82 | Automate-X T T Virginia Wright Improving safety and efficiency Automate-X offers industrial manufacturing automation solutions of all shapes and sizes to businesses in New Zealand and Australia ENGINEERING Auckland-based Automate-X was established in 2020 by two engineers with a shared passion for automation and mechatronics when they saw a gap in the market. Ben Haughey and Marcel van Niekerk teamed up to build a highly skilled automation company, combining the skills with experience and flexibility to offer tailor-made industrial automation solutions backed up with dedicated service and support. They offer industrial manufacturing automation solutions of all shapes and sizes to businesses in New Zealand and Australia, all designed to lower costs while improving efficiency. They include: hardware and software solutions using machine vision to take the human error out of inspecting goods for quality and quantity; designing and installing the right machine safety systems and equipment while validating all safety functions to comply with industry standards and keeping your staff safe on the job; or working closely with you while automating your warehouse packing system. Automate-X works in partnership with clients to come up with a solution specific to each business, integrating solutions with whatever different systems there may be on site. Business development manager Jordan McFall, one of their two original staff members, gives a simple example of a recent job. “We collaborated with Mills Food & Dairy (MFD). They did the mechanical design and engineering for the project. Someone was manually loading 30kg steel studs into a machine all day long, so we automated that process, which makes it safer and upskilled that worker to operate the robotic arm that did the job instead of him, so he’s now a robotics operator.” Upskilling the workers rather than robots simply taking their jobs is standard practice, and as the tasks being automated are usually either dangerous or repetitive or both, staff members are excited to be part of the transition to automation. Unlike many businesses that unfortunately started just in time for Covid, the industrial automation industry found itself expanding as manufacturers struggled to get and keep staff and realised they needed automation rather than it being a ‘nice to have’ explains Jordan. “While every system is different, needing different things from different robots, they’re all designed to solve problems that were amplified during Covid and seem to have carried on.” www.aucklandracking.co.nz info@aucklandracking.co.nz Machinery Solutions for Food & Dairy Manufacturers Contact Wayne Mills (021) 2857003 Nigel Cuff (028) 85137055 www.millsfd.com
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