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20 Upskilling – a solid value proposition

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37 Meet the Women in Industry 2020 winners

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Manufacturers’ Monthly Contents 4 Editor’s Note

22 Lifting Solutions

32 Tests & Measurements

6 Comment

24 Storage Systems

34 Supply Chain Management

11 News@MM

27 Drives & Converters

37 Women in Industry

18 Industry Focus

28 Manufacturing Strategies

42 What’s New

20 Skills & Training

30 Sensors & Instrumentation

46 The Last Word

Copyright Manufacturers’ Monthly is owned by Prime Creative Media and published by John Murphy. All material in Manufacturers’ Monthly is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

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During this challenging year for Australia manufacturing, numerous women have continued to show leadership and help drive innovation.

Manufacturers’ Monthly celebrates the Women in Industry awards in this special edition. Congratulations to all the winners! Despite the ceremony not going ahead, we stand proudly with the women who continue to make a difference for the betterment of Australian manufacturing.

At a time when many manufacturers are managing their supply chains remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions, ways to monitor traceability have also had to adapt greatly. For our big

feature this edition, Manufacturers’ Monthly spoke with Medulla, a start-up that has created a cloud platform specifically for small-tomedium manufacturers to digitise their paper trails and, at the same time, save on costs associated with implementing complex systems.

We also introduce Simon Dawson, director of industrial transformation at the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre. Innovation during challenging times is all about helping manufacturers adapt, which is what Simon’s job is all about. Look out for his first thought leadership article on page 8.

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MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

SEPTEMBER 2020

NAVIGATING THROUGH CHALLENGES

Official Industry Partners

INSIDE >> >>

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20 Upskilling – a solid value proposition

24 27 Why good storage systems matter

37 Meet the Women in Industry 2020 winners

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 3

Comment

SYED SHAH – Managing Editor, Manufacturers’ Monthly

Smarter manufacturing, better results

L

IKE it or not, the Internet of Things (IoT) has long been integrated into the traditional manufacturing scheme of things, and for the longest time, there has been an issue with the skills gap. This “gap” has been brought up time and again at nearly every robotics, automation, and advanced manufacturing conference that I have attended in the past decade. While it is still argued that the gap is not narrowing up to today, I disagree. With the ongoing economic challenges being brought about by COVID-19, Australia has seen a spike in innovation, not just in PPE production, but also in many other areas such as improving supply chains. The IoT, for sure, has played a large role in these innovations.

Today, the IoT for the industrial sector – the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0, depending on the organisation you’re from – is highly developed,

4 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

and the global market for it is large.

Accenture’s 2015 report Winning with the Industrial Internet of Things already stated that the IIoT market will add more than US$14.2 trillion ($19.6 trillion) by 2030 to the global economy.

Many years back, there were few companies which bridged the “missing link” between universities who offered science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses and real-life work experience. The interns or apprentices of those programs may have been the first to experience a real transition between their learning and “reallife” experiences. Today in Australia, there are organisations such as Weld Australia which provide courses, bridging experiences and more for apprentices and existing personnel in the sector who needs add-ons to their skillsets. These programs are designed equip or reskill workers in the existing workforce for the new,

advanced skills needed in a rapidly changing manufacturing sector.

Whether the person is a fresh graduate or someone that is retrained, as long as he or she is equipped with the adequate skillset where smart manufacturing is concerned (analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, etc.), then a difference can be made on the manufacturing floor.

Education is one thing but unlearning and relearning is another thing altogether. A few years back, there was the Prime Minister’s Industry 4.0 taskforce which was aimed at promoting the adoption of Industry 4.0 or IIoT technologies in the sector.

Fast forward a few years, other organisations such as the IMCRC, AMGC, the Ai Group and state governments have come together with schemes to further increase the uptake of advance technology adoption across the country.

In a recent futuremap workshop

held by IMCRC, supported by the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) and the NSW Government, Ai Group NSW head Mark Goodsell encouraged Australian manufacturers to plan towards a future that is increasingly being driven by digitalisation and innovation (Industry 4.0). It was noted that the futuremap workshop was “very timely” because it predates COVID and the pandemic merely accelerated a lot of discussion about manufacturing, in particular, local manufacturing and the future of manufacturing.

In this issue of Manufacturers’ Monthly, we talk to Industry Partners Australia’s Gary Silversides who tells us about why the country needs an injection of new talent, hence new ideas and potentially new innovation. Perhaps, it is with new ideas, the country’s manufacturing sector could take bigger steps forward. manmonthly.com.au

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Comment

GEOFF CRITTENDEN – CEO, Weld Australia

Weld Australia calls on federal government to modernise outdated welder training to reflect future industry needs

W

ELDER training in Australia is outdated.

The TAFE curriculum has remained relatively unchanged since 1998.

TAFE has been required to teach courses such as fabrication, in which the welding modules are of varying degrees of complexity, and are usually optional. This has not produced welders that are skilled or qualified to the levels needed by industry, especially within the defence sector.

Young welding apprentices enter the workforce without the requisite skills or knowledge. Generally speaking, TAFE graduates cannot read a welding procedure, set up a welding machine, or weld according to Australian Standards.

Released in June 2019, the latest version of the Manufacturing and Engineering training package (MEM 2.0) differs very little from the previous versions (released in 1998 and 2005). In fact, many of the units and much of the content remains identical to the 1998 version.

Not surprisingly then, MEM 2.0 bears no relation to what is actually required by industry. It ignores the huge technological advancements and changes that will continue to occur in Australia’s engineering and manufacturing industries. The course still devotes time and energy to oxyacetylene welding, which industry has not been used for about 20 years.

The future of Australian industry in a post-COVID-19 world cannot rely on regurgitating a curriculum that is 20 years old.

The MEM 2.0 training package The only real differences in the MEM 2.0 training package are a significant increase in prerequisites, and the addition of over 2,000 hours 6 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

of mandated workplace practice.

Both of which will impose significant restrictions and burdens on students, industry, and TAFE.

A significant increase in prerequisites The significant increase in prerequisites in MEM 2.0 will eradicate any modicum of flexibility for students, industry, and TAFE. Course duration will be extended, increasing both the delivery costs for TAFE and course costs for students.

With extended courses,

MEM 98

completion rates are likely to drop, with students expected to complete a greater number of theory-based, non-practical units before having the opportunity to learn the handson practical skills in which they are most interested.

For TAFEs, delivering courses in a meaningful way will be hampered by the additional prerequisites, and there will be little opportunity to deliver short, sharp micro credentials.

The table below looks at a typical unit of competency and demonstrates how the perquisites have grown.

MEM 05

MEM 2.0

MEM 5.7a

Manual heating and thermal cutting

MEM05007C

Perform manual heating and thermal cutting

MEM05007

Perform manual heating and thermal cutting

MEM 5.12A

Perform routine manual metal arc welding

MEM05012C

Perform routine manual metal arc welding

MEM05012

Perform routine manual metal arc welding

MEM 5.15A

Weld using manual metal arc welding process

MEM05015D

Weld using manual metal arc welding process

MEM05015

Weld using manual metal arc welding process

MEM 9.2A

Interpret technical drawing

MEM09002B

Interpret technical drawing

MEM09002

Interpret technical drawing

MEM 18.1A

Use hand tools

MEM18001C

Use hand tools

MEM18001

Use hand tools

MEM 18.2A

Use power tools/hand-held operations

MEM18002B

Use power tools/hand-held operations

MEM18002

Use power tools/hand-held operations

MEM05051A

Select welding processes

MEM05051

Select welding processes

MEM12023A

Perform engineering measurements

MEM12023

Perform engineering measurements

MEM05052A

Apply safe welding practices

MEM05052

Apply safe welding practices

MEM13015

Work safely and effectively in manufacturing and engineering

MEM14006

Plan work activities

MEM16006

Organise and communicate information

MEM11011

Undertake manual handling

MEM12024

Perform computations

Prescribed workplace practice MEM 2.0 mandates a workplace practice component of over 2,000 hours.

This will place considerable burden on employers who have to ensure that students are able to meet this requirement. Over 90 per cent of manufacturing firms in Australia are classified as small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), which are comprised of fewer than 19 employees. These businesses are unlikely to have the capacity to sufficiently monitor the workplace practice requirements and may deter businesses from employing apprentices.

This situation will be difficult enough for apprentices but is likely to be even more challenging for transitional workers hoping to train up and enter manufacturing and engineering.

In essence, welders will be required to be employed in industry before they can successfully gain their formal qualifications.

The skills of the future The implementation of MEM 2.0

by Australian TAFEs is due for completion by the end of 2020.

Before this happens, industry must voice its concerns.

Welding curriculum must concentrate on the skills that will be essential to the future of industry.

These skills must be focused on advancements such as automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, and advanced manufacturing processes. It is these skills that will see Australian industry continue its push into high-quality, complex, small-batch manufacturing.

The federal government must revise MEM 2.0 so that the curriculum teaches skills such as programming, operating and manmonthly.com.au

maintaining robots, co-bots and welding machines integrated with artificial intelligence. It must include units that teach students how to analyse and leverage big data. It must delve into concepts such as Industry 4.0 and additive manufacturing.

The TAFE welding curriculum must be revised so that meets industry demand now, and into the future. It cannot be bogged down by excessive prerequisites, mandated workplace practice that employers simply can’t deliver, and training in skills that just aren’t relevant to industry anymore.

While many of the state governments have backed this vision and invested in Advanced Welder Training Centres around the country, TAFEs still need real support from the federal government. TAFEs do not need more free apprenticeship programs. They need funding from the federal government so that they can invest in the necessary cutting-

edge technology and equipment required to teach a forward-looking curriculum focused on the skills of the future.

Our young people need to acquire complex, high order technical knowledge and skills. They need robust, deep and transferrable qualifications that provide a strong base for life-long learning, and skill development. They need a TAFE system that is properly funded with curricula focused on the future.

MEM 2.0 mandates a workplace practice component of over 2,000 hours.

How to get involved If you support Weld Australia’s position that MEM 2.0 training package is inadequate for the needs of industry, apprentices and TAFEs, we encourage you to write to the Hon Steve Irons MP, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships via am.irons@employment.gov.au or PO Box 1060, East Victoria Park, Western Australia, 6981.

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Comment

SIMON DAWSON – Director Industrial Transformation, IMCRC

More manufacturing explorers needed

For many businesses, futuremap is the first step in their journey of navigating the why, how, and what of digital transformation.

T

HROUGHOUT my 35-year manufacturing career, my focus has always been on helping businesses improve and optimise their manufacturing operations. Bringing the best of Lean and Six Sigma to the factory floor, saw me busy running production facilities, streamlining business processes and delivering multiple improvement programs, across many industry sectors. Since joining the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC) earlier this year, my focus has switched to manufacturing innovation and industrial transformation. While I had a good understanding of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) and its importance for the future of manufacturing, I knew less about its adoption across Australia.

As the lead of IMCRC’s Industrial Transformation Program, which

8 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

is advancing the wider cause of manufacturing transformation in Australia, my role is to demystify the concept of Industry 4.0 and help manufacturing SMEs understand and explore the opportunities that emerging digital technologies such as AI, robotics, 3D printing, digital twins, and new business models can pose for their business. Importantly this is not just about the technologies, but also the significant value that can be captured and created by associated innovation in business models.

At the core of the program is futuremap – a business diagnostic tool designed to help Australian manufacturing SMEs to advance and transform their manufacturing businesses. Since its launch in 2018, more than 500 manufacturing businesses have participated in futuremap, through either a facilitated

workshop or a one-on-one discussion, and used the tool not only to map their capabilities, but also outline their ambition for adopting Industry 4.0 technologies and data-driven services to strengthen their business in a rapidly evolving market place.

For many businesses, futuremap is the first step in their journey of navigating the why, how, and the what of digital transformation. Having now delivered multiple futuremap workshops and spoken to numerous participating manufacturers over the past few months, one thing has become apparent (and the aggregated results of the futuremap data set supports this) – many manufacturing SMEs are aware of Industry 4.0, but most have yet to act on it.

Business leaders have openly shared through futuremap that they and their management team

understand the concept of Industry 4.0. Yet, they are less confident in understanding its resulting benefits, with only 35 per cent stating that they recognise the competitive advantage Industry 4.0 can bring. Equally, they admit that they fail to regularly discuss the topic and/or possible projects that could kick start their Industry 4.0/digital transformation journey with their employees. This suggests that there is some inertia here that Australian manufacturing SMEs need to overcome.

If I consider how organisations have been educated on Industry 4.0, this is often through industry publications and events that feature case studies representing major organisations and best in class Industry 4.0 implementations. Yes, these are inspiring and demonstrate very well the potential for manufacturers, but manmonthly.com.au

I worry that these examples set the bar too high – creating an unfortunate mental linkage that Industry 4.0 is an unattainable ambition and not suited for many of Australian SMEs. This is simply not true. In my short time at IMCRC, I have been introduced to several Australian manufacturing SMEs that wholeheartedly embrace the concept of Industry 4.0. They invest in key enabling technologies, explore new business models and collaborate with research organisations and industry partners to transform and grow their organisations.

Exploring manufacturing ideas Eager to find out how they broke through the inertia and started their transformation journey, I discovered that exploration is central to their business approach. They explore ideas, fund small projects, and provide opportunities for their employees to dream, to put themselves out of their comfort zone, and then strive to achieve the impossible.

As the enabling technologies have become more accessible, technically and financially, these organisations made the decision to simply start – by purchasing their first 3D printer, a HoloLens or similar, with the consistent theme being that this first step was done to try something new.

One great example is HeliMods, a progressive aerospace technology company in Queensland. Tim Kelly, former engineering director, shared with me at a recent futuremap workshop how the company taps into the curiosity of their young engineers and encourages them to try, test and adapt new technologies. “You don’t know if and how it’s going work. Go and try, you will learn.”

So, they did, and developed a means of quickly and cost effectively producing intricate dedicated tooling and vacuum fixtures that were suitable for low-volume, high complexity production of aerospace grade components using additive manufacturing. This one advancement is estimated to save HeliMods upwards

of $3,000 every time it prevents traditional methods from being used.

Importantly, there was no detailed plan of how and when these new technologies would contribute to the bottom line of the organisation, just a confidence that the benefits would accrue.

Companies like HeliMods have heard the stories from the high-end manufacturers but have not been daunted by that. They have correctly understood that their journey will be different and that they do not need to understand the outcome to make start.

Doing something was key.

Measuring success beyond the dollar As exploration does not necessarily follow a traditional investment model, it is important a business thinks about the way they measure these first steps.

Like many exploratory journeys, strict and disciplined targets and measures can impede the creativity that early SME Industry 4.0 adoption may demand. Of course, a business

needs to be aware of the investment it is making and be confident that there is a commercial benefit, but allowing some freedom in how this benefit is measured can be the key to unlocking innovation.

In my younger days in operational consulting I watched a very experienced manufacturer explain to an organisation that investing effort in calculating benefits accumulation as they moved through a significant change was creating a distraction.

I remember his words to our client clearly, “trust in the process, the money will come”. While this will not suit all situations, there is a message here for SMEs. Early explorative steps into Industry 4.0 will create value in many ways – excitement within the teams involved, increased organisational creativity, new skills, new ideas spawned that wouldn’t have been spotted otherwise – and allowing these to build alongside financial benefit could be the key to finding your way in a digital world.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 9

News @MM Victorian manufacturer first in Australia to produce reusable face masks A Victorian manufacturer has risen to the challenge of making personal protective equipment (PPE), which until now was only available from overseas.

Micro Plastics in Dandenong South

The reusable MP Mask was designed for multiple uses.

recognised the need for a locally produced reusable face mask in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

After undertaking extensive R&D, retooling and experiencing a materials shortage earlier this year, it has secured the coveted P1 and P2 respirator rating.

Micro Plastics managing director Russell Lacey said the company was proud to be the only producer of reusable face masks in Australia with P1 and P2 certification.

“We’re in negotiations with some major distributors who want to

highlight Australian-made products.

Currently we’re gearing up to produce 10,000 units per week,” he said.

Sold by Australian family-owned business MP Aussie Products, the masks filter at least 94 per cent of airborne particles, including biologically active airborne viruses and bacteria.

The announcement comes at a time when there has never been more community and media focus on Australian products.

Micro Plastics is a member of the South-East Manufacturers

Alliance, a peak industry group that represents manufacturers in Melbourne’s south-east region.

SEMMA CEO, Vonda Fenwick said it was encouraging to see local suppliers involved in the supply chain.

“Australian local manufacturers are exactly that, local,” she said. “They use local suppliers and create local jobs.

“If you look at any economically successful country in the world, you’re looking at a country that’s got a healthy, robust, industrialised sector. You’ve got a country that’s manufacturing.”

Problem and Opportunity Statements to drive investment and jobs in WA The Western Australian government has introduced a new initiative – Problem and Opportunity Statements – to drive investment and support WA jobs.

The new initiative, under the Market-led Proposals (MLP) policy, allows government to provide focused opportunities for industry to respond with innovative solutions that stimulate the economy and create jobs for Western Australians.

The WA government will be issuing a series of Problem and Opportunity Statements that cover a range of issues across various sectors, including health, culture and arts, tourism and the environment.

WA Premier Mark McGowan said it is vital that the government is able to harness good ideas and promote private sector investment.

“Problem and Opportunity Statements and Market-led Proposals streamline processes to bring government and industry together more quickly and efficiently with innovative proposals to stimulate the economy,” he said.

“This government has a strong

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commitment to helping industry and business succeed through a clear, consistent and transparent process.”

The first Problem and Opportunity Statement was released to industry, calling for innovative solutions for the future of the current Landgate building in Midland and accommodation options for the public sector in the Midland area.

WA finance and land minister Ben Wyatt said the WA government updated the MLP Policy in March to include the ability to offer Problem and Opportunity Statements to industry.

“The Problem and Opportunity Statement process provides industry the opportunity to work with Government to provide innovative solutions, with the assessment process streamlined to support the McGowan Government’s COVID-19 response,” he said.

“Our first opportunity – office accommodation and the repurposing of the Landgate building are valuable opportunities for the property and leasing sectors in the Midland area.

“The government is committed to maintaining Landgate’s presence in

The WA government is issuing a series of Problem and Opportunity Statements that cover a range of issues across various sectors.

Midland to benefit local businesses and provide employment opportunities in the area. I look forward to industry ideas.”

The Landgate building, which reverts to government ownership in March 2021, exceeds Landgate’s accommodation requirements and presents a range of opportunities to better utilise the asset.

The state government is calling for private sector offers to provide alternative accommodation options for

Landgate in Midland and acquire the Landgate building for consideration.

It is hoped offers will determine the optimal future use for the Landgate building, maximise the potential benefits to the Midland community and deliver the best value for money to the state.

Proposals for the Landgate opportunity are invited to be submitted until September 11, 2020 and will be assessed against the MLP Policy criteria.

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 11

News @MM Doftek Australia develops next-gen vehicle dynamic system The system is a world first for the automotive industry.

Victorian-based company Doftek has developed a world-first Active Wheel Alignment System (AWAS) for passenger vehicles.

This system allows the vehicle’s wheel alignment settings, such as camber (longitudinal angle), caster (longitudinal tilt) and toe (latitudinal angle), to be adjusted on-the-fly to maximise handling performance, improve fuel efficiency, reduce emissions and minimise tyre wear.

The system is the brainchild of Doftek’s inventor, Geoff Rogers.

A vehicle enthusiast at heart and engineer by profession, Geoff took his passion for motorsport and channelled it to the development of a system to enhance driving enjoyment and reduce running costs of production vehicles by optimising a tyre’s contact with the road.

Designed and engineered over two years, Doftek’s AWAS addresses many shortfalls of previous attempts that were heavy, expensive, and incompatible with existing production vehicle suspension geometries. Doftek’s AWAS addresses 12 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

these issues and can be fitted to the front or rear of the vehicle. It is lightweight, compact, and suitable for fitment to MacPherson strut, double-wishbone and multi-link suspensions systems.

Version one of Doftek’s AWAS allows for on-the-fly adjustment of wheel alignment via a threemode selector switch, offering Normal, Sport and Sport+ modes with the corresponding 0-degree, -1.5-degree and -3-degree camber to suit different driving conditions.

This system has been extensively developed and tested, and provides at least: 15 per cent increase in handling performance; 10 per cent reduction in rolling resistance; and 10 per cent reduction in peak tyre temperatures. With support from AMGC, Doftek is now working on the second version of its system, which will offer next-generation dynamic (semi-active) and adaptive (realtime) capabilities. This system will also achieve an improvement of up-to 29 per cent in handling performance observed during initial testing with differential camber settings.

Geoff Rogers, co-founder of Doftek, said that funding and assistance from AMGC has been critical in enabling Doftek to progress to the next step of commercialisation.

“Our real-world testing demonstrates that this technology can provide next-generation performance gains to vehicle manufacturers. The funding and assistance provided by the AMGC has allowed us to accelerate our development and commercialisation efforts into global markets, including Europe and Japan.”

“AMGC has an executive team and staff, who have the industryspecific experience, networks and thought leadership needed to be successful in bringing new technologies to market. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to work alongside an exceptional team at the AMGC and build a strong partnership,”Priscilla Rogers, cofounder of Doftek said.

The initial targets for AWAS are luxury and performance vehicles, followed by electric vehicles (for

extended battery life) and driverless cars (for novel steering solutions).

Managing director of AMGC, Dr Jens Goennemann said Doftek is evidence of the impact Australia’s automotive component sector can have on a global scale.

“Doftek is proof that Australia has a strong and innovative automotive component sector exporting hundreds and thousands of components yearly for inclusion into global supply chains,” he said.

“Doftek has designed, engineered, tested and, with our assistance, will now commercialise an innovative automotive solution with global relevance and impact. In the fullness of time, Doftek expects to support 40 highly-skilled Australian manufacturing jobs,” Goennemann said.

While conversations and international interest are ongoing, Doftek aim to have OEMs test a prototype unit fitted to their test vehicles once business conditions improve, positioning Doftek as a supplier for future vehicle releases.

It is estimated that the completed project will lead to an additional five jobs at Doftek, five at its suppliers, and 30 across domestic project partners.

The prototype is co-funded by AMGC as part of the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centre Initiative and will assist with commercialisation of the technology and manufacture of a commercialgrade prototype.

Doftek and AMGC will contribute matched funding of $196,425 each to the program.

Doftek’s project partners include On Point Engineering to contribute knowledge gained through years in the Supercars Australia competition, Erntek to supply and commission electric motors, Flexicut Engineering to manufacture purpose-built parts, and 3D Systems to rapid prototype parts and contribute 3D printing know-how. manmonthly.com.au

News @MM AMGC backs Aussie manufacturers creating electricity from air Oil injected screw compressors

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Waste exhaust or biogas can be turned into electricity.

The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) has co-funded two Australian manufacturers to assist with the development of technology to generate power from air.

Capricorn Power and Cool Mine have been awarded co-funding to advance their heat-to-electricity generator and thermoelectric generator (TEG) technology, respectively.

Both projects take an existing resource, compressed air, hot air or gas, and convert it into usable electricity. Capricorn Power use waste exhaust or biogas and convert it into electricity via a patent-pending Barton engine system. This power can then feed energy back into the local grid providing power for local manmonthly.com.au

Oil free scroll compressors industry or up to 120 homes.

Cool Mine’s AIR2VOLTS system leverages TEG technology, whereby temperate differences produce a Seebeck effect to generate electricity between two conductors. This technology has been used to power deep space probes, and is ideally suited for use in underground mines where access to reticulated electrical power can be both difficult and dangerous. However, access to compressed air is not.

Managing director of AMGC, Dr Jens Goennemann, said that both technologies demonstrate the critical role manufacturing plays across the entire value chain, from design to research and development, and then onto sales, service, and support.

“Capricorn Power and Cool Mine are stunning examples of the manufacturing multiplier effect, with jobs generated across the entire manufacturing value chain,” Goennemann said. “Both technologies benefit from highly skilled design and engineering staff, and now, as the businesses move to the production, sales, and service phase, more jobs will follow.”

“Both technologies take an available resource, air, to generate emission-free power that in the case of Capricorn Power can be fed back into the grid or, in the case of Coolmine, power communications and monitoring equipment in underground mines in a safe and emission-free manner.”

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Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 13

News @MM Most heavy industry manufacturing to keep going in Victoria amid COVID-19 restrictions Most heavy industry and critical manufacturing sectors will continue to operate in Victoria despite Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions.

While Premier Daniel Andrews had announced state lockdown measures, and certain manufacturing sectors such as woodworks, textiles, clothing and appliances have been shut down for six weeks, most sectors will still go ahead with safety measures in place.

These include food and beverage, pharma, specialised machinery and equipment, heavy truck manufacturing, transport equipment, heating and ventilation, and manufacturing to support all critical public infrastructure.

For a full list, refer to the Victorian Government Department of Health and Human Services website.

While some manufacturers will have to shut down, many are able to stay open.

Premier Andrews stated the restrictions were necessary for sectors to keep moving forward.

“In industries that can’t close, but where we’ve seen a number of cases or emerging new risks, we’ll be making some big changes to make these workplaces safer — for workers and for

their families,” he said.

“That includes mandated reductions to the number of workers onsite. In the meat industry — and based on the minimum required to operate safely onsite — the workforce will be scaled back to two-thirds.

Unlike other changes and recognising

the risk these sites have posed here and around the world, this will apply to abattoirs in Melbourne and across the state.”

Warehousing and distribution centres in Melbourne will be limited to no more than two-thirds the normal workforce allowed onsite at any one time.

No more than one quarter of the normal workforce is allowed on major construction sites, while smallscale construction will be limited to five people onsite.

“Our construction sector, the lifeblood of our economy, will also move to pilot light levels. This will allow the industry to keep ticking — while also making sure we limit the number of people onsite,” Andrews said.

New Prefab Innovation Hub to boost jobs and economy A new Innovation Hub is set to supercharge Australia’s prefabricated building industry, potentially creating thousands of new jobs and adding up to $30 billion to the economy, according to an AMGC press statement.

The federal government has provided $2 million to the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) to fund and manage the new hub, following a feasibility study.

The hub will connect builders with manufacturers.

14 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, said the Prefab Innovation Hub forms part of a coordinated national network of Innovation Labs, which will harness existing research and business capability across Australia.

“The establishment of this hub couldn’t be timelier for the sector as it looks to rebuild after COVID-19 and assists in the bushfire recovery,” Andrews said.

“The hub will work to increase collaboration between industry and researchers, and support new technologies and innovations that provide smarter, cheaper, faster and more sustainable construction solutions.”

“This is about meeting the needs of our local building and construction industry and driving innovation that will see Australia greatly increase our exports and become a key player on the global stage.”

AMGC managing director Dr Jens Goennemann said that the Prefab Innovation Hub will build new capabilities in the manufacturing industry and construction sector.

“This Prefab Hub will connect recognised research institutions and industry bodies that have experience in this area to form a network of Prefab Innovation Labs across Australia,” Goennemann said.

“The purpose of these labs is to

help drive skills, accelerate adoption of new technology, formulate regulatory proposals, identify new procurement pathways, and recommend new funding mechanisms – all to support a burgeoning prefab construction industry.”

PrefabAUS chair Damian Crough said there was enormous potential for prefabricated construction to support ‘shovel ready’ projects.

“More than at any other time, prefabrication offers viable, necessary and relevant alternative construction options delivering significant gains in quality, productivity and affordability,” Crough said.

Prefabrication covers a wide range of buildings, including tiny houses, larger homes and offices.

The hub will build on the government’s $28 million commitment to establish the Building 4.0 Cooperative Research Centre. manmonthly.com.au

News @MM New advanced manufacturing diploma launches in NSW General manager of LA Services, David Fox.

A new Diploma of Applied Technologies will help train the skilled workers NSW needs to continue building its advanced manufacturing economy.

Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said it was critical for businesses to embrace technology to stay ahead of the curve.

“Our manufacturing industry in NSW is undergoing a transformation known as the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0 and this course qualifies graduates in necessary disciplines like networking, big data, cloud computing and digital control systems,” he said.

“Businesses have got to make sure they have skilled employees, particularly as advanced manufacturing is embedded into supply chains.

“Embracing advanced technologies will be vital to ongoing profitability and competitive advantage, but companies need a comprehensive strategy to manage equipment, processes, supply chain, sales and – most importantly – their workforce.”

The qualification is being rolled out by the NSW Government in collaboration with Ai Group and Manufacturing Skills Australia. manmonthly.com.au

It is suitable for new or existing employees, with assessment conducted via work-based projects.

Head of Ai Group in NSW, Mark Goodsell, said it was designed to address skill gaps created by the big changes shaking up global manufacturing.

“Industry needs people with practical skills who understand emerging technologies,” he said.

“These are people who can physically connect machines and equipment to each other via the cloud and devise meaningful ways to capture and use the ensuing data streams – key drivers of productivity and innovation across the economy.

“The diploma is targeted at the para-professional and technician level, creating new pathways into professional qualifications. It can also be delivered in conjunction with an apprenticeship, providing both practical and high-level skills and breathing new life into the apprenticeship model.”

Two pilot courses conducted by SkillsLab have commenced in the

Hunter Region and Western Sydney, with a second intake scheduled to begin this month.

Goodsell said he hoped the diploma will form a basis for improving the apprenticeship system as well.

“We believe if we can develop an innovative program that combines traditional trade skills with high level skills in new technologies, it will breathe new life into the apprenticeship system and offer career opportunities to rival those for university graduates,” he said.

Welding and fabrication business LA Services is part the pilot group participating in Western Sydney.

General manager of welding and fabrication business LA Services, David Fox, believes undertaking the diploma will help the company provide better advanced manufacturing knowledge in schools and within the company’s apprenticeship program.

“One of the aspects I really like about it is teaching us to how work remotely, how to control a lab

Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, Stuart Ayres. remotely through a laptop,” he said.

Fox said the driving reasons behind embracing digitilisation were changing customer expectations and the ability to attract younger talent into an industrial workforce.

“We’re looking to keep making industrial pressure equipment but putting smart technology over the top of it, and with that, how we capture our supply chains digitally to embed that,” he said.

The new manufacturing diploma is targeted at para-professional and technician level.

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 15

News @MM $5m grant scheme to PPE manufacturing in NSW The NSW Government has introduced a $5 million grants scheme to locally manufacture critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and create jobs.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro launched the program to support domestic manufacturing of PPE in NSW by providing grants to local companies to help fund equipment, raw materials and recruitment of skilled staff.

“This scheme is part of the NSW Government’s commitment to ramping up domestic manufacturing in NSW, developing regular supply and creating vital jobs to meet the long-haul challenge of COVID-19,” Barilaro said.

“In NSW and across Australia, we should never have insufficient access to PPE and this funding will go towards maintaining the critical

The PPE grant scheme is part of the NSW Government’s commitment to ramping up domestic manufacturing in NSW. supply of equipment to our frontline health workers and communities.

“In April and May, nearly 2000 companies from across NSW answered our call to register their ability to supply PPE through the Government’s Emergency Supplies Portal, including 235

in regional NSW.” Local manufacturers and suppliers who registered to provide PPE have also been listed in a directory on the Buy NSW website with the list having already been downloaded over 4000 times.

“We have seen some great success

stories such as Snowy Mountains Tech Store, a manufacturer of 3D printed parts, which pivoted to make face shields and masks,” Barilaro said.

“As domestic capacity increases, we encourage NSW businesses to buy local and support our manufacturing sector “It has been incredible to see so many companies answering the call to help. This new package is the latest step in our efforts to create jobs and high-quality protective equipment for the people of NSW.” The new grants will be awarded to manufacturers who can demonstrate their ability to ramp up or repurpose manufacturing of items including masks, gowns, disinfectant, handwash and soap or their components, reducing our dependence on imports and providing a secure source for Australia’s future needs.

US and Australia strengthen collaboration for science and technology

The Australian government sees science and technology to be important, especially in the COVID-19 recovery.

16 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Australia and the US have strengthened their long and productive collaborative history with a senior-level dialogue on science and frontier technologies.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews, who virtually met with White House officials, said the two nations were committed to increasing cooperation in science and technology.

“There are enormous opportunities for Australia and the US to work together on key issues such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, oceans exploration and mapping, and research integrity,” Andrews said.

“Science and technology are of major economic and security importance, especially in the COVID-19 recovery, and both nations will benefit through collaborating on policies that promote innovation

and competitiveness.

“Both countries have identified opportunities to share resources and expertise, including through the newly established global partnership on artificial intelligence.

“We’re also keen to establish a framework for ongoing collaboration with the US and other likeminded nations to advance our common values and interests in international forums.”

The dialogue is an outcome of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s state visit to the US last year, where he and President Donald Trump agreed to hold a joint senior-level dialogue on advancing frontier technologies.

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director Kelvin Droegemeier and US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios led the American delegation. manmonthly.com.au

News @MM New EV charge stations for north west Victoria More than 15 new electric vehicle charging stations will be constructed in north-western Victorian towns to boost tourism, create jobs and reduce emissions, while increasing the range of electric vehicles across regional Victoria.

The Victorian government is investing $664,000 to build the charging stations, which will better link towns across Victoria and will encourage more visitors to the region.

The funding is part of the state government’s $2.7 billion Building Works package that will create 3,700 jobs, while supporting thousands more across the state’s supply chains and pumping extra dollars back into our economy.

“The new electric vehicle charging stations will put this region on the map for electric vehicles – connecting Melbourne to Mildura

The Victorian Government is investing $664,000 to build the charging stations, which will better link towns across Victoria and encourage more visitors to the region.

and unlocking north west Victoria for electric vehicle tourists and locals alike,” Minister for Energy, the Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said.

New charging stations will be in rural centres including Ouyen, Swan Hill, Kerang, Maryborough and Echuca, as well as smaller rural

towns and key tourist sites.

Charging stations expand green tourism opportunities in regional Victoria, with the ultimate aim of creating a green power charging network across Australia.

The new sites were identified as priority locations in the Charging the Regions report undertaken by

the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance and local governments.

This new funding builds on the $3 million already invested by the Victorian government to setup 30 electric vehicle charging stations across Victoria in Euroa, Barnawartha North, Moe, Torquay, Ballarat, Horsham and Melbourne.

Constructing charging stations and increasing the number of electric vehicles are key steps in realising Loddon Mallee’s Renewable Energy Roadmap, which outlines the community’s ambition to embrace new energy technologies across the region.

The Victorian government is developing a Zero Emissions Vehicle Roadmap, to be released later this year. It will provide a roadmap for transitioning to zero emissions vehicles and supports the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 17

Industry Focus Australian start-up helps medical device manufacturer digitise its production process Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks with Neil Baker, CEO and co-founder of Medulla and Dr Alex Buddery, Continuous Improvement Manager at Cook Medical Australia, about digitising paper-based processes.

Traceability is important for manufacturers, especially in the highly regulated medical industry.

I

N a post COVID-19 manufacturing resurgence, the ability to quickly access production data through digital platforms is becoming increasingly important as companies continue to work remotely with less direct visibility of their production lines.

For smaller businesses, however, there remain few costeffective options for capturing workflow data directly from production lines.

Until recently, SMEs wanting to implement data capture and workflow management on their production lines had to follow a DIY path and build custom in-house solutions. These would typically start as macro-enabled spreadsheets or ad-hoc databases that over time end up costing far more to maintain than first estimated.

Medulla, a cloud-based manufacturing workflow management platform, was cofounded in 2017 by former Cochlear 18 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

engineers Neil Baker and Kurt Friday to address this critical gap in the manufacturing sector.

The company set about building a cloud-based system that connects manufacturers directly to their production lines. The platform is able to pull production related telemetry directly from the manufacturing equipment or from the product itself, allowing clients to monitor and analyse the state of production as it happens in real time.

“At the very high end of manufacturing, large companies like Coca Cola, Boeing, or Johnson & Johnson, use complex systems provided by the likes of Oracle, SAP, or Siemens,” Baker said. “These are very high-end systems, but they’re also really expensive. Especially when it comes to integration. We found there was a big gap between the in-house DIY systems and these enterprise solutions.”

Managing traceability One such company to benefit from Medulla’s services is Brisbanebased Cook Medical Australia. Cook Medical Australia’s parent company is Cook Medical, a global familyowned company that specialises in minimally invasive medical devices, headquartered in the United States.

Traceability is important for manufacturers, especially in the highly regulated medical manufacturing sector. For Cook Medical, who used paper-based processes to meet their regulatory obligations around traceability, the digitisation provided

by Medulla’s platform enables traceability to be captured and reported in a much more efficient way.

“Our platform caters particularly well to manufacturers who have regulatory obligations around traceability,” Baker said. “But Medulla also provides detailed reports and analytics related to production and product data.”

While digitisation is a much-

discussed topic in manufacturing, getting started is often a difficult path to navigate. This is where Medulla’s cloud platform greatly simplifies implementation.

Baker explained that although the operations or production teams are the key beneficiaries of digitised manufacturing processes, the responsibility for implementation and upkeep of conventional onpremise Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) is often deferred to the onsite IT department. He can recount numerous situations where this delineation of ownership has led to confusion or conflict over ownership and the expected value of the system is not realised in these situations.

Baker said the advantages of having Medulla’s online system capture and manage production data are three-fold – it does not require any complex IT infrastructure, it allows data captured across different manufacturing locations to be consolidated in a single platform, and it allows the intended manmonthly.com.au

Industry Focus

Medulla CEO and co-founder Neil Baker. end users to take full ownership of the system and its data.

The system can connect to production lines that are distributed across different geographies with ease to provide one centralised dashboard to view all operations.

The system is also not dependent on costly IT infrastructure. It can be configured and maintained entirely by the production engineers and managers, meaning there can be a clear delineation of ownership between operations teams and the IT department.

“Medulla’s cloud platform is targeted for ease of integration by the intended user, typically operations or production managers. When a client’s IT department needs to be involved, we are happy to work with them directly in order to smooth out the integration and handover process.”

Compared to traditional on-premise systems, which can cost millions upfront to set up and almost as much per year on in-house IT resources simply to maintain, Medulla’s subscription model charges a monthly flat rate per workflow.

At Cook Medical, Medulla has been deployed to a pilot line where it actively tracks the product through every step in the manufacturing process. Visual dashboards display information that includes how much time each process took and highlights any peculiar activity that may need further investigation to improve efficiencies.

“Cook is experiencing much better real-time visibility into the state of that production line, with on-demand manmonthly.com.au

reports showing product performance, throughput and the transaction time at each process step. While working remotely, they are able to monitor production equipment or generate traceability information without having to be on-site, sifting through piles of paperwork,” Baker said.

“Moving forward, we’re looking to expand that pilot project into other areas of their manufacturing process.”

Baker explains that one of first and most critical stages of the partnership is working directly with the client to map out their current manufacturing workflows. This allows Medulla to understand how products move through assembly lines and where parts and materials are consumed in the process.

“We create a digital representation of that production line, factoring for raw material consumption and enforcing quality control gates at each process step,” Baker said. “Where existing equipment isn’t built for talking over the internet, we can install a simple digital ‘supervisor’ such as a Raspberry Pi or something more industrial where needed to interface with the local equipment, pull telemetry from it and post it to our cloud application. For process steps that are more manual, operators interact with a touchscreen or mobile device that calls dynamic data collection forms. These simply replace paper-based forms. This allows the platform to maintain real-time oversight of the end-to-end process.”

Getting past challenges in data flow Cook Medical connected with Medulla initially through the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Advanced Manufacturing of Medical Devices (AMMD) Industrial Research Hub and was impressed by Medulla’s industry knowledge and experience.

The AMMD hub, where Cook Medical is a collaborator, brings research and industry partners together to develop and apply advanced manufacturing technologies.

Due to the complex and highly regulated nature of the medical manufacturing industry, detailed record keeping is critical. Hence, the importance of data integrity. Cook

Medical manufactures its product through various stages of assembly, using various equipment including ovens, flow meters, and sterile pack sealers. To ensure quality, detailed process monitoring throughout assembly is necessary.

Engineers can gain better insight into the assembly process with accurate data from the manufacturing line. With the right workflow management system, the performance of assembled product can be tracked against the manufacturing metadata captured from each machine.

Dr Alex Buddery, continuous improvement manager at Cook Medical, said by partnering with Medulla, it has been able to add more process data streams to the cloud to manage workflow.

“We discussed a few of the challenges we had been experiencing with the IoT rollout and Medulla had already solved or were developing solutions for a lot of them,” Buddery said.

At the start of the partnership, Cook Medical was surprised at the lack of standardisation in communication protocols between different equipment, PLCs and software.

“We quickly realised this is one of the biggest barriers to an effective cloud-based workflow management system,” Buddery said. “This is data that may have been handled by a machine locally with alarms or other local controls to raise exceptions.

By adding these data streams to a

centralised workflow, it allows us to more efficiently demonstrate compliance and provides a powerful platform for process improvement.

“Pulling data from different equipment and systems into one place really enables data analytics at your fingertips with clear visual workflows,” Buddery said.

“This allows you to make decisions much quicker and makes compliance reporting a lot more efficient.

Centralising all our process data into the product workflow allows us the flexibility to build in more robust logic to manage the workflow more effectively so that exceptions can be dealt with quickly.”

Buddery explained that Medulla has been very effective at retrieving data required by the platform from Cook Medical’s existing systems, without impacting the compliance of those systems.

“For equipment used to manufacture the devices, the problem is it tends to be either not IoT-enabled or set up to interface with the equipment manufacturer’s analytics system only,” he said. “Medulla have been able to pull data from many different production machines into the cloud.”

Having all the equipment feed information into a centralised cloud platform is the practical way to manage many different types of production equipment along with all other data flows.

“This has been a real strength of the partnership,” Buddery said.

Cook Medical manufactures its products through many stages of assembly using various equipment.

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 19

Skills & Training Adapting to a changing manufacturing landscape Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks to Industry Partners Australia CEO Gary Silversides about training, networking, leadership, and adding value to the Australian manufacturing industry.

One of the value propositions that Industry Partners Australia provides is the opportunity to discuss things freely, providing a safe environment to exchange ideas.

S

IRF Roundtables, now known as Industry Partners Australia, has contributed to the betterment of the Australian manufacturing industry for 27 years. CEO Gary Silversides describes the outfit as a business that brings together large organisations, senior professionals, and partners from consulting and training, who together can contribute to the overall goal– bringing value back to Australian industry.

Silversides arrived in Australia from the UK in 1991 and possesses a supply chain and general management background. He worked with James Hardie Industries in a national procurement role with Iplex pipelines. After that, he ran Volvo Trucks’ manufacturing facility in Brisbane and brought the Volvo & Mack brands under one roof. From there, he moved to Riviera Marine, a large manufacturer of power yachts and luxury boats. Following that, he joined Transpacific Industries, and headed up their manufacturing division. Eight years ago, he left corporate life and joined SIRF 20 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

roundtables, where he took ownership of SIRF Roundtables QLD & NSW. After being in the industry for 30 years, Silversides has seen great changes in Australian manufacturing and is very passionate about giving back and altering attitudes towards better ways of doing things.

“Manufacturing is at my heart.

What I’d like to do is create a community of companies and people, consultants, and trainers, that all get together and discuss ideals and improved methods in going about things,” Silversides said. “For the first time ever, the government and the community as a whole are aligned in wanting Australia to become more independent in regard to manufacturing and have our own capabilities again.

Industry Partners Australia is all about sharing innovation and ideas across various manufacturing and other industry sectors. These include food, beverage, housing, pharmaceutical, essentially every element of manufacturing. Silversides told Manufacturers’ Monthly that aside

from the drive to share innovation being at the core of the business, the current COVID-19 crisis has also shaped the trajectory that the company is taking.

“I think COVID has actually allowed us to take time out and think, and what’s come to the fore after evaluating where we stand is we excel in creating networks and connecting people,” Silversides said.

“We have a network of some of the largest companies and professionals in Australia. Now, on top of that, we’re adding our partner network, which consists of consultants and trainers that can bring thought-leading ideas to complement what we already have.”

Solutions for member organisations “Like us COVID-19 has allowed businesses to take time and reflect, and many are looking for the next step and new opportunities, I think this is one of the areas where we can really help manufacturing. Should they be investing in Industry 4.0, looking at more automation, what are the right

solutions for them?” Silversides said.

“Because of the vast knowledge of information among our community, members find solutions simply through attending events, and talking with other members. We are also there to connect the dots on occasion, and introduce them to organisations that have implemented a similar change already.”

One of the value propositions that the organisation provides is the opportunity to discuss things freely providing a safe environment to exchange ideas.

Silversides emphasises that there is no discussion about propriety information, intellectual property or manufacturing techniques – the discussions are all about learning and the connections between people.

The other value proposition that Silversides talks about is transferring knowledge expertise from leaders to younger people in the field and focus on a diversity in the sector.

“There is a significant role for women in senior leadership roles, as they bring a different element to manufacturing. For me, education and diversity in the sector are critical for growth, but also the government need to get the message across – that industry and manufacturing provide long term security to encourage young leaders into the sectors.” Silversides said.

For him, leadership is important because that is where it all starts and enjoys cultivating the sense of responsibility in young potential leaders.

“Those guys that have actually been on the shop floor, and suddenly somebody says, ‘I’m going to make you a team leader.’ This means a pay rise, but also, that comes with more responsibilities. We want to create a balance of bringing young leaders through as much as possible. We’re very proud of our program called Evolve2 Leadership – which has had manmonthly.com.au

hundreds of students go through it – and have been running it for over five years now,” Silversides said.

In the Evolve2 Leadership program, 16 students are brought in at a time from all different industries and backgrounds, and then equipped with some core skills of what it means to be a leader. These include skills like giving feedback, change management, communication, and presentations.

Reinventing the business strategy In the past six months, as an organisation that puts on events that people come and network together with, Industry Partners Australia has put in considerable effort into reinventing their business.

“From our point of view, while we’ve not really been open to a lot of new business during that period, we certainly have been redeveloping,” Silversides said. We are introducing a more interactive website, better membership options, and a new program for members called IPA Pathway, which helps members Engage, Learn, and Connect. A roadmap is given of how they might be able to get the best from their membership.

“We will continue to offer Root Cause Analysis training, and the Evolve2 Leadership program. When members come looking for training and consulting outside of these two areas, we connect them with our partners.”

According to Silversides, their partners have seen an increase in activity, but it’s been very much around online training, and they have had to adapt their business model around that to meet new market needs.

“You would think companies have plenty of time for training and development of their people, but at the moment, I haven’t seen too much investment in that. There are also companies embracing themselves for financial difficulty, and not spending money.”

The direction of Australian manufacturing For Silversides, he feels the industry needs to be led with newer ideas that can be followed through into the workforce – which can be achieved through education and learning. At the moment he says the industry can do more to be aligned and work together.

He feels there is the underlying need for change in thoughts, idealisms and leadership.

“To me, what stops manufacturing from really thriving in Australia right now is a little bit of conservatism,” Silversides said. “We need new lifeblood into industry, new leadership and their ideas being brought forward and allowed to flow through. I think we need to continue driving education, bring up the new leaders, new programs.”

He believes that the best minds are not going into manufacturing because they’re nervous of the future of manufacturing in Australia, and he thinks this is a misconception that needs to change.

“People need to be saying yes, this is a sector I actually want to join, because I can further my education and career in that. After all, it’s around the people element and not necessarily just the technical aspects, which makes a difference. We’ve got to make the industry attractive again.”

Silversides said the industry needs to be led with newer ideas that can be followed through into the workforce.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 21

Lifting Solutions

The straddle is driven across the truck bed and the steel is lowered onto the truck in one simple and quick procedure.

Scaling up without compromising on safety Director of Sydney-based Cullen Steel Fabrication Ron Barrington speaks with Manufacturers’ Monthly about how using the Combilift straddle carrier has improved efficiency and safety.

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HE work of a steel fabricator is all about cutting, drilling, welding and painting large chunks of steel and forming it into a structure that makes the client happy. But how do you do it efficiently and safely?

In a business where almost everything being lifted is oversized, safety concerns are paramount.

This is where the Irish manufacturer of handling solutions, Combilift, has given Sydney-based steel fabricator Cullen Steel a leg up with a tailor-made 35-tonne Combilift-SC3 straddle carrier.

Cullen Steel had developed its own 20-metre by 2.5-metre stillages and adapted processes according to the capabilities of the straddle carrier to pre-stage loads.

22 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

While the concept of pre-staging is not new, using the Combilift straddle carrier as opposed to an overhead crane has enabled loading times to be reduced from four hours to just 15 minutes, according to Cullen Steel Fabrication director Ron Barrington.

“Compared to any other device I’ve ever looked at, there’s probably no other one that can pick up a 30odd tonne load and so easily move it around the yard. Cranes are just not designed to do that,” he said.

“The Combi-SC is a relatively unique machine, which can safely pick up these types of very heavy loads and just travel around as if it was an oversized forklift.”

The Combilift straddle carrier, as its names implies, is designed to

straddle, or travel over the load it is due to pick up, and Cullen Steel’s model is 9m long, 6m high and 6m wide. It offers maximum load stability due to its optimum centre of gravity, broad wheelbase and 3-wheel manoeuvrability.

It also benefits from a much lighter footprint compared to other heavy handling equipment, which reduces impact on the ground surface to a minimum.

This significantly increases the life of the tyres as well as ensuring economic fuel consumption.

A centrally located cabin accessible from the ground is designed for operator safety and comfort with 360-degree visibility from the cab. All functions are carried out from within the cab

to reduce the need for working at height, which enhances safety procedures as well.

Moving steel with the Combi-SC has not only saved a substantial amount of time, but has allowed Cullen Steel to free up valuable manufacturing space.

“We just scaled the whole thing up,” Barrington said. “We can now put 25-tonnes of steel in a stillage and transport it from our workshop outside into the yard with the Comb-SC. We are also able to stack the stillages on top of one another as well – so we benefit from free vertical space too.”

“There are tried and tested ways of lifting things, and instead of putting our steel into a shipping container, we load a truck with a manmonthly.com.au

Lifting Solutions full consignment. We actually have container blocks on our spreader beams and container lifting equipment on the Combilift.”

The steel loads are prepacked one at a time into stillages and the Combi-SC connects to the spreader beams, enabling the operator to pick up the load.

The straddle is driven across the truck bed and the steel is lowered onto the truck in one simple and quick procedure.

“We’ve worked out a way of pulling out our spreader beams from under the load while it’s on the truck, so none of the premade items we have here leave the site,” Barrington said.

“Years ago, we would load trucks one stick at a time, which could take up to four hours to complete. It’s about efficiency and not having to rehandle the material several times.”

Before the Combilift was in place, Cullen Steel used a system of spreader beams in the workshop where it stacked about 20 tonnes of steel with overhead cranes.

“When delivery trucks turned up, we had to stop the cranes from being used for manufacturing for loading, which again, can be counterproductive,” Barrington said.

“Combilift supplied a version of their Combi-SC, which is used at

Cullen Steel has adapted its stillages to meet the dimensions and capabilities of the Combi-SC3 straddle carrier. wharves, multi-modal terminals and container yards around the world, and we adapted its use based on our specific requirements.”

“This worked out extremely well - our stillages are designed to basically function as oversized containers so the combination of these and the Combi-SC is ideal for time-saving, more efficient

and safer operation”.

Manufactured in Ireland and exported to over 85 countries around the world, Combilift’s products are all designed for the space, saving, cost effective and productive handling of long loads, pallets, containers or extreme oversized products depending on model type.

The Combi-SC range is available with lift capacities of over 100 tonnes, with the option of LP Gas or diesel power and a wide array of attachments and is highly customisable to specific applications.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 23

Storage Systems New storage systems for easy maintenance Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks with BAC Systems and Australian Calibrating Services about configuring storage systems for an alternative purpose.

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HE acquisition of Australian Calibrating Services (ACS)

by French company Trescal Group meant a fresh opportunity to refurbish calibration labs for uniformity. After making enquiries for a number of storage systems in Victoria, technician Ben Simankowicz found a good fit with BAC Systems.

Simankowicz began working with BAC Systems sales technician and project engineer Stefan Niederberger on how to configure a functional and good-looking laboratory within a narrow space.

“If the customer walked in, they want to know their product would be in good hands,” Niederberger said. “That was the biggest challenge, and also making sure that every machine and tool has its place, so they can find every item they have in the workshop easily.

“All the high-end measuring equipment needs to be stored in a safe way and have its own space. If something falls on the floor, it’s damaged, you can’t use it anymore. Then it’s recalibrated.”

ACS has been serving Australian

Figuring out how to configure a functional laboratory within a narrow space was a challenge.

24 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

and international customers since its formation in 1969. The company focuses on three specific service offerings throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia Pacific region: calibration of testing machines and measuring equipment; the design, manufacture and sale of materials testing equipment; and the service and maintenance of materials testing equipment.

Inside the lab, a large number of desks are divided into sections that correspond with the different kinds of gadgets used to categorise universal measuring instruments, instruments that measure precise angles, microscopes, dial testing indicators, and even a profile projector.

“Now we’ve finally got all the gadgets in one spot,” said Simankowicz. “We’ve got microscopes and instruments to measure the hardness of rubber.

The storage systems are very helpful because we don’t have to bend anymore. You just open the drawers, and everything is there.

We’ve got tables supported with storage cabinets, where all the

The BAC workbenches are suitable for ACS because of the flexibility in range and sizes of the various storage components. items that need to be calibrated are stored safely.”

Niederberger said working with a confined space was a challenge, which meant it took some time to get the initial concept right. The new design was delivered to ACS last year just before Christmas.

“We measured up the room and came up with a concept. After a few tweaks and changes, we presented them with a three-dimensional colour layout drawing along with our proposal,” he said.

What made the BAC workbenches suitable for ACS was the flexibility in range and sizes of the various storage components, according to Niederberger.

“We can get around obstacles that you may have such as columns,” he said. “Within the range, you can basically configure the cabinets to whatever you want. We have a range of standard products. If that doesn’t suit 100 per cent, you can change things around from thereon.”

BAC Systems began designing and manufacturing workshops and storage equipment since 1977. Nowadays, the company’s expanding range is at the forefront of modular workplace and storage systems development.

Niederberger said it was interesting to work with a business that tested machines and measuring equipment, as the level of precision

in carefully configuring and laying out the drawers made the final result exciting to see.

“It’s a higher level of refinement, ensuring that each calibrating tool has a clear and unique location.” he said.

Additionally, Niederberger said it was encouraging to see ACS dramatically improve the set-up of their laboratory, noting with satisfaction the importance that ACS places upon the safe storage of their equipment.

Simankowicz said since the BAC storage system was implemented, it has been much easier to keep the equipment and workspace clean.

“The cleaning is relatively straightforward. I wipe down the benchtops once a week, and that’s it.

Other aspects of the BAC Systems are virtually maintenance free. They are clean as a whistle after many months of use,” he said.

“I have used BAC Systems for a very long time in very different areas, most of them in manufacturing. Here for the first time, I’m using the same units in a lab, and there’s no difference.

They are sturdy, they are very comfortable to draw out, especially the drawers. I can pick up everything very faultlessly, so it works not only in manufacturing, but also in the labs. It’s so easy.” manmonthly.com.au

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Drives & Converters Drive selection made easy The SINAMICS Selector App from Siemens distributed through APS Industrial easily integrates into existing automated systems.

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S the leading manufacturer of electric drive technology, Siemens offer a quality solution for every drive application – whether it’s low voltage, medium voltage or DC. The complete SINAMICS family of Siemens drives available exclusively through APS Industrial are perfectly coordinated with one another and can be easily integrated into your existing system and automation landscape.

The SINAMICS frequency converters feature integrated safety technology and can be centrally installed and commissioned in control cabinets, mounted on walls or de-centrally in distributed topologies.

In addition, the family of drives includes optimum energy-saving variable frequency drives for each and every application. Whether it’s for pumping, ventilating, moving, positioning, processing or machining applications, trust Siemens and APS with the SINAMICS range of drives.

Experiencing this leading range of Siemens drives is now even easier thanks to the SINAMICS Selector App. Siemens has developed the SINAMICS Selector App as a convenient tool for finding part numbers for your SINAMICS converter in the power range from 0.12 kW to 630 kW – both quickly and easily when you’re on the move.

The SINAMICS V20 design improves efficiency by reducing engineering and costs.

manmonthly.com.au

The G120 series of converters is available in three voltage variants for connection to 200 V, 400 V and 690 V.

Featuring the SINAMICS V20, SINAMICS G120C, SINAMICS G120P, SINAMICS G120X or SINAMICS G120, the App will provide you with the correct part numbers and relevant technical data – all in the palm of your hand.

Users can easily navigate through the following selection fields: 1. Your application 2. SINAMICS frequency converter 3. The rated power and device options 4. Accessories The app will identify the most suitable drive and users can then save and send your selection via email.

It is free to download and available on Apple and Android devices by searching SINAMICS Selector in the preferred store.

Robustness and efficiency – SINAMICS V20 The compact SINAMICS V20 is the easy drive for simple motion sequences. It is surprisingly versatile, features quick commissioning times, robustness and energy efficiency.

With seven frame sizes, it covers a power range extending from 0.16 to 40 hp. Reducing engineering, commissioning and operating costs is at the heart of the SINAMICS V20 design. Its simplicity, ruggedness, and efficiency features work to make this the most economical yet most powerful drive in its class.

Converter to suit diverse requirements – SINAMICS G120 The SINAMICS G120 is a modular frequency converter for the most diverse requirements. The modular structure of the components and the wide power range from 0.55 to 250 kW ensure that you are always able to assemble the ideal converter for your requirements. This series of converters is available in three voltage variants for connection to 200 V, 400 V and 690 V networks. In addition, the SINAMICS G120 features a comprehensive safety package.

APS Industrial was formed in 2018 with combined businesses Ramelec and HiTech Control Systems.

The two companies have more than 20 years servicing customers of electrical needs in Australia.

Bringing a complete portfolio to Australia Both existing partial distributors of Siemens products in Australia, together these two companies offered a wealth of experience and expertise when it came to bringing this world class range to the local market.

It was these existing footprints and exclusive distribution agreements that formed the ideal platform for APS Industrial to develop a complete portfolio and customer focused product and solution model that would change the landscape of the Australian industrial electrical industry.

First appointed as the master distributor of the Siemens range in Australia, APS Industrial then secured key complementary national distribution partnerships with a number of other leading global manufacturers led by Weidmüller, Rittal, EPCOS (a TDK Group company) and KATKO. Bringing together this extensive technology portfolio, APS Industrial is now able to serve the local market as a connected technology partner intent on delivering quality products and the ultimate in customer service.

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 27

Manufacturing Strategies BSC opens the Gates to quality hoses for Australian premium winemaker Maintaining quality wine means having quality hoses, as well as other equipment such as chains, bearings, seals and spare parts in a winery – as it should be for all winemakers.

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OR a winery with a history as rich as South Australia’s Oxford Landing Estate winery, choosing the right equipment is essential to ensuring the wine’s quality. This is why when BSC sales representative, Robert Harris first introduced Gates’ food-grade hoses to the winery, he did not expect the winemakers to approve the product right away.

Harris says he knew about the stringent quality assurance process that the winery had in place, but he also had great confidence in the quality of the product he was offering.

Harris says when he called Oxford Landing Estates’ cellar manager to set up an appointment to introduce Gates’ hoses to him a couple of years ago, he was told to not keep his hopes high. He took his shot and went in with samples of the high-end Gates hoses. The winery agreed to test the wine transfer hoses and soon placed their first major order, forging a relationship with BSC that has flourished over time.

Chris Leggett, the logistics manager at Oxford Landing Estate, says the winery has one of the most stringent quality control processes in the industry.

“Any product that comes into any form of contact with the wine, such as the inside surface of the hose, needs to go through a quality control process and be approved for use before we can purchase it. Once we purchase a hose, it will go through a cleaning process and then through the quality control verification process,” he explains.

Leggett has worked at the Oxford Landing Estate winery since the winery was built in 2004. He says he’s quite happy working with BSC as a supplier.

“BSC supplies us with quality 28 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

The Gates FOOD MASTER XTREME 250SD CR is an ideal hose for transferring wine and other beverages. hoses, as well as other equipment such as chains, bearings, seals and spare parts. We have never had any issues or concerns working with BSC. Their response time is very good and they understand what we need,” Leggett said.

“The Gates’ hoses being of very high quality, it saves us time when it comes to testing the products.

Robert visits us regularly on behalf of BSC and offers consultation to the maintenance department regarding any components that they need,” he added.

Gates is one of the key suppliers of hosing solutions to the food and beverage industry in Australia, and they work closely with BSC as a trusted partner to deliver those solutions.

Gates Australia product manager for food products, Kent Clark,

says the Gates FOOD MASTER XTREME 250SD CR is an ideal hose for transferring wine, as well as any other beverage that could have its taste tainted if run through a lowergrade transfer hose.

“A number of well-known wineries only trust this particular product for transferring their wine,” Clark says. “This is mostly based on their experience of being able to maintain the wine’s taste and flavor when it passes through the hose. We also sell the hose to manufacturers of beer, ale, milk, yoghurt, juices, soft drinks, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.”

What makes the FOOD MASTER XTREME 250SD CR unique, Clark says, is the proprietary Sanitron developed by Gates for use in the Food Master premium series. The tube material, Sanitron

provides a glass-smooth interior surface for efficient product flow – a smoothness competitors can’t match. It will not discolour foods and beverages or impart any unusual taste or odour during product transfer. And Sanitron is a snap to clean using open-end steam or high-temperature cleaning solutions up to 110°C. which meets the requirements of Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 3A-Class 3 and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“The hose is also reinforced with a conductive filament and a monofilament helix, which provides crush and kink resistance. This means the hose can be run over or hit up against hard surfaces without any impact to the structure of the hose,” he added.

Gates also offers a range of other hoses particularly designed for the food and beverage industry.

These include, among others, the light and flexible FOOD MASTER BEVERAGE 150SD CR and FOOD MASTER OILS and DAIRY 150SD, which is ideal for transfer of animal fat, vegetable oil and dairy products.

Clark says working with BSC, Gates is able to provide flexible and custom-made solutions when required.

“For example, our hoses are often available in the standard 30-metre lengths. But we also have a customlength program with BSC, wherein we can provide customised hose lengths to customers on a case-bycase basis,” Clark said.

“We hold our customers in high regard and support them as best we can. We understand that pricing and product availability are top priorities for our customers and that is why we work with BSC to provide quick turnarounds for customers,” he concluded. manmonthly.com.au

NOVEMBER 2020 – COMPRESSORS, PUMPS & HYDRAULICS At the core of any manufacturing operation, are the working parts that keep the plant running.

In November 2020, we will look at the latest advancements in compressors, pumps, and hydraulics that are limiting downtime, and ensuring efficient operations.

In every edition of Manufacturers’ Monthly, we’re proud to work with our commercial partners on content that helps connect you with your future customers.

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Sensors & Instrumentation The pressure decay leak detector FCO750 has more than 300 settings for various kinds of testing.

Offering flexibility in leak testing for manufacturers Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks with Bestech Australia product specialist Daniel Isbister and applications engineer Utsav Koirala about the extensive features of the pressure decay leak detector.

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HE ties between Bestech Australia and British manufacturer Furness Controls are ones that have stood the test of time.

One device that has been supplied to Australian manufacturers throughout this longstanding partnership is the pressure decay leak detector, which was previously distributed by Technical Scientific Equipment (TSE).

When TSE was acquired by Bestech Australia in 2009, the Furness Controls pressure decay leak detector had been circulating in the Australian market for at least 15 years.

Bestech Australia product specialist, Daniel Isbister, has been involved in both companies.

“The pressure decay leak detector has a very sensitive differential pressure sensor for measuring drops in pressure,” he

30 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

It can be applied to anything that comes out of the die casting industry, manufacturers of valve assemblies, small components in the medical industry, or even the tap that we use in kitchens and bathrooms. said. “It has a built-in regulator and valves for filling the test part with compressed air or other gases.”

The FCO750 model is suitable for both simple and complex tests.

“One capability is called a sequence test, so if there’s one product that has multiple positions that might need to be tested in each position, then you can run a separate test in sequence on those different volumes, and come up with an overall pass and fail,” Isbister said.

With more than 300 product settings, many combinations of leak tests, blockage tests, ramp tests and dump tests can be conducted.

“The customer may have many different kinds of parts they need to customise each test to, so every part is a different volume or made of different materials,” Isbister said.

Applications engineer Utsav Koirala said the versatility of the pressure decay leak detector FCO750 means it has the capability

to test a wide range of parts that need to be waterproof to function correctly.

“It can be applied to anything that comes out of the die casting industry, manufacturers of valve assemblies, small components in the medical industry, or even the tap that we use in kitchens and bathrooms,” he said.

A valving system and sensors measure not only the pressure above atmosphere, but also very sensitive differential pressure decay. The unit has simple pass and fail maps displayed on an LCD graphic screen that provides graphical results or measurements of leaks and pressure and compares them to limits.

“One test is to pressurise and then measure the leak, and then expel the air from the device. You either get that information from the screen with the pass-fail maps, or you can collect that data externally manmonthly.com.au

Sensors & Instrumentation with ethernet or RS232, RS405s or USB connections. And there is an optional USB internal data logger to just collect data with a USB key,” Isbister said.

Improving and simplifying product traceability The leak detector has the optional capacity to store more than 10,000 historic test results and offers a flexible and convenient way to carry out data collection for SPC type analysis.

It also optionally includes the facility to read both 2D and 3D barcodes directly into the FCO750 when used together with a typical barcode scanner, with no PCs, PLCs needed.

The barcode feature has been improved to enable serial number scanning. This provides a convenient option for operator that has their parts already barcoded to scan before conducting the test. It allows them to track all of the results along with the barcode, store the information taken for that particular device in a central database, and trace the device through their system.

Specific test parameters can be selected by scanning the barcode directly from a product. Product selection is straightforward and simple, with the chance of operation error significantly reduced when

Information taken from a device is stored in a central database to help with traceability. checking for leak detection.

Isbister said this feature that makes the leak detector particularly suitable for medical manufacturers.

“It provides the ability to have traceable records of the testing you do, and you can ensure that whatever you’re testing with, in terms of cleanliness of air, is maintained in medical products,” Isbister said. “There is a level

of sensitivity that is important so that we can get some fairly accurate results.”

The pressure decay leak detector is particularly valuable when it comes to finding a fault in manufacturing processes, according to Isbister.

“If manufacturers can find it earlier in their process, then they’ve saved all the extra time

and the expense of putting in to add extra parts to their product or finalising it. Also, before it gets out into the field if they are unable to detect a fault before it goes out, that can sometimes lead to serious issues,” he said. “In the case of medical devices, you don’t want something that’s faulty out in the field, similarly with automotive.

It can be a big cost saving.”

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Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 31

Tests & Measurements Preparing for the next decade of manufacturing For Australian manufacturers to ride the wave of COVID-19, a focus on high value and accurate products is needed to capture the demand for Australian-made.

Test Machines Australia supplies locally manufactured testing equipment to ensure correct calibration of parts and machines.

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INCE the outbreak of COVID-19, the Australian manufacturing sector has stepped up to provide essential goods and services to the Australian public. Whether filling the gaps in supply chains for masks, pivoting to the production of sanitiser, or increasing local production lines as imports became unavailable, Australians are now getting their hands on more Australian-made products than in the past decades.

Although plastics producers, who quickly began making masks, and alcohol manufacturers who swapped to hand sanitiser may go back to their previous product 32 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

lines once the pandemic is under control, COVID-19 is expected to be a watershed moment in the evolution of Australian manufacturing. According to a report from BIS Oxford Economics, the value of all sub sectors of Australian manufacturing is expected to increase over the next ten years, with food and beverage manufacturing leading the way.

This is good news not just for the manufacturing industry, but for the wider community. For every manufacturing job added, at least four other jobs are created, according to the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance

(SEMMA). This is a figure that Paul Cibotto, CEO of Test Machines Australia, knows from experience.

“Australian made products support not just one industry, one company, or one person. An Australian made product will support the person who’s building the machine, their company, and their families. It also supports the person that’s supplying the parts to that company and their families.”

What the BIS Oxford Economics’ report showed was that Australian manufacturing would increase in value, not in volume. This is where Australian manufacturing will be globally competitive in the years

to come. The automotive sector provides one example of how this may occur.

While vehicle assembly has largely wound up in Australia, the skills and expertise of the local sector has morphed into the production of high value components and materials. Most recently, this was highlighted in the announcement of Victorian-based manufacturer Doftek releasing a world-first Active Wheel Alignment System for passenger vehicles.

The system can regulate a wheel’s camber (longitudinal angle), caster (longitudinal tilt) and toe (latitudinal angle), reducing tyre wear, saving fuel, and improving handling performance.

As an Australian-designed and engineered product, Doftek is one of a number of manufacturers who rely upon an ecosystem of precise and accurate support in the testing and development phase. In Cibotto’s case, the move to manufacture components, not just for automotive applications, but in the aeronautical and aerospace industry using new materials, requires local testing expertise.

“We do a lot of specialised projects and projects for the defence department. While we can’t discuss the exact projects, there’s a lot more carbon fibre projects and titanium componentry being designed and developed.”

In these cases, high value locally designed and made parts rely upon local testing and prototyping.

“By supporting the prototype industry you’re allowing the customer to develop a stronger or more efficient prototype stronger, allowing them to build a better product which enables the Australian development side to get stronger and stronger,” said Cibotto.

By going local during the testing and prototyping phase, product development is streamlined, and manmonthly.com.au

Tests & Measurements the current crisis ready to meet the demand for locally made and supported products.

“We should be using this time to prepare for the future. People are looking more and more towards Australian made and they understand that it may cost a little bit more but we’re actually now paying a little bit more attention to where things are made. If we don’t prepare for what will come, people will want Australian-made but the products won’t be there to meet the demand.

“We need to be trying to set up our manufacturing, whether it be our tooling, our labs, or our processes for the future. The situation we’re in right now isn’t

going to be there forever. The important thing is we’ll need to be prepared when it does come.”

Ensuring that Australia has the capacity and capability to product high-value products requires local testing expertise, something that Cibotto is continuing to provide to Australian manufacturers despite COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’re an Australian company, we have our own service people in every state. We’re still doing calibrations and service. We’re doing a lot more phone conferences, and through our knowledge of the industry and experience we’re still able to discuss the requirements, make sales, and repair and service machines.”

Test Machines Australia is continuing to provide local testing expertise to Australian manufacturers, despite COVID-19 restrictions.

High value locally designed and made parts rely upon local testing and prototyping. the industry can leverage its natural advantages.

“You’ll benefit from a faster response, as well as a smoother and an easier transaction,” said Cibotto.

“You’ll benefit from the local knowledge and understanding of the situation, and you don’t have to deal in different time zones. Everybody will understand what’s going on.”

Having worked with Australian manufacturers of all sizes, from small businesses to large corporations and universities, Cibotto can see the potential for local manufacturing.

“I’m a strong believer in Australian manufacturing. It can be made to good standards, it can be made repeatably, and the quality can be checked all the way along the manufacturing process.

You’re not just inspecting the final product, you can keep an eye on the whole manufacturing process, or you can oversee it. You can make sure if there’s an issue, you can see manmonthly.com.au

it before it becomes a problem.

Ideally, you’re overseeing the production start to finish.”

Having a partner who knows how to ensure quality is vital to this approach. Test Machines Australia supplies locally manufactured testing equipment to make sure the components and the machines that are producing those components are correctly calibrated.

“We look for quality componentry and we look for the way it’s assembled,” said Cibotto.

“Anybody can purchase good parts, but assemble it badly, and it creates a bad machine that doesn’t work. We can see through our manufacturing experience whether the machine is going to do the job as required.”

With demand still high for COVID-19 supplies and borders closed, Cibotto argues that now is the time to get ready for the next ten years, and for Australian manufacturers to think about how they are going to come out of Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 33

Supply Chain Management ASCI 2021 will be held at the William Inglis Hotel, Sydney.

Supply chain vision in the Decade For Action ASCI2021 promises to demonstrate how Australian supply chains have weathered COVID-19 and provide insights to their future resilience.

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F any images comes to define the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it may be the sight of normally well-stocked supermarket shelves emptied of consumer goods from pasta and flour, to toilet paper and hand sanitiser.

While panic buying was an irrational response to the nature of the COVID-19 threat – there was no chance of Australia running out of many of these items – what the rush on supermarkets and other stores did demonstrate was the finely calibrated nature of Australia’s supply chains. To meet the needs of consumers for fresh goods at any time of the year and to avoid overwhelming storage spaces, Australia’s supply chain managers have been working to ensure that products are ready just in time, ready to be plucked from the shelves at a customer’s whim.

The massive increase in demand due to panic buying brought to light the fragility of this system. In addition, as international flights were grounded, Australia’s ability to export its world-renowned fresh produce was immediately curtailed.

What this did was bring the role of the supply chain manager, and the people who enable the links in the chain to connect, out of the backoffice and into the public spotlight.

Monique Fenech, head of sales and marketing at the Australasian 34 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Supply Chain Institute (ASCI), has seen this firsthand.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has really brought supply chain management to the forefront of people’s minds. We’re starting to talk about supply chain as an essential service, which has never been the case before,” she said.

In a way by virtue of its success, the complexity of Australia’s supply chain has not often been on view to customers. However, the critical role of the professionals in this field has never been more in demand as trade routes recalibrate and new markets are being identified.

“Supply chain management rolls off people’s tongues, they’re all talking about it from a consumer standpoint. But even more impact has been made within organisations because supply chain managers have been brought into the boardroom to fix this problem. They look at these outages, look at these delays, and look at these increased prices. “Executives are asking, ‘We don’t have access to our air freight like we used to, what are we going to do?’ So that’s really changed the internal profile of supply chain management within the organisation,” said Fenech.

While the scale and magnitude of the current crisis may be beyond what was planned for at the beginning of 2020, Fenech counters that dealing with these kinds of issues, whether

they be due to a pandemic or other cause, is actually the bread and butter of the profession.

“This situation is business as usual for our supply chain managers; they deal with risk on a day to day basis. A good example of that is where perhaps they might have a dual sourcing strategy in place already because for some, not all, supply chains that would be considered best practice, so they would already have set in place some business continuity strategies.”

The next step will be for companies to reset their risk management plans and contingency procedures to account for the ongoing restrictions and the likelihood of another pandemic happening again. This reality calls for supply chains to not simply return to a pre-COVID-19 status, but rather learn from the experience of the pandemic and bounce back more resilient than ever.

“As opposed to going back to the way things were, it’s about bringing all of the political, economic, geographic, and social impacts that affect our supply chains into the mix using really smart technologies such as artificial intelligence to give us a better idea of where our supply chains are vulnerable and how we can improve them in the new decade,” said Fenech.

This next decade will be the focus of the ASCI’s conference, ASCI2021, to be held on the 23rd and 24th of

February at the William Inglis Hotel in Sydney. The conference’s theme is Supply Chain Vision In The Decade For Action, adapting the United Nation’s priority of the same name for the supply chain industry. Janet Salem, economic affairs officer, circular economy at the United Nations will deliver an international keynote highlighting the theme’s application for supply chain managers.

One area that Fenech sees as improving based on the experience during COVID-19 is the connection and collaboration between suppliers, something that the conference will highlight.

“Deepening the collaboration that we have with our suppliers is only going to make the supply chain more efficient and also more robust.

Once that trust is there and the collaboration is there, the visibility inevitably becomes greater, and that is the end goal for a supply chain manager – to have complete visibility across the end to end supply chain and sometimes it takes something like a catastrophe to bring you closer to your supplier.”

Delivering best practice in supply chain management For the past 60 years, ASCI has been working with the supply chain management industry to grow the career of supply chain management. manmonthly.com.au

Supply Chain Management “Back in the early days, inventory management was a new career and we travelled to the US to find some global standards that we could use in Australia. We’re applying that same technique now to global end-to-end supply chain standards and in order to do that, we’re looking at global compliance and global regulation and bringing that down to the level that we need to communicate to members,” said Fenech.

In Australia, ASCI provides best practice knowledge to build the standards of supply chain management.

“We call that our Professional Accreditation Scheme. Just like lawyers, engineers, and accountants, they have professional accreditation bodies that they belong to and they are registered within a professional accreditation scheme as well. That proves that they can practice within that field and they’ve proven their knowledge in that field,” said Fenech.

“We’ve never had anything like this in supply chain management in Australia, so now is a really good time to address it, considering the complexities of the end to end supply chain have been made so apparent through COVID-19.”

To assist its members in adapting to the disruptions of COVID-19, ASCI is conducting research and benchmarking

The conference will also feature the 28th ASCI awards dinner.

manmonthly.com.au

global best practice so that Australian supply chains can come out of the pandemic more resilient that ever.

“Currently ASCI is working with the University of Melbourne on a risk survey, to see how we’ve been redefining risk and that will be a really important part of our conference on day two where we will be presenting those findings for the first time and giving our supply chain managers who are delegates at that conference a first look in as to what they need to be doing to reset their business continuity plans.”

While discussions were held at the beginning of the pandemic to understand whether the conference’s theme should change to focus directly on the events of the past six months, the advisory board ultimately decided that Supply Chain Vision In The Decade For Action encompassed the ongoing challenges that supply chains would face into the future.

“If companies don’t change the way they do things and put their supply chains front and centre of their operational efficiency, then they’re just not going to survive in the new era,” said Fenech.

Over the two days of the conference, ASCI has assembled a panel of local and international supply chain leaders, who will share their insights from a range of sectors.

Janet Salem will deliver the international keynote.

These include the medical, industrial, defence, and fast-moving consumer goods sectors as well as the transport and logistics sector.

On February 25, delegates will be able to tour the under-construction Western Sydney Airport site, the core of the future Aerotropolis and new logistics hub for Western Sydney. Attendees can participate in a panel discussion with local councils, moderated by Amanda Brisot, general manager of Western Sydney Business Connection.

With multiple streams on each day, Fenech highlights that it is

worth businesses bringing multiple attendees.“If supply chain managers can think about bringing a few members of their team because there are certainly different experiences that each of their team members could have throughout the two-day conference and then come together afterwards to share key learnings across those functions.”

Streams on day one will cover procurement, operations management, and logistics management, while on day two streams encompass systems and technology, supply chain management, and the future supply chain management workforce.

“There are some great stories in there from Metcash, for example, about how COVID-19 brought about some great opportunity for them to work with Woolworths and Coles,” said Fenech.

ASCI2021 will also host the 28th ASCI awards dinner, and with so much upheaval during the past year, Fenech expects some engaging stories to come out of the awards.

“It will be one of the best because we want to see where excellence exists, where excellence has been demonstrated through these really tough times, and often it’s during tough times that innovation really does push through.”

For more information, to book tickets, and view the full program go to: www.asci-2021.com.au Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 35

JOIN US TO CELEBRATE OUR WOMEN IN INDUSTRY!

For the past 4 years, Atlas Copco Australia have been a proud sponsor of the Women in Industry awards, namely, the Rising Star of the Year award.

These awards are a special way in which we can show our commitment to advancing gender balance in industry. As a global company, we recognise the link between diversity and as we say, “there is always a better way.� Contributing to these awards is just another way that we can show that we recognise the talents and achievements of females across our industry.

Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners!

www.atlascopco.com or 1800 023 469

Women in Industry WOMEN IN INDUSTRY 2020 WINNERS Social Leader of the Year Jackie Lewis-Gray - BAE Systems Australia

Rising Star of the Year Sponsored by Atlas Copco

Alicia Heskett - Shell Australia (QGC)

Business Development Success of the Year Rachael Ashfield - ifm efector

Industry Advocacy Award Rose Read - National Waste & Recycling Industry Council

Safety Advocacy Award Sponsored by BOC

Nadine Youssef - Sydney Trains

Mentor of the Year Dayle Stevens - AGL Energy

Excellence in Manufacturing Rochelle Avinu - Leica Biosystems

Excellence in Mining Sarah Withell - Whitehaven Coal

Excellence in Engineering Sponsored by BAE Systems Australia

Elizabeth Taylor - RedR International

Excellence in Transport Melissa Strong - Lindsay Australia

manmonthly.com.au

Manufacturing talents recognised in Women in Industry Awards Three of Australian manufacturing’s brightest stars have been recognised at the Women in Industry Awards, taking out the Excellence in Manufacturing, Excellence in Engineering and Social Leader of the Year.

T

HE Women in Industry Awards aims to recognise and celebrate women in traditionally male-dominated industries, such as manufacturing, engineering, transport and mining.

Winners are chosen across 10 categories: Excellence in Engineering, Excellence in Transport, Excellence in Manufacturing, Excellence in Mining, Mentor of the Year, Safety Advocacy Award, Industry Advocacy Award, Business Development Success of the Year, Rising Star of the Year and Social Leader of the Year.

This year’s awards saw a 27 per cent rise in nominations compared with last year, as well as a record number of individuals, businesses and organisations represented.

The Women in Industry Awards winner for Excellence in Manufacturing this year is Rochelle Avinu, a senior scientist at Leica Biosystems. She said the award, in addition to winning the Victorian Manufacturing Woman of the Year in 2019, has enabled to her to have a bigger platform to share her story.

“Having a curious mind and acknowledging the contribution of transferrable skills, adds diversity and inclusion to any team or business,” she said.

“Winning the Excellence in

Manufacturing would further enable me to hopefully inspire the manufacturing industry.

“Diversity and inclusion are not just about race or gender but encompasses all differences including experience and knowledge in multiple disciplines.”

In 2020, Avinu accepted a site leadership role at Leica Biosystems Melbourne, moving into the Danaher Business System Leader role (DBSL).

The role promotes and facilitates the successful implementation of DBS. Initiatives include targeting safety, quality, delivery, cost and innovation using Lean manufacturing and other tools to drive sustainable business success and associate development.

Senior scientist Rochelle Avinu of Leica Biosystems, winner of the Excellence in Manufacturing award.

Avinu said the best thing about working in the industry is the multiple career pathways and experiences that are available.

“Often the manufacturing industry is portrayed as factory work, but there are endless opportunities in the industry in cross-functional disciplines, such as laboratories, quality, procurement and management and leadership,” she said.

Through her experience of winning the manufacturing award as a trained scientist, Avinu hopes to inspire people from all disciplines to apply for roles outside of their industry. At the same time, she hopes hirers will see the value of “hiring outside the box”. Avinu believes this will attract diverse and innovative thought to propel the industry forward.

Her advice to any new starter in the industry is to not be afraid, inspired by former US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

“Do one thing every day that scares you,” she said. “There are endless possibilities in the manufacturing industry. Maintain a curious mind, ask questions, speak up and put forward your ideas and feedback.”

Winner of the Excellence in Engineering Award, Elizabeth Taylor of RedR International, Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 37

Women in Industry echoed Avinu’s sentiment, and regards the endless possibilities in engineering as a positive.

“Each new project brings its own wow factor,” she said.

Taylor said her proudest achievement to date is empowering diversity within decision making, as well as achieving her first design – a small timber jetty.

Elizabeth Taylor of RedR International, winner of the Excellence in Engineering award.

Her passion for engineering and envisaging its stewardship of the natural world has led to exciting projects.

“Taking my passion for engineering to envisaging its stewardship of the natural world while meeting the challenges of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” she said. “I’ve recently taken on the role of Chair Elect of SmartCrete CRC, with a vision to shift concrete, humans’ second most used material, into the circular economy.”

For people starting out in the industry, Taylor’s advice is to be open and “never lose your wonder”.

“It is an honour to have been considered. The award provides opportunities for fascinating conversations and insights,” she said.

BAE System’s Jackie LewisGray, winner of the Social Leader of the Year award is attracted to opportunities that encourage the younger generation enter the engineering profession.

“My proudest contribution would have to be the work experience that I organised for some students,” she said.

“The students, myself and the 38 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

company all gained some valuable knowledge and experience out of the program.”

Lewis-Gray said winning the award is not about the recognition, but the opportunities it provides to inspire the younger generation into an engineering career, especially females.

“I also hope that the award inspires not only graduates, but also experienced female engineers to step out of their comfort zone to have an impact, be a role model and encourage the younger generation,” she said.

For her next project, Lewis-Gray endeavours to organise a “design a toy” initiative, where students design toys that incorporate elements of engineering, aimed at young girls.

“The defence industry is a great opportunity to meet some influential contacts that will be able to support me in my endeavours,” she said.

“They have a great enthusiasm for STEM and are always looking for more ways that they can contribute to encourage more students into engineering.”

Lewis-Gray said studying and progressing through a career as a minority can be tough.

“Take every opportunity you can,” she said. The phrase “you only got it because you are a girl” can be extremely degrading, and never let it hold you back. Who cares how you got the job, either way you know you worked hard for it and that’s what matters.”

The many courses to success After staying with the same company for almost 20 years, ifm efector marketing manager Rachael Ashfield knows a thing or two about how to grow the business.

As the recipient of the Business Development Success of the Year award at the 2020 Women in Industry Awards, Ashfield has been commended for a number of innovative campaigns that have grown ifm in the food and beverage manufacturing, and mining sectors.

Ashfield’s role sees her develop a number of marketing and communications campaigns to expand

its customer base for ifm sensor technology and equipment. ifm’s products are applicable to a number of industries and fully embrace the advantages of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) 4.0 technology through its sensors and automated technology.

Ashfield’s longstanding career with ifm has resulted in developing a deep understanding towards automation technology – starting in administration and working her way up to the company’s marketing manager.

Her colourful role has helped strengthen ifm’s national and international presence. Ashfield has developed relationships with publishers, trade event companies and cartage contractors, which previously she had no relationships with.

She has also familiarised herself with a number of industries that were foreign to her prior to starting her career at ifm.

Harbouring this knowledge, Ashfield has identified that a stronger presence in sector-targeted advertising and marketing was needed.

Growth areas for ifm that Ashfield identified included the mining sector, food and beverage manufacturing.

In the past year, Ashfield has launched two campaigns that have enhanced ifm’s visibility in the Australian market, along with being utilised by ifm’s global marketing out of Germany.

One of the two campaigns was directed at mining, where Ashfield helped develop an animated marketing campaign that focusses on the safety aspects of ifm’s solutions for the mining industry.

In 2019, Ashfield launched the “Still Working” campaign, with part two released this year. It is designed to show that ifm’s sensors can withstand extreme situations and conditions to highlight the robustness of the products.

The “Still Working” campaign’s innovative approached followed a “mythbusters’ video format and featured ifm employees well known in industry circles, and showed the equipment was still working at the end of the harsh condition testing.

The videos are designed to be fun

Jackie Lewis-Gray, graduate mechanical engineer at BAE Systems, winner of the Social Leader of the Year award. and unique to ifm – demonstrating the company’s business model as a likeable, playful yet reliable and solid “out-of-the-box” business.

Ashfield also worked alongside a web development team – stillworking. com.au – to complement the videos and to emphasise the messaging behind the campaign.

The campaign has received praise from ifm’s Asia marketing them, followed by the company’s top Germany team, who have since instructed each country to replicated it for their own markets.

Ashfield’s innovation behind this campaign has allowed her to achieve global-ifm status due to her ability to look outside of the box using a multifaceted approach to expanding the company’s market presence.

Being the front-runners of WII Awards does not only affect the winners themselves, or even their company and industry, but also those who have the privilege of recognising their achievements.

Christine Gibbs-Stewart, a 2020 WII judge and recipient of a WII Award in 2016, is humbled to be in their company.

“As a judge, it was great to read each applicant’s inspirational story.

Each is unique and should be told, and these awards are a great way to do that,” the Austmine chief executive said.

“We have been a supporter of the WII Awards for many years as it is great to recognise the achievements of some amazing women.”

The 2020 winners and nominees are manmonthly.com.au

BOC South Pacific, supporting women in industry

Safety at BOC is one of the founding principles of our business and inspires us to make the right decisions, take the appropriate measures and behave in a responsible manner, with a goal of zero incidents globally.

BOC supplies compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment throughout the South Pacific and with our wide distribution network, we are here to support your business.

boc.com.au | 131 262 BOC is a trading name of BOC Limited, a member of the Linde Group. Š BOC Limited 2019 ABN 95 000 029 729 Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Details given in this document are believed to be correct at the time of printing.

Whilst proper care has been taken in the preparation, no liability for injury or damage resulting from its improper use can be accepted.

BOC sponsors the safety advocacy award for excellence, which highlights individuals working actively to improve safety in their industry.

MP19-0217 | LB 0619

BOC South Pacific is once again a proud sponsor of the Women in Industry Awards and have been since it began.

Women in Industry

ifm efector marketing manager, Rachael Ashfield, winner of the Business Development Success of the Year award. regarded as “strong and influential women”, who have led positive change across Australia.

“Hearing their stories is not only inspiring but shows the steps the industry is making to reach gender equality,” WII judge and Tradeswomen Australia head of operations Angela Gaylard said.

Another WII judge and National Committee for Women in Engineering 2020 chair Hayley Rohrlach says that the quality of nominees she reviewed were certainly impressive. She had a hard time splitting a number of the nominees and felt it unfair to not be able to give a full mark to each of them.

This goes to show the number of high performing female engineers throughout all stages of careers.

Rohrlach isn’t the only one who said it was challenging to be a judge for Women in Industry awards. National Association of Women in Operations board member Melissa Donald also had a challenging time judging due to the impressive calibre of nominees.

They include mentors who are committed to developing women in the sector, industry advocates who have positively shaped the portrayal of the sector and social leaders who have influenced change across the broader community.

The diversity of manufacturers that put forward nominees also creates an impression on Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre director, corporate affairs, Kelly Godeau.

“We saw nominations from some of 40 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Australia’s largest businesses through to smaller companies that expressed the same (huge) pride for the work their female staff contributed,” she said.

“The level of commitment these nominees dedicated to their roles exceeded what would be deemed necessary.

“Many sacrificed personal time to get things done to ensure a safer workplace, better policies, encouraging more women and younger girls into manufacturing, and lifted the perception of what it meant to work in Australian manufacturing.”

But WII judge and Institute of Quarrying Australia chief executive Kylie Fahey said that one thing stood out in each application: a genuine commitment and passion to improve the industry.

“The awards promote the contribution of women and support the broader agenda of diversity and inclusion,” she said.

“By highlighting and celebrating the contribution of women to the industry, we can encourage more women into careers, help increase representation in leadership roles and support change.”

Subhead: Driving force behind WII Atlas Copco, a long-term supporter of the Women in Industry Awards, came back this year as the sponsor of the Rising Star of the Year award.

As a global manufacturer of air compressors, vacuum pumps and industrial gas equipment, with offices in major cities across the globe, Atlas Copco has always maintained a strong focus on diversity and inclusion.

Atlas Copco’s commitment to creating an inclusive work environment for its employees is reflected in their commitment to supporting the Women in Industry Awards, five years in a row.

In the words of the company’s spokesperson, “The Women in Industry awards is a special way in which we can show our commitment to advancing the gender balance in industry.”

“As a global company, Atlas Copco recognises the link between diversity and innovation and as we say: ‘there is always a better way’ and contributing to these awards is just one way that we

Hearing their stories is not only inspiring but shows the steps the industry is making to reach gender equality. can show that Atlas Copco recognises the talent and achievement of females across our industry.”

Another long-term sponsor, BOC, has been supporting the Women in Industry Awards for the past six years.

This year, they came back to support the Safety Advocacy Awards.

For more than 80 years, BOC has been producing high-quality gas throughout the South Pacific, using local talent and resources. Given the nature of their industry, it is not hard to imagine why safety is a priority for BOC when it comes to the awards’ sponsorship.

Michelle Blume, Director, HR, BOC South Pacific said the Safety Advocacy Award showcases the work done to successfully improve safety across numerous industries.

“Each of the finalists have demonstrated incredible leadership and dedication to improving safety at their workplaces and as a result their colleagues are able to return home to their families and friends each day safe and sound,” she said.

From her perspective, the awards are a “true testament” to leading women within manufacturing operation.

She said BOC is committed to diversity and creating an environment where women can thrive in their careers, and are celebrated for their achievements.

“The Women in Industry Awards challenges the traditional notion that manufacturing is primarily a male industry. At BOC we see a different reality – every day we see the triumphs and successes of the remarkable women working not only in our own business, but in our suppliers and across the broad base of our customer’s manufacturing facilities,” she said.

“BOC is passionate about excellence, and modern manufacturing needs to harness 100 per cent of the best talent

and ideas in Australia so that we can remain competitive and compete on a global scale.”

The Excellence in Engineering Award was sponsored by BAE Systems Australia. As one of the largest employers of engineers in the country, BAE Systems has a strong focus on gender diversity.

Director for Engineering Capability at BAE Systems, Kirsty Bateman, said the awards are an ideal platform to champion and celebrate the contribution of women on the engineering industry.

“These awards recognise the achievements of extraordinary, talented women, and also recognise the tremendous progress and achievements being realised within Australia’s manufacturing industry,” she said.

Manufacturing, particularly advanced manufacturing, is a critical part of BAE Systems. It ranges from producing parts on Australia’s own Jindalee Operational Radar Network – a strategic national security asset nation’s – to the building of a world class fleet of submarine hunting warships for the Royal Australian Navy, and other projects.

“In order to support diversity, we need platforms to ensure the extraordinary female role models we have, who, with recognition, will lead and inspire the next generation of women engineers,” Bateman said.

The Women in Industry Awards 2020 once again highlighted the achievements of women in the mining industry, as well as in manufacturing, road transport, logistics, rail and bulk handling, infrastructure and engineering.

The awards provided an opportunity for companies to learn from each other’s experiences and get inspired to extend their support for more inclusion and diversity across the sector. manmonthly.com.au

AUSE01Z60MA - V1

The most exciting careers on earth The most exciting and beyond careers on earth The most exciting and beyond careers onexciting earth The most and beyond careers onexciting earth The most and beyond careers on earth and beyond BAE Systems are currently delivering some of the largest defence projects in Australia’s history. From building and designing a fleet of cutting edge stealth frigates, to pioneering autonomous vehicles and space technology, we are needcurrently your skillsdelivering to help us push BAE Systems somefurther. of the Which is why we’re now recruiting for a range of largest defence projects in Australia’s history. From new and exciting roles across the nation, in areas like building and designing a fleet of cutting edge stealth BAE Systemsdevelopment, are currently delivering some of the engineering manufacturing, sustainment frigates, to pioneering autonomous vehicles largest defence projects in Australia’s history. From and space and technology. technology, we needa your skills to help push further. building and designing fleet of cutting edge us stealth frigates, pioneering vehicles and Which isto why we’re now recruiting range Whether it’s air, or autonomous space, each project signifi cant of BAE Systems aresea currently delivering some is offor theaspace technology, we need your skills help us further. not just forexciting Australia, butinfor thetoworld.

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Apply at baesystemscareers.com.au

What’sNew Tapping sheet metal in a punch press Tapping sheet metal can quickly be done using an in-turret tapping tool to create threaded holes in sheet metal. Tapping is frequently used to assist in the faster assembly of sheet metal components, in-turret tapping tool eliminates the need to use additional machinery for inserting separately purchased fasteners or conducting secondary tapping operations that require more part handling and with that, you get clean, high-quality tapped holes.

at Sheetmetal Tooling Technolgy can guide you on each of the applications to enable accurate engagement.

Sheetmetal Tooling Tech P/L is the Australian distributor for Wilson Tool your partner in tooling solutions to the bending, punching, stamping, tableting and additive industries.

Company: Sheetmetal Tooling Tech Phone: (02) 8004 7027 Web: www.tooltech.com.au

How it works Just like piercing or forming tools, the in-turret tapping tool is installed in the turret punch press in a regular punching station. With the action of the machine stroke, the in-turret tapping tool creates a perfect thread at all the programmed locations at speeds up to 200 taps per minute.

When the ram strikes the in-turret tapping tool, the vertical inertia is transferred to rotational inertia which rotates the tap, forming the threads in the material. Thus, the pitch of the thread is created. Timed to the machine stroke tapping fluid is injected at the tap at the initiation of the process. This helps in minimizing the tap wear and in creating a high quality tapped hole. Taps in the in-turret tapping tool that produce the threads can be changed easily. These are available with various coatings for enhanced tap performance and increased life span. The taps are available in a wide range of metrics and imperial sizes.

Tapping is possible in both thick and thin materials. For thinner material, you will need the extrude the hole to be tapped. This is also a process that is easily achieved on a punch press. The use of extrusions will ensure optimum thread engagement. Thicker materials may only need a thru-hole to create threads.

With a full set of working parameters, our experienced and skilled tooling technicians

Mouser Electronics’ ADcmXL1021-1 vibration sensor for industrial systems Mouser Electronics, the industry’s leading new product introduction (NPI) distributor with the widest selection of semiconductors and electronic components, is now stocking the ADcmXL1021-1 vibration sensor from Analog Devices. Based on Analog Devices’ microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensor technology, the ADcmXL1021-1 module is a complete sensing system that monitors for early indications of possible machine fatigue and failure specifically in industrial and transportation equipment to help reduce repair costs and maintain a high level of productivity.

Analog Devices’ ADcmXL1021-1, available from Mouser Electronics, is a single z-axis vibration monitoring subsystem designed to simplify the development of smart sensor nodes in condition-based monitoring (CBM) systems. The device incorporates a wide-bandwidth, low-noise MEMS accelerometer plus an analog-todigital converter (ADC), high-performance signal processing, data buffers, record storage, and a user interface that easily works with most embedded processors.

The device’s signal processing includes high-speed data sampling (220 kSPS), 4096 time sample record lengths, filtering, windowing, fast Fourier transform (FFT), user-configurable spectral or time statistic alarms, and error flags.

The ADcmXL1021-1 uses an ADXL1002 MEMS accelerometer with ultra-low noise density (26 µg/√Hz) to support excellent resolution. With a wide bandwidth of DC to 10 kHz, the device enables tracking of key vibration signatures on many machinebased platforms. The ADcmXL1021-1 offers a high operating input range of ±50 g, making it suitable for vibration measurements in high-bandwidth Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 applications such as vibration analysis systems that monitor and diagnose machine or system health, as well as safety shutoff sensing.

42 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Mouser also stocks the EVAL-ADCM-1 evaluation kit, which includes the ADcmXL1021-1 module, a breakout board, an ADcmXL interface board, a Cypress Semiconductor EZ-USB FX3 board, and necessary cables. Engineers can connect the kit to a PC to access evaluation software for effortless configuration of the module, register setup, data display, and data logging.

As an authorised distributor, Mouser Electronics is focused on the rapid introduction of new products and technologies, giving customers an edge and helping speed time to market. Over 800 semiconductor and electronic component manufacturers count on Mouser to help them introduce their products into the global marketplace. Mouser’s customers can expect 100 per cent certified, genuine products that are fully traceable from each manufacturer.

Company: Mouser Electronics Phone: +852 3756 4700 Web: au.mouser.com

manmonthly.com.au

Brought to you by

BOGE Series-4 rotary screw air compressors The new innovative Series-4 machines mark both the fourth generation of air compressors for BOGE as well as the fourth generation of family owners of the company. BOGE now enjoys a history of over 115 years of “First Class Engineering made in Germany”.

New models include 55, 75, 90, 110, 132 and 160kW with fixed speed and variable speed options from 7.5 to 13bar.

Features of the new machines include: • BOGE air end Refined to very accurate tolerances with greater output capacity • Sound-optimised cooling air duct R educed noise levels due to specific insulation measures at the deflection points • Low-speed radial fan Again reducing noise and also reducing energy costs • Elastic “silent-mount” suspension A ll components are secured to the base frame with elastic mountings to ensure isolation from vibrations • Maintenance-friendly design based on easy access Wide opening doors, easy internal access reducing service time • Innovative separation tech for safe, convenient cartridge replacement N ew swivel mechanism for the cover makes changing cartridges faster and reduces the risk of accidents

• Focus 2.0 controller W ith the Focus-2.0 controller you can connect up to four fixed and/or frequency-controlled compressors. From that moment, everything is simple: you authenticate yourself via the RFID-Chip, and intuitively control the various functions. That’s how comfortable modern compressor control can be!

In summary the BOGE Series-4 generation screw compressors impress with reduced noise levels, innovative separation technology, very simple maintenance and top efficiency values in their class. Importantly the innovative design concept of the S-4 series represents major progress in terms of reduced power consumption.

Company: BOGE Compressors Phone: (03) 5940 5913 Web: www.boge.net.au

Embedded box computer with 8th generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processor Features Include: • extreme computing power and graphic display capability; • d esktop grade socket type core - i3/i5/i7/Xeon (max. TDP up to 71W) processor; • up to 32GB DDR4 ECC or non-ECC SODIMM; • optional dual hard drives; • 4x Intel GbE LAN (i211 x 3 + i219 x 1), support iAMT; • 2x HDMI dual display; • 8x USB 3.2 (C246) or 4x USB 3.2, 4x USB 2.0 (H310); • 6x BIOS Selectable RS-232/422/485 com ports; and • wide range DC 10~35V input.

Interworld Electronics has released the BOXER-6641 multi-core embedded controller from Aaeon. The BOXER-6641 is designed to provide users with unmatched flexibility and performance and features eighth generation Intel Core i socket type processor, fanless operation, extensive I/O, compact size and robust construction.

The BOXER-6641 is based on the Intel H310 or C246 chipset to provide a state-ofthe-art multi-core embedded platform. Supported processor options include: 8th generation Intel Core i7-8700T, i5-8500T, i3-8100T and Intel Xeon E-2125G. The BOXER-6641 is equipped with two SODIMM sockets supporting up to 32GB ECC or non-ECC of DDR4-2666 system memory, four Gigabit RJ-45 Ethernet connectors and six RS- RS-232/422/485 ports. The H310 chipset BOXER-6641-A1 features four USB 3.2 ports, four USB 2.0 ports while C246 chipset BOXER-6641-A2 features eight USB 3.2 ports.

A 2.5” SATA hard drive or a mSATA SSD can be internally mounted for operating system and data storage. An optional second hard drive can be installed for data manmonthly.com.au

intensive applications or RAID support.

System expansion is possible via two full size mini-card slots capable of supporting AI applications with hardware solutions such as AAEON’s AI Core X neural network card with on-board Intel Movidius Myriad X VPU. The BOXER-6641 features an Intel HD graphics engine which supports high resolution displays and provides two HDMI outputs.

Other features include support for Audio Line-out and Mic-in, a power button and reset button as well as a remote power switch connector.

The unique heat sink and fanless design of the BOXER-6641 coupled with an operating temperature range of -20°C to 55°C ensures long-term reliable operation in industrial and embedded environments.

The BOXER-6641 can be powered from a 10~35V DC source. An optional 240VAC power pack is also available.

For more information contact Interworld Electronics.

Company: Interworld Electronics Phone: (03) 9593 7555 Web: www.ieci.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 43

What’sNew MSA Lifting Magnets Are you aware there are deep field and shallow field Lifting Magnets available?

Deep field (Passive Shunting) Lifting Magnets have been used for many decades in Australia. In the last ten years shallow field (Active Shunting) Lifting Magnets have been gaining in Popularity.

To understand why, we need to look at the differences and what that means in the workplace.

Deep field magnets are generally durable robust pieces of equipment, but many people are not aware that they will only lift their advertised capacity at the depth of their magnetic field.

This depth varies between sizes. An average PML 500kg magnet has a 40mm deep field. This means it is only rated to lift 500kg if the material you are handling is 40mm thick. If the material is 20mm thick this 500kg magnet is rated to lift 350kg. A 1 tonne deep field magnet typically has a 60mm deep field, so on 20mm material thickness it is rated to lift 350kg which is the same as a PML 500kg magnet.

A shallow field magnet rated to lift 400kg has a 12.7mm deep field so it can lift 400kg of 12.7mm material. When you are handling 20mm plate it is still rated to lift 400kg.

Most deep field magnets are not rated to lift material less than 10mm thick while many shallow field magnets are rated on material as thin as 0.5mm thick.

So, what that means in the workplace when you are using deep field magnets, is there is more potential to mismatch the magnet to the load.

A mismatch like using a one tonne PML with a 60mm field to lift 15mm plate, will result in the lever being very hard to actuate and very hard to turn off. The lever

will be very forceful on release resulting in a risk of wrist injuries.

Furthermore, a calculation is required by the operator to ensure the magnet is rated to lift the material at the given thickness.

Using a shallow field magnet on material from 0.5mm to 25mm thick will ensure that the levers actuate in a gentle manner, reducing potential wrist injuries while reducing the risk of operator error due to misunderstanding their magnets capacity on various thickness’s.

MSA supplies both types and are looking forward to offering advice on which type suits your requirements.

Company: Magnet Sales Australia Phone: (02) 4272 8180 Web: www.magnetsalesaust.com.au

New managed air power service by Sullair Australia Sullair Australia, a Hitachi Group company, has launched a new service that revolutionises the compressed air industry.

Sullair’s Managed Air Power (MAP) is a comprehensive solution to all your compressed air needs, without the significant upfront capital outlay.

The acquisition of a significant piece of equipment represents substantial capital outlay for any company. MAP makes compressed air easy, and can provide a pressure relief valve for your company if it’s under stress in these challenging times. MAP service begins with an assessment and analysis of the company’s compressed air needs (including future growth). This is followed by Sullair’s experts specifying, customising, and installing the appropriate compressor tailored to your specific requirements for air flow, pressure and air quality. Sullair then takes over all the maintenance and servicing of your compressed air 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, over 5 years.

By outsourcing the management of your air compressor system to the experts, Sullair’s new service gives you total control of your compressed air needs, without the significant upfront cost. Other benefits include: • Maximised reliability and uptime. Thanks to MAP, your compressed air operations will be monitored 24/7/365, meaning maximum uptime to keep your business operations continually up and running. We’ll know if there’s a problem with your compressor before you do.

• Improved productivity. Outsourcing the management of your air compressor system to an expert means that you can focus your resources solely on your core business.

• Full monthly reporting. MAP brings transparency, giving you peace of mind both financially and operationally by delivering full reports on your compressed

44 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

air system, including usage, servicing, and performance.

• Easy budget management. Enjoy the convenience of one monthly invoice for a flat monthly fee. The fee is based off your projected annual consumption and includes equipment, parts, maintenance, monitoring, and management of your entire compressed air system. No more unexpected expenses or hidden costs!

• Expedite purchasing of new or replacement equipment. MAP allows you to treat purchases as an operating expense rather than a Capex budget item.

Company: Sullair Australia Phone: 1300 266 773 Web: sullair.com.au

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Brought to you by

New igus SLS material for electrostatically conductive wearresistant parts from the 3D printer Lubrication-free tribo-polymer iglidur I8-ESD enables the cost-effective manufacture of durable special parts For safe and reliable production in the electronics and semiconductor industry, components are required that have electrostatically conductive properties. This is because even a small electric shock can destroy expensive production lines. igus has now developed a new stable material for the SLS method so that users can make their wearing parts with ESD properties flexibly and cost-effectively. The lubrication-free special parts made of iglidur I8-ESD can be ordered from Treotham.

Wear-resistant parts in the electronics and semiconductor industry are not only required to have a long service life but must also be electrostatically conductive, because a surge of electrostatic charge that is not dissipated by an insulating material can easily destroy the product. For the fast additive manufacture of electrostatically conductive special parts, igus has now developed a new iglidur tribo-polymer. iglidur I8-ESD is the third igus material that Treotham offers for the SLS method. The advantages of this method are evident: the user has a great deal of design freedom and can make the component without any tool costs. Moreover, no plastic waste is produced as the excess powder can be used several times and printed parts can be recycled. The parts made of the new SLS powder - like all igus materials - need no additional lubrication and are very structurally stable.

“With iglidur I8-ESD, we now include a tribo-polymer in our product range that has a resistance of 3x107 Ω x cm. In addition, the material is inherently black. As a

result, subsequent colouring is not necessary, whereby costs are lowered and the delivery time is improved”, explains Tom Krause, Head of Business Unit Additive Manufacturing at igus GmbH. “The user receives a very durable component that comes with all the desirable ESD properties.” iglidur I8-ESD convinces with high wear resistance The igus tribo-polymers undergo numerous tests in the igus 3,800 square-metre test laboratory. Here a pivoting test showed that the abrasion resistance of a sintered iglidur I8-ESD wear-resistant part is twice as great as that of a PA12 sintered component. iglidur I8-ESD was also convincing in a linear wear test. Treotham currently offers iglidur I8-ESD as SLS powder for processing in the customer’s own facility or for manufacture of a component in the igus 3D printing service.

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

BST presents Winmate’s M101S 10.1-inch IP65 rugged tablet PC Backplane Systems Technology presents Winmate’s M101S 10.1-inch IP65 water and dust proof rugged tablet PC. M101S is a 10.1” rugged tablet PC with a robust set of features designed to withstand Industrial use while providing high tech solutions that increase productivity, improve safety and reduce operational costs.

The dual camera design allows for clear images with its 8-megapixel main camera and 2-megapixel webcam. An optional barcode or RFID reader can be implemented into its design for additional functionality. Equipped standard with a hot-swappable battery design, a high capacity battery pack is optionally available. Two programmable function keys are located on the top right and bottom right on the rugged tablet.

The processing power comes from Intel’s Core i5-7200U Kaby Lake processor paired with genuine Intel Graphics for high performance. The tablet features a brilliant, In-Plane Switching (IPS) with direct optical bonding and projective capacitive touch screen, which is outdoor viewable and offers 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution.

Weighing at just 1.25kg the M101S delivers lightweight mobility in a rugged tablet designed for use in field services, vehicles, logistics and warehouse management.

Company: Backplane Systems Technology Phone: (02) 9457 6400 Web: www.backplane.com.au

Features: • 10.1” 1920x1200 IPS LED panel with P-Cap touch; • powerful performance with Intel Core i5 Kaby Lake processor; • IP65 water and dust proof; • optional barcode or RFID reader; • dual camera design: 8-megapixel main camera/2-megapixel webcam; • hot-swappable battery design/optional high-capacity battery pack; • two programmable function keys; and • with optical bonding for sunlight readability.

manmonthly.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly SEPTEMBER 2020 45

The Last Word

INNES WILLOX – Chief Executive, Ai Group

Growing manufacturing: what role for industry policy?

W

HENEVER there are calls for governments to divert our fragmented industry policy efforts and to concentrate their attention on “what we are really good at”, alarm bells should ring. It is true that governments have important roles to play in fostering the development of Australian industries. It is also true that our industry policies are fragmented and that much can be gained from giving them greater cohesion. But entrusting governments, their advisors and selected consultants to conjure up the list of ten mega-bets on future winning industries is a recipe for failure. Of course, by implication, it relegates a whole heap of other industries to also ran status. Worse than that, it is a lost opportunity to invest in capabilities that can be used in whatever we are good at. And much of what we are going to be good at is simply unpredictable.

A quarter of a century ago, when the dot com boom was gathering pace, it was fashionable to identify mining as a sunset industry whose time was passing and to advocate for a concerted effort to get on board the future giant of e-commerce. As it turned out, this was about half right: e-commerce was an emerging giant. But it was also half wrong: mining did not fade and instead it became responsible for the biggest investment boom in Australia since the gold rushes and for turning our current account deficits into surpluses.

Going further back, at a time when we were generally winding back tariffs on manufacturing and on rural subsidies, the auto assembly industry was singled out as the road to securing an advanced manufacturing industry. Of course, we didn’t call it “advanced manufacturing” then – the fashion was more for ‘elaborately transformed manufactured goods’.

But the auto assembly industry did

46 SEPTEMBER 2020 Manufacturers’ Monthly

not turn out as was hoped. No doubt it could have been done differently and with greater flexibility, but the point is that it wasn’t done differently; it did not adapt; and the government-designed car plan got stuck in the slow lane and eventually turned into a dead end.

The car plan did, as a byproduct, see the development of a whole heap of manufacturing expertise that has been able to be transferred and redeployed into the modern advanced manufacturing industry. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been a much better use of resources to invest more directly into the development of capabilities that could be deployed into a range of industries and businesses.

An alternative though still proactive approach to industry policy would include the allocation of resources to the following practical areas:

Developing the capabilities of small- and medium-sized businesses Australia’s very successful experience with the Entrepreneurs’ Programme is a case in point. This business advisory program could be extended and much better linked up with other capability development policies: including those in the various states and territories – particularly in the areas of digital capabilities and export capabilities. Where there are significant gaps and a fair bit of wasteful duplication, efforts to forge greater coherence would be well worth the inter-government and infra-government cooperation required to achieve it.

Linking up the Industry Capability Networks The Industry Capability Networks operating in each state are important resources and would benefit from stronger national coordination driven by the

objectives of generating greater value. This could include through the integration with digital platforms and consistent linking with private sector and government initiatives including their procurement policies and industry development strategies.

Supporting high-growth industries and businesses A much-scaled down version of the picking of the mega industries are the many much smaller-scale policy initiatives that identify and seed-fund areas of expertise by developing plans and approaches to the development of related industries. This approach has had some successes with a variety of state, territory and federal initiatives including the Growth Centres.

Admittedly, the industry-wide approach also has weaknesses.

Identification of potential opportunities can be coloured by the latest fads and by the interests, experiences and expectations of those involved. Political and interest group input can divert concentration away from areas of inherent merit towards areas with fewer genuine prospects.

Perhaps more importantly, identifying specific areas does not fit well with the serendipitous nature of business success deriving from firm-specific advantages evident in a wide variety of, often unexpected, industries.

A more concerted and coherent focus on businesses exhibiting strong firm-specific capabilities would complement the industryfocus applied in the Growth Centres and other initiatives. Lessons can be gleaned from the approach of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) that encourages and supports businesses with export potential and ambition with tailored services and links them to capability development services available from a wide range of providers.

Innovation Australia has the makings of a world-class innovation system.

We have great research expertise; we are building channels for much broader and deeper collaboration between the business and research sectors; and we have invested in a variety of Centres of Excellence and innovation networks and while it has declined in recent years, we have many businesses who are active in R&D. On this foundation can readily be built a much more extensive and more comprehensive approach to encouraging and supporting innovation. A start would be to publicise and celebrate the successes we have – for example in the Innovative Manufacturing CRC. Australia also has, or at least had a very effective program supporting business research and development. The Research and Development Tax Incentive (R&DTI) at one time supported Australia’s rapid rise in the OECD league table of business expenditure on R&D. Since about 2008, successive governments have chipped away at the program and a proposal is currently before the federal parliament to further wind back the scheme. Dropping that proposal and instead supporting business efforts to innovate would be a smart way to reinvigorate business sponsorship of domestic R&D. Industry policy doesn’t need to require governments to make big calls on the future. It can be much more modest and much more ambitious than that. By building on and linking up the wide range of existing policies and programs, we can add breadth and depth to the ranks of our successful businesses and give them the opportunity to develop Australian industries in whatever areas they are good at. manmonthly.com.au

RESILIENCE MEANS NOT WORRYING ABOUT “WHAT NOW?” AND INSTEAD, FOCUSING ON “WHAT’S NEXT?” The choice to be resilient has never been more important for a business to make. Today, resilience means choosing a different approach to insuring your commercial property. Above all, it’s choosing to navigate the business, personal and risk complexities you face to ensure you move your business forward. Which is why Resilience is a Choice.

RESILIENCE IS A CHOICE.

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