Smart Manufacturing

Researchers to help NASA monitor health in space

A South Australian advanced manufacturing hub specialising in microfluidic sensors is working with NASA to develop health assessment tools for space travellers.Andrew SpencePrint articleRepublishNotify me The Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) has partnered with NASA to help Australian researchers develop sensors to monitor health through the testing of bodily fluids such as sweat and saliva. Located in Adelaide at the University of South Australia, the same city as the Australian Space Agency and a swag of emerging space startups, the South Australian node of the ANFF is one of eight university-based hubs around Australia. The South Australian node started a decade ago specialising in microfluidics. Its expertise has since grown to include lab-on-a-chip technology, advanced sensing, functional coatings and separation science. Node Director Associate Professor Craig Priest leads research into the development of microfluidic sensor platforms designed to monitor human health factors, which will be an initial focus of the international partnership with NASA. Assoc Prof Priest said the partnership was an example of “the very first fruits of return on investment” for Australia’s rebooted space industry and would harness exciting nanotechnology and microfluidics research at the UniSA Mawson Lakes campus. “When you are working and travelling in space there is no doctor on board or regular health testing facilities and we know astronauts are operating in a challenging environment,” he said. “You can imagine in a space environment where you’ve got zero gravity, radiation and other extreme conditions, the ability to know if things are going wrong quickly is very important. “We are aiming to work with NASA to develop non-invasive health self-assessment, and possibly wearable, tools that will be able to analyse things like sweat and saliva and track health effects in real time. “The research supports ambitions for further and longer journeys into space and will help astronauts to monitor […]

Smart factories have the potential to spark labour productivity

Each industrial revolution has transformed production, delivered better economic output, and, consequently, immense economic gains globally. But something has shifted in the past two decades—manufacturing productivity growth appears stuck. Labour productivity is a major metric of economic output, and gains in productivity are important because, on a macro scale, labour productivity determines the standard of living of people, nations, and the world. Currently economic output is moving in lockstep with the number of hours people work. Enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution—the newest chapter in industrial development that promises to ignite stalled labour productivity in manufacturing via connected machines, people, data, and value chains. In that sense, the smart factory could potentially ignite stalled labour productivity and unlock the key to productivity for manufacturers. But how? Every manufacturer—whether already “running smart” or yet to invest in smart factory technologies—can harvest business value from smart factory initiatives. Smart factory initiatives accelerate business value creation. Companies report as much as 10–12 percent gains in areas like manufacturing output, factory utilisation, and labour productivity after they invested in smart factory initiatives. There is a direct and established connection—primarily through investment and use cases—between smart factory initiatives and the business value realised. What’s more, any manufacturer can use this connection. While there are risks, primarily operational and financial, they are outnumbered by the smart factory’s value contribution. Also, most risks can be mitigated through rational stakeholder selection, an efficient change management strategy, measurable proof-of-concepts, and incremental investments. Early smart factory adopters report average three-year gains of 10 percent for factory output, factory capacity utilisation, and labour productivity. A closer look at labour productivity trends indicates that smart factory initiatives will likely enable the US manufacturers to “observe” triple the labour productivity growth rate during the next decade (2019–2030) compared to last decade (2007–2018). What does this mean […]

Automating one step at a time

Rockwell Automation’s new regional director, Anthony Wong is very engaging. He has an easy laugh, but a serious undertone that lets you know he is here to do business. Recently appointed as regional director of automation giant Rockwell Automation, Wong has big shoes to fill in departing MD Scott Wooldridge. Not that he’ll have to look far if he needs the odd bit of advice – Wooldridge is now the company’s regional vice-president for Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Wong, an electrical engineering major, brings experience from both the software and hardware streams of automation. With more than 24 years in the industry, he started out as customer support with Citect, before graduating to sales engineer, then account manager through to sales director. In 2006, Schneider Electric purchased Citect, which opened new opportunities to Wong, including a five-year sojourn at the company’s headquarters in Paris, France, where he had several roles mainly in the strategy, merger and integration sectors. Just under three years ago, he decided to come home where he worked for Schneider until taking up the Rockwell Automation position in July this year. As well as the usual challenges of the role, there are several other reasons the new job was attractive to Wong. “What attracted to me to the role is that Rockwell Automation is one of the most respected companies in the automation space,” he said. “I have always been in the industrial automation space, and with Rockwell Automation being purely a player in that space, that was definitely one of the things that attracted me to join the company. He said another reason was that Rockwell Automation has moved into addressing the digital space. For him that was signalled when the company took an 8.4 per cent stake in Internet of Things […]

Building a future-ready and sustainable strategy for manufacturing

By Mac Ghani, Managing Director, Avanade Australia From digital transformation to climate change, every industry is trying to keep up with the pace of change and reinvent processes for a more sustainable future. When a manufacturing business successfully transforms itself, customers and employees will benefit from: Increased efficiency and output through data-driven process optimisation and visibility; Reduced downtime and increased asset utilisation through real-time monitoring of assets and predictive maintenance analytics; Increased agility of supply-chain planning via real-time visibility and process controls; Improved worker safety and injury prevention by detecting and responding to changes in field conditions and worker vital signals; A future-ready manufacturing business also has the capacity to create a positive environmental impact – using digital innovation, data and insights to drive efficiencies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enable smarter energy management and reduce waste. The MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) finds companies that substantially complete their transformation tend to enjoy margins 16 percentage points higher than their industry’s average. A new beginning Despite awareness about the need to innovate and the commitment to invest heavily in technology over the next three years, research found the manufacturing industry continues to lag behind companies in other industries. With tougher socio-economic and environmental conditions, personalisation and a dynamic workforce, it can be incredibly difficult to understand where to start or how to progress further. In fact, 60-70 percent of organisations are still on their journey. Manufacturing is a traditionally siloed industry. But a future-ready organisation gives due consideration for impacts across the business, so open communication and evaluation throughout the process is key. Digital transformation belongs to the whole organisation, not just the CIO. Key decision-makers from all parts of the organisation need to put forward priorities of each business division. These priorities need to be aligned […]

Datalogic enhances robot guidance and traceability with Impact software

Datalogic’s latest IMPACT software enhances performance and traceability for vision-guided robots and cobots. Datalogic, a leader in robotics, Industry 4.0, automatic data capture and process automation, is introducing its new Impact 12.2 software to further enhance the traceability and ease-of use of vision-guided robots and cobots used for a wide variety of pick, place and other vital production line tasks. The new robot guidance and traceability software is available throughout the Asia-Pacific region and incorporates a number of calibration and performance enhancements to make robot programming faster and simpler, as well as improve accuracy and traceability. “With Datalogic’s Impact 12.2 system, robots can now be deployed faster, and they are more adaptable to changing applications in dynamic industries such as warehousing, logistics, supply chain, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, transport and OEM markets,” said Mr Bradley Weber, Product Marketing Manager – Machine Vision, Datalogic. “The latest software has been thoroughly tested in conjunction with leading robotics company Universal Robots and has been fully approved and UR+ certified to work their robots and cobots. UR+ certification means they have the full technical support and expertise of the Universal Robots team, as well as access to their highly customisable software,” said Mr Weber. Collaborative robots, or ‘cobots’ work harmoniously with people in production and distribution operation such as pick-and-place and production lines. Often, the robot performs repetitive tasks requiring strength or precision, while the person guides the robot to the right place, provides a part for it to pick, or performs other tasks that complement the robots programming. According to Universal Robots, “Cobots give manufacturers access to all the benefits of advanced robotic automation, without the extra costs associated with traditional robots: difficult programming, long set-up, and shielded work cells. This makes automation affordable even for small-batch production runs and mixed product assembly.” Software […]

Is 5G ready for manufacturing?

High profile scandals aren’t typically good for the technology sector. Whether it’s diesel emissions, large data breaches or cyber-attacks on mission-critical infrastructure, scandal has the power to cripple a technology even before it’s gotten off the ground. Despite what recent headlines may have you thinking, 5G has the potential to be a hugely positive force in the world of manufacturing, heralding in a new era of technological innovation. While 3G and 4G offered incremental improvements in speed and bandwidth, 5G will be the first cellular, wireless platform to truly offer reliable integration with machine-to-machine and industrial IoT systems. It will do this in three ways. The first is enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB); 5G offers peak data rates of 10 Gbps and can handle 10,000 times more traffic than its predecessors. Secondly, it offers Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC). This means it has a radio latency of less than 1 ms and an availability of over 99.9 per cent, making it ideal for industrial use where uptime is critical. Thirdly, it offers Massive Machine-type Communication (eMTC), allowing it to handle a density of one million devices per square kilometre. It can also deliver ultra low-cost machine-to-machine communications and can last up to 10 years on battery, great for battery operated low power devices. So, what does this mean for industry? Well, not only will 5G open the door for real-time wireless sensor networks and location and asset tracking, it will also enable plant managers in smart factories to rely on seamless communication with a fleet of autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) without worrying about network dropouts. What’s more, manufacturers that may have been sceptical of adopting the likes of augmented and virtual reality technologies will be able to take full advantage of them for real-time simulation and predictive maintenance. In industrial […]

Seequent expands solutions portfolio with GeoStudio

Seequent, a world leader in the development of geoscience analysis, modelling, and collaborative technologies, today announced that Geoslope – a Canadian-based company that creates integrated, geotechnical analysis software – has become part of Seequent, offering additional innovative geoscience technology solutions. Geoslope is recognised worldwide by geotechnical engineers who use the GeoStudio suite for design, analysis, and decision making. The GeoStudio suite includes products for modelling slope stability, deformation, heat transfer and groundwater flow in soil and rock. The products are used in over 100 countries for analysing infrastructure projects including dams and levees, reinforced walls and slopes, open pit mines, and transportation. .

Piotrek and CSIRO to make lithium ion batteries for global market

A new partnership between Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and Japanese specialist chemical manufacturer, Piotrek, will see Australian-developed battery technologies commercialised globally within the next five years. The collaboration will enable the next generation of lithium battery technologies for portable electronic devices, drones and automotive vehicles, as well as address a critical safety need with lithium batteries by helping prevent battery fires. The two organisations have partnered to develop the next generation of Solid Polymer Electrolytes (SPEs) for lithium batteries using CSIRO’s proprietary RAFT (Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer) polymer technology and Piotrek’s Ion Conducting Polymers (ICP). General Manager at Piotrek, Mr Ihei Sada, said combining the CSIRO SPE with Piotrek ICP will give his company a big market advantage. “This partnership will help Piotrek make our batteries safer and more efficient, and with our industry reach, we will get our advanced batteries to the market faster,” Mr Sada said. “Together we will develop the world’s safest, longer life solid state high energy battery.” Solid state batteries are a class of lithium batteries that typically use a lithium metal anode, the highest specific energy of all battery anodes, enabling next generation batteries with twice as much energy than today’s lithium battery technologies. Additionally, there is no volatile or flammable liquids inside a solid state battery that can catch fire at low temperatures if the cell is damaged. CSIRO Battery Research Leader, Dr Adam Best, said that with several companies already active in this field, there are proposals to have solidstate battery enabled devices in the market by 2025, if not sooner. “Our RAFT technology allows us to tune our SPEs’ properties to expandtheir versatility for different types of batteries and fuel cells, and will also significantly reduce the cost of device assembly and manufacture” Dr Best said. CSIRO’s Dr John Chiefari […]

Australian space experts focus on small sat technology

Australia’s rebooted space industry is positioning itself as a world leader in the development of smart satellites and associated technologies that will streamline communication, drive the Internet of Things, enhance Earth Observation and shape the defence forces of the future. The Australian Government backed SmartSat CRC – or Cooperative Research Centre – is playing a leading role during “Space Week” in the South Australian capital, which includes the 8th Space Forum (formerly South Australia Space Forum) and the 19th Australian Space Research Conference. Supported by the Australian Space Agency and the SmartSat CRC, the week began on Thursday. The 8th Space Forum is on at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Monday September 30 and includes a panel session hosted by SmartSat CRC Industry Director Peter Nikoloff about the opportunities and challenges facing Australia’s newest major space organisation. The 19th Australian Space Research Conference will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday (October 1 & 2). The A$245 million SmartSat CRC was awarded in April and has established a headquarters in Adelaide to co-ordinate its 99 industry and research partners. Nikoloff, who is also a co-founder of Adelaide-based defence and space company Nova Systems, said the panel discussion would focus on highlighting the research and application of intelligent technologies to space systems and opportunity for Australia’s growing space industry. He said the panel will seek to identify niche areas of autonomous systems and how the participating universities, industry and defence members could potentially exploit those opportunities. “The intelligent systems from our perspective aren’t just what’s on a spacecraft, we’re looking at the whole chain that goes from the spacecraft down to the ground stations and the applications of how that information is being presented,” Nikoloff said. Nikoloff said developing applications to process data and streamlining data transfer before sending it to Earth […]

First hi-tech X-ray tube rolls off the line in Adelaide

Australian hi-tech company Micro-X has rolled out the first of its lightweight mobile X-ray carts fitted with its own in-house designed and manufactured X- ray tube. The X-ray tubes are the world’s first to be electronically controlled and contain a unique carbon nanotube emitter designed by Micro-X in collaboration with South Australian researchers at the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. The launch coincides with the opening of Micro-X’s expanded facilities at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct in Adelaide, South Australia. Micro-X has achieved strong growth since launching its first mobile X-ray product in 2017, the DRX Revolution Nano, which is marketed by US company Carestream Health. The digital medical X-ray system is aimed at the rapidly expanding market for bedside imaging in hospitals and mobile healthcare. It is a fraction of the size, weight and cost of its competitors and has already been sold into 10 countries around the world. This year Micro-X also signed an AU$10 million deal with defence company Thales Group to develop mobile X-ray products for security purposes. Thales and Micro-X will collaborate on the global sales and support of Micro-X’s counter-terrorism Mobile Backscatter Imager of Improvised Explosive Devices and an airport checkpoint security scanner. Micro-X is also developing a “Rover” mobile X-ray product for military field hospitals. “Many organisations around the world have been trying for years to create this new kind of X-ray source, smaller and lighter than anything seen before, but we are delighted to win that race and be the first company in the world to bring a FDA approved medical imager to market with this technology” said Peter Rowland, Micro-X’s founder and Managing Director. “This exciting innovation, the first in X-ray sources for 150 years, will revolutionise global X-ray imaging. “Our carbon nanotube source is like a ‘LED globe’ where everyone else is still using old-fashioned hot filaments. […]

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