Smart Manufacturing

Worldwide leaders of anchors and power tools unite under one brand

Pioneers in developing innovative construction solutions, iconic global brands, Dewalt and Powers have united under one brand, Dewalt Engineered by Powers, to deliver a complete anchoring and installation system for the construction industry, focused on performance and productivity. With construction work in Australia forecast to be $240 billion[1] in 2021, Dewalt Engineered by Powers will meet the ever-growing demands of the construction industry to provide complete solutions that improve efficiencies, are code compliant and provide safer practice solutions with a focus on performance. Both Dewalt and Powers products have been used in the design and construction of many of the world’s most iconic structures. Dewalt now brings anchors, power tools and accessories to the forefront of structural engineers, specifiers, builders, contractors and on-site trades, with an understanding of tools and fastening systems that provide cost effective and exceptional results for construction projects. “Dewalt is the trusted brand of choice for professional tradespeople, and Powers is a leader in the concrete and masonry fastening industry, so it makes a lot of sense to combine the expertise of these organisations to drive future innovation,” says Adrian Davis, Managing Director, Stanley Black&Decker. “The merger of the two brands positions us at the forefront of the construction and engineering industries in Australia and New Zealand. It also means that we can continue to support our products with expert solution and technical advice for all anchoring requirements, through our dedicated Enterprise Solutions Team. The team has been selected for their proven ability to respond to the demands of ever-changing industry requirements. The team is committed to adding value to our customers and projects, throughout the construction process,” he adds. Professor Emad Gad, Chairman of AEFAC (Australian Engineered Fasteners and Anchor Council) says, “From an industry body perspective, AEFAC is pleased that Dewalt Engineered by Powers […]

ASM produces heavy rare earth metal Dysprosium in Korea

Australian Strategic Materials through its partner Ziron Technology Corporation (Ziron Tech), has successfully produced 7.5 kg of a high purity dysprosium metal at its commercial pilot plant in South Korea. After producing 0.76 kg of the heavy rare earth metal last month, this second run confirms that it can be done at scale, marking the completion of the final key permanent magnet metals to be produced at the Ziron Tech facility. ASM has now produced neodymium, praseodymium, neodymium praseodymium alloy and dysprosium all key for permanent magnets through the commercial pilot plant using its innovative metallisation process. Work has commenced on the production of ferro-dysprosium zirconium metal. These are anticipated to be the final products metallised from material sourced from the Dubbo Project in central west NSW. ASM Managing Director, David Woodall said: “ASM is progressing further in its development to become an integrated mine to metal business, with the successful production of the heavy rare earth metal, dysprosium. With the production of these key permanent magnets metals and metal alloys, and the development of zirconium metal production, ASM is one step closer to converting all products from the Dubbo Project into value adding metals.” “Our focus is now on commencing the design and construction of a 250 kg per day continuous metal plant in Korea. This is the first phase of our strategy to develop a 3,000-5,000 tonne per year plant designed to meet some of the demand for critical materials in the Korean manufacturing sector. ASM continues to advance discussions for a potential partner in the metal business,” Mr Woodall said.

Preventure new product features to help employers with remote safety

Australian wearable technology startup Preventure has today announced the launch of a range of new product features, including free services for Australian businesses hit hard by the financial impact of Covid-19, which will help employers who are struggling to provide their workforce with enough health, safety and HR support remotely. The newest addition to the Preventure.Live smartphone app uses AI technology to automate the delivery of safety training, helping to prevent injuries in the workplace. Development of this feature was accelerated when Covid-19 hit, to provide existing Preventure customers with an alternative to face-to-face training. It completes Preventure’s risk identification/behavioural change loop, whereby wearable sensors record worker movement patterns, live feedback is provided around injury risk, and now, customised training modules are delivered in response to that risk. In addition, core Sports-themed injury prevention modules are accessible to businesses, and the team is generously offering a free version of the app, that includes these modules, to any business and their workers during these challenging times. Off the back of the lockdown which has seen most of Australia working from home for the last 6 months, the team at Preventure also built and launched a posture-monitoring product, aptly named ‘Office Coach’, that utilses a single back sensor (for manual handling, an arm sensor is also used). This is the team’s first foray into the corporate wellness space and the product can be described as a B2B wellness app, and a consumer posture product, rolled into one! Businesses who are concerned about employee home workstation setups, or looking to engage their remote teams, can purchase an account, sensors and monthly app subscriptions. The app provides slouch alerts, and stretch alerts, to reduce the risks associated with sustained posture, and also tracks steps, to encourage movement at a time where our incidental activity […]

Powerful new energy technology fits old spaces to futureproof MLC centre

Sydney’s 67-storey MLC tower has upgraded a series of switchboards, to ensure continued reliable supply as tenant power requirements continue to change and accelerate. Lead electrical contractor on the MLC upgrade project, Barnwell Cambridge, chose Australian-manufactured Fuji SMBE Macquarie switchboards due to their reliability and modular construction. “We were contracted to replace the main switchboards, generator switchboards and PLC switchboards, and they needed to suit the tight confines and unusual shape of the room,” explained Mr Peter Silsby, Director, Fuji SMBE Macquarie. “The existing switchboards had been operating reliably for years, but as more and more tenants moved in, and electronic needs continued to change and advance, MLC was forward-thinking enough to look at the future and make sure reliable supply, as well as back-up power, was always available,” said Mr Silsby. “New switchboard technology has the ability to monitor every circuit via a high level modbus interface utilising the latest Schneider Micrologic 5.3E circuit-breakers, which provides benefits to building and facility managers, as well as tenants,” he said. “There were installation challenges, with components having to go through a load-limited goods lift, and the switchboards reassembled inside the switch room. It took a lot of cooperation between stakeholders for it all to come together successfully.” Compact, modular switchboards Fuji SMBE Macquarie specified its iNTELECT G3 switchboard systems, because they are compact and modular, allowing them to be reassembled on site. The iNTELECT G3 system is the 3rd generation of the company’s iNTELECT system, and it has been engineered in Australia for Australian conditions. Major advantages over previous technologies include adaptability, versatility, safety, strength, and compact size. “MLC’s Switchboard components were unloaded in the loading dock and Barnwell Cambridge used specialised hydraulic furniture movers that fix to each side of the switchboard tier. This meant that they could be moved […]

ASM produces dysprosium metal in Korea

Australian Strategic Materials, through its partner Ziron Technology Corporation (Ziron Tech), has successfully produced high purity dysprosium (Dy) metal in its laboratory at the Ziron Tech facility. This work using the ASM metallisation process has confirmed ASM’s ability to produce the key permanent magnet metals (dysprosium, praseodymium and neodymium) and alloys that will be sourced from its Dubbo Project in central west NSW. ASM Managing Director, David Woodall said: “This is a significant result given the temperatures required for the production of dysprosium metal. Our team has now successfully produced the key permanent magnet rare earth products (dysprosium, praseodymium and neodymium metals and alloys) which will be supplied from our Dubbo Project.” “Now that the protocol for the production of dysprosium metal has been completed, our team led by Professor Lee, will focus on the production the ferro-dysprosium alloy, which is key in the production of high-temperature NdFeB magnets. Our focus now is to produce zirconium metal by the end of September, Mr Woodall said. The ASM metallisation process uses significantly less energy and has less impact on the environment than existing industry-standard metallisation processes. This innovative process has been used to produce metals of the planned products from ASM’s Dubbo Project including zirconium, hafnium, and rare earths for permanent magnet alloys in the laboratory. Titanium and the key rare earth permanent magnet metals neodymium and praseodymium have been produced in the commercial pilot plant with dysprosium and zirconium scheduled for later this month. ASM and Ziron Tech continue to finalise the detailed documentation in relation to the acquisition of Ziron Tech with the transaction expected to be completed by the end of October 2020.

Corporate dysfunction on Indigenous affairs: Why heads rolled at Rio Tinto

Outraged investors have forced the board of Rio Tinto to sack its chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques along with two of the senior executives partially responsible for the destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which contained evidence of human habitation 46,000 years ago. Why did the company commit this egregious act? There are several layers to the answer. First, Rio Tinto’s iron ore division was under extreme production pressure. The iron ore in the vicinity of the caves was very high grade and the company needed as much of it as possible to mix with other grades so as to supply the market with its trademark Pilbara blend. Its reputation as a reliable supplier depended on it. Rio Tinto was siloed It was authorised under West Australian law to mine the area, even though this would destroy the caves, and it intended to exercise this legal right, regardless of any opposition. Second, Rio has a segmented organisational structure. It’s product divisions – iron ore, aluminium, copper and diamonds, minerals and energy – operate as autonomous business units with relatively little control from the corporate centre. When things go well, such an organisational structure is highly profitable for the corporation as a whole, because it leaves each product division free to take advantage of whatever opportunities there are in its particular market. But there is a downside. It leaves the corporation vulnerable to poor decision making by any one of its product divisions, decisions that may have disastrous human and environmental consequences that threaten the social license of the whole corporation. That is what has happened in the Juukan Gorge case. Organisational weakness Of course, Rio was aware of this downside of its organisational structure and had taken steps to deal with it. It had various functional lines – chains of command […]

Invention could save old coal stations by running them on zero-emissions ‘Lego’ blocks

As climate change worsens, the future of fossil fuel jobs and infrastructure is uncertain. But a new energy storage technology invented in Australia could enable coal-fired power stations to run entirely emissions-free. The novel material, called miscibility gap alloy (MGA), stores energy in the form of heat. MGA is housed in small blocks of blended metals, which receive energy generated by renewables such as solar and wind. The energy can then be used as an alternative to coal to run steam turbines at coal-fired power stations, without producing emissions. Stackable like Lego, MGA blocks can be added or removed, scaling electricity generation up or down to meet demand. MGA blocks are a fraction of the cost of a rival energy storage technology, lithium-ion batteries. Our invention has been proven in the lab – now we are moving to the next phase of proving it in the real world. Why energy storage is important Major renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power are “intermittent”. In other words, they only produce energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. Sometimes they produce more energy than is needed, and other times, less. So moving to 100% renewable electricity requires the energy to be “dispatchable” – stored and delivered on demand. Some forms of storage, such as lithium-ion batteries, are relatively expensive and can only store energy for short periods. Others, such as hydro-electric power, can store energy for longer periods, but are site-dependent and can’t just be built anywhere. If our electricity grid is to become emissions-free, we need an energy storage option that’s both affordable and versatile enough to be rolled out at massive scale – providing six to eight hours of dispatchable power every night. MGAs store energy for a day to a week. This fills a “middle” time frame between […]

Global shutdown could spark Australian manufacturing revival

The COVID-19 crisis has the potential to revive Australia’s manufacturing capabilities and reduce the nation’s reliance on global supply chains, according to leading industry players at the heart of Australia’s defence manufacturing sector. The University of South Australia this month formed a working group of defence primes, SMEs and government representatives to gain insights into the impact of COVID-19 on the local industry. The weekly meetings in Adelaide have so far included representatives from BAE Systems, Naval Group, Defence SA, South Australia Trade and Investment Minister David Ridgway and former Federal Defence Industries Minister Christopher Pyne, who is now an industry professor at UniSA. The COVID-19 pandemic comes at a time when Australia’s manufacturing sector is preparing to ramp up for the next major stages of its $90 billion continuous shipbuilding program in Adelaide. UniSA Defence Director Matt Opie is chairing the industry meetings and said maintaining cashflow had emerged as a key issue, particularly for the smaller defence manufacturing companies. “In South Australia we have hundreds of these defence SMEs and they are all now really starting to look at all discretionary spend and very much focusing on their immediate projects,” he said. “They are stretching the rubber band already but it will become their supply chains, their cashflow, their staffing that will all be stretched the longer it goes on.” Manufacturing has been deemed an essential service in Australia and has so far not been nearly as impacted as many other industries by the coronavirus. However, as almost all supply chains rely on imported components and materials, the pandemic is exposing Australia’s reliance on other nations, many of which have been far more seriously affected. Opie said the current situation was “a bit of a sanity check” for Australia’s sovereign industrial capability. He said major global defence primes […]

ASM JV produces high purity titanium metal with significant benefits

Highlights: High purity titanium (Ti) metal 20.8 kg produced assaying 99.83 % Innovative metals process confirms 70 % lower energy consumption ZionTech optimisation increase metal efficiency by 50% Significant environmental benefits of innovative metal process confirmed Australian Strategic Materials’ (ASM) joint venture partner has produced 20.8 kg of high purity titanium metal (99.83 %) confirming the energy usage at approximately 30% of the standard titanium industry processes. This innovative metal technology energy usage is 35 kW per kg compared to the industry standard Kroll process that uses 117 kW per kg of metal, and shows significant environmental benefits. ASM Managing Director, David Woodall said: “Being able to successfully produce high purity metal without incurring the traditional environmental impact is a very significant result for ASM. Our JV team has achieved this result using 70% less energy, with none of the environmental contaminants of comparable titanium industry methods.” “We are focussed at ensuring these high purity permanent magnet metals and titanium metals do not cause the environmental impacts of traditional methods. With our exclusive worldwide licence to commercialise this clean and environmentally responsible metal-refining technology, ASM is well positioned in its strategy to add value to all Dubbo products.” “ASM’s focus is now at commencing a metal plant feasibility which will confirm the optimal size of a plant in Korea, with the opportunity to build additional plants in key manufacturing areas in Australia, North America, and Europe”

What manufacturers can do to prepare for the upturn

By Rob Stummer, Asia Pacific CEO, SYSPRO This is an incredibly difficult time for everyone and manufacturing companies have had to lay off staff or shutdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. Coronavirus has already caused shifts and a reduction in “wants” goods and an increase in “needs” goods as this crisis evolves, and consumers batten down the hatches into a conservative mode, and some businesses have been agile enough to switch production quickly to high demand products like ventilators, masks, hand sanitiser or home consumables. As we stem the spread of the virus, what is certain is that there will be an upturn and demand will recover, we just don’t know when. When the inevitable recovery does happen though, the manufacturing companies that have maintained a level of business continuity and are ready to jump back into full production are the ones that will survive this Covid-19 crisis. The real question is how quickly will that demand come back and how will manufacturers be able to respond to their biggest challenge to date? Increasing operational efficiencies In an increasingly interconnected world, maintaining the efficiency of supply chains is of the utmost importance to the Australasian economy if we are to jump back into action once the constraints of the coronavirus crisis have reduced. The good news is technology is allowing manufacturers to minimise disruptions by using real-time reporting to manage their inventory to ensure there are no issues with under or oversupply of goods. A frictionless, real-time, data-driven and interconnected supply chain can only benefit the economy in the short and the long-term. Manufacturing businesses should be doing everything they can to survive this by preserving cash and by optimising their operational efficiencies using real-time process feedback. Their Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) will ensure that quality and efficiency are built into […]

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