Member News

Based in Warren, Michigan, the company is committed to improving the lives of factory-floor workers through safety, reliability and efficiency in manufacturing, for industries ranging from medical devices to automotive. “Industry 4.0 is really the ecosystem that is a smart factory,” says Andrew Storm, Eckhart’s CEO. “It takes all of the systems in a factory, ties them together to help not only those who manage the process, but also to help the employees on the factory floor become more informed on the health of the system.” “Ninety percent of Fortune 500 manufacturing CEOs believe adopting Industry 4.0 technologies is imperative,” adds Dan Burseth, Vice-President of Eckhart. “And we build technology implementation plans with some of the largest manufacturers in the world, designing tools, equipment and automation that truly improve the life of the people tasked with running the line.” Customised, proven additive solutions Eckhart develops customised factory floor solutions to address the specific needs of each client, walking the floor to see exactly where ergonomics, line of…

After the R&D specialists were handed their notice from Toyota in 2014, they sat down and nutted out a new business concept. Bastion Managing Director Ben Schultz recalls how he and his co-founders, James Woolcock and Dean McGeary, wanted to incorporate their three passions: cycling, leading-edge manufacturing and Australian-made production. All keen cyclists, it was a classic case of creating the bike they wanted to buy but which didn’t exist. Bastion empowers the rider to design their own adjustable bike that is a unique fit not only to their desired specifications and aesthetic preferences, but the physical capabilities of their own body with all its ticks and quirks. Bastion shares the industrial warehouse it occupies in Fairfield, north-east Melbourne, with three other specialised…

Working closely with customers across the globe, Sandvik Coromant has developed a connected solution that enables manufacturers to speed up the machining of high-value components, confident that anything untoward (that is, anything that moves beyond strictly set parameters) can be identified. While Silent Tools technology from Sandvik Coromant is around 50 years old, the quantum leap comes from a new development that involves embedding sensors into the turning adaptors, making it much easier to fathom what is going on deep into a…

AMTIL’s AGM will be held on Thursday 31 October at Riversdale Golf Club in Mount Waverley, Victoria. The AGM will be preceded by a Breakfast Seminar, featuring a special presentation by keynote speaker Simon Kuestenmacher, Director of Research at The Demographics Group. Kuestenmacher is a rising star in data animation and interpretation, making astounding predictions for Australia’s future. A columnist for The Australian newspaper, he is frequently sought out by SkyNews, The Project, newspapers and radio stations across Australia as a commentator on demographic and data matters. Reaching more than 30 million people every month through his Twitter account, Kuestenmacher speaks on demographic trends, consumer insights and cultural change in Australia. Proceedings will begin at 8.00am with a networking breakfast, before the presentations get underway at 8.30am. The AGM will take place after the presentations. Tee up for Golf Day The AMTIL 2020 Corporate Golf Day will also be held at Riversdale Golf Club on Friday 14 February. As always the event will include a light breakfast, lunch and drinks,…

Developed in 2015 by researchers from CSIRO, ASPIRE is an online marketplace that intelligently matches businesses with potential remanufacturers, purchasers or recyclers to find new purposes for waste materials working towards the circular economy for Australia. Dr Melanie Ayre, research scientist at CSIRO’s Data61, said that since its launch, ASPIRE has diverted hundreds of different waste streams from landfill, including batteries, e-waste, metals, organics, polystyrene, ferric chloride and timber pallets. “Almost 80% of Australia’s waste is generated through commercial, industrial, construction or demolition activities,” Dr Ayre said. “We developed ASPIRE in response to rising costs of waste management, and to redirect waste to more productive uses.” Cameron McKenzie, ASPIRE’s newly appointed CEO, said the online marketplace has seen an impressive uptake amongst businesses, state governments and local councils in Victoria, but that a national network was pivotal in tackling the widespread waste crisis. “Around 300 businesses are using ASPIRE,…

FormFlow was established in 2016 to commercialise a metal-forming technique that enables the creation of joined corrugated metal shapes with no gaps, offering significant potential in the $1bn sheet metal roofing sector, as well as in other industries. Developed in collaboration with Deakin University, the innovation keeps out moisture, dirt, animals and embers, with an air-tight seal that also provides increased insulation. The technology is a world-first. “If you have two adjoining sheets of corrugated iron, either two walls or the two sides of a roof, rather than having to put a cap over the top of them, you can end it to match that bend and then slide another piece of sheet up underneath it,” explains Matt Dingle, a co-founder at FormFlow. “You end up with a smooth transition.” To move the concept to the production and services stage, ongoing collaboration has been essential. The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) came on board early, providing $250,000 in co-funding for a collaborative project between FormFlow, Deakin and Geelong-based…

The event was attended by more than 180 industry leaders from manufacturing businesses across Australia, as well as representatives from manufacturing technology suppliers, government and industry bodies, universities and research organisations. AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti has been with AMTIL since the very beginnning, and he noted that the association’s 20th birthday coincided with a strong resurgence in Australian manufacturing. “It’s great to be celebrating 20 years of AMTIL at such a positive time for our industry,” said Infanti. “There’s been a lot of pessimism in recent years with the GFC and the car industry closures, but right now we’re just seeing exciting stuff going on all across the sector. So tonight’s event isn’t just about looking back on 20 years of AMTIL; it’s about looking forward to what I think is a very bright future for Australian manufacturing.” AMTIL is the peak national body for the precision engineering and advanced manufacturing sector in Australia. The association was founded on 11 August 1999, following the…

It has been more than a year since China’s Government implemented the National Sword policy which would go on to have significant impacts across the global recycling sector. The policy set restrictions on the contamination levels of plastic waste, unsorted paper and textile materials, meaning China would only accept materials with a contamination level of 0.5% or less. From the 1990s up until 2013, global wealth manager Credit Suisse says it was cheaper to transport recycled materials by ship to China than it was to domestically transport by truck or rail in its 2018 report, The age of plastics at a tipping point. One particularly difficult waste identified in the report was modern food packaging, which use layers of different polymers as well as other materials like aluminium and ink layers that need to be separated before sorting if they are to be reprocessed. “Food packaging is also often contaminated by its contents, requiring screening and washing,” the report notes. “Councils also have different requirements…

AMTIL has been working on putting plans in place for the development of the Export Hub, and these are now starting to build momentum. Phase One – Get ready The first stage of the Export Hub has involved setting up its governance structure, with an advisory committee and financial management system put in place, and the appointment of an Export Hub Manager and Export Hub Coordinator. Industry engagement will be done through four mechanisms: Primes and OEMs will be approached to identify their critical key supply chains and encourage them to work with the Export Hub on aspects as networking, business improvement programs and trade mission activity. Key partner organisations such as the Entrepreneurs’ Programme, the Industry Capability Network, the Australian Rail Authority, and Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) will be invited to suggest relevant companies. AMTIL Members in these supply chains or who wish to access them will be encouraged to be involved. Other companies who find out about the…

The alfred AI solution, powered by Microsoft Azure, helps the company analyse and process more than two million orders per year and better serve its 250,000 global customers. alfred is already helping tkMX optimise its logistics network – allocating materials to the right location much faster, minimising transport volume and enhancing usage of the company’s transport capacity. Axel Berger, Head of Digital Transformation at tkMX, discussed how alfred is changing the business. AMT: Tell us about alfred and why tkMX developed it. What business challenges were you facing? Axel Berger: We are a wholesaler, so data insights and data algorithms are possibly one of the strongest levers we have to improve our business. We had a lot of data that we weren’t using before, for three main reasons. First, we didn’t really have the expertise to work on specific data science topics – we had…

Four of the seven activity indexes in the Australian PMI expanded in July (readings below 50 points indicate contraction in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the decrease). Despite falls in sales (down 8.1 points to 42.7) and production (down 3.6 points to 48.3), a return to positive territory for supplier deliveries (up 4.8 points to 51.9) and a stronger new orders index (up 3.2 points to 53.0) suggest manufacturers are gearing up for more production in coming months. The exports index improved again in July (up 1.5 points to 54.6), with strong overseas demand for Australian consumable manufacturing products such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, vitamins and cosmetics. Three of the six manufacturing sectors expanded in July (according to trend data), with the gap between the expanding and contracting sectors growing in recent months. Food & beverages (down 0.7 points to 59.2) and building materials, wood & furniture (up 1.3 points to 63.7) led…

Despite businesses in Australia having a legal requirement to comply with their State’s workplace health & safety (WHS) laws, more than 100,000 serious workplace injuries still occur every year. These range from mental stress, to trips and falls, to collisions with objects. A leading auditing and training organisation in occupational health & safety is alerting organisations to commonly overlooked workplace practices that are risking the health and safety of their employees. SAI Global is a global risk management provider that has audited and trained thousands of organisations seeking to meet the ISO 45001 international standard for WHS, in addition to the workplace health & safety acts and regulations in their own state. SAI Global recently released a list of the seven workplace hazards commonly overlooked by employers: Heavy workloads…

This is the third-generation version of Creaform’s patented metrology-grade scanner. Its launch marks more than 15 years of innovation in technology to meet the evolving needs of the manufacturing and engineering industries. The HandySCAN BLACK has been designed for professionals who need an effective and reliable tool to capture accurate dimensional measurements of physical objects. HandySCAN BLACK combines high-performance 3D scanning with a sleek, ergonomic design. Its distinctive simplicity and portability advantages are a staple of Creaform’s product line. As the company’s flagship portable metrology-grade 3D scanner, the HandySCAN BLACK sets the standard for measurement, regardless of size, material or complexity, within seconds anywhere. Features include: 4X resolution: Fine details and large volumes are captured thanks to the unique and versatile combination of improved high-performance optics and multiple blue laser technology. 3X faster measurement speed and instant mesh: The larger scanning area features 11 blue laser crosses that take up to 1,300,000 measurements per second, ultimately cutting down the time between…