The winner of this year’s Technology Application Award was CaromaDorf, with highly commended going to BHP Billiton/Mitsubishi Alliance and Marand Precision Engineering. Katherine Crichton writes.
WATER conservation has been a long term focus for CaromaDorf, a designer, manufacturer, importer and distributor of domestic and commercial sanitary-ware and bathroom products.
After the company recognised the need to reduce OH&S risks and operating costs in order become more competitive against increasing market pressure from imports, they invested in extensive R&D and decided to replace the company’s traditional plaster mould casting practices with an innovative new method.
The company now uses AVM Pressure casting which utilises microporous resin moulds that do not require drying, as the water is forced into the mould under pressure, providing a very fast continuous and automated casting cycle.
It was this investment in new technology that saw the Wetherill Park NSW based company win top honours in the Technology Application of the Year category at this year’s Endeavour Awards.
Dan Thompson, Project Manager with CaromaDorf, said the award was very welcome recognition of the energy and time that was put into developing and refining the pressure casting process.
“Using the AVM machine was a triple benefit for us because it addresses an efficient process and allows us to develop more advance products which is an asset to our business and it enables us to up-skill all our employees.
Thompson also said it was the first time the company has been involved with manufacturing awards such as the Endeavours and to be recognised in this way is really motivating for everyone in the company.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
It seemed like a simple task to track and trace over 17,000 individual spares equipment items entering a warehouse in a real-time environment and link this information to an existing SAP system as the items are logged out of the warehouse, and the solution is complete… simple right?
Not really, as the BHP Billiton/Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) in Norwich Park Mine, Queensland found out. The maintenance warehouse at the mine had previously been using SAP as a stand-alone inventory and asset management system.
The Alliance turned to Syscan International for help and installed a Suncat Inventory Management System using UHF for the solution. This enabled BMA to have long distance readability with a 4W site licence.
The end solution combines tagging of inventory, job request forms and miners helmets.
BMA now has 300 mine personnel with RFID chips embedded into their mine helmets and the company has coded over 90% of the 17,000 items and designed the firmware to link to SAP.
RFID portals have been installed at all entrances and exits to the warehouse and every personnel are logged and tracked as they enter or exit the facility.
When accepting the award for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, the company’s Norwich Park Mine Supply Coordinator Shane Hellwege said being commended in this category was a testament to all the hard work and dedication of the people involved in the project.
“RFID is a new and different technology but it is worth investing in. But it was also the cooperation and specification between the Sunshine, BMA and CSC teams that goes to the core of the success of the project,” he said.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Melbourne-based Marand Precision Engineering has a history of constant innovation and as a recognised and proven Tier 1 supplier, it is no surprise to find the company was high commended in the Technology Application of the Year category.
An increase in workload prompted the company to concentrate further on streamlining its programming processes and reduce the bottleneck of routing all CNC programming through the one department. The company decided on the purchase and rapid roll out of multiple seats of Delcam’s Power Mill.
The computerisation of the company’s entire business operations, not only with CAD, CAM & CAE but also an integrated ERP system, has allowed Marand to communicate seamlessly and efficiently with customers and suppliers, regardless of where they are.
Rohan Stocker, Marand’s CEO, was on hand to accept the award at the gala awards dinner.
“This award acknowledges Marand’s expertise in applying CAD, CAM and CAE in our diverse and unique Australian manufacturing business, which is very important to us because of the technology-focused markets we are in and is one of the main reasons why our global customers are continuing to place orders with Marand,” Stocker told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
“Another benefit of receiving an award in this category is that Marand is now a more attractive option for potential employees and this is invaluable especially in respect to the current skills shortage.”