Research and development helps Australian manufacturers

Melbourne-based automation and robotics specialist Andrew Donald Design Engineers is reaping great benefits from its work with Australian manufacturers. The company works with its customers to design automated processes to improve efficiency and productivity, and with its strong focus on research and development, has claimed the Australian Government’s R&D Tax Concession since 1998.

General manager Dale Collinson says one of his proudest moments was helping a Melbourne-based injection moulding company win back a contract which it had lost to a Chinese company.

“They had lost the business because of price and then, with a little of our innovation, won it back,” Collinson said. And by winning back the contract, they were then also able to employ an extra three staff.

Collinson said the injection moulding company had been manufacturing a high-quality plastic gift pack for a VIP customer before it lost the contract.

“Unfortunately, the new overseas-manufactured version of the gift pack proved to be inferior — there was no consistency or quality,” said Collinson. “And, in this case, quality was of vital importance — the gift pack is a very visual marketing product.”

The injection moulding company was given another chance to bid on manufacturing the gift packs — so the firm approached Andrew Donald Design Engineers.

“We always work closely with our customers to really ‘drill down’ and interpret what they need, to get every possible efficiency into the process,” Collinson said. “In this case, we realised that if the company could make the gift packs overnight in a ‘lights out’ situation, then it would increase its volume without having to buy a second machine.

“The answer was to provide a robotic solution. By developing a system that could run without an operator for a 12-hour stretch, the company became competitive.”

Andrew Donald Design set about designing a robotic solution. The initial system was designed to complete all the necessary actions that the customer had described. The robot pulled the gift pack out of the machine while it was still warm, and then opened and closed the hinge several times so it would be flexible when it cooled down. Then it folded the gift pack and dropped it into a container.

The next stage was to see if the robot could be any more efficient.

“There are often little bits and pieces that can be improved,” said Collinson. “We always look to see if there are any other processes within our solution that could improve our efficiency.

“We worked out that if the robot could neatly stack the gift packs in the pallet rather than just dropping them, then the only thing that would need to be done in the morning would be to just wheel the pallet out.

“Our strength is in working out additional processes that can be built into the system — which the company gets for next to nothing. Even though this was a small project, it is one of the ones that I’m most proud of. It just goes to show what a little effort, forethought and good design can achieve.

“To complete this project we were able to draw on past research and development, but we also used several components for the first time.”

Collinson said that these new efficiencies helped their customers to grow and also helped them employ indirect labour, such as accountants and management.

“We’re really pleased when we’re able to help make companies competitive in the global market and help them become more profitable. Our ongoing research and development is helping local manufacturers become more competitive. These days many businesses realise that to survive they must automate their production, and this is where our ongoing research and development can help,” Collinson said.

Robot-based systems have other advantages, including better safety, high throughput systems, and ‘clean build’ processes for the pharmaceutical industry, where humans can contaminate the manufacturing process.

The R&D Tax Concession aims to increase the amount of industrial research and development in Australia to develop innovative products, processes and services. Companies can deduct up to 125% of qualifying expenditure incurred on research and development activities when lodging their corporate tax return. A 175% Incremental (Premium) Tax Concession and R&D Tax Offset is also available in certain circumstances.

AusIndustry delivers a range of more than 35 programs — including innovation grants, tax and duty concessions, small business skills development, industry support and venture capital — worth about $2 billion to more than 10,000 businesses and 60,000 individuals every year.

AusIndustry
www.ausindustry.gov.au

Andrew Donald Design Engineers
www.adde.com.au