Industry News

Thousands of customers – from small artisanal bakeries right through to large-scale industrial applications, rely on RONDO “dough-how”, the company’s unique combination of expert knowledge and experience in dough and technology. RONDO North America is responsible for sales and after sales support across the US and Canada. As RONDO North America grew, it became clear that its 18-year-old, UNIX-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was struggling to cope with business demands. Jerry Murphy, President of RONDO North America explains: “We had significant problems reconciling sales, managing inventory and creating accurate reports. The user experience was also very poor and employees were frustrated by the limitations of the systems. In many instances hours of additional work had to be done to get the information we needed – so it began impacting our productivity.” After a competitive bid process, the organisation chose Pronto Xi. “One of the key features of Pronto Xi for us, was the ability to organise and track every…

The young Australian entrepreneur has been dreaming about designing a vehicle ever since he was six, when he made his first sketch of the new and very different engine configuration. At the age of 14, Dennis shifted his interest to motorcycles. Since then, he has been working on a new concept for an electric motorcycle, which features impressively instantaneous torque and rapid acceleration, all with a vastly reduced environmental impact. This will be the first electric motorcycle company in Australia, manufacturing internationally and assembling bikes locally in Melbourne. Savic Motorcycles, a young start-up, is currently in the design phase and will build their production prototypes in 2019, followed by their first production run in 2020. The company has already received seed investment and is preparing for a Part Series A capital raise. The plan is to focus on sales and production first in Australia, then take the offering to international markets. Driven by his passion to do to motorcycles what entrepreneurs such as Elon…

Konstantinos Bountolas, Product Data Solutions Manager at Walter, summarises the company’s data philosophy as follows: “Product data that is ready to use enables our users to find, choose and assemble tools more quickly when it comes to designing, planning, NC programming and purchasing, as well as on the shop floor.” Walter’s strategy of focusing on its customers is also geared towards the customers’ procurement preferences. “We leave it to our customers to choose where they would like to access the product data for our tools,” Bountolas explains. “Everyone has their own preferred channels for obtaining this data. All that matters is making sure that we provide our data exactly where our customers are looking for it.” Walter mainly relies on the “channels” of MachiningCloud, the e-catalogue for TDM, and Tools United. Walter on MachiningCloud Customers around the world can access more than 40,000 Walter tool elements on MachiningCloud.…

The company makes a highly-customised range of direct-strike lightning protection products, along with grounding equipment and transient protection goods, for customers all over the world. Due to an increased demand for LPI’s know-how, both in Australia and overseas, the company engaged ABB Robotics to supply it with a YuMi Collaborative Robot – a dual-arm, industrial robot that offers high scalability for short and variable production runs. In a few short months, the robot – supplied by ABB in Melbourne – has not only reduced costs and production lead times, but has also maximised quality within LPI’s production facility, in Hobart’s southern suburbs. Customer demands LPI’s customers are predominantly infrastructure-based, with many of these operating in the telecommunications and utilities sectors. Due to the changing nature of telecommunications industries around the world, the team at LPI has its work cut out for it to ensure customer installations remain up-to-date, and safe from power surges – often with short lead times. “Recently in Australia we’ve been involved with upgrades to 4G networks for all carriers,” says Paul Hollingsworth, LPI’s CEO.…

The manufacturing industry is undergoing dramatic changes. Companies face growing demand to deliver quality products with minimum go-to-market time. A recent survey from Statista reveals that by 2020, the industrial manufacturing industry is forecast to invest more than US$175bn in Industry 4.0 endeavours. Therefore, the onus is on the businesses to embrace the required technological advancements in order to become more efficient and build a competitive advantage. The Fourth Industrial Revolution encompasses a range of concepts, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, human-machine interaction through augmented reality and digital-to-physical transfers, and technologies such as 3D printing. The industrial IoT will further enable interconnectivity of technologies to create seamless manufacturing processes. According to PWC, 86% of 2,000 manufacturers are expecting to see cost reductions and revenue gains from their digitisation efforts over the next five years. With investments in digitisation expected to reduce costs by 3.6%, manufacturing will evolve into smart factories with increased productivity and accelerated…

The launch of the Export Hub was announced at an event on 13 March at the headquarters of Volgren in Dandenong, south-east Melbourne. The event was attended by Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews, Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC – a partner organisation in the Export Hub), and Paul Fowler, President of AMTIL. AMTIL will receive $1.5m from the Federal Government’s Small and Medium Enterprise Export Hubs Initiative to run the Export Hub. Export hubs are business networks that help SMEs harness opportunities in international markets, particularly where the Federal Government has signed free-trade agreements – including China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. Minister Andrews said the funding will boost the economy by helping more businesses to gain access to new and bigger markets, to increase sales, and create more Australian jobs. “The funding for this Hub is integral to helping Australian businesses grow and will ultimately…

The UNLIMIT3D conference will run alongside Austech, Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition, to be held at the MCEC from 14-17 May. Co-located with National Manufacturing Week (NMW), Austech will also feature a special dedicated exhibition area, the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, which will showcase the latest innovations in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. The UNLIMIT3D conference will focus on the industrialisation of additive manufacturing, featuring expert speakers who have implemented this technology in real-world production processes. Their experiences and insights, the challenges they have faced, and the benefits of applying additive manufacturing will be fully explored. Delegates will hear first-hand the trials and tribulations of innovating in this space from companies that can offer practical examples. AMTIL has assembled a diverse line-up of speakers for UNLIMIT3D. Giving the keynote opening address will be Rob Gorham, Executive Director of America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute at the US’s National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining. Having previously served as Senior Manager of…

“The combination of PFG and Keil merges two industry-leading capabilities, PFG’s polymer fabrication expertise and Keil Industries’ exceptional rotational moulding skill,” says Michael Sylvester, CEO of PFG Group. “Both teams have a passion for tackling those challenges which others might consider too hard to solve, creating durable products for harsh environments and a long history of success in doing this for our customers.” The company’s 71 employees are located across two Tasmanian sites, two SA sites and the Victorian site. The three manufacturing sites are at Goodwood, near Hobart; Port Lincoln in South Australia; and Morwell in Victoria, all in regional areas. “All Keil Industries employees have been retained and we are in employment mode right across the group,” Sylvester adds. “We are very conscious as a business that we are a responsible regional employer in three states. So, we have a lot of social responsibility for both the local community and for our employees to provide a…

High surface area density, combined with optimised fluid pathways and 3D surface features, results in a high thermal exchange, low-weight, low pressure-drop heat exchanger. The performance advantages were achieved within a rapid development timeline that was underpinned by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and Design for AM expertise. With no tooling implications to consider, multiple variants can be manufactured simultaneously. Heat transfer is a ubiquitous challenge that is at the heart of the First Law of Thermodynamics. A heat exchanger, simply speaking, is a device that effectively transfers heat between two or more fluids, typically liquid-liquid, liquid-gas, gas-gas or multiple fluids. You can find them in products like air conditioners and car engines. One practical benefit of such devices is energy recovery. There are numerous others — it is a complex technology with broad applications. Heat exchanger designs and manufacturing methods have evolved with the prevailing technologies available and, consequently, have been limited by those technologies. Conflux’s Founder and CEO, Michael Fuller,…

The high-feed milling method is based primarily on two principles: the geometry of a milling cutter; and the high-speed feed drive of a machine tool. A typical fast-feed milling tool features a small cutting edge angle, normally 9-17 degrees. This design characteristic results in three important outcomes. The first is the possibility of considerably increasing feed per tooth due to a chip thinning effect. For example, in the face milling of low-alloy steel, 0.2mm per tooth is a near-maximum value feed, but high-feed milling the same material with a 2mm per tooth feed is normal. The second is a shallow depth of cut that ensures this geometry for the tool. Milling with reduced depth of cut diminishes cutting force…

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 (30 consecutive months), but its trend has suggested slowing growth rates since its recent peak in March 2018. Six of the seven activity indexes expanded in February, with only finished stocks indicating contraction (down 3.2 points to 44.5). New orders (down 0.3 points to 52.0) and deliveries from suppliers (down 2.7 points to 52.9) stayed positive but moderated, while production (up 3.9 points to 57.9) and employment (up 6.6 points to 57.7) strengthened markedly. “Australia’s manufacturing sector strengthened in February after faltering in the closing months of 2018 and clawing back some lost ground in January,” said Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox. “Production, sales, exports and employment all gained ground. While positive, manufacturing performance is not back at the levels we saw in the first half of 2018 and…

Primarily servicing the construction industry, 3Metals specialises in commercial buildings and domestic buildings, along with manufacturing and mining. The company offers a range of laser cutting, CNC pressing, robotic welding and fabrication services. Director Michael Fletcher explains that 3Metals places prime importance on keeping abreast of new technology, because advanced machinery enables the company to remain efficient, providing the best customer experience possible in terms of turnaround time, product and service. While price is always a big driver in customer decision making, the team at 3Metals don’t believe in being the cheapest. “We believe in giving the right service at the right price,” says Fletcher. “Our service encompasses a decent turnaround time and our products are manufactured to excellent quality. We don’t sacrifice quality for price, nor do we use cheap materials.” 3Metals prides itself on supporting Aussies, using local supplies and raw materials. As Fletcher says: “It’s important to us that we support the Aussie economy and source all materials locally, as we…