Member News

Under the Stage 4 ‘Stay at Home’ restrictions that came into place last week, physical workplaces are closed for on-site work unless they fall into one of a number of permitted industry categories. All Victorians are required to work from home except where that is not practicable. Some businesses can remain open under restricted rules and ensuring they have a COVID Safe Plan in place. Sole operators can continue if they don’t have contact with the public or with anyone outside their primary household. A full outline of the business directive of workplace closures from the Victorian Government is available here. We understand this may be devastating for many of our clients and their employees who run businesses that are impacted by these changes. The shutdown has initially been announced to last six weeks…

AMT: How long has Howard Wright been in business? Greg Jones: The company has been in business for almost 60 years, and we have just over 55 staff members. It’s a nice place to work in terms of a manufacturing facility. As we make hospital products, it has to be clean and it’s well heated so it’s comfortable to work in. More recently we have increased production to meet the increased number of COVID-19 orders from the UK and Australia. Most of our market is export, so 50% Australia, 30% New Zealand, 10% the UK, with Japan and Belgium making up the balance. We continue to see our growth coming from overseas markets. When competing overseas, it’s highly competitive, with a lot of beds coming from Asia as well as Europe. We compete well as our products focus on end user needs, quality and service support. AMT: What are the keys to your…

WarpSPEE3D is the world’s first large-format metal 3D printer to use patented cold spray technology that enables significantly faster and more cost-effective metal part production than traditional manufacturing. Developed by Australian manufacturer SPEE3D, the printer is capable of printing large metal parts up to 40kg at a record-breaking speed of 100 grams per minute. The printer arrived in Darwin in early June. Little over a week after being installed at Robertson Barracks, soldiers from the 1st Combat Service Support Battalion (1 CSSB) trucked the printer out to the  bush for a three-day trial at the Mount Bundey field training area, 120km south-east of Darwin. The WarpSPEE3D was manoeuvred to various locations and different terrains. It was unloaded ready to print within 30 minutes, producing a variety of parts. SPEE3D printers make metal parts the fastest way possible, leveraging metal cold spray technology to produce industrial-quality metal parts in minutes, rather…

Support from the Federal Government for Australian exporters has included the following initiatives: Additional funding for the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) program. The EMDG is an Australian program providing limited reimbursement for approved exporters for their export development activities. Air cargo funding assistance through the International Freight Assistance Mechanism to assist exporters of seafood and other primary produce with the return flights bringing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical equipment. This has provided funding for limited replacements for air cargo space lost with the cessation of international passenger aviation. The establishment of the new Export Capital Facility, administered by Export Finance Australia. The provision of grants to Export Hubs assisting small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Again, this is intended to provide financial assistance to SME…

From 11.59pm on Wednesday 5 August, employers who require their staff to attend a work site must issue a worker permit to their employees – this is the employer’s responsibility. Penalties of up to $19,826 (for individuals) and $99,132 (for businesses) will apply to employers who issue worker permits to employees who do not meet the requirements of the worker permit scheme or who otherwise breach the scheme requirements. There will also be on-the-spot fines of up to $1,652 (for individuals) and up to $9,913 (for businesses) for anyone who breaches the scheme requirements. This includes employers, and employees who do not carry their worker permit when travelling to and from work. Employees must carry the worker permit and should carry photo identification when travelling to and from the workplace. A worker permit can be shown electronically to authorities such as a photo, or scanned copy, on a mobile device. Further details, as well as templates for permits, can found at: www.justice.vic.gov.au/permitted-worker-scheme The Permitted Worker Scheme…

The Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Limited (AMTIL) has announced the launch of Australian Manufacturing Week, an industry exhibition encompassing all aspects of manufacturing in Australia. Since 2000, AMTIL has operated Austech, Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition. With more than more than 170 organisations exhibiting state-of-the-art manufacturing hardware, software and support services, Austech 2019 was attended by more than 12,000 industry professionals from across Australia and around the world. With Australian Manufacturing Week, AMTIL is widening the scope of its exhibitions portfolio with an event that will provide a more comprehensive showcase of manufacturing in Australia. The inaugural Australian Manufacturing Week will be held in Melbourne on 11-14 May 2021 [NOTE: This event has now been rescheduled to 8-11 March 2022]. “With so much depressing news out there lately, it’s really good to be able to announce something that we believe is a really positive development for our industry,” said Shane Infanti, Chief Executive Officer of AMTIL.…

Established in 1952 by Alan Bell, the company has grown steadily from its origins as a patternmaker for the Australian foundry industry. Now led by a third generation of the Bell family, it has evolved into a high-end automotive supplier as well as playing an integral part in several global defence, aerospace, space and biomedical device supply chains. Today, the company operates from its modern 13,000sqm production facility in Dandenong South, Victoria. It is an AS9100D-accredited aerospace supplier of complex metal parts, incorporating investment casting, sand casting, rapid prototyping using 3D printing, production machining and tier-one assembly technologies. Employing some 100 highly skilled personnel, AW Bell specialises in high-quality metal products made from advanced ferrous and non-ferrous materials and continues to develop advanced technology. Continuous improvement together with research & development has been critical to the company’s success. Technological developments such as its Aluminium Billet Equivalent (ABE) casting…

BMS is an agile, lateral thinking insurance broker that specialises in crafting bespoke solutions to protect the growth and reputation of its customers’ businesses. The BMS team has spent decades nurturing clients through the ups and downs of business. We’re all used to receiving those insurance renewals at the same time year on year, but we rarely consider whether those policies are properly protecting the unique commercial risks facing our businesses. Circumstances can change quickly: your business structure; revenue and staffing; securing or divesting assets, or even a pandemic like COVID-19. Moreover, changes in your business often require alterations to your policies to ensure you are correctly covered. Most importantly, you don’t have to wait for your insurance renewal to review your policies. Renewals may be annual, but reviewing and potentially updating your policies should be an ongoing process. BMS knows manufacturing and its staff take the time to understand your business circumstances, before structuring a bespoke insurance solution tailored to each unique risk profile. That means that BMS becomes a natural part of each client’s team,…

FLSmidth ABON is a leading manufacturer of low-speed sizers, roller screens and chain feeders for the worldwide mining industry. The company’s products are mainly used in mining operations of mineral resources such as a coal, iron ore and copper, and are also used in various industries such as quarry applications, smelter applications, fertiliser production, or cement plants. To stay competitive in the global arena, FLSmidth ABON has strived to remain at the forefront of manufacturing technology. The company has long been no stranger to the power, versatility and user-friendliness of Mazak multi-tasking machines - having used them over a decade to produce complex high-quality parts in a minimum number of operations. And the team has been highly successful in utilising the Mazatrol programming system to achieve this. Successful companies seldom rest on their laurels, and do not shy away from a challenge. Recently FLSmidth ABON found a new challenge in the form of…

The challenge While Garry Rogers Motorsport’s in-house workshop can do some manual machining and composites fabrication, it does not have CNC machining capability. The team would instead turn to third parties each time it needed several low-volume complex parts, but the turnaround time was not fast enough and was cost-prohibitive. The more time spent outsourcing parts, the slower the R&D process, meaning the team had less time to focus on finding ways to improve their cars’ performance, both on the racetrack and in the pit during pitstops. Engineers and designers at Garry Rogers Motorsport use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to test the airflow of parts. The software often recommends changes in a part’s design to increase speed and improve overall performance, which can result in extremely complex parts – something the team can’t create using any other method. This challenge, coupled with the high costs and long lead times of adding extra details…

Welding – excuse the cliché – is in Jason Elias’ blood. Raised by a blacksmith/welder father, Elias took up the torch at 12 and went on to an apprenticeship at Transfield Services (now Broadspectrum), before founding Precision Metal Group (PMG) at the beginning of the millenium. Elias is passionate about nurturing welding skills, and his company’s tag line is “servicing a dying trade with a new generation.” It’s not just welding at PMG, but the varieties of welding they handle are many: orbital, sub arc, pulse, robotic, and more conventional methods. Chasing growth through different kinds of projects has also led the NSW-based company to amass a long list of certifications, each of them important in proving they’re up to the job as a supplier. The company’s two decades of growth, which saw its headcount reach a high of 52 in March, have been, according to Elias, the result of “chipping away and … just adding more and more services over the years”. “Clients have seen the need…

From baked bars, nut bars, muesli and granola and cereal-style bars, to raw fruit and nut snack packs, dried fruits, nuts and baking products – you will find products manufactured by Tasti Foods on most supermarket shelves throughout New Zealand and Australia. Now in its third generation, Tasti Foods remains proudly New Zealand-owned and -operated. The company began life back in the 1930s when two friends decided to start producing crystallised ginger. Fast forward more than 80 years and a workforce of over 250 staff now produce a whole range of food products, as well co-manufacturing for a number of internationally recognised brands. The company also supplies nearly every supermarket chain in Australia and New Zealand with private label snack bars. Operating an efficient manufacturing facility Tasti has always manufactured in New Zealand and has been…

A machining workshop seeks to produce a certain number of parts, at a required level of quality, in the most efficient way, delivered on time. Traditionally, manufacturing businesses defined efficiency by return on investment. Success was measured in terms of continuous runs of thousands or hundreds of thousands of pieces and maintaining steady output from one or many machines was the goal. From that point of view, a machine that was running and making parts was considered efficient. Today, manufacturers more frequently carry out low-volume/high-mix production scenarios tailored to varying customer needs. Lot sizes may range from hundreds of pieces to single digits. However, even when all the machines in a shop are running non-stop, customers nevertheless could still be waiting for parts they ordered. High-volume output strategies conflict with the flexibility and complex planning requirements of low-volume production scenarios. While…