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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 […]

Clean, high-tech: this is the factory of the future

Factories have long held a place in the popular imagination, not just as sources of employment and community prosperity, but also as hectic, noisy, grimy and polluting facilities, where thousands of people are employed in largely low-skilled line positions. Today’s factories are changing. Breathtaking advances in technology, automation and globalisation are transforming how and where manufacturers plan, construct, operate and integrate their factory networks. They are also ushering in significant operational, political and societal changes. From America’s Rust Belt to rural India and China, a chorus of voices is struggling to understand: how are technologies changing how we produce and distribute products? Are automation and free trade taking away valuable factory jobs? What type of skills will be required? How can communities prosper in the face of new production technologies? How and when should manufacturers upgrade their legacy equipment to embrace new technologies to boost yields and efficiency for advantage or simply to remain competitive? Businesses, governments and society alike must understand the technological dynamics at play and collaborate together to ensure tomorrow’s factory towns prosper. What will the factory of the future look like? The key answers will come from the factory floor where new technologies like 3D printing, advanced robotics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, wearable devices, and virtual and augmented reality are converging to create new value, enabling the hyper-efficient and flexible factory of the future. The value created is real: large global producers have increased efficiency and reduced costs by up to 30% across all operations, driven by improvements in overall operating efficiency, lower inventory, energy and water costs, and reduction in incidents involving safety. While the pace of change and how these changes will propagate across networks will differ by industry and country, the factory of the future is a more digital, virtual and […]

AI petri dish scanner sold into Europe

LBT Innovations has made its first international sale of an artificial intelligence instrument, which it claims could revolutionise the global medical laboratory industry. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, health technology company LBT Innovations told investors this morning that it had made its first overseas sale of the APAS Independence instrument, which scans the contents of petri dishes and uses an algorithm to detect bacterial colonies from medical samples. The technology incorporates computer vision to hasten the time required to detect infections in samples from patients. LBT Innovations CEO Brett Barnes told local news site InDaily the technology had the potential to automate a process that is currently conducted manually at medical labs across the globe, and that it is faster and more accurate than microbiologists at making clinical diagnoses based on the samples. The sale to German clinical laboratory Labor Dr Wisplinghoff, announced on the ASX today, is only the company’s second, bringing in about $330,000. But Barnes said there was a potential demand for the product spanning about 2000 laboratories in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, and that this relatively small first international sale was an indication of things to come. “It’s a big, global market opportunity for us,” said Barnes. “As a singular transaction … what it really signifies (is) confidence that the technology is being adopted. “We’re at the start of a global commercialisation.” Barnes said that the technology, developed with the University of Adelaide in 2015, eliminated one of the more mundane and tedious processes from the daily workflow of a microbiologist. “This isn’t a play of putting a profession out of work,” he said. “It’s an efficiency gain (that) frees up microbiologists for more value-add activities.” He added that a clinical trial involving 10,000 patients had demonstrated the technology’s accuracy and speed.

Aurecon leader named Fellow to prestigious Australian academy

Global engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon’s Chief Executive Officer William Cox is one of 25 science, technology and engineering leaders elected to one of Australia’s prestigious Learned Academies. The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) welcomed experts from across research, government and industry as Fellows, including Mr Cox who was recognised as an outstanding leader in the planning, design and project implementation of large and complex infrastructure projects. Mr Cox was acknowledged for his demonstrated leadership in innovation, workplace gender equality and strong client relations in the delivery of complex projects to the community. He has over a number of years made valuable contributions to external organisations including the University of Technology Sydney, Engineers Australia and Consult Australia and has been recognised by others for these industry, client and community outcomes. Academy President, Professor Hugh Bradlow, welcomed the new Fellows. “We bring together Australia’s leading experts in applied science, technology and engineering to provide impartial, practical and evidence-based advice to enable Australia to maintain its position as a leading technology economy. “The 2019 cohort of new Fellows comprises a remarkable and talented group, who will contribute to helping the Academy fulfil its mission,” said Professor Bradlow. Aurecon Managing Director of Design, Innovation and Eminence and ATSE Fellow Dr Kourosh Kayvani said Bill’s engineering expertise – demonstrated on a diverse range of projects throughout his career – is truly equalled by his authentic leadership, commitment to diversity and inclusion, and drive for a deep and enduring health and safety culture. “As a Male Champion of Change, Bill has a deep commitment to achieving gender equality in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) and has been instrumental in driving change through championing of gender equality and cultural and racial diversity through Aurecon’s Reconciliation Plan, along with his ambassador role […]

More from Less

Andrew McAfee – From the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Second Machine Age, a compelling argument—masterfully researched and brilliantly articulated—that we have at last learned how to increase human prosperity while treading more lightly on our planet. Throughout history, the only way for humanity to grow was by degrading the Earth: chopping down forests, fouling the air and water, and endlessly digging out resources. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the reigning argument has been that taking better care of the planet means radically changing course: reducing our consumption, tightening our belts, learning to share and reuse, restraining growth. Is that argument correct? Absolutely not. In More from Less, McAfee argues that to solve our ecological problems we don’t need to make radical changes. Instead, we need to do more of what we’re already doing: growing technologically sophisticated market-based economies around the world. How can he possibly make this claim? Because of the evidence. America—a large, high-tech country that accounts for about 25% of the global economy—is now generally using less of most resources year after year, even as its economy and population continue to grow. What’s more, the US is polluting the air and water less, emitting fewer greenhouse gases, and replenishing endangered animal populations. And, as McAfee shows, America is not alone. Other countries are also transforming themselves in fundamental ways. What has made this turnabout possible? One thing, primarily: the collaboration between technology and capitalism, although good governance and public awareness have also been critical. McAfee does warn of issues that haven’t been solved, like global warming, overfishing, and communities left behind as capitalism and tech progress race forward. But overall, More from Less is a revelatory, paradigm-shifting account of how we’ve stumbled into an unexpectedly better balance with nature—one that holds out the promise of more abundant and greener centuries ahead.

Researchers to help NASA monitor health in space

A South Australian advanced manufacturing hub specialising in microfluidic sensors is working with NASA to develop health assessment tools for space travellers.Andrew SpencePrint articleRepublishNotify me The Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) has partnered with NASA to help Australian researchers develop sensors to monitor health through the testing of bodily fluids such as sweat and saliva. Located in Adelaide at the University of South Australia, the same city as the Australian Space Agency and a swag of emerging space startups, the South Australian node of the ANFF is one of eight university-based hubs around Australia. The South Australian node started a decade ago specialising in microfluidics. Its expertise has since grown to include lab-on-a-chip technology, advanced sensing, functional coatings and separation science. Node Director Associate Professor Craig Priest leads research into the development of microfluidic sensor platforms designed to monitor human health factors, which will be an initial focus of the international partnership with NASA. Assoc Prof Priest said the partnership was an example of “the very first fruits of return on investment” for Australia’s rebooted space industry and would harness exciting nanotechnology and microfluidics research at the UniSA Mawson Lakes campus. “When you are working and travelling in space there is no doctor on board or regular health testing facilities and we know astronauts are operating in a challenging environment,” he said. “You can imagine in a space environment where you’ve got zero gravity, radiation and other extreme conditions, the ability to know if things are going wrong quickly is very important. “We are aiming to work with NASA to develop non-invasive health self-assessment, and possibly wearable, tools that will be able to analyse things like sweat and saliva and track health effects in real time. “The research supports ambitions for further and longer journeys into space and will help astronauts to monitor […]

Smart factories have the potential to spark labour productivity

Each industrial revolution has transformed production, delivered better economic output, and, consequently, immense economic gains globally. But something has shifted in the past two decades—manufacturing productivity growth appears stuck. Labour productivity is a major metric of economic output, and gains in productivity are important because, on a macro scale, labour productivity determines the standard of living of people, nations, and the world. Currently economic output is moving in lockstep with the number of hours people work. Enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution—the newest chapter in industrial development that promises to ignite stalled labour productivity in manufacturing via connected machines, people, data, and value chains. In that sense, the smart factory could potentially ignite stalled labour productivity and unlock the key to productivity for manufacturers. But how? Every manufacturer—whether already “running smart” or yet to invest in smart factory technologies—can harvest business value from smart factory initiatives. Smart factory initiatives accelerate business value creation. Companies report as much as 10–12 percent gains in areas like manufacturing output, factory utilisation, and labour productivity after they invested in smart factory initiatives. There is a direct and established connection—primarily through investment and use cases—between smart factory initiatives and the business value realised. What’s more, any manufacturer can use this connection. While there are risks, primarily operational and financial, they are outnumbered by the smart factory’s value contribution. Also, most risks can be mitigated through rational stakeholder selection, an efficient change management strategy, measurable proof-of-concepts, and incremental investments. Early smart factory adopters report average three-year gains of 10 percent for factory output, factory capacity utilisation, and labour productivity. A closer look at labour productivity trends indicates that smart factory initiatives will likely enable the US manufacturers to “observe” triple the labour productivity growth rate during the next decade (2019–2030) compared to last decade (2007–2018). What does this mean […]

Automating one step at a time

Rockwell Automation’s new regional director, Anthony Wong is very engaging. He has an easy laugh, but a serious undertone that lets you know he is here to do business. Recently appointed as regional director of automation giant Rockwell Automation, Wong has big shoes to fill in departing MD Scott Wooldridge. Not that he’ll have to look far if he needs the odd bit of advice – Wooldridge is now the company’s regional vice-president for Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Wong, an electrical engineering major, brings experience from both the software and hardware streams of automation. With more than 24 years in the industry, he started out as customer support with Citect, before graduating to sales engineer, then account manager through to sales director. In 2006, Schneider Electric purchased Citect, which opened new opportunities to Wong, including a five-year sojourn at the company’s headquarters in Paris, France, where he had several roles mainly in the strategy, merger and integration sectors. Just under three years ago, he decided to come home where he worked for Schneider until taking up the Rockwell Automation position in July this year. As well as the usual challenges of the role, there are several other reasons the new job was attractive to Wong. “What attracted to me to the role is that Rockwell Automation is one of the most respected companies in the automation space,” he said. “I have always been in the industrial automation space, and with Rockwell Automation being purely a player in that space, that was definitely one of the things that attracted me to join the company. He said another reason was that Rockwell Automation has moved into addressing the digital space. For him that was signalled when the company took an 8.4 per cent stake in Internet of Things […]

Building a future-ready and sustainable strategy for manufacturing

By Mac Ghani, Managing Director, Avanade Australia From digital transformation to climate change, every industry is trying to keep up with the pace of change and reinvent processes for a more sustainable future. When a manufacturing business successfully transforms itself, customers and employees will benefit from: Increased efficiency and output through data-driven process optimisation and visibility; Reduced downtime and increased asset utilisation through real-time monitoring of assets and predictive maintenance analytics; Increased agility of supply-chain planning via real-time visibility and process controls; Improved worker safety and injury prevention by detecting and responding to changes in field conditions and worker vital signals; A future-ready manufacturing business also has the capacity to create a positive environmental impact – using digital innovation, data and insights to drive efficiencies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enable smarter energy management and reduce waste. The MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) finds companies that substantially complete their transformation tend to enjoy margins 16 percentage points higher than their industry’s average. A new beginning Despite awareness about the need to innovate and the commitment to invest heavily in technology over the next three years, research found the manufacturing industry continues to lag behind companies in other industries. With tougher socio-economic and environmental conditions, personalisation and a dynamic workforce, it can be incredibly difficult to understand where to start or how to progress further. In fact, 60-70 percent of organisations are still on their journey. Manufacturing is a traditionally siloed industry. But a future-ready organisation gives due consideration for impacts across the business, so open communication and evaluation throughout the process is key. Digital transformation belongs to the whole organisation, not just the CIO. Key decision-makers from all parts of the organisation need to put forward priorities of each business division. These priorities need to be aligned […]

Datalogic enhances robot guidance and traceability with Impact software

Datalogic’s latest IMPACT software enhances performance and traceability for vision-guided robots and cobots. Datalogic, a leader in robotics, Industry 4.0, automatic data capture and process automation, is introducing its new Impact 12.2 software to further enhance the traceability and ease-of use of vision-guided robots and cobots used for a wide variety of pick, place and other vital production line tasks. The new robot guidance and traceability software is available throughout the Asia-Pacific region and incorporates a number of calibration and performance enhancements to make robot programming faster and simpler, as well as improve accuracy and traceability. “With Datalogic’s Impact 12.2 system, robots can now be deployed faster, and they are more adaptable to changing applications in dynamic industries such as warehousing, logistics, supply chain, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, transport and OEM markets,” said Mr Bradley Weber, Product Marketing Manager – Machine Vision, Datalogic. “The latest software has been thoroughly tested in conjunction with leading robotics company Universal Robots and has been fully approved and UR+ certified to work their robots and cobots. UR+ certification means they have the full technical support and expertise of the Universal Robots team, as well as access to their highly customisable software,” said Mr Weber. Collaborative robots, or ‘cobots’ work harmoniously with people in production and distribution operation such as pick-and-place and production lines. Often, the robot performs repetitive tasks requiring strength or precision, while the person guides the robot to the right place, provides a part for it to pick, or performs other tasks that complement the robots programming. According to Universal Robots, “Cobots give manufacturers access to all the benefits of advanced robotic automation, without the extra costs associated with traditional robots: difficult programming, long set-up, and shielded work cells. This makes automation affordable even for small-batch production runs and mixed product assembly.” Software […]

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