During the COVID-19 pandemic, many manufacturers must keep running to provide essential services. The Institute of Instrumentation, Control and Automation’s Peter Veron shares his observations on how the process engineering market has been operating. As countries continue to reduce exports during the COVID-19 shutdown, Australian-based businesses have been given opportunities to manufacture locally. The Institute … Continue reading Less imports lead to boom in manufacturing opportunities for essential services →

PACE speaks to Treotham Automation managing director Mikael Paltoft about how the company is overcoming challenges to their supply chain during COVID-19. Paltoft counts his company as lucky during the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruption in air freight and delivery costs, which according to Paltoft have been raised by nearly 600 per cent, has not stopped … Continue reading Positivity and connection during COVID-19 →

Prevention is the name of the game when it comes to maintenance of electrical equipment in water and wastewater treatment facilities, according to Steve Keown, CBC‘s National Product Manager for Lubricants. “Why risk spending thousands of dollars on repairs when you can prevent those damages?” says Keown. “When you are running a water treatment plant 24 … Continue reading Shine on: Keeping electrical parts clean and glowing →

Water transfer has both the requirement for delivery and suction hoses. Pumps require suction hoses to draw the water from one point, and then a pressure hose to transfer water to a delivery point. Commissioning the wrong fittings or cover for an industrial transfer hose can be a costly mistake. Expertise is needed right from … Continue reading Running water seamlessly with the right hose variables →

Driven by the many advantages of a smart home or smart building, the demand for comprehensive, intelligent and safe automation of buildings using KNX is increasing worldwide. An increasing number of system integrators, installers and craftsmen are joining the world’s leading standard for intelligent building networking. KNX already has more than 90,000 partners in 167 … Continue reading KNX launches a free virtual solution →

When a major water pumping station approached CBC Australia about a shaft coupling problem, they not only received a product type that was better suited to their application but managed to reduce the amount of inventory they had in stock by over 500 per cent. This resulted in improved pump performance and significant cost savings. … Continue reading Pumping for the long haul →

Total-loss bills resulting from large recall events are having major impacts across the globe, in all manufacturing sectors. Quality Assurance Managers and Chief Operating Officers are understandably becoming increasingly overwhelmed in a complex environment where they cannot account for everything. They are faced with increased focus on safety and regulation by authorities; complex global supply … Continue reading Traceability – is your company hoping for the best or planning for the worst? →

The challenge for any water and wastewater operation is in keeping the equipment running efficiently in spite of the harsh conditions and contamination it is exposed to. Foul water contamination in particular will affect the life of essential components such as bearings in rotating machinery. This is why a triple-sealed bearing is often recommended for … Continue reading Bearing the contamination of foul water →

Oil is the lifeblood of plant and machinery in the water and wastewater industries. Gulf Western Oil (GWO) has a small range of oils for this industry, which are invaluable if things go wrong especially when it comes to the environment. GWO’s national key account manager, Christopher Bright, explains. “Oils in this industry need to … Continue reading Product knowledge key to symbiotic relationship →

When two metal flanges meet, imperfections in the metal to metal contact allows liquids to leak. These imperfections can be caused by a number of factors, including temperature causing expansion and contraction or vibration and constant movement of components. For a water or wastewater plant, this presents a number of serious issues that must be … Continue reading Keeping flanges locked tight →

Keeping New Zealand fruit export industry competitive on the global stage means finding ways of keeping post-harvest operations efficient. PACE looks at a robotic solution that pushes the envelope in bin filling technology. The post-harvest sector, where agricultural produce is dealt with immediately following harvest, involves the cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing of crops. In … Continue reading Reaping the harvest: automating New Zealand’s agricultural industry →

Like BMW, DHL, and M&Ms, some companies have become so familiar that they are just known by their acronym. In the water and wastewater industry two such companies are BSC and CRC. With BSC standing for Bearing Service Company, and CRC standing for Corrosion Reaction Consultants, the meeting of the two in an industry driven … Continue reading A trusted partnership in protecting against corrosion →

While the human eye can detect electromagnetic radiation in the visible light spectrum, all other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as infrared, are invisible. Discovered in 1800 by astronomer Frederick William Herschel, infrared radiation lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The primary source of infrared radiation is heat, or in … Continue reading Painting thermal pictures →

PACE speaks with Vega Australia’s managing director John Leadbetter about responding to innovations in the automation and manufacturing industries. With wave after wave of innovation emerging and promising to disrupt the industry in new ways, it can be overwhelming to keep up. According to Vega Australia’s managing director, John Leadbetter, however, what manufacturers are craving, … Continue reading Adapting to an age of technological disruption →

Together CBC and Gates offer a dedicated selection of water hoses for a multitude of applications, from farm irrigation through to chemical treatments at wastewater plants. This variety is what keeps people like Kent Clark, Product Manager for Fluid Power at Gates Australia motivated to continually improve the industry. Whether it’s launching new products into … Continue reading CBC and Gates team up to keep water pumping →

Stephane Marouani, country manager at MathWorks ANZ, tells us what new trends will dominate in STEM education and how aspiring employees will be required to adopt new learning methods. The importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) skills to business development and the future of work has been widely talked about for a few years … Continue reading Coding to learn, self-paced studying and more: how STEM students can up their skills game in 2020 →

Metso and Outotec are on the verge of combining into a minerals processing powerhouse. Ben Creagh explores what this, along with Metso’s vision for autonomous mineral processing, means for mining. Metso is gearing up for a transformational year in 2020 as the company moves through the final stages of combining with Outotec. In July last … Continue reading Autonomous processing emerges as Metso joins forces with Outotec →

Food and beverage production needs high volumes of energy and produces large amounts of waste. What are the best ways for companies to be environmentally sustainable while maintaining economic efficiency? PACE talks to Total Construction’s James Bolton and Rob Blythman. Food and beverage processing is highly energy intensive. Producing the heat required for industrial production, … Continue reading Making production sustainable and efficient →

Philipp H. F. Wallner, Industry Manager, Industrial Automation & Machinery, MathWorks, discusses four common hurdles that need to be overcome before tapping into the benefits of predictive maintenance. These days you keep hearing about predictive maintenance and how valuable it is. It’s the utopia where equipment operators can anticipate impending malfunctions, pre-emptively schedule repairs, minimise … Continue reading Moving predictive maintenance from theory to practice →

Over the last two years, APS Industrial has been the master distributor of Siemens industrial low-voltage electrical and automation products in Australia. PACE speaks with Justin Farrell from Siemens and Simon Kearney from APS Industrial to discuss the recent trends in industrial automation technology. Coming under the broad umbrella of “Industry 4.0”, recent trends in … Continue reading Getting the edge in industrial automation →