Member News

What comes in a cylinder and is extraordinarily powerful? The answer is hydraulic power, which is a cornerstone of kinetics – the part of physics that is concerned with the relationship between motion and its causes – specifically, forces and torques. This power is seen everywhere in the industrial world, from tipper-trucks and rock-crushers in the civil engineering and mining industries, to extruders and press-brakes in factories and workshops, not forgetting cranes and earthmoving machines. Nordon has been in the hydraulics business since 1974, and has built a solid reputation for its expertise, product quality, and commitment to customer service. Nordon’s customers at home and abroad require hydraulic cylinders from tiny to enormous, and they don’t always want them today – sometimes, they want them yesterday. At its manufacturing base…

Starting out in 2001 with just two employees, New Touch now employs approximately 65 staff across multiple sites in Victoria. The laser cutting and fabrication specialists now operate five machines, 24 hours a day in the Melbourne suburbs of Bayswater and Clayton South. New Touch understands the importance of staying ahead of the game in such a competitive industry. By travelling both overseas and to exhibitions held in Australia, it remains up to date on the latest technology. Another key focus is company culture. Brad Drury, Managing Director, explains: “We are very focused on attracting, training and retaining great staff members. We truly believe that there is little point in having the right equipment and services without the staff to drive them. We believe that happy staff are great staff. “Our unique selling point is that we are an ISO9001-accredited ‘one-stop shop’, capable of offering high-quality finished products at a fair price. We focus on quality, service and delivery – and we…

Improving the design of a part within a system is rarely straightforward. From the simplest enhancement to the most complex, a cycle of iterations can be expected to verify the design during prototyping and implement it in production. During a recent test for a new valve product design, this experience played out for Philmac, a global leader in designing and manufacturing specialist fittings and valves for the transfer, control and application of water. Accustomed to accelerating its design cycle with 3D printing for prototyping, Philmac expanded its use of 3D printing to prototype tooling in order to enable a more complex geometry. Teaming with 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing experts in Australia, Philmac conducted a successful trial of this new methodology to bring its new concept to life. 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing delivers the technologies, materials and expertise to support the entire product development lifecycle from fast turn and advanced prototypes to appearance models and low…

As you’d expect, we are incredibly proud of our achievements, and also humble, in reaching the milestone of 100 years – an achievement pretty special for a family business, and also importantly for a manufacturing business in light of the tragedy of the recent automotive closures. Undoubtedly to reach this point it has taken the efforts of countless hardworking, talented and dedicated staff. There are also many other factors that have contributed – not discounting some lucky breaks. I would like to share with you a couple of our insights into what has enabled our company to be here today to share our story. A pivotal point in our recent history happened back in the mid-1990s. We had been fortunate enough to navigate our way through our last official recession. Unfortunately…

The company’s success has been in keeping tight control of every aspect of their operation. By investing wisely in all their vital manufacturing processes, and moving them in-house. Catten offers customers short delivery times for a quality product at a competitive price. Catten’s latest machine acquisition is a Bodor fibre laser sheet cutting system from Industrial Laser. Catten purchased the demonstration machine that was exhibited and demonstrated at the Austech 2017 trade show in Melbourne back in May. “Until the Austech show we were under the misconception these machines were financially cost-prohibitive for our requirements” says Ian Cubitt, Managing Director of Catten. “At the show, we realised the price of this technology had reduced dramatically since last investigating this option – from around $500,000, to $150,000 installed.” Richard Ladley, Technical Director of Industrial Laser, explains why the Bodor machine was the right choice for this particular client: “The price, speed and cut quality over Catten Industries’ range of materials was a perfect match. Offering the right laser system for the application and providing technical…

Axiom Precision Manufacturing is a family-owned company founded by Neville Grose in 1979 in Edwardstown, South Australia. Axiom originally started by manufacturing plastic injection moulds for the automotive industry, working for Ford, Holden and Toyota. They continued to work for Ford and Toyota until their respective shutdowns. It was about 10 years ago when Axiom identified the need to transition away from automotive manufacturing. They were finding it harder to meet the demands of the automakers and remain profitable. At the same time a lot of tooling projects were going to China forcing a serious re-think about the company’s source of work in the future. Axiom specialised in the manufacture of “A”-class injection moulds, lighting, interior and exterior moulds. These were manufactured in hard steels and usually quite complex to machine. The company felt these machining capabilities would give them an advantage in the manufacturing…

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology is gaining momentum, but the level of adoption is still quite low compared with traditional subtractive metalworking methods. In 2016, only 957 metal AM machines were sold worldwide, compared with hundreds of thousands of CNC subtractive machine tools. Part of the reason for the low adoption level may be the misconception that metal AM technology can only be used to 3D print new parts, which limits its potential use. This may be due to the fact that the most commonly used metal AM technology, powder bed fusion (PBF), can only 3D print new parts built-up on flat two-dimensional plates. However, metal AM technologies, such as powder-fed directed energy deposition (DED), can not only 3D print new metal parts, but can also add materials to existing components, enabling a broader range of applications such as repair, surface modification, and hybrid manufacturing (which combines…

“Our business has been built on tackling the most challenging demands for tools, and the aerospace sector is a prime example of an industry that constantly demands sophisticated solutions,” says Jeff Boyd, Export Manager at Sutton. “However, it’s a tough market where there is a lot of competition and success is based on the ability to prove productivity gains.” Several aerospace component producers in France had been buying a competitor’s brand, leading Sutton Tools’s European office to identify an opportunity to manufacture a superior performing solution, and in doing so, win some new business by delivering a productivity gain of 20% for the customer. The continual demand to reduce costs by increasing productivity is a key issue for the aviation and aerospace industries, with customers emphasising the need for reliance on tool stability so that they can confidently forecast their production schedules and reduce machine downtime. “We recognised that development…

Held at Leonda by the Yarra in Hawthorn, the one-day conference was focused on the ways in which emerging digital technologies are revolutionising manufacturing the world over, and explored the opportunities this created for the industry here in Australia. With a line-up of speakers that encompassed manufacturing companies, technology suppliers, research bodies and industry groups, the Conference offered a comprehensive, in-depth perspective of what the future holds. The event also featured 10 exhibitor stands from companies such as SICK, Lightwave Technologies and evok3D, the Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC), and the Conference’s sponsor - William Buck. Following a welcoming address from AMTIL Board Member Brigitte Stavar, the first presentation came from keynote speaker Brad Howarth. Drawing on two decades as a journalist covering technology’s impact on organisations, society and individuals, Howarth’s presentation offered a wide-ranging view on the impact digital innovations are having on the world of business and wider society. “Wealth is generally generated by those who drive change,” said Howarth. “So at some stage…

The Factory of the Future is networked, organised, and can self-optimise over long distances – provided, of course, that the machines, tools and systems supply the necessary data. To begin with, however, the data collected is not much more than “raw material”. Using it to create the kind of added value that goes above and beyond optimising a customer’s production process is the job of a team of digitalisation experts working at the Walter Technology Center in Tübingen, Germany. “The work our technology experts are doing is increasingly reaping rewards,” explains Florian Böpple, a digital manufacturing expert at Walter. The Walter Technology Center officially opened its doors in October 2016 and, just a few weeks later, Walter joined forces with its software partner Comara – both with the mutually agreed aim of making digital transformation central to the company. Mirko Merlo, President of Walter, describes the company’s long-standing relationship with Comara as “an important strategic step in expanding our digital portfolio and further developing our company with Industry 4.0 in mind.” Walter has now acquired 100%…

Kilner’s Engineering – Delivering quality Once dominated by shipbuilding and associated industries, Bulimba – in Brisbane’s inner-eastern suburbs – has changed significantly over the years, to the point where today where most local manufacturers have moved on. The last in the area is Kilner’s Engineering, a fixture since 1974. Barney Kilner founded the business in the mid-1940s with his two brothers at Salisbury under the name ‘Kilner Brothers’. In the early 1970s the brothers split the business and Barney’s son Geoff came on-board as the business moved to Bulimba. He is now stepping back and handing over to a third generation, with his sons Scott and Brad Kilner taking over the running of the business. Scott explains how Kilner’s has changed since the early days, when it was a full repetition workshop with punches, presses and furnaces producing items such as blades for the agricultural industry and truck components. “We used to do that in a lot of volume,” he said. “I think we had…

She cites the example of Patriot Campers, which Klugo helped onto NetSuite. Another family-based company, Patriot grew out of a couple’s passion for building their own camper trailers. Fellow campers soon started asking them to make more and the business quickly snowballed after it started selling in the US. Moving to NetSuite helped Patriot in many ways. “It’s been a very fast journey for them as well,” Kloe says. “The software has enabled them to become a lot more efficient in what they do and also be able to expand internationally. If you’ve got paper-based systems and you don’t know where things are and you can’t track your orders and you’re manufacturing, it’s very hard to know where you’re at and make some sound decisions. “They’ve made some very good calls along the way. Their challenge now is making enough changes. They’re out now to seven or eight months delivery times because they’ve got such demand for their trailers at the moment.” NetSuite combines the manufacturing…

The introduction of mission-critical computing systems and automated tasks in manufacturing processes has resulted in increased safety and productivity during normal operation. But what happens when abnormal situations arise? The answer is, of course, that a human must step in. Human factors and safety culture The human factor needs to be at the centre of any safety discussion for many reasons, one of which is that human error is often the cause of incidents and accidents in the first place – despite the strict safety culture prevalent in most firms. The consequences of such incidents range from minor injury to headline-making catastrophe. If an organisation wants to ensure a successful safety culture, it must have a clear and explicit risk management strategy. To understand and manage risk, plant operators should first carry out a hazard and risk assessment to identify the overall safety requirements. After that, they should focus…