Smart Manufacturing

Overview Built-Rite Tool & Die is a mould-making and design firm in Massachusetts with expertise in precision mould manufacturing. They specialise in the production of moulds for plastic injection moulding. These moulds have complex designs, requiring extensive planning and precise execution. The challenge Small to mid-sized businesses like Built-Rite face increasing pressure from international and domestic competitors. Overseas manufacturers can offer lower prices and domestic prototyping shops can offer quick turnaround times for small quantities of parts. 3D-printing gives Built-Rite an opportunity to realise shorter lead times and gain an edge against the domestic prototyping shops. This includes the ability to iterate quickly to win bids and meet strict deadlines. The Studio System introduces the ability to make quick-turn mould assembly components with a process that is far less labour intensive than other equipment in their machine shop and more cost competitive than a third-party prototyping firm. The Studio printer prints with closed-cell infill to minimise material without impacting wear resistance required for tooling—which is a primary application for the system. www.objective3d.com.au/built-rite/

By James Maslin National Sales and Marketing Manager for Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd. Rapid and reliable actuation of gate valves is becoming more and more critical to liquid and gas handling applications as industries face the twin demands of production automation and pressure to produce without production interruptions for maintenance. Gate valves, also known as sluice valves, are one of the most widely used types of valves in industrial applications, where they typically operate either fully open or fully closed, being used in pipelines as isolating valves rather than control or regulating valves. Their compact simplicity, low pressure loss, bidirectional versatility and ability to handle full flows where particles cannot cluster has led to widespread use in process engineering applications throughout industries such as food and beverage, agribusiness, manufacturing, mining and mineral processing, liquid-solid separation, filtration, materials handling, water and waste water and waste-to-energy projects. Typically gate valves are manually or (occasionally) hydraulically actuated, but where faster or remote actuation is required, they usually rely on conventional pneumatic actuation using a cylinder with rods and seals. However, an alternative means of actuation is available to process engineers charged with designing pipeline and reticulation systems that respond to the needs of automation and uninterrupted production demands. These flexible-wall, bellows-type Airstroke actuators – manufactured by Firestone and distributed throughout Australia by Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd – are tough, fabric reinforced rubber balloons of different shapes engineered to perform different tasks. The simple single, double and triple-convoluted airbags operate without seals, shafts or internal moving parts to provide ultra-reliable actuation alternatives for materials handling technology exposed to grime, debris and waste, which can disrupt the seals and shafts of convention pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. Reliability engineered into their DNA Structurally they are identical to the enormously durable and reliable Firestone air […]

The International Astronautical Congress hit Adelaide in 2017, bringing more than 4500 space experts to town and the focus of the world on South Australia. Jim Plouffe The Hubble Space Telescope being serviced as the Space Shuttle crosses South Australia in December 1993. Picture courtesy NASA.Although the IAC was the culmination of a decade of work by many people in Australia’s space industry, it can also be seen as the launching pad for a revitalised space industry based in South Australia. The Australian government used the congress to announce that Australia would finally have a national Space Agency (pending yet another review due in March 2018) while Elon Musk used the congress to tell the world he was putting all his resources toward developing his BFR to not only travel to Mars but also to reduce earth travel times to under an hour and establish a lunar base. Michael Davis, the Chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia, said organising the congress made South Australia a leader in space industries and the South Australian government’s space plan would help the state influence the new National Space Agency. “The South Australian government backed our bid [for the congress] right from the beginning, going back eight years,” he said. Heads of space agencies, from left, NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Head Igor Komarov, European Space Agency Director General Jan Woerner, China National Space Administration (CNSA) Secretary General Tian Yulong and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) President Naoki Okumura at the International Astronautical Congress in South Australia. “When we won the bid, they saw the opportunity. They didn’t wait till the congress took place, they formulated and implemented a strategy that has led directly to the announcement of the South Australian Space Industry Centre and the $4 million in funding.” A week […]

As production automation seeks to drive down the cost of manufactured and processed products, machinery engineers must find materials that enable their designs to achieve faster, more efficient and more reliable applications. The search for high performance materials that are also low cost, safe and sustainable has led some producers away from traditional metal solutions and into engineered thermoplastics, which can in many cases be carefully formulated to precise and clean, green performance characteristics for applications. One example of such new age materials offering outstanding service life as OEM and metal component replacements is the Wearlon family of thermoplastics from Cut to Size Plastics, which are used for machine building, process automation, drive and conveyor equipment and ancillaries used in such industrials as food and beverage processing, manufacturing and materials handling. There is much more research going on now into the correct materials to use for production automation, because it is a major investment that may be key to a company’s future.               So it is no longer good enough to do things the old way they have always been done, because the rate of change in automation is accelerating and it would be very easy to be left behind completely. Sometimes change is driven in automating industries by pure economics, while, in other cases, issues such as HACCP food safety requirements are important. It is important to say there is no one ideal answer to all applications – whether they be metals or engineering thermoplastics – but it is certainly essential to consider all the options. Where required, Cut to Size can draw on the globally respected expertise of its international suppliers, including Licharz GmbH, producer of Linnotam and other members of Cut to Size’s Wearlon family of polyamides. Licharz’s applications laboratories and […]