May 2023

Star power of J.L.Lennard’s Pratica FIT Express speed oven draws interest at Foodservice 2023

A Practica speed oven that delivers cook times up to 20 times faster than industry norms has had a fantastic reception at its first public showing by distributor J.L.Lennard, drawing top interest from pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes, and takeaway groups. The Pratica FIT Express – which uses a combination of high speed forced-air convection heating and microwave energy to deliver more even cooking without hot spots – was launched at Foodservice Australia in Melbourne in May, attracting more than 10,000 visitors from Australia and New Zealand. The leading Australasian supplier of globally respected foodservice technology brands, J.L.Lennard Ltd, said the show gave the oven “a fantastic launch and visibility for customers seeking ways to boost service and profitability through easy-to-use, ultra-fast cooking technology swifter and less expensively than anything comparable”. “The new Pratica easily generated the greatest response among our strong and diverse display of foodservice products at Foodservice Australia. It generated the most inquiries of any of the many products we showed, with interest across the entire user spectrum,” said J.L.Lennard Product Specialist, Darren Cooper. The J.L.Lennard team at Foodservice Australia “We had response not only from pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes, caterers, and takeaway groups, but also service station groups, fast food outlets, health care facilities, and accommodation providers. All of these diverse users want to be able to provide a greater range of fresher foods to their clients using technology that delivers food faster than ever before,” said Cooper. Suitable for a wide variety of fresh, chilled, and frozen food, and with 1024 stored recipes, the large cooking chamber oven with a compact footprint enables it to fit on a 600mm benchtop typical of users for whom it will boost service speed and profits. “This quality, all-stainless and easy-to-use ultra-fast oven – which costs typically just two-thirds of […]

Women in Tech: Kim Clarke, MYOB

Tell readers what it is that you do? MYOB is a business management platform that brings together key workflows to fit a business’s needs. I lead the Enterprise team, which specifically focusses on solutions for mid-sized businesses throughout Australia and New Zealand. Why have you chosen this career path? I started in engineering, before moving into product engineering and product management. I love to see, and play a part in driving, the way society and business leverage technology to make tomorrow better than today. I also love working with curious, hungry people, and I’m fortunate to get all of that in my career. Most satisfying project undertaken? Over 20 years ago I worked with a very progressive CEO and CTO, who supported me to undertake a “side hustle” with two other engineers. That was career defining. The three of us built a few products together and got great traction with one of them in particular. Over the years I have learnt the ingredient for the “most satisfying”. And It’s not the most successful; it’s the ones where I learn the most, and usually established lifelong friendships. I got all of that from that first side hustle. What drives you? I like to stare down a challenge, then build and work through it with curious, ambitious, and high performing teams. And while they are stylistically different, they all have the same underlying desire to solve problems together. Have you travelled much for business? Yes. And the glamour has worn off! Several years ago I was based in Australia but managing teams in San Francisco, India and Singapore. In that role I spent over a third of my time away – and I had a one-year-old. In general I immerse myself in the present, and I loved the learning, the people and the […]

Manufacturing needs to embrace the tech revolution to hire the next best talent

-Zac Duff, JigSpace Australian manufacturers are scrambling to sure-up their most precious resource: their people. With historically low unemployment rates and a competitive labour market, 90% of CEOs across all industries expect to be affected by staff shortages in 2023[1], and manufacturing is a sector particularly impacted by people pressures. While other sectors such as technology, retail, professional services and engineering remain appealing to a younger demographic, manufacturing is sometimes seen as a less attractive proposition. That fear largely revolves around machine-heavy roles, out of date processes and “we’ve always done it this way” mentalities. Zac Duff, Jig Space But with Millennials now the largest generational workforce group in the country, the onus is on manufacturers to embrace change and build an innovation-led culture where digital natives see a clear pathway for development, opportunities and progression. A recent report from PWC said millennials are set to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, and are a crucial lynchpin to a business’ future success[2]. Gen Y and Gen Z embrace the idea of applying technology as a solution to problems and being open to adaptation, and they’re put off by old school tools and approaches. Getting comfortable with discomfort The truth is, new technologies can be intimidating. When you’re operating large-scale facilities, rolling out changes company-wide can be daunting, and getting buy-in from senior decision makers isn’t always easy. But if we want to make our manufacturing facilities fit for purpose and futureproof, we need to get more comfortable with stepping into the unknown. Rather than thinking of technology implementation as a looming headache, look for solutions that are user-friendly, solve a smaller problem, and are easy to implement. Tools such as Zoom were unheard of just a few years ago, but now they’re widely embedded, with very little friction […]

Energy network must evolve to incorporate renewables more effectively

Australia faces an energy paradox as the country pursues its net zero targets. The Federal Government has enshrined into law an emissions reduction target of 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. This is a significant target, one that industry estimates will require 6 GW of new renewable energy and storage each year. However, the current network is struggling to handle renewable energy fed to the grid, especially from wind and solar farms. A recent study by Australian National University found that solar is the worst affected, with almost double the curtailments compared to wind energy, despite having a smaller installed capacity. This puts the country’s net zero targets under pressure as network congestion is causing large volumes of cheap renewable energy to be curtailed, meaning Australia has an “overgeneration” problem when it comes to renewables, particularly solar. This may lead to financial losses for clean energy generators and make investment in future projects a risky prospect. Regulators face a myriad of challenges in managing a centralised grid – challenges ranging from power outages, modernisation, cybersecurity, demand management and transmission losses. Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) estimates that around 10% of the electricity leaving an Australian power station never reaches consumers, which adds to the end consumers’ costs as this lost energy must still be paid for. Grid tariffs are also a concern as they may slow down the country’s path to net zero as renewable energy generators are saddled with legacy grid costs. Grid tariffs are currently based on amortising 25-year investments in national transmission cost. However, renewable energy sources can function cost effectively at the local level using microgrids, which are being implemented across Australia. Kalbarri in WA is now powered by a 100% renewable energy-intelligent microgrid with wind energy, solar […]

SmartSat unveils terminal for faster, safer military communications

SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), Australia’s leading space research centre, has unveiled the Compact Hybrid Optical-RF User Segment (CHORUS) prototype terminal to create more stable and secured military satellite communications at the 15th Australian Space Forum. Funded by SmartSat CRC, the world-leading technology embedded in this prototype has been entirely developed in Australia by the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), and industry and academic partners, EOS Space Systems and EM Solutions, Lyrebird Antenna Research, Shoal Group, Australian National University and University of South Australia, following three years of research. Satellite optical communications links offer significantly higher data rates and a lower interception probability than standard civilian and military radio frequency (RF) satellite communications, which are vulnerable to electronic warfare, such as jamming, geo-location and interception. CHORUS aims to address the several limitations of satellite-based optical communications technology and open viable commercialisation pathways for new SATCOM capabilities. The new CHORUS Terminal is a hybrid optical/RF system, integrating an RF antenna and an optical telescope into a system called the AntennaScope™. This ensures users have reliable communications all the time and much higher data rates when optical communication is possible. A recent VIP demonstration day at the Department of Defence Edinburgh base showcased the successful completion of testing and marked the practical conclusion of the two phases of the SmartSat CRC co-funded project. The unveiling of the CHORUS Terminal at the Australian Space Forum is the first opportunity for the space community to see the prototype and discuss its capabilities and potential commercial pathways with members of the R&D project team. The project drew on impressive efforts by DSTG to support testing at their LASER range, including designing and building a ‘pseudo-satellite’ to prove the hybrid RF-Optical aperture worked as designed. The availability of an EM Solutions provided Cobra maritime SATCOM terminal* […]