New Tricks

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine**

“Everything on this planet, at one point or another, has been screened… we’ve been doing screen media for well over 50 years as a business,” Multotec Australia VP sales and service Grahame Hopkins says.

Whether it’s for the purposes of accurate product sizing or removing impurities or other undesirable materials, the creation of screens to filter food, extracted materials and other material is a well-established component of materials processing.

With that broad experience comes a clear view of the persistent risks faced by operators working on screen decks, particularly when it comes to panel change‑outs.

“One of the biggest problems with screen media is potential risk or damage to product and people,” Hopkins explains.

Most screening decks use screening panels that are traditionally bolted or hammered into place, or installed using either a clip or pin system, and have to be prised out using a screwdriver.“So everything’s working on lever and pinch points, fingers, hands, etc, and then obviously the striking from the hammer causes injury to wrist, elbows and shoulders,” he says.

“The fact that these guys are always hunched over on their hands and knees and crawling around a deck that just adds more stress to their bodies as well. So we’re trying to reduce the amount of time that they’re on their hands and knees, but at the same time taking away those objects that can cause them injury.”

In a bid to help reduce injury risk and the potential for damage to screening membranes when using a screwdriver, Multotec Australia had long explored the use of different fastening systems, including bolted panels and later pin‑style clips, but each introduced new forms of manual effort, downtime or tool‑related injury risk.

The ACE and ERX systems were originally developed around 2016 as a hammerless alternative, but the early iterations didn’t fully resolve the usability challenges.

It wasn’t until 2022 when Hopkins brought together Multotec’s R&D team, product team and service technicians together to reset the approach.

Research and Development

Real‑world feedback from those technicians, captured across multiple iterations, became the foundation for a major redesign, resulting in a relaunch of the hammerless system, built around simpler mechanics and supported by digital engineering tools.

“That’s where we’ve partnered with LEAP Australia, because a lot of computer-aided design (CAD) was used in this development work,” Hopkins says.
David Graham, marketing manager at LEAP Australia, said the work the Multotec team completed on this project had drawn on LEAP’s full suite of digital engineering software.

As local technology partner for the PTC Creo 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and Windchill product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, as well as Ansys engineering simulation tools, LEAP’s engineers worked closely with Multotec to better understand the ins and outs of their design and the physics of what was happening within the screening system.

Feedback from Multotec service technicians had helped them define the vision of a new hammerless system and they embraced the use of digital engineering as a framework to incorporate and test these ideas, then refine it into a finished product that was ready for market.

“Once you have gathered these ideas and defined your performance requirements, how do you actually redesign your product to achieve that?” he asks.
Using Creo 3D CAD, the teams were able to collaborative across disciplines and explore multiple design concepts with speed.

“Ultimately it means that a local tight-knit design team like Multotec is able to redesign and release a new product to market very rapidly, compared to 10-15 years ago. You’re able to really quantify and compare the performance benefits that you’ve targeted in your initial requirements, and deal effectively with complex trade-offs.”

Graham adds the PLM system provided structure and traceability for the business, tying together all product and design data, bills of materials, and documentation.

“3D CAD provides obvious benefits for the product designers and engineers, and PLM helps the broader business by providing a single source of the truth, and drives effective change management processes across the team,” Graham says.

For each design concept the team wanted to consider, simulation provided deep technical insights into structural stresses, fatigue behaviour and rock‑on‑panel dynamics — all crucial in an application involving vibration, high G‑forces and abrasive material.

“This meant the Multotec team could quantify the benefits of this new design… and quickly shortlist the most promising design ideas, then hone in to consider smaller design changes to get the very best outcome, not just relying on gut feel,” Graham says.

Hopkins said simulation allowed the company to address fatigue challenges and match the expected wear life of the steel frame to the failure point of the media itself.

“[We] used the fatigue modelling to be able to determine when it’s going to break and compare the expected fatigue life for each design. Then we get together and ask: what do we still need to change in this design so that it doesn’t break quickly?”

The mechanical redesign also extended to the tools used during change‑outs. Rather than rely on impact force or leverage, Multotec developed a proprietary “nose gear” that attaches to common power tools, enabling operators to quickly disengage the panel without hammers or screwdrivers.

“We developed the Milwaukee tools, or mechanical tools, to remove the panels, rather than using hammers… Our service teams, they no longer have the hammers to do these sorts of clip systems,” Hopkins says.

The system has also been adapted internationally, in response to client demand from Brazil, where Multotec developed the nose gear for Bosch equipment.
In the Field

Where ACE and ERX are deployed depends largely on the application and material density. ERX, the heavier‑duty system, is suited to iron ore and run‑of‑mine screening.

“ERX was developed for iron ore, so large particles… the density being closer to seven,” Hopkins says. “The ERX system holds about 1,800kg of pull force.”
ACE, the lighter system, is used more commonly in coal, gold and copper, with a capacity closer to 500–600 kg.

The combined relaunch of the two systems in 2023–24 was accompanied by a wider push to convert existing customers from traditional fastening approaches.

Feedback has been positive. “A lot of our peers have jumped on because we called it hammerless from the get-go, and we truly are — no hammer is required on the deck,” Hopkins said.

Safety outcomes have reinforced the value of the redesign. “Last year, my service team had zero missed time injuries,” Hopkins said, compared with 2.4 the previous year.

With KPIs tied directly to safety outcomes, he sees the system as a meaningful improvement not only for Multotec staff but for operators on customer sites as well.

Both Hopkins and Graham emphasise the engineering principles behind the redesign applied well beyond screening.

Graham pointed out that the technologies Multotec used are the same ones adopted by aerospace, automotive and space exploration leaders.

“The same technology that is being used to design next-generation aircraft and aerospace systems… these same digital engineering tools are also accessible right now to all engineers in Australia, whether you’re a startup, SME or a global corporation,” he says.

Hopkins says the broader message for other manufacturers was to remain open to new ideas, rather than staying with tried and true methods.

“Just because you’ve been doing it that way, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right or wrong, but you need to have your eyes open to new concepts,” he says.
He encourages his team to ask why, embrace different perspectives and use digital tools to de‑risk experimentation. “You’ve got to take a leap… Use the tools that are available to you, but don’t be closed-minded,” he says.