Manufacturers' Monthly October21

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MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

OCTOBER 2021

INTRODUCING LORCH COBOT WELDING TO AUSTRALIA.

www.lorch.com.au

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4517 LorchCobotFINAL MM 10.21

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MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

OCTOBER 2021

SHOWCASE 2021: FIND YOUR NEXT FABRICATION PARTNER Official Industry Partners

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Boosting the future with biomanufacturing

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Cobots and welding in one package

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Sensors that make the job easier

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Inside­­ OCTOBER 2021

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Manufacturers’ Monthly Contents Copyright

6 Editor’s Note

26 IIoT

8 Comment

28 Financial Services

12 News@MM

29 Lifting Solutions

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

45 What’s New 47 The Last Word

Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy

35 Fabrication Specialists’ Showcase 2021

20 Industry Focus

30 HVAC Systems

22 Cobots & Welding

32 Actuator Systems

24 Special Focus

33 Bearings

of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

The opinions expressed in Manufacturers’ Monthly are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated. © Copyright Prime Creative Media, 2021 Articles All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

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Behind the cover

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MANAGEMENT >> TECHNOLOGY >> SOLUTIONS

OCTOBER 2021

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Welcome to our bumper October edition featuring the Fabrication Specialists’ Showcase. As Australian manufacturers continue to navigate COVID-19, while keeping their businesses afloat, for those who need fabrication, we have brought to you a list of the best fabricators in the Australian market. Find out more on pages 35-44.

As most readers would know, fabrication is the process of building

machines and structures from raw materials like metals or plastics. The process includes cutting, burning, welding, machining, forming, and assembly to create the final product. Most of the companies in the showcase centralise many of the processes. For instance, a one-stop shop reduces the hassle of contacting multiple vendors to complete projects that could otherwise be complex to finish.

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Cobots and welding in one package

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Boosting the future with biomanufacturing

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Sensors that make the job easier

Ph: (03) 9794 8337

4 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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Comment

SYED SHAH – Managing Editor, Manufacturers’ Monthly

When bots and welds collide

B

ACK in 2020, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) made an estimated guess that 2.7 million industrial robots are currently deployed globally.

The use of robots in manufacturing facilities around the world is expected to grow from $76.6 million in 2020 to $176.8 billion by 2025, according to a the IFR report. It is understood that the Asia-Pacific is the biggest market for industrial robots, but we have to wonder, where does Australia sit in terms of robot adoption in the factory space?

Besides this, other questions loom – “are robots taking away our jobs?”, “what must humans do to upskill to remain competitive in a world with robots?” and so on.

Like it or not, robots have become essential in the front-lines of the war against the pandemic. In healthcare industries, you’ll find that there are innovative robots deployed to minimise human contact such

6 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

as test swabs, or other hazardous roles like disinfecting. Within the manufacturing space, in Australia, the pandemic has undeniably been a driver of change, with many companies having to pivot around their current capabilities and recalibrate to find new business opportunities. And many times, a move forward is required – with automation.

Overall productivity is improved, flexibility enhanced and there is a high return of investment when automation is implemented in a factory set up. Generally, manufacturers who have invested smartly (pun intended) in smart technology tend to fare better over the long term.

In this issue, we spoke to David Wilton, the managing director of Lorch South Pacific, from one of the best welding suppliers in the market, who indulged us with his thoughts on the future of welding, the shortage the

industry is facing, and how Lorch have brought cobots and welding together.

Cobots are the rising star in robotics and are designed to work safely and interchangeably alongside humans. As Wilton explains, since most of the best welders in the market have been snapped up by the biggest players in the heavy industries and there is a big shortage of newer apprentices in the trade, the cobot is a good solution – not to replace the newer welders in the trade, but to help them and smaller businesses who can’t afford to compete with the large businesses. These cobots are versatile and flexible, which can be deployed for a variety of welding jobs, otherwise considered to mundane and repetitive for a human welder. Besides the obvious, compared to the larger industrial robots, they have lower start-up costs, easier to move around and skilled welders can be deployed on more advanced tasks.

Of course, it is not as simple as

taking a standard cobot, a welding machine, a few wires and attach them all together just to make one.

Read more about it in our story with Lorch South Pacific in this edition to find out more.

Speaking of fabrication, in this edition, we have the Fabrication Specialists’ Showcase. In the past one year, the team at Manufacturers’ Monthly have brainstormed on a part of the industry that deserves a lot more airtime in the publication and we realised that it was a large portion of manufacturers that have been serving major industries like the maritime, defence and mining – companies that provide fabrication services or supplies. In this edition, we have come up with a list on pages 40-43 – something that we endeavour to expand on in the next Fabrication Specialists’ Showcase in 2022.

We hope you enjoy this edition of the magazine and the listing meets your needs.

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Comment

GEOFF CRITTENDEN – CEO, Weld Australia

Industry, schools and governments must work together to foster STEM career pathways

W

ELD Australia is calling on industry, schools and governments to work together to develop and deliver STEM programs that engage, excite and attract students. Australia needs a vibrant national STEM skills program that illuminates the opportunities available in careers like welding and manufacturing for kids and parents alike.

Apprenticeships focused on STEM skills were once considered to be the foundation of gainful employment in Australia, with university studies out of reach for many until the 1980s.

Since then, apprenticeships have steadily declined in popularity while university intakes have increased.

But the employment market is becoming increasingly difficult for university graduates, compared to a national shortage of skilled labourers across the welding, fabrication,

8 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

construction and manufacturing sectors. Workforce capability and availability is a growing challenge for the welding and fabrication sector.

Welders are more in demand than ever with several large-scale, highvalue projects on the horizon, from the Federal Government’s $90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Program, through to major infrastructure projects such as the $12 billion Sydney Metro project, and the $5 billion Melbourne Airport Rail Link.

And yet, the number of welding trade workers in Australia dropped by 8 per cent in the course of just five years; from 75,800 in 2014 to 69,600 in 2019. In addition, completion rates of welding apprenticeships, including a Certificate III in Engineering (Fabrication Trade), continue to fall by as much as 23 per cent annually.

Apprentices are an important

asset to securing Australia’s local manufacturing sector, generating growth, and stimulating the economy.

Australia requires a significant increase in skilled, qualified tradespeople—equipped with in-depth STEM skills—on major projects, and in industries as diverse as defence, shipbuilding, aerospace, infrastructure, manufacturing, mining and resources.

The skills of the future STEM skills are crucial to the changing nature of work. Digital technology is now a part of our everyday lives, and is impacting the world of work in ways never experienced before.

According to the Federal Government’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment, it’s predicted that future workers will spend more than twice as much time

on job tasks requiring science, maths and critical thinking than today. It’s vital that Australia keeps pace with technological change to advance its economy and prosperity.

Attracting and retaining younger talent while they are at high school, and then through engaging, wellfunded training and apprenticeships is critical to combatting the severe skills shortage.

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.

Kids need STEM skills.

We need a vibrant STEM program implemented across schools nationally so that children and parents alike understand the opportunities available—the future manmonthly.com.au

Australia | Malaysia | China

Australia is not keeping pace with the need for STEM skills

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Innovative STEM programs in high schools One way to combat this lack of understanding around STEM career opportunities is through innovative STEM programs in high schools.

In June 2020, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education and Training (DET) commenced a pilot program to teach welding to students in Years 10 to 12 studying Manufacturing and Engineering, and Industrial Technology. The program utilised cutting-edge training techniques, including the use of 32 augmented reality welding simulators and innovative teacher training delivered by Weld Australia. Based on the success of the pilot program, NSW DET ordered a further 20 simulators to be rolled out across another 10 high schools in regional NSW. This STEM program substantially boosted the number of recruits into the trades broadly, and welding in particular. However, the greatest benefit was the creation of a long term solution to the skills shortage by exposing all students to the opportunities offered by a career in welding.

Perception and lack of awareness can create barriers, preventing many young adults from engaging in careers in manufacturing and the trades, and reaching their full potential.

STEM opportunities in the manufacturing sector are clean and technically sophisticated, requiring a range of advanced

skill sets, as well as traditional skills. This new approach surprised and re-engaged students, providing hope for their future.

The Way Forward To resolve the growing lack of STEM skills, Australia has adopted a ‘push’ approach by focussing on school based STEM programs like that implemented by the NSW DET. There is no question that STEM education and careers advice must be improved. But industry cannot continue to rely on Government to solve the problem. There also needs to be a ‘pull’ strategy that engages students through close collaboration between schools and companies.

Weld Australia member, Precision Metal Group (PMG) is strong advocate for this type of ‘pull’ strategy. In 2020, PMG began partnering with Parramatta Marist High School to develop a metals and welding program.

The program is fostering STEM skills so that students are better prepared to contribute to Australia’s rapidly growing advanced fabrication and manufacturing industries.

The shared vision is to have more and more students exposed to the industry, and certified as armoured vehicle welders before they graduate from Parramatta Marist, providing them with pathways supported by a skill set in demand by the Australian Defence Force. To begin, Year 10 iSTEM students rotate through fortnightly two-hour welding core skills workshops, while selfnominated students undertake intensive welding training at PMG’s facility in Wetherill Park.

“Identifying and developing skills should start in school.

Students of all ages need to be excited by the opportunities available in welding, and in trades more broadly. Industry and schools need to work together to develop and deliver programs which engage, excite and attract students.

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There are many reasons to be concerned about Australia’s STEM activity. The number of school students studying STEM in later secondary (Year 11 and 12) has flat-lined at around 10% or less.

Unfortunately, the latest OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results show a long-term decline in maths and science skills for Australian students . In 2018, Australian 15 year-olds, performed more than a year below those in 2003 in maths, and a year below in science when compared to the 2006 results.

It should therefore be no surprise that in the last OECD study of graduates by subject Australia was placed 36th for Engineering and 14th for Arts; despite there being a demand for the former and a surplus of the latter. Australia is slipping down the international ranking tables as other countries improve. In 2003, four countries or economies significantly outperformed Australia in PISA mathematics. In 2018, 23 did.

The same outcome is reflected in the VET sector, where there has been a long-term decline in registrations and completions of nationally recognised engineering trade courses.

The Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) review published in 2019 notes the challenges for STEM education at school level have not been met; student engagement and performance in STEM have been declining and Australia does not have the supply of qualified teachers to improve learning.

Furthermore, it is widely recognised that careers advice and student exposure to work

opportunities is poor, particularly in STEM based industries. In its 2018 review, the (Victorian) Education Department found careers education started too late in government schools, varied in quantity and quality, and did not provide enough meaningful work experience.

Australian students, their parents and their teachers simply don’t understand the importance of STEM, or STEM career opportunities, until it’s too late.

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Comment

DR JENS GOENNEMANN – Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre

Australians’ perception of manufacturing is on the rise

O

NE of the most enjoyable parts of our jobs at the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) is that we spend our days talking to many of the most innovative and creative people in the Australian business community.

Those are the entrepreneurial individuals driving the thousands of manufacturing businesses that contribute more than $100 billion a year to our economy and directly, and indirectly, employ more than 1.27 million people. That represents more than 10 per cent of Australia’s workforce – and this share is growing.

As we have those conversations, we regularly find that the discussion turns to how manufacturing is perceived in Australia. This is significant because it affects everything from people’s understanding of our economy to their purchasing decisions and career choices.

This month’s Manufacturers’ Monthly showcases fabrication.

It is a great example of how the perception of the term fabrication stirs up images of sparks flying in industrial surroundings yet, we know it to be so much more than that.

The fabrication industry is highly advanced, employing highly skilled and highly capable staff who work in almost every sector where something is made, from food and beverage, to medical and space.

Take for example, AMGC member and project participant, Varley Group situated in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Founded in 1886, Varley group began as a small plumbing and boiler making business. Today, Varley is still that same fabrication business at heart, however through the adoption of technology, and investment into research and design Varley is now known as an innovative engineering and manufacturing company – and rightly so.

As a result of its commitment to continual advancement over 135 years, Varley now possesses substantial advanced manufacturing capabilities which leverage all seven key functions of manufacturing – those being research and development, design, distribution, production, logistics, sales and service. This has ensured that Varley has maintained its competitive advantage to become a trusted partner of local and global defence, emergency services, marine, rail and infrastructure clients.

The point here is that the perception of Varley depends on a person point of view and knowledge.

Therefore, it is important to spend the time to investigate what the publics’ perception of manufacturing is – of which fabrication is a vital capability – so that we can better communicate what it is the industry actually does and how it is advancing.

To do so, we surveyed a

AMGC managing director Dr Jens Goennemann with REDARC Electronics owner and CEO Anthony Kittel.

10 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

representative group of Australians to uncover how they perceive the manufacturing industry. I am excited to share upfront that the results revealed in this report show a range of positive and changing sentiments.

One of our key findings is that almost three-quarters of Australians believe manufacturing is important or very important to our economy.

This is higher than our last survey in 2019 and may reflect people’s new appreciation of the value of having a strong and advanced manufacturing capability during the COVID-19 crisis.

In addition, we find that Australians have started to recognise that manufacturing is becoming more sophisticated and features high-skill roles. Further, almost two-thirds of respondents believe Australianmade products are higher quality than imported products and worth paying a premium for.

I would also emphasise that manufacturing is a core capability that is integral to Australia’s strength in almost every area of the economy. For instance, there is significant manufacturing activity embedded within the healthcare, agriculture, education and defence verticals, which respondents to our research flag as being critical to our prosperity.

The industry and government should build on the positive momentum highlighted in this report as we embrace the many opportunities we have before us.

By shining a light on people’s perceptions of manufacturing, we hope this research helps to guide the strategies of the businesses, policy makers and investors who are shaping our industry’s bright future and creating a break from past misperceptions.

I encourage all members of the manufacturing industry to read our report and see for yourself just how much positive sentiment is out there for this critical national capability. manmonthly.com.au

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News @MM CSIRO develops cheap titanium wire for additive manufacturing Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has developed a novel process for turning inexpensive alloy waste into a high value wire product suitable for the additive manufacturing market.

The team is the first in Australia to produce titanium wire this way.

They used low-cost titanium alloy particulates, like machining swarf, to produce a wire that can be used to make 3D printed parts such as aerospace components.

“The result is a product that is significantly cheaper than titanium wire made by conventional processes,” CSIRO team leader Dr Robert Wilson said.

The wire is being fine-tuned for use in large format additive manufacturing such as Sciaky electron beam manufacturing and Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM).

These are processes that melt the wire to form beads, which stick together to create a layer of metal material that is then built up to form the 3D printed part.

The global market for titanium wire is worth over $200 million.

There is a lucrative market for 2.5mm to 3mm titanium wire as feed for this type of wire-additive manufacturing, and the cheaper wire generated from recycled sources can also be used to produce metal powders for 3D printing.

The patented wire extrusion

CSIRO researchers are scaling up titanium wire production to pre-commercial volumes using their patented process, tested here on copper.

process, which is optimised using computational modelling, is being demonstrated to produce 50kg of

CSIRO develops titanium wire from waste for additive manufacturing.

12 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

titanium wire at pilot scale.

The team is working to scale this up to 100-300kgs pre-commercial volumes over coming months.

Australia is well represented in various types of wire manufacturing, but until now has lacked sovereign capability in wire production for additive manufacturing.

“Currently, Australian additive manufacturers have to source their titanium wire offshore, but this new capability will change that,” Australasian Wire Industry Association director Richard Newbigin said.

Locally produced titanium alloy wire and powders offer a valuable local capability for Australia’s growing additive manufacturing sector.

“This technology has the potential to put Australia on the map as a competitive supplier of aerospace grade titanium alloy wire for additive manufacturing and will greatly impact on our global competitiveness,” Amaero International CEO Barrie Finnin said.

“Even better, the end product will be comparable to what is currently available overseas, but much cheaper because it is using waste product.”

The wire can be used to make large complex parts for markets including aerospace, biomedical, defence, marine, automotive, construction and consumer goods.

This research is supported by the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF). manmonthly.com.au

News @MM Next-gen highpowered lasers built for manufacturing and defence The University of South Australia has landed a $1.8 million government contract to develop technology that underpins the next generation of highpowered lasers in Australia, for the defence and manufacturing sectors.

University of South Australia professor of Laser Engineering David Lancaster will lead the threeyear project, funded by the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), in collaboration with the University of Adelaide.

Lancaster, who heads one of the country’s leading laser and photonics manufacturing research laboratories at the University of South Australia, will use the funding to help build sovereign manufacturing capability. This will bring Australia up to speed with other developed nations.

“High-powered lasers are increasingly being used in defence and manufacturing, but despite a long history of developing lasers in Australia our technology is still relatively immature compared to other countries,” Lancaster said.

“There is a substantial gap between the research outputs and the needs of our defence industry, so Australia has had to buy this technology from other countries, which is quite restrictive because most nations severely limit their exports of lasers.”

Over the next three years, Lancaster aims to build new highpowered lasers that combine multiple smaller lasers, fine tuning the manufacturing process so it is cheaper and more efficient.

“In the past, I have worked on lasers that take years to build and cost millions of dollars,” Lancaster said.

“I think it’s more important to put years of effort to develop the technology and manufacturing processes, to build many miniature and safer lasers which cost hundreds of dollars each. That is our aim.”

The University of South Australia’s Laser Physics and Photonics Devices manmonthly.com.au

Lab will manufacture the lasers and the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensors will develop the specialist laser glass.

Australian universities and defence sector need to be more closely integrated to build sovereign independence in laser technology, Lancaster said.

“The reason that UniSA and the University of Adelaide have been selected for this project is that our miniature laser technology and manufacturing processes are world leading, and will supercharge the DSTG’s laser system program,” he said.

High-powered lasers are the preferred tools for the manufacturing sector to cut, shape and weld industrial materials with a high level of precision.

Their ability to manipulate and transform materials makes them ideal for the automotive, computer and clothing industries as they can create extremely fine features that are near impossible to make using traditional machining equipment.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 13

News @MM Report prompts guidance on gender pay equality in Victoria To mark Equal Pay Day, the Victorian government has released a new report that has spurred the development of new education resources to guide smaller organisations in closing the gender pay gap.

The report, Equal pay matters: Achieving gender pay equality in small-to-medium enterprises, outlines research carried out by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

The report demonstrated that Victorian small and medium businesses have a limited understanding of gender pay equality and how to take measures to close the gender pay gap. Ten recommendations were also given to address barriers in smaller organisations.

In response, the state government will fund the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to implement the first three recommendations. This includes developing practical and foundational educational resources and providing guidance on how to close the gender pay gap, while all findings are considered.

The new educational resources will be developed alongside industry

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A new report from the Victorian government has prompted the development of new resources to close the gender pay gap.

and cover the concept of gender pay equality, how to achieve it and the benefits of workplace diversity for businesses. They will also help organisations to understand their legal obligations to ensure equal pay.

“It’s been proven that equitable workplaces are more productive, have less staff turnover, higher morale and are more profitable – it’s only fair to make sure smaller businesses can access these benefits,” minister for

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Industrial Relations Tim Pallas said.

“Small and medium-sized organisations make up a significant proportion of the Victorian workforce and economy – supporting them with education and resources will make a big difference in reducing the gender pay gap.”

In its research, the Commission surveyed and interviewed more than 70 owners and managers of small and medium-sized organisations in three

sectors: the arts, financial services, and healthcare or social assistance.

The drivers of pay inequality in smaller organisations were a limited understanding of the concept of equal pay and how it applies to them.

They face internal issues such as a lack of transparency around pay, limited access to flexible working and parental leave. They’re also affected by external drivers such as rigid gender stereotypes and, in some instances, an absence of industry standards.

Data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows the national gender pay gap widened during the pandemic to 14.2 per cent, up from 13.4 per cent last year, with men on average earning $261.50 a week more than women.

This increase was largely driven by higher growth in men’s full-time wages, especially in the construction industry.

“Being paid fairly and equally for work of equal or comparable value is a basic human right,” Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights commissioner Ro Allen said.

“Regardless of where we work – or our sex, gender, race or age – we are all entitled to be paid and treated fairly at work.”

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News @MM Three new manufacturing hubs to be built at Monash University A trio of projects at Monash University will be supported by the Victorian government under its Higher Education State Investment Fund to build a Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC), a cancer therapy hub and a digital smart manufacturing space for start-ups.

The MMIC will produce Australia’s first mRNA vaccine for clinical trials.

The Centre has already played a vital role in developing tools to combat COVID-19, including a therapy inhaled through the nose.

“This is a huge scientific development putting Monash and local Victorian experts at the forefront of the global fight against COVID-19 – and we’re so proud to be supporting this ground-breaking research,” Victorian minister for Higher Education Gayle Tierney said.

The new facilities will include more office space and laboratories to strengthen collaboration between scientists and medicine manufacturers.

“We’re serious about developing our mRNA manufacturing capacity and doing it quickly, because it will save lives,” minister for Innovation,

Monash University’s new manufacturing hubs will strengthen collaboration between scientists and medicine manufacturers.

manmonthly.com.au

Medical Research and the Digital Economy Jaala Pulford said.

“This support for an Australianfirst clinical trial is another major step in a really important journey.”

Meanwhile, the $4.63 million oNKoinnate hub will drive innovation in the development of cancer therapies, and the creation and commercialisation of treatments.

The funding will also support the $3.21 million UP-LINK University Partner Collaboration Space, which will be a home for start-ups to digitally streamline smart manufacturing. It is the first component of the larger Monash Smart Manufacturing Hub project that will help drive increased research commercialisation and entrepreneurship.

“Monash University is pleased to receive funding through the VHESIF to drive commercial and entrepreneurial activity across the Monash Technology Precinct,” Monash University vice-chancellor Margaret Gardner said.

Overall, the project will create opportunities for about 1,000 students and more than 350 direct jobs in research positions and secondary jobs, as well as 100 jobs in construction. Construction is due to be completed next year.

The government contributed $16.1 million to the project in a joint effort

by Monash University and its partners, and was one of many pitches from universities to the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund. The fund was developed in response to the significant impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the sector.

The unprecedented $350 million Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund is supporting universities with capital works, research infrastructure projects and applied research focused on boosting Victoria’s productivity and economy as the state recovers from the pandemic.

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News @MM Lockdowns have impacted on manufacturing expansion, AI Group says The Australian Industry Group (AI Group), an Australian peak employer organisation, has released its Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) report for August, which determined weak expansion across manufacturing. The Australian PMI dropped by 9.2 points to 51.6 in August, pausing a solid period of recovery for 2021.

“August saw a steep retreat from the healthy expansion in manufacturing performance that has characterised most of this year,” AI Group chief executive Innes Willox said.

“Lockdowns across the country, particularly in NSW and Victoria were the major detractor from performance with ongoing strength outside of these states sufficiently strong to maintain the national performance in positive territory (although by a slim margin).”

Some sectors performed better than others, as a result of COVID-19 lockdown measures.

“The building materials and metal product sectors saw the steepest declines due in large part to the impacts of lockdown measures on the construction sector,” Willox said. “The food and beverage and chemicals product sectors continued to grow strongly while the machinery and equipment sector barely held onto recent gains.”

However, Willox remains optimistic about growth for September.

“Employment grew slightly across the manufacturing sector as manufacturers built up stocks rather than cut back on production,” Willox said. “Looking forward, there was positive news in the further growth in new orders in August and the easing

of restrictions on construction will go some way to rebuilding confidence or at least hope among its suppliers.”

Of the six manufacturing sectors in the Australian PMI, only food and beverages expanded at a faster pace in August (seasonally adjusted). The related sectors of chemicals and TCF, paper and printing also expanded, albeit at a slower rate. Machinery and equipment manufacturing stalled, while metal products and building materials manufacturing contracted, due to restricted manufacturing and construction activity in NSW and Victoria.

The activity indices in the Australian PMI indicate that in August, average sales and production levels paused but exports and deliveries from suppliers both contracted. New orders and inventories continued to expand,

suggesting that sales are being delayed.

The input prices index remained elevated in August, but eased from its record high in July. Manufacturers continue to report high freight costs.

The selling prices index also eased but remains well above its longterm average, suggesting that more manufacturers are passing on some of their costs increases to customers.

The average wages index slowed in August in the wake of a large rise in July, which is the month in which most manufacturing sector wage rises typically occur.

The Australian PMI is a national composite index calculated from a weighted mix of the diffusion indices.

An Australian PMI reading above 50 points indicates that manufacturing activity is expanding; below 50, that it is declining.

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16 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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News @MM Covalent Lithium to build refinery for mass producing EV batteries Covalent Lithium has entered into a long-term lease for a 40-hectare site in the Kwinana Strategic Industrial Area (SIA) in WA, to construct a lithium refinery that will be able to produce batteries for up to one million electric vehicles a year.

“The Kwinana SIA plays a vital role in supporting Western Australia’s economy as it is a key part of the state’s premier heavy industrial corridor,” State Development, Jobs and Trade minister Roger Cook said.

“The Kwinana SIA is already home to major chemical, energy and resource-based processing operations.

“The investment by Covalent Lithium reinforces the importance of the government’s commitment to establishing a globally advanced manufacturing hub for the industrial corridor between Henderson

and Rockingham.”

The Covalent Lithium refinery is part of the integrated Mount Holland Lithium project. It is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Wesfarmers and Chilean company, SQM. The project is expected to create 1,350 jobs to construct and operate a spodumene mine and concentrator near Mount Holland.

Located in Western Australia’s premier industrial corridor, 15km south of Fremantle Port, the Kwinana SIA is a centre for chemical and resource-based processing industries.

The Covalent Lithium refinery is now one of three lithium refineries under construction in WA that will pave the way for further value-adding activities. This includes pre-cursor cathode manufacturing – a key priority of the WA government’s Future Battery

Industry Strategy.

“Kwinana is already a thriving hub of activity, with the precinct home to Alcoa, CSBP, Wesfarmers LPG, Tianqi Lithium Australia and Avertas Kwinana Waste to Energy plant,” Mines and Petroleum minister Bill Johnston said.

“The announcement delivers on the McGowan government’s vision to grow its share of the battery materials supply chain, create jobs and diversify our economy, which falls under our Future Battery Industry Strategy.”

Led by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation and delivered by DevelopmentWA’s Industrial Lands Authority, WA’s 13 SIAs are located close to major resources projects and key infrastructure and are designed for downstream processing and other industrial activities.

A new lithium refinery will be built in WA that will have the capacity to produce up to one million EVs per year.

“It’s pleasing to see this specialist industrial precinct set to become home to a significant new facility that will ultimately help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and foster a more sustainable energy future,” Lands minister Tony Buti said.

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Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 17

News @MM New research finds more Australians view manufacturing as important

New South Wales advanced manufacturer, BluGlass.

More than 70 per cent of Australians consider manufacturing as very important to the Australian economy, a survey has revealed.

The latest research, Perceptions of Australian Manufacturing, conducted by the Federal Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), surveyed a cross-section of Australians living in metropolitan and regional areas. While most Australians believed that manufacturing was critical to the economy and standards of living, understanding of the industry was limited.

AMGC managing director, Jens Goennemann, said Australia cannot rely on the pandemic when it comes to changing the public appreciation

18 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

for manufacturing.

“Manufacturing is more than an industry, it is a capability which cuts across every sector where something is made. Manufacturing gives a nation the ability to make things onshore, preferably complex things. This in turn advances Australia’s global ranking on the Economic Complexity Index,” he said. “That is a feat that needs to be undertaken.”

Australia is currently ranked 86 on the Economic Complexity Index (ECI), which assesses a nation’s productive capabilities(the things it makes) and its applications across industries.

Comparing data collected in early 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, to today, AMGC contrasted the awareness and attitudes toward local manufacturing showing that support is higher compared to pre-pandemic times.

Double the number of respondents believed manufacturing would get stronger in the coming years, compared to responses in 2019. Seventy-nine per cent of Australians perceived trade and export of manufactured goods are important to the economy.

Goennemann believed the Federal Government’s National Manufacturing Priorities – resources and technology and critical minerals processing,

food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence, and space – were areas where Australia is “already a winner”, and that the focus was well advised for a country of 25 million.

AMGC members were part of a consortium of 53 local manufacturers to build 1,700 invasive ventilators in less than five months, with 99.3 per cent Australian-sourced parts and 100 per cent Australian-made – none of which had manufactured an invasive ventilator before.

“This is testimony to the manufacturing capability we have in Australia,” Goennemann said. “We must not only react in the eye of the crisis. As a country, we need to broadly be able to recognise that capability and leverage it further to the benefit of ourselves and others.”

Overall, about 3 out of 4 Australians believed manufacturing was very important, and 4 out of 5 people believed that trade and export were very important.

“It shows there is an audience that that understands manufacturing matters, and it’s a confirmation of the belief that we need to be globally competitive,” Goennemann said.

“The market for our manufacturers

is not 25 million Australian customers, but 7.5 billion worldwide ones.”

In areas with a high prevalence of manufacturing in the regions, the appreciation was higher, according to the survey.

In Western Australia, the regional perception of manufacturing rose to 83 per cent, as opposed to 52 per cent in 2019. In regional Tasmania, views on the importance of manufacturing rose by 25 per cent to 92 per cent in two years.

Goennemann said the survey showed the last two years contributed not only an increase in the perception of manufacturing but also showed how the regions have responded.

“Changing the entire community’s perception is a large task and requires perseverance,” he said. “We’ve persevered for over five years, and we’ve seen good outcomes.”

While $1.5 billion has been invested in Australian manufacturing, Goennemann said more is needed.

“It needs consistency, it needs a policy that is formulated and adhered to, and then the sky’s the limit for Australia. With continued focus and targeted investment into manufacturing, Australia has a real opportunity to transform itself from being a lucky country to a smart one,” he said.

manmonthly.com.au

News @MM UQ is improving superconducting quantum devices with a new technique Physicists and engineers at the University of Queensland (UQ) have found a way to identify and address imperfections in materials for superconducting circuits on silicon chips – one of the most promising technologies in commercial quantum computing.

The team was able to develop treatments and optimise fabrication protocols in common techniques for building superconducting circuits on silicon chips.

Dr Peter Jacobson co-led the research.

The team identified that imperfections introduced during fabrication reduced the effectiveness of the circuits.

“Superconducting quantum circuits are attracting interest from industry giants such as Google and IBM, but widespread application is hindered by ‘decoherence’, a phenomenon which causes information to be lost,” Jacobson said.

“Decoherence is primarily due to interactions between the superconducting circuit and the silicon chip – a physics problem – and to material imperfections introduced during fabrication – an engineering problem.

“So, we needed input from physicists and engineers to find a solution.”

The team used a method called terahertz scanning near-field optical microscopy (THz SNOM) – an atomic force microscope combined with a THz light source and detector.

This provided a combination of high spatial resolution – seeing down to the size of viruses – and local spectroscopic measurements.

The technique enabled probing at the nanoscale rather than the macroscale, by focusing light onto a metallic tip, UQ School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering professor Aleksandar Rakić said.

“This provides new access for us to understand where imperfections are located, so we can reduce decoherence and help reduce losses in superconducting quantum devices,” Rakić said.

“We found that commonly used fabrication recipes unintentionally introduce imperfections into the silicon chips, which contribute to decoherence.

And we also showed that surface treatments reduce these imperfections, which in turn reduces losses in the superconducting quantum circuits.”

This allowed the team to determine where in the process defects were introduced and optimise fabrication protocols to address them, UQ Physics associate professor Arkady Fedorov said.

“Our method allows the same device to be probed multiple times, in contrast to other methods that often require the devices to be cut up before being probed,” Fedorov said.

“The team’s results provide a path towards improving superconducting devices for use in quantum computing applications.”

In future, THz SNOM could be used to define new ways to improve the operation of quantum devices and their integration into a viable quantum computer.

The results are published in Applied Physics Letters.

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A superconducting circuit (thin black lines) on a silicon chip (yellow base), being imaged using terahertz scanning near-field microscopy (red beam focused into yellow tip).

manmonthly.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 19 202103~1.IND 1

30/08/2021 9:51:55 AM

Industry Focus Engineering the next generation of materials with biomanufacturing Caroline Tung speaks with CSIRO’s Land and Water Science Director, Dr Paul Bertsch, about the potential of synthetic biology and how it is expected to transform advanced biomanufacturing in Australia by the year 2040.

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YNTHETIC biology-enabled innovations in advanced biomanufacturing have been decades in the making, and Australia has been identified by leading biomanufacturers as prime location for biomanufacturing with ready access to emerging markets.

A new report by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, A National Synthetic Biology Roadmap: Identifying commercial and economic opportunities for Australia, concludes that synthetic biology-enabled advanced manufacturing provides Australia a $27 billion opportunity with more than 40,000 new jobs by 2040. The two biggest areas to benefit from synthetic biology are the food and agriculture (up to $19 billion) and health and medicine sectors (up to $7 billion).

Australia has invested at least $80 million in developing synthetic biology research capabilities in recent years.

CSIRO has focused on developing capacity in synthetic biology

through its Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform including through a new CSIRO BioFoundry facility in Queensland, which provides a capability to the research and development community to rapidly design, build, and test new engineered genetic components and organisms.

MM: Could you please give a broad picture of what the National Synthetic Biology Roadmap means for Australian manufacturing, and what it is predicted to deliver for the country in 20 years’ time?

Paul: Advanced biomanufacturing will be fuelled by synthetic biology, which is one of the most rapidly growing areas of modern science. It only began to accelerate around 2008, mainly due to computational advancements. The idea is to use engineering principles to engineer biology from standardised genetic circuits for specific outcomes.

Most of those outcomes materialise in the advanced bio-manufacturing space. We’re producing commodities

Synthetic biology applies engineering principles and genetic techniques to rapidly develop DNA-encoded biological components.

20 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

CSIRO director of research, Dr Paul Bertsch. such as proteins for food alternatives, or fibres for alternate fabrics.

Synthetic biology involves engineering standardised genetic parts, assembling these standard genetic circuits and metabolic pathways, and introducing them into single cell organisms to produce cell factories which can manufacture products in large quantities.

MM: What is the current market for synthetic biology in Australia? Can you talk a little bit about the history behind this capability?

Paul: In 2015, CSIRO initiated the Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform (SynBio FSP) with the aim of building national capability and a national community of practice, as well as guiding national coherence around a synthetic biology strategy. At the time there were few self-identified synthetic biologists in Australia, the institutional awareness of field was limited, and there was no coordinated national dialogue.

The SynBio FSP has involved more than 250 collaborators with 24 Australian and 17 international partners and has now trained about 100 post doc fellows. You may know there was a 2018 Horizon Scanning

report released by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) that was co-funded by CSIRO, which provided an outlook around synthetic biology to 2030. The FSP has an external advisory panel made up of some of the top experts in synthetic biology globally. Last year, they evaluated the progress of the FSP and reported that the SynBio FSP has been extremely successful in establishing a strong CSIRO and wider Australian community of synthetic biologists. Further, they concluded that “it is clear that the Synthetic Biology FSP provides a conduit for international collaborations and awareness of synthetic biology activities in Australia….”. “…Without this program, Australia would likely be falling behind in its biological research capability. The project is better coordinated than those in most other countries.”

A few weeks back, CSIRO published Australia’s Synthetic Biology Roadmap.

The roadmap provides a commerciallyfocused strategic view of how synthetic biology could underpin a thriving Australian bioeconomy worth up to $27 billion by 2040.

I have to say that historically, we have under-predicted growth in this manmonthly.com.au

IndustryFocus area. For example, several years ago the discussion around alternative protein meats predicted that its growth and market share would be marginal. That sector has grown much faster than even many of the most optimistic predictions. So, many of the sceptics have turned into believers because of how rapidly that market is growing and the stronger than expected social acceptance of the products.

Not all of the alternate protein meats are produced from precision fermentation or synthetic biology, but an example of an alternate meat company that uses synthetic biology is Impossible Foods. The Impossible burger is differentiated from other plant-based protein meat alternatives by the ingredient, leghaemoglobin, which is a plant-based haemoglobin protein, a very similar protein to what is found in animal blood, which gives it the distinct red colour. Food scientists have determined that haemoglobin provides animal meat with hundreds of flavours and aromas that we associate with meat. Impossible (Foods) engineered the genetic components that produce leghaemoglobin in soybean, inserted them into yeast, and produced the leghaemoglobin through fermentation. The synthetic biology production platform is critical, since leghaemoglobin is produced in very minute quantities in soybean, in small root nodules, that harbour nitrogen fixing bacteria, and thus, could not be recovered in quantities required to add to the alternate meats.

There are a number of companies that are producing natural products using synthetic biology production platforms that could not be economically extracted from plants or other organisms.

MM: Mentioned quite prominently in the report is the export potential that is expected to reach $430 billion by 2040. Is that mostly going to come from our primary industries such as agriculture?

Paul: The roadmap concludes that Australia’s greatest opportunities are in the food and agriculture area, representing a $19.2 billion opportunity by 2040, but health and medicine is identified to be another one, representing a $7.2 manmonthly.com.au

Advanced biomanufacturing will be driven by synthetic manufacturing in the food and beverage, as well as the health and medical sectors.

billion growth opportunity. The health and medicine applications are focussed on biomanufacturing of pharmaceutical ingredients and precursors, nutraceuticals, the production of biosensors for diagnostics and theragnostics, and engineered cellbased therapies and vaccines.

An example is engineered yeast that was developed by a research team from MIT and Harvard that senses intestinal inflammation and, when detected, secretes an anti-inflammatory molecule. Another research frontier in health and medicine involves interdisciplinary expertise, such as nanotechnology and synthetic biology.

There is a team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center which has developed nanomaterials with specific receptors for T-cells, which are immune cells. The nanomaterials carry DNA cargo to reprogram the T-cells in vivo so that the T-cells can recognise and specifically bind to and attack cancer cells. Current methods of CAR-T-cell therapies require extracting a patient’s T-cells, engineering them to recognise and attack cancer cells, growing them up in a bioreactor and re-introducing them to the patient. However, this breakthrough in vivo approach is initiated with an injection of the engineered nanomaterials.

These kinds of breakthroughs will be accelerated in the next 5 to 10 years and Australia is in a really good position to be a leader in many of these areas.

MM: What potential markets have been identified in Australia?

Paul: While the markets in Australia will align with the areas outlined earlier, the major opportunities

for Australia in synthetic biologyenabled advanced biomanufacturing is in emerging markets in Asia and the subcontinent. Australia’s advantages include the availability of sugar and other agricultural products required as an input for many synthetic biology production platforms, outstanding port infrastructure that already services the emerging markets, free trade agreements with many Asian countries, our legal systems and strong IP protection, the R&D tax credit, and the lifestyle that will attract skilled workers.

I spent 18 months as Interim Queensland Chief Scientist and worked closely with Trade Investment Queensland to visit and interact with synthetic biology companies in the San Francisco Bay area to sell Australia’s value proposition. Many of those companies are interested in setting up production facilities here now because of these factors.

In addition to the factors I just mentioned, the Australian brand will also resonate in the emerging markets for products such as alternative protein meats.

Another good example is a company in the United States called Perfect Day, which produces dairy products. They’ve engineered fungi to make the same proteins found in cow’s milk, which they formulate with plant-based Omega-3-rich lipids to make lactose free vegan ice cream, milk, and cheese. There’s a new startup out of CSIRO called Eden Brew, which is doing the same thing. Many of these companies are now using AI to examine the properties of proteins and select the proteins based on

properties such as texture and flavour, and also to eliminate proteins with known allergenic properties. So why raise a cow to produce milk if you can just ferment it?

MM: What does that now mean for Australian manufacturing?

Paul: Synthetic biology-enabled platforms for the production of food, fibre, advanced materials, fine chemicals, and health and medical products, which have a significantly reduced environmental footprint and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions will continue to proliferate over the next decade as the global community transitions away from fossil fuels. It has also been demonstrated that there is a significant global shortage of fermentation capacity to service the existing companies that are in various phases of scale-up. This is a tremendous opportunity for Australia, to not only grow this capacity, but to also innovate around bioproduction facilities that allow for the co-optimisation of biology and the bioproduction platforms, be it fermenters, bioreactors for cell cultures, or novel bioreactors for engineered chemoautotrophs. As I mentioned, Australia is well positioned to become a major producer for the emerging markets where the Australian brand is highly trusted and equated with outstanding quality. These opportunities are emerging very quickly and we must seize the opportunity now to realise the economic, social, and environmental benefits that these opportunities are presenting.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 21

Cobots & Welding Introducing Lorch Cobot welding to Australia and New Zealand Lorch Schweißtechnik GmbH (Lorch), is a leader in the design, development, and application of advanced welding technologies. Based in Germany, they are at the cutting edge of industry 4.0, developing smarter solutions for tomorrow’s industrial challenges.

They bring the next level of welding to the table with collaborative robot technologies and advanced welding – in one integrated package.

The Lorch Collaborative Robot is simple to set up, program and operate – a game changer for the welding industry.

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LOBALLY, it is a well-known fact that there is a shortage of welders. In Australia, this situation is no different; top welders are in very high demand and command substantial annual salaries to retain their services with an estimated 30 per cent plus of experienced qualified welders aged over 45, and millennials are not queuing up to replace them because of existing perceptions about the trade – being “older, dirty and unsafe” – which is something in the past because advanced welding techniques and automation has made it safer and cleaner. Major welding associations in the country have pointed that out and top welding companies like Lorch understands that harsh reality and mentality needs a turnaround.

22 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Manufacturers’ Monthly caught up with Lorch South-Pacific, managing director, David Wilton, who explained that welding is one of the highest paid trade vocations in Australia. He also expressed the need to even the playing field for the SME manufacturers who require welders in their businesses. “There is significant demand building for qualified welding operators from both the mining industry and military defence space, paying premium rates to attract the best available talent,” said Wilton. “Small-to medium-sized manufacturing businesses can’t compete in this environment with many struggling to find and retain key welding personnel. Furthermore, there are constant cost pressures and rapidly advancing technologies.”

With the demand far exceeding

the supply of skilled welders in the market, Wilton said that there is the need to look to smarter solutions where welding processes can be automated. “We can’t fill the gap (shortage of welders) fast enough, but there are many forms of welding automation, and it really depends on the application to determine what is the best solution,” said Wilton.

Luckily, Lorch predicted this potential shortage many years ago, and with the advent of cobot (collaborative robot) technology, it has had a dedicated team in place developing and optimising welding with cobots for years. The Lorch Cobot welding system delivers versatility and flexibility ideal for the small to medium businesses.

And Wilton believes that with the ease of use through its simple programming functions, it will be a game-changer for welding in Australian manufacturing.

Cobots, welding and safety Wilton explained that sometimes there is some confusion between the nature of industrial robots and cobots.

Robots are playing a bigger role on the factory floor as manufacturing moves more into the Industry 4.0 space. Cobots are designed to work alongside human employees, while industrial robots are larger and replace the work of employees. In most cases, cobots create a safer, more efficient environment for tasks that may be too dangerous, strenuous, or tedious – in this case, welding – without getting rid of the human’s role involved in the actual fabrication of a product. In other words, the worker/welder will still be involved in the process. Industrial robots

completely automate large scale processes and eliminate the human element in the task completely.

“An industrial robot is a big investment, expensive, and takes up a lot of space on the floor, has a lot of safety guards and barriers because they’re dangerous,” Wilton said.

“Moreover, industrial robots are also complex to program, so you need an engineer or technician who’s highly trained to program the robot.

And it’s more designed for scale production of consistently the same thing and a perfect example is the car industry.

“This is, however, not the case for an SME who’s doing something different every few days because in the time taken to program an industrial robot, those jobs could have been manually completed by a welder.”

From a product standpoint, a cobot and a piece of welding equipment are two very different things, and Wilton said that it is not possible to simply take a cobot off the shelf and connect it to a welding machine, and then expect a productive system out of it. It takes a unique partnership between the best in the cobot business and the welding business to produce the ideal platform optimised for small- to mediumsized businesses. Hence, Lorch has a strategic partnership with Universal Robots (UR), the global leader in collaborative robot technology. Wilton explained what differentiates Lorch from any other manufacturer is their intelligent Cobotronic software and the premium, advanced technology welding power source made in Germany.

“Lorch takes the cobot and creates manmonthly.com.au

Cobots & Welding Picture 1: Cobot welding is a new segment of welding automation.

a purpose built, fully integrated, ultra-safe, automated welding solution. Every detail is meticulously optimised specifically for multiple forms of welding and the result is a fast, efficient, and flexible, leading industry 4.0 welding solution that is perfect for small-to mediumbusinesses producing smaller production quantities,” said Wilton.

“Systems are simple to use and will deliver dependable productivity, premium quality welding performance and higher efficiency to welding operations.”

Lorch Cobot System – how it works The Lorch Collaborative Robot is a game changer in many ways, says Wilton. To start with, it is simple to set up, program, and easy to use (by the welder or shop floor operator).

The system is also relatively portable, very flexible, and versatile. It can be cost effectively programmed for welding small production, 20 or 30 pieces today and tomorrow something different.

“There is not much training needed, so a shop floor operator or welder could program the system and use it effectively – and it’s fast to set up,” said Wilton. “The Cobotronic software that comes with the package is really smart, so you don’t even have to know the welding parameters.”

Cobotronic is the software platform that is part of Lorch’s IP which combines the cobot elements and the Lorch welding power source together to create a cutting-edge Industry 4.0-optimised welding solution that is simple to program, delivering excellent welding results which is perfect for small-to mediumsized enterprises.

“The Lorch Cobot System gives the flexibility to the business to be able to do differentwelding jobs quickly and efficiently, for example, today it might have 20 ladders to build, but the following day, they might decide to do something different – all that can be done and perfectly – with excellent welding quality,” said Wilton. “It is a digital machine that will reproduce 100 per cent perfect welding performance every time from the power source’s standpoint.” manmonthly.com.au

Cobot welding is also not a replacement for industrial robotic welding. In reality, it is a new segment of welding automation (refer to picture 1). Lorch Cobot welding technology is different from industrial robots in many areas: • Size, weight & portability: Cobots are small, light and relatively portable. They are designed to be used in the general work environment, in close proximity with people.

• Safety: Cobots operate at human speed, have unique integrated safety features enabling close interaction with people with minimal or in some cases no dedicated safety guards or external protection.

• Intelligent Lorch Cobotronic software creates a simple to operate welding system that is typically programed by the welder or shop floor operator.

• Lorch advanced Speed Processes deliver perfect welding in all positions removing the need for complex and expensive jigs and fixtures.

• Fast setup and simple programming enable much smaller production quantities to be cost effectively welded.

• Capital investment: Cobot systems are typically more cost effective with a quick return of investment.

“The Lorch Cobotronic software has an assistant mode that works out welding parameters that a welder needs to perform an optimal welding

application,” said Wilton. “While it does take some level of welding knowledge to select the correct process and understand the right gas and wire to use, the programming and parameter selection is quite simple.”

How the welder still operates the system Wilton says that Lorch in the German head office has a whole team developing cobot technologies for welding. He said that the next level of things includes integrated rotational equipment where the user can now integrate a rotating turntable system with the cobot that will synchronise with the cobot for welding.

“You can now have a whole fixture up to a 100kg and rotate on a turntable to do all the welding, integrated, synchronised with the cobot. We’ll be rolling out later next year” said Wilton.

At the end of the day, what Wilton stresses is that cobot welding is not about replacing someone’s job with automation. Cobots are another tool, helping to address the shortage of welders, closing the skills gap, and making the team stronger, driving productivity, efficiencies and reducing cost.

“Coming back to the problem of the shortage of welders in Australia, because the most skilled ones have mostly joined the defence and the mining industries, the solution is to have those who require welding as part of their business to consider

automating the process (welding) and duplicating those people,” said Wilton.

With a high-quality automated system like the Lorch Cobot System, Wilton says that one good welder can still be a welder in the shop but can also be responsible for multiple cobots geared up for welding jobs.

“Setting up, optimising, and getting a first-year apprentice to load up the parts into the machine and do the welding is a good solution – it’s just different thinking.”

Get the Lorch experience now Cobot welding is growing at an exponential rate across Europe, and Lorch is now bringing Lorch Cobot Welding to Australia and New Zealand. Sales demonstration/ application and training centres have been setup across the region with accredited Lorch Cobot Partners. Partners can be found at www.lorch.com.au – find a partner near you. Additionally, there are well-trained Lorch certified service infrastructure already established across the region for backup and support. Typically, when a customer purchases a Lorch Cobot System, it comes with installation and a two-day training program from the Lorch Cobot Partner.

Want to know more? Please contact David Wilton at LSP@lorch.eu or visit www.lorch.com.au to find your nearest partner.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 23

Special Focus Smoothing stormy seas: strategies for enhancing customer engagement and brand image during supply chain disruption Julie Skerman, director of Communications Task Force, shares some strategies how to come out stronger during challenging times.

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CCORDING to a recent White House report, manufacturing, construction, retail, and wholesale trade are the industries most impacted by the pandemic-induced global supply chain disruption.

Frustratingly though, many companies in Australia are experiencing record demand along with a diminished ability to supply. However, this could be your opportunity to improve customer engagement and elevate brand image to prepare for the time when supply lines become more fluid.

The current supply chain issues are not only attributable to the semiconductor chip shortage (have you tried to buy a Play Station 5 lately?).

Worker shortages and transport disruptions are major impediments to service delivery and for those affected, it’s easy to get bogged down in the internal mechanics of finding solutions to these issues.

But this is a time for companies to also focus on their customers, and innovation beyond the immediate problems, preparing for a competitive advantage to come out of the crisis even stronger.

Here are five sure-proof ways to enhance customer engagement and brand image during the supply chain disruption: 1. Communicate proactively with your customers: It’s critical you own the narrative. Stay active and involved, rather than letting customers, competitors or the media make assumptions on your behalf. Be honest with your customers about delays and don’t make them work to find answers that you can supply.

Strive to prevent misinformation from entering the conversation.

Develop your key messaging 24 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Communications Task Force is a new business that helps companies enhance their customer engagement when supply chains are disrupted. asap and ensure that everyone in your organisation knows and understands it, especially your salesforce and customer-facing employees.

Don’t be afraid of admitting you don’t have all the answers. Because of the pandemic, the public’s tolerance of uncertainty has increased. Just don’t make promises you can’t keep and resist the urge to tell people only what they want to hear. Be factual. Be positive.

2. Identify new support channels for customers: Especially critical for B2Bs, listen to your customers to understand how the supply issue impacts their business, then identify other means of support or value-add to help them. In the case of manufacturing, for example, can you offer deals on repair and maintenance programmes to extend the lifecycle of current assets? Can you redirect resources from manufacturing new items, to upgrading second-hand products, or reconditioning parts?

3. Keep your customers close: Never has it been more important for your salesforce to maintain close contact with your customers, even if they can’t sell a product to them, or if the customer has been

forced to buy elsewhere. Give your customers an ear to complain to.

Better yours, than a competitor’s.

4. Continue marketing and advertising: Don’t stop promoting your products and business.

Instead, redirect focus to available products and promote your brand quality and values. Build demand and increase aspiration.

5. Share your good news stories: Take every opportunity to promote your corporate social responsibility agenda and activities. Also,

communicate the ways your company is adapting to support staff and customers in the current environment. This reinforces your company’s long-term commitment to employees, customers, the industry and the broader community.

Remember, you are a critical part of your customer’s story.

For more advice on what strategies to implement in your business during the supply chain disruption, contact Communications Task Force today.

About Julie Skerman and Communications Task Force Julie is a passionate and commercially minded communication, marketing, brand, and stakeholder engagement professional. With over 25 years’ experience, Julie loves working with leaders and organisations to formulate strategy to transform high-level business aspirations and objectives into optimal results. She thrives on leading brand vision, communications strategy, and culture with

Communications Task Force director, Julie Skerman.

local and global organisations.

Communications Task Force is a Brisbane-based communications consultancy, providing independent and effective strategies for business leaders, managers, and brands.

Email: julie@communicationstaskforce.com.au Tel: 0437 202776 Web: www.communicationstaskforce.com.au

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Sensors Sensors that keep up with the volatility Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks with Michael Matheson, electrical and instrument engineer for explosives at Orica Yarwun, and Graeme Corder, Brisbane area manager for VEGA Australia about how the VEGAPULS 64 non-contact radar level transmitter has been instrumental in maintaining operations at Orica.

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NE of the biggest issues that Michael Matheson comes across in his line of work with volatile liquids at Orica Yarwun is obsolete equipment.

As plants start to age, a lot of equipment will start to experience failures that are random and unpredictable.

“There’s some instrumentation out there, where there’s no amount of condition monitoring that can tell you it’s going to fail,” he said.

The plant deals with a lot of hazardous substances, such as ammonia and nitric acid. Without the right equipment, it is a serious challenge for the business.

“A lot of our tanks use nucleonic measurement techniques to give level measurement. And, of course, they all have a recommended working life,” Matheson said. “They are expensive – and not just the initial purchase, but ongoing costs in the upkeep and maintenance of nucleonic equipment.”

“I’ve got a responsibility to try and reduce industrial gauge inventory at every opportunity, so when these gauges were due for replacement, I went looking for alternative level measuring technology.”

Enter, the VEGAPULS 66.

“The VEGAPULS 66 radars were available, so we went with those, which were 6 GHz operating frequency. They worked admirably across the whole business,” Matheson said.

However, Matheson faced a new problem in two “Reactor Product Tanks”, which held an 88 per cent ammonium nitrate solution in the midst of ongoing chemical reactions.

“There’s an ammonia sparging ring in the bottom of each tank that injects ammonia – so you’ve got a solution that is reacting,

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foaming, there’s vapour and steam,” Matheson said.

While this is an ideal situation for nucleonics or non-contact radar, the horn radar did not suit these two particular tanks.

“The risks we needed to eliminate were nuisance trips and restarting plants,” he said. “We found that about every three to four weeks, we’d have a nuisance trip or a level control problem.

The technicians would need to stop the process, put on their PPE, and isolate all the processes and equipment to remove the horn and give it a clean. The volatility of the solution would periodically splash the horn and trigger false signals.”

This built up to the point where the business could no longer tolerate the trips and associated risks of process disruption. On evaluating the issue, Corder saw what was needed to overcome Orica’s problem.

Enter, the VEGAPULS 64 80 GHz Non-contact radar level transmitter.

“What the VEGAPULS 64 does best is penetrate foam. It has a feature where it ignores anything on the antenna of the radar,” Corder said.

“Couple that with the PTFE antennae, it is a success. It has a very narrow beam angle of three degrees.

Where the older radars were, they were seeing the wall and that was also giving issues due to the lower frequency have a much larger beam angle. We don’t have that problem, with the VEGAPULS 64’s narrow beam angle. So, we’ve gone from a large beam angle to a much smaller beam angle, basically looking straight down at the medium.”

The VEGAPULS 64 is also more cost efficient.

“Typically, a VEGAPULS 64 is a probably a quarter the cost of a

Orica Yarwun electrical and instrument engineer, Michael Matheson. nuclear system, with no ongoing maintenance costs,” Matheson said.

“Plus, because the medium is highly aggressive, we were able modify the radar or customise the radar to suit aggressive mediums.”

The new product had a domed PTFE antenna, among other specifications, which Matheson deemed the ideal instrument for this application.

“I went through our change management process and managed to get sign off from all the key stakeholders, installed two VEGAPULS 64’s and have not looked back,” Matheson said.

“It’s getting splashed and it’s getting a build-up, but it just doesn’t care. Any build-up that should get big enough just falls off under its own

weight anyway, because it’s a PTFE dome that is immune to build up.”

This means that the VEGAPULS 64 has revolutionised the way these two tanks function, providing stable and reliable level measurement, and eliminating the process interruptions, risks, and on-going costs associated with the previous equipment.

“It’s been set and forget. That process the guys had of periodically removing and cleaning those horns are long gone, it’s never been done since,” Matheson said.

“Eventually we included in the modification proposal to progressively change all the VEGAPULS 66’s to VEGAPULS 64’s, knowing that if it works in these tanks it can work anywhere – that’s a fact.”

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 25

IIoT Build security boundary and leverage existing technology investments to enhance industrial cybersecurity Global industrial connectivity supplier Moxa, distributed in Australia by Madison Technologies, introduces the defense-in-depth concept that allows businesses to leverage their existing network infrastructure and investment to build the first line of their network defense.

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HE rise of interconnected OT and IT systems is often attributed to how business models have evolved with the purpose of enhancing operational efficiency.

For example, SCADA networks deployed along oil pipelines now collect oil output data that is essential to billing and pricing systems.

This increase in data collection allows companies to predict with higher levels of accuracy not only levels of oil production and output, but also expected revenue. However, it should be noted that these interconnected systems do not only bring benefits. A downside of these systems is that the likelihood of introducing cybersecurity threats to OT systems increases significantly.

It is for this reason that newspaper headlines and articles often describe how the compromising of IT systems can have a hugely negative impact on OT systems. What is compounding this complex issue even further is that ransomware attacks are increasing in their severity. This type of malware exploits Windows vulnerabilities and attacks insufficiently protected systems.

With more and more similar cybersecurity incidents occurring in OT systems, business owners and regulators are keen to seek solutions that enhance industrial cybersecurity and allow businesses to keep functioning normally.

data within different systems and how they connect to IT-level systems.

In the most ideal scenario, when traffic crosses different systems, there should be boundaries in place between each system to ensure the traffic has good cyber-hygiene, even if it is authenticated and authorised.

However, it is challenging, and often unrealistic to build boundaries between every system, as it involves significant expenditure, and often has a detrimental effect to the efficiency of network communications. It is for these reasons that it is highly recommended to divide OT systems into different digital cells and zones and build up the boundaries to find the right balance between expenditure and acceptable levels of risk.

The defense-in-depth approach,

which is recommended by the IEC 62443 cybersecurity standard committee, is widely used across industries, and has a good track record of helping build up multiple layers of protection to fulfill operational requirements. In the picture below, the critical assets and operations are considered the most important.

As they perform vital roles for businesses, it is wise to take additional security precautions, such as adding more layers of protection, to secure them further.

Network segmentation Physical layer segmentation This is known as air gapping, when two networks are physically isolated.

When the operations and security of one system needs to be independently

Security boundary What is the security boundary concept?

When enhancing cybersecurity, it is important to understand how your industrial systems are exchanging 26 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Building security boundaries to protect production lines without impacting each other when cybersecurity incidents occur.

maintained, an air gap is a potential solution. However, as mentioned earlier, it is increasingly difficult to arrange networks this way due to business and operational requirements.

Data link/network (Layer 2/Layer 3) segmentation As industrial control systems may have been built decades ago, one of the key challenges, but also essential requirements for network administrators, is to leverage existing infrastructure while ensuring industrial control systems remain secure. One approach that is frequently deployed is to segregate traffic between different network segments using a VLAN (Virtual LAN), which is one of the functions of managed Ethernet switches. Some Ethernet switches feature Access Control Lists (ACL) at the port level, which can help improve VLAN security as data enters the switch. An alternative is to deploy firewalls to protect industrial applications and data especially when you need to deal with traffic on Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks.

Layer 4-7 network segmentation Further segmentation can be applied through Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). DPI offers granular control over network traffic and helps you filter industrial protocols based on the requirements of the application. When you have multiple devices on the same network, theoretically, the devices can communicate with each other.

However, there are certain scenarios, when for example, Controller A should only communicate with Robotic Arm A at a specific time, then DPI technology can help engineers to manmonthly.com.au

IIoT known vulnerabilities. For example, some systems might be operating on Windows XP, which Microsoft does not provide security updates for anymore.

Under this scenario, even though there are known vulnerabilities, it may not be feasible to perform security updates.

Secure remote access

The defense-in-depth security concept is based on multiple layers of security mechanisms that increase the security of the entire system. define which controllers can perform read/write commands or even the direction of traffic.

Micro-segmentation In some situations, additional protection for critical assets is necessary, and a good way to achieve this is to use an intrusion prevention

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system to micro segment the network.

What makes micro-segmentation particularly helpful for industrial networks is that it can be used to segregate the network into even smaller sub-networks. What is beneficial about this approach is that the virtual patch function of an IPS can help mitigate the risk of

According to cybersecurity experts, remote desktop protocols are sometimes exploited to spread malware or conduct unauthorised activity. As remote connections have become more and more prevalent due to the necessity of increasing operational efficiency and the need to perform troubleshooting quickly, it is unsurprising that building security boundaries between two field sites is being talked about more frequently.

Instead of using software to build the remote connections, which can easily lead to vulnerabilities in the long term, it is highly recommended to build VPN tunnels and ensure that access control mechanisms are maintained properly.

As business owners are no longer able to enjoy the benefits and security of completely air-gapped networks, it is imperative for business owners and engineers to enhance security boundaries through different approaches including network segmentation, micro-segmentation, and secure remote access. Each of these approaches fulfills different network requirements and helps enhance cybersecurity not just forming the perimeter protection but also preventing lateral movement of unauthorised traffic. Moxa’s newly launched EDR-G9010 Series, an all-inone firewall/NAT/VPN/switch/router, enhances cybersecurity while allowing business owners to leverage existing network infrastructure with some future- proof investments.

To learn more about how to leverage your existing network infrastructure to enhance your cybersecurity, visit www. madison.tech/moxa or phone 1800 72 79 79 to speak with Madison Technologies’ Customer Connect team.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 27

Financial Services How Banjo supports The Prima Fresh Group’s growth with their working capital solutions Banjo Loans tells Manufacturers’ Monthly about a local manufacturing company and how it’s supporting them with their finances.

Located in Tatura (in the Greater Shepparton region of Victoria), the Prima Fresh Group sets the benchmark for providing highquality products combined with an above-standard service.

Banjo Loans’ working capital loan enabled Prima Fresh to quickly secure a fund to purchase equipment from Denmark.

Why did the Prima Fresh Group require funding?

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INCE 2015 Banjo has been delivering working capital solutions to Australian manufacturers. We support their growth when they need to purchase new equipment or stock, expand product ranges or premises, acquisitions or when they need general working capital. Banjo’s lending decisions are quick, and funds are normally accessible in as little as 24 hours following loan offer acceptance.

Banjo values the passion of our local manufacturers and acknowledges the challenges they face when providing for the Australian community. We back our manufacturing sector and ensure we maintain close relationships to support our clients directly with our highly experienced and friendly credit assessment team. Our team are always ready to help throughout the loan application process and continue supporting you until the deal is settled and beyond. Banjo is with you every step of the way to help to move your business forward.

Banjo’s working capital loans enable manufacturing businesses to procure unsecured* loans between $20K-$500K across 6 to 24-month terms. Our smart funding solutions help businesses that experience peaks 28 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

and troughs in their cash flow cycle.

One of our solutions offered includes the option to procure our Flexi Working Capital loans that offer up to 4 months interest expense only period with 12-to-16-month terms. Banjo’s Single Pay loans help manufacturing businesses no longer be in a holding pattern; a bridging finance facility up to $500k helps release the working capital that you require to move your business forward and capitalise on significant opportunities available to your business now.

For example, here is a recent case study on one of our long-time manufacturing clients – The Prima Fresh Group.

Who is the Prima Fresh Group?

The Prima Fresh Group is a thirdgeneration family-owned orchard and packhouse business. They have been in operation since 2002, growing from strength to strength in the last 19 years, turning over $1.4M to $39M in 2021. In 2013 Coles become their first main direct supplier, shortly followed

by Aldi, who have contributed to the business’s growth and success.

What started as 200 acres is now an operation covering 1000 acres to pack fruit all year round.

Working capital was needed fast to fund the purchase of some automatic equipment from Denmark. This highly specialised equipment would help reduce their product prepacking costs.

However, due to the way business was structured, they were finding it hard to locate a lender who can understand the complexity of their business and provide funds in the required timeframe.

How did Banjo help?

Banjo has continued to support the growth of the Prima Fresh Group since July 2019. During this time, Banjo has provided several working capital loans. Due to the nature of their industry, the Prima Fresh Group experiences seasonality. Banjo considered this in their assessment process. Growing season means that the business did not earn an income during this time and approached Banjo to assist with purchasing water entitlements at discounted prices (and thus manage their water costs) during the growing phase.

Once harvesting season is upon the business, the Prima Fresh Group come to Banjo for more funds. The funds would assist with buying fruit (as they only grow 45 per cent of their total inventory), paying the pickers to harvest fruit, and storing the harvest in cold storage for three months or so. Then comes the packing for distribution season of this fruit in cold storage from August onwards till the summer months. Therefore, most of the income earned happens over the summer months when the fruit is packed and distributed to Coles and other retailers. These funds are used to pay down their loans with us. Then the cycle starts all over again.

What was the result of the fast turnaround from Banjo?

The funding was speedy, which is a critical factor in purchasing water as the water market trades daily. Banjo quickly enabled the Prima Fresh Group to secure good deals when no one else would finance water.

As a result, Banjo helped save the business $100 to $200 per megalitre because of timing.

“Banjo has been a great part of the business for the Prima Fresh Group when we have needed access to quick capital. It has allowed us to take advantage of great opportunities,” Prima Fresh managing director, Gerard Alampi said.

If your business requires working capital to help secure better opportunities from scenarios such as purchasing new equipment, new product development or expanding a product range, purchasing stock, expanding premises, acquisitions, or general working capital, then talk to us today on 1300 22 65 65. Discover how we can help power your business. *While Banjo does not generally take security over assets, director guarantees may be required, and a general security deed or other security may be required for larger loans or in respect of some loan types. Statements regarding timing in relation to applications, approvals and funding are only indicative.

manmonthly.com.au

LiftingSolutions Unique lifting solutions from KITO PWB Manufacturers’ Monthly finds out more about KITO PWB’s Unique Assembly Workshop.

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ITO PWB is Australia’s largest chain and material handling solution specialist with over 98 years of experience in the Australian market. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of KITO Corporation, a world-renowned manufacturer of hoists with its global headquarters based in Japan, with a global reach and presence in more than 50 countries.

Recognised as a market leader and innovator, KITO PWB provide lifting solutions for many industries including manufacturing, clean room, agriculture, transportation, infrastructure, defence, marine, mining, construction, natural resources, clean energy, entertainment, shipbuilding, fabrication, food, beverage and aviation.

KITO PWB prides itself on

supplying strong technical expertise with its staff having a passion for developing customised, high quality, robust and safe lifting solutions for every application and need, looking to maximise performance and improved efficiency results for end users.

At KITO PWB, the company is proud of its ability to design tailored solutions.

“Having a customised offering enables us to deliver high quality products that meet the needs of our customers now and into the future,” said Mark Sampson, National Sales and Marketing Manager.

All KITO PWB lifting solutions are required to meet the high expectations of KITO. They are required to follow the KITO philosophy – to deliver unmatched satisfaction to customers and end users, while enhancing safety and

productivity with first-class highquality hoist and lifting solutions.

All of this is backed up by superior customer service and support.

To KITO PWB, a quality hoist is defined as having three elements:

Safety KITO’s single most important objective is to safeguard the hardworking people who use their products. KITO products are well engineered and designed with effective safety features. KITO hoist can safely withstand the punishing real-world conditions and last the test of time.

Performance and durability KITO hoists are designed to improving productivity, provide efficient maintenance management and look to reduce the total cost of ownership over the hoist’s life.

Durability

KITO PWB hoists are robust and resistant, even in rough handling situations.

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KITO hoists are built to perform for years of trouble-free service. They are robust and resistant to rough handling conditions. They continue to function well, even at fully rated capacities. Decades of specialised engineering and on-the-job testing has given the KITO team industryleading intelligence on how to create the world’s sturdiest hoists, component by component.

National Hoist Business Manager, Glenn Morgan, stands by the quality and engineering of the KITO hoist.

“Honestly, there is no comparison on the market,” he said.

To support the KITO philosophy in delivering unmatched customer and end user satisfaction, KITO PWB has its own dedicated customisation workshop based at the Australian National Head office in Victoria.

This is supported by a specialist team of hoist technicians who build customised lifting solutions not just for the Australian market but also for the greater Oceania region.

KITO PWB Unique Assembly Workshop The workshop is designed to enable several technicians to be working simultaneously on multiple projects.

From designing and fabricating chain buckets, specialised load cells and displays, travel limits, as well as assembling visual and audible alarms, remote control systems, close coupled trolleys and more. Every item passing through the assembly shop is fully function tested in accordance with AS1418 before it leaves the workshop.

No task is too big or too small.

KITO PWB thrives on designing and delivering hoist and associated lifting solutions for all applications from small to large and complex challenges.

Full range of custom hoists Tailored solutions are what get KITO’s engineers, trained electricians and trained assemblers excited about their working day. KITO PWB offers a full range of high-performance hoists with capacity from 60kg to 50 tonnes and associated lifting equipment products including: KITO Electric Hoists with Trolleys, Manual Chain Blocks, Lever Blocks, Special Application and Low Headroom Hoists, Pneumatic Hoists and Trolleys and more. The applications where KITO hoist assemblies find themselves are too vital for the organisation to produce anything less than great products.

Product support and aftersales service KITO PWB is confident and proud of the quality of products and custom solutions they deliver. Customers have KITO PWB’s commitment to support the products they deliver with technical advice, sourcing of spare parts and providing training where required.

Visit www.kitopwb.com.au for more information or contact KITO PWB sales team at 1300 792 262 to discuss your lifting requirement.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 29

HVAC Chillers – a cost-saving, environmentally friendly cooling solution Manufacturers Monthly finds out about Thermofisher’s new Thermo Scientific air-cooled chillers, an alternative source of cool water to improve efficiency and returns on investment for the manufacturer.

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O industrial process, equipment, or motor is 100 per cent efficient, with heat being the most common byproduct of those inefficiencies. If this heat is not removed, it will accumulate over time, causing reduced production times, equipment shutdowns, and even premature equipment failure.

It is necessary to incorporate cooling into the process system design to avoid these issues.

Laboratories and clinical environments often require an abundant source of cool water for chilling samples. Over the years, relying on a predictable supply of fresh water for laboratory cooling has become increasingly unpopular. The growing cost of water and wastewater has made finding an alternative source of cooling paramount.

Chillers are the answer, combining an excellent resource saving solution by reducing water consumption to zero with an incredibly short return on investment.

Chillers, however, are not only of interest in terms of cost and water saving but also because they offer many technological advantages.

With low working temperatures and better efficiency, chillers achieve higher recovery rates when condensing gases. In contrast to tap water cooling, chillers can be set to the desired target temperature, ranging from -20 °C to +40 °C. The consistent pressure and constant flow negate pressure drops having a positive effect on application conditions, allowing reproducibility of research results.

Recirculating chillers provide a consistent and reliable source of temperature-controlled fluid for cooling in laboratory, clinical, or industrial applications. They

30 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

provide better temperature stability and accuracy and protect valuable process equipment, reduce associated maintenance costs, and enable a cost-effective use of facility resources. These chillers typically use water or an ethylene glycol/water mix, which removes heat from a process and transports it back to the chiller. However, the chillers themselves generate heat from the system’s fan motor, compressor, pump and electronics, which is then released into the room.

To preserve the chiller’s cooling capacity, the room temperature must be maintained. Accurately determining the amount of heat released enables users to select the most appropriate chiller – either aircooled or water-cooled.

Air-cooled chillers do not require water sources because they absorb the heat load from the application (process heat) and release it into the surrounding environment, along with all heat generated by the chiller itself. Due to the amount of heat released, it’s necessary to ensure that the room’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system (HVAC) is sized accordingly.

Water-cooled chillers remove process heat using a water source, and most of the heat generated by the water circulation pump and the compressor is added to this water.

The remaining heat released into the room is significantly less than that of an air-cooled chiller.

As an innovative leader in temperature control, Thermo Scientific has the expertise to help enable you to optimise your liquid cooling applications while increasing productivity and reducing operating costs. With over 50 years of service and countless successful

installations worldwide, we have successfully provided product and applications expertise to meet the most demanding temperature control requirements.

From lab bench to large manufacturing processes, Thermo Scientific chillers are used across research and analytical, biotech and pharmaceutical, automotive, printing and packaging, and semiconductor industries. Developed with customer feedback, our range of Thermo Scientific ThermoFlexTM and ThermoChill chillers Chillers are not only of interest in terms of cost represent a breakthrough and water saving, but also because they offer in performance, many technological advantages. configurability and technology that provide the while maintaining temperature following advantages: control accuracy.

The Thermo Scientific • A Flexible Choice: We have ThermoChill series of chillers is options to help you configure a a compact line of refrigerated flexible, scalable, cost-effective recirculators offering cooling temperature control system that capacities of up to 2000 watts. suits your specific requirements.

Innovative design features such as • Innovation: Our research and minimised plumbing connections and development team is focused on an integrated full-flow fluid strainer designing innovative products maximise product reliability. based on your feedback.

Simply put, chillers are faster and • Global Service and Support: With more effective than other equipment. our extensive global footprint and Instead of managing the cooling service and support capabilities, substances by hand and controlling we can support you anywhere in temperatures manually, lab users the world. can rely on the automated functions The Thermo Scientific of air-cooled or water-cooled ThermoFlex platform has been chillers to handle the entire cooling developed with customer input from process. And because of limited concept to design. These low noise human involvement, using them in a recirculating chillers promote a safe laboratory setting can dramatically and reduced-stress environment increase the safety of the lab. in your critical application labs.

These low noise models are designed to remain quiet over the entire For more information or to discuss your lab’s operating range of the chiller chillers needs, visit thermofisher.com/chillers. manmonthly.com.au

Events Be the role model – you can’t be what you can’t see

2021

Manufacturers’ Monthly speaks with 2020 Women in Industry award winner, mechanical engineer Jackie Gray-Lewis from BAE Systems Australia, about creating opportunities and support for women.

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S children grow up and observe the world that surrounds them, both girls and boys both aspire to be like the adults they see.

Young girls grow up often seeing women in roles that are now the “norm” – nurses, teachers, and even police officers.

However, when it comes to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers, women remain underrepresented. Less than 20 per cent of engineering students are women and female engineers make up only 15 per cent of the engineering workforce.

Recently, BAE Systems Australia created a podcast titled You Can’t Be What You Can’t See. They invited a number of business leaders, including members of their own team, to talk about their experience, and how they are challenging gender bias and raising the profile of women in STEM careers.

Gabby Costigan – CEO Gabby Costigan was one of three girls in her family. As a child, she wanted to fly helicopters, but was quickly told that (back then), women do not fly helicopters.

Costigan quickly pivoted and decided if she couldn’t fly them, she would fix them, hence, launching her aeronautical engineering career.

She has held leadership roles in both the Australian Defence Force and defence industry, and in 2018, she became the first female CEO of BAE Systems Australia.

As a leader in the Australian defence industry, BAE Systems takes responsibility to inspire students towards STEM careers within the defence industry very seriously.

The company works with education departments to develop tools and manmonthly.com.au

BAE Systems Australia CEO, Gabby Costigan. resources that show how students with artistic and creative minds can have STEM careers that are like that of students with maths and science skills.

“We’re looking for ways to attract more women to the industry at all levels of experience,” Costigan said.

“It’s a truly exciting time to be in the defence industry. The Commonwealth government is investing in Defence, and this is boosting our economy, and so a career in defence industry can be a career for life.

“Sponsoring the Women in Industry Awards is a great opportunity to share our support for women in STEM and to highlight the fabulous achievements of female engineers in Australia.”

“When you have a female around, you can lift each other up. It inspires you,” she said.

Lewis-Gray said recognition from the Women in Industry Awards last year helped her progress in her career.

“I moved into a higher-level role than what I was expecting,” she said.

“The company definitely recognised me and want to develop me more. They realised I had a good attitude.”

Lewis-Gray has been running a five-day work program for schoolkids to work at BAE Systems Australia. Participants were given the opportunity to design and build projects in a group setting, which they could take home.

“Working for BAE Systems has been incredible,” Lewis-Gray said.

“They’re really ahead of the times in supporting their staff and giving them the right opportunities to develop as leaders in the business.

The opportunities are very positive, and not just created to benefit to the company.”

BAE Systems Australia initiatives include more diverse leadership, forums for women in business, and a STEM Returners program to facilitate employment for women who wish to get back into the engineering profession.

“I think the more we can get our faces out there, even more younger women will believe in themselves,” Lewis-Gray said. “I didn’t expect to win an award.”

Lewis-Gray said being able to fill in knowledge gaps was a great achievement, and that going to all-girls schools to present about engineering was a rewarding experience.

“I told them engineering was not just about making cars,” she said. “I showed them career prospects that they could be interested in.”

Jackie Lewis-Gray – mechanical engineer Jackie Lewis-Gray recently joined BAE Systems as a graduate engineer.

She joined the company at a time when industry is more encouraging of females in STEM careers.

However, when she was at university, Lewis-Gray was still surrounded by male students. She made some great friends during her studies, but noted it felt different because of the lack of female representation.

BAE Systems mechanical engineer, Jackie Lewis-Gray has been heading up projects with school students.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 31

Actuator Systems

ADVERTORIAL

Scallog robot lifts shelves using LINAK actuator

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UE to the strong growth in e-commerce, intralogistics is faced with the challenge of handling small batch sizes as well as large quantities in the shortest possible time. With its mobile robot ‘Boby’, the French company Scallog offers a system that can transport even heavy shelves including goods. The lifting system uses the LINAK actuator LA36.

The LA36 is integrated into the robot’s lifting unit, which forms the hardware of the Scallog system for automated warehouse management.

Besides the Boby robot, the software solution for controlling and monitoring inventory is an essential part of the Scallog system.

One application example is provisioning management: a fleet of robots brings shelves with goods to the picker’s workstation.

A shelf can weigh up to 600 kg in total. When loaded, the robots move at a speed of up to 1.2 m/s.

A scissor system lifts the deck of the Boby. Lifting heavy shelves via the scissor system requires an actuator with a high thrust.

This must always be available, and the lifting must take place

at a steady speed. Furthermore, the reliability of the actuator plays a key role here, as the robot must lift and lower many shelves during an operating day to provide goods to a picker in a goods-toperson concept.

The use of an electric actuator solution for the lifting function was beyond question. Even though hydraulic solutions might be an obvious choice for these heavy loads, they are hardly ever used in such applications. LINAK offers electric actuators that can push up to 15,000 Newton. The high self-retention force and the various communication interfaces, thanks to the integrated electronic controller in the actuator, also speak for themselves.

“At Scallog, we’ve always preferred electric actuators, mainly because of their ease of use, compact size, robustness, energy efficiency and value for money,” says Christophe Preveaux, Head of Electronic Systems at Scallog.

He also highlights the collaboration with LINAK. “LINAK employees are always approachable and open to questions. They have always

supported us with their high level of specialist expertise when we were facing various challenges.”

Early in the testing phase, Scallog noticed that LINAK electric actuators were a particularly robust, durable, and reliable component for their robot. Reliability was a key argument for Scallog.

Christophe Preveaux explains: “As we sell our warehouse systems worldwide, we need to ensure that we have a very reliable system. A failed actuator can be very costly.

That’s why we rely on the quality of LINAK actuators.”

Customer requirements are increasing and Scallog is constantly working on improving and expanding the robot system.

With LINAK, they get the advantage of a cooperation partner who is also a leader in new developments, such as by launching new communication interfaces for their actuators.

“The new CANopen interface would allow us to read more relevant data from the actuator and the entire system. A good way to make our systems smarter,” Christophe Preveaux concludes.

Actuators for material handling vehicles End-user demands for automation solutions reach new heights as modern mobile robots take over more and more tasks in warehouses and manufacturing. Delivering capable AGVs and AMRs requires reliable components as well as innovative partners. Electric actuators provide smart and reliable lifting solutions for automated warehouse systems.

Gain space with a compact design LINAK electric actuators are a perfect match for mobile robots and are ideal for material handling applications with tight installation space.

LINAK actuators with integrated controller (IC) have several features that enable a compact design. IC actuators are suitable for a range of power supplies, including 24V and 48V, and with standard communication interfaces like CANopen or IO-link. Additional components, such as voltage converters or motor controllers, extra communication modules or external sensors for position control are now obsolete, which results in a compact design.

Scallog prefers to use electric actuators like LINAK’s LA36 becuase of their size, efficiency, and value.

Keep uptime high with condition monitoring and precise control Using actuators with CANOpen or IO-Link interfaces, OEMs can get feedback signals which enables remote data monitoring and diagnostics, making it easier to predict and schedule maintenance intervals, analyse failures and allocate an on-site service. The actuator could even become part of the digital twin of the vehicle. As a result, uptime can be kept high, and downtime can be reduced to a minimum—the precise control results in increased operational efficiency.

Go the distance LINAK’s LA36 Long Life actuator, incorporating a brushless DC motor, meets the long service life typically required of AGVs. With a minimum of 200,000 cycles its lifetime matches the lifetime of other key components of an AGV or AMR, such as the drive wheels or battery, ensuring no additional scheduled maintenance and service intervals are required.

In addition, using LINAK’s online B10 lifetime calculator, OEM’s can get a qualified estimate of the actuator lifetime when used in a specific application.

LINAK offers stable solutions for linear movement, making it easy to raise and lower, lock and unlock, open and close, tilt, position, place, move or adjust. Visit www.linak.com.au to read about their portfolio of electric linear actuators or call LINAK Australian on 03 8796 9777.

32 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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Bearings Plan for a strong yield Grant Gray, general manager national sales for CBC, BSC and WebsterBSC, says that Motion Asia Pacific is always there for its customers and is commited to supplying premium products for its target markets.

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S the agricultural sector is poised for another bumper harvest season, Grant Gray encourages those working in the paddock to plate industries to have a conversation with their local CBC or BSC branch about upcoming equipment requirements.

“Preparation is so important, particularly in light of the supply chain challenges that have been felt across the globe,” stresses the General Manager National Sales for CBC, BSC and WebsterBSC, a part of Motion Asia Pacific. “I’d suggest to our readers and customers to reach out to your local branch to discuss what your needs are. What does your service model look like? This will help us arrange for the supply of parts you need, when you need them.”

Besides securing parts supply, Grant highlights the importance of keeping abreast of the latest technological innovations.

“We’re heading into a very technology-driven age, particularly in farming and agriculture where we are seeing a lot of innovation,” he explains. “Our staff have an immense amount of collective knowledge and expertise and can advise people within this sector as to any newer technologies that can help make more efficient use of resources and inputs. This, in turn, can reduce costs, increase product yields and improve the longevity or performance of equipment.”

Grant also notes that Motion Asia Pacific’s impressive national footprint of branches means those working in agriculture have access to essential machinery parts, service and support across Australia. “We have the largest branch network nationally,” notes Grant.

“Fortunately, with the reach of our national branch network, we have a strong historical footprint in the agricultural sector,” he says. “Our reputation for speed and service

manmonthly.com.au

Motion Asia Pacific supports the local agricultural sector on all levels. is complemented by our physical presence in Australia’s agricultural towns. This is supported by our world class distribution centres, which enable us to get products out to customers in a timely fashion.”

Significantly, Grant says his team are well-acquainted with the agricultural communities in which they service.

“Many of the Motion Asia Pacific team live in country towns – we’re already part of the fabric of these rural communities,” he enthuses.

“Which means we’re out in the field, amongst it. Not sitting behind the desk in a city hundreds of kilometres away. Where my team operate best is when they’re knee deep in gum boots in a paddock talking to one of their customers about what the latest innovation can provide in terms of increased outputs.”

Despite the fact that Motion Asia Pacific have a strong, local presence – and the ability to mobilise resources and products quickly to customers – Grant acknowledges there are current issues with supply that go beyond his company’s control.

“We have to be mindful that there is a global shortage right now on a lot of product. The pandemic has had this impact on manufacturing plants globally,” he cautions. “What hasn’t shifted though is the insatiable

appetite for consumption.”

Moreover, Grant says demand has also been fuelled by a growing sense of nationalism around purchasing Australian-grown products.

“People want to buy Australian made or Australian grown produce in their local supermarket. There has always been a strong drive towards local produce, but this has increased to a whole other level due to the shift in the current climate that we live in,” Grant expands.

“And it’s our responsibility to remind our customers to plan and make sure they’re in the best possible position with their machinery and production lines come harvest, so that they’re able to achieve that maximum output and get their product out and onto the shelves as soon as possible.”

Grant urges customers to take stock of what they need to get through the harvest period seamlessly, as there is such high demand for product.

“Our largest challenge as a supplier is the demand for product at the moment – even though one of our greatest strengths is our inventory, there are issues around supply chain that are beyond our control,” he explains. “Motion Asia Pacific has invested heavily in inventory as we know we can’t sell from empty shelves. We also employ the world’s best practice in making sure we have

inventory appropriate to the markets in which we sell. Despite these practices, we can’t avoid stock outs when supply from overseas is limited.”

Regardless of the challenges, Grant maintains that Motion Asia Pacific will be there as much as possible for customers and remains committed to supplying premium products.

“Simply put, we carry the best brands. And what the market is suggesting right now is that people are looking for quality in their product, over price. Fortunately for us, those premium brands have been a strong offering within our stable. Judge us by the companies we keep!” he exclaims. “Our brand is everything and we have strong value proposition in the market.”

Furthermore, Grant points out that while most people remember the outcome of a particular product or solution.

“What our customers never ever forget is performance and the value that product has provided them,” he says. “We see issues with downtime regularly as a result of cheaper products used. We’ll be there for our customers in these instances and are happy to get them out of trouble, but what we can’t replace is those lost hours. Quality Lasts ” And on that same tangent, Grant reiterates to readers the importance of getting in touch prior to the busy harvest season – at a time that is most convenient for them.

“We’re happy to come out to site, or to arrange an online meeting.

We understand that many of our customers in the farming sector perform their administrative or office tasks at night – send us an email, text or leave us a message and we will get back to you,” he assures. “We have qualified specialists including, product specialists, engineers and a market experienced sales force, along with our premium partners, and the ability to provide a 24/7 support service.”

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 33

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blackwoods.com.au

Fabrication Showcase 2021 Kemppi’s new X5 FastMig welding machine a perfect match for the busy fabricator Manufacturers’ Monthly finds out about Kemppi’s new X5 FastMig welding system and what sets it apart from other machines on the market.

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EADING international welding equipment manufacturer, Kemppi, recently released the X5 FastMig multi-process welding system for MIG, DC TIG and stick welding (MMA), as well as gouging. Designed in conjunction with professional welders and specifically for steel welding, the X5 FastMig helps significantly enhance arc welding productivity.

Built using energy-efficient inverter technology, the X5 FastMig is very versatile, robust and available in Manual and Synergic 400A and 500A models. It delivers faster and quality welds, and has a range of features that fabricators are finding highly practical and applicable.

The machine was put through its paces by an arm of global engineering group, Sandvik in 2020.

Sandvik Mining and Construction Oy spent several months piloting the X5 FastMig in Finland and particularly acknowledged the ergonomics and usability of the machine.

“The new Kemppi X5 FastMig is packed with must-have features and capability for the busy fabricator,” Kemppi Australia’s managing director, Paul McVicar said.

Easy to use Designed to be quick and very easy to use, the X5 has a graphical and impact-resistant 5.7” TFT display.

The display provides the fabricator with all the information they need to easily grasp all the operating basics in minutes. Also, the fabricator has all the values they require to get the job done at their fingertips, right there on the machine.

What’s more, settings that a welder likes or uses repeatedly can be easily saved and quickly retrieved.

For instance, details such as the last weld completed can be recalled manmonthly.com.au

with every model, the X5 delivers precise ignition capability and stable arc control.

It tackles the challenges of globular arc by alternating between short arc and spray transfer. In short-circuit transfer, it improves the arc stability adaptively, providing better out-ofposition steel welding capabilities.

In spray transfer mode, micropulsing of the current and voltage increases travel speed significantly. In doing so, the X5 helps to minimise the spatter produced by a traditional globular arc as well as the need for post weld cleaning, saving the welder both valuable time and cost while helping to deliver better quality welds.

The Kemppi X5 FastMig helps to manage the difficulties posed by a globular arc and minimises post weld cleaning. and the associated heat input can be calculated on the machine, and accessed at any time in the future in seconds.

Make fine adjustments quickly For those fabricators who do specialised work or require a certain result, they’ll be pleased to learn that fine adjustments on the X5 FastMig are quick and easy to make. Weld settings can be refined down to 0.1 of a volt to achieve the outcome they need. For the busy welder this often means a smoother, more consistent weld quality and less cleaning, saving both time and money while boosting productivity.

Safe and ergonomic The FastMig X5 has also been designed with the fabricator’s safety in mind. The ergonomically designed, top-loading wire feeder saves space and improves occupational safety when changing wire spools, as it places less strain on the welder’s back.

The time saved loading the wire when compared to a traditional wire

Industry 4.0 ready feeder helps minimise downtime while increasing the user’s arc-on time. Plus, the wire feeder can be hung up and adjusted to multiple different angles for quick and easy access, even in a dual setup.

Complete convenience with 100 memory channels With up to 100 memory channels on the Kemppi X5, fabricators can set and save a range of various parameters for fast retrieval. The ability to save customised settings means that fabricators do not have to go through an initial setup for every job. At the turn of a knob, they can highlight the desired setting and proceed to weld.

Highly convenient, this feature saves the fabricator precious time while increasing productivity.

Faster and better quality welds Built to perform, the X5 FastMig features the latest in ignition technology – Touch Sense Ignition – as standard in all available models.

When combined with WiseSteel software, which also comes as standard

In a class of its own, the X5 FastMig can be easily connected to the Kemppi WeldEye cloud service. This software solution offers automated processes for quality control, production analysis and welding project management.

It provides digital information about welding procedures, welder and inspector qualifications, documentation, reporting and administration, and 100 per cent traceability on all welds created.

By combining the X5 FastMig with WeldEye, the fabricator and management can ensure faster welding documentation processes, compliance with welding procedure specifications, reduced weld repair rates and a 360º view of welding production and project status.

High user satisfaction The X5 FastMig provides high user satisfaction, particularly for the fabricator who welds every day or who delivers high-end work. The ability to be able to refine settings significantly, together with the freedom to tailor the X5 machine to meet individual needs, means greater user satisfaction.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 35

Fabrication Showcase 2021 Mitigating cyber risk in the Cloud Escalating security risks and high-profile ransomware attacks are driving up the concern of executives and boards. Are you prepared, and do you have the resources to manage your risk? Epicor’s regional vice president Greg O’Loan asks the big questions.

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N March this year a cyberattack disrupted live broadcasts on one of Australia’s national television networks.

In April, an attack forced the operator of four hospitals in Melbourne’s east to postpone some elective surgeries, and soon after several Queensland health service providers had to process patients manually when another attack brought down IT systems.

Then, in May, a cyber-attack forced the shutdown of a pipeline that carries 45 per cent of the US East Coast’s supply of diesel, petrol, and jet fuel.

Even in the last few weeks we’re seeing attacks delivered through text messages with a link to a voicemail, camouflaged as a means to get victims to download a malicious app. First reported to the Australian Cyber Security Centre on August 4, the ‘Flubot’ malware operates under the disguise of targeting those waiting for COVID tests and vaccination appointments.

Suddenly, cyber-attacks were having major consequences for well-defended organisations and causing significant disruption to people’s lives.

And there is no sign that cyber criminals will stop their onslaught any time soon.

The simple truth for most business leaders is that managing cyber security is not their organisation’s core business focus. But for cyber criminals, finding holes in their defence is their only business.

organisations that will fall under the proposed revisions to the Australian Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act 2018, which significantly expands the definition of those industries considered critical and introduces new cyber defence obligations for them.

Leaders should pay particular heed to the introduction of a Positive Security Obligation (PSO) relating to how they manage the security and resilience of critical infrastructure assets, and to the need to take an allhazards approach to identifying and mitigating material risks.

That means truly understanding the risks involved in their infrastructure and the investments they have made to protect it, including those risks endemic to the providers they work with.

With this in mind, the Epicor Industry Insights Report 2021 found that 86 per cent of respondents, whose organisations were mostly on cloud, said cloud solutions helped them adhere to government data regulations.

Cloud security landscape Business leaders have no shortage of options for how they can spend their cyber defence budgets. Increasingly, they are making a choice that not only boosts their defences, but that also delivers new business capabilities.

According to our Industry Insights Report 2021, of the 1250 industry decision makers surveyed, 94 per cent declared an interest in cloud-based solutions over the next twelve months.

This was a massive change from the 25 per cent who stated cloud was a strategic priority a year earlier and has been driven by the need for enhanced agility brought on by the shifting landscape, and further fuelled by the growing cyber threat.

According to the report, decision makers regarded the cloud highly for the attributes of adaptability, futureproofing, partnership, and security.

This last point was reinforced by the 90 per cent of respondents who believed data was safer in cloud-based solutions - a particularly important

consideration for the growing number of organisations that are investing in Big Data.

Cyber security steps The single biggest threat to an organisation’s IT security is the growing number of phishing attacks experienced globally and locally. The level of sophistication administered through these attacks are getting more subtle and clever, even the most security-aware organisation can fall victim. Alongside training and upskilling the entire workforce on how best to identify a threat, having strong cloud based systems in place can dwarf the current security systems of most legacy on-premise security systems.

Cloud based security not only provides superior protection for cyber security, it also frees up time for inhouse IT experts to focus on business processes and efficiencies to enable the organisation to grow revenue and improve margins.

To best deliver your organisation’s

Eighty-six per cent of cloud-based organisations said the platform helped them adhere to government regulations, according to an Epicor industry insight report.

Rapid response The IT industry evolves quickly, and so too do the techniques used by cyber criminals.

And as we’re all asking questions regarding risk, they need to be asked and answered to the satisfaction of the most senior leaders in the organisation.

Right now this question is especially relevant for leaders of 36 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

manmonthly.com.au

Fabrication Showcase 2021 your systems to be able to detect and investigate incidents 9. Incident management: plan your response to cyber incident in advance 10. Supply chain security: collaborate with your suppliers and partners

Cloud security advantages

Business leaders are choosing cloud security to increase security and deliver new capabilities. business objectives, we recommend that you first review your approach to risk management and then work though the following processes: 1. Risk management: take a riskbased approach to securing your data and systems 2. Engagement and training: collaboratively build security that works for people in your organisation 3. Asset management: know what data and systems you have and

what business needs they support 4. Architecture and configuration: design, build, maintain, and manage systems securely 5. Vulnerability management: keep your systems protected throughout their lifecycle 6. Identify and access management: control who and what can access your systems and data 7. Data security: protect data where it is vulnerable 8. Logging and monitoring: design

While the cloud is not a panacea for cyber woes, it offers a range of advantages that weigh heavily in its favour.

For starters, the money that hyperscale cloud service providers devote to securing their systems far outstrips the spend of all but the largest organisations and government agencies.

Australian government security and policing agencies now acknowledge the security of the cloud, with many services assessed against the Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) as suitable for hosting data classified as PROTECTED. Most cloud services in Australia

have also solved data residency concerns by opening onshore data centres, allowing them to provide certainty that data will never leave the country.

Another advantage of cloud hosted software is that when users are dealing directly with the software’s provider, they can be assured the version they are using is the most up-to-date available – and hence fully patched and secured.

At Epicor, we offer customers the flexibility to choose between on-premises and cloud-based implementations. We know that many customers have the maturity to properly secure their systems and have strong commercial and regulatory reasons for wanting to keep their data close at hand.

As the report shows, leaders who have taken their businesses to the cloud are future proofing their business in two ways, by bolstering its defences from short term cyber threats, while giving it long-term flexibility.

X5 FASTMIG Extraordinary arc welding productivity

www.kemppi.com (02) 8785 2000

manmonthly.com.au

Designed for welders

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 37

Fabrication Showcase 2021 Creating safer welding for workers, one site at a time One of Australia’s largest providers of industrial and safety supplies, Blackwoods, shares how the business is protecting workers from the dangers of welding fumes.

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AKE a look at this list: cancer (lung, larynx and urinary tract), bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, emphysema, skin disease, and damage to the central nervous system and kidneys. These are some of the health issues that can arise if someone is exposed to welding fumes.

While welding is a task performed across many industries and can be inadvertently overlooked, the reality and gravity of these health issues was underlined in 2017 when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), re-classified all welding fumes generated from welding as “carcinogenic to humans”.

Put simply, welding can be a hazardous occupation if you are not suitably protected, and appropriate safety practices are not adhered to.

An inherent challenge with the above is that some of these health issues may not arise for many, many years.

In Australia, there are exposure standards to contaminants. The standard for general welding fumes, which is measured inside the welder’s helmet when worn (“breathing zone”), must not exceed 5mg/m3 using a Time Weighted Average (TWA) of eight hours per day over a five-day working week. This excludes other fume types such as chromium and copper which are lower.

According to Blackwoods technical specialist team leader for welding, gas and abrasives, Dino Paris, the understanding of safe practices and obligations associated with welding fumes continues to improve in Australia.

“Over the last 24 months alone, we’ve seen a significant lift in enquiries from safety advisors, production managers, workshop leaders and the like on Welding PAPR (Powered Air Purifying Respirators), welding fume controlling systems as well as the associated PPE,” Paris said.

38 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

Technical specialists from Blackwoods conduct hygiene assessments at work sites to keep welders safe.

In support of these enquiries, many customers enlist the involvement of the combined Blackwoods technical safety and welding, gas and abrasives teams for industry best practice guidance.

Through onsite assessments our team of experts enable customers to conduct hygiene assessments that provide them with peace of mind, or an applicable and practical fit for purpose solution.

When providing onsite assessments, the five-tier Hierarchy of Controls methodology is applied: 1. Elimination: Remove the hazard (fumes) 2. Substitution: Replace the hazard 3. Engineering controls: Isolate the hazard by maintaining designating (welding) areas and minimise or remove fumes through controls 4. Administrative: Change the process, consider shift rotations and position workers to minimise or remove exposure to fumes

5. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Use appropriate protective clothing and respiratory equipment.

The controls are listed in order from the most to the least effective. In almost all situations, a combination of these controls is needed to best protect welders.

The Blackwoods team of technical specialists are available to assist workplaces in undertaking a hygiene assessment for peace of mind, or to assist in identifying a tailored solution to keep welders safe.

Minimising worker exposure with engineered controls Welding fume is comprised of solid particulate and gases and are hazardous. In fact, it can lead to serious ailments, and/or death. Every employer needs to be thoroughly aware of the hazard and act accordingly. That means every worker who may be exposed to welding

fume in the workplace needs to take appropriate safety measures. As part of safe practice, workers must wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which includes welding helmets, gloves, jackets, caps, and footwear.

Also, it is important to understand the importance of Weld Fume Management Controls, which include optimisation, isolation, ventilation/ extraction, and safe work practices.

These controls can protect workers, the workshop and minimise risks to the employer at a time when welding has become an increasing focus for Workplace Safety authorities.

Lincoln Electric offers a range of extraction options that can isolate workers from hazardous fumes. These include portable and stationary fume extractors, extraction arms with centralised collectors, and fume extraction welding guns that can help capture and remove fumes at their source, well before they reach a manmonthly.com.au

Fabrication Showcase 2021 welder’s breathing zone.

“It is often said that welding fume extraction is a non-productive investment. That is not true; it does have a positive effect on the productivity and comfort of the welder. When you create a safe workplace, you lift the image of the company both internally and externally. But more importantly, this results in more motivated employees, better efficiency and a higher quality of the welding job,” says Charles Elbayeh, National Product Manager – Equipment, Lincoln Electric Company (Australia).

Materials being welded, consumables used and even the welding process are key factors to be considered when selecting the right system.

Respiratory protection for welding fume exposure There are more than 80 different types of welding and associated processes. That means there is a lot for any welder, from a trainee to an

Over the last 24 months alone, we’ve seen a significant lift in enquiries from safety advisors, production managers, workshop leaders and the like on Welding PAPR (Powered Air Purifying Respirators), welding fume controlling systems as well as the associated PPE. expert to take in. Unfortunately, during any of these 80-plus activities, welders can also take in toxic fumes if unprotected.

With welding fume classified as a “carcinogenic to humans” by the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer), the welding industry continues to undergo significant safety changes. At the core of any change is the knowledge that all welding processes are subject to risk assessment, and in the case of welding fume, the hierarchy of controls must be applied.

In reference to PPE, every employer should consider the use of auto-darkening welding helmets that have integrated Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR). Welding helmets with PAPR are mandatory in many Australian businesses.

Statistically they tell a story that cannot be overlooked: They have a Required Minimum Protection Factor (RMPF) of 50, which means they supply breathing air which is at least 50 times cleaner than the air the welder would be breathing if unprotected. By comparison,

disposable half-face style respirators have a RMPF of 10 if properly fitted and worn.

Powered Air Purifying Respirators are versatile. They allow the welder unrestricted movement, offer clear vision, comfort, eye and face protection, and of course, respiratory protection. They are valuable in a variety of environments where welders may work with such materials as aluminium, stainless steel, galvanised steel and applications including MMA, GMAW, FCAW, SAW and TIG. “In relation to the hierarchy of controls, PPE is often referred to as the last resort. When it comes to welding, suitable PPE must always be worn.

Even if a welder is operating within the workplace exposure standard for welding fume, they can still inhale up to 11 grams of fume every year. 11 grams of a substance with a direct link between human exposure and the development of cancer,” says David Chippendale, Director of Marketing and Sales AWS.

The future-focused force in Manufacturing Kinetic is the cloud ERP made with manufacturers for manufacturers. Trust Epicor know-how to accelerate growth and maximise innovation and profitability.

This is the future-focused force in manufacturing.

EPICOR.COM INFOANZZEPICOR.COM

SOLUTIONS FOR: Care | Distribution | Manufacturing

manmonthly.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 39

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adcplastics.com.au

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Adelaide Pressure Inspection PL

adelaidepressure.com.au

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www.aldom.com.au

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aldom.com.au

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www.allweldmanufacturing. com.au www.amphenol.com.au

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www.anff-sa.com

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www.aqseptence.com

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manufacture.aragroup.com.au

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www.bakerprovan.com.au

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www.celsiussheetmetal.com. au www.coasteelengineering. com.au comfortid.com

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www.croftstructures.com

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www.fabinox.com.au

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diverseco.com.au

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www.empire-ie.com.au

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www.mefsc.org.au

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www.icaruslearning.com

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industrialplastics.com.au

QLD

INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANCY WORLDWIDE

www.pablodito.wixsite.com

QLD

40 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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www.abeckgroup.com.au

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Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 41

Fabrication Showcase 2021 Laing O’Rourke

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www.laserwizard.com.au

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LDG Engineering

ldgengineering.com.au

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Leussink

www.leussink.com.au

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www.grogangroup.com

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Melvelle Equipment Corp Pty Ltd

www.melvelle.com.au

NSW

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Monadelphous Engineering Pty Ltd

monadelphous.com.au

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www.moorebanksteelsupplies. NSW com.au www.mscsoftware.com VIC

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nepeanengineering.com.au

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www.perreng.com.au

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www.prp.company

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www.raymax.com.au

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ringwood.training

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www.rockpress.com.au

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www.steelfabau.com.au

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www.straightupmetalservices. com.au www.success5.com.au

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www.swawater.com.au

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www.twwoods.com.au

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industry.airliquide.com.au

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www.thrustm.com

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www.unitedfasteners.com.au

ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA

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wees.com.au

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42 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

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Success 5 Engineering

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MSC Software, Part of Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

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Loddon prison industries

Advanced Fabrication (waterjet cutting, plasma cutting, laser cutting, metal punching, bending, folding)

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Metal alloys

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Standard metals

SA

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Location of Business

www.k-tig.com

Wood

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K-TIG

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Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 43

DECEMBER 2021 – 2022 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK 2021 is a year of uncertainty, hope and room for amazing innovations for manufacturers across all verticals. 2022 will be a year of announcements, movements and reopenings for many business – huge growth in the horizon In December2021, we will be compiling an Industry Outlook for Manufacturers’ Monthly from all companies across every vertical who supply their services and products to the manufacturing supply chain a chance to give their outlook from their expert perspective for their businesses and industries. Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

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.

Booking deadline: 03 November 2021

To book contact DANNY HERNANDEZ now danny.hernandez@primecreative.com.au | 0431 330 232

Brought to you by

What’sNew

UHMWPE Polyethylene for the Food Industry Allplastics stock, cut and machine UHMWPE Rod & Sheet for a wide range of industries & applications.

The material is especially suitable for food manufacturing and preparation facilities. If exhibits excellent wear resistance characteristics due to its low co-efficient of friction (second only to PTFE). It has high impact strength, is molecularly stable and suitable for low temperatures.

Polyethylene is a food grade material with FDA approval, it also has non stick properties. This makes it the preferred option for chopping boards pasta rollers, rolling pins, wall cladding for meat, fish and poultry plants.

In addition, Allplastics Engineering offers Nylon, Acetal, PEEK, Polypropylene for more demanding conditions. Clear Polycarbonate machine guards are fabricated for safety and noise reduction in factories.

Product Properties • Low Coefficient of friction • Excellent abrasion resistant • High surface release (non-stick) Properties • Impact resistance • Good chemical resistance • Excellent dampening (including noise) properties • Suited for Low temperatures • Good electrical insulation Product Applications • Cutting Boards • Rollers/ Rolling Pins • Chain sprockets • StarWheels for Bottling plants • Chute liners • Conveyor components • Mechanical bearing components Company: Allplastics Engineering Phone: (02) 8038 2000 Web: www.allplastics.com.au

Kraus & Naimer Koolkuna visible contact isolators Since 1907 Kraus & Naimer has maintained high standards and quality products and has established itself as an innovator leader in the switchgear market. The company has focussed on local markets and adapting to the needs of the customers has been at the forefront of each branch’s success. Maintaining the Kraus & Naimer standard of quality and customer service at the local level with local products has driven the international success of the brand.

The Australian market has seen an increase in the desire for many end-users to have a clear view of the moving contact within the switch to give the user complete peace of mind of the status of the contact. Kraus & Naimer maintains that the switch and operator has been extensively tested to ensure it conforms to local and international standards as a switch-disconnector so that if it says OFF—you know it is OFF - however, we also listen to our customers and understand that sometimes they want to see it for themselves.

Kraus & Naimer already had a range of switches with visible contacts and a longstanding history of dependability, so it was simply a matter of developing a more suitable way of mounting the switch so the contacts could be viewed clearly. The innovative addition of an extra door hinging from the side meant proven and certified interlocking mechanisms could be utilised without the need for over-engineered designs that are prone to failure. The combination of established mechanisms with visible contacts means the user can be 100 per cent assured in the knowledge that safety has been effectively achieved and that reliability is completely assured.

After all — Koolkuna means “a place of safety”.

Company: Kraus & Naimer Phone: 0438 700 033 Web: www.krausnaimer.com/au_en

manmonthly.com.au

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 45

Brought to you by

BST presents Neousys’s IGT-22-DEV industrial-grade IoT gateway development kit Backplane Systems Technology is proud to present Neousys’s IGT-22DEV, which is an industrial-grade gateway development kit that provides the comprehensive resources you need for developing your gateway.

IGT-22-DEV provides a ready-for-use software environment featuring Debian Buster, Docker CE, Node-RED, Python3, GCC, and IoT platform agent configured with sensors and cloud connection. With minimum provisioning on the IoT platform,

a web-based dashboard becomes available and can be accessed on a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone, wherever you may be. IGT series supports various programming languages, such as Python and GCC. On top of that, IGT-22-DEV has Node-RED pre-installed for intuitive graphical and local logic control of the built-in DO, allowing prompt responses. Unlike the standard IGT-22, the USB port of IGT-22DEV is specifically set to OTG mode to provide serial and LAN functions over USB, so you can choose to connect to IGT-22-DEV with a USB cable.

IGT development kits not only demonstrate the capabilities of the IGT series but their ready-for-deployment and plug-and-play characteristics make them excellent choices for compatibility or performance evaluation without starting from scratch.

Conclusively, IGT-22-DEV makes IIoT journeys simple, efficient, and effective. Thus, IGT-22-DEV is ideal for your first IoT project, bridging gaps between digital and legacy devices, or a system compatibility test before actual implementation.

Key features: • Industrial-Grade IoT Gateway • 8 Isolated Digital Inputs and 8 Digital Outputs • Pre-Loaded and Configured IoT Platform Middleware Company: Backplane Systems Technology Phone: (02) 9457 6400 Web: www.backplane.com.au

High quality industrial vibrators for performance and reliability Originally specialising in immersion vibrators for concrete consolidation, OLI is now the worldwide leader in vibration technology, with a complete range of electric and pneumatic internal and external vibrators.

By supplying competitive, high-quality products for wide-ranging applications, OLI combines performance and reliability by adapting to the ever-changing market. A strong believer in innovation, OLI is constantly striving to be ahead of the opposition. As a global player in industrial vibration technology, the key focus of OLI’s business strategy is rapid stock delivery, anytime, anywhere in the world.

Excellent customer service is of pivotal importance: the company guarantees quick order processing and customers worldwide can enjoy access to the same highquality product and services.

OLI has access to credible expertise when it comes to finding suitable solutions to customers’ requests. A team of engineers specialised in designing efficient, reliable, and safe solutions backed by globally certified management.

OLI provides their customers with state of-the-art equipment and the blueprint for the next generation of products is already in progress.

Solution OLI flow aids are designed to solve issues caused by design errors or by the characteristics of the powder or granules handled. Moreover, they increase process efficiency and improve plant safety.

The PS series hammers produce a high impact force thanks to a single impact between the internal piston and the metal base welded on the walls of silos and hoppers. This action is particularly effective in moving powders that tends to compact under pressure or to adhere to the walls, as well as the majority of granular and bulk materials. For this reason, the PS series products represent the ideal solution to the problems of formation of bridges and rat holes.

Company: Oli Vibrators Phone: 03 8761 6911 Web: www.olivibrators.com.au

Situation Due to their characteristics, many powders inside silos, hoppers, chutes, piping, tanks or any other container tend to stick to the surface.

Problem Any small change in the opening of the outlet, a rough surface, bends, shallow angles, the shape of the container, as well as the particle shape of the material handled might slow down the flow of the product, thus, generating waste.

46 OCTOBER 2021 Manufacturers’ Monthly

manmonthly.com.au

The Last Word

INNES WILLOX – Chief Executive of the national employer association, Ai Group

Beginning of the end of the COVID crisis?

H

OPEFULLY, and especially given the changing attitudes towards living with COVID-19 seen in our two largest states, the beginning of the end of this crisis may be in sight.

Ai Group has been relentless in arguing on behalf of our members and business generally for governments to take a more targeted approach to COVID restrictions and move towards living with the virus, as they now appear to be doing.

Every day I hear from members about how they are dealing with COVID. Frustrations around closed national and state borders tops the list of barriers to business.

The effective closure of our international borders is having a serious impact on many businesses especially as they see the rest of the world opening up and their competitors travelling freely. We saw some welcome announcements from the Federal Government in September on preparations for our international border opening, but free movement will be strongly dependent on vaccination rates and the states coming on board.

The Prime Minister has spoken of beginning to open up when vaccination rates hit 70 and 80 per cent and home quarantine will then become the norm pending successful state trials.

Until this happens, challenges remain including the need for exit approvals, flights prone to cancellation and few businesspeople to date have been prepared to endure two weeks hotel quarantine.

We are consulting governments on how the re-opening will be achieved and stressing the importance of business travel to our economic recovery.

In discussions with governments on borders we have urged them to: • Allow fully vaccinated business travellers the automatic right to depart and return to Australia.

• Allow fully vaccinated Australian manmonthly.com.au

business travellers and business visa holders and returning Australians who pass a COVID-19 rapid test on arrival, and at regular intervals after arrival, to home quarantine in all states and territories as is being trialled in South Australia.

• Remove the travel arrival quota for fully vaccinated business travellers and business visa holders and returning Australians.

The current vaccination trajectory should see these ambitions achievable by Christmas.

On state borders, once NSW and Victoria open up to each other and the world, inevitably the other states will follow suit, especially when the target vaccination rates are reached.

We are also arguing for national consistency for the Health Pass that will be used as proof of vaccination status and which would, for example, provide access to workplaces where vaccines are mandated, major events, and for international travel. Consistency is important as we don’t want the complexity of the states and territories all having different requirements and we are urging governments to limit its use as much as possible. The passes should also have a limited shelf life. Once the highest levels of vaccination are reached they may not be necessary – as has been found with the UK dropping vaccine passport plans altogether.

We have been big supporters of the vaccine roll-out and the need for governments to help businesses who want to host workplace-based vaccinations. On this we had a win recently with the government agreeing to set up a COVID-19 Vaccination Claim Scheme. This Scheme aims to provide a simple, streamlined process to reimburse/ compensate eligible people for “injuries” associated with COVID-19 vaccinations, including in the

workplace, without the need for legal proceedings. It will assist in protecting employers from claims by employees in such circumstances.

I have also been a strong supporter of Rapid Antigen Testing, highlighting that while such tests are a valuable workplace safety resource for businesses, when governments require employers to use such testing on workers in certain circumstances, then they should be provided free to businesses. The tests should be made available for home use and the restrictive requirement for supervision of these tests removed as soon as practically possible.

Whether or not to mandate the vaccine in workplaces is also another issue on which we have been leading the case for employers. The clarity around the circumstances in which mandating vaccination would be lawful and reasonable that has now been provided by the Fair Work Ombudsman is a valuable resource for members thinking of going down that track. We have been helping many members with advice

on mandating and one of our own surveys found that more than half of businesses are considering that approach in some form.

Ai Group members tell me that another of their biggest concerns is the need to rebuild confidence based on consultation, certainty and the consistent application of state-by-state restrictions and requirements. We are taking that message to government and seeking clearer communication on the timing and application of new requirements imposed on businesses.

Finally, we are talking to governments at all levels on the need for consultation and support for businesses to help us exit COVID successfully with a focus on business recovery initiatives around investment, creating jobs, reskilling and productivity.

Based on what we saw after restrictions ended last year, if the current progress with vaccinations across the country continues, there is every reason to believe that the December quarter will see a strong economic rebound.

There are preparations for international border openings depending on vaccination rates across the nation.

Manufacturers’ Monthly OCTOBER 2021 47

We bring colour into view!

Compact capacitive level switches with 360° custom-colour status display

256 colours Individually selectable: Measurement in progress Sensor switching Process malfunction

15 cm

Compact design

Hygienic adapter system

Adjustment via smartphone

Approvals: - FDA Food & Drug Administration - EHEDG & 3A Hygienic - EG1935/2004

$ 480

VEGAPOINT 24 G½"

www.vega.com/vegapoint