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2018 Forecast: Advanced manufacturing remains bullish

Manufacturing in Australia has capped 14 consecutive months of expansion – led in part by the food and beverage industry, according to projections tracking this sector’s performance. The manufacturing sector continued its expansion throughout 2017, notes an index released by the Australian Industry Group (AI Group), Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index. November was marked by strong performance, while mirroring an uninterrupted growth phase that kicked off in October last year. This trajectory was influenced by strong sales, production and jobs growth, and an escalation of exports across emerging and traditional markets. Among the trends, the traditional manufacturing industry will thrive, together with a factory floor adoption of the newer, more advanced manufacturing technologies. The AI Group notes that manufacturers are in a “rebalancing act,” marked by pockets of growth in food, beverages, groceries, and specialist machinery. The other sectors incorporate pharma, building materials, industrial textiles and furniture. Advanced manufacturing is defined by an ability to blend the skills of a multidisciplinary team, leveraging internet and emerging technologies, and capturing customers’ needs to deliver innovative products and services. This roadmap is also highlighted at the 2nd Annual Industrial Internet 4.0 Summit being held 21-22 February in Sydney. With a line-up of 30+ speakers and industry partners, this dedicated forum highlights core trends, and reflects industry forecasts, among these: INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS (IIOT) AND AUTOMATION The future of manufacturing is influenced by the industrial internet of things (IIoT), robotics, automation, sensors, connected devices, big data, analytics, and mobile apps. Manufacturing is entering a phase of restructuring. This blueprint recalibrates cumbersome business processes, embraces automation, and adopts the more advanced techniques to improve productivity. On the automotive front, local manufacturers compete with low-cost imports. This sees a trend in moving production overseas, especially to Asia, while managing the overheads and reducing pressures on the bottom […]

Farmers and services industry winners under revised Trans-PacificPartnership trade deal

Giovanni Di Lieto, Lecturer, Bachelor of International Business, Monash Business School, Monash University. The revived trade agreement, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), has finally made it across the line. It’s a considerable win for Australian farmers and service providers, in a trading area worth about A$90 billion. The 11 remaining countries from the initial Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement finally agreed to go ahead with the deal without the US, at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The deal reduces the scope for controversial investor-state dispute settlements, where foreign investors can bypass national courts and sue governments for compensation for harming their investments. It introduces stronger safeguards to protect the governments’ right to regulate in the public interest and prevent unwarranted claims. Despite earlier union fears of the impact for Australian workers, the CPTPP does not regulate the movement of workers. It only has minor changes to domestic labour rights and practices. The new agreement is more of an umbrella framework for separate yet coordinated bilateral deals. In fact, Australia’s Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said: The agreement will deliver 18 new free trade agreements between the CPTPP parties. For Australia that means new trade agreements with Canada and Mexico and greater market access to Japan, Chile, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei. It means a speedier process for reducing import barriers on key Australian products, such as beef, lamb, seafood, cheese, wine and cotton wool. It also promises less competition for Australian services exports, encouraging other governments to look to use Australian services and reducing the regulations of state-owned enterprises. Australia now also has new bilateral trade deals with Canada and Mexico as part and parcel of the new agreement. This could be worth a lot to the Australian economy if it were to fill commercial gaps created by potential trade […]

Hugely durable Wearply outstanding for materials handling and electrical tasks

Wearply from Cut To Size Plastics is used for applications ranging from insulated rail joints, above, through to vibratory conveyor leaf springs used in processing and loading equipment as well as electrical motor, generator and transformer components. A hugely durable reinforced plastic composite that weighs less than aluminium but has up to 10 times the specific strength of 1020 steel is being offered by Cut To Size Plastics for demanding rail, ports, mineral processing, materials handling facilities, infrastructure construction and associated electrical and industrial applications. Wearply reinforced plastic composite is ideal for maintenance, engineering and fabrication tasks which aim to optimise design and performance of infrastructure and machinery components and leaf spring assemblies in which performance and reliability is vital. Wearply can withstand millions of stress cycles at 1400 bar (20,000 psi) without fatigue failure. Wearply derives its enormous strength, performance and durability from epoxy resins reinforced with continuously aligned, non-woven filaments. This allows plies to be laid so reinforcement is oriented to give greater strength and stiffness in the direction, or directions, in which it is most needed. Parallel filaments resist the stress abrasion that can shorten the fatigue life in conventional reinforced plastics. “This advanced engineering material is winning the attention of machinery designers globally for its superior performance in a huge range of applications, from rail, materials handling facilities and associated electrical plant through to vibratory machinery in minerals and primary production processing and loading applications. “The same qualities that make it suitable for advanced aerospace and medical applications – such as helicopter blades and MRI equipment – mean it can be employed with confidence in rail, materials handling, marine and ship loading and high-precision tasks where reliability is vital,” says Mr Flood, who has national and international experience in the application of light but outstandingly durable […]

New frontiers for South Australian space industry

The International Astronautical Congress hit Adelaide in 2017, bringing more than 4500 space experts to town and the focus of the world on South Australia. Jim Plouffe The Hubble Space Telescope being serviced as the Space Shuttle crosses South Australia in December 1993. Picture courtesy NASA.Although the IAC was the culmination of a decade of work by many people in Australia’s space industry, it can also be seen as the launching pad for a revitalised space industry based in South Australia. The Australian government used the congress to announce that Australia would finally have a national Space Agency (pending yet another review due in March 2018) while Elon Musk used the congress to tell the world he was putting all his resources toward developing his BFR to not only travel to Mars but also to reduce earth travel times to under an hour and establish a lunar base. Michael Davis, the Chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia, said organising the congress made South Australia a leader in space industries and the South Australian government’s space plan would help the state influence the new National Space Agency. “The South Australian government backed our bid [for the congress] right from the beginning, going back eight years,” he said. Heads of space agencies, from left, NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Head Igor Komarov, European Space Agency Director General Jan Woerner, China National Space Administration (CNSA) Secretary General Tian Yulong and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) President Naoki Okumura at the International Astronautical Congress in South Australia. “When we won the bid, they saw the opportunity. They didn’t wait till the congress took place, they formulated and implemented a strategy that has led directly to the announcement of the South Australian Space Industry Centre and the $4 million in funding.” A week […]

Hugely durable Wearply outstanding for materials handling and electrical tasks

In the picture (below):Wearply from Cut To Size Plastics is used for applications ranging from insulated rail joints, above, through to vibratory conveyor leaf springs used in processing and loading equipment as well as electrical motor, generator and transformer components. A hugely durable reinforced plastic composite that weighs less than aluminium but has up to 10 times the specific strength of 1020 steel is being offered by Cut To Size Plastics for demanding rail, ports, mineral processing, materials handling facilities, infrastructure construction and associated electrical and industrial applications. Wearply reinforced plastic composite is ideal for maintenance, engineering and fabrication tasks which aim to optimise design and performance of infrastructure and machinery components and leaf spring assemblies in which performance and reliability is vital. Wearply can withstand millions of stress cycles at 1400 bar (20,000 psi) without fatigue failure, says Pat Flood, NSW Manager of Cut To Size Plastics. It derives its enormous strength, performance and durability from epoxy resins reinforced with continuously aligned, non-woven filaments. This allows plies to be laid so reinforcement is oriented to give greater strength and stiffness in the direction, or directions, in which it is most needed. Parallel filaments resist the stress abrasion that can shorten the fatigue life in conventional reinforced plastics. “This advanced engineering material is winning the attention of machinery designers globally for its superior performance in a huge range of applications, from rail, materials handling facilities and associated electrical plant through to vibratory machinery in minerals and primary production processing and loading applications. “The same qualities that make it suitable for advanced aerospace and medical applications – such as helicopter blades and MRI equipment – mean it can be employed with confidence in rail, materials handling, marine and ship loading and high-precision tasks where reliability is vital,” says Mr Flood, who has […]

Lapp launches in Australia

One of the world’s leading providers of branded cable and connector systems and integrated electrical and automation engineering solutions, Lapp, is establishing a fully-fledged subsidiary in Australia. Lapp Australia – headquartered at Eastern Creek, Sydney – will meet demand nationally for technologies used in future-focussed areas of industry, such as automation, robotics, energy management, data distribution and intelligent manufacturing, buildings, infrastructure and process engineering. Lapp Australia General Manager Simon Pullinger says the new facility – to open on February 1 – will bring new levels of service and choice to the Australian market, offering strong inventory of over 1,000 product lines onshore as well as direct access to more than 40,000 standard items from Lapp’s global ranges. Lapp Australia will work in close co-operation with its established key local Lapp distribution partner in Australia, Treotham Automation, which brings market-leading local expertise to its specialised markets. Lapp Australia will also extend its strong association with ECS New Zealand, a family-owned business, like Lapp, which has been a Lapp distributor for more than 30 years. ECS Investments is a 50 per cent shareholder in the new Lapp Australia business, with the other 50 per cent owned by Lapp Holding Asia. The existing online Lapp Express website, meanwhile, will continue to expand in both countries, complementing the new strengths delivered by Lapp Australia. Mr Pullinger says Lapp’s investment in a new full subsidiary in Australia is a strong vote of confidence in local industry as it increasingly moves into the global industrial automation market, which is forecast to grow to an annual worth of $US 350 billion ($A460 billion) by 2024. The new Eastern Creek facility provides a strong base for engineering, technical and product support staff, operating in a technology and distribution environment modelled on Lapp’s global facilities supplying more than 100 […]

Production automation opens up new opportunities for thermoplastics

As production automation seeks to drive down the cost of manufactured and processed products, machinery engineers must find materials that enable their designs to achieve faster, more efficient and more reliable applications. The search for high performance materials that are also low cost, safe and sustainable has led some producers away from traditional metal solutions and into engineered thermoplastics, which can in many cases be carefully formulated to precise and clean, green performance characteristics for applications. One example of such new age materials offering outstanding service life as OEM and metal component replacements is the Wearlon family of thermoplastics from Cut to Size Plastics, which are used for machine building, process automation, drive and conveyor equipment and ancillaries used in such industrials as food and beverage processing, manufacturing and materials handling. There is much more research going on now into the correct materials to use for production automation, because it is a major investment that may be key to a company’s future. So it is no longer good enough to do things the old way they have always been done, because the rate of change in automation is accelerating and it would be very easy to be left behind completely. Sometimes change is driven in automating industries by pure economics, while, in other cases, issues such as HACCP food safety requirements are important. It is important to say there is no one ideal answer to all applications – whether they be metals or engineering thermoplastics – but it is certainly essential to consider all the options. Where required, Cut to Size can draw on the globally respected expertise of its international suppliers, including Licharz GmbH, producer of Linnotam and other members of Cut to Size’s Wearlon family of polyamides. Licharz’s applications laboratories and […]

Rio Tinto’s vision of ‘mining as manufacturing’ comes a step closer

What is manufacturing? It could be said to be a series of discrete often automated operations, co-ordinated and linked by sensors and data, to create an efficient and seamless production and logistics process from raw material to product. Rio has for many years been pursuing a vision of mining as just such a thing – a factory if you like, just a very de-centralised one. Thus drill hole creation at its Pilbara mines are an automated process, the drilling begun or ‘pulled’ through the system by the requirements of specific ships approaching Port Hedlend to pick up blended iron ores for individual customers. Just as cars are built for specific customers, ore is only mined when sold. The company has been automating key elements of the iron ore production chain – automated mine trucks, ore crushers, ore blenders, ship loaders etc…..and now the company has run its first driverless train. (see story) All this is controlled from a single centre located from Perth. Ultimately the company sees its Port Hedland operation working like a well oiled Toyota factory – a series of standardised operations, linked by logistics, centrally controlled and making only product that customers have already bought. An exciting concept – maybe our definitions are more out of date than we think.

Austal continues its success selling ships to the US Navy

Perth ship builder Austal has continued its often underappreciated success building ships for the US Navy – it operates what is now America’s fifth biggest shipyard. It has received its 15th order – the second this year – for a $750 million littoral combat ship (LCS) to be built at its Alabama shipyard. Significant parts of the ship are built at Austal Perth for incorporation into the ships. The 127 metre long three hulled vessel was originally modelled on its successful passenger ferries, but has now evolved such that it is a contender for even larger orders to meet America’s future frigate needs. The LCS was originally conceived as a multi-role vessel, with removable modules to suit different needs such as mine laying. The ship is now being given anti-ship missile and other offensive capabilities. Austal also supplies a second vessel for the USN – the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF), a twin hulled transport vessel. Austal’s continuous production techniques, modular construction and efficiency set it in good stead to win the $3 billion Offshore Patrol Vessel contract for the Royal Australian Navy. A great example of an Australian multi-national designer and manufacturer – it also builds ships in the Philippines.

Luxury watchmaker secures ceramic manufacturing deal

Lightweight ceramic components for luxury watches will be manufactured in South Australia under a new agreement. -Stephanie Richards, The Lead South Australia Bausele CEO and founder Christophe Hoppe. Australian watchmaker Bausele has strengthened its ties with Flinders University to form a Bauselite ceramics supply and manufacturing company in South Australia’s capital Adelaide. Australian Advanced Manufacturing was launched last week and will continue to produce Bauselite componentry for luxury watches. The components will be made at Flinders University campuses in Adelaide, more than 15,000km from Switzerland where the majority of luxury watch componentry is made. Bauselite is a very strong, very light ceramic material developed by Dr Jonathan Campbell and colleagues from the Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science & Technology. It was used to create Bausele’s Terra Australis watch, released in 2015, which became the first watch from Australia to be accepted for showing at Baselworld, the world’s largest watch and jewellery trade fair. “The new material and method of production solved a number of issues specific to using ceramics in watches,” Dr Campbell said. “It’s a significant accomplishment that watch components are being produced here, signalling a major step forward and a powerful statement about Flinders’ delivery of elite engineering.” Bausele CEO Christophe Hoppe said Australian Advanced Manufacturing aimed to expand its production of high quality watch components. “Controlling manufacturing is really important and it can be both difficult and costly but with Australian Advanced Manufacturing I think there’s a real opportunity to make key components here in Australia,” he said. “Having the company will give us the flexibility, the freedom and the control – I think it will just make everything work better.” The Bausele Terra Australis watch design has been heralded as the first world-class timepiece ever made from parts designed and crafted in Australia. A five-pronged diamond clasp to secure the watch face is […]

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