Business

DECO has new manufacturing facility

Australian-owned Decorative Imaging Pty Ltd (DECO) has announced it has signed agreements to acquire a new manufacturing facility in Airds Road Minto, New South Wales. The new facility, which is currently operated by metal finishing specialist Impreglon Australia Pty Ltd, will be available for operation by DECO from 2 October 2018. This facility will considerably increase DECO’s ability to offer a wider range of surface finishes for architectural and industrial applications and will support the further expansion of this rapidly growing, family-owned Australia manufacturing business. The facility’s current powder coating operation will also be upgraded to Qualicoat standards, so as to enhance DECO’s capability to provide excellent quality and service to its valued customers. DECO will relocate its business operations to the new site in January 2019.

The fourth industrial revolution and the factories of the future

After a decade of flat productivity, the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is expected to create up to $3.7 trillion in value to global manufacturing. A few years back, experts noted that changes associated with the 4IR would come at an unprecedented rate yielding incredible results for those who truly embraced them. Still, the hockey stick of benefits has not kicked in yet – while all companies are making efforts to adopt technology, most of the production industry (~70%) remains in pilot purgatory (where technology pilots last for extended periods of time, and companies do not take the final step of scaling up viable technologies). Less than 30% of manufacturing companies are actively rolling out Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies at scale. The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with McKinsey, has undertaken a global search and assessment for “4IR production lighthouses” – sites representing the most advanced sub-section of the companies who are actively deploying 4IR technologies at scale. Leveraging these lighthouse sites, we will create an inclusive learning platform with aims on becoming the next “go-to” system for advanced manufacturing and bring the world closer to capturing the lion’s share of the benefits. The Fourth Industrial Revolution fundamentally transforms production Most manufacturing lines still look a lot the same way they did 10, 20 or even 30 years ago. Operators clock in, have a brief conversation with their crew and shift supervisor, and then operate a machine or tool for 8-12 hours before heading home. Depending on the day, the machine may break and need maintenance or an adjustment, the line settings may need to be modified for a specific product or run, or the operator may need to step away to resupply the line or be trained on a new procedure. In 4IR transformed manufacturing sites – production lighthouses – this is […]

Schaeffler and the future of predictive maintenance at 2018 IMVAC conference

What sounded like science fiction just a short time ago is now digital reality in Australasia in the new predictive maintenance solutions presented at this year’s IMVAC conference on the Gold Coast from August 6-9. The International Machine Vibration Analysis and Condition Monitoring (IMVAC) professional development conference heard presentations from technology leaders such as the global Schaeffler Group, highlighting advances in its industry 4.0 “Smart Factory” automation and data exchange technologies. Schaeffler’s latest predictive maintenance solutions enable machinery operators to look ever more clearly into the future – they provide machine operators with vital information about the future condition of their machines. Predictive maintenance allows not only the capacity utilisation of factories, mines, utilities and processing plants to be optimised, but also makes it possible to plan maintenance intervals at precisely the right time for optimised “Total Cost of Ownership” calculations. An important prerequisite for predictive maintenance is automated rolling bearing diagnostics, a function that is used in motor gearbox units, for example. These units are used not only in machine tools but also in belt conveyors, presses, and steel mill rollers, for example. Schaeffler BEARINX software is one of the leading programs for performing rolling bearing calculations. It enables rolling bearing supports to be analysed in detail – from single bearings to complex gear systems and linear guide systems. All calculations are performed in a consistent calculation model. Even for complex gears, the contact pressure on each rolling element is considered in the calculation. Because machine drives are operated virtually without interruption, they require intensive maintenance to prevent production downtimes. Therefore, it is important for operators to know the condition of the drive components at all times, and why the bearings are becoming particularly important as a central machine element. The latest generation of the FAG SmartCheck diagnostic system […]

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3D printing aircraft parts using new laser technology

A team of RMIT University researchers led by Professor Milan Brandt are using laser metal deposition technology to build and repair defence aircraft parts in a two-year collaboration with RUAG Australia and the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC). The technology feeds metal powder into a laser beam, which when scanned across a surface adds new material in a precise, web-like formation. The metallurgical bond created has mechanical properties similar, or in some cases superior, to those of the original material. “It’s basically a very high-tech welding process where we make or rebuild metal parts layer by layer,” explains Brandt, who says the concept is proven and prospects for its successful development are extremely positive. Head of Research and Technology at RUAG Australia, Neil Matthews, says that by enabling onsite repair and production of parts, the technology could completely transform the concept of warehousing and transporting for defence and other industries. Currently, replacement parts typically need to be transported from local or overseas storage and suppliers. “Instead of waiting for spare parts to arrive from a warehouse, an effective solution will now be on-site,” says Matthews. “For defence forces this means less downtime for repairs and a dramatic increase in the availability and readiness of aircraft.” The technology will apply to existing legacy aircraft as well as the new F35 fleet. The technology is also being adopted in RUAG’s recently established robotic laser additive manufacturing cell. A move to locally printed components could mean big savings on maintenance and spare part purchasing, scrap metal management, warehousing and shipping costs. An independent review, commissioned by BAE Systems, estimated the cost of replacing damaged aircraft components to be more than $230 million a year for the Australian Air Force. CEO and Managing Director of the IMCRC, David Chuter, believes application of this technology […]

A circular future with stewardship at the centre

Adele Rose – 3R Chief Executive Mention the term ‘product stewardship’ to the first person you bump into on the street and chances are you will be met with a blank look. Suggest that manufacturers and retailers should take responsibility for the products they make and sell throughout the lifetime of those products (the definition of product stewardship), and the blank look will probably turn into a puzzled one. Fast-forward to the year 2050 and this will be a different story. The terms ‘sustainably produced’, ‘fair trade’, ‘organically grown’ and the like were little known or not even coined 20 or 30 years ago but are now part of everyday life. In the same way talking about product stewardship will certainly be common place 32 years from now. The reason for this is product stewardship is a cornerstone of the circular economy – another little-known phrase which will certainly become common place long before 2050. The circular economy is the economy of the future, and ironically also one from the past. Circular principals In generations past there was a far higher value placed on things. When your TV broke you didn’t immediately throw it away, you had it repaired if possible. Things like children’s toys were more durable and weren’t bought on mass. We generally had less stuff, and the stuff we had lasted longer, was repaired and reused. Simply getting rid of something and buying new wasn’t the knee-jerk reaction it is today. Moving to a circular economy isn’t about nostalgia or an ideologically nice thing to do. It’s also not because it’s the environmentally responsible thing to do, but rather because the linear economy and its basis of infinite growth from finite resources is intrinsically flawed and cannot survive. We cannot survive it. In a future in which […]

Archer turns graphite into graphene

Archer Exploration Limited’s (ASX: AXE) independent collaborations between The University of Adelaide and Flex-G Pty. Ltd (FlexeGRAPH) have proven successful in developing graphene materials using a number of different approaches, including publicly available and proprietary methods. The University of Adelaide has developed materials including graphene powder and graphene oxide from Archer’s Campoona graphite using publicly available chemical and mechanical exfoliation processes. Alternatively, FlexeGRAPH has successfully prepared a water-based graphene material dispersion using proprietary methodology involving surfactant assisted exfoliation.Archer CEO Dr Mohammad Choucair commented: “We are confident in our capability to provide high-quality graphite that is process agnostic in the production of graphene. Regardless of avenue taken, our Campoona graphite resulted in graphene materials that demonstrate the structural integrity suitable for high value applications. The work with The University of Adelaide and FlexeGRAPH highlights our continued and successful collaborative efforts and provides Archer with commercial opportunities to develop high-value graphene integration solutions in an emerging and growing graphene materials market.” Results of the technical analysis, performed at the world-class Australian Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis at The University of Sydney and The University of New South Wales Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, confirmed that the graphite from the Campoona deposit could be used to produce multiple graphene-based products from a number of different methods. This is critical for value-add applications and high-quality graphene production using graphitic feedstocks in the targeted areas of reliable energy, human health, and quantum technology. Graphene materials and technology are emerging with the potential to broadly impact existing markets that service the electronics and additive manufacturing industries. Graphene material sales and device integration are expected to form part of the market value potential of approximately US$70 billion by 2030.

Geelong “Procurement for Innovation” initiative

Austeng is part of a consortium that won a tender for 100-year maintenance-free pedestrian bridges for the regional city, beating seven other tenderers. Traditional bridges of timber/steel/ concrete cost half a million dollars annually in maintenance and repair costs, according to Geelong’s council. The new carbon fibre-reinforced geopolymer bridges are the result of a collaborative project between Austeng, Deakin University’s Carbon Nexus centre and Rocla. Construction on the first two bridges is expected for this year. The tender was the first in Australia to be offered using a Procurement for Innovation process, which aims to encourage the development and viability of clean technology – economically viable products that harness renewable materials and energy sources while reducing emissions and waste – using the substantial buying power of public sector procurement. The Procurement for Innovation process was enabled by Cleantech Innovations Geelong, an alliance of business and industry which aims to establish Geelong as a Centre of Excellence for clean technology in Australia by attracting investment, creating jobs and building skills. It is jointly developed through the state government’s Manufacturing Productivity Network, the Geelong Manufacturing Council and the City of Greater Geelong’s Future Proofing initiative. Great to see a government using procurement to help bring a new Australian innovation into the world, rather than buying an off-the-shelf solution. Congratulations to the winning team.

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 […]

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 […]

Are you a future-ready manufacturer?

Greg O’Loan, regional vice president, ANZ for Epicor Software Corporation For manufacturers to compete successfully in the face of cheaper overseas competitors, it’s essential to look to technologies that can offer improved processes, increased efficiencies, and substantial cost savings. Before businesses can determine whether they’re a future-ready manufacturer, they need to understand exactly where their business sits today, where it could be in three to five years, and how the business can embrace innovation and automation. This requires a time investment to create a roadmap. However, this investment will pay off as the business becomes truly future-ready and can leverage new and emerging technologies to compete more effectively. At the very least, tackling these tough questions will put organisations ahead of competitors who are consumed with putting out today’s fires rather than focusing on growth opportunities. Manufacturers that don’t invest in breakthrough technologies will be rendered irrelevant and, more often than not, it will happen at a much faster rate than they ever could have dreamed possible. It’s important to address this significant business risk sooner rather than later by embracing ways to work smarter and more efficiently. The next generation of manufacturers can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. Future manufacturers will need to be aware of how the world is changing, pay attention to economic and geopolitical forecasts, and invest in technology. While innovation is important, the key for the average manufacturing plant looking for a toehold is knowing your customers and their needs just a little bit better than the competition does. The opportunities for growth have increased recently and the Australian manufacturing industry is set for a resurgence. It has added 40,000 new jobs in since June 2016, and increased the value of Australian-made goods sold to international markets by more than $20 billion since 2009. […]

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