Episode 8 of the Australian Power Transmission Podcast
In this episode of the Oz PT Podcast:
Kodak,
pretty much gone, and
Electric
motors in hazardous areas
Thanks for tuning in, downloading, iTunesing or however you
came to find the eighth episode of the Australian Power Transmission
Podcast. It’s Monday, February 20th,
2012.
My name is Damian Harris and you can contact me and the show
via a heap of ways; namely twitter, e-mail, the website and social media
platforms. Simply use your search engine
and the show comes up pretty high on the rankings now, not to be confused with
the PT Podcast which is Erik the Physical Therapist from Oregon. Hi Erik.
*Regal Beloit has
acquired Milwaukee Gear Company for
$80 million in cash. Milwaukee Gear was
foundered at the end of the First World War, expanding through continuous
reinvestment to now recording revenues of over $60 million. Specialising in bespoke gearing fabrication
in niche markets such as oil and gas, Milwaukee Gear fits into the Mechanical
segment of Regal Beloit alongside Hub
City and numerous other brands. The
Mechanical segment represents around 10% of Regal Beloit’s total business.
Still on Regal Beloit, they have posted their result for the
full year 2011. Sales were $2.8 billion, a 25 percent increase over 2010 and a
direct result of an aggressive acquisition strategic policy. Net income was
also up, growing 1.9 percent to $152.3 million, although profit as a percentage
of sales was down, from 24.5% to 23.7%.
*The Australian
Industry Group has ended speculation as to Reserve Bank of
Australia-appointed Heather Ridout’s successor as Chief Executive, awarding
insider Innes Willox the position.
Willox is an existing Ai Group heavyweight, serving as the current
Director, International and Government Relations, which really is the backbone
of the Australian Industry Group’s function.
The outgoing Ms. Ridout had been with the Ai Group for over
30 years, the last eight as Chief Executive, and whilst her departure will
leave a big dent in the tacit knowledge of the manufacturing lobby group, Ai
Group National President Lucio Di Bartolomeo is convinced that Willox will grow
the organisation in coming years. As manufacturing
continues to slide in the wake of Australia’s unstoppable resources boom, Mr.
Willox will have his work cut out for him.
*GlaxoSmithKline has announced it will
invest $60 million to expand its Boronia, Victoria site, creating 58 new
positions in manufacturing and drug development. GSK’s investment has been welcomed by the
Victorian government, praising the increase in production and the ability for
the firm to contract-manufacture.
Australia is fairly rich with pharmaceutical manufacturers,
including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sigma, Phizer and CSL,
supplying a domestic market where sales surpass $11 billion annually.
*One of the Heinz
plants that was shut down at the start of the year, Girgarre, has had a
committee of former employees make offers to take over the establishment and
run it as a going concern. Although it
could be considered a bold move and central to keeping the town of under 700
alive, it would look as though the equipment is more valuable to Heinz in its
New Zealand operations as they have already started gutting the plant. Boilers and evaporators are already on their
way across the Tasman, making any employee takeover worth much less as the
plant is now merely a shell.
*SKF has picked up General Bearings in a deal of around $125 million. Although headquartered in New York state,
General manufactures its range of ball, tapers and sphericals in China and the
purchase would appear to be nothing more than a big fish swallowing a smaller
fish, as SKF plans to maintain the General and Hyatt brands.
SKF had a turnover
of $8.5 billion last year and has embraced manufacturing in both China and
India, opening its own plants in both countries.
*Also on the
mergers and acquisitions front, David
Brown has purchased Canadian gear manufacturer Unigear Industries as it looks to expand into what it deems
strategically-important markets. All of
the key personnel of the hitherto privately-owned firm are staying on with the
new enterprise, which is an obvious nod to David Brown’s North American
expansion efforts.
David Brown already
owns Cone Drive, the Michigan-based manufacturer that specialises in worm
gearboxes right up to 50,000 Nm output, utilising the double-enveloping
wormgear design. Unigear has a full
manufacturing workshop and the capacity to make some pretty big gearing, making
it the perfect platform for David Brown’s Canadian operations.
*In the mid 1980s, Eastman
Kodak had 145,000 workers and was the clearly dominant player in the world
of photography. For all the kids out
there, cameras used to take photos on film and you would get them developed and
printed on photo paper. Obviously, it’s
a thing of the past, and it comes as little surprise that a company that does
this for a living is not going to survive.
In fact, Kodak has resorted to litigation in support of its many patents
as another source of income.
Business reality has caught up with Kodak internationally,
causing it to file for bankruptcy protection at the end of 2011 as it looks to
significantly change the business that it does.
Strategic planning requires more than simply doing things right, it
means doing the right things. They have
been given a financial lifeline to start doing the right things by this time
next year.
Kodak has closed its camera manufacturing business, as well
as over 130,000 printing kiosks, although it still maintains 100,000 printing
kiosks throughout the world. With the
closure of its camera business, these kiosks now represent over ¾ of its new
business model. It expects to continue
making money from its range of home printers, commercial printers and Business
Process Management software.
Kodak shut its manufacturing doors in Australia back in
2004, when it closed the film production plant in Coburg that employed
600. The plant itself was reasonably
technologically advanced but it simply produced something that nobody wanted
anymore.
The main problem for supplier businesses in situations where
a major manufacturing customer shuts its doors is that business ends, normally
pretty abruptly. Kodak had scaled back
its Australian operations prior to closing so the impact to suppliers was not as
harsh, but was still felt nonetheless.
Component and raw materials suppliers would have no doubt been made
aware of Kodak’s intentions prior to the closure announcement, but indirect
suppliers such as bearing, power transmission, air handling and compressor
companies are all normally the last to find out.
*Electric motors available for operation in hazardous areas
have to comply with different levels of certification, dependent on where they
are used. In Australia, local standards
were developed and used both here and in New Zealand from the 1960s, but as the
world gets smaller, it also looks to standardise.
The IEC has set
up a system for certification to standards relating to equipment for use in
explosive atmospheres, called IECEx. IECEx has developed a Conformity Assessment
System to ensure that equipment from IEC member countries meets strict
guidelines, allowing a reduction in compliance costs, improved safety and
instant verification.
ATEX is an
existing European set of standards which seeks to achieve the same outcome as
the IEC in European Union countries. The
IEC’s standards and ATEX are similar but not the same.
Primarily, hazardous or explosive areas are straightforward
and predictable, such as oil and gas refineries, chemical processing plants,
coal mining and fuel distribution. There
are some industries, however, that are just as hazardous but less
straightforward. Consider printing,
textiles, grain handling, woodworking, sugar refining, metal grinding and even
water treatment. Many have chemicals or
dusts that are explosive but not considered so and can get under the radar.
In order to deal with the various differences in
interpretation of what constitutes a hazardous area, the IEC has standardised
the following classifications...
Gases, vapours and mists are referred to as Class 1, whilst
dusts are known as Class 2. Gases are
further defined, with methane in coal mining called Group 1 and other gases
called Group 2. Group 2 gases are
subdivided even further, dependent upon the temperature of ignition.
The probability of explosive gases being present in the
atmosphere that the motor is operating in is dealt with by a zonal
classification, of which there are three...
Zone 0 refers to an area where explosive gases are or as
good as continuously present. Zone 1 is
an area where explosive gases can be expected in normal operating
conditions. Zone 2 refers to an area
where explosive gases are not likely to appear and if they do, will not be
around for long.
The major and most common rating for motors in hazardous
areas is known as EX’d, which is a certification commonly known as flameproof
and mainly used in explosive gas or dust applications with a Zone 1, Class 1
requirement. EX’d motors are designed to
contain explosions, so that they are not transmitted to atmosphere. Its design includes a flamepath, which is a
route for exploding gas to escape through, whilst cooling. They are certified, and any repairs or
rewinds must also be performed by certified rewinders.
EX’e motors are used in scenarios requiring increased safety,
using special windings to help alleviate temperature rise, backed with some
other features that help prevent sparks and arcs.
EX’n motors are known as non-sparking variants, normally
suitable for Zone 2 operations.
Non-sparking characteristics are achieved by basic design features,
alongside the optional use of thermistors and thermal overloads which prevent
overheating.
DIP motors are Dust Ignition Proof, used primarily in grain
handling but also available for operation in wood, chemicals and plastics
industries. DIP motors sport a metal or
other non-static producing material cooling fan and carry different ratings for
different ignition temperatures.
Motors used in variable speed drive situations also require
special consideration; normally the manufacturer of both is matched and
certified. Heat rise is always a factor,
as is the instance of bearing currents which cause sparks.
Not all motor
manufacturers have got involved with hazardous area motors, and not all have
got involved with matched VSDs to their motors.
Any situation where there is even the remotest possibility of explosive
gases being present requires the utmost diligence from the engineering staff
and sales people involved.
That brings an end to proceedings for episode eight of the Australian Power Transmission Podcast.
That brings an end to proceedings for episode eight of the Australian Power Transmission Podcast.
Twitter
@ozptpodcast
Comments on the web
australianptpodcast.blogspot.com
Facebook and Google+ - just search it
If you’ve found the show through iTunes, do me a favour and
leave a review.
I’ll speak to you again soon, make it a couple of weeks.
