Company News

Weed killing machine moves towards manufacturing milestone

An emerging South Australian company has developed a modular manufacturing system to ramp up commercial production of its flagship product. Andrew Spence Craig Larke with a Seed Terminator on his farm in Corrigan, Western Australia. The Seed Terminator can be retrofitted to new and used headers and pulverises unwanted weed seeds as crops are harvested. The machine uses a multi-stage hammer mill to pulverise weed seeds, spreading the sawdust-like debris behind the header. Tests by the University of Adelaide’s Weed Science Research Group have shown a 96 to 100 per cent kill of rye grass seeds using the machine. Invented in South Australia, it is the fourth year of production for the Seed Terminator following the release of nine pilot units in 2016, a further 23 in 2017 and 50 last year, which have resulted in 121 full field trials on a range of crop types in major grain growing regions in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. Seed Terminator has at least doubled its production every year, beginning with nine units in 2016 and is now working with four manufacturers in South Australia and one in Western Australia to establish a modular manufacturing platform to enable continued growth. The company is also working with two other Adelaide companies on electronics and advanced manufacturing aspects of the process. Inventor and Kangaroo Island farmer Dr Nick Berry, pictured below, founded the company with his uncle Mark Ashenden. Dr Nick Berry with the Seed Terminator attached to a CASE IH header. Seed Terminator is based at Flinders University’s New Venture Institute in the Tonsley Innovation Precinct in Adelaide’s southern suburbs alongside several advanced manufacturing success stories such as SAGE Automation, Micro-X and Siemens. Ashenden said the product, which has undergone design improvements after every season, was now ready for full commercial production. He said it was the […]

Australia and New Zealand Receive Standardisation for Oral Fluid Drug Testing

The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA) welcomes the new standards for oral fluid testing processes and technologies. TDDA has long believed that oral fluid testing technology and processes required reviewing and to become a joint Australian and New Zealand standard. The AS/NZS 4760:2019 (CH-039 Detection of Drugs in Oral Fluids) Oral Fluid testing standard by Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand dictates consistency around testing methodology, the quality of devices required, and how labs manage test samples. “The new standardisation delivers value to employees and employers alike. It provides a framework and guidelines to ensure that oral fluid testing is carried out in a way that will deliver accurate, reliable results,” says Kirk Hardy, CEO, TDDA. TDDA is on track to be the first to achieve cross Tasman accreditation and provide independent and reliable externally audited oral fluid drug testing collection service to International Standards Organisation (ISO) standards. TDDA-Omega laboratories is also seeking accreditation to AS/NZS 4760: 2019 for the provision of laboratory confirmation services. “If a drug tester follows the standard, they’ll use a process that ensures the testing carried out meets the requirements of the AS/NZS 4760:2019, giving it more scientific rigour to withstand legal challenges. We’re also in the process of verifying a device to meet the criteria of the new standard” says Hardy. Even with standardisation improvements with collection, Hardy warns that oral fluid testing isn’t a catch-all testing product, and not all workplace testers are accredited or will follow the standard. “Businesses who care about compliance and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 need to make sure they’re using an independent, accredited, certified tester that follows the new standard. But companies also need to understand it’s not a one size fits all test,” says Hardy. TDDA recommends utilising a range of different testing methods, […]

AUSTECH 14-17 May 2019 Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Austech has consistently provided a showcase for additive manufacturing as it has developed over the years, and the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion is now an unmissable part of the show. With additive manufacturing continuing to revolutionise the manufacturing industry, the focus on additive manufacturing will be more comprehensive than ever at Austech 2019. The Additive Manufacturing Pavilion will feature demonstrations of the latest 3D printers and services from a range of companies and organisations that lead the field of additive manufacturing. Exhibitors in the Additive Manufacturing Pavilion include: • Additive Manufacturing Hub • 3D Printing Systems • 3D Printing Solutions • 3D Systems Asia-Pacific • Bilby 3D • CSIRO • Emona Instruments Pty Ltd • evok3d.com Pty Ltd • Freedspace • GoProto (ANZ) Pty Ltd • Headland Machinery Pty Ltd • Imaginables Pty Ltd • Konica Minolta • LRM Technologies • Markforged • Materialise • MSC Software Corporation • Rapid Advanced Manufacturing Limited (RAM) • Raymax Lasers (Raymax Applications Pty Ltd) • Renishaw Oceania Pty Ltd • Shining Industrial Enterprises • Thinglab • Zeal 3D Companies who are interested in exhibiting at Austech 2019 should contact AMTIL on 03 9800 3666 or by emailing AMTIL’s Events Manager Kim Banks on kbanks@amtil.com.au. If you would like to attend Austech, please register online at: www.amtil.com.au/austech

Ranger customises vacuum lifter for Tunnels Project

Ranger Lifting has modified a vacuum below-the-hook attachment for installation of key elements, as a large railway project enters a key phase. Prestons, Sydney-based Ranger, a specialist supplier of lifting and rigging equipment, has adapted the Acimex vacuum lifter, manufactured in France, to meet specific requirements for installing 1,000 elements over a two-year period, as a tunnel boring machine (TBM) is prepared for work. Leo Giuntini, business development manager at Ranger, explained that the elements are thicker than the standard units used elsewhere because of the soil environment along the boring route. The attachment will work with a 3t capacity, 44m-long, freestanding monorail hoist that originally had a working load limit (WLL) of 900kg, increased by Ranger to 1,350kg. Additionally, Ranger has changed the orientation of the vacuum head 90 degrees and lengthened the support bar. Acimex manufactures all types of vacuum lifters for gripping bulky concrete, steel, or PVC parts, but the adaptation of this model once again demonstrated Ranger’s ability to tailor a solution for a specific project. Ranger increased the capacity of the vacuum lifter from 900kg to 1,350kg. Giuntini said: “The project had a requirement to install key elements to facilitate use of a big TBM. The modernised attachment will be used to lift the elements out of moulds that are specially manufactured upside-down, so they have to be rotated in the air prior to installation. Importantly, the vacuum tool must be able to hold the segments even when disconnected from power.” The solution represented a significant time and cost saving for the customer, as the alternative to customising the existing product would have been to source a new one from France. Upon consultation with the end user and a local engineering firm, Giuntini was able to oversee the modernisation project that […]

Coating PIC 2 BHP Pulley Rhino Tuff Stuff

Coating conveyor pulleys for protection and longevity

Australia’s resources and agricultural industries are significant components of the country’s strong economy. In particular, minerals and grains are commodities that earn many millions of dollars of export income every year. Iron ore, bauxite, coal and grain are transported by ship to overseas markets, but to get the material to the ship they are all transported at some stage by conveyor belt. A continuous belt is just one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys or drums with a loop of a material of some kind—rubber, polyester, wire mesh—that rotates about them. Depending on the length of the conveyor belt, one or more of the pulleys may be powered so that the belt and the material on it move forward. A powered pulley is called a drive pulley, while an unpowered pulley is called an idler pulley. There are two main types of industrial conveyors: those in general material handling such as ones used to move boxes or components inside a factory and for bulk material handling such as those used to transport large volumes of resources and agricultural materials, such as grain, salt, coal, ore, sand, overburden and more. The enormous conveyors and their supporting infrastructure represent many millions of dollars of investment by companies over many years, so they need to be protected as much as possible Massive stresses and strains are placed on the equipment being used when moving many thousands of tonnes of a material every hour along a conveyor belt system. These forces are in constant play at mine sites, bulk handling facilities and shipping terminals where material is moved from trucks and trains via in-loading circuits to stockpiles and then to ships via out-loading circuits. The longest single loop belt in the world is associated […]

A year to bring about positive change

There are two crucial areas business needs to address this year. You know what these are: Climate Change and Productivity. Sceptics say that Climate Change doesn’t exist. They either don’t know any better or they may be right. But for the good of us all we still need to look at current business practices and determine what changes can be made to address the situation. What are we emitting into the atmosphere? What source of energy do we use that may be causing an environmental problem and what can be done to rectify the situation? What is our individual role in climate change? When we hear that ice are melting, water levels rising and temperatures increasing then we do indeed have a problem. Productivity is harder to measure because there are a lot of people in society who contribute a lot without the financial reward. Their efforts are not on payrolls or widely known about. There are reasons for this of course: homemakers don’t have the same esteem as a bank manager, nor the salary that goes with just as much (if not more) hard work. Productivity and a living wage or a fair wage, not just a scrapping by wage is a difficult subject. Companies don’t want to raise wages and salaries unless they really need to. They want to make a profit for shareholders and no more was this apparent than at the recent Davos gathering. Someone owns the oil and someone else owns the property and the workers gather around for a share of the crumbs. Productivity keeps the wheels turning, to making the goods for market and positioning our country as an export earner on the world stage. The highest percentage of what we manufacturer comes from the land. Not that what we make in a […]

Australia manufactures secondary mine ventilation for massive cost savings and compliance

A new technological solution engineered and manufactured in Australia offers power savings and control not yet seen in the underground mining industry. Minetek’s patented secondary mine ventilation system based on a high output Axial Fan system uses a patented Mine Air Control (MAC) system to maximise return from its Performance on Demand (POD) units which automatically sense how much air is needed in any one heading at any time. Each solution is engineered and manufactured in Australia specific for the end user. Whilst these secondary underground fans strategically optimise air flow, they eliminate much of the power traditionally wasted in such applications while performing across a very large operating range and meeting broad regulatory compliance parameters. Compared to the common standard twin stage axial fan ventilation systems found on the market, the Minetek High Output axial fan system is modular and provides: Vastly reduced energy costs. Adequate air at the face. High levels of control. Sensor tracking to automatically adjust to real-time demand. High volume compliance Blast dust removal rapidly. Reduced noise output. According to Minetek’s Engineering Manager, Mr Remy Bourcier, the company’s High Output Axial Fan has been designed and manufactured in Australia completely with the underground mining industry in mind and the MAC control system brings the mine’s fan system together with complete automation. “Until now, the market has to a certain limit used high maintenance Variable Speed Drives to provide some level of control to the air flow in secondary ventilation systems,” said Mr Bourcier. “But our patented system works on high pressure, steel fabricated impeller technology allowing operation at temperatures and conditions previously thought impractical for an axial fan – and we achieve this in seriously harsh environments. “It’s in the area of energy costs where the real savings are found, and this is very tangible […]

Konecranes adopts Internet of Things technology

Konecranes, specialising in the manufacture and service of cranes and lifting equipment, has implemented Siemens’ digital innovation platform to accelerate its product development process and connect product and performance data together. The company is using MindSphere, the open, cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) operating system, and the Teamcenter portfolio, the world’s most widely used digital lifecycle management software, to leverage the digital twin and reduce the number of physical prototypes, which helps to increase efficiency and decrease product validation time. The Konecranes proof of value is one of the first implementations of IoT to develop a framework that connects and synchronizes the virtual (engineering design, analysis and simulation) and physical (testing and operational reliability) worlds. The product design process is currently based more on an engineer’s experience and generally shared assumptions than measured facts from existing products. These assumptions often lead to non-optimised designs that are over engineered. With an integrated digital twin platform, there is major potential in speeding up the product development process, reducing prototypes, increasing traceability and thus improving quality and reduce development cost. Today design, simulation and prototype testing organisations operate in their own silos, often using out of date processes for their work. At Konecranes, a digital twin was utilised as the communication approach between all three organisations to review data and provide feedback around engineering, simulation and testing intent. Using the Siemens platform for digital innovation, Konecranes has been able to connect the data from all of these organisations to create one 360 degree view of how prototypes are running and performing, and correlating requirements to, real world performance data. A closed-loop digital twin framework using IoT and product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies can lead to faster design issue resolution and shorter prototyping phases by leveraging virtual sensor data in product simulations to provide […]

Construction and mining the next frontier of robotics adoption

In the past, for heavy industry-related locations like mines, robots were controlled by teleoperation or navigate autonomously across uneven terrain or within subterranean interiors with little to no human interaction. This was the same for construction sites, where robots must understand changing floor plans, keep track of inventory, and navigate stairs. Thanks to advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), wireless telecommunications, location-based technologies, and navigation systems, this is being realised. Modern robotics tend to be associated with either indoor environments like factories and warehouses, or in the home. But there is a multitude of other, less structured and more challenging environments where AMRs are only just beginning to proliferate. Advanced mobility enabling autonomous navigation will empower robotics vendors in construction, extraction and elsewhere. While in 2018, 28.7% of commercial robots’ shipments had some degree of autonomous navigation, in 2027, the percentage will be 79.3%. Construction robots may be involved in specific tasks, such as brick-laying, painting, loading, and bulldozing. We can expect hundreds of AMRs in the next 2 years, mainly doing haulage. These robots help to protect workers from a hazardous working environment, reduce workplace injuries, and address labour shortages. For the robots to operate in challenging, hostile, and unsafe environments without human assistance, the key beneficiaries will be OEMs who choose to adopt navigation-providing operation systems (OS) from third-party providers. Specialist robot companies have a greater opportunity to attract capital due to increased interest, and with the formulation of cloud services from AWS and Google, have more opportunity than ever to develop advanced capabilities like mobile manipulation and advanced analytics. However, they will struggle to get an in-house solution off the ground without partnering with third-party providers on localisation and navigation technologies. Given the complexity of localisation, mapping, and navigation alone, a delegation of responsibility to third-party providers is […]

Bankwest launches data science internship and graduate programs

WA financial institution Bankwest has taken new steps to actively foster talent and grow the data science community in WA, with the establishment of an intern program and a graduate development program, both in data science. The six-week internship program launched in January and the first four graduates on to the new data science graduate development program start this month (Feb 18). Bankwest Executive General Manager of Customer Solutions and Insights Pieter Vorster said the programs are part of Bankwest’s focus on leveraging data science and analytics to help deliver the digital products and services expected by customers. “As part of a growing focus on being an insight led business, we’re turning our attention to helping develop home-grown talent and increase the size of the data science community here in WA.” The internship The first two interns to join the program were Nazanin Sabooniha and Tim Howat, both of whom are studying Masters degrees in Perth. Both are spending six weeks working with Bankwest’s Data Science team within CS&I and have hit the ground running. Nazanin said: “I came to Bankwest hoping to use the knowledge and skills I’ve learned at university to put something into practice in the real-world environment. And just a couple of weeks in I’m already doing this. It’s great to be able to apply the theory to something real and see it work. Tim added: “I wanted to make the connection between what we’ve learned at university and how that’s applied in a real work scenario. Also, for Bankwest and this industry, I wanted to experience applying these skills to create value, enabling possibilities for customers.” The graduate development program Pieter said: “For too long highly skilled and capable STEM grads have picked up their degrees from university, packed their bags and jumped on a […]

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