Innovation is key to any Business!
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As a leading designer and manufacturer of complete industrial automation solutions, Machinery Automation & Robotics Pty Ltd (MAR) knows how important it is to ensure that innovation is constantly on the agenda. As a measure of their success, the company recently won the 2008 Telstra Australian Business of the Year.
Their products span many applications including materials handling, trimming and polishing, palletising and packing - address safety issues by reducing heavy and repetitive industry workplace requirements, and dramatically reduce clients' labour costs. Over the last twenty years, the company has gone from a one man band, to 49 employees across three sites in Australia. They also serve a niche international market, helping the paper industry in China, through to renewable energy industries in America.
Where does the driver for innovation come from?
“Much of it is driven by our customers and in turn, their customers,” says Clyde Campbell, managing director. “People want things faster, quicker and in a different way, so what you produce today will be very different to what we produce in five years time.
“As we automate processes for businesses, there have been some really interesting projects that we’ve been involved in,” says Clyde. “You’ve probably seen the band-saws many butchers use for cutting meat. One of the issues with using such machinery is the potential to lose a finger whilst preparing the lamb chops! We engineered modifications to the band-saw by adding new technology that could ultimately save the butcher’s digits. The system we integrated can detect within one millisecond if skin comes into contact with the saw, and then in ten milliseconds, stop the motion of the blade. The end result being that the butcher will only be left with a tiny cut on the finger rather than a trip to the hospital!
Staying ahead
Connectivity in the business is crucial for Machinery Automation so as to not only maintain good relationships with their clients, but also to keep the team in contact with each other. The business currently uses fixed lines in all offices, mobiles for all the team, as well as Internet access via the 3G service on mobiles from Telstra, Clyde adds, “This is especially important for us, working in such an innovative area where change is so rapid. We need to be able to have quick access to images or short video on a customer site and then be able to send these back to the office. This ensures we can all see the site challenges and have team involvement in the solutions required. Additionally, other items such as programs for the robotics can be updated at the office and then downloaded to the site via the wireless service. In short we can move extremely rapidly when changes and challenges occur.
How do you keep innovation alive in your business?
To maintain the cutting edge, Clyde believes you have to give someone within the company the role of innovation, or at least the responsibility to look after it. “We have an innovation manager, that’s how serious it is for us. If you standstill as far as innovation is concerned, your business will die. My advice would be to make innovation a priority within your business and always look for new ways of doing things. If you do that, your competitors will always be chasing after you.”
Machinery Automation & Robotics
1/101 Derby Street
Silverwater NSW 2128
Phone: (61) 2 9748 7001
http://www.machineryautomation.com.au