Ford closing its car assembly plant in Geelong was the death knell for many small businesses in the tight community south-west of Melbourne. Despite both state and federal government promises, unions getting militant and locals crossing their fingers, toes – just about everything – hoping that the Australian car industry could survive, the doors closed … Continue reading How opportunities arose after the auto industry left town →

Beckhoff is well-known in the world of automation for PC-based control systems, EtherCAT and other sophisticated technologies. Talking with Christian Vilsbeck, editor-in-chief of automation magazine A&D, Hans Beckhoff reveals why he wasn’t taken seriously at first, why not every component has to be intelligent, and why digitization without a human touch will fail. Your passion … Continue reading Trust reduces complexity of digitisation →

The first systems to use anaerobic digestion technology to turn waste plastics into energy and fertiliser are being developed in South Australia. POET Systems expects to have its first two machines – each capable of processing 20 tonnes of plastic a week – operating commercially in about 12 months. POET is an acronym for Polymer … Continue reading Machine turns waste plastic into energy →

Whether in operating theatres or looking after patients in intensive care wards, a reliable power supply is essential for a modern hospital. If the power and therefore the medical life support equipment should fail during a surgical procedure, the consequences would be unimaginable. That’s why energy supply systems in hospitals are doubly or even triply … Continue reading Failsafe power helping to eliminate hospital blackouts →

Robotics will cause the most disruption in the supply chain in the next five years, according to a study carried out by the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville’s Global Supply Chain Institute, as first reported by Modern Materials Handling. The study looked at the anticipated impact of five technologies on the supply chain on the next … Continue reading Robotics to be biggest supply chain disruptor →

The advent of the Internet of Things will result in a complete overhaul of industrial operations.

With the push for greater development of clean renewable energy sources continuing to gather momentum, is there likely to be an increasing focus on potential opportunities for involvement of Australia’s manufacturing industry in supplying this market segment?

It’s been hard to miss the curiosity around “the Fourth Industrial revolution” across industry news stories and conversations over the last few years. Scott Moffat, managing director of Pilz Australia reveals how automation is set to be industry’s big game changer.

Cybersecurity researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new form of ransomware that was able to take over control of a simulated water treatment plant.

The advent of the Internet of Things will result in a complete overhaul of industrial operations.

The latest complaints about the National Broadband Network (NBN), including concerns about slow download speeds and frequent dropouts, show that all is not well with the NBN.

The public debate over the problems of electricity supply displays a curious disconnect.

Many companies are increasing investments in data centres located both domestically and abroad, to ensure they are ready for the next generation of cloud services. They need the right infrastructure in place to ensure a rapid and seamless transmission of data, voice and video to an increasing number of users.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has talked of an “urgent” need to increase gas supplies to improve energy security. But how much extra gas do we need? And how do we square this with the equally pressing need to reduce our use of fossil fuels?

If a machine can think, decide and act on its own volition, if it can be harmed or held responsible for its actions, should we stop treating it like property and start treating it more like a person with rights?

PACE spoke with David Hegarty, managing director Rockwell Australia and New Zealand about how IoT represents a real jumping-off point for innovation, what it means for manufacturers in the Oceania region and some tips on moving forward to embrace a new era of business with connectivity and analytics as the driving force.

In our ongoing series talking to industry leaders, we have a chat with Solgen Energy Group executive general manager David Naismith about renewable energy, the solar industry and the challenges borne out of the growing solar power storage sector.

These sensor-enabled, advanced robots are now able to undertake more complicated tasks and are being deployed into industrial, commercial, domestic, logistic and other sectors where robot penetration was previously limited, with the market for robotic vision and force sensing alone expected to reach over $16.1 billion by 2027.

Australian business is calling for certainty in energy and climate policy: that’s one thing they can’t be certain they’ll get this year. But there will be some useful groundwork.