AUSTRALIS Engineering says the Royal Australia Mint’s Materials Handling and Warehousing Project is the company’s most significant project to date.
According to Phillip Gustafson, Managing Director of Australis Engineering, the RA Mint’s Materials Handling and Warehousing Project (MHWP) was completed successfully due to the partnership between the Mint and the 26-year-old Australian owned and family run company.
Australis Engineering says the MHWP is significant, not just because of the attention-grabbing Kuka Titan robot, but also because it features many innovative materials handling components that have been brought together to form a single integrated engineering solution.
Australis Engineering’s holistic design solution includes what is thought to be the world’s first coin Vision Counting System (VCS) to allow accurate high speed coin counting, and the use of robotics to minimise manual handling and increase production output.
Australis Engineering reduced manual handling in the MHWP by specifying special purpose roller conveyors, bucket elevators, automated guided vehicles (AGV), as well as a fully integrated materials handling and warehousing solution, including a warehouse racking system and pallet wrapping solution.
Results show the MHWP is now producing large volumes of coin for the RA Mint, and achieving accurate results, largely thanks to the VCS which is perhaps the most significant part of the system from an engineering perspective.
The VCS was designed in-house by Australis Engineering’s team of mechatronics and mechanical engineers, with principle designer, Anthony Gustafson winning an award for this design. It utilises high speed cameras and control systems to count coins or coin blanks in a mass flow, conveyor environment.
Mr Gustafson says current validation demonstrates that the VCS is achieving accuracies up to 99.8% and throughput rates of around 12,000 coins per minute. As the system settles into full production, further improvements in accuracy and throughput are expected.
The Royal Australian Mint’s MHWP has been nominated and short-listed for an Engineering Excellence Award from the Canberra division of Engineers Australia. Results of the award nomination will be announced on 10 September 2009.
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