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BuildIT Construction can be fully integrated with 3D data

. Spokesperson: CHEW Beow Kwan, Product Marketing Associate Manager, Asia Pacific, FARO Technologies Please tell us what BuildIT Construction is all about? The BuildIT Construction software leverages on FARO’s cutting-edge 3D metrology capability. FARO is to first to offer this fully integrated building lifecycle Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) management tool empowering construction professionals to continuously evaluate projects with real time comparisons against CAD designs using 3D scan data. The software from FARO uniquely enables laser scanner users to perform immediate, real-time build and verify analysis throughout the entire project, and facilitates a new level of cost management and operational efficiency. BuildIT Construction can be fully integrated with 3D data collected from FARO Focus Laser Scanners, optimised for the FARO TracerM Laser Projector for placement and layout of structural components and is compatible with the FARO Laser Tracker for prefabricated modular positioning. It can also be used seamlessly with other third-party hardware. Where do you see this software being used most? Application areas that will benefit most from the BuildIT Construction software include Architecture, Civil Engineering/Surveying, Construction, Facility Management, Historical Preservation, and Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP). AEC professionals will find the software useful for: Verifying accuracy of scan data to design models Detecting incorrect placement or missing features such as walls, columns, beams, pipes, etc. Performing important measurements accurately and quickly Inspecting construction for adherence to building standards Verifying shifts and movements within structural performance over time with 4D analysis Performing real time monitoring of adjacent structures throughout the project lifecycle Is there a lot of construction underway across ASEAN? Prospects for construction in the ASEAN region is generally bright. According to the Global Construction 2030 Report[1], the ASEAN construction market is expected to exceed US$1 trillion by 2030, with growth predominantly driven […]

Aurecon strengthens presence in Asia with Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering

As Asia’s appetite for more future-ready buildings and infrastructure expands, global engineering and infrastructure advisory company Aurecon aims to play a major role in the birth of new ideas to feed this hunger, through its new Singapore-based Regional Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering. Supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Aurecon’s new Regional Centre of Excellence for Digital Engineering serves as an extension of the company’s Digital Futures team. This Centre is the first of its kind for Aurecon and is dedicated to solving client challenges with emerging digital technologies and alternative business models. “The engineering and construction industry is not spared from digital disruption, which is changing the way we work and live. The decision to extend the Digital Futures team into Asia was driven by increasing regional demand for digital transformation in the building and construction sector. Singapore’s strategic location places our new Centre of Excellence at the epicentre of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and within touching distance of North Asia,” said Paul Lombard, Managing Director, Middle East and Asia. Aurecon will invest SGD3 million over the next three years and will focus on three areas: Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics; the Internet of Things; and Visualisation & Digital Collaboration. Each area of focus will have a dedicated Digital Specialist in charge of consolidating ideas and lessons to support priorities such as urban mobility and infrastructure within Singapore. Once adopted locally, these ideas may then be exported to other parts of Asia, or even the world. The launch of the Centre of Excellence in Singapore is an integral part of Aurecon’s near and long-term business goals in Asia. On the more immediate front, the Centre accelerates the development of digital engineering capabilities for Singapore and the wider Asian market. Building these capabilities in […]

Archer’s Jamieson Tank manganese project capable of battery production

Archer Exploration Limited (ASX: AXE), is pleased to announce outstanding results from recent metallurgical test work conducted on a composite drill sample sourced from the Company’s 100% owned Jamieson Tank Manganese Project (located near Cleve, South Australia). The metallurgical test work was completed by Kemetco Research Inc, the same company that did the Ketchowla manganese and cobalt test work (ASX announcement 12 February 2018), and showed that the Jamieson Tank manganese was capable of making an EMD product with a manganese content of >92%, which is the standard required for alkaline and lithium-ion batteries The test work involved the leaching of the manganese from the old drill sample provided by Archer, purification of the leach to remove iron, cobalt, nickel and other potentially deleterious elements and finally the precipitation of the electrolytic manganese dioxide onto graphite cathode and titanium anodes. Executive Chairman, Greg English commented: “It is very exciting that our manganese at Jamieson Tank has been independently shown to be suitable in the production of high-grade manganese EMD, with its high-value applications in emerging and established battery technologies. This is consistent with our expanding exploration portfolio focus on advanced materials and reliable energy storage technologies.” Mr English continued: “The Jamieson Tank Manganese Project complements our nearby Campoona graphite and graphene project with its granted mining tenements, and our other manganese and cobalt exploration prospects at Ketchowla and North Broken Hill. We look forward to updating the market on further developments over the coming weeks.” The Jamieson Tank Manganese Project The Jamieson Tank Manganese Project straddles two separate tenements both owned by Archer: Carappee Hill (site of the proposed Sugarloaf Graphite Processing Facility) and Waddikee. The Carappee Hill portion was initially drilled by Archer in 2008 with follow up drilling under a joint venture between Archer and the manganese miner […]

Countries with the highest density of robot workers

Data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reveals that industrial automation is accelerating across the globe. In 2015, the average global robot density in manufacturing industries was 66 robot units per 10,000 employees. Just one year later, the number increased to 74 robot units. Europe is the reigning champ, sporting a robot density of 99 units per 10,000 workers. The next highest regions are the Americas and Asia, with 84 and 63 units, respectively. When it comes to overall growth rate, Asia tops the list. “Robot density is an excellent standard for comparison in order to take into account the differences in the automation degree of the manufacturing industry in various countries,” says Junji Tsuda, president of the IFR. “As a result of the high volume of robot installations in Asia in recent years, the region has the highest growth rate. Between 2010 and 2016, the average annual growth rate of robot density in Asia was nine percent, in the Americas seven percent, and in Europe five percent.” Breaking those numbers further down by countries, South Korea had the largest installation of industrial robots per 10,000 employees in 2016, reaching 631. South Korea’s electrical, electronics, and automotive sectors have all contributed to this high installation volume. Singapore comes in second, with 488 units. “About 90 percent of robots are installed in the electronics industry in Singapore,” according to the IFR. Germany (309 units) and Japan (303 units) ranked third and fourth, respectively. Check out the full IFR report here to learn more.

In the firing line

President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports are now a reality. Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and 10% on aluminium, but exempted Canada and Mexico. For American companies that make metals, that’s welcome news. But for businesses that consume steel and aluminium, like automakers and beverage producers, it will likely mean higher prices. Many have warned that could cut into profits and ultimately spur layoffs. Here’s a look at some of the US companies that may be hit by Trump’s latest protectionist move: Anheuser-Busch The aluminium used in beer cans is expected to get more expensive once the tariffs go into effect. Anheuser-Busch(BUD) has warned that it could threaten manufacturing jobs in the industry. The company employs more than 18,000 people in the United States. Auto parts manufacturers The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents companies that make vehicle parts in the United States, has said the tariffs will make cars more expensive and could put the many of the more than 800,000 jobs in its industry at risk. Boeing The nation’s largest single exporter uses aluminium and some steel parts to make planes. Boeing(BA) could also suffer if other countries decide to retaliate against US tariffs by buying planes from competitors like Airbus. The company has more than 140,000 employees in the United States and around the world. Caterpillar Making Caterpillar (CAT) construction equipment could get more expensive if steel and aluminium prices rise. The company employs more than 98,000 full-time workers around the world. About 42,000 are in the United States. Campbell Soup Company Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said that there’s 2.6 cents worth of steel in a can of Campbell’s soup, and consumers can expect prices to rise less than one cent as a result of tariffs. Campbell’s (CPB) responded that “any new broad-based tariffs on imported tin plate steel — an insufficient amount of which is […]

Predictive maintenance: spend a little to save a lot

Paolo Carnovale, Head of Industrial Product Marketing, RS Components Spending money to save money doesn’t come easy to some. But in the case of predictive and preventative maintenance regimes – especially for high-capital assets – a relatively modest spend could potentially offset repair or lost-production costs that run into millions. The problem with maintenance spend is that it is very hard to quantify its benefits if nothing actually goes wrong – accountants tend to like tangible figures as opposed to those generated by “what-if” scenarios. Couple this to budget competition from other disciplines and the job of justifying the expenditure becomes even harder. As it is tough to define an “opportunity cost/loss” in terms of maintenance statistically, it is far easier to look at the issues simplistically by determining, for example, the cost of maintenance vs. the cost of repair/replacement and the expected life of a machine or asset vs. its extended service life. In all cases, the cost of lost production, goodwill and customer confidence must also be factored in to this equation. Even with these simple analyses, the need to have maintenance as a strategic element of an operational plan, becomes very clear, but what is the next logical step? For those with complex operations, the obvious route is the deployment of a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS), which will help remove much of the guesswork and workload by defining a strategy and timetable as well as the actual work to be undertaken on individual machines and assets. More often than not, this type of proactive approach is combined with technological solutions that offer a real-time snapshot of machine health. These solutions range from simple temperature sensors and vibration probes all the way up to bespoke, fully featured condition monitoring (CMS) software solutions. How they are selected, […]

Industrial Software Platform delivers maximum return

Schneider Electric has announced increasing momentum surrounding customer adoption of the company’s Asset Performance Management (APM) solutions, an integral component of the Industrial Software Platform. Through investments in the cloud, advanced machine learning and augmented reality (AR), coupled with new partnerships, the company empowers customers to maximise their return on capital investment and to improve profitability. “Defining and executing an asset performance strategy is a critical component to improving productivity while safeguarding business continuity,” said Kim Custeau, Asset Performance Management Business Lead at Schneider Electric. “We have been delivering proven, industry leading asset performance solutions for nearly 30 years, and continue to invest in a long-term strategy to drive innovation in this area. “Our focus is to provide real value to our customers by empowering them to maximise return on capital investment and improve profitability. We are proud to see our customer results speak for themselves with significant reported savings. “Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 provide new opportunities to improve overall business performance, particularly for APM. For owner-operators, this includes operational improvements largely involving improved asset reliability,” said Ralph Rio, Vice President Enterprise Software at ARC Advisory Group. “Users have reported that moving from preventive maintenance to predictive or prescriptive approaches provided a 50 percent savings in maintenance labour and MRO materials. With predictive and prescriptive maintenance, near-zero unplanned downtime for critical equipment can be achieved.” Machine Learning and Prescriptive Analytics Machine learning and advanced pattern recognition play a central role within Schneider Electric’s asset performance solutions, enabling customers to more accurately predict – and proactively resolve – issues before they impact their business. This increases reliability, reduces costs and improves safety. Duke Energy prevented an estimated $35 million cost from early warning detection of a steam turbine problem. Ascend Performance Materials now responds faster to alerts with actionable […]

Librestream and Olympus bring remote NDT/RVI experts into the field virtually

Onsight allows customers to share live visuals with remote experts for rapid decision making in the field. Olympus Australia and New Zealand (Olympus) and Librestream Technologies Inc., a leader in remote expert systems for enterprise, are pleased to announce that Olympus is now offering Librestream’s Onsight platform to provide additional functionality to their product portfolio. Using Onsight, Olympus customers in industries including aerospace, manufacturing and oil & gas, can share live visuals from remote visual inspections (RVI) and non-destructive testing (NDT) instruments with remote experts for rapid decision making in the field. “Onsight connects our customers in a way that truly transcends the remoteness we are accustomed to in Australia and Oceania. The ability to instantly share live visuals gives global collaborators a true presence, virtually taking them inside the inspection equipment,” said Brendan Slaven, RVI Product & VM Manager for Maintenance at Olympus. “Librestream complements our technology perfectly with their vast experience in remote collaboration. Onsight brings the experts to you, when you need them, minus the requirement to travel,” Slaven continued. The Librestream solution includes Onsight Connect collaboration software and the Onsight 400R Collaboration Hub device to connect to Olympus videoscopes, ultrasound and other test instruments. Olympus can also provide options to connect a variety of popular virtual reality headsets in order to share visuals in live 3D.

Simplest valve actuators provide automation and production efficiency

By James Maslin National Sales and Marketing Manager for Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd. Australia Rapid and reliable actuation of gate valves is becoming more and more critical to liquid and gas handling applications as industries face the twin demands of production automation and pressure to produce without production interruptions for maintenance. Gate valves, also known as sluice valves, are one of the most widely used types of valves in industrial applications, where they typically operate either fully open or fully closed, being used in pipelines as isolating valves rather than control or regulating valves. Their compact simplicity, low pressure loss, bidirectional versatility and ability to handle full flows where particles cannot cluster has led to widespread use in process engineering applications throughout industries such as food and beverage, agribusiness, manufacturing, mining and mineral processing, liquid-solid separation, filtration, materials handling, water and waste water and waste-to-energy projects. Typically gate valves are manually or (occasionally) hydraulically actuated, but where faster or remote actuation is required, they usually rely on conventional pneumatic actuation using a cylinder with rods and seals. However, an alternative means of actuation is available to process engineers charged with designing pipeline and reticulation systems that respond to the needs of automation and uninterrupted production demands. These flexible-wall, bellows-type Airstroke actuators – manufactured by Firestone and distributed throughout Australia by Air Springs Supply Pty Ltd – are tough, fabric reinforced rubber balloons of different shapes engineered to perform different tasks. The simple single, double and triple-convoluted airbags operate without seals, shafts or internal moving parts to provide ultra-reliable actuation alternatives for materials handling technology exposed to grime, debris and waste, which can disrupt the seals and shafts of convention pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. Reliability engineered into their DNA Structurally they are identical to the enormously durable and reliable Firestone […]

Low-height skidding system moves heavy loads in the tightest of spaces

Enerpac’s new Low-Heigh t Skidding System is ideal for transformer maintenance. Global hydraulics and heavy lifting technology specialists Enerpac are introducing to Australasia a new Low-Height Skidding System – which stands at just 92mm with the track – for the accurate positioning of heavy loads in tight and awkward spaces. The Enerpac LH-Series Low-Height Skidding System is a modular track system that can jack and slide heavy loads, such as transformers, generators, motors or drives, over a pre-constructed track. Skidding systems are ideally suited to tight spaces where cranes can’t access the load effectively. The new low-height system takes this one step further by using a rigid, durable design that can access even tighter spaces, while still providing high lifting capacities. Skidding systems are typically 200-600mm high, which is still an enormous advantage when cranes can’t access a lift site, but the Low-Height system, at just 92mm, opens possibilities in even tighter, more compact applications. The Low-Height Skidding System is comprised of a series of skid beams moved by hydraulic push-pull units, travelling over a pre-constructed track. A series of special PTFE-coated pads are placed on the skid tracks to reduce friction. The push-pull units are powered by a standard Enerpac Split Flow Pump to ensure each skid beam travels synchronously. When using two skidding units together, the maximum capacity is 3,560 kN of force, which can lift 400 tons, utilising 700 bar (10,000 PSI) hydraulic pressure. The Low-Height Skidding System has a push-pull stroke of 600 mm and is designed to easily change skidding direction, using Enerpac’s globally proven hydraulic pumps and cylinders. Customised solutions can be implemented for complex projects, such as utilising optional track support and connecting both power units together to provide synchronous travel of the load. Such a configuration would be used in applications like […]

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