Industry News

There is a complex series of activities that ensure a supply chain works. Retailers communicate with distributors, distributors connect with manufacturers, and manufacturers engage suppliers of materials and components. On the transport side, there is involvement with shipping lines, airlines, trucking and delivery companies, all of which are facilitated through ports, airports, warehouses, and distribution centres. Ai Group has released a report that seeks to explore current business experience associated with supply chain pressures (particularly as they relate to sea freight), and connected impacts in other areas of policy with the aim of identifying possible constructive solutions and pathways forward. Supply chain chaos has been created by a combination of factors including the increase in global demand for goods; lengthy lockdowns and infections of workers; a global shipping container shortage; reduction in shipping services and port skipping; Australian industrial action; and rising costs.…

There is stored energy and there is kinetic energy – or movement. Motors turn the first into the second. As with everything else, ways to create movement have evolved. One comparatively recent kind of actuation, tubular linear motion, is gaining in favour in applications as diverse as machine tool building, factory automation, packaging, printing and material handling. ANCA Motion is an Australian developer and manufacturer of motion control systems, hardware, and software, including for its sister company, ANCA CNC Machines. ANCA CNC Machines has used LinX tubular linear motors for its globally-renowned tool and cutter grinders since 2014, introducing them in their FX Linear and MX Linear tool grinding machines. Customers have also welcomed the better surface finish, increased efficiency and improved reliability gains at reduced operating cost in their machines incorporating LinX tubular linear motors within the precision toolmaking industry, where micron-level resolution,…

The LTS-640V is designed to be used during the certification stage before an aircraft is approved for commercial or military use. The capability it provides will allow for a potentially more streamlined certification process, and should help eliminate some of the surprises that can occur during testing of a new aircraft structure. The technology was developed in collaboration with scientists at the Australian Department of Defence where a prototype of the technology has helped support sustainment of the F/A-18 Classic Hornet, and more recently provided Lockheed Martin Aeronautics with valuable new information during structural certification testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Australian invention is the first of its kind, providing real-time fusion of stress and visible spectrum imaging – in effect merging the visible with the invisible. “This inspection approach is based on the ‘thermoelastic effect’; put simply, when you squash something it heats up, when you stretch something it cools down,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Defence.…

Four of the seven activity indices in the Australian PMI expanded in February (readings above 50 points indicate expansion in activity, with higher results indicating a faster rate of expansion), with the production (up 2.7 points to 54.6), new orders (up 8.5 points to 59.8) and finished stocks (up 3.4 points to 55.9) indexes expanding at an accelerating rate. Supplier deliveries improved but remained narrowly in contraction (up 11.2 points to 49.0) while employment (down 1.9 points to 43.5) and exports (down 2.5 points to 42.6) fell further into negative territory. “Australia's manufacturing sector edged back into expansion during February following the sharp labour and supply chain disruptions of the December-January period,” said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of Ai Group. “Price and wage pressures continued in February with some easing in the pace of increase in input prices. At the same time, selling prices accelerated suggesting further recovery of earlier cost increases. Encouragingly, new orders were…

Minister for Industry Support and Recovery Martin Pakula on 22 February welcomed Hanwha Defense Australia’s announcement that its $170m Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence will be established at the Avalon Airport Industrial Precinct. “We’re backing Hanwha to make the Geelong region its home because we know it will grow the economy for years to come,” said Pakula. “Victoria continues to lead the way in advanced manufacturing and this state-of-the-art facility in Avalon will create hundreds of jobs and deliver major benefits for local businesses in the supply chain.” Hanwha will use the new Avalon facility to build self-propelled howitzers to deliver the Commonwealth’s approximately $1bn LAND 8116 program. The investment will strengthen the state’s defence capabilities and create hundreds of highly skilled local jobs in design, engineering and advanced manufacturing. Construction on the 32,000 square metre state-of-the-art facility is expected to start later this year and take two years to complete – creating more than 100 jobs during construction. Richard Cho, Managing Director of Hanwha Defense…

The vehicle, aimed to be launched in 2030 and code-named the Polestar 0 Project, will be developed with the single goal of eliminating emissions from the entire supply chain including all logistics and support functions rather than planting trees to offset CO2 emissions. “At Polestar, we are not just about changing the cars we drive, we are about changing the way vehicles are made,” says Samantha Johnson, Managing Director of Polestar Australia. “Vehicles are not produced sustainably today but by addressing the challenge of climate change through the supply chain we can be part of the solution. “We know that Australia is home to some of the best innovative minds and businesses, manufacturing high-quality products that are competitive on the world stage. We are seeking their input into the global Polestar 0 Project as we accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility.”…

AMTIL member AW Bell won the Manufacturing and Advanced Materials Export Award at the 2021 Australian Export and Investment Awards last November. The award takes a prime place at the entrance of the Victorian metal casting and precision engineering business. “It is a great recognition of the innovative work that our team has been doing the past 10 years,” says Sam Bell, the company’s CEO. “We are also very grateful to our partners, suppliers, customers and ongoing government support.” Leading defence primes are among AW Bell’s many valued customers for its precision manufacturing of components, which it supplies for defence land vehicles, submarines, F-35 fighter Jets, missiles, gun mounts and targeting systems. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), BAE, Marand (ground support equipment), Levett, Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin are its key customers for the F35 jet components. AW Bell manufactures and supplies high-strength aluminium castings for the aircraft’s camera housing and decoy measure housing. Among its many other precision defence products and global defence clients, AW Bell also supplies Thales (Bushmaster) and…

In automotive racing, Team Penske is synonymous with winning. Its legacy has been forged by the leadership of founder Roger Penske and a team of individuals and partners dedicated to producing champions. Hundreds of race wins, pole positions and scores of national championships accentuate their commitment to excellence. However, for Team Penske, achieving that kind of performance means constantly asking how things can be done better, and technology is a cornerstone of that cause. “Technology plays a big role in racing today.” Those are the words of Team Penske President, Tim Cindric. According to Cindric, technology isn’t invented at the racetrack but rather, it’s demonstrated there. One technology that Team Penske has fully embraced is additive manufacturing. Using Stratasys 3D printing solutions, Team Penske turns ideas into racetrack reality much more quickly than previously possible. Highlighting its impact in race strategy preparation, Cindric adds: “It gives us more ideas of what’s possible.” That’s understandable since for Team Penske, additive manufacturing solutions cover a lot of ground. “When we first started using 3D printing in the early 2000s,…

In 1990, manufacturing companies drove the world economy, yet in just three decades, service companies have come to dominate – companies with well-defined leadership principles. In this time Australian manufacturing has gone from 14% to 6% of GDP. Technological change, globalisation and political inaction were driving Australian manufacturing to near extinction. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for resurgence, but we cannot repeat history. Manufacturing must now be a sector that can manage the economic, environmental and social challenges of the next 30 years. Manufacturing must evolve again through new leadership, new management and new principles. It is said one must learn from the past to prepare for the future. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century created the mechanised manufacturing company and initiated an economic and technological transformation. It saw the rise of the owner-manager, who exploited workers of all ages in the drive for production and profit. It took over a century…

Established in Australia in 2012, Supacat is a compact prime in land systems servicing the Asia-Pacific market. The company does a lot of the design and development of military vehicle technology and components. It has its own vehicle platform that it provides to Defence, and it supports Rheinmetall with its defence projects such as LAND 400. Supacat’s core competencies are engineering and integrated logistics for products. PhoenxPLM is a leading consultancy partner for digital transformation for manufacturing businesses in Australia and New Zealand. It identifies opportunities across all industries participating in the manufacturing sector. Everything it does is focused around aligning business goals with outcome-driven technology built for digital transformation. David Kretschmer, Rheinmetall Partnership Lead at Supacat, and Kevin Metcalf, Principal Engineer and Teamcenter PLM Lead for Supacat, discussed the processes and engagements that the two firms collaborated on and then discusses what success looked like as well as what’s next for Supacat. AMT: What is the LAND 400 project? David Kretschmer:…

In school, Robert Clifford built a model of Bluebird, Donald Campbell’s record-breaking speedboat. At the time he went to and from school on a ferry, and loved being on the water every day. Then the era of the two-car family, and Hobart’s Tasman Bridge, put an end to the Tasmanian ferry industry. But Clifford knew where he wanted to be. “I wanted to be on the water,” he says. “But I couldn’t make a living in sailing. I had to go fishing, even though I didn’t want to be a fisherman.” It wasn’t an easy life, going after scallops and crayfish on small boats. He carried a dream, from childhood, of building something – of returning to a time when we travelled on ferries. So he started a ferry business. “It wasn’t successful,” he says. Clifford’s ferries only made money as a tourism business, taking visitors on night cruises. The cruises were going so well they had two boats running. Then in early January 1975, a bulk zinc…

Building on $70m of investment by Thales Australia in the Lithgow facility that has included new equipment and product development over the past decade, Phase 1 of this new industrial plan will establish a modern manufacturing and integration hub for the design, development and precision manufacture of next generation weapons systems for the Australian Defence Force, industrial partners and export customers. Testament to Lithgow’s distinguished, century-long heritage of producing world-leading small-arms and weapons systems for the Australian Defence Force, the ceremony was attended by leaders from local, state and federal governments including: Paul Toole MP, Deputy Premier of NSW and Member for Bathurst; Andrew Gee MP, Minister for Defence Personnel, Minister for Veterans Affairs and Member for Calare; and Senator for NSW Jim Molan. Toole said: “This is a momentous occasion for both Thales and Lithgow today. The $6.5m investment…

The outstanding contribution SPEE3D’s technology has made to furthering the manufacturing capability of Defense was recognised by the US Defense Strategies Institute (DSI) at their 6th Military Additive Manufacturing Summit, which took place in Tampa, Florida. At the summit, SPEE3D was announced as the inaugural winner of the Defense Strategies Institute’s Award for Expeditionary & Tactical 3D Printing Excellence. The Defense Strategies Institute (DSI) is a non-partisan Institute designed to assist in advancing the mission critical goals of the United States' Military and Government. They are also the organisers of the Annual Military Additive Manufacturing Summit event which enables thought leaders and key policymakers across military services, Defense agencies, and civilian organisations to come together for actionable discussions and debate. The 2022 Military Additive Manufacturing Summit focused on advancements made in the 3D printing space, as well as how the DoD is working to quickly integrate AM technologies in order to supply durable, affordable equipment and parts to the Warfighter in the battlespace. “We had an incredible number of entries…