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Behind the cover Energy savings can help grow a business by allowing money that would previously have been used on excess energy consumption, to be used elsewhere. In this issue – the first for 2019 – we find out how companies can save money, energy and time by changing their process and upgrading equipment.

The Ecoefficiency Group, the Energy Efficiency Council, and companies such as Flow Power, discuss how companies can achieve maximum productivity while minimising energy usage. This is particularly important as gas and electricity prices have surged in the past few years.

Also in this issue, we caught up with Lucas Paris, Australia sales and marketing director at Kärcher, about why it’s important to have good cleaning processes in place.

Paris discusses how well-designed equipment can help keep employees

safe from illnesses associated with silica dust. The Cancer Council Australia suggests that about 587,000 Australian workers were exposed to silica dust in the workplace in 2011.

To help prevent this and other harmful contaminants coming in contact with workers, Kärcher is developing new and improved equipment.

Research and development is at the forefront of Kärcher’s list each year and it proves to be important to companies in other sectors too. Air Liquide, for example, has opened a new centre that hopes to improve the development of quality 3D printing processes.

With R&D, health and safety, and energy saving solutions all featuring in this issue, it highlights the start of a jam-packed year for manufacturers wanting to grow their businesses in Australia.

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Comment

SYED SHAH – Managing Editor, Manufacturers’ Monthly

Comfort in knowing the payback is worth it

W

HEN I leave a room, I turn off the light. As soon as I finish cooking, I switch off the oven. When I look at buying a new washing machine or dryer, I consider whether it has a good energy rating. Why? Because using less power will ultimately save me money. Just as we attempt to minimise our energy consumption at home, we also consider saving energy at work. This determination to save costs at work is heightened when we are the ones that are financially invested in the business.

When Manufacturers’ Monthly spoke to Energy Efficiency Council CEO Luke Menzel about how manufacturers can save on energy, he said that Australian business owners are becoming more energy conscious as prices have soared in the past four years. Environmental impacts are being felt across the board by individuals, businesses and countries, as common goals such as sustainable energy, low costs and high efficiency are considered daily. He suggests that energy prices have changed so dramatically since 2014 – doubling in fact – that manufacturers have no choice but to

make changes. Upon giving advice to manufacturers, he said that in every sector there is “low hanging fruit”. On one side, this means that valuable money and energy is being flushed down the drain, but on the other side, this gives manufacturers a quick and easy solution to cutting costs.

Simple steps such as opting for more energy efficient lighting or switching off equipment when it is not in use can significantly reduce cost in the long-run. Buying new equipment that communicates when it is experiencing a fault, or when it is producing imperfect goods, can not only save products from ending up in the dump, but it can also mean machines are working faster to produce quality ware. Menzel said that if the payback is good, a company will reap the benefits long after equipment has been purchased or a new service or department has been developed. The benefits that come with ensuring a facility is running not only at a lower cost, but at the highest quality and fastest rate possible is a step towards growth. Staying ahead of the competition is a driving force for

any business, but taking the leap to invest capital into a new project can be tough to face.

As we see equipment manufacturers such as Kärcher investing more than five per cent of its global turnover into research and development, we can understand the importance of staying on top of technological advances. Many manufacturers are taking advantage of smarter machines, 24/7 support lines and robotic automation to increase productivity. So, for Kärcher, it’s a no-brainer to provide what its clients are demanding.

Just as people compete for low energy prices at home, staying one step ahead to save on costs in a manufacturing facility is necessary to move forward swiftly.

Equipment and service providers, such as Siemens are continuously researching new ways to help manufacturers grow, which has led to the development of products that are Industry 4.0-driven, have increased battery life, are made from more durable materials and are able to support facilities longer than their outdated counterparts.

Siemens, Bosch, Kaak Group and

other equipment manufacturers and providers are selling machines that talk to each other, that can detect faults and as a result are more productive.

Looking at long-term outcomes, such as buying these Industry 4.0-driven machines, is key to successful, environmentally conscious, and coincidentally more cost-effective, processes.

Calculating ROI is important for any manufacturer wanting to upgrade a facility for a more fruitful future. But, investing money into new equipment can be a daunting decision when the dollars rack up quickly and seem to be needed in every sector from energy saving solutions, to equipment upgrades, to taking the leap to enter a new overseas market. After all, it’s a much larger decision than buying a domestic washing machine. The important thing that organisations, which support manufacturers such as the Energy Efficiency Council, conclude is that if the payback is good, a company will reap the benefits long after the equipment has been purchased or a new service or department has been developed.

Turning the light off when leaving a room, or switching to LED lighting, are easy steps that save power.

6 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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GEOFF CRITTENDEN – CEO, Weld Australia

A lack of welder licensing and legislation is threatening public safety

O

VER the past 12 months, I have been shocked at the number of unsafe steel structures reported by industry.

The primary cause of these safety concerns is welding that is not fit for purpose and does not comply with recognised international and Australian Standards.

Australian Standards are as good, if not better than, anywhere else in the world. The problem is that very few Australian Standards are supported by regulation or legislation and are therefore only applied on a voluntary basis.

Without any compulsion to manufacture or procure products to a recognised standard, companies take the lowest cost option which is often detrimental to public safety. When a product is inspected, and found to be non-compliant, many refuse to accept responsibility for rectifying the structure, opting instead to take the risk or trying to pass on liability

ISO 9606 is a simple test that assesses welding competency according to a specific weld procedure, based on a practical acceptance criteria. It is the only standard in the world which is accepted in both Europe and America, and is the minimum requirement for working on rolling stock, defence and infrastructure projects. to another part of the supply chain.

When I appeared before the Senate Inquiry into the future of Australia’s steel industry, I was asked by the Senator Kim Carr whether fabricated steel imported into Australia that did not comply with Australian regulations was deliberately circumventing regulations. I had to reply that there are, in fact, no regulations.

In addition, there is no mandated licensing or certification system for welders in Australia. The combination of the two issues is a major threat to public safety. The Australian public is being placed at unnecessary risk.

By comparison, in Europe and North America, not only is compliance with international standards mandatory, it is also

compulsory that all welding is carried out by a qualified and certified welder.

This is why Weld Australia looked internationally for an appropriate standard that would provide a benchmark for welder competency in Australia. We had two options: AS 2980 or ISO 9606. In consultation with our members, particularly major asset managers, we settled on ISO 9606 Qualification testing of welders – Fusion welding.

ISO 9606 is a simple test that assesses welding competency according to a specific weld procedure, based on a practical acceptance criteria. It is the only standard in the world which is accepted in both Europe and America, and is the minimum requirement for working on rolling stock, defence and infrastructure projects.

Having decided on this strategy, we acquired an online system that

Weld Australia CEO: Few Australian Standards are supported by regulation.

10 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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would help us manage the system of qualifying and certifying welders to ISO 9606 – the Australian Welder Certification Register (AWCR). The purpose of the AWCR is to act as a de-facto licensing system in the absence of government support.

Weld Australia is committed to ensuring that no Australian lives are lost through an accident caused by non-compliant welding, without causing undue regulatory burden on industry. As such, in 2019, the aim of Weld Australia is to have the AWCR process brought into legislation so that it becomes compulsory for all welders in Australia to be certified to welding procedures under AS/NZS ISO 9606.

Until recently, I believed this to be more of a vision (or flight of fancy), rather than a potential reality.

However, the success of our Advanced Welder Training Centres (AWTCs), and the support we have received from both state and federal governments for the AWTCs, is

Weld Australia is focused on ensuring compliance with Australian standards.

encouraging me to believe that the various levels of government are becoming more aware of the importance of welding certification and qualification, and the potential risk to public safety that exists without them.

Over the last 12 months, we have secured over $4.3 million in both

state and federal government funding for the establishment of five AWTCs across the nation. It is expected that even more will be established over the next year. Recent feedback I’ve had from various members of the federal shadow cabinet has also been extremely positive.

In 2019, it is Weld Australia’s

intention, and one of our primary objectives, to have welding qualifications and certifications formally recognised in legislation.

We believe that this can be achieved through relatively minor changes in procurement and WorkSafe legislation.

All the work Weld Australia is undertaking, is focused on ensuring compliance with Australian standards. After all, it is these standards which make Australia a safer place to live.

To ensure that welding qualifications and certifications are formally recognised in legislation, the Australian manufacturing industry must all support the AWCR. I implore you to get behind this important initiative. Register on the AWCR. Ensure your employees and subcontractors are registered and certified via the AWCR. Weld Australia needs your support to ensure the status of licensed welder is reintroduced to Australia.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 11

News @MM Ai Group encourages registrations of interest in national energy program The Australian Industry (Ai) Group is welcoming calls for registrations of interest in a new Australian government energy program.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said the federal government’s call for registrations of interest is another step towards the design of a program to underwrite new investments in Australian electricity generation.

“As the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has pointed out, there is room for some targeted and welldesigned underwriting initiatives to overcome specific market failures in the energy market and the government is exploring the range of ways these objectives can be achieved.

“The government remains open

The Australian government remains open-minded about the design of the energy program and outcomes.

minded about the design of the program and how it may change over time. Notwithstanding its list of ‘indicative eligibility criteria’ and ‘indicative project merit criteria’, the government remains open to the eligibility criteria for participation in the program and to the project

merit criteria that will be applied.

“While the details will need to be firmed up before the program commences, given the compressed timetable and limited opportunities for consultation to date, at this early stage the lack of detail is both understandable and desirable,” said

Willox.

Ai Group previously indicated its concern that the selection of projects should be independent of political influence and closely linked to and coordinated with the existing energy market regulatory arrangements.

“Further details on the decisionmaking processes to be adopted in the program’s design, and their transparency and oversight and will need to be provided if there is to be confidence in the processes announced,” he said.

Willox said this step to find ways to provide more certainty for investors in generation capacity is a move towards the greater certainty that is needed over energy and climate policy that is necessary to put a strong foundation in place for both energy suppliers and users.

Aussie-made armoured wetsuit to protect divers from shark bites Sydney-based metal componentry manufacturer, Sevaan Group, has been selected by Australian company, ironskinn, to help create an armoured wetsuit for protecting commercial divers, scuba divers, free divers and spear fishing enthusiasts.

Made of extremely tough aluminium platelets held together by an elastic in-form setting, the ironskinn dive suit is designed to protect divers from a wide range of marine hazards such as an unexpected shark bite, oysters, mussels, barnacles and rotten metal from boats when working on them underwater.

The platelets are rated as being harder than shark teeth, which means that an individual wearing the ironskinn would likely sustain a scratch rather than a lost limb in the event of a bite from a regular sized shark. ironskinn managing director, John Sundnes, said Sevaan Group was very 12 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

inquisitive about what was required and were excited about making a significant part of that product.

“We are making the entire suit in NSW, so Sevaan’s Sydney base was a good start and ultimately as a company they showed patience as this was something that was never made before,” said Sundnes.

“It took probably four to five months because we had some tooling we needed made and Sevaan Group had good contacts to make that tooling a reality.

“The platelets have a particular shape and particular curvature; thin metal can behave in unexpected ways so that part may come out a little differently compared to its CAD so we needed expertise to handle that.”

Sevaan Group managing director, Jim Tzakos, said they initially analysed and provided costings for the prototype manufacture, and then proceeded to come up with a new

design at a particular price point.

“But a key designed principle was that the platelets are made so the suit doesn’t get in the way of kinetic movement of humans in the elbows, knees, hips etc,” Tzakos noted.

Sundnes said Sevaan Group has been the perfect partner to help get the product over the line.

“The other thing for us was we looked at many potential

manufacturers overseas and saw there was concern over intellectual property protection, so it made sense to use an Australian company to protect our intellectual property,” he explained.

“What we are making also needs a high degree of quality because if it is made wrongly it just won’t work.”

Currently, the suit is on a pilot program with some professional divers before going for commercial sale.

The platelets in the suit are rated as being harder than shark teeth.

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Austal enters $97.7 million contract to build catamaran Austal has entered a $97.7 million contract with the National Infrastructure Development Company, which is owned by the government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

The contract, announced on December 4, will see Austal design and build a 94m high-speed vehicle and passenger catamaran to be delivered in mid-2020.

The ship, designated 94m AutoExpress, will provide high-speed passenger and vehicle operations on the key sea bridge between the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

The vessel is a derivative of the two 109m AutoExpress ships designed in the past two years by Austal, following an intensive development program and therefore incorporates many of the same design features.

The ship design is being

undertaken in Australia and is already well advanced, which has allowed initial construction to commence.

The ship will be built in Austal’s new shipyard in Vung Tau, Vietnam.

This new faculty commenced operations on November 1, 2018.

It has already delivered large aluminium modules for a 109m catamaran being built in the Philippines.

It is supported by Austal’s extensive global supply chain featuring more than 1,100 Australian SME’s.

As a result of the new contract, Austal now expects that the new shipyard in Vietnam will be profitable in its first year of operations and will quickly expand to more than 450 people from just under 100 employed currently.

The ship is designed to carry 926

passengers and 20 cars at speeds of 37.5 knots and will operate a daily service between the island of Trinidad and Tobago.

The cataraman will also The ship will feature Austal’s newly developed smart also feature Austal’s ship technology, MarineLink Smart. newly developed construction phase. smart ship technology, MarineLink “We are delighted that the Smart. government of Trinidad and Tobago Austal CEO David Singleton have selected Austal as their partner said the development of the new to design and build this nextAutoExpress design, initiated in early generation vessel.

2016, has proven to be a great success.

“This new contact will build upon “We remain committed to the Austal fleet already in Trinidad, developing the most advanced high which includes four 41m catamaran speed aluminium ships in the world, water taxis and six, 30m monohull fast further exemplified by the sale of patrol crafts,” said Singleton. three new trimarans, previously announced, which are currently in the

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 13

News @MM Bionic eye project has sights on human trials University of Sydney researchers are a step closer to developing a bionic eye with plans to move to human trials.

Minister for Trade and Industry Niall Blair visited the Sydney labs in mid-December last year to meet researchers and get an update on the project that aims to bring new hope to the many people suffering vision loss.

Blair said it was a great example of NSW’s medtech industry, with the NSW Government recently releasing a strategy to help grow the sector.

“The idea of bionics first leapt into the public imagination with the 1970s science fiction action television series the Six Million Dollar Man,” said Blair.

“But Professor Gregg Suaning and his team at the University of Sydney are helping bring it to reality after developing microchip technology to give a sense of vision for those who have lost theirs.

“This is a fantastic NSW innovation with potential to change the lives of millions of people who are losing sight from conditions like retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration,” he said.

Suaning said the Phoenix 99 Bionic Eye system involves a microchip being implanted on the top of the eye with a tiny camera mounted on a pair of glasses delivering images wirelessly to the microchip for processing.

“The system has been designed to stimulate cells in the retina and help the brain interpret them to deliver a sense of vision in the user,” said Suaning.

“Users of the bionic eye would see pixelated images that deliver outlines and edges allowing them to navigate their surroundings and to help them carry out activities of daily living.

“We hope it will allow people with vision loss to identifying if a person,

How the bionic eye system works: The system has been designed to stimulate cells in the retina. doorway or window is nearby.

“Degenerative disorders impacting the retina affect many millions of people around the world but we aim to offer new hope with the introduction of the Phoenix 99 bionic eye system,” said Suaning.

The University of Sydney team is now preparing an application for ethics approval in the hope of conducting a first-in-human trial of the Phoenix 99 Bionic Eye next year.

“If successful, we can work to bring the device to a point where regulatory approvals in the global market can be obtained,” said Suaning.

• A tiny microchip implant is placed on top of the eye and is connected to a set of electrodes that interface with surviving nerve tissue.

• A very small camera attached to glasses captures the visual scene in front of the wearer. This is then processed by the computer inside a mobile telephone and a set of instructions are sent wirelessly to a telemetry device implanted behind the ear.

• The implant decodes the wireless signal and sends electrical impulses to initiate events the brain interprets as vision.

All of this happens in real time to provide a sense of vision that aims to improve mobility, give greater ease of social interaction, and more independence to blind people worldwide.

Spray-on technology repairs damaged navy ships Researchers have developed spray-on technology for repairing navy ships damaged by fire or missile attack.

The research led by RMIT University’s Professor Adrian Mouritz, and funded by the Australian Department of Defence and the US Navy, allows ships to repair themselves while at sea.

Partnering with CSIRO, Mouritz is developing a polymer that can be squirted onto cracked or damaged fibre composite surfaces to repair them within 10 minutes.

“At the moment, if you damage a composite, whether it’s an aircraft, a naval ship, a wind turbine blade or anything, you need to take it out of service, so you can’t use it,” he said.

“You’ve got to cut out, or grind out the damaged area and then put new material in, and that’s a pretty 14 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

slow and expensive way to do it.

“Our method allows you to do repairs immediately when the damage forms and it can heal itself in the same way that your body does,” said Mouritz.

Preserving defence fleets is critical work, but protecting personnel is even more important.

Fires on ships at sea or while docked can threaten lives, not to mention millions of dollars in infrastructure. The research aims to prevent blazes like the one that destroyed HMAS Bundaberg, a $54 million navy patrol boat, in 2014.

This work ties in with Mouritz’s other research on the effects of fire on ships made from fibre composites and also aluminium. While both materials are lightweight and more economical, they are sensitive to high temperatures. This has

prompted Mouritz’s research into managing the fire risks of fibre composites.

“The work we’ve been doing with Defence is to develop models the navy can use to predict, if there is a fire on a ship, how long that fire can burn before it becomes a major safety hazard to the structural safety of the vessel,” he said.

“It also allows them to get a better understanding of the fire protection measures needed to put on board a ship which is made out of either aluminium or composite materials.” Experimental tests have led the team to create predictors used to save lives in ships as well as planes and buildings. “We took that information and then developed models, which allow people to predict how these two groups of materials will weaken, and when

they’ll fail in the event of fire.”

Mouritz and his team, who are collaborating with local and international organisations, have also investigated how composite fibres react to explosions.

The team’s insights continue to inform the next generation of composite materials.

RMIT University’s Professor Adrian Mouritz

manmonthly.com.au

News@MM Landing helicopter dock and landing craft agreement supports 1000 jobs More than 1000 jobs are being supported in a landing helicopter dock and landing craft sustainment agreement.

Naval Ship Management will partner with the Australian Defence Force to sustain and support Landing Helicopter Docks (LHD) and LHD Landing Crafts over the long term under the new agreement.

Naval Ship Management, an existing joint venture between construction engineering company UGL, and Babcock, was selected to sustain and support this capability over fifteen years, from July 2019.

Minister for Defence, Christopher Pyne said Naval Ship Management has a proven track record within similar sustainment programs, with proven performance in innovation, collaboration and building Australian Defence

Industry workforce capability.

“More than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs will be supported in Sydney and across a national supply chain through this contract is which is valued at more than $1.5 billion.

“This large scale, long-term sustainment contract will provide Australian Defence Industry, and SMEs with the confidence they need to invest in growing the skills and capabilities of their workforce,” said Pyne.

“The new agreement will give Australian defence industry more certainty and encourage investment in industry infrastructure, capability and jobs.

“Naval Ship Management has committed to maximising Australian industry content through engaging its existing supply chain as well as providing increased opportunities

and utilisation of Small to Medium Enterprises in the Sydney region and across the Australian supply chain,” he said.

“We are looking forward to working with them to ensure the continued safe and reliable delivery of the LHD assets,” said Pyne.

Minister Pyne said that the contract will provide the defence industry and SMEs with the confidence to invest in skills and capabilities of their workforce.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 15

News @MM Victoria’s second grid-scale battery completed in Gannawarra The second of two grid-scale batteries jointly funded by the Victorian government and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency has been completed in Gannawarra.

The 25 MW / 50 MWh Gannawarra Energy Storage System (GESS) began exporting electricity to the grid in October and will be fully commissioned in time for summer.

The battery is co-located at the 60 MW Gannawarra Solar Farm near Kerang in North Western Victoria.

In March, on behalf of the federal Government, ARENA committed $25 million to two grid-connected, utilityscale batteries, matching the $25 million committed by the Victorian government as part of its $50 million energy storage initiative.

The first grid-scale battery, a 30 MW/30 MWh large-scale lithium-ion battery, was unveiled in October in Warrenheip, Ballarat.

The two grid scale batteries will help to ease constraints on transmission lines and balance the grid with higher shares of renewable energy.

Australian renewable energy company Edify Energy oversaw the development and construction of the project in a joint venture with Wirsol Energy. GESS uses Tesla’s lithium ion battery technology.

EnergyAustralia will operate GESS in addition to a long-term offtake agreement to buy all the electricity generated from the co-located Gannawarra Solar Farm.

EnergyAustralia is also the operator of the Ballarat battery now registered and working.

GESS is Australia’s largest battery to be integrated with a solar farm, and will be among the largest solar and battery facilities in the world – with the ability to provide solar energy

at night to the grid. ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the project shows the growing importance of batteries providing stability to the grid, and was an example of retrofitting a solar farm with a battery.

“Grid-scale batteries have the ability to provide rapid response injections of power and provide backup power when needed,” Miller said.

“Integrating with the local solar farm provides potential for solar energy to be stored and used at night, helping to deliver secure and reliable electricity when it is needed.

“ARENA is excited about the completion of both batteries in Victoria which – along with the successful large-scale batteries in South Australia – will continue to play an important role in Australia’s transition to affordable and reliable renewable energy.”

Edify Energy CEO John Cole said

The battery is co-located near Kerang in North Western Victoria. the project would enable the roll out of more clean and cheap renewable energy.

“Solar plus storage is a ‘category killer’ and we are very proud to have developed, structured and overseen the construction of two projects that together can serve as a model for wider adoption of storage into the market and the realisation of a high renewable future,” Cole said.

“We intend to continue the roll out of storage and renewables projects to help our retail and corporate customers achieve their energy and sustainability objectives.”

Liberty Primary Steel to build largest steel plant in Australia Liberty Primary Steel, part of industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, has announced the construction of Australia’s largest steel plant.

The company will transform its operations at Whyalla, South Australia, by injecting more than $600 million into upgrades.

In a major move forward, two contracts have been signed for the design of equipment and construction with contracting partners Danieli and CISDI Engineering Co. Danieli build a rail and structural heavy section mill, while CISDI Engineering Co will build a Pulverised Coal Injection Plant.

Gupta said these components would play a key role in securing Whyalla’s long-term future.

“This transformation will vastly improve the operational, financial and

16 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

environmental performance of the operations, paving the way for Whyalla to become an enticing, global hub for innovative industry,” he said.

City of Whyalla mayor, Clare McLaughlin, said this was yet another fantastic announcement for the community.

“Most importantly for Whyalla, this project will create thousands of additional construction jobs and several hundred ongoing, with GFG

committing to prioritising local skills,” said McLaughlin.

Following the announcement on progressing the Whyalla Transformation Program, Gupta shared plans for a visionary “NextGen” mega steel plant for Whyalla, signing an engineering contract with CISDI for the ambitious project.

“Our cutting-edge transformation plans for the existing steel plant are just the beginning of what GFG

Liberty Primary Steel will be injecting more than $600 million into upgrades for the construction of the plant.

Alliance has in store for the region,” he said.

“Utilising almost perfect local conditions – our own infrastructure including a deep-sea port; rich local resources; and unrivalled community passion – we now plan to build a new steel plant, one of the world’s largest, right here in Whyalla. “‘Liberty Next-Gen Steel’ will be the largest in the Western world, capable of producing 10 million tonnes per year, with the ability and infrastructure to double capacity in time,” said Gupta.

The project will be based on the latest technologies and best-in-class environmental measures.

It will focus on production of semi-finished steel – slabs, blooms and billets – exported to downstream operations in key strategic and growing markets around the world.

manmonthly.com.au

News@MM Air Force joint strike fighters arrive in Australia In an historic day in Australian aviation, the first two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters arrived at RAAF Base Williamtown.

Announced on December 10, the strike fighters will be permanently based in Australia.

Minister for defence, Christopher Pyne, and minister for defence industry, Steven Ciobo, were there to welcome the aircraft and RAAF fighter pilots who flew the final leg in the journey from Luke Air Force Base Arizona.

Pyne said the strike fighters will be a game-changer for the Australian Defence Force.

“This is the most advanced, multi-role stealth fighter in the world. It will deliver next generation capability benefits and provide a major boost to our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

capabilities,” said Pyne.

“The Joint Strike Fighter can get closer to threats undetected; find, engage and jam electronic signals from targets; and share information with other platforms,” he said.

The Australian government is investing more than $17 billion to acquire at least 72 Joint Strike Fighters.

“The Joint Strike Fighter is the largest acquisition in the history of the Royal Australian Air Force, and is a key part of the government’s $200 billion build up in defence capability,” said Pyne.

The Lockheed-Martin-built Joint Strike Fighters will be operated by nine partner nations, reaffirming and strengthening Australia’s alliance with the US and other key international partners including the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey,

Canada, Denmark and Norway.

“In Australia’s immediate region, Japan and South Korea are in the process of procuring the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, and are closely aligned with Australia’s pursuit of shared strategic, security and economic interests,” said Pyne.

Ciobo said the aircraft created significant opportunities for Australian defence industry that was creating new jobs.

“Australian industry is manufacturing parts that will be fitted to every F-35 in production globally, and more than 50 Australian companies have directly shared in $1.2 billion in production contracts to date,” said Ciobo.

“Up to 1500 contractors have worked on the construction of the facilities to accommodate the F-35A at RAAF Base Williamtown,

representing approximately $1 billion of investment in the Hunter region alone,” he said.

The two aircrafts arrived in Australia following a cross-Pacific ferry from Luke Air Force Base Arizona and will be operated by the Air Force’s Number 3 Squadron.

The F-35A Joint Strike Fighters will be based at RAAF Base Williamtown and at RAAF Base Tindal in the Northern Territory.

Australia looks to acquire 72 F-35As.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 17

IndustryFocus Energy saving solutions for manufacturers With a surge in electricity prices over the past few years, manufacturers are looking at ways to decrease their energy bills quickly and cost-effectively. Miri Schroeter speaks to energy efficiency experts about making changes to manufacturing facilities that will bring costs down.

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LECTRICITY prices have more than doubled since 2014, in Australia, and gas prices have followed closely with a 50 per cent increase since 2011.

These evaluations, from a Grattan Institute 2018 report – Mostly Working: Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Market, show the stark increase in energy costs that Australian manufacturers have experienced, and continue to experience. In an industry that dominates a large part of the Australian economy, the Energy Efficiency Council and The Ecoefficieny Group are pushing manufacturers to make steps, big and small, that will have a huge impact on energy savings.

The Australian Manufacturing Gas Efficiency Guide 2018, developed by the Australian Industry Group, Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and the Energy Efficiency Council, indicates that manufacturing contributes about $100 billion, gross domestic product, to the country’s economy annually.

The manufacturing industry supports about 900,000 jobs, which accounts for about 7.4 per cent of Australia’s total employment. According to the guide, Australia’s manufacturers are the most energy intensive in the OECD. Energy Efficiency Council CEO, Luke Menzel, said energy costs and consumption have changed dramatically in the past four years.

For the past few decades, up until recently, Australia has been very lucky with its energy use, which means that manufacturers haven’t had to think about it, he said. “Because energy costs were relatively low, it wasn’t really the most valuable area for them to focus on. As a result, energy management opportunities weren’t being picked up. We are really lagging behind all of our major competitors.

“With price increases, the attitude towards energy management is shifting. There are some significant 18 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

With price increases, the attitude towards energy management is shifting. There are some significant opportunities in the manufacturing sector. For manufacturers that haven’t previously looked at energy efficiency, it is fairly standard to be able to improve an operation by about 30 per cent.

Energy Efficiency Council CEO Luke Menzel said energy costs and consumption have changed dramatically. opportunities in the manufacturing sector. For manufacturers that haven’t previously looked at energy efficiency, it is fairly standard to be able to improve an operation by about 30 per cent,” said Menzel.

“It’s different if you go sector by sector, but there’s often low hanging fruit. It’s not about replacing large pieces of equipment, it’s about ensuring it’s running as productively as possible. Many more manufacturers are looking at these issues closely because of the price spikes.”

Manufacturers can make small improvements by monitoring where the most energy is being used and finding ways to minimise this, said Menzel. He suggested getting an

external energy advisor to look at a company’s processes. “A fresh pair of eyes can do a world of good. In a business, there are ways that things have always been done. Getting someone to question practices is where you can get some quite simple wins.

“Sometimes there are steps in the production process that are not necessary. It’s about making sure there’s a reason for doing it,” he said.

The Ecoeffiency Group director, Penny Prasad, said the first steps businesses should take are looking at which tariff they are on and deciding where they could be making savings.

“One of the first things we look at is whether they are a small user or a large user. A large user is using more than 100MW per year. If you are a large user, you are placed on a tariff, which includes demand based charges that can be as much as 40 per cent or more of an electricity bill. Small businesses can try to improve their energy efficiency and knock that down to allow them to change to a nondemand-based tariff.”

One suggestion Prasad has is cutting costs by looking at what hours of the day equipment is operating and whether that use can be minimised or even moved to a different part of the day. “They can also put in more energy efficient equipment. A lot of them just don’t have that basic understanding of

The Ecoeffiency Group director, Penny Prasad, suggests businesses look at renewable energy.

their tariff and what they are paying for.” She also suggests looking at renewable energy.

The Australian Manufacturing Gas Efficiency Guide 2018, explained that Australians are also large users of natural gas. In 2014-15 Australian manufacturing was responsible for about 40 per cent of total natural gas consumption. Recent analysis has found that by implementing energy efficiency measures and switching from gas to other clean energy sources, Australian industry can reduce gas consumption by at least 25 per cent on current levels, or 201 petajoules per year.

The Energy Efficiency Council’s Navigating A Dynamic Energy Landscape: A Briefing for Australian Businesses report from August 2018, indicated that the cost of building large-scale renewable energy generation is now lower than the cost of building new conventional fossil fuel generators. Since 2010, large-scale solar costs have fallen by 80 per cent, and onshore wind energy installation costs have dropped by 39 per cent.

By 2025, further reductions, of 59 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, are projected. manmonthly.com.au

IndustryFocus But, Prasad said for businesses, it can be a struggle to choose investing in renewable energy over other key projects. “They have to decide, as a company, where to spend their investment dollars. That’s where it becomes a competition between what money needs to be allocated where in the company. Or, they need the money to invest in those capital projects, but sometimes they just don’t have that money. This is where energy efficiency partnerships can be good where capital costs of equipment can be paid off via energy savings.”

Prasad said that although it is good that some companies are opting for solar panels on their roofs as a solution to minimise costs, companies should invest in energy efficient equipment first. “It all depends on what the payback is for the projects. The payback for solar panels, for example, may take four years, whereas the payback on equipment could be much quicker.

Large manufacturers can look at other renewable energy options such as bioenergy or select electricity providers that produce electricity from renewable energy resources. For example, dairy processor, Burra Foods has a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Flow Power for the supply of electricity produced via wind power,” said Prasad.

SEW Eurodrive Australia industry specialist, John Gattellari, said customers can make huge savings by upgrading to energy efficient equipment. “Manufacturers need to consider how the efficiency of a product contributes to the running cost of the entire system. When you consider a non-optimised system, excess energy costs can add up substantially during the lifecycle of a product.”

SEW-Eurodrive is a German designer and manufacturer of geared motors, frequency inverters, servo drive systems and decentralised technology. By introducing an optimised mechatronic combination of motors, gearboxes and drives electronics to a facility, manufacturers can unlock the real potential of cost savings, said Gattellari. manmonthly.com.au

SEW-Eurodrive helps unlock energy savings with its geared motors and servo drive systems.

Similarly, the Australian Manufacturing Gas Efficiency Guide 2018 suggests adding equipment that will ultimately reduce the cost of running a manufacturing plant.

An example of savings achieved at a building products manufacturing plant is given in the guide. The plant produces various types of fibre cement products for the building industry, such as weatherboard, flooring, eaves and soffits. A new control system was installed on its 8MW boiler.

The control system included various features to improve combustion and reduce emissions, including high precision control of air and gas valves and dampers using servo motors, water level control, and pressure and temperature set-point control. With these features, among others, the implementation of this initiative was

able to reduce gas consumption by 5.6 per year, which equated to savings of $42,000 per year. The total investment cost was $119,600, so the project was able to provide a payback in less than three years.

Controlling energy consumption Choosing where a company purchases its energy can also help keep costs low, which is where Flow Power helps manufacturers. The company works with customers in a very different way to most energy retailers by partnering with providers to give customers transparent access to all of the tools a traditional energy retailer would use. This enables its customers to make informed choices, minimises the hidden costs and connects them

to the signals of the power market.

At the start of 2018, fixed-rate contract prices were about 14c/ kWh in Victoria. Flow Power had just signed a series of customers onto its PPA with Ararat Wind Farm. Benefitting from its more transparent model, some of those customers were able to respond to the market signals through demand response programs like the Australian Energy Market Operator and the Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader. They ended up paying about 5c/kWh. Flow Power suggested buying wholesale to get transparent access to the market rather than a fixed rate. While the fixed rate may seem better in the short-term, over the long term, the variable will be lower, the company explained.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 19

Industry4.0 Supporting Industry 4.0 growth in Australia Ai Group is leading an Industry 4.0 forum, which looks at the challenges, benefits and future of technology in Australia.

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NDUSTRY 4.0 is not just for the “big end of town”, explains Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) chief executive Innes Willox.

Helping businesses small and large adopt Industry 4.0 to benefit them and the greater Australian economy, is something Willox and other members of the Industry 4.0 Advanced Manufacturing Forum take seriously.

“While some manufacturers are progressing well with the uptake of new technologies, others are still grappling with the Industry 4.0 concept and its potential.

“The increasing frequency of reports of skills shortages relating to the adoption of Industry 4.0 suggests that current capacity is constrained.

But more encouragingly, it also points to an increased pace of adoption and further diffusion of Industry 4.0 beyond early adopters,” said Willox.

To grow the number of manufacturers, and other companies in Australia adopting the latest technology, the forum, also known as I4AMF, is working with the leader of Industry 4.0, Germany. In September 2018, Ai Group took charge of a collaborative forum of industry leaders and organisations to support Australian industry transformation.

I4AMF is the successor of the Prime Minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce, which formalised information sharing and collaboration between Australia and Germany on Industry 4.0. In April 2017, the Prime Minister’s taskforce signed a cooperation agreement with Germany’s Plattform Industrie 4.0, making Australia one of only five countries with cooperative agreements with Germany at the time.

Having followed on from the taskforce, I4AMF is a platform for influential players in Australia’s manufacturing sector to improve Industry 4.0 capabilities in Australia for all. The forum promotes collaboration between government and 20 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox wants all businesses to benefit from Industry 4.0. Photo credit: Ai Group. industry in both countries on Industry 4.0, including initiating a collaborative approach to the development of global Industry 4.0 standards.

The forum executive council consists of Willox, Siemens Australia and New Zealand chairman Jeff Connolly, Engineers Australia national president Trish White, and Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre managing director Jens Goennemann.

Challenges faced by businesses Ai Group hears from both end users and suppliers experiencing challenges in developing and implementing a real business case that focuses on digital technologies. “This is harder where skills or knowledge of industry 4.0 are thin,” said Willox.

Constraints identified by Ai Group members include not having the time to assess digital technologies to know what is relevant to them and what the benefits may be. Another issue is not knowing where to start or what others are doing to determine the

benchmark. Additionally, members are concerned about the speed of change making it hard to keep up and adapt, even for innovative manufacturers.

The results of Ai Group’s recent Workforce Development Needs survey indicated that 62 per cent of respondents to the survey believe a lack of leadership and management skills is having a high impact on the business.

“Not only are employers experiencing greater challenges finding the skills they need, but for the first time, shortages were reported for key Industry 4.0 skills of business automation, big data and artificial intelligence solutions,” said Willox.

The survey underscores the importance of leadership and management capability for successful business transition to the digital economy, he said. “As businesses adapt to new technologies and the changed conditions under which business is done, they are facing new demands on their workforce capabilities and cultures. It is evident

from our report that employers are prioritising managers for digital skills training followed by technicians and trade workers, professionals, and administration staff.”

Survey participants indicated that employers are still experiencing difficulties recruiting employees with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills – particularly technicians, trades workers and professionals. At 52 per cent, the percentage of employers intending to increase expenditure on training in 2018 was the highest since Ai Group began the survey in 2012. Employers also expressed high levels of satisfaction with the digital capabilities of recruited school leavers from all education and training sectors.

Willox said that rapid and extensive changes in the nature of work resulting from Industry 4.0 are creating concern about jobs being at risk from digital disruption. “This is intensifying as the share of routine process jobs in our economy declines manmonthly.com.au

Industry4.0 and while employment requiring nonroutine cognitive skills, and to a lesser extent non-routine manual skills, has grown.”

Goals and successes Some recent analysis casts a more positive light on concerns of job loss and disruption. The Mapping Australia Workforce Change report suggests that areas of employment experiencing faster change in tasks are less likely to experience higher rates of job loss.

The report indicated that on average, Australian jobs have experienced a 9.3 per cent change in tasks over the past five years.

This includes introduction of new tasks and a reallocation of workers’ time across existing tasks. Jobs that involved the most task-level changes were the most secure. Lower skill jobs experienced less change in tasks than higher skilled jobs.

“We can infer from this, that by adapting jobs to new technologies and processes, businesses and workers may be able to avoid job losses and closures,” said Willox.

“Key to accelerating the diffusion of Industry 4.0 is ensuring there is a sufficient and growing supply

of appropriately skilled people for businesses to draw on as they embrace Industry 4.0. This involves industry and education and training organisations working closely to design and develop an appropriate range of training opportunities both for the existing and future workforce,” he said.

Ai Group suggests coming up with ways of engaging with research organisations and university students, such as through microplacements, online projects, hackathons, incubators, student consulting services, internships, and co-funded researcher placements to boost business innovation.

The Innovation Connections element of the Australian government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme encourages and assists eligible SMEs to access knowledge, engage with researchers and foster innovation. Matched funding of up to $50,000 is available for research projects.

Other programs, driven by industry leaders are also helping businesses engage with Industry 4.0. The Industry 4.0 Higher Apprenticeships project, a partnership between Siemens, Swinburne and Ai Group,

Businesses big and small can benefit from adopting Industry 4.0. gives 20 candidates the opportunity to study full-time at Swinburne’s Hawthorn campus for 22 weeks, along with experiencing 26 weeks of handson training at Siemens.

Willox said it has been overwhelmingly successful and has generated significant interest across the country. Further rollout is planned for 2019 and Ai Group is currently working with state governments, companies and sourcing candidates to help this get underway.

Making progress with collaboration Ai Group is putting Industry 4.0 and industry transformation at the core of its work with member businesses

and stakeholders. It offers members online resources and connections on Industry 4.0, skills development and more, designed to develop industry 4.0 capability and strategy inside each business.

The collaboration is bringing people from universities, manufacturing companies and organisations together. Members of I4AMF include Standards Australia CEO Bronwyn Evans, AustCyber CEO Michelle Price, Innovative Manufacturing CRC CEO David Chuter, Swinburne University of Technology deputy vice-chancellor Aleksandar Subic, and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national president Andrew Dettmer.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 21

Issues & Insights Designing the future: Workforce development strategies for the fourth industrial era How do you prepare the next generation for jobs that don’t yet exist? Experts sought the answer at the National Future Work Summit. Manufacturers’ Monthly reports.

There are mixed views about the effects technologies such as automation will have jobs.

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S technological breakthroughs rapidly shift the frontier between the tasks performed by humans and those performed by machines and algorithms, markets are undergoing major transformations.

Globally, there are mixed views about the effects that technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are going to have on the future of jobs. While the doomsayers fear robots will supplant all humans in the workforce, there are optimists who say it’s time to

22 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

shift the conversation and look at the opportunities for job redesign.

The predictions are so varied that, in January 2018, MIT Technology Review decided to start keeping tabs on all the numbers different groups have come up with about predicted job losses (and some gains) at the hands of automation, robots, and AI. The findings, cited from an array of studies released by companies, think tanks, and research institutions, confirmed that no one really agrees on the numbers.

Predictions range from optimistic to devastating, differing by tens of millions of jobs even when comparing similar time frames.

For example, while a 2013 Oxford study said 47 per cent of US jobs are at high risk of automation in the next few decades, an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study suggested that nine per cent of jobs in the organisation’s 21 member countries are automatable. A McKinsey report from 2017 said 400 million to 800 million jobs worldwide

could be automated by 2030.

In September 2018, the World Economic Forum, in its Future of Jobs 2018 report, predicted that while 75 million jobs may be displaced in the period up to 2022 by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, 133 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour.

In short, although these predictions are made by dozens of global experts in economics and technology, no one seems to be on the same page. There is really only manmonthly.com.au

Issues & Insights one meaningful conclusion – it is difficult to determine how many jobs will actually be lost to the march of technological progress.

Michael Priddis, CEO of AI Analytics SaaS platform, Faethm, believes that we are in the middle of a major transition in the types and nature of work.

Speaking at the National Future Work Summit 2018, in Sydney in November, Priddis said the fourth industrial transition could be expected to transform the jobs market in three ways.

“There will be automation, there will be augmentation – which is a case of jobs affected by technology that are still contained within the organisation – and there will be a lot of jobs added.”

He said the most prominent effect would be through augmentation of existing jobs.

“Our analysis shows that in Australia we are going to have around 3.8 million jobs augmented over the next 10 years. This is now therefore not a case of jobs gone, but a case of how we deal with those new jobs as people move from a role that is affected by technology to a role in the future,” he said.

The fear that advances in technology will eventually displace a large community of workers and

Our analysis shows that in Australia we are going to have around 3.8 million jobs augmented over the next 10 years. This is now therefore not a case of jobs gone, but a case of how we deal with those new jobs as people move from a role that is affected by technology to a role in the future. cause massive unemployment has given rise in recent years to calls from some within the tech community for the institution of a “universal basic income”.

Universal basic income is the idea that all citizens should receive a certain amount of money from the government, with no regulations on spending attached. In recent years, tech leaders have funded major projects in the space: Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley startup. Plans include a study which will involve unconditional cash payments to thousands of participants.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes is proposing a project wherein the US government gives a guaranteed income of US$500 a month to every working American earning less than US$50,000 a year.

Priddis dismissed the need for such measures, arguing the proponents of the idea have failed to take into consideration an economic principal called the “lump of labour fallacy”.

“The people doing this research have considered that labour is finite and that as technology increases, the opportunity for people to do that work decreases. This is an incorrect way of viewing it and that is why it is known as the lump of labour fallacy. The actual truth of the math is that jobs extend as the population extends. A hundred years ago, we had a billion people on planet earth.

Somehow we’ve created six billion new jobs. As people expand, work will expand with it,” he said.

“The issue is not whether we’ll have massive unemployment. The

issue is how do we provide people in our organisation and in Australia with meaningful jobs that are satisfying and productive and that allow them to benefit from this change? The issue is not universal basic income and millions of peoples on the street with nothing to do. The issue is how do we prepare people to do good work? How do we ensure the wealth distribution and the benefit of this work extends to all and how do we ensure that Australia doesn’t fall behind other countries that do this?”

Teaching the “evergreen” skills So how do you prepare the next generation for jobs that don’t exist yet?

To prepare Australia to leverage the opportunities emerging from rapid technological transformation, experts are calling for a revamp of the education and training system.

One solution suggested is to design tailored courses that help companies upskill their existing workforce or find new talent more easily.

“I don’t think we need more 12, 24 or 36-month courses. I think we need 12, 24 and 36-day courses.

We need action-based content that happens in context to give people

www.Raise3D.com.au manmonthly.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 23

Issues & Insights the needed skills for the future,” Priddis said.

Natalia Nikolova, a senior lecturer in management at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School, and the director of UTS’s newly developed MBA, believes that universities should focus on teaching the students what she referred to as the “evergreen skills.”

The term, she said, is used to describe soft skills such as problemsolving, critical thinking and human skills such as communication, integrative thinking, emotional and cultural intelligence.

“The university’s education model has not changed for centuries. We educate ourselves for about a third of our lives, and then we transition into the work environment for the rest of our lives and we don’t do much in the way of educating ourselves anymore. This has to change. A micro-learning platform is something that all universities have to transition into providing,” she said.

UTS’s vice chancellor and president, Atilla Brungs, also believes universities should prepare students for a lifetime of learning.

“Research shows that graduates who enter the workforce in the future will be spending 30 per cent more of their time educating themselves on a day-to-day basis.

So having a system in place is very important. Universities, the vocational education and training sector, the private sector and the companies all have an important role to play in educating the future workforce,” he said.

The need for imparting and improving evergreen skills among the next generation of students becomes more apparent when one considers the speed at which the technological transformation is sweeping through jobs.

Google executive program manager Sally-Ann Williams said the World Economic Forum estimates that 65 per cent of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist.

24 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

The World Economic Forum estimates that 65 per cent of children today will end up working in job types that don’t yet exist.

“This means that we can’t really plan for them. While having conversations around the skills and workforces of the future, we are making predictions and ideas that we are looking forward to. But the fact is that we cannot know exactly everything that is going to come. Fifteen years ago there was no such thing as an iOS developer or Android developer because the hardware didn’t exist yet. So we need to prepare ourselves for what is coming next. We also need to prepare for that fact that the students graduating today are going to have eight to nine career transitions and 20-30 jobs,” said Williams.

Nikolova said universities, both in Australia and worldwide have not yet figured out what a business model applying long-term learning will look like.

“At UTS we are starting with a new offering titled Futures Academy next year. This educational service will offer a learning platform for reskilling and upskilling and cover

the key knowledge and concepts from different discplines. It will also allow learners to pick from a range of micro credentials across UTS, and in the future perhaps from external partners, to then build their bespoke learning experiences,” she said.

Driving entrepreneurship Brungs said assisting students in pursuing their entrepreneurial ventures is another stream by which the required skills can be imparted to the next generation.

“We did a survey and we found that 44 per cent of our students want to create their own jobs or start their own companies. That is some 25,000 people who are seeking entrepreneurial opportunities.

We’ve had more than 100 new startups come out of UTS over the last six months. They may not all succeed, but it doesn’t really matter.

It’s the educational experience that they are gaining that matters, because they will at some point succeed. They’ll either succeed in their own companies or join a bigger

company and make it succeed. It’s the skills that they are learning that are so important,” he said.

Charlie Day, CEO of the Office of Innovation Science Australia, said a positive trend is that there are now more funds available to entrepreneurs.

“One of the things to celebrate is that we’ve got more venture capital available today than there has been for quite some time. I’m not saying we’ve got enough because we are still behind some of the successful ecosystems that exist in other countries,” he said.

While entrepreneurship ventures can be sought in technology sectors such as quantum computing and AI, Day believes there are also many opportunities to innovate in traditional sectors.

“The great thing about the time in history where we are right now is that there are lots of opportunities to re-think established business models in traditional industries such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing. You manmonthly.com.au

Issues & Insights don’t necessarily have to look at rockets and quantum computers that are technologically over the horizon. There are actually a lot of opportunities in today’s sectors.”

Day is also optimistic about the growth of advanced manufacturing in Australia.

“What we are seeing in manufacturing is that the production phase of the value chain is moving overseas. But the planning end of the value chain, the design and the R&D and the backend, such as customer services, is actually growing. So while the manufacturing sector as a share of the broader Australian economy is shrinking, in absolute terms it is actually growing,” he said.

“The transition in manufacturing is well and truly underway.” But, Day said unlike the widely believed idea that Australian manufacturing is either dead or dying, it’s actually the doing well.

Main Sequence Ventures, CSIRO’s innovation fund, is one

manmonthly.com.au

The need for imparting and improving evergreen skills among the next generation of students becomes more apparent when one considers the speed at which the technological transformation is sweeping through jobs.

organisation that is investing significantly in translating Australia’s research into globalscale businesses. The organisation was officially launched in 2017 to manage the CSIRO Innovation Fund as part of the government’s National

Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) initiative.

Launched with $100 million initial investment by CSIRO and the federal government, the fund attracted $232 million in investment in its first year, bringing on board

superannuation fund Hostplus, Singapore government’s Temasek and US aerospace and defence multinational Lockheed Martin as investors.

Phil Morle, one of the partners at Main Sequence Ventures, is positive that the increased investment in startups is clearing the pathway for growth.

“As a result of setting up this fund, we are now seeing Australian investors like Airtree and Blackbird Ventures invest more in deep-tech companies. We are also seeing large global companies like Data Collective, Sequoia, and Founders Fund starting to make their first investments in Australia. This is the wall of the dam starting to collapse and things starting to happen,” he said.

“I think what we need to get good at is patience. What I see in my work is that thousands of things are all happening together. It’s the sprouts starting to come up. It’s the beginning of a jungle starting to grow,” said Morle.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 25

Lean Manufacturing AME international conference speaker will discuss importance of a people-first approach to business Australian industry organisation, AME is hosting a conference in Melbourne that will include high-level keynote speakers from across the globe.

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HE Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) will be hosting internationally acclaimed experts at the 2019 Leading Through Excellence and Innovation conference in Melbourne.

Among more than a dozen world-renown speakers, AME has confirmed US-based speaker Billy Taylor, who has experience in all areas of operations management and leadership. Taylor leads the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company North American Tire operations and is responsible for engineering, supply chain execution and the drive for operational excellence. He builds high performance self-sustaining teams through employee engagement and empowerment. Taylor will share his passion, which is centred on a peoplefirst approach.

He is one of a number of high-level speakers participating in the two-day conference, which will be held at the William Angliss Conference Centre

in Melbourne from May 7-8, 2019. The conference host, AME, is a not-forprofit organisation, run by volunteers solely for the benefit of its members.

Its vision is to be recognised as the leading association for operational excellence, which it aims to achieve by bringing together like-minded individuals who are seeking to improve both themselves and, by extension, the businesses that they work for.

With that in mind, the 2019 conference will explore the most successful and effective business practices that companies can use to promote and facilitate change at all levels of their organisation. The conference will help attendees to: • Understand how the magic of lean manufacturing, and other continuous improvement methodologies, can radically help a business, no matter how diverse the application may seem at first glance, • Understand, identify and overcome the barriers to change management,

• Develop new ways of thinking, • Increase engagement amongst team members, • Develop a continuous improvement philosophy and culture, • Empower team members to contribute in numerous ways, • Learn how innovative and intelligent technologies can be used by their enterprise today, • Learn how innovation and technology are successfully automating business operations in order to drive revenue and reduce operating costs.

The conference will be pivotal in elevating Australian managers and their companies on their journey to operational excellence.

Delegates will learn about bestin-class practices, compare their experiences to the most successful businesses and make sure their continuous improvement efforts are on target. This will be highlighted through a series of workshops and keynote speakers. Other speakers

Billy Taylor has been announced as a speaker at the AME-lead conference. include FastCap president and author of 2 Second Lean Paul Akers, Fuji Xerox Australia head of corporate services Michael Schembri, Bombardier head of quality Anne Koopmann-Schmidt, and Matthew Rogacion, continuous improvement manager at Fisher and Paykel Healthcare.

Registration is now open for all conference events and flexible booking options are available.

Taylor centres his business approach on a people-first focus.

26 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

manmonthly.com.au

IndustrialTesting Precision in harsh environments: A coating to protect strain gauges from moisture Thermo Fisher Scientific has introduced a new coating to protect strain gauge sensors as performance is easily degraded by the effects of moisture or mechanical damage.

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ITH the increasing uptake of automation across a wide range of industries, strain gauges are an important device for accurately measuring deformations.

A strain gauge is a sensor whose resistance varies with applied force.

It converts force, pressure, tension, weight, and more, into a change in electrical resistance which can then be measured. When external forces are applied to a stationary object, stress and strain are the result.

Stress is defined as the object’s internal resisting forces, and strain is defined as the displacement and deformation that occur.

Because strain gauges have such diverse uses, from stress analysis in aviation and aerospace industries to medical and energy applications, they are subjected to degradation by the effects of moisture, chemical attack, or mechanical damage.

Field installation of strain gauges present stress analysts with several unique challenges, particularly when long-term measurements are required and when massive structures or inclement weather are encountered. For example, strain gauge sensor performance is easily degraded by the effects of moisture, chemical attack, or mechanical damage. As a result, strain gauge sensors require varying degrees of protection, according to the severity of the environment in which they must operate.

To protect the strain gauges, micro-measurements coating compounds are formulated specifically for use in protecting strain gauge installations from damaging environmental conditions.

Thermo Fisher Scientific recently introduced Gagekote #1, a solvent-

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One of the advantages of the Gagekote #1 is that it provides a wide temperature range coating and can easily be removed after exposure to temperatures as high as 500F (260°C). thinned (toluene) synthetic resin that can be used as a pre-coat to protect the strain gauges from moisture, high temperature and incidental mechanical damages.

Gagekote #1 is an expansion of Vishay’s Gagekote series, which have been formulated specifically for use in protecting strain gauge installations from damaging environmental conditions. Gagekote #1 is often used as a pre-coat for Vishay’s Gagekote #5 and Epoxylite #813 and is designed to provide maximum stability to the strain gauge sensor.

One of the advantages of the Gagekote #1 is that it provides a wide temperature range coating and can easily be removed after exposure to temperatures as high as 500F (260°C).

The synthetic resin is suitable for applications in printed circuit board (PCB) testing, agriculture, civil engineering, automotive, stress analysis, aviation/defence/ aerospace, education, medical, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, Industry 4.0, consumer, process monitoring, load cell manufacturing, transportation, energy, and smart manufacturing industries.

Moisture is the most common cause of field installation failures.

The Gagekote #1 provides maximum stability of the strain gauge sensor

through its protective coating that is chemically stable and highly resistant to water-vapour transmission.

In order to provide maximum stability in high-moisture environments, the gauge installation should be warmed until all moisture is removed prior to applying the protective coating. Next, the Gagekote #1 coating should be immediately applied after the gauge and lead wire installation to prevent moisture from collecting in the gauge area.

The coating only protects against incidental mechanical damage, like

minor objects lightly coming into contact with the installation, or very lightly dragging across it. Gagekote #1 can be purchased from Thermo Fisher Australia in Australian and New Zealand.

Thermo Fisher Scientific prides itself on serving science in the world and enabling their customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. The company is a global provider of analytical instruments, equipment, reagents and consumables, software and services for research, analysis, discovery and diagnostics.

In Australia and New Zealand, customers can access the Thermo Scientific portfolio through Thermo Fisher Scientific. The company’s portfolio includes a comprehensive range of high-end analytical and process instrumentation, laboratory equipment, a complete range of consumables, chemicals and reagents, and a range of services and supports to various businesses.

Gagekote #1 is a solvent-thinned (toluene) synthetic resin that can be used as a pre-coat to protect the strain gauges from moisture.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 27

Risk Management Manufacturers to respond faster and smarter All manufacturers should have an appropriate asset maintenance program.

FM Global division engineering manager Paul May explains how developing one is as much about culture as technology.

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LOBAL competition and changing consumer tastes for more varied and personalised products are putting pressure on manufacturers to respond faster and be more agile.

Technology is enabling this, with smart manufacturing initiatives in Australia, the US, China, Germany and beyond.

Driving this shift is everincreasing global competition.

Whereas once only large enterprises needed to ensure they were competitive on an international scale, now smaller ones must also respond. Swiftly reacting to consumer tastes for diverse,

Frequent monitoring can help combat the randomness of equipment failures.

personalised products means tapping into the latest resources available. The convergence of information technology and operational technology is helping businesses make strategic use of data to unleash their productivity on the factory floor.

As manufacturers become more adept at using data to meet the rapid demands of changing consumer appetites, there’s an even greater opportunity to make sure that the technology is helping manufacturers deliver goods more consistently. While an investment in understanding consumer tastes and designing products that meet

them is vital, producing those goods reliably is equally important.

Time- and process-based machinery monitoring Time- or process-based, preventive maintenance has been the primary modus operandi of plant engineers for keeping the means of production both available and reliable. There is often an assumption that machinery failures are subject to the bathtub curve, occurring most commonly near the beginning and end of the equipment’s life. The assumption here is that an asset will generally operate normally, and then suddenly brake, with little warning in

between. Machinery monitoring is typically done at specific time periods, or after a certain number of cycles.

Evidence increasingly shows that the bathtub curve is a fallacy, particularly for larger and more complex pieces of equipment.

Equipment failures can occur randomly throughout the life of a piece of equipment. This type of equipment failure contributes to unplanned downtime. As many as 70 per cent of manufacturers in a UK survey on behalf of field service management software provider, ServiceMax, admitted that they lack awareness of when their equipment is due for maintenance, upgrade or replacement. Eighty-two per cent of manufacturers had experienced at least one unplanned downtime in the last three years, while the average unplanned downtime for manufacturers was two in the last three years.

The inherent randomness of equipment failures raises the relevance of implementing more frequent monitoring throughout the lifespan of a piece of machinery to avoid unplanned shutdowns. In fact, breakdowns are often preceded by a pre-breakdown period in the hours, days, weeks and months leading up to the breakdown when the conditions can change in detectable ways.

Condition-based monitoring Technology is rapidly developing to improve condition-based monitoring of machinery. This type of monitoring takes what is often a guessing game and turns it into a more predictive experience.

Online, condition-based monitoring technology can reduce downtime by allowing businesses to gain a more 28 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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RiskManagement accurate picture of the health of their critical equipment and receive early warnings of imminent failures.

This type of monitoring enables manufacturers to replace parts in a planned way, optimising maintenance outages. In the case of one recent client, online monitoring detected a disturbing trend in a key high-voltage electric motor. Armed with the awareness that a breakdown may be coming soon, the client was able to bring in a replacement motor from another site and plan an outage for repairs. This is important given the role that unplanned outages can play in affecting business continuity and the bottom line.

This type of monitoring, which may include samples taken for analysis and is a significant source of miscalculation, can also minimise human error. It is estimated that the global machine monitoring market will grow by just over five per cent compound annual growth rate to $3.46 billion in the next five years leading up to 2023.

Choosing wisely Online monitoring is not relevant for all types of equipment. For those pieces of machinery that manufacturers can operate without for short periods, real-time monitoring is not necessary and reactive maintenance strategies may be appropriate. Examples of equipment that can benefit from online monitoring in the manufacturing plant include large power transformers, high voltage switchgears, and large, high-speed rotating equipment such as turbines, compressors or fans.

Technology is an enabler, but culture is key In cases where a decision is taken to invest in technology that will allow for online monitoring, the most important factor to determine the impact of this investment is the degree to which the company invests in resources to support such monitoring. The technology merely enables a manufacturing client to make better decisions. A culture that values asset integrity is critical manmonthly.com.au

Information technology is helping businesses make strategic use of data to unleash productivity.

As manufacturers becomes more adept at using data . . . there is an even greater opportunity to make sure that the technology is helping manufacturers deliver goods more consistently. to making the investment work for your business.

Support at all levels of the organisation, from management, to operations, engineering and maintenance, is needed. This includes hiring or training staff to ensure that skill and time resources are available within the organisation to interpret the data that will arise from equipment that is continuously monitored. Information plus expertise equates to knowledge.

The first step of this process is to ensure that data is made available in an understandable form to those who need to review it.

Even if a decision is taken to outsource monitoring, companies should still have staff within the company who can make sense of data to ensure that value is being obtained. Support is also necessary if something out of the ordinary is discovered, to grant authority to take the

equipment offline if necessary.

Developing an appropriate asset integrity program with the right mix of monitoring isn’t simple. It requires a long hard look at your equipment across production, utilities and support systems.

Failure modes, vulnerabilities and the criticality of that equipment to your business performance must be identified. Equipment maintenance plans should be prioritised based on the consequences of failure.

Investment in teams, not just tools, is also key.

The reward is well worth it.

By taking a closer look across your assets today, you can reduce headaches from unplanned breakdowns and increase the benefit of your investments across your business.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 29

Cybersecurity Beating hackers at their game Siemens’ cybersecurity experts are taught to “think like a hacker” as a means to stay ahead of an ever-growing number of cyberattacks. Miri Schroeter finds out more about protecting businesses from cyber threats.

Siemens chief cybersecurity officer Natalia Oropeza said cyberattacks are more routine for companies than the theft of office supplies.

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TTACKS of any sort are a threat to people, businesses and sometimes entire countries. When it comes to cyberattacks, there are more every day. The Internet Security Alliance president and CEO Larry Clinton spoke about the surge in cyberattacks worldwide, at a conference, Command Control, in Germany in 2018. He said that five-million euros are stolen every two minutes through cyberattacks and 12,000 identities are stolen in the same period. Two-thousand new versions of malware are also created every two minutes.

With figures as staggering as

30 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

that, companies such as Siemens are investing heavily in cybersecurity – including employing 25 white-hathackers who test the strength of Siemens’ security. Altogether, Siemens employs about 1,275 cybersecurity experts worldwide.

Siemens chief cybersecurity officer Natalia Oropeza said cyberattacks have now become more routine for companies than the theft of office supplies. “There has long been a regular market for hacker services. Attackers have no geographic boundaries. Each month there are about 1,000 hacker alarms at Siemens that are automatically

reported by monitoring.” While Oropeza said that in general, they are not particularly critical incidents, customers need a provider that has secured its own environment and understands the threat.

While cyber threats may be dominating more headlines in recent times, Oropeza said it’s been a concern for many decades and Siemens already established its first IT security team in 1986. “It is not a new topic. In the 1980s, it was about connected products. In the 1990s, it was connected systems. And in the 2000s, the Internet of Things (IoT) was coming, with connected facilities,

plants and sites being the focus. By 2020, we will have billions of devices that are connected. And security will be more important than ever. The growth is more than 30 per cent and it’s really getting into the steep part of the curve,” she said.

A hacker’s helping hand Siemens is one of few companies to have its own “hacker department” at its research centre, said Oropeza.

“That department regularly tests our weak points and determines whether unauthorised third parties are able to intrude into our network anywhere, so the gaps can be closed immediately. manmonthly.com.au

Cybersecurity That department regularly tests our weak points and determines whether unauthorised third parties are able to intrude into our network anywhere, so the gaps can be closed immediately.

Siemens was the first company to integrate security in all phases of the product development lifecycle. But to be clear, there’s no 100 per cent security. Ultimately, it’s a bit like a rat race, always trying to be a step ahead of the hackers.”

Analyses from IT specialists suggest that cyber threats are only going to increase. Gartner reports the scope of cybersecurity threats is growing as 8.4 billion connected devices were used in 2017 – 31 per cent more than in 2016. This number is projected to reach 20.4 billion by 2020.

McAfee reports that damages through cybersecurity threats were estimated above and beyond 500 billion euros in 2017, amounting to 1.6 per cent of the GDP for certain European countries.

“The attacks are becoming stronger and more massive and more damaging.

Attacks on systems that control our homes, power grids, or industrial facilities can have disastrous consequences,” said Oropeza.

But, Siemens is well-prepared, she said. “All our experts must think outside the box. In the case of our white-hat-hackers, it is the focus on the attacker’s perspective – you take every step into consideration. We map the processes a hacker is using. It is part of the preliminary work to find out what is worth protecting, what less. Our cybersecurity experts also test our products and solutions for security issues.

“They need to think like an attacker, not like a defender and trigger the worst-case scenarios of a business application or an asset. For example, the shutdown of a hospital or stopping a factory from working.

“Our experts always look for the weakest link in a security chain.

They have a broad expertise in web application hacking, reverse engineering, fuzzing, source code manmonthly.com.au

spot checks, concolic testing, embedded and hardware hacking as well as security scanning.

Additionally, our colleagues have skills in deep and broad specialisation on attack technologies and attack patterns instead of security features – like firewall, authentication or security patching.

“Every white-hat-hacker always keeps in mind that hackers don’t break things, they just prove that things are already broken,” she said.

Siemens’ cybersecurity team builds a worldwide network across all business areas.

“I am convinced, when it comes to cybersecurity, silo thinking is forbidden. Our aim is to secure our own infrastructure, our products as well as to secure the development of innovative cybersecurity offerings,” said Oropeza.

Collaborative approach Siemens established the Charter of Trust for cybersecurity in February 2018. It’s aimed at three important objectives intended to make the digital world more secure. These objectives are protecting the data of individuals and companies, averting harm from people, companies and infrastructures, and establishing a reliable basis where confidence in a networked, digital world can take root and grow.

The Charter of Trust has 16 partners so far – AES, Airbus SE, Allianz Group, Atos, Cisco, Daimler AG, Dell, Enel, IBM, Munich Security Conference, NXP Semiconductors, SGS, Siemens AG, Deutsche Telekom, Total and Tüv Süd.

Siemens takes a collaborative approach as being the most effective approach. “We are convinced that cybersecurity can be improved only by working together, because in IoT, we’re all connected and in a certain sense, dependent on one another.

The charter points out pathways toward cybersecurity, on which politics and companies alike must become active on a global basis,” said Oropeza.

The charter promotes moving forward with digitalisation, with cybersecurity in mind, but with a focus on growth. “Cybersecurity must be more than a seatbelt or an airbag, it’s got to be a basic, crucial factor integrated in all digitalisation efforts. If people and organisations can’t trust digital technologies, they will not accept or embrace the coming digital transformation.

Digitalisation and cybersecurity must evolve hand in hand.”

The 16 partners of the Charter of Trust aim to protect the data of individuals and companies, averting harm from people, companies, and infrastructures. The Charter of Trust also aims to establish a reliable basis where confidence in a networked, digital world can take root and grow.

Oropeza said in the end, it is about trust as the basis of every relationship. “We feel our customers value our leading position in digitalisation and cybersecurity.”

With Siemens’ white-hat-hackers, cybersecurity experts, and its collaboration with other companies and organisations, Siemens hopes to continuously strengthen security, and keep the hackers out.

Siemens aims to keep hackers out with a collaborative approach to cybersecurity.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 31

Endeavour Xxx XXX Awards Staying ahead of the pack RoboHelix, a Sydney-based design and manufacturing company, specialises in industrial robotic innovation. CEO, Hayel Smair, speaks to Manufacturers’ Monthly about how his team is looking to bring the industry up to speed with the latest technological developments.

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HILE starting out in a Sydney garage in late 2015, RoboHelix now exports globally. The company’s rapid development saw it win in the Outstanding Startup category at this year’s Endeavour Awards, which recognises manufacturing excellence. The company takes the name of its flagship product, the world’s first robotic flight-forming machine.

RoboHelix’s founder and CEO, Hayel Smair, said he started the company as a response to what he

saw as major deficiencies within the flight manufacturing industry. What was most evident, he said, was that the sector had failed to innovate and keep up to speed with advances in technology.

“The flight manufacturing industry has been stuck in the same process for over 100 years, with traditional machines used to produce flights using a hydraulic press system which forces them into shape using dyes or dye plates. This manufacturing prosses has been around since the

To form a flight, RoboHelix reproduces the mathematically defined natural movements a flight takes when transformed from the disc to helical flight.

32 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

The machine also predicts the spring-back of the material being formed and automatically compensates for this by seamlessly driving the servo motors on each axis to a new trajectory giving you a precise flight without worrying about any of material spring-back. industrial revolution,” Smair told Manufacturers’ Monthly.

Smair said his background in robotics made him aware of the opportunities for innovation in flight production. “When we started RoboHelix, I took a fresh look at the design and pretty much started the design from a blank slate where I looked at it from a totally different angle than traditional manufacturers would have,” he said.

“And that’s how the RoboHelix machine came about as an eight-axis robotic flight-forming machine.”

Smair began by closely looking into how a flight is produced from a flat blank to a helical flight, analysing these movements.

“I realised there are certain movements that a flight takes when it is transformed in shape from the disc to helical flight,” he explained. “The RoboHelix machine was created to mimic these mathematically defined natural movements. The machine then reproduces these movements to form a flight.

“The machine also predicts the spring-back of the material being formed and automatically compensates for this by seamlessly driving the servo motors on each axis to a new trajectory giving you a precise flight without worrying about any of material spring-back.”

Traditional flight-forming

machines use dyes that correspond to either the pitch and/or the size of the flight. To provide for variation in flights, these machines need many of these expensive and bulky dyes that are heavy and hard to handle.

Tooling and setup time often take half an hour to an hour depending on the size of the dye; in almost all cases they have to be lifted in to position using an overhead crane.

And, if these dyes get damaged, they need to be repaired or replaced.

The importance of safety Smair explained that the major advantage of the RoboHelix over traditional flight-forming machines was its flexibility, speed of operation and lack of additional tooling. “You no longer need all those dyes and all the tooling and setup time,” he said. “That helps cut time and costs, whilst having a superior endproduct.”

And, further, unlike older methods, the effective operation of the RoboHelix is not dependent upon highly-skilled and experienced workers. “With traditional machines, you need an experienced operator to adjust the dyes and tweak the blank. With the RoboHelix machine, on the other hand, after half an hour of learning the interface anyone can process a flight; you don’t need an experienced person to operate the machine. That’s another key manmonthly.com.au

EndeavourAwards

Eliminating dyes from flight production increases the safety of the process.

advantage,” said Smair.

“While, traditionally, flight forming is quite a specialised skill, anyone can operate a RoboHelix machine. All that expertise is within the machine. It’s extremely accurate, with movements in each axis down to one hundredth of a millimetre.”

Eliminating dyes from flight production also increases the safety of the process. With traditional flight-forming machines, the operator must continually rotate the blank with their hands while the machine is pressing the blank into shape, meaning their fingers are always millimetres away from the edge of the dyes.

“We have customers who had accidents where their machine operators lost their fingers whilst operating traditional machines.

There was no other alternative method to forming flights until the RoboHelix came on the scene,” Smair said. “Our machines eliminate these risks as it has absolutely no interaction between operator and machine during the forming process.”

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The flight manufacturing industry has been stuck in the same process for over 100 years, with traditional machines used to produce flights using a hydraulic press system which forces them into shape using dyes or dye plates. This manufacturing prosses has been around since the industrial revolution.

Partnering for success While RoboHelix carries out all its research and development (R&D) and design in-house, the company works with several key partner companies in NSW that have expertise in manufacturing like CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication to help produce the machines.

“When we started manufacturing in the early days, we wanted to find the best partners for the particular tasks that we needed. In Australia, there are good manufacturing companies out there, and when you build a solid partnership with a

company you are building it for the long-term and not just for one-off jobs”.

“Trying to do absolutely everything in-house is not beneficial: it will cost you more in the long run and the quality will suffer. Building a precise robotic eight-axes machine is not an easy task. There’s lots of heavy-duty welding, stress relieving, advance CNC machining, so you need to have large machines and facilities – it helps having the right partners.”

RoboHelix keeps a tight control on the machine quality, sending its partners detailed drawings and

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tolerance 3D CAD models; quality and tolerances check is done first by the manufacturing partner and then RoboHelix carries out its own quality control when receiving any of the parts. “This guarantees that everything is built to our standards,” Smair said. “All the designs on the machine are modular, and the good thing about being modular is that you can easily adapt any customisation into the design without changing any of the base units.”

This also enables production to be carried out in parallel via multiple manufacturing partners – thus reducing production time – before finally being assembled at RoboHelix assembly plant. “We’re now in a stage of expansion, we have started the process of moving into a new assembly plant. Previously, we had subleased some floorspace from one of our manufacturing partners, but now we’re looking into having a fully-fledged assembly line due to the high demand for the RoboHelix machines” said Smair.

While for the time-being, RoboHelix is continuing to develop its flight-forming machines, the team is also looking to add more products in the industrial manufacturing space, which Smair said tends to lag behind in technology compared to other sectors where processes and products are quickly integrated into new forms of technology.

Smair said the three core aspects the company will focus on going forward are robotics, cloud-based integration and artificial intelligence. “Australian manufacturing has to think about using more advanced systems to keep up with the rest of the world.

We can’t just stick with what’s already existing out there, we have to innovate,” Smair said.

Nominations for the Endeavour Awards 2019 are now open. To submit a nomination visit www. endeavourawards.com.au.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 33

Events@MM Watch and learn: Australian manufacturing and teaching the art of watchmaking Manufacturing facilities come small and large. Miri Schroeter talks to watchmaker Josh Hacko about a quaint business that reaches far beyond a clock face.

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ICHOLAS Hacko came to Australia in 1991 as a refugee from Croatia during the Yugoslav Wars. A watchmaker by trade, he had expertise in the design, repair and assembly of watches. Hacko was able to make a career of repairing Swiss watches and selling high-end second-hand watches from iconic brands such as Rolex and Breitling.

Arriving with just two suitcases, Hacko had little equipment to start a company in Australia. But, having come from a family of watchmakers, he was able to create a business, in foreign territory, keeping the Hacko family tradition alive.

Hacko’s father and grandfather worked as watch repairers, which made it only logical for Hacko’s son, Josh, to also learn the trade.

While the sale of second-hand watches had proven successful for the family, a push from influential companies to end the sale of spare parts to Australian independent repairers, threw the Hacko’s a curve ball in 2011. Companies such as Cartier and Rolex announced they were keeping repairs in-house, and by halting the sale of spare parts, repairers, such as the Hackos, had to find new ways of keeping the business thriving.

Josh said the result of these companies’ decision left his father’s company 10-20 per cent out of pocket. “We could no longer repair watches. The supply of spare parts ran out.

“As an act of rebellion my father said, ‘I’ll make my own watch’.”

His father wrote an article to his company’s newsletter subscribers and said he was going to make nine watches. “That afternoon he got 140 orders and he fulfilled those orders.” While there was a demand for the watches, the family

34 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Josh Hacko is a fourth generation watchmaker.

We want our manufacturers competing on value not just on cost. wasn’t about ticking over order after order. They wanted to try their hand in watchmaking that started and finished in Australia.

Making the parts in-house would give the Hackos more flexibility and control, said Josh.

“We wanted to make something that would last. We wanted something reliable, robust and

repairable.” Josh said that at first they were naïve, as they thought they could simply buy the required machinery to make watches from scratch. The family soon realised that focusing on the main working parts of a watch and sourcing the casing and straps was the best solution for the small manufacturer, based in Sydney. For five years

now, Josh, Nicholas and their team have been making a brand of watches called Rebelde. Four critical components of the watches are designed, manufactured and assembled at the northern Sydney facility.

A classic in modern world Josh explained the intricacies of watchmaking and the journey his family had gone through, at an Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC)-supported event in late-2018. One query on peoples’ minds was why a watchmaker was manmonthly.com.au

Events@MM We wanted to make something that would last.

We wanted something reliable, robust and repairable . . . For us, manufacturing classic watches was the only way. We have high value, low volume products. starting a business of making classic watches in a world of smart watches. Rebelde claims to be the only company manufacturing and assembling watches in Australia.

And while the likes of Apple, Garmin and Samsung are creating watches that can measure a person’s heart rate, while allowing them to read text messages, while somewhat replicating a traditional watch, Rebelde’s focus is different. “The smart watch is perfect because it’s a statement piece, but it lacks heritage and traditionalism,” said Josh. “Watchmaking is a very tricky field because you have this idea of traditionalism, but then you have modern, sophisticated statement piece ideas.” Classic watches work because people want that traditionalism, he said. “For us, manufacturing classic watches was the only way. We have high value, low volume products. I’m a fourth

Rebelde makes key components needed in watches.

generation watchmaker and for us it’s all about tradition.”

Rebelde’s current facility can manufacture a maximum of 250 watches per year, but Josh and Nicholas hope to move the facility to Mittagong, NSW, where they have purchased land to expand the business. They are moving from a 100 square metre to a 1000sqm facility by 2021, which Josh hopes will allow them to make up to 1000 watches per-year. Once the new facility is created there will be more room for machinery and personnel.

Time to learn “The crowning part of that whole facility will be a watchmaking school.” Josh said that currently, there are few education providers that offer watchmaking as a career path in Australia. Rebelde already has two apprentices, but Josh hopes

that people from around the world will be able to learn at his facility, which will offer a different approach to the big players, he said.

AMGC Australian Capital Territory and NSW director, Michael Sharpe, said the event was about

Rebelde watches are manufactured and assembled in Sydney.

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allowing businesses to collaborate with university researchers, governments and other companies growing the manufacturing sector.

“We need more Australian businesses to collaborate. We work with big and small businesses to achieve that.”

Collaboration comes in many forms, said Sharpe. Josh, for example was going to visit a Sydney university to learn more about the equipment they use for other applications that could be helpful in watchmaking.

“It’s about bringing industry and research together,” said Sharpe.

“We want our manufacturers competing on value not just on cost.

“By creating high value products through advanced design and advanced capabilities, we can design our best products, in Australia, to show to the world. AMGC can help leverage that and help companies create very high value products.”

Austrade, Finance for Australian Exporters and the Australian National Fabrications Facility were among those who attended the event to provide insights into opportunities in trade and exports, and manufacturing processes.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 35

Events@MM Collaborating to gain a competitive advantage A group of Western Sydney manufacturers came together to find avenues for collaboration and growing their businesses. Manufacturers’ Monthly reports.

Lochie Burke, co-founder and chief marketing officer of JAR Aerospace, shared the company’s vision and journey so far.

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HE Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) reports that less than one in four Australian manufacturing firms collaborate with one another and even less do so with universities.

The gap indicates huge untapped opportunities for local manufacturers to benefit from innovation-related collaboration.

The topic was addressed at a gathering of Western Sydney manufacturers and organisations, including AMGC, in late-2018.

Michael Sharpe, NSW state director of AMGC, encouraged manufacturers to increase their revenues by directing their attention to improving their product design, market distribution and customer relationships.

36 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

“Our research shows that 40 per cent of Australian manufacturers do not even have a website. And for companies that do have a website, their latest news is sometimes up to three years old,” Sharpe said.

He cited Rolls Royce’s “power by the hour” service as an example of successful sales models.

Under the sales approach, a complete engine and accessory replacement service is offered by Rolls Royce on a fixed-cost-per-flyinghour basis. This aligns the interests of the manufacturer and operators, who only pay for engines that performed well.

On a smaller scale, Sharpe discussed the case of FormFlow – a Melbourne-based startup company that has developed in-house

technology for bending corrugated metal sheets with AMGC’s support.

“Everyone said you can’t bend corrugated iron because it will crack or crease. FormFlow developed a world’s first machine and they now plan to export it globally. But instead of selling it, they are employing the Rolls Royce model where the clients pay by the hour or by the month.

“The beauty of this sales model is that it no longer matters that Australia is so far removed from the rest of the world. A startup company in Victoria can now sell their machine globally and if the clients don’t pay their monthly bill, the company can switch the machine off using cloud technology until the payment is made,” said Sharpe.

In October, AMGC, UNSW

Sydney and St.George Banking Group announced a new strategic partnership to accelerate the introduction and commercialisation of new manufacturing technologies.

The event in Sydney was the first in a series of meetings that the organisations plan to hold to bring manufacturers together to encourage closer collaborations.

JAR Aerospace, a startup company specialising in design, manufacturing and sustainment of Unmanned Aerial Systems presented its model as an example of successful collaboration and innovation.

Lochie Burke, co-founder and chief marketing officer of JAR Aerospace, shared the company’s vision and journey so far.

“We are fortunate to be a part of manmonthly.com.au

Events@MM Sharpe said that manufacturers should make efforts to diversify their product portfolio, as well as to create new export markets.

a very highly-educated and talented population in Australia. But, our capabilities are deterred because of a we-can’t-do-that-from-Australia mentality as well as unfamiliarity with emerging technologies and a resistance, especially from the young people, to be innovative and disruptive. That’s why we decided to start a subsidiary company, called JAR Education, to engage young students and give that aha moment.

“The idea behind JAR Education’s initiative is to give the students a small drone that they can build themselves, program, test-fly and even crash, then figure out what went wrong and try to fix it. At the end of the day, when these students go home, they’ll think to themselves, ‘Wait a minute, I just built a drone.

Why can’t I build other similar systems?’?” said Burke.

He emphasised the need for collaborations, based on the company’s experience.

“You are kidding yourself if you are a 23-year-old bloke in a garage thinking you are going into aerospace without collaboration. What AMGC has done for us, which is more valuable than any money they could have given us, is putting us in rooms full of different manufacturers that enhanced our capabilities through collaboration and enabled us to do things that we were not able to do by ourselves,” he said.

Building resiliency was another issue brought up by AMGC’s Michael Sharpe. In a recent report, Building Resilience in Australian Manufacturing, the AMGC points manmonthly.com.au

The beauty of this sales model is that it no longer matters that Australia is so far removed from the rest of the world. A startup company in Victoria can now sell their machine globally and if the clients don’t pay their monthly bill, the company can switch the machine off using cloud technology until the payment is made.

out that Australia is home to one of the most volatile manufacturing industries in the world.

The report revealed that average output across Australian manufacturing sub-industries swells to 20 per cent above trend during economic upswings, while contracting to 20 per cent below this level during downturns. This compares with much more modest deviations of 14 per cent in the UK, 10 per cent in the US and 8 per cent in Germany.

To help manage these ups and downs, Sharpe said manufacturers

should make efforts to diversify their product portfolio, as well as to create new export markets.

“For 30 per cent of the manufacturers surveyed as part of our research, the loss of only one customer would have moderate to significant impact on their business.

Another 10 per cent said their businesses would be forced to shut down as a result,” he said.

Sharpe said collaboration with research organisations is a good way for manufacturers to expand their products.

“Currently, only four per cent of Australian manufacturers have research and development collaborations with the universities.

This is while we have some of the word’s leading researchers here,” he said.

John Spender, director of William Buck chartered accountants and advisors, introduced a program called the William Buck Hour.

Under the program, consultants from William Buck spend one hour with the business owners to assess their current position and advise them how they can maximise their business potential.

Following the one-hour session, the advisors will evaluate the businesses in order to develop a prioritised action plan. These will then be presented in a personalised written report.

The topic of collaboration was addressed at a gathering of manufacturers and organisations in Sydney.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 37

APRIL 2019 – PERSONAL SAFETY EQUIPMENT Efforts to improve control of health and safety risks across manufacturing must accommodate the diversity between industries, yet continue to be efficient and effective by using consistent approaches. Approaches may need to be customised to meet the requirements of specific industries and subindustries.

In April 2019, we will speak to safety solutions providers to find out how they are helping manufacturers remain on top of safety within their facilities.

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NMW PREVIEW Ahead of National Manufacturers’ Week, Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks to companies exhibiting at the event to find out about the latest advancements moving the Australian manufacturing industry forward.

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ManufacturingExcellence CRC Industries Australia celebrates 50 years In 2019, CRC Industries marks a special milestone for its Australian division after 50 years in business.

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HILE CRC was first established in 1958 in a small Pennsylvania garage, the company started manufacturing in Australia after being incorporated as a propriety company of Australia in October, 1969. The company is a supplier of speciality products for maintenance, repair and overhaul professionals across a wide array of industries including automotive, industrial, mining, food and beverage, utilities and defence.

But CRC’s journey “Down Under” actually began almost a decade earlier, with CRC products distributed within Australia from the United States throughout the 1960s by the Balfour Buzzacott Division of Email Limited, which also distributed the product of the Dymo Labels.

Following the incorporation of CRC Industries Australia as an Australian company, the business model switched to a focus on manufacturing, and facilities at North Ryde in Sydney were established. By 1974, the installation of aerosol and bulk filling lines CRC Industries Australia’s facilities were located on Bulwara Road, Pyrmont, in the late sixties.

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CRC Industries currently operates from Castle Hill in Sydney’s north-west region.

were completed, allowing locally manufactured CRC products to be sold throughout Australia and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.

With strong growth by 1980, a larger facility was needed and

was opened in Castle Hill, in Sydney’s north-west region. Progress continued for the company and in 2004 CRC Industries Australia acquired Australian auto care brand Kitten to join its growing stable of products. To this day, Kitten sits amongst a full range of CRC products, which are produced and packaged in the Castle Hill factory.

The products include CRC’s famous 5.56, Brakleen, Penetr8 and CO Contact Cleaner. The company has also established export agreements with more than 15 countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

CRC Industries Australia managing director, Shona Fitzgerald, said 50 years of manufacturing is a tremendous milestone. “From the establishment of a small operation in Sydney in 1969, just 11 years after the global beginnings of the company, CRC Industries Australia has experienced exponential growth. The Australian company is a key contributor to the global success

of CRC Industries,” said Fitzgerald.

“Our mission is to satisfy the needs of our customers with the highest quality speciality chemical products while always remaining customer focused. We do this in a forward-thinking and creative manner and with a keen focus on innovation and R&D. We empower our employees and support our communities, which has allowed us to prosper where many others have failed.

“Our growth and longevity here in Australia is a true testament to the efforts, dedication and skill of all involved in CRC Industries Australia and I send my thanks to our employees, our suppliers, our distributors and our partners for the roles they have played in bringing us to where we are today,” said Fitzgerald.

“The future certainly looks bright and we can’t wait to see what we can achieve over the next 50 years,” she said.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 39

Promotional Feature 3D Printing

Research & development key to 3D printing growth As 3D printing rapidly gains traction in manufacturing, there is more demand for advances that improve outcomes. Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks to companies in the business of moving the 3D printing sector along.

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D printers are able to produce parts more accurately and at a faster rate than ever before.

A plastic acoustic guitar, 3D printed medical models, lightweight parts for aircrafts and cellphone cases are just some of the things this technology has helped create. The options of what can be created are constantly being challenged by companies and education providers.

Universities such as Deakin University and the University of South Australia are taking up the chance to be a part of this ever-growing industry.

Deakin University, for example, has a 3D printing lab in which students can use the latest in polyjet and fused deposition modelling technologies.

And it’s not just plastic models that

Air Liquide knows there are many layers that can improve 3D printing.

40 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

are being transformed from a picture on a computer screen to a tangible object. Swinburne University is working on the development of 3D printing concrete, and companies such as Air Liquide are working on improving the printing of metals.

Director of Swinburne’s Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure, Jay Sanjayan, is leading a $1.3 million collaboration between seven Australian universities to develop 3D printing of concrete. Having announced the project in mid2018, he said construction remains largely manual work, which makes it expensive, and makes the global need for housing and infrastructure very hard to meet. “Construction is open to be disrupted by automation, and

3D printing is one technology that can help.”

Although 3D printers are commercially available for manufacturing, there are significant differences between printing small parts and printing parts too large to fit in a building, which is where the research comes in handy. “Rather than factory conditions, we have to print out in the weather. Instead of a few kilograms of materials, we have to handle tonnes. Although we don’t need the same accuracy as the aerospace industry, we have to trade that for low cost,” said Sanjayan. The options the group has explored include powderbed 3D printing, in which the printer spreads a thin layer of concrete powder, then prints a water-based ink

that sets the concrete where the ink is applied. Layer by layer, the process is repeated.

As with layers in the printing process, Air Liquide knows there are many layers that can improve 3D printing and the value it brings to the manufacturing sector. The company supplies manufacturers with gases, technologies and services, and with continuous research into 3D printing, it aims to help manufacturers get better results.

Centre for collaborative work Air Liquide is present in 80 countries, including Australia. In November 2018 the company established an Advanced Fabrication Centre in the US. Air Liquide Australia marketing manager Arnaud Voisin said it would be the first research and development platform in the Air Liquide Group dedicated entirely to advanced manufacturing. “In addition to our multiple research programs with partners in Europe, such as the Additive Factory hub in collaboration with Safran, this new centre will help us better understand the impact of the atmosphere in metal parts manufacturing.

“We want to improve understanding of something that is to some extent underestimated today in 3D printing, because most people have been focusing on the metal component, but the atmosphere is also very important. When you want to manufacture not just one or two pieces, but rather many pieces, you need to master all of your parameters,” said Voisin.

Air Liquide looks at how the powder in 3D printers can be best manufactured, utilised and recycled for better outcomes. The company can help define the most suitable gas manmonthly.com.au

quality and flow parameters during the printing process. It can help with treating and cleaning of 3D-printed parts and it can help improve the overall safety of the printing process.

The new centre, located in the premises of Air Liquide’s existing Delaware Research and Technology Centre, is devoted to joint development of technological solutions in the area of fabrication processes, spanning 3D printing to welding solutions to research on laser and plasma cutting technologies.

It has a dedicated space designed for collaboration with equipment manufacturers to better meet the needs of end-users. With an international network of experts, Air Liquide supports customers everywhere in the world in getting the best combinations between gases and process parameters.

Air Liquide also helps in the post-processing side of 3D printing and it continues to develop improved

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atmosphere parameters play an important role in this process” said Voisin.

Keeping processes clean

Air Liquide looks at how the powder in 3D printers can be best manufactured and recycled for better outcomes.

techniques in heat treatment. Once an object has been printed, the parts need to be smoothed out. “Besides tempering, one of the processes that is used is called HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressing), in which the whole part is pressed together with very high pressure of argon in a chamber at high

temperature. It prevents porosities and it complies with the higher end specifications for aerospace, for instance.

“The heat treatment of the printed parts is an essential step to obtain the desired mechanical properties and once again, the gas used and

“When it comes to 3D printing, cleaning processes also need to be considered to remove remaining metal powder and get required surface states. Air Liquide’s CO2 snow and dry ice cleaning solutions efficiently remove powder residues, while minimising the usage of solvents.

“CO2 cleaning requires minimal investment, is more eco-friendly and demands less process steps than the traditional wet cleaning. It is widely used in advanced manufacturing industries and is well adapted to the cleaning of 3D-printed parts,” said Voisin.

Air Liquide also provides gas solutions to many other industries, notably in food and beverage processing, water treatment, lab analysis and healthcare.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 41

Promotional Feature Industrial Cleaning

Industrial cleaning plays an important role in keeping employees safe Workplace safety cannot be narrowed down to one particular step, but it can be minimised with the use of equipment that helps keep workers from harm’s way.

Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks to Kärcher about helping employees stay safe.

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ILICA dust is a contaminant that many manufacturers cannot get away from. It can cause respiratory damage and cancer, yet it remains around as long as materials such as some bricks, concrete and metals are used to make products.

The Cancer Council Australia explained that silica dust is harmful when inhaled and it can lead to lung cancer, silicosis (an irreversible scarring and stiffening of the lungs), kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “As it is 100 times smaller than a grain of sand, you can be breathing it in without knowing. It is estimated that 230 people develop

Safe Work Australia explains that under the model Work Health and Safety Regulations, employers must set-out specific duties to manage the risks to health and safety when using, handling, generating and storing hazardous chemicals, including silica. lung cancer each year as a result of past exposure to silica dust at work,” the council explained. The risk of developing cancer increases with longterm or repeated high-level exposure.

Information from the Cancer

Council Australia suggested that about 587,000 Australian workers were exposed to silica dust in the workplace in 2011. It has been estimated that 5758 of these workers will develop a lung cancer over the course of their

life as a result of that exposure.

The occupations with the greatest exposure include miners, construction workers, farmers and engineers.

Activities that can increase the risk of exposure to silica dust include breaking, crushing, grinding or milling material containing silica dust, demolition work and manufacturing glass, ceramics, brick, concrete and metals.

Safe Work Australia explains that under the model Work Health and Safety Regulations, employers must set-out specific duties to manage the risks to health and safety when using, handling, generating and storing hazardous chemicals, including silica.

Kärcher puts about eight per cent of its global turnover into research and development.

42 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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Kärcher Australia’s Lucas Paris highlights the importance of implementing good cleaning processes.

They also have a duty to ensure the workplace exposure standard for crystalline silica is not exceeded and they must provide health monitoring to workers. The organisation explains that exposure to silica can be minimised by installing local exhaust ventilation, implementing wet cutting methods or using tools with dust collection attachments. Administrative controls, including good housekeeping policies, shift rotations and modifying cutting sequences, can also help prevent harm from silica exposure.

With cutting of materials, and cleaning of products and surfaces, exposure to silica can be heightened.

This is why Kärcher Australia sales and marketing director Lucas Paris highlights the importance of implementing a cleaning process

that is thorough, but does not necessarily cost employees more time or effort. “Cleaning is integral.

But most importantly, it is necessary from a safety perspective. There’s a lot of talk now around silica dust and health issues that weren’t as prevalent 10-15 years ago.”

Paris said that with more and more people getting sick from silica dust, there is a need for cleaning equipment that manages the circulation of these airborne contaminants. “We make sure our products are designed from that perspective. When we are dealing with manufacturing facilities, we are aware there is a lot of dust coming through. That helps form the crust of our engineering. We’ve had to design our products to ensure they are capturing more and more dust.”

When improving industrial sweepers, Kärcher’s engineers managed to minimise the amount of dust escaping the machine, by at least 99 per cent. Paris explained the importance of dust collection by referring to a simple household item. “If you talk about the domestic vacuum cleaner 20-30 years ago, it was almost like a diesel car with huge volumes of dust coming out of one area. This was similar to industrial sweepers. Now about 99.5 per cent of the dust can be trapped in the filters,” Paris continued.

Kärcher helps keep facilities clean with its industrial vacuums and sweepers.

Believing that improving equipment is an ongoing process, Kärcher puts about eight per cent of its global turnover into research and development. “We continue to work on how much our products can limit those airborne contaminants. We want to ensure we are sucking up as much dust and debris as possible.

“We are a solutions provider. We actually don’t just supply machines, we have a field of people that visit a site and audit the site and make sure its fit for purpose. We want to make sure that we are providing the right brush types for the right solutions – making sure we don’t have to visit the sight again,” Paris concluded.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 43

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HVACSolutions Keeping the hot water even hotter Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air-Conditioners Australia’s air to water manager Trent Miller highlights the benefits of the Q-ton water heat pump.

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EEPING costs down, while allowing a facility to work at full capacity, can be difficult.

But Mitsubishi Heavy Industries AirConditioners Australia (MHIAA) has a solution for all manufacturers wanting consistently hot water without hefty bills.

MHIAA’s air to water CO2 heat pump is a WaterMark certified product that provides sanitary hot water outlet temperatures from 60°C to 90°C for commercial applications.

The company’s air to water manager, Trent Miller, said the Q-ton heat pump represents the next generation of hot water production. “The Q-ton utilises CO2, a safe, natural and environmentally responsible refrigerant. The combination of CO2s highly efficient, natural accruing properties, enable the Q-ton to be far superior compared to conventional refrigerant heat pumps,” said Miller.

It is engineered to meet a range of demands including the need for medium to large sanitary hot water generation, low electricity consumption and high environmental responsibility. Q-ton can replace old boiler type systems and help customers spend less on energy bills, he said.

With high efficiency rates and low carbon emission, Q-ton recovers heat energy from the air and can perform in extremely cold temperatures, down to -25°C. “Q-ton delivers outstanding performance as a solution based product. Q-ton supplies hot water from 60°C to 90°C at 100 per cent capacity at an outdoor temperature down to -7°C and will continue to produce hot water down to -25°C.” Globally, Q-ton is already making its mark on commercial spaces.

Located in London’s popular Lancaster Gate and Bayswater, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air Conditioning Europe connected two Q-ton units to

manmonthly.com.au

Lancaster Hall Hotel. The system now produces 12,000 litres of water to cater up to 250 people on site. Lancaster Hall Hotel has reduced its running costs by 40 per cent, compared to the boiler system the hotel was previously using. The hotel has saved 45 per cent on carbon emissions.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems design team in Japan launched the air source heat pump to allow for maximum efficiency with a minimal carbon footprint.

As an ideal system for serving hot water requirements in commercial buildings, Q-ton can be used in varying applications, such as hotels, apartment blocks, restaurants, fitness centres, universities, hospitals, care homes and commercial laundries. It is available across Australia and New Zealand.

A 30kW Q-ton produces in excess of 600 L per hour. The overall L/hr

Q-ton delivers outstanding performance as a solution based product. Q-ton supplies hot water from 60°C to 90°C at 100 per cent capacity at an outdoor temperature down to -7°C and will continue to produce hot water down to -25°C, quantity of hot water production varies, as is dependent on the feed water temperature, the outdoor temperature condition and the water outlet setting temperature.

By using the modular configuration availability, 16 heat pumps can be connected to provide 480kW capacity and about 100,000 litres of hot water. This capacity can be maintained even in low ambient

temperatures and therefore requires no external heating source. Used as a direct replacement for the old boiler type systems, Q-ton can produce hot water during the offpeak tariff electricity times for cost effectiveness whereby this water is then stored in a tank or tanks to control the water supply for the commercial space at the required timings.

The air to water CO₂ heat pump keeps water hot, even in cold conditions.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 45

Hydraulic Equipment Guiding hydraulic hoses into the smallest spaces Treotham’s new igus E2 hydraulic chain is a suitable solution for special mechanical engineering, which significantly reduces the costs of maintenance and downtime.

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PECIAL challenges require innovative solutions. This is particularly true for support legs on many construction machines, such as concrete pumps or mobile cranes, which are characterised by a large variety of models, not least in the components. The safe guidance of hydraulic hoses is of crucial importance here, because they need to help the machines constantly and reliably even under high mechanical stress and strong weather conditions.

Efficient protection is provided by the igus E2 hydraulic chain, which is supplied in Australia by Treotham.

It not only protects the internal cables, but also prevents torsion and bending of hoses through the predefined minimum bend radius.

Cables and two hydraulic hoses can be safely guided with the E2 hydraulic chain to increase the service life and reduce maintenance intervals.

46 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Suitable for heavy construction machinery For a long time, igus has been using the principle of the “extender crossbars” when it comes to creating more interior space for the guidance of hoses. For the E2/000 series and the E4.1 and E4.1L systems, extender crossbars, in addition to normal crossbars, can be used with high holding power to accommodate additional hoses with larger diameters. Thus, the entire energy and media guidance can be provided by one system.

For the new E2 hydraulic chain, the concept was applied to the installation space-specific conditions of support legs on concrete pumps and mobile cranes. A one-piece,

solid extender crossbar design and the heavy-duty pin/bore connection ensure high strength, even for large unsupported lengths.

The extender crossbars are injection-moulded directly on the side link and thus offer optimal hose guidance and stability. It is also possible to place two hoses safely one above the other. Since energy and hydraulics can be guided within a single hydraulic chain, the requirement for installation space is greatly reduced.

The hydraulic chain has an external width of just 41.2mm and an external height of 57.5mm.

The predefined minimum bend radius is 75mm. The total required installation height for the chain is

only 255mm. Thus, the E2 hydraulic chain can be integrated into almost any application, such as close to the base or on the side wall of support legs, a concrete pump or a mobile crane.

Gentle hose guidance for less maintenance Since hydraulic hoses, which are usually operated at extremely high pressure, have to endure a lot in dynamic applications, they are very maintenance-intensive.

The E2 hydraulic chain meets this challenge in two ways. The extender crossbars and e-chain are made of tribologically optimised plastic. This reduces the abrasion and protects the hoses.

In addition to this material advantage of tribo-polymers, its special design also reduces wear to a minimum. Both the extender crossbars and the interior of the chain are designed to protect the hose. Rounded contours and wide and smooth contact surfaces keep abrasion and wear of the hydraulic hoses low. The segmentation of the cable types also reduces the strain on the cables.

Electrical and hydraulic guidances are completely separated by chambers. This follows the principle that cables and hoses with very different diameters should always be run separately.

This is important because power or control cables have a thickness of a maximum of five millimetres, while the hydraulic hoses can be up to 20 millimetres thick. Normally a clearance space of 20 per cent must be allowed for, since hydraulic hoses expand transversely and lengthwise when pressurised. Designed to the last detail, the E2 hydraulic chain can offer freedom from maintenance.

manmonthly.com.au

MaterialHandling Organisation key component to workplace success Organising your workspace is made a lot easier with a well-designed storage unit.

BAC Systems, which designs and manufactures modular storage equipment, has a well thought-out solution.

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MANUFACTURING plant, just like any other workplace, cannot run efficiently without having a wellorganised layout and structure. In today’s competitive manufacturing environment, plant managers cannot afford to have their team members lose precious time simply to locate their tools and equipment.

BAC Systems, a manufacturer based in Western Sydney, has been making modular workshop and storage equipment for more than 40 years.

Founded in 1977, BAC Systems designs and manufactures a wide range of workshop and storage equipment. This includes modular drawer storage units that can be configured to suit varying requirements for the storage of spare parts and tooling in stores and workshops.

BAC’s drawer storage cabinets are made using precision manufacturing techniques and heavy gauge steels.

“Our operations encompass all of the sheet metal work – from coil to finished product,” Robert

Griffin, BAC System’s director told Manufacturers’ Monthly.

“We mass-produce modular storage cabinets and we are recognised as one of the leaders in manufacturing industrial highdensity drawer storage systems.”

BAC’s drawer storage cabinets are designed to reduce the storage footprint while maintaining the loadbearing capacity of a shelf through the use of precision bearings and high-yield strength steel.

The drawers can be configured in three dimensions in order to minimise space wastage. The customers, depending on the size of their equipment, can choose the drawer heights or the configuration of internal drawer partitions.

“All of our drawer cabinets use high tensile steels and large diameter bearings, ensuring great weight holding ability and a very long life,” Griffin said.

“A properly installed BAC drawer cabinet will never tip, and it offers a continually smooth drawer operation.”

The drawers for BAC’s storage

BAC’s drawer storage cabinets are made using precision manufacturing techniques and heavy gauge steels.

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BAC Systems designs and manufactures a wide range of workshop and storage equipment. cabinets can be configured to store hand tools, CNC taper tools (with the aid of specially designed CNC tool containers), change parts tools, spare parts and consumables.

For larger tooling, BAC Systems offers a modular shelving system that comes complete with heavy-duty drawers – The BAC 77 Series.

The heavy-duty drawers can hold up to 500 kilograms, and come in two different depths. The shallower depth is useful in holding rollers, injection mould tooling, and other bulk or heavy tooling. The deeper drawer can hold similar items, and is deep enough to hold a full size pallet of these. “The heavy-duty drawers can be accessed with either a forklift or by an overhead crane.

It is flexible in this regard, as you might have to use both the forklift and the crane, depending on where

the tool is going and the workshop’s access,” said Griffin.

The heavy-duty drawers are complemented by a long-span shelving system, with six different shelving lengths available.

The BAC 77 modular shelving system can combine the shelves, heavy-duty drawers and BAC’s high-density drawers into the same structure, making it a suitable system to store tools of different sizes into a small area of the workshop.

Griffin said the BAC technical sale team often visit the clients’ warehouse to survey their needs.

“In this way, we can determine whether, for example, a BAC highdensity drawer storage cabinet is needed or if a solution from the BAC 77 series will better suit the client’s requirements,” he concluded.

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 47

, D E E N U .

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RELY ON AUSTRALIA’S MANUFACTURING, MINING AND INDUSTRIAL HUB 70,000 monthly users can’t be wrong. Find what you’re looking for with over 12,000 business listings and 8,000 specific product listings. Access relevant information and resources, empowering you to make a qualified purchase decision. You can always rely on your industry hub.

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48 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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What’sNew Allplastics clear polycarbonate machine guards Employee safety is paramount in the workplace. Many industrial accidents can be prevented by providing machinery with proper guarding.

Allplastics Engineering can provide, cut, fabricate and CNC rout a range of clear polycarbonate brands including Lexan, Makrolon, Palram, Safeguard and for a variety of industries such as food and beverage, material handling, mining, packaging and pharmaceuticals where operators need to see through the guards but should not risk their fingers and hands.

It also helps on assembly lines where WHS regulations require processes or machinery to be guarded for the safety of workers.

The SafeWork NSW states that guarding must be securely mounted. If access is required to parts of the plant during operation, maintenance or cleaning, the guarding should be an interlocked physical barrier that allows access when there is no risk –and prevents access at all other times.

Polycarbonate is 250 times the strength of normal glass and half the weight of if it.

Available from 1 mm to 12.7 mm thick, polycarbonate is virtually unbreakable and covered by a warranty from the manufacturer. This makes it the preferred choice of engineers when designing guards for machinery.

In applications where the guards are constantly being cleaned and are subjected to constant wear Allplastics provides mar resistant grade polycarbonate which has a special coating on both sides of the clear polycarbonate to minimise guards and barriers being easily damaged or marked.

Brands such as Lexan MR10 and Makrolon AR2 are available in thicknesses ranging from 3mm to 12.7mm. Allplastics can provide CNC routered shapes to match drawings or broken guards.

The company’s experienced fabrication personnel can bend or construct chutes, guards, boxes or covers for a diverse range of applications.

For situations such as curved lathe guards or surrounds Allplastics can supply thin gauge polycarbonate which can be cold bent and secured by a frame.

In addition to clear polycarbonate guards Allplastics can also fabricate opal polycarbonate where visibility is more important than clarity or yellow high-density polyethylene for even higher visibility.

Features: • Outstanding toughness • Good chemical resistance to solvents and cleaners • Good electrical insulation • Outstanding weatherability • Temperature: -40C° to 130C° Sheet Sizes: Company: Allplastics • Size (mm): 2440 x 1220 and 2440 x 1830 Phone: (02) 9417 6111 • Thickness (mm):1 – 12 Web: www.allplastics.com.au

Atlas Copco Compressors’ GAVSD IPM compressors Early this year, Atlas Copco Compressors is releasing a new range of variable speed demand (VSD IPM) compressors, alternatives to its traditional VSD range: the GA 18-22 VSD IPM and GA 45-75 VSD IPM. These new VSD compressors use Altas Copco Compressors’ in house developed internal permanent magnet (IPM) motor technology in a horizontal drive train patented configuration, in combination with a variable speed drive and unique air compressor inverter, to offer superior IE4 efficiencies.

The innovative and compact compressor is a new addition to its VSD and VSD+ range and continues Atlas Copco Compressors’ focus of reducing size and increasing energy efficiency for its customers.

Atlas Copco Compressors will first offer GAVSD IPM compressors in two capacity ranges: 18 to 22 kW and 45 to 75 kW. Before the end of the year, it intends to expand the range it offers within these ranges.

Company: Atlas Copco Compressors Phone: 1800 023 469 Web: www.atlascopco.com.au

Key Features: •S etting a new benchmark in energy efficiency the IPM motor technology reduces energy consumption, on average, by at least 35 to 40 per cent when compared with similar market offerings from competitors.

•C ompact size reduced footprint the GS VSDIPM’s innovative and compact design results in a smaller carbon footprint.

•S ervice friendly design minimising downtime due to service activities •R eliability a robust cooling system makes it dependable in the harshest of conditions.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 49

What’sNew New industrial IoT gateway features low power processor Backplane Systems Technology has released Winmate’s New EAC Mini Series EACIL22S IoT gateway for industrial applications such as Internet of Things (IoT) machine automation, and smart factories.

The EAC Mini EACIL22S is a brand new industrial IoT gateway featuring a low power consuming Intel Apollo Lake N3350 1.1 GHz processor to maintain efficient powerusage and USB Type-C video output to facilitate easy connectivity with devices such as, but not limited to, USB Type-C Displays. The USB Type-C connector works in Alt mode, meaning it can provide display A/V output, transfer USB data, and deliver up to 10W (2V/2A) of power.

Its other highlights include a fanless cooling system and various mounting options (desk, wall, VESA). Further, the EAC Mini EACIL22S is compatible with the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, Linux, and Ubuntu Operating Systems for easy integration into established IT infrastructures.

Wireless connectivity and all necessary connectors allow Winmate’s new EACIL22S to send data from manufacturing facilities directly to a cloud server for extra reassurance on the recoverability of your data. Its compact size in combination with its One-Cable design (USB Type-C Alt mode) makes this EAC Mini highly suitable for IoT, smart factory, and machine automation applications.

• Fanless Cooling System • Various Mounting Options: Desk, Wall, VESA Company: Backplane Systems Technology Phone: (02) 9457 6400 Web: www.backplane.com.au

Key Features: • Intel Apollo Lake N3350, 1.1 GHz • Windows 10 IoT, Linux, Ubuntu OS •U SB Type-C Connector with Alt Mode: Display Port A/V Output, USB Data, and Power Delivery •2 x LAN, 2x USB Type-A • Compact Size 100 x 90 x 31 mm

Gates Australia introduces next generation of premium hydraulics Gates Australia as part of Gates Industrial Corp, a global provider of applicationspecific fluid power and power transmission solutions, has introduced the next generation of premium hydraulics. The new Gates MXT family of hoses is an innovative, patent-pending product line that is a lighter weight and more flexible solution. It meets or exceeds a wide range of industry standards, and addresses both replacement market and original equipment manufacturer needs. It is designed for applications across industries such as agriculture, mining, construction and other end-markets with demanding performance requirements.

Gates Industrial CEO Ivo Jurek said the company has been focused on enhancing its product development and manufacturing capabilities. “MXT is a great example of how these investments are starting to pay off. This innovative new product further demonstrates our ongoing dedication to push the boundaries of applied materials science and manufacturing processes to deliver solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Jurek.

Gates Industrial CMO and SVP of product line management, Tom Pitstick, said the company’s customers have been saying they want lighter, more flexible and easierto-handle products that address multiple industry standards. “They are seeking to enhance the performance of their machines, simplify their engineering processes, improve operational efficiencies and streamline inventory with a simplified selection of replacement products that can be used on virtually any original equipment platform. MXT delivers on these needs and adds value to our customers beyond just premium product performance,” said Pitstick.

•U p to 30 per cent lighter weight for improved fuel efficiency, easier handling and reduced shipping costs • M eets or exceeds multiple industry standards, covering approximately 90 per cent of the hydraulic wire braid product applications •T ested to exceed 600,000 impulse cycles - three times greater than industry standards • Designed to work exclusively with Gates MegaCrimp couplings Gates MXT is the latest addition to the Gates MegaSys product portfolio, a complete hydraulic hose and coupling system, and is available now in Australia and New Zealand as well as globally.

Company: Gates Australia Phone: (03) 9797 9688 Web: www.gatesaustralia.com.au

Gates MXT Features •M ore flexible with an average of 40 per cent decreased force-to-bend (compared to similar Gates products), allowing for faster and more ergonomic installation

50 FEBRUARY 2019 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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Intelligent ethernet extenders by Phoenix Contact Phoenix Contact TC extenders don’t just extend simple point-to-point ethernet paths via plug-and-play. All extender paths and devices can be easily monitored remotely using a single managed device via IP. In the case of unexpected events such as a weakening of the path, this information is available via Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap and can be issued as a warning to one or more freely selectable network devices.

In addition, the managed ethernet extenders feature integrated, replaceable surge protection. The intelligent Plugtrab PT-IQ technology doesn’t just provide appropriate protection. It can also call up the status of the surge protection remotely at any time and, in emergencies, can also transit this status as an SNMP warning. This means that the devices independently provide information on which surge protection should be replaced soon or where immediate replacement is required.

Using automatic topology and data rate detection, extender applications can be easily expanded into line and ring topologies during operation, easily and without configuration, and without impact through the addition of up to 50 extenders. The use of special cables is not required here. Any existing two-wire cables can be used for ethernet networking. This enables transmission ranges beyond the corresponding standard and up to as much as 20km per extender segment.

Company: Phoenix Contact Phone: 1300 786 411 Web: www.phoenixcontact.com.au

Three-dimensional object measurement with laser Wenglor 2D/3D sensors from Treotham have experienced a strong growth. The new performance class for weCat3D profile sensors, MLSL2 includes a total of ten innovative models. As a result of this expansion, the sensors provide more options for three-dimensional object measurement. In particular they permit large visual field widths of up to 1350 mm in the X direction, as well as increased laser power and extensive and fast profile detection.

While the MLSL series of sensors have previously only been capable of covering visual field widths of up to 280 mm in the X direction, the ten new models offer visual field widths of up to 1350 mm in the X direction. This means that significantly larger objects can now be detected than in the past.

Diverse applications such as bin picking, pick and place, gap measurement, object counting and 3D sealant bead monitoring are some of the possible uses for this technology.

WenglorMEL managing director, Torsten Hellerström, said expansion of the performance range of the MLSL series is making it possible to provide outstanding point cloud quality with a very broad visual field over a large distance. “All of these features are included in a compact housing.”

With dimensions of just 200 x 67 x 38 mm, the ten new models represent a mixture of performance and compact design. Variants with different laser classes including 2M, 3R and 3B and red or blue light also provide customers a wide range for product selection.

The high speeds and accuracy offered by the sensors result from their functional principle: The 2D/3D sensors project a laser line onto the object to be measured and then record it by means of an integrated camera. Two and three-dimensional surface and volume profiles can therefore be calculated with the help of point clouds – quickly and accurately.

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With a total of 81 different variants in the weCat3D series, Treotham offers diversity for the implementation of multi-dimensional applications.

Company: Treotham Automation Phone: 1300 65 75 64 Web: www.treotham.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly FEBRUARY 2019 51

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