Trade Shows/Events

Melbourne – For years, advocates for manufacturing have worked hard to counter the prevailing impression that all workshops and factories are dimly lit, dirty and dangerous places. Of course, today most workshops rather resemble art studios rather than the picture painted above – and visiting all the major machine tool dealers’ stands at this year’s AUSTECH exhibition in Melbourne shows that manufacturing is poised for a yet more attractive makeover. Machine tools’ appearance and functionality are being modelled after digital devices such as smart phones or tablets that enable everyday communication and connectivity. Take Mazak’s new Mazatrol SmoothX CNC or DMG Mori’s Celos. The former is said to work four times faster than its fastest predecessors. A 19’’ panel with a multi-touch home screen presents all critical data to operators within a single page view. As John Hart’s Mark Dobrich explains, the controller also reduces machining time by maintaining optimal acceleration/deceleration control for a combination of axes and smooth corner control reduces vibration and shortens part-machining cycles. DMG Mori’s Celos looks like a stylish digital device from the future. It provides a uniform user interface for all new high-tech machines from DMG Mori. A unique  21.5” multi-touch screen displays all Celos Apps, which provide the user with integrated management, documentation and visualisation of order, process and machine data. Additionally, machine operation is simplified, standardised and automated, DMG Mori claims. Simplifying automation is another topic at the show. John Hart is showcasing an automated machine tending cell. There are of course many benefits of automation such as reduced costs, lower health and safety risks and increased production quality. However, as Mark Dobrich points out, many people are scared of complicated programming procedures. That’s why the company has developed its CellPro Modular Robotic Systems, which can be tailored to customers’ needs and comes […]

Packaging machinery’s automation control systems and networks need to be secured to protect valuable intellectual property and enhance productivity. The ability to use standard unmodified Ethernet throughout, from the enterprise all the way down to individual field devices enables new levels in connectivity for people, processes, data and things, ultimately providing greater productivity, better utilisation of assets, and improved decision-making to industrial companies. Establishing a Connected Enterprise can deliver many benefits to the packaging industry by providing improved connectivity between enterprise systems and the plant floor.  However, while increasing connectivity and visibility into the system helps create a seamless flow of information; technologies such as mobile devices, the cloud and big data also introduce security risks that require careful consideration and mitigation. According to Robert Hicks, OEM segment manager at Rockwell Automation, “No single product, technology or methodology can fully secure industrial applications. Protecting industrial assets requires a layered approach that helps mitigate various types of security threats – both internal and external.” “It’s also important to note that only a small percentage of security risks have malicious intent, the majority of risks are non-malicious in intent, and often even unintentional, such as staff inadvertently accessing controllers or machinery they should not be authorised to access, or changing parameters without realising that their actions could cause issues for that system,” he said. A defense-in-depth security architecture is based on the idea that any one point of protection may, and probably will, be defeated. This approach requires multiple layers of defense to help ensure a weakness or flaw in one layer can be protected by strength, capabilities or new variables introduced through other security layers. To help OEMs build these layers of security into machinery and endusers’ facilities, Rockwell Automation teams with industry leaders, such as Cisco® and its other PartnerNetwork™ […]

At AUSTECH 2015 on stand 608 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on May 26-29, OMAX Corporation and Headland Machinery Pty. Ltd., the company’s exclusive distribution partner for Australia, will showcase the versatility and high-speed cutting precision capabilities of the Maxiem 1530 Jet Machining Centre. The all-new 1530 represents the company’s next generation line of Maxiem machines. Building on the cost-effective, yet high-performance technology of its predecessors, the newly redesigned 1530 offers enhanced durability, improved performance, and faster production times for an overall increase in productivity and profitability. At AUSTECH, the company is pairing the 1530 with a reliable 40-hp direct-drive pump to demonstrate how easy it is to cut virtually any material quickly and efficiently. Building on the company’s 20 years of direct-drive pump design experience, the latest machine comes with a 50,000-psi pump that features Variable Frequency Drive technology for precise cutting pressure control. The pump delivers more cutting power per kilowatt than intensifier-type pumps. The machine’s Windows 8 controller comes pre-loaded with OMAX’s latest version of the powerful Intelli-MAX Software Suite. Intelli-MAX 21 – with a new fourth generation cutting model – builds upon years of real-world abrasive waterjet data accumulated through prior generations of OMAX’s equation-based cutting models to optimise tool paths automatically and gives users precise predictability as to cutting speeds, taper, jet lag and other abrasivejet factors. The result has taken abrasive waterjet cutting to the industry’s highest levels of speed and performance.  The 1530 also features updated digital linear encoders, an innovative Z-axis core with optional multi-axis cutting heads and the lowest ceiling height in the industry. Additional enhancements to the machine include streamlined abrasive hopper designs and self-levelling base legs.     

Those who walk through the doors of Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre from 26 to 29 May 2015 will have a world of manufacturing opportunities open before their eyes. Of course it takes all areas of manufacturing to come together, including tooling, workholding, software and systems integration, to create a complete solution, but machine tools are one important piece of the manufacturing puzzle. This year, Australia’s premier advanced precision manufacturing and machine tool show will once again host all the world’s leading machine tool builders under one roof, showcasing the latest machine tool configurations and also stylings that are notably different and fresh. The slowly recovering but still very challenging conditions of the Australian market for machine tools and other equipment makes AUSTECH of keen interest to local suppliers. “Given the current conditions inside Australia’s metal manufacturing sector, it’s important that business owners and operators can examine the next investment steps in manufacturing technology they must take to rebuild their competitive position in the global arena,” Phil Hayes, Managing Director of Okuma Australia & NZ comments. “The machine tool field has been somewhat difficult for the past three years but that has not prevented us from making available the very latest, market-leading and innovative technology from Okuma.” Okuma will showcase three levels of new technology, including 5-axis machining, Phil Hayes explains. “New advanced technology machine models of 5-axis milling with turning and 10-axis turning with milling, amazing advances in the user-interface of Okuma’s own OSP controller technology and packaged, kit-style automation solutions. These are central to the technology investments Australian manufacturers must make to keep pace with overseas manufacturing trends that are well advanced.” Rebuilding a competitive position requires local manufacturers to do several things: Investing in new and highly-efficient equipment. Automating. Training and retraining. One of the recent major […]