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GLG to consider strategic options for market-leading Pierlite division

The Board of Gerard Lighting Group (GLG) has announced plans to explore strategic options for the company’s Pierlite business. Pierlite is the leading provider in Australia and New Zealand of indoor commercial and industrial lighting solutions. As a trusted brand for more than 70 years, the business has unrivalled relationships with a blue-chip and growing base of wholesalers, contractors and specifiers across the commercial, industrial, health and education segments. Pierlite has a strong track record of delivering large and complex lighting solutions projects. GLG is majority-owned by Bain Capital Credit and Investec. Through their strong support over a number of years, the Pierlite business has achieved meaningful growth including double-digit profitability based on revenues of approximately $150m. This has been driven in part by a comprehensive transformation program focused on a customer-led distribution model which has included significant investments in product innovation and R&D, new technology systems, and end-to-end process improvements. GLG Chairman Ben Sebel said the Pierlite division was well-placed to sustain strong growth following the successful transformation program, and with a clear focus on new market opportunities. “The business has a clear strategy to capitalise on the significant opportunities in important and rapidly emerging segments, including the global market for smart building lighting solutions which is forecast to become a $US100b industry by 2025”, he said. Pierlite’s innovative product solutions and market-leading offering has seen it secure numerous contracts across multiple segments in Australia and New Zealand including government, education, health and asset owners. Ankura Consulting has been appointed financial advisor to the proposed process.

LEEA launches Regional Council for ANZ

The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) has formed a dedicated Regional Council for Australia and New Zealand to take greater local control and ownership over local decisions. With its own people, budget and work plan the Regional Council will devise local solutions for local problems. “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the region and a significant benefit to the Lifting Equipment industry in Australian and New Zealand,” said Justin Boehm, Regional General Manager for Australia at LEEA. “The Regional Council is to be lead by local industry leaders, to push forward the benefits of LEEA membership and look to the future of an incredibly important industry. With their support and guidance, we will achieve the recognition our members deserve.” The Regional Council for Australia and New Zealand comprises Steve Flint of The Rigging Shed and Regional Director for Australia on the LEEA Board; Adam Thompson of Stenhouse Lifting; Guy Roberts of Nobles; Ashley Thacker of Ranger Lifting Rigging Safety; Andy Campbell of Bunzl; Mark Eberhard of RMB Lifting; Navin Kumar of Lifting Victoria; David Wilson of Active Lifting Equipment; and Rob Smit of Cookes New Zealand. This group of industry leaders is committed to increasing the awareness of LEEA in the region, showcasing its benefits, growing its demand and profile across major industries and focussing on local initiatives that support the area’s specific needs. They will work together collectively for the greater good of the lifting industry in Australia and New Zealand, as well as to support LEEA’s goals in the region. A specific work plan has been created that directly aligns to LEEA’s Global Strategic Objectives of: Member benefits Upholding the Gold Standard Raising awareness of members’ excellence Professional development of people across the industry Sustainable development Supporting the global industry Justin Boehm added: “There are some fantastic […]

Sussex is carbon neutral

With a commitment to ‘make it right’, Sussex becomes the first tap manufacturer in Australia to be certified as carbon neutral, marking a major milestone in a decade-long path towards sustainability. The Melbourne-based company is the first tap manufacturer in Australia to be certified as both a carbon neutral organisation, and the first to offer certified carbon neutral tapware, achieved in partnership with Climate Active. Certification has been achieved using a range of active and passive emissions reduction strategies, including offsetting 1,133 tonnes of carbon emissions via wind farms, to ensure Sussex has a net zero carbon footprint. In addition to being the first and only Australian tap manufacturer to reuse all waste metal materials, Sussex’s emissions reduction strategy in 2021 includes goals to reduce packaging, landfill, water and electricity usage, as well as to recycle 85% of materials each year. In 2017, there were approximately 53.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the manufacturing industry in Australia. Climate Active is a partnership between the Australian Government and Australian businesses to drive voluntary climate action. The certification—which is understood to be one of the most rigorous in the world—is awarded to businesses and organisations that have achieved a state of net zero emissions. Sussex’s Director Vanessa Katsanevakis says the certification marks the largest step yet on the manufacturer’s journey towards sustainability—one that she hopes will inspire others in the Australian manufacturing industry to take more ambitious steps towards environmental responsibility. “Our story is built around a family endeavour: to build an Australian business with sustainability at its heart. Creating sustainable and ethical solutions is key to our collective future. We have always wanted to face this challenge with a promise to do it the right way,” says Sussex’s Director Vanessa Katsanevakis. “The right way is tied to our […]

Fast detection of water leaks

Combining artificial intelligence and machine learning, Australian start-up Sytewave has developed and patented a system that accurately detects water leaks over a wide area in a matter of seconds. Quite simply, said the company’s CEO, Rick Brown, “We are on a mission to save our planet’s most precious resource, water.” Sytewave’s leak detection, monitoring and analysis system is far more advanced from anything on the market today in rapidly finding and reporting leaks in real time. Its patented technology does not require a water system to be turned off and it can detect multiple leaks from up to 7.5 kilometers away in seconds and accurate within one square meter. During a trial at one of Brisbane’s aquatic centers, Sytewave found a leak that two other leak detection companies failed to find. Six months earlier, the pool was losing 15 thousand liters of water a day. Sytewave combines artificial intelligence with machine learning to deploy its harmless approach to leak detection to rapidly determine the exact location of leaks in a water system. Its state-of-the-art, cloud-based monitoring system works year-round to immediately find leaks in pipe infrastructure. When leaks are found, alerts and reports are sent so that a team can be deployed to fix the problems. Sytewave measures and calculates the distinct signature a leak makes within one square meter. The Sytewave technology doesn’t listen at the source of a problem, which is time consuming and inefficient and mostly inaccurate. Sytewave’s harmless signal is so powerful that it listens further away to analyse an entire infrastructure. Even if a network of city pipes is 100 kilometers long, Sytewave can test an entire system with multiple pings to accurately find leaks. Testing over a wide area accurately and rapidly makes for an efficient system. “Sytewave is leaps ahead of the competition and our […]

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Wind power assembly challenge cuts time and labour input by half

A challenge to reduce the assembly times of wind power generator couplings has resulted in a halving of the time and labour taken to do the job – and increased the safety of the job as well. The Australian Technofast Industries hydraulic fastening company was asked by a US operation of a major European manufacturer to improve the efficiency of the operation to help meet burgeoning demand for its products. “There are now more than 340,000 wind turbines on the planet, generating more than 700 GWe of power, and the total is increasing exponentially. So any operation that improves efficiency and safety of production is very welcome and applicable to thousands of applications,” said Technofast CEO John Bucknell. Technofast’s challenge was to develop an alternative to older methods of fastening – such as torque wrenches – to cut the assembly time of the shrink disc coupling which joins the turbine to the generator of the design involved. The coupling consists of tapered components which are fixed using an array of bolts grouped together to make a friction drive designed to be capable of slipping under extreme load to protect the generator from damage in service. Technofast produced a custom-engineered EziTite hydraulic bolt incorporating a flexible base, which allows the unit to absorb movement of the of the flange being bolted during assembly without damage to any part of the system. “The operation – which is applicable to a wide range of applications in the power industry – used to take eight-to-ten hours using two crews of six-to-eight workers to do a consecutive torque tightening routine. “So we have cut time and labour needs at least in half, while also solving the OHS issues of fatigue from holding up individual wrenches involved in the job. The large crews doing the job […]

DGL acquires freehold property of its chemical manufacturing operation in Victoria

DGL Group Limited a specialist chemicals business that manufactures, transports, stores and processes chemicals and hazardous waste, is pleased to announce the acquisition of a property at 120 Fulton Drive, Derrmiut, Victoria for a total consideration of $5.5mil. The site houses the head office of Chem Pack Pty Ltd (Chem Pack) and includes warehouse facilities purpose built for the formulation and storage of chemicals. The property is locatedapproximately 20km from the Melbourne CBD and benefits from access to the main arterials including the Western Freeway and Western Ring Road. Under the acquisition of Chem Pack, DGL obtained an option to purchase various properties owned by Chem Pack vendors that Chem Pack operates from in Fulton Drive. After completion of relevant due diligence 120 Fulton Drive was selected as the property most crucial to the business of Chem Pack and most complimentary to the broader DGL Group. The acquisition is in accordance with DGL’s broader strategy to own the specialised sites from which it operates, which also encompasses the relevant licenses that the business requires foroperations, thus ensuring that DGL can design and upgrade the properties to meet the bespoke needs of the business. Founder and CEO of DGL, Simon Henry, said: “DGL has always had a strong focus on owning its own sites. This allows us to invest for the long term in the capital-intensive infrastructure required for the safe production and management of chemicals. This is not always possible on a leased site.”

Government backs world-class steelmaking coal mine

Australian Resources and Energy Group AMMA congratulates the Australian Government on its decision to support a world class new metallurgical coal mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. The Commonwealth’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) today announced it would loan $175 million to Pembroke Resources’ major job-creating Olive Downs Mine, situated in the coking coal capital of the world. “With today’s NAIF funding announcement, Pembroke Resources is a step closer to delivering this nationally significant project at a time when Australia needs it most,” Steve Knott AM, Chief Executive of AMMA, said. “As the economy pushes through the disruption of Covid-19, it is now more critical than ever for governments to support large private sector investments in any way they can. The Australian Government should be applauded for providing finance to exactly the type of project the NAIF was created to support. “The Government’s support also sends a positive signal to the investment community that Australia is open for business when it comes to new major resources and energy projects. “Olive Downs will be a technologically-advanced mine, providing high quality coking coal to the global steel industry. It is a shining example of the high-value projects which underpin our industry’s bright future. “The project will create around 700 jobs during construction, with more than 1000 employment opportunities once at peak production. “It is also forecast to deliver around $10 billion to the state economy over the life of mine, as well as provide vital stimulus for businesses along the supply chain and in regional communities.” Construction of the Olive Downs Mine is expected to take 18 months, with Pembroke Resources providing opportunities for workers to live in nearby towns Moranbah, Dysart and Mackay. The company is also partnering with the Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation to deliver training and employment initiatives within Traditional […]

Marr awarded heavy lifting contract in WA

Marr Contracting Pty Ltd (The Men From Marr’s), has been awarded the contract to deliver specialised heavy lifting crane services on the construction of the East Rockingham Waste to Energy Project in Western Australia. The AU$511 million project located in the Kwinana Industrial Area, 40 kilometres south of Perth, will be the second large-scale waste to energy (WtE) plant in Australia. With capacity to process 300,000 tonnes of residual waste from non-recyclable commercial and industrial sources every year, East Rockingham WtE will deliver a cost-effective waste treatment solution and a vital source of dispatachable renewable energy to the City of Perth. After ACCIONA and their partner, Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), were awarded the lead contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) on the project in 2019, ACCIONA contacted Marr Contracting to work with them to develop a lifting strategy and craneage methodology that supported thier modular construction. The geotechnical conditions of the greenfield site, which is located in a high wind area close to the coast, posed a number of challenges that ACCIONA wished to address based on experiences on similar projects completed or currently under construction. Their primary concern was to find a solution that would reduce the number of lifting activities during the construction of the project. Marr’s solution – using a 330-tonne capacity M2480D Heavy Lift Luffer (HLL) – will allow critical lifts, weighing up to 150 tonnes, to be completed by a single crane from a fixed location, with a total site covearge of over 32,000 square meters and an ability to place 25 tonnes anywhere within that coverage. “Working closely with ACCIONA’s construction team during the early stages of the project, we’ve been able to design a simple craneage solution that will help to reduce congestion and improve safety on-site. “This is a great example […]

KLINGER Australia enhances production capacity

KLINGER Australia has just commissioned a new cutting machine on their shop floor in Western Australia that will increase current production capacity in the manufacture of soft-cut gaskets. Bringing the latest technology in design and functionality, KLINGER’s new Atom knife cutter system adds a new level of excellence to its existing, quality range of production machinery. ‘Our enhanced scope of soft cutting machinery means we can improve productivity and capacity in soft cut gasket manufacturing by 50%’ states Kevin Woolley; Managing Director ‘Its customisable, automatic nesting system and user-friendly interface provide benefits such as reduced process times and maximised material yield. These benefits translate into increased efficiencies and a reduction in material wastage’ explains Antonio Pacca; Warehouse & Logistics Manager. ‘It’s considerably faster and easier for my team to set up each production run because it removes a lot of the complexity. Firstly the interface is very easy to navigate, with popular options like finding different materials and sheet sizes for example at the click of a button. Secondly the overhead projectors enable us to directly see how the different gasket types are positioned on the sheet material. “This means we can very quickly and easily make the necessary adjustments to nesting, to get the most out of the sheet material.’ explains Ron Judge; Production Supervisor Ron has worked at KLINGER for 37 years and has witnessed how automation has evolved in the production facility, from using 13 presses many years ago to 3 machines today; delivering the same level of output. ‘There’s been a significant shift in production quality and consistency over the years compared to machinery used back in the day’ mentions Ron. KLINGER Australia’s production capabilities include the manufacture of standard and custom-made soft-cut, metallic and semi-metallic gaskets. This provides customers in Australia and nearby countries in […]

The future of work:Management platform meets the needs

Integrated employee experience features set a new bar for advanced workforce management solutions designed for global enterprises WorkForce Software has a Suite of enterprise SaaS-based workforce management solutions with a fully integrated set of employee experience (EX) capabilities, designed to facilitate meaningful, in-the-moment interactions between managers and deskless employees. Critical capabilities delivered in the newest release include two-way communications and real-time workforce data, which managers can use to engage staff, capture feedback, and act on employee sentiment. Harnessing these digital interactions through the WorkForce Suite can drive more effective employee engagement, provide for a safer, more compliant work environment, and boost employee retention for greater organisational resiliency and agility. “In our work with some of the largest global employers, we can see that focusing on improvements to employee experience are being prioritised even more highly than before the pandemic,” said Mike Morini, CEO of WorkForce Software. “A tightening labor market, lower barriers to job change, and an increasingly diverse and digitally native employee population with higher expectations creates a demand for employers to re-imagine their workforce management technology and include solutions aimed at improving the employee experience.” Today, there are 2.7 billion deskless workers in the global workforce—many of whom indicate a disconnect due to a growing technology gap, which makes it difficult for employers to communicate with employees and keep their workforce engaged at scale. A recent survey conducted by WorkForce Software revealed a significant disparity in how employers and employees perceive the digital and technological support provided to meet workplace needs. According to the report, employers felt they had provided adequate job training, employee recognition, and scheduling flexibility, among other criteria, but many employees surveyed disagreed. This disconnect further exacerbates the struggle many organisations face to retain talented employees. Companies can no longer afford to consider solutions primarily […]

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