Developments

Omron vision sensors set new benchmark in product inspections

When it comes to product inspections, Omron vision sensors are far more accurate than the human eye. Omron’s vision sensors are ideal for a wide variety of industry sectors, including food and beverage, packaging and pharmaceutical applications. “Previously, all line inspections were carried out manually using several people along a production line,” says George Nematian, Omron Product Manager (Advanced Sensors, RFID and Quality Inspection). “This was very time consuming and did not have the same level of accuracy. When a line is running very fast, a human cannot check the faults.” The FQ2 Vision Sensor is ideal for inspecting caps on plastic bottles to determine whether the cap is damaged, missing or is not inserted properly. “It can check for the level of liquid – whether too high or low – for beverages such as fruit juice or soft drinks,” Mr Nematian says. “It can also check if there are any scratches on metal surfaces of can check whether there has been any damage to label. “They are far more accurate than the human eye when it comes to product inspection.” Previously, vision sensors placed the image processor in a separate Controller, now Omron has built the processor into the camera unit. The sensors are IP67 water resistant, meaning they can be used in wet environments. All cables from the camera are flexible. This allows the sensor to be used safely on moving parts. Main benefits Omron’s vision sensors can operate 24/7.“They are reliable and very cost effective,” says Mr Nematian. “Everything is automated … there is no need for manual checking. “With big savings on labour costs, most companies can recover the purchase cost in a short time.” And Omron’s vision sensors are highly accurate. “Depending on the programming they can have an accuracy rate of between 99 and […]

Securing industrial networks and remote access for packaging machinery

Packaging machinery’s automation control systems and networks need to be secured to protect valuable intellectual property and enhance productivity. The ability to use standard unmodified Ethernet throughout, from the enterprise all the way down to individual field devices enables new levels in connectivity for people, processes, data and things, ultimately providing greater productivity, better utilisation of assets, and improved decision-making to industrial companies. Establishing a Connected Enterprise can deliver many benefits to the packaging industry by providing improved connectivity between enterprise systems and the plant floor. However, while increasing connectivity and visibility into the system helps create a seamless flow of information; technologies such as mobile devices, the cloud and big data also introduce security risks that require careful consideration and mitigation. According to Robert Hicks, OEM segment manager at Rockwell Automation, “No single product, technology or methodology can fully secure industrial applications. Protecting industrial assets requires a layered approach that helps mitigate various types of security threats – both internal and external.” “It’s also important to note that only a small percentage of security risks have malicious intent, the majority of risks are non-malicious in intent, and often even unintentional, such as staff inadvertently accessing controllers or machinery they should not be authorised to access, or changing parameters without realising that their actions could cause issues for that system,” he said. A defense-in-depth security architecture is based on the idea that any one point of protection may, and probably will, be defeated. This approach requires multiple layers of defense to help ensure a weakness or flaw in one layer can be protected by strength, capabilities or new variables introduced through other security layers. To help OEMs build these layers of security into machinery and endusers’ facilities, Rockwell Automation teams with industry leaders, such as Cisco® and its other PartnerNetwork™ […]

OMAX to spotlight versatile machining centre at AUSTECH 2015

At AUSTECH 2015 on stand 608 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on May 26-29, OMAX Corporation and Headland Machinery Pty. Ltd., the company’s exclusive distribution partner for Australia, will showcase the versatility and high-speed cutting precision capabilities of the Maxiem 1530 Jet Machining Centre. The all-new 1530 represents the company’s next generation line of Maxiem machines. Building on the cost-effective, yet high-performance technology of its predecessors, the newly redesigned 1530 offers enhanced durability, improved performance, and faster production times for an overall increase in productivity and profitability. At AUSTECH, the company is pairing the 1530 with a reliable 40-hp direct-drive pump to demonstrate how easy it is to cut virtually any material quickly and efficiently. Building on the company’s 20 years of direct-drive pump design experience, the latest machine comes with a 50,000-psi pump that features Variable Frequency Drive technology for precise cutting pressure control. The pump delivers more cutting power per kilowatt than intensifier-type pumps. The machine’s Windows 8 controller comes pre-loaded with OMAX’s latest version of the powerful Intelli-MAX Software Suite. Intelli-MAX 21 – with a new fourth generation cutting model – builds upon years of real-world abrasive waterjet data accumulated through prior generations of OMAX’s equation-based cutting models to optimise tool paths automatically and gives users precise predictability as to cutting speeds, taper, jet lag and other abrasivejet factors. The result has taken abrasive waterjet cutting to the industry’s highest levels of speed and performance. The 1530 also features updated digital linear encoders, an innovative Z-axis core with optional multi-axis cutting heads and the lowest ceiling height in the industry. Additional enhancements to the machine include streamlined abrasive hopper designs and self-levelling base legs.

Green energy orb environmentally outstanding

A spectacular orb-shaped green energy storage facility being installed at one of Australia’s largest beef processing plants is helping to demonstrate how industry can profit from environmental initiatives. The 6000m3 capacity flexible pvc-coated polyester fibre flexible storage tank collects biogas produced by the new Global Water Engineering COHRAL(TM) Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon being installed by CST Wastewater Solutions at Oakey Beef Exports on Queensland’s Darling Downs. To be commissioned next year, the plant will extract green energy biogas (methane) from its waste water streams to replace millions of dollars worth of natural gas currently consumed at the abattoir. The 26m high flexible storage tank – one of the world’s largest of its type – features resilient flexible double membrane storage so that gas produced by the COHRAL plant can be safely stored separately from the gas generator. Use of the separate flexible tank for gas storage provides security against leakage, with gas securely contained in the tank instead of being more loosely contained under lagoon covers. The Sattler biogas storage design selected for Oakey Beef has been tested and proven over decades and now is an integral feature in the design of modern waste water treatment plants worldwide. They are engineered to be permanently gas-tight with high operational reliability and optimum safety. “The safe, durable and environmentally harmonious COHRAL(TM) technology deployed at Oakey Beef can be widely applied worldwide to food, beverage and agricultural and primary processing plants. Oakey Beef Processing and its owners Nippon Meat Packers have taken a far-sighted initiative that opens the way to cleaner, greener and more profitable industry performance,” says CST Wastewater Solutions Managing Director Mr Michael Bambridge, whose company represents the GWE COHRAL(TM technology in Australia and New Zealand. The COHRAL(TM plant (with alternative view of the flexible storage tank above) is expected […]

Maintenance for mine profitability

Mining operations and manufacturing facilities rely on the continued safe operation of vehicles and machinery to maintain profitability. Any equipment failure can be expensive in terms of lost production and cost of repairs. An estimate for the cost of lost production for a single dragline is $8000 per hour in Australia making any breakdown very costly when it might take weeks for a replacement part to be available. One way to minimise losses is to continually monitor plant and machinery using non-destructive testing (NDT) methods to ascertain component health, and monitor mechanisms for damage. Phased array ultrasound can enhance day to day inspection of surface mining equipment, thereby improving safety and keeping critical equipment operational. However, it is important that inspections are performed with minimal down time, so need to be planned and coordinated to ensure that critical parts are available when the maintenance is carried out. As part of the technical programme at the recent Australian Institute for Non-Destructive Testing (AINDT) Conference in Brisbane, Nicholas Bublitz, a Global Product Support Specialist with Olympus Scientific Solutions America (OSSA), reported on how the use of phased array ultrasonics could improve surface mine profitability. NDT is a group of techniques used to detect discontinuities in materials or components without causing damage or permanently altering the article being inspected. The AINDT Conference provided opportunities for NDT and maintenance professionals to meet and discuss the latest advances in NDT from around the world. Leading corporate members of the Institute, such as Olympus, displayed and demonstrated some of their innovative, precision analysis instrumentation and applications supporting NDT. “NDT methods like ultrasonics, eddy current and radiography—along with condition monitoring techniques such as oil and vibration analysis—play an important part in predictive maintenance programs and help reduce unexpected expenses,” Bublitz said. Outage and emergency repair costs can […]

AUSTECH 2015 – The world’s leading machine tool builders under one roof

Those who walk through the doors of Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre from 26 to 29 May 2015 will have a world of manufacturing opportunities open before their eyes. Of course it takes all areas of manufacturing to come together, including tooling, workholding, software and systems integration, to create a complete solution, but machine tools are one important piece of the manufacturing puzzle. This year, Australia’s premier advanced precision manufacturing and machine tool show will once again host all the world’s leading machine tool builders under one roof, showcasing the latest machine tool configurations and also stylings that are notably different and fresh. The slowly recovering but still very challenging conditions of the Australian market for machine tools and other equipment makes AUSTECH of keen interest to local suppliers. “Given the current conditions inside Australia’s metal manufacturing sector, it’s important that business owners and operators can examine the next investment steps in manufacturing technology they must take to rebuild their competitive position in the global arena,” Phil Hayes, Managing Director of Okuma Australia & NZ comments. “The machine tool field has been somewhat difficult for the past three years but that has not prevented us from making available the very latest, market-leading and innovative technology from Okuma.” Okuma will showcase three levels of new technology, including 5-axis machining, Phil Hayes explains. “New advanced technology machine models of 5-axis milling with turning and 10-axis turning with milling, amazing advances in the user-interface of Okuma’s own OSP controller technology and packaged, kit-style automation solutions. These are central to the technology investments Australian manufacturers must make to keep pace with overseas manufacturing trends that are well advanced.” Rebuilding a competitive position requires local manufacturers to do several things: Investing in new and highly-efficient equipment. Automating. Training and retraining. One of the recent major […]

How Life Cycle Engineering can make manufacturing more competitive

By Professor Sami Kara Director of Postgraduate Research Faculty of Engineering University of New South Wales Manufacturers in New Zealand and Australia are hearing a constant refrain: to remain competitive in the global manufacturing marketplace, companies must become more productive with fewer resources and must find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. As well as becoming more ‘lean’ there is increasing pressure to become more environmentally sound. The answer, according to our research at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, could be Life Cycle Engineering (LCE). LCE is an approach to product design and manufacture that takes into account the entire product life cycle from beginning to end. With increased resource scarcity there is an opportunity for manufacturers to minimise their environmental impact and improve return, by controlling the entire product life cycle. This is a dramatic departure from the traditional manufacturing approach, which generally concerns itself with the product’s life cycle only up until the end of its warranty period, which has resulted in a disposable society, where many products are simply sent to landfill. The world has limited resources to sustain production. Approximately 89 million barrels of oil and liquid fuels were consumed per day worldwide in 2011 . By 2030 China alone is expected to consume 17.5 million barrels per day . Limited copper resources will cause similar issues. With this increased pressure on resources, manufacturers will eventually have to find alternatives to using high levels of raw materials. If products were designed from the beginning to be dismantled at the end of their lifespan, it would make the recycling process much easier and more cost-effective, and significant resources would not be wasted. LCE would go some way to addressing this issue but to be truly viable it must […]

A Trade Agreement, but not a Free Trade Agreement

Today’s China – Australia Free Trade Agreement announced by Minister Robb includes gains for some Australian grains but not all. Australia’s premier grain industry has missed out on concessions under the China Australia Free Trade Agreement. After 10 years of negotiations, Australian wheat remains subject to an out-of-quota tariff of 65 per cent, and within-quota tariff of 1 per cent. Exports of Canola will also continue to be subject to a tariff of 9 per cent, and maize exports have also been excluded from concessions under the deal. “Wheat and canola continue, along with rice, sugar and maize, to be non-negotiable for China. However, in the case of wheat, the Chinese world wheat quota is currently 9.6 million tonnes, so well above their imports and not binding. The 1 per cent in-quota tariff, as long as it’s applied to all exporters of wheat to China, is not a significant distortion to trade and it’s that equivalence that we will be focusing on in the short-term.” Says Cheryl Kalisch Gordon, Manager Trade & Market Access, GrainGrowers. The Australian grains industry will however benefit from immediate removal of the 3 per cent tariff on barley and 2 per cent tariff on sorghum. Australian exports of these grains to China are growing on the back of an expanding Chinese alcoholic beverage sector and in 2013 exports were valued at $351 million and $91 million respectively. The value of tariff removal for these two commodities represents around $12 million per annum in 2013 trade terms with the benefit being shared between Chinese consumers and the Australian grains industry. With trade in these commodities expected to continue to grow over time, these annual benefits will also increase. Other positives for grains from the agreement include: • Immediate removal of the 2 per cent tariff on […]

OLYM-Release-AINDT 2014 Conference Preview_1

Olympus gives instrumental support to AINDT

Each year, the Australian Institute of Non-destructive Testing (AINDT) Conference provides the opportunity for maintenance and quality assurance professionals to learn more about NDT and related technologies from leading AINDT members including Olympus. The four day conference is being held this year at the Sofitel Brisbane Central from 23-26 November. NDT is any analysis technique used to evaluate the properties of materials or components without causing damage or permanently alter the article being inspected. Picture: The Olympus RollerFORM phased array wheel probe simplifies composite material inspection On its stand at the AINDT Conference, Olympus will be demonstrating a range of NDT, phased-array, remote visual inspection (RVI) and X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) portfolios to attendees. “We continue our commitment to the Institute and its ongoing initiatives promoting the benefits of NDT,” said Graham Maxwell, National Key Accounts & Technical Manager at Olympus. “We will be demonstrating our range to new customers and showing our continued support and commitment to existing customers.” Olympus staff will be on hand to discuss the latest NDT tools from the company. Richard Nowak, NDT Product Specialist, will be giving practical demonstrations of the Nortec N600 Eddy Current analyser and the RollerFORM phased array wheel probe. A special guest at this year’s conference will be Nicholas Bublitz, who is visiting Australia again from Olympus Scientific Solutions America. He will be presenting a technical paper entitled “Improving Surface Mine Profitability with Phased Array Ultrasonics.” Visitors to the Olympus stand will have the opportunity to meet with Bublitz to discuss a range of NDT solutions or troubleshoot advanced applications with a renowned international product specialist. Bublitz has been a Global Product Support Specialist with Olympus SSA since 2012. He is responsible for the global support and industry advancement of all NDT equipment produced by Olympus. Mr Bublitz’s primary focus […]

IC3D Steel 2.0 with improved management features

IC3D, a leading provider of hardware and software solutions for the Manufacturing, Architectural and Engineering industries, has introduced the latest version of its steel structural design and management software, IC3D Steel™ for SolidWorks®. IC3D Steel 2.0 introduces a raft of features centred on improving project flow and management, and simplifying organisational tasks like notating bolt lists and depicting virtual bolts in a design. IC3D Steel was first conceived as a dedicated steel design tool for SolidWorks. It built upon SolidWorks’ parametric modeller and its core Weldments Design function, to build a ‘structural workflow’ application that is perfect for building and detailing with steel. The aim is to make the design process quicker, simpler and error-free. Refined with additional functionality, the software that makes it easier for designers and design teams to manage their projects within a specified workflow, and gives them additional tools to simplify organisation within projects. In IC3D Steel 2.0, projects are organised individually, all relevant files are associated automatically, and files are stored logically for easy retrieval, backup or archiving. Important project meta-data such a customer’s details, project number and document-numbering scheme can be configured at project setup. IC3D Steel uses this data whenever it creates or updates a document in the project; meaning drawings can be consistently labelled for additional security. Other new features address the complexity inherent in steel fabrication projects. For example, with steel designs generating up to ten times as many bolts, nuts and washers as steel members, the usual performance of SolidWorks can become compromised as assemblies become very large. IC3D Steel 2.0 features ‘virtual bolts’ in each of its joint details to manage the problem, so work is unaffected no matter how many bolts are used in the design. A new ‘Bolt List’ report generates a complete list of these fasteners […]

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