A digital transformation journey for defence supply chain companies
“Being part of the Smart Enough Factory program has opened up our eyes to where we sit with regard to Industry 4.0 and what our path to the future will be. It also helps us understand how we can optimise our production flow to increase capacity and gives us visibility of what our current capacity is. The biggest benefits to our end customers are reduced cost, because we’ve reduced energy consumption and improved throughput, and the awareness provided around ways to overcome potential cybersecurity risks. We’d highly recommend any manufacturing company jump on board this program; we couldn’t speak more highly of it.”
Sam Bell, Chief Executive Officer | AW Bell
“Overall, this project has been extremely beneficial in exposing the wider team (including management) to Industry 4.0, smart systems and their potential. I know some of these people who had heard buzzwords were confused as to what it might mean for them but to see the Factory in a Box in practice has got the team really excited and they are interested and want to be involved in its further implementation.”
Courtney Scarrabelotti, Continuous Improvement Manager | RUD
“Factory in a Box is a unique tool that allows you to learn, experiment and even use it in the factory to gather and present data. You really can’t break it. The software is open-source which means that a wide range of resources and data are available online. The entire DMTC team, from management through to the Smart Enough Factory interns, was there to help us on our Smart Enough Factory journey. No question was too big or small and there was no such thing as a ‘dumb question’. The DMTC team gave us the confidence and impetus to start our journey of becoming a Smart Enough Factory.”
Doug Keesing, General Manager | APV-S
“Keeping track of data off legacy machines is very difficult, time consuming, errors can occur and there is no guarantee of the data accuracy. We have struggled to identify solutions, all seemed complex and expensive and the ability to bring this legacy equipment up to standard appeared costly. This project has identified a solution that is cost-effective and allows us to bring our legacy machines up to date and only analyse useful data. Through SEF we have seen productivity improvements of up to 12%.”
- Established in 1993 – Full-service injection moulding company.
- Headquartered in Brisbane with additional operation in Malaysia and China.
- Producing over 500 different components per year.
Kulbir Dhanda, Managing Director | SDI Plastics
“Whilst it’s very early days in terms of PWR’s data capture, it aligns perfectly with some internal KPI’s that we set to understand our machine utilisation better and from the very short period of time that we have been capturing data and been involved in the process of looking at how best to do it we can confidently state that this is an initiative that PWR is going to embrace and expand across multiple areas of the business.”
- Public company with over 300 employees globally and more than 20 years’ experience in brazed aluminium cooling technology.
- Global leader in manufacturing bespoke and specialised cooling systems; PWR supplies 9 of 10 Formula 1 racing teams.
- Completed DMTC’s ICD Welding project.
Matthew Bryson, Chief Operating Officer | PWR Advanced Cooling Technology
“…the cost to engage in Industry 4.0 has defifinitely been a hurdle for us…we’ve looked at the welding equipment and it’s quite an expensive outlay…for our other machines there’s a couple of software options that they do sell but it’s a big effort to set it up and the ongoing cost is quite prohibitive. This Smart Enough Factory project is bringing us right down to the ground level to an entry point where we can build a foundational understanding of Industry 4.0 and its implementation.”
- Established in 1972 and has grown to become one of Brisbane’s most highly-regarded steel fabrication suppliers.
- Certified fabrication with Australian Stainless Steel Development Association (ASSDA).
David Stone, Sales Technician | Rockpress
“We plan to continue to develop and expand the collection of data into digital dashboards to provide feedback to operations and managerial staff. This was a fantastic project to be involved with and we were thrilled to be given the opportunity. It has allowed us to grow our workplace skills. We would 100% recommend the Smart Enough Factory project to other SMEs.”
- Established in 1948 – Manufacturer of automotive instrument parts and fine pitch gears.
- A prime supplier to OEMs and the Automotive instrument repair industry in Australia and New Zealand.
- Suster company to Harman Bros (industrial type power transmission applications with large component capacity in gear cutting and precision manufacturing).
- Gains from involvement in the Smart Enough® Factory:
- Efficiency gains: $1000 p/month
- Reduced downtime: $1000 p/month
- Energy cost savings: $100 p/month
Andrew Rowell, General Manager | R&I Instrument & Gear Co
“We’ll continue on our Industry 4.0 journey, expanding on our project by collaborating with our fellow cohorts. With further government support, we hope to expand on our developments in the digital world. Digitising processes and operations from beginning to end. We are keen to also provide opportunity for further intern development as part of our ongoing journey.”
- Commenced business in 1969 – Advanced CNC precision component manufacturing and assembly manufacture.
- Gains from involvement in the Smart Enough® Factory:
- Reduced downtime: $13,200 p/month
- Waste reduction: 150kg
- Saving of $7,500 p/annum saving from no longer requiring additional ERP licenses to provide shopfloor with access to critical data requirement for their jobs each month.
Paul Robson, Operations Manager | Redline Engineering