Locally owned and operated in Burnie, Tasmania, Maltec Engineering is a family business dedicated to providing state-of-the-art engineering services to clients across a broad range of industries including mining, food, agriculture, construction, forestry, and more.
Founded in 2002 by Lindsay and Kelly Malley, the company is a contract manufacturer specialising in CNC machining and small-to-medium fabrication. Its extensive range of services also include profile cutting, a robot welding cell, sandblasting and painting utilising both advanced and Lean manufacturing principles.
Hydraulic manifolds, tapping blocks, drive shafts, hardened pins and bearings and small-to-medium fabricated assemblies are some of the most common products that are manufactured by Maltec. Maltec’s broad engineering capabilities are evident in some of the more unusual products that the company has manufactured; these include a spear tip, a nozzle for a hydroelectric project and several dog enclosures for Tasmania Police.
The company’s client base comprises 40% local, and 60% mainland Australia and overseas. Maltec’s customer base includes many well-known companies such as Caterpillar Underground Mining, Epiroc (formerly Atlas Copco), Elphinstone (CAT OEM, Haulmax, Railmax, SVS) and AQ1 Systems, which produce aquaculture and sensor-based feeding control delivery products.
“We make a lot of small turned products in high volume. A quality bar feeding system allows us to maximise our machine throughput,” said Greg Humphries, Maltec’s Workshop Administrator.
Although Maltec already had a couple of older barfeeders, the purchase of a new Mazak ‘Quick Turn’ 200MY CNC turning centre was the impetus to look at a new barfeeder model to complement this new state-of-the-art machine. Maltec has had a long association with Dimac Tooling, having purchased soft jaws, gripper inserts, mist extractors and other products from the supplier over the past 18 years. Dimac’s Hydrafeed caught Humphries’ attention as it offered a number of features over and above the company’s existing models; it was duly purchased at the same time as the new Mazak.
“The Hydrafeed is quick and easy to set up and helps us to remain flexible as we can run small batch jobs without excessive set up times,” said Humphries. “The ability to quickly set up the servo-driven backstop when processing multiples of non-barfed material is a real time saver compared to having to manually set-up and fit one. Having the barfeeder mounted on linear rails allows us to move it out of the way and accurately return it to its previous position when machining longer parts or servicing the machine.”
The quicker set-up times of the Hydrafeed barfeeder has allowed Maltec to increase its spindle on-time, thereby allowing it to make more products each day.
“The touch screen is clear and simple to read, and operates well in our industrial environment. The menu system and icons are also easy to follow,” Humphries added.
While the performance of the Hydrafeed has been excellent it is also Dimac’s customer service that has impressed Humphries: “Dimac contacted us to ensure that we understood what features were available and to provide assurance that any questions we had in regard to the machine would be answered promptly. They advised us on what would be required of us during installation and what training we would receive in the operation of the barfeeder.
“After the Hyrdafeed was installed we received a follow-up call from the installers to ensure that the machine was functioning correctly and met our expectations. We have always received terrific service from the team at Dimac – reliable and timely service is important to us.
“The Hydrafeed has certainly lived up to our expectations,” Humphries concluded. “It’s easy to use, has significantly improved our productivity and at the end of the day represents excellent value for money.”