TAFE SA in Adelaide has over 27,000 students across seven campuses and has a vision to be a world-class leader of learning that equips students with the skills to develop and prosper.
In order to achieve this vision, the Institute is developing innovative pathways to meet career aspirations and respond to the needs of South Australia’s workforce.
When the school was looking to extend its sheetmetal and boilermaker program and curriculum, they wanted to incorporate technology that would allow students to create functional cut parts on a machine relevant to this industry.
“We wanted to give our boilermaker and sheetmetal apprentices the opportunity to learn using a CNC machine which is used industry,” says Jeff Bryant from SA TAFE. “We wanted a machine helps them gain a new, critical area of expertise and real-world experience.”
After doing their homework, talking to different local and overseas suppliers and manufacturers, Bryant and his team decided to invest in an ART CNC SMART Air Plasma cutter, including fume extraction.
“We were looking for a turnkey system, so we didn’t have to worry about getting additional software on the machine to run it, with different NC codes,” Bryant says. “I wanted something that would just run straight off, something simple and easy to use, but high-tech and standard in industry.”
ART’s SMART plasma cutter fulfils all these requirements, offering reliable plasma technology at a low investment cost, yet featuring a high level of performance and features.
The machine is designed to work with most commonly available sheet and plate sizes and thicknesses. Its small footprint suits small to mid-sized shops as found in the sheetmetal and boilermaking industries, where this and similar machines are run, making it a suitable fit for training purposes.
The large user-friendly touch screen controller runs the latest version of ART’s ProfileShop software, which allows good usability over all machine functions. Bryant likes the software’s simplicity of use and the fact that it gives him control over each job.
Investing in an Australian-made machine has paid off for the Institute. “ART provided us with training and local support, which you cannot get buying a Chinese machine,” Bryant says.
Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) came from humble beginnings to become an international supplier of CNC Router and Plasma profile machines. The company is based in Lytton, Queensland.