Features

Features

The making of Robmac nut harvesters

“We want to build the best machines that we can. Something that will last in the field for many years. To do that, we have to start off with the best components,” says David Eggins of Roberts Machinery, a family-owned company in Alstonville, New South Wales, best known as the manufacturer behind the Robmac macadamia nut harvester machines. David’s father, Robert Eggins, built his first peanut harvester and bagging machine back in 1959 when he was just 19 years old. In 1962, he started the business of Roberts Machinery, which has been designing, building and repairing farm machinery for over 59 years.  With the growth of the macadamia industry in Alstonville, Roberts Machinery became heavily involved in the macadamia industry and 23 years ago, introduced the Robmac harvester, a lightweight stand-alone harvester with the ability to operate efficiently in wet and dry conditions with very low soil compaction.  Today, there are over 240 Robmac harvesters in the field, and service and support of these units has become an important part of the business for Roberts Machinery. The team also runs a production pipeline with three or six harvester units under production at any given time, building an average of 12 to 15 Robmac units each year.
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Keeping the Tim Tams coming

For a lot of Australians, Arnott’s biscuits are associated with sweet memories. From growing up with a vintage Arnott’s biscuit tin, to introducing the delights of a ‘Tim Tam Slam’, Arnott’s products have lodged themselves in the hearts and homes of Australians throughout the iconic brand’s 155-year history. In fact, an estimated 95% of Australian households stock Arnott’s biscuits. Making tasty treats for the nation comes with responsibilities. The maintenance teams at Arnott’s factories work hard to ensure the plants run as efficiently as possible to keep up with the large orders Arnott’s receives. For Paul Nitschke, who works as Maintenance Services Team Leader at Arnott’s Marleston plant in Adelaide, working with the iconic biscuit manufacturer is a source of pride.
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Pump it up! Seal Innovations gives sugar mill full water flow

When technicians at Seal Innovations’ Acacia Ridge facility in Brisbane stripped down a hot water pump they had brought back from a major Queensland sugar mill, the pump was not in a good shape. The impeller, the impeller case and the wear ring were severely worn, the shaft had deeply corroded, and the shaft sleeves were covered with rust. For the team, it was just another day at the office. “Refurbishing rotating equipment and returning them to their original condition is one of the many services we provide to our customers,” says Lance Brett, National Sales Manager at Seal Innovations. Read More
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Milking the happy cow image

The image of a healthy, happy cow grazing on a lush pasture is probably the first that comes to mind when thinking about Australia and New Zealand’s dairy products. And, for the most part, that image
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BSC helps food manufacturer out of a ‘sticky’ situation

A major food manufacturer in Melbourne had to frequently replace bearings in their filling machine which injects sticky breakfast product into jars. High exposure to moisture and detergents to clean the machine took its toll on the bearings, which necessitated bearing replacements every few months. When BSC sales specialist Jamie Stonehouse learned about the problem, he recommended replacing the standard ball bearings with NSK’s Molded-Oil deep groove ball bearings to extend the machine’s service life. Read More
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Gates belt puts biscuits on a sweet ride

Frequent failure of a roller chain at a major biscuit manufacturing plant in South Australia was causing significant delays in production. The chain had broken eight times over a span of 15 months and every time the chain broke, the line had to be stopped completely to replace the chain. BSC recommended changing the existing triplex chains with Gates Poly Chain GT Carbon timing belts, which helped resolve the issue. Read More
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Safety in the can

The CRC GREENLIGHT programme is designed to make compliance and auditing simple for food manufacturers – and  that is certainly the case with a cannery on the outskirts of Adelaide in South Australia. BSC Wingfield Sales Representative Robert Harris says because auditors are familiar with the programme, the cannery has found it much easier and faster to manage its auditing process. Read More
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Keeping Costa mushrooms cool

Costa, a leading Australian mushroom grower and packer, were able to detect  reliability issues in some of the fans that help regulate ventilation for their facility in South Australia. Had the issue not been detected early through vibration analysis, it could have led to more bearing failures. BSC Engineering Solutions Manager Mark Slaughter says the issue of electrical fluting is an increasing cause for bearing failures in VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) driven machines. Read More