About EMEX 2024:
New Zealand’s largest trade show for engineering, manufacturing technology, and electronics sectors, featuring over 200 exhibitors, keynote speakers, and industry innovations.
Date: 28 – 30 May 2024 (Tue, Wed 9am – 5pm; Thu 9am – 4pm)
Location: Auckland Showgrounds Auckland (PLAN YOUR VISIT)
LISMS to be featured at EMEX2024. Visit us at EMEX 2024, Stand 1069 in Hall 1(see visitor floorplan), to learn more about how LISMS is making Industry 4.0 accessible for NZ manufacturers and increasing productivity through process innovation.
As New Zealand’s first Industry 4.0 laboratory, the Laboratory for Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing Systems (LISMS) was set up at the University of Auckland in 2016 with the aim of creating the socalled “Learning Factory” for both “future engineers” (students and post-graduates) and the industry.
It mirrors the setting of a manufacturing factory by using the same or similar type of equipment and has a similar layout. The lab consists of two industrial robots (Kuka), a conveyor (Bosch), a CNC lathe, cobots (UR5 and OMRON) and a mobile industrial robot (MIR), all connected to a network forming a manufacturing cell.
The lab is served by an MES (AspectPL) system and a raft of industrial communication protocols, e.g. OPC UA and MQTT. The goal of LISMS is to uplift manufacturing productivity through process innovation.
The lab has a focus on:
- Assisting local industries in better understanding how Industry 4.0 may benefit their businesses
- Working with companies in process innovation projects and in doing so, increasing their digital capabilities and capacity
- Educating future engineers with a high readiness level in technologies for industry
In November 2023, the New Zealand government established the Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing. A Manufacturing Ministerial Reference Group (otherwise known as “Manufacturing Productivity Advisory Group (MPAG)”) was created to advise the Ministry. Dr. Xun Xu, the Director of LISMS and also a member of MPAG, maintains that LISMS is operating in the “right space,” striving for manufacturing process innovation that can deliver higher productivity, improve sustainability, drive more significant capital intensification, and ultimately, achieve better outcomes for our country.
Often, the global trend of adopting innovative technologies (e.g. Industry 4.0) proves daunting for many NZ SMEs and their workers. They often meet with prohibiting barriers such as Cost, Risk, and Complexity. LISMS has recently embarked on the Digital Manufacturing Light (DM Light) initiative, supported by Auckland Unlimited and inspired by the UK’s “Digital Manufacturing on a Shoestring (Shoestring)” program. It is designed to remove the abovementioned three barriers.
and automation technology company ABB in Napier to develop an automated inspection process for a UPS chassis, led by Dr. Jan Polzer. The researchers developed a bespoke, low-cost, easy-to-operate solution – and trained staff – through commissioning in the company.
Many New Zealand businesses are “small to micro-sized” and have, in general, very low capital intensity and digital resources; a low-cost digital solution is often more fit for purpose and also an excellent way to get onto the digital transformation journey.
Another part of LISMS’s research is looking into how technologies can be developed for sustainable manufacturing, in particularly considering the workers’ welfare. For example, Dr. Yuqian Lu’s human-centric automation work is demonstrated by operators working with, and supported by cobots. LISMS has developed technological solutions in the areas of digital twin, augmented reality, data analytics, and cloud-based manufacturing. Recently, it is also looking at Artificial Intelligence and how technologies like generative AI (i.e., tools such as ChatGPT) can be used for manufacturing. LISMS built a strong link with many New Zealand businesses, stakeholders and sector groups, such as ABB, BOA, Bremworth, AspectPT, Babcock, Fletcher Building, HYNDS, Liquidestone, Oasis, Ports of Auckland, Sequal, Spiraweld, Advanced Manufacturing Aotearoa (AMA), Callaghan Innovation, EMA, and NZTE.
