AMT APR/MAY 2017

Australian Manufacturing Technology

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Apr MAy

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Contents

Volume 17 Number 02 April/May 2017 ISSN 1832-6080

FEATURES Austech Preview AUSTECH 2017 – The Big Show, only in Melbourne

42

NMW PREVIEW National Manufacturing Week – Back in Melbourne

62

CUTTING TOOLS Iscar - Milling aluminium intelligently How to create the perfect digital twin Process knowledge makes machining more efficient

68 70 72

STATE SPOTLIGHT: SOUTH AUSTRALIA South Australia – Seizing new opportunities SA manufacturers go high-tech HMPS – Export success in packaging robots Tonsley: Australia’s innovation district

74 76 78 78

ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION ABB robots support Australian homewares icon Australian-made automation Engineers get under robot’s skin to heighten senses

82 84 85

RENEWABLE ENERGY & CLEAN TECH Advanced Manufacturing - Driving innovation Silicon energy storage tech scales up Making energy efficiency a shop-floor reality

86 87 88

MATERIAL REMOVAL Dynamic, accurate universal five-axis milling Haas – Machine tools for the MotoGP simulator TIMTOS 2017 sees Asia-Pacific at turning point

90 91 92

FORMING & FABRICATION Deco Automotive : High-performance pipe bending Nasa Stones

93 95

SOFTWARE & IT SolidWorks – Bringing hot rods to life IIoT : Busting three myths Microsoft Surface – Design enabling innovation

96 98 99

WELDING Changing shielding gases & machinery boosts efficiency 100

REGULARS From the Editor From the CEO From the Minister From the Industry From the Union

10 14 16 18 20

INDUSTRY NEWS Current news from the industry

24

VOICEBOX Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

32

PRODUCT NEWS Our selection of new and interesting products

36

ONE ON ONE Nick Xenophon

66

COMPANY FOCUS SPEE3D – All-Australian additive manufacturing

80

AMTIL FORUM Forum Finance Forum Import/Export Forum Law Forum OHS

102 103 104 105

MANUFACTURERS’ PAVILION

106

AMTIL INSIDE The latest news from AMTIL

112

MANUFACTURING HISTORY – A LOOK BACK IN TIME

118

AMT Apr/May 2017

42 AUSTECH 2017 – The Big Show, only in Melbourne We take a look at some of the highlights to expect at Austech – Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing & machine tool exhibition – on 9-12 May in Melbourne.

66 Nick Xenophon Nick Xenophon is Senator for South Australia and leader of the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) party in the Federal Senate. He spoke to William Poole.

74 State Spotlight: South Australia Manufacturing in South Australia has endured a difficult few years. However, Professor Göran Roos that exciting opportunities lie ahead for the industry in that state.

80 SPEE3D – All-Australian additive manufacturing SPEE3D is in many ways a traditional manufacturing business. Its product, however, could have a revolutionary impact in additive manufacturing.

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From the Editor William Poole

Manufacturing – Australia wants more As we look forward in this issue to Austech, the premier showcase for Australian manufacturing, two pieces of news have come up since we last went to press that illustrate something of a crossroads that our industry has reached.

Firstly, there was the announcement – long expected – from Toyota that 3 October will be its final day of vehicle production at its Altona manufacturing plant. With Holden having already confirmed that it would be closing its doors 17 days later on 20 October, we now have a dateline set for the end of car manufacturing in Australia, and the end of an era.

Barely a week later, news broke regarding a poll published in Fairfax Media newspapers, which revealed that 83% of Australians believe we should be manufacturing more goods in Australia. The survey canvassed Australian voters on a wide array of issues, but one thing stood out where most people were agreed: that we make more things at home and should rely less on imports. Support for expanding Australia’s manufacturing industry was strong in every demographic and across the nation.

Of course, these are hardly earthshattering revelations – it’s pretty obvious Australians generally think a strong manufacturing base is vital to our prosperity. You can see it in the papers, where it seems there’s always a fresh story about some government body sparking outrage by deciding to procure trams or trains from overseas. The Future Submarine Program was a political hot potato for years as debate raged over whether the subs would be built here or bought elsewhere (eventually it was decided the bulk of the work will be undertaken in Adelaide). And there’s been widespread outcry over the closure of the car industry, and its ongoing implications for auto-supply companies.

The Fairfax data does put hard numbers on the extent to which Australians value manufacturing, but there are different ways of interpreting what that actually means. One interpretation takes what you might call a more “nostalgic” view, and a desire to return to a time when manufacturing was a mass employer providing secure, well-paid jobs for legions of factory workers (workers instead forced to pursue more precarious work in the service sector as manufacturing has declined). Donald Trump pulled in a lot of votes in last year’s US presidential race playing on this sentiment. Yet with continued advances in the digitalisation and automation of industrial processes, it’s debatable whether this “Golden Age” of manufacturing could ever return.

But there’s another, more sophisticated interpretation of manufacturing’s significance, encapsulated rather neatly by Professor Göran Roos on page 74 of this magazine. Roos writes that while manufacturing has declined as an employer, manufactured goods output is increasing as technology enables productivity gains. Consequently, manufacturing is ever more crucial to a nation’s prosperity, driving spill-over effects that lift the entire economy.

At AMT, we favour that latter view – we think the road ahead is more important than the rear-view mirror. So it’s timely that in this issue we’re looking forward in a number of ways.

As ever, we look at the latest advances in manufacturing technology. We look at South Australia, a state on the frontline regarding the closure of the car industry, and how its manufacturers are building for a future without it. We look at renewable energy and cleantech, areas that seem certain to become major growth industries in the years and decades to come.

And of course, we look forward to Austech, a show that has always been about the future of manufacturing, and never more so than this year. See you there.

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Australian Manufacturing Technology

Editor William Poole wpoole@amtil.com.au Sales Manager 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 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.

1345AMTAPRMAY2017

AMT Apr/May 2017

THIS YAWEI LASER IS DESIGNED TO CUT ABOVE THE REST. NOW THAT’S APPLIED THINKING.

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oNly iN MelbouRNe Australia’s Premier Advanced Manufacturing & Machine Tool Exhibition Back with more great ideas and more opportunity.

See the latest technology Showcase best practice Meet new prospects Connect with industry

9th – 12th May, 2017 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

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www.amtil.com.au/austech

014

From the CEO Shane Infanti – Chief Executive Officer AMTIL

F1 in Schools program is a winner

AMTIL has been a long-time supporter of the F1 in Schools program and we are pleased to highlight this year’s award winners. This year it was particularly evident the impact that the Re-Engineering Australia (REA) Foundation program has had on encouraging young women to be involved and view engineering as a career path of choice.

REA Foundation’s F1 in Schools™ program attracts a real diversity of ethnic backgrounds. This was never more evident than with the nation’s top team: Golden Diversity. Their team name lends itself to the fact that the girls each have family backgrounds from distinctly different parts of the world.

A quick appraisal of the 131 competitor names at the F1 in Schools™ national finals also revealed representation from across the globe. This multitude of genealogies was no obstacle to the team members because in order to reach this level of competition they have spent months if not years working very closely together - with an emphasis on teamwork, collaboration, complementary skill sets and good communication.

The F1 in Schools™ national champion for 2017 is Golden Diversity from Queechy High School in Tasmania. Golden Diversity is made up of five girls and, and as their team name suggests, all are from very diverse backgrounds.

Yara Alkhalili (Iraqi, Year 10) Hoai Nguyen (Vietnamese, Year 10) Eleanor Arumugam (Indian, Year 10) Claire Cameron (Scottish/Australian,Year 9) Hollie Johnson (English, Year 10) Second place went to Hyperdrive, a team of boys from Trinity Grammar School in Kew Victoria (an all-boys school) and third place went to Instant Transmission, an allboys team from Queechy High School.

Golden Diversity will now lead Team Australia at the 2017 F1 in Schools world finals this year - being held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia at the end of September.

Girls of all ages have found a ‘perfect fit’ in many of the F1 in Schools team roles, predominantly those of Team Manager, Marketing Manager and Graphic Designer.

A number of teams feature female engineers and car designers. At the 2017 REA Foundation national finals, more than half of the teams (17 out of 30) included girls. Golden Diversity is an all-girl team.

This team was one of four all-girl teams whilst a fifth had four girls and one boy.

Nine of the 17 teams were led by a female Team Manager and four of them had female design engineers.

A highlight of the awards ceremony was having members from Brighton Secondary School’s 2016 world finals team - who

AMT Apr/May 2017

came second outright and broke the world speed record - presenting awards to “the next generation”. Who better to present this year’s awards than the fastest team in the 13-year history of F1 in Schools™?

Another exceptional outcome from ReEngineering Australia Foundation’s applied learning STEM competition is that it has led to the development of several champion educators who have wholeheartedly embraced the holistic nature of these programs and their dramatic student outcomes. They have energetically promoted the competitions to their own schools and many others spread across their states. Some of these teachers have led from the front for more than a decade, and the results of their dedication helped

make the recent national finals such a success.

The REA Foundation is changing the perception of engineering with our younger generation. REA’s programs have linked schools, industry, TAFE, universities and parents in a collaborative environment focused on changing the metaphor of the education process. More than 35,000 students are mentored each year with another 100,000 benefiting from these outcomes. Over the past 20-odd years, approximately half a million students have been impacted by REA. Dr Michael Myers OAM - founder of the not-for-profit organisation in 1998 I salute you.

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From the ministry The Hon Arthur Sinodinos MP – Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science

Innovation and manufacturing are intrinsically linked.

Manufacturing has been a key to Australia’s stellar economic performance over the past 25 years – and innovation has played an integral role.

The relationship between innovation and advanced manufacturing is particularly strong. Innovative, high-tech solutions help our advanced manufacturers to be competitive in what is a rapidly evolving global industry.

Australia’s advanced manufacturing community will be out in force in Melbourne in May, hoping to get a first-hand look at the latest in cutting-edge technology. Melbourne is hosting the nation’s premier advanced manufacturing exhibition, Austech, which is expected to attract more than 10,000 of the industry’s key decision makers.

Austech will give visitors exposure to applications that will help them deliver innovative approaches to manufacturing. It will cover everything from precision tool making to 3D printing to Industry 4.0. Australian manufacturers are expected to attend in numbers because of their natural appetite for innovative solutions.

Manufacturing in Australia is transforming – its long-term health lies in developing new and innovative ways of working. And it looks like we’re well and truly on the right track.

A recent report on patent activity shows healthy levels of innovation in the nation’s advanced manufacturing sector. It also highlights Australia’s positive ranking globally. The report, produced by IP Australia, used the scale and intensity of patent activity to benchmark Australian innovation activity in the advanced manufacturing sector against other nations. Patents for new products, processes and technologies are a useful indicator of innovation performance within industry sectors. The report found that Australia ranked 10th out of 36 countries for specialisation in medical device patents, and is ranked in the middle of the field globally when it comes to chemical engineering patents. According to the findings, Australia also demonstrates innovative expertise in transport, mechanical engineering and pharmaceuticals, areas of significant growth and global opportunity. The report also found that the majority of advanced manufacturing patents filed in Australia are in the electrical technology category, a key driver of sector innovation.

The IP report underscores the growing importance of innovation in manufacturing. It reinforces the view that the sector’s future lies in more businesses embracing the opportunities presented by technological disruption, and undertaking value-adding activities from product concept, research and development, design and production, to distribution and after-sales service.

There is momentum in the manufacturing sector right now; momentum on which we need to capitalise.

Manufacturing employment numbers are the strongest they’ve been in years. According to the most recent data, employment in manufacturing increased 4.7% in the final quarter of 2016, adding 42,500 jobs. The sector is also expanding, according to the latest Performance of Manufacturing Index released by the Australian Industry Group, showing the fifth consecutive month of output growth and the strongest result since 2002.

Manufacturing is a supplier and market for other industries, so a buoyant sector is good news for other businesses. That’s why the Government is committed to ensuring that our manufacturing industry is globally competitive, with high levels of innovation embedded within it to keep us ahead of the pack. We’re doing what we can to support capability growth and foster industry and research collaboration.

Initiatives like the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre, and the new CRC Project stream, are encouraging participation by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in collaborative research and problem-solving to deliver tangible outcomes for industry. This will help our advanced manufacturing businesses to grow and innovate, ensuring they are globally competitive and can provide jobs today and tomorrow.

If you don’t already have the upcoming Austech exhibition in your calendar, let me take this opportunity to encourage you to attend.

The event organisers have invested a great deal of effort to put together one of the best exhibitions of advanced manufacturing solutions the country has ever seen.

Austech will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 9 to 12 May. Visit: www.amtil.com.au/Austech

Manufacturing in Australia is transforming – its long-term health lies in developing new and innovative ways of working. And it looks like we’re well and truly on the right track.

AMT Apr/May 2017

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From the industry Innes Willox – Chief Executive Australian Industry Group

Controlling your energy costs

A report on energy prices recently released by Ai Group has again confirmed that electricity and gas prices are on the march. Across Eastern Australia, wholesale electricity prices are doubling and wholesale gas prices more than doubling.

There are sensible steps governments can take to relieve the pressure on energy markets. But these will be hard to agree, take time to work and won’t return prices to the lows of the past. So what can manufacturing businesses do in the meantime to weather the storm?

There are several options to reduce the pain.

Look at your energy contracting. Some businesses have dedicated energy management staff, others engage third parties, and some leave energy contracts to staff with many other management responsibilities. It can pay to check you are getting the best deal and using the most appropriate tools at your disposal.

Energy consultants and brokers for contract advice are just a Google search away, but be aware that some brokers receive commissions from the energy retailers whose products they recommend. Shop around for consultants, not just for energy retailers. Be aware that while prices look terrible at present, there is no immediate sign of relief. Some Ai Group members who took short-term contracts in 2016 in the hope that better prices would turn up have found themselves wishing they had locked in what looked like bad prices for longer.

Improving your energy efficiency can help prevent price increases from turning into an equivalent increase in your energy bills. If your business is energy-intensive you may have already spent a lot of time and money on upgrading your major equipment, replacing lighting, plugging leaks in compressed air systems and more. But if you haven’t already looked at your options you may be surprised at what you find.

With this in mind, the Productivity Centre on Ai Group’s website (goo.gl/Q6izho) offers some case studies and other tools and resources; more can be found at the Commonwealth Government’s EEX website (eex. gov.au). And even if you have previously audited your efficiency options, you may find that rising prices for energy – or the falling costs of some efficient technologies – change your calculations.

Two technologies attracting increasing interest are distributed energy generation, especially solar photovoltaics, and energy storage, especially batteries. Costs are plunging and performance improving for both. You may be able to reduce your overall dependence on grid electricity, particularly at peak times. But you will need to look carefully to determine whether either stacks up for your business, given the way you use energy and the way you currently pay for it. Exiting the grid entirely is unlikely to make sense, but savings from reducing energy purchases can easily be offset by potential increased charges for maintaining a network connection.

Some businesses may also be able to invest in larger-scale energy generation, either as partners or through long-term offtake agreements for the power. Renewable energy developers are

AMT Apr/May 2017

increasingly interested to contract with industrial customers, rather than depending entirely on large energy retailers or the spot market.

Sun Metals recently committed to a 115MW solar farm project to supply its Townsville zinc refinery. Taking another approach, a consortium of South Australian manufacturers, miners and other energy users are seeking to run a collective tender for a new electricity supplier.

Your business may be able to save money on energy through demand response – being ready to cut or shift your energy use at times when wholesale prices are high and the system is under pressure. There are many options for doing this; for instance, refrigeration systems may be able to be turned down or off for an hour or two, with thermal inertia preventing loss of amenity.

Electricity retailers can sign agreements with customers where they offer a discount or incentive payments in return for the customer offering a certain level of demand response. Energy networks also sign up energy users as an alternative to expensive investment in boosting network capacity. There are also specialist energy services businesses that can co-ordinate and automate demand response.

Some policies may be available to help you, depending on where you are based. The Commonwealth currently offers businesses some information through the EEX website. Businesses are also able to put together projects that save energy and greenhouse gas emissions and bid them into the Emissions Reduction Fund, though this is running low on funds and has directed almost all its money towards land sector projects rather than energy efficiency.

The New South Wales Energy Savings Scheme (ESS), the Victorian Energy Efficiency Target (VEET) and the South Australian Retailer Energy Efficiency Scheme (REES) provide financial support for energy efficiency projects, which receive certificates that energy retailers will pay for. While all these schemes apply to business, the activities they support and the ease of getting involved differ. NSW is also considering further support for business efficiency.

Ai Group is pushing for policy reforms that would change the electricity market to give much clearer rewards to participants who create value through demand response, energy storage, distributed generation and more. We are also encouraging governments to provide more effective information, advice and assistance with energy efficiency, without tying businesses up in red tape.

Stronger gas supply is desperately needed to reduce pressure both on gas users and the electricity market. Ai Group is also running a series of energy events, including an interactive live webinar in April, to go through the latest market developments and provide contracting and efficiency advice, so keep an eye on our online events page (goo.gl/Nf9f9k).

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I was just getting ready to eat my lunch when I got the call. The good news was that my manager had safely arrived for the national trade show. The bad news was, the promotional flyers hadn’t.

But I was all over it.

I called my Officeworks Business Specialist and gave him the lowdown. Luckily, I had the flyer artwork on file, so he helped me arrange a reprint at an interstate Officeworks store using the Print & Copy service.

All my boss had to do was pick them up on his way to the expo. He had plenty of time to set up our company stand and text me a photo of how good it looked.

I’ve never seen a bigger grin on his face.

Get all over it.

Visit officeworks.com.au/business-solutions

Printed for 12/04/2017.

OWO2517

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From The Union Paul Bastian – National Secretary Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

Making Fair Work work for everyone

In recent months we’ve seen a lot of commentary from employers, employer groups and conservative commentators about the Fair Work Act and Fair Work Commission rulings.

My union, the AMWU, does not expect to agree with employers in the industry on what is the best legislative framework for a fair industrial relations system. There will always be strong debate and discussion about how industrial relations should be run in Australia. But we do think there are some things that both parties can agree on.

Currently, the Fair Work Act restricts industry-wide bargaining between employers and workers in individual industries. This decision is bad for workers and bad for business.

For businesses, it means that wages are always in competition.

So a company that will pay employees $30 per hour is forced to compete with a company producing a similar product that pays their employees $25 per hour. It entrenches complacency on the business side because it doesn’t force companies to improve productivity or skills development, which are the real keys to unlocking Australia’s competitive advantage in the market place.

Allowing industry-wide bargaining would put employers on a level playing field – not competing on wages, but on workplace practice, skills and opportunity.

In recent months we’ve seen many rogue employers using legal trickery to try and drive down the wages and conditions of workers and bypass the spirit of the Fair Work Act. Last year, workers at the Carlton and United Brewery were forced into a brutal sixmonth campaign after their employer unilaterally terminated their contract with a labour-hire firm and re-offered them their jobs with 65% less pay. At the Anglo-American coal mine in Collie, Western Australia, workers faced the prospect of a 40% wage cut after their employer successfully applied to unilaterally terminate their enterprise agreement and revert back to the Award. Further similar examples are present across the country, including in many whitecollar industries and workplaces, and a similar dispute is ongoing at Parmalat in Echuca, Victoria.

the space and time they need to return to work – rather than the choice of staying with their abuser or quitting their job. This way, they get the help they need and keep their employment – and don’t become reliant on our welfare system. It’s a win for everyone.

It’s worth noting that Michaelia Cash, the Minister for Employment and Minister for Women, has been strident in her opposition to domestic violence leave. This is bad policy. Already Australia is lagging the developed world in female workforce participation. To grow our economy we need to keep skilled women in work – and not feel pushed out, or reliant on the welfare system. Domestic violence leave would help address this.

Manufacturing workers in particular have a few gripes of their own with the Fair Work Act that are unlikely to be agreed upon by employers – but are important to fix. For example, the provisions around industrial action are far too restrictive. The decision to take industrial action whether in the form of work stoppages, overtime bans, or other work restrictions is always a difficult one for workers.

Workers will only use it as a last resort.

Why should companies who do the right thing be forced to compete with unscrupulous employers who use legal loopholes to exploit their workers and get a competitive advantage on wages? If we’re really interested in creating a decent industrial relations system that advances the interests of the manufacturing sector as a whole, then we need to take legislative action to stop this kind of behaviour by bad employers.

But it is ridiculous that workers who decide to take industrial action are forced through a process that often takes several weeks to be able to proceed. The imbalance of the system is in full view when you consider that an employer can impose a lock-out with just 72 hours’ notice. We’re experiencing that imbalance right now, as AMWU members at Parmalat face their fifth week of being locked out after they dared to take a four-hour work stoppage.

Recent scandals also highlight that the enforcement provisions of the Fair Work Act are seriously lacking. The shocking circumstances revealed at 7-11, Dominos Pizza and Bakers’ Delight demonstrate that there are potentially thousands of workers across the country who aren’t getting even the minimum wage. This is occurring in a climate where we have record low wages growth. It beggars belief that anyone could argue for a system that puts downward pressure on wages in the current economic climate. And that’s before we even consider the recent Fair Work Commission to cut Sunday penalty rates for workers in retail, fast food and hospitality.

I’m not such a blind optimist that I believe that workers and companies in the manufacturing industry will agree on everything.

However, our respective members do expect us to approach this debate with maturity and with the best interests of our industry at heart. What they don’t want to see is a febrile debate based on blind ideology like the kind we see in Canberra right now. It’s our responsibility to take this debate outside the corridors of Parliament and into the workplaces of our industry.

We also think that it’s in employers’ interests that the National Employment Standards include 10 days paid domestic violence leave. One in three women experiences violence at the hands of a family member. Domestic violence leave will remove one of the obstacles that often discourage women from getting the help they need. It will give them time to attend court, organise crisis accommodation, and attend medical appointments. It will give them

AMT Apr/May 2017

So, while lobbyists dance around Parliament House buying drinks for politicians, we will be talking to workers in their offices and factories about how we can improve this industry for the better.

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industry news

SMEs confidence steady in lead-up to EOFY

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute SME Index (SME Index), which examines the economic health of Australian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), shows business confidence remains stable, going from 100.7 in Q4 2016 to 99.9 in Q1 2017 as SMEs prepare for the upcoming Federal Budget and the end of the financial year (EOFY).

The slight decline in the SME Index indicates businesses have a conservative outlook on future business conditions, despite many reporting improvements in current business operations (sales, profits, employment).

Westpac’s General Manager of SME Business Bank, Julie Rynski said: “It’s pleasing to see a steady level of optimism among Australian businesses as they gear up for the end-of-financialyear. We know tax time can be stressful for business owners, with around a quarter of our SME customers telling us they experience cash flow difficulties because of late payments and around 24% with more than $10,000 in unpaid invoices on their books.”

Among the major states, Victoria was the most optimistic (106.0) with marginal dips in overall confidence across most of the other states. Decreases of 8.7% were identified in New South Wales (100.8), 8% in South Australia (94.2) and 1.9% in Queensland (98.3). Western Australia recorded the lowest SME Index reading, reporting an 8% decrease to 80.4.

Westpac Senior Economist Matthew Hassan said there were a number of contributors to the current results.

“Trading conditions have clearly improved on a year ago,” said Hassan. “Some of the concerns about the wider Australian economy have also likely eased with GDP posting a solid rebound in the December quarter, more than reversing a surprise contraction in the previous quarter.

“Meanwhile the global backdrop has improved, the mining investment downturn is nearly over and interest rates and the Australian dollar remain supportive. There are clearly still significant areas of concern for SMEs; consumer demand is patchy, the outlook for housing is uncertain and profits are under pressure. Overall, the picture looks mixed with improvements in current activity offset by ongoing doubts about the extent to which these will be sustained.”

Across industries, the SME Index was strongest for Professional Services (111.7), Health & Aged Care Services (108.6) and Manufacturing (104.2), with each sector showing improvements in business conditions in the last 12 months. The survey found a dip in confidence in the Construction sector, declining by 12.4%, partly due to a decline in profits (25%), harder access to finance (21.9%) and an increase in government regulations (56.3%).

AMGC invests $500,000 into Geelong composites manufacturing The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) has invested $500,000 into Geelong to advance Australia’s manufacturing industry.

The AMGC on 20 February announced project funding of $250,000 for Quickstep Holdings, a manufacturer of advanced carbon fibre composites. This investment will aid in the development of a competitive carbon composite fender for the European automotive market. The project has the potential to generate export revenue in excess of $25m and see the increase in demand for more highvalue jobs in the Geelong area.

Previously, the AMGC had announced $250,000 in project funds for the Advanced Fibre Cluster Geelong. The funding will directly support the Geelong Manufacturing Council working in collaboration with Carbon Nexus, a research facility located at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds Campus.

“To make these kinds of significant investments in the region of Geelong sends a clear signal that our manufacturing industry has a strong future in Australia,” said Dr Jens Goennemann, AMGC’s Managing Director. “We are convinced to have the raw talent to compete globally and offer a unique point of difference, and that’s through our technology leadership and value-added services.

When we have solutions that global customers want and when our manufacturers offer something different and compete primarily on value, not on cost – then those customers are willing to pay a good price for that product or service.”

A core tenet of the AMGC strategy is to fund projects that demonstrate Australia’s manufacturing competitiveness. These projects will serve as catalysts of best practice and pave the way for other manufacturers to replicate.

The AMGC’s recently released Sector Competitiveness Plan shows that the Australian manufacturing sector along with its supporting industries can add up to $36bn to the national economy over the

AMT Apr/May 2017

next 10 years. Findings show that the majority of this lift in revenue comes from providing ‘value differentiation’ through innovative product design and technical edge.

“The days of competing on cost are gone,” added Dr Goennemann.

“Today, to remain competitive and be part of the lucrative global supply chain, we must look to the full width of what our manufacturers offer. This can be in the areas of R&D, design, logistics and distribution to pre- and post-sales support. This is where the future lies and why we continue to support the Geelong region in its journey as a leading manufacturing centre.” www.amgc.org.au

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026

industry news

Export growth on the horizon for Australian SMEs

Efic, Australia’s export credit agency, has released its bi-annual Exporter Sentiment Index, showing that Australian exporting SMEs are confident about the next 12 months.

“This research provides SME exporter insights into expectations around current and future business conditions, overseas sales growth forecasts, and expectations around access to export finance,” says Andrew Hunter, CEO and Managing Director at Efic. “Overall, we’re seeing positive results. Our respondents expressed confidence about their current and future financial position, the broader economy and general business conditions for 2017.”

The research indicates that just over half Australian exporting SMEs believe they are in a better financial position than 12 months ago, with 57% confident they will be in a better financial position in the next 12 months.

“We found that twice as many SME exporters believe that the economy will be better in the next 12 months than those that do not,” says Hunter. “This confidence is particularly strong in businesses with a turnover of between $10m and $100m.”

Some 56% of SME exporters expect their overseas sales revenue

to increase over the year mainly due to increasing demand in existing markets (23%).

“While overall sentiment is pleasingly positive, we’re still seeing access to export finance as a key concern for Australian SME exporters,” says Hunter. “The results show that one in five exporters expect access to export finance to become more difficult, and just over a third expect it to remain the same.

“This is where Efic can add real value to Australian small and medium exporters. Our focus is on providing SMEs with the export finance they need when their bank is unable to help. Often we find that businesses are unable to access finance through traditional avenues, like their banks, and so are unable to take on new export opportunities.

“Efic can work with your bank to provide a suitable financial solution. Whether that’s through a loan, guarantee or bond, we can help experienced exporters or those thinking of entering their first export market.”

Ai Group elects Chris Jenkins as National President

Chris Jenkins, CEO of Thales Australia has been elected as the new National President of the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group).

Jenkins replaces Noel Cornish who had been Ai Group National President since November 2013. Jenkins was appointed CEO at Thales Australia in 2008 and has held senior roles with Thales locally and internationally for more than 20 years.

He has been active in the Ai Group for many years, including most recently as Ai Group National Vice-President; Chairman of Ai Group’s Defence Council; and Ai Group NSW Branch President.

His other appointments include Advisory Member of the Centre for Defence Industry Capability and Adjunct Professor of the University of NSW. In 2013 he received the Insignia of Knight in the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration.

“As President I look forward to working to ensure Ai Group is the premier industry body in Australia, representing our member interests and supporting policies that help our economy grow,” Jenkins said. “I very much share Ai Group’s ambition to make Australia the best place to do business. I am a passionate believer in the strength of local skills and a strong advocate for the global competitiveness of Australian engineering, design and manufacture.

“There are many challenges ahead for business on which Ai Group will take a positive role in influencing the delivery of good policy including around tax, workplace relations, energy and skills. These

AMT Apr/May 2017

will be among our biggest priorities in the year ahead.”

Ai Group’s National Executive expressed great appreciation to Cornish, for his leadership of Ai Group. His presidency covered a period of great change domestically and globally which saw Australian industry meet the challenges posed by the economic transition following the end of the mining boom.

Ai Group also elected a number of national office bearers. John Dixon, Managing Director of Redstar Transport Operations Pty Ltd, was named as National Deputy President, while Russell Rolls, Chairman, R G Melgaard & Co, was elected National SecretaryTreasurer. The newly elected National Vice-Presidents are: • NSW – Tony Warren, Group Managing Director Corporate Affairs, Telstra Corporation Limited.

• Victoria – Jeff Connolly, Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Ltd. • South Australia – Alexander Kachellek, Managing Director, Korvest Ltd. • Queensland – Martin Munro, Chief Executive Officer, Watpac Construction Pty Ltd.

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Industry news

Barden joins new group targeting 4WD market AMTIL member Barden Fabrications has become amalgamated into the Automotive Solutions Group Limited (ASGL), a new company aiming to become the one-stop shop offering for the growing population of four-wheel-drive (4WD), sport utility vehicle (SUV) and touring enthusiasts.

ASGL has launched following the amalgamation of eight companies to form a fully vertically integrated model, listing on the stock exchange back in December last year. The new company is a consolidation of fleet and automotive businesses that specialise in the design, manufacture, distribution and retail of parts, accessories and performance technology for the 4WD/SUV market.

Led by Chief Executive Officer Tanya Mason, and avid 4WD enthusiast, ASGL aims to be one-stop shop offering that caters to the growing number of 4WD enthusiasts and leisure travellers.

It has become a real challenger and is positioned to become a significant player in the market.

ASGL successfully raised its maximum subscription of $30m at $1 per share through its initial public offering (IPO), receiving strong support from institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals, retail investors and major institutions Microequities and SG Hiscock.

ASGL is well placed to take advantage of continuing growth in the 4WD/SUV market by expanding the portfolio of businesses through organic growth and acquisitions.

Mason has formerly held senior financial and operational roles with large multinational companies including BHP Billiton, Woodside Petroleum, Toll Holdings and Aurizon Holdings. She anticipates that its growth momentum will be sustained over the medium-tolong term given the favourable conditions for the 4X4/SUV market, which is among the fastest growing vehicle segments in Australia.

“There is plenty of room for us to grow,” said Mason. “It’s not just traditional 4WD enthusiasts who are modifying or upgrading their vehicles, but we are also seeing lots of city drivers making upgrades to their 4X4 and SUVs as well.”

Along with Barden, based in Bayswater, Victoria, the eight cornerstone businesses acquired to form the new group are Roo Systems in Queensland, Umhauers in Geelong, Deering Autronics in Perth, JDR Motorsport in NSW, AMA in Queensland, Dolium in WA and ASG 4x4 in Toowoomba. The eight companies are all involved in design, manufacturing, retailing and performance technology in accessories and performance upgrades for 4WD vehicles and SUVs. The group margins are expected to increase due to synergies with management forecasting a 7% increase in sales to $42.7m and a 7.5% uplift in EBIT to $6.5m. ASGL’s management team is led by highly regarded professionals in the automotive field and have a successful track record in integrating businesses. The company’s chairman is former Mitsubishi Motors Australia chief executive Tom Phillips.

Marand announces Land 400 agreement with BAE Systems

Australian defence SME Marand has announced a teaming agreement with BAE Systems Australia for LAND 400, building on a long-term partnership between the companies on major projects.

Marand will contribute leading cross-sector expertise gained from the automotive, aerospace, rail and defence sectors to the program, providing a range of production engineering solutions.

The company has proven experience in welding ballistic steel, advanced machining and complex assembly performed on a daily basis for defence exports, and has been designing, building and launching vehicular production lines for over 30 years.

BAE Systems worked with Marand on its transition from the automotive and aerospace to defence industry through collaboration on the global F35 Joint Strike Fighter program more than 10 years ago. BAE Systems provides titanium parts to Marand, which are used in the manufacture of F-35 vertical tail fins in Australia and are in turn exported to the USA under contract from BAE Systems in the UK.

“I am delighted that Marand has chosen to work with BAE Systems Australia on Land 400,” said BAE Systems Australia Chief Executive, Glynn Phillips. “Today’s announcement demonstrates how Australian industry is getting behind our solution for the Australian Army.”

In July last year, BAE Systems and Land 400 bid partner Patria were confirmed as one of two tenders selected to take part in the 51-week Risk Mitigation Activity for the Australian Army’s Land 400 Phase 2 combat reconnaissance vehicle program.

“BAE Systems is a great partner,” Marand Chief Executive Officer, Rohan Stocker, added. “The company delivers on its industrial commitments, transferring technology that has allowed Marand to create high skilled jobs and defence exports. We have already proven that we can deliver complex defence production technology transfers in Australia with 100% quality and delivery performance.”

AMT Apr/May 2017

BAE Systems and Patria are offering the combat-proven AMV35 for Land 400 Phase 2. The team is committed to manufacturing the AMV35 locally with an industry solution that will grow local manufacturing knowledge, create jobs and bring further economic benefits to the Australian SME supply chain.

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Government news

Pyne announces $730m defence tech fund Christopher Pyne, Federal Minister for Defence Industry, on 16 March launched the $730m Next Generation Technologies Fund, a new investment in Australian defence capability and innovation.

The Fund is designed to provide creative solutions for the Australian Defence Force while benefiting Australian industry. According to Minister Pyne, this is the first time ever any Australian Government has used defence dollars to drive innovation in this way.

“This is a 10-year strategic research and development program that will deliver game-changing capabilities for the ADF of the future,” Minister Pyne said. “This fund will draw on the collective scientific expertise of our nation across both industry and university sectors, to give the ADF a winning edge with advanced technologies.”

Minister Pyne said to kick-off the program, the Government would invest $16.8m by June 2017.

“The first program as part of the fund will be Grand Challenges, where Defence puts forward a problem with no easy solutions and asks Australians to come up with an answer,” he said. “These challenges will require joint, multi-disciplinary research across organisations to resolve. The first such challenge, which will soon be open to proposals, is to Counter Improvised Threats, which are constantly evolving and confronting our troops.”

Improvised Threats are threats devised and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. These can come in forms such as explosive devices, or chemical and biological hazards.

The Grand Challenges will bring small agile companies, including start-ups, larger companies and academic researchers to work alongside Defence scientists in pursuing large-scale, missionfocussed projects with clearly-defined end goals. Defence is taking on board the risk of failure and in doing so encouraging innovation to solve critical problems.

Minister Pyne said the Next Generation Technologies Fund would also establish Defence Cooperative Research Centres, university research networks, a Defence research accelerator scheme, an innovation research initiative for small business, and expanded technology foresighting activities.

“These are only a few of several new initiatives to be developed,” he said. “There are a range of opportunities for universities and companies to contribute innovative technology solutions to defeat future threats, many of which are not even on the radar today. The Government is determined to make the most of the investment in the Next Generation Technologies Fund and ensure that industry

and academia are actively engaged in developing unbeatable capabilities for Australia’s future defence force.”

Defence’s Science and Technology Group will lead the forwardlooking research program focused on nine transformational technology areas, highlighted in the 2016 Defence White Paper.

The nine technology areas included in the research fund are: • • • • • • • • •

Cyber security.

Space capabilities.

Quantum technologies.

Trusted autonomous systems.

Enhanced human performance.

Medical countermeasures.

Multi-disciplinary material sciences.

Integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

Advanced sensors, hypersonics and directed energy capabilities.

The Next Generation Technologies Fund complements the Defence Innovation Hub launched last year, as the core of the new Defence Innovation System outlined in the Defence Industry Policy Statement. These two programs, together with the Centre for Defence Industry Capability, deliver on the Government’s $1.6bn commitment to grow Australia’s defence industry and innovation sector. www.dst.defence.gov.au

Bringing Australian, international SMEs and researchers together

The Federal Government is offering grant funding to help Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and researchers work with international partners to develop innovative products and services.

The second round of the priming grants component of the Global Connections Fund (GCF) opened in February. The $4.9m GCF is part of the Global Innovation Strategy of the Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda, and supports global SME-toresearcher collaborations. The priming grants of $7,000 enable Australian SMEs and researchers to meet and collaborate with international partners to progress their ideas.

“Linking Australian SMEs with international researchers, and Australian researchers with international SMEs, allows greater international industry-researcher engagement, enabling access to world-class expertise, infrastructure and the global market,” said Arthur Sinodinos, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.

AMT Apr/May 2017

The GCF is comprised of two types of grants: priming grants and bridging grants. In 2016 the Government awarded more than $1.1m in grants under the two components. Under round one of the priming grants, 74 Australian SMEs and researchers received assistance to develop products and services for Australian and international markets.

Bridging grants of up to $50,000 are designed as seed funding capital to enable viable projects to grow in scope and scale, and to test commercialisation and proof-of-concept activities. There were 14 projects awarded in the first round of bridging grants. The second round opens later this year. www.globalconnectionsfund.org.au

Commonwealth Government Entrepreneurs’ Programme partnering with AMTIL

It’s all about you.

Business Management

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme (EP) is a Commonwealth Government flagship initiative focused on raising the competitiveness and productivity of eligible companies at an individual level. AMTIL is an industry partner organisation working with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science in the delivery of the EP. The Programme offers support through three key elements: 1. Business Management 2. Innovation Connections 3. Accelerating Commercialisation 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 to improve business performance.

The Business Management element of EP provides practical support to help businesses improve and grow through sustainable, strategic management and capability.

EP’s Business Management element offers: • On-site support from an industry specialist Adviser or Facilitator who will give you objective insight and recommendations to improve and grow your business.

• Funding through matched grants of up to $20,000 to implement practical activities focused on supporting growth.

• Access to business networks, government services, and specialist assistance for growth and supply chain projects.

Plus depending on the results of the Business Evaluation, your company may be: • Given recommendations, and be eligible for funding, to improve your business and maximise opportunities; • Introduced to scientific researchers via Research Connections; • Given advice or financial assistance to rapidly commercialise new products under Accelerating Commercialisation.

Every business has different needs.

www.amtil.com.au

1302AMTILEP02

To find out what the Entrepreneurs’ Programme can do for you, call 13 28 46 or visit www.business.gov.au or contact Greg Chalker 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au

032

voice box Opinions from across the manufacturing industry

The simple reason manufacturers blow so much on marketing

While just about every industrial company in Australia spends considerable revenue on marketing, hardly any gain good results. That’s because most Australian businesses don’t know how to look beyond the clichés they see and hear.

By Jenny Kuo. With so many marketing technologies promising the next big thing in winning new clients, it’s no surprise business owners and managers alike find it hard to choose what they need to draw new business cost-effectively. The key is to recognise that successful marketing has little to do with choosing and buying what you perceive to be the right ‘space’. It’s really about locating and identifying everything about your potential market, its needs and buying habits, and the delivery methods that work best to reach them fruitfully.

Because they are probably looking from inside the fishbowl, very few industrial businesses ever step back and properly analyse exactly what kind of marketing mix would actually work best for them before they spend big. This is because most are confused by what tactics to use when in reality it is the strategy that needs changing.

Businesses should pull back and have an in-depth, independent look at their current marketing situation and how much it is costing, yet producing ordinary results.

This highlights just how the media channel providers have pulled you into their web. Remember, common media channels including Facebook, Google, web design and all manner of digital and traditional marketing platforms all want your money, but they don’t give advice on any other methods that would suit you better – they’re only interested in their own brand.

What I advise is the polar opposite: a way of blocking out the sales pitches, stepping back, and taking a thoroughly analytical, businessminded approach to answer the following three questions: • Who are your best customers and where would they be?

• How do you craft the message so it hits them between the eyes in their preferred fashion?

• What media channels and communications streams will work best for you?

Every week, it seems some fantastic new online marketing system pops up, or some open-source offering, or perhaps even more expensive software that doesn’t just promise to overhaul your marketing, but almost puts you on a guilt trip if you don’t adopt it, or worse still you are made to feel like you are falling behind without it. But the truth is, most industrial businesses don’t need too much of a starting point to transform their marketing setup and the results they can obtain from it.

The fabrication sector is highly competitive with lots of companies battling for market share in sectors that are sometimes thought to be small, but in fact they are quite big – though nobody has researched it well enough to find out. It becomes a dog-eat-dog scenario, which often prompts a knee-jerk reaction to seek some technical, fast-fix branded product.

Even though we are in the modern, technical age of marketing, industry seems to have been thrown a curveball by marketers and marketing technology developers into believing that old-style marketing is a thing of the past. That’s not necessarily true. Once some basic, but quite intensive, research is done on your business

AMT Apr/May 2017

and product, when your sales staff have identified what they really need, and your potential target markets have been comprehensively analysed and understood, you have a much better idea of what type of marketing actually suits your message.

This is likely to show just how much effort and time is forfeited in, say, constant social media marketing – an overload of LinkedIn output, or 24/7tweets, or non-stop blogging et al. This takes enormous time and resources, and all this volume is often not necessary. If someone takes a look at your potential target market, its wants and needs and all the variables, and what your product and sales staff truly have to do to reach them, it might just take an old-fashioned letter as part of the marketing mix to get that message to that target.

Our message in all of this is that Australian industrial companies may feel under pressure to conform and adopt every whizz-bang new marketing technology and social media platform that comes its way. Hard-working companies like yours are most likely to be doing this out of fear of being left out.

To put a question to the market – and within a market context easier to understand – if a new or existing client came to your business wanting components cut from the same blank sheet, would you carry out the job purely on the strength of the conversation? Or would you request engineering drawings so you can put that into your system and accurately provide for what the client has requested? No doubt you would choose the latter.

Marketing is no different – there is way too little guidance for industrial companies, so what ends up happening is a ‘sprayand-pray’ approach where lots of marketing dollars are wasted on systems and blanket solutions that give low-percentage, unproven solutions.

The smart way to do it is exactly the way you do your fabrication: you study potential markets, learn not just what they want but how they most favourably like to learn about it, so you fashion it in that way, and you deliver it in the way they want it delivered. If you can fashion components to order, you can fashion your marketing to order.

This is a strategic, logical and sensible approach to marketing.

While your business regularly changes its décor, its car fleets, uniforms and other business assets to move with the times, you probably never think that your marketing strategy also needs a complete revamp.

Dedicated, independent research and analysis will easily compare your current marketing strategy against what it could be as a thoroughly tailored solution. Like magic you’ll clearly see the right tactics and find you are spending less on the entire exercise and winning more business.

Jenny Kuo is an independent business marketing research, analysis and positioning specialist. www.jennykuo.com

Heading

Phone: 1300 787 688 Int’l: +618 8983 3999 info@caasafety.com.au www.exairaust.com/safetyguns

034

Tech News

US: Sewing robot - Disrupting the sweatshop

Switzerland: Sustainable ceramics without a kiln

US startup - Sewbo - has announced the world’s first robotically sewn garment. Automation has made little progress in clothing manufacturing due to the difficulties robots face when trying to manipulate limp, flexible fabrics. Sewbo avoids this by temporarily stiffening fabrics using liquid polymers and then allowing off-theshelf industrial robots to easily build garments from rigid cloth, as if they were working with sheet metal. The fabric panels can be easily moulded and welded before being permanently sewn together. The water-soluble stiffener is then removed with a rinse in hot water. In the US, domestic apparel manufacturing fell from 50% in 1994 to roughly 3% in 2015. It is hoped that automation will be an important tool for the burgeoning reshoring movement in the US.

Material scientists have developed a new method of manufacturing ceramics that does not require the starting materials to be fired. Instead, they are compacted under high pressure at room temperature in a simple and significantly more energy-efficient process. The scientists used a calcium carbonate nanopowder as the starting material and instead of firing it, they added a small amount of water and then compacted it. The process took only one hour. The procedure is based on the geological process of rock formation. The new material can withstand about 10 times as much force as concrete before it breaks. To date material samples of about the size of a 10-cent piece have been produced and ceramic pieces the size of small bathroom tiles should theoretically be feasible.

Sewbo & Fast Company

ETH Zurich

Germany: Post-print customisation of 3D prints

Australia: Breaking new ground in body armour In Adelaide, Xtek Ltd – a composite materials business – has been working on lighter, stronger materials for ballistic vests, and has proved so successful it is currently in a testing contract with the US Army. The company has developed an industrial process which allows the creation of lighter, stiffer materials for ballistic vests. The innovation is a patented process – a high-tech hydroclave called an ‘XTclave’. This is a pressurised chamber inside of which liquids and fibres are pressed into products at 300 bars of pressure; resulting in very light and very strong materials. It has come to the attention of the US Army because its unique design allows for complex shapes to be moulded more accurately. Typically, ceramic plates are inserted into ballistic vests to stop projectiles, and there are usually gaps. With the XTclave, even pressure is exerted over the materials which are compressed, resulting in no areas of weakness.

AFR

Russia: How to decrease the mass of aircrafts Technologists have created a material capable of replacing aluminium and titanium in aircrafts by creating unique polymer matrices for polymer composites based on novel phthalonitrile monomers. These materials possess higher strength than metals.

Development of high-temperature polymer composites will allow replacing the existing metal engine parts (for instance, low-pressure jet compressor blades) or supersonic aircraft body elements with polymer composite parts. They have applied a new approach to molecular design of bis-phthalonitrile monomers and have also developed materials with improved processing requirements suitable for cost-effective injection methods for CFRP manufacturing which is uncommon for most phthalonitriles known to date.

Eureka via Moscow State University

AMT Apr/May 2017

Once a 3D printed object is printed, the workpiece can no longer be modified. To address this restriction, computer scientists are working on the integration of specifically developed components at predefined points within such 3D objects. This technique, named Hotflex, enables alterations to the object possible even after printing.

A flat composite was developed, consisting of several individual layers. When the composite structure is energised, it becomes deformable almost instantly. This is made possible by the multilayer composition. The innermost layer is the heating structure.

Next comes the mouldable structure, consisting of a biodegradable plastic. If the computer-activated heating structure heats the plastic layer to just under 60deg.C, the material becomes malleable and can be formed into the desired shape by simply using bare hands.

Once the object has cooled down, it will remain in this modified shape.

Saarland University

The Netherlands: Flying car – First commercial model Sales have officially started of a three-wheeled, 2-seater flying car – the PAL-V which is able to fly at an altitude of 3500m at speeds of 160km/h (180km/h in flight mode) and can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 9 seconds. Requiring a 280m runway for takeoff (less for landing), it can be configured as a gyrocopter (an auto-rotating fold-away rotor on top) with forward speed coming from a propeller at the back. In driving mode, it is claimed to be even more agile than a normal car. It meets regulations in most countries, though a private pilot’s licence is required. The most important breakthrough was the maturing of the DVC tilting technology in 2005; enabling a real flying car instead of a roadable aircraft. Powered by normal car gas. Deliveries are scheduled by the end of 2018.

Pal-v.com and mixed

Tech Heading News

South Korea: The “Avatar” robot It is bipedal and makes the ground shake when it walks. The 4m-tall, 1.5 ton METHOD-2 manned robot was designed at Hankook Mirae Technology, a South Korean robotics company, who proclaimed it the “world’s first” first manned bipedal robot. A pilot sitting inside the robot’s torso makes limb movements which are mimicked

by METHOD-2, whose metal arms each weigh 130kg. While its enormous size has grabbed media attention, the creators say the core achievement is the technology they developed. US$200m has been invested in the project since 2014. The robot will be ready for sale by the end of 2017 at a price of around US$8.3m. It will reportedly operate in the Fukushima disaster area, but will need to undergo a few modifications first.

The Telegraph & CNN

200 °C for the iron-containing material, which makes it particularly promising for industrial use Nagoya University

US: Robot bat unveiled Inspired by bats, researchers have developed a robotic bat with soft, articulated wings, named the Bat Bot (B2). Bats have the most sophisticated powered flight mechanism among animals, due to their shape-changing wings. This wing flexibility and complex wing kinematics have posed significant technological challenges for robot modelling. The Bat Bot utilises a morphing skeleton array and a custom-made, ultra-thin silicone-based membrane skin that enables the robot to change its articulated structure in midair. Because their wings comprise primarily flexible materials; the Bat Bots are able to collide with one another, or with obstacles with little or no damage and are able to operate in tight quarters beyond where humans can go and in dangerous areas. For tasks that require the robots to be stationary, the bat bots will eventually be able to perch, instead of hovering.

University of Illinois

Australia: Carbon fibre makes Australian debut Australia for the first time has the capacity to produce carbon fibre from scratch and at scale, thanks to CSIRO and Deakin University.

The “missing link” in Australia’s carbon fibre capability, a wet spinning line was launched recently in Geelong. Carbon fibre combines high rigidity, tensile strength and chemical resistance with low weight and is used in aerospace, civil engineering, the military, cars, and also in competitive sports. Only a handful of companies around the world can create carbon fibre, each using their own secret recipe.

To join this elite club CSIRO and Deakin researchers had to crack the code. In doing so, using patented CSIRO technology, they’ve created what could be the next generation of carbon fibre that is stronger and of a higher quality. This facility means Australia can carry out research across the whole carbon fibre value chain: from molecules, to polymers, to fibre, to finished composite parts.

CSIRO

Japan: Record-breaking material contracts when heated Researchers have discovered a ceramic material (reduced ruthenate composed of calcium, ruthenium and oxygen atoms) that contracts on heating by 6.7% which is more than twice the previous record-holding material. The bulk material expands again when it is cooled. Negative thermal expansion materials are of great interest to industrial engineers. These materials can be mixed with normal materials, which expand on heating, with the aim of producing a composite material with its thermal expansion adjusted to a particular value and maintained even at the extremely low operating temperatures used in cryogenic and aerospace engineering. The size of the volume change, as well as the operating temperatures for negative thermal expansion can be controlled by changing the composition of the material. When the ruthenium atoms are partially replaced by iron atoms, the temperature window for negative thermal expansion gets much larger. This window extends to above

Australia/Intl.: Next-gen steel under the microscope Next-generation steel and metal alloys are a step closer to reality, thanks to an international research project involving a Uni. of Queensland scientist. The work could overcome the problem of hydrogen alloy embrittlement that has led to catastrophic failures in major engineering and building projects due to the accidental introduction of hydrogen during manufacture and processing (hydrogen is extremely volatile and diffuses quickly). The research collaboration has, for the first time, localised and visualised hydrogen in steels and alloys. It is now possible to localise hydrogen at atomic resolution at the scale of a single atom.

University of Queensland

“…If you convert it back to molecular hydrogen, all that energy is released, so that would make it the most powerful rocket propellant known to man, and could revolutionise rocketry.” Prof. Isaac Silvera – lead researcher at Harvard University where metallic hydrogen has been made. This has been theorised over a century ago but has never been created on Earth. A tiny hydrogen sample was squeezed at 495 GPa, (greater than the pressure at the centre of the Earth). At these pressures, solid molecular hydrogen breaks down, and the tightly bound molecules dissociate to transform into atomic hydrogen, which is a metal. The substance offers tantalising hints at potentially revolutionary new materials.

AMT Apr/May 2017

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product news

Hyrdafeed takes barfeeder productivity to new level

Dimac Tooling is the sole Australia distributor of the innovative Hydrafeed Barfeeder. Based in the UK, Hydrafeed has established a reputation for designing and building barfeeders that offer unrivalled performance and accuracy, plus a user-friendly set-up.

“Hydrafeed Barfeeders increase the productivity of any CNC turning centre and can be retrofitted to any entry level CNC machine as well as multi-tasking turning centres,” said Dimac Managing Director, Paul Fowler. “This provides a solution for increased productivity from your machine tool.”

A key feature of the Hydrafeed Barfeeder is that it is a full servodriven barfeed, eliminating the need for compressed air. The other key feature is that once you’ve set a bar size and saved the setup, you never have to open the cover again. Simply call up the program from the touch screen and the Hydrafeed will set itself on centreline automatically thanks to the servo drive bar lifter mechanism.

“This feature alone puts the Hyrdafeed Barfeeder on a different level and really does take Barfeeder productivity to a new level,” Fowler added.

Other standard features include complete servo control on all axes plus a fully automated set-up through a user friendly HMI screen.

The Hydrafeed also has the versatility to accommodate different

bar diameters and lengths including random bar lengths. Suitable for both bar or shaft feed, it also has a programmable work stop controlled by your existing foot switch. A wide variety of models are available to suit any application. The product is CE certified and comes with a comprehensive 12-month warranty.

Dimac has over 30 years experience in CNC machine tool accessories and are agents for many highly respected brands such as Kitagawa, Cooljet, Reven and Eron. The company also manufactures soft and hard jaws in their own CNC equipped machine shop.

“With its outstanding range of features and easy set-up, the Hydrafeed Barfeeder really does shut the lid on the competition,” said Fowler. “Like all the products we sell, the Hydrafeed Barfeeder has the full back up and support of Dimac technical personnel to ensure the product operates at optimum performance.”

Dimac Tooling will be exhibiting at Austech 2017, at stand 578. www.dimac.com.au

Hypertherm launches XPR300 plasma Hypertherm has released the XPR300, which it claims represents the most significant advance in plasma cutting technology ever.

The system offers unmatched cut quality on mild steel, stainless steel and aluminium, increased cut speed, dramatically improved productivity and a 50% operating cost reduction. In addition, new ease-of-use features and engineered system optimisation make the XPR300 easier to run with minimal operator intervention, while also ensuring optimal performance and reliability. These advances are due to an array of new process technologies, which Hypertherm calls X-Definition cutting. Key processes include:

• Cool Nozzle – Patent pending feature on the 300-amp oxygen process in which liquid cooling is sent directly to the nozzle bore, increasing cut quality over the life of the consumables by more than 40%.

• HyFlow Vortex or Vented Nozzle Technology – A unique two-piece vented nozzle design that aligns and focuses the plasma arc for increased stability and energy density resulting in cleaner, sharper, more consistent edge quality on steel and aluminium.

Another innovative feature, Arc Response Technology, senses what is happening with the plasma arc and automatically intervenes to reduce the impact of an electrode blow-out and possible torch failure. This feature can sense when the arc is about to terminate in an uncontrolled manner. The XPR300 power supply senses when a ramp-down error is about to occur and rapidly terminates the arc in a controlled manner, for a three-fold increase in realised consumable life. The XPR300 includes WiFi capability built into the power supply.

Owners and operators can use this feature to monitor the system and even perform process set-up tasks from a phone, tablet, or other portable device. The WiFi can also connect to a LAN for users who want to monitor multiple systems at once.

• Vented Water Injection (VWI) – Patent pending process featuring a vented N2 plasma gas and H2O shield gas for less angularity and squarer cut edges on stainless steel and especially aluminium.

• Vent-to-Shield – Patent-pending technology in which hydrogen from the vented plasma gas is reclaimed and mixed with the shield gas, reducing angularity and delivering more consistent edge colour on stainless steel up to 12mm.

• Plasma Dampening – A chamber in the nozzle absorbs pressure and flow fluctuations that create arc instability during cutting with lower-current, constricted arcs required for thin stainless applications. This eliminates wavy and irregular cut surfaces.

AMT Apr/May 2017

• Advanced Arc Stability – Technology that modifies impingement of shield gas for improved arc stability when coming out of a pierce hole or an acute angle for reduced lead-in lengths and improved cut quality.

In addition to automatic system monitoring, the XPR contains a number of other features, including a patent-pending QuickLock electrode, in which the electrode is tightened and loosened in a quarter-turn, an EasyConnect tool-less connection to the torch connect console, and a torch design that enables one-handed torch change-outs. www.hypertherm.com

CoroTurn® Prime and PrimeTurning™

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This is not just a new tool, it’s a totally new way of doing turning.

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product news

FARO Vantage – Next-gen laser trackers

FARO has announced the release of a next generation of laser trackers. The new FARO Vantage product family sets a new price/performance standard for addressing challenges in large-scale metrology, including assembly alignment, part and assembly inspection, machine installation and alignment, and reverse engineering.

The FARO Vantage product family consists of two high performance models, the VantageE with an operating range of 25m and the VantageS with an operating range of 80m. Both compact models offer industry-leading portability with an integrated master control unit (MCU), hot swappable batteries that eliminate the need for AC power and cabling, and industrial-grade WiFi for reliable, wireless communications. These advanced features, along with a single carrying case, enable easy transport between locations by a single user.

The new FARO Vantage Laser Tracker platform is the first that utilises FARO RemoteControls (patentpending) for advanced control of the system using a mobile phone or tablet. The mobile device not only controls the tracker’s movements but also delivers enhanced functionality such as live video feed from targeting cameras, so a single operator can now easily control the tracker from anywhere in the measurement area. Also included are innovative workflow management features such as remote accuracy checks and programmable remote warmup so the user can turn the device on in advance and make it ready for immediate operation.

FARO RemoteControls also includes next-generation functionality where the laser beam can be automatically

Mapal – Efficient milling of pockets

Time-consuming ramping processes or pilot bores are frequently necessary when milling pockets. To save these machining steps, Mapal has developed the new solid carbide OptiMill-Uni-HPC-Pocket milling cutter for the highly efficient universal machining of steel, stainless steel and cast iron.

The milling cutter has a unique face geometry with an integrated drill tip. This geometry makes the milling cutter very suitable for angled entry at up to 45 degrees, for helix milling and even for grooving. The specially developed point thinning together with three large chip flutes guarantee an optimum discharge of chips.

Chip congestion is practically ruled out. The special cutting edge preparation in conjunction with a wear-resistant coating and ductile carbide substrate also ensure long tool lives.

With the new OptiMill-Uni-HPC-Pocket, the pilot bore and hence tool changing can be eliminated during the machining of pockets.

Closed contours are thus reliably machined with just one tool, and that with feed rate possibilities (ap) of up to 2xD. The OptiMillUni-HPC-Pocket in the designs “long” and “overlong” with cylindrical shank form HB is available in the diameter range 5.7 to 20mm. www.mapal.com

re-established with a simple set of gestures, indoors or outdoors.

This dramatically improves efficiency and productivity by eliminating the challenge of a broken laser beam and the need to manually reacquire the target. Finally, FARO RemoteControls significantly reduces user training by dramatically increasing the ease of use for the operator.

Both FARO VantageS and FARO VantageE fully support FARO’s patented Super 6DoF (Degrees of Freedom) TrackArm solution, which enables a Vantage Tracker and a FARO ScanArm, or multiple ScanArms, to work together to create an integrated 3D measurement solution across a single coordinate system. Super 6DoF completely eliminates line-of sight challenges and significantly expands measurement range while maintaining superior accuracy with two instrumentsin-one operation.

“The new FARO Vantage Laser Tracker product line is proven effective for the most environmentally challenging applications,” stated Simon Raa, FARO’s President and CEO. “It is tested to rigorous International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards for shock and vibration, tested for extreme thermal conditions and is IP52 rated for dust and water resistance.” www.faro.com/sg

2017 Manufacturing Safety Guide out now

Pro-Visual Publishing, in partnership with the Ai Group, has released the latest edition of the Metal Manufacturing Industry Guide to Safety, this year with interactive augmented reality capabilities.

Safe Work Australia has reported on some of the most common hazards faced in metal manufacturing factories or workshops.

These include falling from heights, being run over by a forklift, having something fall on workers (for example from cranes or hoists), electrocution, and hands or body parts being caught in machinery.

This year’s Guide is designed to increase safety awareness and compliance within the metal manufacturing industry and address some of the most common hazards faced by workers on a daily basis. The Guide covers a range of topics, including: • Manual handling of heavy and light loads, and transporting these loads.

• Machine-guarding safety.

• Workplace traffic management.

• Hierarchy of controls.

The augmented reality aspect of the Guide creates a space for users to experience and access further information by using the Pro-Vis AR free app. Content and information become interactive and much more engaging, promoting safety as a priority and not something to take lightly. www.provisual.com.au/metal

AMT Apr/May 2017

Product Heading news

SLM 280 2.0 – Flexible, safe and efficient The SLM 280 2.0 selective laser melting machine provides patented multi-beam technology as well as a build envelope of 280 x 280 x 365 cubic millimetres.

During the build process, up to two fibre lasers expose the build field via a 3D scan optic. The SLM 280 2.0 is available in several configurations, providing single optics (1x 400W or 1x 700W), dual optics (1x 700W and 1x 1000W), and twin optics (2x 400W or 2x 700W). Depending on how the components are arranged, a 80% higher build rate can be achieved. In addition, the patented bidirectional powder coating helps to reduce the manufacturing time of individually manufactured metal build parts. Thus, the SLM 280 2.0 enables the manufacture of individual metal components based on CAD data for series production and one-off production with individual parameters.

The use of a large powder tank (40 litres) with two bottles (each 5 litres) enables the execution of a complete production process in full height with a 1.6-way overdose. The size of the overflows has also been modified accordingly. To enable simple handling, the powder bottles of the overflows are easily accessible from outside.

The complete process is carried out in an inert gas atmosphere.

With efficient inert gas circulation, reduced gas consumption is achieved in a secure and efficient operation. A new inert gas flow is used for optimum process conditions, whereby an efficient removal of flue gas from the process chamber is achieved. In addition to the attainment of constant conditions on the work surface, the beam entry glasses are also effectively protected from contamination.

There is room for cleaning equipment in a compartment in the left side wall of the process chamber so that the build parts can be cleaned of powder while still in an inert gas atmosphere.

Reliable software enables production-ready data formatting for optimised build processes and individual applications. The open system offers many options for optimisation with individually set process parameters and when carrying out material development.

An extensive monitoring system that has been developed specifically for the SLM process enables a high level of process control and, as a result, a high level of quality for the build parts.

Raymax Applications is the Australian distributor for SLM Solutions. According to John Grace, Managing Director of Raymax, the improvements to the selective laser melting systems from SLM are not just technical improvements but are in response to customer requests from the wide base of installations. He added that, SLM is offering upgrades on the already installed base of SLM 280 machines.

“A filter upgrade is available for current SLM 280 machines equipped with a filter switch unit,” he said. “Additionally, an upgrade that improves gas flow inside the process chamber can be retrofitted in machines built in 2014 or later.” www.raymax.com.au

Big on… CHOICE, QUALITY & VALUE Dealing with 600MachineTools means you aren't limited to a single brand, style or build of the machine tool you are looking for. We are focussed on meeting your needs, so have assembled the best selection of quality brands that meet the requirements of today's fast paced industrial economy.

From CNC machining centres and lathes, mills, bandsaws, drilling machines, chucks and lasers we also have the experience and credibility to assist you in selection and support over the lifetime of your purchase!

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AMT Apr/May 2017

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NLX 2500 | 700 u niv er s a l t u r n in g m a Ch i ne s

The NLX series – Universal turning at the highest level.

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BMT® turret (built-in motor turret) rated at 10,000 rpm for milling, similar to machining centres

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Austech Preview

AMT Apr/May 2017

Austech Heading Preview

AUSTECH 2017 The BIG Show, only in Melbourne.

Melbourne will be the place to be in May for anyone with an interest in manufacturing, as Austech – Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition – returns.

Australian manufacturing is enjoying its most positive outlook in years. The Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index has shown a trend of almost consistent growth since the last Austech two years ago, while signs of optimism abound throughout the industry. And this renewed confidence has been clear to see as preparations for Austech 2017 have advanced. The early interest from exhibitors, as well as the enthusiasm expressed by people planning to visit the show, have provided a vivid illustration of an energy and eagerness across the industry to invest and build for the future.

“We’ve definitely seen a big surge in confidence this time round,” says AMTIL Event Manager and Austech organiser Kim Banks.

“Bookings have been coming in a lot earlier than usual, to the point where we’re well on our way to filling the venue way ahead of schedule. What’s also very exciting is the number of exhibitors who are coming back to the show after not participating for the last few years. It’s all looking very exciting.”

Held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 9-12 May, Austech 2017 will be a must-attend event for manufacturing professionals from around Australia. More than 10,000 industrial decision makers are expected to visit the show, taking the opportunity to see the latest technology up close and find out what it can do to enhance their businesses. Austech will be co-located with National Manufacturing Week (NMW) and the Safety First Expo.

Two years ago, Austech 2015 was the first time the exhibition was held since the decision to shift from an annual show to a biennial event. While the move to a two-year schedule attracted a certain amount of criticism in some quarters, the 2015 show vindicated the decision, attracting the strongest attendance in years and great feedback from exhibitors and visitors alike.

“It wasn’t a decision we took lightly,” explains Shane Infanti, AMTIL CEO and Austech Exhibition Director. “But it was something our members were demanding. And in the end, Austech 2015 was a great success, not just in terms of the numbers, but in terms of the excitement you could feel throughout the venue that week. And all the signs are that this year’s show is going to do even better.”

Among the highlights of this year’s show will be the Digitalisation Pavilion, a brand new area that will explore developments at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology today. Manufacturing is on the cusp of a wave of radical change – often described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 – where advances in robotics & automation, the Internet of Things, big data and Cloud computing, and more, will usher in the smart factory of the future.

The Digitalisation Pavilion is where visitors can learn what this will mean for them and their business, and what opportunities it will create. It will also be the venue for a comprehensive four-day speaker program.

“The Digitalisation Pavilion is going to be a really exciting new addition to the show,” says Infanti. “You hear more and more talk about things like Industry 4.0 these days, but a lot of people struggle to understand what it all actually means. Well now they can get all their questions answered by the experts, right here at Austech.”

Making its return will be the Manufacturers Pavilion – first held as part of Austech 2013 – a specially dedicated area showcasing the capabilities of Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry. As well as featuring a diverse array of Australian component manufacturers, precision engineering firms, toolmakers, advanced manufacturers and general engineering companies, it will feature major exhibits from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including the Hawkei protected mobility vehicle from Thales, and a prime mover from Paccar. The Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, again held in collaboration with Inside 3D Printing, will also be back, featuring the latest advances in this fastevolving new field of manufacturing.

In total, more than 120 organisations will be exhibiting at Austech, with numerous key industry players and major machine tool companies gearing up to have a presence at the show. All areas of manufacturing are covered, including tooling, workholding, software and systems integration. With all the world’s leading machine tool builders under one roof, Austech 2017 promises to be an unmissable event.

“This is the Big Show – and it only happens every two years,” says Banks. “So mark your diaries and join us in Melbourne.” www.amtil.com.au/austech

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Austech 2017 Preview

Get Connected – Headland Machinery and Industry 4.0 Headland Machinery is committed to helping manufacturers access innovative, world-class machine tools through improved efficiencies, expanded capabilities and the latest technologies.

Headland is an Australian-owned and -operated, multi-generation family company, with a strong history of supplying machinery to the manufacturing industry. For more than 60 years, Headland has been associated with some of the world’s most reputable machinery brands. The theme for the Headland stand has been inspired by Industry 4.0 – or what’s been coined as the fourth Industrial Revolution – so the company has issued an invitation to come and Get Connected with Headland Machinery.

With increased use of internet- or cloud-based platforms, the manufacturing world is rapidly changing. Production in an Industry 4.0 marketplace is where machines offer their services and exchange information with products in real-time. Manufacturers can now digitally connect to their own production line, machinery and supply chain. Cloud technology is a critical enabler of the next Industrial Revolution, by providing the means for businesses to innovate around these technologies.

Annaliese Kloe, joint Managing Director of Headland Machinery, explains: “Industry 4.0 is being spoken about everywhere as it will widely change the approach to the way that manufacturers work.

It’s clear that the future is becoming increasingly digital, so it is vital to get on board.”

for technical innovations in all of its fields of operation, while the CNC lathes are hand-built for unequalled quality and reliability. Hanel is known for its dynamic automated vertical storage, and the Maxiem waterjet is second to none in regard to its accuracy, precision and speed. We’re really looking forward to demonstrating our machines and discussing how to incorporate the latest technologies into the manufacturing industry.”

Headland will be showcasing a variety of machines at its stand, including the Trumpf TruBend 7036 and 3030, the Nakamura-Tome AS-200LMYS lathe, the Maxiem 1530 abrasive waterjet, and the Hanel Rotomat carousel.

There will also be live demonstrations of NetSuite at the stand, a cloud-based ERP platform. With NetSuite, manufacturers can streamline their processes with one unified solution that provides a 360-degree view of their business.

“We are really excited for Austech week as we’re looking forward to showcasing a great range of machinery, ” says Richard Kloe, joint Managing Director of Headland Machinery. “Trumpf is distinguished

Headland Machinery Stand: 555 www.headlandmachinery.com.au

Whitehall Workplace Law – Nation-wide employment law advice Whitehall Workplace Law will be available to meet with company representatives to discuss integrated, client-focussed employment law and industrial relations issues.

As an employer, an organisation needs to ensure its workforce is operating at optimum performance at all times. Employment law and industrial relations matters can be complex and often get in the way of running a successful business. Whitehall Workplace Law aims to cut through this complexity and provide practical, useable, advice on all employment law and industrial relations matters, wherever they arise across Australia.

The advice provided is relevant to the particular business and its specific operational issues.

In these challenging times, organisations may be looking to take more proactive steps regarding their employee relations management by sharing research and development and engaging with other competitor organisations on collaborative

research and testing projects. Where this involves the secondment or “loan” of employees from one organisation to another, it is important that the rights and responsibilities of both the employee and each organisation are properly recorded. These arrangements have the potential to provide extraordinary reciprocal benefits to the organisations involved, and to the employees, and to provide an overwhelming benefit to Australian advanced manufacturing generally.

Whitehall Workplace Law provides an alternative to the large commercial firms on employment law and industrial relations issues by encompassing a more integrated, client-focussed approach.

Whitehall Workplace Law Stand: W03 www.whitehallworkplacelaw.com.au

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AMT Apr/May 2017

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AMT & AMTIL Digital Media Kit 2016 Call Anne Samuelsson at AMTIL on 03 9800 3666, mobile on 0400 115 525 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au

THE EZSET PRESETTER IMPROVED OUR PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY.

Steven Robinson Machine Shop Supervisor AW Bell

Dimac Tooling, Australia and New Zealand’s leading supplier of accessories and workholding solutions, provides a range of cutting edge equipment designed to assist companies increase their efficiency and productivity.

Companies like AW Bell in Victoria that manufacture complex metal parts to customers in the Aerospace, Medical and Defence industries.

They recently invested in an EZset Tool Presetter, which in the words of Machine Shop Supervisor Steven Robinson has saved set-up time, improved accuracy, produced better quality parts whilst minimising scrap.

And like all Dimac customers, AW Bell benefitted from the support of Dimac technical personnel to ensure the product was installed correctly and operated at optimum performance.

To find out how we can boost your productivity visit www.dimac.com.au

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Austech 2017 Preview

Hi-Tech Metrology: Facing pressure on tolerances Hi-Tech Metrology will have a comprehensive range of metrology solutions on display at its stand, including a wide array of advanced portable equipment.

Parts are now more complex, and consequently, the use of modern and portable metrology has become unavoidable. Manufactured parts produced by the automotive and aerospace industries are becoming more complex. Tolerances that must meet quality control standards are now increasingly sophisticated and optimised.

Moreover, clients are asking their suppliers to ensure their own compliance control, which was previously a mere input control sample to assess a lot’s compliance. All this puts a lot of pressure on quality control teams.

Tolerances that must fulfill quality control requirements in the automotive and aerospace industries have been evolving. For example, tighter tolerances are required in the manufacturing of car bodies. Assembly quality has a direct impact on the value perceived by the customer. Therefore, major ‘traditional’ European, North American, and Japanese manufacturers use this important differentiator to stand out from ‘low-cost’ brands. It is also how generalist manufacturers can come closer to high-quality and luxury standards, and, again, stand out from ‘low-cost’ vehicles. In terms of body parts, it means controlling very complex freeform shapes.

Tighter tolerances are also demanded in the manufacturing of aircraft fuselages. Fuselage quality directly affects fuel consumption, which represents the bulk of airline companies’ operating costs.

Being as close as possible to the ideal plane geometry, with the most regular possible surfaces, will help to save a few percentage points on fuel consumption.

A further factor concerns released tolerances intended to reduce production costs. In order to not affect the final quality and perceived value, this loosening on tolerances will have to be offset by optimised and more efficient assembly processes. Until now, the approach was to have very tight tolerances to get a final product without any issues. Of course, this approach works, but it produces higher-quality products than are actually necessary.

The modern approach in the factory of the future (Industry 4.0) has a comprehensive approach to the process and the product so that each piece is produced with just the necessary and sufficient tolerances.

On the one hand, the tolerances evolve; on the other hand, the geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) takes its capital importance. For years, many actors in the modern digital world underestimated the importance of GD&T. They thought that

everything could be treated with simple best-fits and colormaps.

Now that the GD&T standards are recognised by the industry and have begun to appear on the production floor, manufacturers must adapt to this new system for defining and communicating engineering tolerances. Parts are now more complex. Tolerances are optimised and sophisticated. Dimensions are no longer the only feature that needs to be characterised. Parallelism, roundness, surface, and cutting — how the various elements of the part interact — must also be controlled. In addition, clients are now asking their suppliers to ensure their own quality control.

Consequently, the use of modern and portable metrology has become unavoidable. Having different measurement options that can be moved to the production floor can reduce the pressure on more accurate equipment, like fixed CMMs. Relying on basic validations made with simple hand tools is no longer sufficient to adapt to the GD&T standards. Manufacturers and their quality control teams need performing 3D control solutions to meet evolving tolerances and, thus, supply compliant parts to their clients.

Hi-Tech Metrology Pty Ltd Stand: 685 www.creaform-metrology.com www.hitechmetrology.com.au

Fisher Lamco - Industrial supplies for the toolmaking and engineering industry More than 80 years of specialised experience have resulted in Fisher Lamco becoming well known in the engineering industry for its supply of quality tools and industrial products.

From its beginnings as Laminated Belt & Industrial Supplies, a prominent supplier in the belting industry in the 1950s, the company had branches in Sydney and Newcastle. As well as belting, Laminated Belt & Industrial Supplies supplied manufacturing and engineering companies with a large range of tooling and machine tools. With the amalgamation of DW Fisher Pty Ltd and Laminated Belt & Industrial Supplies Pty Ltd in 1980, the company now known as Fisher Lamco was born.

Over the years a change in direction saw the belting sector of the company overtaken by the supply of metalworking tools and industrial supplies to cater for the toolmaking and engineering

AMT Apr/May 2017

industry. As a specialist in springs, shim, key steel, cutting tools and work-holding products, Fisher Lamco is proud to carry an extensive range of Century Springs, Mak-a-key, Shop Aid and Dormer products. The company is also the Australian agent for Rohm.

Come and visit the stand to view the company’s ever-expanding range of chucks and workholding equipment. With more than eight decades of experience in the industry, the Fisher Lamco team is a group of dedicated people ready to help you with all of your engineering problems.

Fisher Lamco Stand: 519 www.fisherlamco.com.au

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Austech 2017 Preview

Manufacturers’ Pavilion – Bigger and better The Manufacturers’ Pavilion will again provide a unique showcase for the very best Australian manufacturing has to offer – and at Austech 2017 it’ll be the biggest yet.

Making its first appearance in Austech 2013, the Manufacturers’ Pavilion is a specially dedicated area created to shine a light on Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry. This year more than 20 manufacturing businesses have signed up to exhibit within the Pavilion, comfortably surpassing last year’s numbers.

“We’ve put a lot of work in over the last few years aimed at making the Manufacturers’ Pavilion an integral part of Austech, and this year that effort seems to be really starting to pay off,” explains AMTIL’s CEO and Exhibition Director Shane Infanti. “It’s not just the numbers of companies that are taking part, or the speed with which they signed up when space first became available. It’s also just the sheer sense of excitement that comes across when you talk to these companies.”

The Manufacturers’ Pavilion showcases the capabilities of Australian component manufacturers, precision engineering firms, toolmakers, advanced manufacturers and general engineering companies the opportunity to exhibit their unique capabilities to an expected audience of more than 10,000 visitors. The Pavilion will help exhibiting companies to promote their capabilities and connect with potential clients, partners, and other organisations such as government, research and training bodies.

“Above all, the aim is to help manufacturers integrate into supply chains,” says Infanti. “At AMTIL we believe that’s vital for Australian manufacturing to move forward, and with the Manufacturers’ Pavilion we’re trying to achieve that. Providing manufacturers in this country with the opportunity to promote the capabilities and capacity they can offer is vital in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace.”

Renishaw – A partner in improving performance Renishaw is a global company with core skills in measurement, motion control, spectroscopy and precision machining.

Renishaw develops innovative products that significantly advance its customers’ operational performance – from improving efficiency and quality, to maximising research capabilities and enhancing the efficacy of medical procedures.

The company’s products are used for applications as diverse as machine tool automation, coordinate measurement, additive manufacturing, gauging, Raman spectroscopy, machine calibration, position feedback, CAD/CAM dentistry, shape memory alloys, large-scale surveying, stereotactic neurosurgery, and medical diagnostics.

In all these areas Renishaw aims to be a long-term partner, offering superior products that meet customers’ needs today and into the future, backed by responsive, expert technical and commercial support.

Renishaw Oceania Pty Ltd Stand 800 www.renishaw.com

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As well as a diverse array of Australian manufacturing SMEs on display, the Manufacturers’ Pavilion will also look to the other end of the scale, with major exhibits from Primes and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Exhibits already confirmed include the Hawkei protected mobility vehicle from Thales, and a prime mover from trucks giant Paccar, with more expected to be added to the line-up as the show draws near.

“I think above all, the Manufacturers’ Pavilion is a showcase for our industry as a whole,” says Infanti. “I think when you’ve got something like the Hawkei or a Paccar truck, and then you’ve got all these companies that in those sorts of supply chains, it just shows how much we’ve got going on in this country. I think this year’s Pavilion is really going to show how strong Australian manufacturing today really is.” www.amtil.com.au/Austech-Exhibition/Manufacturers-Pavilion

Balluff – Enabling Industry 4.0 Balluff is a dedicated partner for industrial automation offering more than 60 years of experience in sensor technology.

The family-owned company offers its customers comprehensive sensor and system solutions from a single source – from electronic and mechanical sensors, rotary and linear transducers and identification systems, all the way through to high-performance network and connection technology.

Balluff will be showing automation products that are a key enabler to Industry 4.0 projects. Networking systems showing the true visibility of production cycle information and the ability to facilitate rapid changeover times will be demonstrated, along with their unique Profisafe over IO-Link technology. As a market leader in Machine Tool ID, Balluff will also be showing their new Easy Tool ID concept for fast integration of Tool ID. Balluff Pty Ltd Stand 727 www.balluff.com

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Kaeser Compressors: Are you Industry 4.0-ready?

Delivering tomorrow’s technology today, Kaeser Compressors Australia will be presenting a range of compressed air technology ready for Industry 4.0 at Austech 2017.

Kaeser will be exhibiting as part of the Digitalisation Pavilion, where visitors will be able to learn more about the future-oriented benefits of its Industry 4.0-ready compressed air technology. Industry 4.0 - or the fourth industrial revolution - presents a new era of manufacturing led by a number of cyber-physical systems. As a leader in the engineering of compressed air technology, Kaeser’s products and services are not only designed to deliver the most reliable, efficient and cost-effective compressed air supply possible, but they are also fully ready to take advantage of the future-oriented benefits that Industry 4.0 has to offer.

In the ultra-flexible Industry 4.0 production environment, intelligently networked compressed air systems provide the optimal compressed air power and quality required. Moreover, potential issues within the compressed air network are identified at a very early stage so that appropriate service measures can be taken before a fault even occurs.

Visitors to stand D26 will be able to experience a number of Kaeser 4.0 products and services that can seamlessly be incorporated into a production or energy management system. This includes the Sigma Air Manager 4.0 (SAM 4.0). A key technology in the advanced world of Industry 4.0, SAM 4.0 is a cutting-edge compressed air controller and the central mastermind that controls the entire compressed air supply system. Via the Internet of Things (IoT), the SAM 4.0 is responsible for data streaming to a centralised application in real time, via the powerful Ethernet-based Sigma Network. Here the parameters are analysed, processed, supplemented with expert knowledge and output to various mobile end devices. Monitoring key operating parameters ensures that compressed air system efficiency can be kept in the optimum range at all times, and thanks real-time transmission and evaluation, data is always as up to date as possible.

From 2.2 to 500 kW, Kaeser Compressors manufactures a wide range of compressors and associated auxiliary equipment that meet the varying requirements of a diverse range of industries and applications. One of the world’s largest manufacturers of rotary screw compressors, Kaeser Compressors is represented globally in over 100 countries through a dedicated network of branches, subsidiary companies and authorised partners. Kaeser Compressors provides comprehensive sales and service from its purpose built factory in Dandenong, Victoria, alongside an extensive network of sales and service centres and authorised partners that cover Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.

A key advantage of Kaeser 4.0 compressed air technology is the unprecedented efficiencies that can be achieved. Kaeser will be speaking on this topic – ‘Air Compressor Technology And Energy Efficiency’ - at the Digitalisation Pavilion Theatre at Austech, 11 am on 11 May. Kaeser Compressors Australia Pty Ltd Stand: D26 www.kaeser.com.au

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Amada Oceania – Innovative, productivity-enhancing sheet metal machinery At Austech 2017, Amada Oceania will be showcasing the HG1003ATC press brake and the LCG3015AJ fibre laser cutting machine.

Amada has provided Australian industry with a steady stream of innovative, productivity-enhancing sheet metal machinery since 1998. Its product range includes sheet-metal working machinery, tooling, software and wide spectrum of high level automation.

Among the highlights on the Amada stand, the HG1003ATC is a hybrid-drive press brake that features a fully automated tool changer, while the LCG3015AJ is a global-standard fibre laser cutting machine that utilises a solid state fibre laser engine, developed by Amada in-house.

The HG ATC series press brake is a high-end bending solution, designed to be versatile and fulfil the requirements of an everchanging production environment. Its hybrid drive, rigid frame and automated tool changer provide a solid foundation to expand the processing range of businesses and cope with all future bending applications. In addition to high-speed and high-precision bending, the HG ATC series delivers significant energy savings and an improved user interface, utilising an 18.5-inch AMNC-3i touch screen controller.

The LCG-AJ-series direct-drive fibre laser cutting machine delivers higher speed and faster acceleration processing by utilising a carriage with a lower centre of gravity and the latest motion system incorporating high torque motors and helical rack drives. Combined with an Amada-designed oscillator, the LCG-AJ fibre laser cutting machine enhances processing speeds and productivity along with the ability to process highly reflective, exotic materials with ease. Available in 2kW, 4kW and 6kW, the LCG AJ series uses approximately one-third of the electricity required by a CO2 laser system of equivalent wattage. It is also three times more efficient

with the electricity it does utilise, reducing costs and providing a more environmentally-friendly laser system.

The LCG AJ Series does not require laser gas, mirrors, or any other items typically associated with generating a CO2 laser beam. A single fibre optic delivery cable eliminates the need for additional external mirrors. The result is significantly less operating costs and maintenance. Additionally, the LCG AJ series can be fully automated with a variety of material handling options designed and manufactured by Amada.

Amada Oceania Stands: 700 & 730 www.amada.com.au

Digitalisation – Inside the factory of the future Making its debut at this year’s Austech, the Digitalisation Pavilion is a brand new dedicated area that will explore the latest developments at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology today.

Manufacturing is entering a new era of rapid, drastic change. Often described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it will see advances in areas such as robotics & automation, the interconnectivity of devices, big data and Cloud computing, that together will usher in the smart, connected factory of the future.

“We’re constantly hearing about stuff like Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and so on, but a lot of people are still in the dark about what it all means,” says AMTIL’s CEO and Exhibition Director Shane Infanti. “That’s why we decided to introduce the Digitalisation Pavilion at Austech this year. We felt a show like Austech is a great opportunity to bring together some of the key players and the latest technology in this field, so that people can come along and find out about it first-hand.”

At the Digitalisation Pavilion visitors will have the chance to learn about the implications of these developments for their businesses, and discuss how they can capitalise on the opportunities this new technology will create. Exhibitors will encompass a broad spectrum of different product categories, such as robotics and automation from the likes of ABB and KUKA, and process control systems from Festo, Sick and Balluff.

The Digitalisation Pavilion will also be the venue for a comprehensive

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speaker program, where exhibitors will be staging presentations on a range of subjects. Among the companies participating in the speaker program will be Kaeser Compressors, who will be giving a talk exploring air compressor technology and energy efficiency.

“The digitalisation of industry has been advancing for quite some time,” says Peter Eckberg, Managing Director of Kaeser Compressors Australia. “In the ultra-flexible Industry 4.0 production environment, intelligently networked compressed air systems provide the optimal compressed air power and quality required. Moreover, potential issues within the compressed air network are identified at a very early stage so that appropriate service measures can be taken before a fault even occurs.”

The pace of technological change today continues to get faster and faster, and amid ever-growing competition, it is vital to not get left behind. That’s why the Digitalisation Pavilion is a must-see for anyone visiting Austech 2017.

“We know there is significant interest from our members and the industry in general to better understand what this technology and knowledge will bring,” adds Infanti. “We think this is a great opportunity to showcase the latest technology in this space.”

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TXM – Lean solutions TXM specialises in assisting advanced manufacturers to improve their performance through Lean manufacturing.

“TXM has featured at Austech for over seven years,” says Tim McLean, Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions. “The relationships we have built at the show over this time have helped us build a great understanding of metalworking and machine tool manufacture, which remains one of our core business sectors.”

This year TXM has taken a larger stand, reflecting the company’s growing national and global presence. The stand will also provide an opportunity to highlight TXM’s business networking venture, Best Practice Network. Leading advanced technology companies such as ANCA, Form 2000 Sheetmetal, Refuel Engineering, Hawker Pacific, Leica Biosystems and Toyota are already benefitting from the unique learning and networking opportunities provided by Best Practice Network.

McLean says that he is looking forward to exhibiting amongst innovative industries and being part of a trade show that demonstrates the latest developments in the manufacturing and machine tool sector. He hopes to contribute TXM’s considerable manufacturing experience to assisting advanced manufacturers to improve their operational performance through the application of Lean Manufacturing.

TXM is Australia’s leading Lean consultant with offices around Australia and globally. Apart from working with iconic global and Australian companies, TXM has assisted many small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) to reduce lead time, increase productivity, reduce waste, improve customer service, increase flexibility and reorganise their factory layouts.

“TXM’s unique approach with SMEs has been particularly effective in the advanced manufacturing sector, where we have been able to increase productivity by over 25% and reduce lead time by more than 50% in businesses we have worked with,” adds McLean.

“Most importantly, TXM is very proud to have helped unleash the potential of these businesses enabling them to innovate and grow.”

Visitors to the TXM stand can be among the first to obtain Tim Mclean’s new book On Time-In Full – Achieving Perfect Delivery with Lean Thinking in Purchasing, Supply Chain and Production Planning. McLean’s earlier popular publication, “Grow Your Factory, Grow Your Profits: Lean for Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises” will also feature on the TXM Stand.

TXM Stand: 503 www.txm.com.au

MTI Qualos – Comprehensive range on display

Hare & Forbes – Serving all machinery needs

MTI Qualos’ vision is to seek new ways to improve manufacturing methods and practices for the benefit of its customers. This will be reflected in the extensive range of products it will be showcasing at Austech.

Hare & Forbes Machinery House has been supplying new and used workshop and engineering equipment since 1930.

Central to its display will be the very latest equipment from Mitutoyo, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of measuring technology such as calibration equipment & instruments , calipers, measuring machines, gauges and indicators. MTI Qualos has held the Australian distribution licence for Mitutoyo since 1960s.

Also on display will be a wide array of machine tools and accessories, including Quick knurling tools, coolant hoses and measuring equipment from KWB, Baitella flexible arms, Ifanger form relieved cutting tools, Ducourret precision levels, Kroeplin gauges, and MTI granite surface plates.

Kasto sawing machines and Bison lathe chucks and precision vices round out the line-up to make this year’s showcase the most comprehensive ever to be assembled by MTI Qualos.

MTI Qualos Pty Ltd Stand No: 624 www.mtiqualos.com.au

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The company’s foundation principles have not changed to this date - to offer one of Australia’s most extensive ranges of workshop machinery and machine tool accessories, at the best possible price. Currently it is one of the largest stockists and suppliers of machine tools, sheet metal and fabrication equipment in Australia.

It serves all machinery needs throughout the country.

Hare & Forbes is the Australian agent for more than 30 brands, from countries including China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. With a head office and warehouse located in Sydney, and supply branches in all major capitals, Hare & Forbes stocks a comprehensive range of CNC & conventional machinery, sheet metal and fabrication equipment, tooling and accessories, wood working machinery and spare parts.

Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse Stand No: 536, 558 & 560 www.machineryhouse.com.au

Austech 2017 Preview

John Hart - Advanced manufacturing technologies For more than seven decades John Hart has been providing Australian industry with the world’s most innovative and advanced manufacturing technologies.

The technologies John Hart has made available include CNC machine tools, automation and robotics, CNC lasers, CAD/CAM software and chip management products, from leading brands including Mazak, Fanuc, Citizen, Klingelnberg, Zoller, SMW Autoblok, , hyperMILL, Vericut, MazaCAM, Command and Siebec.

At this year’s Austech, John Hart will be demonstrating: • CellPro machine tending system featuring a Fanuc M-20iA/35M robot.

• Mazak Integrex i-200S multi-tasking machine.

• Mazak Variaxis i-700 five-axis vertical machine centre.

• Mazak Quick Turn 300MY CNC multi-function lathe.

• Mazak VCN530C vertical machining centre.

• hyperMILL, Vericut and MazaCAM software.

John Hart will be proudly showcasing the latest and most advanced CellPro machine tending system at Austech 2017. The brand new CellPro features a completely new look system controller and core functionality, with the machine loading process now created by simply using the touch screen to drag and drop process modules to build a program. This is achieved by using the CellPro Process Builder, which allows even unskilled operators to quickly and efficiently create or change a production sequence.

CellPro is a pre-engineered and modular robotic machine tending solution for Mazak CNC machine tools that features a state-of-theart user interface that requires no robot programming knowledge and is specifically designed to be intuitive for the Mazak machine user. CellPro is not just seriously easy to use, it is also amazingly flexible. It is not limited by work-piece size and weight, and can be set up to tend one or more Mazak machines. CellPro is the only machine tending system that can match exact manufacturing requirements and therefore offer true unmanned operation.

John Hart Stand:650 www.johnhart.com.au

Raymax showcases SLM Solutions laser configurations Raymax Applications is the Australian distributor for SLM Solutions. At Austech, SLM Solutions and their representatives will be on hand to talk about the wide range of techniques available for building 3D printed objects.

SLM Solutions’ extensive experience and technical know-how help drive innovative product development. SLM Solutions offers a range of laser configurations with the SLM125, SLM500 and the newly released SLM280 v2.0, which all build 3D-printed lightweight objects from the finest metal powders. The selective laser melting process produces homogenous metal objects directly from 3D CAD data by selectively melting fine layers of metal powder with a laser beam.

Used for series production or a oneoff product with individual parameters, examples from industry include medical implants, tools and tooling components, hydraulic valve blocks, titanium door brackets for aviation, automotive parts, parts for maritime products and even dental applications. Secondary applications are the

production of moulds or castings offering conformal cooling for injection moulding, used in the mass production of parts. Another example for engineers is in combining two manufacturing processes – forging and selective laser melting that lead to an efficiently manufactured new product.

SLM Solutions has opened the door to innovation across a wide range of industries. By providing intensive training and support, supplying specialised metal powders and access to sites to trial and test your innovation, finding the solution that meets your needs is possible.

SLM Solutions Group Stand: 740 www.raymax.com.au

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Latest range of electric tube & pipe-bending machines With an in-house tooling manufacturing facility, Delahenty Machinery is able to quote, supply and test tooling faster than anyone in the Australian market, giving its customers the edge over imported products.

For the first time at Austech, Delahenty will be demonstrating its latest range of allelectric tube and pipe bending machines from Mackma. Manufactured in Italy to an extremely high standard, the all-electric bending machines set the benchmark for green manufacturing technology in the industry – reducing running costs, noise pollution and environmental waste.

The Mackma machine range is one of the largest in the world ranging from 12mm diameter up to a massive 324mm diameter and able to bend round, square, rectangle, oval and aluminium sections – to name just a few. The machines incorporate numerous improvements in mechanical design, invertor technology and control software. Among them are a more robust aluminium frame, leftor right-hand bend direction and a cantilever machine profile for clearing complex bend shapes. The latest bend head inverter drive gives the machine increased bend accuracy and bend speed while reducing noise and running costs.

The state-of-the-art PLC control enables the operator to easily control left- or right-hand bending up to 180 degrees, save bending

programs, incorporate spring back per bend, and monitor bend position in real time. The machine is also capable of increasing the bend angle of already bent parts for oneoff and prototype designs. Its quick-release tooling is extremely fast to change, and the machine has the ability to adapt to other tooling designs. It can also be fitted with follower slide unit for thinner wall application, setting it apart from other manufacturers.

Delahenty will also be releasing for the first time its Australian-made C-Frame HydroPneumatic presses, ranging from three to seven tons capacity, for applications such as assembling, riveting, hole punching, cropping, swaging, crimping, marking, numbering, deforming, stamping and dismantling. The presses can be used as a standalone unit or fitting to its automatic CNC feeding system.

Because it is Australian-made, it can be tailor-made to suit customers’ specific requirements.

With over 50 years of experience, come and talk to Delahenty about your forming and cutting requirements Delahenty Machinery Stand: 738 www.delahenty.com.au

Additive manufacturing in the spotlight The boom in interest in additive manufacturing and 3D printing is showing no sign of slowing down, and Austech 2017 visitors will get a chance to see this exciting new technology up close in the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion.

With additive manufacturing continuing to revolutionise every sector of the manufacturing industry, Austech has consistently provided a showcase for the technology as it has developed over the years, to the point where the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion has now become an unmissable part of the show. At Austech 2017, the focus on additive manufacturing is more comprehensive than ever.

Confirmed speakers for the Inside 3D Printing conference include:

The Additive Manufacturing Pavilion will feature demonstrations of the latest 3D printers and services from a range of companies and organisations that are leading the field of additive manufacturing.

Exhibitors in the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion include:

• Stefan Ritt – VP-Head of global marketing and communications, SLM Solutions.

• • • • • • •

3D Printing Systems • Amaero Engineering Bilby 3D Pty Ltd • evok3d ExOne • Imaginables Pty Ltd Konica Minolta • Objective 3D Pty Ltd Raise 3D • RMIT University Scan-xpress • Thinglab Rapid Advanced Manufacturing Australia

This year, Austech is once again proud to be teaming up with Inside 3D Printing to co-host the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion. Inside 3D Printing will also be hosting an impressive two-day conference focused entirely on additive manufacturing.

Conference attendees will get the opportunity to explore the business applications of additive manufacturing through conference sessions led by industry experts, demonstrations of the latest 3D printers and services, and programming for designers, professionals, and makers.

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• Paul D’Urso – Neurosurgeon & Founder, Anatomics.

• Ian Gibson – Professor of Industrial Design, Deakin University.

• Kae Woei Lim – Creative Director, Imaginables.

• April Staines – Co-Founder, Girl Geek Academy.

• Ross Stevens – Senior Lecturer - Industrial Design, Victoria University of Wellington.

• Garrison Zong – Chairman and CEO, 3DP Technology Inc. The Inside 3D Printing Conference will take place 9-10 May, with the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion open throughout the duration of Austech, from 9-12 May. To register for the Inside 3D Printing Conference, please visit: www.Inside3DPrinting.com/melbourne

Austech 2017 Preview

SWI Engineering – Worldleading sheet metal slitting & folding technology An impressive range of slitting and folding equipment will be on display at SWI Engineering’s Austech stand, as well as integrated machinery software Australia’s SWI Engineering is a world leader in sheet metal slitting and folding technology – specifically for roofing manufacturers and sheet metal fabricators. In Australia and New Zealand, corporations using SWI equipment include Kingspan, Stratco, Stramit, Metroll, Metalcraft, Calder Stewart, Lysaght, Roofing Industries, Dimond, Steeline and Freeman Roofing, as well as hundreds of other roofing leaders. All SWI equipment is 100%-manufactured by SWI at their high-tech facility in Warrnambool, Victoria.

SWI’s line up of equipment include duplex long folders, simplex long folders and ‘Marxman’ slitters, as well as integrated machinery software capable of taking orders directly from construction site to the production floor. Flashing and trim manufacture is automated by SWI’s database software that links all the machines to customers’ ERP software, such as MYOB, Oracle, Arrow, SAP and many other business accounting packages. This eliminates duplication of data, greatly reduces data entry at the machines, and provides a simple framework for growth.

The highly automated Marxman Triplex slitter is the only slitting and blanking line in the world that includes the convenience of intermediate part-cut technology as well as automatic labelling, coil consumption tracking, and barcode-linking to downstream folders, which can all be linked directly to the customer’s ERP system.

Production statistics show the Triplex consistently produces 200 parts per hour of operation – all cut to size, labelled and ready for folding.

The all-new Marxman Plus has proven an exciting addition to the SWI line up. Released in 2016, it has already become the most popular selling Marxman model. All SWI’s Marxman slitting lines are designed to allow a full set of slitter blades to be changed in less than 15 minutes.

The SWI Duplex Folder is the only folder on the international market with independently certified CE safety certification provided by TUV Nord trained machine safety experts. The autonomous safety systems incorporated into the SWI Duplex Folder prompt the machine to automatically slow from its high speed when operators approach the danger zone. While other makes are becoming faster and more dangerous, SWI has developed a sustainable, safe compromise that allows high-speed operation with firstclass, certified operator protection. The SWI Duplex is regarded as a market leader in the USA, for safety, ease of use and reliable operation. SWI equipment is sold extensively throughout North America by Roper Whitney.

SWI Engineering Stand: 705 www.swiengineering.com.au

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Bolts & Industrial Supplies – One-stop-shop for industrial and engineering supplies Specialising in the engineering industry, the work ethic at Bolts & Industrial Supplies is simple – to provide clients with exceptional service and technical support, prompt delivery times, and quality products at competitive prices.

Bolts & Industrial is an Australian family-owned business incorporated in 1973 by founding partner John Rodgers. Today, 40 years on, the family name still exists and has expanded to many outlets within Australia. The continued growth is establishing Bolts & Industrial as a major entity in the industrial retail field.

As the company grows, so does its buying power, enabling the customer to enjoy highly competitive prices and discounts on a huge range of products.

With thousands of products in stock, Bolts & Industrial’s extensive range enables the company to act as a one-stop-shop for industrial and engineering supplies. After 40 years of industry experience, Bolts & Industrial knows what the customer needs and has made it its business to meet those needs – from A-Z. Dedicated staff are standing by to assist in placing orders by phone, fax, email, or online at Bolts & Industrial’s website. Host to over 100,000 products, the company’s website provides real-time pricing, special offers, and the ability to pay for orders securely by either credit card, direct deposit or a 30-day credit account. Live help via online chat is also available from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

In the engineering industry, knowledge is key. Bolts & Industrial’s team of representatives are specialists in various industry-related fields, and work closely with hundreds of suppliers to provide the most comprehensive technical information available. With its combined knowledge, Bolts & Industrial offers practical solutions

and provides the quality products necessary to maximise performance and productivity in the workplace.

Visit the company at Austech 2017 and view a range of lathe and cutting tools, abrasives, cutting fluids, live centres and fasteners, from Bolts & Industrial partners such as Kennametal, Pferd, Peiner Australasia, Daintree Tools and Houghton International.

Bolts & Industrial Supplies Stand: 518 www.bolt.com.au

Sheetmetal Machinery - Focus on smart production Sheetmetal Machinery Australia will demonstrate how to maximise production, resulting in more efficient, more flexible and higher-quality manufacturing.

Proven around the world, the range of SafanDarley E-brake electric press brakes offer the industry’s most advanced features and production benefits. Their unique roller drive system is available on press brakes from 20 to 300 tons, and working lengths of 850 to 4100 mm. Showcased at Austech 2017 will be the SafanDarley E-Brake 40-1600. This compact electric press brake features a number of options aimed at creating a more efficient and flexible working environment.

Now more than ever, investing in equipment is a long-term decision.

As with any other long-term business decision, it is essential that equipment investments will provide optimum productivity and the maximum return on investment. The range of SafanDarley electric press brakes represents an unparalleled investment towards the future. The benefits that they provide are far superior to those of conventional hydraulic press brakes, delivering advantages that no other supplier can match.

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Also on display will be press brake tooling from WILA. Made in The Netherlands, WILA manufactures the best tooling and clamping systems on the market. New Standard tooling ensures accuracy, durability, flexibility, speed and safety for the most demanding production environments.

The latest offline programming software from SafanDarley will be available for demonstration. AutoPOL allows the streamlining of manufacturing processes. Tool set-ups, bendsequencing, collision detection and much more are all calculated offline. This limits the time during which the machine is at a standstill, thus maximising productivity. Not limited to the SafanDarley E-control. AutoPOL also supports a range of further controls including Delem, Cyberlec and many more.

Sheetmetal Machinery’s extensive range includes products from Europe’s best machine manufacturers. This includes brands such as SafanDarley, Krasser, RAS, Resato, Q-Fin, Cutlite Penta, Boschert plus many more. Demonstrations will be running throughout Austech.

Sheetmetal Machinery Australia Stand 710 www.sheetmetalmachinery.com.au

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Sutton Tools – Celebrating 100 years Sutton Tools’ reputation for being global leaders in the field of cutting tools was earned by delivering world-class cutting tools through quality, value and total tooling solutions.

Founded in 1917, Sutton Tools began as a family enterprise, manufacturing threads and gauges. Over time the company has expanded its expertise into a broader portfolio of cutting tools, including drills, endmills and taps. Sutton Tools is consistently providing best value to customers by bringing to market innovative and productive solutions.

With a commitment to excellence and innovation, the reputation of the Sutton Tools brand has been earned by delivering world-class cutting tools through quality and value across the entire cutting tools and power tool accessories category for the hardware market and a wide range of specialised industrial applications.

Additionally, Sutton Tools offers a range of services for total tooling solutions with its onsite regrinding facility and Surface Technology Coatings (STC) centre. The regrinding service returns tools to ‘as new’ condition. Using world-leading technology, the STC centre offers coatings solutions to solve a wide range of problems relating to friction and wear, thereby improving tool performance and increasing tool life. STC also offers premium-quality heat treatment and plasma nitriding facilities for an all- encompassing service offering.

Sutton Tools continues to hold a strong position in today’s competitive market. In 2016 they were honoured with a major achievement with the induction into one of Victoria’s most

Bystronic – Reliability, innovation and performance Bystronic is a worldwide active supplier of highquality solutions for the economical processing of sheet metal, other sheet materials and tubes.

The name Bystronic first appeared in 1964, when Bystronic Maschinen was founded in Bützberg, Switzerland. The company initially specialised in glass processing. Today, Bystronic’s headquarters are in Niederönz, Switzerland, with two additional development and manufacturing locations in Gotha (Germany) and Tianjin (China), and sales and service companies in approximately 30 countries.

Bystronic stands for reliability, high-performance innovation, an outstanding price-performance ratio and user-friendly operation. Its focus is on the automation of the complete material and data flow of the cutting and bending process chain. Bystronic customers benefit from application-oriented systems and services for laser and waterjet cutting processes, as well as bending.

Bystronic Australia Pty Ltd Stand No: 530 www.bystronic.com

AMT Apr/May 2017

prestigious awards – the Family Business Australia Victorian Hall of Fame. The company was recognised and commended for its excellence in family best practices and achievement as an outstanding family-owned company business in its industry. And this year, Sutton Tools, an Australian manufacturing icon, celebrates a century of manufacturing achievement.

Sutton’s investment in quality, research, technology and product development has enabled 100 years of innovation with a number of industry-first solutions. With a history of manufacturing in Australia since 1917, Sutton Tools truly is the cutting tool expert.

Sutton Tools Stand: 620 www.suttontools.com

Applied Machinery – All under one roof With over 25 years’ experience, Applied Machinery is one of Australia’s largest and most respected suppliers of premium new and used machinery for the sheet metal, engineering, recycling & plastics machinery.

Applied Machinery’s sheet metal and engineering division specialises in CNC press brakes, laser cutting machines (fibre and CO2), turret punch presses, plasma cutting systems, CNC machining centres & lathes, panbrake folders, bandsaws and much more. The company’s recycling and plastics division is Australia’s largest supplier of plastics injection moulding machines, along with specialising in shredders, granulators, re-pelletising lines, plastics washing systems, extrusion lines, tyre recycling plants and more.

With a vast array of brands including Yawei, Genox, Mitsubishi Electic, Hurco. Hermle, Chen Hsong, Jwell, Kitamura, Cosen and Akyapak, Applied Machinery aims to meet all of your machinery needs under one roof.

Applied Machinery Australia Pty Ltd Stand: 750 www.appliedmachinery.com.au

Austech 2017 Preview

RAM3D – Exploring 3D printing in metals At its stand in the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, Rapid Advanced Manufacturing Ltd (RAM3D) will be exploring the benefits and potential of metal additive manufacturing.

RAM3D has been involved in metal 3D printing since 2008 when it was established by a group of like-minded shareholders to grow the commercial opportunities created in the growth of the metal 3D printing sector. Having recently relocated to a custom-built facility in Tauranga, New Zealand, RAM3D is currently operating four metal laser printers and is planning to accommodate 20 metal additive manufacturing systems by the end of 2020.

The company is currently printing in a range of materials, including titanium 64 (Ti 6Al 4V), the most common titanium alloy used for medical and aerospace applications. The second is 15-5Ph stainless steel, a high-strength stainless steel with a food grade, which makes it a good generally-accepted stainless steel. The third is Inconel 718, which is a nickel super-alloy used for high-temperature applications such as some firearm suppressors used in the defence sector.

Over the past eight years RAM3D has worked with clients to improve the design of production parts and prototypes and has used additive manufacturing to make these parts in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. The company collaborates with companies as far afield as Singapore, and the products manufactured at its Tauranga centre are used around the world.

The client database is very diverse. It includes: 3D-printed titanium knives for the Team Emirates America’s Cup crew; customised handlebar extensions for the New Zealand Olympics cycling team; and the current printing of titanium lugs for Bastion Cycles, a highend Australian custom bike maker. Bastion has embraced adding lattice to its production parts (this is an additional service RAM3D offers). The example pictured shows a lug with a lattice structure added to it resulting in less volume of metal and hence results in a reduction in cost. With the lattice added, the part still maintains its strength while upholding thin walls.

Creating a competitive edge ANCA CNC Machines is a market leader worldwide in the manufacture and sales of CNC tool and cutter grinding machines. On it stand at Austech, ANCA will demonstrate the company’s flagship MX7 Linear machine, which includes LinX linear motor technology.

The ANCA MX7 Linear is a powerful, versatile, CNC tool grinder designed for high-volume production grinding of carbide and high-speed steel cutting tools. It is driven by LinX cylindrical linear motors, which provide superior performance, increase reliability, and ensure a quality surface finish on the cutting tool.

ANCA Motion is sharing the stand as a sister company to ANCA CNC Machines.

ANCA Motion designs and manufactures flexible control systems, specialising in highprecision solutions for CNC machines. The hardware and software is tailored to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) requirements, providing solutions that give customers a competitive edge.

Furthermore, ANCA Motion’s continuous support and innovation throughout the lifespan of the product completes a world-class offering in terms of products and service.

ANCA CNC Machines Stand: MS25 www.anca.com

Integral part of your business

RAM3D is keen to work with a wider range of clients from different industries who want to explore the benefits and potential of metal additive manufacturing.

Rapid Advanced Manufacturing Stand: D05 www.ram3d.co.nz

Quality Transport Solutions

17 Freight Road, Tullamarine,VIC 3043 AusTRAlIA. Tel: 03 8676 5693 • www.eif.co.nz

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Austech 2017 Exhibitor List Company Stand Number

Company Stand Number

Company Stand Number

3D Printing Systems D01

Excellent Plating Works Pty Ltd

NCCS Pty Ltd

752

Accurpress Australia

527

ExOne D27

Nichol Industries Pty Ltd

539

Acra Machinery Pty Ltd

P12

635

Faccin S.p.A

622

Objective 3D D30

Advanced Manufacturing Growth MS02 Centre

Festo Pty Ltd

759

Okuma Australia Pty Ltd

675

Fisher Lamco

519

Omax

555

Alfex CNC Australia Pty Ltd

610

Fladder Danmark A/S

732

OneCNC 538

Allure Industries

651

Gasgep P14

Parish Engineering Company Pty Ltd

P13

Amada Oceania

700, 730

Gravotech 820

Peddinghaus Corporation

855

Amaero Engineering D28

Guhring Pty Ltd

581

Power Machinery Australia

505

AMTIL M50

Gunna Engineering Pty Ltd

P11

Precision Specialty Tooling Pty Ltd

662

ANCA Motion Pty Ltd MS25

GWB Machine Tools Pty Ltd

670

Qumac Engineering Services

697

ANCA Pty Ltd MS25

Haas Automation

612

Radius Benders Pty Ltd

540

Andrew Donald Design Engineers MS18 Applied Machinery Australia Pty Ltd

750

Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse

536, 558, 560

Ausee Pty Ltd

621

Harrop Engineering Australia Pty Ltd MS27

Avian (Australia) Machinery Pty Ltd

824

Headland Machinery Pty Ltd

555

Rapid Advanced Manufacturing D05 Limited

Balluff Pty Ltd

727

HG Farley Laserlab

851

Raxo Machine Tools Pty Ltd

692

Rae-Line Pty Ltd MS16 Raise 3D D26

Barden Fabrications MS30

Hi-Tech Metrology Pty Ltd

685

Raymax Lasers

740

Beijing HBS Science & Technology Development Co Ltd

658

Houghton Australia

W02

Recruit Australia

654

HS CNC Machines

697

Renishaw Oceania Pty Ltd

800

Benson Machines Pty Ltd

660

IEMCA 694

RMIT University D04

Bilby 3D D08

Imaginables Pty Ltd

D37

Romheld Automation Pty Ltd

Blaser Swisslube

723

Impact Machinery

855

Scan-xpress W09

Bolts & Industrial Supplies Pty Ltd

518

IMTS Laser

725

Schneeberger GmbH

Bystronic Australia Pty Ltd

530

Industrial Laser Pty Ltd

738

Shearform Pty Ltd MS10

Camco Cutting Tools

830

Industrial Tool & Machinery Sales

699

Sheetmetal Machinery Australia Pty Ltd 710

Camtek Pacific

653

Industry Capability Network

Capital Equipment Machinery Sales

521

Integra Systems

MS14 P17

640 695

Sheetmetal Tooling Tech Pty Ltd

734

Sick Pty Ltd

872

Capral Limited MS09

ipLaser 851

SigmaTEK Pty Ltd

537

Carl Zeiss Pty Ltd

502

ITEQ Vietnam Co

SNC Solutions Pty Ltd

653

Catten Industries Pty Ltd

P07

625a

JBO Engineering Pty Ltd

P08

SOCO 529

ChinaSavvy 657

Ji Nan Bodor CNC Machine Co Ltd

575

SolidCAM ANZ

687

Complete Machine Tool Services Pty Ltd

John Hart Pty Ltd

650

Stamac Engineering

605

KAESER Compressors

870

Suhner Pty Ltd

641

Kinetic Engineering Design

630

Czech Trade - Australia

580b 755

DAVI/FES 526 Davis & Jenkins Pty Ltd

P18

Delahenty Machinery Pty Ltd

738

Department of Industry MS02 Deratech Industries

580a

Dimac Tooling Pty Ltd

578

DMG MORI Australia PTY LTD

634

Done CNC Overseas Development Co Ltd

722

E J Hadaway Pty Ltd MS07 EIF International Limited

832

Engineered Tooling

656

ePOL 724 ESPRIT CAM Software

721

Euromac Australia

652

Evok3D D38

Sutton Tools

620

Konica Minolta D10

SWI Engineering

705

Kuka Robotics

883

Techni Waterjet Pty Ltd

573

Laser 3D

525

Thinglab D06

Leabourne & Rose Pty Ltd

825

LEAP Australia Pty Ltd

626

Thyssenkrupp Materials Australia MS38 Pty Ltd

Lightwave Technology

735

Toolprocure Australia

Livetools Pty Ltd

628

TRJ Engineering Pty Ltd MS33

Lucassen Precision Asia

625b

TXM Lean Solutions Pty Ltd

503

733

Ultimate Laser Pty Ltd MS31

Machines4u 690

White Industries MS37

Mastercut Technologies Pty Ltd MS36

Whitehall Workplace Law

W03

Mate Tooling

623

Wickman Machine Tools

579

Met Optix

810

William Buck (VIC) Pty Ltd

W04

Modern Tools (VIC) Pty Ltd

512

Zeal CAD Services

W06

MTI Qualos Pty Ltd

624

Zenith Technica

W09

Multicam Systems Pty Ltd

520

Machinery Forum (VIC) Pty Ltd

Additive

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655

Digitalisation

Manufacturers Pavilion

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NMW 2017 Preview

National Manufacturing Week – Back in Melbourne

Co-located with Austech, National Manufacturing Week (NMW) returns to Melbourne from 9-12 May as Australia’s largest gathering of manufacturing industry decision-makers under one roof.

Held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the four-day event will feature more than 30 speakers, more than 230 exhibitors and networking opportunities for those working along the manufacturing value chain.

Explore the Industry 4.0 Theatre The 2017 NMW speaker program will feature a leading-edge series of seminars, showcases, interactive discussions, workshops and networking sessions addressing the critical touch points that will help drive the Industry 4.0 revolution including: • Industry Capability Development: These sessions will focus on investment, supply chain integration and industry capability promoting initiatives, and supportive industry, government and community-led networks promoting team-based approaches to sector development.

• Product and Service Innovation: Manufactured products are changing radically, with the very nature of manufacturing shifting towards “manufacturing as a service” as part of complex horizontally and vertically integrated supply chains.

NMW will explore advances in manufactured products, services and supply chain integration in Australia and abroad.

• Technology Innovation: Technological change is relentless and manufacturers must keep up with it to maintain their competitive edge. NMW’s extensive exhibition and content program will showcase innovations in advanced manufacturing design and technology. Through live tech demonstrations and hands-on sessions, attendees will have many opportunities to skill themselves around new techniques and technologies.

• Process Improvement: Lean, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, Agile, Value Engineering… there are many methodologies out there manufacturers can call upon to strategically improve processes and productivity. These case studies and interactive sessions will highlight process improvement approaches in manufacturing that deliver practical increases to efficiency and effectiveness.

Speaker highlights • Keynote Address: Scaling up Australian manufacturing – what will it take?

John Pollaers – Chairman, Australian Advanced Manufacturing Council. 9 May, 10-40 – 11.15am

Multinational enterprise co-ordinated global value chains make up over 80% of global trade, and the latest UN Conference on Trade and Development shows our local Australian participation rate in these chains is lower than 22 of the top 25 largest exporting countries. In his keynote address, John Pollaers will explore key characteristics of successful prime and SME manufacturers, emerging market opportunities, workforce development needs and recommended government actions to grow the scale of Australian manufacturing.

• Keynote Address: A road map for unlocking future growth opportunities for Australia

Dr Keith McLean – Director, CSIRO Manufacturing 9 May, 12.00 – 12.35pm

With the world in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution, manufacturers must adapt to rapid technological change, an increasingly international global value chain, and the changing

AMT Apr/May 2017

nature of manufactured product and service opportunities.

This address will explore CSIRO’s roadmap for transforming Australia’s manufacturing industries into a highly integrated, collaborative and export-focussed ecosystem that provides high-value customised solutions within global value chains.

• Australian Manufacturing Growth Centre’s Sector Competitiveness Plan

Dr Jens Goennemann – Managing Director, Australian Manufacturing Growth Centre. 9 May, 11.20 – 11.55am

Australian manufacturing is operating in an increasingly globalised, competitive market. Tackling the challenge of how to position ourselves in light of this, the AMGC has released its first Sector Competitiveness Plan. Dr Jens Goennemann, AMGC Managing Director, will offer NMW delegates an overview of details how Australian manufacturing and its supported industries could be well positioned to add up to $36bn to the national economy over the next ten years.

• Opportunities for Australian manufacturing SMEs to use collaborative robots

Andrew Pether – Head of Regional Technical Support, Universal Robots (Singapore)

12 May, 11.30 – 12.05pm

Any gain in productivity can have a huge impact for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for 99.7% of all Australian businesses. Automation offers significant advantages, but many manufacturing SMEs believe robots are out of their reach. A new generation of collaborative robots (cobots) is changing the game for smaller manufacturers, helping them compete more effectively, offering new opportunities for employees, and even improving worker’s safety. This presentation and live demonstration will focus on how cobots can benefit Australian manufacturing SMEs and put automation within their reach.

More than 30 speakers have been confirmed for NMW, with the full list available online.

Australia’s industrial safety event, the Safety First Conference & Expo, will also be co-located with NMW. Themed ‘Building a safety leadership culture from the ground up’, the 2017 event will provide delegates with the latest policy and regulation overviews, practical expert advisory sessions, industry case studies, interactive workshops and live demonstrations catered to safety practitioners in a variety of sectors including manufacturing. www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au

NMW 2017 Preview

BAC Systems Pty Ltd

BOC Limited

Cincom Systems

BAC Systems is an Australian leader in high-density storage solutions, and industrial workshop furniture and equipment. A true Australian manufacturer, BAC makes a range of award-winning parts drawers, tool trolleys, racking and workbenches, from steel coils to finished product. The BAC technical sales team can assist you in designing your new warehouse or workshop solution, completing complimentary surveys of your space and inventory, and then preparing detailed proposals involving itemised product details and three-dimensional colour drawings. BAC products have been dwesigned and built by Australians to suit Australian conditions. BAC works closely with you to ensure you receive the right solution first time, and then continues to support your equipment to ensure you gain its maximum potential.

BOC supplies compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment around the globe. The company develops safe, sustainable and innovative solutions for customers in many specialty sectors, heavy industry and medical environments.

In Australia and New Zealand, BOC offers a range of gases, welding and safety products. Gases products are manufactured at 40 production facilities while all products are distributed via a network of retail outlets and agents across the South Pacific. At NMW BOC is showing its latest cryogenic and compressed gases supply forms as well as welding equipment, a virtual welder training package and a live robot welding cell. BOC is also participating in the NMW technical program including demonstrations on adaptive control of robotic welding and cutting.

Cincom software helps organisations to improve the way they do business, from product configuration and quoting to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business management applications.

In other words, it builds solutions and overcomes challenges in your most critical processes.

Stand: 1830

Stand: 1740

Stand: 2306

www.bacsystems.com.au

www.boc.com.au

www.cincom.com.au

CSIRO

ECi Solutions

FARO Technologies

Australian manufacturing is changing focus from heavy industry to hightech products based on sustainable, advanced manufacturing processes.

CSIRO’s science and engineering skills, equipment and international connections are helping Australian manufacturers be globally competitive. Drawing on extensive expertise in chemical and fibre research, CSIRO is supporting the long-term competitiveness of Australia’s cotton, carbon fibre and chemical industries. As manufacturing changes CSIRO is helping industry stay ahead and capture new opportunities, through expertise in advanced manufacturing, new technologies, high performance alloys and innovative, sustainable processes. CSIRO supports the uptake of transformational technology in Australia’s manufacturing industry through the development of advanced manufactured devices, integrated systems and new business models.

ECi provides business management software, technology solutions, e-commerce and services that help independent enterprises grow and compete. ECi M1 ERP software meets the rapidly changing needs of growing manufacturers, and it was created in Australia. M1 enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is designed for job shops, custom and mixed-mode manufacturers, and make-to-order manufacturers

FARO develops and markets portable coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and 3D imaging devices to solve dimensional metrology problems.

Technology from FARO permits highprecision 3D measurement, imaging and comparison of parts and compound structures within production and quality assurance processes. The devices are used for inspecting components and assemblies, production planning, documenting large volume spaces or structures in 3D, and more. FARO’s 3D measurement technology allows companies to maximize efficiencies and improve processes.

Stand: 2230 (National Manufacturing Week 2017)

Stand: 2110

Stand: 2920

www.csiro.au

www.ecisolutions.com

www.faro.com

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NMW 2017 Preview

Millsom Hoists Pty Ltd

Robert Bosch

Ronson Gears Pty Ltd

Millsom is an Australian-owned and -run company which has been specialising in the materials handling field for over 40 years. It design, manufacture and install crane systems to suit the customer’s requirements. Millsom is the supplier of the Schmalz range of vacuum lifting equipment. Schmalz is widely accepted as the premier manufacturer of vacuum lifters.

Bosch has had a presence in Australia since 1907, opening its first wholly owned subsidiary, Robert Bosch (Australia) Pty Ltd in 1954. Bosch generates revenues of more than $750m per annum in Oceania, and employs over 1,400 associates. Its regional activities are operated through six wholly owned subsidiary companies and cover a diverse range of businesses including household appliances, security technology, power tools and accessories, engineering services and contract manufacturing, parts and equipment for automotive workshops and motorsport enthusiasts, franchised car servicing, equipment, services and solutions for manufacturers, drives and control technology, software innovations, hot water and heating systems, packaging technologies and service support for Bosch equipped eBikes.

Ronson Gears, Australia’s foremost gear manufacturer, is excited to be showcasing its Stock Gear range to NMW 2017 visitors. Ronson is renowned for its custom-made gearing solutions for the likes of Joy Mining, Bombardier Transportation and Boeing Defence, but it is also quickly building a reputation for high-quality gears available off the shelf.

Supplied by KHK Stock Gears from Japan, there are over 12,000 gears and associated products to choose from.

Ronson carries approximately 2,000 different line items from spur gears, helical gears, bevel gears to gear racks, spiral bevel gears, worms and worm wheels

Stand: 1426

Stand: 1900

Stand: 2942

www.millsom.com.au

www.bosch.com.au

www.ronsongears.com.au

Trotec Laser Australia/ New Zealand

Universal Robots Pte Ltd

Welding Technology Institute of Australia

Trotec is a leading manufacturer of laser machines for marking, cutting and engraving solutions. Designed and built in Austria, Trotec offers a diverse range of laser solutions, specifically designed to maximise workflow, quality and profitability for industrial applications and manufacturing. Backed by factory-trained staff with training and development centres across Australia and New Zealand, with warranties up to 10 years and training and support, Trotec is your ideal partner in industrial manufacturing. Trotec also offers Australia’s largest range of engraving and rotary material including its own brand of laminates, TroLase and TroPly. Designed for lasers, TroLase will save users money, time and offers unrivalled benefits.

Universal Robots, the market leader in collaborative robots, makes robot technology accessible to all levels of industry. Lightweight, compact and flexible, the UR3, UR5 and UR10 robot arms are user-friendly industrial robots that can work safely alongside human operators. With an average payback period of 12 months – the fastest in the industry, Universal Robots optimises production by enabling automation cost-effectively. Headquartered in Denmark, Universal Robots have sold in more than 50 countries worldwide. The company, a part of Boston-based Teradyne Inc., has subsidiaries and regional offices in the US, Spain, Germany, Singapore, Czech Republic, India, and China.

The Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA) represents the welding profession in Australia. Its members are made up of individual welding professionals and companies of all sizes. WTIA members are involved almost every facet of Australian industry and make a significant contribution to the nation’s economy.

The WTIA’s primary goal is to ensure that the Australian welding industry remains both locally and globally competitive, both now and into the future. The WTIA is dedicated to providing members with a competitive advantage through access to industry, research, education, certification, government, and the wider industrial community.

Stand: 2720

Stand: 2526

Stand: 1642

www.troteclaser.com

www.universal-robots.com

www.wtia.com.au

AMT Apr/May 2017

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one-on-one

Nick Xenophon is Senator for South Australia and leader of the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) party in the Federal Senate.

He spoke to William Poole.

AMT: A prominent figure in South Australian politics, and a vocal advocate for manufacturing, what’s your view of the current situation for the industry in SA? Nick Xenophon: Well, we’re in a state of transition. We’re at the crossroads here in SA, but it’s not just in SA, it is in the rest of the country. We’ve seen a shrinking of manufacturing in this country in the last decade, from about 12% of GDP to just over 6% of GDP. We’re now just bumping above Botswana and Rwanda, where as a percentage of their GDP, manufacturing accounts for 6% and 5% respectively.

I mention Botswana and Rwanda not because I have any axe to grind against them, but because they are countries that never had a significant manufacturing base, whereas Australia did. I think we’ve lost our way in terms of advanced manufacturing policy. The closure of the automotive industry in Australia is posing a huge risk and challenge to manufacturing.

AMT: What do you see as the biggest challenges the sector is facing?

NX: Well, I think the Federal Government has made a mistake. It’s been holding onto this Automotive Transformation Scheme, worth $1.3bn. It needs to rejig that scheme and spend an appreciable portion of it to ensure that those industries that are emerging – advanced manufacturers that have real potential to grow – have the opportunity to get some injection of capital.

Because by spending a bit of money now, we’ll be saving a lot of money now in terms of unemployment benefits, and in terms of dragging down the rest of the economy through all the supply chain and multiplier effects.

I think what we need to do is to encourage those emerging manufacturers that already have something to offer not just Australia but the rest of the world, in terms of products and innovation and ideas and intellectual property, and accelerate their development.

Rather than those companies taking five or 10 years to grow to their potential, let’s accelerate their potential by opening up those markets sooner rather than later.

AMT Apr/May 2017

AMT: One issue we hear a lot about is a need for policy continuity, in particular concerns over the turnover of Federal Industry Ministers in recent years. How do you see that affecting the sector?

NX: Without continuity there’s no bipartisanship. I think we need to rethink the approach. I’m not against government involvement; I think we need to look at targeted assistance, with measurable outcomes, with co-investment from industry. In addition to that, we need to have a framework where there’s a strong anti-dumping regime – the steel industry’s been suffering badly because of that.

We also need strong procurement policy, and I’ve been chairing a committee working on getting procurement laws changed in Australia. The procurement laws changed on 1 March as a direct result of negotiations I had with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, with big changes for Australian manufacturers who will now have a fighting chance to bid for about $59bn worth of Commonwealth work.

The other thing I should mention is that we must address the issue of power prices and energy certainty in Australia. It is a phenomenal failure of public policy. It is a tragic symptom of our toxic politics in this country, that we cannot have a bipartisan energy policy that would give security of supply and reduce our energy prices. And that’s why I’m a long-term advocate of an emissions intensity scheme, which I jointly advocated with Malcolm Turnbull back in 2009 when he was Opposition leader, and I still think that’s the best way forward to sort this out. Energy security and energy prices must be an absolute priority – we cannot wait for the latest battery storage technology, we need to get more thermal generators in the mix, particularly gas-fired generators, so they can deal with this crisis.

Otherwise we will drive manufacturing out of this country.

AMT: You mentioned targeted assistance.

What areas do you believe would merit such support?

NX: It would have to be those businesses that have a business case where they’ve

got a product that the rest of Australia and the rest of the world want, which is an innovation, which can drive exports. I’ll give you an example, SupaShock, which is a company based here in South Australia.

SupaShock has come up with a superb shock absorber system, which allows cars to handle much better, racing cars to win races – it’s got defence applications as well.

It’s the sort of business that could go from 30 to 120 employees in the next couple of years, with new markets, expansion potential, through export grants opening up new markets for them.

I get very enthusiastic about companies like that. I’ll give you another example, which I think has got enormous potential. Too often in Australia’s history we have ignored companies and great innovations. There’s a company called Nu-Rock, which turns fly ash from power stations into bricks and bitumen products and concrete. It does so with 98% less energy than making conventional bricks. But they’ve had such a struggle to break through and get the grants to reach that critical mass. A few months ago, the Governor of Virginia came over to Sydney and met with them because he heard about these guys, and within ten minutes he got the concept and wanted them to set up their US head office because he could see enormous potential to solve environmental problems and produce bricks and pavers and building panels and road material much cheaper than anything currently available.

Nu-Rock has been doing this for years and has Australian certification, but it struggles to get much support here, but then the Americans walk in with open arms. Why is it so hard in Australia to have an innovative product up and running?

AMT: So what can be done to prevent the benefits of Australian innovations like that slipping away from us and going overseas?

NX: We need to assist those companies, we need to nurture them. We need to say that they are valued, that we don’t want them going overseas and setting up manufacturing plants in China or Mexico or wherever. We want them to hold onto that intellectual property, to manufacture here, to be part of growing our national wealth.

Heading

You’ll be familiar with the Fraunhofer model in Germany, where they have innovation hubs that connect industry and government and innovation sites, to try and drive the development of new products. And that provides a base for their advanced manufacturing. Instead of our 6%, 22% of Germany’s GDP is based on manufacturing.

And we need to be going to Government – State and Federal – and saying “What are you guys doing? Why are you buying Chinese steel? Why are you buying stuff from overseas when you could be buying it locally? But now we’ve changed the procurement laws – I did that with the support of my colleagues – and these are big changes.

AMT: Why is manufacturing so crucial to a country like Australia and its future prosperity?

NX: Because we have a history of innovation, and manufacturing drives innovation. Not just directly in that industry, it drives greater productivity, it drives new products and processes, it drives exports, it drives well-paying jobs. One of the reasons why Donald Trump won the US presidency is that so many regions have been hollowed out, so many people have lost their jobs, so many parents see their children not being given a good trade and apprenticeship.

Having a great hospitality industry is fantastic, but we also need to be making things as well.

AMT: Tell us about your political background and why you chose a political career.

NX: My background is I was trained as a lawyer. I got involved in politics because I was concerned about the impact of pokie machines, seeing it in my clients, and in my community. I ran for State Parliament in 1997, and got elected to the Upper House. I ran again and was re-elected in 2006. I then decided in 2007 to leave State politics and run for Federal politics, and was elected to the Senate. I ran again in 2013 and was re-elected. Then in last year’s double dissolution, I managed to get myself and two other colleagues (for the NXT party) to the Senate, as well as another colleague Rebekha Sharkie elected to the lower house. We’re also running more candidates in elections for the State Parliament this time round.

AMT: And what is the most rewarding part of the job?

NX: I’ll tell you what’s rewarding – it’s actually quite rewarding when I see businesses where we open doors for them and we push hard for them, and then they start thriving and succeeding. I mean, I had one business where I’ve said “What can we do for you?” and I said “All I want from you is the chance to shake the hands of the new workers that you put on.” And that to me sums it up.

And also, and this one is nothing to do with manufacturing, but to do with the criminal justice system. Just yesterday, the Federal Government announced that there would be very significant changes to the law in terms of child protection from online predators. It was in honour of a young girl, Carly Ryan, who was murdered 10 years ago as a 15-year-old by an internet predator. And after as a result of campaigning by Carly’s mum Sonya with my colleagues and myself, the Government agreed just yesterday to have the law changed to expand the class of offence to make it easier for police to intervene much earlier to protect children.

And that’s a big deal. So things like that are the biggest perks of the job. www.nick.nxtmps.org.au

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Cutting Tools

Iscar - Milling aluminium intelligently Milling aluminium appears to be a remarkably easy process. However, people who are not directly involved in machining aluminium often hold misguided views. They believe that it’s enough to take a balanced, sharp, polished tool and rotate it at a maximal speed, set at medium feed and the material will cut like butter.

In comparison with machining steel, aluminium and its alloys require much less cutting force, and therefore the cutting edge of a milling tool experiences relatively low mechanical loading. For the purpose of this article, we refer to aluminium and its alloys as aluminium. Aluminium exhibits high thermal conductivity, and therefore the chips produced when machining aluminium transfer high levels of generated heat, resulting in significantly reduced thermal loading of the cutting edge. Due to these properties, milling aluminium is characterised by extremely high cutting speeds and feeds. Nonetheless, this does not guarantee that milling aluminium is quite so simple.

The material characteristics of aluminium result in the formation of built-up edge (BUE) when machined. This unwelcome phenomenon increases the mechanical load on the cutting edge making efficient chip flow more difficult to achieve, affecting the balance of rotating tools and causing the entire machining process to be less efficient.

The evacuation of aluminium chips may also be affected by using the wrong kind of cutting tool. If the volume of a tool’s chip gullet (flute) is not sufficient, the long chips during aluminium milling will clog the tool.

Overcoming this obstacle demands the use of a tool with fewer teeth or reducing the applied cutting data; actions that negatively impact productivity.

From a machinability point of view, aluminium is not a material that is uniform.

Alloying elements (in particular, silicon), material type (wrought, cast) and treatment methods all affect cutting properties.

Multiple other factors such as the shape of a machine part, workholding conditions and operational requirements (for example accuracy or roughness) add their own limitations and must be considered when choosing machining strategies and selecting a tool. Hence, in many cases, machining aluminium in general and milling aluminium, in particular, are often not the simple tasks they appear to be.

Tool manufacturers take the specific features of milling aluminium into consideration when developing cutters. A key to success is the correct combination of cutting geometry, tool material and tool treatment, in addition to the options for delivery of optimum coolant supply.

When considering applications for milling aluminium, large aircraft components,

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such as wing elements, door or window frames, come to mind. Generally, these parts are produced from whole blocks, often weighing several tons, and it is often necessary to remove up to 80-85% of the block weight to produce the final required shape of a component. In contrast, the global automotive industry, which is also a massive consumer of aluminium, has introduced various hard cast aluminium grades to their components. The increased abrasiveness of these parts negatively affects tool wear.

Iscar has developed an entire comprehensive range of indexable milling cutters, designed specifically for the efficient machining of aluminium. Each family of these high-quality cutters features integral or lightweight body designs, unique principles of carbide insert clamping, structures with adjustable cartridges, various ground and polished inserts with different corner radii, and most popular in aluminium machining, inserts with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tips. The vast majority of the cutters have inner channels for coolant supply through the body. The Iscar HeliAlu line of indexable milling tools enables efficient high-speed machining (HSM) of aluminium, ensuring powerful metal removal rates (MRR),

high accuracy and excellent surface finish characteristics – all of the qualities demanded by the world’s producers of aluminium components.

Metalworking industries produce large and small aluminium parts, and in many cases require milling cutters with more modest dimensions. The size of these tools is not suitable for indexable inserts and solid carbide tools have distinct advantages.

Moreover, the high-accuracy of solid carbide endmills renders them beyond comparison when used in precision finishing of larger components. Therefore, Iscar remains heavily involved in the design and development of advanced solid carbide tools for the milling of aluminium. Recent progressive additions to this all-embracing range have further increased their value to users throughout the industrial world.

Iscar’s ECR-B3-R-C family of threeflute, solid carbide endmills are designed for rough machining at high MRR. The innovative endmills have serrated cutting edges that divide wide chips into narrow chips that are easily evacuated. Inner coolant channels directed to each cutting edge enables the delivery of uninterrupted coolant flow to the cutting zone. These

Cutting Heading Tools

two design features, in combination with polished flutes, significantly improve chip evacuation abilities, allowing considerably increased productivity. The serrated edge that chops the chips also enhances vibration resistance, and together with the relieved neck of the endmill contributes to stable cutting under high tool overhang conditions.

Why does the ECR-B3-R-C family have three flutes and no more? In milling aluminium, chatter and unwelcome vibrations that are generated during the cutting process are a factor of primary importance. Various researches and metalworking practice show that a three-flute configuration is the optimal design for 90-degree solid carbide endmills for machining aluminium. In highefficiency milling, this arrangement ensures a flute volume that is necessary for chip flow, whilst it does not increase chatter.

The majority of the endmills for use on aluminium are based on this approach and Iscar’s ECR-B3-R-C is no exception.

At the same time, the desire to increase the productivity of endmills led to the launch of an innovative four-flute ISCAR

design. ChatterFree ECA-H4 CF is a family of endmills that provides an extra flute to help increase MRR for both roughing and finishing operations. Although a four-flute structure, these endmills have impressive vibration dampening abilities due to the inclusion of a non-equal flute helix and the variable angular pitch of its teeth.

Also, Iscar’s tool designers succeeded in creating a core diameter and the crosssection area of a flute, similar to the already existing three-flute endmills of the same diameter from the ECA-H3 family.

The die & mould and aerospace industrial sectors need small-size milling tools for the precise machining of 3D surfaces. A newly introduced family of solid carbide ball nose endmills EBA-B2, with polished flutes and a diameter range of 1mm to 6mm, is intended precisely for these kinds of demanding applications. The new family extends the lower range of the 8mm to 25mm diameter Multi-Master MM EBA replaceable ball nose heads.

The Multi-Master family of assembled tools, comprising shanks of different configurations and a great variety of

replaceable cutting heads, is ideal for milling aluminium, especially in applications requiring the high overhang of a tool.

Long-reach solid carbide endmills are produced from expensive carbide rods of considerable overall length. Despite the small fluted part of an endmill being directly involved in cutting, after-tool wear or a sudden breakage, the whole expensive rod needs to be thrown away. This is a serious economic disadvantage. In contrast, in such cases, Multi-Master users only need to replace the cutting head.

Milling aluminium is easy, if performed intelligently! Apply an efficient cutting strategy and use Iscar’s correctly chosen milling tools for successful results. www.iscar.com.au

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Cutting Tools

How to create the perfect digital twin As well as achieving in-machining efficiencies through advanced tooling technologies and strategies, there are many gains to be had earlier in the process at the design and planning stage. At this stage, the digitalisation of previously manual processes such as tooling item selection and tool assembly creation can help to significantly increase efficiency and machining security.

Cutting tool data can in fact be gathered more accurately and used to create precise digital twin representations – a functionality that has become fundamental in the modern workflow to prevent errors at the machining stage. Today, such processes can be fully integrated with the user’s CAM software, and can be completed with a few simple clicks as part of an easy-to-use menu-driven process.

In machining applications, it is not individual tool items such as toolholders, cutters and inserts that are used on machines, but tool assemblies. In many instances this creates a somewhat laborious task for the CAM programmer, where there exist several opportunities for error, not least failing to select the optimum tool items in the first instance. Furthermore, many typical tool assemblies can take up to an hour to create. With some components demanding the use of 25 or more different tool assemblies, this is an enormous overhead to the business in terms of both time and cost.

The challenge isn’t to create the assembly itself – nowadays this can be created in just a few seconds by adding a description and the relevant parameters, for example diameter and length, into a CAM system without any external help. However, creating a digital twin representation for a tool assembly simulation is far from being a simple task. To make the most accurate possible representation of a tool assembly in a CAM system, the creator would first need to search various vendors’ catalogues, download the 3D model files, and assemble them in a CAD programme. Only then can they be created as a tool assembly in the CAM system, including the technical parameters.

Streamlined process Clearly there is an opportunity to streamline the pre-machining

A more agile and optimised manufacturing is made possible by making use of data in the design and planning processes.

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process and make it more agile, something that can be achieved by integrated tool item recommendation and tool assembly creation within the CAM software platform. In this way, it is possible to cut the time required and increase security in design and planning processes.

With regard to tooling item recommendation and selection, an optimised, integrated solution would allow CAM programmers to select from holders, tools and inserts for milling, for example. Here, users would be able to choose a preferred source, such as a digital catalogue stored locally or a cloud assortment whose data are constantly and automatically updated. Then, once data such as component, material and type of machining operation have been input, users could simply click ‘get results’ to receive the speeds and feeds required for the selected tool.

One such solution is CoroPlus ToolGuide from Sandvik Coromant, which uses an open application programming interface (API) to connect with the CAM software. In short, CoroPlus ToolGuide enables users to find a suitable cutting tool for a given task. It creates an organised list of all the suitable tools, with the most economical choice at the top. It will also show the suggested machining process and cutting data.

The list is generated by an algorithm that matches the stated task and conditions with Sandvik Coromant tools. This algorithm holds information about the different machining processes that can be used for different tasks, while the product data on the tool holds information on the machining processes to which the cutter is suited. Importantly, all of the data can be sent to CoroPlus ToolLibrary, where standard tool assemblies can be created ready for export to the CAM or simulation software.

cutting tools

Precise digital twin representations increase speed and quality of the design and planning processes.

Easy access to tool data For a productive CAM process, the programmer needs access to tool data, which is usually stored in so-called tool libraries. However, most of today’s tool libraries are empty, for a number of reasons, not least because it is difficult to find tool data and keep it up to date. In addition, until recently there has been no industry standard for communicating tool data.

There are approximately 1.2m manufacturing units in the world today, and all CAM vendors, machine tool builders and tool suppliers have historically had their own way to denominate and structure tool information. This is why ISO 13399 has been created.

Sandvik Coromant, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and other players in the metal cutting sector are behind the development of ISO 13399, which is now a globally recognised way of describing tool data.

This international standard defines tool attributes – for example length, width and radius – in a standardised way. Before the standard was written, three different suppliers may have called the diameter D3, D1 or DC2. With ISO 13399, however, the diameter will always be DCX, regardless of supplier.

ISO 13399 also simplifies the exchange of data for cutting tools.

When all tools in the industry share the same parameters and definitions, communicating tool information between software systems becomes very easy.

CoroPlus ToolLibrary is built on the ISO 13399 structure and is open to all tooling suppliers, ensuring there is no longer any need to interpret data from paper catalogues and then manually enter it into the system.

Failsafe system CoroPlus ToolLibrary allows CAM programmers to work with any tool vendor catalogue compliant to ISO 13399 standards and to create assemblies safe in the knowledge that all suggested items will fit together. The results can be viewed instantly in 2D and 3D, while users can also digitally store all information about the tools.

Once saved, programmers simply import the tool assembly into their CAM or simulation software. All of the tool data is pre-set and a 3D model included.

Users report that this efficient and easy process makes it possible to cut the time from tool assembly to simulation by at least 50%. Plus, there is a much better chance of making the right tool choice in the first instance. Of course, having accurate tool data also means that collisions are possible to detect and avoid during simulation routines due to having the real tool shape and a precise digital twin representation.

The importance of accessible and accurate tooling data in premachining is vital to help address the challenges faced by CAM programmers on a daily basis. Through the latest digital solutions such as CoroPlus ToolGuide and CoroPlus ToolLibrary, it is possible to demonstrate how much easier and faster pre-machining tasks can be executed. Both are part of the wider CoroPlus suite of connected solutions from Sandvik Coromant, aimed at helping manufacturers prepare for Industry 4.0. www.sandvik.coromant.com

Collaboration is key to competing on the world stage A machining project that brought Sandvik Coromant together with international manufacturer Chamberlain and New South Wales precision engineering firm Archer Enterprises is a classic example of how local manufacturers can compete on the world stage. The result of this three-way relationship was a first-of-its-kind tool.

Established in 1977, Archer is led by the third generation of the Byrne family. It has worked closely with Sandvik Coromant for 20 years. When new cutting tools are released, Archer is the first to ask to trial them and see how they can improve its business. Archer and Sandvik Coromant formed a close technology partnership years ago, which has led to them developing products together. Sandvik Coromant recently introduced Archer to Australia’s largest manufacturer of commercial garage door openers, Chamberlain, which is part of the Chamberlain Group – the world’s biggest supplier of automatic garage door openers.

Archer was commissioned to develop custom tooling to help Chamberlain undertake a special project on its new multitasking Okuma CNC machining centre. There was instant synergy in the new relationship because Archer has specialised in using Okuma machines for as long as its Sandvik Coromant connection.

“We were asked to design and machine a 13mm hob arbor with a Capto C6 spindle interface,” said Operations Director Russell Byrne. “The smallest size that Sandvik Coromant offer is 16mm so we modified a C6 blank arbor. We chose to use 25Cr Mo 4 with tensile strength of 700N/square millimetre HB 270-325 to ensure its reliability and longevity.”

“As technology solution providers, this is typical of the work that we engage in,” added Managing Director Brad Byrne. “When a new product needs to be created, one which isn’t available on the market, we have the in-house capabilities to take it from concept to development and testing to manufacture.”

“This was the first time that we sought outside help for this kind of assistance and it was a challenge finding the right people who could take on such specialised work,” said Chamberlain’s Machining Supervisor Shane McParland. “We are very glad that Sandvik Coromant pointed us in the right direction.

Chamberlain needed the new holder for a hob cutter that it was bringing in from overseas. Okuma had provided the standard fittings for its Multus, but because it was developing a new product prototype it needed to make a one-off part. Archer knew what to do and was able to turn the job around ahead of schedule so that Chamberlain’s design and machining process could continue unimpeded.

“We can’t speak highly enough of the team at Archer,” added McParland. “They understood exactly what we needed, Russell kept in constant contact with us, and we always knew where the project was at.

“Having a technology partner like Archer means that when we decide to develop other new products in the future we will know exactly where to go to.” chamberlaindiy.com.au

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Cutting Tools

Process knowledge makes machining more efficient

Complete machining solutions at component level are improving the cost efficiency for the aerospace industry.

The demands made on manufacturers in the aviation and aerospace industry are becoming ever-more extensive and complex. And what applies to production businesses also applies to the machining industry that provides them with the tools they require. To be more cost-efficient, manufacturers need to not only use tools with perfect performance and a long tool life, but also continuously optimise their machining solutions and processes. In this area in particular, Walter Tools has taken on the task of supporting its aerospace customers. The goal is to create complete solutions that address the complexity of the task and help to increase productivity and cost-efficiency.

“Today customers expect their tool supplier to have a high level of expertise in all key operations that are carried out using its tools,” explains Thomas Schaarschmidt, Director Business & Application Development at Walter. “This reduces the increasing cost pressure and compensates for the loss of expertise which arises as a result of outsourcing a large number of tasks.”

More specifically this means that, in addition to the tools required for the relevant machining solutions and the associated comprehensive service, suppliers must have an impressive recycling and reconditioning program. They must provide extensive technical support and offer simple order processing, integrated as seamlessly as possible into the customer’s workflows.

The supplier programs the machining systems (or helps the user’s staff to do so) and trains the customer’s employees – to name a few of the most important basic requirements.

Crucial beneficial effect The crucial beneficial effect that Walter has been offering its customers for some time now goes well beyond this: the tool specialist develops complete machining concepts, including all process steps that arise during the production of a component.

These concepts are individually tailored to the customer’s needs and contain detailed recommendations regarding which tools are used in which step.

“We have taken our customers’ list of requirements and developed it further,” says Schaarschmidt. “In other words, we have been systematically building on the comprehensive expertise that our customers need to take on the problems

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Landing gear mounts are complex structural components that act as a shock absorber in conjunction with the main cylinder of the landing gear.

and challenges associated with the production of their components. We make this expertise and the discoveries which result for the production process available to our customers. We are thereby actively helping them to use our tools as efficiently, and as cost-effectively, as possible.”

First, Schaarschmidt’s team defined specific components that are frequently used in the aerospace industry: structural parts made from titanium aluminium alloys, for example; or engine and landing gear components. Walter’s experts developed complete machining solutions for these components in close collaboration with technology partners from the sector: key customers, machinery and software manufacturers, suppliers, universities and research institutes.

Practical development “For every component for which we develop a machining solution together with the customer, we analyse the features and look at which and how many variations exist for each component,” says Schaarschmidt.

“Then we map the entire process chain as it is implemented at the customer, at Walter in-house or at technology partners. This means that we know every detail that is relevant for machining the customer component.”

In the next step, a roadmap is created that defines which steps are to be taken to the finished solution. The specialists identify what they can do where, which processes they have already mastered, where there is need for development and how this should be covered most effectively and in the quickest way possible.

The creation of machining concepts involves tool specialists who bring their expertise in machining turning, drilling, threading or milling using a wide range of different materials. The process also involves component experts who know exactly which challenges associated with the manufacture of specific components need to be overcome. To enable them to tailor their solutions as closely as possible to the specific requirements of the user, Walter’s component managers visit their customers on a regular basis.

“Our component managers are deeply involved in the topic,” explains Schaarschmidt. “They speak the language of our customers and know exactly where the problem areas lie.”

Their task is to keep up to date with what the users of Walter tools are currently doing and what optimisation measures or open topics they are looking at. Of course, they also gather feedback on the machining solutions recommended by Walter.

“Generally speaking, there are one or two large manufacturers for every component – the market leaders, if you will. We use our component approach to work very closely with these companies – with great success.”

Walter M3255 porcupine milling cutter for roughing titanium alloys.

Cutting Heading Tools

3D Printing High Strength Composite Carbon Fibre

Wing ribs form the frame for the wing skin. Predominantly manufactured from aluminium wrought alloys, they are light and extremely robust with a high loadbearing capacity.

Solutions with a competitive advantage The solutions that Schaarschmidt’s team develops with customers are extremely detailed, with the purpose of creating competitive advantages for customers. It is therefore not uncommon for one machining concept to include hundreds of pieces of detailed information or machining steps or more. This includes numerous variantspecific machining solutions for every component.

“Our goal is to offer a complete solution for 80% of the different variants of a component – all documented down to the finest detail, partly standardised and accessible to our specialists at all times,” says Schaarschmidt.

The result is recommendations that present exactly which tools, machining parameters and processes can be used to produce a certain component at what cost.

The experts at Walter pass this detailed information on to their customers via technology days together with technology partners, via roadshows, using training videos or animations on YouTube and, in the future – to deal with the trend in digitalisation – via Walter’s homepage and augmented reality.

“We make absolutely sure that the skills that we have built up for our customers and are continuously adding to are also available to them globally,” adds Schaarschmidt.

It goes without saying that extensive knowledge about future products and requirements also flows into the development processes. Schaarschmidt clearly explains that this is another definite advantage for Walter’s customers.

“Forward-looking planning and development enables us to offer our customers a completely new type of machining solution, often right at the start of production of a new product, which is precisely tailored to them,” he says.

“The best example is our new generation of cutting tool material, Tiger Tec Gold.

Selected customers from the aviation industry have already tested and verified the new coating platform in conjunction with material-specific substrates, for example for titanium machining. After the official introduction at the AMB, we are able to support our customers with new component-specific cutting material solutions with immediate effect.”

It goes without saying that the start-up costs are reduced, the time between development and series production (timeto-market) is considerably accelerated and that this has a positive impact on costeffectiveness.

“Markforged Print Amazing High Strength Parts” =Continuous Carbon Fibre

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1800 632 953 and discuss how you can print high strength parts instead of milling

Walter M2131 ramping milling cutter for rough milling and semi-finishing of pockets with high chip volumes.

EMONA

www.emona.com.au

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State Spotlight South Australia

South Australia – Seizing new opportunities South Australian manufacturing has endured some difficult years with the transition away from several traditional sectors. However, Professor Göran Roos believes exciting opportunities lie ahead for the industry in the state.

The stories that we often hear concerning the death of manufacturing stem from confusion between employment and production. The world produces and consumes more manufactured goods than ever, but it does so with fewer people since productivity improvement has for a long time exceeded underlying market growth, enabling increased production with fewer employees. Hence, manufacturing has declined as an employer in most countries despite output increasing.

This trend will continue and even accelerate with the development and deployment of technology-enabled productivity improvement tools. This change will increase – as opposed to decrease – manufacturing’s importance to an economy, which can be summarised as: • It is the biggest spender of applied research and innovation, with spill-over effects throughout the economy.

• It is the key driver of productivity improvement, with further economic spill-over effects.

• It comprises the biggest share of world trade and is critical for export earnings that pay for importing goods.

• The largest driver of high-value services, key for the service economy.

• It generates job growth and economic activity throughout the economy.

• It is the biggest driver of economic complexity, and in turn the biggest driver of national prosperity.

The case of South Australia For SA, we will define manufacturing as being made up of firms who make things, encompassing everything from food to defence-manufacturing. The SA economy is heavily dominated by small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Distribution of firms by turnover in South Australia (based on Dun & Bradstreet data) Turnover:

$2m- $5m

$5m- $10m

$10m- $50m- $50m $100m

Share of firms 57.2%

23.2%

16.4%

1.5%

$100m $250m 0.7%

$250m- $500m+ $500m 0.3%

• 50% of manufacturing firms with turnover exceeding $50m also exceed $169m (compared with 40% of nonmanufacturing firms).

resilient, but its success will largely be determined by the actions of the management and workers of individual firms.”

From this we can conclude that, in terms of growth propensity, manufacturing outperforms other sectors. This can also be seen if we look at the share of service firms and manufacturing firms across the different turnover categories (Figure 1).

A clear pattern emerges in the way the importance of manufacturing increases with firm size in the SA economy.

n SA, the future manufacturing opportunities revolve around areas such as:

In 2012 the SA State Government launched its ‘Manufacturing Works’ strategy, based around four key messages: • “Manufacturing has always been a cornerstone of SA’s economy. It remains crucial to securing our place as a major advanced manufacturing capital with a sustainable export capability, and to generating skilled jobs that underpin a high standard of living.”

• “Given continued global economic instability, the situation in manufacturing is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

• “Government inaction is not an option.”

• “Government will work closely over the next decade with all stakeholders to ensure our economy is diverse and

• Defence, where the volume of work will be around surface vessel production, and the long-term economic impact will be from spillover effects, in terms of technology and capability development, from the submarine project. The submarine project will require participating firms to develop physical and virtual deliverables (the ‘digital twin’ concept in action) and the ability to participate in a digital supply chain. This domain builds on and is supported by Defence SA, the Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC), Techport Australia, the Defence Science and Technology Group’s Cyber and Electronic Warfare Division, the Data to Decisions Cooperative Research Centre, and the Defence Teaming Centre. Under this heading we also find the space industry, as supported by Defence SA. • Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS), specifically around reducing the cost and resource footprint in mining’s different unit operations, process optimisation

Breaking down the 9,000 or so firms that have a turnover of $2m or more (excluding organisations within public administration), we can statistically conclude the following growth pattern: • 50% of manufacturing firms with turnover exceeding $2m also exceed $5m (whereas 42% of nonmanufacturing firms exceed $5m).

• 51% of manufacturing firms with turnover exceeding $10m also exceed $18m (compared with 49% of nonmanufacturing firms).

Figure 1: Share of service and manufacturing firms across the different turnover categories

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0.7%

South Australia Heading

and automation, increasing ore recovery and reducing waste rock dilution, provision of effective rock reinforcement systems in squeezing and bursting ground conditions, monitoring technology, and more.

This will require R&D and innovation in METS companies and willingness of mining companies to engage with METS SMEs as lead customers.

• Food & Wine, where opportunities flow from growing demand in Asia, specifically high-value-added products in functional and premium/luxury segments. This will require firms to develop capabilities in science-based product innovation and continuous production processes, and luxury product management.

• Cellulose Value Chain.

• Ageing Well.

All the above are supported by the main universities in the state – the University of South Australia, Flinders University, and the University of Adelaide – as well as TAFE SA. A scientific approach to identifying manufacturing opportunities in would ask: If we look at other economies that produce what we produce, what things do they also produce that we do not produce?

This gives us a list of areas that SA should, under the correct boundary conditions, be able to move into given what is presently being produced. From a list of around 100 opportunities to pursue, the top seven are: • Analogue physical analysis instruments • Organo-sulphur compounds.

• Epoxide resins.

• X-Ray equipment.

• Metalworking machine-tools.

• Machinery for specialised industries.

• Electrical medical equipment.

The above opportunities are linked to advanced manufacturing, photonics, electronics, medical devices, food, biotechnology and speciality chemicals industry, all of which have strong future growth opportunities and which in turn open up further manufacturing opportunities.

Opportunities and challenges Manufacturing has a great future in SA, but the transition for the economy, firms and individuals is not without challenges.

We will see periods both of net decline and of growth, and the Government must be active in providing a policy environment conducive to minimising the decline periods while maximising growth periods.

Firms and individuals have a responsibility to ensure they are ready to succeed in this continuously changing environment.

The key challenges relate to the industry structure, with a high share of very small firms, with relatively low R&D investment and relatively low interest in growing, as well as low collaborative behaviour. To address this, various steps are being taken, including initiatives to encourage firms to grow and facilitate their growth ambitions – such as Tonsley Innovation Precinct, Northern Adelaide Food Park, and the Centre for Business Growth – and to increase numbers of startups in the state.

The State Government’s 2016 Annual Small Business Statement also provides an overview of its activities and direction in support of small business.

There is also a need to broaden and deepen the industrial commons and hence increase the economic complexity of the state. To contribute to this, Investment Attraction South Australia was established as lead agency for all major investment activity in the state. There is a further need to develop new industries anchored in inputs where SA has a revealed comparative advantage. An example of this can be found in the work of the Economic Development Board of South Australia around Ageing Well and in developing an industry plan for a macroalgae-based industry – an industry estimated at $8bn worldwide. Another example is the work of the State Government through Regional Development Australia Limestone Coast around the Cellulose Value Chain.

There is a need to assist in transforming industries that are unable or unwilling to remain in the state or transform themselves.

An example of this is the automotive supply chain with the Automotive Transformation Taskforce and the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS).

Further challenges exist around ensuring sufficient capacity and coverage of digital infrastructure to enable innovation, as well as operations in digital supply chains and with digital solutions and the associated new business models. Ensuring a managed transition of the electricity provision in the state is also essential. Both these challenges provide additional opportunities for the manufacturing industry.

To facilitate the growth of manufacturing in SA, government must act as: • A civic leader and direction-setter, persuading and advocating in the public interest, not for sectional interests or private benefit.

• A sophisticated purchaser, using purchasing and commissioning power to encourage others to innovate, a demanding customer driving innovation, and a gatekeeper enabling

local SMEs to participate in local government-funded projects.

• A broker of knowledge and relationships, facilitating sharing of knowledge and strengthening relationships and connections, especially between parties with seemingly different interests. This will probably involve strengthening the presence of international public research organisations with capabilities complementary to those in the state.

• A responsive regulator, ensuring that regulatory regimes operate to help – not hinder – competitive and innovative solutions and opportunities throughout the economy. Sometimes regulation may be used to drive innovation, for example in energy efficiency, construction, and resource footprint minimisation.

• An infrastructure and information provider, ensuring the prerequisites for enhanced manufacturing productivity and competitiveness are in place and known, and making information available to firms that could not afford it on their own.

• A funder of skills and capability development to increase firms’ absorptive capacity as manufacturing becomes more ICT-intensive.

Firms must continuously change their business model to reap the potential benefits inherent in smart deployment of digital technologies and in being part of ecosystems that also contain platformbased enterprises and individuals capable of product and service provisioning.

On the individual level, there must be substantially increased focus on, and responsibility for, continuous competence development, as well as high flexibility and acceptance of change. The deployment of technology-enabled, productivityenhancing tools will reduce the need for automation-prone, low- and medium-skill tasks. At the same time it will increase demand for high-skill tasks, and existing or new tasks that cannot presently be automated, including operating and maintaining tools that embody continuously developing technology. In essence, individuals have the responsibility to make themselves attractive to the new and emerging manufacturing industry.

Professor Göran Roos is a member of the Economic Development Board of South Australia. economicdevelopmentboardsa.com.au statedevelopment.sa.gov.au startupadelaide.com.au invest.sa.gov.au

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State Spotlight South Australia

SA manufacturers go high-tech to meet challenging market

Four South Australian manufacturers have made positive investments in new high-tech plant to meet challenging market conditions and take a competitive advantage in local and international environments.

An Okuma customer for more than 35 years, RC Williams Pty Ltd is a manufacturing company at the cutting edge of technology and automation. This company has doubled its business in the last 12 months and is very much a personalised family operation, with the family’s second generation –Robin, Sue, Nick and Sam Williams – running the company with a team of highly skilled precision engineers.

“The recent installation of the latest Okuma Multus U4000 follows the successful use of the Okuma Multus B400-W,” says Sam Williams. “A general multi-function machine centre, designed to reduce set-up time by virtually eliminating repetitive fixturing, has reduced non-cutting time to a minimum. Along with high accuracy levels even in complex parts, it has made us very competitive and generated additional work. But this is just one of seven Okuma machines which consistently produce highly accurate components at speed with cost savings for us even of short runs.”

The company takes full advantage of Okuma’s robotic automation, generous training programs, technical advice at the end of the phone, and strong local sales support provided by the supplier, and continues to build on an already strong relationship.

From its facility in North Plympton, RC Williams specialises in components for mining trucks and heavy off-road vehicles, particularly shafts, bushes, gears, cutting tools and maintenance.

It also services a diverse range of clients in transport, agriculture, mining, defence, natural resources, research & development (R&D) projects, the fitness industry and education. With such a broad array of activities, it is not surprising that the company is about to add some 30% more space to its manufacturing facility. The company services clients in South Australia and also across Australia along with indirect export sales.

Opportunities for jet components Levett Engineering is a world-leading precision component manufacturer with a strong Australian and international client base that includes defence, aerospace, medical, electronics and commercial engineering sectors. Based in Elizabeth South, the company conforms to AS9100 Rev C Quality Standard for aerospace and defence manufactured components with ITAR compliance and also conforms to ISO 9001 2008 Quality Standard as a minimum for all its customers’ requirements.

To achieve the fine tolerance work involved in components for aerospace such as precision parts for the F35 JSF aircraft program, Levett recently commissioned its first Okuma CNC Lathe Multus B400 II W with OSP-P300S Control, and is delighted with the fact that it is holding fine tolerances on components with an exceptional surface finish. With consistent accuracy following one set-up in this precision machine, the company is strongly focused on more defence contracts and building strong relationships with both suppliers and customers. On the shop floor the skilled engineers see the future in this new technology and embrace the training offered by the Okuma team.

“The machine was selected for a purpose and recently client approval was provided on four first off-tool samples which is quite a remarkable achievement,” comments Managing Director Paul Levett. “In the highly competitive international aerospace market,

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the machine is already providing a competitive edge and opening up new opportunities for additional jet engine components, where the company has built up a proud record of high precision, quality and reliability for on-time delivery.”

Whilst there have been significant changes in the South Australian component supply area with the demise of the car industry, Levett Engineering, with its advanced manufacturing focus in aerospace, marine and defence, is experiencing huge growth with more opportunities opening up that will require additional skilled staff and further investment.

The company was formed in 1989, and with Paul’s background in defence and aerospace engineering there was a natural focus in these areas for the new company. Some 13-14 years ago a conscious decision was made to go global and today 75% of the company’s business is exported, with the balance primarily in defence work within Australia.

Enabling diversifaction Heavy Transport Engineering (HTE) was formed in 1996 with the aim of providing high levels of quality and fast service to the earthmoving and transport industries. Today the company operates a modern workshop and engineering facility in Wingfield, servicing a diverse array of industries such as mining, marine, manufacturing and construction.

The company’s strong business relationship with Okuma commenced some eight years ago, encompassing lathes and CNC vertical machining centres complete with controls. HTE’s continuing investment in the brand over the years has provided the company with consistent precision and quality in component output across casting, pump housings, tow couplings and rail products.

“Performance of these machines is second to none and this has helped our company grow and compete with countries like China,” says HTE Production Engineer Chris Bremner. “The unlimited training and technical support at the end of the phone at any time is also a major factor.”

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Diversification has assisted HTE’s robust tow coupling business in the heavy transport market, mobile line boring and repairs being a huge part of the services offered. The company continues to grow with more than 90% of sales in mainland Australia and indirect sales to Peru, Indonesia and New Zealand.

Training brings advantage EAS Toolcraft Pty Ltd of Holden Hill is a member of the Defence Teaming Centre and is in a positive phase with new business opportunities according to Managing Director Peter Timmins. The company has enjoyed 23 years of reliable and excellent service from Okuma and takes advantage of training where appropriate.

Toolcraft’s operators are now very familiar with the systems on these machines, which is a great advantage for the company.

“Reliability is paramount for us and our seven machines are wellmade solid machines which hold their tolerances through rigidity, and for aeronautical and defence components this is vital,” says Timmins.

The recent downturn in South Australian manufacturing as a result of the demise of the automotive industry has had a minor impact on this company, which has concentrated on quality precision tooling services and engineering to AS9100C Aerospace standard. The company works closely with the Defence Science & Technology Group (DSTG) on a number of high-tech aerospace projects, often in conjunction with the Queensland University, and is a supplier to helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky.

Toolcraft is a defence-ready Supplier with long term relationships with many prime suppliers such as ASC, DSTO, BAE Systems, Sikorsky and Babcock, concentrating on exportable sales within Mainland Australia. This diversified company is also a specialist in bottling and wine equipment, specialising in parts supply and full machine refurbishments. It provides tooling, wine machines, corkers, rinsers, fillers, jaws, corker jaws, change parts and repairs, successfully combining toolmaking skills with the latest in computerised machining technologies, including custom injection moulding services.

Okuma Australia will be exhibiting at Austech 2017, at stand 675. www.rcwilliams.com.au www.levett.com.au www.heavytransportengineering.com.au www.toolcraft.com.au

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State Spotlight

South Australia

South Australia

HMPS – Export success in packaging robots Packaging robots built at the Adelaide Airport precinct are helping to streamline South East Asia’s surging food and beverage industry.

HMPS designs and builds the bespoke robotic systems to fill specific industry needs, including packaging, organising, weighing and x-raying materials to ensure there are no foreign substances. The company has become one of the largest automation manufacturers in the country.

HMPS’ machines, which are fitted with cameras to allow remote troubleshooting, are being used in a number of countries in SouthEast Asia including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. It also has machines operating across Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

The company won the Export Achievement Award at the 2015 Auspack Awards for the unique dual-function machine it supplied Nestlé in South Africa. The device processes sachets of food into boxes and trays simultaneously. Design, prototype, final build and testing all happen at the local HMPS factory near Adelaide Airport.

HMPS Business Development Manager Linh Bui said its base location near Adelaide Airport made it ideally placed to service South-East Asia because of time-zone similarities and geographical proximity compared with European and American competitors.

He said Asia’s rising middle-class growth and the expansion of its food and beverage industries had created demand for effective packaging systems.

“We provide a whole gamut of turnkey products for packaging food and drinks,” he said. “We provide remote monitoring options for our products where we include a modem and camera on the machine. As soon as we get a phone call we can review footage and identify what the problem is and where it occurred and work with the customer to resolve it quite quickly.”

HMPS has over 50 employees and more than 300 machines in the field. The company has grown by almost 30% in the past three years. It is in the process of developing other niche products including machines with Internet of Things (IoT) technology to further improve its remote servicing. The company is trialling the technology in Australia and plans to roll it out to its international clients if it proves successful.

“We are developing a way in which the customer and us would be able to monitor performance and put in preventative procedures during production,” Bui said. “For example, if you’re looking after multiple sites, you would be able to monitor the situations on your mobile or tablet while you are traveling, and make sure the machines in the factories are working how they should.”

ProPak is Asia’s largest processing and packaging event and this year’s show will feature more than 1200 exhibitors from more than 20 countries. www.hmps.com.au

Tonsley – Australia’s innovation district In recognition of South Australia’s proud history of agriculture and manufacturing, the suburb of Tonsley has officially been created, including the 61-hectare former Mitsubishi Motors site, which is now home to Australia’s leading innovation district.

While the area has long been known as Tonsley, it is now officially a suburb following an application by the City of Marion and Renewal SA. The new suburb of Tonsley includes the former Mitsubishi site, an area south to Sturt Road, and nearby residential areas. A small industrial precinct to the north-east of the site is also included.

The SA Government purchased the former Mitsubishi site in 2010, transforming it into Australia’s first innovation district. It is now home to more than 70 business and around 1000 workers and is viewed internationally as a model for urban renewal. As well as a hub for advanced manufacturing businesses and services, Tonsley has a significant research, education and training focus with Flinders University’s School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics and TAFE SA’s Sustainable Industries Education Centre both on site.

Tonsley has a 140-year history in the area, after the Ragless family bought farmland in 1876 and named it after Tonsley Hall in England.

It was farmed for several generations before being developed by Chrysler in 1964.

“The official renaming of Tonsley is recognition of South Australia’s history of production, with the site home to farming, automotive manufacturing and now a bright future in advanced manufacturing

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and technology,” said Kyam Maher, Manufacturing and Innovation Minister. “I am proud of what we have been able to achieve at the Tonsley Innovation Hub – it is now an incredibly accessible site that is home to more than 70 businesses and will continue to grow into the future.” www.tonsley.com.au

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Look further from a higher vantage point.

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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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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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Company Focus

SPEE3D – All-Australian additive manufacturing Working from a factory in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs, SPEE3D is in many ways a classic traditional manufacturing business. Its product, however, could have a revolutionary impact in the world of additive manufacturing. By William Poole.

Signing in at SPEE3D’s premises in Dandenong, it’s hard not to notice the mini golf green. A strip of astro-turf with a hole at one end, and a putter and ball laid out for anyone to chance their arm.

It might seem a little frivolous – the sort of thing you’d expect to see at some inner-city “creative industries” outfit, rather than in the serious, pragmatic world of manufacturing – but it actually does a very neat job of demonstrating what SPEE3D is about. That’s because the head of the putter was manufactured by SPEE3D using its own innovative 3D-printing technology.

“The issue today with 3D printing is that it’s too expensive and too slow,” says Byron Kennedy, SPEE3D’s CEO. “When we started this company, it was ‘How do we fix this issue, of both cost and speed, to produce parts?’ So the technology we developed is a very highspeed process and very low-cost.”

SPEE3D’s technology can produce 3D-printed metal components, but using an unusual approach. Most metal additive manufacturing processes employ a heat source such as a laser to melt powders so that the particles bond together, cooling to form solid components.

SPEE3D, on the other hand, uses a technique called supersonic deposition or ‘cold spray’, which fires metal particles at supersonic speeds so when they hit a surface they stick, creating a full-density metallurgic bond. The US military has been using it for about 10 years, and the CSIRO has been doing some work with the technology, but in both cases it has been limited to basic surface cladding processes for repairs.

SPEE3D’s innovation has been to mount the deposition surface on a six-axis robot, which can then manipulate its position around the spray nozzle to create complex, three-dimensional parts. Because the system doesn’t rely on materials being heated and then cooled, it is significantly faster. Moreover, it does so at a greatly reduced cost.

“The cost drivers in 3D printing are primarily the gases – nitrogen or argon” says Kennedy. “We just use air. So that reduces the cost significantly. Second is the powders: they use very specialised powders, and we’re targeting very generic metal powders.”

A manufacturing mindset Kennedy and co-founder Steve Camilleri (now the company’s Chief Technology Officer) set up SPEE3D just a year and a half ago, with

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start-up funding from angel investors as well as grants from the Federal Government’s Accelerating Commercialisation program, and from the Victorian and Northern Territory Governments. The company has an experienced board with lengthy academic backgrounds, and has extensive links with universities such as RMIT, Swinburne and the University of Technology Sydney.

However, Kennedy and Camilleri come firmly from the world of manufacturing, having previously run a company producing highefficiency electric motors, which was eventually sold to a large US manufacturing company.

“There were two things we learnt from that,” says Kennedy. “One: we know how to take an idea all the way through from lab prototype through to mass production. And the second thing is that we learnt a lot about manufacturing.”

Kennedy believes that grounding in manufacturing, and indeed their relative lack of a background in additive manufacturing, both work to their advantage.

“Additive manufacturing companies are made out of additive manufacturing people, and for us it’s all about manufacturing and production. For us it’s about building parts people want, not what people can use in 10 years’ time.

“We saw 3D printing was coming, but we knew the technology, all the laser-based systems, was never going to get there. It’s just too slow and too expensive. It’s fine for medical and some aerospace applications. It makes beautiful parts, stunning latticework and that sort of stuff, but what do you do with them, other than as trophies? Our background is manufacturing and manufacturing is not interested in trophies. Manufacturers are interested in real products, cost, speed, delivery, quality. So that’s what we set out to achieve and solve with this technology.”

Today SPEE3D has six staff on the payroll, with plans to expand to 15 or 20 by the end of 2017. Plans are in place to raise further funds later in the year, probably through corporate investors or venture capital. Meanwhile testing is underway with universities to validate the material properties of components printed on SPEE3D’s machines, though according to Kennedy, US military data suggest the performance is as good as cast parts.

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As with most additive techniques, SPEE3D’s technology can deliver unique products; Kennedy cites one particular electronics component, details of which are confidential but which couldn’t be produced by any other method. There are also promising niche applications, such as in defence or mining, where the ability to deploy the machines in remote locations offers considerable supply chain advantages. However, the company’s sights are firmly set on those big, high-volume manufacturing segments.

“We are working in the aviation field, but the lead times are longer, so our focus is actually automotive,” says Kennedy. “Where is this technology going to end up? It’s going to end up in Germany, Japan and the US – the big auto sectors. We’re working with all the big auto guys in Germany. We’ve also visited probably a dozen companies in Japan and we’re working with those guys at the moment as well. We haven’t even ventured into the US, so that will be next on the hit list.”

Kennedy is bullish about where SPEE3D’s product sits in the market.

Most of the key players in additive manufacturing are still primarily focusing on very low-volume, high-value components, as well as prototyping, with only a few players venturing into the production area. SPEE3D, meanwhile, is pushing straight through to target full-volume production, and take on more traditional manufacturing processes.

“We haven’t seen anyone else doing this,” says Kennedy. “Today, 3D printing is about on-demand products, one-offs or low-volume; it’s high-value, high-expense components. It has a niche. Meanwhile, with traditional manufacturing, you have long lead times, high quantities. We fit interestingly in between. We’re economical up until about 10,000 units, and beyond that you’d go to traditional casting. But there are plenty of opportunities in products produced at 10,000 pieces a year.”

Pragmatism over precision That manufacturers’ practical-mindedness is evident across SPEE3D’s strategy. For example, while many of the leading manufacturers of additive systems put great emphasis on the precision their machines achieve, SPEE3D downplays that aspect.

The components made on its machines are rough, inexact… unfinished.

“The thing about 3D printing today – and casting for that matter – is you can’t print a bearing bore, you can’t print a mating surface, you can’t print a thread,” says Kennedy. “You always have to postmachine printed metal parts. Our philosophy was different: we don’t put as much effort into getting the ultimate surface finish, because you have to post-machine it anyway. It doesn’t matter if you’re taking off ten micron or 100; you still have to put it on the mill and machine it. Our philosophy was: print it fast. You have to postmachine anyway. So that’s our approach.”

A similar approach is taken with regard to materials. Much of the coverage of additive manufacturing focuses on expensive, niche metals, particularly titanium. While SPEE3D’s technology can be applied for most metals, the company is initially targeting the other end of the market.

“For us there are two markets: steel and aluminium, because that’s where the volume is,” Kennedy adds. “Aluminium is an $80bn market. Steel is $100bn. Compared to that, titanium is loose change. It’s less than $5bn. It’s interesting, but there’s no real market for it. The drive in the auto and aerospace worlds is into aluminium anyway. So people ask us ‘Can you do titanium?’ and the answer is ‘Yes but we’re not interested in it’. Maybe in the future, but we’re still a small company. You’ve got to focus somewhere and we’re focusing on aluminium.”

SPEE3D CEO and co-founder Byron Kennedy.

Australian made There’s one further element that sets SPEE3D apart. Australian companies that are actually making manufacturing technology are few and far between. Australian companies doing so in the additive space are vanishingly rare. And yet SPEE3D’s machines are almost entirely Australian-made – the exception being the robot, which is from ABB. SPEE3D designed and manufactures the spray nozzle, which is actually a rocket nozzle (“So it is actually rocket science,” Kennedy quips). The proprietary software was also developed inhouse. The rest of the machine is either manufactured in-house or sourced from Australian suppliers, with the final assembly undertaken at the factory in Dandenong.

On top of this, SPEE3D’s technology and its strategy create interesting supply chain opportunities beyond the production of the actual machine, with potential multiplier effects of wider benefit to Australia.

“We’re targeting aluminium, and the supply chain for aluminium for 3D printing is Australian,” Kennedy explains. “We dig up the bauxite in Queensland, they send it to Tasmania to be processed into the aluminium ingot, and then send it across the road – we have one of the world’s largest powder producers in Tasmania. They produce the aluminium powder, we put it in this machine, and make the parts. That whole supply chain is in Australia.

“We talk about advanced manufacturing in Australia, and not just selling dirt to China. This is it. The thing about this machine is, because we use no gases, we know the process is the lowest cost.

The only costs are power and the powder to put into it, and we can source the lowest-cost powder because it’s essentially straight from the mines. You use that powder, you make parts, you sell parts. We’re not selling dirt anymore. We’re selling value-added parts.” www.spee3d.com

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Robotics & Automation

ABB robots support Australian homewares icon

A flexible and compact robotic solution from A&RT Systems is helping Australian plastic homewares manufacturer The Décor Corporation meet the growing demand for its array of versatile fridge container products – both in Australia and around the globe.

The turnkey robotic solution includes a number of ABB Robots, including the versatile IRB1200 and ABB’s flagship palletising robot, the IRB660.

The system, designed and supplied by A&RT Systems, has streamlined the manufacturing, assembly and packaging of Décor’s products. Automating its manufacturing operations has enabled Décor to reduce costs while freeing up the production staff for more productive tasks.

Rising demand Décor has been manufacturing plastic homewares products in Australia for more than 50 years. A homegrown success story, the company specialises in a breadth of homewares solutions that combine aesthetics, functionality, affordability and durability.

From its base in Scoresby, Victoria, Décor manufactures an innovative range of plastic fridge containers enjoyed by customers around the world – from local department stores and supermarkets, to export outlets across Europe, America, India and Japan.

With global demand rising for its fridge container range, Décor required a high-end robotic solution that was reliable and flexible enough to grow with its manufacturing requirements. The company called on the assistance of A&RT, an automation equipment specialist and ABB authorised value provider based in Bayswater, Victoria.

A specialist in robotic-based solutions that integrate robotics, automation and machine vision systems for applications in food, pharmaceutical, packaging and other industrial areas, A&RT was able to apply ABB products to provide Décor with an affordable – yet proven – robotic solution to meet its specifications.

Customer requirements Décor required a robotics partner that could work with the company to design, build and integrate a system incorporating automation equipment, robotics and machine vision systems, with minimal lead time. Décor Managing Director Graeme Wilson said his company chose to work with A&RT as its supply partner for robots due to the organisation’s strong reputation in the industry.

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“They came very strongly recommended, and they are a local company,” Wilson explained.

A&RT Managing Director Dale Collinson said the company’s expertise in the food & beverage industry made it the perfect partner to meet Décor’s requirements.

“We do most of our work for the food & beverage industry, and in some offshoots as we are with Décor,” he said. “We’re really proud to be working with Décor Australia – such a household brand – and helping them achieve more success in such a competitive market.

“We’ve worked with ABB over many years now, and with the background and history we’ve had with ABB, it was quite an easy choice in the end given the range of product, the fact that they’re in Australia in their own right, and we can get global support wherever our systems go.”

Turnkey system A&RT was tasked with providing a turnkey system to manufacture and process Décor’s plastic tubs from the basic assembly, right through to complete palletisation.

“The system consists of four main cells – the first system being a valve assembly cell which integrates high-end vision, and an IRB 120 robot to assemble the valves in to the lids, forming up stacks of the lids,” explained Collinson. “Those lids are then moved to the second system. This is a tub assembly system which also uses an IRB 120 robot, which assembles the lids on to the tubs.

“From that stage, they get conveyed through into a case packing cell. The case packing system uses the new IRB 1200 robot – this robot is proven to be a great asset for ABB and has been fantastic for us to integrate in to our systems for case packing.” The IRB 1200 is a new offering from ABB that is 15% smaller and 10% faster than previous machines. The compact robot is flexible, fast and functional, and was designed to address the requirements of the material handling and machine tending industries for flexibility, ease of use, compactness and short cycle times – while still maintaining large working envelopes. “The speed has been better than what we expected, giving us fantastic flexibility and a really good asset into the case packing range,” said Collinson. “From that point we move on to the palletising system where we’re using an IRB 660 – a four-axis palletising robot – to palletise all of the products. Because of the slightly lower rates, we’re also handling pallets and slip-sheets within the system.”

Positive outcome According to Collinson, using ABB equipment, the team was able to successfully provide a turnkey system that required minimal labour from start to finish.

“Throughout the process, we overcame various unique technical challenges which were driven by the Décor product range, including the various colours that we had to manage, as well as the variety of different cartons, lids, tubs and valves,” he said.

“Integrating with third-party equipment, such as vision systems, really was critical to the success of the system, and that has been a major benefit with the ABB robots and the connectability they offer.”

Wilson said the most important benefit Décor received from the project is reduction in manufacturing costs.

“The robot system – even though quite expensive – has an amortisation of less than eight months which is excellent for us, and has reduced the monotony for our staff,” he explained. www.decor.com.au www.a-rt.com.au www.abbaustralia.com.au

Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions

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Your partner in automation and robotics

APAS assistant collaborative robot

The APAS assistant is a versatile automatic production assistant. As an intelligent and intrinsically safe robot system, the APAS assistant allows direct collaboration with people without expensive additional shielding. This is made possible by the unique sensor skin, which covers the robot arm of the APAS assistant and which reacts, as soon as somebody approaches.

With a breadth of industries and products that extend from the automotive industry, to medical, pharmaceutical, healthcare, food, energy, power tools, household appliances and whitegoods. With a strong history in supplying equipment to the automotive supply chain, Bosch Manufacturing Solutions now delivers into a diverse range of Industries.

Automation

Assembly Line, Assembly Equipment, Material Handling, Axis /Robotics & Jigs & Fixtures

Test & Measurement

Product Test Systems, Communication Interfaces, Data Analysis & Data Acquisition

Process Technology

Dispensing Systems, Riveting, Tightening Systems & Vision Systems

Engineering Services

Feasibility studies, Lean equipment design, Project Management, System Integrators

The standardized production assistants APAS assistant, APAS inspector and APAS flexpress, as a stand-alone solution or in a manufacturing island, are designed for: ad-hoc small series production, semi-automation, pilot production for safeguarding a process, agile engineering with early interim results and quality tests.

To find out more contact John Croft (61) (0) 434 185 329 M (03)9541 5086 T john.croft@au.bosch.com E bosch-manufacturingsolutions.com.au W

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Robotics & Automation

Australian-made automation for world-leading Aussie manufacturer Newcastle-based Banlaw Unified Fuel Management has taken a giant step in achieving greater productivity and efficiency with the installation of a CellPro robotic machine tending system.

Banlaw has more than 35 years’ experience in designing and manufacturing fuel management systems for mining, ports (container handling), rail and transport industries, offering complete control of the delivery, despatch, cleanliness and usage of all hydrocarbons for unparalleled control of environmental risks, effectiveness and accuracy. No matter how harsh or remote the operating environment, Banlaw’s systems mean that vehicles such as locomotives, haul trucks, excavators, bulldozers, heavy trucks, buses, container lift machines and storage tanks can be safely fast-filled and individual vehicle usage can be monitored.

The system can also help to eliminate fuel theft, cut machinery downtime and provide a safer, cleaner and more environmentally sustainable work place.

Looking to the future, Banlaw selected CellPro, a pre-engineered, modular robotic machine tending system for Mazak machines which has been designed and developed by John Hart right here in Australia. For Banlaw’s production requirements, it brings together a Mazak Integrex j-200S CNC multi-tasking machine, a Fanuc M20iA six-axis handling robot and John Hart’s CellPro cell control software.

This is a state-of-the-art user interface that requires no robot programming knowledge to create a fully automated manufacturing cell, offering unrivalled ease of use, flexibility and efficiency.

The Mazak Integrex j-200S is a done-in-one horizontal multi-tasking machine. It features a second spindle that makes it possible to perform continuous machining from first to second processes. It is a compact machine with large workpiece capacity, equipped with a 20-tool magazine as standard.

The Fanuc M-20iA robot is a lightweight, compact six-axis hollow-wrist assembly robot that is perfect for automated handling operations involving multi-material payloads that require added cable protection. It is designed to be easy to install in confined spaces.

CellPro has given Banlaw the capability for unmanned operation over extended periods of time, including lights out manufacturing without the complications associated with traditional robot programming. CellPro is the only solution that offers true unmanned operation. Unlike other machine tool tending systems, CellPro is not defeated by exacting manufacturing tolerance requirements. Additionally it’s not limited by workpiece size and weight.

CellPro is not just seriously easy to use, it is also amazingly flexible. It can be set up to tend one or more Mazak machines and is compatible with all modern Mazak machines, including new and existing machine installations.

CellPro offers a range of end-of-arm gripper choices and part-feeding options, including pallets, drawer systems and billet feeders.

In-cell options include part-cleaning, drying, marking, intelligent vision systems and quality control functions.

The CellPro control software features dragand-drop functionality, which allows for a production sequence to be defined in seconds. The CellPro Process Builder then guides the user to complete complex robot motion and sequence configurations in just a few minutes.

Australian customers also benefit from local first-hand knowledge and support from the people who actually design and make CellPro. John Hart is uniquely placed to combine a depth of experience with world-leading brands to create innovative

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manufacturing solutions such as CellPro. Offering unparalleled ease of use, CellPro is a machine tool system solution for machine tool users.

Banlaw’s manufacturing and research and development facility is located in the Hunter Valley, the centre of Australia’s industrial heartland. Its fuel management systems can be found in use throughout Australia, Europe, Asia, the US and the Americas.

The company’s technology is used every day in the harshest work environments around the world; it is designed and built for reliability and performance.

All fittings are manufactured from highquality alloys and machined to exacting standards thanks to John Hart and Mazak.

Banlaw’s long-term relationship with John Hart began over 30 years ago with the supply of a Mazak VTC machining centre.

Since then their manufacturing facility has grown to eight Mazak machine tools, including the recent addition of John Hart’s own CellPro Modular Robotic System.

Banlaw’s objective of achieving industryleading efficiency rates continue to be achieved through its continuous improvement process and innovation culture, supported by John Hart’s commitment to provide the most advanced manufacturing technologies.

John Hart will be exhibiting at Austech 2017, at stand 650 www.banlaw.com www.johnhart.com.au

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Engineers get under robot’s skin to heighten senses Most robots achieve grasping and tactile sensing through motorised means, which can be excessively bulky and rigid. However, a group of researchers at Cornell University in the US has now devised a way for a soft robot to feel its surroundings internally, in much the same way humans do.

The group – led by Robert Shepherd, Assistant Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Principal Investigator of Organic Robotics Lab – has published a paper describing how stretchable optical waveguides act as curvature, elongation and force sensors in a soft robotic hand. The paper – entitled “Optoelectronically Innervated Soft Prosthetic Hand via Stretchable Optical Waveguides’ – published in December in the debut edition of Science Robotics.

Doctoral student Huichan Zhao was the lead author of the paper, which also featured contributions from doctoral students Kevin O’Brien and Shuo Li, both of Shepherd’s lab.

“Most robots today have sensors on the outside of the body that detect things from the surface,” says doctoral student Huichan Zhao. “Our sensors are integrated within the body, so they can actually detect forces being transmitted through the thickness of the robot, a lot like we and all organisms do when we feel pain, for example.”

Optical waveguides have been in use since the early 1970s for numerous sensing functions, including tactile, position and acoustic. Fabrication was originally a complicated process, but the advent over the last 20 years of soft lithography and 3D printing has led to development of elastomeric sensors that are easily produced and incorporated into a soft robotic application.

Shepherd’s group employed a four-step soft lithography process to produce the core (through which light propagates), and the cladding (outer surface of the waveguide), which also houses the LED

(light-emitting diode) and the photodiode.

The more the prosthetic hand deforms, the more light is lost through the core. That variable loss of light, as detected by the photodiode, is what allows the prosthesis to ‘sense’ its surroundings.

“If no light was lost when we bend the prosthesis, we wouldn’t get any information about the state of the sensor,” says Shepherd. “The amount of loss is dependent on how it’s bent.”

The group used its optoelectronic prosthesis to perform a variety of tasks, including grasping and probing for both shape and texture. Most notably, the hand was able to scan three tomatoes and determine, by softness, which was the ripest. Zhao said this technology has many potential uses beyond prostheses, including bio-inspired robots, which Shepherd has explored along with Mason Peck, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, for use in space exploration.

“That project has no sensory feedback,” Shepherd said, referring to the collaboration with Peck. “But if we did have sensors, we could monitor in real time the shape change during combustion [through water electrolysis] and develop better actuation sequences to make it move faster.”

Future work on optical waveguides in soft robotics will focus on increased sensory capabilities, in part by 3D printing more complex sensor shapes, and by incorporating machine learning as a way of decoupling signals from an increased number of sensors.

“Right now,” Shepherd said, “it’s hard to localise where a touch is coming from.” www.cornell.edu

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Advanced Manufacturing Technologies - Driving the real innovation agenda The Australian Technologies Competition (ATC) celebrates Australia’s best emerging technology companies. With the support of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and many industry associations, the program has to date assisted 160 companies.

Now in its seventh year, the ATC finds, mentors and develops Australia’s best technology companies with the greatest global potential. The Business Accelerator Program aims to help turn good technologies into great businesses.

In 2016, from the 150 entries, 38 companies were shortlisted and provided with opportunities that included: • Mentoring support with an expert business advisor assigned to each company to provide advice and connections and improve the company’s opportunities to succeed.

• Pitch training and presentation opportunities at Technology Showcase events in Melbourne and Sydney.

• Investor speed dating opportunities with Australia’s leading technology investors.

• Attending the ATC Trade Mission to Hong Kong and China.

• Profiling in industry journals and through social media.

Whilst there are separate industry awards for manufacturing, energy, agri-tech, mining, oil & gas, medtech, cyber-security and smart cities, most of the shortlisted companies are manufacturing products in Australia. Many of the companies are growing and creating highly skilled local employment opportunities. This stands in contrast to much of the IT innovation activity that, even when successful, creates few local jobs.

Five of the Federal Government’s six Industry Growth Centres are supporting their respective awards to help grow the most promising SME companies in their sector. For the Advanced Manufacturing award, however, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre has decided not to be involved. The Program is therefore fortunate to have the support of AMTIL to showcase some of the country’s most exciting manufacturing companies.

The judging panel features the country’s leading experts in commercialisation, finance, intellectual property and technology development, from companies such as Deloitte, Bird & Bird and FB Rice.

With a focus on building global success stories, the judges are looking not only for the best technologies, but also for the best managers and the best business plans.

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The 2016 Australian Technologies Competition award winners: (from left) Wattwatchers (New Energy); Cortical Dynamics (Advanced Manufacturing); Core Resources (Mining Technologies); Long Pipes (Energy Resources); Independent Products (Smart Cities); Vectus Biosystems (Medtech & Pharma); CryptoPhoto (Cyber Security) and Aglive (Food & Agribusiness).

Each year, the shortlisted companies are developing a range of incredible innovations that address the big growth opportunities and challenges of the future.

In 2016 the semi-finalists in the Advanced Manufacturing Award category were:

priority sectors,” explained John O’Brien, the ATC competition organiser. “Each year we are amazed as the quality of the entries steps up and provides an amazing demonstration of Australian ingenuity and the global opportunities that are available.”

• Advanced Fertigation Systems. A cost-effective water and nutrient management platform.

Previous winners of the Advanced Manufacturing Award have included:

• Aglive. A system and method for digital supply chain traceability from paddock to plate.

• Conflux Technology. An additive manufacturing solution for highefficiency heat exchangers.

• Gamechanger Technologies. VForce Compound Motion technology for efficient airfoils.

• Long Pipes. Continuous joint-free, composite piping for gases and fluids.

The 2016 Advanced Manufacturing Award winner was Cortical Dynamics (www.corticaldynamics.com), which has developed a disruptive brain function monitor, the Brain Anaesthesia Response (BAR) monitor. This device detects more effectively the effect of anaesthetic agents on brain activity and aids optimal anaesthetisation.

“This year we have again partnered with the Federal Government’s Industry Growth Centres to identify and work with technologies from the Government’s

• Ocius Technology. The developer of the ‘Ocius Bluebottles’, unmanned surface vessels (USVs) that have between two and five times the power, payload and performance of their competitors. (www.ocius.com.au) • Rheology Solutions. Developer of an ‘OnLine Rheometer’, which delivers real-time data to enable improved production process quality control by measuring flow curves for liquids in pipes. (www.rheologysolutions.com) • BluGlass. A listed semiconductor company bringing to market a breakthrough LED manufacturing technology called remote plasma chemical vapour deposition (RPCVD). (www.bluglass.com.au) First-round entries for the Australian Technologies Competition opened on 28 March. The 2017 shortlisted companies that qualify for the Business Accelerator Program will be announced in June. www.austechcomp.com

Renewable Energy & Clean Heading Tech

Silicon energy storage tech scales up for commercial production

A South Australian company that has developed technology to store electricity as thermal energy will build its first commercial systems at the Tonsley Innovation Hub this year. By Andrew Spence 1414 Degrees has developed a technique to store energy by heating and melting silicon – the second-most abundant element in the Earth’s crust after oxygen.

It is being billed as a storage solution for renewable energy producers such as wind farms and solar arrays, which have come under scrutiny in recent months as South Australia grapples with issues surrounding its electricity supply. A tonne of silicon can store enough energy to power 28 houses for a day. The process also produces cheap, useable and clean heat.

The company completed its first trials in September with a small prototype test system using about 300kg of silicon to store about 150kw of energy. 1414 Degrees is now scaling up its technology to grid scale thermal energy storage systems with the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of wind and solar farms.

Chairman Dr Kevin Moriarty said 1414 Degrees had two target markets: a device capable of storing 10MWh of energy aimed at industry; and a second 200MWh device that would be suitable for a wind farm, large solar array or gas-fired power station.

As well as its ability to stabilise South Australia’s electricity supply, which relies heavily on wind power, the system is likely to appeal to northern European countries because of its ability to store the wind energy of a cold Scandinavian night while keeping residents warm and running their computers the next day.

“It’s low cost for very large energy storage,” Dr Moriarty said. “We’re not really competing with batteries, we’re going to be working in the space of district heating, major industry, electricity producers and suburb-scale residential developments.

“The big problem with renewables is this need to shift the peak – we’ve got wind turbines roaring away at 3am in South Australia when nobody needs the power.

That problem is huge in Europe as well – you need to match the demand to the generation and that’s not going to be met by lithium, it’s too expensive and you just need vast quantities to handle it.”

The thermal energy storage system (TESS) device stores electricity as thermal energy by heating and melting containers full of silicon at a cost estimated to be up to ten times cheaper than lithium batteries.

The high latent heat capacity and melting temperature of silicon – 1414 degrees

Dr Moriarty and Chief Technical Officer Matthew Johnson at Tonsley Innovation Hub.

Celsius – make it ideal for the storage of large amounts of energy.

Dr Moriarty said a site had been chosen in South Australia for the first 10MWh system.

“The idea will be to position these things near industry or get industry to move near to the very big units because it will be able to offer very clean, cheap heat,” he said.

“We don’t have any dirty emissions like you do from gas or coal so basically the heat comes out as hot air and can be used for all sorts of things. Also, you can keep using the silicon, it’s pretty much unlimited.”

The company, previously known as Latent Heat Storage, has been developing the technology for the past decade in partnership with Adelaide-based engineering consultancy ammjohn, and the University of Adelaide. It aims to initially assemble the units at the Tonsley Innovation Hub in Adelaide and have its first 10MWh system operating by mid-year.

“Then we want to demonstrate the impact of one of our bigger units at a grid level so the search is on right now for a suitable site – preferably a wind farm,” Dr Moriarty said.

“The plan is that we will then scale it up with further modules to something like 2-3 gigawatts of energy because that would enable you to store several days output and feed it back to the grid as required.

“As far as the future goes, it would be nice to keep the manufacture of these in South Australia, or at least the assembly of them, but it will depend on the sorts of deals we end up doing around the world. I can see possibly several assembly sites – one in Europe and one in North America – but it remains to be seen.

“One of the things we will be cautious about is retaining control of the intellectual property but at the same time we want to get it into production quickly because we want to stay ahead of any potential competitors.”

South Australia leads the nation in the uptake of wind energy and rooftop solar with renewable sources accounting for more than 40% of the electricity generated in the state. However, the intermittent nature of renewable energy has been the cause of intense debate in Australia in recent months.

“I think we’re in the ideal place in South Australia because there’s a demonstrable need here,” Dr Moriarty said. “We have a huge amount of renewable energy being wasted because they can’t match wind generation with the need.

“If we can demonstrate we can do that and do it cheaply then it’s going to change a lot of the economics and the reliability.” www.1414degrees.com.au

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Heat leaks and power guzzlers – Making energy efficiency a shop-floor reality

Where do machinery manufacturers, architects, construction engineers and electrical engineers all work together under the same roof? The answer is: in the ETA factory of Darmstadt University of Applied Science in Germany.

Together with private companies, they are tackling a keynote topic of the EMO Hannover 2017 metalworking trade fair: How can machine tools’ appetite for energy be downsized in interactive co-ordination with all systems, and how can firms actually put this expertise into practice? By Nikolaus Fecht.

In Hanover, the first specific solutions for the energy-efficient production operations of tomorrow will be unveiled, not least by Bosch Rexroth. The company is working closely together with the researchers at Darmstadt University.

Professor Eberhard Abele, Director of the Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools at Darmstadt, saw his heart’s desire granted in 2000. After 15 years in the industrial sector, the cybernetics graduate, with a doctorate in mechanical engineering, wanted to build a factory at the university, to educate students under realistic conditions. Abele has seen his wish come true twice: in 2007, he founded the Process Learning Factory (CiP) in Darmstadt; and in 2016 the Energy-Efficiency, Technology and Application Centre (ETA factory).

Training and researching energy-efficiency Abele’s motivation was self-evident to him: while CiP serves as a competence centre for Lean production and Industry 4.0, the ETA factory was tasked with training and research in the field of energy-efficiency. It is required, for instance, to serve as a learning factory, with whose aid Darmstadt University also aims to integrate the topic of energy efficiency into the curricula for mechanical and construction engineers.

To quote Professor Abele: “Today, all first-semester mechanical engineering students are already being confronted with the potential for energy savings in production operations. In subsequent semesters, they then find an almost ideal environment for trying out their own creative approaches to improved energy-efficiency in dissertations and theses.”

The ETA factory, however, is primarily a large-scale research laboratory for industrial energy efficiency, helping the German government to halve energy consumption by 2050 in comparison to 2008. In this context, the industrial sector plays a crucial role, since according to the German Federal Environmental Agency it consumes nearly one-third of Germany’s total energy usage.

Reason enough for the nation’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy to subsidise the ETA factory’s construction, its entire equipment and its long years of research work with €15m.

Improving the interaction of all components The ETA factory is tasked with holistically improving the coordinated interaction of all a factory’s components and systems – from machine tools to the building’s technical equipment and envelope – so as to downsize its overall energy consumption. On the same area as a typical indoor handball court (around 800sqm), there is not only a learning area for students and employees from the industrial sector, but also a machinery zone with machine tools and cleaning machines plus a hardening furnace – in which control disks for hydraulic axial piston pumps are produced. The ETA factory covers all stages of industrial manufacture, from the blank to the finished part.

The production of pump components, however, is only a means to an end, since it’s here that new concepts for energy savings are being developed under real-life conditions.

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“The former state-of-the-art has been that individual components are scrutinised separately,” says Abele. “In conjunction with machinery manufacturers, construction engineers and architects, we are aiming to analyse and optimise on a cross-disciplinary basis machine components, production machines, the process chain, a building’s technical equipment and its envelope from the viewpoint of energy-efficiency.”

Besides design-enhancing production processes, other focuses include the co-ordinated interaction between technical equipment and machinery. The technical leitmotif here is multiple networking of the factory’s individual modules: a heat network links the machines together and to the building’s envelope using heat pipes.

The façade incorporates an integrated array of very small tubes, enabling it to react to the temperatures outside, and respond accordingly, either by cooling or heating the water in the pipes. It is supported in heating the factory hall through the heat networks by the waste heat from the machines, though this is also utilised by other systems, like the hardening furnace.

“Customarily, the water used for cooling the machine’s drive elements is continuously cooled down again,” says Abele. “This is simply a total waste of energy. We now no longer cool down the entire water supply, we even heat it up a bit to 80 degrees Celsius – for the downstream system that cleans the metal parts, to cite one example.”

For cooling the drive elements, the machines instead use cold water from the mains.

The ETA factory also possesses a data network that links together all the areas involved.

“We combine the control of energy consumption with Industry 4.0,” emphasises Professor Abele. “In this way, the acquired and edited data can be used for optimising the energy consumption.”

International interest The ETA factory is an international role model, but it’s not only in Germany that the idea of downsizing energy consumption with the aid of a research factory is arousing keen interest. For instance, business engineer Martin Beck, Group Leader for Eco-Compatible Production at the ETA factory, is advising a company that’s setting up an energy-efficient machine factory in Singapore. But he has encouraging words for small and mid-tier companies too, urging them to take advice from the ETA factory or from other existing energy-efficient factories.

“It pays off for mid-tier enterprises, in particular, who won’t usually possess an energy efficiency department of their own,” says Beck.

“The energy costs account for around 3% to 5% of the total costs, of which we can save 10% to as much as 40% using rigorously targeted, holistic, often state-subsidised consultancy.”

The expenditure on what are called energy-intensive industries in Germany are particularly high: every year, they reportedly spend more than 5% of their turnover (around €17bon) on energy.

In addition, the ETA factory (according to an Institute for Production Management, Technology and Machine Tools (PTW) newsletter) serves as a “large-scale research device” for ambitious projects.

Renewable Energy & Clean Heading Tech

These include the Copernicus project entitled “SynErgie – Synchronised and energy-adaptive production technology for flexible matching of industrial processes to a fluctuating energy supply” currently being subsided by the government with €30m.

There are about 100 partners involved in this project, from the industrial sector, the research community and society as a whole.

Abele, who is also President of the German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP) defines the goal as follows: “We are networking wind turbines and solar modules with the production machine.”

Alternative energies like wind and solar power mostly produce either too little or too much energy.

“We want to render the production facilities so flexible that they can themselves react to this fluctuating supply of energy,” says PTW Senior Engineer Stefan Seifermann.

This is an important undertaking, since renewable energies in Germany were already accounting for 31% of the gross power consumption in 2015.

SynErgie is initially beginning with seven energy-intensive sectors, one of which is machinery and plant construction. The connected load of the individual pieces of equipment concerned is in this sector significantly lower, but conversely very many more machines and lines are used than in other branches of industry. There is keen interest from this sector, as a glance at the participants shows: under the leadership of Professor Matthias Putz from the Fraunhofer IWU in Chemnitz, firms like Bosch, Festo, Handtmann, Hirschvogel Automotive, Siemens and Volkswagen Saxony are working together on this project.

The means to this end are highly dynamic control platforms that take due account of the fluctuating energy supply, and regulate accordingly the energy distribution between industrial processes like cleaning, hardening or metalworking. To quote Abele: “Only when companies know when a lot or very little power is being generated from renewable energies, and the stock market is signalling this by low electricity prices, can they react appropriately.”

Distributed intelligence and open interfaces Bosch Rexroth is participating in the SynErgie research project in order to develop open- and closed-loop control strategies designed to match the energy consumption to the fluctuating supply. For this purpose, the research project is prioritising distributed intelligence in the actuators and cross-manufacturer interfaces capable of also supporting Industry 4.0 applications.

Decentralised, intelligent control systems and drives from Bosch Rexroth will, according to the company, be capable in future of scheduling breaks to match the supply situation, and without any superfluous waiting time restoring readiness for production at the right juncture. This necessitates intelligent shutdown and rampup capabilities for the lines concerned. Rexroth will in future be equipping the drives, drive controllers and control systems with the appropriate software functions and cross-manufacturer interfaces.

These interfaces support the requirements of Industry 4.0 concepts, and supplement them with a dimension of energy-efficiency.

Bosch Rexroth is also involved as a co-initiator of the ETA factory.

Here, for example, under real-life conditions, researchers are addressing the process chain of a hydraulic component from the Rexroth plant in Elchingen, and communicating how energy can be utilised even more efficiently by using a new holistic approach and intelligent networking of the building envelope, the technical building equipment, the energy storage units and the production lines themselves.

Anyone interested can find out more details at the EMO Hannover 2017, where Bosch Rexroth will be addressing not only the topics of networked hydraulics and Industry 4.0, but energy-efficiency as well.

“Rexroth’s systematised 4EE concept (for Energy Efficiency) taps into cross-technology savings potentials in metal-cutting and forming production operations,” explains Hansjörg Sannwald, Head of Sectoral Management Machine Tools.

For example, variable-speed pump drives for hydraulic systems consume up to 80% less power than their constant-speed counterparts. But where do we go from here in terms of energyefficiency? The expert is confident that networking based on Industry 4.0 will make it possible to couple all consumers in a production line or factory for optimised energy management.

“The software will know in advance the machines’ upcoming consumption values, and will be able to shift load peaks against each other,” he says. “This, however, is absolutely conditional upon open communication standards and decentralised intelligence.”

EMO Hannover 2017 – the world’s premier trade fair for the metalworking sector – will be held from 18 to 23 September at Hannover Exhibition Grounds in Hannover, Germany. www.vdw.de www.boschrexroth.com www.ptw.tu-darmstadt.de www.emo-hannover.de

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DMU 65 monoBLOCK – Dynamic, accurate universal five-axis milling

The DMU 65 monoBLOCK from DMG MORI offers high-tech at an attractive price while setting a new benchmark in its class with its convincing performance features.

In its flexible extension ranges encompassing the five-axis machine with its dynamic NC swivel rotary table, the DMU 65 monoBLOCK masters all disciplines in milling technology, from roughing through to finishing at an uncompromisingly high level and at a very attractive price. With its DMU 65 monoBLOCK, DMG MORI is offering a world-class machine for all fields of industry.

The uncompromisingly high quality of the DMU 65 monoBLOCK is apparent in its design details. In conjunction with the high-speed rotary axes of the NC swivel rotary table, these have resulted in a remarkable increase in dynamics, and, amongst others, the 45mm wide roller guides maximise process stability. Moreover, the DMU 65 monoBLOCK impresses with its three-point support for shortest possible start-up times. With a footprint of 8sqm, it is the most compact machine of its class.

extensive modular spindle system, starting with a spindle speed of 15,000rpm (at torque of 130Nm) in the standard version, offers further application-oriented options with 20,000rpm (130Nm), 24,000rpm (100Nm) as well as a sturdy spindle with 15,000rpm and a 200Nm torque. There should be no doubt that all requirements will be met.

The available table variants have been designed to match the individual focus. In addition to the standard NC swivel rotary table for workpieces of up to 600kg, the portfolio includes swivel rotary tables with tandem drives in A-axis for workpieces of up to 1,000kg, or with Direct Drives in the A and C axes for the highest dynamics and accuracy, as well as the three-axis version for workpieces of up to 3,000kg.

The DMU 65 monoBLOCK.

Despite the small space requirement, the DMU 65 monoBLOCK has an extremely spacious machining compartment. With axis paths of 735mm x 650mm x 560mm (in X, Y and Z), the entire NC swivel rotary table surface can be traversed, allowing the workpiece to be machined in one pass – a decisive attribute for maximum precision and surface quality. Even oversize workpieces of up to 840mm diameter and a weight of up to 1,000kg can be loaded on the NC tandem swivel rotary table (optionally – 600kg in standard).

The operator has access to the DMU 65 monoBLOCK machining compartment through a 1,310mm-wide door opening, the 800mm table height allowing an ergonomic body position while working.

Furthermore, given the heavy weight of the workpieces, the user will appreciate the fact that the well-conceived standard design allows for unrestricted workpiece loading by crane from above.

Simple and comfortable operation and loading of the 30, 60, 90, 120 or 180-position tool magazine has not been forgotten. Since the loading station is located in the front area of the machine, the operator can always work in his normal work environment. During preparations, the control panel can be swung directly towards the tool loading station. The fast sword-type tool changer reduces the chip-to-chip time to a convincing 4.9 seconds.

Further details of the DMU 65 monoBLOCK include the steep slants of the machining compartment, which allow the swarf to drop unrestricted, and the stainless steel lining of the machining compartment to ensure a long operating life. A wide centrally arranged chip conveyor permits fast and process reliable chip removal towards the rear of the machine.

The universal modular system of the DMU 65 monoBLOCK is complemented by production packages including an internal coolant supply of up to 80 bar, as well as a space-saving chip conveyor towards the rear of the machine. These features allow space-optimised placement of the machine on the shopfloor.

Offering CELOS from DMG MORI with the 21.5-inch ERGOline Control with Operate 4.7 on Siemens 840D solutionline or Heidenhain TNC 640, DMG MORI is able to meet the preferences of almost every customer.

The DMU 65 monoBLOCK marks the beginning of DECKEL MAHO’s substantial expansion of the degree of flexibility in the field of five-axis machining. On the one hand, this refers to the integration of turning/milling technology. On the other hand, there will be the optional possibility of accomplishing ultrasonicassisted chip removal of hard and brittle materials with ULTRASONIC, and of integrating an excellent milling and lasering tool on one machine with LASERTEC Shape.

DMG MORI Australia will be exhibiting at Austech 2017, at stand 634. www.dmgmori.com

Universal modular system In addition to the design details, the DMU 65 monoBLOCK offers multiple options as a result of its modular system. These include modular equipment configurations for the motor spindles. The

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The NC tandem rotary table of the DMU 65 monoBLOCK allows dynamic five-axis milling.

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Haas – Machine tools for the MotoGP simulator

The Spanish have a special relationship with motorsports, in particular MotoGP, the pinnacle of professional motorcycle racing. Almost all the top riders come from Spain, with the exception of a few Italians. What they all have in common is a three-axis race bike simulator, developed and built by Mecanitzats Muntada in Barcelona, which the riders use for indoor training and to maintain familiarity with some of the world’s greatest race circuits. Here, Joaquim Muntada, owner of Mecanitzats Muntada, explains how his company relies on machining technology from Haas.

I worked in a machine shop from 14 years old. I did two years of vocational training, and at 16, I worked in a plastic injection moulding business. However, essentially, I’m self-taught. Although I enjoyed my work, my true passion was rallying, as a co-driver and navigator. I competed and won several big competitions, including the Spanish national championships.

It was my interest in motorsport that brought Haas to my attention – through the company’s involvement in NASCAR. We only have one Haas machine – an ST-30Y turning centre with motorised tools and Y axis – but it has made a big difference to our activities.

Most of our current work is small runs of complex parts for the food, pharmaceutical, and aeronautic sectors. We make a lot of moulds and dies, and a few parts for motorsport, including some for rally teams, as well as housings for the gyro-stabilised video cameras mounted on the rear of MotoGP bikes.

The main reason we bought the Haas was to reduce the number of setups for any particular part. We tend to machine small batches, so reducing set-up times is vital.

We’re currently using the Haas machine to make parts of a pump for ingredient dosage measurers used in food production. The tolerances are tight, and we’re only making 13-off, but the material is Inox 316 stainless steel. The ST-30Y is a very rigid machine – there’s no vibration, unlike the machines we used previously. Once the part is tempered, it’s remachined and finished.

Joaquim Muntada, Owner of Mecanitzats Muntada.

The Haas live tools provide high-torque cutting for off-centre milling, drilling, and tapping. There’s more than 100mm of Y-axis travel, which gives us a lot of flexibility. The ST-30Y has allowed us to develop and make a much better version of the lateral movement coupling for the on-board MotoGP camera. The camera tilts as the bike leans, so the image is always horizontal, which gives viewers a great feel for the angles through corners.

Aside from the machine’s spec, it’s obvious to me that it’s designed and built by people who understand machining and the challenges faced by operators – lots of little design features that make life easier, like a toolholder on the front panel, so the tools are to hand, and a small shelf on the back of the control. I can really imagine the Haas engineers spending time on the shop floor studying how an operator works, and then incorporating those ideas into the design.

Subcontract machining has always been our bread and butter, but during quiet periods, I found myself craving more of a challenge.

That’s when I decided to design and build the MotoGP simulator – it’s called the CKU Sport Fitness – to have our own product.

To develop the simulator, I partnered with my friend, Catalan rider Alex Criville, the 1999 500cc world champion, and Javier Ullate, mechanic of the Yamaha official team in MotoGP. The CKU Sport Fitness is an official MotoGP-sanctioned product, and Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, and Tito Rabat already use it to maintain their familiarity with various tracks. But it’s being developed constantly. Team and rider sponsors also use it for promotional purposes.

Powered jacks driven by servomotors move it in two axes, to simulate acceleration, braking and cornering. The rider faces a screen displaying real-time footage of MotoGP riders lapping at race speed. We get some useful feedback from our customers – Valentino Rossi asked if we could make it wheelie!

Mecanitzats Muntada uses the Haas ST-30Y turning centre to make the brake movement axis and the lateral movement axis for the simulator.

We’re using the Haas ST-30Y turning centre to make the brake movement axis and the lateral movement axis for the simulator.

We’re extremely happy with the Haas turning centre, and with the support and service we receive from the Spanish Haas Factory Outlet, based in Barcelona. We haven’t had any problems with the machine, but it’s good to know service, support, and spare parts can be on-hand the next day. www.mecanitzats-muntada.com www.alfexcnc.com.au www.haas-australia.com

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TIMTOS 2017 sees Asia-Pacific at turning point

Australia’s backyard is seen as a region that has a continuing pattern of solid economic growth – forecast to reach 6.2% this year according to the World Bank. This is why TIMTOS, the Taipei International Machine Tool Show, has grown from being Taiwan’s national show into a major showcase of engineering technology for the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The UK-based 600 Group has placed high importance on its presence at the exhibition, at this year’s show, held from 7-12 March, it had its top team demonstrating marketleading products from the UK and USA. Leading the charge for Australia was 600 Machine Tools’ Asia-Pacific Managing Director Cliff Purser and South-East Asia Sales Manager Steve Drummond.

The two Sydney-based executives were on hand to introduce current and prospective customers from across the Asia-Pacific region to some of the Group’s top executives from the UK and US. These included: Terry Allison, the Group’s new UK-based Managing Director; worldwide Product Development Manager, Mike Berry, from the manufacturing complex in Yorkshire; as well as Don Haselton, Global Chief Operating Officer of the machine tool division, based in Michigan in the US.

Trevor Matthews, UK-based applications engineer for 600 Group, and Steve Drummond, Sydney- South-East Asia Sales Manager.

The turn-mill phenomenon Speaking from the Group’s stand at the show, Purser said: “The 600 team is focused on helping each customer at every turn, but that may change! Since the introduction of the all-new Harrison Alpha XC combination CNC lathe, we are now helping them at every ‘mill and turn’,” he added with a grin.

The Harrison Alpha XC machine caused quite a stir at MACH 2016; there were very good reasons why so many workshop managers from all over Europe crowded the 600 Group stand at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK. “The new XC can conduct off-centre drilling and boring, hexagonal milling, and much more,” said Purser. “What this remarkable combination CNC lathe gives workshops is the ability to perform secondary operations that usually require machining centres or expensive slant-bed CNC turning centres.”

The highly-versatile XC range now incorporates driven tooling and full C-axis interpolation. This feature, a significant addition to the simple-to-operate CNC Alpha lathe, now allows operators to carry out secondary operations at the machine in one set-up.

“Before TIMTOS, we previewed the XC to customers and distributors throughout the region,” Purser added. “And they have welcomed the availability of a flat-bed

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machine that can finish the parts in one-hit – at a price they can afford.”

Following the enthusiastic reception for the breakthrough Alpha XC design, the 600 Group has created a short video, to demonstrate the capabilities and benefits of this combination CNC lathe (view it at: goo.gl/lydV7L).

Enter the heavyweight Drummond said that the myriad of visitors to the company’s exhibit, including many from Australia and New Zealand, had expressed interest in two newly introduced machines.

He explained that the Colchester Triumph VS2500 variable-speed manual lathe sets new standards of performance with its combination of electronically-variable spindle drive and a constant surface speed option.

asset in the tool-room, apprentice training, and secondary and tertiary education. It has the power to deal with heavy metal removal, while at the same time offering precision for fine tolerance turning, with routine servicing requirements kept to a minimum.

“The M300’s safety aspects meet all international standards, and include the latest European CE requirements, making this conventional lathe a valuable asset in any workshop,” Drummond added.

Mills with grunt The 600 Group executives anticipated – and witnessed – a wave of interest in the range of milling machines from Clausing, a 600 Group member based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Clausing company offers

“The result is a cutting performance far superior to standard centre lathes and many CNC machines,” said Drummond.

“Precision, power and durability have been built-in to give many years of reliable performance from this heavyweight conventional lathe.”

The second newcomer caused some excitement among visitors from the training sector. The Harrison M300 centre lathe has been designed to allow easy control of its comprehensive capabilities, making it an

A total of 50,146 people visited TIMTOS 2017 over the six days of the show.

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targetted audience 8000+ contacts

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The 600 Group stand at TIMTOS.

a large range of powerful mills in its comprehensive range of machine tools. In the spotlight at TIMTOS was the Clausing 2VS, a heavy-duty vertical mill that has two big brothers, and all three are formidable performers.

“Right from the drawing-board, the 2VS has been designed for power, precision, and versatility, and is able to handle most milling jobs,” Haselton told visitors. “It is one of the heaviest in its class, and is equipped with a powerful spindle-drive motor and an infinitely variable speed drive that delivers a speed range of 60 to 4,300 rpm.”

Getting a grip When 600 Group company Pratt Burnerd introduced the Gripfast combination power chuck at the EMO 2013 exhibition in Hannover, Germany, workshop managers from all over Europe crowded the demonstrations.

“It was the same in Taipei,” said Purser.

“Visitors could immediately see the timesaving advantages provided by the new design. Many were surprised when they saw that the Gripfast combines a chuck, a collet chuck, and a mandrel chuck in a single unit.”

Purser also noted that the new chucks are supplied with a duplicate set of master jaws and simple off-machine jaw setting fixture, enabling the jaws to be pre-set off the machine, and ensuring a changeover time of less than one minute. Since then, the world-leading chuck has been complemented by the Gripsafe gripmeter, which accurately measures and records chuck gripping-forces within seconds.

4.89%

Held in Taipei from 7-12 March, TIMTOS featured 1,100 exhibitors

Happily, the Gripsafe is suitable for use on all makes of chuck, and has been developed to help customers comply with health and safety legislation, allowing them to ensure that their chucks remain fit for purpose.

The last word Speaking from Taipei, Allison summed-up the success of TIMTOS 2017.

“The 600 Group is a regular participant in this very important event,” he said. “We are here because the Asia-Pacific region has excellent economic prospects, and is going through a process of expansion, modernisation, and widespread adoption of state-of-the-art technology.

“As usual, TIMTOS has attracted representatives of companies of all sizes in manufacturing and processing, not forgetting the education and training sector, and a cross-section of military bodies. Without exception, all of them have found something of interest in the 600 Group exhibit, supplemented by videos on YouTube, and the team on the stand are confident of setting a new record for sales at TIMTOS and in the Asia-Pacific region.” www.600machinery.com.au

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AMTIL PRODUCT E-BLASTS call anne samuelsson on 0400 115 525 or email asamuelsson@amtil.com.au for all enquiries.

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“Nobody wants to see a machine operator lose his head, when a workpiece that is not securely held, goes flying off the machine like an executioner’s axe,” said Drummond.

outcome

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Forming & Fabrication

Deco Automotive invests in highperformance pipe bending

Automotive suppliers are facing the same challenges world-wide: how to supply products fast, economically and flexibly, while considering their customers’ individual demands at the same time.

To increase the quality of its products and reduce costs at the same time, Canadian supplier Deco Automotive replaced three existing older bending machines with three state-of-the-art automatic CNC 100 E TB MR VA pipe bending lines by Schwarze-Robitec. The company will profit from the integrated high-performance control system NxG by increasing its output and optimising cycle times.

“Based on their own constant optimising processes, our customers demand high requirements from their pre-products and with that, as a supplier, our requirements are also increased,” says Ray Metzner, Manufacturing Engineer at Deco. “In order to provide the customer with products in different versions and large quantities at a consistently high quality, we continuously invest in the further development of our production processes.”

The company, headquartered in Toronto, belongs to the global Magna Group and manufactures various automotive components including vehicle frames and structures, and engine cradles. Among the customers of the automotive supplier are international original equipment manufacturers. Deco uses a total of four production lines and manufactures more than 1,750,000 products per year.

Project requirements Due to the continuously high demand and a high annual output, Deco is dependent on reliable and intelligent pipe bending machines that provide excellent results in terms of degree of automation, precision, speed, and bending processes. Before being accepted by automobile manufacturers, steel pipes run through the fully automatic cold bending process at the production facility in Toronto. Subsequent manufacturing steps include hydroforming, laser cutting and welding.

The number of bending processes performed at Deco reaches 12m per year. Up until now, the automotive supplier reached this volume by using a total of nine bending machines spread over four production lines. Seven of the machines come from Schwarze-Robitec, whereby three pipe bending machines were already in use for more than 20 years. Deco’s reason for replacing the old equipment with three new CNC 100 E TB MR VA made

by Schwarze-Robitec was to ensure the bending and handling process could continue reliably and efficiently.

“In 20 years, we have purchased a total of 13 pipe bending machines from Schwarze-Robitec and we have come to appreciate the very high quality and durability of the machines,” says Metzner.

“We value the high technical expertise of the employees and the comprehensive services, such as remote maintenance, and decided at the end of 2015 to continue the partnership.”

Automatic pipe bending line Following an extensive consultation and planning phase in cooperation with Deco Automotive in Canada, Schwarze-Robitec produced three pipe bending lines tailored to the requirements of the automotive supplier.

“We expect the new bending cells to provide significantly improved production and anticipate reaching our production targets even faster,” says Metzner.

Of the three CNC 100 E TB MR VA machines two machines are right- and one is left-bending. In addition, the multi-stack bending machines are equipped with a pipe magazine, a weld seam finding device, and an automatic loading and removal device. The

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The bending cell by Schwarze-Robitec guarantees fully automated production processes, from material buffering to weld seam inspection to bending.

electrically operated systems process round and oval tubes that are 2.8m long and have a diameter of up to 76.2mm including a wall thickness from 1.2mm to 3mm.

The process is fully automated: the pipes to be processed are taken randomly from the tube magazine and fed to the integrated weld seam finding device. This device aligns the pipes in accordance with their weld seam position. Following the alignment, the pipe is passed on to the pipe bending machine. To do this, a mandrel is used that supports the tube on tight radii from the inside.

A fully automatic loading arm then removes the finished bent tube from the machine and places it on a conveyor belt. From there, the tube continues to the hydroforming equipment. Another feature of the solution is the integrated raised, vertical travel routes. This allows pre-loading the pipe bending machine, while parallel to this function a finished bent tube is removed at another location.

Compared to the pipe bending line that had been in operation at Deco, the new machines are equipped with the high-performance control system NxG. An advantage of the new control system are significantly reduced non-productive times, as individual steps of the bending process were arranged synchronously.

“With the NxG control system, it is possible to prepare the next step simultaneously to executing a machining operation,” explains Bert Zorn, Managing Director at Schwarze-Robitec. “For example, while a pipe is supplied to the tool, the clamping functions close almost completely. When the tube then reaches its target position, the tool is immediately ready for the next bending step – this allows users to shorten the cycle times and production objectives are reached more quickly.”

In addition, a diagnostic and maintenance tool integrated into the control system minimises downtimes. The intuitive operability of the high-performance control system also contributes to an ergonomic and efficient way of working.

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Forming & Fabrication “The pipe bending machines made by Schwarze-Robitec produce reliable, accurate, and high-quality products,” says Metzner. “And yet the machines are easy to use for our staff.”

Due to its new Schwarze-Robitec bending cells, the automotive supplier was able to optimise the cycle times and increase the production output of higher complex shapes and materials. With this, the accuracy that the company produces and the repeatability of its equipment in the production process is outstanding.

The pivoting loader designed by SchwarzeRobitec feeds the bending machine automatically with raw material.

“With the new pipe bending machines and the bending programs of the control system NxG, we have reduced cycle times significantly,” says Metzner. “The predecessors of our existing machines have been operating in multi-shift operation flawlessly for almost 20 years. In addition, we received continuous services from SchwarzeRobitec – for us, this is a win-win situation.” www.schwarze-robitec.com

Nasa Stones

Samer Hmoozi, Owner of Nasa Stones, does his research. For months, Hmoozi searched for a waterjet company to meet the specific criteria for his growing business before settling on machine from Techni Waterjet.

Based in South Windsor, NSW, Nasa Stones specialises in creating high-quality stone products, from kitchen countertops to fireplaces to marble walls on the inside of elevators. The team at Nasa Stones needed a waterjet system to work as hard and efficiently as they did. Hmoozi visited a Techni Waterjet customer to evaluate a live waterjet, and knew immediately that Techni was the company he had been searching for.

“I left the customer’s location and was excited about what I saw. I was impressed with the quality of the Techni product,” says Hmoozi.

“Seeing the Quantum NXT electric servo pump and the PAC 60 in operation was truly what I was hoping to find. I’ve been doing my research. Techni Waterjet comes highly recommended.”

The seven-year-old company has recently relocated to a larger facility. Incoming power supply was an issue for the new location, but it was not a problem for Techni Waterjet’s Quantum NXT electric servo pump and the Intec 713-G2 waterjet cutting system. Because of the low power requirements of the systems, they were able to operate without upgrading the incoming power supply, ultimately saving Nasa Stones money.

“The Quantum NXT is great,” says Hmoozi. “When we were doing our research on pumps, we found the Quantum NXT pump is the best in the world.”

With the Intec 713-G2, Nasa Stones has the ability to load one sheet of stone and cut all the panels, including the side panels with bevel cuts. With the integration of the PAC 60 five-axis cutting head on the waterjet, it gives them the capabilities to cut a +/-60-degree bevel with continuous rotation and account for taper compensation.

it a priority to exceed its Samer customer’s expectations, Hmoozi, and it wanted a waterjet Owner company to do the of Nasa Stones same for them. Aftersales support and top-of-the-line service and installation were essential.

Techni invests in high-quality service technicians with more than 20 years’ experience.

Knowing Techni was the manufacturer of the total waterjet system, including the software, gave Nasa Stones the confidence that it was the right choice for them.

“Techni has an excellent service team, and they make us feel like we are a partnership with them,” says Hmoozi. “There are too many reasons we have to highly recommend Techni Waterjet. The first reason is they have the greatest service technicians – from customer service to the installation of the machine to the training.

The second reason is the Intec 713-G2 is doing a great job.”

Techni Waterjet will be exhibiting at Austech 2017, at stand 573. www.nasastones.com.au www.techniwaterjet.com

“There are new products in the market: dekton and porcelain,” says Hmoozi. “The best option for cutting these types of materials is a waterjet. Our supplier highly recommended we cut the material with a waterjet because it will lessen the chance to crack the material and also achieve a better finish.”

Nasa Stones manufactures highend products that are often the focal point of a room, so it has to be perfect every time.

Consequently, the company makes

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Software & IT

SolidWorks – Bringing hot rods to life Don’t let the address fool you – Down Town Kustoms might be based in Taree, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, but it is also one of the most advanced custom hot rod building shops in the world.

This state-of-the-art workshop is the creation of founder Graeme Brewer with an equipment inventory that includes a CNC plasma table, lathe, mill, bandsaw, guillotine, power hammers, metal shaping tools, hoists, chassis tables, 3D printer, spray-painting booth, and a surfacing room for body work. In addition, there is the design office, where the cars are brought to life using SolidWorks.

Brewer didn’t have an automotive background – he was an air conditioning technician – but he developed an interest in building hot rods and mini trucks, which led to projects in his backyard. After six years of working from home he decided to make it his full-time career.

“In 2007 I took the plunge and turned my hobby into a business,” he says. “I began with a four-inch grinder, a welder, tube bender and benches made out of pallets. Now, in 2017, in our tenth year in business, we have become Australia’s most equipped and most capable custom vehicle building shop. Instead of pallets I have a world-class workshop, and I have six of the most talented guys around.”

Today, Brewer is recognised as an expert in his field and people come from across Australia as well as overseas to ask him to design and build stunningly beautiful, award-winning show cars that can also be driven on the road every day. Brewer was recommended to contact CADspace, a Sydney-based SolidWorks reseller, which has more than 25 years of experience in design and manufacturing.

“Without CADspace there is no way I would be able to do things as quickly as I do,” say Brewer. “I found it was hard to get to Sydney for training so they helped me a lot over the phone. They are always happy to help. They even work out solutions for me in their own time at home. I can tell that they are really keen in the work we are doing. Thanks to them I was doing advanced modelling after a few months. CADspace has given me the best service I have received from any company.”

The introduction of SolidWorks has dramatically changed the way that Brewer approaches each car. Before CAD, he was hands-on, manually constructing life-size templates of each car. Top and side views were drawn on paper in what was a time-consuming process.

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Timber and steel bucks are created for making body panels and other sheet metal. Before SolidWorks this was done by hand. Now, the process is completely different. Brewer can 3D scan surfaces and create the bucks in CAD. The files are sent to the CNC router and laser cutter to produce the various parts. Not only has production time been cut in half, the bucks are more dimensionally accurate.

“It used to take forever to build an independent front end from scratch but now the process is so much quicker thanks to SolidWorks,” says Brewer. “All of the hard work is done in the computer. It can be assembled in just three days because the machining and laser cutting is much more precise.”

Brewer spends most of his time each day modelling parts on SolidWorks: “I draw everything in 3D, the chassis design, control arms, cross members, steering rack, brakes, callipers, coil-over suspension and brackets. The entire car comes to life before you and I want to make certain that every part is 100% accurate.”

The introduction of SolidWorks has led Brewer to introduce another piece of technology: 3D printing.

“We make everything in-house,” he says. “The steering rack mounts, control arms and so on are all machined from billet. Before we go to the CNC machine I design each part in SolidWorks, print it out using the 3D printer in a variety of materials, and make sure the fit is right before we go to making the final part. Whereas before I was waiting for the machine shop to produce the parts, now I can go ahead and make my own prototypes a lot quicker. The practical side of this is that we are no longer using shiny metal parts for mock-up, which can get scratched as they are put in and taken out. The plastic parts stay in there while we wait for the machined parts to come.”

Brewer uses 3D printing to make interior parts such as brackets, indicator stalks, switches, switch surrounds, knobs and latches.

“Even if I break a part I can print another one straight away. I save so much time and, of course, there isn’t any wastage because each part is correct.”

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Software & IT

Brewer is a perfectionist and worries over every part, right down to the engine start button.

“I was working on an HT Holden,” he says. “I like to have a mix of the old and the new so I designed an aluminium centre console for it. I modelled everything right down to the latch, which was 3D printed.

The demister vents weren’t quite what I needed so I redesigned them in SolidWorks and printed them in ABS plastic to replace the vintage ones. I came up with a new curved part and installed it as one piece, which meant there were no air leaks.”

Brewer will sometimes change a dashboard cluster by keeping the original styling of the car but using modern gauges. In each case, he relies on SolidWorks to start the design-to-manufacture process. To keep his customers up to date with progress, Brewer sends them screen shots and videos of the SolidWorks 3D files.

A hot rod project can take up to and above 8,000 hours. To begin with, the original car is weighed to see how balanced it is. Data is entered into a suspension analysis program. Camber gain, roll

centres, weight distribution and centre of gravity are all critical to the new car design even as far as re-locating the fuel tank, engine and gearbox to get correct weight distribution. The car is stripped and catalogued. Panels are examined for straightness. This is when the surfacing room is used to body work the car to give it perfect reflections once it is painted.

Each part is designed, manufactured, metal finished and coated and placed into the new car. New panels – which are more perfect than when the car was originally made – are formed and attached.

The partially built car is sent to the painting booth and then the interior and engine are completed. Brewer says since introducing SolidWorks he has seen a dramatic decrease in build time.

“SolidWorks is the preferred CAD tool for the top hot rod shops in the US,” says Brewer. “We all talk to each other and show what we’re working on and I like the fact that we all have something in common. It feels like you’re in the same crew.” www.downtownkustoms.com.au www.solidworks.com

ANCA iBalance – Getting the balance right Since humans invented the wheel, maintaining the right balance and stopping vibrations has been a challenge. If your grinding wheel is causing vibrations, there is no point in having a rigid grinding machine. By Simon Richardson; ANCA MX machine Platform Product Manager.

Correctly balanced wheels result in superior surface finish and geometry. That is why all good grinders know the enemy of grinding is vibration. When a wheel is out of balance, the vibration is felt throughout the spindle assembly of the machine, and in severe cases wheel imbalance can be felt through the entire machine.

This can lead to excessive wheel wear, inaccurate tools and poor surface finish on the tool. iBalance is a unique ANCA software product, which proactively alerts users to potential wheel vibrations and uses the technology already built into our range of machines. It has been designed to determine whether a wheel is out of balance then prompt and guide the operator through a series of steps to bring the wheel into balance. iBalance can detect and measure the amount of vibration and the direction of imbalance of the grinding wheel. To help achieve superior surface finishes on tools, the specially designed software uses sensors in the machine servo drives to detect wheel imbalance.

Variations in electrical current from the motors are monitored and this data is used to determine and show the operator exactly where balancing weights need to be added to the spindle – similar to a tire balancer, but on the machine.

The software user interface easily identifies where to add weight to the wheel and how much is required to correct any issues. The wheel packs are balanced by adding weights to the end of the wheel nut at the locations identified by the software assistant.

Several additional benefits include extending the wheel life and removing the need to purchase an expensive offline piece of balancing equipment. Finally, as there is no additional hardware to maintain, the iBalance system is as reliable as the machine itself. www.anca.com/Products/Accessories/iBalance

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Software & IT

The Industrial Internet of Things – Busting three myths

There is no doubt that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market is evolving quickly. Here Dan Matthews, Chief Technology Officer at IFS, busts some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding it.

In the report ‘Digital Transformation – an Internet of Things Perspective’, IDC predicts that the installed base of Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints will grow from less than 13bn units at the end of 2015 to 30bn by 2020. The industries that IDC predicts will spend the most on IoT solutions are manufacturing, transport, energy and utilities and retail, with a wide range of IoT use cases.

stream? External events, such as weather forecasts or temperature changes for instance? How could changing operations on this machine according to these inputs optimise its performance?

In other words, the IIoT clock is ticking, and businesses not already addressing the opportunity this offers need to create and implement plans – quickly! So why are some companies still hesitating? One answer is that there are several myths regarding IIoT that are making decision-makers delay projects or stop them altogether. A focus on standards, exorbitant expected costs, and the fear of big changes are all cited as reasons. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

Myth #3: IIoT will be expensive and capitalintensive

Myth #1: We should wait for standardisation Unlike consumer markets, where standardisation – formal or by market dominance – is key to success, standardisation in IIoT won’t be a concern for decades. Sure, there are multiple emerging standardisation initiatives in IIoT, and yes it is not yet possible to know which will prevail. But the thing is: it doesn’t matter. Unlike consumer markets where new standards – for example, NFC chips in smartphones – can roll out and get near full market presence in the few years it takes for people to replace their phones, industries are run on equipment that can be decades old, provided by tens or hundreds of different suppliers.

Even if the equipment manufacturers “IIoT enable” their latest generation according to some IIoT standard, it will take decades before industries have replaced all their existing equipment and assets with new IIoTstandardised versions. For industries wishing to pursue IIoT, it is just something to accept that for the foreseeable future there won’t be any standards on how to connect up all their things. Instead industries should expect and plan for bespoke integration development, or even retrofitting of other sensors and communications capabilities to equipment and assets to get them connected.

Myth #2: IIoT would be a giant leap for my business, demanding a lot of work IIoT success is all about choosing small, actionable steps that will improve your business today – not giant leaps that will transform your industry tomorrow. For many people, IoT still brings to mind disruptor companies like Uber or Netflix. But in most cases, IIoT develops – rather than disrupts – the entire business. According to the IDC report, the main drivers behind IIoT are to improve day-today operations, including productivity (14.2 % of companies), quality and time-to market (11.2%), process optimisation (10.2%), costs (9.9%) and decision making (9.3%).

A look at the vast majority of companies who have already operationalised IIoT shows that the successful ones often started with a few well-chosen processes and incremental change. It can begin with connecting just one piece of equipment. Earning a little more revenue from this can then inspire bigger steps: what would happen if we integrated these findings with input from another data

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The key is to ask “How can we make this a little more efficient?” not “How can we revolutionise our whole business?” Incremental change is the name of the game. IIoT is about improving performance.

A few years back this statement might have been true but three key developments have made IIoT implementation more affordable than ever before: • The falling price of IIoT hardware and software: everything from the smallest sensors to the largest gateways has fallen in cost. There is now a range of smarter, cheaper sensors and gateways available to all industries, increasing your level of software control. Take a forklift truck as a typical example.

Ten years ago connecting one of these would have cost at least $1,500 – out of reach for most manufacturing operations running several of them. Today a single forklift could be connected for not much more than a 20-dollar note.

• Cheaper, broader internet access: This has made it ever easier to connect a broader range of machines and equipment across a wider geographic area at low cost.

Developments such as 5G mobile networks and LoRa (long range radio) technology will sustain this trend.

• Cost-effective cloud platforms: On the platform side we’ve seen big, exciting changes. Ready-to-use, cloud-based platforms that can handle massive scale, storage and computing are now more available than ever before.

These three changes have made it possible for companies to get started with IIoT projects quicker and with lower risk than before, enabling more experimenting.

Operationalising data – the key to IIoT success In addition to these IIoT myths, many companies overlook one factor: how their IIoT data should be operationalised. To get returns from IIoT investments it’s important not to stop at collecting and analysing IoT data. By only doing that you still haven’t made a cent. To benefit from IIoT, the knowledge and insight needs to be turned into action – whether that is a more optimal maintenance plan, higher service levels, improved logistics, engineering better products, or developing new business models.

This can be done in several different ways, but one key step is automating the right processes based on gathered data. For example, equipped sensors capture data about temperatures that are too high. Instead of just collecting, registering and manually acting on this data, a process is created for automatically dispatching service personnel to replace a part that has overheated, thus preventing catastrophic failures. Operationalising and automating – this is when the true power of IIoT comes to life and can generate significant revenues. www.ifsworld.com

Software & IT

Microsoft Surface – Design enabling innovation

As Senior Director of Mechanical Engineering at Microsoft, Andrew Hill and his team were central to the development of Microsoft’s Surface range of tablet and ‘2-in-1’ computers. He spoke to AMT about how technology and digitalisation continues to change the way he and his team work, and how Microsoft is seeking to take a lead in innovation in this area.

AMT: Tell us about what your role with Microsoft entails.

Andrew Hill: I lead and manage the Mechanical Design team for the Surface Book business. Previously I led those same teams in work on the Surface Pro 1, Pro 2 and Pro 3 tablet computers.

AMT: How is digital technology altering the way designers and engineers work?

AH: Digital creation and collaboration tools remove friction from the creative process and allow people to share and iterate on ideas together much faster. For example, an engineer may have an idea about how to solve a problem in the hinge, and can quickly share a digital sketch of even a simple CAD model with other members of the design team. Because the idea is shared in a digital medium the people the idea is shared with can edit and extend the idea natively and move it forward faster.

AMT: How does Microsoft create and promote a culture of innovation?

AH: We work very hard to iterate ideas for what products will be.

These iterations allow us to really crystalise the vision of the product.

Once we have a vision crystalised the team can be laser-focused on realising those visions. Collaboration is a big part of that and fostering an environment where communication and collaboration are encouraged and rewarded is a big part of it. We are lucky in that the product making teams are very humble and put the product first which is a big part of setting the tone for a collaborative and innovative environment.

AMT: Do you have examples from your own work in the development of Surface range of how new technology is creating disruption in this area?

AH: We are fortunate to be in a virtuous cycle of designing products that we use to design the next products. That quick feedback loop both changes the way we work and allows us to make better products continually.

Sharing data via OneNote and on the Cloud also means faster and much more efficient ways of working.

AH: The amount of knowledge that product makers have about how their products are made and how they are used is exploding. Access to that information is so powerful for making better and faster design decisions. Becoming conversant with the tools and techniques of analysing data and making decisions from that data will become Andrew Hill, Senior more and more important.

Director of Mechanical We’re quite active in the area Engineering at Microsoft. of Industry 4.0 and have demonstrated a number of live examples at Hannover Messe in the past few years, mostly focused on IoT and analytics.

AMT: How significant is design-for-manufacturability in the development of a product like Surface? How does that consideration influence the process?

AH: So critical. The very best part of designing products like Surface is the interplay between the art of design and the art of industry. We try very hard to be humble about where ideas come from and sometimes a designer will have a great idea for how a part should be made and sometimes a manufacturing engineer will have a great idea for how a part should be designed. The meritocracy of ideas is so fulfilling. We take a lot of pride in craftsmanship of our devices and that means working closely with manufacturing partners at all levels. www.microsoft.com

AMT: Tablets and ‘2-in-1’ computers such as Surface are one technology driving significant disruption in how we work. What effects are they having on design, engineering and manufacturing?

AH: For me in my job having a device that runs full CAD software, allows for digital sketching and allows my backpack to be super light for traveling is such a great thing. Being able to share sketches digitally really accelerates how people can iterate on ideas together.

AMT: We hear a lot of people are talking about digitisatisation and Industry 4.0, and their potential impact across manufacturing. What are its implications for design and engineering?

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Welding

Changing shielding gases and machinery boosts efficiency, output for A&G Engineering A&G Engineering has been at the forefront of stainless steel tank and vessel manufacturing and design in Australia for more than 50 years, providing storage and fermentation solutions for their clients in a number of industries, including the wine, brewery, agriculture, mining and dairy industries. In 2001 they won the WTIA Company of the Year gold medal award.

The firm believes strongly in quality and design, and is constantly investing in research & development to ensure it continues to be a leading vessel and tank manufacturer. As part of this, they enlisted the external expertise of BOC to examine their workshops to address inefficiencies in their welding practices. BOC provided solutions that helped A&G Engineering deliver faster and better quality welds that have in some business areas increased output substantially.

The challenges • Moving to automated welding – A&G Engineering was welding dimple stainless steel sheets to regular stainless steel sheets by hand for their pressurised tankers at an operating speed of 220mm per minute.

This at times created some visible inconsistencies in the welding process.

Given the nature of this welding, with the main external sheet being only 2mm thick and the dimple plate being only 0.9mm, there was a need for a process that provided superior speed and a greatly reduced heat input in order to minimise distortion and increase production. Due to the length of the tanks produced, welders were also required to stop and start on a single weld as the length was beyond their physical reach. These factors had the potential to cause some inconsistencies with the overall quality of their welds, appearance and the potential for a lack of fusion. The process needed to be re-evaluated and updated to ensure the best quality weld every time. This would need to be done with superior speed and a greatly reduced heat input to guarantee a quality weld, only achievable by an automated process.

• Need for migration to newer shielding gas mixtures – A&G’s welders were using pure argon as their shielding gas, which caused the arc produced during the welds to be unstable, and thus contributing to fusion issues.

Such issues would require reexamination of welds, and therefore potential requirement of costly reworks.

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• Need for greater welder safety – Safety of workers and compliance with safety codes are paramount to A&G Engineering’s business. As vulnerability of workers increases over time spent on completing long linear welds, they identified that it was important to upgrade their portable welding equipment to reduce safety risk.

• Need to increase keyhole plasma welding integrity – The A&G Engineering team was using keyhole plasma welding to achieve higher precision seam welds on their tanks and vessels. For the past year, the majority of keyhole plasma welds had been performed by their automated tank building equipment, with a focus on consistency and integrity of weld.

The automated machinery builds tanks end-to-end; rolling, cutting, welding and forming tanks.

Solutions BOC’s expert application sales engineers were invited to inspect A&G Engineering’s current welding processes and proposed a number of solutions.

• Moving to automated welding – A&G Engineering purchased Australia’s first BOC mechanised welding solution consisting of the EWM Alpha Q machine with the EWM miniDrive portable wire feeder that ran along an automatic welding carriage.

This automated welding package immediately improved the quality of A&G’s welds. Although the Alpha Q machine gave the team a choice of six different welding processes, it was the coldArc process that had an immediate impact. EWM’s coldArc technology performs better during the relighting phase of a weld, producing a high quality weld with short arc process. This process gave A&G the flexibility to weld finer metal sheets (0.3mm with coldArc), and allowed seams to be produced at different thicknesses. This is ideal for pressurised vessels and tanks for the food and beverage industries that require superior finishes. Tom Gallagher, A&G Engineering General Manager, said: “The machine has produced higher quality welds more efficiently and quicker than ever before. Shifting to Alpha Q has allowed us to substantially increase the output when fusing dimple stainless steel sheets to stainless steel sheets.”

• Need for migration to newer shielding gases – After testing a couple of suggested argon mixtures, A&G realised that migrating to BOC’s unique StainShield 66 (argon 96.2%, hydrogen 1%, CO2 2.8%) allowed the arc produced during welds to be more stable resulting in stronger, faster welds, greater fusion and more aesthetically pleasing results.

Aesthetics are very important for A&G Engineering and their customers, and their tanks and vessels need to satisfy regulatory standards as well as close customer scrutiny.

• Need for greater welder safety – To help mitigate the safety risks associated with confined spaces and long linear welds, A&G Engineering chose to upgrade to a light-weight portable welding solution, BOC/ EWM miniDrive. The new portable welding machine enabled welders to deliver better quality welds over a 15m length. The miniDrive has also allowed welders to operate welds at distances up to 50m from a power source, reducing downtime inefficiencies with less need to start stop on welds.

Welding

• Need to increase keyhole plasma welding integrity – A few months after the integration of the automated machinery into the A&G Engineering supply line, BOC technicians were invited to look at the set-up and suggested trialling one of their Performance Line gases, ArgoPlas 5 (95% argon, 5% hydrogen) instead of pure argon. During their trialling, A&G personnel noticed they were able to weld thicker material and obtain faster travel speeds without increasing the parameters of the welding unit. They also found that welds were far better in quality and aesthetically superior than before.

Business benefits “Since working with BOC and implementing our automated machinery, we have found

that we have significantly increased our productivity levels, allowing us to take on 10-15% more work than we would have been able to previously,” said Gallagher.

• Changing from argon to StainShield 66 allowed for a faster welding process, delivering stronger fusion and an aesthetically better end result.

The solutions delivered some noticeable benefits to A&G Engineering: • Greater overall consistency of welds were produced.

• The portable welding machine has improved safety of welders and reduced downtime when working on larger vessels and tanks.

• The automated welding solution improved output of fused dimple to regular stainless steel sheets by 300% (improving 220mm per minute to 660mm).

• The weld appearance and consistency was greatly improved and aesthetics and bio-film resistance of A&G Engineering’s products has given them a competitive advantage.

• Distortion of the plate was greatly reduced with the decreased heat inputs. This set-up was able to provide the greatest value to A&G as it greatly reduced the time it took to straighten the plate for fabrication into a tank.

• The results of these implemented efficiencies provided a significant reduction in gas and power consumption, as well as greater time efficiency in the welding process. www.agengineering.com.au www.boc.com.au

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01/03/2017 09:30:47 AM

AMT APR/MAY 2017

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Forum Finance

Accessing private equity

With increasing funds flowing into private equity, there’s opportunity for manufacturing businesses to attract investment and reap the rewards of a private equity partnership. Damian Sutherland explains.

The term “private equity” generally refers to external investment in companies that are not listed on a stock exchange or which can be privatised in the event that they are listed. Private equity investments are usually characterised by their transformational nature.

• A focused business model – showing realistic goals and a track record of achieving forecasts.

Firms raise their money from a variety of sources such as superannuation, other investment funds, and private investors on a fund by fund basis. These funds each have a life of about 6 to 10 years and enable private equity to invest in defined businesses over the life of the fund. The investments need to be invested and exited over this period.

It is important that the business owner’s goals and objectives are consistent with those of the private equity firm, as the investment by both parties is a partnering arrangement with the same shared common objectives.

Generally, private equity firms will look for manufacturing businesses in which they can achieve a rapid growth in the value of their investment over a controlled period of time. The value added to the enterprise is then typically realised through a trade sale, initial public offering, recapitalisation, on-sale to another private equity investor, or in some cases the sale back to the original owner.

The private equity industry can be divided into two areas: private equity and venture capital. The term “private equity” usually refers to investments in more mature enterprises to help fund their future growth. Venture capital, usually refers to an investment used to help build or grow an early stage, fast-growing enterprise. Venture capital is generally seen as a riskier investment as there is often only a limited trading history in terms of the enterprise or industry at this early stage of investment.

For the purposes of this article, the umbrella term “private equity” has been used to refer to both private equity and venture capital investments.

There are numerous private equity investors in Australia as well as international funds that invest in Australian businesses. Funds usually specialise in targeting either SME businesses or larger manufacturing businesses.

Typically, those funds in the SME space are interested in fast-growing businesses or those that require capital to grow. The businesses they target generally have revenue between $5m to $100m and EBITDA of at least $2m to $5m. The larger funds usually target both private and listed companies with revenue in excess of $200m, and EBITDA or at least $10m.

Although there are differences in the size of business which funds like to target, there is a consistent theme amongst many private equity investors in what they look at in an investment. This includes their ability to add value based on previous experience, good management, growth and a robust and differentiated business model

• A clear exit strategy – there should be a definite market for the business whether through a trade sale or IPO.

The key to attracting private equity funding lies in the ability to view the business as an investment. Often the business owner is too caught up in the day-to-day running of the business or the excitement surrounding their idea to view the business dispassionately. Preparing a comprehensive business plan which articulates the strategy, the growth opportunities supported by market research, and the financial framework for the business including realistic forecasts will help you to view your business objectively as an investment.

The high rates of return expected by the private equity firms together with the idea of selling some of the equity in your business are often seen as disadvantages to business owners. Why then would a business owner seek this form of funding?

For many business owners in the start-up or expansion stage, there are no other options. Without tangible assets or a strong profit history few banks or institutional investors are willing to provide funding to the business. Moreover, many business owners are unable to or hesitant to provide the required capital themselves due to their age or other personal reasons. Private equity fills this void.

Private equity firms offer business owners more than just funding.

A good private equity firm will act as your partner and will be able to use their track record and experience in investments to add value to your business. It is after all, in their best interests to maximise the value of your business. A private equity firm may do so in a number of ways including: • Accessing bank funding at optimal rates due to their track record with investments with banks.

• Providing experience through in-house consulting.

• Assisting in strategic planning or serving as a member of the board.

• Assisting in the recruitment of management or directors.

• Identifying and providing access to strategic opportunities.

• Encouraging business connections and knowledge sharing between different businesses within its portfolio.

For the manufacturing industry, a number of key factors differentiate a good investment from a bad, they include:

• Generating good publicity and an attractive name for the business through the firm’s reputation.

• A strong management team (independent of the current owner) – with a solid track record within their business.

In an increasingly competitive environment, the experience and connections offered by a private equity firm (in addition to capital) can provide the necessary tools for business success. It is important, therefore, to find a private equity firm that is suitable to your business’s needs.

• A unique product or offering – with clear differentiation from its competitors, multiple and recurring income streams that are not dependent on any one product or customer, and little chance of becoming redundant in the near future.

• Intellectual property – ownership and protection of its intellectual property.

AMT Apr/May 2017

Damian Sutherland is a director of William Buck (Vic) Pty Ltd Chartered Accountants. He has over 20 years of experience assisting businesses with accounting, financial and taxation advice. Damian is on several company boards and works closely with clients to provide business solutions. He can be contacted on 03 9824 8555. www.williambuck.com.au

Forum

Heading

Import/export

Tradex and duty drawbacks on imported goods

Chris Mckirdy explains the Tradex scheme – a scheme which provides an upfront exemption from Customs Duty and GST on eligible goods imported and then exported under certain conditions.

When importing components and consumables to be used in the manufacture of goods intended for export, any duty paid on the imported goods can be claimed back under certain conditions. Or you can get an upfront exemption from both import duty and import GST on determined imported goods.

Duty drawbacks can be sought for goods imported and then reexported however the downside on duty drawback is that the duty refund can only be received after the goods have been exported and import GST will not be refunded. Tradex gives you an upfront saving of up to 15%. Tradex is a scheme administered by AusIndustry that allows an upfront exemption from import duty and GST on specified goods. The scheme offers good cash flow advantages because the import duty and GST that would normally be payable without Tradex is not payable provided certain conditions are met.

The upfront exemption under Tradex also applies to consumable goods that will be used or consumed in the manufacture of the final product that is to be exported.

An importer who regularly imports goods (and at the time of importation) intends to re-export those goods can apply to AUSINDUSTRY for a Tradex order.

The importer creates a list of specific goods (either whole goods or components) that they import and those goods are intended for export or are used as inputs into the exported goods.

Your customs broker can help you to create and classify the list of goods to the relevant Harmonised System – HS chapters (tariff headings are not necessary). This list is then presented to AUSINDUSTRY for approval. Once approved by Tradex, any time the specified goods listed on the Tradex order are imported from any supplier, then Tradex can be applied to the goods.

The Tradex order is linked to an organization through the ABN number.

The importer will need to allocate a percentage rate based on an assessment of the value and quantity of the imported goods that are intended for export.

Below is an example If an importer imports hand winches and all hand winches imported are always exported, then every importation of hand winches can have 100% Tradex applied. In other words the importer will not have to pay any import duty or GST on hand winches imported.

An example of components used in the assembly of exported goods: if your Tradex order indicated that for every 100 screws that are imported, 50% of those screws are always used in the manufacture of exported goods, then for every $100.00 worth of screws imported you would only pay import duty and GST on 50% of the value of the imported screws.

Examples of cost savings: Imported hand winches shipment value: $10K; Freight costs: $2K; $10K x 5% for import duty = $500. Total = $12,500 (value of taxable importation) x 10% = $1250 import GST payable.

Import duty + import GST = $1,750 with NO Tradex.

For each importation of hand winches you will save $1,750 if you have 100% Tradex on all hand winches you import that are

intended for export. Even if your Tradex order is only for 50% of hand winches you can still save $875.00 on every importation (with a value of $10K).

You then have $1,750 in your bank that you would normally have paid out at the time of importing the hand winches. Importing a shipment of a similar value several times per year will save you many thousands of dollars.

AUSINDUSTRY conducts yearly audits and requires the holder of a Tradex order to maintain detailed copies of all export paperwork showing a relationship between the goods imported and the exported goods. A bill of material or list showing how many hand winches or screws or how much grease was used in the manufacture of the hand winches is essential to back up the claims of the exported goods status.

The main criteria for Tradex is that the imported goods are intended to be exported within 12 months from date of import. If goods claimed under Tradex are not exported or used in the manufacture of exported goods within the 12 months, then any import duty or GST that would have been levied on those goods will be payable.

If you are an exporter of goods and past records that show your business imported goods and then exported these goods (or used imported goods in the manufacture of the exported goods) within a 12 months period, then these records can be a starting point for you to approach AUSINDUSTRY for an application to use the Tradex scheme in your business.

Some goods are exempt from the Tradex scheme– see below • goods intended for sale in an establishment that offers goods for sale free of customs duties and other taxes, and • goods which, if they were produced in Australia, would be subject to duties of excise (also known as excise-equivalent goods; for example, most forms of alcohol, cigarettes and other tobacco products, a wide range of petroleum products). www.business.gov.au/assistance/tradex-scheme There is no cost to submit and apply for a Tradex order. If you require assistance with HS codes, please feel happy to contact me so we can arrange an appointment time to discuss.

Ms Chris Mckirdy, a licensed Customs Broker is Director, SAC Import Clearance, offering friendly assistance on any aspect of Customs clearance – at reasonable rates. Ph: 0428 782 557.

Email help@customsac.com www.sacimportclearance.com

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Forum LAW

Is your warehouse lease now classified as Retail?

Significant implications arise following a recent Supreme Court of Victoria decision that could see many leases for warehousing or logistics premises in Victoria now likely to be governed by the Retail Leases Act 2003. Law firm Rigby Cooke explains.

Regardless of whether your goods or services are provided to members of the public or on a business to business basis only, if you are leasing a warehouse in Victoria, your lease may now be deemed to be a retail lease.

Summary of the Supreme Court of Victoria case In a recent case1, a warehouse tenant provided cold storage and logistics services to other businesses from the leased premises.

The permitted use of the premises under the lease was ‘Cold and cool storage warehouse and transport facility’. A dispute arose between the landlord and the tenant as to whether the lease was for ‘retail premises’ and should therefore be governed by the Act. At first instance, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) held that the lease was not a retail lease within the meaning of the Act as the tenant did not provide goods or services to the ‘ultimate consumer’.

In reaching that decision, VCAT held that the ‘ultimate consumer’ is a person who uses the goods or services to satisfy personal needs. As the tenant only provided services to other businesses, the services were not considered to have been provided to the ‘ultimate consumer’ and the Act therefore did not apply.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Victoria, who overturned VCAT’s decision but re-affirmed that the ‘ultimate consumer’ test is the applicable test to determine whether a lease is governed by the Act. The Supreme Court applied the application of the ‘ultimate consumer’ test by determining that the ‘ultimate consumer’ does not necessarily have to be a person who uses the goods or services to satisfy personal needs but could also be another business that uses the goods or services for a business purpose.

As long as the goods or services provided by the tenant are being used by the tenant’s customer (as opposed to just being resupplied), that customer will be considered the ‘ultimate consumer’ of the goods or services in question and the Act may therefore apply to the lease.

How will this affect manufacturers?

The result of this decision is that, unless a statutory exclusion applies, many leases for premises in Victoria used for warehousing or logistics services may now be governed by the Act without the parties knowing.

If you are a tenant…

By way of example, if a tenant is leasing a warehouse which is used to store parts used in the manufacturing of cars and those parts are later on-sold to a car manufacturer that uses the parts as input into their own business (by building cars using the parts), the warehouse may be considered ‘retail premises’ and the lease would be governed by the Retail Leases Act unless any other exemptions apply, as the car manufacturer would be considered the ‘ultimate consumer.’

If you are a landlord…

The effect of the Act applying to a lease can be significant.

For example, a landlord will be prohibited from recovering land tax and capital costs from the tenant and tenants who have previously paid amounts in relation to these items may even be able to recover these amounts from the landlord retrospectively. The Act also imposes significant disclosure obligations on the landlord.

The Property group at Rigby Cooke Lawyers can assist you with more information on how this decision may affect you. Our team provides professional advice backed by years of experience.

Contact us: • Tim Kelly, Partner: tkelly@rigbycooke.com.au

Authors: • Rupert Lugo, Associate: rlugo@rigbycooke.com.au • Axel Fagerhall, Lawyer: afagerhall@rigbycooke.com.au Rigby Cooke Lawyers is a full service law firm providing commercial expertise and industry knowledge to private and public sector clients across Australia.

As new ‘industry supporting partners’ of AMTIL, we are glad to be able to provide you with full-service legal support that is tailored to your business and we are proud to represent many manufacturers and logistics clients across Australia.

With origins that can be traced back to the 1840s, we have earned our reputation of achieving success for – and with – our clients, by remaining adaptive to change. We do this by understanding each of our clients’ businesses and industry, and by staying at the forefront of changes in technology and legislation.

We can help you with: • commercial law • intellectual property • property • planning and construction • leasing • customs and international trade • transport and logistics • workplace relations • transport and logistics • tax and wealth • litigation and dispute resolution • wills and estate planning Please contact Rigby Cooke Lawyers to discuss how we can assist your business.

03 9321 7888 www.rigbycooke.com.au 1. CB Cold Storage Pty Ltd v IMCC Group Pty Ltd

AMT Apr/May 2017

Forum

Heading

OHS

Highest fine ever for a single offence under OHS Laws handed down by a Victorian Court A transport company has been fined $1m after pleading guilty to breaching section 21 of the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 after it failed to maintain a safe system of work.

Stevedore crushed in horrific workplace incident in Port Melbourne A transport company operates a shipping service between Webb Dock in Port Melbourne and Burnie in Tasmania. The loading and discharge of cargo utilises a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) procedure, meaning that all cargo is rolled on and then rolled off at its destination. The RORO procedure involves shipping containers being placed onto low flat trailers known as MAFIs, with each MAFI having the capability to carry four 20 foot shipping containers (two on the base and two stacked on top), and then placing each MAFI onto the ship with a prime mover.

In May 2014, a 42-year-old stevedore worker (the deceased) employed by the transport company was conducting duties as a Grade 5 stevedore at Webb Dock in Port Melbourne. These duties included the placing of the rubber mats for the MAFIs to rest upon during transit up a ramp and onto a ship. The mats help prevent the MAFI trailers from sliding around on the deck while the ship is moving.

While the worker was positioning the rubber mats for the MAFI to rest upon, he was crushed by a MAFI as it was being pushed up the ramp and onto the ship by a prime mover. A fully loaded MAFI can weigh up to 90 tonnes.

The worker suffered severe injuries, including the amputation of his leg. A forklift was used by colleagues to lift the MAFI off the worker but he later died at the scene. As stated by WorkSafe Victoria Health And Safety Executive Director Marnie Williams, the stevedore worker died “in the most horrible of circumstances... traumatising the people who tried to save him.”

Her Honour regarded the incident as “most serious and deserving of strong punishment and denunciation” and said that “a strong message needs to be sent to employers whose employees are placed in highly dangerous situations.”

In arriving at the $1m penalty imposed, Her Honour took into account the company’s guilty plea, contrition and support of the deceased’s family, and safety improvement post-incident. It was said that the maximum penalty of $1,299,240 would have otherwise been imposed. The $1m penalty handed out to the transport company is the largest ever handed down by a Court in Victoria for a single offence.

Stark reminder to all employers Justice Cannon stated that “in environments where the risk of catastrophic injury or death is high, constant and readily foreseeable, the term “so far as reasonably practicable” must involve the creation of strict, rigorous and comprehensive standards which are then religiously maintained.”

This case serves as a strong reminder that it is not enough for employers to have an awareness of the risks that their employees face, nor simply systems in place to manage them. Appropriate enforcement of such systems is essential.

Practical steps Businesses need to ensure that their risk management systems and procedures are being followed by their workers. Business can do this by: Undertaking regular audits of the workplace.

Ensuring supervisors are competent.

System to manage serious risk in place, but procedures inadequate

Providing sufficient training (and assessment) to workers to ensure that they understand how to safely perform their work.

Judge Cannon of the Melbourne County Court found that although the transport company had a system in place to manage the serious risks associated with loading and unloading its ships, the most critically inadequate procedure was enforcing a “second pair of eyes on deck”. The loading of the MAFIs onto the weather deck presented a serious risk to surrounding workers. When loading MAFIs, the prime mover driver was required to push the MAFI trailer up the ramp. In order to do this, the driver is required to turn the seat in the cabin so that he faces the shipping container. As a result, the container occupies most of the driver’s forward view.

Subjecting workers who fail to comply with policies and procedures to disciplinary action.

The company’s system in place required a Grade 4 stevedore to stand near the top of the ramp to watch for pedestrians and direct the prime movers who are pushing or pulling the MAFIs into position.

However, at the time of the incident there was no such stevedore performing these duties. As a result, the MAFI was pushed unknowingly towards the now deceased worker by the operator.

Justice Cannon found that the system of work that was in place at the time of the incident occurring was not safe so far as reasonably practicable, because the defendant company did not eliminate or adequately control the risk of collision between the prime movers pushing the MAFI trailers onto the weather deck during the loading process, and pedestrian workers in the vicinity.

Having a workplace culture that reinforces the message that there is no tolerance for workers who do not comply with safety procedures, and ensuring that directors and senior management undertake safety observations to satisfy themselves that workers are complying with safety procedures.

Colin Biggers & Paisley is a commercial law firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The firm provides representation and advice on construction and engineering, insurance, commercial litigation, dispute resolution, property, planning and environment, corporate and commercial law, restructuring and insolvency, transport and logistics, workplace relations and WHS where it is assisting to identify current best practice and assist both the PCBU and its officers to implement safety standards to achieve a safe and cost- effective operation. www.cbp.com.au

AMT Apr/May 2017

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106 Manufacturing matters in Australia.

Our manufacturers lead the world in numerous products and industries.

Australia’s manufacturing industry is a major contributor to our economy each year, and our manufacturers employ large numbers of people, offering them challenging, rewarding work, and providing the basis for stable, diverse communities.

Welcome to the Manufacturers’ Pavilion, the section of AMT Magazine dedicated to celebrating some of the best, most dynamic, most innovative manufacturing companies working in Australia today.

AMT Apr/May 2017

The Manufacturers’ Pavilion highlights the capabilities of Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry. Over the following pages, we will look at companies delivering products and services across a variety of industrial sectors, and employing a diverse array of processes.

It builds on the successful Manufacturers’ Pavilion exhibition area within the Austech trade show and is sure to enhance the profile of the leading edge manufacturers in our sector.

If you feel your company should be featured in a future edition of the Manufacturers’ Pavilion, please contact AMTIL Sales Manager Anne Samuelsson, on 03 9800 3666, or by emailing asamuelsson@amtil.com.au

Manufacturers Heading Pavilion

High-quality supplier and re-grinder of machine knives and precision grinding services Davis & Jenkins offers a unique ability to handle large workpieces – including grinding – with extreme precision and at precise bevel angles on any kind of steel, plus a reputable refurbishment service for companies Australia-wide.

Recently, Davis & Jenkins acquired a new precision surface grinding machine, which substantially increased the company’s capacity. With that new machine, it is possible to handle work pieces with dimensions as large as 3,000mm x 1,000mm x 1,040mm, and weighing as much as 3,000kg. The ability to process such large workpieces, with a height up to 1,040mm, is rare in Australia. It allows the grinding of large workpieces including machine beds, bases, fixtures, jigs and large steel plates, with extreme precision. Davis & Jenkins has four more machines with a swivellable magnetic chuck capacity, which is also very large at 5,500mm x 300mm x 250mm, enabling the grinding of precise bevel angles on any kind of steel to a length of 5,500mm. This machine has also been utilised to provide a refurbishment service for press brake tooling, in particular, MultiVee Block Dies, helping other companies to save much money by not needing a new replacement tool. Various industries use machine knives in varying qualities in

paper or metal cutting guillotines, paper or metal slitters, newspaper presses and wood chippers, just to name a few. Davis & Jenkins is a manufacturer, supplier, and re-grinder of industrial machine knives for the printing, paper, wood, plastics, and metal industries.

A core service provided by the company is precision surface grinding with very largecapacity magnetic tables. Davis & Jenkins also supplies spare parts, accessories, and consumables for the printing industry.

The company originated as engineering arm of Alex Cowan & Sons (later known as Spicers Paper) in the late 1800s. Cowan sold that arm to Messers Davis & Jenkins in 1927, who remained a partnership until being incorporated in 1955. Currently, the company has eight employees in Melbourne providing supply and grinding services for companies throughout Australia. As the Australian agent for the German TKM Group (formerly IKS Klingelnberg), Davis & Jenkins has achieved an excellent reputation as a high-quality supplier and re-grinder of machine knives and for precision grinding services.

Davis & Jenkins Pty Ltd 198 Christmas Street Fairfield Victoria 3078 T: 03 9499 2858 F: 03 9497 1992 W: davisandjenkins.com.au E: info@davisandjenkins.com.au Patrick Vlahos Production Manager T: 03 9499 2858 E: info@davisandjenkins.com.au Currently, Davis & Jenkins has eight employees in Melbourne providing supply and grinding services for companies throughout Australia. Being the Australian agent for the German TKM Group (formerly IKS Klingelnberg), Davis & Jenkins has achieved an excellent reputation as a high quality supplier and re-grinder of machine knives and precision grinding services.

Quality+precision = reputation.

Davis & Jenkins – high quality supplier anD re-grinDer of machine knives anD precision grinDing services.

• Workpieces up to 3000 x 1000 x 1040mm, with a weight of 3000kg • Swivel-able magnetic chuck capacity is 5500 x 300 x 250mm, enabling precise bevel angles on any kind of steel to a length of 5500mm.

davisandjenkins.com.au 198 Christmas Street • Fairfield VICTORIA 3078 • Tel: 03 9499 2858 • Fax: 03 9497 1992 AMT Apr/May 2017

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Manufacturers Pavilion

Ultimate Laser – What can they cut for you?

What can we

LASER WATERJET CUTthree for commenced operations Approximately years you? ago, with the

With eight laser machines and two waterjet machines, Ultimate Laser can cut most materials up to 150mm thick, to a maximum bed size of 9m x 4m.

or

Ultimate Laser in March 2004, in one factory with one advent of a new waterjet machine, Ultimate Ultimate Laser run 8 Laser machines & Ultimate Cutting Services run laser machine and three employees. acquired another factory in Dandenong, 2 Waterjet machines.

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pipe diameter 12mm, SHS 15mm xquotes To minimum complement its modern machines, accurate lead times and will Titanium, be thick, including Steel, Aluminium, 15mm. uses advanced CAD/CAM Ultimate pleased to provide you Copper, with a no Brass, obligation Stainless Steel, Rubber, Foam, Ceramics, Wood andwithin much more.

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ISO accreditation.

WATERJET CUTTING

For laser cutting

For LASER Ultimate Laser Cutting!

36-40 Micro Circuit Dandenong Vic 3175 T: 03 9799 8788 F: 03 8768 7965 36-40 Micro Circuit W: ultimatelaser.com.au Dandenong Vic 3175 E: sales@ultimatelaser.com.au

P 03 9799 8788 F 03 8768 7965 E sales@ultimatelaser.com.au ultimatelaser.com.au

For water cutting

ForCutting WATERJET Ultimate Services Cutting!

138-140 Williams Road Dandenong Vic 3175 T: 03 9238 9400 F: 03 9238 9488 W: waterjetcuttingmelbourne.com.au E: sales@ultimatecuttingservices.com.au

138-140 Williams Road Dandenong Vic 3175 P 03 9238 9400 F 03 9238 9488 E sales@ultimatecuttingservices.com.au waterjetcuttingmelbourne.com.au

LASERTUBE

LASER

CUTTING

CUTTING

See us at stand AMT Apr/May 2017

MS31

Manufacturers Heading Pavilion

New end-of-line palletising solution Seeing the need for a simple, small footprint end-of-line palletising solution, ADDE has developed an exciting new collaborative palletiser using a Universal Robots UR10 It is a common sight across manufacturing operations in Australia to see a person at the end of a packing line hand-palletising cartons onto a pallet. ADDE has been building custom automation solutions for Australian manufacturers for over 20 years, and while they have built many large, centralised and high-rate palletisers, there has never been an effective palletising solution for smaller operations and lower rates – until now.

ADDE has developed an innovative and exciting new end-of-line palletiser that can be quickly, easily and economically applied in a wide range of operations. By utilising a Universal Robots UR10 collaborative robot the system does not need guarding, meaning the whole palletiser has a foot print no larger than the current space of an infeed conveyor, an operator and a pallet on the floor. Because of this, ADDE has dubbed their new system the Zero Footprint Palletiser. When ADDE first started working with Universal Robots, the potential for palletising was obvious. The UR10 arm has a payload rating of 10kg and can pick at rates over 6 cartons per minute, and now

with this innovative design from ADDE, the robot is mounted on a vertical lift column so it can reach the full volume of an Australian standard (Chep) pallet.

The system has been developed as both a single pallet system for the smallest footprint or in a two-pallet configuration to allow production to keep flowing while the pallets are changed. It can even be moved from line to line with a standard pallet trolley to be deployed as needed.

The system features a very easy to use touch screen interface to simply select the pallet pattern required, define the box details, and set the system going. No robot programming skills are needed and the system can be running within minutes of being plugged in.

ADDE 6B 841 Mountain Highway Bayswater, Victoria 3153 T: 03 9760 9600 F: 03 9760 9611 W: www.adde.com.au E : info@adde.com.au Barry Hendy Managing Director T: 03 9760 9605 E: barry@adde.com.au Andrew Donald Design Engineering (ADDE) serves the local manufacturing industry with innovative, custom automation solutions from concept to completion. ADDE designs and builds turn-key systems to your unique needs, from simple end-of-line packing using collaborative robots to complete manufacturing, inspecting, packaging or palletising systems.

Baxter Laboratories has recently committed to be the launch customer for the new palletiser. Conveniently located just up the road from ADDE, the Baxter team have been helping to refine the design and plan to deploy five systems to bring this efficient end-of-line palletising solution to their operations.

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Manufacturers Pavilion

Integra Systems - Make your vision real Empowering you to ‘Make Your Vision Real’ is what drives Integra Systems.

Breakthrough product and engineering design, followed by world-class execution is the method.

Since 1991, Integra Systems has worked with hundreds of Australian businesses and helped them enjoy prosperity in both local and export markets with product designs that blow their competition out of contention. Integra Systems is proud to be a 100% Australian-owned family business, supporting customers globally.

With innovation as the cornerstone of Integra’s culture, Integra enables and empowers clients in key areas of industrial design, product design engineering and mechanical engineering, followed by empowerment through highly efficient inhouse advanced manufacturing systems and project management expertise.

The company focuses on working collaboratively with clients to enable them to secure new market opportunities and overcome complex design challenges in a highly diverse range of industries. Overlaying a unique design process across a diverse range of industries is what distinguishes Integra, and provides you with the ultimate solution.

Industry recognition for this is supported by the many awards Integra has received.

Enhanced business outcomes are the key focus of solutions that are driven by: • User centric design, utilising deep knowledge and insights.

• Improved productivity and reduced labour on-costs, resulting in total cost savings.

• Enhanced product appeal and sales turnover.

• Agile and flexible production processes.

• Design for manufacture which achieves bottom line results.

Integra Systems 197 Northcorp Blvd Broadmeadows, Vic, 3047 T: 03 9359 3133 F: 03 9359 3166 W: www.integrasystems.com.au E: enquiries@integrasystems.com.au Paul Hughes Managing Director T: 03 9359 3133 E: paul@integrasystems.com.au For over 25 years, Integra has empowered clients to achieve their aspirations through integrated solutions – innovative, creative and break-through product design engineering and advanced manufacturing from ideation to delivery.

• Reduced cost of deployment.

• Attention to production precision.

• Increased speed to market.

• Enjoyable product experience.

Business relationships are centred around Integra’s ability to ‘Make Your Vision Real’.

AGILE. PROGRESSIVE. REVOLUTIONARY. Empowering you to Make Your Vision Real is what drives us.

Break-through product design, followed by world-class execution is how we make it happen. We work with you to collaboratively deliver an integrated solution from ideation through to production and delivery, which creatively solves your challenge.

The result of this is revolutionary, award winning products that will enhance your business outcomes.

www.integrasystems.com.au Integra is proudly a multi-award winning company

AMT Apr/May 2017

ManufactureLink proudly owned and operated

by AMTIL

Follow our members on

Go Get linked!

Manufacturelink is your directory for all things Manufacturing. processes. services. technology.

1186AMT

We’ve got the link to make it happen.

Visit www.manufacturelink.com.au to learn more.

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Amtil Inside

Austech – Not long now

As CEO of AMTIL I extend the warmest greetings to all those intending to visit the 16th Austech exhibition.

Austech is Australia’s leading showcase for products and processes for the manufacturing technology and advanced manufacturing industries. Austech comes at the right time for manufacturers and users to get out and take a good look at the next generation of manufacturing methods that can help to apply “innovation” to their business. It provides a forum for visitors to not only view the latest technology available today but also talk about applications that help them provide value added, innovative and hi-tech solutions.

Innovation in manufacturing is a key to global competitiveness and sustained economic growth. Austech, together with its co-located exhibition National Manufacturing Week, offers the opportunity to network, exchange best practice, gain access to comprehensive resources and formulate ways to strengthen our industry – all under the one roof.

I need to remind our readers that Austech no longer runs in Sydney and is now only in Melbourne every two years. So the next opportunity to visit the show will be in May 2019. From that point of view, the expectation is that if you have an interest in precision engineering or advanced manufacturing, this is the year to visit.

We are also very pleased that ALL the major machine tool dealers have committed to exhibit and we are looking forward to an excellent event.

Among the highlights of this year’s show will be the Digitalisation Pavilion, a brand new area that will explore developments at the cutting edge of manufacturing technology today. Manufacturing is on the cusp of a wave of radical change – often described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 – where advances in robotics & automation, the Internet of Things, big data and Cloud computing, and more, will usher in the smart factory of the future. The Digitalisation Pavilion is where visitors can learn what this will mean for them and their business, and what opportunities it will create. It will also be the venue for a comprehensive four-day speaker program.

Making its return will be the Manufacturers Pavilion – first held as part of Austech 2013 – a specially dedicated area showcasing the capabilities of Australia’s precision engineering and advanced manufacturing industry. As well as featuring a diverse array of Australian component manufacturers, precision engineering firms, toolmakers, advanced manufacturers and general engineering companies, it will feature major exhibits from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including the Hawkei protected mobility vehicle from Thales, and a prime mover from Paccar.

The Additive Manufacturing Pavilion, again held in collaboration with Inside 3D Printing, will also be back, featuring the latest advances in this fast-evolving new field of manufacturing. This is sure to generate as much interest as it has the past few shows.

This technology is still evolving and researching how we utilise it in a production sense rather than as prototyping technology is one of the significant changes to our industry at present.

It is our great hope that the exhibition provides some stimulus for investment in manufacturing technology and that this investment leads to business growth and prosperity for the future. I trust your visit to Austech is a success and wish you a rewarding remainder of 2017 and beyond.

Austech runs from 9-12 May at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. For more information (including a full exhibitor list and floor plan) and to register to attend please visit www.amtil.com.au/austech

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Amtil Heading Inside

Rigby Cooke signs on as AMTIL Service Partner

AMTIL has entered into an exclusive service partnership with Rigby Cooke Lawyers, helping our members with a wide array of legal services.

Rigby Cooke Lawyers is a full service law firm providing commercial expertise and industry knowledge to private and public sector clients across Australia. With origins that can be traced back to the 1840s, we have earned our reputation of achieving success for – and with – our clients, by remaining adaptive to change. We do this by understanding each of our clients’ businesses and industry, and by staying at the forefront of changes in technology and legislation.

This is because, above all else, we remain true to our mission, Our People: Your Success.

Our lawyers are technically excellent in their areas of expertise; but more importantly for our clients, they are genuinely concerned with the application of the law in the ‘real world’ to get results. We are outcome-focused and commercially-minded – helping you achieve your goals in the most effective and efficient manner is our key objective.

We can work with you by providing full-service ongoing support for all your commercial and private needs or by offering specialty expertise when required. A key part of our way of operating is to get to know you and your business. We visit your sites; we work with your people. We like to work with clients on an on-going basis so we can be involved from the beginning of a project, providing the external perspective that can make a difference.

We have served Australia’s manufacturing sector throughout our history and are proud to be partnering with AMTIL to continue to support you.

Full-service offering A unique feature of a firm of our size is the breadth of commercial services we offer. Led by technically skilled legal partners, and supported by intelligent and efficient teams, we have the capacity and capability of a larger firm, but with the organisational structure to remain agile to our clients’ evolving needs.

Rigby Cooke’s team of 90 staff in Melbourne covers: • • • • • • • • • •

Construction & Projects Customs & Trade Hotels Insolvency & Reconstruction Litigation & Dispute Resolution Migration Planning & Environment Tourism, Leisure & Hospitality Transport & Logistics Workplace Relations

• • • • • • • • •

Corporate & Commercial Health & Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property International Business Mergers & Acquisitions Not-for-Profit Property Tax & Wealth Wills & Estates

For more information contact Veronica Grossman, Business Development & Marketing Manager at Rigby Cooke Lawyers.

VGrossman@rigbycooke.com.au www.rigbycooke.com.au

At your service.

AMTIL supports its members through its select range of AMTIL Service Partners.

1271AMTIL

www.amtil.com.au/Membership/Service-Partners

AMT Apr/May 2017

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Amtil Inside

Digital AMTIL – Get yourself connected

One of the exciting new features of this year’s Austech exhibition will be the Digitalisation Pavilion, a special dedicated area exploring how the continual advance of digital technology is bringing radical changes to the manufacturing industry worldwide.

AMTIL is keeping pace with these changes, with an ever-growing and evolving line-up of online services. Whether it’s keeping you abreast of the latest news developments, or promoting your products and services to a wide audience of potential customers, AMTIL can offer a number of different platforms and channels to help you meet that goal.

Online news AMTIL updates the news on its website every day, with the latest developments concerning manufacturing in Australia and across the world. Moreover, we’ve negotiated special, fee-free access to a number of paywalled news websites both here and abroad – just click on any link of interest from the AMTIL news pages, and you can read the latest news and opinion without paying a cent.

In addition, we can bring the latest news direct to your inbox every Friday, with our weekly email newsletter. For more in-depth coverage, AMT magazine is available in electronic format on our website.

ManufactureLink Our online directory, ManufactureLink, offers AMTIL members the chance to establish a virtual shop window for their business, in a searchable database that connects you with potential clients direct. Australia’s most comprehensive online industry capability directory, ManufactureLink allows potential customers to locate providers of custom manufacturing processes, manufacturing

services, service providers to industry participants, as well as suppliers of manufacturing technologies.

Hotspots With our regular Hotspots newsletter, AMTIL seeks to alert our members to some of the opportunities that exist out there in the industry. It may be the chance to make a sale, a contract up for tender, or the very latest import statistics compiled by AMTIL. If you don’t get Hotspots, you risk missing out.

Marketing your business Communicating effectively through digital platforms enables companies to communicate to a large targeted group, increasing brand awareness and generating sales. AMTIL offers the opportunity to market your products and services via our Product News E-Blast, a single email sent to relevant prospects within our extensive database of industry professionals.

Meanwhile our online advertising packages allow you exposure to key decision-makers from across the industry via the AMTIL website.

Social media AMTIL is present and active on major social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Keep in touch, and join the conversation.

All this and more can all be found on the AMTIL website. Check it out, and get your business connected. www.amtil.com.au

IT’S

BA CK !

AMTIL FOOTY TIPPING 2017 That’s right, the prestigious AMTIL Footy Tipping competition is back once again in 2017 and we’re looking forward to a season jam-packed full of OOOHHHs and AAAAHHs! To all those who have committed, good to have you back on board, the $1,000 first prize will be very handy – just ask Raff. Don’t forget to get your tips in each week and best of luck to all. Sanchez

AMT Apr/May 2017

Heading

Real Business Real People Real Members AMTIL is the pre-eminent body representing the Australian machine tools industry.

Relationships have been developed with the global equivalents throughout the World, thus enabling access to the very latest developments. AMTIL continues to lobby on behalf of members and the industry, particularly to Governments, unions and industry stake holders, not only in Australia but also to the wider machine tool industry globally. Strong linkages have also been forged with Australian and international universities, providing the technological and intellectual linkages to the world for our industry. The staff at AMTIL are always willing to assist the membership and the regular networking and awareness sessions on topics of current interest are informative and thought provoking. I can highly recommend AMTIL to industry participants as a dynamic forward thinking industry association.

See us at stand

M50

Grant Anderson, ANCA Group

Since 1999, AMTIL has been connecting business, informing of opportunities and growing the manufacturing community.

To be become an AMTIL member contact our Corporate Servcies Manager, Greg Chalker on 03 9800 3666 or email gchalker@amtil.com.au

amtil.com.au 1311AMTIL/GA

116

Industry Calendar

Please Note: It is recommended to contact the exhibition organiser to confirm before attending event

INTERNATIONAL Hannover Fair 2017 Germany, Hannover 24-28 April 2017 With a lead theme of “Integrated Industry – Creating Value”, includes exhibits including: R&D, automation, IT, industrial supply, production engineering, energy and environmental technology. www.hannovermesse.de PMTS USA, Ohio 25-27 April 2017 Precision machining technology show. www.pmts.com Vietnam Sheet Metal Vietnam, Hanoi 26-28 April 2017 Vietnam’s only sheet metal fabrication technology and machinery exhibition. www.vnsheetmetal.com KONMAK Turkey, Konya 27-30 April 2017 International metal processing machines, welding, drilling, cutting technologies, materials and hand tools exhibition. http://konmakfuari.com/en Metal & Steel + FABEX 2017 Saudi Arabia, Riyadh 30 April – 3 May 2017 6th international exhibition for steel, steel fabrication and metallurgy. www.metalsteelsa.com Fabtech Mexico, Monterrey 2-4 May 2017 Exhibition for the metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing industries sectors. http://mexico.fabtechexpo.com EXPOMAFE Brazil, Sao Paulo 9-13 May 2017 Machine tools and industrial automation trade exhibition. www.expomafe.com.br/en Machine Tools Africa South Africa, Johannesburg 9-12 May 2017 Claimed to be Africa’s biggest machine tools exhibition. www.machinetoolsafrica.co.za Myanmar Machtool Myanmar, Yangon 11-14 May 2017 International machine tool and automation exhibition. www.myanmar-expo.com/MachineTool/ Aluminium Middle East United Arab Emirates, Dubai 15-17 May2017 Claimed to be the Middle East’s leading exhibition for aluminium products & technologies. www.aluminium-middleeast.com METALLOOBRABOTKA Russia, Moscow 15-19 May 2017

AMT Apr/May 2017

Exhibition for equipment, instruments and tools for the metalworking industry. www.metobr-expo.ru/en/ EASTEC USA, Massachusetts 16-18 May 2017 Advanced productivity exposition. www.easteconline.com Smart Automation Austria Austria, Linz 16-18 May 2017 Trade fair for automation technology and measuring technology www.smart-wien.at/en/ ADM Canada, Toronto 16-18 May 2017 Advanced design & manufacturing expo.

Co-located with Design & Manufacturing, PACKEX, PLAST-EX, and Powder & Bulk Solids. http://admtoronto.com Made in SteelItaly, Milan 17-19 May 2017 International steel industry conference & exhibition Southern Europe’s premier trade show for the steel industry. http://www.madeinsteel.it/en/ INTERMACH Thailand, Bangkok 17-20 May 2017 International metalworking, automation and industrial machinery exhibition. Co-located with SHEET METAL Asia. www.intermachshow.com/en-us LAMIERAItaly, Milan 17-20 May 2017 Sheet metalworking and metalforming exhibition. www.lamiera.net/en BIE - Brescia Industrial Exhibition Italy, Montichiari 18-20 May2017 Trade fair for metal processing and associated technologies. Includes machines tools, automation, forging/casting equipment, metrology, CAD/CAM, moulds. www.fierabie.com BUTECHSouth Korea, Busan 24-27 May 2017 International machine tools exhibition. www.butech.or.kr/new/eng/main/main.php SouthMACH New Zealand, Christchurch 24-25 May 2017 New Zealand engineering and manufacturing technology tradeshow www.southmach.co.nz/ AutoMEX Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 24-27 May 2017 Automation technology exhibition and conference www.automex.com.my/

INDUSMACH AFRICA Kenya, Nairobi 2-4 June 2017 Industrial tools, equipment and machinery exhibition. http://indusmach.expogr.com Metallurgy-Litmash Russia, Moscow, 5-8 June 2017 Metallurgical technology, processes and metal products . Co-located with Wire Russia, Tube Russia, Metallurgy Russia and Litmash. www.tube-russia.com Africa Automation Fair 6-8 June 2017 South Africa, Johannesburg International trade fair for industrial control technologies www.reedexpoafrica.co.za/ AfricaAutomationFair/ ITM MACH-TOOL Poland. Poznan 6-10 June 2017 Machine tool exhibition. Co-located with Mach Tool, Metalform; Surfex and Welding. http://machtool.mtp.pl/en/ WMTS Canada, Edmonton 6- 8 June 2017 Western Manufacturing Technology Show.

Machine tools, metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing www.wmts.ca Advanced Manufacturing-Exhibition UK, Birmingham 6-8 June 2017 Advanced manufacturing technologies www.advancedmanufacturingshow.co.uk Motek India, Mumbai 8-10 June 2017 Mechanical engineering and automation. http://motek-india.in.messefrankfurt.com Vietnam Industrial & Manufacturing Fair Vietnam, Binh Duong 7-9 June 2017 Technologies, equipment, machines & tools, systems, industry materials and engineering services, for manufacturing, metalworking and subcontracting industries. http://vietnamindustrialfiesta.com/aboutvimf-2017 Metal & Metallurgy China China, Shanghai 13-16 June 2017 Metalforming and Industrial Furnace Exhibition. Co-located with Foundry Expo, Metallurgical Industry Expo, Industry Furnace Exhibition and Refractories and Industrial Ceramics Exhibition. www.mm-china.com/En/ EMO Germany, Hannover 18-23 September 2017 The world’s premier trade fair for the metalworking sector www.emo-hannover.de/home

Industry Calendar Heading local Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 6-8 April 2017 Includes leading automotive parts, accessories, tools, equipment, diagnostic and software. This year’s theme: “Build a Better Auto Business”. www.aftermarketexpo.com.au/ Technology Expos (Institute of Instrumentation Control & Automation) 3 May – 15 November 2017 Organised by the Institute of Instrumentation Control & Automation. Technology Expos held around Australia. Please check website for listing of events. http://www.iica.org.au/info/events/ DesignBUILD Sydney, Intl. Convention Centre 3-5 May 2017 Australia’s architects, building professionals, manufacturers and suppliers in the residential and commercial industry sectors. http://designbuildexpo.com.au Austech Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 9-12 May 2017 Australia’s premier advanced manufacturing and machine tool exhibition. The only show specifically targeted at Australia’s metalworking, machine tool and ancillary market. Co-located with Inside 3D Printing and Safety First conference & expo. www.amtil.com.au/austech National Manufacturing Week Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 9-12 May 2017 Includes the latest technologies, demonstrations, innovations and education for the manufacturing industry. Co-located with Safety First Conference & Expo. www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au Austmine 22-24 May 2017 Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Perth, Australia Includes the latest innovations, strategies and technological breakthroughs in the mining sector. http://austmineconference.com.au

Advertiser Index

CEBIT Sydney, Intl. Convention Centre 23-25 May Trade show for IT and digitization. Covers all aspects of IT, telecoms, software and related services . www.cebit.com.au/ AusMedtech Conference & ICMMB 2017 Melbourne 24-25 May 2017 AusMedtech & Intl. conference on Mechanics in Medicine and Biology (ICMMB). Topics include biomaterials, medical devices, assistive technologies, tissue engineering, 3D Printing. www.ausmedtech.com.au Australian Energy Storage Sydney, International Convention Centre 14-15 June 2017 Sydney’s only dedicated energy storage exhibition. This year’s theme ‘Investing in Australia’s Energy Storage Future’”. www.australianenergystorage.com.au/

600 Machine Tools

22-23

Alfex CNC

FLAP

Andrew Donald Design Engineers

11

Bolts & Industrial Supplies

61

Bystronic P/L

6-7

Complete Machine Tools

17

Compresssed Air Australia

33

Davis & Jenkins

107

Dimac 45 DMG MORI

40-41

ECI Solutions

65

EIF Australia

59

Emona Instruments

73

Hare & Forbes

4-5

Headland 120 Hi Tech Metrology

21

Hi-Tech Metrology

85

IMTS Laser P/L

25

Industrial Laser

55

Integra Systems

110

Iscar 2-3 John Hart

Sydney Boat Show Sydney International Convention Centre, 3-7 August 2017 Largest recreational marine event in the southern hemisphere. www.sydneyboatshow.com.au

Okuma

AIMEX Sydney Showground 29-31 August 2017 Asia Pacific’s inernational mining exhibition.

Includes conference: Future of Mining and live demonstrations of new mining processes and technologies for all mining techniques. www.aimex.com.au/home

109

Applied Machinery

Adelaide Boat Show Adelaide Event & Exhibition Centre 30 June – 3 July 2017 Leading recreational boating event. www.adelaideboatshow.com.au

AWRE expo Melbourne Convention Centre 23-24 August 2017.

Dedicated to the Australasian waste & recycling marketplace. Includes latest innovations and seminars and workshops. www.awre.com.au

39

Alfex CNC

57

Kaeser Compressors Aust Pty Ltd

101

Machinery Forum

119

MTI Qualos

49, 69

Officeworks

19 9

Raymax 51 Reed Exhibitions

27

Robert Bosch Aust.

83

Sandvik Aust Pty Ltd

37

Seco Tools

29

Sutton Tools

15

Ultimate Laser

108

Your Industry. Your Magazine.

Jun Jul Australian Manufacturing Technology

AustrAliAn MAnufActuring technology

AUSTECH REVIEW

Your IndustrY. Your MagazIne.

Feb mar

Shipping, Rail & Logistics STATE SPOTLIGHT: WA & NT Cutting Tools

Your Industry. Your Magazine

Advertise in Australia’s No. 1 precision and manufacturing magazine Call Anne Samuelsson of AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 or email asameulsson@amtil.com.au

Forming & Fabrication Material Removal Motorsport & AutoMotive

Nanotechnology & Micro Machining Cutting tools Forming & Fabrication Material removal additive Manufacturing software Compressors & air technology

Additive Manufacturing Composites & Advanced Materials Motors & Drives

AMT Apr/May 2017

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118

history

Big wheels & little wheels – the story of Sir Laurence John Hartnett (1898 – 1986)

Saving GM-Holden

Part 18

UK-born Sir Laurence Hartnett arrived in Australia in 1934. The visionary Sir Laurence became known as Australia’s ‘Father of the Holden’ – and much more. The year is 1934 and Laurence commences his attempts to save the “doomed” GM and Holden’s merger.

B

y 1934 when I arrived in Australia, the men in our factories had come through the worst depression in modern history and their volume of production in 1934 was only beginning to pick up. During those terrible years, the economies achieved by Holden’s at Woodville put them, in many ways, years ahead of the rest of the world in manufacturing technique. The resourcefulness and initiative of the Australians in this industry is beyond praise. How they did it, and continued to do it year after year, will never cease to amaze anyone who has an appreciation of the complexities involved and of the staggering problems that had to be overcome.

When G.M. merged with Holden’s in 1931, I had known of the wars that had been fought between Holden’s on one hand and the G.M. people in Australia on the other.

Now – in 1934 - I was in Australia, and the job was mine to settle all differences and get the organization on to a paying basis if I could.

The problem was that in the U.S., G.M. was making up to half a million of each model. They couldn’t understand it when Holden’s would say: “what is produced in America, on the volume of production you want in Australia, is uneconomical! Now, that panel will cost £3,000 in tooling-up alone. We can give you just as good an effect with much less tooling”. But no, the G.M. people couldn’t see it. What a mess! No wonder they were in the red. But this didn’t concern me a bit. I was confident I. could overcome the faults. But it would take work, and it would mean I would have to convert them to my way of doing things. I started on that job my second day in Australia.

My first task was to lay down an organization. One of the glaring faults of the GM-H set-up, as I saw it, was that Ted Holden had about forty people reporting directly to him. In my opinion, that was about thirty-five too many. If you are the managing director, you can co-ordinate effectively only about five people. The activities of the company fell nicely into five functions: supply, manufacture, sales, finance and engineering.

When I announced my organisation, there were, as I expected, loud squawks of dismay. Each of the assembly plants had been individually managed by a local manager, and each had had a complete organization reporting to him. Under my plan, there were no plant managers at Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, but each department manager in head office was responsible for his particular function operating effectively, regardless of location.

I firmly believe in continuing men in the jobs they have filled if at all possible. Above all, I wanted Australians to fill the top jobs. And so it worked out that way. Two or three staff asked in the very direct manner of Australians, “Well what’s the score now? What sort of pay are you going to give us?” I thought that was grand.

They were asserting themselves right from the jump; showing that they weren’t overawed by the big shot from America and by the new big shot from Britain.

During our co-ordination meetings, I quickly realized that one or two men stood out above the others; the others were inclined to be inarticulate; so I had to dull down the eloquent fellows and bring out

the material I knew was in the less-vocal members. This is essential to a co-ordinated team. It took five or six months but in the end the system worked beautifully, as I had known it would.

Together we worked all hours of the day and night, six and sometimes seven days a week. They did a great job and they achieved some amazing results. For the first time, the men at the Woodville body plant had a G.M. managing director who spoke their language, who not only sympathized with their problems, but who could often suggest ways to overcome even the most involved technical difficulties. I was determined it would work, and my immediate goal was to get GM-H back into a strong position.

To be continued…

Laurence Hartnett quickly turned GM-H around. He restructured it, encouraged efficiency and stepped up training.

His management style had quite an effect on the workforce.

The following is a quote from assistant draughtsman - Don Jordan - who worked at GM-H in the mid-1930s: “This dynamic little dynamo came rushing through like a shark with his pilot fish; he seemed to know what he was talking about… and off he went. There was almost an evangelistic attitude in that whole drawing office. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Why everyone seemed to be working at high pressure and not worrying about it. After many weeks after I got over the initial shock, I suddenly realised what it was … there was leadership and top organisation.”

Source: ABC Science Online ‘The Holden Story – that’s our car’.

This is an extract from ‘Big Wheels & Little Wheels’, by Sir Laurence Hartnett as told to John Veitch, 1964. © Deirdre Barnett.

AMT Apr/May 2017

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