Business

Let’s bring production onshore, but it might not ensure supplies

The pandemic has changed the way we think about supply chains, in particular the chains that feed our need for food, medical supplies, and defence equipment. It has led Prime Minister Scott Morrison to frame access to supplies in terms of economic sovereignty. Andrew Liveris, now an advisor to Morrison, and a former Dow Chemical Chief and advisor to both the Obama and Trump administrations, is pushing for re-shoring of critical supply chains. “Australia drank the free-trade juice and decided that off-shoring was okay,” he is quoted as saying. “Well, that era is gone.” But ensuring supplies can withstand shocks needn’t mean bringing production onshore. It might make it harder. Stockpiling isn’t that useful Firms usually talk about managing supply risk in terms of resilience or robustness. Robustness is the ability to continue supplying during a disruption (for a while we didn’t have this with toilet paper). Resilience is the ability to get supplies back to normal in an acceptable time frame (which we had with toilet paper). For critical supplies, robustness is the most important, but it hard to achieve for entire categories such as “medical equipment”. There, stockpiling is of limited use. The United States has a stockpile of oil, enough to fill half of its car tanks. Canada has a vault of maple syrup, called a “strategic reserve” – about 80,000 barrels worth. But when it comes to stockpiling “medical equipment” we might put a lot of effort into stockpiling ventilators, for example, only to find that the next emergency requires something different, or a different type of ventilator. And it’s hard to stockpile fresh food. We are exposed at choke points Face masks and food illustrate the risks. Half of global facemask production is concentrated in China. China’s factories closed during its lockdown at the time global demand simultaneously soared, resulting in a major shortages. Australia is one […]

If architecture is the canary in the coalmine, the outlook for construction is appalling

-Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide. Architecture suffers before building does. A survey of more than 450 architecture practices conducted by the Association of Consulting Architects finds that two thirds have lost more than 30% of their revenue, and eight in ten have had projects cancelled or put on hold. Six in ten are relying on JobKeeper. Half have cut pay or working hours. Three in ten have stood down or sacked staff. Only 15% believe they have enough work to see out the year. In total, the survey finds more than A$10 billion of projects have either been cancelled or put on hold, just among those responding to the survey. John Held, the National President of the Association of Consulting Architects says unless there is a more effective stimulus package for construction, the government will need to consider extending JobKeeper beyond its expiry in September to prevent the loss of many normally-viable architectural practices. Without a pipeline of projects, a substantial rise in unemployment across the whole construction sector will result Dr Peter Raisbeck, an expert in the building and construction industry at the University of Melbourne, says two thirds of architects in Australia are small businesses employing less than five people, operating on small profit margins. Widespread insolvencies amongst these vulnerable firms would be catastrophic The design professions – architecture and engineering – are the canary in the coalmine for the wider construction industry. If those professions are in a slump now, construction itself will most probably be in big trouble in three to six months. A window on the future The findings are reinforced by forecasts prepared by the Australian Construction Industry Forum. They show that while engineering construction on projects such as motorways and public transport is likely to hold up reasonably well, residential and non residential construction, […]

Unlocking the future of 4.0

Cicada Innovations is running a free online panel, ‘Unpacking the future of manufacturing 4.0’ with: Deputy Director General, Department of Innovations and Tourism Industry Development CEO, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub CEO, SpeeDX What really is Manufacturing 4.0? How important is it to keep the manufacturing of crucial items on-shore so they are less affected by global events? What does the future of this changing space hold and how can Australia meet that challenge? https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/monthly-buzz-unpacking-the-future-of-advanced-manufacturing-registration-111083666236 Circada Innovations is a hub of science (particularly agricultural, medical and AI) startups at the National Innovation Centre in Sydney.

Investment in new Yawei sees Jmar expand capabilities and customer base

Shepparton based Jmar Engineering was founded by Mark and Janice Hooper and recently celebrated 25 years in business. Its ongoing success is based on a commitment to providing outstanding customer service, staying abreast of local trends and ongoing diversification. Through its precision turning and milling equipment, Jmar specialises in component manufacturing, repairs and maintenance across a broad range of industries including a considerable amount of ‘reverse engineering’; fabricating components and parts that customers may have previously bought from overseas suppliers, whom in many cases are now defunct or uncontactable due to COVID-19. In addition to component manufacturing, the company has been a supplier to the agricultural industry for almost twenty five years with a unique product called the Christopher Dairy Bails; a retrofit product suitable for herringbone dairies that allows the farmer to feed in the bail at milking time. Jmar have also heavily invested in 3D modeling which has been a great sales tool given they can now provide customers with an accurate representation of the concept design prior to actual full-scale production. Nearly all of Jmar’s business comes from around the Goulburn Valley area within a 50km radius of Shepparton. Expanding its sheetmetal and cutting capabilities with a view to obtaining more local work was what prompted Mark Hooper to originally invest in a fiber laser. “Our original laser proved a huge success in securing us heavier and more voluminous work and expanding our customer base – particularly those companies that had previously sent work to Melbourne or Sydney,” Mr Hooper said. “We ended up becoming a contract cutter and it was this that prompted us to invest in an additional Yawei fiber laser. We were struggling to keep up with the work and we couldn’t afford to let our customers down; this second machine ensured we could […]

Safe access with Euchner Electronic Key System EKS from Treotham

Treotham is showcasing its versatile Euchner product for electronic access control and management: the Electronic-Key-System EKS. This transponder-based read/write system has already proven its worth in the packaging machinery industry by preset parameters that provide protection against unauthorised access. The RFID-based EKS features the main advantage of being freely programmable and therefore highly versatile. The Electronic-Key stores the access rights for each employee. A reader scans the data and forwards this information to the control system. Additional uses for the EKS system include controlling specific functions and accessing encrypted process parameters for an installation. What’s more, one system variant is the perfect choice for hygienically sensitive areas in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Another application for the EKS system is functionally safe selection of operating mode, enabling users to select the required operating mode and activate the corresponding safety function. Maximum safety throughout the packaging processTreotham’s diverse safety solutions can be perfectly integrated into modular systems to protect people, machines and products in the packaging sector. The Euchner product range comprises guard locking devices and access management systems as well as products such as door detectors, door locking systems and pendant stations. For all of its products, Euchner guarantees exacting quality far exceeding the requirements in standards and laws. Customers can rely on Euchner with over 60 years of safety engineering expertise.

Greater access regulation will become a new normal after coronavirus

Greater regulation of access to public and private buildings and visitor hot spots may figure among major impacts from the coronavirus affecting architects, builders, facility managers and site owners. “Certainly, there will be a new normal for people-intensive public and private facilities, where owners have a duty of care to protect staff and visitors,” says security and entrance specialist, Boon Edam Australia Managing Director Michael Fisher (Master security licence number: 000104487). The likely changes – including to Government-funded Covid recovery infrastructure spending in Australia and New Zealand – will be particularly relevant also to facilities such as hospitals, health care, schools, hotels, restaurants, tourism facilities and landmark structures and community and cultural assets. Accelerated safety and sustainability access control trends “Coronavirus may well accelerate changes that were already underway to promote greater safety and sustainability within our urban infrastructure. Such changes will be driven not only by the need to protect against health-related risks, but also in some cases to exclude threats such as urban pollution and to counter the rising incidence of physical violence against providers of public services.” “They are also highly relevant to and holders of valuable physical and electronic assets, including data and commercial information,” says Mr Fisher, whose parent Boon Edam organisation is a leading global manufacturer of energy-saving revolving doors and security entrances in 27 countries, including global names in data management and internet services. The 140-year-old family owned company’s top quality entrance control products are used by dozens of Fortune 500 companies as well as social infrastructure, transport terminals, public and private spaces where there are risks ranging from extreme physical intrusions – such as terrorism , violence and theft – to more subtle but sinister threats such as airborne pollution and infected carriers of contagious disease. Security technologies working in harmony Mr Fisher […]

Pyrosales operating at critical capacity during Covid-19 pandemic.

As Australia’s longest established manufacturers of precision temperature, level and flow measurement gauges, sensors and instrumentation, as well as calibration devices, they are helping out the essential services in need. When it comes to the Australian essential services, Pyrosales has always worked with them, even before the pandemic. Assisting with supply and manufacture for the Medical Industry, the most common products are the infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of individuals in a quick and accurate manner and thermal imaging devices that can detect variations in temperature of individuals. Hospitals and private medical businesses can rely on the team at Pyrosales to supplying refrigeration temperature equipment for medicines, blood and IVF storage as well as maintaining the equipment for sterilization, and of course food temperature control. They are also working to help our aged care facilities to control the temperature of their food and medicine. Pyrosales continue to help out the essential services by ensuring food plant manufacturers have adequate thermocouples, RKC temperature controllers, temperature and pressure gauges to maintain food production. “We have solutions for businesses to monitor their employees for fever temperature. Companies are investigating new ways to measure for the virus to reduce the spread into their workplace. Pyrosales has many products to suit any businesses requirements whether it is to meet the volume of employees, their price range or on-site technology. We not only supply to the medical and industrial market, we are also seeing an increase in demand for people to use in their homes,” said our CEO, John Shanahan. With many businesses in Australia struggling in the current climate, it is positive to see an Australian owned business working not only to help those who need it but are helping boost the economy and keep people in jobs.

Wearable devices to diagnose medical conditions

Transforming how common health conditions are diagnosed using point-of-care and wearable bio diagnostic devices is the goal of a new University of South Australia project, which has just secured nearly $2.2 million from the National Health, Medical and Research Council (NHRMC). Through an NHMRC Investigator Grant, UniSA biomedical engineer Professor Benjamin Thierry aims to develop a range of solid-state sensing and wearable technologies capable of diagnosing conditions including preeclampsia, epilepsy, fetal arrhythmias and heart attacks. Prof Thierry hopes these technologies will help address the significant health outcome disparities across the country, which sees Australians living in rural and remote areas experience higher levels of disease and reduced access to health services, compared with their metropolitan counterparts. “Wearable consumer products such as the Fitbit are already mainstream, yet the enormous transformative medical potential of wearable technologies is yet to be realised,” he says. “There is a huge opportunity for us to create wearable devices capable of better diagnosing and monitoring medical conditions, particularly in rural and remote settings where patients often do not have access to the testing and specialist care that is available in cities. “Some of the technologies I hope to develop include wearable devices able to continuously and accurately monitor the ECG, which could in turn predict epileptic seizures or detect preeclampsia and other related pregnancy complications. “These wearables use a cutting-edge solid-state sensing technology called Field Effect Transistors, which can measure bioelectric signals with extreme sensitivity when implemented at the nanoscale.” In addition, Prof Thierry will develop conformal devices based on Magnetic Tunneling Junction sensors to record and map magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the heart. He hopes this will enable more accurate non-invasive monitoring of fetal cardiac activity and rapid and point-of-care diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome, including heart […]

Frigate build site ready to launch $35 billion naval project

Work is almost finished in the $500 million upgrade of Adelaide’s new high-tech frigate shipyard with five new structures rising from its Port River site. Shipbuilding in South Australia is proving a bright spark in the economy with the first new construction shed for the nation’s $35 billion Hunter Class Frigate program now ready for action. Building 20 is part of the $500 million upgrade of the state’s Osborne shipyard and its handover to ASC Shipbuilding is now underway, keeping plans well on track for work on the nation’s nine anti-submarine warfare frigates to start this year. ASC Shipbuilding director Jim Cuthill said five new sheds in the shipyard were being fitted with cutting-edge equipment and the site’s builders Australian Naval Infrastructure and Lend Lease are on track for a complete handover in July. Meanwhile, design-based engineering work for the frigates was continuing. “At the moment about 70 per cent of our workforce is still working from home and we haven’t really missed a beat with the work that we are doing,” Cuthill said. “This is a program of national importance but it’s one that’s going to play a key role in terms of stimulating economic activity post Covid.” Workers employed on the frigates project run by ASC Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of defence giant BAE Systems Australia, are now just over 600 with Cuthill saying this would be ramping up from July to hit about 1000 by the end of 2020. Cuthill said Building 20 is where construction work for the frigates will begin, as the program kicks off with five prototype blocks of the ships being made in the first two years. The planned build would see mainly Australian steel first enter the highly automated fabrication hall to be cut and welded into the 75 units that will make up each of the frigates. Work then moves […]

UniSA and UOW join forces to build AI capability for Defence

A new collaboration between the University of South Australia (UniSA) and the University of Wollongong (UOW) is set to boost Australian defence industry research, focussing on each university’s strengths in data analytics and artificial intelligence. UniSA and UOW signed a Memorandum of Understanding this week to underpin the collaboration to deliver Australian Department of Defence (DoD) capability and explore wider engagement across other disciplines. The collaboration will enable new advances using AI and data analytics in the area of informed decision making and the development of goal-oriented autonomous systems. UniSA Director, Defence and Space, Matt Opie says combining the expertise of both organisations will improve the quality, depth and scope of the research delivered to Defence. “Together we can use our complementary research strengths to deliver better innovations and solutions for the Department of Defence,” Opie says. “UniSA has key research capabilities in information ecosystems, data analytics and the internet of military things to support a range of defence force requirements from battlefield decision making to military intelligence support systems. “Matched with what UOW can provide, we will be able to deliver a formidable research asset to the DoD and allied industries.” UniSA’s research team lead by Professor Markus Stumptner includes mathematicians, statisticians, engineers and software scientists with expertise in software interoperability, software architecture, Federated Analytics Platform, autonomous systems, and cybersecurity by design. The team also has expertise and research experience in data fusion, optimisations, mining, and trustworthiness and in sensor systems, digital twin/asset life cycle management, overarching Digital Models + Digital Systems, and predictive maintenance. Artificial Intelligence research lead at UOW, and Director of the Decision Systems Laboratory, Professor Aditya Ghose says his group works in a field called Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. “Our work applies knowledge representation and reasoning techniques to problems relating to intelligent agent systems, machine […]

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