Business

Commercial pilot projects fast track green cooling technology

Industrial cooling systems that utilise solar energy, thermal storage, smart technology and non-toxic refrigerants will be trialled at three major commercial sites. South Australian company Glaciem Cooling Technology has received $2 million in Australian government funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to demonstrate the technical and economic value of integrating thermal energy storage with renewable energy into Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) applications. The trial systems will be installed in South Australia at Pernod Ricard’s Rowland Flat winery in the Barossa Valley and Ceravolo Orchards in the Adelaide Hills, as well as in the Reef HQ Aquarium in Townsville, Queensland. The $4.95 million project will allow Glaciem to field test its Thermal Energy Storage solution in commercial and industrial HVAC&R settings. Glaciem and the University of South Australia have spent a decade developing a low cost thermal energy storage technology to store and discharge energy using a heat transfer process. This occurs at a temperature suited to the specific application using special material. The technology has the added benefit of using natural refrigerants rather than commonly used synthetic refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide, which are harmful to the environment. The air-cooled CO2 refrigeration system has been operating at The Bend Motorsport Park, about 100km southeast of the South Australian capital Adelaide, for about 15 months, providing UniSA and Glaciem with more than a year’s worth of clean data in a commercial setting. Glaciem’s technology also uses an advanced control and forecasting system to optimise the system’s operation based on weather forecasts, electricity price forecasts, and customer demand forecasts to allow the storage system to maximise savings. Glaciem CEO Julian Hudson said the three projects all demonstrated different applications across a variety of industries and would provide valuable data to prove the financial model in the field and drive the cost of […]

Trisco Foods scoops major export award

Brisbane-based, family-owned food manufacturing business Trisco Foods has been recognised for its commitment to taking locally developed products to the world. Trisco was recently named Premier of Queensland’s Exporter of the Year 2019 at the annual Queensland Export Awards. Trisco Foods produces world class food ingredients, such as syrups and sundaes, that are used here and abroad by leading food companies. It has a strong presence throughout the Asian region and has been exporting for many years. This year, Trisco opened a factory in Colorado Springs to service demand in the United States. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the award was a deserved win for a family that was always innovating and always striving to provide high quality products and service to clients here and overseas. The Premier said the company’s production and warehousing facility is located in Brisbane with many of the raw materials grown and processed locally. “The first factory was a small building of two rooms attached to the rear of the family home in Hope Street, South Brisbane,” she said. “From these humble beginnings the business has grown into a huge success story and we’re extremely proud of this Queensland business from Brisbane taking on the world.” Tristam Foods CEO Mike Tristram said the company had worked tirelessly in recent years to expand its international footprint through new product development and innovation. “It is a cliché, but this is a genuine team effort with many people contributing to our success,” he said. “Our goal is quite simple. We want to create unique and innovative food solutions and take them into new markets, both in Australia, the US and across the globe.” The Tristram family is well known among older Queenslanders as the name behind the soft drink with the marketing slogan, “Say Tristrams Please”. The brand and […]

K2 expands footprint in Asia-Pacific Region with acquisition of Australian distributor

Low-code application development company to expand presence in Australia to meet increasing demand for cloud-based process automation solutions SourceCode Technology Holdings, Inc. (“K2”), a leader in enterprise low-code application development, today announced the acquisition of its distributor SourceCode ANZ Pty Ltd. (“K2 Australia”). K2 and K2 Australia share a long history of collaboration and joint innovation. With this acquisition, K2 establishes a direct presence in Australia, further investing in growth across the region to meet the increasing demand for cloud-based process automation solutions. “The acquisition of K2 Australia immediately provides us with a strong and established foothold in Australia,” said Evan Ellis, CEO at K2. “As part of our ongoing growth strategy, we are confident we can leverage our common vision to strengthen and expand the adoption of our cloud-based process automation platform.” Combining the expertise of the talented K2 Australia team with the global resources and market strength of K2 will create a collaboration that can accelerate the delivery of innovative process automation solutions across the region. “K2 is an ideal match for our team and the work we aspire to do in helping enterprises digitally transform,” said Hennie Laubscher, managing director of K2 Australia, who will join K2 as the vice president of Asia-Pacific. “By joining the K2 family, we can accelerate our growth in the region and deliver low-code applications on a broader scale.” About K2K2, a leader in enterprise low-code application development, enables companies to speed time-to-market and simplify the creation of modern process applications, automate workflows and transform their businesses. More than 4 million users in over 84 countries, including 30 percent of Fortune 100 are using K2 to take control of their business processes, increase visibility and improve operational efficiency. Discover what you can accomplish when you connect your people, processes and data at […]

Activated carbon startup eyes commercial plant

A South Australian startup that has developed a low-cost technique for making activated carbon from agricultural waste will soon begin a capital raising round to fund commercial production. Adelaide-based company ByGen is looking for investment of A$1.5 million to build a full-scale plant capable of producing commercial quantities of activated carbon. Founders Lewis Dunnigan (CEO) and Ben Morton (CTO) established a pilot plant at the University of Adelaide last year, and have experimented with a variety of widely available agricultural wastes including almond shell, sawdust, grape marc and rice husks to produce high quality activated carbon. Activated carbon has a variety of uses including purifying liquids such as drinking water, food and beverage processing, odour removal, remediating contaminated soils and in the precious metals industry. It is traditionally made from coal, wood, or coconut shells, but Dr Dunnigan said he believed ByGen’s product was the first made sustainably from wastes. “We came up with a really low cost, low energy way of making activated carbon and then we realised there was a lot of demand for it, so we’ve commercialised the technology we developed,” he said. Activated carbon has many uses from water purification to soil improvement and mineral processing. “Traditionally you have to make it at about 1000 degrees, using steam or harsh chemicals. We felt like the energy intensive processes in developing countries with non-renewable feedstocks weren’t sustainable, so we tried lots of different Australian agricultural wastes and came up with the ByGen process.” The ByGen process is significantly less energy intensive with quality and yields in-line with existing technologies; four tonnes of agricultural waste produces approximately one tonne of activated carbon, with a value of up to A$2500 a tonne. The process can be done at the source of the waste production to reduce transportation costs and produces activated carbon at […]

Igniting stalled labour productivity

-Doug Green, Publisher, Australian Manufacturing News The Fourth Industrial Revolution is said to (it will) ignite stalled labour productivity in manufacturing through connected machines, people, data and value chains. The question is though; Is their stalled labour productivity or is there a reduction of manufactured product demand in the world in the current economic client? Maybe both? Or is labour productivity continuing to be low from workers, based on their ability to enhance workplace efforts? Meaning that today’s technology may not be being maximised in the workplace. We get all excited when the PMI Index shows manufacturing over 50 percentage points. When you consider the voting numbers for the recent local body elections…well, let’s not! Get the picture? There is a considered opinion that at the top end not enough development and manufacturing is going on with expensive technology equipment readily available. At the lower end, the same thing applies. Except that companies are not coming to grips with efficient use of the equipment. So, businesses may be setting up with the latest equipment ready to strike when opportunities arise, or they may be maximising right now to the best of their ability? On the other hand, the country has no shortage of creative and enterprising businesses contributing to the economy, with key staff realising their goals and dreams by being part of development teams involved in quite exciting projects. Productivity is good in these businesses. At present it seems that the land is where the most promise exists for product innovation. In horticulture and industry, it is ‘gang busters’. Enormous contributions to the country with quality goods, famous on world markets but still in need – and wanting to hear about – developments to make their businesses even more efficient. Stalled labour productivity may well be able to move […]

Queensland waste-to-energy project receives international accolades

CST Wastewater Solutions’ major waste-to-energy project with NH Foods in Queensland has received international recognition this month through finalist nominations in both the energy and sustainability categories of the prestigious 2019 Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Global Awards. The technology involved in the double IChemE finalist nomination is a far-sighted green energy initiative by leading meat processor NH Foods Australia at their Oakey Beef Exports facility, and is already paying handsome dividends in terms of cleaner wastewater effluent, as well as a reduced fossil fuel environmental footprint and lower energy costs. The Global Water & Energy (GWE) COHRAL(Covered High-Rate Anerobic Lagoon) plant extracts green energy (biogas) from Oakey Beef Export’s wastewater streams to replace millions of dollars’ worth of natural gas over its operating life, in Queensland’s Darling Downs region. The plant – which occupies half the space of comparable technologies and stores biogas extracted from wastewater in a robust 6000m3 polyester balloon – was installed at Oakey by Australian environmental engineering and green energy authority CST Wastewater Solutions, which recently inspected the plant as it reaches its landmark fifth year of service in southern Queensland. In addition to food and beverage processors, the technology can be applied to agribusiness operations including all forms of meat, livestock, poultry, fish and agribusiness, including fruit, sugar, vegetable, grains and other crops. “It’s outstanding to receive this kind of international recognition, and we credit NH Foods Australia for their forward-thinking and innovative attitude to sustainability. They are leading the way in environmental and sustainable outcomes in the meat industry in Australia,” said Mr Michael Bambridge, Managing Director, CST Wastewater Solutions. “By transforming a wastewater effluent treatment and disposal problem into an ongoing productive asset, the plant has achieved a rare business and environmental ideal of cleaner, greener performance with stable, predictable and profitable […]

Australia’s first electric motorbike launched in Adelaide

The Fonzarelli NKD electric motorbike and its charging stations will be manufactured in Adelaide, South Australia. Michelle Nazzari and Simon Modra met at a wedding several years ago in Sydney and spent the evening engrossed in conversation about motorbikes. The pair of entrepreneurs stayed in touch as each went their separate ways, Simon back to Adelaide and various startups in the sustainability sector, and Michelle into her own electric vehicle company called Fonzarelli. “I had been working in automotive manufacturing with electric and hybrid buses,” said Nazzari. “That’s where it all started, but I looked at the powertrain and it’s very simple and thought, ‘yeah, I might give this a go,’ and so set up the company and started tinkering.” Nazzari launched her first electric scooter in 2012-13 under the brand Fonzarelli and has grown the business from there. Always with the push to increase mileage and with a dedication to motorcycles still in her heart, Nazzari reconnected with Modra to tackle the issue of charging stations for her NKD electric motorbike. The electric dual-sport mini motorcycle has a range of up to 120kms and can produce 6000 RPM and a top speed of 100 km/h. Modra, who is also an architect and Future Submarine design researcher at the University of South Australia, jumped at the chance to collaborate with Nazzari on the NKD project and convinced her to manufacture the charging stations and bike in South Australia. “It’s a legitimate form of transport – there are many motorcyclists out there who don’t have a car and we’re lucky battery power has become so reliable now and Peter [Coombs – Chapter president of Design Institute of Australia] did give the hat-tip to Tesla,” Modra said. “Now we’ve got this incredible range with the vehicle and we’re getting further and further out.” […]

Empower Factory Productivity and Scheduling Software recognised

Empower Software, locally owned and operated is based in NewMarket, Auckland. Founding Directors are Dave Garrett (right) and Sean O’Sullivan. New Zealand, Australian and International manufacturers and engineers, from 5 up to 150 factory staff are investing in the Empower Software technology on their factory floors and using their Factory Productivity and Scheduling Software for live production scheduling, tracking of jobs and individual factory staff times on jobs and job status. Production Managers are the main users and drivers of the technology and software as it is their role and their responsibility to plan and drive daily and weekly factory production and productivity effectively. Manufacturers and engineers install large TV monitors on factory walls and office walls to display live production and productivity data for everyone in the company to see. The performance of individual jobs and individual factory staff is live and continuous throughout the day and their individual productivity becomes totally transparent to all factory staff, management and administration staff. This technology and software drives labour times on jobs and labour cost on jobs down typically by 20% to 40%. TIN100, a well-respected and recognised New Zealand Network of technology-based companies, including all stakeholders to the NZ Technology Industry, recently recognised Empower Software.

AI module to improve industrial production

Industrial workers can now more easily use the data from their equipment to predict production issues and improve processes with their existing automation and control skill set. The new FactoryTalk Analytics LogixAI module, formerly known as Project Sherlock, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect production anomalies and alert workers so they can investigate or intervene, as necessary. Many existing analytics technologies require deep expertise in both data science and industrial processes. But this add-on module for ControlLogix controllers reduces that burden by doing the job of a data scientist. It fits directly into a control chassis and streams controller data over the backplane to build predictive models. It can continuously monitor a production operation, detecting anomalies against its derived understanding. The FactoryTalk Analytics LogixAI module makes predictive analytics more accessible to help more workers make better production decisions. The module learns your ControlLogix application and tells operators and technicians when things are changing in unexpected ways. This can help them get ahead of product quality issues and protect process integrity. For example, the module can help operators spot performance deviations in equipment like mixers that could affect product quality or lead to downtime. It can also be used as a virtual sensor. Instead of workers taking a reading, like the humidity of a packaged food product, the module can analyse variables from line assets like sprayers, dryers and burners to predict a measurement, virtually. Factory Talk Analytics LogixAI has positive implications for businesses in any sector. By making available data that will assist workers in helping to ensure the smooth running of machinery, customers can empower employees to troubleshoot and solve problems as they arise, reducing downtime and ultimately contributing positively to the company’s bottom line. Workers can then be notified of problems by configuring alarms on a human machine […]

Container deposit system solution to Australia’s war on waste

Adelaide-based technology and engineering company SAGE Automation is increasing production of its smart container deposit systems on the back of increased demand from Queensland. The machines were developed by SAGE Automation and the University of South Australia for South Australian company Container Deposit Systems(CDS) to help decrease Australia’s landfill. South Australia has led the country in recycling, introducing a container refund scheme in 1977, but other Australian states have only just begun to refund bottles and containers. Since Queensland launched its Containers for Change scheme in November 2018, CDS has recorded a rise from 32,000 to 230,000 containers per day through its 16 Semi Auto Return Terminals (ART) at private recyclers across six sites. The terminals allow customers to return deposit cans, plastic bottles and glass in any condition for a 10c-per-container refund. More than 344 million containers have been returned to date since the scheme commenced late last year. The ARTs identify and sort containers by integrating Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology and a vision counting and sorting system developed by SAGE over two years. A recycling depot employee loads the mixed containers onto a vision and sorting system hopper that uses advanced vision technology to count up to 350 containers per minute without the need for coding or labelling. The containers are counted in real time for a predicted refund sum that customers can view on a TV screen at most facilities. Conveyer belts, electric motors and spinning discs sort the containers by separating common recyclables like metals, plastics and glass. The machines have seen thousands of images of containers and can identify different container types, including unwanted materials. The containers are ready to be recycled once compressed air pushes them into specific categorised cages. The entire process takes only a few minutes and a refund receipt based on the number of […]

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