News Ticker

Australian made concussion diagnosis device exported to US
Climate Impact Corporation announces 10GW renewable hydrogen projects in South Australia and Northern Territory
Over 30 trades represented at 47th WorldSkills International
Securing OT  key to unlocking Australia’s manufacturing vision in an ever-growing threat landscape
Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg to headline international space symposium in Brisbane
The Budget 2024: Comment and Feedback on Energy Policies
Hunter class frigate program passes Preliminary Design Review milestone
Decarbonising our cities

Doug Green

About Doug Green

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Power PDF 3 PIC

Power PDF 3 enhances worker productivity

Nuance Communications has announced Power PDF 3, the newest version of the company’s award winning Power PDF software allowing businesses to create, edit, sign and share PDF documents. Power PDF 3 builds on the rich features of previous iterations, delivering benefits in several areas including user experience, conversion accuracy, document compatibility, eSignature support with workflow integration, collaboration and text editing. In NZ and Australia Power PDF 3 IS used as a business tool mainly in SME, corporates, manufacturing, industry, professional firms such as engineers. Power PDF frees organisations from the high cost of dealing with PDF licensing while providing a secure, user-friendly experience that satisfies the individual worker. For workers, it allows them to work more efficiently completing more tasks at a higher quality. Specifically, Power PDF 3 improves organisational performance with key new capabilities and benefits, including: Increased conversion accuracy: Leveraging the latest advancements in Nuance’s document conversion technology, workers immediately benefit from incredibly accurate and searchable PDFs and Microsoft Office documents with layouts stringently maintained. This enables PDF power-users to spend more time doing their jobs by avoiding rework fixing misidentified words or page formatting. Document compatibility: Power PDF 3 now supports the ISO PDF 2.0 standard, ensuring Power PDF documents are compatible with the widest range of existing PDF readers and processors which is critical for driving better business practices. Enhanced productivity: Power PDF 3 features real-time document collaboration, allowing multiple parties on the same network to edit PDF documents without inefficient back-and-forth processes such as email, while also eliminating document merge conflicts. These new features help workers work not only faster, but smarter while collaborating with one another. DocuSign® secure document workflow integration: Today’s workers demand secure, convenient workflows offering the ability to easily sign and certify PDFs. Power PDF 3 features eSignature support from DocuSign®, […]

Global collaboration on Aus MN

Global collaboration gives rise to 3D printed field test kit

A three-cornered collaboration between South Australia, Texas and Ethiopia is using 3D printed technology and design innovation to efficiently diagnose a deadly disease that infects a million people every year.  -Jim Plouffe The kit to diagnose leishmaniasis is being trialled this month by the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of a program to revolutionise the way diseases are tested and treated. Working with Austin-based infectious disease virtual incubator PandemicTech and the New Venture Institute (NVI) at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, Dr Endalamaw Gadisa has been able to quickly iterate his knowledge of a better way to test for leishmaniasis into a practical and cost-effective design. Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease spread through the bites of sandflies. The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 1 million new cases and 30,000 deaths occur annually, usually among malnourished people living in poverty and or unsanitary conditions. Although it can lead to ulcers and death, leishmanias is curable if diagnosed and treated early. Addis Ababa-based Dr Gadisa identified several difficulties in testing for the disease in Ethopia, leading to the need for more effective and practical diagnostic equipment. The difficulties with the current system include the cost of a liquid medium (reagent) used for testing, the fragile test tubes used to store the reagent, the challenge of viewing the samples under available microscopes, and the length of time it takes to get results, which can be more than a week. He developed a design for a test tube that requires significantly less reagent (10 microliters versus 25 millilitres) and could provide results in as few as three days, but he lacked the ability to build his prototype in Addis Ababa. Andrew Nerlinger, the director of PandemicTech in Austin, offered to work with Dr Gadisa as one of the incubator’s […]

ACS Shipbuilding

BAE Systems wins $35 billion bid to build war frigates in South Australia

ASC Shipbuilding will build nine anti-submarine warfare frigates for the Australian Navy in Adelaide after BAE Systems was chosen as the preferred tenderer for the $35 billion SEA 5000 project. – Andrew Spence The Global Combat Ship – Australia is based on BAE Systems’ Type 26 frigate, one of the world’s most advanced anti-submarine warships, which the company is currently constructing in Glasgow for the British Navy. The BAE Systems design was selected over Italian company Fincantieri and Spanish ship builder Navantia for the SEA 5000 project. The ships, named the Hunter class, will be built at ASC’s headquarters, the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide, South Australia. ASC Shipbuilding, currently wholly owned by the Australian Government, will become a subsidiary of BAE Systems during the build. At the end of the program the Commonwealth will resume complete ownership of ASC Shipbuilding. The Hunter class will have the capability to conduct a variety of missions independently, or as part of a task group, with sufficient range and endurance to operate effectively throughout the region. The frigates will also have the flexibility to support non-warfare roles such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Incorporating the leading edge Australian-developed CEA Phased-Array Radar and the US Navy’s Aegis combat management system, with an Australian interface developed by Saab Australia, the Hunter class will be one of the most capable warships in the world. The project is expected to create and sustain 4000 highly skilled jobs, providing a significant contribution to the development of Australia’s continuous naval shipbuilding capability and a boost to the nation’s manufacturing industry.

Embrace the 4th PIC

Embrace the fourth industrial age—or become a backwater

By Albert Palazzo The world is on the cusp of a new industrial age—the fourth. As with previous industrial ages, those who embrace it first stand to become the dominant powers of the future and will seize the right to set the rules that define the age. Those that are late to the party will struggle to secure their place and avoid a decline into humanity’s future backwaters. Australia has a choice to make: whether to undergo the social, political and cultural disruption that will result from the embrace of emerging technologies, or to continue to support an economy based on the status quo. In making this choice, Australia will also determine its security future. One of the likely changes of the fourth industrial age to which Australia will need to adapt is the decline in relative value of primary resources and manufactured goods compared to information. The rapid growth of additive manufacturing (3D printing) demonstrates this point. 3D factories, using very few staff, are coming into existence. These factories have certain advantages over current means of production. Being additive, 3D printers are very efficient and require less feed stock—iron ore for example—than traditional subtractive manufacturing. They can also be located anywhere, and be arrayed as individual units or in their thousands. That will promote distributed manufacturing. Many countries in Asia, including China, have chosen to lift their people out of poverty by becoming the manufacturer to the ‘Walmarts’ of the world. That model will come undone when every Australian, European, American and even Asian home has a 3D printer with which families can print whatever they want, from food to high-quality clothes and beyond. Value will cease to reside in the product, but will be found in the design. And as the economic foundations of the developing world fail, instability and social collapse […]

Rustin Dring Enerpac

New Enerpac leader brings best-in-class products and strong customer service focus

Mr Rustin Dring  A Sales and Marketing Business Leader with extensive international experience in channel management and new product innovation has been appointed to head the Australasian operations of globally successful high-pressure hydraulic tools manufacturer – Enerpac. Mr Rustin Dring will lead Enerpac’s long-established teams in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea as they introduce a stream of new product, technology, services and distributor support initiatives. Under Dring’s leadership, Enerpac will be looking to expand their value proposition to distributors and end-users by offering world class customer support for high-pressure hydraulic tools, controlled force products and solutions for precise positioning of heavy loads. Mr Dring – BsC, MBA and a member of Enerpac’s Global Leadership Team – takes overall responsibility as the General Manager of Enerpac Australia and New Zealand. He will manage the introduction of several new product platforms, new strategic initiatives, and drive regional expansion while continuing to evaluate the best way to support Enerpac’s customers and distributors in Australasia. “This is an exciting time to be leading the highly experienced Enerpac commercial and operations teams. We will be working very closely with our strong distribution network to bring new and innovative ideas to the market and back them up with the world class support known by our customers from around the world. As we continue to push the envelope of new product innovation we always keep a keen focus on the safety, productivity and durability of our world class products and solutions, in areas such as: Safety – several new Enerpac product designs incorporate lighter weight materials, reduced sound and vibration levels, improved operator feedback, and testing to the highest level of safety standards. Productivity – Enerpac tools are more efficient through our designs and various new technologies. We look to eliminate wasted time from our […]

Countries with PIC 2

Australia must embrace transformation for a sustainable future

Judy van der Velden/Flickr, CC BY-NC Shirin Malekpour, Research Leader in Strategic Planning and Futures Studies, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University Last Friday, the Australian government released its first report on our progress towards meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. These 17 goals are a call to action to ensure economic prosperity and social inclusion, while protecting the planet. They cover issues ranging from health to reducing inequalities and clean energy. According to the report, Australia has made some steady progress towards most of our goals. However, to achieve the goals in just 12 years from now, we need transformative actions. These are missing in the report. Without a strong vision and new models of partnership between government, industry and communities, we will not meet the 2030 deadline. What the report says In 2015, most of the world’s nations signed up to the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda. In July this year, Australia will present its first voluntary review of progress towards the goals at the UN. These reviews are a crucial component of accountability. Australia’s Voluntary National Review (for which I facilitated a consultation workshop to give input from the university sector) is a showcase of policies, actions and initiatives from across different sectors that are, in the report’s language, “relevant” to achieving the goals. The report highlights that Australia is a prosperous and generally healthy country. But it also acknowledges significant challenges, such as improving the health and prosperity of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and helping workers in the resources or manufacturing sectors who are facing technological and industrial transitions. The report highlights that local councils, statutory authorities, businesses and universities are taking actions that are explicitly aligned with the global goals. For example, a number of Australian universities have signed a […]

Apple recycling

Recycling robots: Reducing waste the smart way

Just last month Apple showed off Daisy, a recycling robot that can strip apart iPhones and allow the materials to be reused. It’s highly likely that other smart device manufacturers will follow suit with similar robots in future. The benefits of a device like Daisy are twofold. For starters, it allows customers to safely dispose of their discarded smart devices. Secondly, it reduces the resources spent on sourcing the materials for new devices, as the materials can be taken from older models and reused.

Machine vision error

Machine vision error detection: Detecting faults too minute for human eyes

Oftentimes issues in manufacturing come down to simple human error. New technologies are allowing us to cut down on these issues by offering capabilities in fault detection that far exceeds that of human workers. Landing.AI is a company that creates smart technology that can find the tiniest of faults in circuitry and other aspects of a machine that might not be immediately apparent to a human.                             As machinery in smart factories will all be connected and communicating with each other, the AI will send an alert when a fault is found, immediately halting the machine in question so that it can be fixed.

IVECO Aust

IVECO Australia appoints new General Manager of sales

IVECO Australia has announced the appointment of Scott Slater to the position of General Manager – Sales, effective 1 June. Mr Slater replaces Geoff Buswell who will take on a new position within the CNH Industrial Group in Australia. The new role will see Mr Slater assume sales responsibility for both IVECO’s National Key Accounts as well as Dealers. Prior to being appointed to the position, Mr Slater spent 18 months as IVECO National Key Accounts Manager and before that was General Manager at IVECO Dealership, Melbourne Truck Centre. In total, he has been involved in commercial vehicle sales for over 18 years. Mr Slater said he was looking forward to the challenges and opportunities the new role would bring. “It’s an exciting time for IVECO in Australia, the product offering is the strongest it’s been in many years and this positions us well for future sales growth,” he said. “The brand has performed strongly in the light market over the past 12-18 months and during this time has also set solid foundations for this momentum to continue across to the medium and heavy segments. “Having the IVECO heavy duty range with models such as the Stralis and ACCO being made locally, provides a real advantage for customers in terms of the flexibility and customisation levels we can provide them. I’ll be focusing on promoting these benefits to prospective IVECO customers in the months ahead,” he said. IVECO Australia Business Director, Bruce Healy, thanked Geoff Buswell for his contribution to IVECO, and also said that Mr Slater was well credentialed to take on the new role. “Geoff did a great job over the last three years in strengthening IVECO’s Dealer Network and played a pivotal role in introducing successful new initiatives such as Daily specialist Dealers to the network,” Mr […]

Embrace the 4th PIC

Embrace the fourth industrial age—or become a backwater

By Albert Palazzo The world is on the cusp of a new industrial age—the fourth. As with previous industrial ages, those who embrace it first stand to become the dominant powers of the future and will seize the right to set the rules that define the age. Those that are late to the party will struggle to secure their place and avoid a decline into humanity’s future backwaters. Australia has a choice to make: whether to undergo the social, political and cultural disruption that will result from the embrace of emerging technologies, or to continue to support an economy based on the status quo. In making this choice, Australia will also determine its security future. One of the likely changes of the fourth industrial age to which Australia will need to adapt is the decline in relative value of primary resources and manufactured goods compared to information. The rapid growth of additive manufacturing (3D printing) demonstrates this point. 3D factories, using very few staff, are coming into existence. These factories have certain advantages over current means of production. Being additive, 3D printers are very efficient and require less feed stock—iron ore for example—than traditional subtractive manufacturing. They can also be located anywhere, and be arrayed as individual units or in their thousands. That will promote distributed manufacturing. Many countries in Asia, including China, have chosen to lift their people out of poverty by becoming the manufacturer to the ‘Walmarts’ of the world. That model will come undone when every Australian, European, American and even Asian home has a 3D printer with which families can print whatever they want, from food to high-quality clothes and beyond. Value will cease to reside in the product, but will be found in the design. And as the economic foundations of the developing world fail, instability and social collapse […]

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