Page 46 - Packaging News magazine July-August 2022

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SMART FACTORY | www.packagingnews.com.au | July – August 2022
ASC brings automation insights to Sydney Expo
Boosting Australia’s competitiveness and reshoring manufacturing has become a hot topic of conversation for government and local manufacturers, placing increased focus on automation. Automation Systems & Controls (ASC) weighs in.
A
UTOMATION offers businesses across industries the ability to cut costs, while also increasing production.
“Manufacturers have a lot of flexibility in the level of automation they choose to
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“The synergy between our team and the Modern Manufacturing Expo is, firstly, a passion for providing the most efficient solutions available, and secondly, a passion for staying on the cutting edge of technological advance- ment,” Hart says.
ASC draws on 125 years’ experi- ence in the electrical, mechanical, engineering, machine vision and con- trol product specialist fields to deliver world-class factory automation solu- tions to customers looking to upgrade.
The company also believes that it has a larger responsibility to use its considerable resources and knowl- edge to advance manufacturing in Australia, and that this cannot hap- pen without collaboration with other manufacturing stakeholders.
HUMAN ELEMENT ENABLES SUCCESS
“We view our relationship with the customer as a partnership, and it is imperative that we listen to them and learn of their unique challenges before offering solutions-based packages,” says Hart.
He explains that this explora- tion phase is an essential first step in factory automation because ASC will often encounter customers who have cobbled-together various smart devices as an attempt to put a band- aid on ongoing production problems.
Offering automation solutions with- out understanding the full scope of the problem is a short-term fix.
“Factory automation may be tech- nologically based, but the human element should not be underesti- mated,” he adds.
RESULTS THROUGH TRIAL
AND ERROR
Because factory automation involves so many elements, the goal posts can easily change, requiring agile opera- tives, meaning the early stages of an ASC project often involve multiple tests to try and identify which pro- duction hurdles may limit factory automation success.
implement, as it can range from auto- mating a single operation on the factory floor to end-to-end automation of entire production chains with no human involvement,” says Ryan Hart, manager – deep learning and machine vision solutions at ASC.
“Factory automation can also be implemented at any point in the manufacturing process, making this an agile and surprisingly cost-effec- tive solution.”
ASC plans to share these automa- tion insights with a wider audience when the company exhibits at the Modern Manufacturing Expo, tak- ing place on 20-21 September at the Sydney Showgrounds.
Visitors to the ASC stand (L12) will experience a range of factory auto- mation solutions, including Cognex Machine Vision, Mitsubishi Electric