Member News

AMTIL regularly sends a delegation to the major overseas exhibitions, and EMO is a show that has to be seen to be believed. Held every two years, the six-day event occupies 17 enormous halls on a sprawling exhibition complex on the outskirts of the city of Hannover. Under the motto of ‘Connecting Systems for Intelligent Production’, this year’s event brought together more than 2,200 exhibitors from 44 different nations showcasing the latest machines, solutions and services for industrial production. Among those exhibitors was AMTIL, which had a booth within the International Associations area of the show, alongside manufacturing assocations from countries all over the world. As well as enabling us to provide information and advice about manufacturing in Australia to anyone who came by the stand, it offered the opportunity to network and interact with those other associations, sharing insights about the state of the industry and exploring opportunities to collaborate. Moreover, having a fixed presence on the exhibition floor meant we were able to support any Australians who were visiting the show, offering…

September marked a 12th consecutive month of expansion for the Australian PMI and the longest run of expansion since 2007. All seven activity sub-indexes in the Australian PMI expanded or were stable in September. Exports recovered from August’s mild contraction, while all other sub-indexes expanded, but at a slower rate than in August. All eight manufacturing sub-sectors also expanded in September (according to trend data) led by non-metallic mineral products, which hit a new record high (up 1.5 points to 75.5). Other large sub-sectors grew at a decelerating pace this month. “This year’s recovery in manufacturing activity is continuing, but the September Australian PMI suggests that conditions are moderating and growth is decelerating,” said Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox. “Positive sources of local demand for manufacturers in September included apartment and infrastructure construction; mining and agricultural equipment; renewables and utilities. Respondents also reported a…

Hargo Engineering Since 1976 Hargo Engineering has been providing specialist precision and repetitive engineering services to its customers across a broad industry customer base. Based in Croydon, in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, the company specialises in CNC turning, milling and machining delivering precision engineering components to industries such as oil & gas, aerospace, defence, electronics and medical. Since its inception, this now-second-generation family business has invested in its people and the latest technologies. Hargo was founded in 1976 by Heinz Gogol in response to a need for precision engineering of small and very small components. And with 16 years’ experience in German engineering supplying the watch industry, Heinz soon built up a reputation for high quality and competitively priced components. Today the company is led by Heinz’s son Frank Gogol who, with his management team, continues to service customers to the high standards set by his father. Frank has also followed Heinz’s lead by continuing to make shrewd investments in technology. Two of the latest acquisitions have…

“During the development of cryogenic cooling with CO2, a large number of tests were carried out using various materials and under real production conditions,” says Schaarschmidt. “Our findings not only proved the general process suitability of CO2 cooling, but that it also increases the metal removal rate by up to 70% without increasing the tool wear rate. If the metal removal rate remains constant, the tool life increases accordingly.” The evidence provided by the experts at Walter is supported by various machine manufacturers and research institutes, including the Institute for Production Technology (IfP) at the West Saxon University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau (WHZ); the Fraunhofer IPT and WZL at RWTH Aachen University; and the Fraunhofer IWU at the Chemnitz University of Technology. For example, when milling high-alloy steels containing nickel – a 70% longer tool life was achieved for these materials, which are typically used in the manufacture of turbine blades and turbine housings. Similar productivity gains were…

Before discussing digitisation and optimisation, it is necessary for a manufacturer to examine its operations, determine where waste occurs, and develop methods to reduce or eliminate it. Controlling waste is the first step in preparing a manufacturing company for the adoption of sophisticated smart manufacturing strategies. Basics of production economics Manufacturing consists of a series of transformation processes. A shop forms raw material into finished or semi-finished workpieces through a series of individual transformation operations such as forging, welding or machining. A number of individual elements comprise each operation. The basic elements of machining, for example, include the cutting tool, machine tool, fixtures and coolant supply. Together these elements form a machining system that gets support from related equipment and components in a production system. Planning, programming and economic…

Parkin’s achievements as a football player and coach are peerless. He captained Hawthorn Football Club to its second premiership in 1971, then coached the team to a flag in 1978. He went on to coach Carlton Football Club to back-to-back Premierships in 1981-82, as well as leading them to a record-breaking number of victories in 1995, which culminated with them again becoming Premiers. Parkin’s accomplishments have seen his talents transferred from the sporting and academic arenas to the world of business. He originally trained as a primary school teacher and has spent over two decades in teacher education. A lecturer in Sports and Exercise Science at Deakin University, he recently increased his media commitments with Foxtel’s AFL coverage as a panel member on the weekly show Fox League Teams and as a regular commentator for ABC Radio. David will discuss “Life: The Importance of Balance in the Life of a Business Entrepreneur”. Date: Thursday 19 October…

Most shops evaluate new cutting tools in an effort to reduce machining time, increase tool life, or improve part quality – and sometimes all three. Stellar Precision Components, a Tier II aerospace supplier in Jeanette, Pennsylvania, did it for an entirely different reason. “We’d just taken an order for some Inconel parts,” says Production Manager Edward Frieze. “None of us were really worried at that point about tool life or making a profit on the job – our only concern then was how the heck could we get them shipped in eight weeks.” Opening doors Four decades earlier, Mike Vucish Sr. was working for a manufacturer of naval nuclear components when he saw an opportunity to go into business for himself. He bought some equipment, invited a few students from the technical school where he taught shop class at night, and opened the doors of Stellar in 1978. He continued to work at his day job until his fledgling company was firmly established, but in the meantime brought some family members on board to help…

Jeffrey Owen founded JBO Engineering in 1994. Jeff had previously been a toolmaker, and his business initially specialised in that area. The company was making a lot of rubber moulds in the early years and ended up buying a CNC mill to help with production. However, it soon became clear that there was a lot more work in production machining than in toolmaking. “We decided it was time to perhaps change our outlook a bit, and we shifted from a toolmaking environment to a production environment,” says Jeff, today JBO’s Managing Director. “That was about 18 years ago now. We still make press tools, rubber moulds and plastic injection dies – we just don’t make many of them any more. Nowadays we focus on production machining and manufacturing other peoples’ products.” That ability to shift focus has also encompassed the markets in which JBO operates. Like many Victorian manufacturing businesses, it initially found a lot of work for the car industry, making production press…

In the past, the basic specifications of a machine used to be the key issues for an investment decision, but now the overall performance, ease of use, and flexibility of a machining solution is more important for the most successful companies of today. This applies worldwide and independent of the class of a machine or the industry segment. For this reason, the newest machines from DMG MORI present a portfolio of solutions – with a broad range of technology, software solutions, and applications. The CMX V series of vertical machines represent leading-edge technology at attractive prices. State-of-the-art CNC machine tools must be productive, flexible and easy to operate. DMG MORI designed the CMX V series to exceed these requirements. The modular design of the machines enables fast, flexible configuration according to individual requirements, coupled with hundreds of options and technological solutions designed to create value. DMG MORI has developed the CMX V machine series with the intention to deliver sturdy vertical machining centres that will grow with your organisation.…

According to an entry in the Smithsonian, humans had developed crude toolmaking techniques by at least 2.6 million years ago. Chipping away at rocks made them smaller and sharper, offering various advantages to diet and defence in the lives of early man. Tools for cutting and grinding aren’t the latest idea, but some current trends show we’re entering a new, particularly exciting age. The invention of computer numerical control (CNC) is much more recent than the first attempts at toolmaking, and was a serious step to turning things into an exact science. It has allowed for ever-increasing levels of complexity in end products, the removal of guesswork and human error, previously unimaginable tolerance levels, and ever greater output. Since then, there have been needs from customers that have forced continued innovation by tool grinder manufacturers, including the uptake of new materials and composites, and constantly rising demands from end users for elegance and function in products. Consider the sleek aluminium backing of a smartphone – one component of a modern…

Six of the seven activity sub-indexes in the Australian PMI expanded in August with production (up 2.4 points to 61.4) and new orders (up 8.5 points to 64.3) especially strong (readings above 50 indicate expansion in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase). Robust expansion in inventories (up 9.9 points to 58.9) rather than sales (down 4.9 points to 50.9) suggests current activity is geared towards future orders and stockpiling rather than for immediate delivery. Seven of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors expanded in August (acording to trend data based on the Henderson 13-month filter), led by non-metallic mineral products (up 3.5 points to 72.3 – its highest monthly level since this sub-series commenced in 2009) and wood & paper products (up 1.7 points to 71.1). These results reflected local demand from the building industry and from food manufacturing and processing (for packaged products). “The alignment of the stars…

Coolant management is an important part of efficient CNC machine tool operations, and it is generally well known that degraded coolant can result in premature machine tool wear, causing decreased performance. Removing coolant from a sump using a Freddy vacuum provides multiple benefits; not only is coolant vacuumed up quickly at an impressive rate of 230 litres per minute, but any sludge and residue that has built up at the bottom of a machine sump is also removed. The sump can then be thoroughly cleaned if necessary. By doing this with a Freddy vacuum, it also removes the need to come into contact with the coolant, thus removing the likelihood of a worker contracting a skin condition through prolonged contact or having an allergic reaction. However a Freddy does more than just vacuuming out the coolant. The in-built filter removes fines, swarf, and any particulates larger than the filter rating of the…

At this time, the cumulative effects of the slowdown of economic growth throughout the industrialised world and the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the end of 2014, not to reduce production to protect prices, were further intensified by the remarkable growth of oil production and slowing global demand. This ‘perfect storm’ inevitably led to a major drop of crude oil price. The effects on oil & gas producers have been dramatic; many previously embarked upon projects that began to make little or no economic sense. To help maintain their profitability or to assist in curtailing their losses, throughout this slowdown, countless companies reduced their expenditure. Many major projects were cancelled or postponed, and proposed mergers and acquisitions in the oil & gas industry collapsed,…