Tag / Advanced Manufacturing

by brandsa2018

SA an ideal model for Industry 4.0 transformation

South Australia is ripe for the challenge to progress as industry and employment enters a state of transformation. The closure of production line automotive manufacturing has signalled a new era, with a raft of local businesses swiftly embracing digital industrialisation as the Industry 4.0 technological revolution quickly gathers global momentum – and several progressive companies emerge as shining lights to lead the way.

This paints an optimistic picture for future jobs and industry opportunities in SA according to Professor John Spoehr, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Impact) at Flinders University, and director of the Australian Industrial Transformation Institute.

He has seen rapid change to the state’s business and employment landscape during the past three years, propelled by an understanding across local industry that it is now crucial to act swiftly. This is attracting new industry, fresh international investment, new types of employment and new opportunities to the state.

Realising that an employment vacuum could impose widespread economic damage to a city – with former automotive towns such as Detroit providing an ominous example – Prof Spoehr says Adelaide is proving itself a nimble adaptor of technological innovations to drive new industry.

Professor John Spoehr says Adelaide is adapting to technological innovations to drive new industry.

Running apace with international development levels is ensuring that more opportunities for high-skill, high-pay employment is already occurring.

“Any fears that a digitised workforce must imply a jobless future is not the reality facing SA’s workforce,” says Prof Spoehr.

“It’s a time of great possibility and progress, and SA can provide a model for successful industrial transformation in Australia.”

Prof Spoehr examines this as editor and co-writer of South Australia – State of Transformation, a new book that issues an independent assessment of SA’s current economic, social and political landscape, while also exploring options and policy needs to lay the strongest possible path ahead.

He points to the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing by such companies as Micro-X, based at the Tonsley Innovation District, which is manufacturing lightweight portable X-ray machines (primarily used in disaster zones and emergency situations).

It has quickly won international orders for its products, and to meet demand the company has employed and re-trained many former Holden workers, building on their skill set to quickly provide Micro-X with an experienced and capable hi-tech manufacturing workforce.

“Micro-X has been very clever to make best use of an already skilled workforce of former Holden employees, showing how to be nimble at harnessing local skills, people and resources,” says Prof Spoehr. “For a young company, it has a very bright future.”

Inside Micro-X’s manufacturing facility at Tonsley Innovation District, a former automotive factory. Photo: Micro-X.

Redarc at Lonsdale, which manufactures advanced electronics that specialise in increased towing safety for off-road and heavy vehicles, has been one of the state’s most enthusiastic adopters of Industry 4.0 manufacturing technology.

The company’s transformation during the past 18 months under chief executive Anthony Kittel has been remarkable, resulting in collaborative robots being part of a holistic manufacturing plant expansion.

“These companies are addressing technically complex problems, and as a consequence they are generating high-skill, knowledge intensive and high wage jobs,” says Prof Spoehr. “This is the form of employment that we need more of to help underpin high living standards in SA.”

SAGE Automation, a leader in systems integration, automation solutions and data services to industry, is working across a raft of different industries, including defence, mining, transportation, logistics, utilities and manufacturing. Prof Spoehr says SAGE is helping local companies to take advantage of the digital revolution.

He notes that SAGE’s location within the Tonsley Innovation District has been transformative for the company, providing great benefits through its proximity to other innovative tech companies along with Flinders University researchers and leading students, with whom it has entered numerous collaborations.

A bird’s eye view (Dec, 2017) of the former Elizabeth Holden site, which has now been transformed into Lionsgate Business Park.

“This shows that the collaborations between universities and companies should be stronger in SA, because this will help accelerate the uptake of innovations in industry – and this is the crucial step forward.”

These leading businesses are also guiding the transition from old manufacturing to dynamic new tech industries and specialist manufacturers at the Tonsley Innovation District and Lionsgate Business Park in Elizabeth, both former automotive manufacturing plants.

The success of these districts also points to a promising pathway for current development of a new hi-tech industry hub at Lot Fourteen, within the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site in Adelaide.

“It shows that strong commitment and vision can transform sites into advanced manufacturing precincts,” says Prof Spoehr.

“Manufacturing employment did grow in SA during 2018, but now there has to be double the support for emerging SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) to remain at the cutting edge of what is happening globally.

“Australia must be a champion of innovation in both our services and manufacturing sectors – and SA can play a leading role.”

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by brandsa2018

‘SA manufacturing is far from dead’: Levett Engineering

For a rather small, specialised company such as Levett Engineering to be awarded Exporter of the Year at the Business SA 2018 Export Awards speaks volumes about the quality of work this aircraft component manufacturer delivers.

However, founder and CEO Paul Levett believes it says more about the company’s organisation structure and workforce ability.

“Making the part is the easy bit for a manufacturer,” says Paul. “The quality and efficiency of your project management is the essential criteria that customers are examining, and your ability and capability to meet demand in good time is the key.”

From its base in Elizabeth South, Levett Engineering now derives 90% of its revenue from exports, with key customers including Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Gulfstream already having some contract orders in place until 2027.

Levett Engineering CNC machinist Hari Shunmugavel, left, and CEO Paul Levett.

“What we have done is a very big symbol of what’s possible on the world stage from being based in South Australia,” says Paul.

It has been a steady rise since the company began in 1989, when Paul, a fitter and turner who had worked in defence, started manufacturing customised components from his backyard garage.

After 18 months, he took on his first employee, and two years later the expanded operation relocated to an Elizabeth West shed, which they outgrew and moved to their current site on Philip Highway in 2004.

In those days, a dark cloud hung over the future of manufacturing in SA, with hard questions asked about whether locally made goods could be cost competitive in a global marketplace.

Levett Engineering was smart and nimble enough to specialise in specific components that required high expertise and precision, rather than generalise in manufacturing.

Paul took a different tack by searching out gaps in local supply chains that could lead to global opportunities.

“For our business to thrive we had to look far beyond what all the other small part manufacturers in Australia were already providing – far outside of the automotive industry, and outside of Australia. We had to look where no-one else was going, to cut our own path,” he says.

Paul flew to the US as part of a trade mission in 2003, in the wake of the Australian Government’s 2002 Free Trade Agreement with the US, and began pitching for work in the aeronautical and defence industries, although the process tested his patience and persistence.

“It took five years of courting to keep showing what we are capable of. We had to prove ourselves, especially about how well we were managed, to build trust for us to obtain those crucial orders.”

Levett Engineering’s Claire Guichard.

By 2007, they had been awarded their first small contract, and soon won favour for their reliability. Levett remains the only Australian business producing machine components for the F135 Jet Engine, developed by US aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, and used in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II.

“We make components from an aircraft’s nose to its tail, including airframe and jet engine components, electronic enclosures, and vacuum brazed assemblies,” Paul explains.

The credibility attached to such a prestigious contract has enabled the company’s output to expand, covering many international defence, aerospace, medical, electronics and commercial engineering sectors.

Such progress has occurred through the company proving the efficiency of its component delivery. For one particular aeroplane part, Levett Engineering was initially contracted to provide only 30% of the order, while the remainder was locked up by a long-time US firm.

That has now reversed, with Levett being the majority provider due to its ability to meet order deadlines with maximum efficiency, and prove it has the facility to provide even more.

In December 2018, the company purchased new Japanese equipment at a cost of $2 million that will increase production, enabling a 40% reduction in product delivery times to its suppliers this year.

Levett Engineering inspector Jared Pound.

Growth continues, with the workforce recently doubling in size to 60 people, working through three shifts across six days a week, on the back of 40% revenue growth for the past two years.

Manufacturing is now spread across two sites – at its original Philip Highway shed, and adding a new location 18 months ago, across the road at Lionsgate, the former Holden automotive factory in Elizabeth.

Paul can envisage moving all operations into a larger space within the Lionsgate complex, as Levett Engineering’s status as a Tier 1 Supplier to the world’s largest defence company is generating even more contract discussions with leading aeroplane companies.

“The extent of global supply chain needed to keep feeding the demand for elite plane building is staggering – and we are now positioned right at the very heart of that business,” says Paul.

“It has been a lot of hard work to reach this point, but our success on the international stage proves that manufacturing is far from dead in SA.”

Top image features Heather and Paul Levett at the Lockhead Martin Australian F35 rollout ceremony.

Industry in focus: Trade and Investment

Throughout the months of January and February, the state’s trade and investment industry will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

South Australia is in a prime position for trade and investment opportunities as we have a 24-hour connection to international markets and a prime reputation for our premium products and services.  Read more trade and investment stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

REDARC Electronics recharges Adelaide’s south with jobs, factory expansion

Advanced manufacturing company REDARC Electronics has come a long way since its beginnings in the late ‘90s, as an eight-person business operating out of a tin shed in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.

Fast forward more than two decades and the Lonsdale-based company has expanded its product offerings from just voltage converters to a range of vehicle power solutions manufactured by a local workforce and exported across the world.

REDARC recently completed its 15th consecutive year of an average 20% growth. It’s also recently diversified into the defence and medical device industry, and has grown to have 180 FTEs on the books with plans to recruit more.

Managing director Anthony Kittel says the company has a five-year plan to reach $100 million in sales, employ more than 250 staff, and also complete a factory expansion allowing for a boost in exports.

The $20 million expansion of its Lonsdale factory began in 2017 and will see the company grow its workforce and penetrate new markets including defence and medical devices.

REDARC Electronics managing director Anthony Kittel.

New state-of-the-art machinery and specialist testing equipment are currently being installed, with the company on the look out for workers with various expertise.

“REDARC are planning to hire electronic engineers, computer systems engineers, project managers, sales, business development and marketing staff while also providing traineeship and apprenticeship opportunities,” Anthony says.

“REDARC are heavily involved and committed to the community by nurturing and developing the skills of young people as they enter the workforce, and by providing many work experience opportunities for high school students and undergraduates in various areas of business.”

The factory expansion is expected to be finished by late November.

“We are currently completing the installation of advanced manufacturing equipment,” Anthony says.

“We have also completed the installation of a 100kW PV solar power system which will allow REDARC to offset CO2 carbon emissions by 80 tonnes per year.

“We’ve also added a Tesla Powerwall to store energy from our solar system and a diesel generator allowing uninterrupted operations.”

Today the company sells more than 500 products sold globally into North America, Europe, UAE, South Africa, UK, South Korea and Singapore.

Its road to manufacturing success was laid in 1979 when the company was founded by electronics engineer Robin (Bob) William Mackie, who hand-built vehicle ignition systems and voltage converters.

Bob passed away in 1997 and Anthony and Michele Kittel, along with Michele’s father Denis Brion, purchased the business which they believed had potential but “needed a lot of work”.

“I knew we had a lot of work to do and since that time we have had a motto, ‘customer is king’. It took almost three years to stabilise the business and develop a vision for the future,” Anthony says.

REDARC built its reputation on the high quality manufacturing of vehicle power solutions.

Six of the eight original staff from the ‘90s are still with the company which has since built upon its team-based culture and diversified into the development of products for the 4WD and caravan industry.

These products include inverters, power supplies, battery chargers, brake controllers, trailer braking products, and portable solar panels.

REDARC services a range of other industries including heavy trucking, emergency services, mining, industrial, marine and recreational vehicles and, more recently, the defence and medical device industries.

SA’s burgeoning defence industry is one of the company’s key targets and for the last five years has offered the Australian defence sector a range of electronic solutions for vehicles.

REDARC is an SME (small-to-medium enterprise) partner for Rheinmetall, which won the LAND400 phase 2 contract to deliver more than 200 combat reconnaissance vehicles for the Australian Army.

The REDARC workforce is expanding, with job roles in various fields.

REDARC is also an SME partner to BAE Systems Australia on the SEA5000 Future Frigates project that will deliver nine new Hunter Class ships built by ASC Shipbuilding at Osborne from 2020.

Aside from its branching out into defence, REDARC has also experienced growth in its usual sectors, namely through the acquisition of NSW company Hummingbird Electronics in 2015.

In 2017/18 REDARC signed eTrailer Corporation and Keystone Automotive Operations as two distribution partners for North America.

Despite the Adelaide-born company reaching global heights, its managing director says SA is the “best place in the world to live and operate a business”.

“We have long-established networks and connections, our families live here,” he says.

“It’s great to see the growth and confidence in the SA economy, employment creation and infrastructure development. We are passionate about Australian manufacturing and employing local people.”

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Axiom is moulding a new manufacturing future

In his 12 years working with Axiom Precision Manufacturing, Shannon Wride has seen a transformation in the way the business operates.

“We’ve strived to take on that high end work, and as a company we’ve always tried to do the jobs other people say they can’t do,” says the company’s operations supervisor and Brand South Australia’s latest I Choose SA ambassador.

“We’ve had people come to us saying no one else is willing to touch this and we’re always willing to give it a crack.”

When Shannon started out with Axiom as an apprentice in 2006 the company was then called Diemould Tooling and was based in Edwardstown, the work focused around the state’s automotive industry in producing plastic injection moulds.

As automotive work slowed down and China began taking over an increasing slice of the sector’s manufacturing pie, the SA-owned company took stock and began looking to change the way it operated.

The business began courting defence and aerospace companies and, eventually, new jobs began to roll into the workshops.

Axiom Precision Manufacturing operations supervisor Shannon Wride is an I Choose SA ambassador for the advanced manufacturing industry.

Before long, Diemould Tooling was merged with Numetric Manufacturers in Wingfield and the company renamed Axiom Precision Manufacturing.

Now the family owned business that started in 1979 works extensively on high-end metal component design and manufacturing jobs for the aerospace and defence industries.

It has worked hard to achieve AS9100 accreditation – meaning its quality system meets top level aerospace requirements, and the business has its highest ever staff numbers at about 60.

There are also plans to further develop land owned by the company next door to its Wingfield site, where its purpose-built manufacturing facility, delivering special purpose equipment, tooling and injection moulded components, is based.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a company relatively new to the nation’s defence industry. And it’s one that saw the company win a 2016 Defence Industry award for Most Outstanding Small-Medium Enterprise from the state’s Defence Teaming Centre.

The award recognised how it had excelled in engaging with the defence industry “to build their capability and to work in defence”.

Shannon, who first completed a four-year tool making apprenticeship, is now in charge of “day-to-day operations”, scheduling machine loadings and overseeing the inspection department.

He is in charge of “trouble shooting” and ensures orders reach customers on time with Shannon saying the company’s client base stretches across Australia.

He says one of the jobs he’s proudest of overseeing involves making moulds for a device that protects frontline defence forces from bomb detonations.

Shannon went through a four-year tool making apprenticeship and now works in an SA company that is taking advantage of the state’s growing advanced manufacturing sector.

“We’ve heard first-hand from people who have come in and seen these devices work in the field,” Shannon says.

“It’s saved lives, just hearing that is so rewarding, we are contributing to the protection of our defence forces.”

The company’s capabilities in precision machining also has seen it selected to manufacture components for space projects, from world class telescopes to high precision components supplied to Orbital ATK.

This space company manufactured fuel cells that launched the space shuttles to the International Space Station.

Axiom also makes components for the Australian Collins Class Submarines, ranging from precision-machined engine components to electronic hardware and the manufacture of tooling for battery components.

And it has a decade of experience in manufacturing medical devices and components including producing bone plates, dental implant components and specialised surgical equipment.

It’s this range of work – from defence to mining, food and beverage and medical devices industries – that’s kept Shannon committed to his role in a company that is not only growing but also taking on apprentices to train staff for high-end manufacturing in the future.

The business currently has three in-house apprentices and is looking to have another start next year with Shannon saying the state has a bright future.

“We hear that manufacturing in SA has been through a rough time but the ones who have managed to diversify early enough, we are booming, we haven’t had a quiet spell in years,” he says.

“And we’re attractive as employers, we’ve got a guy working here from South Africa and he picked SA because of the liveability and cheaper housing and with talk of the state being a defence hub as well.”

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

SA’s innovative 3D printers boosting growth in advanced manufacturing

Cutting edge 3D metal printers are keeping South Australian advanced manufacturing in the game with the innovative technology already attracting some 100 companies to the Playford region of Adelaide.

Three of the state-of-the-art printers now based in Edinburgh North are creating complex products made from aluminium, titanium and stainless steel, in what is being lauded as the southern hemisphere’s most advanced metal 3D printing facility.

Manager Piers Lincoln said the new facility would boost growth in the defence, medical device and engineering sectors with numerous projects already completed since it opened for business in April.

Work included confidential defence jobs along with work for innovative Adelaide health device company Austofix, that makes a range of specialist plates used in surgery for bone injuries.

“We’ve even had classic car enthusiasts coming with their Bay to Birdwood gems, desperately needing a part that’s no longer found and we’ve been able to make them,” Piers says.

Piers is institute manager at the University of Adelaide’s Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) overseeing the facility and where the idea for its creation originated.

IPAS manager Piers Lincoln.

The institute had been using a smaller 3D metal printer based at the university’s city campus for several years and recognised the need for more and larger printers in the state.

With the help of a $1.4 million former Labor State Government grant, the 3D printing facility is now the only metal additive manufacturing centre in Australia that’s available to companies on a commercial basis, putting SA at the forefront of additive manufacturing.

“Clients who use our current small 3D metal printing facility have had to go overseas to get access to larger printers for the manufacture of products,” the University of Adelaide’s Professor Julie Owens says.

The facility operates from a wing at Century Engineering with the printers able to quickly turn powdered metals like titanium and steel into solid gadgets and innovative devices with the help of a 1600-degree molten laser.

These products previously could have taken weeks to build.

These small Eiffel Tower replicas show the intricate capability of the 3D printing facility.

Having three printers also meant one metal material could be used solely in each machine, Piers says, slashing cleaning time between jobs that may require a different type of metal.

The larger printers sourced from British headquartered global company Renishaw can print products 12 times the size of the city printer.

“We’ve now had 100 companies shown through the facility and we’re working with about 10,” Piers says.

“One of the real benefits is some companies have had to go to New Zealand, Europe and the United States to get parts printed and to work with those overseas companies in terms of design is difficult.

“Now they can come in and understand the process, speak to designers, and see examples to work on a project.”

The goal was to continue growing the facility, Piers says, with another seven to 10 printers installed in the next five years including one producing plastic products at the Stretton Centre in northern Adelaide.

The facility is able to quickly turn powdered metals like titanium and steel into solid gadgets and devices that would otherwise take weeks to build.

“I think the future is going to be very bright for the facility with the number of people interested growing, it’s now a question of working with companies and understanding how to the get the most out of it,” Piers says.

He believes there are some “absolute gems of companies” in SA, including Maptek, Ellex medical and Norseld, a medical laser company that has made a world-first method for creating a thin diamond-like carbon coating at room temperature.

These companies have 200 to 300 employees which is “small by global standards” but are exporting most of their products “so no one ever hears what they are doing and they are absolutely world leading”.

The new facility was about helping these types of innovative SA companies to continue to grow.

The 3D printing facility is the most advanced in the southern hemisphere.

The 3D printing hub is also central to an applied research network including the University of Adelaide’s IPAS along with Optofab Australian National Fabrication Facility, the Stretton Centre and CSIRO’s Lab 22 additive manufacturing.

It’s backed by the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre, which aims to help manufacturers transition from low cost to advanced manufacturing.

And supported by the City of Playford, which was also involved with making the project happen, with Mayor Glenn Docherty saying the printers represented a new era in advanced and bespoke manufacturing that would create new avenues of development.

“We’re confident these printers will help create jobs, efficiencies and future proof businesses in key industries like defence, health, mining and the rail network,” he adds.

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Micro-X workforce is proof of life after automotive industry

Under the roof of the former Mitsubishi Motors assembly plant at Tonsley in Adelaide’s south, about a dozen ex-Holden workers are busy manufacturing x-ray systems that are the first of their kind in the world.

Manufacturing a Holden Commodore and a lightweight x-ray imaging system are, for obvious reasons, worlds apart, but according to Micro-X managing director Peter Rowland, company culture is the same.

When Peter was preparing to shift the relatively new Micro-X from Victoria to South Australia in 2015, he phoned the general manager of Holden’s Elizabeth factory which was headed for closure in two years’ time.

“I said ‘look, I’m setting up this company and my strategy is that I want to import the culture and practices of good manufacturing within the auto industry and I want to recruit some of your best and finest workers’,” he says.

“It’s all about the culture, it’s not just the skills that drives attention to detail, the quality, and the search for better, cheaper, simpler and faster ways to produce high quality products.

Inside Micro-X’s manufacturing facility.

“There is no other industry on earth that makes such a complicated thing as a motorcar as cost effectively and with such high quality as the auto industry.”

Micro-X received a loan from the former Labor State Government to set up operations in SA, choosing Tonsley’s Main Assembly Building (MAB) as the site where it would manufacture lightweight x-ray systems for the medical, defence and airport security sectors.

Former Holden worker Adam Williams was recruited as Micro-X’s first official employee and has since helped grow the business which now has a workforce of 36 and is on the cusp of expansion.

Micro-X’s lightweight x-ray imaging systems are expected to create better outcomes for imaging systems in the medical and military fields, with the company working with the Australian and UK defence forces.

Its DRX-Revolution Nano Mobile X-ray System is designed for Carestream Health Inc of Rochester, New York, an international x-ray systems giant.

The Nano uses world-first technology developed by the University of North Carolina and sourced by Micro-X’s partner XinRay Systems in which Micro-X has a 30% share.

The Nano weighs under 100kg making it more easily transportable around hospitals than the industry’s standard x-ray machines.

The mobile x-ray system is easily transported around hospitals and intensive care units, as it weighs under 100kg which is considerably lighter than the industry standard of about 600kg.

“It’s smaller, simpler and cheaper  … and it’s the first of this technology anywhere in the world. We are the first ones who have made it into a device, got regulatory approvals, and brought it to the market, it’s a global first for SA,” Peter says.

Micro-X is also developing a lightweight, digital mobile x-ray system, the Rover, through a contract with the Australian Defence Force.

The medical imager is designed for use in military deployed medical field hospitals, humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

The Rover is for use in military deployed hospital fields.

From this contract came another, to produce a bench-top prototype of the Mobile Backscatter Imager (MBI), a standoff imaging system for detection of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Peter says the MBI has “superman vision” allowing it to take a high resolution image of IEDs from a distance, reducing risks to explosive experts.

“We’ve proven that it works and now we’re talking to bomb disposal people not only in Australia but in the US too, we’re developing that product as we speak.”

Aside from the Nano, Rover and MBI, Micro-X is also working on the development of a lightweight x-ray system to detect explosives hidden in electronics at airports.

The majority of Micro-X products are sold outside of Australia by the company’s 6.5% shareholder, Carestream Health Inc.

Micro-X is undergoing a $7m expansion at the Tonsley Innovation District.

However, Peter says a couple of SA hospitals already have their eye on the mobile x-ray units, and that in 10 years’ time it will be hard to find a hospital in Adelaide that hasn’t adopted a Micro-X product.

To cater for the demand for its products and growth of its operations, the business is undergoing a $7m expansion of its facilities at Tonsley.

With the help of a $2.4 million Advanced Manufacturing Grant from the Federal Government, Micro-X will double the size of its current footprint, and also take up a separate 600sqm space still under Tonsley’s MAB roof.

The company also plans to recruit additional staff over the next 12 months and grow to about 50 employees.

“Two years from now we’re going to be manufacturing backscatter imagers and airport imagers, as well as a huge volume of mobile x-rays,” Peter says.

“And it’s all happening from Adelaide.”

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Mark Fusco: advanced manufacturing critical to the economy

Cutting edge technology is helping to generate new advanced manufacturing potential for South Australia to grow the economy, according to business improvement specialist Mark Fusco.

“I’m really quite excited for the future in the sense that some of these changes in technology help the smaller companies compete, we don’t have to send things to Asia to be made if we use the technology available in a smart way,” says Mark, Brand South Australia’s newest I Choose SA ambassador.

He says advanced manufacturing in SA is helping level the global playing field so local companies can better compete, grow and create more jobs in the state.

“Advanced manufacturing is such a critical part of any advanced economy, it’s a creator of net wealth, it’s high tech, high value and it’s exportable,” Mark says.

He established award-winning Advanced Focus in 2005 “to help companies scale up” after spending five years working as production engineering manager for global car company Mitsubishi Motors.

He now works with more than 40 sectors in building more advanced systems – and is actually based in a former Mitsubishi building at the Tonsley innovation precinct.

Mark Fusco of Advanced Focus is an I Choose SA ambassador for the Advanced Manufacturing industry. Photo by James Knowler/JKTP.

The company specialises in working with high potential businesses to evaluate the way they operate and to help remodel their systems to boost efficiency and scale.

“If you’re a company that’s growing really fast there are often three things you run out of pretty quickly, you can’t get enough good people, you can’t get enough money to fund expansion and you’re outgrowing your premises, facility and processes,” Mark says.

It’s been a rewarding process, with Advanced Focus winning awards and helping create success stories, like the company’s second customer SA’s Redarc Electronics.

When Mark first worked with Redarc and its managing director Anthony Kittel there were only 15 staff but management was committed to building a global company.

“He had the ambition and we’ve worked in partnership ever since, the company now has over 200 people and is really going well based at Lonsdale,” Mark says.

“You don’t see that ambition often, it’s fantastic to work with a company that really wants to make a change.”

Since then Advanced Focus has worked with the Osborne-based builder of the nation’s Collins class submarines to dramatically slash dry docking maintenance times.

It has also worked with leading defence industry leader BAE Systems Australia and electrification, automation and digitalisation company Siemens.

Last week, Mark was meeting with senior members of the Australian Navy, introducing them to a range of smart SA companies like Tauv, a manufacturer of lightweight military-grade armour.

Tauv has applied world-first technology to additive manufacturing to develop stronger, lighter and smarter armour for defence, law enforcement and the civil industry.

Another is Resonate, a company specialising in the design of custom measurement systems, software development, complex data analytics and systems integration services.

“They’ve created a company called Ping that has created an acoustic sensor that can listen using artificial intelligence … that is being used to monitor wind turbine defects,” Mark says.

Mark is now also focused on recognising the abundance of high-potential companies in the state.

Along with two other companies, Mihell & Lycos and Adept Technology, he established the not-for-profit Impact Awards in 2014.

The aim was to draw together highly respected leaders in the SA business community to help develop and grow more global companies.

Its mission is “to deliver significant value to the SA economy for the long term by actively working with proven, high-potential companies to help them globalise”.

The awards find companies with the greatest potential to impact world markets – with winners paired with the group’s ambassadors to help them achieve their global ambitions faster and with less risk.

Ambassadors include Rheinmetall Defence Australia managing director and Sydac founder Adrian Smith and angel investor and co-founder of Australian company Humense, Amber Cordeaux.

Mark says winners like last year’s Supashock, HMPS and Ziptrak had judges “blown away that they have never heard of some of these companies and also what the have achieved and done it in SA”.

The awards website says it all.

“SA as a high cost economy, with a small and isolated population, needs global companies generating profound impact on the world,” it says.

“By uniting with proven leaders and influencers, our local business community can achieve incredible things to make SA not just one of the best places to live, but also one of the most exciting places from which to run a global enterprise.”

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

German battery giant to create 430 manufacturing jobs for SA

A German energy storage giant has chosen the former Holden car factory in Adelaide’s northern suburbs as the centre of its Australian operations.

Sonnen will assemble and manufacture 50,000 energy storage systems at the site over the next five years, creating about 430 manufacturing and installation jobs for South Australia.

The company’s plans to establish a battery production plant in Adelaide were initially announced in February 2018, when the location was still under consideration.

Sonnen will set up its Australian headquarters at the former Holden manufacturing plant and begin assembling its world-leading home battery technology.

Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ridgway says the new manufacturing centre will become sonnen’s central shipping facility for Australia and the Asia and South Pacific region.

“The State Liberal Government is delighted that sonnen has decided to make Adelaide the centre of its Australian operations and the jobs that will deliver for South Australians,” he says.

“Manufacturing has been a key foundation of SA’s economy for decades and this is set to continue on the back of leading companies like sonnen establishing an advanced manufacturing presence in our state.”

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The State Government says the rollout of the battery systems combined with rooftop solar is expected to “provide significant savings to household electricity bills”.

The sonnen news follows the State Government’s announcement of its $100m Home Battery Scheme.

The scheme is set to provide 40,000 SA households with access to grants up to $6000 to pay for the installation of home battery systems.

Sonnen CEO Christoph Ostermann says SA has a new reputation for being the centre of energy policy in Australia.

“We are very excited to begin manufacturing in SA for the Australian and export markets and anticipate Australia will become the world’s number one market for energy storage systems,” he says.

Sonnen runs a virtual power plant in Germany, where thousands of households are connected with a photovoltaic system (PV) and storage system, forming the decentralised sonnenCommunity.

“As the sonnenBatterie can charge and discharge up to three times a day, it is ideal once battery numbers reach a certain level, to form a virtual power plant capable of supplying energy to the grid on days of high demand,” Christoph says.

“50,000 storage systems will be able to draw down energy stored in the batteries to supply up to 150 megawatts of electricity to the grid, which is the equivalent of a gas-fired peaking power station.”

Header image: sonnen, Facebook.

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Norseld drives world-first diamond-like carbon coating solution

Medical laser company Norseld has established what it believes is a world-first method for creating a thin diamond-like carbon coating at room temperature.

The Adelaide CBD business has been developing the revolutionary thin film coating using its laser platform CoolDiamond DLC for future use in the defence and aerospace industry.

Norseld managing director Peter Shute says the company’s industrial laser is used to create the film at room temperature and is able to be coated onto any material including silicon and plastic.

The coating solution is designed to withstand corrosion, abrasion, scratching, sand, salt and oil, making it a sound choice for the military and defence industry.

Peter says other methods to create diamond-like coatings have existed for some time but were only able to be produced under extremely high temperatures.

“What we do is use our industrial laser to create the film at room temperature,” he says.

“Because our industrial laser is scalable, we can scale that (coating) to a very large extent, and then you can start to coat things like big parts of aeroplanes that you can’t put in high temperature environments.”

A single layer of DLC provides protective properties and anti-reflective performance.

“Nobody else can do this because there is no other scalable industrial laser of this type in the world.

“From a research point of view people have been using lasers to create diamond films for many years, but they are very small scale and slow and not able to be commercialised.

“Our industrial laser has this very unique capability of scaling up.”

Peter says the defence industry was an “obvious choice” for CoolDiamond DLC to target and that the company is currently trialling the film solution with a number of defence primes (major defence companies).

“There is a nice fit with the fact that we’re located in South Australia and that a number of primes are based here, there is so much going on,” says Peter, who has a background in medical devices and orthopaedics.

SA is considered the defence state of Australia, particularly since securing the majority of works within the Federal Government’s $90 billion naval shipbuilding program.

“Defence is a bit like the medical device industry in that it’s ultra controlled with many regulations … we (Norseld) are a medical device manufacturer primarily, so we can slip straight over into the mindset of what is required for the defence industry.

“So that is an advantage in that respect as well.”

The diamond-like carbon coating also holds potential for the world of retail eyewear, including sunglasses and ski goggles, as well as the medical devices industry.

“Luxottica, the world’s biggest sunglass maker, is interested in being able to coat on plastic for wear protection,” Peter says.

“The other thing is diamond-coated medical implants like pacemakers and stents and anything else that floats in the body. The body doesn’t reject diamond because it sees it as one.

“As you start to think about what might be possible, your mind boggles.”

Peter says the advanced manufacturing solution is still in implementation stages and is in the process of being “scaled up”.

Norseld was established in Adelaide more than 30 years ago, growing to design, manufacture and export laser systems to 30 different countries.

It has 20 staff and exports 90% of its products which include laser platforms used in the medical industry.

Peter says SA is a leader in Industry 4.0 and is renowned for its leading-edge advanced manufacturing solutions.

“I think we’ve become very good at understanding where our strengths lie and capitalising on them,” he adds.

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Inside the high-tech manufacturing at beverage icon Bickford’s Australia

As most of Bickford’s 180 Salisbury based staff are home at night sleeping, a squad of five driverless forklifts quietly traverse the distribution warehouse preparing for the morning’s deliveries.

They follow instructions uploaded to a computer system during the day to ensure the correct products, among some 400 made by the South Australian drinks business, are waiting at the loading dock.

“We have a software program that allows us to track each item by location, the automatic guided vehicles will put away stock in designated locations, then they can pick up stock from those locations and we can track every aspect including use by dates,” supply chain manager Darren Wittenberg says.

When the automatic guided vehicles were bought for the Salisbury facility in 2012 the company was one of the first in the state to incorporate the technology into its production and distribution system.

Now the company that sold Bickford’s these vehicles brings potential new clients along to show how effectively they operate.

Automated guided vehicles make their way around the Bickford’s warehouse.

In fact, Darren and commercialisation manager Shane Houghton are often conducting tours of the pristine and highly efficient production lines and warehouse that is family owned and overseen by Bickford’s Group chief Angelo Kotses.

It’s surprisingly quiet inside the vast building where five different production lines ensure the company’s juices, cordials and alcohol products are bottled and packaged.

Among them is the iconic Bickford’s Lime Juice Cordial that helped make the company a household name and, in 2006, was recognised by the National Trust of South Australia as a Heritage Icon.

A PET packaging and filling plant is able to blow, decorate, fill and pack a range of still and hot plastic bottles, while other sections of the facility label, wrap and pack bottles for distribution to customers all over the world.

“Over the past 10 years, the business has become very complex,” Darren says.

“It has grown through acquisitions of brands and assets and they have all come into the Bickford’s Group family, in order to coordinate that growth we have had to put new equipment and systems in place so it’s streamlined.

“One day we will be running water, cordial, juices and later in that day it may switch over to beer, wine or spirits.”

Bickford’s Australia is one SA company that has taken on advanced manufacturing processes to improve capabilities.

As a result, the group that owns both Bickford’s beverages and Vok, the alcohol beverage unit of the business, has aimed to keep its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility it moved into during 2005, ahead of the curve.

Commercialisation manager Shane Houghton says it’s vital to have efficient systems.

Its production lines can be quickly cleaned and switched to alternate drinks for bottling – while the automatic forklifts transfer products from the production shed and into the warehouse using a cutting edge software program.

“Effectively we don’t need to stock-take any more, our warehouse management system has 100% stock accuracy,” Shane says.

The vehicles stop if sensors pick up movement ahead and if they aren’t working, drive themselves back to battery charging stations around the warehouse.

This embracing of advanced manufacturing technologies is an impressive vision for one of the nation’s oldest brands, founded more than 175 years ago.

The Bickford’s group has also invested in sterile filtration technologies, meaning it can produce a number of products free of preservatives that do not need to be pasteurised.

Bickford’s Group marketing manager Chris Illman is a proud supporter of I Choose SA.

“As a beverage company, a vital ingredient in all our products is water,” according to company statements.

“Naturally, purity is supremely important so we invested in a sophisticated water treatment plant that uses reverse osmosis technology. Before being used in our products all water passes through a series of filters to remove the impurities.”

The group also owns a $25m purpose built manufacturing facility, the 5000 tonne crush Step Road winery in Langhorne Creek on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Other assets include the 23rd Street Distillery in Renmark, the Beenleigh Distillery in Queensland, Pomegranates Australia in the Northern Mallee and the Beresford Estate luxury function centre and tasting pavilion, nestled among 28ha of super-premium vineyards at McLaren Flat.

Staff based at Bickford’s Salisbury headquarters and production site in northern Adelaide are equipped with the latest in ordering programs, with the sales team using tablets and iPads for direct ordering.

“We are always looking at ways to improve, whether it be through programming or engineering, we never stop at the status quo and say that’s how we do it now, “ Darren says.

“It’s about working smarter not harder, if you don’t it means more costs and we want to be the most cost effective producer out there so we can be competitive not just to imports coming in but also exporting to other countries.”

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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