Advanced manufacturing

Memjet a trailblazer for advanced manufacturing in Australia

Memjet is a world-leading printing technology company. Now it’s helping to bring manufacturing back to Australia with advanced robotics.

The company is also committed to backing local supply chains and Australian innovation.

‘There’s big benefits to vertical integration in Australia,’ says Jason Thelander, Chief Technology Officer, Memjet. ‘We have a stable economy, great scientific and engineering capability as well as a highly skilled workforce. With new robotics and ultra-smart software, our manufacturing is competitive with Asia.’

Memjet’s new factory in North Ryde, Sydney will start producing the cores for commercial printing machines in December 2022.

‘Local manufacturing means a US$15–20 million increase on Australian value add per year,’ says Thelander. ‘And 100% of our output will be exported.’

Australian-led R&D

Memjet is a pioneer of advanced digital ink-jet printing technologies. The printing ‘engines’ that Memjet creates are the brains in many of the world’s best-known printing machine brands. This includes brands like Canon, Konica Minolta, PCMC, MGI and Gallus.

Most of the company’s design and research and development (R&D) work is executed in Australia. Over the past 7 years, the company has registered 183 patents, with most held in Australia and the United States. Until recently, however, most print engine assembly was done overseas, in particular in northeast Asia.

‘A typical print engine might have print heads from Australia, inks from Japan, and other subsystems from Singapore and Malaysia,’ says Thelander. ‘The print engine would be assembled overseas and then exported to assembly plants around the world. For most models, about 70—80% of the value-add happened in Asia.’

In July 2021, Memjet finished the design of its latest print engine. Executives had to decide where to assemble it. Several factors made executives think again about investing in Asia.

Increased control over international supply chains

One major factor played into the investment decision. Memjet wanted to consolidate its global supply chains.

‘Every country has been hit by supply chain issues over the past few years,’ says Thelander. ‘Like all companies we want to reduce risk.

‘The advantage of bringing manufacturing back to Australia and vertically integrating is you get more control. We are more in control of our supply chains and our margins.’

Designed in Australia; made in Australia

In July 2021, Memjet decided to bring four product lines for printer engines back from Asia. Memjet built a new factory in North Ryde, Sydney.

The company bought new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robots from Germany and wrote software – called ‘the juggler’– that tells them how to prioritise work. This means the robots can switch between manufacturing tasks without human intervention. And it means the company can maximise the efficient use of time in a particular manufacturing cell.

Thelander says the new Australia-made strategy includes sourcing most components from suppliers in Australia.

‘When we reach full production about 80% of the parts for our Australia-built print engines will come from Australia,’ he says. ‘For example, we used to get most of our dye inks from international suppliers. Now, all of them will be sourced from Australia.

Robotics enable competitive Australian manufacturing

Thelander believes strongly in the future of advanced manufacturing in Australia.

‘Advanced manufacturing can deliver a big reduction in factory head-counts,’ says Thelander. ‘The combination of new robotics and smart software means we can reduce manual labour by a factor of between 4 and 7.

‘So, a printhead production line in Asia that used to require 106 people now needs just 28 here in Australia. And we think we can ultimately get that labour requirement down to 15. This means we can do more with the same headcount.

‘Advanced manufacturing makes Australia competitive with Asia. It is not that we are “taking jobs” with automation: these jobs would have never existed in Australia — they would have gone overseas along with the supply chain.’

A collaborative manufacturing centre

Memjet’s breakthroughs in efficient manufacturing will mean it can help other innovators. The North Ryde factory will include a collaborative manufacturing centre, and house 140 engineers and scientists.

The key is agility. With new AI robotics, Memjet can quickly reconfigure its manufacturing spaces to execute small production runs for external organisations – such as medtechs and electronic-product developers. This helps innovators, startups and university spinoffs to make and test prototypes. Adaptable manufacturing spaces also enable innovators to refine their manufacturing processes.

‘This is a revolution in manufacturing,’ says Thelander. ‘It will take us just 90 minutes to reconfigure a production cell from manufacturing one product to another.’

This approach could deliver huge potential benefits to entrepreneurs, he explains. It means they can quickly assess the commercial potential of their prototypes without having to invest in their own manufacturing line. Entrepreneurs just need to configure “workstations” for their product and design the grippers. All other systems are already in the cell.

‘If you want to be competitive, you need the ability to effectively assemble parts with the lowest possible headcount,’ says Thelander.

‘Our new robots and ultra-smart software enable us to quickly manufacture high-tech, low-run components for other innovators,’ he adds. ‘We can also assemble parts with minimum human input. This is high-efficiency collaborative manufacturing — and it has a great future in Australia.’

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Published: 25 January 2023

Jacobs looks to the stars to expand its portfolio of projects and capabilities in Australia

Jacobs is a leading global technology-forward solutions provider. It focuses on solving the world’s most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing.

The company is focused on further growth in markets like space, decarbonisation, digital and transport infrastructure.

Australia is its third-largest market. Rich Hayers, vice president and general manager of Australia and New Zealand for Jacobs’ People & Places Solutions business, shares why Australia offers unlimited potential for Jacobs to expand its footprint:

• Record government and corporate investment in infrastructure
• Brisbane’s winning bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games
• Australia’s growing role in the global space industry
• Australia’s strong relationships in the Indo-Pacific region.

Growing global expertise in Australia

Founded in 1947 as an engineering company, Jacobs has evolved into a global solutions provider. The company provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector. It has a talent force of approximately 55,000 worldwide and generates US$14 billion in revenue annually. Australia serves as its Asia-Pacific hub, employing almost 4,000 staff across 14 offices.

‘Australia is a big part of our global success story,’ says Hayers. ‘Australia is ahead of the curve in infrastructure investment, particularly in transport. We’re working on several key rail and highway projects across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

‘As a globally integrated business, we’re able to leverage global expertise in Australia to apply some of our most innovative solutions to projects locally,’ he adds. ‘We also share our learnings and experience with other countries just starting to make similar investments. For example, our Australia teams with mass rapid transit experience are supporting projects and bids in New Zealand.’

Renewable energy is generating interest and investment

Jacobs is one of the top-ranked global environmental firms. It achieved net-zero carbon emissions for its operations and business travel in 2020. It is on track to be carbon negative by 2030. In July Jacobs unveiled its enhanced global sustainable business approach, PlanBeyondSM 2.0. It is the company’s foundation for what sustainability means to its clients and operations.  

Jacobs’ Australian projects reflect this focus on sustainability. The company is working on the Marinus Link, an undersea connection that will bring renewable energy from Tasmania into the mainland grid.

‘The growth and the leadership in Tasmania has impressed us, particularly in renewable energy,’ Hayers says. ‘Our team recently provided a review of Tasmania’s Climate Change Act. The Tasmanian Government supported all recommendations of the review, either in full or in-principle.’

In Victoria, Jacobs and Yarra Valley Water, Melbourne’s largest retail water utility, partnered on a thought leadership paper. The paper explores the relationship between the outputs of water electrolysis – hydrogen and pure oxygen – to support Australia’s hydrogen industry growth.

‘Australia has embraced renewable energy and is now embarking on combining that with new energy solutions such as hydrogen,’ says Hayers. ‘Each state and territory is nominating clean energy targets aimed at supporting decarbonisation, energy security and resiliency. While Australia has the benefit of world-class renewable resources, Asia is the potential end beneficiary to new energy solutions to help secure future energy needs.

‘The Jacobs “Indo-Pacific” business is a leader in strategic, technical, commercial and social value solutions across the region. It is helping guide industry through the complex challenges of energy transition.’

Brisbane Olympics to boost city infrastructure

Hayers says it’s exciting that Brisbane is the Olympic and Paralympic Games host city for 2032.

‘It will boost Queensland’s economy and infrastructure rollout,’ he says. ‘Hopefully, a sustainable, high-speed rail between the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast might come to fruition as a result.’

Jacobs acted as Program Manager on the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hayers acknowledges every Olympic Games is unique. However, he believes Jacobs’ program and legacy work on previous projects are pertinent to Brisbane 2032. These projects include the:

• London Olympic and Paralympic Games
• Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games
• World Expo 2020 Dubai
• upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.

Sky-high ambitions for Australia’s space industry

Mike Walkington is vice president and general manager for Jacobs’ Critical Missions Solutions (CMS) business in Australia. He sees enormous opportunity in Australia’s space sector.

Jacobs is the largest services provider to NASA. It helped NASA prepare Cape Canaveral for commercial ventures, including SpaceX and Blue Origin. It also assists scientists to determine the composition of rocks from the moon.

The Australian Government has invested A$150 million in Australian businesses involved in the NASA-led Artemis program.

‘In Australia, Jacobs is working with the Australian Space Agency. We are also supporting the development of commercial space ports in Australia,’ says Walkington.

Learning from First Nation Australians

Hayers says companies must do things differently to solve the world’s most critical challenges.

‘One big trend is biomimicry,’ he says. ‘Discovering how to replicate and harness practices and processes from nature.

‘First Nation Australians have been doing that for a long time as stewards of Country. There is much that we can learn from First Nations peoples, and we can grow those ideas and progress together.’

The Jacobs CMS business has a strategic partnership with the Indigenous Defence and Infrastructure Consortium (iDiC). Adam Goodes, an Adnyamathanha man and former Australian of the Year, leads the iDiC.

In the last 12 months, Jacobs has provided over A$3.8 million of work to three iDiC businesses.

‘We’re aiming to emulate the Australian Government’s approach of providing work to Indigenous-owned businesses,’ Walkington says. ‘This approach has allowed iDiC to flow-on financial, educational, professional and social benefits to Indigenous subcontractors, their families and communities.

‘Jacobs has benefited immensely from our relationship with iDiC. It’s helped our understanding of the challenges and motivations for Indigenous-owned businesses.’

Cooperation is creating opportunities in the Indo-Pacific

Jacobs is looking to expand into the Indo-Pacific region.

‘We’ve witnessed a positive level of economic cooperation between Australia, Japan, India and the US,’ says Hayers.

‘Having Australia take a leadership position in the Indo-Pacific gives us certainty. It mitigates risk, particularly if we can link in with Australian Government or quadrilateral initiatives. There are collaborations on infrastructure development, renewables, cyber digitisation and healthcare.’

Austrade networks provide vital market intel

Austrade provided practical support to Jacobs as it scoped opportunities in the region and Australia.

‘We’ve been working with Austrade in the US and Australia,’ says Hayers. ‘They have a good understanding of US business practices and how to apply them to Australia. Austrade has a finger on the pulse on what’s happening in the market with good market intel. They’ve connected us with the right stakeholders and showed us what business support was available to us.

‘More recently, Austrade has connected us to several high-level networks. We see this as an exciting contributor to our growth aspirations in the Indo-Pacific and to bringing economic benefit to Australia.’

Published: 11 January 2022