Smart Manufacturing

NSW Hydrogen strategy massive leap forward

The Australian Hydrogen Council has applauded the New South Wales Government on its Hydrogen Strategy. “Setting aside $3 billion to support the scale up of our hydrogen industry is a leap in the right direction, a clear demonstration to us that the New South Wales Government is serious about meeting its net zero commitments and the role of hydrogen to get there,” said Dr Fiona Simon, CEO of the Australian Hydrogen Council. “The strategy contains precisely the type of policy commitments, targets and funding that we have called for in our recent white paper Unlocking Australia’s Hydrogen Opportunity, and we are delighted to see the NSW Government taking this next evolutionary step. “In line with our white paper, the NSW Government has committed to prioritising heavy transport, trucks and refuelling infrastructure; heavy transport is a key sector that needs hydrogen to decarbonise, replacing petrol and diesel with hydrogen. “Australia has enormous opportunity to lead the world in the production, use and export of hydrogen and the NSW Government has demonstrated the leadership needed to drive the creation of the clean hydrogen industry. “We are glad the NSW Government has stepped up to the level at which our trading partners are competing. Plans and funding like this will mean Australia should not miss the boat on international opportunities and instead, will be well positioned to be a leading producer and user of hydrogen in Australia and globally. “This kind of strategy will draw through huge amounts of investment needed to secure local jobs of the future, from now. “An Australian hydrogen industry will require large scale electrolysers, renewable electricity, hydrogen storage, water and water pipelines, electricity infrastructure, CCS as appropriate, and hydrogen pipelines. “Planning, with the right funding and targets, is a vital part of getting this industry to scale and […]

FormFlow’s CustomFlow C90 wins Best in Class at Good Design Awards

FormFlow is honoured to be among the winners of Australia’s peak international design awards, receiving a prestigious Best in Class Accolade yesterday during 2021 Good Design Awards Week. The Good Design Awards are the highest honour for design and innovation in the nation and reward projects across 12 design disciplines and 30 subcategories. FormFlow’s CustomFlow C90 was recognised in the Product Design category for outstanding design and innovation. FormFlow’s technology creates a discrete and aesthetically appealing bend in corrugated metal sheeting, producing an airtight, structural connection at corners and enabling a host of new solutions for sustainable and low-cost building fabrication. The Good Design Awards Jury commented: “This is a great use of material that will reduce construction time, finishing and extend the life of joints and structures. It’s an innovative product with many potential applications due to its unique aesthetic and structural properties. Overall, the product is elegant and deceptively simple and worthy of the highest level of recognition in this category. Well done.” “It was not until we were told we had won that we read through the other entries in this category — it is such an impressive field of companies and products that we can’t quite believe we won,” said Dr Matthew Dingle, co-founder and Managing Director at FormFlow. “We were so inspired by some of the other companies that we are already looking at ways to work together.’ The CustomFlow C90 is now widely available through BlueScope Lysaght. BlueScope’s National Sales, Marketing & Innovation Manager Matt Lloyd said, “The combination of the CUSTOMFLOW C90 cornered cladding and Lysaght’s ever-popular CUSTOM ORB corrugated profile is set to provide a contemporary unique and cost-effective solution for roofing and walling applications. It delivers a brilliant combination of aesthetics and functionality.” The Australian Good Design Awards is the country’s […]

RS Components supports future-focused Engineering programs

RS Components (RS) is proud to announce a three-year partnership with Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB), supporting its ‘Regioneering’ and ‘Pathways’ programs. These programs are designed to inspire students from First Nations backgrounds in rural and remote regions of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands to explore how they can contribute to creating a better world through STEM-related vocations. The EWB and RS partnership aims to strengthen relationships with First Nations communities; to inspire, educate and train students, practitioners, advocates and leaders of engineering; and to contribute to meaningful and lasting social change. EWB Australia began in Melbourne in 2003 with a small group of engineers dedicated to harnessing the potential of engineering to create an equitable reality for the planet and its people. Today, the EWB community includes thousands of people and dozens of organisations working together to create a world where technology benefits all. EWB CEO Eleanor Loudon said, “RS Components multi-year commitment to EWB is significant. It ensures that our highly impactful programs can reach and inspire even more First Nations young people. “This work is key in shifting the perception of what engineering is, communicating the role engineers play in the world with a focus on real-world examples in their own backyard, and portraying diverse examples of what an engineer looks like. We do this with hands-on activity based learning. This is critical in ensuring that the people creating solutions to some of the world’s most wicked problems represent all voices in society.” Regioneering and Pathways is a focused part of EWB’s Outreach program, which commenced in 2015. Over the past year, this program has been delivered by over 190 university volunteers from the likes of RMIT, University of Sydney and Monash who have facilitated 266 workshops, inspiring more than 6000 students at 88 schools across […]

Industry brokers to build Australia’s manufacturing future

Creating ‘industry brokers’ at the nation’s key research infrastructure facilities could propel a new wave of home-grown advanced manufacturing industries, the science and technology peak body says. Science & Technology Australia’s submission to the Senate inquiry on manufacturing proposes the cut-through idea to help industry tap into specialised research facilities. The Australian Government funds major national research infrastructure specialist facilities as the backbone of our research capability. They include complex facilities in geological surveying, supercomputing, specialised DNA studies, precision medicines, and new treatments for disease funded via the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme. Science & Technology Australia CEO Misha Schubert said: “These assets are key to Australia’s entire research enterprise – and long-term secure funding for them is essential to achieve the nation’s research ambitions,” she said. “But industry partners can often find it really hard to work out how to access these highly specialised facilities.” “We’d like to see the creation of new ‘industry broker’ roles to help businesses get to know these capabilities and identify how the business can use them.” “We see a huge advantage especially for advanced manufacturing firms to be able to reach into these specialist facilities for expertise, support and assets.” “These roles should be created with a funding boost on top of operational budgets.” Science & Technology Australia also calls for a new Research Translation Fund – and a national strategy to drive further advances in clean energy technology and expand clean energy advanced manufacturing onshore. “We should capitalise on the growing global demand for clean energy technology made in Australia using our abundance of clean energy raw materials,” she said. “The bottom line is that we should be trying to ensure that what is discovered in Australia is made in Australia.” Read the full submission here.

Groundbreaking welding helmets

Generation 5 is the latest collection of Speedglas welding helmets that showcase a truly groundbreaking array of never-before-seen features. Each helmet is designed from inception to be uniquely tailored to a specific application, from heavy-duty welding in hard-wearing environments to critical precision TIG work. However, this is not to say these helmets are rigid in their capabilities. On the contrary, the Generation 5 series has been built on the premise that any high-performance welding helmet should be fully customisable to the preferences of each individual welder. The result, after extensive input from professional welders, is an elite welding helmet range that manages to be both highly specialised and versatile in equal measure. Speedglas G5-02: a new world standard in precision viewing As with past 3M Speedglas designs, the concept for the Speedglas G5-02 Welding Helmet originated from consulting professional welders. When it came to creating a helmet specifically for TIG welding, the feedback from TIG welders was unanimous: a wide view rated significantly higher than a taller view. The only way to achieve these exponentially wider views without the compromise of making the helmet wider was to invent a curved welding lens: and now, after dedicating two decades to this goal, Speedglas have delivered the world’s first curved auto-darkening lens! This groundbreaking new arrival has been designed to follow the shape of your head and maximise your natural range of vision by 100% when compared to a conventional flat lens. The curved G5-02 lens also provides highly advanced electronics, with four arc sensors that will detect an arc down to an industry-leading 1 Amp. This in turn ensures the lens can reliably react to the extremely stable arcs offered by the latest high-end inverter based TIG machines. Bluetooth enabled, so you can securely pair your smartphone to your welding lens […]

RS Components launches RS PRO Facilities Maintenance Solutions

RS Components (RS), a trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE: ECM), a global omni-channel provider of product and service solutions, has launched the RS PRO Facilities Maintenance solutions portfolio, which comprises quality-tested products for a host of industries and working environments. Aimed at a broad selection of customers in Australia and New Zealand, the range supports maintenance requirements within the process manufacturing, equipment manufacturing, utilities and energy, engineering services, mining aggregates and construction, wholesale and distribution, transport and defence sectors, and design and development laboratories. The expanded range introduces over 1,000 products to offer a comprehensive choice of quality products including site safety and lighting solutions, tool kits, janitorial & cleaning, test & measurement, workwear & personal protective equipment (PPE) and more. All products in the RS PRO Facilities Maintenance range have high in-stock availability and have been through rigorous testing processes to ensure reliability to meet design and compliance specifications. They are covered by the RS PRO Seal of Approval and come with a three-year warranty. “The RS PRO range increases the breadth and depth of choice for customers seeking facilities maintenance products that meet design and compliance specifications, at a competitive price,” said Ian Macgregor, RS PRO Product Manager, for Australia & New Zealand (ANZ). “We offer a huge variety of products for different applications to keep facilities and buildings operating efficiently and safely and help keep businesses running smoothly.”

D-Link launches new, sleek and discreet home security cameras

D-Link has launched its new DCS-6500LH Compact Full HD Pan & Tilt and DCS-6100LH Compact Full HD Sleek and Discreet Wi-Fi Home Security Cameras. DCS-6100LH Compact Full HD Wi-Fi Camera Sleek and discreet, the Compact DCS-6100LH Full HD Wi-Fi Camera blends enhanced Smart Home Surveillance features with a stylish, subtle design. IR Night Vision together with Sound and Motion Detection alerts you instantly when something unexpected happens, giving you extra peace of mind with the latest in home security camera technology. The DCS-6100LH brings crystal clear surveillance as it allows you to monitor your home in Full HD 1080p resolution with a wide-angle 110-degree Field of View (FOV), day or night, making it the perfect 24/7 home security companion. Designed to be stylish, subtle and simple to use, it’s ideal for discreet placement anywhere throughout your home. The DCS-6100LH’s built-in Sound and Motion Detection enables you to trigger alerts that are automatically sent to your mobile device and the video clip recordings let you stay aware of what’s going on at all times in your home – and yes, it’s ideal as a baby monitor or office camera as well. If you’re worried that you’ll lose all your camera footage the DCS-6100LH Compact Full HD Wi-Fi Camera lets you record snapshots and video clips to the cloud for anytime access. You can also play back recordings from the cloud or download footage to your mobile device from anywhere, anytime through the Internet. DCS-6500LH Compact Full HD Pan & Tilt Wi-Fi Camera The DCS-6500LH Compact Full HD Pan & Tilt Wi-Fi Camera gives you 340° views as its Pan & Tilt technology allows you to see virtually every angle of any room. With Motion and Sound Detection as well as Night Vision that provides up to five metres of monitoring in complete […]

CSIRO team representing Australia at ‘Robot Olympics’

A Brisbane-based team of robotics experts will represent Australia – and the Southern Hemisphere – in the world’s leading robotics competition held in the United States this month. Experts from around the world have spent the past three years pushing the boundaries of autonomous robotic technology to map, navigate and search environments as part of the Subterranean challenge, run by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). With teams eliminated from the competition each year, only eight remain to contest the 2021 grand final. A fully autonomous drone from Emesent with a hovermap system during a CSIRO training session for the DARPA Subterranean Challenge final event. Breakthroughs discovered through the DARPA Challenge have helped push real-world applications forward, including improving safety and enhanced efficiency in local mining sectors, and promising significant potential in agriculture and manufacturing. Though based in Australia for the competition, CSIRO’s Australian team members will appear at the event via telepresence. US-based representatives and partners Emesent and Georgia Tech will be on the ground. CSIRO group leader Dr Navinda Kottege said they were thrilled to be one of the final eight teams to compete. “In the world of robotics, these challenges are like our Olympics,” Dr Kottege said. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time any Australian team has made it to a DARPA Challenge final, and we’re very proud to showcase Australia’s capabilities in this area on the world stage.” The six autonomous robots from CSIRO’s Data61 will need to locate and report back on items and environmental conditions throughout three underground courses built inside the Louisville Mega Cavern in Louisville, Kentucky. The challenges are designed to simulate real-world scenarios and involve locating models representing lost or injured humans, backpacks, or phones, as well as variable conditions such as pockets of […]

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Keep road-friendly air suspension safer with this checklist

Road-friendly air suspension systems increase the ability of trucks, trailers and coaches to transport loads by levelling the suspension, enhancing stability, control and safety over Australia’s diverse and demanding network of more than 870,000 km of public roads. Use of these tough but comfortable systems – which also reduce noise and vibration – has grown exponentially over a generation in Australia, to the point where they have gone from being a comparative rarity to becoming an industry standard as drivers seek top performance on both sealed and tough unsealed roads, which still comprise more than half the total. Air suspension systems now abound in the Federal Government’s lists of Certified Road-Friendly Suspensions prepared by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. Suspensions on the list encompass the major OEM and specialist brands of worldwide manufacturers including in Australia. Today, demand for air springs utilised in air suspensions for all types of heavy vehicles (including a vigorously growing market for 4wds and recreational vehicles) has grown in line with a world market that is now estimated by market researchers to exceed $A6 billion. Preventative Maintenance Checklist from Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd Inspect the Outside Diameter (O.D.) of the air spring. Check for signs of irregular wear or heat cracking. Inspect air lines to make sure contact doesn’t exist between the air line and the O.D. of the air spring. Air lines can rub a hole in an air spring very quickly. Check to see that there is sufficient clearance around the complete circumference of the air spring while at its maximum diameter. Inspect the O.D. of the piston for build-up of foreign materials. (On a reversible sleeve style air spring, the piston is the bottom component of the air spring). Correct ride height should be maintained. All vehicles […]

Chef shortage creating hunger for automation

Across the country hospitality operators are reporting shortages in the kitchen and the problem doesn’t seem to be going away, this has led to some innovative and modern solutions to the problem. According to CrunchBase, US-based venture capitalists have invested nearly $600 million in restaurant automation startups in the past 3 years alone, as they see staffing issues as a growing problem. View Post “This is more than just a temporary issue, commercial kitchens have been struggling to fill their available positions for years, there just aren’t enough chefs in the labour pool to meet the demand, and it’s not just in Australia, the US and Europe are experiencing it too,” said Bradley Backhouse, Chef and CEO of Kitchintel, A restaurant automation startup. Kitchintel, an Australian based startup, has designed a fully automated grill that can cook hundreds of steaks, chicken, pork, lamb, fish or any protein the chef chooses. “Automations are coming” says Bradley “It’s not a matter of if but when. Currently, there are many robotics that the entire kitchen needs to be designed around and only perform very simple tasks like flipping a burger. When we designed our fully automated grill, we made sure it could fit in any kitchen and work alongside the chefs helping them day to day. The result is a machine that allows one chef to have the output of 2-3 chefs”. The understaffing of commercial kitchens is a bigger problem than ever, according to ChefHire General Manager, Dwain Watkins “ We have seen a greater demand for agency chefs even from smaller venues who wouldn’t traditionally go down the agency route. A lot of clients are reporting placing ads with no one applying or scheduling interviews and the chef not showing up.” With an increase in food venues and a decrease in […]

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