Manufacturers' Monthly February 2015 by Prime Creative Media

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MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

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MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

FEBRUARY 2015

SRX sees light at the end of the tunnel

INSIDE >>

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Management Cut energy costs, cut carbon emissions

Health & Safety Uncertainty creating mental health risks

Automation & Robotics Everything old school robots werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

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Inside

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FEBRUARY 2015

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Publisher: Martin Sinclair martin.sinclair@cirrusmedia.com.au

6 Editorial

Managing Editor: Kevin Gomez Ph: (02) 8484 0976 Fax: (02) 8484 0722 kevin.gomez@cirrusmedia.com.au

■ IR Review: Too late for manufacturing?

Editor: Matt McDonald Ph: (02) 8484 0645 Fax: (02) 8484 0722 matthew.mcdonald@cirrusmedia.com.au

For daily news visit manmonthly.com.au

8 News & Analysis

■ Snapshot ■ ACTU, Labor attack IR inquiry ■ GM boss says Aus better off without car making

Journalist: Brent Balinski Ph: (02) 8484 0680 Fax: (02) 8484 0722 brent.balinski@cirrusmedia.com.au Editor-at-Large: Alan Johnson Ph: (02) 8484 0725 alan.johnson@cirrusmedia.com.au

12 Comment

■ Time to nurture new growth industries

Graphic Designer: Dave Ashley david.ashley@cirrusmedia.com.au Production Co-ordinator: Mary Copland Ph: (02) 8484 0737 mary.copland@cirrusmedia.com.au

14 Management

■ Connecting all the dots with ERP ■ Cut energy costs, cut carbon emissions

NSW Sales: Anthony Head Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Ph: (02) 8011 3184 anthony.head@cirrusmedia.com.au QLD Sales: Sharon Amos PO Box 3136, Bracken Ridge, QLD 4017 Ph: (07) 3261 8857 Fax: (07) 3261 8347 Mobile: 0417 072 625 sharon.amos@cirrusmedia.com.au

■ Want a safe workplace? Start talking ■ Uncertainty creating mental health risks

24 Regional Manufacturing

■ Diversify, innovate & survive

26 Metalworking & Machine Tools

■ Five-axis CMM inspection ■ Pedders spring into 3D metrology MA 0 2 1 5 _ 0 0 3

34 Automation & Robotics

■ Everything old school robots weren’t

■ The rewards of innovation

45 Automotive

■ 100-plus years of transport heritage

46 HR, Recruitment & Training

■ Faulty drive? Who you gonna call?

■ Flexible learning for manufacturers ■ Voice technology training solution ■ Aus and India partner on skills

38 Materials Handling

50 What’s New

36 Maintenance & Repairs

■ National Forklift Championships ■ E-Commerce order fulfilment solution

40 Motors & Drives

■ Drive systems show sweet side ■ Motor controller

■ ■ ■ ■

Compact robot controller Helical rotary actuators Deep hole drills Plastic cribbing

54 The Last Word

■ Next step on the 3D printing path

Behind the cover

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44 Endeavour Awards

32 Pneumatics & Hydraulics

20 Health & Safety

Cirrus Media Tower 2, Level 3, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067, Australia Locked Bag 4700, Chatswood Delivery Centre, NSW 2067, Australia Ph: (02) 8484 0888 Fax: (02) 8484 0633 ABN 80 132 719 861 ISSN 0025-2530 www.cirrusmedia.com.au © Copyright Cirrus Media, 2015

30 Material of the Month

■ What customers want

16 IT@MM

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■ Low inertia servo motors ■ Three-phase drives

■ Titanium – tricky but useful

■ Investing in design a ‘no-brainer’

NSW, SA/NT & WA Sales: Cirrus Media Ph: (02) 8484 0868 anthony.head@cirrusmedia.com.au

■ Bridge-type CMMS ■ Geometric software without CAD

MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

FEBRUARY 2015

SRX sees light at the end of the tunnel

Average Net Distribution Period ending Sept ’14 18,688

SRX is not afraid of change. A privately owned Australian enterprise, it makes over 100 different high technology electronic products each month in low to high volume runs. In the last 5-10 years SRX has moved its focus from the automotive sector. For example, the medical device sector now accounts for around 50 percent of the company’s production. It has annual revenue of around $60 million and it employs some 400 people across manufacturing operations in Dandenong, Malaysia and New Zealand. What’s more, in the last three years exports have grown from 20 to 70 percent of SRX’s production. 2 0 1 4 - 0 9 - 1 1 T1 4 : 4 3 : 5 5 + 1 0 : 0 0 [Cover image: James Lauritz Photograhy.] INSIDE >>

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Management Cut energy costs, cut carbon emissions

Health & Safety Uncertainty creating mental health risks

Automation & Robotics Everything old school robots weren’t

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 5

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Comment

KEVIN GOMEZ – Managing Editor

IR Review: Too late for manufacturing?

HREE years back, bionic ear maker Cochlear was in the midst of a long-running industrial dispute. The company is one of Australia’s success stories in hightechnology design and manufacture and was concerned about being hobbled by a non-productive union agreement. Negotiations revolved around access to employees at work as well as the the small size of meeting room that was on offer. The Financial Review reported that “the bizarre matter turned on whether stapling three documents together broke the law”. Clearly, an IR review of the country’s broken workplace relations system is long overdue. Cochlear took five years to reach an agreement with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. In today’s hyper competitive industrial environment

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Photography:Daxner Soren Asia-Pacific

• Safety in Manufacturing – Special Focus • Compressors & Pneumatics • Laser Technologies & Applications • Fasteners & Adhesives • 3D Printing • Management – Exporting • IT@MM – Software for Manufacturing • Materials Handling – Forklifts & Attachments MM0 2 1 5 _ 0 0 0 _ E X H -

century workplaces need. characterised by mass customisation It is estimated that only 13 percent and rapid product obsoloscence an of the country’s workers in the private adversarial relationship between sector are in unions – a large number management and workers will only of them in manufacturing and minserve to restrain company growth and ing. Surprisingly nine percent of the ultimately threaten its survival. workforce falls into the independent The Productivity Commission’s contractor category. If we add workers inquiry into industrial relations is supplied by labour hire companies to be welcomed. Australian Industry and those on 457 visas, it becomes a Group’s Steve Smith struck the right diverse and complex area for the Pronote when he remarked that workductivity Commission to consider. place relations reform shouldn’t be The review promises to be a dirty word. Changes must be made extensive – covering minimum to give not only employers but also 1 2 0 1 4 - 1 2 - 0 2 T1 5 : 2 3 : 4 5 + 1 1 : 0 0 wages, awards, penalty rates, unfair employees the flexibility that 21st

dismissal, bargaining, the compliance burdens of the system and the performance of the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman. It is interesting to see the Commission asking for lessons from other countries’ workplace relations systems. And there is much to learn. To put it simply, our current adversorial system isn’t going to cut it any more. Unions should be looking to help companies build their technical and competitive edge in a challenging world market. Australia has to make some smart decisions to retain its manufacturing capabilities. The chief executive of General Motors did not make any friends here when he aannounced at the Detroit Motor Show that ‘Australia is better of without manufacturing’. The former head of the Productivity Comission, Bill Scales hit back and stated that manufacturing industry could operate in Australia with the right monetary, macro and micro-economic settings, efficient labour market arrangements and fiscal settings and access to international markets. As always, the team at Manufacturers’ Monthly would love to hear from you, so drop us an email, follow us on Twitter and join the discussions on Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. kevin.gomez@cirrusmedia.com.au

BY THE INDUSTRY, FOR THE INDUSTRY. OWNED AND PRESENTED BY

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© 2014 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All rights reserved. Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. All other logos, trademarks or service marks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

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Answers for industry.

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SnapSHOT Manufacturing industry employment level, Feb 1994 to Feb 2014 (’000)

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8 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Australian confectioners collapse CONFECTIONERY business Betta Foods is in voluntary administration, only three months after it was acquired by Re:Capital. The company, which manufactures in Broadmeadows, employs over 180 and makes products including Capricorn liquorice and ice cream cones. Established in 1954, Betta Foods is in voluntary administration. Betta has revenues (Image: www.facebook.com/CapricornLiquoriceAustralia) reportedly around $40 Bruno Secatore of the administramillion annually and supplies Coles, tors said Betta’s books were being Woolworths and Aldi. It also exports reviewed as a buyer is sought. to North America, New Zealand and “In the meantime, the company the UK. is continuing to trade so it will be Betta was acquired in October by business as usual while we meet with private equity firm Re:Capital for an the company’s management, customundisclosed amount. Last year – in ers and suppliers,” Smart Company February – Re:Capital also acquired reports him as saying. 101-year-old chocolate maker Ernest “We have met with all of the staff Hiller. Ernest Hillier also collapsed this morning and will continue to in mid-January. keep them informed as we conduct Both companies have Cor Cordis our investigations.” as their voluntary administrator. manmonthly.com.au

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News&ANALYSIS ACTU, Labor attack industrial relations inquiry

HE union movement has attacked the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into industrial relations, saying it will reduce rights and conditions for Australian workers. ACTU President Ged Kearney said in a statement the Government initiated the inquiry “to pursue its obsession with workplace relations and issues like penalty rates and individual contracts.” “The Government wants this process to take workers backwards but we are determined to push for improvements,” she added. She said the ACTU wrote to Employment Minister Eric Abetz and told him that the government should halt its workplace relations legislative agenda until the completion of the Heydon royal commission and the Productivity Commission inquiry into the Fair Work Act. Kearney said unions will use the inquiry to advocate for improvements to minimum and award wages, and to reduce poverty and inequality. ACTU President Ged Kearney. “Unions will oppose any move to cut wages, Brendan O’Connor, the inquiry will result in “an while measures to stop the lowest paid Australians all-out assault on workers’ wages and conditions”. from falling further behind the middle will form part M ofAthe submission,” 0 2ACTU’s 1 5 _ 0 0 0 _ S G Fshe -said.1 2 0 1 5 - 0 1According - 1 6 T 1to3the : 4ABC, 3 : Employment 2 8 + 1 1 : 0Minister 0 Eric Abetz said no recommendations from the According to Labor employment spokesman

report will be acted on before the next Federal Election. “Whatever recommendations we believe are appropriate for the Fair Work framework, we will then seek a mandate at the 2016 election, well in time for people to determine whether or not recommended changes that we may adopt are good for our nation,” Senator Abetz said. Steve Smith from the Australian Industry Group welcomed the discussion paper. “Workplace relations reform shouldn’t be a dirty word, we really need to look at what sorts of changes need to be made to give not only employers but employees the flexibility that 21st century workplaces need,” he said. The discussion paper looks at awards and penalty rates and asks if they should be simplified, changed, swapped for time-off-in-lieu or scrapped. It asks about how effective the minimum wage is, could it be different in different states, and could it be replaced with changes to the tax system. And it also deals with bargaining and enterprise agreements, among other things. The final report is due in November.

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10 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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In brief... Japan-Australia free trade deal The Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, the free trade deal between the two nations came into effect in mid-January. The deal holds no real appeal for Australian manufacturers, though Japanese car makers and manufacturers of electronics and white goods will benefit from it.

Ansell takes competitor to court Condom maker Ansell has filed a claim in the Federal Court which argues that competitor Reckitt Benckiser (RB), maker of Durex condoms, has breached a patent. Ansell’s SKYN range of condoms was granted a patent in 2009. Ansell is claiming that RB’s RealFeel condoms breach several claims in the patent.

Boral looks to divest business Boral is attempting to sell its hardwood timber business. The building products manufacturer has charged Gresham with assisting in the sale of the division, which is believed to have annual revenues of $80 million, book value of $100 and earnings of about $10 million. There are unlikely to be many interested buyers.

Aus a battery manufacturing hub? A US battery expert, Professor Donald Sadoway says Australia could become a manufacturing hub for liquid metal batteries. These are a low-cost, long-life cell which can be used as an alternative to solid state lithium-ion batteries and can store power from renewable energy sources.

Cricket balls take a hit The quality of Australian-made Kookaburra cricket balls has been questioned this week, with regular complaints about their durability made during the recent New Zealand – Sri Lanka Test series. New Zealand Cricket made a formal complaint after its team experienced seven misshapen balls in one test match. Kookaburra employs about 150 and makes it products at Moorabbin.

ADF snubs local drone makers Australian unmanned aerial vehicle makers have expressed concern at what they believe is a favouring of international drone suppliers by the Australia Defence Force (ADF). A US-listed, southern California-based company AeroVironment recently won a $7.7 million nobid contract with the ADF.

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GM boss says Aus better off without car making HOLDEN’S decision to quit car making was good for Australia, according to General Motors (GM) head of international operations Stefan Jacoby. “… I am of the strong opinion that this was the right thing for Australia and this was the best thing for Holden overall,” Jacoby told Australian media at the recent Detroit Auto Show. He added that the decision was not made based on government policy.

The former head of the Productivity Commission Bill Scales was quick to disagree with Jacoby. “Australia is not better off without manufacturing at all,” he told The AFR. “Manufacturing can prosper in this country and in many cases it is.” He said that Holden would’ve been better served by admitting earlier that subsidies alone couldn’t sustain a business and instead lobbying for sensible, helpful policy changes.

What members of our manufacturing community thought of Stefan Jacoby’s comments… ‘Ray Keefe’ I also think that the GM comments missed the mark. It is clear that an automotive sector can do well under the right policy framework and if we understand the full benefits to an economy. The same goes for submarines. Cars and Submarines are two of the five top technology industries and show the level of maturity of a modern economy if you can manufacture them. The fact that both are under threat suggests someone doesn’t want Australia to be a modern economy. At the very least, we should have a plan in place for job replacement before we throw them to the wind. I don’t see automotive production line works or the workers in their supply chains all taking up healthcare roles. ‘Dave’ (in response to Ray Keefe) I agree. The boss of GM would not want to be critical of our government now that they are going to be an importer, they don’t want to lose govt. sales once they close I guess. I just can’t see how, even if they make a loss on every car made here that we would be better off without. I’m not an economist but the way I think is how can we be better off importing another 250,000 Hyundais every year? Is it better to send all that money off-shore or is it better to keep it here where the money can be put back into our economy? The money that will now leave our country each year is staggering. I think there are several problems – Holden is US owned so they would rather make cars where it will profit most without cannibalizing sales of its other models. We have a problem with high wages forced up by unions over the years and failure of government to negotiate free trade with countries we import vehicles from with zero or near zero tariff.

It was recently reported at Detroit show that US bailed out Motown to the tune of $US85 billion (or did that figure get inflated?). Govt. strings were attached, no doubt, and so it is not surprising Holden and Ford moved their stale eggs back into mother-hen’s basket. This ‘assistance’ combined with our US ‘freetrade’ agreement and no tariffs, show how we are truly a ‘clever country’ when it comes to striking deals with trading partners. On my study break last year I was impressed with countries such as the Netherlands and Finland who are making all sorts of positive investments in new technology, education and training. Although they are in all kinds of bother, they are at least being proactive. Perhaps in Australia when the car plants are no longer being used – we can ‘repossess’ them and offer the space as an inducement to future technology, renewables, robotics or other tech rather than dinosaur tech of the gas era? (A Tesla made in Australia comrade?) Editor’s note: Comments are as received. Corrections are made to spelling and grammar.

What do you think? Go to www.manmonthly. com.au and make a comment about this or any other issue.

‘Waving not drowning’ I am enjoying this monthly wrap up. No surprises – GM OZ would say that, wouldn’t they.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 11

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Comment

INNES WILLOX – CEO Australian Industry Group

Time to nurture new growth industries Australia can no longer rely on a single sector for most of its economic growth. We need to take some key policy decisions which will allow us to develop more strong industries, writes Innes Willox.

S we enter 2015 it has become increasingly clear that the Australian economy is struggling to rebalance as the mining investment boom fades and as commodity prices retreat from the very high levels seen over recent years. For local manufacturers, 2014 was a mixed year that saw some positives in the fall in the Aussie dollar, somewhat lower energy prices and a boost in the construction sector. But we also saw reduced demand from the resources sector, continuing pressures from cheap imports and the formal announcements signalling an end to car assembly in Australia. Clearly we need to identify significant drivers of growth now that the mining investment boom is ending. We need strategies agreed across the political divide to ensure that the necessary rebalancing of our economy is achieved in a way that positions Australia to make the most of our considerable opportunities The latest Federal Budget update, in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, highlighted the Australian economy’s increased vulnerability to the global cycles of the resources sector. Both the forecasts for the fiscal position and economy clearly demonstrate that we need a stronger and more diversified growth base. Ai Group recognises that, in addition to support from business, the task of building the case for fiscal action requires leadership and cooperation both across the Federal Parliament and between jurisdictions. It is critically important for us as a nation that we identify multiple sources of growth to offset the muchenlarged reliance on resource and energy commodities. This rebalanc-

12 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

ing is important for the strength of the budget and of the economy and requires that other parts of our economy step up their investment, employment and productivity if incomes and living standards across the community are to continue to improve. Ai Group has identified six key policy directions which should be given serious attention by Federal and State Governments and all parties in the coming year and beyond:

Workplace relations With the Productivity Commission review into our workplace relations system now underway we need to bury past enmities. We need to agree on workplace reforms that will contribute to improved living standards and more and better jobs. The focus should be on creating flexible workplaces capable of raising the opportunities for workforce participation of young Australians, the less skilled and disengaged.

Tax and federation Substantial tax reforms along with important changes to our federation are critical. The reasons for this include shoring-up and broadening our tax bases in the face of technological and demographic forces as well as changes in spending patterns; attract-

ing higher levels of investment and removing unproductive distortions to the direction of investment.

investments in the development of business capabilities which are fundamental to lifting business innovation.

Skills and education

Energy and climate policy

Another critical priority is to significantly lift the relevance and effectiveness of our investments in skills development, training and education. This is an extensive area embracing

Energy and climate policy is another important area for attention. The Federal Government’s Energy White Paper should set the stage for market improvements and long-term investment in energy including in supplies of unconventional gas. Part of the broader energy equation is a sensible, bipartisan solution to the Renewable Energy Target.

“

Substantial tax reforms along with important changes to our federation are critical... foundation skills; apprenticeships and traineeships; VET; as well as school and higher education. A particular focus should be given to addressing the national shortages in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills.

Innovation We also need to give priority to lifting the pace of innovation. Governments need to make further important

Trade policy Finally, trade has an important role in the rebalancing of the economy. Our trade negotiations and trade agreements can more comprehensively consider the full range of opportunities for service and manufacturing industries to complement the traditional focus on primary exports. There should be more open and meaningful consultation with a wide cross-section of businesses to better inform negotiations and analysis of impacts. These are all substantial policy areas. We cannot afford to wait until after the next Federal election to address the pressing task of rebalancing the Australian economy. www.aigroup.com.au manmonthly.com.au

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Management Connecting all the dots with ERP There are a lot of Enterprise Resource Planning software options around at the moment. Matt McDonald looks at one that is intended to bring the power of ERP to more people within your organisation.

ACED with increasing competition, manufactures need to maintain a view of their entire operations. According to Peter Dickinson, General Manager of Greentree International, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software offers them such an overview. “It enables them to basically connect all the dots,” Dickinson told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “ERP, if it’s working well, is connecting all your people and processes – your customers, your suppliers, your production, your financial management, your business intelligence reporting, your people resource management, HR, payroll.” “Particularly when you’re under pressure you have the ability to far more easily distil and look at where the problems and opportunities are.” Greentree recently launched Greentree4, a next-generation fully integrated ERP software platform which provides a browser-based user experience. Dickinson explained how Greentree4 came about. For him, the arrival of the multiple platforms of today – mobile, desktop, iPad, etc – was the latest in a series of disruptive technologies. He said this latest wave has changed things, just as the introduction of the PC and then the internet changed things. “Three to four years ago we saw this big wave of different disruptive technologies coming at us and we basically decided that there was an opportunity to leverage the business software engine – some people call it ERP business software – in a different way,” said Dickinson. “And effectively the difference is being able to take the technology to a much wider audience; to connect more and more of the organisation to the powerful core engine. 14 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Peter Dickinson General Manager of Greentree International.

“That’s the mantra of Greentree4 – to deliver the power of what’s inherent in the Greentree system in the organisation to a much wider audience – whether that be sales, service, manufacturing factory floor, financial team…”

Features of Greentree4 Built with this world view in mind, Greentree4 delivers a number of new features. Firstly, it is configurable. It allows the configuration and design of screens and forms to be customised at an organisational, group or individual level. Secondly, it is fully mobile. Users can work anywhere on whatever device they wish. They can search anywhere with Greentree4’s global Enterprise Search, a browser-based search engine that is also fully configurable. They can use the software any time, day or night; and they can do so with Greentree Secure’s 24-hour rapid hot-switch data and operational recovery options. And thirdly, Greentree4 includes Greentree4Sales, a pre-configured

environment that delivers ERP software capability to sales teams and connects the revenue engine with the business engine. So with this new software, salespeople can take advantage of data other departments already have access to. They can log on at work at their desks or on the road, on their tablets or smartphones.

Greentree4 and manufacturers Dickinson explained that the software includes features that are ideal for manufacturers. The job cost project costing system, for example, enables job oriented manufacturers to pinpoint where they’re making or losing money. “It’s creating the discipline where effectively you’re putting all your true costs against individual manufacturing runs,” he said. In addition, he said, the business process management suite allows businesses to document processes and also fully automate them. He said it is ideal for SME companies who, unlike some large enterprises, don’t want to “get a team of

business process consultants to come in and map every single process…and try and re-engineer the entire world!” To illustrate the benefits of the suite, Dickinson related the example of a company which manufactured products for several customers. “But effectively their profitability was driven by two product lines to three customers,” he said. So the company’s success or otherwise depended on delivering those two products to those three customers on time. The business process management suite allowed them to run rules and alerts to make sure nothing slipped behind and everything was done on time with those two products. Australian manufacturers face many challenges. High costs, ageing infrastructure, and compliance requirements are part of an extensive list. But, as Dickinson sees it, there is one challenge that trumps all others. “[Manufacturers] may have ageing plant or cost structures they’re trying to deal with, but I would suggest their biggest challenge is still out the front end of the business because everybody’s market has got so much more competitive,” he said. “Out at the front end – at the sales and service side – you have to be slicker than ever before.” The new product, he reiterated, allows sales teams and service teams to become more engaged. In these hard times, that may just be enough to keep struggling manufacturers afloat. [Matt McDonald, a Manufacturers’ Monthly journalist, writes on a broad range of topics. His special interests include Safety and Industrial Relations. Contact him at google.com/+MattMcDonald28] Greentree International 1800 000 737 www.greentree.com manmonthly.com.au

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Cut energy costs, cut carbon emissions The high cost of energy is impacting the profitability of all manufacturers. Plus, the adverse effect of climate change is forcing industry to reduce carbon emissions. Matt McDonald looks at one way to deal with these twin problems.

HETHER you ‘believe’ in climate change or not, cutting energy is a smart move. Doesn’t matter if you’re an environmentalist or a climate change sceptic – cutting energy use will save you money. And one way of cutting energy use is investing in voltage optimisation technology. Manufacturers’ Monthly caught up with Dr Alex Mardapittas, Managing Director of EMSc (UK) which makes the Powerstar voltage optimisation system. A world authority on the technology, Mardapittas (pictured) explained that voltage optimisation is a way to bring the voltage supplied by the grid in line with what is actually required to run electrical equipment and machinery.

increases with the more [electricity] consumed,” said Mardapittas. He recommends the technology for those who use more than $50,000 worth of electricity a year. Organisations using that much can expect a payback period of two and a half years. And those using more will have a shorter payback period. “Manufacturing is ideal for the product. The reason is that manufacturers use a lot of inductive motors. We save significantly more energy on

to the local market, Mardapittas was positive. “In every territory… where awareness is low, we have to educate the people first. But in Australia we found it easier to educate the people than, for example, in the USA,” he said. “In Australia we are very happy to have 66 systems installed in two years and I’m sure it is going to increase dramatically as time passes. “We have 6,500 systems installed around the world so we don’t see any Dr Alex Mardapittas, Managing Director of EMSc (UK) which makes the Powerstar voltage optimisation system.

How does it work? By installing a device in series with the mains electricity supply, it is possible to provide an optimum supply of voltage to equipment. The statutory electricity supply range for Australia is 230V +10% to -6%. This means electricity suppliers must provide a voltage level between 253V and 216V. Suppliers actually distribute electricity at 253V. Over distances, the voltage decreases, so on average, it is received from the grid at 247V. However, most electrical equipment used in Australia works best with 220V to 230V. In other words, the grid provides more voltage than is needed. This is where voltage optimisation can be brought into play. It can be used to bring incoming mains supply into line with what equipment needs to run most effectively.

Who should use it? “In theory, anybody who uses electricity. In practice, the payback manmonthly.com.au

inductive loads,” added Mardapittas. He also pointed out that, because in Australia we have higher voltage than in the UK (where the Powerstar technology was created), average savings in this country are higher. On average, UK users can expect savings of 12%, while their Aussie counterparts can get about 15%. Those figures also refer to carbon emission cuts. If you are saving 15% in energy kilowatt hours, you are cutting carbon emissions by 15%. EMSc established its Australian office two years ago. Asked if he was pleased with Powerstar’s introduction

reason why Australia shouldn’t be 100-200 units a year.” When the local office opened, the plan was to establish partnerships with energy consultants and third party distributors to help promote and sell Powerstar. Today, there are four Australian distributors representing Powerstar in various states (and in New Zealand) - Liberty Saver in SA; Ecocentric Energy in WA; Maser in Vic, NSW and NZ; and Corospark in Vic. However, not as many energy consultants have come on board. “They are our ideal partners, but

we need to educate them in the same way we educate the manufacturers and the commercial organisations,” Mardapittas explained. At this time, he said, energy consultants tend to concentrate on simple solutions - “low hanging fruit”. For example, they are more likely to suggest that businesses switch to LED lights than employ voltage optimisation.

The politics Some say Australia has dropped the ball on climate change. The Government did its best to avoid the issue at the G20 Summit and the jury is still out on what effect (if any) its Direct Action policy will have on emissions. Mardapittas declined to be drawn on the issue. “We sell a solution that saves energy. Regardless of the political aspects of any country, we don’t see any negative aspects,” he said. “We save money for people. We save energy. We save tons of CO2.” “Some of our clients don’t care about the tons of CO2. They only care about the money. But others care about the tons of CO2 more than the money.” Complaining about energy prices has become a bit of a national pasttime. Mardapittas signed off with a point that many Australians may not be aware of. “To put everything in perspective, you pay less than half the cost of energy that we pay in Europe,” he pointed out. And, he added “...things can only get better for the future of our system in terms of payback…because everywhere on the planet energy prices are expected to rise. “So the quicker people install our product the better for their pockets.” And the better for the environment. EMSc (Australia) 1300 659 463 powerstar.com/au/ Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 15

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TechnologyIT@MM Why investing in design is a ‘no-brainer’ With innovation and design the key differentiators in today’s competitive marketplace, now is the time to invest in 3D technologies. Alan Johnson reports.

AKE a look at the most successful manufacturers in world, and you quickly realise what differentiates them from the rest; the innovation and design of their products. While most Australian manufacturers have got the message, there are still a surprisingly high number who have not made the move. With high labour costs one of the major issues facing local manufacturers, readers will be pleased to hear that the latest 3D CAD software is continuing to focus on reducing the time spent on a product’s design cycle. Sharon Toh, Dassault Systems’ Senior Director Professional Channel, Asia Pacific South, said the recently released SolidWorks 2015 has a number of exciting features designed to improve productivity, work processes and reduce operating costs, with 90% of the functionality in the latest version directly requested by customers. “Model Based Definition is one feature that can help improve communication between design and manufacturing teams by enabling them to communicate product and manufacturing information (PMI) in 3D. “The traditional way of engineering and manufacturing is to produce 2D documentation with the dimensions and tolerances for the manufacturing department after the part has been designed in 3D “However, in Model Based Definition we actually input all these specifications in the model itself. “This means the model will have all the manufacturing information on the model itself so users can simply pass the model to the manufacturing people and machine directly from the model itself, with all the dimensions and tolerances in-built.” She says this function eliminates the specification process of and

16 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

More collaboration opportunities and less administration work with latest 3D CAD software.

makes it far quicker and easier for manufacturers. “It cuts out a lot of time and potential error in the design process, meaning less documentation creation, fewer emails flying around, and fewer files to sustain when the project is complete,” Toh told Manufacturers’ Monthly. This has the potential to save some large manufacturers millions of dollars, with unconfirmed reports suggesting the documentation for some US warships can weigh as much

as the ship, with the product life cycle being so long. Toh says that with SolidWorks 2015, many types of users can view the designs and share the information in eDrawings, including people without SolidWorks on their desktop. “SolidWorks may be used by the engineer to design and create the parts, but there is always a whole community of people involved in the project, including the sales and marketing teams who eventually take the

product to market. The product can be shown to potential buyers, without the need for them to have SolidWorks at all,” she said. Toh went on to explain that by accessing social collaboration and online data management tools on the 3Dexperience platform, users can benefit from faster development and quicker decision making. With the Dassault platform now accessible, users can connect their existing SolidWorks desktop applicamanmonthly.com.au

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SolidWorks 2015 allows the designer to concentrate on design with less administration work... tions to the cloud and begin developing new business processes and enjoy new generation apps. “Basically, it’s a platform where people can innovate a product and experience the product and unify in terms of product design. “The platform in broken down into several parts, as well as 3D definitions there is a social platform where customers can integrate and collaborate socially. “Another section is collective intelligence information. There is so much information inside a company, but often it’s not used to innovate. “Innovation is often seeing what others don’t see and get there first, “she said. Toh also spoke about SolidWorks Treehouse, where top-down design is facilitated by visually creating assemblies, enabling product structures to be managed at the beginning of design projects. “SolidWorks 2015 allows the designer to concentrate on design with less administration work, making the software even easier to use. “To help people innovate, we have found that many designers work from the top down, meaning they work with an existing design and either add or delete something from the design to make a new design. “It might not be fully done, but the designer has a concept of what it should look like. This is a really powerful function for this latest version, and can be used to reduce the product’s design cycle even further. “Once a company has an idea of a new product, it’s important to turn that idea into a product as soon as possible. This is what SolidWorks is constantly working towards; reducing a product’s design cycle.” And with great designs often startmanmonthly.com.au

ing from a simple sketch, SolidWorks 2015 includes Industrial Design which allows engineers to sketch on an iPad or tablet, and from there they can go to digital design. Additional features of SolidWorks 2015 include improved manufacturability of products with compound curvature. The software can automatically flatten 3D models to help identify materials and manufacturing issues and will be especially helpful to those in the apparel, footwear, upholstery and shipbuilding industries. The latest version also features enhanced product aesthetics and usability, where the creation of asymmetrical fillets for parts, assemblies and surfaces gives users in the high tech, medical and consumer industries increased flexibility to model more ergonomic and stylized designs. And while there are some very good engineers in Australia who are very innovative, Toh warns that companies who are stuck on 2D CAD can expect to face tough times in the years ahead. “Companies still on 2D CAD will find it hard to compete for they will have no tools to see where any extra costs are incurred, whether it is materials or whatever, plus they will have so many errors in manufacturing, adding further extra costs,” Toh concluded.

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Technology IT@MM are waiting for are not going to happen; a fully 3D printed car that is cheaper to build and faster than the traditional manufacturing method will not happen in two years, if ever. So I’m not sure what they are waiting for,” said Eylon. He explains that the advantages of having a 3D printer is all about cost reduction, compression of time, confidentiality and creativity. “Manufacturers can now prototype products themselves, so they are not exposed to the risk of sensitive information falling in between the gaps when communicating to their vendors.” When comes to creativity, Eylon says that while using 3D CAD brings a product to the virtual world, it takes a 3D printer to bring it to the real world. “There is tremendous value in doing that, while CAD systems are getting better and better, there is always more value of holding something in your hand to examine and test. That’s a major advantage of a 3D printer.” However the M A 1 1he 1 believes 4 _ 0 0 0 _ number BOK one advantage is speed.

Conceptual sketch motion now possible.

the money, they must choose just one “We have customers who say idea to prototype. ’these machines turn projects into “But with 3D printing there is no tasks’. Without 3D printers, using problem. Each designer can print out traditional methods of prototyping, it all four of his/her ideas overnight, takes a lot of time and money to creand look at them the following mornate the first prototype. ing.” “On a daily basis, manufacturers, Eylon explains that Stratasys manudesigners and engineers, need to facturers a wide range of machines, make a compromise. For example, from affordable desktop 3D printers management might have four ideas from 1 2each 0 1 of 4 -their 1 0 designers, - 0 8 T 1 but 2 : 5 1 : 5to4large, + 1 1advanced : 0 0 3D production systems, using very different materials. because they don’t have the time or “Probably the smallest part of our business are the WDM (Wax deposition modelling) machines. They basically make models out of wax, which are easy to turn into metal.” He says it is a very accurate and highly detailed process, which is mainly used in the jewellery and dental industries. “Then there are our PolyJet machines which are based on 2D printing technology. Just like inkjet printers, we use 2D printer heads to actually inject material, however instead of ink we inject our resin materials which are sensitive to light. “We have a wide range of materials available, and our latest machines can print three different materials at the same time.” The materials are in liquid form, but when the tiny droplets are exposed to UV light they are solidified layer by layer, just like 2D printing. FAX +1-612-7298910 He said these printers are mainly sales@bokers.com used for prototypes, with the main advantage of this technology is that it’s very fast and very detailed with smooth surfaces. “You can print almost any geometry you can think of.” He explained that Stratasys’ latest

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triple-jetting technology is unique, allowing users to build products with up to three base materials in a single run, forming new digital materials such as digital ABS or producing parts in vibrant colours. This technology can print parts in a single, automated build with up to 80 material properties per part, ranging from rigid to rubber-like in a range of vibrant colours and a range of Shore A values producing exceptional final-product realism. “Because it is a digital process, users can mix them in different ratios in different 3D structures to create materials that have different properties, different colours, and so on. “For example, users can take material A, which is flexible, and material B which is rigid, print both of them in the same model, no need to glue them together, or anything like that. “Plus you could print another part of the same build with a different mix of the two materials. So users can print something anywhere between rigid and flexible, with different Shore values,” Eylon told Manufacturers’ Monthly. At the top of range are FDM (Fusion deposition modelling) machines, which start with a plastic filament made of standard, engineering-grade and high-performance thermoplastics, the same material used to make most items in the office, for example. The parts are made by melting the filament, with an extruder head on the tray, building the parts layer by layer. Stratasys recently introduced the Fortus 450mc and Fortus 380mc 3D production systems, which are designed to provide high-quality engineering grade parts that can be used to reduce the time to bring a product

“

Stratasys’ latest triple-jetting technology allows users to build products with up to three base materials in a single run... manmonthly.com.au

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system navigation, system maintenance and system performance. Complex geometries now take less time to print with our new systems.” Suitable for companies that produce end-use parts via additive manufacturing, the Fortus 450mc delivers even temperature distribution across the build chamber and can manufacture parts up to 15% faster than its predecessor. It has a build envelope of 406mm x 355mm x 406mm, and can produce layer resolutions ranging from 0.127mm to 0.330mm. According to Eylon, the FDM process is very simple. Pre-processing: Build-preparation software slices and positions a 3D CAD file and calculates a path to extrude thermoplastic and any necessary support material. Production: The 3D printer heats the thermoplastic to a semi-liquid state and deposits it in ultra-fine Many people are doing exciting things with this technology now – Eylon. beads along the extrusion path. Where support or buffering is needed, the 3D printer deposits a removable “This new generation of 3D printto market, create jigs and fixtures for aimed manufacturing, M A 0 2 1 5as_ well 0 0 as 0 _produce TSU 1ers is 2 0 1 5 -to0improve 1 - 1 2 the T 1custom0 : 2 2 : 1 material 4 + 1 1 that : 0 0acts as scaffolding. Post-processing: The user breaks ers’ overall experience with improved low volume end-use parts.

away support material away or dissolves it in detergent and water, and the part is ready to use. “You end up with a model that is solid, very strong and resilient and is made of true thermoplastic which can be used as a spare part in a machine. Eylon said many of his customers are using this technology to make one-off parts for use on production machinery; this is a very fast growing area. “3D printing is the way to go, with the ability to manufacture parts in one piece, or different geometries, that can’t be made using any other technology,” Eylon concluded. [Alan Johnson is Manufacturers’ Monthly’s former editor. He has researched and written about all aspects of the Australian manufacturing sector for over 25 years.] SolidWorks www.solidworks.com Stratasys www.stratasys.com

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Health& SAFETY Want a safe workplace? Start talking Despite vast improvements in workplace safety over recent years, still too many manufacturing workers are being injured, or worse, in the workplace. The key, say the experts, is communication. Alan Johnson reports.

HERE are many common solutions for controlling hazards and risks in the workplace, which can be readily implemented. But it is not enough to simply eliminate the obvious risks – by law employers are responsible for controlling all potential safety hazards in their workplace. Where solutions are not obvious, employers should use a process to help them determine the most effective control measures. According to the experts, consultation is a critical step in developing a company’s risk controls. Victorian WorkCover Authority’s Executive Director Health and Safety, Len Neist, says a safe workplace is more effectively achieved when employers and employees talk to each other about potential problems and work together to find solutions that eliminate or reduce those risks. “As you can imagine, employees have first-hand knowledge of workplace hazards, which is invaluable to employers when determining appropriate risk controls.” Benefits, he says, include healthier and safer workplaces; more effective decisions about health and safety; stronger commitment to implementing safety measures; and greater co-operation and trust. When it comes to managers doing their own inspection, Neist says they should start by talking to the workers involved. “Great insights into problems and solutions can be gained by everyone working together to improve safety. “Often, both employers and employees walk past hazards every day. The key is recognising when controls aren’t in place or are not effective,” Neist told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “By conducting your own focused inspections, you increase the chance of recognising the issues before the incident happens.

20 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

equately guarded to prevent bodily access. As more automation becomes a reality, access control around autonomous machinery and laser safety become hazards of concern. He says, failure to de-energise machinery and equipment prior to undertaking maintenance tasks also presents a risk to workers, plus mobile plant, such as forklifts, are a serious risk to all personnel unless appropriate traffic management controls are in place. “And beware of workplace noise levels. Workers should never be exposed to noise that exceeds noise exposure standards. “Some of the human systems hazards need to be considered as well. As we all try to do more with less we need to consider rostering or shifts and the impact on fatigue and human performance,” Neist said. The organisation has information for a number of manufacturing industries located at vwa.vic.gov.au/ manufacturing.

Total workflow checks

Managing risks to health and safety is critical to ensuring a workplace is safe – Williams. “One of the most important times to do such an inspection is during times of change such as introducing a new procedure or new equipment. “Importantly, when doing an inspection for hazards, don’t just consider normal operations, analyse the issues that may arise during emergency or reduced capacity operations. “Finally, go through your injury records to identify issues; some may be near miss incidents that represent a warning of a greater safety risk.” Neist says unsafe manual handling

practices are still a key cause of workplace injuries in the manufacturing sector. “This includes pushing/pulling objects that are hard to move or stop, exerting high force while in an awkward posture and some repetitive movements, and lifting/lowering and carrying heavy loads.” As well, he explains, machinery and equipment are another common source of injury. “It’s important to ensure dangerous parts of machinery are ad-

Tony Williams, NSW WorkCover’s Acting Director of Operations, Work Health and Safety Division says one of the most common hazards in the manufacturing industry is still working with machinery. “It continues to be a major issue for the industry, with considerable human cost in terms of injuries, and also cost to business. “Things like guarding of machines. Most people realise they need guarding in place, however we often see guards on the machine that have been poorly adjusted or not maintained, and are not effective. “We regularly see tragic incidents where workers lose fingers and hands, or suffer terrible eye injuries simply because the guarding hasn’t been maintained correctly. Williams encourages companies to manmonthly.com.au

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go through a total workflow of their facility, and start a lot earlier than they would think. “People should start at the point of ordering, going right back to when they order their sheet materials for example; materials such as glass or MDF. “Companies should ensure that when they receive the materials it is in a safe way. Williams says some industry sectors, such as the glass industry and others that work with heavy sheet products, have been quite problematic. “It is often because people have ordered those materials without considering how they are going to be unloaded when they get to site, how they will be stored and how they would generally be handled. “Unfortunately we have had a number of fatalities in these sheeting sectors, particularly in the glass industry, where the product has toppled over and workers have been fatally injured.” Williams suggests people go right back to when they are ordering to ensure they are ordering in the quantities they actually need and the sizes they need. “For example, could they order the steel or the board in shorter lengths or smaller sizes that may save the company money in terms of processing that material, but also far less risk in terms of manual handling.” As these materials flow through the manufacturer’s facility, Williams encourages companies to work in consultation with their staff, looking at machine guarding issues and the work areas. “Generally, staff know what the hazards are and what the solutions are far more than management and others who might not be doing that job all day, every day.” When it comes to safety in the workplace, Williams say work areas are something that is often overlooked; areas where a product is processed or assembled. “Simple things, such as the height of benches can be challenging. It could be the work bench was set up for a worker who was over six foot tall, but the new worker is five foot and that can create significant strains manmonthly.com.au

Missing or badly fitted machine guards remain a common hazard in the manufacturing industry. on particular muscles and joints for that worker. “However, this situation can be overcome very easily and cost the workplace just a little bit of time to modify the workbench and improve safety and productivity,” Williams said. “As we work through the assembly phase, companies should consider a whole range of risks, sometimes they are very obvious, but we find that those that are outside a company’s core work are the ones companies don’t pay much attention to. “For example, if you are moving materials around the facility using a forklift or another materials handling device, they can often be used in a quite complacent way when in fact they are very dangerous pieces of equipment, and can cause very significant injuries, very quickly,” Williams warned.

As well as product flow through the manufacturing facility, Williams says companies should also think about traffic flow, the manual handling and the risks associated with that. As well, he says companies should look at the storage of the materials and the semi-finished and finished products, and the risks involved, plus look at how the products leave the facility; the processing and how the products are handled and loaded onto trucks. Areas such as traffic management, with heavy vehicles coming and going on the property; where do they park so the forklift can access them safely, and move freely and safely around that truck. “This is an area that is often overlooked,” Williams said. He says companies should avoid as much as possible workers getting on the trays of open trucks.

“We do see a lot of falls, and while these low-bed trucks are only a metre or so high, a worker can seriously injure themselves if they fall.” And for companies that dispatch and installtheir finished products, such as kitchen and truss manufacturers, Williams says they should also go through the installation process. “Once again going through the product flow and consider the risks involved. “Manufacturers might be able to safely load the product onto a truck at the manufacturing facility premises using a forklift or overhead crane, but what about when the product gets to the site? “Companies need to make sure there are unloading facilities there, if not it could cause workers to take risks. Most workers try to do their best to keep the boss happy and they might take risks he/she really wouldn’t want them taking. “It’s important companies follow that workflow process all the way through. “Managing risks to health and safety is critical to ensuring a workplace is safe,” Williams said. He recommends manufacturers in NSW take advantage of the free workplace safety services the organisation offers. “We offer a free workplace advisory visit. Companies make an appointment and we send one of our workplace safety experts out, who will walk through your workplace, understand your business and really get you started in terms of the provision of resources, but in terms of walking around your workplace and giving you some guidance in terms of the key hazards in your industry sector and what practical things you can do about them. I really recommend your readers to take advantage of this free service we offer,” Williams said. Victorian WorkCover Authority 1800 136 089 www.vwa.vic.gov.au Workcover NSW 131 050 www.workcover.nsw.gov.au Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 21

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Health & SAFETY Uncertainty creating mental health risks With the manufacturing industry facing significant changes, there are risks around mental health in the workplace due to job and financial insecurity. Alan Johnson reports.

ODAY many Australia manufacturer are scaling down their operations, closing down or shifting large parts of the business offshore, and these moves areas creating mental health risks among workers right across the country. A 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on mental health in the workplace revealed some worrying trends. The prevalence of mental health conditions in the manufacturing industry over the past 12 months included: • 20.5% of workers have a mental health condition. • 4.0% of workers have a substance abuse condition. • 19.8% or workers have an anxiety condition. • 4.0% of workers have a condition affecting their mood, such as depression. In some cases, there are workers who experience more than one mental health condition. And with Ford set to cease Australian manufacturing in October 2016, affecting 1,200 jobs directly, Toyota to stop in 2017, affecting 2,500 jobs, and Holden to close in 2017, affecting 2,900 employees, these figures are set to get much worse, especially as these factory closures do not include all the thousands of workers in the auto component sector. The PwC report also showed that manufacturing has one of the highest levels of workers’ compensation claims, with 355 claims in the 2011-2012 financial year. The typical compensation payment for each claim was $17,500. The PwC report estimated that the costs incurred when employers do not take action to manage mental health conditions in their business costs Australian business approximately $10.9bn per year. But the report also showed that, on average, businesses will experience a return of $2.30 for every $1 invested in initiatives that foster better mental health in the workplace. In the manufacturing industry, the

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Sobering statistics: 20.5% of manufacturing workers have a mental health condition, and that is set to grow. return is even higher – and average of $3.50 for every $1 invested. To encourage Australian businesses to invest in and focus on promoting good mental health practices and policies in their workplaces, beyondblue recently launched Heads Up, a joint initiative with the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance (MHWA). Business leaders can sign up for a Heads Up Action Plan, which can be tailored for an organisation’s size, industry, needs and goals in the area of mental health, simply go to www. headsup.org.au.

Mentally healthy workplaces According to the Chair of the National Mental Health Commission, Professor Allan Fels, Australia’s productivity is suffering because too many organisations are not taking action on mental health. “Poor mental health is a significant burden on our economy. The direct financial impact of mental ill-health on Australian businesses is in the vicinity of $11bn every year, largely due to absenteeism and reduced productivity. “The opportunity cost of not promoting good mental health at work,

and not supporting people who have mental health conditions or care for others who do is therefore very, very high. “Nonetheless, almost all of us have witnessed people and practices in the workplace that ignore the needs of individuals or sometimes the whole team, and the resulting impacts such as staff turnover, absenteeism, low productivity and poor morale,” Professor Fels said. A recent report, Developing a Mentally Healthy Workplace: A review of the literature, produced by the University of New South Wales and the Black Dog Institute for the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, has identified six success factors for a mentally healthy workplace and a five-step process for embedding them. “A lot of what the research confirms is common sense. For example, things like smarter work design and positive work cultures are key to preventing mental health problems, while promoting resilience and early intervention can both help minimise negative impacts and support recovery,” Professor Fels said. Dr Sam Harvey, Black Dog Institute researcher and Consultant

Psychiatrist, says improving workplace mental health will also have significant benefits for the wider community. “In Australia, about 60% of the population spends about 60% of their waking hours at work. This means workplaces are a prime location to base mental health programs. “By implementing good quality mental health management across all levels of business, we will not only improve productivity but reduce the unacceptably high rates of mental ill health among Australians.” The report outlines six success factors for a mentally healthy workplace: 1. Smarter work design – e.g. enhancing flexibility around working hours and encouraging employee involvement. 2. Building better work cultures (organisational resilience) – e.g. encouraging a culture of flexibility, building a safe and positive work climate, implementing anti-bullying policies, enhancing organisational justice, promoting team based interventions such as employee participation and providing group support, providing manager training and managing change effectively. manmonthly.com.au

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3. Building individual resilience – e.g. providing resilience training, coaching and mentoring, and physical activity programs. 4. Promoting and facilitating early helpseeking – e.g. conducting well-being checks once appropriate support and resources are in place, providing stress management for workers with reported stress, using of Employee Assistance Programs which utilise experienced staff and evidence-based methods and peer support schemes. 5. Supporting recovery – e.g. providing a supportive environment, providing supervisor support and training, facilitating flexible sick leave arrangements, providing return-to-work programs, encourages individual placement support for those with severe mental illness. 6. Increasing awareness – e.g. providing mental health education and training. The evidence also suggests that creating a mentally healthy workplace requires an ongoing, staged approach. The five key steps: • establishing commitment, leadership and suppor; • conducting a situational analysis – looking at what is working and what isn’t; • identifying and implementing the workplace mental health strategy; • reviewing outcomes; and • adjusting intervention strategies.

“

study, 74% believe mental health conditions are a major cause of employee sickness and absence. Almost three quarters of respondents believe it contributes to lost productivity, and 68% said it is a major cause of workers compensation claims. Fact: supporting good mental health at work offers substantial benefits Businesses that promote and support good mental health in their workplace can experience substantial benefits. Not only will they reduce direct and indirect costs from absenteeism, presenteeism and compensation claims, they will also be meeting their legal and ethical obligations to protect employee health and safety. Mentally healthy workplaces are also more productive and have less staff turnover. Importantly, their employees experience a better quality of life. Myth: Businesses know how to foster good mental health among employees While the majority of respondents understood the impact of mental health on their business, more than half did not feel well informed about current best-practice mental health policies and practices in the workplace. Most respondents acknowledged that help is required, with 90% agreeing that Australian businesses “need practical support in how to tackle workplace mental health issues”. Myth: a mentally healthy workplace is a nice-to-have, not imperative Among respondents, 45% acknowledged that mental health in the workplace is a problem but did not believe it to be a major cost to the business. As mentioned earlier a recent PwC report on mental health in the workplace show the opposite, with the report estimating the cost to Australian business to be approximately $10.9bn per year. This is a significant cost, yet 43% of the beyondblue respondents agreed that “Australian businesses have many more important issues to think about than their employees’ mental health”. For help or information call Lifeline on 131 114 or SuicideLine on 1300 651 251.

Mentally healthy workplaces are more productive…

Myths and facts Research from beyondblue indicates that Australian business leaders may have a lot to learn about fostering mental health in the workplace. Among the facts and fiction surrounding mental health in the workplace, one key point stands out: most employers need help with the issue. The organisation’s research into Australian employer attitudes to mental health at work shows that while many acknowledge the issue, they either feel ill-equipped to deal with mental health conditions in their workplace or they rank mental health below other issues that influence the financial success of their business. Fact: mental health conditions can result in absenteeism and presenteeism Of the employers included in the manmonthly.com.au

Heads Up www.headsup.org.au

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www.enware.com.au/enpac call 1300 ENWARE Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 23

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RegionalMANUFACTURING Diversify, innovate & survive In uncertain times, you can earn a lot from those who manage to keep alfloat. Hartley Henderson spoke to a couple of success stories and discovered that the willingness to change can be a key to survival.

RECENT Manufacturing Showcase in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong brought together over 550 representatives from a broad range of manufacturing industry sectors to discuss embracing change and identifying opportunities. The event, which was hosted by the Industry Capability Network (ICN) and the Victorian Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI), provided a valuable forum to hear how other manufacturing businesses are evolving through innovation in areas such as product design, R&D, information and communications technology, and leadership. There was also a strong emphasis on the importance of diversification, particularly in relation to the automotive supply sector, to deal with the structural shift that is occurring in manufacturing industry. Whilst there are good reasons to be optimistic, it was also recognised that significant challenges are likely to continue to confront Australian manufacturing. There is a need to clearly identify future industry sector opportunities and to understand the requirements for market entry into new sectors including relevant rules and regulations and supply chain requirements.

Electronics diversification SRX is a privately owned Australian enterprise that has annual revenue of around $60 million and employs some 400 people across manufacturing operations in Dandenong, Malaysia and New Zealand. Over 100 different complex high mix high technology electronic products are manufactured each month in low to high volume runs, and exports have grown from 20 to 70 percent of production in just the last 3 years. General Manager Australia, Jeff 24 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Bruce Ramsay, Managing Director of Lovitt Technologies.

Malone, explains that the company offers complete end-to-end manufacturing solutions which means that customers’ basic initial concepts are worked up by design partners ready for SRX to then build and test prototypes prior to development of a manufacturing plan and establishment of a dedicated production line. ‘We partner with both domestic and overseas designers and innovators relating to a diverse range of industry sectors including medical, defence, telecommunications , automotive, lighting and security. Australia has a strong capability in the development of intellectual property, and some of the best industrial design firms are located in Melbourne,” Malone told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “In the last 5 - 10 years we have transitioned the business from a focus on the automotive sector and diversified into providing services to other sectors, including medical devices, which now accounts for some 50 percent of production. Also,

in the last two years there has been an increasing transition to Box Built products such as the hand-held ultra sound diagnostic system that we manufacture for Signostics. “A lot of work goes into ensuring

appropriate engineering support around new product designs and inhouse manufacturing capability. Our production lines are highly flexible in gearing up to produce long or short runs, and they are designed for quick changeovers. “There is also a strong focus on total product cost, including looking for opportunities to reduce inventory levels in order to free up funds to invest elsewhere in the business.” Malone sees a strategic need for Australian manufacturing industry to focus more on adding value to production. “Why should we directly ship our intellectual property overseas the way we ship our mineral wealth for value adding. Let’s leverage our local capabilities to add value right here at home,” he says. “We need to add more value to our products and not compete in a race to the bottom. At SRX we are adding a larger range of product and service offerings, including the installation of a new prototype line. “SRX provides combinations of offerings that competitors don’t have with a view that if you don’t think

Lovitt Technologies has diversified into canning tooling, electronics housings, fibre optic connectors and aerospace.

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SRX General Manager Australia, Jeff Malone. (Image: James Lauritz Photograhy)

differently then you won’t act differently. There is a massive amount of IP being developed in what we are doing, and the emphasis is on value and unique products rather than on cost and mass production piece price. “Copying of new products in China can be an issue, but we have found that if products are designed and built here they are not so easy to copy.” Malone believes that diversification and the development of new markets and skills can be powerful strategies in assisting a company to move to the next level. “It’s important to be prepared to take a calculated punt, to continually look for new opportunities, and to understand that new opportunities will often by definition not look like the old opportunities, so be ready to recognise them and act accordingly.”

Multiple transitions Lovitt Technologies was started in 1954 to support the automotive industry with tooling such as broaches, milling cutters, stepped drills and reamers. As work in this area dropped away as a result of the introduction of carbide, along with aggressive overseas competition, the company branched into other areas where it could find work. Over the last three decades, these areas have included canning tooling, electronics housings, fibre optic connectors and aerospace. Lovitt’s Manufacturing Director, Bruce Ramsay, says canning tooling manmonthly.com.au

was significantly reduced with the introduction of carbide, and some very capable and focussed competition eventually reduced it to zero. “Electronics housings ended when a major defence contract came to its conclusion and commercial work came under significant overseas competition. Our fibre optic connectors operations ended abruptly with the dot com bubble bursting in 2001,” Ramsay explained. “The market left was aerospace and as some opportunities presented, the whole company got behind it. Since the beginning of this century we have built quite a reputation in the aerospace industry and the company is growing significantly. “Now employing 93 people across two sites, the company produces high level complex aerospace machined components and assemblies for large commercial jets and various military platforms. “The common thread through all of these different markets and products was to focus on high-end work where our people and machinery could best be used. Lovitt has never set out to be the cheapest, simply the best.” Ramsay says Lovitt prides itself on a history of investing in the latest machining technology. “Senior management is constantly researching the latest on offer from machine manufacturers. The step from conventional turning and milling to the first CNC back in the early 1980’s has been repeated with the move to 5

SRX makes over 100 different electronic products each month. (Image: James Lauritz Photograhy)

axis machining over the last decade,” he said. “Companies today need to be prepared to change and adapt, and look for a market that can be identified as within reach and where existing people and machinery can be steered in that direction. There is no motivation like desperation.” [Hartley Henderson has been a regular contributing writer to Manufacturers’ Monthly for the past eight years, covering industry developments in Victoria and South Australia. Prior to that, he held senior positions in government, semigovernment and business enterprises and

was National Program Director with the Productivity Promotion Council of Australia]. DSDBI 03 9651 9999 www.dsdbi.vic.gov.au ICN 03 9864 6700 www.icn.org.au Lovitt Technologies 03 9431 7300 www.lovittech.com.au SRX 03 9212 4222 www.srxglobal.com Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 25

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Metalworking& MACHINE TOOLS Five-axis CMM inspection saves time Scanning probes speed up form-data collection and feedback to machining cells, reducing CMM fixturing and cut probe calibration time dramatically at Kawasaki’s US manufacturing plant.

AWASAKI’S US small engine manufacturing plant in Maryville is utilising two 5-axis scanning probe systems to reduce CMM inspection and probe calibration times, and speed up QC feedback for machining of small engine components. The 5-axis Renishaw Revo systems, installed on Mitutoyo CrystaApex 121210 CMMs, replaced two PH10 articulating heads using SP25 scanning probes on traditional 3-axis CMMs. The Revo-equipped CMMs have cut inspection times by half or more on scanning intensive applications, eliminated the need for custom probe configurations, cut probe calibration times from six to seven hours to about 45 minutes, and added new capability to collect large amounts of form measurement data, improving part quality. Of primary importance, the Revo systems have increased inspection throughput, data quality and flexibility of the QC department. Kawasaki’s 800,000 square-foot Maryville plant produces approximately 500,000 single and twin-cylinder air-cooled or water-cooled engines per year, with 50 machining lines typically arranged in a U-cell pattern. “Primarily, it’s one-piece production with machining lines running a part through multiple processes at a high rate,” JC Watts, Quality Control Technical Group Supervisor at the Maryville plant, explained. “We’re running similar tolerances that automotive powertrain uses for high-end products, and there are probably four or five critical processes for our aluminium parts and 15 for the steel parts,” Watts added. “It is not uncommon to find tolerances in single digits in microns for form, and 0.05mm true position.” The QC lab inspects 125 different mass-produced parts, as well as vendor parts and those produced for engineering development.

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The Revo 5-axis scanning probe systems have cut inspection times by half or more on scanning intensive applications.

5-axis scanning advantage “When I started here, we had a couple of 3-axis CMMs with PH10 articulating heads and SP25 probes, and another CMM with a fixed probe head,” Watts explained. “We were frustrated with having to make probe configurations and being limited to what we could do even with the articulated heads. We had so many different probe configurations that calibration times of six to seven hours took a bite out of our inspection throughput, too. “We wanted to do better than what the industry considered the norm, so we looked at several options and the 5-axis Revo system appeared to be the fastest and most flexible available.” The Revo 5-axis scanning probe head can collect up to 6000 data points/sec. It is engineered for high-speed precision measurement of contoured surfaces and complex geometries requiring high-volume data collection to validate fit and form with high accuracy. It uses two rotary axes (one in vertical plane and one in horizontal)

for infinite rotation and positioning. Five-axis software drives the measuring head and synchronises its motion with the linear axes of the CMM. Look-ahead algorithms drive the probe path and CMM in coordinated continuous motion. The head adapts position while measuring on the move, maintaining stylus tip contact with changing contours at scanning speeds of up to 500 mm/sec. “Though our SP25s were scanning probes, we were doing 95% touch probing because scanning was too slow with a 3-axis CMM,” Watts said.

“To accurately collect enough data points to measure the geometry of a bore 80 to 100mm in diameter and 150mm in length, the SP25 probe took so long we limited those inspections to machine set up or special requests. “Now on every crank case we measure, the Revo does a spiral scan of bores and the system outputs the values to software. “We also send a graph of the data points to our network that can be used by anyone in QC, engineering or production. What would take 3-4 minutes with an SP25; we’re measuring in 10 seconds with the Revo.” The Revo scanning heads have all but eliminated the need for touch probing. Now 95% of inspections utilise scanning, with no “time penalty” as before. The Revo probe can also do “head touch” probing or be used for traditional machine-touch probing when the situation calls for touches. “With scanning inspections, our production and engineering people have a lot more confidence that the data is valid,” Watts added. “With touch probing it is easy to get one speck of dirt that causes an out-of-round condition if you’re only sampling seven or eight points. It can throw the location of that circle off. “The Revo scanning capability allows us to catch form errors much more quickly, without a time penalty

The 5-axis systems, installed on Mitutoyo Crysta-Apex 121210 CMMs, replaced two PH10 articulating heads using SP25 scanning probes on traditional 3-axis CMMs.

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on our inspections. It has definitely made us more proactive in catching quality problems early in the game,” Watts said.

Fewer probe configurations With Revo, the Maryville operation now has two probe configurations that measure all of its mass production parts, reserving custom probes in a changing rack for a few special applications. “We were able to eliminate the large ball stylus configurations because of the large approach angle the Revo creates between the stylus and the work piece. “During scanning it maintains the approach angle which allows a large cylindrical feature such as a cylinder bore to be measured with the same stylus used for measuring a 5mm bore, with no chance of shanking the stylus.” Special configurations for vendor parts have also been eliminated because the infinite positioning angles

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The Revo 5-axis scanning probe head can collect up to 6000 data points/sec.

of Revo allow measuring of a part without special fixturing or consideration of which probe to use. With so few probes, calibration time has dropped to around 46 minutes. Now QC technicians monitor the calibration instead of calibrating every shift.

Flexibility of the system has also proven to be a time-saver for Kawasaki. “We can measure any part on either machine with a limited amount of fixturing and no special calibrations,” said Watts. “We measure all our parts on

three types of fixturing. The probe orients itself to the part after it’s initially aligned.” Kawasaki programs all of its inspection routines in-house using Mitutoyo’s Mcosmos 3.1 software. The upgrade to Revo instigated a shift to parametric and modular programming of inspection routines through in-house development of coding. This allows a program to be used for a part family. “We might have 30 different crankshafts, for example, but because everyone has the same features, only a different size or location, we can use the same inspection program to measure all the parts,” Watts stated. He said the transition from 3-axis to 5-axis programming is not difficult, and a programmer with limited ability can still program Revo inspections as 3-axis. Renishaw 03 9521 0922 www.renishaw.com

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Metalworking & MACHINE TOOLS Pedders spring into 3D metrology Hi-Tech Metrology, representative for leading metrology and scanning technology brands, delivers turnkey metrology projects and systems to clients.

EDDERS, one of Australia’s leading automotive parts manufacturing companies, has recently invested in 3D scanning technology to improve manufacturing efficiencies. The organisation, which began back in the 50s making shock absorbers, now has over 120 locations Australia wide employing over 500 people. With local support a high priority for Pedders, the decision was made to purchase a Romer SI scanning arm from Hi-Tech Metrology which has its own in house repair and calibration facility. Pedders prides itself on manufacturing its quality range of products to exacting tolerances and with the use of the new scanning arm they are able to identify critical design features and ensure their total conformance across the design and manufacturing processes. With the implementation of the scanning arm, significant time and cost savings are being realised through streamlined R&D and manufacturing processes. The PolyWorks software and training, also provided by Hi-Tech Metrology, has helped Pedders to realise many additional ongoing benefits such as quick and efficient analysis of tooling, compliance with GD&T principals and traceability of measurements. Hi-Tech Metrology also offers a contract service bureau which encompasses a large variety of projects for clients in Australia and NZ. The applications are far ranging and include wear analysis, alignments and reverse engineering. Prevention is always better than the cure. For key wear components the company’s technicians will appear on site and, with minimum interruption to the manufacturing process, perform scans of high-risk surfaces to analyse wear rates. At a frequency determined by the customer

(monthly, quarterly, yearly), every time a scan is performed, a detailed comparison to an original scan highlights any potential for future failure before it happens. No CAD intervention is required and any analysis can be readily performed by the customer remotely with software tools provided. And with the correct alignment of mating parts of critical importance to life expectancy of components, the company can assist with large-scale alignments, from machine installations to pipe and shaft alignments. The advantage of Hi-Tech’s involvement on site is that alignments can be measured down to microns and, most importantly, measured ‘live’ while adjustments are being made. Parts intended to be ultimately aligned together

after being manufactured at different locations also fall into this category, with technicians often travelling to multiple sites to check for any potential issues between the mating pieces prior to embarking on the expensive exercise of site installation. And for older parts that need to be manufactured in a timely manner, but with no CAD history, the company offers a reverse engineering service. Hi-Tech Metrology can create a digital copy of the part to ensure the CAD design process runs seamlessly and quickly. In some cases, parts that would take up to four weeks to CAD model have been created within two days. Hi-Tech Metrology 03 9702 3911 www.hitechmetrology.com.au

Bridge-type CMMS CARL Zeiss has released the Contura bridge-type CMMS, described as the reference machine in the compact class offering more precision and a larger package of optical sensors on top of a larger measuring range. Utilising the company’s Calypso reference software, the CMMS comes with a fixed passive sensor, a flexible RDS articulating probe holder or with an active scanning probe. All sensor variations enable scanning.

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The company’s navigator technology comes standard with the active version – for smooth measurements without a stop and go. Depending on the configuration, ceramic or carat guideways are used for high rigidity, low thermal expansion and minimal moving weights. Air bearings on all three axes are designed to ensure consistent stability even at high travel speeds and acceleration.

The floating glass ceramic scales are said to be practically expansion free and therefore do not require any additional temperature sensors or mathematical compensation. They are suitable for the shop floor and are protected against contamination and other influences. While CMMS bridges are subjected to dynamic forces that can affect accuracy, particularly while scanning, the Contura calculates the compensation for such inertia effects. This ensures that the

required precision remains intact even at high measuring speeds. The system is controlled via a userfriendly control panel and does not need a computer. The progressive joystick enables easier and more precise control of all axis movements. The speed can be regulated in CNC mode. Carl Zeiss 02 9020 1333 www.zeiss.com.au

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Geometric software without CAD

ARO Technologies has released the Faro CAM2 SmartInspect 1.2, said to be the industry’s first full-featured portable software for basic geometric measurements, without CAD, for laser trackers and measuring arms. The software will now interface with the company’s Laser Trackers, to provide a simple and efficient solution for those who require the accuracy and large measurement volume capability provided by laser trackers, without the complexity of CAD-based software. CAM2 SmartInspect 1.2 has been optimised to run on all Windows based Touch PCs and Touchpads, offering users a new way to interact with inspection data and measurement devices. The addition of touch capability makes the software ideal for fully mobile measurement applications and establishes it as the first portable metrology software for Faro laser trackers and FaroArms on the market.

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The software has been optimised to run on all Windows based Touch PCs and Touchpads. Additional new features include a Move Device function, which streamlines the inspection of large parts, particularly when frequent repositioning is needed.

Users can now move their device during the measurement process and measure their part from different positions. By enabling quick identification of correct target correspond-

ence, time requirements to relocate (leapfrog) the arm or tracker is reduced along with the potential for error. Other innovative advancements include voice operation and audible feedback functionalities. The voice operation feature enables users to provide instructions using voice commands, allowing for hands-free operation and resulting in both reduced measurement times and improved mobility. The clear audible feedback feature delivers a real-time relay of information, alerting the user when a bad measurement has occurred or when the laser tracker beam has been broken. FARO Technologies +65 65 111 350 www.faro.com

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Material OF THE MONTH Tricky, expensive to make, but very useful Tapping Australia’s titanium ore resources and turning them into the valuable light metal has been something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. Are we any closer to making more from our ore? Brent Balinski reports.

T’S not new and is fairly abundant in nature, but titanium’s use is limited by how tough it is to synthesise. However, things might improve soon, with new processing methods from Australia and elsewhere showing promise. Titanium, the fourth most-common metal on earth, was first identified in 1791 by Reverend William Gregor, a chemist from Cornwell. It was until 1910 when titanium was first isolated, by MA Hunter. As with many other inventions, it came about as the result of research at the General Electric company in the US. Hunter used titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4, sometimes referred to as “Tickle”), heat and sodium under a vacuum to create titanium. The method was bested by the multi-step Kroll Process, currently in its ninth decade and still used to create almost all the world’s titanium. Kroll involves creating TiCl4 by heating titanium dioxide to about 1,000°C and reacting it with chlorine. The Tickle is then covered with argon and reacted with magnesium at about 850°C. This takes place in batches in stainless steel retorts, which react with titanium (about 20 per cent of the sponge produced becomes ferro titanium and has to be removed manually). The good sponge is then removed and melted into ingots. The overall process is labour- and energy-intensive, but has not been replaced. The high price will be paid for those wanting titanium. The reasons for this include the metal’s resistance to corrosion and heat (its melting point is 1,670°C), and high strength to weight ratio. Its compatibility with composites also means that aerospace couldn’t do without it. 30 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

a huge value-add opportunity being lost through our lack of a titanium metal processing industry. To illustrate, according to John Barnes, Titanium Theme Leader at the CSIRO, a kilogram of mineral sand is worth about 10 cents, a kilogram of the titanium metal $50, and a finished part for aerospace thousands of dollars.

Making titanium cheaper

Titanium is a soft, silvery grey metal, generally produced in the same way it’s been made for eight decades. “The combination has made it a critical material,” Professor Xinhua Wu from Monash University told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “Epecially for composite aircraft… Between composite [layers] you must have titanium to hold them together. Titanium doesn’t corrode, and if you put aluminium between them it will corrode. “That’s why the use of composites has also increased the usage of titanium. [Also] the front part of the engine is all titanium almost, because it’s light and at high temperatures nothing else can do the job.” Characteristics, including those above, mean it is highly useful in applications including in marine engines and components, the energy industry, and in biomedical implants (titanium is also biocompatible).

A wealth of ore Australia does not produce titanium as a metal in any significant quantities, though is fortunate enough to have world-ranking deposits of ore. According to the Australian Mines Atlas, Australia has a wealth of titanium ore in mineral sands concentrated along the east and west coasts. These represent the world’s biggest economically demonstrated resources of ilmenite (29 per cent of the world’s stores) and rutile (44 per cent). Worldwide, about 95 per cent of the titanium dioxide processed stays as titanium dioxide, which is a useful, non-toxic pigment, used for purposes including paint, in self-cleaning windows and as food colouring (additive E171). Australia processes titanium dioxide, though some will tell you there’s

Using the same chemistry as Kroll, but with much less energy (and several other improvements) the CSIRO has been developing its TiRO method of continuous titanium production for several years. TiCl4 is continuously reduced in a “fluidised bed”, where particles act like they’re suspended in a liquid while floating in argon gas. This means the titanium does not become contaminated as it would through contact with the sides of a steel tank. The benefits over Kroll include being continuous (rather than batchbased), fully automated, and with a much lower environmental impact. “With Kroll you’d be doing a pretty laborious approach to get it from titanium tetrachloride into a solid, pure form; then you’d have to melt it, then you’d have to alloy it, which would include melting it again,” Barnes told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “The TiRO process doesn’t involve melting, ever. It’s all in a solid state.” Since 2008 Coogee Chemical has been partnered with the science organisation on TiRO, and Barnes pointed out that CSIRO is now taking a back seat. Coogee is currently running a pilot facility at Laverton, and – along with methanol – lists TiRO among its “emerging opportunity” plans. Tim Martin, the company’s managing director, has said TiRO “has potential to take this company to the next level.” manmonthly.com.au

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Coogee were approached for comment but declined to discuss their plans for developing TiRO.

The Cambridge Process About a year ago, mineral sands miner Iluka Resources took out an 18.3 per cent interest in English-based, venture capital-backed company Metalysis, for which it paid $22 million. Metalysis was established in 2001 to commercialise a novel, electrolysisbased titanium processing method developed in 1997 by University of Cambridge’s Material Science and Metallurgy Department. Sometimes referred to as “The Cambridge Process” or “FFC Cambridge Process”, the method has been seen as potentially disruptive for a long time. Iluka has been watching Metalysis for “about seven years”, Robert Porter, Iluka’s General Manager, Investor Relations, told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “The main attraction for Iluka is as a supplier of high-grade titanium dioxide feedstocks, is if this technology can be commercialised it will enable the transformation of titanium dioxide feedstocks, such as rutile, synthetic rutile, into titanium powder, which can then be used in a range of metal applications,” he said. Metalysis’s technology can be used to extract metals using “molten salt chemistry”. It is suitable for extracting a range of metals, such as tantalum, but the focus is on titanium. According to the company, it is able to produce metal powder at a 75 per cent saving, directly from rutile. “Metalysis’s technology is unique because it uses electrolysis, which

means the conversion of feedstock to metal powder is a one-step, solid state process that does not require the use of harmful chemicals,” Kartik Rao, Metalysis’s director of business development, explained to Manufacturers’ Monthly in an email. Rao’s company is producing small amounts of titanium for industrial customers. They are particularly interested in the growing demand for metal 3D printing, with the customisable powder produced able to make additive manufacturing a viable option for new markets, said Rao. The powder’s quality is still a work in progress, and continues to be developed to meet the changing demands of those using it. “Metalysis is working closely with industrial and academic partners to identify new parameters to check and control,” said Rao.

Not without its limitations According to Wu, purity is still a concern with the Metalysis process for applications such as aerospace and biomedical. “There’s not much they can do about it – it’s nature, that’s how nature works,” she said of issues around completely removing contaminants such as calcium chloride from powders. “This powder may gradually get into the market, maybe in another 10 years when we are able to solve some of the problems.” Barnes said there are “at least half a dozen” different processes for creating titanium, and each offers something different - thus they are all beneficial to those working with the metal. Having all of these emerging, nonKroll methods moving up the technology readiness level was a good thing.

They could possibly offer alternatives to those looking at lightweighting metal products. “It’s good for industry because it allows them a different approach maybe to what they’ve been taking, with Duplex stainless steel, for example,” Barnes said.

Potential for Australia Professor Wu, who has an extensive background in aerospace engineering, heads Monash University’s lengthily-named Australian Research Council Hub for Transforming Australia’s Manufacturing Industry through High Value Additive Manufacturing. Launched in November last year and located across the road from Barnes’s Lab 22 in Clayton, the hub concerns metal additive manufacturing, including in titanium, applied to industries such as aerospace and biomedical implants. Biomedical purposes are, it’s been frequently noted, an area where titanium additive manufacturing could hold great potential. The biocompatibility of titanium matched with the ease of customisation offered by 3D printing mean that it’s been a winner in the early days of metal additive manufacturing. For example, last year it was estimated that 90,000 titanium acetabular cups had been printed so far. One novel example from October last year was a world-first heelbone implant for a cancer sufferer, which saved the man’s leg. A collaboration involved the patient’s blessing, the suggestion of St Vincent’s Hospital’s Peter Choong, the design expertise of biomed manufacturer Anatomics, and support from CSIRO’s Arcam EBM machine.

Was it an example of the kind of advanced manufacturing Australia could do well? Yes, believes Barnes. “I think in general the technology of 3D printing is something that’s ideally suited to a country like Australia, because it’s a great equaliser in terms of if you have high labour [costs]... because it doesn’t require a huge amount of touch labour,” explained Barnes. “But it still is not just something you can plop down anywhere and it’s going to get used correctly, and still requires a fair degree of education and sophistication around being knowledgeable around how to manufacture things. Titanium printing-related enquiries had been frequent, he added, and it’s a matter of waiting for the right company to come along and take advantage of the technology. Despite anything else, said Wu, the desire for cheaper titanium was an old problem, and there are perhaps better places Australia could apply its energies. “We have to basically pull it into the market and develop it by creating manufacturing activity first, so we buy the good powder first... to keep the product going into the market globally, not only in Australia,” she said. “Then naturally the market will demand that cheaper powder and then they can develop it.” [Brent Balinski has been a journalist at Manufacturers’ Monthly since 2012. He is particularly interested in 3D printing and innovation. Find him on Google Plus at https://plus.google. com/+BrentBalinskiCirrusMedia].

A lightweight metal (about midway between iron and aluminium). manmonthly.com.au

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Pneumatics& HYDRAULICS What customers want Good customer relations can be a two way street. They can provide the customer the benefit of good service and deliver the manufacturer valuable insights into what products the market really wants. Matt McDonald reports.

Peter Harrison PTE Hydraulics’ novative use of tooling, with some of RECISION Tool Engineering Director of Production & Marketing the modern multi-axis CNC lathes was established in 1967 as a told Manufacturers’ Monthly. that we’d bought, we could actually jobbing shop that provided machine helical splines which were quality precision machining services. “And we felt…that there was an the key determinant of a rotary Even back then, this was a pretty opportunity there for some innovaactuator.” cut throat area of business and by tive thinking in improving designs in The rotary actuators they came 1985 the company decided it needed that area.” up with are compact units capable of to take control of its own destiny. Today PTE Hydraulics makes generating very high torque in appliIt set about finding a product that hydraulic cylinders for use in a cations requiring limited rotational would fit with its machining capabilwide range of industries including movement. Their design is based ity and also suit its sales and marketmaterials handling, general industry, on the use of multiple helical gears ing department. agricultural, earthmoving, mining, machined to a high level of precision That product turned out to be waste management, manufacturing to ensure reliability, efficiency and hydraulic cylinders, and in 1990 the applications, and transport. durability. company was reborn as PTE HydrauAnother big change for the comThey are used within mining, drilllics. pany occurred about two or three ing and earthmoving applications. “We came up with hydraulic cylinyears ago. ders because are used A D _ Mthey ANM NP P NinOaVwide _ 1 2 . p d“We f discovered P a g e 1after8 a/ fair 1 0bit / 1 2 , And, 9 : given 0 7 that A Mthey are designed as completely sealed units, they range of industries and applications,” of investigation that with some inare also suitable for use within the pharmaceutical and food processing industries.

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Customer relationships Given this history, is it fair to say PTE Hydraulics agrees with the view that Australian manufacturers need to be willing to diversify? “It’s absolutely crucial,” said Harrison. “As you’ve seen with the car industry we are exposed in Australia to international competition. “And the Indians and Chinese are getting very good at copying things and making big runs of product very cheaply because they obviously have low labour costs and cheap raw materials available at hand.” Harrison explained that PTE Hydraulics was one of the early local adherents to the Lean Manufacturing philosophy and has always been fairly flexible. And the critical point is that PTE Hydraulics has established close relationships with its key OEM customers. “We’re talking to them all the time,” Harrison said. “We can work hand in glove with them very closely, whereas if they’re

sourcing product from India or China that’s a lot more difficult.” In other words, it can respond to what the market really wants. PTE Hydraulics sells only about 20 per cent of its products directly from its standard catalogue. The rest of its business involves customised items. “We’ve found that working with our key OEM customers they always seem to require something to change, something not available off the shelf. And if you can still do that cost efficiently by using CNC technology in the machining area you can still compete,” said Harrison. He said that this is path all Australian manufacturers need to follow. “We’ve got to focus on those niche markets we’re really good at and still be cost effective and using the best production technology that we can,” he said. Even the decision to start making helical rotary actuators was born out of relationships with customers. “We worked closely with a number of our key OEM customers – that’s always been a critical success factor for us. Several mentioned they would be interested in a helical rotary actuator because it’s a sort of complimentary product to hydraulic cylinders,” said Harrison. There are no other locally made hydraulic rotary actuators. They are all imported by major European and American players who make them basically to catalogue specifications. According to Harrison, such an approach works well in large markets but not so well here. “So we saw an excellent opportunity to work with our customers and make them customised products to fit their particular application. And the overseas competitors find it difficult to match that,” said Harrison.

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Research & development PTE Hydraulics has an ongoing R&D program aimed at increasing the performance levels and the working life of products and simplifying their repair and maintenance. This has included a long-standing collaboration with the University of Queensland’s Mechanical Engineering Department. “It started back in the early 90s and at that stage it was focussed on boosting our hydraulic cylinder designs,” said Harrison. The company worked with PhD and undergraduate students as well as the academic staff. “[We were] tackling some of the fundamental design issues with hydraulic cylinders. And that’s how we’ve set ourselves up as the expert in Australia M A 1 0 on 1 3those,” _ 0 0 Harrison 0 _ P I Esaid.PTE Hydraulics has done a lot of

research on helical rotary actuators and now the company’s focus is on commercialis-

Helical rotary actuators from PTE Hydraulics – custom built, low maintenance, high-torque. some market awareness of them. “They are an incredibly flexible product. [They’re] sort of like hydraulically operated hinges,” said ing the products. The company now designs 1wants 2 0to1get 3 -some 0 9 -of 1the 2 T 1 4 : out 5 3 : 3 Harrison. 5 + 1 0 : 0 0 This means that if you can control into the market place and generate

them very closely they give you a great deal of responsiveness. “A lot of potential users are looking at it and saying that is something I could use in this product,” said Harrison. “And that requires a lot of design and development work on our part to tailor our designs to those particular applications.” Signing off, Harrison acknowledged that now is a challenging time for manufacturing in Australia and only those willing to put in a lot of hard work can hope to succeed. But he added with optimism – “With adversity comes opportunities...” PTE Hydraulics 07 3345 8400 www.ptehydraulics.com.au

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Automation& ROBOTICS Everything old school robots weren’t Last month Rethink Robotics received a substantial chunk of new funds from investors, led by GE Ventures. Brent Balinski spoke to the company’s CMO Jim Lawton about plans for its Baxter industrial robots.

OU can turn back to mid-last year and the International Federation of Robotics’ last annual audit of global industrial robot sales and see that numbers have never been higher, up 12 per cent on the previous result. Last year saw consumer robots released for everything from cleaning cat litter (Litter-Robot) to connected, intelligent gardening. And Dyson even chose 2014 to release its longawaited robot vacuum. Things don’t look to be slowing down this year, with a bumper beginning to 2015 for robotics startup funding. On January 22, according to GigaOm, funding worth $US 51.9 million had been raised so far. Small beer for other industries, sure, but pretty healthy considering a total of $US 341.3 million was raised for the whole of 2014. Among those receiving a cash injection was Rethink Robotics, makers of the Baxter industrial robot, securing $US 26.6 million in Series D financing. Plans for the money include investing in the upgrades to Baxter’s software – the key to improvements in how quickly and accurately Baxter works – and increasing Rethink’s presence in markets such as Europe, Asia and Australia. “The company officially started selling Baxters in September 2012. We started shipping in Q1 of 2013, and really the last two years have been focussed on ‘let’s make sure everything is the way that we want it to be’,” the company’s chief marketing officer, Jim Lawton, told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “And when we got to that point, really over the summertime and the fall, we said ‘okay, now’s the time to scale.’ ” Rethink’s robots are in hundreds of factories in the US, with the company choosing their major customers

34 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

The ‘face’ on the Baxter robots screen gives workers cues as to how the robot will act. close to Rethink’s Boston headquarters. There are much fewer Baxters, distributed by Training Systems Australia, in this country. Factory robots have been around since the 1970s, with their introduction led by General Motors. Their use is still dominated by the auto sector, which, according to Rethink’s founder Rodney Brooks (an Australian native) takes in at least 70 per cent of the total. As anybody who has seen heavyduty robots, such as those used in car assembly plants, will tell you, these robots are nothing you want to stand in the way of. They are usually kept in cages to prevent this from happening. These fixed, dangerous, expensive

machines also tend to require large amounts of time spent on coding, with further changes necessary if things need to be moved around. The Baxter was designed (in top secret conditions, over almost five years) to be everything old-school robot help wasn’t: collaborative, able to be quickly programmed by a layman, comparatively lightweight, and safe to be around workers. “We built a robot with a compliant arm – I mean it’s literally made out of the springs, the seven joints have a spring in each one of their joints,” explained Lawtown. “So it’s got a certain amount of give, so when my hand bumps up against the wall, the wall, essentially

is not moving. But my hand will kind of push back a little bit, and that prevents me from being hurt and it prevents me from damaging the wall. One of Rethink’s goals is to develop the kind of robots that can be used in all of the tasks that are not yet good candidates for automation today. And the company says something like 95 per cent of manufacturing tasks can’t be automated the old way, and this is driving the demand for flexible robots such as those by Rethink and other companies (including Universal Robots, which last year expanded into Australia.) Baxter’s arms are able to move with seven degrees of freedom, like manmonthly.com.au

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human arms, and the “face” on the robot’s screen gives co-workers cues as to how to robot will act. It will look at an object before it is about to pick it up, for example, and will display a confused expression if there is a problem while trying to carry out a task. Important for the Baxter and other collaborative robots will be the ability to act more and more like the humans they are working alongside. Lawton sees the improvements as coming in the areas of how well the robots engage, learn, adapt, resile and sense in their environments. Unlike the heavy, fixed factory helpers of the past, Baxter does not require some 200 hours of coding to program an operation, says the company. And though its mixture of position and force-controlled robotics are sophisticated, great efforts have been made to keep the trickiness behind the scenes and make programming the Baxter as intuitive, easy and quick as possible. “So we’ve kept that complexity built into the product and all they have to worry about is moving the arm in a way which you want it to go and have the robot remember that and it’ll just do that over and over again,” said Lawton. Baxter was the creation of celebrated roboticist Rodney Brooks and colleagues from MIT. Originally launched as Heartland Robotics in 2008 the company became Rethink in 2012. Brooks had previously founded iRobot, the maker of the popular Roomba vacuum, in 1990. A manufacturing company that sells to manufacturers, Brooks’ vision of a “new category of robotics” came about through the experience of outsourcing to China. While looking for a manufacturing partner to iRobot in 1997, the situation of outsourcing to chase cheap labour seemed an unsustainable one in the long term. “Even in the late 1990s, if you were doing sewing for toys [for example], that had already moved to Vietnam,” he told an NPR interviewer last year. Also, what could be automated was limited and doing so was cumbersome. manmonthly.com.au

Heavy, fixed robots, aside from being dangerous and expensive, are difficult and time-consuming to adjust if this is needed. “What you’re doing, also, by putting those cages in place is number one you’re making it impossible for a person to interact with a robot to keep them safe; but to the extent that you have ideas about ‘what if I could change this and make it a little better?’ – all the continuous improvement, the six sigma initiatives that a lot of manufacturers have,

“

that is to make it impervious to the change in variability that happens in the environment, but also happens in a way that’s seamless to the end customer.” Though the Baxter’s sale pitch includes messages about making workers more productive and freeing them from boring tasks they’d rather not do, there are frequent questions about whether or not collaborative robots will take more and more manufacturing and other jobs. An influential study from Oxford

Collaborative robots will act more and more like the humans they are working alongside… are essentially frozen in time,” said Lawton. “They’re halted because the only way to make those changes would be to hire someone to come in, reprogram the robot; if it means that the cage has to move in a different way, they have to unbolt it and re-put it back down.” The programming of Baxter is at the heart of its usefulness. A comparatively cheap robot, its price kept down by inexpensive parts, a unit is available here for around $35,000. Rethink aims to make performance better and better by regular upgrades to its Intera software platform. The Intera 2.1 upgrade in last April, for example, doubled the speed and increased the precision of Baxter. Another upgrade rolled out in November was the addition of a Robot Positioning System feature (part of the Intera 3.1 upgrade) allowing the machines to work considering the relative positions of different coordinates in an environment, and adapting more quickly to different tasks. If a Landmark (an environmental marker) moves, the robot will adjust accordingly. “All you do is you show it what it needs to do and once you show it it does it over and over again,” said Lawton. “And the reason that we did

Martin School in 2013 suggested nearly half of US jobs could be replaced by computerisation over the next couple of decades. In Australia, there are similar fears about the effect of sophisticated automation on jobs. In December the Department of Industry released its Australian Industry Report 2014, finding up to 500,000 white collar jobs could be replaced through automation. And recent super-scale automation projects, such as those at ports and mines, are evidence to some that as machines get better, economies will employ fewer workers. Rethink says that fears are, M Aextent 0 2 1 4 0 0 0 _ DA to some at_least, based onT -

whether people are “glass half-full or glass half-empty” types. “I would say that no doubt there are jobs today that are not going to be around in the future,” offered Lawton. “Just like 20 years or 100 years ago there were jobs around that don’t exist today. “But I think anybody who says ‘there isn’t going to be jobs impacted’ is not being entirely truthful.” Lawton believes the future is an exciting place for manufacturing, and will be transformed by technology. Managing that transformation is important, and enabling the skills and training to adapt will be crucial for policymakers and firms. “The other part of it is we’re starting to see a lot of manufacturers say ‘what happens when I take some of these interesting technologies – like the industrial internet, the internet of things, additive manufacturing collaborative robots – and you start to come together in very creative ways,” he said. “I think we’re going to see this kind of convergence of data and machines and software that will allow us to do some things that we can’t even think up today. So I think we’re going to go through this transformation of some jobs are going to go away, a lot of jobs are going to get created – I think the real challenge from a societal perspective is how do we help these people that could potentially get caught in the transition.”

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Maintenance& REPAIRS Faulty drive? Who you gonna call? The number of companies making electronic variable drives and servo drives has decreased dramatically. This raises the problem of what to do when they break. Matt McDonald reports.

LECTRONIC variable drives are devices used to vary the speed of electric motors. They come in many sizes and are used to operate everything from satellite dishes to CNC machines in a factory. “They are obscure, very complex systems that do a lot of things most people are not aware of,” Darius Kowalewski of Data Factory told Manufacturers’ Monthly. This complexity means that they are not easy to fix. And, like all electronic components, it is a sure bet that they will occasionally need fixing. So who can fix them? According to Kowalewski, Data Factory can, but not many other people can. “We are weird,” he proudly stated. “That’s the upside of the business. There’s no competition because no one is crazy enough to compete. You can’t make a profit unless you really know what you are doing.” The company consists of Kowalewski and just two other employees, an electrician who evaluates the problems with the drives and a technician who does the repairs. All operations are overseen by Kowalewski who makes sure all work is meticulously planned and that all plans are followed to the letter. While most repairs are carried out in the company’s Melbourne lab, there are occasional site visits. In such cases Kowalewski makes sure his team members “don’t become additional staff members for the client. They go there like a commando team with a very precisely defined task.” He explained that this is the approach that has made it possible for the business to exist. And this is why Data Factory is the only business of its kind in the country. “We are unique. We are good people to know,” he said. “We are like a private hospital emergency ward…you hope you will never need it but if you have an accident it’s better to be in the emergency ward than on the side of the road.” 36 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

the support is done online or over the phone. But the helpdesk model doesn’t usually work for complex electronics.

Services offered

A typical high power servo drive. The obvious question is – Don’t the manufacturers of electronic drives offer repair services? Not really, said Kowalewski. “The world has changed. The manufacturers of this stuff are only in a very few geographic locations. That’s where they keep their expertise. It

used to be distributed…,” he said. While manufacturers may be able to send an engineer to fix a problem, there are just not enough to cover the planet and the waiting time could be unacceptable for any company wanting to make money. Therefore, he explained, most of

Data Factory can repair all types (AC or DC) of servo drives and electronic variable speed drives, as well as complex electronic boards. Though the company serves the whole of Australia, by necessity most work is done at the company’s lab in Melbourne. “Our strength is our workshop, our lab,” explained Kowalewski. “We have spent a lot of money over the past four or five years – close to $80,000 retrofitting our lab. We have put in a lot of diagnostic equipment, some sophisticated soldering systems.” In other words, the workshop is the best place to do the repairs because that is where all the equipment is. Clients send Data Factory their defective devices along with any user manuals, photographs and documentation that may help with the diagnosis and repair. Given Australia’s first world postal and courier networks, the lab will receive these items from anywhere across the country within two or three days. And within 48 hours Data Factory can assess the devices and offer the answers that their owners need – “Is it repairable? If so, how much will it cost? If it’s not repairable, can it be retrofitted with something available off the shelf? And again, how much will it cost?” Kowalewski explained that another critical part of the process is testing. “If you know that the thing has been working for five or 10 or 20 hours here it’s very likely that it will work on site. Otherwise there’s a problem on site unrelated to the drive,” he said. manmonthly.com.au

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Apart from the Australian market, data factory has on occasion undertaken projects from as far afield as China, Indonesia and Vietnam. In addition, the company has a lot of suppliers from Asia. Kowalewski emphasised that a good supply is an important part of the business - “Electronic parts are not commonly used in Australia so we have supply chains in the states, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, where we can virtually deliver it in 48 hrs.” “We have a window of two weeks to evaluate, bring the parts in, repair and test. Otherwise customer goes to a plan B.” Textile giant Bekaert Australia is one company that has employed the services of Data Factory. The company sees this as a way to keep repair costs at its 16 acre Dandenong site to a minimum. Production Manager, Cedric Deleu related an example - “We had a dying M Amachine 0 2 1 5 go _ 0down. 0 0 _The I Ndrive F had failed and it contained a lot of

A textile machine at Beakart Textiles, where Data Factory upgraded several servo drives.

even months, starting from scratch information needed to run specific at a cost of more than $25,000 not to pumps etc. mention the cost of lost production. “We could have bought a new “We sent the drive to Data Facdrive but the original machine’s mantory and a week later it was back in ufacturer had gone out of business operation. Darius had also been able and we would have had to redesign 1the 2whole 0 1 5system. - 0 1 - 1 2 T 0 8 : 1 1 : 0 to 4 retrieve + 1 1 : all 0 0of the data so we were extremely lucky.” “It would have taken weeks or

Originally from Poland, Kowalewski has spent most of his life in Melbourne. As he put it – “When I came to Melbourne dinosaurs were grazing where the MCG now is.” “I’ve been [running this business] for thirty years and we’ve kept a very low profile. But now with the fragmentation of the market and the way things are going we need to up our profile a bit…” Data Factory doesn’t only serve manufacturers. It also works on elevators and escalators, as well as electric trams and trains. And there are also customers which Kowalewski likes to call hobbyists – small businesses, such as guitar makers which wouldn’t really call themselves manufacturers but still have CNC machining. “They buy it on e-bay or second hand and when it packs up they are really helpless,” hes said. And, chances are, they call Data Factory to fix it. Data Factory 03 9874 77737 www.datafactory.com.au

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Materials HANDLING National Forklift Championships 2015 – date set The National Forklift Championships 2015 will be held on Friday, 21st August 2015, the Australian Warehousing Association has announced.

FTER the success of the championships held last year at the Construction Training Centre in Brisbane, the current Forklift Champions will be looking to defend their title. Last year the main event winner of the male division was Andrew Knowles, from Personalised Freight Management while the female division winner was Jayde Graham, from IGA Supermarkets. Many organisations requested a date earlier so it does not conflict with the Christmas rush and gives everyone amply time to prepare. A number of sponsors have already indicated support for this year’s big event. Companies can organise in-house events and use the information kit provided by AusWA on request. Australian Warehousing Association (AusWA) (07) 3375 4114 auswa.asn.au

Last year’s winners’ circle [credit: http://auswa.asn.au].

Versatile lift trolley KING MATERIALS HANDLING’s new FoldaLift trolley is ideal for raising products to van, truck, desk or bench height. It can be used as both a ‘pull back’ (two wheels) or horizontal trolley (two wheels + two castors). The 500mm square deck lifts from 165mm high to 1050 mm high, using a hand ‘brake’ winch that is completely silent in operation. With dual ball bearing 250 mm diameter rear fixed wheels (with 50mm wide treads to go over grating easily), and 80 mm diameter front castors with brakes, the FoldaLift Trolley is extremely versatile. The removable deck can be stowed separately, or it can fit neatly behind the fold up legs, enabling the trolley to be stowed using minimal space in a van or truck. On arrival, the load can be lifted from the van. When moved over rough ground or up steps, the load can then be raised to shelf or desk height. With 130 kg of capacity, the winch uses a 2:1 lift system which means lifting the load takes half the effort of a direct lift winch system. The trolley can rotate on its own axis, so negotiating narrow passages is a breeze. The 250 mm high deck carriage has two loops fitted to enable the optional adjustable strap to be fitted in order to constrain a load. The item’s overall weight is 28 kg plus 5 kg for the deck. The overall width is 620mm – so there are no problems fitting through a door. Height is 1405 mm. Folded depth is 450 mm. FoldaLift has a fully zinc plated silver finish for a rust free, scratch resistant long life. Overall weight is 28 kg plus 5 kg for the deck.

38 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

King Materials Handling 03 9720 7181 www.kingmaterialshandling.com.au

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Ecommerce order fulfilment solution DEMATIC, a supplier of logistics systems for the factory, warehouse and distribution centre, has launched a new Put Wall System to enhance online order fulfilment productivity and accuracy in Australian retail distribution centres. Functioning as an order consolidation and packing hub, Dematic’s Put Wall System delivers high speed, accuracy and efficiency in split case picking applications. After all goods required for a wave of orders have been picked they are delivered to the Put Wall either on a pallet, by trolley or, in higher volume applications, by an integrated conveyor system. Advanced algorithms within Dematic’s warehouse control and order fulfilment software manage and direct the complex process of picking and ‘putting’ multiple batch picked items to individual orders, as well as shipping these orders. “The dot.com boom has dramatically increased the proportion of orders that require manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and e-tailers to pick, pack and ship individual items. This much higher volume of smaller orders is placing pressure on supply and to1 L O Gchains _ LEN _ 0requiring 0 0 - many 1 businesses 2 0 1 4 - 1 revise their approach to split case order picking,

Can create groups and batches automatically or allow ‘ad hoc’ tote and batch operations. packing and distribution,” said Darren Rawlinson, Manager Direct & Wholesale Distribution at Dematic. “The most efficient way to process multiple orders for the same item is to batch the orders together, pick the total number of items required for the batch in one pass, and then sort the items to 2 individual 8 T 1 1 : 2orders. 5 : 0 1 + 1 1 : 0 0 “While batch picking and sorting full case

YOUR

orders via conveyor sortation systems is commonplace in retail distribution DCs, batch picking and sorting split case items requires a different approach. Dematic’s new Put Wall System improves the productivity and accuracy of sorting batch picked split case items to individual orders, reducing labour costs and boosting throughput capacity.” The Dematic Put Wall System software can create groups and batches automatically or allow ‘ad hoc’ tote and batch operations by pickers as orders become available. The system also enhances visibility of DC performance such as Put Wall performance, system progress, order information, picks per operator, total picks, and items packed. Dematic Put Wall throughput rates range from 200 to 500 items per operator per hour, with the packing side usually running at rates of around 100 to 250 items per operator per hour. Each Put Wall module can process single line or multi-line orders. They can also be mounted on wheels to be moved around or between warehouses as demand changes.

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Motors& DRIVES Drive systems show their sweet side Making chocolate from cocoa beans involves many steps. During the process, ingredients and mixtures in various states remain in near-continuous motion for hours and days on end. This requires reliable drive systems.

N Zotter Schokoladen’s factory in Austria, the durability and fail-safe operation of these drives is doubly significant: firstly, smooth operation ensures top quality of the final product. Secondly, the production line is always open to thousands of visitors who should of course not witness any malfunctions. For years now, the facility has been using geared motors from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS for conveying, mixing and pumping tasks. Chocolatier Josef Zotter is a man of principle, and sustainable production is his prime directive. His factory in Riegersburg in the South of Austria completely relies on renewable energy and generates most of it from burning in-house waste products. Fair treatment – of both farmers and consumers – is equally important to Zotter. Therefore, he is the only chocolate manufacturer in Europe to exclusively use fair trade materials in organic quality. Zotter expects the same sort of commitment from his suppliers. The Riegersburg factory therefore has strict requirements regarding the standard of machines and plant equipment and the customer service of his technology partners.

Zotter exclusively uses fair-trade, organic ingredients – first of all, cocoa beans from select growers.

Swiss process engineering expert Bühler was responsible for the design and implementation of the chocolate production facility. Geared motors from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS significantly contribute to smooth operation during all process steps.

The raw mixture must be re-ground in a rolling machine. A conveyor belt transports the mixture there.

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“Our suppliers, including NORD, are very reliable”, says Thomas Linshalm, head of cocoa processing at Zotter. “Reliability is essential in all our machines. Therefore, it is good to know that NORD is there to react quickly in case of a problem. We can

simply call them and be sure to immediately talk to someone who can help – we are very pleased with that.”

Black gold, roasted and ground Safe in the knowledge that smooth operation of the plant can always be

The cocoa paste is compressed by a dedicated worm gear unit powered by a helical geared motor.

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relied on, the Zotter masterminds can bring their power for innovation to full fruition. The company introduces dozens of new flavours with a wide variety of ingredients every year. These range from pineapple to lemon, from celery to asparagus, from coconut to cheese, and to even more extravagant raw materials. Zotter currently offers bars and other sweets in 365 different varieties. But regardless of exotic flavours and new creations, classic chocolate remains an indispensable ingredient for a large part of the product range. For years now, chocolate has been produced in-house according to Zotter’s recipes, which is quite unusual for a small manufacturer. Cocoa beans delivered to the factory are cleaned and then roasted for several minutes at temperatures above 100 °C, and subsequently sterilized under steam pressure. Conveyor drives with 0.75 kW rated power ensure transportation between the cleaning, roasting, and sterilising stations. The next step is a crusher, where the cocoa nibs are de-shelled. A grinder with a NORD drive then turns the nibs into liquid cocoa paste, which is piped to a mixer. The pumps required for this stage feature 4 kW geared motors. Inside the mixer, sugar and – for some recipes – dried milk are added to the cocoa paste. On top of that, extra cocoa butter is added from neighbouring tanks which are

Belt drive during conche loading. equipped with several 1.1 kW pump drives.

Liquid turns solid . . . Mixing the cocoa mass with the other ingredients results in a pourable mass, which is ground in a rolling machine in order to achieve a fine texture. A dedicated worm gear unit powered by a 4 kW helical geared motor then ensures compression. Based on the current NORDBLOC.1 design, this drive features an innovative construction: The gears are introduced and mounted through the bearing bores. While the axis-to-axis distance is the same as in conventional helical gears, the NORDBLOC.1 design allows for using larger bearings in an

conche is used to reduce the water content, which ensures a smooth, silky consistency. Bitter compounds are evaporated through sophisticated temperature monitoring while the desired aromas remain. In this application, NORD drives are used for transportation, agitating, and pumping tasks. A helical geared motor serves as a belt drive for filling the conche. Depending on the recipe, the chocolate mass is agitated for up to 48 hours at increased temperatures in a liquid state, until a product with the finest glaze and the desired aromatic profile is created. The agitator arms are moved by a space-saving direct drive. The parallel shaft geared motor used for this purpose provides a rated power of 55 kW. overlapping offset configuration. The conched mixture is evacuated The shafts are also larger than via a pump system driven by a helical in other market-standard one-piece geared motor. systems. Thanks to the larger bearIn chocolate production, machines ings, the drive systems are considerably stronger and more durable, since such as grinders, mixers, and agitators as well as many conveyors and wear through radial and axial forces pump lines rely on robust drive techis further minimised. nology. Various geared motor types The larger shaft journals allow accomplish a wide range of these for a very flexible implementation of tasks in Josef Zotter’s factory. customer specifications, for example Thomas Linshalm, head of chocoregarding shaft diameters or the late processing at the inspired conshape and length of the shaft studs. fectionery company, explains: “We operate a large number of geared . . . and solid turns liquid motors. Just in case, it is therefore Conveyor drives then transport the very important for us to always have solidified intermediate product quick access to spare parts. In genthrough five rolling machines, where it is gradually refined. Only then does eral, however, the drives perform very reliably.” the mixture arrive at the last step of NORD Drivesystems chocolate production. 03 9394 0500 Developed by Bühler with special A D _ F E N WE L L S A P R _ 1 3 . p d f Pa ge 1 2 0 / 0 2 / 1 3 , www4.nord.com industry know-how, the single-shaft

Wells Electric Drives CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEERS

• • • • • Ingredients and intermediate products are moved from tanks and from one machine to the next by means of several pump drives; shown above: conche evacuation.

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AC/DC Servo Motors Gearboxes Linear Actuators Servo Amplifiers Motion Controllers

• • • •

Stepper Motors Encoders DC Power Supplies Machine Vision

Mob +61 (0)419 100 889 www.wellselectric.com Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2015 41

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Motors & DRIVES Low inertia, high performance servo motors

Range spans 100 watt to 750 watt power ratings.

APPLIED MOTION PRODUCTS has announced its latest extension to its servo motor lineup. Their new J series low inertia, high performance servo motors are a cost effective choice for demanding automation requirements. They boast an IP65 environmental rating and UL/CE certifications, J series servo motors are ideally suited for a wide range of applications, such as: high speed packaging and labelling, fast response actuators, automated assembly equipment and many other purposes. The product range spans 100 watt to 750 watt power ratings, windings for popular DC and AC voltages, and all models have integrated brake options.

The laser welded segmented stator pole construction allows for maximum copper fill and the proprietary encapsulation method enables maximum heat transfer. This results in higher performance and lower operating temperatures. J series servo motors are compatible with the company’s SV7 series, SVAC3 series and BLuAC5 series amplifier/controllers. They include incremental commutating optical encoders with 10,000 counts per revolution making them a neat match with many other amplifiers available in the marketplace. Applied Motion www.applied-motion.com

Three-phase drives exceptionally broad range of ABB has extended its motion continuous and heavy-duty control offering with a range application sectors including of three-phase AC motor printing, papermaking, convertdrives. ing, textiles, plastics and steel The integrated features production. of the MotiFlex e180 range The drives have an all-new means that the drive platform design, but one which builds can be used – without addion the success of ABB’s earlier tional hardware – in almost three-phase Ethernet Powerany type of application: with link-compatible e100 drive a host of different control range, and offers a flexible systems architectures and upgrade path. communications and motor In total, nine new drives offer feedback schemes. a choice of continuous power outAt the heart of this puts up to 90A, and peak outputs universal system integration up to a maximum of 120A. capability is flexible real-time Four different continuous/ Ethernet compatibility and peak output level and time feedback interfacing, built-in combinations can be selected functional safety, and the for each of the nine power ability to be used in many diflevels, providing great scope for ferent types of control system matching drive performance to architectures – from centralspecific applications – includised control to intelligent ing extended lifecycle operastand-alone motion solutions. tion in 24/7 environments. The drives may even be “MotiFlex e180 offers configured using a range Flexible real-time Ethernet OEMs and automation engiof different continuous/ compatibility and feedback neers a drive range that is peak power output modes to interfacing. almost limitless in its applicaoptimise them for applications potential,” said Product tions with different precision, Manager Jari Suntila of ABB. dynamic performance and duty cycle requirements. ABB Australia Thanks to this flexibility, ABB expects 1800 222 435 the new MotiFlex drives to appeal to OEMs new.abb.com/au and automation engineers designing for an 42 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

24V, 2A and very small in size.

Motor controller MAXON MOTOR AUSTRALIA’s new motor control unit is only the size of a postage stamp and yet still deliver up to 144W of power. The size is the key advantage of this unit. Additionally, the controller has many other specifications creating an easy solution for many engineering problems: particularly in the fields of robotics and machine design. Notably, despite the motor controller’s minute dimensions, it can drive both brushed DC motors and brushless DC motors. It can give full four quadrant control over the motors with a PWM frequency of 53.6kHz and a lightning fast current control bandwidth of 53.6kHz. The controller is designed for integration directly into the application as a plug in module and as such weighs only 7 grams. New for the entire range of motor controllers is RC servo signal inputs for set speed, set current, offset and current limitation. This will allow radio control users to upgrade their devices with higher quality industrial grade DC motors or brushless motors. Maxon Motor Australia 02 9476 4777 www.maxonmotor.com.au manmonthly.com.au

MA0215_000_SEW

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Motors that meet efficiency standards and levels in Australia and worldwide The use of energy saving solutions has significant economic and environmental benefits for Australian businesses, including reduced running costs and reduced carbon emissions. Improving the efficiency of equipment is also a key objective globally. That’s why SEW-EURODRIVE has extended its DR series of electric motors – made to meet global efficiency standards. Around the world governments are mandating Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for motors. In Australia, the government now mandates MEPS through the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards (GEMS) Act 2012 legislation. The act creates a national framework for appliance and equipment energy efficiency. This means electric motors must meet MEPS efficiency levels and must be registered for sale and use before they can be sold in Australia. SEW-EURODRIVE supports the need for efficiency in motors, supplying electric motors that meet and exceed MEPS levels. MOVIGEAR® and DRU offer IE4 Super Premium Efficiency Levels, the DRN and DRP ranges offer IE3 Premium Efficiency Levels and the DRE offers IE2 High Efficiency Levels. To find out more contact an SEW product specialist closest to you on 1300 739 287 or visit http://energy-saving. sew-eurodrive.com/.

www.sew-eurodrive.com.au 1300 SEW AUS (1300 739 287) to be directed to your nearest office Melbourne (Head Office) I Sydney I Brisbane I Townsville I Perth I Adelaide

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EndeavourAWARDS Enter online at endeavourawards.com.au

The rewards of innovation Modwood Technologies is the original maker of wood plastic composite decking and screening in Australia. The company was a finalist in the ‘Most Innovative Company’ category at the 2014 Endeavour Awards.

STABLISHED in Reservoir, Victoria in 2001, the company makes a range of low-maintenance wood composite decking boards from eco building materials such as recycled milk containers and non-virgin pine products. Modwood avoids the use of imported tropical rainforest decking and diverts waste from landfill. In fact, approximately 90 per cent of the material content of its decking boards is either recycled or reclaimed. Given that the company was the first of its kind in this country, it invested significantly in product development with the aim of ensuring its products would perform in the harsh Australian environment. Both its machinery and the chemistry evolved as it grew. In its development of Flame Shield, ModWood’s New Product Development team was established with multi-disciplinary representatives from sales, production, and quality control. Exploring the use of fire retardants in WPC and other industries they found some halogenated and heavy metal additives present unacceptable health and environmental. The team chose an ecologically acceptable additive compared to alternatives. It is a safe, non-halogenated, antimony-free and boron-free intumescent fire retardant. The result exceeded expectations,

Modwood at Coastal Park & Cheetham Wetlands, Altona Meadows.

with the product surpassing the goal of BAL29 performance to achieve BAL40 – meeting the conditions of high risk, high radiant heat bushfires. Today, ModWood Flame Shield is the only wood-based decking product to achieve this standard. Unlike timber and some other materials, WPC is low maintenance and does not need to be painted, stained or oiled – therefore reducing environmental burdens from coating manufacture and application. To maintain ModWood’s market leader status in Australia, and to strive towards the goal of a “Utopia” board, ModWood is also continuing to

innovate its product range, exploring board finishes, scratch protection, and development of ancillary products such as railings. The company is very much customer focus these days. All personnel are a lot more accountable for the company’s ongoing performance. The company undertook a significant upgrade in manufacturing capacity in 2013. This will enable it to meet projected demand for the next 5 years. According to the company, this has resulted in confidence among all who deal with it. There are many export opportunities that are being currently explored

as customers understand that ModWood is a proven performer in the harsh Australian environment. To date, countries in which ModWood has been sold to include UAE, Hong Kong, PNG, NZ, Italy, Singapore, Oman, Thailand, Vietnam. The 2014 Endeavour Awards were not the first such event in which the company has been involved. In fact, Modwood Technolgies was awarded The Victorian Premiers Sustainability Award for Innovative Products in 2013. Apart from Modwood, the finalists in last year’s ‘Most Innovative Company’ category were Seeley International, Keech Australia, Austube Mills, Sevaan Group, Woods Furniture, Cyber Technology, and Mexx Engineering. The winner on the night was Keech Australia, maker of carbon neutral steel castings for the global mining industry. “Keech Australia stays true to its principle of continuous innovation, finding solutions to current challenges, anticipating future needs and rolling out new products to benefit its customers worldwide,” commented the judges. Who will be named ‘Most Innovative Company’ in 2015? We’ll find out at the Endeavour Awards in May. Modwood Technologies 03 9357 8866 www.modwood.com.au

Time to nominate! DO you have a successful business? Have you completed an impressive project or come up with an innovative environmental solution? Have you enjoyed recent export success or transformed your business into something better than it used to be? If you answered yes to any of the above, then it’s time to nominate for the 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly Endeavour Awards.

44 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

All you need to do is head to www.endeavourawards. com.au and fill in your nomination. Now in their 12th year, the annual Endeavour Awards seek out excellence in the Australian Manufacturing Industry. The awards cover 12 categories, including Exporter of the Year, Young Manufacturer of the Year, IT Application of the Year, the Lifetime Achievement Award,

and Most Innovative Manufacturing Company. The big one – Manufacturer of the Year – is chosen from amongst the winners of those categories. Businesses are encouraged to nominate themselves and nominations are free. So what do you have to lose? www.endeavourawards.com.au

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Automotive 100-plus years of transport heritage For more than 60 years, the Iveco manufacturing plant in Dandenong has featured in Australia’s transport industry and for 40 of those years has been producing the iconic ACCO truck.

HEN the Italy-based Industrial Vehicle Corporation (IVECO) acquired the International truck brand and manufacturing facilities in Australia, it also took on the stewardship of more than a century of transport and truck manufacturing heritage in this country. The company continues to locally manufacture and supply vehicles designed to meet the economic, physical and environmental demands of the tough Australian market. In the early 1900s, the International Harvester Company of Australia (IHCA) was formed in Melbourne to manage the Australian distribution and sales of International Harvester products imported from the United States of America. As Australia developed and expanded, so did the number of motor vehicles on Australian roads and trucks gradually replaced riverboats as the primary means of moving freight around the country. This prompted IHCA to establish its own Australian manufacturing operations in 1937. Land was purchased on the shores of Corio Bay, Geelong in Victoria, and an assembly plant and foundry constructed. The first International Trucks were assembled on an assembly line in a temporary manufacturing plant in South Melbourne. As demand increased, IHCA established the Dandenong manufacturing plant in Victoria, which opened in 1952 and further expanded in 1955. Also in the 1950s, the IHCA truck group joined forces with the Australian Government to develop a 4x4 vehicle for use by the Australian Army. This army truck would be the first commercial road transport to be completely designed and manufactured in Australia, and the range of world-standard civilian vehicles descended from it became known as the popular International Australian

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Australia Ltd and the Dandenong factory were acquired by Iveco, a major contributor to the global transport industry and now part of CNH Industrial. In Australia today, CNH Industrial has over 900 staff in the nation’s workforce, with more than 550 people employed by Iveco at the Dandenong facility. The Dandenong plant represents a major investment in the local truck and bus industry, producing several hundred truck and bus chassis per year, and creates employment in Australia for thousands of people in related industries.

The Powerstar 7800, designed and built in Dandenong. C-Line Cab-Over (ACCO) series. The ACCO continues to evolve and keep pace with the latest developments in technology with a new model due to be released by the end of the year. A unique feature of the ACCO is that since the first prototype, every part of its cab-chassis has been engineered and assembled at the Dandenong plant. Today, the design is a widely used platform in vocational markets, such as concrete mixing and waste collection, throughout Australia. One of the advantages of the vehicles being fully manufactured in the one facility is that IVECO can work closely with the companies producing the machinery and bodywork that will be attached to the chassis to ensure the correct positioning of bolt holes and other fastening points. To assist in the development of products specifically for Australian markets, IHCA also established a proving ground for vehicle testing. Approximately 1,161 hectares were purchased at Wormbete near Anglesea, Victoria, in 1961. This automotive proving ground, now owned and operated by Linfox, is the largest facility of its type in Australia, containing rigorous test areas including a truck chassis twist

course, a truck test loop, and a loader test area. MA 0 7 1 4 _ 0 0 0 _ N P A In 1992, International Trucks

IVECO Australia 1

2 0 1 4 - 0 6 - 0 6 T 03 1 09238 : 52772 7 : 1 2 + 1 0 : 0 0 www.ivecopress.com

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HR, RECRUITMENT & TRAINING Flexible learning for manufacturers As one of Australia’s largest vocational training providers, TAFE South Western Sydney Institute (TAFE SWSi) had a vested interest in the prosperity of the manufacturing sector.

RAINING workers for the manufacturing industries has long been the lifeblood of TAFE colleges. But the demand for training in the manufacturing sector has been on a steady decline – in line with the significant downturn in the sector over the past 40 years which has seen Australia’s manufacturing workforce reduce from 25 percent of the total workforce in the 1960s to under 10 percent today. As a result, the TAFE SWSi Manufacturing and Transport Faculty has had to adjust and adapt its approach to delivering training for the ever dwindling numbers of Australian manufacturing workers. TAFE SWSi is now focused on “flexibility” and “building industry partnerships” in the manufacturing sector in order to secure opportunities to improve workforce capabilities in the sector. TAFE SWSi Operational Support at the faculty, Derek Page, said TAFE SWSi’s “flexible” approach to developing and delivering training packages had been successful in attracting clients from a broad range of manufacturing businesses all over Australia. “We tailor our training to suit individual organisations although we always work within the confines of the training packages established by the industry skills councils,” Mr Page said. As a result, the Faculty has established partnerships with a variety of businesses - ranging from small to medium enterprises to government organisations and multinational companies – to develop and deliver tailor-made training programs. “This means we are able to offer our clients the choice of onsite, online or TAFE College- based training programs or a mix of all these options adapted to the needs of the business,” Mr Page said. “Manufacturers regularly call upon TAFE SWSi‘s Manufacturing

46 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

TAFE has traditionally prepared people for life in manufacturing.

“

TAFE SWSi is now focused on industry partnerships in the manufacturing sector... and Transport Faculty to improve their workforce capabilities through upskilling existing staff and developing skills in new staff in order to increase output and efficiency and enhance career progression opportunities for staff.” Mr Page said often workers on the factory floor had being trained “in house” and worked their way up but had no formal qualifications. “But it’s in both the workers’ and the firms’ best interests to have a fully qualified workforce,” he said. “When organisations want government contracts or work with the larger organisations, they have to get an ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) accreditation and they can only do that with a fully

qualified workforce. It’s better for the workers too as the recognition of their skills become universal so it’s a win, win situation.” TAFE SWSi’s client list includes car giants, Toyota and Hyundai; multinational energy company, Schneider Electric; water utilities Sydney Water and Seqwater (South East Queensland Water; Transport NSW; Canberra’s Royal Mint; leading supplier of hot water and energy systems, Rheem Australia; and global devel-

oper and manufacturer of products for sleep disorders, ResMed. Mr Page said TAFE SWSi teachers were prepared to “travel further afield” to take up training opportunities. Being one of only a few polymer technology training providers in Australia (and the only one in NSW), TAFE SWSi was in an ideal position to respond to a request by multinational company Schneider Electric in 2013 to train its injection moulding employees in Adelaide. TAFE SWSi Head Teacher Polymer Processing Centre Stephen Dawkins said 16 Schneider employees, who worked across three shifts completed the training program. “The units they needed were ones we teach at Lidcombe (TAFE SWSi college) so it was just a matter of modifying them for Schneider,” he said. Schneider Operations Manager – Moulding, Jenny Ward, said all 16 participants were able to achieve Cert III level in Polymer processing, with some able to achieve a Cert IV in Polymer Technology as well. “I do believe however that from the training delivered to the group, we should be able to see benefits in their understanding and applica-

Seqwater (South East Queensland Water) is a client of TAFE SWSi.

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tion of many of the programmes and procedural measures we have already implemented,” she said. In 2012, Seqwater (South East Queensland Water) also engaged TAFE SWSi to develop, deliver and assess a Diploma of Water Operations for its staff across South-East Queensland using a combination of face-to-face workshops and online learning. Mr Page said Seqwater had a “mammoth problem” with flooding a few years ago so the organisation engaged TAFE SWSi to “train dam staff in dam processes and all aspects of water operations”. Seqwater Learning and Organisational Development Advisor, Joe Bufalino, said the connection with TAFE SWSi was “a really good example of best practice in partnering. “Since we started with them, it’s been a good example of how to keep things moving by working together and being L M 0 flexible,” 2 1 5 _ 0Mr 0 0Bufalino _ T RO said. “There are two things that

Seqwater engaged TAFE SWSi to train dam staff in dam processes and all aspects of water operations.

or 10 days a year which is more than are especially characteristic of the they would ever do in work operaprogram. We are adopting a ‘learning tions. group’ approach. We wanted to keep “The other innovative aspect the group together so they could which proposed – and cross-fertilise and they could connect 1 2 0 1 5 - 0 1 - 0 5 T 1 5 : 0 6 : 5 1 + 1 TAFE 1 : 0 SWSi 0 we saw as a perfect approach – is at the workshops at least seven, eight

the blend of delivery methodologies involving a combination of face-toface classroom learning where the participants receive individual support and the introduction of Moodle technology (a web application for producing Internet-based courses). That’s become a very useful blend, particularly given the participants come from different parts of the organisation. Staff are spread all over South East Queensland and yet they can still learn.” TAFE SWSi Manufacturing and Transport Director, Terry Saunby, said the faculty also had an “ongoing” agreement with Toyota Australia to deliver Toyota’s own training program to their apprentices. “The training program is all their product but our teachers help them develop the course,” Mr Saunby said. “Our teachers then teach the Toyota guys mainly at their own location.” TAFE SWSi 13 7974 swsi.tafensw.edu.au

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HR, RECRUITMENT & TRAINING Voice technology training solution Staff Australia has teamed up with VoiceID and Honeywell to pre-train new workers, providing employers with worker efficiency sooner in the warehouse.

OICEID, a specialist in voice-centric workflow and process optimisation services has teamed up with Staff Australia to provide pre-employment training for prospective warehouse employees on Honeywell’s Vocollect voice technology. This will speed up their productivity and efficiency once they get on the job. VoiceID recognises voice as the stand-out technology for warehousing into the future, as it enables many Australian distribution centres (DCs) to reach the highest level of efficiency, visibility, accuracy and productivity. Therefore, they identified that it would be a major advantage for Australian recruitment services if they were able to supply candidates who are already fully trained on Honeywell Vocollect voice solutions and have experienced its use prior to being hired. This is particularly the case during a DC’s operational peak, when staff are hired to meet a shortterm need. “Optimised productivity of casual staff is paramount for DCs such as

The Reject Shop, which experience fluctuations in order fulfilment demands at particular points of the year, especially during the Christmas season,” said Nishan Wijemanne, Managing Director for VoiceID. “Our new VoiceID Training 360 enables recruitment services to provide Australian warehouse managers with workers who are voice trained and can perform before they hit the pick-face.” Wijemanne explained that most other recruitment services offer candidates, including casual workers, without experience and who will be trained when they start working on the warehouse floor. “Pre-training allows Staff Australia to assess a new candidate’s skills, strengths and challenges during the training period,” he said. “These assessments are important in order to best match workers with the most appropriate work tasks and employers.” Underscoring the strategic benefits of training candidates and providing practical on-the-floor experience in voice prior to entering

Staff Australia is able to quickly familiarise new candidates with the workings of Vocollect voice equipment and processes. the workplace, Michael Campion, the CEO of Staff Australia said, “Being able to offer Australian warehouses workers who are already trained and can perform using voice ensures we take a leading position in the recruitment service industry, because we are best positioned to assess and match a candidate’s skill-set to our clients, as well as provide them with workers for immediate uptime.” Using VoiceID Training 360, Staff Australia is able to quickly familiarise new candidates with the workings of Vocollect voice equipment and processes. This gives them the confidence to hit the floor running upon entering a voice-enabled warehouse, as in the case of The Reject Shop. Unlike traditional instructor-

led courses that focus on only the theoretical aspects of voice systems, VoiceID Training 360 is different because it takes the next step, by providing a practical experience that emulates a live DC environment. Trainees learn what it feels like to work in the warehouse under a simulated environment, and taking comfort in the knowledge that help is available at any time throughout their learning process. VoiceID 1300 66 93 94 www.voiceid.com.au Staff Australia 1300 1 STAFF www.staffaus.com.au

Australia and India form logistics skills partnership AUSTRALIA’S Transport and Logistics Industry Skills Council (TLISC) and the Logistics Skills Council (LSC) of India have signed a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) to extend industry engagement and skills development. The Chief Executive Officer of TLISC Robert Adams said the agreement would open the way for greater collaboration between the two countries in addressing critical skills and workforce challenges in the sector. “Both Australia and India have much to offer each other in addressing some of the key training challenges for the transport and logistics sector, as well as

48 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

understanding the workforce issues relevant to our two economies. “The importance of supply chains in supporting economic growth and productivity means that there will be information sharing, collaboration and joint projects to improve vocational educational outcomes,” Adams said. The MOU was signed at the India Australia Skills Conference in Mumbai, India on 11 November in the presence of Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane. The MOU follows the agreement of Australia and India Education Ministers in 2010 to establish the

bi-national Australia India Education Council (AIEC), with representatives from academia, government and industry to further education collaboration. Since the establishment of the AIEC there has been ongoing constructive engagement between the Australian Industry Skills Council’s and the Indian Sector Skills Council’s. Prime Minister Tony Abbott also used his visit to India in September to underline the importance of collaboration in skills training, and Australia’s commitment to supporting the up-skilling of India’s workforce, including through vocational education and training capabilities.

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Networking technologies course Rockwell Automation and Cisco have partnered to deliver a networking technologies training course throughout 2015.

HE Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as one of the most transformative and growing technology trends today. As the industrial plant floor and corporate enterprise become more connected, the demand for skilled professionals who understand the exchange between information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) is increasing. Establishing a connected industrial enterprise is necessary to remain competitive in the current marketplace. In response, Rockwell Automation together with Strategic Alliance partner Cisco, has launched a new training course, Managing Industrial Networks with Cisco Networking Technologies (IMINS). This is a hands-on lab-based course, which covers the management and administration of networked for IT and OT professionals and control engineers industrial control systems. who are involved with the implementation, operaAccording to Cuong Vo, business manager, tion and support of networked industrial products Customer Support & Maintenance at Rockwell and solutions,” Automation, “Automation engineers are increascourse inglyMrequired A 0 2 1 to 5 _manage 0 0 0 _networked T A F - industrial 1 2 0 1 5 - 0 1“This - 1 5 T 1 1aims : 2 to 0 :enable 1 1 +participants 1 1 : 0 0 to achieve competency and skills to install, maintain products and solutions so this course is designed

and troubleshoot industrial network systems while helping to ensure network availability, reliability and Internet security throughout their companies,” he said. The five-day course focuses on networking technologies for connected plants and enterprises. Participants will get hands-on experience working with the Rockwell Automation suite of products. It also provides a foundation for the Cisco Industrial Networking Specialist Certification exam. The IMINS training course will be conducted on 16-19 March as part of the Rockwell Automation ConnectED 2015 and Cisco Live 2015 in Melbourne. This course will also be available at other locations around Australia, later in the year. Rockwell Automation 03 9757 1111 www.rockwellautomation.com/aus Cisco 1800 134 349 www.cisco.com

We never take you for granted. We take you seriously. Our team of experts is always on standby to help customise training to suit your business needs.

Call our team now to find out how we can tailor training solutions for your business.

Call 8713 6540 or email swsi.business@det.nsw.edu.au

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What’sNew Radio Controllers THE SAFIR range of Radio Remote Controls from Jay Electronique have now gained IECEx approvals on the “Moka” Handheld control and the “Alto” transceiver. According to the company, this now gives further flexibility to the range, allowing use in potentially explosive gas atmospheres classified zone 0, 1, 2, or dust classified zones 20, 21, 22. They could also be utilised in mining applications requiring the IECEx certification. The new models inherit all existing features of the SAFIR family such as a backlit, anti-reflection, LCD display able to indicate the battery charge level, the behaviour of the radio link, the name of the equipment being controlled remotely and feedback from the equipment such as weight of load, overload, limit switches, alarms or fault diagnostics. Navigation menus also allow users to configure

the application, integrate a large number of functions or monitor a specific part of the equipment. Further

Navigation menus allow users to configure the application.

M12 X-Code Connector WITH the ability to transfer up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) of data, TURCK’s new M12 X-Code connector increases throughput and efficiency in highend systems and applications. The M12 X-Code connector is said by the company to offer superior signal strength for highThe M12 X-Code Connector is designed to improve data speed Ethernet data transfer. transfers, compared to traditional M12 connectors that support up to 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps) Ethernet. According to the company, its ability to handle high bandwidth files and minimize transfer time reduces data bottlenecks and improves performance. To achieve 10 Gbps Ethernet transmission speed, the M12 X-Code connector features advanced shielding design paired with Category 7 copper cable. Each of the four data pairs are shielded from each other within the connector, providing increased isolation against cross talk, or unwanted signal coupling from one balanced twisted pair to another. Featuring a robust, compact design, the IP67-rated M12 X-Code connector reliably operates in temperatures ranging from -20 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius. The overmoulded construction eliminates time-consuming hand-wiring and misconfigurations, and is ideal for Industrial Ethernet applications requiring high speed and greater bandwidth. TURCK 1300 132 566 www.turck.com.au 50 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

customisation of logos and pictograms which appear on the screen is also available utilising the iDialog software supplied with each unit. Safety is at the heart of the SAFIR product range with the emergency stop function certified “SIL 3” per EN 61508 or “PLe” per EN 13849 and the standard function buttons, certified to SIL2 according to EN61508 or PLd according to EN13849. Other options are available to enhance the safety of those applications that require it, such as infrared start-up, action zone limitation or validation buttons. Access to the radio remote control and certain functions can also be limited to authorised operators by password. Control Logic 1800 557 705 www.control-logic.com.au

Turnkey blower systems KAESER Compressors Australia has launched the EBS series screw blowers. Energy efficient and cost effective, these quiet and user friendly turnkey blower systems are ideal for low pressure applications requiring air flow up to 35.8 m3/min. According to the company, the screw blower system uses up to 35 percent less energy than conventional rotary blowers. A blower airend with high efficiency Kaeser Sigma Profile rotors, The screw blowers are energy-efficient. flow-optimised components, For additional optimisation, these efficient power transmission and drive blowers can be supplied with a Sigma Air components ensure such performance. Manager (SAM) master control system. The blower airends combine a wide SAM can be easily integrated into advanced control range with near constant specific production, building management and power. energy management systems. Equipped with Sigma Profile rotors, the Suitable applications include wastewater airends are designed to ensure maximum treatment, pneumatic conveying systems air delivery whilst keeping power consumpand energy production to the food and tion to a minimum. In addition, the rotors beverage sector as well as the pharmaceutiare not coated, which means that efficiency cal and chemical sector. essentially remains consistent even after They are available with motor power 22 many years of operation. to 75 kW and maximum free air delivery up The screw blowers come with an inteto 35.8 m3/min. grated Sigma Control 2 as standard. This intuitive controller ensures comprehensive Kaeser Compressors Australia and efficient blower control and system 03 9791 5999 monitoring. www.kaeser.com.au

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Brought to you by

Helical rotary actuators

Compact robot controller

PTE Hydraulics’ rotary actuators are compact units capable of generating very high torque in applications requiring limited rotational movement. Their design is based on the use of multiple helical gears machined to a high level of precision to ensure reliability, efficiency and durability. Powered hydraulically, the linear movement of the piston is converted into rotational movement through helical Various mount and valve configurations are available. gearing. Despite their high power capability, PTE rotary actuators can be controlled precisely and have been successfully utilised in many applications where limited rotation is required. They are available complete with various mounting configurations and integral valving. Once in operation the internal gearing of the rotary actuator is continually bathed in oil. It is therefore completely protected from the external working environment; and free of dust, dirt and moisture. Since 2010 the PTE manufactured unit has proven to be robust and durable when used within mining, drilling and earthmoving applications. Designed as a completely sealed unit, it is also suitable for use within the pharmaceutical and food processing industries where a high degree of cleanliness and hygiene are required. PTE Hydraulics 07 3345 8400 www.ptehydraulics.com.au

ABB has unveiled the IRC5C, its second generation compact industrial robot controller. A full-fledged member of the IRC5 family of industrial robot controllers, it comes equipped with the majority of the functionality and benefits of its larger counterpart; now in an even smaller footprint (310H x 449W x 442D mm). Compact and easy to integrate, the robot controller allows for 25 percent smaller integrated rackmounted solutions. The operator The footprint of the robot controller is now up panel has been simplified, and to 25 percent smaller. its cable connections have been improved for greater ease-of-use and intuitive operation. For example, there are external connectors for all signals and a built in expandable 16-in, 16-out I/O system. Despite its small size, the IRC5C retains the motion control of its larger counterpart. This motion control technology, featuring TrueMove and QuickMove, is central to performance in terms of accuracy, speed, cycle-time, programmability and synchronization with external devices. The controller also makes it easy to quickly integrate additional hardware and sensors, such as the company’s Integrated Vision. ABB Australia F N1 1 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ SAF 1 2 0 1 3 - 1 0 - 1 5 08 T 09412 9 :1095 2 1 : 2 2 + 1 1 : 0 0 www.abbaustralia.com.au

EDGES

Universal collet chuck MANUFACTURERS of high-precision components (aerospace, transportation, die and mould, general engineering, and many more) wage a constant battle between producing high-tolerance parts and a “we-have-to-have-it-tomorrow” reality. To help such manufacturers, WIDIA has released a universal, high-precision collet chuck offering use in multiple applications (milling, drilling, reaming, and tapping), while maintaining runout A single high-accuracy tool holder for milling, drilling, accuracies of 0.003 mm (0.0001 reaming, or tapping. inches) at 3xD. The chuck’s features include the enhanced coolant delivery and longer tool ability to continue using standard ER collets life. while upgrading to precision collets, as well In addition, its better and repeatable as thicker chuck walls and a stronger outer balancing is intended to deliver higher form for added rigidity. accuracy. It also features lower vibration for longer spindle and tool life. WIDIA Products Group It has unique sealed-by-design precision 03 9755 5302 collets (6-20 mm or 0.24–0.79 inches) for www.widia.com manmonthly.com.au

NEW

Leading the way in high visibility impact protection, New Safepad Edges are designed to cover protruding or hazardous edges. Made from high quality EVA foam, Safepad products are durable and reduce worksite injuries and costs. Typical uses include cornices, flanges, ducting, braces, stairways and beams.

www.safepad.com.au sales@safepad.com.au (+61) 8 9474 6886

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What’sNEW Heavy duty scissor lift A stainless steel ergonomic goods lift with safety rails for added WH&S standards is now available in Australia and New Zealand from Actisafe. The unit – which is a goods lift only provides ergonomic lifting solutions for the primary and general industrial sectors. This stainless steel single scissor goods lift table can be used either indoors or outdoors and can either be installed in a pit or operated on the factory floor. Models range in terms of stroke (0.8m to 1.8m) and platform length (950mm to 3000mm). This means it can perform most lifting duties. The product can also be customised to suit a user’s exact requirements.

The scissor lift may be customised.

Deep-hole drill SUITABLE for machining a variety of materials including steel, stainless steel, cast iron, copper and aluminium, the R459 solid carbide drill has been specifically developed to overcome problems typically associated with deephole drilling. The solid carbide drill is suitable for applications up to 8xD. It broadens Dormer’s existing MP-X range, which already consists of 3xD and 5xD solid The solid carbide drill is suitable for applications up to 8xD. carbide multi-material drills. A key feature of the new drill is its Continuously Thinned Web (CTW) geometry which increases both flute volume and cross sectional strength. According to the company, the combination of these elements ensures consistent forces throughout the drilling cycle, with little or no increase in power requirement as the drill penetrates deeper into the hole. This, in turn, allows increased cutting speeds and greater performance reliability without compromising tool life. A special outer corner design provides added protection against wear and chipping, especially when under extreme conditions, such as cross drilling applications, while a specially designed 140° point angle makes for easier centring and reduces thrust requirements. The drill is available in diameters from 3mm-16mm, including 0.1mm increments up to 10.0mm, and features a titanium aluminium nitride (TiAlN) coating. Dormer Tools 1300 131 274 www.dormertools.com

52 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

The components of this product are from reputable hydraulic and electrical suppliers and all lift tables must attain high standards of quality, reliability and ergonomy before release. Each lift table is also tested before delivery. The stainless steel goods lift table is ideal when seeking to maintain the load at an optimum working height as well as lifting heavy material to a required level. It can also be used as a work bench for primary foods, to handle fragile goods, for unpacking and unpacking of goods and to stack pallets automatically or manually. Actisafe 1300 852 397 www.actisafe.com.au

Plastic cribbing A new generation of recycled plastic cribbing system tested to be consistent with internationally recognised Australian Standards is being introduced throughout the Asia-Pacific. The The cribbing range was developed to replace older, weaker lightweight, wood cribbing systems. splinter-free, non-absorbent yellow (working load limit of 36kg/cm2 and environmentally sustainable Dura at 25°C) or ultra-strength black (working Crib ranges of blocking and cribbing load limit of 36kg/cm2 at 25°C). products from the Cribbing and Matting The cribbing is made from 100 Co have been engineered for maxiper cent recycled plastic for optimum mum durability and tested under the durability and environmental sustainguidance of AS1170 to ensure optimum ability; and is resistant to gas, oil, safety and risk management when chemicals and organic substances such stabilising heavy loads. as blood. According to the company, the In addition, it is suitable for both range has a published Working Load active cribbing, where a person is workLimit so users can safely and confiing nearby, and passive cribbing, where dently do their jobs without the worry of cribbing is used to keep material off the wondering if their blocking system is up ground and allow a forklift to operate. to the job. Within the range there are blocks Cribbing and Matting Co. suitable for supporting weights of up to 02 9674 7428 110,000kg with a choice of high visibility www.cribandmatco.com.au manmonthly.com.au

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Brought to you by

Arc welding robot

U-Bolts

THE Motoman MA3120 arc welding robot features AUSTRALIAN pipe support an extra-long reach arm that reduces the need and piping equipment for tracks. According to the company, it is manufacturer, Anchorage the world’s longest robot arm designed Group have installed addifor arc welding. tional bending and from Available in floor, wall or ceilingmachinery to enable the mounted configurations and ideal for production of virtually any multiple robot layouts, the arc welding robot size U-Bolt or U-Clamp. can handle twice the payload of the previous The U-Bolts are availMA3100 model robot. It has a longer reach, able in galvanized and and has an arm wrist design for arc welding. stainless steel materiThe arc welding robot has a 6 kg als. Uncoated mild steel payload, 3,121 mm horizontal reach U-Bolts can be supplied The arc welding robot and ±0.15 mm repeatability. It’s intewhere they are to be may be mounted on grated through-the-arm cabling immersed in concrete as the wall, floor, or eliminates cable interference, hold-down bolts (or rag ceiling. The U-Bolts are available in galvanized and stainless steel simplifies programming and bolts) or temporary clampmaterials. reduces cable wear. ing applications. . Its increased through hole wrist diameter is intended to make it easier to integrate pullLatest technology torches or welding sensors. Welding utilities (gas hose and feeder signals) can be routed machinery enables the company to efficiently set up and manufacture as few as 20 through the robot base and the wire feeder mounts to the upper arm to reduce the torch custom u-Bolts through to thousands. length. With sizes ranging from M12 U-Bolt to suit 25 NB pipe through to M36 40NB, there are The robot is suited to use in work cells with larger work pieces, as well as for applicaU Bolts suitable for every application. tions that require access to parts in tight spots or those with possible interference from The U-Bolts are complimented by a complete range of Pipe Saddles, Pipe Cradles, fixtures. Pipe Clamps and the Anchorstrut Bracketry System. Robotic Automation Anchorage Group 1800 899 480 MA 0 2 1 5 _ 0 0 0 _ F A N 1 2 0 1 5 - 0 1 - 2 7 T 02 1 08748 : 56500 4 : 5 1 + 1 1 : 0 0 www.ragroup.com.au www.anchoragegroup.com.au

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The lastWORD The next step on the 3D printing path The newly-launched research hub based at Monash University aims to help Australian industry make the leap into the fast-approaching age of metal additive manufacturing. Brent Balinski spoke to the hub’s leader.

HE demand for additive manufacturing (or 3D printing, depending on your preference) using metal powders is growing rapidly. Consider that last year the number of metalbased production systems sold increased 75.8 per cent, according to May’s Wohlers Report. And the quality of what’s being made from machines, though there’s room for improvement, is going up rapidly. “In some ways metals have come further in 10 years than the plastics have come in 25 years,” Terry Wohlers, founder of consultancy Wohlers Associates and an authority on global trends in 3D printing, told this magazine in June. Professor Xinhua Wu, who heads the Australian Research Council Hub for Transforming Australia’s Manufacturing Industry through High Value Additive Manufacturing, believes that there are two areas where the high-value potential of melted, printed metals are most obvious: aerospace and biomedical. The future is looking up for metal 3D printing in these two industries, for reasons including the biocompatibility of titanium alloys, the rapid customisation for batches as small as one, the ability to lightweight, and minimal waste of (often expensive) materials. When we spoke to Wu in late-November, the $9 million hub – funded through $4 million from the ARC and the rest through a host of industry partners including Safran-Microturbo SAS, Metallica Minerals and Amaero Engineering – was already booked solid well into 2015. Its first three projects will be a civilian engine product with Microturbo/Safran, the second on customer-specific medical implants and instruments, and the third a stirling engine generator with International Seal Company Australia. “I think it’s a wonderful idea for Australia, because Australia has so many remote areas,” Wu told Manufacturers’ Monthly. “If you have a cheap, small engine to put in your garage and generate power anywhere in the world, I think that’s pretty good.” Wu, who also initiated Monash Centre for Advanced Manufacturing (M-CAM, opened in February last year), moved from the UK to head the ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals (comprising 100 researchers from six universities) So influential is her work that, according to a profile in Monash Magazine, European companies 54 FEBRUARY 2015 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Monash University’s Professor Xinhua Wu. – including SAFRAN, the European Space Agency and Airbus – followed her to Victoria. Wu’s research is mainly new high-temperature alloys, and in new manufacturing processes such as laser additive manufacturing and hot isostatic pressing (HIPing) of near-net shape items. The research the hub will focus on will include, says its proposal, “the effects of non-equilibrium solidification, process optimisation to achieve quality, consistency and repeatability, and new user-friendly design tools to realise the benefit of free-form manufacturing.” Wu said that titanium part surface finish can be optimised, but only up to a point (though polishing is easy enough). Current repeatability issues tend to be around larger parts created by blown powder additive manufacturing. For smaller items made by a powder bed, things are looking good. “I have a partner in China; they’ve been doing aerospace education for aircraft applications,” she said. “They have done more than 2,000 samples and the repeatability is fantastic. For a powder bed, repeatability is not the issue at all, if you have a highquality powder and understand what you’re doing. “So repeatability is not a problem to meet international aerospace standards for flying.” The Monash Centre has some of the best facili-

ties in the world, according to its leader. There’s a Concept Laser Xline 1000R machine, with a build envelope of 600 x 400 x 500 mm, which is the biggest selective laser melting machine in the world. Monash’s unit, Wu proudly notes, was the first ever to be installed and operational (though was the second purchased overall). The capability of the machine is important, but so too is the expertise that surrounds it. “We have customers from the US and Europe: all the big names like Boeing and Airbus and GE and Raytheon and Safran all come because of our big machine and the capability; nobody else has it. “But on the other hand I think it’s important for those customers – one of the reasons those customers come here is because of our centre’s material innovation. So we do fundamental research and apply research to achieve the mechanical properties required for each component and each different material.” The main challenges the new industrial transformation hub have are around getting the word out to manufacturers who could benefit from metal additive manufacturing and limited capacity. The need to “educate the market” about the benefits of additive manufacturing is frequently mentioned by companies looking to sell 3D printing machines, but it is real all the same. “Training is basically educating the society and the workforce so they recognise what the technology can do, how they can apply it to their products, and they can redesign their products to create much [more] value – to become more competitive,” explained Wu. “...It’s extremely important to let people, especially engineers, understand what they can do to change their products.” In terms of access to metal additive manufacturing for that education (and to try out new concepts) availability is scarce, and, like the aerospace, tends to be centred in Victoria. Australia’s investment in additive manufacturing is small compared to, for examples, the United States and Singapore. “We do need to have investment to buy more machines and better machines,” said Wu. “At this moment our machines are fully booked until next April. And we are now rejecting business because we don’t have enough machine time to provide the products.” Xinhua.Wu@monash.edu manmonthly.com.au

MA0215_000_AWARDS

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NOMINATIONS CLOSING SOON! Nominations are closing soon for the 12th annual Manufacturers’ Monthly Endeavour Awards. Be a part of the national awards program that celebrates the industry and recognises and rewards manufacturing excellence. Join us for Australian manufacturing’s night of nights by nominating your business or employees

WHY NOMINATE?

• Exposure and publicity • Recognition for your hard-working team members • Valuable networking opportunities with key industry leaders

THE CATEGORIES ARE • Technology Application of the Year • Environmental Solution of the Year • Safety Solution of the Year • Industrial Product of the Year • IT Application of the Year • Global Integration Award • Exporter of the Year • Young Manufacturer of the Year • Lifetime Achievement Award • Most Innovative Manufacturing Company • Manufacturer of the Year

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