Member News

Companies in industries such as manufacturing, materials handling, mining, food & beverage, power generation, steel handling and forming & fabrication are focused on optimising the safety and reliability of the overhead cranes and lifting devices on which they rely for daily operations. However, as companies expand in size and have fleets of tens or even hundreds of cranes, it can be easy to miss one minor component of standards compliance, even if all due diligence is being taken to meet requirements, according to Konecranes. “We’re finding that even some dedicated safety and compliance managers may not realise there are additional procedures they aren’t aware of,” says Joseph Cefai, Consultation Service Manager, Konecranes Australia. “They have been vigilantly ensuring their employees comply to the standards they know, but weren’t aware of several additional important rules.” Konecranes has more than 600,000 pieces of lifting equipment under service contract worldwide. To fill the gap for time-poor but safety-conscious companies, Konecranes has introduced its auditing tool, Compliance Gap Analysis. It ensures that companies using cranes…

Amiga was founded in 1988 by two brothers, Michael and Dale Bourchier. Industry veterans, they had experience working across a broad range of manufacturing segments, from car parts suppliers to German toolmakers. However, they’d reached a turning point when the business they were working in started struggling. “We were basically redundant,” says Michael, who remains Amiga’s owner and General Manager to this day. “So I said ‘Let’s start up our own business’. So off we went.” The company set up operations in a tiny factory in East Keilor, Melbourne. The brothers got some help from their dad just to get the workshop wired up, and it took time and persuasion to have a phone line installed. With nothing more than a $10,000 overdraft, they had to shop around at the bottom of the market for equipment. “We went to the first auction and bought all this cruddy old equipment,” Michael recalls. “Lathes that turned, mills that vibrated… We even bought a forklift that…

Located in Kings Park, Sydney, Alliance is a privately-owned sheet metal fabrication company that was founded in 2007 by Shane Blewden and Sean Carragher. Both men had prior experience in the sheet metal fabrication industry, but after spotting an opportunity in the market and feeling like the time was right, they decided to strike out on their own and subsequently founded the business. Alliance undertakes a variety of work, but it specialises primarily in the mining and construction sectors, with the company recently putting a big focus on the construction industry. This has seen the company expand its opportunities and business potential. Alliance now services all of Australia, from locally in Sydney to many interstate locations, ranging from Perth to Mackay and across rural/urban Victoria. Blewden’s expertise lies in developing business with customers and ensuring their needs are met, whereas Carragher’s focus lies with the design of the products and their specifications. Experiencing steady growth since its formation, Alliance started out with four employees but in its short operational time has…

Having made its debut two years at Austech 2017, the Digitalisation Pavilion will again explore the latest technological developments at the cutting edge of manufacturing today. With the industry entering a new phase of rapid, radical change, often described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, breakthrough advances in fields such as robotics & automation, interconnected devices and the Internet of Things, big data and Cloud computing are ushering in the era of the smart, connected factory. Amid ever-accelerating rates of technological change, and ever-growing competition, it is vital to not get left behind. The Digitalisation Pavilion will provide a snapshot of how the latest smart technologies are changing the very basis by which products are manufactured today, while offering insight into how these changes can benefit you and your business. Meanwhile the Air Technology Pavilion is a new section of the Austech exhibition, focusing on the latest state-of-the-art compressor equipment…

As a keynote presenter at our conference, we are pleased to have Rob Gorham, Executive Director of America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute at the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). America Makes is the US’ leading collaborative partner in additive manufacturing and 3D printing technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Structured as a public-private partnership, America Makes innovates and accelerates additive manufacturing and 3D printing to increase the US’ global manufacturing competitiveness. Rob previously served as the Director of Operations and Deputy Director of Technology Development, where he led the development of a robust member-driven additive manufacturing roadmapping methodology and shaped the America Makes’ project call process, which has resulted in a $300m research & development portfolio. Rob also led the NCDMM, Siemens, and Deloitte team…

Multicam has a long association with schools, colleges, universities and trade training facilities throughout Australia, and it was especially pleasing for them to see these talented young ladies taking on engineering and manufacturing subjects in what are primarily male-dominated vocations. During the sponsorship presentation, Stephen Heusz, from Multicam’s head office in Newcastle, New South Wales (NSW), was given an extensive tour of the Impro Racing team’s facilities and an in-depth explanation of the teams’ efforts and goals. The F1 in Schools challenge is the world’s largest secondary school STEM competition where teams design, manufacture and race miniature F1 racing cars over a fixed distance. The cars are conceived and designed using industry standard CAD/CAM software and produced using CNC machinery. Once designed and software tested to satisfaction, the students then machine the car body, 3D print…

The 90-nanometre material is 1,000 times finer than a human hair and is able to rapidly heat up to 160 degrees Celsius under natural sunlight in an open environment. This new graphene-based material also opens new avenues in: Thermophotovoltaics (the direct conversion of heat to electricity). Solar seawater desalination. Infrared light source and heater. Optical components: modulators and interconnects for communication devices. Colour displays. It could even lead to the development of ‘invisible cloaking technology’ through the development of large-scale thin films enclosing the objects to be ‘hidden’. The researchers have developed a 2.5cm x 5cm working prototype to demonstrate the photo-thermal performance of the graphene-based metamaterial absorber. They have also proposed a scalable manufacturing strategy to fabricate the proposed graphene-based absorber at low cost. The research is published in Nature Photonics and has been funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant. “This is among many graphene innovations in our group,” says Professor Baohua Jia, Research Leader…

The manufacturing industry – in Australia and worldwide – functions as a kind of ecosystem, where individual organisations exist within a network of interdependent relationships. Many OEMs are multinational corporations selling products to customers all over the world. However, most of them would struggle without the support of numerous smaller manufacturing businesses that form their supply chains. And neither the biggest OEM nor the smallest SME would retain their competitive edge without the latest advanced manufacturing equipment, provided by technology suppliers with the experience and expertise to fulfil their requirements. All these facets of the manufacturing ecosystem will be on display at Austech 2019. The participation of BAE Systems Australia and Volgren will provide a valuable insight into how companies like these operate and the opportunities that exist in their supply chains. “We’re very happy that BAE and Volgren have agreed to take part in Austech this year,” says…

The Manufacturers’ Pavilion is a specially dedicated section of the Austech exhibition that spotlights Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry. Having first featured at Austech back in 2013, the Manufacturers’ Pavilion has grown steadily to become an integral part of the show, with more than 20 exhibitors already signed up to participate this year. “We’ve worked very hard over the years to make the Manufacturers’ Pavilion a key aspect of Austech, and it’s been really satisfying to see how it’s grown,” says Kim Banks, AMTIL’s Events Manager. “We’re picking up a real sense of excitement from among those manufacturing business that have booked their stands this year.” The Manufacturers’ Pavilion showcases the capabilities of Australian component manufacturers, precision engineering firms, toolmakers, advanced manufacturers and general engineering companies. The Pavilion will help exhibiting companies to promote their capabilities to an expected audience of more than 10,000 visitors, connecting with potential clients, partners, and other organisations such as government, research and training bodies. As well as a broad array of…

CSIRO’s Data61 is one of the global leaders in the field, with capabilities ranging from legged robots and 3D mapping through to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Fred Pauling, Robotics and Autonomous Systems group leader at CSIRO’s Data61, said the 600sqm facility would enhance the group’s world-class research capabilities. “The new centre expands our research infrastructure to develop highly autonomous robotics systems that can interact safely and seamlessly with humans and other dynamic agents, in challenging indoor and outdoor environments,” Pauling said. “Our robots are already being used to safely inspect and create 3D maps of underground mines, monitor biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest, and navigate difficult terrain in emergency situations.” One project being spearheaded by the centre is the testing of technology to rapidly map, navigate, and search underground environments as part of a three-year Subterranean Challenge funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The centre houses the biggest motion capture system…

The Australian PMI has been stable or positive (readings above 50 points indicate expansion in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase) since August 2016 (31 consecutive months), but its trend has suggested slowing growth rates since its recent peak in March 2018. Four of the seven activity indexes indicated expansion or stable conditions in March, with all indexes lower this month compared to February except for finished stocks (up 1.6 points to 46.1). Production (down 5.1 points to 52.8) and employment (down 1.1 points to 56.6) remained in positive territory, while the new orders index was stable (down 2.0 points to 50.0). There was a clear divergence among the six manufacturing sectors in March. Food & beverages (up 1.4 points to 59.0), chemicals (down 0.8 points to 51.3) and textiles, clothing, footwear, paper & printing (up 2.0 points to 57.7) expanded, while machinery & equipment (down 1.7 points to 46.1), metals…

Based in Reutlingen in south-west Germany, this manufacturer of high-precision machining centres and even more of their customers have already learned to appreciate the many advantages when it comes to installation, configuration, diagnostics and service. In B+W’s new MCC series, the company has used Safety over IO-Link from Balluff to integrate safety into the overall concept of IO-Link. This makes the processes simpler, more efficient, cost-effective and of course safer. Measuring 8 metres by 3 metres and 3.5 metres high, the MCC 630 exudes elegance and power, radiating a feeling of solid performance, precision and reliability within its compact dimensions. Not visible is the fact that this is a new series production machine with a complete set of possible uses. Nor is it obvious that behind the blue, grey and black facade of this machining centre is a modern control and safety concept from Balluff based on the digital IO-Link standard. With Safety over IO-Link from Balluff, the system has the world’s first simple-to-install and easy-to-retrofit IO-Link safety system on-board. The advantage: both Balluff safety components as well as…

As new private label products continue to proliferate in the beverages category, established brands like Schweppes are under increasing pressure to stay current in the eyes of the market. To refresh its image as an upper-mainstream option for mixers and sparkling beverages, Schweppes enlisted Birdstone, a Melbourne-based packaging agency to design a contemporary look for its sparkling waters and carbonated soft drinks. Schweppes products are offered in both glass and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles. For a comprehensive redesign and evaluation, Birdstone was tasked with generating design proposals and prototypes for each material option. To ensure both sets of prototypes convincingly represented their real-world counterparts, Birdstone collaborated with 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing throughout the redesign, taking advantage of the service bureau’s deep manufacturing expertise and broad technology portfolio to quickly deliver high-quality, true-to-life prototypes to its client. Designing contemporary packaging across materials A packaging redesign is no small undertaking. Not only is a production overhaul typically required, and expensive, but it puts a brand’s visual identity on the line. Both Schweppes and…