Technology News

New remote digital monitoring and analytical technologies can look inside the performance of a crane or whole fleets of cranes to accurately predict the most suitable and timely maintenance for optimum service, as well as spot impending production risks and accident hazards. Konecranes’ TruConnect technology harnesses in a user-friendly way the power of the industrial internet, the heart of which is based on machinery sensors working together to gather and analyse data for specific purposes. Operating in this way, they can enable efficiencies unimaginable just a short time ago. “With powerful but highly accessible technologies such as TruConnect, crane maintenance is an entire generation ahead of the days of external inspections, laborious dismantling to find and fix problems - or simply fixing something when it fails,” says John Bailey, General Manager – Service Development, Konecranes SE Asia Pacific. “With the accident liability that outdated practices entail – and the potential for expensive downtime that companies just can’t afford these days – old approaches are just no longer accepted as…

K-TIG not only leads the way for environmental sustainability within the welding industry – its state-of-the-art technology and process is proven to reduce welding and fabricating costs by an average of 80%. Developed by the CSIRO, K-TIG is a high speed, single-pass, full-penetration welding technology that eliminates the need for wire, edge-bevelling or skilled operators. K-TIG, or Keyhole TIG (tungsten inert gas), is a variant of gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). K-TIG operates exceptionally well across a large array of applications, demonstrating working speeds up to 100 times faster than conventional welding technologies like TIG/GTAW. K-TIG’s stable keyhole penetrates materials up to 16mm in thickness with a fraction of the maintenance requirement of other processes. The technology has eclipsed past technologies through massive reductions in gas and power usage, and through single-pass welds, which eliminate, or significantly reduce, grinding and reworking at a faction of the price of laser systems. According to…

Melbourne-based Amaero Engineering – a spin-out company from Monash’s innovation cluster – has signed an agreement to print turbojet components for Safran, the French-based global aerospace and defence company. The collaborative agreement is between Monash, Amaero and Safran Power Units. “Our new facility will be embedded within the Safran Power Units factory in Toulouse and will make components for Safran’s auxiliary power units and turbojet engines,” said Barrie Finnin, CEO of Amaero. The world’s first 3D-printed jet engine was revealed at the 2015 Melbourne International Airshow. Safran, Monash University and Amaero, in collaboration with Deakin University and the CSIRO, took a Safran gas turbine power unit from a Falcon executive jet, scanned it and created two copies using customised 3D metal printers, as part of a project supported by the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF). This research is now being extended through the support of Australian Research Council’s (ARC) strategic initiative ‘Industry Transformation Research Hub’ and industrial partners including Safran and Amaero. “We proved that our team were world-leaders,”…

“Once a niche market, 3D printing has continued its rapid transformation into a broad-based mainstream technology embraced by consumers and enterprises around the world,” said Pete Basiliere, research vice-president at Gartner. “The evolution of hardware and software along with an ever-expanding collection of usable materials has driven growth in both the consumer and enterprise 3D printing markets.” 3D printing is experiencing widespread acceptance beyond its application in specialist industries. It is being used to create prototypes, augment manufacturing processes and produce finished products. Industries in a broad range employ 3D printing to a modest extent. Gartner expects wider and more diverse growth to continue as new technology providers and processes emerge. Seven technologies constitute the current 3D printer market, with material extrusion forecast to lead the market through 2020, largely due to the low cost of entry-level material extrusion printers. Stereolithography printer…

The ATC recently shortlisted 38 of Australia’s most exciting technology companies for the ATC16 Business Accelerator. These semi-finalists are industry-leading innovators with the capability to become game-changers across the sectors of advanced manufacturing, energy, food & agricultural technology, mining, medical technology, cyber-security and smart cities. The Advanced Manufacturing category is being supported by AMTIL to help showcase some of the country’s most exciting manufacturing companies. Now in its sixth year, the ATC finds, mentors and develops Australia’s best technology companies with the greatest global potential. The Business Accelerator program aims to help turn good technologies into great businesses. The judging panel features the country’s leading experts in commercialisation, finance, intellectual property and technology development, from companies such as Deloitte, Bird & Bird and FB Rice. With a focus on building global success stories, the judges are looking for not only the best technologies but also the best managers and the best business plans. This year’s 146 entries have so far jointly spent $190m developing their technologies and…

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is an exciting new technology whose benefits are already being embraced in real-life applications, and nowhere more so than in the field of medicine. Success stories involving 3D-printed titanium implants such as vertebral cages and heel joints have received widespread coverage in the popular media. However, in the dental arena, less ‘earth-shattering’ applications of 3D printing may not have found their way into the media. Nonetheless, they are already delivering significant reductions in costs and increases in the speed and accuracy of production of crowns, bridges and orthodontic appliances. Dutch medical design company Xilloc Medical is one business already making a name for itself through its medical breakthroughs. Already famed for printing a titanium jaw-bone using complex algorithms to create a design that gives blood vessels, nerves and muscles a better opportunity to grow into the implant, Xilloc is now pushing the envelope with its most recent development in the…

The YPO (Young Presidents Organisation) is a global peer network of chief executives and business leaders. The YPO awards recognise members of pioneering business innovations. YPO announced the winners during its inaugural YPO Innovation Week - a series of more than 50 in-person and virtual events around the world focusing on the latest trends in innovation. Watkins Steel beat applicants from around the world to be recognised for the ability to develop “out-of-the-box” strategies to overcome common limitations in the building and construction industry. For Watkins Steel, this award was the end result of interviewing clients in the construction industry about their biggest pain points, limitations, and challenges. During the process, the senior management team learned that they were primarily judged on how they reacted to on-site construction problems. “The building and construction industry is time-critical and unexpected challenges arise,” explains Des Watkins, Director of Watkins Steel. “More often than not, these challenges are the result of human error. After talking to clients we realised that creating…

Queensland State Minister for Energy Mark Bailey officially opened Clenergy TeamArrow’s new workshop at Macarthur Avenue, Eagle Farm, on 19 September. He also revealed the team’s ambitions to have a road-registered, ‘Cruiser Class’ race version on the starting grid of the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Darwin. “Clenergy TeamArrow is one of the most successful Australian solar racing teams of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and I’m excited about this new innovation and design hub here in Brisbane,” Bailey said. “The Palaszczuk Government is a strong advocate for renewable energy and a cleaner, greener energy future and I’m pleased to say that Economic Development Queensland has given the home team a flying start by providing long-term access to the Eagle Farm site and workshop facilities.” Bailey also unveiled the design of the new sleek, hi-tech and aerodynamic vehicle at the Eagle Farm hub with Clenergy Team Arrow’s Cameron Tuesley. Tuesley said they drew inspiration from their extensive experiences crossing Australia’s outback. “We aim to be the first Australian company to…

Case studies are emerging that provide compelling evidence that the surgeons embracing this technology over standard implants or traditionally manufactured implants are consistently delivering better and more predictable outcomes in terms of patient safety and satisfaction, and hospital efficiencies and economies. Hospitals in the UK, in their quest for better quality and efficiency, have used 3D-printed anatomical models, guides and implants to improve the predictability, accuracy, safety and speed of operations. Meanwhile, a hospital in Spain has proved that the technology can also be used across international borders in a classic example of global technology transfer with UK experts. Neurosurgeon Bartolomé Oliver, MD, PhD, practises at the Teknon Medical Center in Barcelona, Spain, and has trained internationally, including in Canada, the USA and Sweden. A 68-year-old female patient presented to his department with a benign growth from the left side of her cranium, caused by a meningioma, a tumour that arises from the meninges – the…

The CSIRO-developed technology, known as MagSonic, produces magnesium using up to 80% less energy and up to 60% less carbon dioxide emissions thanks to a supersonic nozzle. Magnesium is the lightest of all metals and is in rising demand from car manufacturers who are turning to the metal as a solution for making lightweight, low-emission vehicles. CSIRO and Enirgi Group’s Innovation Division will work together to further develop and validate the MagSonic technology. Once the technology is proven ready for commercialisation, Enirgi Group has the option to take up an exclusive global license that would see the company initially build a commercial-scale magnesium production facility in Australia. Dr Mark Cooksey, who leads CSIRO’s sustainable process engineering group, said commercialisation of MagSonic would help take advantage of Australia’s abundant reserves of magnesite ore that remain largely untapped. “The growth of magnesium use has been limited because it’s been too expensive and labour-intensive to produce the metal from ore using traditional processes,” Dr…

Lockheed Martin will invest an initial $13m over three years to establish a Science Technology Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR Lab) to undertake R&D to solve the technology challenges of the future, and work in the art of the possible. STELaR Lab, the first leading edge multi-disciplinary facility to be established by Lockheed Martin outside the US, will be situated in the heart of Melbourne’s emerging technology district between University of Melbourne and RMIT. It will constitute Lockheed Martin’s national R&D operations centre for its current research portfolio in Australia, and undertake additional internal R&D programs. Scheduled to open in early 2017, STELaR Lab researchers will explore several fields, including hypersonics, autonomy, robotics and command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Lockheed Martin confirmed the strategic investment in Australia’s future research and development program will create premium jobs for science and technology graduates, with STELaR Lab anticipated to grow to over 20 employees within three years. Speaking at an event in Melbourne on 1 August to announce the decision,…

In fact Industry 4.0 is a term developed by German government to describe its high technology strategy for manufacturing. Like all trendy new buzzwords, however, it has been quickly grabbed by consultants and the media and turned in to a catch-all term used to describe, well, whatever people want it to describe! So what is Industry 4.0? What is new and different about it, what does it change, and what should you be doing about it? I would argue that the answer to all three questions is “not much”. The reality is that we have become accustomed to a blistering pace of technological change in manufacturing over the past 20 years. Industries as old and traditional as metalworking and printing have been transformed by the combination of highly automated digitally controlled machinery and highly integrated computer aided digital work…

For more than 40 years, Prysm has manufactured containers such as garden pots and ice cream containers for companies across Australia. For businesses like Prysm, providing a high-quality product while keeping costs down can be a challenge. With many of the items produced at Prysm headed for some of Australia’s largest retailers, consistency and accuracy are paramount. “Many of our products require an adhesive label,” said Matthew Murphy, Production Manager at Prysm. “Previously, skilled operators would stand in one spot for hours at a time and apply labels to products every six or seven seconds. We decided to automate this repetitive task in order to reduce costs and to free up our staff for more varied and engaging activities.” During the search for an automation solution, Prysm was introduced to Universal’s technology by Sensorplex, a Universal distributor for Australia. “We helped Prysm select the UR5…