Industry News

The AMT Media Kit lays out all the opportunities available for companies wishing to promote their businesses via advertising in the magazine. Advertising rates for next year have been held at 2016 levels, with prices having only risen by 5% since 2011. “AMT remains the number-one industry-trusted magazine for manufacturing in Australia,” says Anne Samuelsson, AMTIL Sales Manager. “It’s still the most reliable, effective way to promote your products and services and reach the key decision-makers in our industry. I’m very proud to be able to say we offer the industry’s lowest rates for advertising, offering the best value for your marketing dollars.” In addition to advertising options, the AMT Media Kit also details our editorial plans for 2017, with a full list of our upcoming features for each issue. While many of the regular product and industry features will be making their return as expected, the year to come will also see several new categories of coverage. “We took a long hard look at our coverage for next year and…

The funding is part of the Labor Government’s Future Industries Manufacturing Program, which is supporting Victorian-based manufacturers grow and create jobs. LTA will use the money to invest in new equipment, create five new full time jobs and boost its exports by more than $4m. It builds on recent announcements, including grants to: Guala Closures in West Footscray; Southern Cross Ceramics in Mulgrave; CE Bartlett in Wendouree; Medical Developments International in Scoresby; and Fitmycar in Ravenhall. “We are helping Victorian manufacturers like Lovitt Technologies invest in new technologies to help them grow and create new jobs,” said Minister Noonan. “As car manufacturing winds down it’s important we support those businesses that will transition Victoria towards an advanced manufacturing economy.” Established in 1954 as George Lovitt Manufacturing to manufacture cutting tools for the Australian automotive industry, LTA has evolved continuously over the subsequent six decades. Quick to anticipate the decline of Australian car-making, it branched into fields as diverse as…

Upcoming events include: Business Master Breakfast Seminar “The Importance of leadership in a high-performing manufacturing company” Wednesday 17 August, 7.30-9.30am Riversdale Golf Club, Mount Waverley, VIC Speaker: Linsey Siede, Automotive Supplier Excellence Australia   The management and leadership of any company affects everything they do, and their importance to the business’ performance cannot be ignored. Business strategy, customer focus, operational excellence and company culture are just some factors that determine success. This presentation will look at the data, results and outcomes of working with 150 companies over an eight-year period, and provide key information to help companies focus on achieving greater success. Amaero Site Tour 5 October Notting Hill, VIC   Details coming soon to www.amtil.com.au/events. Bookings are essential as places are strictly limited.   AMTIL AGM – Save the date Thursday 20th October 7:30am for Breakfast Riversdale Golf Club, Mount Waverley, VIC Aviation Aerospace Australia/AMTIL Joint Site Tour 27 October, 8.30am-10.30am Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre, John St, Hawthorn, VIC…

Make it Cheaper has looked at power bills for 33 customers and a total of 56 meters. Those 56 meters were split across Commercial & Industrial, SME and Residential – Make It Cheaper is capable of offering advice and quotations across all three of these markets. Where it is possible to make an actual prediction of retrospective savings based on usage and the availability of the bill to perform a full bill comparison, the company has been able to save AMTIL members a total of $18,793 per year. Across the SME market this averages at $1,708 per meter switched where a better deal has been identified, and the highest estimated savings come in at a whopping $7,218. The even better news is that there are still many, many members of AMTIL that haven’t yet taken advantage of this great service. Remember this service is free, and realistically it will take five to ten minutes of your time. Of course, time is always tight, and your…

Lamborghini prides itself on a 50-year heritage that has seen its brand become synonymous with extreme and uncompromising automotive design. The company has created a series of extraordinary cars that include the 350 GT, Miura, Espada, Countach, Diablo, Murciélago, Gallardo and Aventador, as well as several limited series such as the Reventón, Sesto Elemento, Aventador J and Veneno. Lamborghini meets this objective partly through 3D printing, which the company uses throughout the entire lifecycle of its parts, from rapid prototyping applications to production parts. Today Lamborghini is owned by Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. With its image and value proposition as important as ever, the company relies upon pioneering technologies to uphold its reputation for automotive excellence. Fabio Serrazanetti of Lamborghini’s car body technical department says the company’s engineers first explored FDM technology and Fortus 3D Production Systems in order to meet demand for high-strength production parts tough enough to endure the rigors of high-speed racing, as well as the need to create complex geometries in…

On 13 April, around 30 guests enjoyed a two-hour tour at the Australian Synchrotron in Clayton, Victoria, a world-class facility supporting research in sectors ranging from medicine and nanotechnology to manufacturing and mineral exploration. The AMTIL party received a presentation on the Synchrotron’s history and case studies of the research work undertaken there, as well as a tour of the facility. Details were also provided for how companies can apply for access to the Synchrotron to assist in their own projects, and the costs associated with “beam-time”. The first of the two breakfast events took place on 20 April at Riversdale Golf Club in Mount Waverley, with Mike Anderson of Anderson’s Business Facilitation Services giving an informative talk on ‘Marketing Essentials For a Profitable Business’. This was followed on 5 May by the ‘Show Me the Money’ seminar, at The Centre Ivanhoe in Ivanhoe, with AMTIL service partners William Buck Chartered Accountants giving presentations on how to determine a manufacturing business’ value, and the best practice for structuring…

We recently conducted an extensive survey looking at what sort of events you would like to see in future, what form they should take, and what content they should cover. This program has been designed in response to that survey’s findings, incorporating regulars such as our annual general meeting (AGM) and our Christmas Golf Day, as well as educational site tours, breakfast seminars and networking functions. The events listed below will be added to as the year continues, so keep an eye on the AMTIL website for more information as it emerges. AMTIL Tour of Australian Synchrotron Australian Synchrotron, Clayton, Victoria 8.30am-10.30am, Wednesday 13 April The Australian Synchrotron is a world-class national research facility that uses accelerator technology to produce a powerful source of light – X-rays and infrared radiation – a million times brighter than the Sun. It supports a broad range of high-quality research, with applications in sectors from medicine and nanotechnology to manufacturing and mineral exploration. Its highly advanced techniques and passionate staff are contributing directly and demonstrably to…

The Australian PMI expanded for a fifth month in November, rising 2.3 points to 52.5; readings above 50 indicate expansion in activity, the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase. This result continued the longest run of expansionary readings since 2010. Five of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors expanded (that is, they were above 50 points in three-month moving averages): wood & paper products (up 3.2 points to 67.2); textiles, clothing, footwear, furniture & other (down 4.9 points to 52.0); petroleum, coal, chemical & rubber products (down 0.1 point to 57.4); non-metallic mineral products (up 5.4 points to 58.0); and food & beverages (up 2.7 points to 52.4). However, the machinery and equipment (down 1.9 points to 43.1), metal products (up 0.9 points to 49.0), and very small printing & recorded media (up 1.0 point to 47.6) sub-sectors all remained in contraction. Of the seven activity sub-indexes, only stocks fell below 50 points (down 3.3 points to 47.6). New orders (up 3.3 points to 53.2) and sales (up…

The Melbourne-based company, which specialises in hi-tech tool and cutter grinders, was also named the winner in the Manufacturing category. Co-founder and Director Pat Boland accepted the awards on behalf of ANCA. Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb made the announcement at the awards ceremony held to honour the achievements of Australian businesses in international markets. “ANCA has been a leader in its field for 40 years and in that time it has significantly expanded its export markets and is on track for a record year of growth,” said Robb. “They’ve hired 160 new employees to meet the increasing demand for their products, and are proof that Australia has a very healthy future manufacturing high-quality and innovative products.” ANCA exports 98% of its products to customers such as Boeing, Sandvik and Rolls Royce. ANCA machines are used to make tools that are used to make products such as planes, cars, smart phones and medical products. On receiving the major award, Boland thanked the team at ANCA and his co-founder Pat…

This past year the Board and our senior staff reconfirmed our role is to represent and promote the interests of manufacturing technology suppliers and their customers (the ecosystem). For our Manufacturing Technology Suppliers, our focus is on encouraging investment in technology. We do this through marketing and promotional opportunities, whether it be Austech, our AMT magazine, online offerings, talking to government about incentive schemes and other services. We want people buying machine tools, automation, robotics, software, cutting tools and ancillary equipment. We need to focus heavily on this area. For our Manufacturing Technology Users, our focus is on…

AMT: Tell us about the REA Foundation and its aims. MM: It’s fundamentally about getting kids engaged with STEM. When I started, my background led me to be more focused on attracting students to engineering, but this expanded significantly as I grew to understand that, in attracting students to professions that build a nation, the problem was much broader. At the time there wasn’t much around that gave students much reason to be interested in STEM subjects. The education system really isn’t designed to get kids interested in careers; I don’t think the system’s at all attuned to the skills industry needs or wants. Our political system has over a long period of time facilitated the development of a set of educational silos. There’s Maths and English and History and Science etc, and they all have their own departments and a mentality based around defending their own space at…

The company, a market leading CNC tool grinder manufacturing business and longstanding member of AMTIL, will represent Victorian manufacturing at the Australian Export Awards on 27 November. ANCA has a history of achievement, having won ten GOVEA awards and two Australian Export awards previously. With a Melbourne headquarters the privately owned company turns over $200m annually and employs over 950 staff globally. Co-founder and Director Pat Boland commented: “We are very proud to be recognised by one of the most prestigious business awards for our innovation excellence and ongoing contribution to the Australian economy. ANCA is proof that an Australian company can successfully compete and prosper in a global market and I thank our amazing team whose hard work helps us retain our leadership position. “ANCA’s success has been in the development of world leading products that solve customer needs and supporting these products with advanced and lean factories and a global sales and service distribution system. Precision cutting tools are a fundamental component of advanced manufacturing and ANCA is immensely proud of its…

The Australian PMI fell by 1.9 points in October to 50.2 (readings above 50 indicate expansion in activity, the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase). The result marked the longest run of expansionary readings since July 2010. “A strong export performance in October helped manufacturing hold onto the gains made by the sector over the previous three months, clocking up the longest expansion in five years,” said Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox. “There was, however, some easing of momentum: while production lifted again, domestic sales and employment were lower and new orders were broadly unchanged. The process of broadening the base of growth across the economy remains gradual and tentative. There is clearly scope for stimulatory measures to boost domestic activity.” Four of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors expanded: wood & paper products (down 5.5 points to 64.0); textiles, clothing, footwear, furniture & other manufacturing (up 0.5 points to 56.9); petroleum, coal, chemical & rubber products (up 0.3 points to 57.5); and, for the first…