AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY YOUR INDUSTRY. YOUR MAGAZINE
OCTINOV19
Bastion Cycles produce the “Holy Grail” of frame design...
MEDICAL
Renishaw additive manufacturing technology offers exciting new possibilities... See reverse for more information
Construction & Infrastructure State Spotlight: Queensland
Reinvent how you manufacture with Renishaw AM technology Bastion Cycles has developed a breakthrough additively manufactured (AM) bike frame described as “the riders holy grail”. AM technology offers new possibilities which cannot be achieved through traditional bike manufacture methods. Discover AM’s true potential through a selection of feature articles, case studies, industry news and opinion pieces to help you explore the possibilities of additive manufacturing. Learn more about additive manufacturing by visiting the Renishaw AM Guide.
For more information visit www.renishaw.com/amguide
Renishaw Oceania Pty Ltd 6 – 7 Gilda Court Mulgrave Vic 3170 Australia T +61 (3)9521 0922 F +61 (3)9521 0932 E australia@renishaw.com
www.renishaw.com
AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY YOUR INDUSTRY. YOUR MAGAZINE
OCTINOV19
MEDICAL Construction & Infrastructure State Spotlight: Queensland
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008
CONTENTS
Volume 19 Number 05 OCT/NOV 2019 ISSN 1832-6080
FEATURES MEDICAL Collaboration – The key to med-tech success Changing the lives of sleep apnoea sufferers IMCRC – Supporting medical innovation Additive manufacturing in radiation dosimetry AM enables Australian spine surgery innovation
44 48 50 52 54
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING Wire AM – A new additive technology Titanium - Perfect metal for human body parts How close are we to 3D printing organs? Post-processing — Enabling AM Revolutionising 3D metal printing
60 62 63 64 66
MATERIAL REMOVAL Tornos: Productivity and innovation Schaeffler SpindleSense cuts machine downtime
72 74
CUTTING TOOLS The temperature effect in turning How to optimise stainless-steel turning Reliable machining processes Zero-waste manufacturing Why taps are my favourite tool
76 78 80 82 83
CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE Building 4.0 – Revolutionising the Oz building industry Print your city?
84 86
FORMING & FABRICATION Fibre – The cutting edge of laser cutting Introduce your Factory Floor to Industry 4.0 Sheet metal laser cutting with exceptional accuracy
88 90 91
STATE SPOTLIGHT: QUEENSLAND Energy-efficient compressed air with Kaeser Sigma Sharpe Engineering – At the sharp end of oil & gas drilling Austalia’s first robotic hub
92 94 95
SOFTWARE Sevaan Group taps into IIoT with ZoomFab Sistema gets fit for growth with Epicor Takumi Precision: hyperMill Hansen Products goes digital with AspectPL
96 97 98 100
WORKHOLDING Dimac – Meeting all workholding needs
102
MOTORS & DRIVES Bonfiglioli powers Eilbeck on major tunnel projects
104
REGULARS
Collaboration – The key to med-tech success With government grants on offer and industry/ academia collaboration, innovative biomedical devices & technologies are being developed, built and commercialised in Australia for the global market.
56 AmPro Innovations – Production-ready printing AmPro Innovations designs/manufactures 3D metal printers - developing solutions in an advanced production environment and drawing on all the potential that AM has to offer.
60 Wire AM – A new additive technology
From the Editor From the CEO From the Ministry From the Industry From the Union
10 12 14 16 18
INDUSTRY NEWS Current news from the Industry
20
VOICEBOX Opinions from across the manufacturing industry
30
PRODUCT NEWS Our selection of new and interesting products
36
COMPANY FOCUS AmPro Innovation – Production-ready printing
56
ONE ON ONE John Croft – Additive Manufacturing Hub Manager
44
AM is a field where groundbreaking innovations are emerging all the time. One particularly promising new technique is wire-fed AM, which has many benefits.
68
68
John Croft – Additive Manufacturing Hub Manager
AMTIL FORUMS
106
AMTIL INSIDE – The latest news from AMTIL
110
MANUFACTURING HISTORY – A look back in time
118
The Additive Manufacturing Hub was set up by AMTIL in 2018 to promote AM and build its capability in Australia. As it marks its first year in operation, we caught up with AM Hub Manager John Croft.
AMT OCT/NOV 2019
HEADING
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MODEL Travels (X-Y-Z) Table Spindle Speed Tool Storage Floor Space
GENOS M460V-5AX 762x460x460 mm ø460 mm 15000 min-1 48 tools 2160x2810 mm
010
FROM THE EDITOR WILLIAM POOLE
Manufacturing in uncertain times The AMTIL team was in Germany in September, for the EMO 2019 machine tool exhibition, and it was a chance to get some insight into the current outlook for global manufacturing and where it might be heading. EMO 2019 took place against a backdrop of unusually heightened political uncertainty. Predictably, there was much discussion at the show about Brexit and the US-China trade war. But other geopolitical issues also fuelled the uncertain climate: both the RussiaUkraine conflict and tensions regarding Iran have caused disruption to machine tool exports, with little sign of any resolution in either case in the near future. This uncertainty has been accompanied by something of a slowdown in the machine tool industry. After eight strong years, global demand for capital goods has been in decline since late 2018. User demand in all regions of the world declined significantly in the first half of 2019. This has been felt especially keenly in Germany, with the EMO hosts seeing incoming orders fall by more than a fifth in the first six months of the year. This machine tool sector’s struggles were reflected in the broader European economy, which is recording some of its weakest numbers since the global financial crisis. Germany in particular has been hit by falling global trade, which in turn has had a knock-on effect for other major European economies. For the UK, the outcome of Brexit – at time of writing still scheduled for 31 October, but with many loose ends still unresolved – remains the great unknown, with implications for all of Europe and indeed the world. Nonetheless, the mood was by no means all doom and gloom. Despite a widespread resurgence in protectionism – epitomised by Brexit and the US-China dispute – efforts continue elsewhere towards opening up international trade, with the European Union currently pursuing trade deals with the South American trade bloc Mercosur, as well as with Mexico and Vietnam. And there was an equal focus on issues such as climate change, sustainability, energy efficiency and the circular economy, and the opportunities they create. Meanwhile, EMO 2019 was of course a showcase for the latest innovations that will shape manufacturing in the years to come, across areas such as automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the digitalisation of manufacturing processes. One highlight was umati, a new universal machine tool interface, the demonstration of which was a centrepiece of the exhibition, with 70 companies from 10 countries connecting 110 machines and 28 value-added services via the interface. It was just one example of the plethora of technical innovations on display at EMO. And Australia was playing its part as well, with impressive displays from ANCA, Sutton Tools and ProfiStop. Indeed, ANCA was among those companies participating in the umati demonstration, showing that our manufacturing technology sector can stand tall alongside the best in the world. We may be living in times of political instability and economic uncertainty, but EMO 2019 provided ample evidence that the manufacturing industry is facing the future with a positive approach to meeting the challenges and embracing the opportunities ahead.
Editor William Poole wpoole@amtil.com.au Contributors Carole Goldsmith Head of Partnerships & Sales Anne Samuelsson asamuelsson@amtil.com.au Publications Co-ordinator Gabriele Richter grichter@amtil.com.au Publisher Shane Infanti sinfanti@amtil.com.au Designer Franco Schena fschena@amtil.com.au Prepress & Print Printgraphics Australia AMT Magazine is printed in Australia using FSC® mix of paper from responsible sources FSC® C007821 Contact Details AMT Magazine AMTIL: Suite 1, 673 Boronia Rd Wantirna VIC 3152 AUSTRALIA T 03 9800 3666 • F 03 9800 3436 E info@amtil.com.au • W www.amtil.com.au Copyright © Australian Manufacturing Technology (AMT). All rights reserved. AMT Magazine may not be copied or reproduced in whole or part thereof without written permission from the publisher. Contained specifications and claims are those supplied by the manufacturer (contributor)
Disclaimer The opinions expressed within AMT Magazine from editorial staff, contributors or advertisers are not necessarily those of AMTIL. The publisher reserves the right to amend the listed editorial features published in the AMT Magazine Media Kit for content or production purposes. AMT Magazine is dedicated to Australia’s machining, tooling and sheet-metal working industries and is published bi-monthly. Subscription to AMT Magazine (and other benefits) is available through AMTIL Associate Membership at $165 (inc GST) per annum. Contact AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 for further information.
1474AMTOCT/NOV2019
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012
FROM THE CEO SHANE INFANTI – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL
Manufacturing Modernisation Fund set to boost investment in new technology The Federal Government’s new Manufacturing Modernisation Fund will contribute $50m in co-funding over three years to support transformative investments in technologies and processes as part of the government’s pledge to help manufacturing businesses innovate, develop global competitive advantage and create new jobs. According to the Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, the fund will “support businesses to upskill workers to maximise the benefits of technology” and is a “key part of the Government’s economic plan to create 1.25 million new jobs over the next five years”. It comprises a funding pool of $50m, accessible via two streams: • $20m for grants of between $50,000 and $100,000 for smallscale technology and efficiency improvements. • $30m for larger grants between $100,000 and $1m for transformative investments in technologies and processes. The smaller grants must be matched with a cash contribution by the recipient, whereas the larger grants will be provided on a 3-to1 funding basis, meaning 75% of eligible project costs must be covered by the recipient. Funding from other Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government grants cannot be used to fund the manufacturer’s share of eligible project costs, so demonstrating your business’ capability (in terms of financial and personnel resources) to undertake an eligible project, with or without grant funding, is key to putting your best foot forward. It is also important to note that even though businesses can apply for each of the funding streams, only one application (if successful) can receive grant funding.
(from the company board or equivalent) and financial resources necessary to fund the portion of project costs not covered by the grant funding and successfully complete the project. Like most other grants on offer, the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund is a competitive grant which means that you are competing against all other applicants for a share of the funding pool. Each application is therefore assessed on merit, based on how well it meets the criteria, how it compares to other applications, and whether it provides value for money for the Government. To give your business the best chance of securing your nominated grant funding amount, it is essential that you first score highly against the merit criteria, which is weighted based on importance as follows:
There are a few basic eligibility requirements that your business will need to meet before a grant application can even be submitted for consideration:
1. The extent that your project will improve your manufacturing competitiveness and lead to job growth
1. You must be an entity incorporated in Australia and classified as a trading corporation, which means that your trading activities must form a sufficiently significant proportion of your overall business activities and are not merely peripheral activities.
3. Impact of the grant funding on your project
2. You must be a small or medium sized manufacturing business, which means that your employee headcount (not full-time equivalent) must not exceed 199 employees. 3. Your project must involve capital investment and associated skill-based training to modernise your manufacturing processes, such as buying, constructing, installing or commissioning a manufacturing plant, equipment or software and relevant training and skills development to assist in integrating this technology into your business. 4. You must be able to demonstrate the level of job creation expected from your project and that you have the support
2. Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project It’s also worth noting that the amount of detail and supporting evidence that should be provided in your application should be commensurate with the project size and complexity, as well as the amount of grant funding you are applying for. Supporting evidence must also be provided to demonstrate how your project fares against the criteria – this is where companies usually fall short of putting their strongest case forward, even if the detail in their application describes the project well. Our corporate partner William Buck can undertake a prequalifying exercise to help you assess whether your company could be eligible for the grant and, if you are, to scope, prepare and submit a viable application with strong supporting evidence before the round 1 deadline of 31 October 2019. If you are keen to explore this grant opportunity further, please contact Dr Rita Choueiri, Director - R&D Incentives at William Buck, on rita.choueiri@williambuck.com.
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014
FROM THE MINISTRY THE HON KAREN ANDREWS MP – Minister for Industry, Science and Technology
Embracing technology to sustain growth Australia recently chalked up a 28th straight year of economy growth – an incredible performance by any measure and one that should be celebrated, particularly in the context of the global challenges we’re facing. We know though we can’t be complacent. We also know that embracing technology will be so important in helping drive Australia to a 29th year, a 30th year… a 50th year of economic growth. You get the point. Digital innovation presents a $315bn opportunity for Australia over the period to 2028 and has enormous potential to enhance our technology capabilities and provide economic security. Not only does embracing technology grow our economy, it improves our quality of life and creates jobs. It will be crucial in reaching Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Government’s target of 1.25 million new jobs over the next five years. Last month I held two roundtables with representatives from the tech industry. It was a fantastic opportunity to hear about all the great work happening in the sector. As Technology Minister I am committed to working closely with the tech sector to support growth and maximise opportunities – not only for their sector but for the Australian economy much more broadly. The roundtables were a chance for me to hear directly from businesses about the challenges and opportunities in front of us and their recommendations to improve and support growth. What came through clearly in our discussions was a strong desire on the part of both government and the sector to collaborate. We need to work together to create a long-term vision and a positive narrative about the benefits of technology for Australia. Through collaboration we can pool resources to overcome obstacles and achieve shared goals. I have spoken in great length about the benefits of bringing together industry and the technology sector. We’ve seen great examples of how technology is helping our core industries, like agriculture and mining, to continue growing. A great example of this is at a new business called Emesent, which I recently visited. It was formed in October last year after 10 years of research work with the CSIRO. The company has already established itself as a world-leader in autonomous drone technology, their workforce has tripled and they are exporting to around a dozen countries – all in less than 12 months! Emesent has plans to continue to grow and hire more people in the near future, but what’s just as exciting about the company’s
AMT OCT/NOV 2019
Minister Andrews recently visited Queensland-based start-up Emesent to announce the launch of the Federal Government’s Manufacturing Modernisation Fund.
technology is it’s also helping our mining industry. These smart drones are doing tasks that are unsafe for people – saving time and money and improving productivity. When it comes to technology, the Government’s role is to ensure we have the right policy settings that support the development, growth and adoption of that new technology. We are committed to providing an enabling environment for business and we have a range of initiatives to ensure we get the right balance between risk and innovation. In December, I released a digital economy strategy Australia’s Tech Future to provide a clear narrative about the opportunities of the digital economy and what the Government is doing to ensure Australia is well positioned for the future. Australia’s Tech Future provides a vision for how we will grow a strong and inclusive economy, boosted by digital technology. It outlines our priorities for managing the growth of the digital economy and managing its impact on industry and society. It is a forwardlooking plan to capitalise on the benefits of technology to improve the nation’s productivity and quality of life. Going forward, I want to ensure Australia is a great place to invest and that we support the development of technologies that will help drive business growth and jobs for the future. We need to ensure innovation includes all Australians – small business, large business, traditional industries and
We need to work together to create a long-term vision and a positive narrative about the benefits of technology for Australia. Through collaboration we can pool resources to overcome obstacles and achieve shared goals. new industries – with progress that leaves no one behind. The Government will always back start-ups and small and medium enterprises. I will promote a strong innovation and technology agenda and champion the opportunities and benefits of technology for all Australians. I will advocate for the tech sector in Cabinet and with my colleagues in Parliament. I will continue to engage and collaborate with the sector across the country, to discuss opportunities and challenges. Working together, we can drive the long-term development and adoption of technology across all sectors. It’s too important not to.
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016
FROM THE INDUSTRY INNES WILLOX – Chief Executive Australian Industry Group
IoT value untapped while cybersecurity threats grow It is fair to say that substantial progress in embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or ‘Industry 4.0’, has so far been confined to a relatively small number of leading Australian firms – both multinational and domestically-based. Embracing Industry 4.0 has stretched the gap between these leaders and the majority of businesses. There are certainly public policy actions that can help respond to these challenges, especially to develop our businesses – small to large, in new or traditional sectors – and to equip them to raise their horizons and competitiveness. In a recently released Ai Group report: The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Australian businesses in transition, we outline key policy priority areas where government and industry can work together to tackle these types of challenges. But irrespective of these challenges, there are examples where companies in Australia are punching above their weight and doing amazing things with new technology and leading the way for others. For our report, Ai Group interviewed several innovative companies from a range of industries who have decided to take the lead to invest in and implement these technologies. Our report also reflects on how industry has progressed in its digitalisation journey, as well as the underlying technological landscape, drawing from a range of sources including recent Ai Group surveys. There are two significant findings that we would like to share.
IoT value yet to be tapped Despite positive expectations that greater cost efficiency would drive adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), challenges remain in promoting its business value. According to the latest ABS data on business use of IT, more than 60% and 80% of businesses did not see any value in IoT and radio frequency identification devices (RFID), respectively. IoT was more likely to be valued by larger businesses (rated as ‘major value’ by less than 20%) and in industries such as mining, retail trade, transport, postal and warehousing, and information media and telecommunications. However, just over 10% of these industries saw major value in IoT. Similar to IoT, RFID was more likely to be highly valued by larger businesses; however, this still fell short of 10%. Transport, postal and warehousing placed the greatest value on RFID (major value at 10%).
Growing cyber-security threats Cyber-security threats continue to present a growing and evolving risk management issue for many businesses. Approximately one-third of businesses surveyed by Ai Group reported they had experienced a cyber-security incident of some kind. This is a relatively high number, highlighting that businesses in Australia are susceptible to such incidents and are not isolated from an increasingly connected world. Given that there may be undetected incidents that are unknown and therefore not reported, the numbers could be higher. The most common incidents arose from phishing attacks, hacking in some shape or form, and malware. Compounding this, some businesses experienced multiple incidents including virus infections, hacking, malware, phishing, and denial of service. By way of contrast, ABS surveys reported that over 10% of businesses experienced a cyber-security incident in 2017-18, while almost 20% did not know. Notably, wholesale trade and manufacturing were the ABS’s top two industries that reported cyber-security incidents. (Generally, the difference between Ai Group and ABS data may be attributable to the broader range of businesses surveyed by the ABS, including sole traders and non-employing businesses, which our survey did not intend to cover.)
AMT OCT/NOV 2019
Not surprisingly, a significant majority of businesses who responded to our survey and experienced cyber-security incidents also invested in mitigation measures. Beyond these businesses, 61% proactively invested in cyber-security measures in 2018 – the proportion of these responses were unweighted and therefore includes more manufacturers than other sectors. This is in stark contrast to the almost 80% of respondents in our previous survey who reported that they did not use cyber-security technology, with barely 10% seeing cyber-security as an inhibiting factor for their business. While our latest survey did not explore other drivers for cybersecurity investment, the higher proportion of businesses investing in cyber-security (especially proactively) compared to our previous survey suggests a dramatic shift in industry attitudes. The ABS data was less optimistic than Ai Group’s findings – almost half of businesses did not see any value at all in cyber-security measures. Certainly, whatever their differences, both surveys indicate that a proportion of businesses did not invest or value the importance of cyber-security technology or other measures. Akin to safety, cyber-security is an ongoing risk management consideration for any business. Lack of business investment suggests that either more work could be done to improve cybersecurity posture, or that some businesses feel they already have adequate levels of protection. These figures coincide with the commencement of various data privacy legislations in 2018, including the Australian Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) Scheme in February 2018, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018. By the end of March 2019, there were more than 1,000 data breaches reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commission since the NDB Scheme commenced. Over this period, almost 60% were due to malicious or criminal attacks, and over a third due to human error. Despite relative improvements in our findings on increased business cyber-security investment, causes for these data breaches point to the need for cyber-security hygiene within organisations, as well as more general improvements in internal management of personal data to minimise human errors. The full Ai Group report is available here: www.aigroup.com.au/policy-and-research/mediacentre/reports For further information on cyber-security: www.aigroup.com.au/policy-and-research/businesspolicy/ cyber-security
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018
FROM THE UNION PAUL BASTIAN – National Secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
Dark clouds gather for the economy The latest economic indicators are out, and none of them are good. Despite securing the passage of their personal income tax cuts package when Parliament resumed sitting after the Federal Election, consumer confidence remains low and retail spending is weak. Australia’s per-capita GDP is lower than it was this time last year, and private-sector growth is anaemic. These results are the worst yet in a series of bad results. It is clear that more decisive action is needed to turn our economy around and avoid a recession. There are several things that could be done to improve the state of the economy.
1. Businesses can invest in their workers In an uncertain economy, it’s understandable that businesses are reluctant to provide pay rises. It’s clear, however, that years of low wage growth is dragging our economy down. Consumer spending accounts for approximately 60% of GDP. When consumer spending is weak, the effects are felt throughout the entire economy. Wage rises of 1.5%-2.5% are not enough to keep our economy ticking over at a healthy rate. Household disposable income has fallen by 1% in the past year. Australian workers need a pay rise to inject some stimulus into the economy. The Treasurer has told us all not to worry, that the Government’s much vaunted tax cuts will soon flood through the economy and get workers spending again. The reality is that tax cuts are no substitute for a wage rise. The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Philip Lowe, has been arguing for businesses to provide bigger wage increases as monetary policy reaches the limits of its capacity to prop up an ailing economy. Giving workers a decent pay rise is an investment that will pay off in the medium term as consumer confidence boosts the economy and creates more demand.
2. The Government can invest in infrastructure and manufacturing The Liberal Government likes to depict unions as wanting to destroy Australian businesses and industry. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unions want Australian businesses and industry to be successful. But just as we’ve seen that personal income tax cuts are an ineffective way to stimulate consumer spending, so are business tax cuts an ineffective way to stimulate business spending. The latest figures show that businesses are running down their inventories and avoiding capital expenditure, while posting record profits and shareholder dividends. Government revenue will be reduced by billions of dollars in the long-term, while Australian taxpayers see little to no return on the investment the government has made in business on their behalf. We need a targeted stimulus program that will boost Australian skills, enhance the international competitiveness of Australian businesses, and make Australia a manufacturing country once again. We cannot rely on mining booms indefinitely. We need to be more than a country that digs stuff up and ships it off. We need jobs that are secure, skilled, and well paid. We need government investment in Australian manufacturing. Federal and state governments must include local content minimums in their procurement contracts. We should be making our trains, trams and buses here in Australia, using local businesses in the supply chain, including using Australian steel. The Federal Government should be supporting the rail manufacturing industry through a National Rail Plan that will smooth out the peaks and troughs in acquisitions.
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We need a targeted stimulus program that will boost Australian skills, enhance the international competitiveness of Australian businesses, and make Australia a manufacturing country once again. The Federal Government can encourage investment in lithium battery manufacturing technologies, and work co-operatively with business and unions to ensure we have the skills to make the most of this emerging industry. The Federal Government can support the emerging electric vehicle industry through grants and partnerships. The Federal Government can invest in improving our country’s ageing infrastructure, partnering with states to deliver upgrades to our road and rail systems and realising the super-fast rail project. State and federal governments could stimulate the contracting housing construction sector with a massive investment in building social and affordable housing, tackling the scourge of rising rates of homelessness and providing jobs in construction all at once. And the Federal Government could support jobs in the renewables industry by creating policy certainty and restoring the $500m that was cut from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) in 2016. There is no shortage of ways to get the Australian economy back on track. Options are available for both businesses and governments to boost the economy. Businesses can invest in their workers through pay rises and invest in the economy through capital expenditure. For the price of company tax cuts, governments can directly support Australian manufacturing businesses, invest in infrastructure, and encourage research and development in highvalue growth industries. The AMWU will be campaigning, as always, for governments of all levels to invest in Australian manufacturing through their procurement, and through any other avenues available. Unless someone does something, we are on track for a recession. The government must open its eyes to the reality that tax cuts aren’t enough, and businesses must share their profits with their workers. Workers don’t have the power to avert a recession, but they’ll suffer the sharpest consequences.
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Sensis Manufacturing SMEs took advantage of $30,000 instant asset write-off The latest Sensis Business Index has revealed that manufacturing is the top sector that took advantage of the $30,000 instant asset write-off, introduced by the Federal Government this year. In the last financial year, 35% of manufacturing small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) accessed the tax incentive, with tools and equipment (61%) and electronic devices (58%) as the top two claimed items. Overall, fewer than one in three Australian small businesses applied for the $30,000 instant asset write-off, citing lack of funds and spending as a deterrent. Other findings specific to the manufacturing industry from the index include: • 57% of manufacturing SMEs expressed confidence in their business prospects over the next 12 months, with only 16% worried. • One in two manufacturing SMEs expects moderate-tosignificant expansion. • 47% would opt for a bank loan to finance their business The latest Index revealed that Australia’s small business confidence has been experiencing a post-election bounce, with 57% of businesses now confident in their prospects over the next 12 months. One in three business owners and managers believe the economy is slowing down and one in two believe it is at a standstill. Overall, 22% of businesses expect an improvement in the economy over the next 12 months and 30% believe the situation will get worse. Sensis CEO John Allan commented: “It’s great to see more than half of SMEs across the nation feeling upbeat about their business outlook post-election, despite their concerns about the current state of the economy.” Tasmania, with 63% of businesses expressing confidence in their prospects, remains the most
confident state followed by Queensland at 60% and Victoria at 58%. South Australian businesses are the most concerned, with 24% expressing fears about the economic slowdown, while 21% of businesses in both New South Wales and Western Australia are worried about their prospects. Metropolitan businesses (58%) are feeling more confident than their regional counterparts (52%), with half of metro SME owners and managers (52%) expecting significant or moderate expansion in the coming 12 months, 7% higher than the regional average. Regional businesses are 13% less likely to increase headcount of their current operations than metro businesses. One in three Australian small businesses (36%) said that the current Federal Government policies for small business are having no impact. At the state level, only one in five SMEs believe that state policies are supportive of small business, with ACT leading the pack, followed by Tasmania and NSW. Across the country, 37% of businesses believe excessive ‘red tape’ is holding back their growth. This was highest in Victoria with 41% of businesses quoting red tape as an issue. In NSW, 35% of businesses view insurance as the second highest hindrance after red tape (36%), while 37% of South Australian and Tasmanian businesses believe insurance is putting the brakes on their growth. Access to finance is still a significant issue for Australia’s small and medium businesses. The index found that 30% of business owners and managers believe it is harder to access finance than it was six months ago, while 57% believe there has been no change.
Dr Bronwyn Evans announced as new CEO of Engineers Australia Engineers Australia has announced that Dr Bronwyn Evans will be the new Chief Executive Officer. Dr Evans is an experienced and respected CEO who brings a wealth of leadership, commercial and policy expertise that she has gained across a career spanning corporate and not-for-profit roles at the forefront of engineering in Australia and globally. Those have included CEO of Standards Australia, senior executive roles at Cochlear Ltd and GE Healthcare, as well as non-executive board experience in the construction, medical technology and digital business sectors. “Over the last few years, Engineers Australia has modernised its governance and operations to support the increasingly important role of the profession in Australia’s economic, social and sustainable future, with our advocacy and media engagement also at an all-time high,” said Trish White, National President and Board Chair of Engineers Australia. “Our board looks forward to Dr Evans advancing this work, growing our organisation through provision of clear member value and furthering the influence of our profession
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in the ethos of community service embedded in our Royal Charter. “An electrical engineer who has led successful corporations across manufacturing, construction, research and standards-setting, Dr Evans is well-placed to lead our organisation into its next chapter as the engineering profession transitions to take advantage of the technological disruptions and innovation of the future.” Dr Evans said she was excited to take on the role. “With the global megatrends shaping our future relying so significantly on engineering insight and leadership, it is a fascinating and important time for the profession,” Dr Evans commented. “I am looking forward to working closely with the Board, the staff and the broader membership to continue to grow and advance our organisation.” Dr Evans took up her new role on 3 October.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Australian ‘digital twin’ technology set to transform manufacturing CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm - Data61 announced the launch of its Mixed Reality Lab in Melbourne on 20 August. The lab will enable manufacturing and other industries to create ‘digital twins’, or virtual replicas of physical objects and systems. By 2020, the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates 30% of the top 2000 global companies will be using data from Digital Twins of Internet of Things (IoT) connected assets to improve product innovation success rates and organisational productivity, achieving gains of up to 25%. The Mixed Reality Lab houses a set-up of industrial and consumer optical cameras and sensing equipment to capture detailed information about a physical object and the space surrounding it. The equipment is underpinned by sophisticated algorithms which merge the enormous amounts of data collected to create a digital twin in a matter of minutes. Matt Bolger, senior software engineer at Data61, said the lab is a unique combination of Data61’s research expertise across machine learning, computer vision, computational modelling, IoT, and CSIRO’s patented Stereo Depth Fusion technology for depth estimation. “This technology is game-changing for manufacturing and other industries,” said Bolger. “By comparing a digital twin of a manufactured object against the original design, we can quickly, accurately and cost-effectively identify defects and map entire manufacturing processes across a global supply chain. Defective components can be identified in real-time and corrected, while downstream processes can be adjusted to minimise the impact of delays.” Dr Simon Barry, Analytics and Decision Sciences research director at Data61 added that the Mixed Reality Lab is an example of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in action, blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres. “This is the future of smart factories, where the digitalisation of the full value chain will enable real-time situational awareness and lead to better decision making and planning,” Dr Barry said. “Digital twins of manufacturing processes, human movement and even our cities and infrastructure will significantly improve productivity, reduce costs and transform all manner of industries.” Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the Mixed Reality Lab is a prime example of how technology can create new value in a vital sector of the economy. “Taking up technologies, like digital twins and augmented reality, can improve productivity and strengthen our competitive advantage in a global value chain,” Minister Andrews said. “A thriving manufacturing sector is part of our government’s plan to grow the economy and create 1.25 million new jobs over the next five years.” The Mixed Reality Lab can be scaled depending on the size of the object being scanned. It can be tailored to applications across health, agriculture, mining and other industries to automatically validate a component or process. “Our technology can also be applied to humans to analyse their movement, using deep learning and biomechanical modelling,” Bolger said. “This could help elite athletes improve their performance and reduce workplace injuries.”
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Small businesses unprepared for the latest wave of scams Over half of Australian small business owners are concerned their business will be scammed, yet a quarter do not have processes in place to prevent the latest wave of scams hitting our shores, according to new research. The Westpac State of SME Scams Report found small businesses are paying a hefty price to scammers; on average losing $38,845 and recovering much less than half (44%). Almost half (46%) of small businesses suffered additional financial consequences after the incident, most commonly having to invest significantly in improved scam protection (25%). Despite the financial implications, two-thirds of small business owners are not training staff in scam awareness and prevention and three in five don’t believe they need to invest more into staff development to prevent scams. Ganesh Chandrasekkar, General Manager of SME Banking at Westpac is encouraging small businesses to think about their people as the most effective defence against scams. “While most small businesses are confident they can identify scams, many of the latest scams we’re seeing, like business email compromise scams and remote access scams, are so well disguised it takes a lot of expertise to recognise and safely avoid them,” says Chandrasekkar. “The research reveals scams are not only money-wasters, they are time wasters too. On average, it takes small businesses 33 days to rectify a scam and 42% of
business owners said they lost valuable time that should have been spent in their day-to-day operations. “With increasingly sophisticated methods being used to target small businesses, causing financial and reputational hardship, it’s important business owners strengthen their defences. A good start is putting more resources into education and training to increase awareness among staff.” The findings show the most frequent forms of scams encountered by small businesses are phishing, followed by false billing and invoice, and domain name renewal scams. It’s those relating to false billing and invoicing which are the most effective, impacting one third of small businesses today. ‘Scam shame’ is a common emotional side effect, affecting twothirds of small business owners who have been scammed. Two in five small business employees were also worried they would lose their job when they realised their business had been impacted. The results show the consequences of being victim to a scam are not just internal facing, as a third of small businesses also faced brand and cultural repercussions, with 15% reporting their clients were negatively impacted.
BOC launches Queensland-first renewable hydrogen project BOC has announced the commencement of a Queensland-first renewable hydrogen project at its production facility in Bulwer Island, Brisbane. The $3.1m end-to-end renewable hydrogen supply project received $950,000 funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and is supported by the Queensland Government. BOC will install a 220kW electrolyser supplied by ITM Power and a 100kW solar array to produce renewable hydrogen through electrolysis at its Bulwer Island site. The electrolyser will have capacity to produce up to 2,400kg of renewable hydrogen per month to power hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEV) and supply BOC’s industrial customers. A state-of-the-art hydrogen refuelling station will also be supplied and installed by BOC at a site in Brisbane, with capability to refuel HFCEVs in under three minutes. John Evans, Managing Director for BOC South Pacific, said the project will leverage BOC’s existing infrastructure and expertise across the entire hydrogen supply chain, and support the introduction of hydrogen as a zero emissions fuel in Queensland and Australia. “BOC is proud to be establishing a local supply of renewable hydrogen in Queensland that can be easily scalable and replicated across the country,” said Evans. “We will also demonstrate our
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leading refueller technology that has been widely adopted across Europe and the US. The renewable hydrogen we produce will provide added environmental value to our industrial customers and facilitate the introduction of HFCEVs in Queensland, while supporting our own production processes at Bulwer Island. “We look forward to working with ARENA and our other partners to create new learning opportunities and build skills for a future hydrogen industry – which are key priorities outlined in the Queensland Hydrogen Industry Strategy and the upcoming National Hydrogen Strategy.” Darren Miller, Chief Executive Officer at ARENA, said BOC’s project would help to encourage other companies to enter the hydrogen market. “BOC’s project is a great example of how current industrial gas equipment and infrastructure can be used to take advantage of the growing hydrogen market,” said Miller. “Producing hydrogen on site will reduce shipping costs, while being able to help grow the local Brisbane fuel cell vehicle market and also meet demand for local industry.” The project is expected to be completed by mid-2020.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Flaim Systems wins Startup of the Year award Geelong-based startup FLAIM Systems (FLAIM) took out the Award for the Startup of the Year at the nation’s leading digital innovation awards, the Australian Information Industry Association’s (AIIA) iAwards, on 29 August. FLAIM’s innovative new virtual reality (VR) and haptic technologies are revolutionising the way firefighters and first responders around the globe are trained. The company’s FLAIM Trainer, developed from research & development at Deakin University, means that firefighters can now train for the fireground without being exposed to dangerous carcinogens or the hazards of fire. FLAIM joins a list of successful homegrown Australian innovators recognised by the iAwards, including Atlassian, WiseTech Global and Google Maps. “We are delighted to receive this recognition as Australia’s leading digital tech Startup of the Year at the AIIA’s iAwards,” said FLAIM Systems CEO and CTO James Mullins. “We are proud to be one of Australia’s leading innovators and a global leader in virtual reality and haptic development, creating jobs here in Victoria.” With FLAIM’s training systems, firefighters across a number of industries including
emergency services, defence, aerospace and mining can now train anywhere, anytime and safely. It is also enabling firefighters to learn how to use tools such as foam with no environmental impact. FLAIM’s globally patented VR technology immerses firefighters in a real fire scenario, where they feel heat and the force of the water and the hose, along with realistic sound and vision. FLAIM captures user performance, enhancing training outcomes. Instructors monitor respiration and air usage, and effectiveness of firefighting operations – a world-first in the industry. Now in its second year of operation, FLAIM is exporting to 14 countries and has 18 employees and is set for further growth as it expands into new international markets. FLAIM recently launched its second product, the FLAIM Extinguisher. This training tool will allow people to learn how to operate a fire extinguisher at home, in the office or in the workplace.
Austin Engineering recognised as top innovator Specialty mining equipment manufacturer Austin Engineering has been recognised by The Australian Financial Review (AFR) as one of Australia and New Zealand’s Most Innovative Companies of 2019 for its two-piece excavator bucket. In the Agriculture, Mining and Utilities category of the annual AFR/ Boss Magazine Most Innovative Companies listing, the Brisbanebased mining equipment designer and manufacturer ranked second out of more than 800 nominated organisations across Australia and New Zealand. Compilation and ranking of the annual list by a panel of expert judges is based on a rigorous assessment process. And, for the first time in 2019, organisations were ranked directly against their peers. The assessment process measures a unique innovation implemented in the past 12 months. Specifically, the judges look at how valuable the problem is that the innovation is solving, the quality and uniqueness of the solution, and the level of impact that the innovation has had. Cultural aspects of the company that demonstrate a sustainable and repeatable approach to innovation, including strategies, resources and process, are also part of the assessment process. Designed and manufactured in Australia by Austin Engineering, the two-piece bucket features well-defined reusable upper and consumable lower structures, designed for quick and safe bucket change-outs during scheduled maintenance intervals. The reusable upper section has been designed to maintain overall structural integrity of the assembly for a predetermined service life through multiple change-outs of the lower, consumable, section. Both sections of the bucket are fabricated with combinations of high-strength steel for maximum fatigue resistance and durability. According to Austin Engineering, typical baseline service life for the upper section service will be in the vicinity of 30,000 hours – approximately four to five years based on industry expectations of conventional one-piece buckets of similar size and capacities.
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“This is a prestigious award and we are honoured to be a recipient,” said Peter Forsyth, Managing Director at Austin Engineering. “Our commitment to the mining industry, our industry, has been one of innovation and our product range reflects that commitment. We are committed to developing and manufacturing the reliable equipment our customers demand to maintain productivity and profitability. And we are not about to change our approach.”
INDUSTRY NEWS
RUAG Australia wins Lockheed Martin certification RUAG Australia’s Wingfield Surface Finishing Centre is now Australia’s second Lockheed Martin approved facility for the application of fuel tank coatings in accordance with specifications for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The facility’s technology enables a 97.6 % reduction in curing time over ambient conditions, ensuring Lockheed Martin benefits from accurate and prompt component availability. RUAG’s new capability for aerospace component finishing was officially inaugurated on 11 July and operates in conjunction with the large-volume (6.5sqm) processing tanks at Wingfield. Establishing a second approved facility within Australia for the coating of internal and external fuel tanks was a strategic priority for the JSF program. The RUAG Wingfield Surface Finishing Centre fulfills the requirement for an additional incountry fuel cell processing facility, as well as structural components, even ahead of F-35 full-rate production. It also serves to reduce risk within the F-35 global supply chain. “We are proud to have achieved this accreditation,” states Terry Miles, General Manager, RUAG Australia. “Our new and enhanced capability supports Australian Defence, and the aerospace industry, with the requisite alternative supply chain solution for surface finishing.” The Wingfield Surface Finishing Centre is certified according to Lockheed Martin’s MIL-C-27725/AMS-C-27725 specification. In addition, the paint booths installed at the Wingfield facility comply with Australian Standard AS NZS 4114.1. They feature 10-micron
inlet filtration and are sealed to prevent dust inclusions impacting paint finishes. Lighting has also been configured to provide in excess of 1200 lux at the working surface. The paint booths are temperature-controlled (both heating and cooling) and have a full downdraught configuration providing the best performance for paint overspray removal. Structural components that are exposed to aircraft fuel are coated with fuel tank coating. The fuel tank coating is sprayed onto part surfaces similar to normal primer and topcoat finishes, and a full cure is achieved after 21 days of ambient curing. RUAG’s fuel cell oven has been certified for curing F-35 fuel cell components within a period of 12 hours, by successfully achieving an environment of 60°C ±5°C and maintaining relative humidity within a range of ±5 %. Fuel cells are inspected for conformance to Lockheed Martin specification LMA-PJ264 requirements. “This new fuel cell coating accreditation and the requisite capabilities at our Wingfield centre represent our direct response to the global needs of the aerospace industry and, importantly, the needs of Australian Defence,” confirms Stephan Jezler, Senior Vice-President Aviation International, RUAG MRO International. “Our partners and suppliers within the manufacturing supply chain rely on us for this responsiveness and reliability.”
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CIPS announces new General Manager for Australia, New Zealand The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) has appointed Sharon Morris as General Manager for Australia and New Zealand. Morris, currently CEO of Mother’s Day Classic Foundation, Australia’s largest breast cancer research fundraiser, took up the role in late August 2019 following the decision of the current General Manager Mark Lamb to step down. With over 20 years’ experience in managing a wide range of projects in both Australia and other regions, Morris brings with her a wealth of experience of the not-for-profit and membership sectors. Malcolm Harrison, Group CEO of CIPS, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Sharon has decided to join CIPS in this key role at a really exciting time for the profession. We have chosen a proven business leader to take CIPS in Australia and New Zealand to the next stage of its evolution. Her leadership experience will bring with it new perspectives for our profession as she works alongside the procurement community to continue to build capabilities and strong networks for our collective future success. “I’d also like to take this opportunity to pass on our thanks to Mark Lamb, who has driven CIPS forward in the region with passion and drive over his time with us; we wish him every success.” Morris added: “I am very excited to be joining CIPS and I am really looking forward to getting to know this dynamic and exciting
profession. As I look across the business spectrum, procurement and supply is intrinsically placed to be a real change agent and driver for the greater good. Issues such as modern day slavery, sustainability and ethics are core not only for this profession but also for the wider society to address; and CIPS is positioned perfectly to drive that agenda forward – I can’t wait to get started.”
Australian manufacturing growth dependent on younger generation Australia’s manufacturing sector needs the support of the country’s younger, globalised generation if it is to continue its growth trajectory, according to new research. A St George Bank survey of more than 1,000 consumers revealed that ‘Australian made’ is not as important to 18-to-24-year-olds (23%) when purchasing a product, compared with 69% of 55-to74-year-olds, even though the younger generation are invested in purchasing from sustainable businesses. The youth age group are also not willing to pay more for Australian products (45%), and 36% don’t believe they are better quality than overseas counterparts. Matthew Kelly, Head of Manufacturing and Wholesale at St George, said even though the manufacturing sector in Australia has seen almost two years of sustained growth, the challenge businesses face is competing with low-cost imports, particularly when it comes to the younger generation. “The sector is far from fading,” said Kelly. “Automation, artificial intelligence and pure inventiveness are enabling new business models and processes that are transforming an industry which already contributes $100bn to Australia’s GDP. “However, it’s clear from the research that the industry needs to do more to create a compelling value proposition for the next generation, aligned to what matters most to them when purchasing products. This could be through the reduction of carbon emissions, investing in innovative manufacturing techniques to reduce costs, and future sustainable materials.” St George’s Future of Manufacturing Report has identified greater collaboration and partnerships are needed to drive the sector
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forward and support a new wave of advanced manufacturers who are future-proofing the industry. According to the report, to succeed in the face of disruption, advanced manufacturers need connections to research & development (R&D), skilled workers, and access to financial support. “Advanced manufacturing has the ability to be more competitive and offer better value to consumers, importantly those who are less loyal to Australian made products,” said Kelly. “These businesses aren’t necessarily new tech companies, they are wellestablished organisations reinventing themselves and willing to invest in new ways of doing things.” The report concluded there is significant room for Australian manufacturers to increase adoption of advanced characteristics through greater collaboration on R&D, generating different revenue streams with new product and service offerings and increased technology investment. Kelly added: “We understand one of the significant barriers to manufacturers investing is cashflow shortfalls. St George has a unique understanding of the sector and specialised expertise and products to help businesses grow and succeed, including an invoice discounting solution that helps manufacturers access capital tied up with aged debtors, and equipment finance to support business growth. Transformation can be confronting, but as an industry I believe we all have a role to play in nurturing businesses that will fuel the sector and St George is committed to helping manufacturers create new models for growth.”
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New Federal fund to modernise manufacturing The Federal Government has announced the launch of a new $160m fund aimed at helping small and medium-sized Australian manufacturers to invest in new technology, grow and create new jobs. Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund would help manufacturers become more competitive by co‑funding investments in new technologies. “Strengthening our core and emerging manufacturing industries is a key part of the Government’s economic plan to create 1.25 million new jobs over the next five years,” Minister Andrews said. “This delivers on the Morrison Government’s commitment to help manufacturing businesses innovate and develop competitive advantage so they can thrive globally. “Investing in technology can transform businesses, enabling them to become more productive, manufacture new products and create new jobs. The fund will provide grants to small and medium manufacturing businesses so they can invest in capital equipment and new technologies to modernise and employ more Australians. It will also support businesses to upskill workers to maximise the benefits of technology.” The Manufacturing Modernisation Fund will include $50m from the Government and will be matched by at least $110m from industry. The fund will have two types of grants: • $20m will be for matched grants of between $50,000 and $100,000 for smaller scale technology investments. • $30m for larger-scale grants of up to $1m, on a three to one funding basis with industry, to support transformative investments in technologies and processes. The fund builds on other Government investments in manufacturing growth and competitiveness, including the $100m Advanced Manufacturing Fund, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, the Entrepreneurs’ Programme, and the $40m Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre. For more information on the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund visit www.business.gov.au/MMF
Victorian start-ups launch into future The Victorian Government has ramped up support for early-stage and scaling start-ups through a $1.9m investment via LaunchVic. The funding will support 12 programs to connect startups from a range of disciplines with investment opportunities. Grants ranging from $10,000 to $250,000 have been awarded as part of LaunchVic’s Grant Round X and follow-on funding of high-performing programs. Recipients include Impact Investment Group, to establish the Impact Angel Network, and Startup Victoria to establish peer-to-peer mentoring groups for 50 of Victoria’s most promising scaling start-up founders and CEOs to share learnings and challenges and accelerate growth. In the past three years LaunchVic-funded programs have backed 386 companies and organisations and more than 4,800 entrepreneurs, providing mentorships, accelerator programs, bootcamps and other support to help early-stage businesses reach their potential. Victoria has a record of success when it comes to transforming start-ups to high-value firms. The state is home to eight “unicorns” – businesses valued at more than $1bn: REA Group, Carsales.com, Seek, MYOB, Aconex, Pexa, Airwallex and Envato. Victoria has more than 2,700 start-up companies valued at $3.2bn, contributing significantly to jobs and driving economic growth. “These grants are further evidence of our commitment to supporting early-stage businesses and helping entrepreneurs learn from industry experts, navigate the difficult start-up phase and reach their potential,” said Victorian Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Trade Martin Pakula. “We’re getting on with encouraging more people to start and grow innovative businesses that can create the jobs of the future right now.” LaunchVic Chief Executive Dr Kate Cornick added: “Continuing to support growth in early-stage startups is critical in ensuring a continued pipeline of scaling companies that can contribute to Victoria’s economic prosperity.”
Sheffield’s advanced manufacturing facility to support Western Sydney jobs One of the UK’s leading research facilities will help establish a world-class advanced manufacturing centre at the new Western Sydney Aerotropolis, creating high-quality local jobs. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on 14 August signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), which will become a Foundation Partner at the Aerotropolis. Premier Berejiklian said the new facility would create thousands of highly skilled job opportunities for young people in Western Sydney. Built on the site of an old coking plant, the AMRC and the cluster of high-tech companies growing around it are working to transform industrial decline into high-quality jobs. “This facility has transformed Sheffield’s job market and trained more than 1,300 highly-skilled technical apprentices who are now working with Rolls-Royce, Boeing and BAE Systems,”
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Premier Berejiklian said. “With the support of AMRC, young people in Western Sydney will soon have the same opportunity to work with 130 leading industrial companies to develop skills in advanced manufacturing, aerospace and medical devices.” Stuart Ayres, NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney said the MoU was a giant step towards making Western Sydney a centre for manufacturing, research and technology in the Asia Pacific. “The Aerotropolis will make Western Sydney the Australian capital for advanced manufacturing and at the same time delivering future jobs closer to where people live,” Ayres said.
Every business has different needs. Business Management To run a successful business, it’s not enough to have a great product or service. You need to understand your challenges and continually identify and leverage growth opportunities. The Entrepreneurs’ Programme (EP) is a Commonwealth Government flagship initiative focused on raising the competitiveness and productivity of eligible companies at an individual level. The Business Management element of EP will provide practical support to help your businesses improve and grow through sustainable management strategies and process capability enhancement. EP’s Business Management element offers: •
On-site support from a highly credentialed industry specialist adviser or facilitator.
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Funding through matched grants of up to $20,000.
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Access to business networks, government services, and specialist assistance.
To find out what the Entrepreneurs’ Programme can do for you, contact Greg Chalker 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au
www.amtil.com.au Commonwealth Government Entrepreneurs’ Programme partnering with AMTIL
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Bruno Bello (Mech eng, Mech design, PDMS, MBA Melb) Entrepreneurs’ Programme Business Adviser
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Why are digital assets so vital in today’s business world? Businesses are increasingly being judged on the strength of their digital branding and their online footprint. Companies that don’t invest in their digital assets risk getting left behind. By Deb Croucher. Digitisation is a tsunami of unprecedented proportions sweeping relentlessly across the business landscape with no respect for geographical borders, your loyal team or the blood sweat and tears you’ve put into building your organisation. Being big or established doesn’t give you the automatic clout it once did. Consumers can now effortlessly choose from a multitude of competitors and follow trends with a few swipes of their thumb. An expensive property in a prime location no longer ensures passing trade will come in the door. And in the B2B world you are increasingly judged by the strength and consistency of your digital brand and footprint. Digital assets are appearing on balance sheets across every industry. ERP systems that drastically improve performance and productivity are now essential for anyone who wants to have a hope of staying competitive. And effective websites, social media channels and email communications are the minimum required to compete in the marketplace. As business owners we are staring down the barrel of two stark choices: Build the right digital assets to surf the wave. Or watch our businesses get wiped out.
So, what is a valuable digital asset? So how do you know which digital assets to invest in? After all, if you get it wrong it can be disastrous. You can waste months of your life, thousands of dollars and a scary amount of opportunity by going down the wrong path. There are many people more qualified than me who can talk to you about digital ERP systems. But when it comes to digital marketing, we have hundreds of years of combined experience in our team at Brilliant Digital and we certainly know where to invest for the best return.
Stay on brand … or die!
Content is the currency Your brand message starts with the key problems your client is facing, and builds into your solution. As you create the words around your solution, keep your focus firmly on the customer. If your digital brand message is not clear you need to stop and fix it first before you spend any more money anywhere else on digital platforms and marketing. A good digital strategist and a content producer are the key skill sets you need if you don’t have those in house. The reality is that content is the currency. The words, images, videos and podcasts that form your digital brand are actually the most valuable digital marketing assets you own. Take time to produce quality and then guard it fiercely.
Do you own it? Can you control it? Is it safe? Here’s an interesting concept. Which digital assets do you actually own and have full control over? If you put your content on your website, you own it. Period. Your website is yours and as long as you keep it secure … you control the content on it. You can make the content and structure Google-friendly and get thousands of people coming from free Google searches every day, looking for you and your business. Clearly that’s a very powerful digital asset. Hard work to build, but solid and secure. Your database and email and phone number list are also obviously highly valuable assets you own and can work to deliver huge rewards. What about if you put content on Facebook or Instagram? Do you own it now? Or do the social media giants have the right to take it down at any time? (They can and they have.) Can you control what else goes up around your LinkedIn posts? (No, of course you can’t.) So is content on social media a digital asset or not?
Let’s start with the basics: Brand.
To answer that question, you need to think about whether you are taking a short-term or long-term view.
This is incredibly important. Get your brand right and you will massively multiply the return on every marketing cent you spend. Get it wrong or inconsistent and your business will die… literally. Your business will be swept away by the wave.
If you are building a solid business based on loyalty, trust and delivering consistently for years and years to longstanding clients, then your website and SEO are the digital assets to invest most heavily in.
Just to be clear, digital brand is not just a logo or a set of colours or images associated with your business. A digital brand is everything your customers or potential customers see, hear, feel and think about when they find you and your business online.
Social media is important for brand awareness and as a driver to your website, but trying to feed it several times a day with content that gets washed away by the relentless digital tide is going to send you broke. However, if you have a product, service or business which has a short shelf life, then social media and advertising will create the hype and excitement you need to get a quick and fast result.
Think about some of the components of that for a moment. Words. Photographs. Videos. Audio files. Logo and colours. Lots of people do a great job of the logo, colours and shapes. But they don’t think about the words and messaging around their brand. That’s a huge and very expensive mistake. And a great opportunity for you.
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Deb Croucher is the founder and CEO of Brilliant Digital. www.brilliantdigital.com.au
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PPSR: Do you know what it is? Many business owners may be not be aware that they run the risk of falling afoul on asset loans if they fail to register their security interests. Rob Murphy provides some guidance. The Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) came into effect in January 2012 and effectively abolishes ownership (title) of an asset as the right to recover it from a customer or client in liquidation. The requirement is not widely known by business owners, but it can cause significant delays when financing equipment or selling existing equipment. The Personal Property Security Register (PPSR) allows lenders and businesses to register their security interests. Secured parties, buyers and other interested parties can search the PPSR to determine whether a security interest is registered over the personal property. Examples of personal property include: • Art • Cars, boats and caravans • Crops and livestock • Inventory • Plant and machinery • Shares Non-material items included • Accounts • Intellectual property • Investment instruments • Licences Business owners purchasing second-hand equipment need to establish if a security interest is registered over the personal property prior to taking on the additional equipment. If assets are to be sold and they are not de-registered when finance is repaid, there can be settlement delays during application processing.
Financing asset purchases Registration of a security interest (i.e. a charge, mortgage or debenture over business assets) on the PPSR is the only way that parties with an interest in an asset, such as plant or equipment, can ensure that they are able to recover it. In many transactions there are two separate relationships: one between the lender and the owner; the second between the owner and the customer. There is no relationship or ‘privity of contract’ between the lender and the customer. Lenders are generally very efficient at registering their security interests, but if the owner does not register its security interest in the asset against the customer and the customer faces liquidation, the owner will lose the asset. Having lost the asset the owner may potentially be unable to repay the lender and face liquidation or bankruptcy themselves, leaving the lender out of pocket even with a valid security registration over the asset.
Lender risk mitigation Lenders have ways to minimise their risk. The first is the inclusion of provisions within their loan agreements prohibiting the sale or hire of the financed asset without the lender’s prior written consent. This means that the owner must notify the lender before it parts with possession of the asset, otherwise it would be in breach of the loan agreement. The lender would then be allowed to terminate the agreement and immediately recover the asset, with the owner usually liable for any possible lender recovery costs, including legal costs.
A requirement for owners who are in the business of leasing or selling assets is for the owner to provide proof of a valid security interest registration against the entity leasing or purchasing the assets before providing the purchase funds. This adds another layer of complexity to the asset transaction. Failure to comply with the lender’s requirements may result in significant delays and costs to the owner.
What about vehicles? For vehicles, watercraft and aircraft, a chain of registrations from lender to owner and from owner to end-user may not be required. Vehicles are registered through their ‘serial number’ and serial number registration may be found by searching the serial number alone (VIN, chassis or manufacturer’s number). Many lenders take a conservative approach in assuming that the serial number registrations alone are not sufficient to protect their secured asset. Some liquidators return these assets, while others retain them based on the lack of privity of contract argument mentioned above – this is an untested area of law in Australia.
Conclusion The PPSA has been around for seven years and is here to stay; moreover, lender compliance requirements may well become even stricter. Business owners need to be aware of the potential for the PPSA to disrupt and delay financed equipment purchases, and should equip themselves with the skills and knowledge to comply with lender requirements. Professional legal advice goes a long way in avoiding finance problems. Rob Murphy is a Business Adviser with the Commonwealth Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme (EP). AMTIL is a partner organisation working with the Department of Industry in the delivery of the EP. www.business.gov.au/EP
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TAILORED SOLU TOTAL CUSTOME For over 30 years, DDM Laser has been offering high-quality laser cutting systems. We provide customer tailored solutions to suit individual requirements. Our factory-trained service technicians are skilled in both Fiber and CO2 laser systems. DDM Laser is proud to be the number 1 Australian supplier of TCI Cutting Waterjet and Laser Systems. Manufactured in Europe to the most stringent procedures, TCI Cutting are unequalled in value for money. Talk to us about our preventative maintenance programs, breakdown interventions and whole machine repairs and refurbishments.
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TECH NEWS
USA: Making metals malleable A surprising discovery not only upends 100-year-old notions about how metals deform, but could help guide the creation of stronger, more durable materials without risking fractures. Engineers manipulate the strength of a metal through techniques such as cold working or annealing, which exert their effects through small structural irregularities called dislocations. Strengthening techniques typically restrict the motion of dislocations. So it was a shock when the researchers discovered that the material samarium cobalt — known as an intermetallic — bent easily, even though its dislocations were locked in place. A recent study has shown that an intermetallic can be deformed plastically by a significant amount even when the dislocation slip is absent. Instead, bending samarium cobalt caused narrow bands to form inside the crystal lattice, where molecules assumed a free-form “amorphous” configuration instead of the regular, grid-like structure in the rest of the metal. Those amorphous bands allowed the metal to bend. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UK: World’s thinnest gold Scientists created a new form of gold which is just two atoms thick – the thinnest unsupported gold ever created (one million times thinner than a finger nail). The material is regarded as 2D and all atoms are surface atoms, there are no ‘bulk’ atoms hidden beneath the surface. It is 10 times more efficient as a catalytic substrate than the larger gold nanoparticles currently used in industry and it is providing a route which would allow material scientists to develop other 2D metals. Synthesising the gold nanosheet takes place in an aqueous solution and starts with chloroauric acid and is reduced to its metallic form in the presence of a “confinement agent”. The flakes are also flexible, meaning they could form the basis of electronic components. It is considered that there will be comparisons made between the 2D gold and the first 2D material ever created – graphene. University of Leeds
USA: Soft robots controlled by light and magnetic field Researchers have developed a technique that allows them to remotely control the movement of soft robots, lock them into position for as long as needed and to later reconfigure them into new shapes - repeatedly. A polymer embedded with magnetic iron microparticles was used. This material normally holds its shape. However, by heating up the material using light from an LED, the polymer is made pliable. Once pliable, the shape of the robot can be controlled remotely by applying a magnetic field. After forming the desired shape, researchers remove the LED light, allowing the robot to resume its original stiffness – effectively locking the shape in place. By applying the light a second time and removing the magnetic field, the robots return to their original shapes. Or the light could be applied again and the magnetic field manipulated to move the robots or to assume new shapes. North Carolina State University
USA: Ultrafast pulsed laser joins ceramics Lasers enable engineers to weld ceramics without a furnace, resulting in smartphones that don’t scratch/shatter, metal-free pacemakers, electronics for harsh environments etc. The process uses an ultrafast pulsed laser to melt ceramic materials along the interface, causing localised melting and then fusing them together. This is called ultrafast pulsed laser welding. It works in ambient conditions and uses less than 50 watts of laser power, making it more practical than current ceramic welding methods that require heating the parts in a furnace. Currently there is no way to encase electronic components inside ceramics because the entire assembly is placed in a furnace, which burns the electronics. As a proof of concept, the researchers welded a transparent cylindrical cap to the inside of a ceramic tube. Tests showed that the welds are strong enough to hold vacuum. Ceramic materials are biocompatible, extremely hard and shatter resistant (deal for biomedical implants and protective casings for electronics). University of California, San Diego
Australia: Speediest quantum operation yet A group of physicists in Sydney led by 2018 Australian of the Year, Prof Michelle Simmons, have built a super-fast version of the central building block of a quantum computer - achieving the first twoqubit gate between atom qubits in silicon – a major milestone to build an atom-scale quantum computer. A working large-scale quantum computer has the potential to transform the information economy and create the industries of the future, solving in hours or minutes problems that would take conventional computers – even supercomputers – centuries. UNSW
Australia: Cool solution for CO2 refrigeration in hot climates Adelaide-based Glaciem Cooling Technologies and the University of SA have developed what is claimed to be the world’s most efficient air-cooled CO2 refrigeration system. The company now plans to target the Middle East. Natural refrigerants such as CO2 (R744) have become more common as traditional synthetic refrigerants are phased out due to their harmful environmental impact. Previous CO2 systems in hot climates use cascade systems. These systems are efficient but the secondary refrigeration unit still contains a synthetic refrigerant. This unit uses dew point technology (provided by SA refrigeration company Seeley Int.) to pre-cool air before it enters the refrigeration system’s condenser. The system also has a component that can store excess electricity. Testing at The Bend Motorsport Park (100km SE of Adelaide), showed the R744-only system had operated efficiently over the past 12 months, including on a day in January when the ambient temperature at the track reached 47.5°C and many conventional refrigeration systems around the state failed. The Lead
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TECH HEADING NEWS
USA: Objects change colours like a chameleon PhotoChromeleon is a reversible process for changing the colour of objects. It involves reprogrammable ink sprayed or painted onto the surface of any object. This lets the objects change colours when exposed to UV and visible light sources. It can be used to customise anything from a phone case to shoes, or a car. “Users could personalize their belongings and appearance on a daily basis” said CSAIL postdoc Yuhua Jin. This process updates the previous system:“ColorMod”. The ink was created by mixing CMY photochromic dyes into a single sprayable solution, eliminating the need to painstakingly 3D print individual pixels. And then controlling each colour channel through activating and deactivating the light sources. After coating an object with the solution, the user simply places the object inside a box with a projector and UV light. The UV light saturates the colours from transparent to full saturation, and the projector desaturates the colours as needed. It is fully reversible and can be repeated infinitely.
involves a two-step process that begins with forming hundreds of thousands of stem-cell-derived aggregates into a dense, living matrix of OBBs. Next, a vascular network through which oxygen and nutrients can be delivered is embedded by writing and removing a sacrificial gelatin “ink”. When the cold matrix is heated, it stiffens, while the gelatin ink melts and is washed out, leaving a network of channels embedded within the tissue construct that can be perfused with oxygenated media to nourish the cells. Wyss Institute at Harvard University
MIT (CSAIL)
UK: “Flying fish” robot
Australia: CSIRO to co-develop high energy, highly safe EV batteries
The launch of robots that can transition from water to air requires a lot of power, which has been difficult to achieve in small robots. Now, researchers have invented a system that requires just 0.2 grams of calcium carbide powder in a combustion chamber. The only moving part is a small pump that brings in water from the environment the robot is in (lake or ocean).The water and powder then combine in a reaction chamber, producing a burnable acetylene gas. As the gas ignites and expands, it pushes the water out as a jet, which propels the robot clear of the water and into a glide of up to 26m. It can escape from the water’s surface even under relatively rough conditions. Imperial College London
A new partnership between CSIRO and Japanese chemical co. Piotrek, will see Australian-developed battery technologies commercialised globally within the next five years. This will enable the next generation of lithium battery technologies, and address a critical safety need with lithium batteries by helping prevent battery fires. “Together we will develop the world’s safest, longer life solid state high energy battery” said Piotrek GM Ihei Sada. Solid state lithium batteries typically use a lithium metal anode, the highest specific energy of all battery anodes, enabling next generation batteries with twice as much energy than today’s lithium batteries. Additionally, there is no volatile or flammable liquids that can catch fire at low temperatures if the cell is damaged. The system uses CSIRO’s proprietary RAFT technology which allows versatility for different types of batteries and fuel cells, and will also significantly reduce the cost of device assembly and manufacture. CSIRO
USA: 3D printing viable human tissue 3D-printed human tissues to date lack cellular density and organ-level functions. Now, a new technique called SWIFT (sacrificial writing into functional tissue) overcomes that by 3D printing vascular channels into living matrices composed of stem-cell-derived organ building blocks (OBBs). Rather than 3D printing an entire organ’s worth of cells, SWIFT focuses on only printing the vessels necessary to support a living tissue that contains large quantities of OBBs. SWIFT
“If we bring our mind to where it really matters, space is one of them, because you need to get your mind around more than melting steel; you have to work with very complex technologies, and we have it all in Australia today”. Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, at a Space Industry Opportunities event, at UNSW last September, where it was noted that space activities offered a way to increase the complexity of the national economy away from commodity-extraction and towards advanced manufacturing.
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Kemppi releases its new MasterTig range Kemppi has launched the new Kemppi MasterTig family. Designed to withstand demanding welding environments and high temperatures, the next generation of MasterTig welding machines has been developed to set new standards in usability, welding quality capability and power efficiency. The new Kemppi MasterTig range has been redesigned with the professional welder very much in mind. The machine’s Weld Assist feature lets welders set up 60% faster to increase productivity. Welders simply select the material, thickness, joint type and welding position. Weld Assist then determines the best parameters for the welding task. It also provides recommendations for the electrode size, filler wire, gas flow, groove type, pass profile and travel speed. Welders can also weld up to 30% faster, thanks to the MasterTig’s Double Pulse function. Double pulse accelerates the travel speed in DC hand welding and mechanised applications. This not only allows welders to power through work, it reduces distortion levels and delivers excellent weld appearance. Double Pulse also reduces heat input by 20%, helping to minimise welding costs. The new MasterTig range is also packed with high-technology features that enhance TIG welding. The MicroTack function lets you complete multiple, repetitive tacking on thin sheet applications quickly and without forgoing quality or the visual appearance of the weld. iTEC is engineered ignition technology. It ensures a reliable arc start every time and is particularly useful with long torch extensions for site welding or precise thin materials and low current applications. The Optima AC feature is a customised waveform that combines the best of the traditional sine and square forms. It improves welding quality while reducing the noise level in AC TIG welding by 20%. Other advanced features of the new MasterTig range include 99 memory channels, a weld time clock that lets you measure and record job data, and Auto Pulse. The new MasterTig range is also highly energy-efficient. Dynamic gas and water cooling ensure optimal temperature control and power efficiency. Depending on the welding power level and duration, the power source cooling fans moderate air flow and cooler motor run time between 15 seconds and four minutes to reduce electrical power consumption and localised noise levels. The new range also offers considerable choice. Welders can select models with power
variants in 230A and 300A. What’s more, the modular design of the machines lets you tailor the MasterTig to your needs. You can choose from various control panels, wireless remote controls and transport cart options as well as personalise the screen saver by uploading your company logo or favourite image. Designed for AC and DC TIG welding as well as MMA welding, the new MasterTig range is also light and compact. Moving the machines is easy. The transport units feature floor level cylinder loading, removing the need for heavy lifting. And the P45MT transport unit integrates an innovative pivoting cylinder plate for safe cylinder loading. Tough and robust, the MasterTig range is built from strong, energyabsorbing, recyclable plastics. The machine’s structure also incorporates impact bridges that protect the power source from everyday knocks www.kemppi.com
Threading with maximum productivity and process reliability Walter AG is releasing the new TC620 Supreme thread milling cutter in diameters up to M20. High cutting pressure and tool deflection are the greatest challenges when it comes to thread milling. This results in restricted cutting parameters, necessary cutting passes and short tool lives or even tool breakage. With the TC620 Supreme universal thread milling cutter, Walter is now transferring the functional principle of its T2711 indexable insert thread milling cutter to smaller diameters too.
reached the end of their tool life. Walter is launching the TC620 Supreme for thread depths of 2 and 2.5 × DN in the dimension range from M4 to M20 as well as UNC 8 to UNC ¾ – and is therefore seamlessly linking to the Walter T2711 indexable insert thread milling cutter.
Tool wear is drastically reduced thanks to minimal cutting forces and the resulting high feeds per tooth. The multi-row concept not only reduces the machining time and wear, but also improves process reliability and handling – even when used with more demanding materials such as stainless steels or Inconel 718.
www.walter-tools.com
Reliable chip evacuation, thanks to internal coolant, and simple handling of the TC620 Supreme guarantee maximum process reliability. Radius corrections are seldom necessary, and when they are required, it is often only once competitor tools have already
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PRODUCT NEWS
Handling made easy for external reaming of small diameters Fine machining of small outer diameters is often dealt with using grinding processes. External reaming makes an interesting – and cost-effective – alternative. For example, if an IT6 fit needs to be created on a lathe in a series production setting, external reamers with adjustable insert and guide pads can be relied upon to get the job done. This requires the tool’s diameter and the back taper of the insert to be set with pinpoint accuracy. Making that as simple as possible was what Mapal had in mind when it developed the EA (EasyAdjust) system. With the EA system, the back taper of the insert is already integrated in the cassette that serves as insert holder. Consequently there is no need to go through the process of setting the back taper of the minor cutting edge. The only thing that needs to be set is the overhang of the insert with regard to the guide pads. This is generally a quick and simple task. However, that has previously been the case only up to a certain diameter. In the case of external reamers with small machining diameters, setting is still quite a challenge. A measuring sensor has to be inserted into the external reamer, zeroed to the guide pads and located at the cutting edge to set the corresponding overhang – a procedure that is aggravated by a very limited view of the inside of the tool. This calls for a certain amount of skill on the part of the worker, as well as the right training. Mapal has developed a new system to make setting external reamers with small diameters a much simpler process. This involves the cassette of the EA System being integrated in an additional
cassette. This cassette can be removed, and the insert can be set quickly and easily using a micrometer or a surface plate. The appropriate setting dimension for the insert is engraved on the reverse of the tool. This dimension corresponds to the midpoint of the tolerance for the fit to be created. Once setting is complete, the cassette is mounted again. The changeover accuracy reaches 2-3µm. Thanks to this changeover accuracy and the extraordinary simplicity of setting the insert, the new system means that it is now much easier to comply reliably with the required tolerances and extremely precise fits, even in the case of small diameters. The EA System can be used with indexable inserts with four or six cutting edges. www.mapal.com
Mi-con ‘flat pack’ conveyor system eliminates equipment redundancy Leading materials handling manufacturer Enmin has launched a revolutionary new modular conveyor system called mi-con (Modular Incline Conveyor System). For more than 40 years, Enmin has built custom material handling solutions for a myriad of products, applications and environments. Mi-con is the first hygienically designed full wash down system ever to offer multiple standardised components, providing maximum flexibility and allowing customers to select what will best suit their specific product and production needs. “We recognised the industry demand for flexible, reliable, costeffective equipment and that’s what led us to designing our micon modular conveyor system,” Enmin General Manager, Anthony Gallaher said. “The key benefit of this modular system is that it eliminates equipment redundancy and expands with the customer’s business. It can be added to, extended and modified in the years ahead as a company’s production needs evolve.” The flexible modular design coupled with a range of standard parts and components, ensures suitability for multiple applications. Micon is the only conveyor system on the market that can be delivered flat-packed in a box, allowing fast and cost-effective delivery and simple installation by the customer’s maintenance team. It can also be delivered to the customer partially complete or fully complete for quicker installation and commissioning. Fully Australian-made, the mi-con system is constructed of 304 stainless steel and all components and running gear used are FDAapproved and suitable for a full wash-down environment. A range of
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accessories is available that allows the customer to semi-customise the conveyor to suit the type of product they are handling or the site’s operational requirements. All items have been hygienically designed to meet the toughest of OH&S standards while maintaining flexibility and quality. The modular intermediate section can be used to extend the available in-feed and out-feed sections and also increase the overall discharge height of the conveyor. With two standard belt widths of 500mm and 700mm and incline angle options of 60 and 75 degrees, the mi-con will suit a wide variety of applications and space constraints. The system can utilise either a PU flat, scooped cleated wave wall, or a plastic modular design depending on the application. Other Enmin conveyor options include accumulation, takeaway, bag conditioning/flattening delivery conveyors and packing tables – all designed to fit perfectly with the mi-con system. “We are confident our new mi-con system will revolutionise product conveying equipment and provide years of economical, trouble free operation for a multitude of product applications,” said Gallaher. “Like all Enmin products, advanced design, outstanding build quality and reliability is a given. We believe that the market potential for the product is huge as it can be utilised by any food and ingredient manufacturing facility.” www.enmin.com.au
PRODUCT NEWS
Tungaloy’s new face mill eliminates interference issues Tungaloy has now introduced its new DoQuad-Mill, the latest breakthrough in face milling cutters that is designed to address interference between the cutting tool and the workpiece. Standard face milling tools generally prevent end users machining close to walls or fixture clamps due to inclined entry angles. The DoQuad-Mill has been developed with a near 90° entry angle that ensures the DoQuad-Mill cutter is interference-free and therefore capable of face milling extremely close to the walls and other features. The double-sided square insert with eight economical cutting edges incorporates a concave cutting edge profile with a large inclination angle. This improves swarf evacuation and generates barrel-shaped chips, a feature that prevents swarf re-cutting. The inserts incorporate a large rake angle that generates low cutting forces that generates a smooth cutting action and reduces stress and forces on both the machine spindle and cutting tool. This is extremely effective and suitable for customers operating low-powered machine tools or working with low rigidity or weak fixture settings. The exciting new DoQuad-Mill offers cutter diameters ranging from 50mm diameter up to 100mm in either standard or close pitch insert designation. The standard pitch variant is designed to ensure chatter-free milling whereas the close pitch cutter is suited to AMTIL_Outlined_V2.pdf 1 6/9/19 11:09 applications where high-feed and high-speed machining is essential.
The DoQuad-Mill inserts are available with corner radii of 0.8mm, 1.2mm and 2.0mm. For precision machining applications that require high-quality surface finishes, a wiper insert is also available. The DoQuad-Mill is available with a selection of insert grades and coatings to cater for the machining of a wide variety of material types. This includes the AH3135 PVD grade that has a high fracture resistance, making it the first-choice grade for machining steel and stainless steel. Complementing the AH3135 is the AH120, a PVD grade that is ideal for general milling applications in steel and cast iron. For machining cast iron at high speed, the DoQuadMill can also accommodate the Tungaloy T1215 CVD grade that demonstrates exceptional wear and chipping resistance. For the productive high-speed machining of both steel and stainless, the T3225 grade is the first-choice grade. The tool life, longevity and performance of the insert grade is enhanced by Tungaloy’s proprietary PremiumTec Special Surface Technology. Increasing both toughness on the coating and surface smoothness, the PremiumTec technology improves resistance to chipping, eliminates built-up-edges and increases fracture resistance. www.tungaloy.com
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PRODUCT NEWS
OMAX presents waterjet cutting versatility and precision at EMO 2019 OMAX Corporation has unveiled the powerful OMAX 5555 JetMachining Center, equipped with a 40hp EnduroMAX pump and Tilt-A-Jet, as well as the latest in personal waterjets, the ProtoMAX, at the EMO 2019 exhibition in Hannover, Germany. The OMAX 5555 is a perfect fit for shops needing an industrial machine with a smaller footprint capable of cutting 1,397mm by 1,397mm. With a completely sealed and protected ball screw drive system, this robust and reliable workhorse is perfect for shops cutting projects needing high precision. The Tilt-A-Jet lets your waterjet achieve virtually zero taper with most materials. The Tilt-A-Jet can position the nozzle at an angle calculated by the software to exactly offset the taper from the jet. Taper doesn’t disappear – it just gets moved to the scrap part of the material, leaving your part with exactly square edges. In addition to its industrial machines, OMAX was demonstrating the new ProtoMAX personal abrasive waterjet system at EMO. ProtoMAX is a compact, selfcontained cutting system ideally suited for prototyping and low-volume cutting of almost any material, up to approximately 26mm thick. With all the versatility benefits of large abrasive waterjet cutters in a sleek and economic package, the ProtoMAX is perfect for small job shops, engineering classrooms, makerspaces and personal
IntelliMAX control software. IntelliMAX was engineered specifically for use with abrasive waterjets and requires no special machine code knowledge to use. A person with no CNC machine operation experience can learn to cut parts on an OMAX waterjet in just a few hours. OMAX provides free online machine operation and maintenance training, so customers can access training information as needed and at their own pace.
use. It also makes a useful addition for large shops and fabricators that need occasional waterjet capabilities to complement their other cutting systems. Energy-effective direct drive pumps power both large machines. OMAX direct drive pumps use less electricity and water while reducing component fatigue. These pumps also run quietly and cleanly, making them the ideal solution for shops that want to do more with less. Attendees at EMO also got first-hand experience of OMAX’s easy-to-operate
IntelliMAX software is compatible with more than 90 different file formats, including all major CAD program file types, plus graphics file formats such as JPEG, GIF, and PNG files. This means almost any 2D or 3D part file can be imported directly into an OMAX waterjet controller and turned into a real part. All OMAX lines of abrasive waterjets can cut almost anything, including aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon fiber composite, ceramic, copper, fiberglass, glass, granite, Kevlar, marble, stainless steel, titanium, tungsten and much more. www.omax.com
FARO introduces Cobalt Design 3D scanning solution FARO has announced the availability of the Cobalt Design structured light scanner product family. Structured light scanning technology uses projected light patterns with a camera system to capture large areas at once and, as a result, significantly reduces data capture time and delivers quicker results. Combined with FARO’s recently introduced RevEng software platform, Cobalt Design delivers a one-stop, comprehensive digital design solution where small-to-medium-sized objects can be scanned with precision, in colour, with multiple levels of resolution. It is the first colour, structured light scanner from FARO specifically developed for design applications and is ideal for scanning complex surfaces, especially highly detailed organic shapes. Cobalt Design addresses a variety of design requirements, including reverse engineering, prototype design, packaging design, digital cataloging and even jewelry and fashion design. Cobalt Design enables design professionals to set up scan parameters
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once and then proceed to scan similar objects with the push of a button. Furthermore, several pre-configured scanned and meshing settings are available by default. This in turn translates to less time per scan position, more scans per day and faster completion of scan projects. Additionally, it ensures that results are repeatable and reliable. The integrated, rotational axis dramatically improves the 3D scanning process and maximizes comprehensive scanning coverage. The scan object/part itself is placed in fixed position on the axis and then the axis can be set to automatically rotate up to 360 degrees as it is being scanned. Cobalt Design captures millions of 3D measurement points in as little as one second with up to 3.1Mpx accuracy for
small to medium complex objects. Precise and high-quality textured scans can be captured in color and delivered as realistic images that enable even more detailed representations of geometric surfaces and finishing in true to life 3D color. “The introduction of Cobalt Design together with the RevEng software platform reinforces our commitment to be the market and thought leadership for 3D data capture solutions across a variety of design-centric industries and applications,” stated Thorsten Brecht, Senior Director – 3D Design. “We have elevated the 3D structured light paradigm by paralleling the development of both hardware and software, so users are able to leverage every ounce of advanced functionality of both technologies in concert.” www.faro.com
PRODUCT NEWS
Leussink expands Demmeler range Leussink Engineering, the exclusive Australian distributor of Demmeler 3D welding table systems, has expanded its range of accessories with new lightweight angles, PPC bolts, and quick access clamps, adding to the versatility of the Demmeler system. German brand Demmeler first developed its 3D clamping system in the 1990s and it’s gone on to become an international industrial standard due to the many possible applications and combinations. The new range of angles allows users to expand the working area of the Demmeler table, both up and out, making it easier to set up jigs or weld larger items. The new range includes four models in different sizes that are made of a combination of aluminium and titanium, which makes them light but also very strong. “The new aluminium/titanium Demmeler angles weigh only a third of similar angles made from steel,” says Leussink Account Manager Russell Brinkworth. “So a user is lifting only 12kg instead of 35, which makes a huge difference to the function of the Demmeler table. “As well as extending the working surface of the Demmeler table, the angles also act as a stop and allows the user to secure workpieces at 90 degrees. The 50mm borehole grid make the angles easy to handle and move into place for accurate work, and the kidney-shaped 90-degree system groove makes continuous angle adjustment possible.” The Demmeler range has also been expanded with a range of PPC bolts. These are self-centering, force-locked and lowwear clamping solutions. Manufactured from high-quality hardened steel makes them extremely robust. The locking mechanism for the new PPC bolts employs a cone instead of the usual ball system, which provides more force but less wear and tear due to its polygon shape. The force is also evenly distributed. “Our other Demmeler bolts are also high precision, but these new PPC bolts are next level,” Brinkworth explains. “They are very easy and quick to clamp and unclamp. When
used with the Demmeler power screwdriver with quick-change coupling, they are 10 times faster than conventional for both inserting and tightening, and loosening and pulling, with just one hand, leaving your other hand free to hold or move your work. They also have a low susceptibility to dirt due to the O-ring.” The third new product range is two quickrelease clamps with a ratchet. They are five times faster for clamping than conventional clamps, saving valuable workshop time. They also provide higher clamping forces quickly with little expenditure of energy.
INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN DIFFICULT TO MACHINE MATERIALS
These aluminium/titanium angles, PPC bolts, and ratchet clamps complement the extensive Demmeler range of clamps, bolts, angles and many more, and are compatible with the Demmeler table system – including the hardened range. “The Demmeler 3D workbench and welding table is a versatile jig and fixtures system for all types of welding and fabrication work,” says Brinkworth. “Projects such as steel construction, sheet metal processing, robot technology, assembly and measuring equipment, laser welding, laser cutting, prototype construction, body construction, and many others can be set up easily and precisely. It can meet all horizontal and vertical requirements. “At Leussink we don’t just sell tables and walk away. We work with our clients to make sure the Demmeler 3D table system works for them by providing onsite visits and follow-ups. Through our knowledge and decades of experience, Leussink is able to create welding and fixturing solutions for the Australian market that stand the test of time. We work with our clients to capitalise on efficiencies and productivity, without compromising quality and accuracy.” www.leussink.com.au
Contact us for more information digital@sutton.com.au
www.suttontools.com
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MEET YOUR NEW CO-DESIGNER
Image courtesy of General Motors
You’ve seen what the cloud can do for data security, remote collaboration and responsive workload growth, but did you know it’s also ground zero for a new paradigm in design and manufacturing? Welcome to generative design, where countless high performance geometries are calculated and executed in the cloud, giving you as many choices as you need to analyse and prototype to find the optimum design. For the first time, the ‘aided’ part of CAD is coming truly to life. As the design lead, you need only specify the materials and project specs the 3D model requires and generative design does the rest. It’s an approach tailor made for the computing world we live in today. AI analyses the project requirements and can build thousands of design permutations, calculating the impact of changes in materials or dimensions and seamlessly repurposing other elements to maintain the performance constraints you’ve established. Just like life forms react to environmental pressures, your design evolves according to performance parameters like retaining strength while using less material, staying flexible despite changes in materials, etc. And it’s all done and delivered by the storage and processing power of the cloud, faster than we ever could in the standalone PC or mainframe era. If you’re familiar with topology optimisation, you could think of generative design as the next logical step. An established part of 3D design science has always been to manually manipulate your model to find the optimal geometry, testing and reshaping your design according to your needs after the application generates it. Generative design not only does all that for you, it gives you as many options as you could possibly review, all of them adhering to the project parameters. Even during the eras of manufacturing lathes, computers and stone flints, the history of the built world has always been a process of figuring out the best methods through trial and error. But a lot of design constraints like heights, weights, flex or stress and materials can be expressed numerically. As our tools or parts get more complex, the ever-finer calculations needed are simply too much for a human engineer but as we know, calculations are exactly what computers do best.
You’re still the project lead, selecting the best design iteration for the job. But now, generative design gives you a limitless virtual R&D factory producing as many choices as you could possibly want. Even variables particular to the manufacturing process down the track – whether additive or CNC machined – can be accounted for. Autodesk is putting the power of generative design into the hands of all our users, and the interoperability of AI in the cloud has been the inspiration behind some exciting product additions. All users of Autodesk Product Design and Manufacturing Collection including Fusion 360 now have generative design tools at their fingertips. As an Autodesk user, you also have access to cloud credits, our pay-as-you-go service to supercharge your design applications with the full power of generative design technology. GENERAL MOTORS CASE STUDY The future of the car will revolve around improvements in environmental impact and customisation, and it’s a future auto maker General Motors is embracing now. With 30,000 parts in the average vehicle, tools like generative design and additive manufacturing gives GM a huge opportunity to do things better. GM engineers had an encouraging proof of concept recently with development of a new seat bracket, the tool that secures seatbelt fasteners to the inside of the car body. The software produced 150 alternative designs and a seamless single-piece geometry was selected that outperforms the box-like, eight-piece traditional version in both weight and strength. Not only is the new seat bracket a more optimal design, it reduces the supply chain costs associated with fitting so many parts together. Scale that up to the entire car or factory and the potential savings to both cost and development timelines become clear. Not only that, generative design is enabling entirely new ways of prototyping, methods long-entrenched and restrictive methods like milling and molding have kept out of reach. New product classes like electric vehicles might not be so expensive to design and build, for example, radically reducing the R&D cost by coming up with endless permutations of the best way to do something.
Try generative design for yourself. Download your free trial here: www.autodesk.com.au/gd
Image courtesy of General Motors
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COLLABORATION
THE KEY TO
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With government grants of up to $1m on offer, and exciting collaborative projects between industry and academia occurring, innovative biomedical devices and technologies are being developed, built and commercialised in Australia for the global market. By Carole Goldsmith. Australia’s industry growth centre for the med-tech, biotech and pharmaceuticals sector, MTPConnect is offering BioMedTech Horizons (BMTH) grants of up to $1m to support development and commercialisation of cutting-edge new medical technologies. The BMTH program forms part of the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund and is administered by MTPConnect. “Following a highly competitive Round 2, we have Round 3 of BMTH opening later this year,” says Dr Dan Grant, CEO and MD of MTPConnect. “These grants can provide eligible SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) with up to $1m of funding over a two-year period to progress medical technologies and devices through to proof-of-concept stage. This is a fully funded grant program that encourages, but does not require, matching funding by the applicant.” The proof-of-concept stage is the point where the idea for a new device is technologically feasible and it has the potential to secure further venture capital to assist in its commercialisation. Dr Grant adds that the BMTH four-year program has a total budget of $45m with an expected program end in June 2022. Grant recipient projects in Round 1, completed in 2018, included: Indee Labs’ microfluidic gene delivery device for immune cell modification and optimisation for clinical use; and Monash Vision Group’s wireless Brain Machine Interface that offers the potential to bypass damage to nerves and neural pathways restoring function to affected areas of the brain.
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Dr Dan Grant, CEO and Managing Director of MTP Connect.
045 3D printed heart. Image courtesy of BioFab3D
With an extensive background in industry and university research, Dr Grant has been at the helm with MTPConnect for just over 12 months: “We have been very busy the past year working closely with companies, universities, state governments, Federal Government and industry organisations like AusBiotech and the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA). This June we saw our largest ever Australian delegation at the Bio International Convention in Philadelphia, with well over 300 Australian companies and organisations participating.”
BioFab3D@ACMD – Advanced bio-fabrication
MTPConnect has also grown rapidly in the past 12 months, expanding to 15 employees with a national presence encompassing offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane, as well as supporting projects and activities across the country.
Equipped with advanced bio-fabrication technology such as 3D bioprinters and tissue bioreactors, BioFab3D is a collaboration between St Vincent’s Hospital and the four participant universities: Melbourne, Wollongong, RMIT and Swinburne. On a walk through the facility, Centre Manager Dr Cathal O’Connell explains how PhD students and graduates from those institutions are working on bio-research projects at the BioFab3D labs.
When asked what med-tech companies need to do to grow and enter the global economy, Dr Grant cites the example of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy lab/manufacturing as an area providing enormous export opportunities for the Asian market. According to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s website, CAR T-cells identify cancer cells in a patient’s body with the target antigens and kill them. The T cells are genetically engineered in the lab/manufacturing facility to find and kill the patient’s cancer cells. “Med-tech SMEs need to interact and learn from larger medtech manufacturers. Where disruption (such as advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence) is occurring, Australian medical companies need to get involved.”
One of MTPConnect’s 2016 Project Fund recipients is BioFab3D@ ACMD, a robotics and biomedical engineering centre based at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. Having commenced just two years ago, BioFab3D today is abuzz with research and discovery. MTPConnect provided $1.1m in support with matching industry funding from St Vincent’s Hospital (lead applicant) as well as from Stryker Australia and the Universities of Melbourne, Wollongong, RMIT and Swinburne.
“The BioFab3D centre brings researchers and clinicians together to develop and produce replacement body parts” He points to a high-end bioprinter, on which live cells can be printed to make artificial tissues. “It allows us to 3D print different types of cells as well as hard and soft material, allowing us to mimic the structure of bone and cartilage.” Continued next page
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Biopen and knee defect model. Image courtesy of BioFab3D
BioFab3D is based at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.
According to an Arthritis Australia report, osteoarthritis is costing our healthcare system around $2bn a year, says Dr O’Connell: “We have a $900,000 grant from the MTPConnect BMTH fund for two years to develop the proof of concept and to bring the BioPen device to commercialisation.” The BioPen has been jointly developed by the University of Wollongong and St Vincent’s Hospital. The project is led by the hospital’s Director of Orthopaedics, Professor Peter Choong, along with Professor Gordon Wallace, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), and Professor Simon Moulton from Swinburne University.
The BioFab3D centre brings researchers and clinicians together to develop and produce replacement body parts. Image courtesy of BioFab3D. Continued from previous page
Elsewhere in the tour, O’Connell points out of the window to a brick building in the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital: “That’s the site of the proposed 11-storey Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD), and BioFab is a stand-alone facility of it. Both Federal and State government funding has been allocated for ACMD with its estimated completion in the next five years.” One of BioFab3D’s flagships projects, the BioPen is on display at the entrance to the centre, above a model of a knee joint. The BioPen is a hand-held device for printing stem cells in surgery. “We have performed a short-term animal trial in sheep which showed promising results in repairing cartilage,” says Dr O’Connell. “Now we want to see if our new treatment can lead to long-term repair, so we’re about to start a year-long sheep trial. This project is moving fast. That (display) version has now been superseded by two updated prototypes.” Dr O’Connell explains that injury or even just normal ‘wear and tear’ can cause damage to knee cartilage, which the human body can’t repair. This can lead to painful osteoarthritis and there are currently no effective treatments, except a knee replacement. The BioPen is designed to produce new cartilage in the patient’s knee. “We take the stem cells from a small pad of fat in the patient’s knee joint and load them into the pen,” says Dr O’Connell. “Then we use the BioPen to print out the patient’s stem cells into the defect. If we can fill in this hole with the patient’s stem cells and that can repair the cartilage, we might prevent osteoarthritis from ever developing.”
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Also on display at BioFab is a waving robotic hand – another one of its flagship projects. The researchers working on the project include engineers, biologists and a trainee orthopaedic surgeon. Dr O’Connell says that the goal is to create a robotic hand that can be controlled by the patient’s mind. “The robotic hand comes with a special microchip which is inserted in the patient’s limb,” he explains. “So the goal is for the patient’s cells to be growing on the tip of the microchip and their brain can control the hand. Although research is moving very fast on this project, it’s a very ambitious project that could take 10 years to develop.”
Trajan – University links drive global success The story of Trajan Scientific and Medical started in 2011, with an idea generated around the home kitchen table between co-founders Stephen and Angela Tomisich, to develop a scientific and medical technology business to enrich well-being and benefit people. Both Stephen and Angela have scientific qualifications and had corporate backgrounds prior to starting Trajan. Eight years later, Trajan’s operations now span six manufacturing sites. It has a team of 450 staff worldwide, including senior leaders in their field and a deep technology pipeline poised for large-scale global commercialisation. The company’s finances have grown steadily based on consolidation and growth of acquired businesses, with a current forward plan to 2022 that targets revenue to reach around $150m. “One of the drivers for Trajan is our collaborative business model, working with universities such as the Universities of Tasmania, Adelaide, Latrobe and Melbourne on projects,” says Stephen, now Trajan’s Group CEO. “One example of this is our on-site collaboration with the University of Adelaide as an R&D hub for innovative technologies and new devices for the global scientific and medical equipment markets. The Trajan Nutrition laboratories and joint venture partners are based at the South Australian Hospital Medical Research Institute. Trajan also has business-to-business commercial agreements with companies worldwide.”
MEDICAL
Trajan Scientific and Medical co-founder and Group CEO Stephen Tomisich with the hemaPEN device.
The hemaPEN is manufactured at Trajan’s facility in Ringwood, Victoria.
Given that Trajan was founded on the vision of being able to translate science to deliver human impact, Stephen adds: “Another reason that Trajan has grown so rapidly is that we have been acquiring companies. Over the past eight years, we have acquired six businesses in analytical and clinical science and invested in their production, R&D and infrastructure, resulting in strong organic growth.”
partner,” Stephen explains. “The ARC provided $2.1m towards the cost of the $5.2m project. We had 10 work themes and recruited 10 PhD candidates and a team of post docs (nine of whom were from overseas) to work on the research projects.
Trajan’s production facilities are located at its global headquarters in Ringwood, Victoria, plus in Penang, Malaysia, and at four sites across the USA. The Ringwood site is also the company’s global R&D centre, while its commercial and distribution hubs in the UK, USA and Japan enable Trajan to service and supply its customers worldwide. The Victorian Government has provided financial support for Trajan’s expansion of the Ringwood manufacturing site. Stephen says that the expansion has already commenced: “We are acquiring new manufacturing equipment and building new custom-designed equipment in-house for our own use. With the expansion, Ringwood staff numbers are rising from 240 to 280.” Trajan’s hemaPEN device, manufactured at the Ringwood facility, is expected to be registered by both the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) by the end of 2019, and by the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) early next year. The hemaPEN provides a minimally invasive and convenient sampling procedure for collecting four identical dried blood spot focused samples. Stephen advises proudly that the device came out of a university collaboration. “In 2014, we set up an industry Australian Research Council Training Centre university collaboration (with the Universities of Tasmania, South Australia and Latrobe), in which we were the sole industry
“Each of the researchers spent 12 months on our site in Ringwood, being mentored, both academically and commercially. Because we were the only industry partner, we invested far beyond our commitment, removed barriers to progress, and achieved almost 50% yield of new products and technology – hemaPEN being one of them. We hear of other ARCs with multiple industry partners that achieve much lower translation rates.” According to Stephen, Trajan’s micro biopsy device can sample 400 to 600 skin surface cells for a broad range of applications, including screening for melanoma: “Trajan worked in partnership with UniQuest and the University of South Australia in its development and production. We are in the final stages of confirming the business and IP arrangements, which will see Trajan as the exclusive commercial and production supply partner.” Meanwhile, in a four-way collaborative partnership, Trajan has also brought to market a fully automated powder-dispensing work platform. Stephen notes: “In the field of drug discovery, as our first customer put it, this is a game-changer.” So what’s next for Trajan? “We will achieve the next series of potential acquisitions, the effective commercialisation of new technologies and the continued refinement of global infrastructure,” says Stephen. “All of this is aimed at benefitting people’s health.” www.mtpconnect.org.au www.biofab3d.org www.trajanscimed.com
Members of the ASTech team, a collaboration between Trajan, University of Tasmania, University of South Australia and Latrobe University.
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BioAnalytics and Romar – Changing the lives of sleep apnoea sufferers Sleep apnoea is a serious medical condition that affects about 10% of the global population. However, a recent collaboration between Romar Engineering and BioAnalytics could offer some relief to sufferers. The Federal Government recently released a report called ‘Bedtime Reading’, in which it was estimated that sleep apnoea costs the Australian economy $26bn annually due to lost productivity, accidents and shorter life spans. It’s more than just feeling tired all day and keeping your partner awake with loud snoring. If you have sleep apnoea, the walls of your throat come together while you sleep. This blocks off your upper airway and stops you from breathing properly. Airway blockages mean you can stop breathing for 10 to 60 seconds or until your brain registers this and tells you to wake up. This is often followed by a snort or gasping sound as your upper airway opens. Most of the time you won’t notice; however your partner certainly will. The pattern of waking can repeat itself hundreds of times per night, leaving you exhausted the next day. Not only that; it affects your overall health.
How sleep apnoea affects your health It’s important to know that sleep apnoea affects more than your sleep. Untreated sleep apnoea has an impact on your health and is associated with many medical conditions. These include diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver disease. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and Automatic Positive Airway Pressure (APAP) are considered the most effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea. CPAP delivers one level of pressure continuously throughout the night, whereas APAP automatically adjusts using an algorithm. Both CPAP and APAP devices work by delivering a gentle flow of air to the back of your throat using a mask. This flow of air creates positive air pressure, which forms an air splint that stops your airway from collapsing. This eliminates snoring and sleep apnoea.
The Bioanalytics device - An alternative to CPAP BioAnalytics is an Australian start-up, headed up by Owen Morgan, who has been working closely with an experienced team of engineers at Romar Engineering, based in Sefton, New South Wales, to develop a new device that is set to change the lives of sleep apnoea sufferers. While CPAP is the standard form of treatment for sleep apnoea patients, for approximately 30% of patients this method is not suitable. Primarily, this is down to comfort, both physical and psychological. In conjunction with Romar, the BioAnalytics team developed a new sleep apnoea device that is just one tenth the cost of current therapies and more comfortable to use. It will monitor patients’ quality of sleep and can be used by those 40% of patients who can’t use traditional therapies. “This product is a real game-changer in the sleep apnoea market,” says Morgan. “It’s a world first.” BioAnalytics connected with Romar through a product design firm. Morgan was seeking a manufacturer with silicone and product development expertise. Ideally, the start-up wanted a manufacturing partner who could help it develop a product from concept to production reality. Moreover it didn’t want to work with a variety of firms to achieve their product goals. “Romar is very unique in the Australian landscape because they have engineering and product development capabilities,” Morgan adds. “This includes tool design, tool manufacturing, prototyping and production.”
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BioAnalytics will soon begin a six-month clinical trial of its new sleep apnoea device. It is fully tooled and the design is complete. Following this trial, Bioanlaytics will seek regulatory approval both in Australia and the US. Romar will be with them every step of the way, manufacturing every device for the trial, and from there on into the future with its global product release. The partnership with Romar has been crucial in allowing BioAnalytics to reach this point successfully. These are certainly exciting times for both Romar and BioAnalytics. For companies that have a new product that is broadly defined and is ready to go from concept to prototype phase, Morgan believes Romar is an ideal partner. He describes the relationship BioAnalytics has with Romar as a very collaborative and innovative one. “Neil Wilson (Romar’s Chairman) and Alan Lipman (CEO) both have a genuine interest in products that make a difference,” he concludes. “Their engineering team is very responsive and open to innovation and problem-solving.” www.romareng.com.au
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IMCRC – Supporting medical innovation From predicting the risk of heart problems, to building blood vessels outside of the body, to tackling bacterial biofilms, the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC) is involved in a host of projects in support of groundbreaking medical innovations. A hand-held device to predict heart failure based on saliva could help millions of potential victims take preventative steps to avoid their fate. Nano-sensors on the tip of the diagnostic stick measure heart disease biomarkers from saliva to accurately predict the risk of heart disease, failure or heart attack, then warn users via a simple app. Now a multi-partner deal has just been signed to bring the lifesaving technology to market by 2021.
Dr Taimur Ahmed and Dr Ganganath Perera at RMIT University examine samples from the sensors.
The collaboration is being led by an Australian start-up based in Melbourne called ESN Cleer, with RMIT University and the IMCRC now researching and developing the device for pilot manufacture. ESN Cleer CEO Leopoldt de Bruin says the collaboration represents some of the best minds in medical device innovation, design and manufacture. “We’re really pleased to be able to bring these strands together in addressing such a major global health challenge,” De Bruin said. “Of the 400 million people who suffer from cardiovascular disease globally, only 16% of cases are due to genetic traits. This underlines how much room there is to improve on screening and prevention, which is where this device could have such an impact.” Cardiovascular disease currently accounts for nearly one-third of all global disease deaths each year. Research Co-Director of RMIT’s Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group, Professor Sharath Sriram, said ESN Cleer’s device is the first portable heart disease test with such high levels of accuracy. The sensing technology, developed at RMIT’s cutting-edge Micro Nano Research Facility, was validated in the lab to measure biomarker concentrations a thousand times more precisely than levels in human body fluids. “This marks a big step forward in technology for screening,” Sriram says. “Currently, blood tests are conducted after a heart failure episode. Such reactive testing is too late, leaving people with debilitating illness or leading to deaths. Prevention is always better than cure, which is where this technology comes in, adding accurate prediction to the mix.” The IMCRC funding, which matches contributions from ESN Cleer, is enabling a $3.5m project investment into addressing the challenge of manufacturing and large-scale production of these diagnostic swabs. “Utilising advanced materials and adopting high-precision, automated manufacturing processes will allow the swabs to be high value and at a competitive cost,” explains David Chuter, CEO and Managing Director at the IMCRC. Being manufactured in Australia, the swabs will also adhere to medical regulatory approvals. RMIT healthcare design expert ESN Cleer’s device is equipped with nano-sensors on the tip that measure biomarkers in saliva to accurately predict the risk of heart disease, failure or heart attack.
Dr Leah Heiss is working with the team, bringing insights into designing the device to be as user-friendly as possible. “The aesthetics, tactility and usability of the product has to be balanced with manufacturability and cost,” Heiss says. “By bringing users into the design process early on, we are considering the human experience in parallel with the operation of the technology.” Incentivised feedback through the system will encourage users to take preventative actions, while machine learning algorithms used to assess results will further improve system accuracy over time. It is envisaged that the device will also be used to predict cancer risk down the track
Building blood vessel implants A project working on building blood vessels outside of the body has attracted further industry attention, with the IMCRC joining Dr Steven Wise and Codex Research in the research collaboration. Dr Steven Wise and his team in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney (UoS) have partnered with the IMCRC, after securing backing from Codex Research earlier this year. The IMCRC has committed $851,000 of Commonwealth funding to the research, which is projected to be underway until 2022. The collaboration will be the second research partnership between the UoS and Codex. Dr Wise’s work aims to improve the treatment of heart disease by engineering a physiologically relevant blood vessel implant used in bypass surgery. To reduce the failure rate compared with traditional plastic counterparts, Dr Wise and his team employ a range of synthetic and natural materials with the aim of developing new synthetic graft materials which combine tailored mechanical properties with improved biocompatibility. Current lab-based methods to assess these new materials have significant limitations, and better mimicry of human systems in a laboratory environment would greatly benefit this research area. As well as funding, IMCRC has provided substantial support and guidance in helping to focus on business and manufacturing requirements, and has helped to crystalise a sophisticated business model for the project. David Chuter says the project exemplifies the exciting times for organisations working in emerging fields such as biotechnology like Codex. “Digital and advanced manufacturing technologies are creating new opportunities for Australia’s biotechnology sector, collecting, analysing and providing information that speeds up the discovery and engineering process of new products that have real-life impact,”
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MEDICAL A vascular graft in bioreactor.
David Chuter and Dr Matthew Young from IMCRC (third and fourth from left), along with Dr Jessica Farrell, John Stewart, Dr T Das and Dr Jim Manos.
says Chuter. “Investing in a project that lays the manufacturing foundation to develop highly tailored products that mimic the human vascular system to then be able to create life-changing products such as new vascular implants is very rewarding.”
shows that the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) not only disrupts biofilm in a wide range of bacterial species, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but also enhances the effectiveness of antibiotics against these bacteria.”
Novel solutions for biofilm infections
A second area where much progress has been made is in the development of a range of models to better represent the various areas in which biofilms effect the human body. The project is on track to deliver its key milestones and inform the manufacturing processes and technologies required to commercialise, and has received a green light from IMCRC.
In early August the first annual review meeting was conducted for the Novel Solutions for the Biofilm Infections research project. This is a collaborative research project between the IMCRC, UoS and Whiteley Corporation, with an investment of over $4m over four years. “This work will be of major medical significance worldwide” says Dr Greg Whiteley, Executive Chairman at Whiteley Corporation. “Bacterial biofilms cause both human disease and death, and these microbes are also responsible for contamination in industrial and institutional settings.” Since the project commenced in mid-2018, great progress has been made in both research and model development. “A paper entitled ‘Conditions under which glutathione disrupts the biofilms and improves antibiotic efficacy of both ESKAPE and nonESKAPE species’ was recently published in the high impact journal Frontiers in Microbiology,” says Dr Jim Manos of UoS. “The paper
Regarding the research progress and positive impact of industry and research organisations working together, David Chuter says: “It is particularly rewarding to see a project that is on track to deliver novel solutions which promise an optimistic future for controlling and removing biofilms formation in different industry applications and thus reduce the risk of infections.” Dr Whiteley adds: “The end goal of this project is to bring products to market which effectively disrupt the formation of biofilm and eradicate underlying bacteria in range of infections.” www.imcrc.org www.cleer.com.au www.rmit.edu.au www.sydney.edu.au www.whiteley.com.au
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Additive manufacturing in radiation dosimetry Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the low-cost and patient-specific manufacture of anthropomorphic Radiation Dosimetry Phantoms (RDPs), used for the pre-treatment planning of cancer patients, to validate target doses and minimise the ionising radiation effects towards adjacent healthy tissues. By Rance Tino, Darpan Shidid, Bill Lozanovski, David Downing, Martin Leary, Tomas Kron and Milan Brandt of the RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing. Radiotherapy aims to deliver a curable radiation dose to tumours while sparing surrounding healthy tissue, which is achieved by the accurate conformal delivery of ionising radiation via an external beam using linear accelerators, or an internal beam using sealed radiation source (called brachytherapy). Modern radiotherapy involves CT-simulation, 3D-treatment planning and its quality assurance processes prior to patient treatment to produce highly conformal dose distributions and to ensure its safe and accurate delivery. It is common to build anthropomorphic RDPs through moulding and casting, to mimic the radiation properties of humans as a radiation dose cannot be directly measured in patients. As part of quality assurance (QA) of patient treatment plans, patient-specific dose measurements are often performed using RDPs combined with various dose measurement tools. Unfortunately, anthropomorphic RDPs manufactured through traditional moulding and casting techniques are associated with high fabrication costs and long processing times. In addition to this, they are not patient-specific in terms of individual dimensions (particularly in respect to obese patients), feature standardised tissue heterogeneity, and lack pathological features. This article discusses some of the basic concepts surrounding the manufacture of AM-RDPs, their clinical significance and requirements and their associated printing techniques and materials utilised at the RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing.
Anthropomorphic RDPs for treatment planning
Types of AM radiotherapy phantoms
The treatment planning procedure is a significant part of radiotherapy, whereby the optimal treatment parameters to be used for the management of a patient’s disease are determined. These treatment parameters include target volume, dose-limiting structures, treatment volume, dose prescription, dose fractionation, dose distribution, the positioning of the patient, treatment machine settings, adjuvant therapies.
Early versions of additively manufactured radiotherapy phantoms were manufactured as shell phantoms, which are hollowed phantoms filled with various tissue-equivalent materials (such as sawdust, silicone gels, or cork). The emergence of better AM technologies has attracted interest in exploring the simulation of the human tissue heterogeneity, classified as as-printed phantoms.
The role of commercially available anthropomorphic RDPs is to act as a human proxy making it possible to experimentally visualise and evaluate treatment options tailored to the locality of patients. This importance signifies the current limitations of anthropomorphic phantoms as they only follow the average radiation and body dimensions of a ‘healthy’ person, with a lack of patient-specific pathological features – in particular, the mimicry of accurate lesion size and positioning. Therefore, research opportunities exist for AM technology in highlighting these limitations due to its conformal and rapid prototyping capabilities.
Patient-specific radiotherapy phantoms enabled by AM AM provides opportunities for the inexpensive manufacture of patient-specific devices, as observed from the current literature not only for radiotherapy phantoms but also for other radiotherapy devices such as bolus, compensators, electron beam shielding, immobilisers, and brachytherapy moulds. Novel AM workflows have been developed to accommodate imaging tissue-like heterogeneity utilising AM materials, via modification of infill parameters, doping, and the introduction of voided geometric features as the structural basis for AM-RDPs.
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Heterogeneity in printed phantoms can be achieved using modified material extrusion (fused deposition modelling (FDM)) printing parameters such as infilling patterns and percentage, printing nozzle size, temperature, and more recently, the modification of material extrusion rate using the Pixel-by-Pixel (PbP) method. Furthermore, contrast variations can also be achieved by constructing phantoms with two or more different AM materials (multiple material printing); doping filaments with high-density materials such as bismuth and barium sulphate to increase the observed HU range; and the use of controlled voided structures within the manufactured phantoms to precisely controlled HU values. Recent studies have illustrated the combination of these manufactured phantoms with commercially available motion platforms and in-house motion devices to further simulate body movements, especially the thorax’s respiratory movements (classified as 4D-AM phantoms).
Clinical requirements and implications Recently, printing guidelines and recommendations for manufacturing AM-radiotherapy devices have been developed by the SIG (Special Interest Group on 3D printing), a writing group representing the Radiological Society of North America. They are divided into four main processes including:
MEDICAL 1. Medical image acquisition – Commonly used imaging modality involves CT or MRI. Associated patient data should have sufficient spatial resolution to accurately represent anatomy to be modelled. 2. Image data preparation and manipulation – This includes image segmentation, 3D CAD design, and file documentation. 3. Generation of the 3D-printed model – This involves the printing process, post-processing, and model inspection. 4. Quality Control program – This involves the delivery and discussion with referring physicians, pre-operative planning, material biocompatibility, cleaning and sterilisation, and clinical appropriateness. Regarding printing materials, it is essential to consider the photoelectric and Compton effects when comparing result outputs with human tissues. Photoelectric effect serves as the dominant phenomena at low X-ray energies ranging below 200KeV, hence for imaging modalities (CT, MRI, PET). At higher X-ray energies up to 10MeV, Compton effects can be considered as the dominant phenomena, where material attenuation differs depending on their elemental composition, signifying how radiation doses are distributed. Ideally, additive manufactured RDPs aim to simulate not only the patient’s proportion and pathological features but also the imaging attenuation of human tissues, the photoelectric effect, the dose attenuation of tissues, and the Compton effect. Also, for given printing material to be tissue or water-equivalent, it must have the same effective atomic number, number of electrons per gram, and mass density. However, since the Compton effect is the most predominant mode of interaction for MV photon beams in the clinical range, the necessary condition for water equivalence for such beams is the same electron density (number of electrons per cubic centimetre) as that of water.
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AM playing with radiotherapy? Or radiotherapy playing with AM? Despite the enabled low-cost and patient-specificity of AM radiotherapy phantoms, the associated printing techniques and materials are limited and are yet to be converged in terms of reproducibility, where manufacturability issues of current printing technologies are still present. FDM technology, in particular, is commonly used for manufacturing radiotherapy phantoms. This printing technique comes with inherent limitations in comparison with other printing techniques such as polymer jet printing and stereolithography (SLA), where observed void defects are observed, which in turn produces structurally weak and non-uniform dense objects. Researchers at RMIT University are currently investigating the manufacturing process of these radiotherapy phantoms and exploring how they can be used in a clinical setting considering the required manufacturing compatibility, accuracy, time and cost. In highlighting previously mentioned manufacturing limitations, a unique geometrical structure called a ‘Gyroid’ is also being investigated by these researchers as they enable: controllable printing tool path parameters in minimising void defects; controllable porosity at all directions highlighting tissue-like heterogeneity and offering a similar tissue-like structure for assessing tissue deformability. The RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing is involved in research projects with collaborators at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, at Stryker South Pacific, St Vincent’s Hospital, UTS, IMCRC, DMTC, DSTG, QUT, University of Wollongong, Swinburne University, Ford and RUAG. This research is supported by the ARC Training Centre in Additive Biomanufacturing, which focuses on the research & development of new biomedical products using AM technology. www.rmit.edu.au
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EOS – Additive manufacturing enables Australian spine surgery innovation The cost of treating lower back pain in the US has been estimated at $90bn per year in 2008, with a further $10bn20bn in costs through lost productivity. A significant portion of the expense is attributable to spinal fusion surgery. Melbourne-based company Anatomics seeks to improve the efficiency of fusion surgery by reducing the manufacturing and supply cost of equipment and optimising the workflow within surgery without compromising clinical outcomes. Anatomics has developed an innovative solution involving a custom patient-specific kit, SpineBox, that is 3D-printed using EOS’ selective laser sintering (SLS) technology in Nylon 12 powder. The SpineBox kit greatly simplifies minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar fusion surgery (MIS TLIF) and can be adapted to support most spinal fusion techniques.
The SpineBox kit from Anatomics
Anatomics is an Australian-owned medical device company that has been manufacturing and marketing surgical products to surgeons locally and internationally since 1996. Anatomics pioneered CT scan-derived surgical implant technology and was first to market with an innovative, quality product that assisted surgeons to produce better surgical outcomes and save valuable operating theatre time. The company’s customers include neurosurgeons, plastic & reconstructive surgeons, oral & maxillofacial surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, ENT surgeons and thorasic surgeons. Using patient imaging in the form of computed tomography (CT) data together with custom planning software developed by Anatomics, a patient-specific solution is designed involving screws, rods and an intervertebral spacer (cage) for each MIS TLIF procedure. A 1:1 scale model of the patient’s spine is 3D printed with stereolithography apparatus (SLA) or EOS SLS from Nylon 12, and provided for the surgeon and patient to verify the surgical plan pre-operatively. Patient-specific SpineTube muscle retractors and anatomically matched templates for surgery are also manufactured from EOS SLS Nylon 12 and sterilised. Based on preoperative measurements, the required titanium implants are pre-ordered and packaged with the SLS Nylon 12 instruments and provided as a SpineBox kit to the hospital before surgery. The pre-planned specifications for the spinal construct can be mapped into the bony spine from the skin surface using the template and stainless steel pins known as Kirschner wires, with minimal radiography. Once deployed, the Kirschner wires provide a railroad for all subsequent instrumentation. The patient-specific SpineTube muscle retractor manufactured to match the skin to spine depth is then temporarily affixed to the spine with an insert and locking screw. The unique insert doubles as an osteotomy guide. Together, these novel 3D-printed instruments facilitate nerve decompression, fusion cage implantation, and accurate completion of the spinal construct. Anatomics had a simple decision to make when deciding on the optimal technology for the required 3D printed components. EOS SLS Nylon 12 was the obvious choice as it is the virtual standard for highly accurate, biocompatible (for transient use), and mechanically strong components for surgical cutting and drilling guides worldwide. EOS’s reputation for engineering and after-sales support excellence was also a critical factor that swayed Anatomics behind EOS technology. Spinal surgery is a complicated business requiring an extensive, costly support network. The SpineBox method of pre-planning surgery and manufacturing customised devices developed by Anatomics and enabled by EOS has the potential to realise significant time and cost benefits to the healthcare system. As of August 2019, the system has been used in more than 300 patients in Australia, and Anatomics is set to export the technology globally in 2020.
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EOS will be a critical supply partner in that global expansion. Medical companies in Australia have increasingly come to rely on EOS’s additive manufacturing solutions to produce orthopaedic implants, surgical instruments, orthotics, orthosis, dental devices and other medical devices. John Hart offers world-class additive manufacturing solutions from EOS in Australia. As well as the necessary materials and systems for additive manufacturing, EOS provides comprehensive market knowledge and a precise understanding of specific development processes in the field of medical technology enable EOS to collaborate closely with a strong network of partners. From rapid prototyping to series production, EOS provides comprehensive and competent advice and continuous support to customers during the entire development and production process. Every person is unique. Therefore, optimal patient care requires medical products that provide a perfect fit. There is a high demand for one-off components and components produced in small production runs whose materials and manufacturing standards have to fulfil extremely stringent quality requirements. This also applies to specialised surgical instruments and medical devices. In addition, these products must be made available quickly and cost-effectively. Additive manufacturing is meeting these exact requirements while paving the way for improved, patient-specific medical care. Additive manufacturing enables producers to come up with faster, more flexible and more cost-effective development and production methods. Unlike conventional manufacturing methods, it allows maximum design flexibility, enabling the implementation of innovative functions. Consequently, test series, prototypes, patient-specific one-off parts and small production runs can be manufactured at a profit. www.johnhart.com.au/additive-manufacturing www.anatomics.com
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COMPANY FOCUS AmPro offers a full suite of equipment for the preparation of powders prior to use in the printing process.
AmPro Innovation – Production-ready printing Additive manufacturing is evolving fast, with new breakthroughs happening all the time. But questions persist over its potential to have a truly disruptive impact in a production setting. That’s where AmPro Innovations comes in. By William Poole. AmPro Innovations designs and manufactures 3D metal printers, including the critical powder management systems required for the production of advanced metal parts. Established to bring fast and lower cost printers to market for industrial and research applications, AmPro Innovations was founded three years ago by Professor Xinhua Wu, currently Director of the Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing. Since long before her time at Monash University, Wu has been building an impressive record of achieving in materials science and additive manufacturing, most notably her pioneering work in developing the first 3D-printed metal parts certified for use on commercial aircraft. Operating from a small facility on Monash’s campus in Notting Hill, in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs, AmPro designs and manufactures metal-based 3D printing technology, drawing on the expertise of Wu and her team. AmPro Innovations identified several key gaps in the emerging 3D printer market: a fully inert system for printed part compliance; printers designed for industrial applications where the full ‘powder to part’ process speed is critical; and capabilities for emerging materials demanded of advanced applications.
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“Professor Wu is a world leader in understanding metallurgy and its relationship to laser-build strategies,” says Anthony Lele, who runs Commercial Operations & International Sales at AmPro. “That’s really important: understanding that 3D printing is a relationship between material and process. If you don’t understand that, it’s hard to push the boundaries of materials, process and speed. A key thing about 3D printing is that you can make the unmakeable, but you can also blend powders to create materials you couldn’t machine from a billet. So it’s not just about the printer, it’s about understanding the inputs.”
end of the year. All AmPro’s printers are based around the selective laser melting (SLM) process, with parts produced layerby-layer from a bed of metal powder.
That focus on the material inputs ripples through every aspect of AmPro’s work. Its ambition is not just to make 3D printers, but to utilise additive manufacturing to develop technological solutions in an advanced production environment. So along with a range of printers, it produces a whole raft of supporting technologies aimed at optimising productivity and efficiency, while drawing on all the potential that additive manufacturing has to offer.
To solve this problem, AmPro’s printers are equipped with a removable build chamber. Within minutes of finishing printing, the chamber can be decoupled from the printer and a new one can be inserted. The machine operator can immediately get the printer back up and running, while a lessskilled colleague can finish work on the printed part after it has been safely cooled in the removable chamber under inert environment.
The company currently has three metal printers on the market: two single-laser models and a twin-laser version, with a smaller model due to be released by the
“And that allows the part you’ve already printed to slowly cool down under an inert environment, same as in the printer,” adds Lele. “That’s all part of metallurgy and
“A key objective of the printer is to be one of the fastest printers on the market using the powder-bed process,” says Lele. “Another aspect is to keep that printer running all the time. If it’s not printing, you’re not making money. And a lot of printers have a significant amount of downtime, where you’re trying to dig out the part from the powder and removing build plates from the printer. That downtime requires an operator at a reasonable skill level, and it also stops your printer from printing the next part.”
057 AmPro’s powder recovery equipment means unused powder can be recovered following printing, all while still in an inert environment.
efficiency; you’re really trying to take the 3-4 hours or 1-2 days of cooling time away from your production whilst maintaining product quality. But this way, your printer is still going. So that’s a really important part of the system.” A further key area of focus lies in the management of inert environments. Two of the primary materials that AmPro works with – titanium and aluminium alloys – are highly prone to oxidisation on exposure to air, which can inherently reduce the material’s properties and limit the number of times for the powder to be recycled. To prevent this, the interior of a laser printer’s build chamber will normally be flooded with inert gas during printing. However, this still leaves a lot of variables for manufacturers in some of the most demanding industries. “Managing that process is actually a quality requirement for a lot of medical and aerospace products,” says Lele. “So we extend that right through, from the powder preparation right through to the last point at which you separate the part from the build substrate.” This is where AmPro’s full product portfolio starts to deliver benefits. Prior to any printing taking place, the storage and preparation of powders is critical, and AmPro has developed technologies for materials to be decanted, blended, sieved and recycled, all in a controlled, inert environment, ready for use in the printer. At the other end of the process, a closed-loop powder recovery system means unused powder can be drawn out of the build chamber for recycling, while AmPro’s Residual Powder Removal equipment ensures any last traces can be removed, again while still in an inert environment. As well as saving on material waste and machine downtime, this also brings occupational health & safety (OHS) benefits, given the hazards of working with metal powders; AmPro’s system means all those risks are contained, eliminating the need for safety masks or other measures. Ultimately this amounts to a comprehensive ‘powder-to-part’ production system, which has interesting implications for industry. While there is a lot of excitement out there about additive manufacturing, there is also a considerable degree of scepticism within the industry. 3D printing is still widely seen as an exotic, expensive novelty, capable of doing amazing things, but difficult if not impossible to integrate into an efficient
modern production line. AmPro is tackling those concerns head on, developing the most cost-effective process and the machines that can compete with more traditional manufacturing processes and existing machine suppliers, and thereby laying the ground for additive processes to really be adopted in production settings. “The adoption requires a full understanding of the process, the requirements of aerospace and biomedical industry, and that’s been a really important dialogue with our customers,” says Lele. “It’s what really drove us to identify how to build a cheap, effective and efficient printing system. Our parts are very cost-competitive on the basis that we’re keeping it simple and easy to operate. We’ve really been very ruthless on what features ensure this can meet the needs of the broadest customer base, without all the bells and whistles, but that still meets expectations around quality and complexity.”
Aiming high As it has embarked on bringing its products to market, AmPro has been specific in aiming at high-end, high-value-add manufacturing sectors. Given Professor Wu’s background in the industry, it comes as no surprise that aerospace has initially been earmarked as the primary target. “That really drove a lot of our design decisions,” Lele explains. “We understood the requirements to get something on an aircraft. How do we meet those requirements in the engineering of a process to get it there? There’s a lot around the process and the laser strategy and the
build strategy; all these little nuances. And unless you’ve done it, you kind of don’t understand the implications of it.” Alongside aerospace, the medical sector has also been identified as an area offering significant potential, which has provided the impetus for the development of the smaller printer. A third key market is schools and academic bodies, as the challenges of designing products for additive manufacture create new specialised training requirements. One key aspect of AmPro’s initial strategy in targeting the aerospace industry has been to focus primarily on the Tier One suppliers, rather than the Primes. The likes of Safran, Airbus and Boeing have got the financial resources to establish their own capabilities and processes. Those smaller manufacturers supplying them, however, have more limited budgets and are looking for ways to adopt these innovations more economically and incrementally – an area where AmPro can provide assistance. In this regard, having such a diverse range of products creates opportunities for AmPro to ‘get a foot in the door’. “Quite a few people in industry who might have a printer already have seen our solutions and said ‘That’s a brilliant solution. Can we adapt it into our existing system?’ So AmPro has become this really unusual business where we provide either a printer and associated powder handling systems, a complete process, or our solutions have been ‘plug-and-played’ in units. It’s an interesting mix, the way the business has evolved.” Continued next page
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AmPro’s SP330, one of three 3D printers the company produces. Continued from previous page
Breaking new ground
that they can get a benefit from.”
Given the industries it’s targeting, AmPro’s customers are almost entirely based overseas, with most clients in Europe and the US, as well as in China. The latter market is catered to by AmPro’s partner manufacturer in China. Other than that, however, the company’s products are manufactured by a team of around 14 engineers and designers at the Clayton worksite. According to Lele, maintaining a manufacturing base in Australia is important for AmPro, with the search already underway to find a larger facility as the business expands.
As a company that goes so far as to include the word ‘Innovations’ in its name, AmPro is intrinsically geared towards developing products at the absolute cutting edge of current technology. One factor that has been crucial in this has been its links with academic and research bodies. Founded to build on Xinhua Wu’s ground-breaking work, the company continues to work in close collaboration with the Professor and her colleagues at Monash, and for Lele this is essential.
This puts the company in an enviable position as additive manufacturing continues to evolve and mature, with ongoing technological breakthroughs opening the way for new potential applications.
“Utilising all our suppliers locally, we’re drawing on some fantastic skills that we can’t actually get in China,” he says. “And we will be scaling up that manufacturing, mainly because we recognise the importance of quality coming out of Australia – the knowledge is good. Also, not every customer wants exactly the same thing, and we can actually accommodate nuanced changes here. So Melbourne’s always going to be our manufacturing base for a lot of our export markets.” Indeed, the company’s Australian origins have proven to offer certain advantages, as shown at last year’s FormNext additive manufacturing exhibition in Frankfurt. “One of the best compliments at FormNext was ‘I can tell this had been designed and engineered in Australia’,” Lele recalls. “We got that message daily; that classic idea that we solve complex problems with very simple solutions. So I think there’s a wonderful place for Australia in this. Our manufacturing here, utilising smart, efficient, but very simple approaches to solutions, will continue to allow us to grow.”
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“I couldn’t underestimate the value of being able to walk upstairs to 50 pre-eminent scientists in material science and say ‘Why does this do this?’, and have a discussion with them,” he says. “That’s been really critical for us. If we didn’t have that collaboration, having that understanding would be something we would have to build up, and it just takes too long. So collaboration is really critical in my mind.” This collaborative approach is not just confined to academia either. AmPro works closely with its clients, adapting and updating its products continually to address specific problems that they need to overcome. “You’ve got to work with industry. You need to go and spend time in a place, with a production worker, asking questions, learning first-hand and gathering insights. You need to get that insight in an emerging industry like this where you’re still finding your feet across a whole manufacturing system. You need to immerse yourself in it. And I love doing that because you build a relationship, and then you’ve actually got a customer because you’ve shown them a solution built on the insights of something
“I think the applications will come usually through part complexity,” says Lele. “But it needs to start at the design. It’s not about someone saying ‘I’ve got this part we make using machining processes. Can we make it cheaper using additive manufacturing?’ That never works out. The real benefits come when you start looking at the full value chain of a product, and you actually say ‘This part might cost twice as much using additive manufacturing, but let’s think about what we’re holding in inventory.’ You can probably get four times a reward by removing inventory rather than by removing cost in a part. You need to look at it as a full value chain process. That for me is where the future was going in this area.” Amid all this, Lele is bullish about AmPro’s future prospects: “We’ll be a very, very big company; I have absolutely no doubt about that. We’re growing at such a phenomenal rate. We’ve got international agreements already underway with the US and Europe. We’ve got distributor arrangements in place – they are already actively selling on our behalf. “I see us growing massively here in Melbourne. And I think the company will always have the philosophy that what we started off with: that we just continue to do it better, faster, and smarter, and always challenge why we are doing it and how we are meeting the needs of the customer.” www.amprogroup.com.au
Explore your unlimited possibilities additively The Additive Manufacturing Hub is a $1.85m programme that will grow and develop additive manufacturing capability and investment in Victoria. The vision of the AM Hub is to provide an industry-driven network of users, suppliers and supporters that will foster and grow the use of Additive Manufacturing technology in Australia. + Promote and market additive manufacturing sector capabilities. + Expand the knowledge base of additive manufacturing technologies. + A grant programme for Victorian businesses to encourage adoption of additive manufacturing technologies. + Support the creation of high quality additive manufacturing jobs. + Be a voice to Government on additive manufacturing sector development. Companies looking to explore the potential of additive manufacturing, or further expand their use of the technology should register interest via email at amhub@amtil.com.au
www.amhub.net.au 1407AMHUB
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Wire AM – A new additive technology Additive manufacturing is a field where groundbreaking innovations are emerging all the time. One particularly promising new technique is wire-fed additive manufacturing, writes Alex Kingsbury. Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has certainly taken the world by storm. With the ability to create shapes not previously thought possible, this revolutionary, Industry 4.0-enabling technique has backers from a range of different industries all over the globe. However, when metal AM is mentioned, the first thought is usually of a laser-powered machine fusing metal powders layer by layer. Certainly, this has been the predominant technique with a vast amount of machine sales dedicated to laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) since the advent of commercially available AM. But new and intriguing metal AM technologies have been making headway of late and offering a point of difference to the commonly accepted LPBF systems. One such technique is wire-fed additive manufacturing. The concept is very simple: it is based on traditional welding, but rather than welding components together, a weld bead is laid upon another weld bead. This process is repeated until there is a series of weld beads welded successively, such that they create a threedimensional shape. The process is controlled by a robotic arm and the shape is built up on a substrate material (a base plate) that the part can be cut from once finished. The shape is considered a ‘nearnet shape’: it is close to the final part shape but usually requires additional machining to achieve final part shape and tolerance. This process has many benefits over both LPBF and more traditional manufacturing techniques such as casting, machining and forging.
Wire feedstock As the name suggests, welding wire is the sole feedstock for wirefed AM, meaning established supply chains can provide a feedstock source. Numerous certified alloys are readily available to build parts with. Often this means that moving to wire AM from a traditional manufacturing process does not need to involve a change of alloy, as the same alloy of the exact specification can be sourced through a global supply network. If an alloy can be welded, it can be used in a wire AM process. Operationally, using wire as a feedstock makes life in the workshop much easier. Changeover time between alloys is straightforward as a new wire is inserted and there is minimal clean-up after the previous build. Additionally, working with wire is inherently safer than other AM feedstocks such as powders. It is not reactive, nor can it be inhaled or irritate the skin.
Properties Parts made via wire AM have been proven to be stronger than parts made via forging or casting. As the wire feedstock is a 100% dense input material, there is negligible porosity induced in the fabrication process, leading to a very dense final part. Additionally, the wire AM process enables better control over deposition rates, and therefore has better control of cooling rates, enabling processing to be tailored to the working alloy. Improved material properties mean parts that once had to be constructed of solid material can be built as thinwalled parts. This reduces material consumption, improving the cost basis and overall competitiveness with traditional techniques such as casting. For parts of medium complexity that are forged and machined, wire-fed AM can be an excellent alternative process. Typically, a wire AM part undergoes a final machining step to remove surface irregularities and ensure a smooth surface. The material machined away usually amounts to 2% to 10% of the total material deposited. Compared with high ‘buy-to-fly-ratio’ parts – where in some cases
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up to 90% of the original starting material must be machined away – this presents a significant material and cost saving. This is especially true for high-value materials that are difficult to machine such as titanium and nickel superalloys. Like most AM processes, wire AM is most suitable for low to medium-volume production, as set-up and tooling costs are minimal. This lack of tooling also increases speed to market as lead times are significantly reduced. Increased speed to market assists with product development, allowing in-field testing to feedback to further design iteration, which the wire AM process can very flexibly accommodate. This lack of tooling can also assist with reduction of lead time for critical spares. Using wire AM, lead time can be reduced from months to days, meaning a business no longer needs to maintain large inventories of critical spares. Using wire AM, part size becomes virtually unlimited. The process is only constrained by the size of the workshop and the reach of a robotic arm. As the process utilises a gas shroud, reactive materials such as titanium and aluminium can be easily processed. Of course, just because you can, does not mean you should. Exceptionally large items (in excess of 2m) tend to require excessive fabrication times and can make wire AM uncompetitive. Likewise, very small items (less than 20cm) tend not to be cost-competitive. However, like most manufacturing technologies, this is material and part-requirement dependent. Wire AM has a sweet spot where the technology is best put to use; usually for medium size parts of medium complexity. This applies across all metals and part functions.
Made in Australia by AML3D Andy Sales knows this value only all too well. With a background in welding technology, Sales went to Cranfield University in the UK to complete his Masters in 2012. Cranfield had been developing a wire AM process and this inspired Sales to return to Australia to establish AML3D, a service bureau based on wire AM technology. In addition to commissioning its own wire AM-based system,
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
AML3D has also developed a software package that integrates material-processing parameters with its robotic cell. These sets of material-specific parameters have been developed in-house by AML3D, and the team has been rigorous in ensuring they can achieve repeatability and reliability in their process. But far from being content with that, Sales has ambitious global plans for AML3D. The company is planning a production facility in Singapore in the near term, with the ability to further expand that capability. This is driven by demand from the Singapore marine hub, as the location is a strategic hub for commercial shipping routes. Sales recognised the applicability of wire AM for shipping early on. Ten months after establishing AML3D in Adelaide he secured certification from Lloyd’s Register, the global shipping industry accreditation body. Being a certified provider gives customers the assurance that work is being performed to stringent quality standards. With certification in place, AML3D was quick to deliver its first part to a marine customer: a set of martensitic stainless steel wear rings. The rings were normally fabricated via a forging process, but this required an additional heat treatment post-processing step. The total lead time was six-to-eight weeks, which as a long lead item was either held in a spares inventory or replaced prematurely. Using wire AM, AML3D was able to manufacture the rings for the same cost, but was able to reduce the lead time to a few days. This is a real game-changer for ships in dock for a limited time. In addition to the marine sector, AML3D is also engaged with Boeing. For the aerospace industry, reducing material wastage is key to profitability, particularly with expensive, high-value material such as titanium, where as much as 80% of the starting material ends up as chips or swarf – a low-value titanium waste stream. Boeing in particular has had a long-standing interest in pursuing wire AM, and has been working with Norsk Titanium, a company that uses a wire AM process that employs plasma as a heat source. Working with Boeing, Norsk Titanium has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification for two structural aircraft parts in the US. An aluminium jet engine cover plate manufactured by AML3D for an unnamed client showcases the benefits of wire AM when compared with machining. The cover plate was ordinarily machined
from a 30kg billet and took four days of non-stop machining to produce. Using wire AM, a final machine of the near-net shape took just six hours to finish. Likewise, an aluminium wing rib, machined from plate, saw a 70% reduction in waste and a 60% reduction in cost. With those figures it’s hardly surprising that aerospace players across commercial and defence sectors are taking note of wire AM.
A new machine To address the need for onsite production, especially in remote locations where spares inventories can be a real pain point for companies in the resources sector, Sales has created a packaged wire AM turnkey solution. Being guided by Industry 4.0 principals, the system integrates wire AM with machining and is controlled via AML3D software developed specifically for this hybrid solution. It means that customers can develop a digital inventory and produce a fully finished part onsite in days if not hours. Selling this system, and the wire to be used in it, eases the pressure on the AML3D facilities in Adelaide and Singapore, and optimises the manufacturing-on-demand capabilities of wire AM. The machine is the first of its kind to be offered on the market. Despite the outstanding possibilities of wire AM, AML3D is part of only a handful of wire AM-based businesses around the globe. RAMLAB in the Netherlands is the only other active service bureau, notable for its wire AM-produced ship propeller. MX3D, also in the Netherlands, uses a similar concept and in 2015 showcased an eyecatching demonstration of a robot 3D printing a bridge in midair. Norsk Titanium and Sciaky Inc. both produce wire AM systems – the former with a plasma-based process, Sciaky with an electron beam solution. Like any new technology, it takes time for applications to develop and the benefits to proliferate through industry. Yet it is encouraging to see a small company in Australia with global connections taking the lead. No other wire AM companies around the world have made quite the progress that Sales and the team at AML3D have, with an established global presence, high-profile partnerships in place, and a business model poised for growth. Australia is fortunate to have a company right on our doorstep taking on this next frontier of additive manufacturing. Alex Kingsbury is an Additive Manufacturing Industry Fellow at RMIT University. www.aml3d.com
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Titanium is the perfect metal to make replacement human body parts Titanium is a metal known for its strength and lightness, so it’s ideal for making replacement hips, knees and other parts of our bodies, in particular because of its suitability for 3D printing. Titanium gets its name from the Titans of ancient Greek mythology, but this thoroughly modern material is well suited to a huge range of high-tech applications. With the chemical symbol Ti and an atomic number of 22, titanium is a silver-coloured metal valued for its low density, high strength, and resistance to corrosion. I first studied titanium via a Master’s degree at the Institute of Metal Research in the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999. One of my projects was to investigate the formation of titanium alloys for their highstrength characteristics. Since then, the applications for this metal have grown exponentially, from its use (as titanium dioxide) in paints, paper, toothpaste, sunscreen and cosmetics, through to its use as an alloy in biomedical implants and aerospace innovations. Particularly exciting is the perfect marriage between titanium and 3D printing.
Custom design from 3D printing Titanium materials are expensive and can be problematic when it comes to traditional processing technologies. For example, its high melting point (1,670°C - much higher than steel alloys) is a challenge. The relatively low-cost precision of 3D printing is therefore a game-changer for titanium. 3D printing is where an object is built layer by layer and designers can create amazing shapes. This allows the production of complex shapes such as replacement parts of a jaw bone, heel, hip, dental implants, or cranioplasty plates in surgery. It can also be used to make golf clubs and aircraft components. The CSIRO is working with industry to develop new technologies in 3D printing using titanium. (It even made a dragon out of titanium.) Advances in 3D printing are opening up new avenues to further improve the function of customised body part implants made of titanium. Such implants can be designed to
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be porous, making them lighter but allowing blood, nutrients and nerves to pass through and can even promote bone in-growth.
Safe in the body Titanium is considered the most biocompatible metal – not harmful or toxic to living tissue – due to its resistance to corrosion from bodily fluids. This ability to withstand the harsh bodily environment is a result of the protective oxide film that forms naturally in the presence of oxygen. Its ability to physically bond with bone also gives titanium an advantage over other materials that require the use of an adhesive to remain attached. Titanium implants last longer, and much larger forces are required to break the bonds that join them to the body compared with their alternatives. Titanium alloys commonly used in loadbearing implants are significantly less stiff – and closer in performance to human bone – than stainless steel or cobalt-based alloys.
Aerospace applications Titanium weighs about half as much as steel but is 30% stronger, which makes it ideally suited to the aerospace industry where every gram matters. In the late 1940s the US government helped to get production of titanium going as it could see its potential for “aircraft, missiles, spacecraft, and other military purposes”. Titanium has increasingly become the buyto-fly material for aircraft designers striving to develop faster, lighter and more efficient aircraft. About 39% of the US Air Force’s F22 Raptor, one of the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world, is made of titanium. Civil aviation moved in the same direction with Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner made of 15% titanium, significantly more than previous models. Two key areas where titanium is used in airliners is in their landing gear and jet engines. Landing gear needs to withstand the massive amounts of
force exerted on it every time a plane hits a runway. Titanium’s toughness means it can absorb the huge amounts of energy expelled when a plane lands without ever weakening. Titanium’s heat resistance means it can be used inside modern jet engines, where temperatures can reach 800°C. Steel begins to soften at around 400°C but titanium can withstand the intense heat of a jet engine without losing its strength.
Where to find titanium In its natural state, titanium is always found bonded with other elements, usually within igneous rocks and sediments derived from them. The most commonly mined materials containing titanium are ilmenite (an iron-titanium oxide, FeTiO3) and rutile (a titanium oxide, TiO2). Ilmenite is most abundant in China, whereas Australia has the highest global proportion of rutile, about 40% according to Geoscience Australia. It’s found mostly on the east, west and southern coastlines of Australia. Both materials are generally extracted from sands, after which the titanium is separated from the other minerals. Australia is one of the world’s leading producers of titanium, producing more than 1.5 million tons in 2014. South Africa and China are the two next leading producers of titanium, producing 1.16 million and 1 million tons, respectively. Being among the top ten most abundant elements in Earth’s crust, titanium resources aren’t currently under threat – good news for the many scientists and innovators constantly looking for new ways to improve life with titanium. Laichang Zhang is a Professor – Mechanical Engineering at Edith Cowan University This article was originally published by The Conversation. www.theconversation.com www.ecu.edu.au
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
How close are we really to 3D printing organs? Additive manufacturing technologies are now so advanced they can create structures on a nanoscale. But how close are we to seeing 3D printed organs in the market? Professor Hala Zreiqat and Dr Peter Newman explain. From cures for cancer to fusion power and driverless cars, almost every technology seems to be perpetually five to 10 years away. For researchers, “five to 10 years away” means we’ve been working on it for quite a while and it seems feasible, we just haven’t got there yet. We understand people’s scepticism when we say “in five to 10 years we’ll be 3D printing organs”. Sceptical? Don’t believe us? Consider this: Over the last decade, there has been a paradigm shift in stem cell research. Since the mid-1800s, researchers have been growing cells in sheets layered on top of glass and plastic dishes. This method is the cornerstone of biological research and its impact has been immeasurable – it’s responsible for the development of vaccines for polio, measles and smallpox, as well as the insulin that’s used daily by millions of diabetics worldwide. That’s why it’s surprising that stem cell biologists have stopped using this method. Why? It’s simple: A sheet of cells layered over a dish doesn’t behave anything like the organs from which they’re derived. The change in method is the paradigm shift we’re talking about, the one that means 3D-printed organs are knocking at the door. Biologists have stopped growing cells in sheets layered over petri dishes and have started studying suspensions of three-dimensional organ-like cell masses, otherwise known organoids. If given the right biochemical cocktail, stem cells will proliferate into supercellular networks that spontaneously organise into threedimensional structures that mimic the physiology of real organs. The progress is staggering and multifaceted. Organoids promise to cut down on the need for animal testing and offer improved models to understanding disease progression. However, the study of organoids has offered unprecedented insights into the development of organs. Producing organoids at a scale large enough to confer therapeutic benefit to humans remains a significant challenge. Large structures require supporting scaffold structures, such as the meshwork of collagens that stitch together the cells of your organs. However, recreating scaffold structures with sufficient detail to support the growth of large-scale cell structure has proven problematic.
3D Printing Functional
Metal Parts
Enter 3D printing. The increase in life expectancy in Australia has improved dramatically in the last century with the expected age at death of 84.6 years for men and 87.3 years for women. This will lead to a significant increase in the need for organs to replace the damaged ones. While biologists have been busy revolutionising cell culture methods, engineers have developed 3D printers that can focus light so tight, it can polymerise features similar in size to that of a single collagen molecule. This technology is known as multi-photon 3D printing and is the brainchild of Professor Martin Wegener. As a pioneering user of this technology he’s demonstrated materials that can bend light around objects, effectively making them disappear. Yes, you read that correctly. He’s made an invisibility cloak. Over the next five to 10 years we aim to use multiphoton printing to build synthetic scaffolds mimicking the meshwork of collagens that hold organs together. These will be sufficiently complex scaffolds which will support the growth of organoids large enough for clinical applications. This much at least seems feasible, but trust us, we’ve worked on it for a while. Maybe it will be more than five, or even 10 years, before you’re stopping by the hospital to pick up a new heart, but you can bet that during this time we’ll be 3D printing organs. Professor Hala Zreiqat is the Director of the Australian Research Centre for Innovative BioEngineering and the Head of the Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Research Unit at the University of Sydney. Dr Peter Newman a research fellow at the ARC Training Centre for Innovative Bioengineering at the University of Sydney. www.sydney.edu.au
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Post-processing – Enabling additive manufacturing Some form of post-processing is inevitable when using additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, but particularly for serial production applications. Joseph Crabtree considers the importance of post-processing in the production process chain and highlights an emerging solution. There are undoubtedly many benefits associated with the use of AM as a production technology. Manufacturers can not only build complex parts in one piece that were previously impossible, but they can also build stronger, lighter-weight parts, reduce material consumption, and benefit from assembly component consolidation across a range of applications. These advantages have been well documented during the last 10-20 years as AM has emerged as a truly disruptive technology for prototyping and production, invariably seen as enabled by the additive hardware that builds the parts. In reality, however, this is a partial picture, particularly for serial production applications. AM systems are actually just one part — albeit a vital part — of an extensive ecosystem of technologies that enable AM, both pre and post-build.
An engineering valve application, where sealed surfaces are critical to prevent fluid ingress, made from EOS PA2200 material smoothed and coloured in one step.
By focusing just on the AM build process, a fundamental part of the production process chain is often overlooked, namely postprocessing once the part is out of the AM machine. Manufacturers using (or considering) AM for serial production applications need to first identify the appropriate process for their targeted application. From there the post-processing requirements must be identified and evaluated – otherwise the use of AM as a viable alternative to traditional manufacturing processes may end up being negated completely.
intervention. And this is slowing the whole process chain down for production applications of AM.
Post-processing for AM
An innovative approach to AM post-processing
Post-processing is actually an umbrella term for a number of stages that parts may need to go through after they come out of the AM system and before they are fit for purpose. Post-processing can include any of the following: excess material removal; curing/heat treatment; support removal; machining; surface finish processes (such as bead blasting); colouring; and inspection.
The fundamental mission of my company, Additive Manufacturing Technologies Ltd, is to confront this problem head on through the development of innovative digital and automated post-processing solutions that increase efficiency and reduce the overall time and costs of production with AM, specifically with polymer AM processes and thermoplastic materials.
Post-processing is often the elephant in the room when it comes to the uptake of AM as a production tool. For AM production applications, post-processing is a considerable element of the overall cost-per-part, representing anything up to 60% of total cost. Support removal and other post-processing activities are often labour-intensive, and therefore costly and time-consuming. In addition, there is often a necessity for post-processing to enhance final part characteristics, in terms of functionality or aesthetics.
There can be no argument about the increased number and improved nature of the thermoplastic materials palette available for AM processes in recent years. Alongside these material developments, the AM systems that produce thermoplastic parts have also significantly improved in resolution, accuracy, repeatability and overall quality, and they are consistently meeting industrial requirements for exacting prototyping, tooling, and some production applications.
This is why the issue of post-processing is so important when looking at the viability of AM for serial production: because it is often the area where the technology falls down as a competitive manufacturing technology. The post-processing conundrum needs to be confronted head on with an ecosystem-based approach to each application — from end to end. This means joining the dots from product conception through to final product.
However, the critical mass of production applications remains lower than they otherwise might be due to the limitations placed on the overall process chain by the post-processing phase. This is because powder-bed processes — which require significant powderhandling and removal post build — also invariably require infiltration operations, as well as finishing processes, particularly if aesthetics are important alongside the strength advantages that laser sintering offers. If coloured parts are required, this is also applied in the finishing stages of post-processing.
To a certain extent, post-processing can be cauterised by a focus on Design for AM (DfAM) to reduce the necessary post-processing steps. Success here will depend on how well the designer understands the intricacies of the AM process and the specific capabilities of the system they are using; how to orientate the parts in the machine; and how to generate optimal support structures for build and removal. In general, post-processing requirements for a given application depend on the geometry of the component and how well it is designed for manufacturability using AM. However, regardless of how well a product is designed for AM it cannot negate the need for post-processing for all AM processes. The problem is that for an industry that calls itself disruptive, manufacturers are still largely post-processing parts the same way they did 100 years ago, with the requirement of significant manual
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With filament thermoplastic material processes, the very nature of the AM process (no matter how refined) results in a stepping effect. The traditional post-processing steps required to eliminate these process-specific results are considerable, costly, and timeconsuming. However, an automated post-processing solution for smoothing high volumes of thermoplastic polymer parts to an injection-moulded surface quality would remove one of the biggest hurdles to the serial production process chain. Here, I am talking about parts 3D printed using the laser sintering, multi-jet fusion, high speed sintering, and fused deposition modelling processes for specific material types including Polyamide/Nylon, flame-retardant Nylon, glass-filled Nylon, ULTEM, PMMA, TPU, and TPEs.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING The PostPro3D machine from Additive Manufacturing Technologies.
This is exactly the solution that we envisaged, developed, and commercialised with our PostPro3D range of hardware, which integrates new systems, software and virtual services. The simplicity and speed experienced by the user belies the intelligent and complex capabilities of the system, which is built on the proprietary BLAST process. Simplicity is the key. Post-build, the 3D-printed parts can be removed from the machine, loaded onto a rack, and placed into the PostPro3D post-processing chamber. The user then selects the appropriate program and the process starts and runs for 90-120 minutes, after which the parts can be removed, inspected, and are fit for purpose. For anyone wondering what happens to the parts during those 90 to 120 minutes, they are subject to a physiochemical process that involves converting a proprietary but wholly safe solvent into vapour, under precisely controlled vacuum and temperature conditions. In turn, this precisely refines the surface of each part to ensure a perfectly smooth finish, equivalent to that of an injection-moulded
part. Moreover, the process seals and strengthens parts, essentially improving their mechanical properties— such as elongation at break — compared with how parts were when they came out of the 3D printer. The intelligence of the PostPro3D systems goes beyond their physical process capabilities, as they have been designed to be connected through an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) network, where vital data is analysed in real-time. This allows for new insights on process performance, which can subsequently be shared amongst the global fleet of PostPro3D machines, and made available via software updates to continually upgrade performance – all while protecting individual IP. Moreover, this connectivity capability also allows for integration with other intelligent devices and workflow automation software across the production process chain. What all of this points to, I believe, is the continued need to work towards developing whole process chains that will help to convince AM users, and potential AM users, that the transition to AM for an increasing number of production applications is worthwhile and not nearly as complex as it was even a few years ago. This demands a unified approach — across the AM sector itself — to develop more capable and connected systems, while simplifying the overall process to provide economically viable, automated solutions. This can be achieved through partnerships and collaboration – Additive Manufacturing Technologies Ltd has been proactive in this area, working with Mitsubishi Electric and several other companies. Automated turnkey hardware for post-processing — such as the PostPro3D range — is certainly a huge step forward for the postprocessing stage of the production process chain with AM. However, there are still more steps to take in terms of wholly connected, customised, end-to-end digital manufacturing systems. Joseph Crabtree is the founder and has been the CEO of Additive Manufacturing Technologies. www.amtechnologies.com
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New design processes revolutionising 3D metal printing Although the history of SLM Solutions, headquartered in Lübeck, Germany, is relatively short, the company’s founders may never have imagined how far the technology they helped pioneer would advance in such a short time. Early-stage development of selective laser melting (SLM) saw the first commercial machine delivered in 1998. It met the specifications of making ‘unbreakable’ metal parts and stood as a testament to the two pioneers Matthias Fockele and Dieter Schwarze, who together worked in conjunction with researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology. Since then, 3D metal printing has evolved into one of the greatest influences on metal part production in recent history. The SLM process sees parts built in a chamber layer by layer with metal powder injected in a controlled manner then melted by laser beam to form a strong, solid structure. The technology has fast evolved from single lasers passing over the powder melting it layer by layer, to multi-lasers with high wattage increasing build speed, product quality and reliability, while reducing costs. In a recent interview, Dr Simon Merk-Schippers, Director – Business Development for Aviation and Aerospace at SLM Solutions, said: “Lightweight construction, functional integration and production costs are ongoing topics. In addition to the aerospace industry, space travel, especially the launch market is undergoing a strong change. There is more and more rivalry and therefore more intense competition. Of course, this also leads to price pressure. It is interesting to note that smaller companies are gaining a competitive advantage by flexibly using our SLM technology.” Fockele and Schwarze may never have imagined the advantages SLM would offer todays engineers, as the technology has presented new opportunities for changes to design specifications, and the realisation of complex parts that were once welded together can now be made as a single unit. Recently Berlin-based engineering start-up CellCore produced a singlepiece thrust chamber and injector for a rocket propulsion engine in collaboration with SLM Solutions, reducing numerous parts into one. The internal structure manufactured using SLM Solutions technology could not have been made using conventional methods. A rocket engine sustains exceptional heat levels during propulsion, so complex filigree cooling channels were integrated into the internal structure during the build process, increasing the efficiency of a combustion process that generates extremely high temperatures.
Biomimetic engineering The thrust chamber by CellCore is another step in the realisation of 3D metal printing capability, a huge step
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beyond the 19-parts-into-one aircraft fuel nozzle developed by GE just a few years ago. But how was CellCore able to print such internal complexity? CellCore simply looked to the biological designs found in nature. A dog is an amazing chemical detector. They inspect our clothes, carry-on luggage and bags for contraband items when we arrive at airports; they traverse war-torn fields planted with deadly explosives, sniffing out danger. Man-made devices have not been able to take the place of the nose that nature designed for our canine buddies. Recently, researchers ‘mapped the sniff’: the channels and breathing processes of a dog’s nose, in a bid to simulate or mimic what nature created to improve detection devices made by man. Sharks are famed for their speed, so when engineers from Airbus attempted to understand shark speed with the aim of transferring this knowledge to improve aircraft speed, they were surprised to find that shark skin was composed of millions of small tooth-like riblets. These well-formed riblets had been adapted to serve two purposes, one of those is as a bacteria-repellent device, and the other has the purpose of enhancing the sharks’ swimming speed. Mimicing the skin structure Airbus developed small ‘riblet’ patches and fitted them to jetliners in airline service over two years. The findings revealed nature’s ‘shark skin concept’ was a highly suitable aircraft covering long-range flights. These examples mimic nature, so why not look to natural structures surrounding us rather than invent new ones? Unlike artificial intelligence (AI) nature has been testing, trialling and fine-tuning structures, making adaptations and finding ‘best’ solutions for eons. Given this availability, bionic experts, engineers and computer software developers can imitate or mimic such biological processes and structures to optimise metal forms with the ability to make 3D printed metal parts lighter, more rigid or more stable. Today we are witnessing the emergence of a significant field known as biomimetic engineering where designs from nature are successfully leveraged into today’s product development, making for highly functional and effective products. While a relatively new field of design, but already filling research journals, biomimetics is finding its way into a number of fields benefitting from the timely development of selective laser melting technology, 3D metal printing. CellCore GbmH in collaboration with SLM Solutions AG has developed a complex, highly functional thrust chamber for a rocket propulsion engine in a single build. CellCore’s single-piece thrust chamber and injector for a rocket propulsion engine, manufactured using SLM.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING The SLM500 laser systems has four lasers and can achieve build rates of up to 171 cubic centimetres, suitable for high volume processing.
Exploiting the benefits of ‘bionic design’, Hirshvogel Tech Solutions leveraged methods and structures developed by nature to produce a car steering knuckle.
Biomimetic engineering reaches the space industry Bionic experts, engineers and software developers at CellCore have developed software that optimises technical structures based on the internal structure of bones. CellCore believes there is no limit to the application of bionic engineering principles to optimise products across a range of industries. Already they have developed parts for racing cars with exceptional success, winning the BASF’s “Best Use of Fibre Reinforced Plastics” design.
Part variants, initially based on solutions from nature, were assessed before being selected to meet the appropriate calculations. The use of biomimetic engineering allowed the reduction of weight in targeted areas as against a constant in the overall weight. Built as a single unit in the chamber of an SLM500 system, final tests were carried out on tensile and notched bar specimens achieving the required forecast test values.
What the future holds
Having reviewed the manufacture of office chairs, tram cars and orthopaedic products, CellCore have now applied the geometric design principles of biomimetic engineering to a groundbreaking structure in the form of a rocket propulsion engine: a singlepiece thrust chamber and injector. By using SLM, the engine was manufactured in nickel superalloy IN718 to satisfy the aerospace industry’s strict requirements for materials.
Predicting the future should be left to Nostradamus, however, what seems certain is a rapid uptake of 3D metal printing as industry sectors realise the potential opportunities and value of optimising design through geometries in bionic engineering. The change, or interruption to conventional manufacturing, becomes more evident day by day, as differing fields of part production realise the challenging and exciting technological potential of additive manufacturing.
IN718 is a precipitation hardening in nickel-chromium alloy with exceptional tensile, fatigue, creep and breaking strength up to 7,000 degrees Celsius. This hard material is difficult to process using conventional methods, but melting nickel-chromium powder based in a geometrically proscribed design in an SLM280 laser machine, reduced the inherent difficulties and costs of conventional manufacturing, while resulting in a more complex structure never before achieved.
www.raymax.com.au www.slm-solutions.com
Recently, Rolls Royce has sought the help of SLM Solutions by implementing quad-lasers that use multi-laser optics together with a bio-directional recoating mechanism for the development of aerospace components. The SLM500 laser systems have four lasers and can achieve build rates of up to 171 cubic centimetres, suitable for high-volume processing. The company aims to implement its expertise and knowledge of building 3D metal aerospace components to a system that offers far more opportunities for product optimisation.
Biomimetics in the automotive industry Car part manufacturers have been quick to take advantage of the opportunities on offer with SLM to create efficient and economically attractive products. Hirschvogel Automotive Group, a producer of high-strength parts for the automotive industry with plants in three continents, has one arm of its business tasked with part development and the testing of innovative products and high-strength components optimised for series production. Fully exploiting the benefits of ‘bionic design’ Hirshvogel Tech Solutions leveraged methods and structures developed by nature to produce a car steering knuckle, the automotive part that attaches to the suspension and steering system. Using Aluminium AlSi10Mg resulted in an overall weight reduction in the part; however, by utilising bionic engineering principles a significant weight saving of some 40% in the neck area was achieved – a saving not possible in a conventionally forged part. This came about as the team developed specific Computer Aided Technologies (CAx) allowing them to fully optimise the design.
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The Additive Manufacturing Hub (AM Hub) was set up by AMTIL in 2018 to promote additive manufacturing and build its capability in Australia. As it marks its first year in operation, we caught up with AM Hub Manager John Croft to get an update on its progress so far. AMT: Let’s start with a quick outline of what the AM Hub is. How was it set up and what are its objectives? John Croft: The AM Hub was formed to introduce Australian manufacturing companies in Australia into additive manufacturing. It’s been born from a $1.85m Victorian government grant and will run for three years. It was officially launched in September 2018, and has now been running for a year, and since its inception, we now have 153 member companies under the Hub. I think the Hub needs to be the catalyst. What that means is, if you look at a pie, you’re going to have several segments around the pie, with the Hub at the centre acting as the catalyst. What we’re trying to do is to bring together the service providers, the technology providers, government mechanisms, industry participants, and we’re working with research institutions such as universities. Prior to this role I spent 11 years at Bosch, so I saw how industry and academia work together in Europe, and it’s wonderful how they do it. But we haven’t done that very well in this country. It just has not been up to scratch. So I see a real need for focus on that. Every institution that I’ve spoken to, every one of them is working in different areas around additive. So we want to be the networking place - the place that people wanting help or information - getting people in additive together. We’ll have people calling us and saying “We’ve got this project or process that we’re looking at, but we really need to get help in developing it further. Who would we go to?” Well, having the institutions under our membership, we have a good understanding of what each of the institutions is doing, so we can help guide the member or company that comes to us towards the right institution, to work together collaboratively, and get the end result around their project. AMT: So you’re essentially just trying to broker those links? So when someone needs a problem solved, and see additive as a potential solution, the Hub can put them in touch with the right people to help? JC: Correct. We need to be the knowledge base for people to come to. Because we can steer them in the right direction, to the right place. Some companies who are coming to us may be using certain manufacturing processes, and they need to understand how additive can actually be embedded within their manufacturing operation, alongside the processes they are using. That’s where we can help them. We aim to be an open forum of communication for them. We want to be the networker for them. We want to accelerate the uptake of additive manufacturing within the country and within the manufacturing industries, and then take that right through to helping them network globally as well. We want to be their marketing arm, for these companies to market what they’re doing in the additive space, where they can offer value to the members. So that’s our prime objective. We’re a non-profit. We’re simply here to help people. AMT: Tell us about the Victorian Government’s involvement. JC: The Victorian government is well aware that additive manufacturing – or 3D printing as it’s known – is a game-changer as far as the future of manufacturing goes. Victoria was the very first Australian state to adopt the technology back in the early 1990s into
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private business. Victoria now has the most service providers and the most technology providers around additive manufacturing. The Victorian government has indicated it wants Victoria to be the hub of additive manufacturing in Australia. In Victoria we’re also running the Build It Better voucher program, which provides small-to-medium manufacturing businesses in the state with funding of up to $20,000 to undertake projects to increase adoption of additive manufacturing technology. The voucher program has gone through three rounds to date – we completed Round Three in September. We’re now sitting at 16 companies that have got projects running through the Build It Better program, with another five that I’ve already had contact with through Round Three. The voucher program is working extremely well. AMT: So it’s strongly Victorian-led. What about the take-up from beyond Victoria? JC: Oh we’re getting a lot now. A lot of universities from New South Wales and Queensland through to South Australia and Western Australia. Even the Northern Territory – we’ve got Charles Darwin which has come on board. So we’re getting a good uptake of the universities, as well as other organisations which are now contacting us to have a talk on how they can work with the Hub. So it is definitely gaining momentum. Ultimately we want to be seen as the national body for additive manufacturing throughout Australia! AMT: What kind of activities is the Hub engaging in? JC: One of the biggest issues with additive manufacturing is that you talk to industry and they say “Oh yeah, 3D printing we know all about it.” Well in fact they don’t; that’s the biggest issue. So what we’re trying to do now is put on a series of events that will run as a roadshow around the country, where we’re going to invite companies to come in and engage and learn about the different processes, understanding what the processes are going to give you, understanding the materials that are available through the processes, understanding the pros and the cons of the processes. And looking at a few case studies from each process. This will enable them to go away and understand better how each of these processes could fit within their own manufacturing, or at least start a thought pattern of “Oh, maybe I really should look into this. I didn’t realise all of this was happening in the background. I need to know more.” And that’s where they’ll contact us.
HEADING
What the Hub is also going to be working towards is looking at skills and training in the future. We want to get together not just with the universities, but also with the likes of TAFE colleges, to look at developing training courses, short courses around additive. This will be looking at design for additive, because additive manufacturing is not like traditional manufacturing. With additive you can do just about anything you can think of, whereas with traditional processes you’re bound by design-for-manufacture constraints. With this, there’s no such thing, so there’s a huge scope for people to learn how to redesign products. Instead of, say, assemblies of 10 or 12 parts, you’re coming down to one or two parts, which is going to save a lot in the costs of production, it’s going to save a lot of costs in assembly. Basically we’re going to become more efficient in the way that we manufacture in the future with this type of thing. A major activity for the Hub has been the UNLIMIT3D conference, which we ran alongside the Austech exhibition in Melbourne in May. And which was a huge success – the conference was a sellout; feedback coming back with excellent. So we will be putting it on again in the future, with the next Austech in 2021, we will have another one. And we will be looking at maybe running some other events which will include guest speakers from around the globe.The other thing we’re working on is around FormNext, which is the largest additive manufacturing exhibition in the world. That’s coming up in November in Frankfurt in Germany, and at the moment we’re looking at taking some of the Hub’s members on site tours in Germany around the time of FormNext. We’re looking at Bosch’s plant in Nuernberg, which is an additive manufacturing plant but which is also totally Industry 4.0, so it’ll give a good understanding for our members of how Industry 4.0 is working alongside additive manufacturing. Industry 4.0 in Australia is still new; the uptake is very slow. We’ll also go to the Fraunhofer Institute, which is one of the biggest research organisations in Germany working in the additive field. And we’ll be visiting another couple of companies, FIT AG and MBFZ, which is a toolroom utilising additive manufacturing in the tooling industry. Continued next page
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ONE-ON-ONE Continued from previous page
AMT: You personally have got quite a long background in additive manufacturing. What can you tell us about that? JC: Well, I remember first looking at additive manufacturing – or “rapid prototyping” as it was known back then – back in 1990 at Swinburne. They had a very early Stratasys machine sitting in Swinburne and they were utilising it. I looked at it and the first thought I had was “This is it. This is what the future of our manufacturing is going to be. We will manufacture this way into the future.” I suppose the only problem was that I was way too early. Industry of course wasn’t ready. The company that I had started bought the very first machine into the country back in 1993. A quarter of a million dollars, which was a lot of money. I mean, we were a very small company, with a total of four employees. So it was a big investment. The biggest problem we found was that industry sort of looked at and said “Ah, it’s not gonna be around long, can’t really see much in it.” Which is so totally wrong when you look at it from this day and age. AMT: What has been the most striking thing for you in the way the technology has evolved? JC: Well, when I first started we had SLS (selective laser sintering), SLA (stereolithography apparatus), LOM (laminated object manufacturing), which is a paper adhesion process, and FDM (fused deposition modeling). That was it. We had no metal. And you look at it now and the changes that have happened, and alright, we’re looking at 20-odd years down the track, but the changes have been astronomical. It’s been going since the 1970s , but we’ve had a huge growth from the 1990s through to where we’re sitting now. There’s constant innovations. Materials are changing all the time – there’s new materials coming out and being tested. We’ve now got medical-grade titanium that can be used direct in implants. This is what the future is. And we’ve got a lot more plastics. We’ve got machines that can print in different colours, where in the old days we had one colour, it was either black or white. So, it’s changed a lot. AMT: What industry sectors are seeing the most innovation? JC: Medical is huge. We’re utilising it in biomed. We’re printing human cells. I mean, where’s this thing gonna go? They believe in the next 10 years we’ll be replacing human body parts via additive. Hearts, livers, lungs – they will all eventually be able to be printed. Doctors are using anatomical models: there’s several companies in this country now that are utilising 3D printing to create anatomical models for doctors to be able to look at and plan what they can do and how they’re going to go about certain surgical procedures. That’s an amazing area. Or look at orthotics companies. We have three in this country, that we know of, that are purely manufacturing out of 3D printing. So medical is probably one of the largest areas. Aerospace is another huge area. Defence, most definitely; they’ve already got machines onboard ships to produce parts. The Army is looking to have additive in the field, in the front line, so they can manufacture parts to fix equipment that may break down. In automotive, BMW, Daimler, Audi, right through to Bugatti have been utilising additive. Tooling is becoming a big thing because injection moulding will change. You will not traditionally manufacture tooling because with additive you can go to conformal cooling. You cannot do conformal cooling in tooling with traditional manufacturing. Some of the cycle times for tooling can nearly be halved due to conformal cooling, which is a huge saving because you can manufacture twice as many products as you typically would with traditional tooling. We have a lighting company that purely manufactures all their fittings out of additive manufacturing. There is not one industry that will not be touched by additive. Every industry will have some form of additive within the future.
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The UNLIMIT3D conference, organised by the Additive Manufacturing Hub, was held alongside the Austech exhibition in Melbourne in May.
AMT: How important do you think it is that Australian manufacturers are moving to develop an understanding and work out ways to embrace this technology? JC: Well, it’s super important. As you know in Australia we’re a low-volume manufacturer. So this absolutely is an area for us – we definitely have to be in additive because it’s about low volume, and it’s about Industry 4.0. Australia will be left behind if we don’t pick it up and start running with it. It has to happen. But companies are waking up and utilising it. AMT: And what’s your advice to an Australian manufacturing company that realises it needs to get more into this area but doesn’t know how to go about it? JC: I think what they need to do is have a bit of a read up on additive, and especially look at things that are happening within the areas they’re working, in the products they’re manufacturing. Have a look on the web. You’ll find that somewhere someone’s doing it with additive and there’ll be a write-up on how it’s happening. And of course, get in touch with the AM Hub. We’re here to help. AMT: And finally, what’s the future for the AM Hub? Where do you want it to be in five or 10 years time? JC: Well, our funding is for three years, so after that we have to be self-sustainable. The way additive is going to grow, it will be a multi-billion dollar business in this country alone. So the Hub will grow because more and more people want to understand more about it and how it could blend into their own manufacturing processes. They’re going to need someone like the Hub, to guide them and help them understand more about additive and how it can fit within their business. Networking them with the right people, technology providers or service providers, research institutes; helping them link with all of those to help them move it into their own manufacturing. Additive is most definitely the future, and there’s a big future in it for Australia. www.amhub.net.au
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MATERIAL REMOVAL
Tornos gets its teeth into productivity and innovation Before becaming a dentist, and even longer before his entrepreneurial spirit gave rise to precision manufacturing firm PartMaker, Dr Chris Hart had already fallen in love with Switzerland. Swiss dental training improved his scope of practice, and now Tornos’ Swiss-made single-spindle lathes are helping him redefine Australian manufacturing. An experienced prosthodontist specialising in pioneering practical and cost-effective solutions, Hart has made a name for himself as an innovator and leader in his profession. After earning his Bachelor of Dental Science from the University of Melbourne, he built up his expertise working as a dentist in a variety of patient care environments. After earning his Master of Dental Science degree, he was selected to be part of an international team of implantology scholars, an accolade that took him to the University of Bern in Switzerland, where he was mentored by world-renowned faculty member Professor Daniel Buser at the university’s dental medicine clinic and in its department of surgery.
“With so many dental parts being too long or too short, and with existing systems going in and out of fashion, I really saw a need for bespoke, custom dental and biomedical parts,” he says.
Upon returning to Australia and working in both private practice and hospital settings, Hart discovered that he couldn’t find adequate prostheses to serve the functional needs of oncology patients. So, he decided to make those parts himself. Thus, PartMaker was born in 2012, operating from a facility in West Heidelberg, Victoria.
Before too long, Hart saw that Tornos’ Swiss-type technology opened up a whole world of possibilities. Even running the Delta 20 all day, they were limited in the parts they could produce. Enter the simple and ergonomic Swiss GT13, offering easy access to all tool positions and designed to drive successful production of long and short parts.
Describing himself as ‘an engineer trapped in a dentist’s body’, Hart’s entrepreneurial spirit is driven by his passion to make a real difference in patients’ appearance, comfort and confidence: “Before we started making our own parts, we were heavily modifying existing parts. That means we were basically butchering really wellmade parts in order to remedy simple problems, like patients not being able to open their mouths wide enough to accommodate available screwdrivers.” The solution was obvious. Hart started making his own parts and instruments. “Back in 2012, we started making everything with milling machines,” he recalls. “I even went to night school and earned a certificate in CNC programming, so I could get a better understanding of manufacturing technology.” Hart never intended to buy a lathe, but he found in short order that the dental implants and maxillofacial hardware he needed to produce were beyond the capabilities of simple milling.
Dr Chris Hart planning PartMaker’s next project.
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Implants require turned parts, so among PartMaker’s early purchases were a Tornos ENC 264 four-axis lathe and a Tornos Delta 20 lathe. “Being new to Swiss-type turning and CNC machining as a whole, we had a pretty small wish list of parts to make,” Hart explains. “Peter Staebner at Tornos’ agent SwissTec Australia was instrumental in helping me get our first few parts made with the Delta 20. I would go into the shop after work and Peter helped me on the weekends, and we got our wish list accomplished.”
“It has six linear axes, so it allows us to make some parts that we can’t produce on the Delta 20, and we can use 99% of our existing programming with the new machine,” says Hart. “The Swiss GT 13 is so much easier to use than our old machine.” Accommodating up to 30 tools, including 12 rotating tools, the Swiss GT13 has a Y axis that significantly increases machining capability in secondary operating and allows some complex workpieces to be produced without reworking. Hart points out that the new machine is slashing PartMaker’s cycle time on many parts simply because of the additional access it provides. “It’s easier to set up and its cycle times are significantly faster,” he notes. “In fact, because of the easier access, we’re saving 40% in cycle time on a lot of parts. I know we’re not using our Swiss GT13 to its fullest capabilities yet, but that’s the goal. It’s already optimising our manufacturing.
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The latest Tornos machine is delivering significantly improved cycle times for PartMaker.
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“Now that we have two machines running, our ability to keep on top of orders is significantly improved. It has enough tool positions that we’ve got it set up to make families of parts for the three main lines we make.” Hart is also impressed with the Tornos TISIS communication and programming software: “With TISIS, it’s a lot easier to generate programs for our parts because we are really just assembling programming modules. The software is easy to use and I estimate that it is saving us 50% in time spent on programming because we are not writing a new program for every part to be produced.”
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To say that Hart is pleased with his purchase is an understatement. One example, he says, is the ‘amazing job’ the new machine does with an original PartMaker dental abutment featuring a complex taper geometry, external threading and a milled octagon. The part, with its M1.4 thread to a depth of 4mm through a 1.2mm by 1.5mm deep hexagon is easily executed with the addition of the Swiss GT13. In fact, PartMaker has become so productive with its Swiss GT13 that Hart has ordered an optional bar feeder. “We are achieving results that we thought existed only in technical drawings,” Hart exclaims. “For the past five years, we’ve been relying on our own homemade bar feeder, but today we’re chewing through the bars a lot faster.” With Tornos technology, SwissTec expertise, and his own ingenuity, Hart looks to the future with confidence. “I have a dream for PartMaker to end up with six Tornos lathes and four milling machines. Of our customers, half are international, from the US, Canada, Taiwan and Mexico. With the increasing uptake of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing in dentistry, dentists are realising possibilities of what’s available from dental implant companies, so we know the potential for custom machining is there.” www.tornos.com www.swisstec.com.au www.partmaker.com.au
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MATERIAL REMOVAL
Schaeffler SpindleSense cuts machine downtime Schaeffler is introducing its new SpindleSense spindle monitoring system to Australasian industry to further optimise machine tool uptime and performance. According to Schaeffler Australia, the main spindle is crucial to the performance capability of the complete machine tool used to cut and shape metal and other materials. It is at the heart of the machine and largely defines the achievable cutting capacity, surface quality, and precision. In turn, the spindle bearing support is one of the most heavily loaded components because it must transmit machining forces precisely at very high speeds for long periods of time and the risk of collisions can never be ruled out. It therefore comes as no surprise that the majority of machine tool downtimes can be traced back to defective spindles, particularly as a result of collisions and continuous, undetected overloads. In milling operations, for example, the combination of high radial loads, long tool protrusions, and high speeds can lead to particularly high loads and unfavorable kinematic conditions on the spindle bearing in the vicinity of the tool. These unfavorable and in some cases impermissible loads occur because operators have hitherto not had a suitable tool with which they could monitor borderline loads on spindle bearings. Schaeffler has now solved this problem with its new SpindleSense monitoring system. Key benefits of the new system include: • Electronic protection against continuous overload and collision damage. • Sensor ring monitors displacement of the spindle bearing with micrometer precision. • Measurement of displacements in combination with Schaeffler’s expertise in rolling bearings enables assessment of operating conditions. • Detection of critical operating conditions within 2 milliseconds. All of the software and the required algorithms are integrated into the 16mm wide sensor ring. No further components are required for the system. The system is locally functional and transmits an individual warning signal to the machine’s control system, which makes the following applications possible: • Detecting a crash (collision): The sensor technology is capable of signalling an overload at a digital output within 2 milliseconds. This allows serious subsequent damage to be minimised or even prevented through fast deactivation of the drive. • Long-term protection for machine tool spindles: In practice, continuous mechanical spindle bearing overloads are not immediately identified. In contrast, SpindleSense immediately triggers a warning signal when the overload is parameterised accordingly. The operator can adjust the machining program right after the first manufactured part and reduce the spindle load by using a new tool or modified cutting values, or by employing a more suitable tool type. The operator thus achieves lower and less numerous peak loads, and thus benefits from a longer spindle operating life with fewer machine tool downtimes, which ultimately means more production time and reduced repair costs. Two options are available for outputting the measured values. Variant C-A0 transmits alarm signals as soon as the individually defined limit values for the bearing load and kinematics are reached. Variant C-A1 outputs the measured radial and axial displacements including tilting via CAN bus. Machine tool and spindle manufacturers can use these displacement values to develop analysis tools for optimising the utilisation of spindle capacity – for example, by visualising the deflection
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collective measured by the sensor ring as a load collective. For the first time ever, the machine operator will know the degree to which the spindle capacity in each machining process is being utilised as a percentage with a high level of accuracy and thus be able to adjust the machining process even more precisely in terms of capacity utilisation and operating life for each machine. This means that harmful overloads are prevented despite maximum spindle loads. Safe operation in the limit range allows the operator to increase his or her productivity and also to benefit from longer spindle operating life and less frequent machine downtimes. The measured displacements that are outputted via CAN bus can also be used for zero-point compensation. This makes it possible to produce the same quality with larger cutting values or higher quality with unmodified cutting values. The monitoring of the maximum displacement can also be used for quality assurance. The first production-ready SRS sensor ring units – including radial and axial measuring ring with an inside diameter of 70mm – are now available. Additional sizes with inside diameters of 80mm and 100mm will become available by the end of the year. All units have a standard width of 16mm. The scope of delivery includes an SST setup service tool, with which SpindleSense can be parameterised and put into operation. The sensor system integrated into the spindle bearing measures the displacement of the spindle shaft under load in a very high resolution and in five spatial directions – three translational and two rotatory. The sensor ring transmits an electrical warning signal to the machine’s control system if the deflections measured on the rolling elements exceed a specific threshold, which is set individually for every spindle and machine type. The threshold is based on an assessment of operation-related bearing parameters such as pressure, spin/roll ratio, and cage pocket clearance, into which Schaeffler has integrated its many years of expertise in rolling bearings. In comparison with mechanical – i.e. passive – overload systems, Schaeffler SpindleSense does not just protect the spindle in the event of a collision. It is also a revolutionary system for safely maximising the utilisation of the spindle capacity. For the first time ever, machine manufacturers can now offer their customers a highly effective tool for increasing productivity, machine availability, and quality. www.schaeffler.com.au
Real Business Real People Real Members AMTIL is an organisation that is ‘For the Manufacturer’ and that is why Hardman Bros. is a member. Manufacturing in Australia is facing some challenges and having AMTIL as our voice I believe is invaluable. The organisation of the Austech exhibition coupled with the Manufacturers Pavilion is a brilliant showcase and a great opportunity to meet with peers from the industry. AMTIL’s association with large suppliers has brought discounts to my company that pay for our membership tenfold each year, savings we need to stay competitive. Mark Hardman, Hardman Brothers
Since 1999, AMTIL has been connecting business, informing of opportunities and growing the manufacturing community. To be become an AMTIL member contact our Corporate Services Manager, Greg Chalker on 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au
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CUTTING TOOLS
The temperature effect in turning Cooling is essential to the machining world, due to the changes in chip shape and the resulting temperature during the machining process. Appropriate cooling measures can significantly increase insert life and reduce manufacturing costs. In the last few years, the concept and implementation of cooling solutions for cutting tools has enjoyed such a surge in popularity and enthusiasm it is almost as if it had never existed before. CNC machine manufacturers throughout the world have invested time and resources to develop solutions that can supply coolant at high pressures, and all new machine tools today are supplied with a high-pressure coolant option. Manufacturers from industries such as aerospace, automotive and large part production appreciate the immense advantage of supplying coolant directly to the cutting edge and are only ordering machines for milling centres or turning centres with high-pressure coolant capabilities – offering a minimum of 70 bar and up to as much as 300 bar. Mass production manufacturers are also benefiting from the integration of Iscar’s JetCut tools into their processes.
Keeping temperature at bay One of the most serious enemies of carbide inserts is the high temperature of the materials that results from the machining process. Temperatures vary depending both on the properties of the metal that is being machined and on environmental work conditions. The average temperature during machining can range from 300 to 900 deg. Celsius. As the temperature rises, the lifespan of the inserts is shortened as a result. Increased wear can damage workpiece quality and negatively affect machining properties: the heat generated between the insert and the workpiece can cause a change in chip shape and plastic deformation of the insert. However, the application of coolant at high pressure, starting at 70 bar, can be effective in breaking chips. In cases when it is difficult to break chips and the chip formed is long and curled, coolant applied correctly and under high pressure can solve this problem. The judicious application of coolant can prevent the workpiece materials from deformation and can act as protectant for the machine. In many cases, effective and efficient cooling can actually mean the difference between profit and loss. Cooling has a major influence on machining exotic materials such as Inconel, titanium, Hastelloy, Monel and other alloys, which are all used in the aerospace industry. These workpiece materials are difficult to machine as they have a very high nickel level and possess a tendency to stick to cutter edges due to their elastic, sticky and ductile properties – which is one of the reasons that parts for the aerospace industry are extremely expensive. Machining these types of materials without coolant is almost impossible, as the high temperatures and stickiness cause instantaneous wear and premature failure for carbide inserts. In addition to reducing temperatures for exotic metals, the use of coolant creates a shielded area between the insert and the workpiece material, so preventing material from sticking to the cutting edge, which is a major factor in premature failure for inserts.
successful implementation of new and groundbreaking cooling technologies in turning operations. The company developed and integrated external and internal tools to deliver coolant directly to the cutting edge, including the JetCut range. This has succeeded in dramatically increasing tool lifespan and productivity and, even at low pressures such as 10 or 20 bar, the advantages of directing coolant flow straight at the cutting edge can be seen in the reduction of temperature during machining. Manufacturers engaging in high-volume machining have noted a substantial increase in tool life and productivity after integrating JetCut tools to pinpoint coolant directly to the cutting zone. This is because lowering the temperature in this way facilitates longer tool life, increasing cutting conditions such as speed and feed. Manufacturers who work with problematic exotic materials such as Inconel, titanium and stainless steels have also managed to achieve higher productivity by incorporating JetCut tools. Pinpointing high pressure coolant straight onto the cutting zone prevents a sticky edge, consequently extending tool life. To answer to the growing demands of the many industry sectors, Iscar expanded its jet high-pressure line by adding turning tools fitted with the Jet-R-Turn hollow rigid clamp, which also acts as a coolant nozzle. Until now, Iscar’s IsoTurn range of tools featuring a jet high-pressure cooling option were designed with a lever clamping mechanism, as an upper clamp would obstruct the coolant jet from reaching the cutting edge. The new design enables jet highpressure coolant to reach the cutting edge without any obstacles. Iscar offers tools with Jet-R-Turn Rigid Clamp mechanism for the most popular standard CNMG, WNMG and DNMG insert geometries. Features include:
In groove turn operations, it is particularly important to select the right grade for chip breaking. An incorrect choice of grade or chip breaker can spell disaster for the manufacturer. In addition, cooling has a significant effect on chip breaking effectiveness, and the correct application of coolant can mean the difference between success and failure.
• Strong and reliable clamping mechanism prolongs tool life.
JetCut – Direct to the cutting edge
• Rear threaded inlet.
After researching and studying the influence of coolant on its inserts, Iscar applied the scientific knowledge acquired to the
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• Coolant jet directed to the cutting edge. • Excellent corner location repeatability. • Excellent performance in heavy cut machining. The new external tools feature three coolant connection options: • Bottom threaded inlet. • Bottom inlet for adjustable shank overhang, as in Iscar’s JHPMC tools.
CUTTING TOOLS
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All external tools are equipped also with a frontal bottom coolant outlet directed to the insert flank, which enhances the cooling effect. The through-tool coolant provides improved tool life, chip control and productivity advantages when high-pressure coolant is induced. In addition, the 10-15 bar standard pressure provides better performance when compared with external cooling results. What is a second in our life?
Liz Smith Director Corporate Advisory Ph: 03 8823 6810 liz.smith@williambuck.com
Every second can be multiplied and translated to millions of seconds when considering mass production of standard parts. Saving a single second per part in the production of a million parts is equivalent to a whole working month, which represents a major saving and is the dream of every mass production manufacturer. Iscar today provides a wide range of JetCut tools for a variety of applications, from turning and grooving to parting. www.iscar.com.au
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CUTTING TOOLS
How to optimise stainless-steel turning The use of stainless steel for engineering applications has always led to something of an engineering paradox. While design engineers are extremely happy with the strength and corrosion-resistance properties offered by this common material, production engineers are perhaps less enamoured with its work-hardening characteristics and general lack of machinability. The solution
With sectors such as pump and valve, oil & gas, automotive and aerospace continuing to specify stainless steel components, the challenge for cutting tool manufacturers is to deliver solutions that can provide ever greater tool life and/or productivity to help machine shops succeed in an intensively competitive global marketplace. At Sandvik Coromant, there are high hopes for one such new solution.
There are many established tips and tricks when it comes to turning stainless steels. For instance, with austenitic stainless steels, the use of sharp edges that can cut under the work-hardened layer works well, particularly when keeping the cutting depth constant. For duplex stainless steels, small entering angles are preferable to avoid notch wear and burr formation, while stability in tool clamping and workpiece fixturing is essential.
The challenge There are many different family groups within the ISO M stainless-steel material classification. However, two of the most common are austenitic stainless steels and duplex stainless steels. Austenitic stainless steels include familiar grades such as 304 and 316. Although relatively soft in the annealed condition, and with very good ductility, these grades undergo extensive work hardening during any form of machining. Work hardening produces hard surfaces and hard chips, which in turn lead to notch wear and compromised surface finish on the workpiece. The high ductility of austenitic stainless steels also works against successful turning. These materials produce long, tough, continuous chips that are difficult to break, while an accumulation of metal at the cutting edge can also occur – known as built-up edge (BUE). The thermal conductivity of austenitic stainless steels is low compared with other steel types, so heat can easily build up at the cutting tool face. Here, distortion or poor tolerance control during turning can be affected by the high thermal expansion rates of these steels. With regard to duplex stainless steels, which include grade 2205 for example, the structure of these materials is a mixture of ferrite and austenite. They have higher tensile strengths than austenitic stainless steels, and while work hardening is not as significant as for austenitic grades, the higher strength means higher machining forces (power) and lower speeds are needed. In fact, the relative machinability of duplex stainless steels is generally considered to be poor due the high tensile strength and yield point. Turning duplex stainless steel produces strong chips, which can cause chip hammering and create high cutting forces. In addition, a lot of heat is generated, which leads to plastic deformation and crater wear.
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While these tips and tricks can have a beneficial impact, the real gains in turning stainless are linked directly to correct insert selection. However, until now, finding a suitably hard grade for the high-speed, stablecondition turning of stainless steel in rough-to-medium applications has proved somewhat challenging. Machine shops turning austenitic and/or duplex stainless steel parts need an insert that is able to combat plastic deformation and wear to provide more parts per edge and therefore reduce the cost per component. Listening to customer feedback on this subject, Sandvik Coromant has developed insert grade GC2220. The new grade features an optimised substrate with reduced cobalt content to provide heat resistance, along with a columnar MT-TiCN inner coating that is hard and resistant against abrasive wear. Perhaps most importantly of all, GC2220 features the proprietary Inveio coating technology for long tool life. The tightly-packed unidirectional crystals produced by Inveio create a strong barrier towards the cutting zone for maximum thermal protection. As a result of 25%-30% higher resistance to plastic deformation in comparison with previous generation grades, the extended tool life afforded by using GC2220 for turning austenitic and duplex stainless steel components means decreased tooling expenditure and reduced inventory, as well as a lower cost per part. Fewer insert changes also help to improve productivity, ensuring a faster return on investment.
The results In terms of cutting conditions, the best results are seen in stable machining environments with continuous-to-light interruptions for average-to-high cutting speeds, as exemplified in a number of case studies at pump and valve industry customers.
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For instance, when performing external axial turning and facing operations on a valve made from austenitic stainless steel (200 HB), the competitor grade showed extensive plastic deformation along the cutting edge after 230 components (12 seconds in-cut time per part). Cutting data included a cutting speed of 107 metres per minute, a 0.3mm/rev feed rate, and a 1.3mm depth of cut. While the competitor grade had to be replaced at this point, the Sandvik Coromant GC2220 grade showed hardly any damage to the cutting edge and was able to continue, eventually completing 522 parts before a replacement was required, representing a 127% increase in tool life. In a similar test, this time performing external axial turning on an austenitic stainless steel (200 HB) flange for the pump and valve sector, the competitor insert lasted just seven parts before replacement was required (47 seconds in cut time per component). The cutting speed was 160 metres per minute, feed rate was 0.2mm/rev, and the depth of cut was 2mm. Principal among the reasons for insert replacement was the extensive amount of plastic deformation witnessed along the cutting edge. Conversely, GC2220 showed far less plastic deformation and was able to continue for a further 12 components, equating to 71% more tool life. Also worthy of note is that GC2220 can be used in both wet and dry machining operations; it can also be applied successfully to other materials that include martensitic stainless steels and low carbon steels. www.sandvik.coromant.com
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Customer satisfaction depends on reliable machining processes When planning and implementing machining processes, manufacturers generally focus on manipulating elements of their internal operations and may lose sight of the end purpose of their work: assuring customer satisfaction. By Patrick de Vos, Senior Consultancy Specialist & Technical Education Programmes Manager at Seco Tools. To a great extent, customer satisfaction is based on minimising the time between the placement of the customer’s order and delivery of the finished product. In the past, manufacturers minimised lead times by machining thousands of identical parts and creating large inventories from which they could ship products immediately. This low-mix, high-volume production (LMHV) scenario enabled manufacturers to meet customer needs in a timely way throughout gradual development of the machining process and unanticipated production errors and interruptions. Today’s market requirements, however, are radically different. Customers increasingly order small batches of products tailored to specific needs. As a result, manufacturers rarely make long production runs. Groups of duplicate components are not produced in the thousands, but rather in hundreds, tens or even single units. These high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) scenarios leave no room for ongoing process development or unanticipated interruptions. Manufacturers are under pressure to develop machining processes that are totally reliable beginning with the first part. Immediate speed, consistency and predictability are paramount.
the hot jobs. Then the delayed jobs themselves become hot jobs, lead times increase, and chaos begins to creep into the production process. Another issue is the tendency of manufacturing staff to concentrate on finding ways to meet internal goals, such as achieving 100% ontime delivery. Planning often is carried out with those internal goals in mind. For example, shop personnel may know that completing a certain job takes one day, but will allocate two days to account for interruptions by hot jobs or other possible delays. Planners add a time cushion to avoid incidents of “acoustic management” – being reprimanded by management. However, if similar behaviour is common throughout a shop, two weeks of lead time can grow to perhaps seven weeks. On-time delivery performance as measured internally may be 98%, production personnel are happy to meet internal goals, but the customer who needed the product in two weeks is not happy at all.
Nevertheless, many manufacturers continue to focus on what they call “efficiency,” developing manufacturing processes aimed nearly exclusively at maximum output and minimal cost. Consequently they unintentionally ignore “the elephant in the room” – the crucial priority of satisfying their customers, especially customer demands for timely delivery.
The traditional manufacturing environment has systemic limitations, as represented in the image below. On the left, the highway with minimal traffic symbolises underutilisation of resources and, as applied to manufacturing, high production cost per finished workpiece. The over-utilised highway on the right, jammed with stopped vehicles, represents the chaos and extended lead times that result when errors occur or unexpected jobs vie for space on the production highway. The middle image illustrates a balanced and cost-efficient approach to output and utilisation of resources.
Quick Response Manufacturing
Balance between Speed of Delivery and Efficiency
Conceived in the early days of the HMLV era, a concept called Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) underscores the critical role of time in the manufacturing process. QRM strategies, along with zerowaste and process optimisation efforts, provide a roadmap that can put manufacturers on a path to minimise lead time and thereby maximise customer satisfaction. Rajan Suri, a professor of industrial engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1990s, recognised looming changes in manufacturing markets, particularly the trend towards HMLV production. In 1993 he founded the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing. The Center’s purpose is to create partnerships between the university and manufacturing companies to develop and implement ways to reduce lead times. QRM strategies are often applied in addition to Lean, Six Sigma and similar process improvement initiatives.
The traditional approach Production managers in traditional machining environments seek maximum machine utilisation above all. If a machine is standing still, it is not efficient and is costing money, not earning it. The goal is to produce large batches for inventory. Parts in stock buffer fluctuating customer demand. In HMLV manufacturing, however, a job is put into production not for stock, but to fulfil a customer order for a limited number of specific components. There is no buffering inventory. Further complicating the situation are factors such as so-called “hot jobs” that arrive unexpectedly in response to emergency circumstances or special requests by important customers. If all of a facility’s machines are running, other jobs will be delayed to deal with
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Roadmap for HMLV production In a HMLV production environment, first-time part yield and consistent quality in production of non-identical workpieces is key. The objective is to provide customised products where the part in a one-piece batch costs the same as a part in a million-piece batch and immediate delivery is assured. Producing good parts from the start depends on establishing a trouble-free and reliable machining process. It is currently fashionable to point to the newest production techniques and digitalisation technologies as solutions to machining problems. However, speed, consistency and flexibility always have been, and still are, based on a foundation of operational excellence as well an educated manufacturing staff with a positive mindset and motivation. Before discussing digitisation and optimisation, it is necessary to look at the workshop operations overall, determine where waste of time and resources occurs, and develop methods to minimise it. After that, the emphasis shifts to process quality or reliability.
A zero-waste workshop Reducing lead times requires elimination of waste in the manufacturing process. A zero-waste workshop does not over-produce parts, fully utilises workpiece material, and does away with extra movement for
CUTTING HEADING TOOLS semi-finished parts. Wasteful and time-consuming activities in the machining process itself include production of burrs, bad surface finishes, long chips, vibration, and machining errors that create unacceptable parts. Bad parts must be reworked or rejected and remade, either of which adds waiting time to the production process. Even producing part quality that exceeds customer requirements represents wasted time and money. Shops must realise that it is necessary to achieve only the lowest possible workpiece quality that meets customer specifications and functional requirements.
Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE)
cutting process. When cutting conditions do not exceed real-world constraints, the operation is safe from a technical perspective. However, not every technically safe combination of cutting conditions will produce the same economic result and changing cutting conditions will change the cost of the machining process. Aggressive but technically safe cutting conditions will speed output of finished workpieces. After a certain point, however, output will slow because the aggressive cutting parameters also will result in shorter tool life, and multiple tool changeovers will consume excessive time. Accordingly, the third phase of achieving a balanced machining process involves determining the optimal combination of cutting conditions for a given situation. It is essential to establish a working domain where combinations provide the desired levels of productivity and economy. After the combinations are put into production, episodes of troubleshooting to solve specific problems are usually required, as well as ongoing process analysis and optimisation.
Versatile tooling If a part tolerance is five microns, achieving three microns is wasteful. Higher-quality tooling and more precise operating processes will be required to meet the tighter tolerance, but a customer will not pay for the unrequested higher quality. The job will be a money-losing proposition for the shop.
Respecting constraints The first phase in establishing a balanced machining process is choosing tools with load capacity that meets or exceeds the mechanical, thermal, chemical, and tribological loads present in the metal-cutting operation. Phase two involves selecting cutting conditions that recognise the constraints put on a machining process by real-world factors. A cutting tool possesses broad capabilities, but specific realities constrain the range of effective application parameters. For example, tool capabilities change according to the power of the machine tool in use. Machining characteristics of the workpiece material may limit cutting speed or feed rate, or complex or weak workpiece configurations may be prone to vibration. Although a vast number of cutting condition combinations will work in theory, reality-dictated constraints will narrow trouble-free choices to a certain selection of parameters. Applying cutting conditions outside the constraints of the specific situation will have negative consequences, including higher costs and lower productivity. The majority of the problems experienced during machining result from a lack of respect for the constraints that physical realities place on the
While high-performance, specialised tools can boost output speed, recognising process constraints may prompt the choice of tools developed for versatility. When tools are selected for maximum productivity and cost efficiency in machining a specific part, a change from one workpiece configuration to another may require emptying the machine turret completely and replacing all the tools. In HMLV situations where smaller runs of different parts change frequently, that changeover time can consume all of the productivity gains resulting from use of maximum-productivity tooling. In cases where tool performance is stretched to the maximum, some operators will reduce cutting parameters in fear of tool failure and disruption. Versatile tooling, on the other hand, is applicable across a wider range of cutting conditions than productivity-focused tooling, although at less aggressive parameters. When versatile tooling is applied to process a variety of different workpieces, actual machining may be somewhat slower or more expensive, but the reductions in setup time, scrap, and lead time make up the difference and then some. Customer satisfaction is the goal of any business relationship, and a key element of customer satisfaction in manufacturing is timely delivery of machined components. HMLV production scenarios put pressure on manufacturers to optimise their operations to reduce lead times and speed delivery. Applying the concepts of QRM and zero-waste and optimisation initiatives enables manufacturers to achieve the speed and reliability needed to fulfil customer demands for timely delivery while also assuring manufacturing profitability. www.secotools.com
By always focusing on “efficiency”, many manufacturers unintentionally ignore “the elephant in the room” – the crucial priority of satisfying their customers.
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Zero-waste manufacturing – Good for the environment, and your finances Zero-waste manufacturing makes good financial and environmental sense. Thomson Mathew, ANCA Product Manager, explains why waste reduction should be a priority for your business. Zero-waste manufacturing is, as the name suggests, a method of production that is so efficient that tools are able to be made without sending anything to landfill. Why is this important for toolmakers? Of course, minimising the impact of manufacturing on the environment is an admirable goal. But it’s also true that the materials you use to make cutting tools can be expensive. Reducing waste is more than an environmental concern; it also makes good economic sense. Zero waste is a whole-ofbusiness approach that starts with where you source your materials and ends long after the product has left your warehouse. Although true ‘zero waste’ is not completely achievable yet, there are steps you can – and should – be taking towards a more efficient future. At a basic level, zero-waste manufacturing requires getting the first component (the cutting tool) right, and then maintaining those tolerances and dimensions through the entire production so there is minimal waste/rejection of tools at the end. Factors that will influence the amount of waste you produce include: • Raw materials – Starting with highquality raw materials will produce a higher-quality end product. • Ensuring you have an efficient loading system. • Maintaining correct coolant temperature for process stability and capability of the entire system. • Ensuring operators are trained to understand the quality and efficiency required. At ANCA we can supply reports detailing the potential output of your equipment and offer guidelines to help you get the most out of them.
Technology is your greatest zero-waste manufacturing weapon The goal of zero-waste requires serious precision. To manufacture a tool without waste, you need complete control at every stage. Technology has far greater capacity than a person to analyse production in real-time, make accurate predictions and forecast production requirements. For example, measurement and compensation machines like those in the Zoller range can give you a level of detail no human ever could.
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Ways you could already be using technology for a more efficient factory include: • In-process laser measurement and automatic compensation for tools to ensure the entire batch of tools are maintained within specified tolerance.
they know how. Shifting that approach can be challenging, usually requiring new equipment and buy-in from the rest of the business, but is completely worthwhile.
Make good choices at every stage
• 3D modelling to analyse tool design and simulate cutting processes, so you can measure and verify their efficiency before you even start grinding ensuring nothing is wasted.
Real zero-waste manufacturing is more than what happens on your shop-floor. It means making good choices about the whole lifecycle of your product, starting from where you source your raw materials.
• Machine testing tools to make sure the tools work as per the product requirements.
Consider Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (ERP) – choosing products that are less damaging to the environment and human health. The work you do to reduce waste in your factory can be completely undermined by starting with wasteful materials.
• Pre-inspection of blanks inside the machine before manufacturing to confirm blank are to the required specifications.
It doesn’t end with production
There has also been a big shift to thinking about the value of your offcuts. Businesses are doing more than just using environmentally-friendly materials or recycling – they are actually planning to use what’s left over. Global companies like Coca-Cola and Subaru are designing products with waste value in mind, using plastics, Styrofoam and even engine parts to create new, usable resources.
Being left with excess raw materials is the most obvious waste of money in a production line, but it’s far from the only one. Losing energy, resources and even people at any stage is a costly exercise. Even waste disposal can have a direct hit to your bottom line.
Zero-waste manufacturing is a shift in mindset. It requires a strong understanding of your existing production line, so you can change and refine it. It means making good use of available analytics and new technology that supports a more efficient workshop.
One of the biggest obstacles to zero-waste manufacturing is changing your processes. Most businesses have established systems in place to produce tools in the best way
With an investment in better processes, your factory can be part of a zero-waste future. www.anca.com
• Wheel probes, to automatically measure grinding wheels to ensure the grinding machine is set up for maximum efficiency. When you’ve got the best possible tool on hand, automation allows you to store and run processes that will recreate it exactly, every single time.
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Why taps are my favourite cutting tool As a tool for cutting threads into drilled holes, the humble tap has played a huge part in human technological process and the development of civilisation as we know it today. Robert Sutton explains his life-long appreciation for the tap. I often remark to my children or anyone who will listen at trade events that there are only two kinds of people in the world: cutting tool people and everyone else. In the case of my kids (and our Marketing Manager, for that matter), they issue a despairing groan and roll their eyes. This is not a trivial proposition – and it goes deeper! Even amongst the broader Cutting Tool Community, it’s my long-held opinion that it’s us Tap People who are the crème de la crème. On further investigation, the logic behind this highly reasonable position is both obvious and compelling (to me, at least).
Once upon a time… My love affair with taps began in my schooldays, while working at the Sutton Tools factory during the summer holidays. That passion continues to this day, based on the philosophical concept of “value add”. I am a confirmed Tap Person. To the uninitiated, a tap is a simple tool for cutting a thread into a drilled hole. This notion belies the subtlety of these tools and their profound effect on civilisation as we know it. In fact, you can cite the invention of a standardised 55-degree thread form by Joseph Whitworth in 1841 as a defining moment in world history. It’s pretty safe to say that we would not be flying to London (or anywhere else) without tap thread technology for fastening parts. We might not even be sailing there in a metal ship… Look around at any mechanical device with any degree of sophistication, and you’ll find it is fastened with threads.
Form and function From a catalogue range perspective, the manufacture of a tap range is a logistical miracle in itself. The range of differently dimensioned blanks covers a variety of sizes and standards around the globe.
Perversely, each corner of the world seems to have deliberately developed its own dimensions – commonly identified as ISO, DIN, JIS and ANSI. Each of these blanks will have a 10mm tap, but with completely different dimensions. It’s actually not unlike Australia’s old railway gauge widths, where a train from one state couldn’t travel over the border – so passengers had to pile out and change trains. The taps will make a 10mm thread, but the tap won’t fit in the holder of the collet! Compounding this, taps have multiple thread forms with multiple geometries over four basic design types – which makes for a truly staggering possible combination of tools.No doubt all you left-brain people out there will lament that this is all highly inefficient. But to my mind, it only adds to the allure of the product. It speaks to history, culture and the evolution of the world’s mechanical genius.
Precision It’s hard not to love a cutting tool with a basic theoretical diameter tolerance of 10 microns that requires a gauge to assess the outcome in use. Diameter is really just a stepping-off point; the tap thread form geometry is compounded by a wonderful confluence of flute helix angles, rake angles derived from multi radii flute shapes, raw material section and heat treatment, and finally coatings and surface finishes.
Application From its most basic form as a hand tool through to micron-perfect balanced production tools capable of producing volume threads in exotic alloys, tap manufacture does border on a “Black Art”. (hence Sutton Tools’ Black Magic range). The sublime subtlety of tapping leaves all other applications eating dust, as far as I’m concerned!
Happily ever after… At Sutton Tools we produce taps, endmills, drills and a very wide variety of cutting tools. Having spent countless hours discussing the subject with other Cutting Tool People, I am completely convinced that our section of the world is ruled by Taps People. Sadly, it’s a club that gets smaller each year as global consolidation strengthens its grip on our industry. But taps will always be our passion – and, with dedication, will always be very much alive wherever innovative, independent companies thrive. Robert Sutton is the Commercial Director at Sutton Tools. www.suttontools.com
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Building 4.0 – Revolutionising the Australian building industry A $28m funding bid via the Federal Government’s Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program, has the potential to boost the economy through job creation and position Australia as a leader in advanced manufacturing of buildings. The bid has been led by Monash University, Lendlease, The University of Melbourne (UoM) and Donovan Group. If successful, the Building 4.0 CRC research initiative will use digital solutions to transform Australia’s building industry from pre-industrial practices to a future where the customer is at the centre of each building experience, and buildings are built faster, cheaper and smarter. “R&D carried out in the CRC will demonstrate that the building industry can come together to solve the big challenges of our times, delivering buildings that are more efficient, cheaper and sustainable, without sacrificing quality,” said Monash University’s Professor Mathew Aitchison, Interim CEO of Building 4.0 CRC. “With our involvement in the CRC, we want to transform the way the industry collaborates, which we think is the key to unlocking major improvements in the sector.” Building 4.0 CRC will bring together expertise in the fields of architecture, design, planning, construction, engineering, business, information technology and law to develop industry-wide practices and protocols to transform the entire sector. It will also leverage the latest technologies, data science and artificial intelligence to enable the application of robotics to optimise all phases of building delivery – including development, design, production, assembly, operation, maintenance and end-of-life. Professor Shane Murray, Dean of Architecture at Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), said: “Building 4.0 CRC will catapult the industry into a connected, user-centred, sustainable and efficient future.” “Ultimately, this change of focus will lead to a growth in high-value employment, a reduction in greenhouse gases, and create better housing that’s more affordable, liveable and environmentally friendly for the future of all Australians,” added Professor Elizabeth Croft, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University. The university and industry collaboration announced its bid for the CRC program funding in Melbourne on 26 July. The event featured building exhibits and digital demonstrations from a CRC project (2016-19) called Innovation in Advanced Multi-Storey Housing Manufacture. Dr Bronwyn Evans, Chair-Elect of the Building 4.0 CRC, said: “The Building 4.0 CRC is going to be a really important factor in this sector, making sure we have a competitive future and we are addressing broad sector needs.” Bill Ruh, Chief Executive Officer, Digital, at Lendlease said: “We’ve got an incredible opportunity before us where we’re looking to use the latest digital technology to create high-fidelity, fully detailed, complete and absolute models of what we’re going to build, before we build it. The accuracy and speed of construction will be second to none, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. For Lendlease, the CRC program is a great opportunity for us to not only test and use technology to develop new ways of working, but to find ways of working collaboratively with the broader industry.” Professor Mark Cassidy, Dean of Melbourne School of Engineering at the UoM, said: “Our building industry needs to lead the digital disruption to ensure it gains a first-mover advantage. These reforms are only achievable with significant innovation and collaboration across the industry.”
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The Building 4.0 CRC seeks to set trends and break rules in order to transform the way the industry engages and responds to customers’ needs. Some of the outcomes this initiative hopes to achieve include: • A 37.5% reduction in project costs through digital technology and off-site manufacturing • A 40% reduction in project delays • An 80% reduction in construction waste • A 50% reduction in CO2 emissions for more sustainable buildings. “I hope to achieve a more sustainable, more efficient and more user-friendly industry through this CRC,” said Professor Tuan Ngo, Research Director of Building 4.0 CRC from the UoM. Gavin Tonnet, Australian CEO of Donovan Group, said: “Our vision is to create a world where people can visualise and realise buildings in real time. The purpose is to transform the way that consumers and builders design and buy buildings by providing easy-to-use browsing-based software that allows them to custom-design, visualise and price buildings in an engineering-compliant way.” The bid comprises 28 leading players in commercial industry, university, industry bodies and government partners. Results from the CRC bid will be announced in December 2019. www.building4pointzero.org
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Increasing automation in the construction industry The construction industry is grappling with issues pertaining to productivity and meeting project deadlines. To overcome these challenges the industry is borrowing heavily from the manufacturing sector, and embracing increased automation. By Prathmesh Limaye. About two million construction workers were let go in the United States alone between 2007 and 2011, and the industry has not been able to fill this vacuum during the recovery period. Additionally, with the impending Brexit in Europe, the industry faces huge gaps in terms of skillsets. Such macro-economic trends hamper the growth of the construction industry as numerous timelines may be extended, leading to overall project delays. The industry is adopting innovative techniques to overcome productivity challenges, borrowing heavily from the manufacturing sector. The construction industry is now open to building homes in a factory off-site and installing the built homes onsite. The industry stakeholders are increasingly adopting such buildings, known as modular or prefabricated buildings, as these help them in completing projects in about half the time as traditional construction practices, leading to high savings. The growth in adoption of modular and prefabricated building practices paves the way for increased automation in the construction industry, which otherwise relies on manual processes such as bricklaying, installation, and carpentry that depend heavily on skilled labour. The adoption of modular and prefabricated buildings has also led to the adoption of principles hitherto unutilised in the industry. One such principle is the Design for Manufacturing Assembly (DfMA). The DfMA process, which is increasingly being adopted by prefab manufacturers, enables them to have a stronger design plan compared to traditional construction. This, in turn, helps in achieving a shorter construction period. This approach has also led to increased adoption of the Building Information Management (BIM) systems that typically generate 3D design models for a building. The BIM systems effectively compute the time, materials used, and cost of materials used in constructing
a building. Thus, BIM acts as an effective project management tool that allows industry stakeholders to better track and manage construction projects. Apart from tools such as DfMA and BIM, other tools are also being adopted that aim to make construction projects more effective in terms of cost and time parameters. Automation helps in processing and installation of a variety of construction materials, including wood, composites and plastics. These materials, when compared with traditional ones such as concrete and steel, are considered more sustainable. For instance, wood emits a lower amount of CO2 to the environment when compared with concrete and can also be replenished through afforestation and reforestation activities. Thus, manufacturing and automation in the construction industry are also enabling sustainable building practices, which is a primary challenge. With the advent of new technologies such as additive manufacturing, one can witness the increasing use of 3D printing in building prototypes for homes. This will help in gaining a better understanding of designs among stakeholders and enable better change management while executing projects. In fact, the Swiss design firm Fuseproject and the construction technology firm Icon have developed a joint venture named New Story in Latin America to develop housing solutions for the homeless using 3D printing and developed a 33sqm concept model in May. As a result, the industry is experiencing a transformation of traditional business models, where design companies are becoming the construction companies of the future. For instance, software company AutoDesk recently acquired the US-based prefab company FactoryOS and has initiated its use in the construction industry. Prathmesh Limaye is a Senior Research Analyst – Chemicals, Materials, Food at Frost & Sullivan. www.frost.com
Australia builds next-gen construction technology Material designed and developed in Toowoomba, Queensland is being used in multi-million dollar projects around the world, including a two-kilometre boardwalk in Abu Dhabi. ‘Pultrusion’ is the next big thing in manufacturing, and Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies (CFT) has teamed up with the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and Allnex to redefine what the manufacturing process is capable of. According to USQ Polymer Composites researcher Dr Xuesen Zeng, pultrusion creates continuous lengths of composite material, ‘pulling’ fibre-reinforced profiles through a cross-section of die, resin and heating and cooling zones. “It has been the manufacturing method of choice due to its ability to produce large sections in volume which are economical and consistent in quality,” Dr Zeng said. “We’re increasing the productivity of the process, incorporating additives such as fire retardants, integrating braiding process with pultrusion, optimising injectable tools, and more.” USQ, Wagners CFT and Allnex have embarked on a $10m project that recently received a $3m funding boost from Federal Government’s Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program. Together they are creating advanced structures expected to capture
new high value markets in the oil & gas and transport industries both in Australia and internationally. Wagners CFT is a pioneer in the use of composite materials in civil engineering around the world with projects using pultruded material in the UK, USA, and New Zealand. The company is currently in the process of installing a boardwalk for the United Arab Emirates’s Al Jubail Island Development, which will see 6,000 villas constructed on the island. Professor Peter Schubel, Executive Director of the USQ Institute for Advanced Engineering and Space Sciences, said investment by USQ in a production-ready Pultrex pultrusion line has allowed USQ to operate as the research arm of Wagners CFT, freeing up precious production time, leading to the development of new products in new markets with improved mechanical and fire performance. “The integration of experimental and modelling capabilities will help increase productivity through higher line speed, and create structures that can compete on cost within Australia and in the global market,” Professor Schubel said. www.usq.edu.au
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Print your city? 3D printing is revolutionising urban futures The Fabrication City concept puts manufacturing back in the hands of communities — using 3D printers. It could have far-reaching implications for economic development, environmental sustainability, inclusion and other benefits. The use of 3D printing provides cities with opportunities through their local innovators and entrepreneurs. By Sylvie Albert, Jeremy Millard and Tomas Diez. The process of 3D printing involves printing layers of materials to create three-dimensional objects using digital equipment. Local makers are given access to fabrication labs equipped with technology to learn, and this incubation environment can develop future entrepreneurs. The fabrication city model emerged around 2011, developed by the MIT’s Centre for Bits and Atoms and by over 1,000 Maker Centres that give local makers access to 3D printing and other production tools. There are also neighbourhoods and city clusters that facilitate the maker movement. There are opportunities for individuals and groups to create and market products from used or new materials using a digital device and additive technology. By facilitating these activities, cities can radically transform the way production and consumption happens within their region. Interconnecting people and processes to create local and regional-inclusive innovation and economic growth while also reducing environmental impacts. What might we reuse if we practice more inclusive innovation and how might we change the local economy if we support local sourcing?
Printing the future In our recently published book, Innovative Solutions for Creating Sustainable Cities, the fabrication city section explains that going forward, we cannot follow the same principles as before by moving materials — or focus on the pursuit of efficiency (less investment of capital, energy, resources) for the maximisation of outputs. Instead, we must radically redefine urbanism by changing how we produce, consume and live in cities so they can digest locally the waste they produce. Just as the digital economy is making platforms available for anyone to sell globally, new technologies such as additive manufacturing are allowing us to rethink where and how we make things. The use of 3D printing is already transforming many conventional industries. For example, GE is able to replace a third of the parts on an aircraft engine using 3D printing and by fusing materials together they can reduce the overall number of parts. Honda created an electric vehicle entirely from 3D-printed segments. On-demand printed cars may be just around the corner. Even homes are being 3D printed at highly reasonable costs these days — although a bit rudimentary, the output can only get better. This manufacturing revolution will have substantial implications, providing cities and local entrepreneurs with the opportunity to mass-customise and produce for just-in-time delivery. It will reduce transportation and waste and thus help to minimise emissions. It may also reduce the overall cost for consumers while increasing local jobs.
Rethinking local production Imagine cities equipped with flexible factories using local supply chains and locally sourced materials. These fabrication sites use waste materials, disassembled components and other sources to manufacture products digitally and customised for citizens. From prosthetic limbs to plastic waste used to create seating in city parks, there are an increasing number of products being manufactured by local entrepreneurs.
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Industrial manufacturing has begun this transition from degenerative to regenerative design (these are processes that restore and renew sources of energy and materials), also known as the circular economy. Waste, for example, is recirculated and fabricated to meet new needs such as energy production. The fabrication city concept meets social, economic, governance and sustainable development goals. This is a tremendous incentive for cities to engage and establish new urban systems that are regenerative and restorative by design. The Fab City Global Initiative, begun in 2016, includes 27 participating municipalities and governments, among them Detroit, Amsterdam, Bhutan, Shenzhen, Ekurhuleni, Santiago de Chile, Boston and Paris. There is a rich network of designers, makers and innovators from a wide range of sectors contributing to developments in consumer goods, energy, food production, health products and more. It is not hard to conceive that bulky products such as cars or fridges that are expensive to ship and warehouse could, in the future, be manufactured on demand locally. Barcelona is perhaps the most easily recognised fabrication environment. Already, a significant amount of food, materials and products are no longer manufactured thousands of kilometres away — they are conceived, designed and grown within the urban boundaries. Fabrication cities can differentiate themselves through design. They create a unique ecosystem that attracts innovative people and organisations, which allows cities to diversify and offer an unparalleled quality of life. Fabrication cities are a powerful game changer in the way that we make and dispose of everything we consume. Sylvie Albert is Professor in the Faculty of Business & Economics at University of Winnipeg. Jeremy Millard is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bradford. Tomas Diez is a Director at Fab Lab Barcelona, Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (IAAC). This article was originally published by The Conversation. www.theconversation.com
CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE
ProtoLAB opens to provide large-scale digital fabrication capability
compact cooling lubricant filtration systems
Swinburne University has formally opened its ProtoLAB new digital fabrication facility, an expanded state-of-theart workshop that is home to industrial robots for largescale architectural design prototyping. The ProtoLAB supports students in design, engineering and architecture and meets the needs of academic research, testing and industry partnered work. “In research, it supports conversations with research partners,” says Dean of Design, Professor Jane Burry. “We also now have the space and large-scale robotics to undertake prototyping, fabrication and assembly at architectural scale.” The lab is equipped with a new high-speed HP Jet Fusion 3D Printer that allows students to print complex geometry without needing to remove support material. Also in constant use are a new Okuma CNC turn mill; seven laser cutters; a Biesse CNC router; a Multicam router; two KUKA collaborative robots designed to work with humans; and a new larger KUKA KR120 robot. “The KUKA KR120 runs on a 7.9m linear track, and reaches out to 3m,” says Andrew Tarlington, Manager of Technical Services, Architecture and Design. “It has a sync table at one end and a horizontal positioner along one side for multi-axis machining. Computer programs, and the students tethered to them are getting smarter, utilising parametric software to control not only a model’s shape but also the robot or machine attached. “By using data and analytics they work out what’s required, reducing waste material and improving user experience. Generative design and parametric design are not new ways of working, but we are progressively finding easier ways of producing designs, and communicating to the machines. By teaching the full potential of Industry 4.0 machines, we enable students to translate these capabilities back into their designs with a deeper technical knowledge and understanding.” A ‘soft prototyping lab’ integrates with design studios. As ideas developed in the studios mature and upscale, they are translated to the main workshop to use the largescale robot to fabricate at full scale, embracing the added risks and complexities that entails. “The ProtoLAB provides the luxury of space,” says Professor Burry. “Multiple classes and research activities occur simultaneously. Timeconsuming fabrication activities continue alongside student teaching. In design, access to a top-quality workshop is a major attractor for both students and researchers for testing and developing ideas. The quality of the workshop and expertise of staff is critical, and regular access invaluable.” Located on Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus, the ProtoLAB design features a glass façade, allowing prototyping, digital fabrication, design and making to easily be observed. “Often people will be staring in, checking out what our fantastic students are creating,” Tarlinton adds. “Children press their faces against the glass, mesmerised, watching something being machined out of a block of foam – as if to appear by magic.” www.fhadprotolab.com
toolsmart COOLANT PREPARATION AND COMPACT COOLING Combination unit especially for additive manufacturing – the industrial 3D printing: coolant preparation and laser cooling in one unit. Characterised by its small footprint and several different filtration methods. Filtration with nonwoven materials – a universal, proven filtration method for many decades – is the basis for this system. www.technotrans.com technotrans technologies pte ltd | Unit 7 / 111 Lewis Road Wantirna, Victoria 3152 Phone +61 3 9887-5049 | Fax +61 3 9801 1945
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Fibre – The cutting edge of laser cutting In the field of laser cutting, fibre lasers currently represent the leading edge in terms of innovation, offering unmatched performance in terms of high production output. With a fibre laser, the laser beam is generated in an active optical fibre. It is then guided to the cutting head of the machine through a transport fibre cable. Fibre lasers are best suited when using nitrogen as an assist cutting gas for thin and medium sheet thicknesses, up to 12mm, and non-ferrous materials such as copper and brass. New higher-powered fibre modules allow thicker materials, including mild streel and stainless steel, to be cut with comparable CO2 cut quality and speeds. For thicknesses below 6mm when cutting using nitrogen as the assist gas, fibre lasers are up to five times faster than CO2. To cut mild steel with oxygen the fibre laser beam is defocused to the same diameter as the CO2 kerf width, so the exothermic reaction can take place, the same as oxy fuel gas cutting. Fibre lasers are more compact than CO2 lasers but deliver more than double the power output, with the same input power supply. The comparative wavelength of the fibre laser beam with that of the CO2 laser is 1.064 micrometres and 10.6 micrometres respectively; this means the fibre laser beam is 10 times smaller. Therefore the focal diameter of a fibre laser has an intensity 100 times higher than a CO2. For this reason, the fibre laser requires a much higher level of safety precautions because the laser reflections emitted can cause damage to the eyesight. Fibre lasers should not be used without CE-approved interlocked guarding. The great efficiency of fibre lasers ensures greatly reduced energy consumption. Fibre lasers are approximately 86% more energyefficient than CO2 lasers. Due to their energy efficiency, and not requiring resonator gases, the operating costs of fibre lasers are much lower than CO2 lasers. CO2 lasers generally require two different focal length lenses – 5.0 inches and 7.5 inches – which must be changed depending on the material and the thickness being cut. These lenses have a lifecycle of about 1,000 hours. In comparison, the fibre laser cutter only uses one lens which has a lifecycle of 4,000 to 5,000 hours.
TCI Cutting signs up with DDM Laser TCI Cutting, a Spanish-headquartered manufacturer of high-quality laser and waterjet cutting machines, has announced that DDM Laser has been appointed as its exclusive sales and service agent for Australia and New Zealand. According to René Swagerman, Distribution Manager at TCI, the choice of DDM was a perfect fit for his company.
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“Their experience is invaluable,” said Swagerman. “As a manufacturer, it is great that we can rely on DDM Laser to not just sell our machines – they can install, warranty, service and maintain them. After looking after 100 machines for over 16 years, there is not much DDM Laser hasn’t seen. TCI is excited about entering this new market and with our new co-operation with DDM Laser. We look forward to providing customers in Australia and New Zealand with alternative, progressive and high-quality laser cutting machines.” Previously DDM (formerly known as LMC Laser) served for 16 years as the agents for Bystronic, during which time they installed and serviced more than 100 machines. After the Bystronic agreement was concluded, DDM researched laser machine manufacturers from around the world before settling on TCI. “As soon as we visited the TCI Cutting factory we knew we had found a company we would like to partner with,” says John Douglass, Sales Manager at DDM. “The machines are built with quality being the major factor.” This was confirmed during the latest installation of a TCI machine in Melbourne, Douglass adds: “The newly installed Smartline 6.0kW looks and works fantastic. Its clever design allows a small footprint without losing any efficiency.” So far, all of DDM’s installed TCI machines have a cutting area of 3m x 1.5m, but larger formats are available. While the most common fibre power is 6.0kW, 8.0kW machines are now beginning to be installed, and machines with 15kW resonators are available. The higher power permits faster thin sheet cutting, though the speeds for thicker materials is not greatly increased. TCI Cutting has ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification. “Having installed several TCI fibre laser cutting systems, we can confirm both the power savings and the cutting speeds and quality,” Douglass added. “Using world-leading components, including IPG fibre modules, II-VI Highyag cutting heads and Fanuc industrial CNC controls, the TCI cutting systems are first-class and built to exacting standards.” www.ddmlaser.com.au
New installation
Hotspots is proudly owned and managed by AMTIL
All we think about about is manufacturing. •
You need a specific component made, but don’t have the capabilities in house.
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Your company has landed a major project, but your workshop or your workforce just aren’t big enough to handle the volume required.
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Your business is diversifying into an area where the expertise available within the company is not sufficient.
HotSpots is a service designed to connect AMTIL members with opportunities to help their businesses grow. That piece of work that you need done might be just the sort of opportunity they’re looking for. And by featuring that opportunity as a HotSpot, you gain access to a wealth of Australian manufacturing capability and expertise.
Our regular AMTIL HotSpots email goes out to over 1,000 people every month, making HotSpots an incredibly powerful way to reach large numbers of key decision-makers from across the manufacturing sector. Provided your opportunity meets our criteria for listing, inclusion in AMTIL HotSpots is free. If you have something you feel will meet our criteria, please forward it to AMTIL for assessment by emailing info@amtil.com.au with the subject line HOTSPOT. www.amtil.com.au/Membership/Hotspots
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Introduce your Factory Floor to Industry 4.0 The Fourth Industrial Revolution is not a thing of the past, confined to school textbooks – this surge of change is happening right now, all around us. Not unlike previous industrial revolutions throughout history, its occurrence highlights a need for change, modernisation and an upheaval in the way current processes are carried out.
High-performance machines
The mantra, ‘out with the old, in with the new’ certainly applies here. Thousands of manufacturing hubs are embracing the current technological changes by actively adopting new machines and software in their factories. So what does this mean for your business?
The four crucial areas of transformation 1. High-performance machines First things first – in order to be in with a chance to beat your competition, you will need to ensure that you are operating machinery that is adding, rather than detracting, value to your business. If you have an older machine model that is constantly in need of repairs and services, isn’t too flexible in its output range, and isn’t quite cutting it (excuse the pun) then an upgrade may be in your favour. Without being aware of it, dealing with older machinery can be a hindrance to your company’s performance, inherently slowing down production rates, and producing output that is no longer top-of-the-range in terms of quality. Services and repairs also eat into your time and cause delays and stops to production, costing you both time and money. Investing in a new machine can not only give you a smoother manufacturing process, but it will also give you back time and money to utilise in more valuable pursuits. It doesn’t always have to break the bank – check out our range of stock machinery available, which include laser cutting, CNC and waterjet cutting machinery as well as 3D printers.
2. Intuitive software Once you are satisfied that the machinery you are using is at optimum performance standards, it’s time for the next step in the Industry 4.0 process – built-in software. This step is crucial for gaining 360-degree visibility of orders, stock levels, machine performance and much more. Along with this valuable insight, you gain the power to become more efficient, solve and analyse problems that crop up quickly, and tap into new areas for growth. Software such as Trumpf’s TruTops range can be used to programme your laser cutting machines, analyse the financials in
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Scalable storage
terms of customer orders, and allow you to boost your business’ overall performance.
3. Scalable storage Housing stock in your factory facility can become a nightmare when it comes to accessibility, space, and scalability. In order to ensure your business has room to grow, there needs to be enough storage space available to house increased stock for new products or to satisfy more demand for existing output. Therefore, you may consider automated storage facilities. As well as having room to grow, it’s essential that stored items are easy to access – goods to person warehousing is one of the most integral aspects of the Industry 4.0 revolution. Rather than wasting time searching for stock and leaving yourself at risk of injury at the point of retrieval, you might consider a built-in automated storage system, which automatically retrieves and delivers items at a comfortable ergonomic height for the user. This speeds up the stock retrieval process as well as ensuring that all stock materials are stored safely and securely, without risk of damage or injury to persons.
Harness new technology
4. Harness new technology Additive manufacturing is one of the major buzz words associated with Industry 4.0, as it is a technology that is rapidly becoming more advanced, with its user community increasing - based on innovative applications of the technology. 3D printing can be used as an aid in the manufacturing process, producing low-cost prototypes at high speed. It can also be used to print high-functioning parts and test materials in the production process, helping to inform decisions on the most durable material to use. www.headland.com.au
FORMING & FABRICATION
NUM – Sheet metal laser cutting with exceptional accuracy Working in collaboration with NUM, Taiwanese laser machine manufacturer Legend Laser has developed a unique multi-axis system for the precision cutting of thin sheet metal parts. Founded in 1995, Legend Laser specialises in the design and manufacture of a diverse range of laser marking, micro-machining and micro-tube processing systems. Initially concentrating on the domestic and Chinese markets, the company nowadays serves a worldwide customer base. Based on NUM’s latest-generation Flexium+ CNC platform, Legend Laser’s SRC-610 precision sheet metal cutter combines high dynamic performance linear motors with a pulsed fibre laser, and is expressly designed for 24/7 operation in a standard production environment. The new machine is a 3-axis system with a working area of 1,000mm by 600mm and an aboveworktable clearance height of 150mm. It is mounted on a high inertia platform, comprising a large-mass solid granite base with a rigid metal frame. To ensure smooth, burr-free cutting and to prevent any heat-induced deformation of thin metal workpieces, the power output of the pulsed fibre laser is fully synchronised to the cutting operation. The laser has a peak output power of 1.5kW and can cut sheet metal with a thickness of between 20µm and 1000 µm, at speeds ranging from a few millimetres per second to a hundred millimetres per second. In addition to sheet metal, the SRC-610 is also suitable for cutting and drilling ceramic and sapphire plate. Thanks to the system’s high dynamic performance and continuously variable laser power level, it is capable of exceptional cutting precision – to within just plus/minus 10µm. The X and Y axes of the system – which control the lateral movement of the sheet metal workpiece and the laser cutting head respectively – are capable of very fast acceleration and deceleration, and ultra-precise positioning. Both axes employ linear induction motors, driven by NUM’s NUMDrive X servo amplifiers.
The Z axis, which controls the vertical height of the laser cutting head and thus the gap between it and the workpiece, uses a NUM BHX series AC brushless servomotor and a third NUMDrive X servo amplifier. The gap is controlled very accurately during the entire cutting process, through use of a unique ‘Dynamic Operator’ (DO) function in NUM’s Flexium software. This employs special fast calculation and communication facilities, which enable event-driven machine cycles to be integrated into the real-time CNC kernel. According to Sherman Kuo, President of Legend Laser: “NUM is now our CNC provider of choice. Its open architecture CNC platforms simplify system integration, while its willingness to actively collaborate in joint machine development projects such as this helps to shorten our time to market significantly.” Locally placed technical support is also an important factor, as Adrian Kiener, CSO Asia and Managing Director of NUM Taiwan, points out: “Legend Laser’s HQ is only about 150km from NUM’s offices in Taichung City. By offering direct access to the CNC experts and development facilities we have here, as well as in Switzerland and other strategic locations around the world, we can provide a very fast and supportive service to companies in Taiwan and other countries in Asia”. NUM is supplying Legend Laser with a complete CNC solution for its SRC-610 precision sheet metal laser cutting system. In addition to the Flexium+ 8 CNC system and NUMDrive X servo amplifiers, this includes a custom HMI (human-machine interface) that is dedicated to laser cutting, a PLC (programmable logic controller), a fully developed part program and system commissioning. www.legendlaser.com www.num.com
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Prowler Proof secures energy-efficient compressed air with Kaeser Sigma More than 25 years of reliable service from Kaeser Compressors prompted Prowler Proof, a Queensland-based manufacturer of premium security doors and window screens, to opt for a Kaeser ASD SFC Sigma frequencycontrolled rotary screw compressor, to meet increased demand for compressed air its world-class manufacturing facilities while also delivering impressive energy efficiency. Security, natural ventilation, ultraviolet (UV) and insect protection, as well as safeguarding from the risk of bushfires – these are just some of the many reasons that numerous buildings throughout Australia are equipped with security window and door screens. Prowler Proof has been manufacturing premium security door and window screens to meet this myriad of requirements since 1984. Remaining proudly Australian-owned and -made, the company delivers the highest-performing doors and screens in Australia thanks to a manufacturing process that includes welding the security door and window screens, making them stronger than any screw or rivet. All Prowler Proof door and window screens are manufactured in the company’s hightech, fully automated facility in Banyo, Queensland. The factory is currently the only manufacturing facility in Australia that has achieved the rating ‘World Class’ on the PROBE Manufacturing global benchmark, one of the world’s leading organisational assessment and best practice benchmarking tools. Compressed air is used extensively within the Prowler Proof manufacturing facility to power a vast range of machinery, including cutting machinery and the powdercoat line. As all window and door screens are custom-made to fit and manufactured to order with the industry’s shortest lead time, operating a reliable compressed air system is essential to the manufacturing process. Having recently scaled up production it became apparent that the existing 15-year-old Kaeser compressed air system was struggling to meet the new demand for compressed air. Michael Henry, Managing Director at Prowler Proof, therefore contacted the company’s longstanding compressed air partner Kaeser Compressors for a solution. After reviewing Prowler Proof’s current compressed air system, the increased demand for compressed air and factoring in the company’s seasonal production cycles, Kaeser recommended replacing the existing compressed air system with an ASD 60 SFC Sigma frequency-controlled rotary screw compressor. The ASD SFC series from Kaeser delivers premium-quality compressed air with superior efficiency, saving energy in multiple
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All Prowler Proof door and window screens are manufactured in the company’s high-tech, fully automated facility in Banyo, Queensland
Prowler Proof’s recently upgraded Kaeser system – Operating a reliable compressed air system was essential to the company’s manufacturing processes.
ways. The latest release of the ASD SFC series incorporates a completely new and innovative drive technology that represents a significant technological milestone for Kaeser. The new synchronous reluctance motors – which were developed in close partnership with Siemens – boast significantly greater efficiency, thanks to considerably lower losses in the crucial partial-load range compared to asynchronous motors. The low moment of inertia of synchronous reluctance motors allows high cycle rates, thereby boosting machine and system productivity. Some of the technical advantages of the new motor design include near-zero heat losses from the rotors, which keeps bearing temperatures noticeably lower. This in turn
has a positive effect on service life, ease of maintenance, as well as drive availability. Moreover, Kaeser’s use of variable-speed fans in compressed air production systems delivers additional energy savings. The major advantage of this complete solution is that it delivers efficiency gains of up to 10% in the partial-load range compared with conventional variable speed systems. This ensures minimal energy consumption and minimal operating costs particularly where compressed air demand fluctuates as is the case at Prowler Proof due to seasonal production cycles. In addition, the compressor is controlled and monitored via the industrial-PC-based Sigma Control 2 internal compressor controller. The flow rate can be adjusted within the control
QUEENSLAND range according to pressure. Operating pressure is kept constant to within ±0.1 bar. This allows maximum pressure to be reduced, which, in turn, leads to significant energy and cost savings. Not only do these optimised compressors deliver more compressed air for less energy, but they also combine ease of maintenance in an environmentally responsible design. Prowler Proof recognises the importance of protecting the environment and therefore considers all aspects of the manufacturing process to ensure minimal impact on the environment. This was therefore a key consideration when selecting the new compressor. Michael Henry remarked: “We picked the ASD SFC this time to better manage our seasonal production cycles and for optimum energy efficiency. Kaeser has been our compressed air supplier now for over 25 years and we have been extremely pleased with the Kaeser equipment which has worked reliably all that time! “Another big reason we continue to choose Kaeser is the service we have received. Kaeser is always reliable, and the addition of the oil testing and analysis at service visits on the old compressor has given us the extra confidence over the years that everything was in good working order.” The ASD SFC series of Sigma frequency controlled rotary screw compressors are available with drive powers of 22kW to 30kW and produce flow rates from 0.93 to 6.17 cubic metres per minute, designed for pressures of 8.5 to 15 bar. au.kaeser.com
The team at Prowler Proof welding a frame. The compressed air system powers a vast range of machinery.
Compressed air is here used to power the hinge window frame and sash assembly table.
UQ launches Australia’s biggest university makerspace The University of Queensland has launched its world-class makerspace, UQ Innovate, placing the world top 50 university at the forefront of hands-on education in Australia and rockets. Managing Director of UQ Space, engineering and arts student Myrthe Snoeks said her team had been able to achieve a huge amount in the past year, thanks to the support and facilities available at UQ.
The new facilities make up the largest space of its kind in Australia with a 1200sqm workshop housing advanced manufacturing and prototyping tools and machines including 3D printers, vacuum formers, industrial robots and waterjet cutters. Technical and trade-qualified staff will assist students and researchers in bringing their ideas to life.
“Before the launch of UQ Innovate, we were able to design and build two highly complex rockets which led us to victory at the Australian University Rocket Competition earlier this year,” Snoeks said. “The rockets – Project Athena and Minerva – are 2m and 2.65m long respectively, and can travel so fast that they can break the sound barrier, reaching maximum speeds of Mach 1 and Mach 2.25.
UQ Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology Executive Dean, Professor Vicki Chen said the new facilities would give UQ students a competitive edge when entering the workforce. “One of our main roles as a university is to give our students the confidence and capability to embrace the challenges of a changing world,” Professor Chen said. “And with the launch of UQ Innovate, we are in a much stronger position to fuel their curiosity, so they can drive sustainable solutions at the cutting edge, today and tomorrow.”
Design-and-build teams from the studentled UQ Racing and UQ Space teams have used the University’s facilities and expertise to produce nationally competitive race cars
“With the launch of these new facilities, we have the tools we need to tackle even more exciting and challenging projects, with the aim to go further than any Australian university team has gone before.” www.uq.edu.au
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Sharpe Engineering – At the sharp end of oil & gas drilling Queensland-based manufacturer Sharpe Engineering is renowned in the resource and energy sectors throughout Australia and PNG for providing quality solutions in the manufacture, service and repair of oil & gas drilling-related tools and equipment. Family-owned and established in 1995, Sharpe Engineering operates from four facilities located in Queensland – in Roma, Chinchilla, Virginia and Zillmere. Sharpe Engineering boasts upwards of 50 pieces of plant, including CNC machines, milling machines, drilling machines and manual lathes, as well as Australia’s largest threading capacity. All of Sharpe Engineering’s equipment is procured from world-class suppliers, and the company’s state-of-the-art machine inventory guarantees the precision and the accuracy of its products. Sharpe Engineering’s equipment is a key part in allowing the business to produce quality, cost-effective products. It owns two Mazak 21inch hollow-spindle Power Master Chuckers, and a 7-inch hollow spindle Power Master Universal. Sharpe relies on its world-class equipment line-up to remain at the sharp end of manufacturing for the oil and gas drilling industry. The latest addition, recently purchased by Sharpe, is a Mazak Slant Turn 550 turning centre, supplied by John Hart, which is used in the manufacture of drilling tools and thread repairs on drill pipe and drill collars. Peter Sharpe, Chief Executive Officer of Sharpe Engineering, explained what prompted this latest Mazak purchase decision.
Peter Sharpe in front of the commissioned Mazak Slant Turn 550 machine.
“Basically, the decision to purchase the Slant Turn 550 was based on the need to upgrade our existing fleet of Oil Country CNC hollow spindle machines to the latest technology available and to reduce downtime in maintenance and repairs,” he said. “We chose the Mazak over any other machine because Mazak have a good reputation in the oil & gas manufacturing industry, and because John Hart has been around for a long time.” Mark Wenman, John Hart’s Queensland Manager, added: “Peter and his team already felt comfortable with Mazak’s quality, accuracy and suitability for the products that they manufacture, so the Slant Turn 550 was a no-brainer when he needed to expand his turning capability. Its large spindle bore, coupled with powerful spindle motor and heavy-duty turret, gave Peter the edge he was looking for.”
The Mazak Slant Turn 550 being installed at Sharpe Engineering’s facility.
Mazak to realise improvements in productivity, higher-accuracy machining and unmatched operator support.
The Mazak Slant Turn 550 model Sharpe Engineering specified has a maximum machining diameter of 910mm and a maximum machining length of 1,000mm, a 275mm hollow spindle with front and rear four-jaw manual chucks.
“Our experience with John Hart spans about 10 years and during that time they have proven to be very responsive to our business needs,” Peter remarked. “We have a continuing need for support with preventative maintenance programs, and we can always rely on the people from John Hart for good service and communication.”
A powerful main spindle, with 7,000Nm torque and 45kW output, is designed for both high-speed and heavy-duty cutting. Roller guides on all linear axes provide high rigidity and smooth cutting even at high feed rates. Thanks to its large door opening, workpieces can easily be loaded using an overhead crane, and the turret features impressive accessibility for convenient tool set-up.
Mark added: “Sharpe Engineering pride themselves in offering outstanding service and high-level support for the oil & gas industry, and in turn they seek the same high-level support and expertise from their suppliers. We at John Hart are dedicated to providing the service and support our customers expect, and this means that we continually invest in our technical capabilities.
“The Slant Turn 550 is perfectly suited to the type of work we do,” Peter added. “And the advanced Smooth G controller provides us with faster set-up times and easier programming. The new Smooth G technology will also make training easier.”
“Just in the last 12 months we have created a new role for a Technical Service Manager to oversee national service activities and increased our national service team strength with the addition of five new service engineers. All of our service engineers have travelled to Japan and Europe for Mazak factory training. We have updated and expanded our inventory of service test equipment and implemented a mobile service administration system to enhance in-field access to information and streamline service delivery. We constantly strive to provide world-class solutions and support.”
The Smooth G is the seventh-generation Mazatrol CNC System and features an interface with touch operation ensuring convenient data processing – programming, confirmation, editing and tool data registration. From set-up to machining, it has been designed for unsurpassed ease of operation. The system incorporates Intelligent Machine Functions, a variety of unique technologies developed by
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www.sharpeengineering.com.au www.johnhart.com.au
QUEENSLAND
JAWS hunting down new opportunities
JAWS is a privately-owned Australian company that designs and manufactures earthmoving equipment and attachments for the mining, construction and material handling industries. Started by father and son Mike and Barry Koster in 1972, the business has steadily grown with an increased workforce and a quest for new revenue streams such as repair work in the earthmoving industry. During its nearly 50-year history, there has been some important milestones along the way. It wasn’t until the 1980s, as it moved into the bucket and attachment market for construction and mining, that the sub-brand name JAWS became commonly known. From humble beginnings this Queensland-based company now employs more than 120 staff, with a stronghold across Perth, Mackay and the Hunter Valley, and an increasing global footprint with the export of OEM parts worldwide. Incredibly, the company’s export sales now equal its national figures. JAWS has also added several new complementary products to its portfolio, including tyre handlers, high production coal dozer blades, water tank modules, service modules, truck bodies, mining buckets, face shovels and a vast array of construction and mining class equipment. The continued successful evolution of JAWS can be attributed to many things: innovative leadership, entering new markets at the right time; viable service offerings; and the ability to rely on external providers for gear and support. “As an industry leader, we depend on quality machine tools and that’s the reason why we use Okuma,” says Barry Koster. “We’ve used eight machines across 30 years and they’re yet to fail us. We’re excited to introduce our new acquisition, two Okuma LB3000 EXII model CNC lathes.” For JAWS Operations Manager Adam France, Okuma delivers a degree of reliability that supports his company’s custom engineering and allows for the facilitation of global customers. “The primary advantage of Okuma is the efficient production planning to optimise the return on investment,” he explains. “Okuma really is the best product, with best practice and support readily available. They help get the best out of our staff, factory and for our products. With Okuma it’s a turnkey solution – from the procurement process, combining both machine tools and JAWS CADCAM part models, to simulating machine set-up and cycles.”
JAWS has a continual program to invest in new technologies, facilities, R&D and the acquisition of companies to broaden and complement its product range. Okuma is seen as an integral part of the company going forward, as its quality is guaranteed and its customer service is second to none. www.jaws.com.au www.okumaaustralia.com.au
Australia’s first robotics hub to drive advanced manufacturing jobs The Queensland State Government plans to invest $7.71m over four years to establish the nation’s first robotics manufacturing hub to create and support more jobs. According to State Minister for Manufacturing Cameron Dick, the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub, will be developed in partnership with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and global leading-edge company Urban Art Projects (UAP). “The Hub will attract more than $10m in additional investment from QUT, UAP, and other partner organisations to bring the total investment to almost $18m,” Minister Dick said. “Few things are reshaping the world faster than the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems. But the good news is that for every robotic system that UAP acquires, new high-value jobs are created, often entirely new jobs or jobs that would have otherwise been off-shored to other countries. Dick cited a report, ‘The robotics and automation advantage for Queensland’, commissioned by QUT which found the most likely
economic benefit from the adoption of robotics and automation in Queensland over the next 10 years would be 1.5% added growth, a $77.2bn boost to Gross State Product and 725,810 new jobs. The Queensland Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap identified that the adoption of leading-edge technologies requires a highly skilled and capable workforce. “The ARM Hub will provide practical production and manufacturing advice in a real-life factory environment, enabling Queensland manufacturers to learn cutting-edge robotic technologies and techniques, and develop industry skill and expertise to apply to their own businesses,” Dick added. “This is a facility for all of Queensland. All manufacturers across the state will be able to access the ARM Hub, across sectors as diverse as aerospace, biomedical, defence, mining, rail manufacturing, and space.” www.qut.edu.au
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Sevaan Group taps into IIoT with ZoomFab Based in Minto, New South Wales, Sevaan Group recently took a big step towards the digital transformation of its manufacturing operations with the installation of the ZoomFab Smart Factory machine monitoring system. Founded in 1997 by husband and wife team Jim and Artemis Tzakos, Sevaan Group is a cutting-edge metal manufacturer that delivers complete, end-to-end metal fabrication and machining solutions for a range of industries including defence, aerospace, medical, mining, energy, transport and retail. Along the way, it has also played a part in some interesting one-off projects, from helping in the development of an armoured wetsuit to protect commercial divers, to the restoration of the iconic Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park. Sevaan Group has always been quick to adopt the latest manufacturing technology, with a state-of-the-art workshop boasting capabilities such as CNC machining, laser cutting, marking and engraving, welding, sheet metal and steel fabrication, CNC punching, finishing and assembly. Therefore it’s no surprise that the company was one of the first in Australia to embrace Industry 4.0, the revolution currently sweeping manufacturing. “We talk about Industry 4.0 as something very new, very contemporary, but we probably started the journey at least seven years ago, without even knowing it,” explains Artemis Tzakos, Director of Leadership Development & Marketing at Sevaan. “We’ve implemented small changes that are already making a positive impact in terms of workflow and better efficiency.” One more recent change has been the installation of ZoomFab. Distributed in Australia by Complete Machine Tool Services, ZoomFab is a comprehensive Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform that uses automated machine data collection and advanced analytics to provide manufacturing businesses with critical operational and strategic facts. It can monitor machines of any type or brand, using non-invasive sensors to monitor machine operation, energy requirements and other important parameters. For each type of technology, ZoomFab uses a different combination of sensors to collect the data. Installation of sensors is simple, with no need to collect data from machine controls, making them safe from computer viruses. Moreover, there is no need for operators to input data by hand – manual data entry is the most common source of discrepancies that can make monitoring efforts unreliable. ZoomFab brings into focus key indicators that affect a business, helping to achieve budgeted machine utilisation and identifying the actual hourly rate for each manufacturing operation. This information, significant though it is, is not routinely available from a typical MRP/ERP system. Being cloud-based, ZoomFab can be accessed from any computer or mobile device, providing vital business information instantly, wherever the user is. Supported by powerful analytics, ZoomFab provides real-time information about machine and work centre utilisation. Users can instantly see when machines are switched on or off, the delay between turning the machine on and starting the first job, and how much time the machine has been running and idling. With operational facts instantly available, ZoomFab enables managers to take a proactive approach in eliminating problems before they appear and potentially become a source of confrontation or crisis.
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This approach in turn allows continuous business improvement, resulting in better organisation, improved machine utilisation, resource savings and substantially increased profit. With ZoomFab, users can see the revenue and profit generated from each machine and work centre. The system accurately calculates each operation’s hourly rates and compares budgeted and actual results, showing the user where money is being made or being lost. ZoomFab’s powerful analytical and modelling capabilities allow the user to model the effects of changing working hours, improve machine utilisation, and remove or add machinery. This information is instrumental when making decisions about reducing or increasing working shifts, timing investments or purchasing the right equipment. For company owners, plant and equipment often represent the biggest investment they will make. ZoomFab Asset Module is a comprehensive management tool for storing and maintaining records about company assets, their acquisition, finance, insurance, warranty and disposal. Attaching notes, documents, files and images to each record is easy. Machine wear and tear is inevitable, and well-maintained machinery has a direct effect on profits; Asset Module also monitors warranty periods and supports scheduled maintenance and calibration. ZoomFab sensors and gateways have a range of 400m and are pre-configured in ZoomFab’s technology centre prior to shipment. This makes installation at the customer’s site straightforward, without the need for on-site configuration and interruption to machine operation. Sensors and gateways communicate using 128-bit encryption on designated, region-specific radio frequencies. Gateways are connected to the internet using an Ethernet or cellular connection inside the factory. For Sevaan Group, the installation of ZoomFab is helping the company streamline its operations and maintain its competitive edge. Artemis believes there’s a bright future ahead for companies who embrace Industry 4.0. “We understand change can be difficult, but it also brings so much opportunity,” she says. “Industry 4.0 is innovation. It’s about solving bigger problems in creative ways. And that really excites me for the world.” www.cmts.net.au www.sevaangroup.com.au
SOFTWARE
Sistema gets fit for growth with Epicor Sistema is an iconic New Zealand-based company that manufactures, markets and distributes stackable food-safe plastic kitchen storage containers. From humble beginnings in 1982, the company has grown to become a world-leading brand that exports to more than 100 countries worldwide and counts its customers in the millions. A recognised innovator in the field of plastics manufacturing, the company operates from a new state-of-the-art production facility in Auckland that’s packed with automation and robotics technologies.
The challenge To ensure its products remain internationally competitive, Sistema wants to maximise production output and quality in the most costeffective way possible. “Based in New Zealand, we’re a long way away from many global customers, so optimising manufacturing performance is missioncritical for offsetting the impact of high logistics costs on our business,” explains Greg Heeley, Chief Technical Officer at Sistema Plastics. Ten years ago, the company implemented Epicor Mattec MES to manage its production and assembly processes. Handling everything from scheduling to the monitoring of 10 assembly lines, Epicor Mattec collects and analyses data directly from equipment and operators on the shop-floor to provide an up-to-the-minute view of machine and production availability. “Without Mattec MES, our shop-floor wouldn’t know what to make, or when to make it,” confirms Heeley. “Using the system has enabled us to run more machines with the same number of staff and move from a 24/7 to a 24/5 shift pattern without compromising output. “Integrating Epicor ERP with Mattec MES would allow us to connect our planning, scheduling and quality data with shop-floor realities in one unified system. This would enable us to work smarter and further optimise operational efficiency.”
Optimising outcomes Sistema’s pioneering production facility features a variety of automation technologies that include robotics and vision recognition systems. Integrating Epicor ERP and Mattec MES has delivered real-time access to machine and quality data that can be imported into the ERP system to better plan schedules and resources. “The ability to pull data into a seamless bi-directional information environment means we can now plan more effectively and identify efficiency opportunities that go beyond those generated by automation alone—for example, improved job scheduling, better cycling of things like colour changes, and minimising downtimes between jobs,” explains Heeley. “We’ve also integrated our warehouse management system (WMS) with Epicor ERP – today our WMS knows the location of everything, while Epicor ERP reconciles stock in and out of the WMS.”
“For example, we can now highlight to the shop-floor if we’ve got a job running but haven’t done an inspection plan for it, helping production supervisors to stay on top of things while adding depth and dimension to the production data delivered to operators via touch screens on the shop-floor.”
Future-proofing operations Having successfully leveraged an integrated ERP and MES platform to streamline production and generate additional efficiencies, Sistema is about to embark on a series of additional connectivity initiatives that will enable truly smart manufacturing. “Next we plan to harness the two systems to generate predictive analytics that will tell us what will go wrong, when, and why,” explains Heeley. “This will enable us to initiate a maintenance avoidance strategy that ensures our production never misses a beat.” To enable these granular insights, the firm is initiating sensors on all its machines and pulling this data into Epicor and extending its quality assurance into Epicor ERP/Mattec MES too. Finally, a project is underway to deliver video work instructions direct to the shop-floor using Epicor ERP, DocSTAR and the Epicor REST API.
Business intelligence that drives growth Delivering a real-time digitalised close loop between business systems and the plant floor that’s essential for improving operational effectiveness and responsiveness is just one of the gains that’s resulted from the integration of Epicor ERP and Mattec MES. The availability of unified business intelligence from across the organisation is helping to make the company fit, fast and flexible for future market growth.
Tight integration and real-time feedback between the ERP, MES and other systems has been enabled by an Epicor REST API that delivers a holistic view of the entire operation—delivering the realtime insights Sistema needs to pinpoint critical issues, reduce waste, and improve quality and customer service.
“We now have a single source of truth and one source of data that’s vital for our finance and operational teams, rather than multiple systems containing parts of the story,” says Heeley. “Everything comes back to Epicor ERP, which gives us an enterprise-wide view of business operations and costs that supports better, more informed decision making.
“Without the two systems, we wouldn’t be able to run an effective operation,” continues Heeley. “Everyone in the business can see the same data and easily review and discuss findings. It also helps us to target the top exception issues and focus effort where it’s needed the most.
“Not only can we better utilise shop-floor data to better plan to meet customer demand and seamlessly automate multiple processes to drive down costs, we’re also able to improve efficiency across our business operations and, in the future, predict what the future will look like.” www.epicor.com www.sistemaplastics.com
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Takumi Precision takes off with hyperMILL With a name derived from ‘Takumi’, the Japanese term for craftsman or artisan, Takumi Precision Engineering has been delivering these attributes for more than 20 years. Based in Limerick in the Republic of Ireland, Takumi Precision has been investing heavily in the last few years. The company recently completed a factory expansion that has taken floor space to 4,645sqm and invested more than €5m in new machine tools and CAM software to further extend its market-leading position on the Emerald Isle.
Barrel tools being applied using hyperMILL at Takumi Precision Engineering.
Takumi Precision is a prominent figure in the medical device, pharmaceutical, aerospace and precision engineering sectors in Ireland. The company manufactures orthopaedic implants and instruments, cardiovascular assembly aids, medical grade rasps, balloon moulds and delivery system components, as well as aluminium wing brackets and fuselage components for clients in the aerospace industry, and electrical, electronic, mechanical and optical engineering parts for the industrial precision machining sector. Over the years, Takumi Precision has invested in turning centres from Tornos, Doosan and Miyano with three and five-axis machining centres from Doosan, Spinner and most recently Matsuura adding to the plant list. One of the company’s core investments has been hyperMILL CAM software from OPEN MIND Technologies, in a move that was driven by the onset of barrel tool technology, an influx of five-axis machines and challenges with previous CAM systems. “Only five years ago, 90% of our work was in the medical industry with the remaining work being across a number of sectors including the aerospace market,” says Gerry Reynolds, Managing Director of Takumi Precision. “We had an opportunity to enter the aerospace market in a more positive way, increasing volumes from one-to-three offs to continuous batches of 10 to 15 on the Airbus A220, previously known as the Bombardier C-Series. We had to invest in five-axis technology to accommodate the ramping up of complex aerospace work, and we have bought 13 five-axis machines in the last five years to support this.” The investment has paid dividends, with aerospace work increasing from 5% of turnover to almost 60% in less than five years. However, this has not been to the detriment of the medical business. “Our business has doubled in size in the last three years due to the increased aerospace work, but the medical sector remains crucially important to our business,”
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Reynolds stresses. “Medical components are now 40% of our business – the volume of work has not reduced, it just hasn’t grown at the level of aerospace work. We now have 87 staff and are targeting a monthly turnover of €1m.”
The influence of CAM “Ten years ago, I didn’t understand CAM and would have argued against it,” says Reynolds. “However, there was a necessity for CAM to run our machines, and at the time I called it ‘finger CAM’, as we were programming at the machine. We progressed to a more comprehensive
CAM system and eventually installed eight seats of software. However, a visit to the AMRC (the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre) introduced us to Ceratizit’s barrel tools and OPEN MIND’s hyperMILL CAM system. This changed the game for Takumi.” After investing heavily in CAM software, Reynolds was apprehensive at the prospect of changing CAM systems. “Over the last five to six years, we had spent a lot on CAM packages and what we had, worked relatively well,” he explains. “But there were a few issues with processing
SOFTWARE Takumi Precision Engineering’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Raheen, Limerick, in the Republic of Ireland.
speed, occasional crashes and some feature limitations. It was the barrel tool machining features within the hyperMILL MAXX High Performance Strategy that appealed to me, but I wanted my team to take the lead, as they would be the ones using the software.”
finishes are much better than before. This is because the barrel tool has a higher engagement rate that keeps the tool in constant contact with the workpiece.”
The Takumi Precision team did their due diligence, taking in hyperMILL demos and then asking their existing CAM vendor if the barrel tool feature and the mirroring package were available. The CAM supplier, as well as several other vendors all said “It’s on its way” or “It’s in development” regarding more than just these two features in hyperMILL
“In the aerospace industry, almost everything is manufactured with a left- and right-hand component,” says Reynolds. “The mirroring feature in hyperMILL is remarkably comprehensive and with just a touch of a button, we are reducing our programming times on most components by 50%. We have eight programming staff and the mirroring feature in hyperMILL is effectively doubling the productivity of this team.”
“That told us all we needed to know about the various vendors in the market, but it told us a lot more about hyperMILL,” Reynolds adds. “They are clearly streets ahead of the other CAM developers. We have rapidly moved to hyperMILL. We bought our first seat 18 months ago and now we have six seats of hyperMILL. We are now phasing out our previous CAM system.”
The benefits of hyperMILL The primary reason Takumi Precision invested in hyperMILL was the potential of barrel tools to significantly improve productivity. Reynolds comments: “The hyperMILL MAXX Machining High Performance Package and the respective barrel tools with their innovative geometry allow us to step down 5mm to 10mm, as opposed to 0.4mm to 0.8mm, when finishing pockets, walls or profiling features. This has instantly reduced finishing cycles by at least 70%, giving us a minimum overall cycle time improvement of 30% on every component.” However, the benefit is not just the cycle time improvement: “We have historically had a number of staff undertaking finishpolishing of parts to ensure our surface finishes exceed customer expectations. Despite the increased speed and stepover rate with hyperMILL MAXX High Performance Machining, the surface
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Another feature that persuaded Takumi Precision to invest in OPEN MIND was the mirroring feature.
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A better overall system While hyperMILL has reduced cycle times on the shop floor by more than 20% and reduced programming times by upwards of 50% in the office, the benefits reach much further.
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“hyperMILL is much faster than previous CAM systems and it handles ‘big data’ much better than we have previously witnessed,” says Reynolds. “This has eliminated unforeseen PC crashes and massively improved the reliability, processing and delivery of our data to the shop-floor. “Furthermore, hyperMILL has so many ‘obvious’ features and short cuts that generate savings for the end-user; these ‘obvious’ features don’t appear on other CAM platforms. One feature that simplifies the throughput of programs and parts is hyperCAD. The OPEN MIND CAD system that is integrated into hyperMILL is an excellent platform that has now eliminated our reliance on CAD packages like Inventor. We can now expedite jobs through hyperCAD to hyperMILL with seamless ease – yet another feature that is making life easier for our programming team.” www.openmind-tech.com www.takumiprecision.com
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Hansen Products goes digital with AspectPL New Zealand-based manufacturer Hansen Products recently invested in AspectPL manufacturing productivity software to improve how the company utilises data in managing its operations. A family-owned company, Hansen Products has been making fittings and valves since the 1950s. Based in Whangarei, the company originally made brass fittings for the agricultural industry in New Zealand. Known for high-quality products with great tolerances, Hansen continues to make technically advanced plastic fittings and valves for the domestic and international markets. The company believes in ‘Best Installed Value’ and achieves this with inhouse R&D, product design, toolmakers, manufacturing, assembly, marketing, sales and distribution. In 2018 the team at Hansen saw there was a gap in their production data and decided to install AspectPL manufacturing productivity software to digitise its production floor. Jon Kirby, Manufacturing Manager, explains how the management team came to the conclusion that implementing AspectPL would benefit production “We were aware of the benefits that AspectPL would provide from our research and site visits,” says Kirby. “We realised that we also wanted to have the team ready to take advantage of the information AspectPL made available – along with the benefits of the scheduling function.” To help with this decision, the team implemented two of the benefits of AspectPL manually. Firstly, they started recording machine alarms. After three months, this information helped them to determine exactly when screw tips needed replacing so they could do preventative rather than reactive maintenance. Secondly, the team changed its manual production board to represent the digital version on AspectPL. “This immediately showed us constraints to achieving our plan,” Kirby adds. “For example, we had five scheduled changes on the plan but only had three setters on at that time.” Ian Kleingeld, Production Planner at Hansen, explains what steps were taken to encourage buy-in from the production floor staff: “To prepare the team, we started collecting data at the machines a few months before the AspectPL install date. This instilled a discipline of using data and it also achieved a data framework. This meant going from paper-based data to tablets wasn’t too much of a change for them. Changing our manual production board to match the AspectPL TV screen before the install date also helped the team get used to the layout.”
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Hansen Products specialises in the manufacture of technically advanced plastic fittings and valves for the New Zealand and international markets.
Kirby adds: “We went live on 1 October so we said September is our ‘Get used to it’ month – we needed to get into good habits to facilitate this change. We had great buyin from the setters and by the time we got to 1 October we asked the question ‘Are we ready to go live?’ And the answer from the production team was ‘Yes’.” One thing the team at Hansen weren’t anticipating was how quickly the installation of AspectPL would take place “Yes, our install was a lot quicker than we planned,” Kleingeld says. “I had all the machines showing on the schedule in the first week. I really enjoy this kind of thing and it was an easy change because it added value. There was no resistance from me and certainly the guys in the production office had really good buy-in. We weren’t dragging guys kicking and screaming to adopt it. They were into it.” Once AspectPL was live, the Hansen team took baby steps. The decision was taken to only worry about anything greater than five minutes of downtime, and also not to worry about rejects in the initial stages. “We got used to downtime and then we added rejects and carried on like that,” says Kleingeld. “Now we are decreasing the downtime parameters so we are slowly getting better and better. We didn’t go in there and say ‘This is the new system. Good luck!’” Bob Dedekind, Technical Manager at AspectPT, adds: “Hansen Products handled the training and change management process very well. They took
Bob Dedekind, Technical Manager at AspectPT.
time to implement change. Their team was ready and very keen to start working with AspectPL and they were a pleasure to work with.”
Delivering benefits Kleingeld remarks that while there was some initial difficulty in learning how to use AspectPL, this was soon overcome: “A little bit of a learning curve at initial set up, trying to set up family tools and working out production rules. But Bob from AspectPT was there to help us and I enjoyed playing with the software. The beauty is it’s all changeable.” In the time since the installation, the team at Hansen are seeing significant benefits from using AspectPL.
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SOFTWARE Hansen Products’ premises in Whangarei, on New Zealand’s North Island.
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IMPACT “The day to day is good – really enjoying it,” says Kleingeld. “The planning and scheduling is great and it is easy to make changes and know what jobs are coming up.” The biggest improvement, according to Kleingeld, has been its live planning functions, with the system offering the ability to make changes on the go and then see the production changes flow through straight away. “In our old system we just had pieces of paper – that was the plan,” he explains. “You only had a rough idea of when jobs would happen and now with it going live you can see it on the board and know when jobs are actually going to run. You can plan better in terms of people and production flow. It’s a lot better than what we used to have.” Another unforeseen benefit emerged when Hansen Products did a raw material stocktake and found massive variances after the AspectPL data revealed they weren’t taking into account start-up rejects and were only counting actual production. With the new system, Hansen Products can now take into account the start-up rejects and the raw material stocktake is much more accurate. “The biggest benefit is that AspectPL has increased the transparency of our manufacturing processes,” Kirby explains. “Because of this we are learning about the constraints of our current manufacturing processes. Once you understand your constraints you can find ways to solve, eliminate or plan around them. What we have learnt about our constraints by putting in AspectPL has been beneficial.
“AspectPL has also given the setters a greater understanding of what we require. It’s visual, there is nowhere to hide. Now our setters know what tool change they have to do in what order for us to achieve the plan. Another anomaly AspectPL revealed was the plan was not taking into account that a setter needs 30 minutes post tool change to complete admin and do machine checks. Now these 30 minutes blocks are scheduled into the plan. Hansen Products even uses AspectPL to schedule product trials and machine maintenance into production.” The team at Hansen were impressed with the support they received from AspectPT throughout the installation process, most notably in the case of the company’s Netstal moulding machines. These machines set a challenge for AspectPL because they can run unattended, meaning some jobs are started during work hours and continue into the night. When a job is completed Hansen can’t start a new job because the setters are tucked up in bed at home. Consequently, when jobs stop at night AspectPL has to push the next job into the ‘manned’ window when the die setters return the next morning. Dedekind explains: “The ability to push jobs into a manned window was a very sensible suggestion from Ian. So much so, we have implemented this feature into AspectPL and rolled this out to all our clients.” “I have never been told ‘no’ from AspectPT – even when we asked for customisation,” adds Kirby. “Accessing the data in the factory and the planning office is fantastic. The single most important thing is the transparency that AspectPL affords our manufacturing processes and the team. We are now able to plan what we are physically able to do. Before the plan was theoretical.” www.aspectpt.com www.hansenproducts.co.nz
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“Once we had the AspectPL data it became clear there was a lot of general knowledge amongst the setters that was not known or shared with the planning team. For example, we identified some tools that if we set up a certain way it could take two hours longer than the prescribed set-up time. Because AspectPL made this anomaly visible we were able to ask the question ‘Why does this take two hours longer than the prescribed set up time?’ AspectPL
helped us identify constraints like this and we have been able to plan according to our constraints.
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Dimac – Meeting all workholding needs Long established as one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading supplier of accessories for CNC turning machine tools, Dimac Tooling has a range of workholding solutions to meet every requirement. Insufficient grip that causes slipping parts, pushback in chuck jaws and collets wearing out prematurely are issues well known to CNC turning machine tool operators. The resultant production downtime, operator idle time, and expense of new or re-worked jaws is a significant problem. Dimac has recently launched a new service designed to eliminate such issues, using a new form of carbide application equipment called Rocklinizer from the USA. The application process improves clamping force by as much as 50% - thereby providing significant extra grip on workholding equipment such as jaws and collets, while wear is accordingly reduced. The new service uses the proven spark deposition process called Rocklinizing to easily and quickly boost the grip coefficient of workholding jaws and collets. The unit electronically applies a hard and wear-resistant surface of Tungsten Carbide, Titanium Carbide or Rockhard electrode material to workholding tools. Material is impregnated both underneath and on top of the workpiece surface. Unlike welding or metal spraying, no appreciable heat is generated. This ensures the temper of the workpiece is retained without distortion and the electrode material will not separate or flake off the workpiece. After Rocklinizing, no heat treatment, grinding or other surface treatment is necessary. The Rocklinizer unit accurately applies an even layer of coating quickly and easily – four square centimetres can be applied in less than a minute using the rotary applicator. The equipment is easy to use, with an easy-to-view digital readout and a touch panel that is simple to operate. “The end result of this surface treatment is to increase productivity and reduce costs,” said Dimac Managing Director Paul Fowler. “When the tools remain in operation without replacement due to wear, there will be less machine downtime, operator idle time, and expense of replacing workholding equipment. For just a few hundred dollars this service pays for itself when you take into account the significant benefits.” Dimac has been appointed the sole distributor for Rocklinizer in Australia and New Zealand. The Rocklinizer is manufactured by the Rocklin Manufacturing Company, an established manufacturer of industrial electronic equipment with manufacturing facilities in Sioux City, in the US state of Iowa. “This carbon application process offers multiple benefits including increased clamping force, extended tool life and increased productivity,” Fowler added. “It also minimises wear and downtime - ultimately reducing costs. The fact we offer a quick turnaround service for this process will be welcomed by many CNC operators.”
The Manual Clamping Head is supplied with a versatile mounting flange to suit multiple mounting options for five-axis machines and rotary tables. Available in HSK-A40, HSK-A63 and HSK-A100 sizes, with an offline set-up procedure, it is capable for the work-holder system to be exchanged within an impressive 10 seconds, minimising machine downtime. To allow operators to fully automate their manufacturing process, a low-pressure hydraulically-operated Automatic Clamping Head is also available in HSK-A40, HSK-A63 and HSK-A100 sizes, with seating detection and air-blow. “In keeping with the move to more automation in workplaces, the work-holder profile used with the clamping head has a common interface to enable them to be handled by any general-purpose robot arm,” Fowler explained. The work-holder is made up of the HSK interface at the bottom, and multiple workholding options are available: Standardised Dovetail; Flange Clamp; and Side Clamp – all of which provide a rigid and secure platform for five-axis machining processes. Dovetail systems allow superior tool access due to their small clamping surface. The time-proven HSK interface between the work-holder and the clamping head provides optimal bending rigidity. “Kitagawa is a brand we have distributed for many years and is a well-respected manufacturer of highquality vises,” said Fowler. “As such, we can also supply the most suitable vise to grip the raw work-pieces to complete the dovetail interface.” The final part is the workpiece, which in the case of the dovetail work-holder will require an initial dovetail slot to be machined into the raw billet to interface with the work holder. However, the Swift Klamp system can accommodate various work piece shapes of up to 200mm square or diameter. The majority of workpieces being used for five-axis machining require a preparation phase. However, the advantage of this is that the preparation phase can either be integrated into the total machining process or it can take place outside the five-axis machine. This option enables companies to keep their high-cost machine operating, ensuring the maximum return on their investment. Additionally, to assist with prototyping or enable companies to start testing their own new Swift Klamp system straight out of the box, pre-machined dovetailed blanks can be supplied. Swift Klamp offers strong dual-face clamping, superior bending rigidity, high positioning accuracy and multiple workholder options. “The Swift Klamp quick change five-axis work holding system is highly effective, extremely versatile and designed to minimise machine downtime,” Fowler added. “Plus, like all Kitagawa products it is manufactured to the same high quality standards.”
Swift Klamp – Five-axis workholding
Raptor solves Dovetail workholding
Using time-proven HSK tool interface technology, Swift Klamp from Kitagawa Europe provides a secure, low-interference, quickchange five-axis workholding system. The system consists of three parts: the clamping head, the work-holder and the workpiece. The clamping head is supplied either as a manually or automatically actuated HSK clamp.
Earlier this year Dimac was appointed exclusive distributor for Raptor Workholding’s products in Australia and New Zealand. Based in the US state of Ohio, Raptor Workholding is well known as being the designer of the innovative and patented dovetail fixture used by some of the world’s leading manufacturers.
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WORKHOLDING The dovetail fixture speeds up the manufacturing process by allowing machining of five full sides of the workpiece in one set-up. The design quickly locks the part in place for extreme clamping strength and rigidity with minimal base material. The spring-loaded clamp can be tightened with a simple T-handle wrench. Raptor’s dovetail design has been tested by an independent laboratory for strength. “With Raptor’s dovetail fixture, a manufacturer can run a wide variety of parts and eliminate the changeover time,” said Fowler. “Smaller fixtures can also be attached to larger ones, allowing the user to switch to any size part as fast as you can turn a hand tool.” In addition to the dovetail fixture, Raptor offer an extensive range of strong, flexible workholding products. These include vises, multifixtures, dovetail cutters, adapters, risers and pinch blocks. They can either work independently or together seamlessly. An example of Raptor products working in unison is starting off with a Raptor self centering vise. The vise can be used in two ways; either for holding a workpiece for dovetail preparation or machining a complete part. The dovetail fixture can then be utilised with its spring-loaded clamping system providing superior holding strength. The process can be finished off with a dovetailed pinch block. These versatile pinch blocks can be used in a variety of applications including machining the sixth side of a workpiece or for secondary or final machining operations. “One of the key benefits with Raptor workholding products is that they are extremely adaptable,” Fowler added. “They can fit any machine and any situation with a variety of adapters, risers, and fixtures built to attach directly to the most popular CNC machines. Multiple Raptors can be mounted to tombstones, bridges, carousels, trunnions, nests and base plates. Utilising Raptor products provides numerous benefits including saving time and money by becoming more efficient and decreasing production time while increasing the yield of finished goods.”
In addition to Raptor, Kitagawa and Rocklinizer, Dimac is also the sole distributor of other leading CNC accessory and workholding brands, the Freddy range of coolant recycling machines, Reven Mist air extractors and Hydrafeed Barfeeders. www.dimac.com.au
Hainbuch enhances TESTit technology For manufacturers to optimise production processes, it is important to consider user feedback on product functionality. Hainbuch has done this by developing a fully updated version of the TESTit clamping force measuring device for external and internal clamping. The new redesigned TESTit features enhanced electronics with an even more attractive price point. The new generation of clamping force measuring device is now made up of two parts, the Test Module or measuring unit that changes depending on the specific measurement application, and the IT Module or basic unit. Combining the different variants makes for an extremely flexible solution that can measure almost anything. The updated product can be used on multi-spindle machines, turning centres and machining centres. Moreover, the system incorporates an additional module for measuring and recording the insertion force of hollow shank taper tool holders. The Testit works as a modular system with plug-and-play functions that communicate via the impressive new software that can be viewed on a tablet, via USB stick or as a download. The Testit was only previously available as a complete unit and users bought one Testit for external clamping, another for internal clamping, and – depending on requirements – other features for different sizes or specific applications. The costs to end users were prohibitive and Hainbuch has taken steps to rectify this. Now, customers only need one basic unit or IT Module, regardless of whether they need to measure the external or internal clamping forces or pull-in forces. The Test Modules are added to the basic unit that also fits the specially designed versions of the measurement modules.
Costs are therefore significantly lower compared to alternate measuring devices available on the market. For customers buying two or more devices, costs are almost cut in half. With the plug-andplay function, each measuring unit can be detached from the base unit with just three screws, allowing customers to swap-out features quickly. To retain process stability, precision and productivity, regular monitoring of the clamping and draw force is essential. Today, no one can afford to manufacture with just ‘theoretical values’. Nobody wants to have workpieces rejected because the clamping force is too low or have part deformation if the clamping force is too high. Likewise, detecting the lubrication and contamination status can also prevent costly and unscheduled maintenance. In any case, DIN EN: 1550 specifies that static clamping force measurements are to be carried out at regular intervals. The new TESTit device measures and records the clamping and draw forces, even in the case of special versions. The program for visualising the measured values has three display variants that can be viewed via a tablet: the speedometer display, a bar graph, or a line diagram for displaying the measuring force changes under speed. An integrated administration database allows users to select their current clamping device and their machine tool. All data is maintained and clearly presented in the database. The measured values are archived as PDF and CSV files. www.hainbuch.com
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MOTORS & DRIVES
Bonfiglioli powers Eilbeck on major tunnel projects across Australia Cranes and lifting leader Eilbeck is benefitting from the safety, reliability and durability of Bonfiglioli drives across several major tunnelling projects in Australia. Bonfiglioli’s high-quality, rugged drives are engineered and assembled at their headquarters in Glendenning, New South Wales, and are delivered to major projects such as the Melbourne Metro Tunnel, Westgate Tunnel, NorthConnex, Westconnex and Sydney Metro 2, where they power Eilbeck’s cranes and lifting equipment. “Eilbeck’s market-leading status in Australia is due to our consistently high-quality and robust products, ongoing reliability and outstanding backup service,” says Charlie Eilbeck, Head of Eilbeck Heavy Machining Centre. “Having a supplier like Bonfiglioli that shares these qualities is an asset in ensuring safe, efficient and reliable operations.” Eilbeck says the company has a strong focus on short delivery times, reliable service and a tradition of never turning down a problem for being too complex. Consequently it’s rewarding to work with a company like Bonfiglioli with similar values and a focus on innovation and problem solving. “In our business, our cranes are hauling 24/7, so safety and reliability are imperative,” says Charlie. “Clients rely on us for smooth running operations. In addition to hauling products, many of our cranes are equipped with man-riding capacity, so we cannot have any doubt with the safety of the products we use. We have relied on Bonfiglioli for many years now due to its outstanding safety and total standards compliance, high product quality, and reliability of service, backup and support.” The Bonfiglioli drives supplied to Eilbeck for the tunnelling projects – including HDP and F series parallel helical gear units – are used to power cranes that lower tunnel-boring machines, handle pre-cast slabs and are working 24 hours a day. “We have competitive timelines on major tunnel projects, and we’re penalised for any downtime,” Charlie adds. “The reliability of Bonfiglioli’s drives means we have one less thing to worry about and we can get on with the efficient running of operations.”
HDP Series parallel helical drives According to Malcolm Lewis, Managing Director of Bonfiglioli Australia, the HDP parallel shaft helical gear drives are an outstanding range of large industrial gearbox, assembled in Australia to produce exceptional reliability and torque densities to record values. The
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drives feature excellent torque distribution across their entire ratio range, with gear ratios laid out in close progression and the drives having a rugged capacity to cope with the shock and impact of intermittent loads. The full range of Bonfiglioli large parallel shaft gearboxes has been extended for the Australian marketplace, with output torque ranging from 5,190Nm to 210,000Nm. Bonfiglioli’s HDP range features a housing made from spheroidal cast iron: monobloc from HDP60 to HDP125; and horizontally split case from HDP130 to HDP160. Eilbeck uses Bonfiglioli’s HDP100, 110, 120 and 150 three- and four-stage parallel helical gear units to power the hoists on its cranes. These drives are in the middle of the Bonfiglioli HDP range and are ideally suited to a crane’s main or auxiliary hoists, with torque ratings between 25,880Nm and 117,000Nm.
F Series parallel helical drives Bonfiglioli’s F Series parallel helical gear drives are reliable and easily installed modular shaft-mounted gearboxes in torque capacities from 140Nm to 14,000Nm. F Series drives feature high-efficiency gears, sturdiness, quiet operation and a broad range of sizes, ratios and configurations to fit numerous applications, including many materials-handling and lifting equipment applications. “High transmission ratios are achieved with only two reduction stages,” says Lewis. “Up to four stages are available in a single gearbox from frame size 25 and above. This flexibility obviates the need to bolt together two separate units, which is a more costly and bulkier option.” Eilbeck uses Bonfiglioli F41, F60, F70 and F80 drives to power long and cross travel drives on its cranes. These drives span a large portion of Bonfiglioli’s full range and have torque capacities between 1,100Nm and 8,000Nm. “For us, Bonfiglioli is a trusted partner,” Charlie concludes. “They not only supply world-class products with readily available support, but they do so competitively. This allows us to remain competitive in the market without compromising on quality and safety, which is key to us expanding our operations and continuing to deliver projects to the high standards Eilbeck is known for.” www.bonfiglioli.com.au www.eilbeckcranes.com
MOTORS & DRIVES
Smart motor drive communication for Drive Technology 4.0 With the launch of its second generation of motor feedback systems featuring Hiperface DSL (HDSL), SICK is consistently implementing the requirements of electric drive technology about sensory functionalities, remote intelligence, and entirely digital communication. For the very first time, the new EDS/EDM35 and EES/EEM37 Smart Motor Sensors offer a whole host of smart functionalities that enable users to both support and implement future-proof edge computing. The motor feedback systems with HDSL in the new EDS/EDM35 and EES/EEM37 product families from SICK can record and store variables such as temperature, speed, and revolutions to create service time charts for condition monitoring. They are also capable of communicating information from the field – the keyword being “edge computing” – in higher automation levels or applications, such as those for condition monitoring. With their ability to independently collect, evaluate, and transmit on-site sensor signals, these smart motor feedback systems become crucial components of digitalised servo-drive solutions. This ensures maximum future security for manufacturers and operating entities alike.
EDS/EDM35: Designed for high-performance servo-drive systems The EDS35 single-turn motor feedback system and the EDM35 multiturn variant are designed to meet the highest precision requirements such as those found in applications involving highperformance servo drives. To this end, they feature a specially developed optical scanning system that achieves a resolution of 24 bits in the single-turn version – a real innovation in this size and ideal for high-performance servo controllers. Furthermore, the dualchannel scanning of the code disk allows for the generation of a safe and absolute single-turn position – these motor feedback systems are “safe” in that they meet the requirements of Safety Integrity Level 2 (SIL2)and Performance Level d (PLd).
EES/EEM37: Smart motor feedback replaces resolver The EES/EEM37 product family is made up of HDSL motor feedback systems with a capacitive operating principle. This makes for a highly rugged design and allows them to be used at operating temperatures ranging from -40 to +115 degrees Celsius. Both of these features serve to ensure that these feedback systems are in a position to penetrate fields of application that have – until now – been dominated by resolvers. What’s more, they also offer a range of smart added features, including an interface for an external temperature sensor as well as the ability to record operational statuses and document these in the form of service life histograms. In terms of their structure, it is interesting to note that both the singleturn and multiturn version are exceptionally flat in design, which is ideal for reducing motor lengths. With SIL2 and PLd, manufacturers of motors, servo controllers, and drive systems – in addition to their customers – really are on the “safe side” with this HDSL motor feedback system. www.sick.com.au
Parvalux AC motors with dual worm gearheads. New to the maxon motor Group, Parvalux offers a range of unique combinations of AC motors fitted with multiple gearheads and sensors. The SD series from Parvalux offers 240V AC solutions with the ability to mount multiple gearheads in the orientation to best suit the application. Combinations of inline planetary gearheads and right-angle worm gearboxes not only offer flexibility of the shaft orientation for tight space constraints but also large variations in reduction ratio. This greatly increases the versatility of AC motors running in a fixed speed application. Made by Parvalux in the UK with high-quality and backed up by the maxon group global sales and support network, the motors are available in single-phase and three-phase options. The power range is from 315W to 8W and selection can be made between die cast zinc alloy or cast iron. Breaks, sensors, IEC flanges and foot mounts are all possible. www.maxongroup.net.au
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FORUM EXPORT
International commercialisation for world-first device Support from Export Finance Australia helped Queensland helicopter modification company, HeliMods, break into the US and European markets. Based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, and founded by Will Shrapnel in 2002, HeliMods started as a specialist service provider, conducting maintenance repair work and modifications on rotary aircraft. Since then the business experienced rapid growth and now engages with the latest digital design and advanced manufacturing technologies to provide specialist mission capability to modern and advanced aircraft around the world. HeliMods equips helicopters with everything they need to perform specialist missions, such as policing and aerial surveillance, emergency medical services, search and rescue, and military and paramilitary operations. “Health and emergency services has been a focused area of growth in our business,” said Will. “Australia has made significant investments in retrieval services in the last five to 10 years. So, a lot of our growth has responded to support that demand.”
Seeking new opportunities overseas Around 2011, the company started to look overseas for more opportunities. HeliMods began presenting at international trade shows and expos, with the support of the government’s Export Market Development Grant. HeliMods found that its attendance at these trade shows was invaluable in understanding market needs and expectations and it soon became clear that the development of a powered stretcher loading solution was a must. HeliMods commenced research and development activities to solve this challenge and provide a solution to the market. With thanks to the Entrepreneurs’ Programme and co-funding received through the Accelerating Commercialisation Grant, HeliMods was able to deliver to market a world-first in the Powered Aero Loader™. The Powered Aero Loader™, or PAL™, allows the push-button loading of stretchers into helicopters. This means that sick and injured patients can be collected and delivered to hospital faster and safer than before. During a recent international trade show, HeliMods and PAL™ drew the attention of Ornge, one of the largest North American air ambulance fleets, which was looking to upgrade their fleet to incorporate power loading technology. “Ornge had a pretty keen interest to solve the challenge of both manual handling and speed of transfer for patients. They were in a unique circumstance because they operate their own road ambulances as well as their own rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft,” said Will. “So they had an opportunity to benefit significantly from technology that can reduce transfer time and reduce manual handling.” HeliMods competed successfully for the Ornge tender, emerging as the preferred supplier from a field of organisations from the US and Europe. To secure the contract, the company needed to meet Ornge’s challenging commercial terms. “And that’s where we then sought some additional assistance from Export Finance Australia,” said Will.
Support for rapid growth Export Finance Australia supported HeliMods’ working capital requirements with a $1.05m loan. This loan enabled HeliMods
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“The support that Export Finance Australia provides helps bridge the gap where innovative, high-growth SMEs delivering superior products can compete against the incumbents or larger organisations that are already participating in the space” Will Shrapnel, Founder, HeliMods to compete with companies with much larger balance sheets – supporting their cashflow and ability to deliver. As an SME you might be dealing with quite a large client that’s used to contract terms that are very back ended. That does get out of the realms of what our banks would typically cover comfortably or would cover without tying up significant additional equity. That’s where Export Finance Australia’s support is critical for SME growth into export markets. The loan meant HeliMods could provide Ornge a set of commercial terms that would allow the finalisation of the deal. “The support that Export Finance Australia provides helps bridge the gap where innovative, high-growth SMEs delivering superior products can compete against the incumbents or larger organisations that are already participating in the space.”
An export success story Today, Shrapnel estimates that around 30% of projected work is export-related – which can grow up to 50% in a given year, depending on individual contracts. “The exporting part can be quite significant on the basis of project demand”. Will said the business is looking to continue to grow its export focus. “We now export to numerous countries all around the world. So that’s sort of been a pretty rapid growth story. We see significant growth opportunities in North America as well as Europe, in the near future.” Export Finance Australia is the government’s export credit agency, providing financial expertise and solutions for manufacturing businesses to drive sustainable growth that benefits Australia and their partners. Through loans, guarantees, bonds and insurance options, Export Finance Australia: -
supports manufacturing SMEs, corporates and governments to realise export opportunities or contribute to the export supply chains;
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helps finance sustainable infrastructure in the Pacific region and beyond;
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provides defence export finance through the Defence Export Facility.
Export Finance Australia works together with banks and other government agencies to help Australian businesses take on the world. Business development managers across the country support small and medium manufacturing businesses in a broad range of fields. To find out how Export Finance Australia could help your manufacturing business grow, visit exportfinance.gov.au or call 1800 093 724
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How WHS laws can send business owners or directors to jail Australian courts are holding individuals accountable for major work health and safety breaches. If you are a business owner or director, failing to comply with WHS legislation may result in legal action including imprisonment. Brendan Torazzi explains. The past few years have seen an increase in prosecutions brought against PCBUs (person conducting a business or undertaking) for failure to take reasonable care and negligence. This includes several high-profile incidents where directors received lengthy jail time.
What led to the increased penalties for WHS breaches? Before the recent cases that resulted in jail time, organisations typically received fines for incidents that resulted in death or serious injury. After a review of model WHS laws, a committee recommended several changes to the penalties for recklessness and negligence in the workplace. Two of the biggest changes include the addition of an industrial manslaughter offence and increased financial penalties. Several recent cases have involved significant jail time and fines for those found responsible for violating WHS laws.
Company director receives six months imprisonment In one example involving jail time, the courts found a company director in Victoria guilty of breaching the OHS Act 2004 (Vic) following the death of a worker after a fall from a forklift. The incident occurred at Maria’s Recycling Emporium. The operator of the forklift, Maria Jackson, was also the owner of the secondhand goods and recycling business. Ms. Jackson did not have the required licence for operating a high-risk vehicle. Mr. Robbie Blake was inside a recycling bin and removing scrap steel on a raised forklift operated by Ms. Jackson. When the forklift was raised 3m and as Mr. Blake was removing the steel, the bottom of the bin fell out from underneath him. Mr. Blake was dropped 3m, with the bin then falling from the forklift and onto him, resulting in his death. Ms. Jackson pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe system for work and recklessly engaging in conduct that places a worker in danger of serious injury. The courts sentenced the director to six months imprisonment and charged a $10,000 fine.
Director receives one-year prison sentence After the death of a worker due to a fall from a height of 5.9m, a director received a one-year prison sentence and a $1m fine. This case marked the first category 1 offence prosecuted in Queensland. The original verdict found Gary Lavin and his company, Multi-Run Roofing, guilty of reckless conduct. The judge found that Mr. Lavin had not installed the necessary height safety rails due to a proposed $5,000 cost. However, the courts later threw-out the conviction and scheduled a retrial due to misdirection to the jury.
What is a breach of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011? Recent cases that resulted in jail time for PCBUs and directors involved breaches of the WHS Act. This includes failure to follow WHS regulatory requirements or taking action that places a person at risk of an injury or illness. An example includes working at heights without the proper safety precautions or allowing unlicenced operators to use forklifts or other specified equipment. Under the WHS Act, there are now four categories of punishable offences: Industrial manslaughter; Category 1 offences; Category 2 offences; and Category 3 offences.
Industrial manslaughter remains the highest penalty. When the negligence of a PCBU or senior officer results in the death of a worker, they may face up to 20 years imprisonment. For a corporate body found guilty of industrial manslaughter, the courts may fine the corporation up to $10m. The remaining three categories involve situations where a person fails to comply with WHS duties. Reckless conduct is a category 1 offence. PCBUs found guilty of this offence face up to five years in jail and a fine up to $600,000. These categories also apply to workers. If a worker engages in reckless conduct, he or she may face up to five years in jail and a $300,000 fine. Category 2 and Category 3 offences also include hefty fines but no jail time. These offences include a corporation, PCBU, officer, or worker failing to comply with WHS Act laws, exposing workers to a risk of death or serious injury.
What are infringement notices? Instead of prosecuting breaches of the WHS Act, inspectors may opt to issue infringement notices. These on-the-spot fines range between $144 and $720 for individual workers. For PCBUs and organisations, fines are between $720 and $3,600. Inspectors have the right to issue these notices for emerging risks.
How can PCBUs avoid jail time? In the end, it is the responsibility of every employer to provide a reasonably safe workplace and to follow the requirements of WHS legislation. You should also provide officers and health and safety representatives with the resources needed to complete their duties. If you are a PCBU, director, or supervisor, regularly review your WHS system for compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. As these laws frequently change, it is essential to continually review and revise safety practices. To avoid jail time and financial penalities, stay up to date with the latest trends and recommendations for workplace safety, including any changes to WHS legislation. Ensure that you are taking every reasonably practicable step to reduce risks and hazards Brendan Torazzi is the CEO of AlertForce - a Registered Training Organisation specialising in short Health & Safety courses. Brendan also runs the Australian Health and Safety Business Podcast and is the owner of OHS.com.au, an online marketplace for safety courses. Ph: 1800 900 222 www.alertforce.com.au www.OHS.com.au
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Beware the NDA in today’s landscape (Part 1) Roger La Salle explains that the one great failure of the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is if the information disclosed is already known to the other party. “Advanced Manufacturing” is a term now in common use, but is it well understood? Indeed the Chairman of the Australian Advanced Manufacturing Council has taken to clarify this term as follows: “‘Advanced Manufacturing’ distinguishes the older industrial model from the kind of manufacturing where Australia can, and already is, triumphing. We define advanced manufacturers as globallyoriented and innovative manufacturers, in general sharing the following characteristics: high Intellectual Property component; dependent on global supply chains; the only public sector support needed is at the R&D phase through tax credits or leveraging public/ private partnerships. Advanced manufacturers tend to be engaged in collaborations with universities, the CSIRO and other research institutes, and they sell to a global market on distinctive qualities. For them the domestic market is not a constraint. Advanced manufacturers are involved in the development of new markets, new products, new technologies and new ways to manufacture existing products.”
So what of shared knowledge? With collaboration on a wider scale underpinning the concept of Advanced Manufacturing the issue of disclosure of IP comes very much to the fore. Indeed it is with collaboration with like-minded parties that great things often result. The Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is something all innovators would be familiar with as a document exchanged between parties that may wish to share information on the understanding that both parties will keep the information in confidence. However there is one exception, that being if the information disclosed is already known to the other party or already in the public domain. This is a great failure of the NDA. Further, I cannot recall a single event in my or any of my colleagues’ experience where the penalties for so called disclosure have been enforced.
The problem is obvious In most cases inventions, and in particular innovations, are the result of two elements of thinking: 1. Identifying a problem worthy of a solution 2. Bringing together the independent parts of technology that will solve the problem. The fact is that in almost all cases the separate bits of technology that go to make a solution are already well known and in the public domain. So what of the NDA? Indeed the real confidential information that one wishes to protect is perhaps the problem that has been identified as well as a likely solution; with the further knowledge that there are often many ways of solving an identified problem. A simple example of this may be found in music. Every note in the musical scale is well known and in the public domain, but what one seeks to protect with music is the arrangement of the notes to form a novel tune. Perhaps a better example in the technical sphere, one I have alluded to in previous blogs, is that of dentistry and quartz crystals. It is well known to dentists that people cleaning their teeth usually wear a groove in the gum interface with molar teeth on their strong or dominate side. For example, a dentist can usually look at the teeth of an older person and know if you are left of right-handed.
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Any savvy inventor on learning of this may see it as an opportunity or a problem worth solving and thus seek a solution. It is further well known to engineers that a quartz crystal when distorted generates an electrical current. Thus a possible innovation is to put a quartz crystal in the handle of a tooth brush and use the amplified electrical charge to raise an audible alarm when excessive pressure is applied with a tooth brush. This may be a valuable innovation but how can an NDA be used to inspire collaboration in this case since both sides of the equation, the grove in the teeth and ways of detecting excessive force are well known and in the public domain? Indeed it is the combination of this knowledge that is not well known and is the nub of the idea. It seems that the real IP here is the identification of the problem and the application of known technology to reach a marketable solution. With this is mind, perhaps it’s time we recast the NDA to protect the application of the known problem and market opportunity with the known technology, irrespective of the individual elements already in the public domain.
Follow the Money Above all else, it’s not the technology that is important, it’s the connection of the solution to a market that leads to profit and a sustainable business. Roger La Salle, trains people in innovation, marketing and the new emerging art of Opportunity Capture. “Matrix Thinking”™ is now used in organizations in more than 29 countries. He is sought after as a speaker on Innovation, Opportunity and Business Development, is the author of four books, and a Director and former CEO of the Innovation Centre of Victoria (INNOVIC) as well as a number of companies, both in Australia and overseas. A serial inventor, Roger is also responsible for a number of successful technology start-ups and in 2004 was a regular panelist on the ABC New Inventors TV program. In 2005 he was appointed to the “Chair of Innovation” at “The Queens University” in Belfast. www.innovationtraining.com.au www.matrixthinking.com
In the next edition of AMT, Roger La Salle addresses the question: “What now if the NDA is of little value?”
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Manufacturing and modern slavery On 1 January Australia enacted the Modern Slavery Act 2018. Rob Jackson explains the Act’s requirements for Australian-based entities with a revenue of more than $100m to file a Modern Slavery Statement. Slavery evokes memories from a bygone era from the history books. Not something on the ‘to do’ list for, say, a Procurement Manager, HR Manager or the CEO.
• state what action has been taken to tackle these risks, for example, policies and staff training; and
However, modern slavery is very much a current concern across the whole economy. The manufacturing sector is no exception. In response to this concern, Australia enacted the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (MS Act) on 1 January 2019.
• assess how effective such measures might be. A business may create its own certification scheme for suppliers. Staff may inspect overseas suppliers to inspect operations or engage external service providers to provide independent verification of anti-slavery measures taken.
For Australia, the concern is well-founded. The Global Slavery Index 2018 estimated 15,000 people are trapped in modern slavery within Australia. The United Nations estimates half of the 40 million people affected by modern slavery are located in our neighbourhood - the Asia Pacific region - where Australia conducts a significant part of its overseas trade, whether as an importer or exporter.
Unlike the UK and other overseas’ laws, the MS Act’s policy is to prompt, not force, compliance. The MS Act lacks both an antislavery commissioner and penalties for non-compliance. These and other measures, such as a compensation scheme for victims of modern slavery, were rejected, in the course of the MS Act becoming law.
Your business may not be covered by the MS Act, but that potential customer….
New South Wales and its Modern Slavery Act
The MS Act requires Australian-based entities with a revenue of more than $100m to file a Modern Slavery Statement (MSS), which is published online on the Modern Slavery Statements Register. The Commonwealth government must also file an MSS. A business in Australia, otherwise not obliged by the MS Act, may voluntarily submit an MSS. The MSS must be signed off at a senior level for example by a board of directors or another senior echelon of management. While a manufacturer’s revenue may fall below this threshold, this is not a reason to stop reading. That potential customer your business has targeted might be a large corporation or a public sector entity obliged to file an MSS. That potential customer may ask your business what measures it has undertaken to ensure that your business does not benefit from modern slavery. Meanwhile, your rival, a similar-sized competitor, has readily produced a report to that potential customer, confirming with confidence all modern slavery issues have been completely addressed within its business model. Will your business say to the potential customer, quite correctly, it has no legal obligation to consider whether modern slavey is an issue? Even if your business believes such a scenario is unlikely, there is another powerful reason – your brand! By way of example, you look at your newsfeed on your smartphone over breakfast and a banner headline notes public outrage about your (very cheap) overseas supplier for using child labour working 15 hours a day in primitive conditions. The subsequent online campaign names your business. The fear of consumer outrage is very much an intended spur for businesses to act on modern slavery practices.
What then must a Modern Slavery Statement say? ‘Modern slavery’ includes slavery and related offences covered by the criminal law, people trafficking and the ‘worst forms of child labour’ as defined in international law. An MSS must: • identify the nature of the business, its structure and its supply chains. Note that a supply chain is not defined; • describe the risks of modern slavery occurring within its operations and supply chains;
The approach in the MS Act contrasts with the only State jurisdiction to enact its own modern slavery law: the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (NSW Act). The NSW Act differs in the following respects: • lower threshold of $50m, when an obligation to file a MSS arises; • fine of up to $1.1m for failing to file an MSS; • establishment of an office of an independent anti-slavery commissioner; • slavery-related offence carrying a penalty of up to $550,000 and/or two years’ imprisonment; and • whistleblower protection for a breach of an obligation of confidentiality. It is presently unclear if organisations covered by both the MS Act and the NSW Act will have dual reporting obligations. Meanwhile, the NSW Act has not yet taken effect. The NSW Parliament is examining undisclosed defects in the NSW Act. For now, the NSW Act obligations are not law.
Making it happen! A business must identify who internally is responsible for investigating modern slavery practices. HR managers may advise whether labour practices create a risk of modern slavery. Procurement managers may need to explain a particular supplier’s cheap prices. Outsourcing as a business model creates a risk of modern slavery, where a business loses direct oversight of the production process. The MS Act assumes a high degree of goodwill by those obliged to comply. Whether the fear of a consumer backlash is an effective deterrent has yet to be tested. The message is clear. No business, however small, can ignore modern slavery risks. Rob Jackson is a Partner in Rigby Cooke’s Workplace Relations, International Business and Manufacturing groups. Rob has extensive experience in employment and industrial relations, occupational health & safety, workplace investigations and employment related migration. T: +61 3 9321 7808; E: RJackson@rigbycooke.com.au www.rigbycooke.com.au
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Another successful EMO exhibition Once again AMTIL was present at the recent EMO Exhibition, held in Hannover from 16-21 September. Australian companies ANCA, Sutton Tools and ProfiStop exhibited at the show this year and all reported a successful event. Although EMO Hannover 2019 focuses on cutting and forming machine tools, manufacturing systems, precision tools, automated flow of material, computer technology, industrial electronics and accessories, the fair covers manufacturing technology in its entirety. EMO is the largest metalworking trade fair in the world with 181,768sqm of exhibition stand area spread across 17 halls. This year there were a total of 2,226 exhibitors from 44 nations, and more than 120,000 visitors from around the world, including at least 50 from Australia. A key part of the show from our Association’s point of view is the International General Managers’ Meeting, which is attended by more than 20 trade associations from around the globe. It gives us the opportunity to network and share knowledge of what is driving machine tool production and consumption, as well as forecasting what we are likely to see in the coming years. AMTIL is a key partner in the development of a bi-annual forecasting report supplied by Oxford Economics. For a copy of this report please contact myself at sinfanti@amtil.com.au
Shane Infanti, CEO AMTIL
Australian manufacturing was well represented at EMO 2019, with exhibits from ANCA, Sutton Tools and ProfiStop.
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AMTIL HEADING INSIDE
AMTIL celebrates 20 years supporting Aussie manufacturing AMTIL held a special cocktail reception at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium on 8 August to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its foundation in 1999. The event was attended by more than 180 industry leaders from manufacturing businesses across Australia, as well as representatives from manufacturing technology suppliers, government and industry bodies, universities and research organisations. A further event was also held in Brisbane on 28 August, which also drew strong attendance, while a New South Wales function will take place in Sydney on 16 October. AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti has been with AMTIL since the very beginning, and he noted that the association’s 20th birthday coincided with a strong resurgence in Australian manufacturing. “It’s great to be celebrating 20 years of AMTIL at such a positive time for our industry,” said Infanti. “There’s been a lot of pessimism in recent years with the GFC and the car industry closures, but right now we’re just seeing exciting stuff going on all across the sector. So tonight’s event isn’t just about looking back on 20 years of AMTIL; it’s about looking forward to what I think is a very bright future for Australian manufacturing.” AMTIL is the peak national body for the precision engineering and advanced manufacturing sector in Australia. The association was founded on 11 August 1999, following the merger of the Institute of Machine Tools Australia and the Australian Machine Tool Association, and today has a membership of manufacturing companies and technology suppliers spread across every state and territory in Australia.
AMTIL President Paul Fowler and CEO Shane Infanti were on hand to cut the birthday cake.
A further celebration was held in Brisbane on 28 August.
Since its establishment, AMTIL has conducted a range of activities to support the industry. The assocation organises various industry events – most notably Austech, Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing technology exhibition. It releases a number of publications and industry reports, including its industryleading publication AMT Magazine. Moreover AMTIL is a partner organisation on government initiatives at both federal and state level, such as the Entrepreneurs’ Programme and the Additive Manufacturing Hub (AM Hub). Manufacturing in Australia has changed dramatically over the last 20 years, and AMTIL has changed and evolved with it. But according to Infanti, the need to support and promote the interests of the industry remain as important as ever. “Australian manufacturing needs to constantly adapt if it is to prosper and grow, and at AMTIL we’re committed to helping facilitate that,” said Infanti. “This May we ran our most successful Austech exhibition to date. The AM Hub, which we launched last year, is proving to be a great success. And there are plenty more initiatives in the pipeline. We’re looking forward to supporting Australian manufacturing for many more years to come.” A limited number of tickets are still available for AMTIL’s NSW 20th Anniversary Celebration & Networking Function, to be held on 16 October in Sydney. Visit the Events page of the AMTIL website for details. www.amtil.com.au/events
y AMTIL’s 20th anniversar celebration was held on 8 August at SEA LIFE e. Aquarium in Melbourn
The event was attended by more than 180 guests from across Australian manufacturing.
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AMTIL announces two new Corporate Partners AMTIL has announced details of two new appointments to its Corporate Partner program. The two new partners are Rigby Cooke Lawyers – who will be AMTIL’s exclusive Corporate Partner in the Legal category; and Interlease, in the Business Finance category. They join AMTIL’s existing line-up of Corporate Partners: AGL – Energy; and William Buck – Accounting/Financial Advice. Rigby Cooke Lawyers is a full-service Victorian commercial law firm with strong industry links and a significant depth of experience in acting for manufacturers. Its highly qualified lawyers partner with their clients to understand their needs and add value to their businesses. Rigby Cooke is at the forefront of legislative and technological changes that impact the manufacturing industry and offers the full suite of legal services to small and large manufacturing businesses, including commercial agreements, acquisitions, intellectual property advice, employment and OHS, customs and trade advice, litigation and insolvency and tax advice. Interlease is one of Australia’s leading business finance broking firms. Established in 1973, it provides professional client services and well structured competitive financial products for Australian businesses. The team at Interlease is an experienced group of finance professionals involved in Equipment, Property and Business Finance. Interlease is well known and respected for its knowledge and skill in obtaining customised outcomes for its clients. The company takes a practical approach to securing the best solution for its clients’ funding requirements, ensuring a timely turnaround and regular communication. “We’re very pleased to be able to welcome Rigby Cooke and Interlease aboard as the latest additions to our Corporate Partnership program,” said AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti. “Both companies have longstanding relationships with AMTIL over the years and we are looking forward to working with them more closely as partners going forward. We have no doubt that these partnerships will bring outstanding new benefits for AMTIL’s members.”
www.amtil.com.au www.rigbycooke.com.au www.interlease.com.au
AMTIL AGM – Predicting the Future of Work, with Simon Kuestenmacher AMTIL will be holding its Annual General Meeting on 31 October, and we’ve booked social demographer and data influencer Simon Kuestenmacher to deliver the keynote address. Kuestenmacher is a rising star in data animation and interpretation, making astounding predictions for Australia’s future. A columnist for The Australian newspaper, he is frequently sought out by Sky News, The Project, newspapers and radio stations across Australia as a commentator on demographic and data matters. Reaching more than 30 million people every month through his Twitter account, Kuestenmacher speaks on demographic trends, consumer insights and cultural change in Australia. At AMTIL’s AGM, Kuestenmacher will be discussing Predicting the Future of Work through Australian and global demographic trends. The AGM itself will follow Kuestenmacher’s presentation.
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Attendance is free for AMTIL and AM Hub Members. A fee of $69.00 applies for non-members. Location
Riversdale Golf Club Cnr Huntingdale & High Street Road Mt Waverley, VIC 3149
Date and Time
Thursday 31 October 8.00am – 11.00am AEDT Breakfast served: 8.00am Presentations commence: 8:30am
Free parking is available at the venue. Registration for this event is essential. To register to attend, visit: www.amtil.com.au/Events
AMTIL INSIDE
Two new staff for AMTIL AMTIL has added two new staff members to its team, with the appointment of David Mohorovicic and Phil Bourke. David came onboard on 5 August in the role of Membership Manager where he will be responsible for handling all aspects of membership, including new growth, retention and membership engagement. Phil joined the team on 29 August as Manager of AMTIL’s recently launched Rail & Haulage Export Hub. Both David and Phil will be operating from AMTIL’s head office in Wantirna, Victoria.
David Mohorovicic
David commenced his career in the automotive sector working for PBR Automotive, initially in the R&D division before progressing to Key Account Management - Ford Domestic and Export. His career subsequently took in the heavy utilities sector, encompassing petro-chemical facilities and water & wastewater treatment plants, through to electrical power generators and major metal manufacturing facilities. As an equipment technical specialist, David’s agenda has always focused on providing client support and commitment, primarily by taking the lead on the customer’s behalf. He brings a diverse array of skills and experience, from project management and negotiating commercial contracts, to design and installation, and critical plant support. With an overpowering interest in understanding business, process and plant. Dave continually seeks opportunities to work with industry to create and implement efficiencies and improvements.
Phil brings more than three decades of experience with the transport, automotive and general manufacturing sectors. He joins AMTIL from Austrade, where he led a number of international marketing and business missions, and introduced visiting companies and delegations to Australian capabilities. Most recently, he project-managed Australia’s Phil Bourke largest-ever outbound rail industry trade mission, attending the InnoTrans global expo in Berlin with over 90 delegates. Phil has hosted and arranged inbound trade missions including Etihad Rail, Saudi Rail, and the Chilean Vice-Minister for Transport, and outbound missions to the Middle East, Poland, Indonesia and Thailand. He also established an award-winning tourism business in Central Australia, was a pavilion manager at World Expo ’88, and served as President of Council of the Kangan Institute. Phil is a passionate advocate for Australian manufacturing. “I’m very pleased to welcome David and Phil to the AMTIL team,” said AMTIL CEO Shane Infanti. “They both have excellent track records and bring a range of skills and experience that will be excellent assets to AMTIL and our membership. I wish them the best as they settle into their roles and look forward to some great outcomes as they get up to speed.”
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AMTIL’s Corporate Partnership Program continues to grow We are delighted to welcome Rigby Cook Lawyers and Interlease. AMTIL’s corporate partners offer a selection of products and services that will benefit our members in their business. For any enquiries about our Corporate Partnerships, and how they can benefit you, contact Anne Samuelsson on 03 9800 3666 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au
Our Partners. Our Members. Your Benefits.
www.amtil.com.au
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New members AMTIL would like to welcome the following companies who have signed up as new members of our association.
ABU ENGINEERING PTY LTD 93 Assembly Drive Dandenong South VIC 3175 www.abu.com.au
DDM LASER PTY LTD 31-33 Sullivan Street Moorabbin VIC 3189 www.ddmlaser.com.au
NEXTAERO PTY LTD Unit 7 366 Church Street Richmond VIC 3121 www.nextaero.com.au
AMPRO INNOVATIONS 15-17 Normanby Road Notting Hill VIC 3168 www.amprogroup.com.au
ELLENEX PTY LTD 91 Tope Street South Melbourne VIC 3205 www.ellenex.com
OPTOTECH PTY LTD Suite 108, 175 Sturt Street Southbank VIC 3006 www.optotech.com.au
ASPECT PRODUCTIVITY TECHNOLOGY LTD 1A/22 Moselle Avenue Auckland NEW ZEALAND 0610 www.aspectpt.com
FAST AUTOMATION 3/2 Eden Park Drive Macquarie Park NSW 2113 www.fast-automation.com
SPEEDIE ENGINEERING SERVICES 12 Nicole Way Dandenong South VIC 3175 www.speedieengineering.com.au
AZ3D 106/88 Kavanagh Street Southbank VIC 3006
GLOBAL 3D PTY LTD Unit 2/41 Discovery Drive Bibra Lake WA 6163 www.global3d.com.au
T2 TEA 37/51 Wellington Street Collingwood VIC 3066 www.t2tea.com
Real Business. Real People. Real Members Since 1999, AMTIL has been connecting business, informing of opportunities, and growing the manufacturing community.
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amtil.com.au
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To become an AMTL Member, contact our Membership Manager, David Mohorovicic, on 03 9800 3666, or email dmohorovicic@amtil.com.au
AMTIL INSIDE
AMTIL hits Hannover for EMO 2019 AMTIL was in Germany in September participating in EMO Hannover 2019, the world’s premier trade fair for the metalworking industry.
2019 WINNER! AMTIL’s Footy Tipping champion for 2019 is Mottdiggitydog! Along with the unique profile name, the score of 137 was more than enough to walk away with the chocolates – and a fair amount of chocolate to be said, $1000 worth in fact! A big thanks to all those who participated and of course no tipping competition can work without someone putting their hand up as administrator – thanks Louise. To those who weren’t up to it, put in a better pre-season and you never know how 2020 will turn out for you. As I write this, we have arrived – a grand final of two extremes. Richmond will be there for the second time in three years and the new kids on the block, GWS have finally a game to play on the last day of September after promising so much for so long (The AFL will be pleased). There would appear to be a clear home-town favourite, but stranger things have happened. Could we bear another year of hearing those Richmond ‘faithful’ come out after not hearing from them for so many years… time wil tell. Till next time, Sanchez FINAL RESULTS 1 Mottdiggitydog 137 (666) 2 Mal 134 (621) 3 Tungaloy Australia 133 (552) 4 Mab Eng 133 (655) 5 Brendan 132 (712) 6 FrankC-SGP 132 (759) 7 Magpiemad Rules! 131 (557) 8 Nick Sear 131 (677) 9 Shaftesbury Ave 131 (726) 10 Odds On 130 (659)
EMO, a key showcase for innovations in global production technology, took place at Hannover Exhibition Grounds on 1621 September. AMTIL had a stand in the international associations section of the exhibition, with members of the team on hand to discuss manufacturing in Australia and the opportunities here, as well as to support Australian visitors to the show.
AMTIL routinely attends a number of overseas manufacturing trade shows promoting Australian manufacturing and supporting our members. Next year AMTIL will be exhibiting at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago in September and JIMTOF2020 in Tokyo in December.
AMTIL Christmas events – Book now Christmas is coming, and AMTIL is lining up events to help you celebrate. This year’s festive season will see AMTIL holding events in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Each event offers the chance to kick off the festive season, network with colleagues and contacts in a relaxed social environment, and simply unwind and enjoy yourself at the end of another hardworking year. Details for the events are as follows:
Perth Wed 27 November, 7.00pm-11.00pm The Shorehouse, 278 Marine Parade, Swanbourne AMTIL and AM Hub Members $59 Non-members $109
Adelaide Thu 28 November, 7.00pm-11.00pm Jolley’s Boathouse, 1 Jolleys Ln, Adelaide AMTIL and AM Hub Members $59 Non-members $109
Sydney Tue 3 December, 7.00pm-11.00pm Café Morso, Lower Deck (West Side) Jones Bay Wharf, Pimama Road, Pyrmont AMTIL and AM Hub Members $59 Non-members $109
Brisbane Wed 4 December, 7.00pm-11.00pm Greenhouse, Howard Smith Wharves, 5 Boundary St, Brisbane AMTIL and AM Hub Members $59 Non-members $109
Melbourne Thu 12 December, 7.00pm-11.00pm Panorama, Fenix Events, 680 Victoria St, Richmond AMTIL and AM Hub Members $65 Non-members $129 Members table of 10: $585 (10% discount)
Places are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment. Register online at: www.amtil.com.au/events. AMT OCT/NOV 2019
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INDUSTRY CALENDAR
Please Note: It is recommended to contact the exhibition organiser to confirm before attending event More events can be found on AMTIL’s website
INTERNATIONAL SOUTH CHINA ADVANCED LASER & PROCESSING APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY China, Shenzhen, 10-12 October 2019 www.lasersouthchina.com MTA HANOI Vietnam, Hanoi 16-18 October 2019 www.mtahanoi.com/en-us METALCON USA, Pittsburgh 16-18 October 2019 www.metalcon.com LASER TAIWAN Taiwan, Taipei 16-18 October 2019 www.chanchao.com.tw/laserexpo/en SIANE France, Toulouse 22-24 October 2019 www.salonsiane.com TOOL TECH Korea, Goyang 22-25 October 2019 www.tooltechkorea.com/english SMATOF South Korea, Changwon 29 October 1 November 2019 Smart manufacturing tech fair & conference. www.smatof.com BLECHEXPO Germany, Stuttgart 5-8 November 2019 www.blechexpo-messe.de/en MITEX Russia, Moscow 5-8 November 2019 www.mitexpo.ru/en VIMF -VIETNAM INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING FAIR Vietnam, Bac Ninh 6-8 November 2019 www.vietnamindustrialfiesta.com/vimf2019 IMT TAIWAN -INTERNATIONAL METAL TECHNOLOGY TAIWAN Taiwan ,Taichung 7-10 November 2019 https://en.imttaiwan.com FABTECH Chicago, USA 11-14 November 2019 www.fabtechexpo.com METAL-EXPO Russia, Moscow 12-15 November 2019 www.metal-expo.ru/en
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RUSSIAN INDUSTRIALIST Russia, St. Petersburg 13-15 November 2019 https://promexpo.expoforum.ru/en
MANUFACTURING INDONESIA Indonesia, Jakarta 4-7 December 2019 www.machinetoolindonesia.com
MACTECH Egypt, Cairo 14-17 November 2019 www.mactech.com.eg
ENGIMACH India, Gandhinagar 4-8 December 2019 www.kdclglobal.com/site1/services-2
FORMNEXT Germany, Frankfurt 19-22 November 2019 Additive Manufacturing Exhibition https://formnext.mesago.com
2020
INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL FORUM Ukraine, Kiev 19-22 November 2019 www.iec-expo.com.ua/en/if-2019.html ASIABLECH China, Chengdu 20-22 November 2019 www.asiablech.com/en METALEX Thailand, Bangkok 20-23 November 2019 www.metalex.co.th METAL + TECH China, Foshan 20-23 November 2019 www.metaltechchina.com/EN METALMADRID Spain, Madrid 27-28 November 2019 www.easyfairs.com/es/metalmadrid-2019 METAL & WELD Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City 27-30 November 2019 www.metal-weld.vietfair.vn TECH INDUSTRY Latvia, Riga 28-30 November 2019 www.techindustry.lv/en BURSA METAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES FAIR Turkey, Bursa 28 November – 1 December 2019 www.bursamakinefuari.com/en BIOMEDEVICE USA, San Jose 4-5 December 2019 For medical device & biopharmaceutical manufacturing https://biomedevicesj.mddionline.com/ MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Russia, Kazan 4-6 December 2019 http://expomach.expokazan.ru METAL TOKYO Japan, Tokyo 4-6 December 2019 www.metal-japan.jp/en-gb.html
STEELFAB United Arab Emirates, Sharjah 13-16 January 2020 www.steelfabme.com CAR-MECHA JAPANJapan , Tokyo 15-17 January 2020 www.automotiveworld.jp NORTEC Germany, Hamburg 21-24 January 2020 www.nortec-hamburg.de/en IMTEX FORMING India, Bengaluru 23-28 January 2020 www.imtex.in MNE + PROTOTYPING EXPO Belgium, Kortrijk 5-6 February 2020 www.prototyping-mne.be/en EXPO MANUFACTURA Mexico, Monterrey, 11-13 February 2020 www.expomanufactura.com.mx/ THAILAND INDUSTRIAL FAIR Bangkok, Thailand 12-15 February 2020 www.thailandindustrialfair.com/about-fair CME-CHINA MACHINE TOOL EXHIBITION China, Shanghai 25-28 February 2020 www.cme021.com/en ASIAMOLD China, Guangzhou 26-28 February 2020 www.asiamold-china.cn.messefrankfurt. com METAL & STEEL/FABEX Egypt, Cairo 27-29 February 2020 www.metalsteelegy.com SIMODEC France, La Roche-sur-Foron 10-13 March 2020 www.en.salon-simodec.com EUROBLECH 2020 Germany, Hanover 27-30 October 2020 www.euroblech.com
INDUSTRY CALENDAR HEADING LOCAL PACIFIC 2019 SYDNEY 8-10 OCTOBER 2019 Commercial maritime and naval defence industries in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. www.pacificexpo.com.au
Advertiser Index
WASTE & RECYCLING EXHIBITION EXPO SYDNEY INTL. CONVENTION CENTRE 30-31 OCTOBER 2019 Showcases the efficient, profitable and sustainable waste and recycling solutions. www.awre.com.au
Alfex CNC
21
Amiga Engineering
73
Applied Machinery
15
Aurora Labs
65
AUSBIOTECH MELBOURNE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE EXPO 30 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER 2019 Development, growth and prosperity of the Australian biotechnology industry. Includes research, trends and insights from within the global life sciences ecosystem. www.ausbiotechnc.org
Bilby 67
ALL-ENERGY MELBOURNE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE 23-24 OCTOBER 2019 Clean and renewable energy event. www.all-energy.com.au
AUSRAIL PLUS SYDNEY INTL. CONVENTION CENTRE 3-5 DECEMBER 2019 ‘Delivering Growth; Creating Opportunity; Embracing Technology”. www.ausrail.com
Hare & Forbes
INTERNATIONAL MINING & RESOURCES EXPO MELBOURNE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE 28-31 OCTOBER 2019 Mining from exploration to investment, production to optimisation through to new technologies. www.imarcmelbourne.com
2020
WA MINING PERTH CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE 15-16 OCTOBER 2019 “Accelerating WA’s Mining Future to 2030” – mining from operational strategy through to execution and address approaches to improve productivity, lower costs and optimise the end to end process. www.waminingexpo.com.au/en-gb.html
CEBIT SYDNEY INTL. CONVENTION CENTRE 29-31 OCTOBER 2019 International trade fair for information technology, telecommunications, software & services. www.cebit.com.au IMARC MELBOURNE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE 29-31 OCTOBER 2019 International mining & resources conference. Australia’s largest mining event. Includes 5 concurrent conferences and workshops covering the entire mining supply chain www.imarcmelbourne.com
Autodesk 42-43 Automated Solutions
49
Bystronic 13 Complete Machine Tool Services Complete Machine Tools
27 23
DDM Laser
32-33
Dimac Tooling
10,12
Emona Instruments P/L
63
Eurotec 91 4-5
Headland
55, 120
IMTS 37 Industrial Laser
17
Interlease
39
Iscar 2-3 Machinery Forum
119
Metal 3D
53
AUSTRALASIAN OIL & GAS EXPO PERTH CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE 11-13 MARCH 2020 Showcasing the latest in Instrumentation control and automation, asset integrity, subsea, health, safety & environment and drilling. www.aogexpo.com.au
MetOptix 99
MEGATRANS MELBOURNE CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE 1-3 APRIL 2020 Conference and exhibition for the freight/ logistics industry. Co-located with Australian Bulk Handling Expo 2020.Three dedicated trade areas Logistics & Warehousing; Sea & Rail; Road Transport www.megatrans.com.au
MTI Qualos
51, 79
Okuma
9
OneCNC 11 Punchtech Australia p/L
6-7
Renishaw FLAP Rigby Cooke
25
Seco Tools
19
Sutton Tools
41
technotrans
87
William Buck
77
Sheetmetal Machinery
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MCM Business Solutions
insert
Rigby Cooke Lawyers
insert AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY YOUR INDUSTRY. YOUR MAGAZINE
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AUGISEP19
BOOK YOUR 2019 ADVERTISING NOW! AUSTRALIA’S NO. 1 ADVANCED MANUFACTURING MAGAZINE
Call Anne Samuelsson of AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au
AUTOMOTIVE & ROAD TRANSPORT Agriculture/Food Beverages STATE SPOTLIGHT: New South Wales ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION COMPRESSORS & AIR TECHNOLOGY
APPROX
MINING & RES
31,500
OURCES
Industry 4.0 State Spotlight: Victoria
READERS
WELDING PLASTICS CUTTING TOOLS FORMING & FABRICATION MATERIAL REMOVAL
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HISTORY
Big wheels & little wheels – the story of UK-born Australian Sir Laurence John Hartnett (1898 – 1986) Australia’s “Father of the Holden” and much more
PART 33
“YOU CAN’T PUT ARMS ON A TRAIN. IT’S AGAINST REGULATIONS!”
It is mid-1940. WW2 has broken out. And Australia – without a munitions-manufacturing industry is desperately unprepared. It is just weeks after Dunkirk and there was an air of urgency and determination unmatched in Australia’s history. The list of urgently-required weapons was frightening as Laurence and the team step into the void of panic-production.
M
y first move as Director of Ordnance Production was to get myself an organization to direct. Each Director had, as his secondin-command, a Controller. For my Controller I chose Frank Daley, a top production engineer at GM-H. Frank, a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, and therefore a technical man like myself, spoke my language. No man, in my opinion, was better qualified for the job. I was very fortunate to get him. In each State, Boards of Area Management were being appointed, and a staff of production engineers was rapidly seconded from private industry to act as advisers and co-ordinators. The most urgent weapons on the list of priorities, were the two-pounder antitank gun and the twenty-five-pounder gun-howitzer. If anything, the two-pounder was the more urgently needed. German tanks had won the first round of the war in France. Obviously Germany would spearhead future ground attacks. Our gunners had to have an effective weapon to counter them. The two-pounder anti-tank gun was the only answer we had at that time. We had two sample two-pounders in Australia, both at the Maribyrnong Ordnance Factory, and also, fortunately, a set of drawings. The twopounder had come from my old stable, Vickers Ltd., which had designed it to British Army requirements in 1936, when tanks were relatively light and were not protected by the two-inch armour-plating they later carried in North Africa and other battle areas. It was not for me to query the Australian Army’s requirements, although I had some misgivings about the value of the two-pounder if it ever came up against a heavily armoured tank. I was the new boy and my job was to get it into production. (Many times, in the years that followed, I raised such queries about design; sometimes I got a bloodied nose for my efforts and other times I won the argument.) South Australia, I knew, had more capacity and skill than had been realized, and my experience with GM-H at Woodville had shown me what that State could do when the job required sheer determination. And South Australia was pushing hard for something big. The twopounder should be right up their alley, I thought. I got on the phone to Frank Perry, the chairman of the Board of Area Management in South Australia and told him what I felt. He agreed GM-H and other South Australian firms could do the job well. He went ahead and rallied the firms over there, and· I ordered one of the sample guns to be sent over to Adelaide that night by train. The two-pounder wasn’t a big gun, and they manhandled it on to a truck and took it to Spencer Street to be loaded on to the Overland, the first train leaving Melbourne for Adelaide. And there we struck trouble. The Victorian Railways official refused to carry it. I got an urgent phone-call: “Please come to the station, Mr. Hartnett. They won’t let our gun on the train.” I rushed to Spencer Street, all excited, and said, “I want that gun on that train”. The railways official said, “You can’t put arms on a train without a permit; it’s against regulations.” I reminded him, in my calmest tones, that a war was on, and told him that the gun would be in Adelaide the next morning - or else. For ten minutes the argument
“The Big Guns of our Munitions Drive” : Melbourne Herald cartoon from the early war years. The Ministry of Munitions personnel portrayed here are, (L to R:) Essington Lewis - Director General; E.G. Kavanagh - Director of Labour; Sir John Jensen - Secretary; Laurence Hartnett Director of Ordnance Production; Sir Fred Thorpe - Director of Machine Tools; N.K. Brodribb - Ass. Director General; Maj-General T. Williams Army Liaison Officer; T. Donaldson - Director of Explosives.
went back and forth. The gun, eventually, went in the guard’s van. In Adelaide, the GM-H boys and the Board of Area Management took it off the train, pulled it to pieces, arranged the bits on a board, screamed blue murder to everyone in Adelaide who could make anything. The manufacturers filed in, named their part, gave an indication of when they could start, and how many pieces they could make per week, and in two days they had the whole gun farmed out among GM-H and outside contractors, big and small. GM-H undertook to manufacture all the components that nobody else would handle, and to co-ordinate the job. This was in mid-1940, just weeks after Dunkirk. There was an air of urgency and determination in the community at that time that has seldom, if ever, been matched in our history. Nothing was too big a job for Australians to tackle then, and they proved it with the two-pounder, the twenty-five-pounder and. hundreds of other jobs that came out to industry from the Ordnance Production Directorate. The twopounder, though, is the classic example. It was the first assignment given by the Ordnance Production Directorate, and the way in which everyone who had any part in it tackled his job showed up that same resourcefulness and ingenuity of Australians that had years before given me such unshakeable faith in the country and its people. It was a great and encouraging triumph for Australian manufacturing methods, production technique and skill. The difficulties that had to be overcome were tremendous.
This is an extract from ‘Big Wheels & Little Wheels’, by Sir Laurence Hartnett as told to John Veitch, 1964. © Deirdre Barnett.
AMT OCT/NOV 2019
To be continued…
MACHINERY FORUM (NSW) Pty Ltd 33 Brodie Street, Rydalmere NSW 2116 Ref. Mr. Heino Windhorst T. +61 (02) 96389600 E. heino@mafosyd.com.au
Flexible manufacturing system
The S4+P4 punches, shears and bends sheet metal totally automatically: the most efficient flexible manufacturing system.
ZERO SET UP PRODUCTION ON DEMAND ZERO SCRAP
The Salvagnini Group designs, builds and sells flexible systems and machines for processing sheet metal: punching machines, panel benders, press-brakes, fiber laser cutting machines, FMS lines, automatic store-towers and software. salvagninigroup.com
Article circa: 1989
TRUMPF’s Performance Cockpit, for optimisation of Sheet Metal Production.
An innovator in Australian manufacturing technology since 1949, Headland has been providing world’s best machinery and technology solutions for 70 years. We believe that smart factories where people, machines, automation, and software perfectly interact together in a networked production, will become common place. Visit headland.com.au/trumpf-cockpit/ to read more.
1300 592 061 sales@headland.com.au headland.com.au