Quickstep ramps up industry 4.0 manufacturing R&D

Swinburne University of Technology and industry research partners including composites manufacturer, Quickstep Holdings (ASX: QHL), have received $1 million from a federal government R&D programme.

The grant from the Global Innovation Linkages programme brings to $3.5 million the partners are spending developing on Industry 4.0 manufacturing systems for high volume, lightweight composites.

Their project will use a world-first process for 3D printing of industrial scale composites in Swinburne’s Industry 4.0 Testlab.

It aims to develop high volume products for the aerospace, automotive and the emerging ‘New Mobility Transportation’ markets, using the latest technologies in automation and digitalisation.

Quickstep CEO, Mark Burgess said the use of advanced materials and processes was a critical factor in aerospace and other advanced industry sectors.

Burgess said: “Quickstep is developing QPS (Quickstep Production System) solutions for its customers and we see this project further enhancing our capabilities in the advanced manufacturing of composites.

“This project will see the further integration of our patented Qure process with other digital and automated technologies to provide a complete solution for the higher volume manufacturing of carbon fibre composite parts.”

The global innovation linkages programme encourages global collaborations on leading-edge R&D.

Quickstep and Swinburne are partnered with the University of Stuttgart, Austrian equipment maker, Fill, and composites manufacturer, Palatine.

Picture: Quickstep/autoclave

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