Tassie engineers crush the field above and below the ground
World- class skills at the cutting edge and a more diverse workforce, says Darren Beattie
TASMANIA is a leader in world- class engineering.
This was proved at the state’s 2020 Australian Engineering Excellence Awards. The overall winner was North- West Coast firm Caterpillar Underground Mining. Caterpillar won for its Caterpillar Minestar Command, now available on its underground loaders.
Tasmania has a proud mining history, but underground mining is by its nature a potentially dangerous industry. The Minestar Command enables one operator, of any skill level, to safely mine ore with one or multiple machines from the safety and comfort of a remote operator station. The judges said it was an excellent example of engineering innovation providing a new way to work. The Minestar Command contributes to the national economy by enabling improvements in safety and productivity for mining operations. It also contributes to the economy in Burnie, selling to both national and international markets.
Judges said the project improved quality of life through improvements to safety and health of miners, and by providing opportunities to operators with physical limitations who previously would not have been able to do this work.
The Caterpillar project team has now been asked to participate in development of worldwide standards for machine automation.
Engineers Australia ( Tasmania) was also extremely pleased with the diversity of award winners.
Hazell Bros and the Port of Burnie Post- Panamax Container Crane Demolition won Australian Excellence awards.
Hazell Bros won for its Field of Play Reconstruction of UTAS Stadium in Launceston. The judges said the UTAS Stadium project was delivered in a very short time frame, between national AFL and cricket season fixtures.
Innovation included an approach to design that
incorporated an engineering and scientific team approach and rigorous testing of materials to maximise the use of Tasmanian resources.
The Port of Burnie project was delivered by TasPorts and BridgePro Engineering. This was an innovative approach to a difficult problem, judges said, based on solid engineering principles and thorough analysis. It involved demolition of a container crane — a first in Tasmania and possibly Australia. Dozens of engineers were involved in workshops and reviews to discuss, debate and consider all aspects of the methodology.
The other finalists were Granville Harbour Wind Farm project, by Ekistica, John Laing Group, Lucas Total Contract Solutions, Menard Oceania, Palisade Investment Partners, Royce Smith, Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec, Vestas and the development of C5 Pro- Solutions Censo’s
cloud based engineering and project management platform and the TasWater 24 glasses project.
The 2020 finalists were from diverse engineering sectors — renewable energy, water, civil construction, mining and cloud- based engineering.
Last month, Engineers Australia also presented the Driving Diversity in Engineering Scholarships to three women in their first year of engineering studies in Tasmania, the third year of this critical program.
International research shows the more diversity a company has in the workplace, the better the outcomes. Engineers Australia is focused on providing opportunities for young women. The scholarships were again sponsored by Hydro Tasmania and Caterpillar, companies committed to increasing the number of women engineers in their workforce. Two of the three scholarships were to women studying at the Australian Maritime College for the first time. The winners are Anna Smith, studying at AMC ( Caterpillar); Mileva Savic — studying engineering at UTAS ( Hydro Tasmania); Edwina James, studying AMC ( Hydro Tasmania).
New Hydro Tasmania CEO Evangelista Albertini said he hoped the scholarships inspired recipients to strive for excellence in the profession.
“I previously lectured at UTAS and the disparity between the number of men and women studying engineering was quite stark, so anything we can do to redress this imbalance is worthwhile,” Mr Evangelista said.
“For the recipients however, these scholarships will help them to attain an engineering qualification that will provide challenging and exciting career opportunities.
“While engineers are a little unseen and unheralded societally, they are central to our way of life. Almost nothing is made or developed without an engineer being involved.”
Engineering is essentially about finding solutions to problems across almost every part of society. If we can continue to encourage young women to study engineering and work in its multitude of industries, our society will see better solutions and better outcomes for everyone.