then “plough ahead” – as Paul describes it – with the company’s development. “There’s an underlying mission to…

The two organisations have entered into an agreement to expand their combined international outreach. “This partnership between AWS and the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM) is a great outcome,” says SEAM Director, Distinguished Professor Chris Berndt. “We will both have significant benefits by training early career researchers who will share their excitement and enthusiasm in surface engineering.” The collaboration will ensure a pathway for the promotion and advancement of fundamental knowledge and understanding of surface engineering. ITSA, a standing committee of the American Welding Society, is a professional industrial organisation dedicated to expanding the use of thermal spray technologies for the benefit of industry and society. “Part of the AWS mission is to advance the science, technology and application of allied joining processes, including thermal spraying,” says Alfred Nieves, Manager of AWS Membership Operations and ITSA liaison. “The partnership between ITSA/AWS and Swinburne aligns with our mission and will encourage the next…