Smart Manufacturing

Smart technologies can improve safety in the oil and gas industry

By Gaurav Sharma, Head of Industries Business, ANZ, Cognizant Employee safety remains a key concern within the oil and gas sector. The nature of tasks and activities makes it a riskier industry than others. Workers’ fatigue is another factor increasing that risk. However, the oil and gas industry is in a prime position to take advantage of technologies such as robotics, wearables, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) to minimise some of the risks, as well as drive innovation. The risks of fatigue Fatigue is a major contributor to safety incidents in the oil and gas industry. An oil and gas worker’s job includes inherently risky routine and physically demanding tasks such as positioning heavy equipment, climbing on scaffolds, and physical inspections and maintenance. Characteristics specific to the oil and gas industry are also factors increasing that risk, such as fly-in fly-out and shift work conditions, dealing with time zone changes and 24/7 operations, handling hazardous chemicals or working in extreme weather conditions. Research indicates that the injury rate of Australian shift workers is two times higher than other workers, due to fatigue-related factors such as insufficient sleep, disrupted sleep patterns, and extended working hours. Using digital technologies to predict fatigue risk There is an increasing awareness across risky industries that digital technologies have an important role to play in improving work safety. Leading oil and gas providers are now looking to improve their current standards even further through data collection, monitoring, and automation. However, there is still a long way to go to full adoption, as estimates suggest that just one percent of the data currently captured by operators is being used for improvement purposes. These technologies can provide companies with better control on workplace hazards and better training, while improving onsite communications and overall workforce and business […]

AI challenges revealed in book

The Future Computed: AI and Manufacturing is an in-depth look at the challenges and opportunities of AI and how it’s transforming the manufacturing sector. Interviews with customers, policymakers, labor representatives and Microsoft experts shed light on how AI is driving efficiencies, enabling products and services, and allowing for safer workspaces. The book also offers a timely look at how society can respond to some of the challenges this new technology creates, and the need to develop new laws and regulations to address workforce disruption and develop AI in an ethical and responsible manner. A free download of the book is available at The Future Computed microsite, where you can also find other interesting content from the book (e.g. customer videos, case studies, and executive summary).

Advances in Corrosion Science and Corrosion Engineering

The Australasian Corrosion Association (ACA) will be hosting an International Symposium focusing on the latest advances in corrosion science and corrosion engineering. This two-day symposium will be held on 24-25 July 2019 at the Marriott Hotel in Melbourne. The symposium will celebrate the significant contributions of the following ACA notables: Les Boulton, Bruce Hinton, Brian Kinsella, Brian Martin, Greg Moore and David Nicholas. Featuring keynote presentations from 15 high calibre International and Australian speakers, this event will bring together leading local and global corrosion experts and showcase the latest advances in corrosion science and corrosion engineering. A panel discussion and open forum will be held at the end of each day and technical papers of high quality and substantive length will be available to delegates. Engineering Alloys will take centre stage in the first session of the symposium with a presentation titled ‘Alloy Design for Corrosion Resistance’, delivered by John Scully, University of Virginia, USA. Following this, Nick Birbilis from Monash University will discuss the latest insights into corrosion of light metals. The first day of the Advances in Corrosion Science and Corrosion Engineering International Symposium will also showcase the latest industry knowledge in Corrosion Resistant Alloys; Corrosion Modelling & Prediction; and, Cathodic Protection. In addition to the technical program, there will also be a trade exhibition and attendees will have the opportunity to network during morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea breaks. At the conclusion of the first day’s events there will be a networking cocktail function followed by the event highlight – the Symposium Dinner and Awards presentation. The second day of the symposium will have a strong industry focus. Corrosion management in the oil and gas industry will be the heart of the morning session. Topics covered will include: Corrosion Monitoring for Oil & Gas Applications; Microbiologically […]

Why growing manufacturers should invest in customer service

By Matt Porta, APAC Product Leader – Service Cloud at Salesforce Australian manufacturing is growing rapidly, great news for the industry which also creates new challenges. The Australian Industry Group’s (Ai Group’s) Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) showed that production levels, sales, exports and employment within the industry improved at the fastest pace in the seven months to April 2019. This increased demand for product comes at a challenging time for Australia’s economy, as uncertainty in the world economy and a country-wide drought create greater complexity for manufacturers. As the manufacturing sector looks to continue its growth, industry leaders should consider an often unappreciated growth lever – customer service. Now is the time to streamlining processes and workflow and invest in new technology and training staff to fuel better customer outcomes. While some manufacturers may choose to focus investment in product, sales or marketing, it’s those who invest in delivering an outstanding service customer experience who will benefit most from the current growth cycle. Increasing customer expectations Combined with higher consumer expectations across the board, customer service within manufacturing is under more pressure than ever before. Customers’ expectations such as same day delivery services has led to audiences that expect goods faster, and of a higher quality, putting an extreme emphasis on customer service. According to the Salesforce State of Service report, more than four in five (82%) of decision makers in Australia and New Zealand service sector say their company’s customer service must transform in order to stay competitive while 67% of service teams saying that they are seeing higher case volume through digital channels. As well as increasing workload volume, the report found that the role of the customer service agent is shifting towards more complex tasks. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of agents view their jobs today as […]

Your future co-workers could be a swarm of robots

In the future, swarms of robots could help us perform tasks from search and rescue to farming. Imagine there’s a flock of aerial robots searching for a lost hiker, for example. They have to cover a large area of remote bush and a central commander won’t work because they’re so spread out. So, instead, the robots work cooperatively to calculate the best way to cover and search this large area accurately and speedily. This scenario is less Black Mirror than it sounds, and more about focusing on practical solutions for jobs that are difficult for humans to do, says Airlie Chapman from the Melbourne School of Engineering. Describing the focus of her research in mechatronic engineering, Chapman says “it centres on multi-vehicle robotics, or many robots working together to achieve a common goal”. Mechatronic engineers explore developments in automation and manufacturing—blending multiple disciplines of engineering. And it can involve creating smart machines that are aware of their surroundings and can make autonomous decisions. Chapman works specifically in the field of multi-vehicle, or swarm, robotics. Using a combination of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering to build the robots, Chapman then programs the vehicles using algorithms to react and think autonomously. Many bots are better than one “There are benefits to using many smaller unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in place of one large one, particularly for jobs like cleaning up an oil spill, environmental monitoring, or searching for survivors of a mine collapse,” says Chapman. Not only is there the element of redundancy with smaller vehicles—losing one small UAV out of a group is less of a problem than losing a single large UAV—but there are also the implementation benefits. For one thing, there’s the improved coverage capability and reduced cost. “A swarm of cheap small robots, each with little capability, can […]

Electric vehicles to recharge Australian manufacturing

An Australian company will begin assembling electric vehicles in Adelaide, South Australia for export. Bension Sieber An ACE-EV cargo electric vehicle. Australian Clean Energy Electric Vehicle Group (ACE-EV) has signed a deal to begin assembling carbon fibre composite and plastic electric vans at the Aldom manufacturing plant in Wingfield, north of Adelaide’s CBD, this year. ACE-EV managing director Greg McGarvie said he was determined to bring the electric vehicle industry to Australia for the sake of his grandchildren’s future. McGarvie said the company had orders for 100 electric delivery vans to be assembled at the plant, and hoped to scale up to 15,000 electric vehicles by 2025. He said ACE-EV would employ between 10 and 18 people in its first year and use about 3000 square metres of Aldom Motor Body Builders’ 12,000 sqm Wingfield site, where Aldom currently designs and manufactures custom commercial vehicles. “This state will be the first in Australia that will be manufacturing electric vehicles,” he said. “We’ve been working on this for four years. “It’s the right thing to be doing for my grandkids.” McGarvie said the vehicles would mainly sell on the export market and aim to use local suppliers, but that it had partnerships with companies in Germany and Taiwan. He told InDaily the South Australian Government had been the most “proactive” in seeking to attract his company to the state – but that politicians generally have been “gun-shy” to publicly support electric vehicles. He said the South Australian Marshall Government had helped his company by setting up important business contacts, and was offering more “help” – but McGarvie declined to say what other assistance was on the table. “It’s very encouraging what they’re offering to do to help,” he said. He said he was not actively seeking investment from government, but rather, “electric-vehicle friendly” policy from […]

Leopard Systems win Asia-Pacific awards for top performance

Leopard Systems, Australia’s leading enterprise mobility solution provider, received not one, but two esteemed awards at Zebra Technologies Corporation’s annual Channel Partner Summit held in China in May. Leading a field of over 150 major Asia-Pacific APAC resellers and partners, Leopard Systems was recognised as Zebra’s highest performing APAC Partner Of The Year and APAC Service Partner Of The Year. Ryan Goh, Vice President and General Manager of Sales at Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific, and Joe White, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Mobile Computing at Zebra Technologies Inc presented the awards to co-Managing Director of Leopard Systems, Robin Fowler, at a special ceremony at Guilin’s Shangri-La Hotel. The accolades honoured Leopard’s success in attaining major contracts within the APAC region, and providing superior service support to their Zebra hardware customers. “This year everything aligned for us. We were fortunate to secure multiple 1000+ Zebra device contracts with several major Australian and New Zealand customers that added up to around 14,000 units sold, helping put Leopard Systems well ahead in the regional channel,” said Robin. The coveted awards mark a prized achievement for Leopard Systems since revolutionising their support services in hardware fleet management and supply chain mobility over recent years. “We’ve really concentrated on better serving our large corporate customers. Supporting and cultivating these partnerships has resulted in a significant number of new contracts providing Zebra devices, as well as accompanying service warranties, being purchased,” said Robin. Further, recent changes to expand the Australia/New Zealand awards to include Asia and Pacific countries has substantially raised the bar for achieving industry recognition. Hence, receiving the APAC awards cements Leopard Systems’ strength and continuing focus to provide world-class end-to-end solutions. At the Summit, Zebra Technologies announced a future priority to build cloud data services that greatly enhance the ‘supportability’ […]

Your future co-workers could be a swarm of robots

In the future, swarms of robots could help us perform tasks from search and rescue to farming, researchers say. Imagine there’s a flock of aerial robots searching for a lost hiker, for example. They have to cover a large area of remote bush and a central commander won’t work because they’re so spread out. So, instead, the robots work cooperatively to calculate the best way to cover and search this large area accurately and speedily. This scenario is less Black Mirror than it sounds, and more about focusing on practical solutions for jobs that are difficult for humans to do, says Airlie Chapman from the Melbourne School of Engineering. Describing the focus of her research in mechatronic engineering, Chapman says “it centres on multi-vehicle robotics, or many robots working together to achieve a common goal”. Mechatronic engineers explore developments in automation and manufacturing—blending multiple disciplines of engineering. And it can involve creating smart machines that are aware of their surroundings and can make autonomous decisions. Chapman works specifically in the field of multi-vehicle, or swarm, robotics. Using a combination of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering to build the robots, Chapman then programs the vehicles using algorithms to react and think autonomously. Many bots are better than one “There are benefits to using many smaller unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in place of one large one, particularly for jobs like cleaning up an oil spill, environmental monitoring, or searching for survivors of a mine collapse,” says Chapman. Not only is there the element of redundancy with smaller vehicles—losing one small UAV out of a group is less of a problem than losing a single large UAV—but there are also the implementation benefits. For one thing, there’s the improved coverage capability and reduced cost. “A swarm of cheap small robots, each with little […]

Empower Factory Productivity and Scheduling Software recognised

Empower Software, locally owned and operated is based in NewMarket, Auckland. Founding Directors are Dave Garrett (right) and Sean O’Sullivan. New Zealand, Australian and International manufacturers and engineers, from 5 up to 150 factory staff are investing in the Empower Software technology on their factory floors and using their Factory Productivity and Scheduling Software for live production scheduling, tracking of jobs and individual factory staff times on jobs and job status. Production Managers are the main users and drivers of the technology and software as it is their role and their responsibility to plan and drive daily and weekly factory production and productivity effectively. Manufacturers and engineers install large TV monitors on factory walls and office walls to display live production and productivity data for everyone in the company to see. The performance of individual jobs and individual factory staff is live and continuous throughout the day and their individual productivity becomes totally transparent to all factory staff, management and administration staff. This technology and software drives labour times on jobs and labour cost on jobs down typically by 20% to 40%. TIN100, a well-respected and recognised New Zealand Network of technology-based companies, including all stakeholders to the NZ Technology Industry, recently recognised Empower Software.

HRS brings packaged solutions for pasteurisation and sterilisation

Pasteurisation and sterilisation are now so well established that it is impossible to contemplate the production of many food and drink products without using these important techniques. Both pasteurisation and sterilisation involve the use of heat, usually in a way which does not affect the fundamental characteristics of the product (in other words, it doesn’t cook it). However, while sterilisation seeks to completely eliminate any micro-organisms which may be present in the product (and so typically uses higher temperatures or longer treatment periods, and is therefore more likely to have an effect on the product’s characteristics), pasteurisation reduces the microbial load by a significant factor (for example by 5-logs), which in normal circumstances reduces them to a level at which they do not pose a hazard. While simple plate heat exchangers may still be suitable for the pasteurisation of simple fluids such as milk and fruit juices, more textured and viscous products, such as cooking sauces, creams and curds, require different solutions in order to maintain their quality and texture. In order to meet this diverse range of requirements, HRS Heat Exchangers has created its Thermblock packaged pasteuriser/steriliser for food products for aseptic filling, as well as any other filling or packing method. Depending on specification and the intended use, Thermblock uses the most appropriate HRS tubular heat exchanger to deliver effective and efficient thermal treatment. All HRS Thermblock systems allow for full adjustment of the heating-holding-cooling cycle of the product, so that it can be tailored to your product/s and method/s of working. They can also be used as HTST (High Temperature, Short Time) units, subjecting the product to high temperatures for a short time to minimise potential side-effects, such as organoleptic changes or nutritional losses). There are three models of HRS Thermblock: HRS Thermblock DTA Series This features […]

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