Developments

Kelly Hawkins – “It is refreshing to see that such an established business has the foresight to decrease its environmental footprint”. It is hailed as a model for food waste processing worldwide and the young woman who operates one of Australia’s latest green energy plants says she is proud to be involved in a company taking such as far-sighted initiative that shows how industry can profitably enhance its environmental footprint. Kelly Hawkins, Biogas Technician at Oakey Beef Exports in Queensland, says she is very satisfied to be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Global Water Engineering COHRAL™ plant installed by CST Wastewater Solutions plant, which also produces high-quality waste water as it replaces fossil fuels. The world-first COHRAL™ green energy initiative by the leading Japanese meat processor NH Foods at Oakey Beef Exports in Australia has been praised as an environmental and business efficiency model for food producers worldwide. Officially opened this year by Australian Federal Industry and Science Minister and MP for Groom Hon Ian Macfarlane, the plant extracts methane biogas from its waste water streams to replace millions of dollars’ worth of natural gas currently consumed at the abattoir on Queensland’s Darling Downs. “The most satisfying aspect of my role at Oakey is being witness to the technology and processes involved in creating renewable energy within an existing production business. It is refreshing to see that such an established business has the foresight to decrease its’ environmental footprint. Globally, businesses are no longer in the position where infrastructure and productivity can be advanced without taking note of the damage it is causing the environment. It is especially exciting that this system is an Australian first,” says Ms Hawkins, who took responsibility for her new role at the age of 24. The plant – the largest GWE Covered High […]

Metals are prone to deterioration by naturally occurring and man-made corrosive agents. Materials will corrode at varying rates over time, depending on the environment and the physical processes and mechanisms involved. It is important for engineers, contractors, and facilities managers to understand the principles of corrosion to enable them to explain the cost implications of ignoring its effects to senior management and asset owners. Two of the advantages of planning for corrosion control and mitigation are that the life of an asset is extended and maintenance time and costs are reduced. As part of its on-going event program, the Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) is hosting an Introductory Corrosion Seminar on Thursday 30 July. To maximise participation by as many people working in the field as practical, the seminar will be run concurrently at the Hotel Mercure in Melbourne and at the Engineer’s Australia offices in Chatswood, Sydney. The course has been designed for both experienced engineers and those new to the industry wanting to learn about, or refresh their knowledge of, metallic corrosion and the means to control it. The sessions will cover the basic principles of many types of metallic corrosion and the methods to control them. Other topics include the process of galvanisation and the protection it provides to a material; designing and planning to minimise corrosion, the latest advances in both protective coatings and cathodic protection technology. For full event details and bookings please visit the ACA website www.corrosion.com.au

CST Wastewater Solutions has been named as a finalist in the Sustainable Manufacturer category of Cirrus Media’s 2015 Food Magazine Awards, for its involvement in the installation of a Global Water Engineering COHRAL™ (Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon) at Oakey Beef Exports on Queensland’s Darling Downs. The hotly contested Sustainable Manufacturer category recognises companies that have made a concerted effort to reduce their environmental impact, either through implementing a new manufacturing process which reduces carbon emissions, introducing staff initiatives to foster sustainability in their work environment, or efforts to reduce the ‘food miles’ of their products. The Oakey green energy initiative is being spearheaded by Japanese meat processor NH Foods and has been praised as an environmental and business efficiency model for food producers worldwide. It is designed to extract green energy biogas from waste water streams to replace millions of dollars’ worth of natural gas currently consumed at the abattoir. “Being recognised as a finalist is a testament to the hard work of our team,” said Mr Michael Bambridge, Managing Director, CST Wastewater Solutions. “Hearing Mr Macfarlane, the Federal Industry and Minister say that this plant is a great example for the industry was really rewarding, and to be a finalist in the sustainable manufacturing category is further proof that these technologies are highly beneficial for not only the environment, but also profitability,” he said. The plant – the first GWE Covered High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon in the world – will produce 183.3 gigajoules of energy a day when it reaches design capacity through the combustion of methane produced. The new plant delivers high quality waste water by extracting organic content, which it converts into methane to replace fossil fuels. The GWE anaerobic digestion technology involved can remove more than 70-90 per cent of organic waste content. Oakey Beef […]

Over the last years, the subject of maintenance has clearly gained significance. Not surprising, after all complexity and degree of automation are increasing continuously with modern processing machines. Forward-looking strategies reduce the risk of malfunction and down times, increase the service life of machines and thereby ensure constant production quality. If a high-tech processing machine comes to a standstill as a result of a malfunction, it quickly gets expensive. In particular when customer production deadlines cannot be met as a result and if there are contractual penalties. That’s precisely why many companies rate maintenance no longer as tiresome costs instead as a central factor of success. The bending specialist Schwarze-Robitec meets this need of increased investment safety with a comprehensive service concept. After all, the company’s high-quality tube bending machines are designed for run times of more than 20 years in continuous operation. So that the machines operate reliably throughout their whole lifecycle, it is advisable to conduct a regular machine check-up which comprises maintenance, inspection and service measures. A tube bending machine should be serviced every 5,000 working hours, otherwise the risk of undesirable surprises will rise exponentially. Checked are, among other things, the mechanical states and precise positioning of guides, bearings and spindles as well as cables, pumps, valve functions, switching devices and software. If it is a hydraulic system, there is also a check for tightness and leakage safety. Possible are also software updates, comprehensive weak point analyses, staff training and other customer-individual measures. As bending machines are always custom-built, maintenance should really be carried out by the manufacturer. Generalised providers of industrial services often do not have profound experience in bending technology nor the necessary knowledge of the user industries and their manufacturing processes. This specialised know-how is indispensable – in particular when the machines have […]

In the picture: The Advanced Simulation & Verification module in Delcam’s PowerMILL provides comprehensive checks on machine-tool projects. Delcam has made available for download its recent webinar on the Advanced Simulation & Verification module in the 2015 R2 release of the company’s PowerMILL programming software for five-axis and high-speed machining. To download the webinar, please go to www.delcam.com/software/powermill/webinar/index.asp The webinar demonstrates how PowerMILL can undertake complete verification of a project for machine-tool issues such as collisions, rather than having to undertake verification of each individual toolpath in turn. Comprehensive verification is shown, including how to ensure that the machine tool is capable of running the proposed strategy, as well as methods for checking for both machine-tool collisions and tooling collisions, during cutting moves and all leads and links, including machine-tool movements as tool changes are executed. PowerMILL generates a detailed list of any problems found for the complete project so that these can be fixed on a case-by-case basis. As well as highlighting potential collisions, warnings can also be flagged for near misses. The user can specify a clearance value and, when the machine tool comes within this value, it will turn yellow in colour to highlight a near miss. The clearance distance is shown in the display so that a decision can be made on whether to keep or change the toolpath. Also demonstrated are a new PowerMILL dialogue that can be used to track and adjust the position of the machine tool, and the special toolbar to simulate and adjust the configuration and tool axis of a 3+2 machine or any equipment with incremental rotary axes. The dialogue presents data on the position of the machine tool, together with the limits set for each axis. It includes a slider to jog the machine components into position during the simulation […]