The benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) are being seen in the mining industry in various forms such as in automated trains, automated drills, and the algorithms that enable predictive maintenance.
With Edge AI – which marries edge computing with AI – AI is feasible at a much larger scale in mining than ever before. This is because the AI is working via machine learning algorithms located and stored locally, as opposed to relying on constant communication with the cloud.
The four benefits of Edge AI include:
1. Speed
Edge AI can help mining companies process large amounts of data at the edge of their networks – closer to where the data is being generated.
Devices make near-instant decisions without having to upload or download data from the cloud or data centre. This reduces latency and enables real-time decision-making, which can improve operational efficiency, productivity, and safety.
2. Savings
As the AI is located on the ‘edge’ the network costs for running AI applications are significantly lower as they require less internet bandwidth. This amplifies other savings that mining companies can see from adopting AI to optimise operations and minimise waste.
For instance, edge AI can be used to enhance the performance of drilling and blasting operations, reducing the amount of energy and resources required. It can also be used to optimise the routing of mining vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and wear and tear on equipment.
3. Smart
The AI gains knowledge by tapping back into the cloud-based network whenever it can’t adequately answer or perform a task, meaning it will keep learning, but only when it needs to. This makes AI for predictive maintenance more viable on a large scale – predictive formulas can be hosted on the edge, but the AI will continue to get smarter.
4. Secure
As Edge AI devices analyse real-world information and store confidential data locally without uploading to the cloud, they offer a mining operation more security and privacy of data.
Additionally, AI can be deployed to detect and prevent cyberattacks or breaches.
Thinking about integrating Edge AI technology? Choosing the right platform is key to performance in a mining environment. The Australian-owned Backplane Technology Systems has been providing Australian mining companies with industrial computing systems for over 30 years. The company is exclusive suppliers of the Neousys Edge AI GPU (Graphics Processing Units) which are designed to function in industrial and extreme conditions.
“Our lineup of Neousys embedded edge AI GPU platforms are powered by NVIDIA GPUs and share common features such as a patented thermal design to ensure wide working temperatures, a patented damping bracket to withstand serious shock and vibration and an adaptive GPU bracket to support various cards in the system,” Backplane chief executive officer Kristy Comb said.
“These embedded GPU systems have been optimised to support complex deep learning computations and ensure efficient and effective AI training. In particular, our Neoysys SEMIL series have certain features that make them ideal for mining environments.”
The Neousys SEMIL series is an Edge AI platform specifically engineered for the rugged environmental conditions experienced in mining sectors.
Key features and benefits of Neousys SEMIL series:
Water, dust, and corrosion proof
Perfect fit for rugged environments where shock, vibration and humidity are experienced.
Fanless GPU computers
MIL-STD-810G and EN 50155 certified
Highly power efficient
Can operate in temperatures that range from -25°C to 70°C
Interested to understand the value that Edge AI can bring to your mining operation in more detail? Download the free white paper ‘Harnessing the benefits of AI in mining’.
AspenTech is providing intelligent digital solutions to the mining industry, helping reduce downtime and emissions while maximising asset performance.
Mobile and fixed equipment plant maintenance is one of the costliest parts of a mining operation. This stems from the fact that site operators typically rely on preventive maintenance schedules designed by the original equipment manufacturer.
But this system is too rigid to depend on, and can fail to account for variations in the use of equipment, different working environments and the effects of extreme weather. It’s the equivalent of ignoring the warning light in a car because it’s still got three months until the next service.
There is a better way of doing things, and it’s called prescriptive maintenance. AspenTech’s Aspen Mtell solution offers the mining industry exactly that.
Aspen Mtell is a predictive and prescriptive maintenance solution that uses machine learning to monitor equipment in real-time for imminent and future failures.
“Companies are facing increasing pressure to reduce their carbon footprint and improve operational efficiency in order to meet global climate targets,” senior industry marketing consultant for AspenTech, Brandon Richardson, told Australian Mining. “To deal with these challenges, many companies are turning to digitalisation solutions.
“AspenTech offers advanced digitalisation solutions specifically designed to assist companies in the mining industry to achieve their sustainability goals and improve operational efficiency, while also minimising costly environmental and safety risks.
“AspenTech’s asset performance management solutions provide a comprehensive suite of tools, including Aspen Mtell, to monitor and optimise performance of mining assets.”
By monitoring machine performance round-the-clock, the Mtell software can recognise patterns indicative of degradation and impending failure. These early warnings give site operators the chance to plan maintenance weeks – and sometimes months – ahead, rather than reactively working through equipment failures at the expense of time and money.
“The high costs associated with maintenance, repairs, and downtime can be a significant burden for mining companies,” Richardson said.
“AspenTech helps address these challenges by providing predictive maintenance solutions that can reduce downtime and maintenance costs.”
Aspen Mtell has been tried and tested in the field, and the results speak for themselves.
“A particular mining client was having difficulty predicting when maintenance was required on their trucks, resulting in frequent breakdowns and increased maintenance costs,” Richardson said.
“By implementing Aspen Mtell, the company was able to analyse sensor data from the trucks and develop predictive models called agents that could accurately forecast maintenance needs.
“This allowed the company to proactively schedule maintenance, reducing unplanned downtime and improving overall equipment reliability.”
Aspen Mtell is also making operations safer. In one instance, the software flagged a failure in a customer’s oil heater.
“In those types of industrial machines, a failure would have meant hot oil vaporising cold water, which would have caused a rapid steam explosion,” Richardson said.
“A failure would have had catastrophic safety implications, but thanks to Aspen Mtell, the site operator was able to take pre-emptive action and avoid an accident.”
Aspen Mtell pairs well with another AspenTech solution, known as advanced process control (APC). APC provides real-time control and optimisation of equipment, helping mining companies make their operations run as efficiently as possible.
“APC enables mining companies to optimise their production processes and reduce energy consumption,” Richardson said. “AspenTech APM and APC solutions help mining companies to make data-driven decisions that improve process efficiency, optimise production, and reduce environmental impact.
“The integration of AspenTech APM and APC solutions ensures that mining companies can achieve their sustainability objectives while remaining competitive in an uncertain economic environment.”
Energy efficiency and safety play a huge role in achieving environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, meaning solutions like Aspen Mtell are vital for staying competitive in an evolving mining market.
And ESG targets are much more than just a peripheral consideration.
There is tangible value for mining companies in maintaining safe and responsible worksites, and in reducing emissions in line with the global push for net-zero.
Social and environmental practices are becoming essential for mining companies to secure a social license to operate. Demonstrating such responsibility helps project approvals go smoother, which directly translates to a faster timeline and profitability.
In this way, intelligent solutions like AspenTech APM and APC not only help keep expenses under control, but add real value for AspenTech’s mining industry clients.
“AspenTech is committed to helping its clients in the mining industry achieve sustainable, cost effective, and optimised operations,” Richardson said.
“The company has a network of experts of who can provide support and guidance throughout the implementation process, ensuring clients get the most out of their investment.”
BHP and Microsoft will collaborate to improve copper recovery at BHP’s Escondida copper mine in Chile.
The collaboration will see BHP use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimise concentrator performance at the site.
Escondida is the world’s largest copper mine, with a known resource of 21.7 billion tonnes in 2019.
It is hoped that the new digital technology will allow the team at Escondida to generate more value from the existing resource.
“We expect the next big wave in mining to come from the advanced use of digital technologies,” BHP chief technical officer Laura Tyler said.
“As grades decline at existing copper mines and fewer new economic discoveries are made, next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics will need to be used to unlock more production and value from our existing mines.”
John Montgomery, Microsoft corporate vice president, AI platform said the company is keen to partner with BHP in a transformational project.
“We are excited to partner with BHP on this transformative project that demonstrates the power of AI, machine learning and cloud technologies”, he said.
“We expect global demand for copper to increase significantly as the world transitions to lower carbon sources of energy powered by more solar panels and wind turbines,” Basto said in his speech.
“We have operated Escondida in Chile, the largest copper mine in the world for more than 30 years… Every year, Escondida mines enough material to fill the Adelaide Oval to the roof 80 times, and produces enough copper to produce around 12 million electric vehicles.”
International Graphite’s Springdale graphite project in WA.
Renascor Resources, International Graphite and Quantum Graphite are three ASX-listed companies driving the emerging graphite industry in Australia. We take a closer look at their attributes.
One of the key raw materials in the green energy transition is graphite, but while Australia is a key producer of other battery metals such as lithium, nickel and manganese, there are no active Australian graphite mining operations.
Graphite is used as an input for anodes – one of two electrodes that make up a lithium-ion battery, with cathodes – made up of metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt – the other electrode.
According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, demand for anodes grew by 46 per cent in 2022, while supply of flake graphite – the most geologically common form of natural graphite – enjoyed 14 per cent growth last year.
This created a supply–demand imbalance, with Benchmark observing a 25 per cent rise in the price for -100 mesh flake graphite.
The lithium-ion battery anode market also became flake graphite’s biggest end user in 2022, running ahead of traditional applications in foundry and refractory industries.
And the good news doesn’t stop there, with more incentives emerging for future graphite producers.
“Rising prices on strong anode demand are expected to incentivise new supply in 2023, where four new mines are anticipated to join the flake graphite market,” Benchmark senior analyst George Miller said.
“Alongside expansions at current mines in both China and Africa, supply is set to grow by around 15 per cent.”
Miller said the -100 mesh graphite market, the preferred mesh size for anode manufacturing, is set to experience a deficit in 2023, which might see advancements in the types of anode feedstock.
“This might include milling of larger mesh sizes to suit the battery market or the use of different mesh sizes to stymie a supply deficit,” he said. “Sustaining a raw material shortage in the natural graphite anode value chain risks curtailing natural graphite anode market share.”
Several Australian companies are looking to ignite the local graphite industry. Some are not only focused on producing raw materials, but also developing a downstream offering as well. Australian Resources & Investment profiles three of those companies.
Renascor Resources’ Siviour graphite project is located on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Renascor Resources
With a market capitalisation of more than $500 million, Renascor Resources is the highest profile Australian-focused graphite company on the ASX. This is due to the significance of its vertically integrated Siviour battery anode material (BAM) project in South Australia, which comprises a proposed mine and concentrator near Arno Bay on the Eyre Peninsula and a planned downstream purified spherical graphite (PSG) facility in Port Adelaide.
The Siviour mine area is massive, holding the world’s second largest proven graphite reserve and the largest graphite reserve outside of Africa. This could support a mining operation for 40 years.
Siviour received Program for Environment Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) approval in November 2022 – the second step in a two-step assessment process from the South Australian Government.
The PEPR approval enables Renascor to process up to 1.65 million tonnes of ore per annum, allowing the production of 150,000 tonnes of graphite concentrates per annum.
Renascor has the backing of the Australian Government through a $185 million loan facility, while the company was also successful in raising $70 million through an institutional placement in December 2022. This was priced at $0.275 per share.
Renascor managing director David Christensen said upstream development would be the company’s initial focus, as that’s where he sees market demand.
“The gap in (graphite) material right now is really on the upstream and that’s largely because the customer base has grown significantly on the anode side and on the midstream processing side to feed battery companies, but the mines haven’t caught up,” he told Australian Resources & Investment.
Once flake graphite concentrates are produced from Renascor’s Siviour open-pit mine and processing plant on the Eyre Peninsula, further processing at the Port Adelaide facility would deliver a midstream PSG product to support battery anode manufacturing.
Christensen provided further analysis of current graphite dynamics.
“If we see where we are with graphite right now, China produces two thirds of the world’s graphite but processes 100 per cent of the graphite that goes into anodes and then produces about 90 per cent of the anodes,” Christensen said.
“And they’ve really built up their processing capacity, both on the midstream … and on the anode side, and for that matter on the battery and the EV (electric vehicle) side as well.
“There may be even overcapacity there, but there’s undercapacity certainly in China on the flake graphite, so China has now become a net importer of flake graphite, and that’s really what’s causing the increase in the price. The reason they’re a net importer is because they need to feed the lithium-ion battery sector.”
Given its bright future as a battery anode material, Christensen compared graphite’s prospects to another battery metal key to the EV sector.
“What we tell people is graphite is the next lithium, and the more people that figure it out the better because I think we’re going to see not just our prices, but a number of prices go up relatively quickly fuelled from the supply gap,” he said.
“So it’s a great opportunity and I think there’s a lot of ASX companies who look like they have some pretty exciting resources.”
Renascor managing director David Christensen with a graphite slide.
International Graphite
Founded in 2018, ASX-listed International Graphite was built on the premise that the graphite industry would need more downstream processing capacity outside of China as the demand for battery anode materials increased.
The company is developing a mine-to-market business model, whereby raw materials would be mined from the Springdale graphite project in WA and fed into a downstream processing plant in the emerging renewable energy hub of Collie.
International Graphite successfully commissioned its micronising facility in September 2022, which the company believes is the most advanced known pilot-scale graphite micronising and spheroidising plant to be installed and operated in Australia.
Micronising is the critical first step in the downstream processing of battery anode materials.
“What micronising does is essentially takes a fine concentrate, which might be 100–150 microns in size, somewhere in that order, and essentially grinds it down to a 20-micron size,” International Graphite managing director and chief executive officer Andrew Worland told Australian Resources & Investment.
“Generally speaking, somewhere in the vicinity of 20 microns is what’s needed to progress a micronised graphite product through the battery anode process. You then spheroidise the micronised graphite and purify it, which involves taking a concentrate grade, let’s say 95 per cent, up to battery grade of 99.95 per cent.
“The final step is coating, and then you have a high-value product which is available for battery manufacturers.”
International Graphite’s Collie facility will also act as a centre for research and development (R&D) to explore the possibility of producing a finished battery anode material product.
The company acquired the Springdale project from Comet Resources in April 2022, with Comet seeing the value in International Graphite’s downstream potential. This was also reflective of broader investor sentiment.
“Where the industry was moving to more broadly from an investor perspective, was the value of a company was not being reflected in the mining assets but being reflected in the extent to which companies had explored downstream processing of their own materials,” Worland said.
“So Comet formed the view that merging the asset (Springdale) with our downstream processing IP (intellectual property) would yield a very nice consolidated business entity that was all held in Western Australia and offered the benefits of ESG (environmental, social and governance) to the global marketplace. That was the basis of listing in April 2022.”
International Graphite commenced trading on the ASX following a $10 million initial public offering (IPO), and within a month the company had unveiled a larger graphite R&D facility in Collie and announced a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ZEN Energy to explore renewable energy options for its downstream facilities.
Drilling saw International Graphite identify several high-grade discoveries at Springdale throughout 2022, including Springdale Central and Springdale South.
In October 2022, the company finalised a $2 million financial assistance agreement with the WA Government to support the development of its Collie downstream facilities.
Worland said International Graphite could potentially commence importing concentrate before its Springdale project comes online.
“We can get that (our micronising plant) started on imported concentrates, and it may be, in time, a facility that we use to divert some Springdale material to as well,” he said.
“We’ll use that micronising facility to develop a customer base and generate cash flow into the company in 2024, before the feasibility study for Springdale and the feasibility studies for the battery anode material plant in Collie have been developed and completed.”
International Graphite’s strategy doesn’t stop there, with the company taking a holistic view at its development to find the best pathway forward.
“One of the challenges that all development-stage resource companies have in looking to get downstream is the timing to market,” Worland said. “This is certainly the case within the graphite industry.
“It takes a lot of integration of facilities and of course there’s a qualification process which is reasonably unique to graphite from a battery anode perspective that all companies need to go through. This does delay your market entry point.
“What we think is a very nice way to bridge that market entry is through establishing this micronising facility, which will be profitable very quickly. This will generate cash flow for the business that will help develop the feasibility work that we need to complete for Springdale and Collie.
“Just as important as cash flow is the market intelligence in customer networking. It’s the experience in sales and logistics that is something that doesn’t sit within any development-stage companies at this point in time. It’s a skill set that we’ll have through operations that others won’t.”
Graphite has a bright future as a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries.
Quantum Graphite
The Uley mine in South Australia was the sole Australian graphite producer when it was up and running between 2014–15. Uley was placed on care and maintenance in December 2015 by Valence Industries, before the company was rebranded as Quantum Graphite in July 2017.
Quantum Graphite is advancing Uley to a restart – as Uley 2 – where it aims to produce 55,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of flake graphite from its processing plant. This would be generated from 500,000tpa of feed. The expected mine life is 12 years.
The company has been undertaking significant site works at Uley 2 before installation of the new processing plant commences, which involved remediation of the Uley legacy plant.
Recent achievements for Quantum Graphite include the renewal of its Mikkira exploration licence until October 2027. Mikkira covers much of the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula and includes Uley 2, as well as other prospects such as Salt Lake, Homestead, Kacey and Fishery.
In November 2022, Quantum Graphite announced the successful completion of an energy storage project undertaken at INEMET in Freiburg, Germany. This involved testing and measuring the thermal performance of QSP’s flake graphite-based storage media under the same temperatures of the long-duration energy storage (LDES) battery developed by Sunlands Co.
QSP is a joint venture between Quantum Graphite and Sunlands Co. focused on the manufacture of flake graphite-based thermal storage media, with the flake to be exclusively sourced from Uley 2.
Thermal storage uses heat to store energy for later use, which offers a renewable source of energy and potentially reduces the reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation.
Quantum Graphite non-executive director David Trimboli said the findings from the INEMET test work program were significant.
“These results now settle the scope of QSP’s manufacturing of Uley media blocks,” he said. “The big news is the uniformity in the heat storage results. This enables QSP to achieve efficiencies of scale in the size and type of Uley media blocks regardless of the configurations required by Sunlands Co. for its various LDES cells.
“Operationally the capability to utilise all the Uley 2 flake product range hands QSP significant operational control over the procurement process (eg timing, general market conditions etcetera) of Uley 2 flake inventory.”
Quantum Graphite launched a takeover bid for graphite explorer Lincoln Minerals in August 2022, which was still active at the time this article was published online, with the takeover offer open until May 15.
In a letter to its shareholders in late February, Lincoln Minerals said Quantum Graphite’s offer remained unsatisfactory, while highlighting its own attributes where it is fully funded for 2023 exploration.
Drilling at the Koppio graphite project and Kookaburra Gully graphite deposit was set to commence in March.
Western Australian company Mining and Process Solutions (MPS) is developing new glycine heap leaching technology with the aim to unlock significant value from copper oxides, gold and nickel ores.
With the backing of the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australian (MRIWA), the technology will assist improved environmental performance through the use of glycine, an environmentally friendly reagent.
The technology has produced encouraging results so far, with precious metals extracted with reduced cyanide consumption, offering an alternative to sulphuric acid for base metals.
MPS managing director Ivor Bryan said a number of considerations are underpinning the new technology.
“Understanding the performance, scalability and financial feasibility of glycine heap leaching was key to advancing further trials for commercialisation,” Bryan said.
The viability of the technology has already been established. Five patent families have emerged in relation to the new technology, including major mining jurisdictions around the world. To date over 60 individual countries have granted patents.
MRIWA chief executive officer Nicole Roocke said MPS’ technology represents a larger success story.
“These results demonstrate Western Australia is a global leader in developing sustainable technologies to offer alternatives to sulphuric acid for base metals heap leaching operations, and reduced cyanide consumption for gold ores,” Roocke said.
MPS is now supporting the development of the state’s battery industry by participating in the Future Battery Industry Cooperative Research Centre.
The company will investigate the use of the technology in the extraction and processing of nickel and cobalt, to supply the battery market.
The new glycine heap leaching technology is a solidification of MPS’ reputation.
The company won the West Australian Innovator of the Year Award in 2019, the Australian Technologies competition 2017 (METS category) and recently won the CleanTech category of the global Xtreme Technology Challenge XTC 2021.
The likes of Sandfire Resources, Barrick Gold, Coda Minerals (previously Gindalbie Metals) and Poseidon Nickel are sponsoring MPS’ project.
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National Manufacturing Week (NMW), held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 14-17, will highlight the continuous growth and change the industry is experiencing.
NMW will feature a theme of ‘Industrial Evolution’ throughout the four days of the conference program and exhibition with a specific focus on driving further innovation in local manufacturing, continuing the evolution of the industry advanced technology solutions, sharing insights to stay ahead of the game, while celebrating Australian manufacturing’s resurgence.
NMW exhibition director Robby Clark said this year’s event promises to support the continuing high-tech and highly integrated evolution of the industry.
“There’s been a resurgence of late in Australian manufacturing, which is being generated by the industry’s collective realisation, active progression and evolution to being technologically advanced, highly integrated, automation and high-level engineering.
“Equally, we’ve also seen Industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things become a reality from technological forecast, which for manufacturing has manifested in operations – for example in smart factories where sensors are providing actionable intelligence or underpinning greater automation.
“Knowledge gathering and solution sourcing are critical steps for manufacturing professionals looking to navigate this industrial evolution that is currently underway. The exhibitors for this year’s event will provide manufacturers with the latest range of products and solutions designed to improve operations and operational performance, increase efficiency and resolve challenges, while the content within the conference program will offer specific advice and visibility into how industry leaders are managing change,” said Clark.
At National Manufacturing Week 2019, the exhibition floor will feature more than 200 leading industrial suppliers of game-changing solutions, new technology, advanced manufacturing products and operational services.
Visitors will be able to take advantage of six designated product zones to navigate through the exhibition floor, which segment the extensive range of products and solutions into key operational categories. The six product zones for 2019’s event are automation and robotics, engineering, Industrial Internet of Things, safety, welding technology, and manufacturing solutions.
Key exhibitors across these six product zones include:
Industrial Internet of Things – Epicor, ECi Solutions, Cadgroup; Safety – Vanguard Wireless, Atom, Axelent;
Welding Technology – BOC, Lincoln Electric and Supagas.
There will also be an extensive conference programme that will feature a line-up of more than 70 industry speakers and panellists, who will share their exclusive insights about current industry challenges and recommendations for operational success. With the program’s sessions segmented across two streams, each with their own dedicated theatre, of “Industry 4.0” and “Connected Manufacturing”.
“This year’s conference program will be our most extensive and in-depth to date, with delegates offered unprecedented access to industry leaders with the expertise, knowledge and understanding to develop the strategies and practices for generating further growth,” said Clark.
Must-see theatre programs
The Industry 4.0 Theatre program will offer attendees the latest opinions, developments and research about the impact of Industry 4.0 on businesses and operations. A key highlight of this program will be the opening keynote, which will be delivered by Australia’s chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, followed by an innovation and collaboration stories series run by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC).
Across days 2-4 of this stream’s conference sessions, other noteworthy speakers include Swinburne University director of Factory of the Future Dr Nico Adams, CSIRO Data61 principal research consultant Dr Elliot Duff, Innovative Manufacturing CRC CEO David Chuter, Siemens head of digital enterprise Christopher Vains, and AMCG managing director Dr Jens Goennemann.
The Connected Manufacturing Theatre program offers expert advice about business management, design and industrial challenges.
Conference sessions within this stream will focus on industry topics, including environment and energy policies, process improvement and optimisation, safety innovation, safety policies, safety management and culture, mental health and well-being, marketing and sales, additive manufacturing and design, and government grants and tariffs.
Industry leaders who will feature in some of these sessions, include Efic Business Development Director Philip Smith, Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation CEO Brooke Donnelly, and Fonterra Cooperative Group HR Systems Owner Toni Kennington.
Clark said this year is NMW’s most extensive program ever, in both speaker volume and industry experience. “We are really looking forward to seeing the best game-changing, innovative and high-tech solutions that our industry-leading exhibitors are planning to demonstrate and display.”
Industry support is key
Strategic partners and industry associations supporting NMW in 2019 include Weld Australia, AMGC, Innovative Manufacturing CRC and Engineers Australia. These respective partnerships strengthen NMW’s depth and relevance of insight sharing and cement the event’s status as a key hub for the manufacturing community to come together.
As a strategic partner of this year’s event, Weld Australia will have an interactive presence on the exhibition floor offering visitors deeper insight into the latest welding skills training available. Weld Australia marketing and communications manager Donna South said Weld Australia will have an advanced welder training hub on the exhibition floor. “[This] will showcase the augmented and virtual reality technology that is revolutionising welder training here in Australia, and around the world.
“Attendees will have the chance to see and try a range of different welding simulators, which are making welder training and upskilling safer, more cost-efficient and engaging for new and experienced welders,” said South.
Improving business by understanding challenges
With NMW featuring a variety of Industry 4.0 applications that are helping lead the way for a strong future for the manufacturing industry, Clark said implementing smart solutions is a must.
“Manufacturing is no different from any other industry, in terms of needing to understand the change and challenges ahead, develop strategies and acquire the knowledge or capabilities to manage these changes or evolutions, while ensuring their customer service and productivity are not detrimentally impacted during this management of change.
“IoT is understandably forcing rapid change across the industry from operational practices and execution, to higher integration, reconsideration of approaches to production or task completion and the requirement to plan for future change, which are typified by the increasing level of ‘smart factories’ or factories with smart solutions.
“Therefore, we know businesses within the industry are actively considering and working to improve their operational practices and refine their approach or strategy for continued success. Because improving a business isn’t a process where ticking a box or achieving that next milestone is the measurement of success.”
To stay ahead of the game, Clark said manufacturers should acquire the latest insights, and collaborate and engage with industry peers.
“Whether your objective is to improve efficiency, productivity or increase quality, it’s crucial to take advantage of opportunities like NMW that support your business in its pursuit of future growth, by providing a forum to engage with industry leading solutions and operational experts.” said Clark.
Registration is now open for the 20th edition of National Manufacturing Week (14-17 May 2019), with free registration available at: www.nationalmanufacturingweek.com.au.
Aluminium is displacing classic steel, the shortage of skilled workers is to be compensated for by progressive automation, and environmental protection is increasingly becoming a priority – this is only a small part of the topics that will dominate the foundry industry this year and in the years to come. We present you with five trends that you should keep an eye on this year.
1: Aluminium instead of steel
Ever more products are produced with the material aluminium. There are numerous reasons for this: The automotive industry is just as pleased as the avionics sector when it comes to lighter components. However, the stability of aluminium is also a major factor. In mechanical engineering, this material is also used for mechanically demanding tasks.
In 2017, approximately six per cent more aluminium was produced than in the previous year. The higher price of the material becomes an ever smaller argument against this metal: The price of the finished product decreases due to advanced manufacturing methods and state-of-the-art machinery. Raw material prices have been comparatively high for years, but they are not affected by as many fluctuations as metal.
Fewer and fewer people are working in the foundry industry. Harsh working conditions and falling training figures suggest further declines. In order to remain competitive, companies rely on semi-automated or completely autonomous systems to maintain or even increase their production.
By no means does this lead to further job cuts. Quite the opposite: Employees are able to invest more time in designing or testing instead of pressing buttons on machines, transporting raw materials or filling molten metal at high risk. At the same time, this increases the interest of younger generations to get involved in the design or the development of the foundry industry.
3: Digitisation and Industry 4.0
Sensors, linked machines and smart controls have no fear for the foundry either: Numerous production sites are already centrally connected. Not only foundries, but also customers and potential clients benefit from the data. Processes can be optimised with big data and possible bottlenecks and errors in the system can be detected at an early stage. Manual adjustments in the operating procedure are less necessary.
New technologies like virtual reality help companies to present themselves to the outside world. Thus, a virtual tour of the production halls becomes possible for everyone. Safety concerns are no longer necessary – furthermore, a presentation of the company is possible everywhere. Thanks to augmented reality, technicians can easily adjust or repair machines with a superimposed virtual image. Also virtual learning becomes easier with the new technologies. Meanwhile, numerous CAD programmes can also be used by way of 3D glasses to make prototyping more efficient.
Foundries are considered to be amongst the most energy-hungry industries in Germany. The plants, which are often fed by coal, use around 16 per cent of the total electricity produced in Germany and 12 per cent throughout Europe. A study by the Federal Environment Agency proves that the majority of foundries could get their energy requirements from renewable energies. For this, however, energy storage devices are necessary that can meet the enormous requirements for continuous day-night operation.
Through the use of more efficient casting moulds, fewer raw materials are required, which also do not need to be transported. The energy requirement can be further reduced by using more efficient furnaces in order to make the entire production process more environmentally friendly.
Particularly for smaller cast products, things could change soon: More and more 3D printers are managing to deal with metals. Selective laser sintering (SLS) applies metal layer by layer in order to produce small components cost-effectively, quickly and more accurately than with conventional processes. Depending on the individual application, additive manufacturing offers various sizes ranging from half a cubic metre to entire warehouses that can be converted.
The innovative technology is already being used in projects that require only a small quantity of the final product. Structures, which would not be possible in normal casting, pose no problem for additive manufacturing either. For large quantities and parts with larger dimensions, not much will change for the time being.
Rio Tinto has approved $US146 million ($197 million) in preliminary funding for the Koodaideri iron ore project in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.
The miner plans to develop Koodaideri into its first “intelligent” operation by including the latest in high-tech advances in the industry and by using an increased level of automation and robotics.
Koodaideri is described as a large scale, low cost, high quality project that will produce replacement tonnes and form a new production hub for the company in the Pilbara for decades to come.
The initial investment will focus on detailed engineering work on key elements of the project, the development of a rail construction camp and the first stage of the Koodaideri accommodation camp.
Rio Tinto expects to make a final investment decision on the project by the end of the year and also requires government approvals.
If approved, Rio Tinto has scheduled construction to begin in 2019 and first production in 2021. Koodaideri would create over 2000 jobs during construction and 600 permanent roles.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said the investment was an important step for the Koodaideri project, which would be a significant leap forward for the global mining industry and the company.
“We’ve been building mines in the Pilbara for over 50 years, and, subject to final approvals, Koodaideri will incorporate all of that knowledge to enable us to build the smartest, safest and most efficient mine we’ve ever constructed,” Salisbury said.
“The deployment of leading-edge technology will deliver a step-change in both safety and productivity for our business.”
Koodaideri is about 110km from Newman in the Pilbara.
The Australian government has struck a deal with IBM to provide a $1 billion five-year technology service to accelerate the uptake of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing in the public sector.
The R&D program will be driven through three hubs in Melbourne, Canberra and the Gold Coast. It is part of an innovative, cross-government technology service deal, inked by the Turnbull government with the US business tech giant, that gives all federal agencies access to IBM’s cloud infrastructure, cyber-security practice, applications and system software.
The highly strategic whole-of-government service agreement will enable the $450 billion big Australian public sector access to IBM’s technology platform. IBM is a heavyweight in the enterprise space, in particular in financial services, and already has major agreements with Canberra’s digital giants, Human Services, the Australian Taxation Office, Home
This agreement enables the 900-plus long tail of medium to small government agencies to also tap IBM’s deep capability in data system design and application deployment, while giving the government’s big four tech shops more flexibility to explore innovative technologies and applications and cost benefits on existing contracts.
The deal, led by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), is the highest-value tech contract negotiated by the Australian government, and reflects the long-term anticipated value of the agreement.
The agreement represents a much more assertive approach to the big tech vendors, using the federal government’s $6-10 billion annual tech spend to leverage with IBM an ambitious embrace of three emerging foundational technologies, which many digital leaders expect will be deeply transformative for government.
Under the deal, IBM’s AI and cloud technology can be used by Australian agencies to quickly bring more self-service, automation and digitisation to government services. IBM and the Digital Transformation Agency will convene government and industry leaders to prioritise the introduction of new technologies to citizen services.
Announcing the pathbreaking agreement, Minister for Digital Transformation Michael Keenan said the all-of-government service agreement would save money and would help drive the deployment of simpler and easier services. He said it is a major step towards the government’s aggressive goal to be one of the top three digital governments by 2025.
“The deal has also been structured to enable small and medium-sized firms to engage with IBM through ‘channel partner’ arrangements to ensure they also benefit,” Keenan said.
Rapid access to emerging technologies
Keenan is also Minister for Human Services and earlier this week made an impassioned plea to take a positive view of data sharing and integration within government. Keenan declared data is not “a four letter word“, citing early examples where integration of data sets was supporting predictive applications in drug and weather data.
New DTA chief executive, Randall Brugeaud, said the five-year deal would save about $100 million over that period.
IBM’s Australian managing sirector David La Rose said this will give Australians rapid access to emerging technologies as they are developed, while helping the government re-engineer its platforms to protect and encrypt citizen data against modern-day cyber-security threats.
“This agreement is a testament to our 40-year partnership with the Australian Government. It shows trust and belief in our ability to transform and provide world-leading capabilities, leveraging our investments locally in AI, blockchain, quantum and cloud. We look forward to helping the Australian Government to redefine the digital experience for the benefit of all Australians.”
The government’s R&D accelerator programs are to be driven through three hubs in Melbourne, Canberra and the Gold Coast.
IBM has major research infrastructure and capability embedded in the Melbourne University health ad bio tech precinct, leading the world in the real-world application of AI to melanoma. This is expected to be the foundation of a research team to accelerate the application of blockchain, AI and quantum computing across the emerging public sector platforms.
Separate units of expert computer engineers and developers will also be based on the Gold Coast and Canberra to work on leading cyber-security solutions for data protection and the application of super-computing for government services.
Blockchain enables transactional data to be trusted, without the need for complex centralised control systems. Public sector pilot projects around Australia are expected to begin mature-to-early operational applications in the coming year, but technologists believes blockchain could underpin the virtualisation of major government controlled or funded systems in the health, finance, transport, safety, energy, education, regulatory and communications sectors.
AI offers the government the opportunity to deeply learn from its huge data pools sitting in its major revenue, payments, service, and safety systems and automate many of the manual systems still deeply embedded in state and federal tech platforms. AI applications are rapidly being deployed to enable computers to learn from case files what are the most effective solutions and offer a major opportunity to empower human service frontline workers by enabling them to learn from the vast amount of knowledge sitting in case management files.
‘As profound as the rollout of electricity’
Quantum is an uber powerful computing technology that promises to power up many of the heavy data processes that will come as federal, stare and local governments seek to integrate major life services, like an easy solution to wind up the affairs of a deceased family.
Quantum computing evangelists believe it will be as profound as the rollout of electricity. The Australian government has already made a $25 million investment in the UNSW Quantum lab in Sydney. The same lab also has multi-million dollar investments from the NSW government, Telstra and the Commonwealth Bank.
IBM has once of the world’s leading quantum computing labs, located outside of New York City.
The government is also negotiating with other major tech vendors to drive a better all-of-government result. Outside of the big defence primes, IBM and Telstra dominate the tech vendor space in Canberra, but with major relationships with Fujitsu, SAP and Oracle.
Keenan said the coordinated procurement process allows for better oversight of contract delivery and greater accountability of how public funds are being spent. Since 2008, whole-of-government agreements have saved the government about $1.2 billion.
The DTA agreement with IBM comes as the government’s fifth chief digital officer in just over three and half years, Randall Brugeaud, takes over as chief executive of the DTA from former NAB executive Gavin Slater, who is going back to the private sector after 12 months in the job.
The deal represents a major recovery for the US tech giant. IBM had to negotiate a major compensation deal with Treasury, after the first all-digital census was forced to be shut down for two days in 2016, when ABS chief David Kalisch took the call not to risk the suspected infiltration of census data. IBM provided the census solution.
This article was originally published on The Mandarin. IBM is a partner of The Mandarin.
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s Office of the Chief Economist yesterday released the Industry Insights — Globalising Australia report, showing that future growth opportunities will come from Australia’s manufacturing industry moving towards higher-value processes like research and development, and product design and marketing.
The report shows that as production processes become increasingly interconnected globally, Australian firms must move towards these higher value activities and capitalise on new market opportunities to remain competitive.
The report also reveals that Australia’s professional and finance industry services, often embedded in the commodities and advanced manufacturing exports, make up almost half the value of all Australian exports.
This, according to the report, is because conventional statistics often understate the economic contribution of services like value chain logistics and coordination, accounting advice to exporters or other business services.
Increasing demand for these services from China and elsewhere in Asia is likely to present significant growth opportunities and high-skilled jobs into the future.
Acting Chief Economist David Turvey said the report confirmed the importance of supporting industry transition, removing trade barriers, and encouraging innovation to ensuring Australia’s place in the global trade environment.
“Australia is an outlier amongst developed nations when it comes to global trade, mainly supplying raw materials with limited participation in the production of final goods,” Turvey said.
“This is partly due to geography. Australia is on the periphery of trading blocs, while an economy like Taiwan is in the middle of a manufacturing hub surrounded by China, Japan and Korea. But it also reflects our competitive advantages and resource endowments,” he said.
Turvey said the report shows the Australian economy is adapting to global trade patterns.
“Australian manufacturing is restructuring to focus on the high value-add processes like R&D, design and marketing, while lower value-add production activities are offshored to lower wage countries.
“In addition, the conventional trade statistics understate the importance of services to Australian exports. The statistics show that products exported across Australia’s border are mostly commodities like iron ore or manufacturing products. Yet services make up nearly half of value added in all Australian exports. Put another way, the contributions of Australia’s highly-skilled professional services and finance industries are embedded in the lumps of rock that we export,” Turvey said.
The next edition of Industry Insights, a three-part publication by the Office of the Chief Economist in the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, will examine how Australia can capitalise on new technologies to improve productivity into the future.
