ARMA Conference, Sydney, Australia - Day Two
Overview of Day Two of the ARMA Rotomoulding Conference in Sydney from Francis Ward MD Jonathan Wurr. "Last night's food and entertainment were provided courtesy of Price Plastics. I always wanted the free run of a bowling alley. The place was open just for the ARMA group, especially as we were given a handful of tokens to play in the arcade area. I was devastated to find that the Splat the Rat was out of order, but was beaten time and time again by Shaun Mullen of AS Sheet Metal on the basketball game. Bowling seems to be a theme at rotomoulding conferences and after my shambolic performance in Poland, I was delighted with a more credible score of 148. On return to the hotel I was pleased with my self-control by avoiding the bar and doing a final run through of my presentation before my grand entrance into rotomoulding speaker circuit!! After breakfast overlooking the ocean, the morning presentations kicked off. I was impressed with Bob Dunne's talk about employee motivation. It was good to be reminded that a lot of the things that we do automatically for health and safety and organisation of the factory also affect the motivation of employees. Bob talked about cameras in his factory - I cannot help but think that I have failed in my culture if cameras are deemed necessary, but I can begin to see some of the benefits that can be shared between employee and employer. Oliver Wandres of Maus presented on the Rotocooler internal water cooling system, something we will definitely be looking into. I will look forward to comparing the Maus system with La Plastecnica's system from New Zealand when Rory presents tomorrow. I was fascinated by Melro's presentation on small parts. The presentation was called Australia's smallest rotomoulded part. They described a project to make a tiny medical tank with a weight of 300g and dimensions of 180 x 130 x 56mm. What was most amazing was that the part had 10 inserts moulded into it!! They then admitted to fooling us by announcing a tiny milk spout that weighs 40g as the 'real' smallest part. I was on after coffee break and was really pleased with my presentation on rotolining of steel containers. In fact I have already had some interest on introducing our lined IBC containers into Australia. The afternoon was given over to Qenos, an Australian PE manufacturer. I enjoyed the presentation on the polymerisation process and the way that catalysts affect the process. We visited their plant in the afternoon. It was like the old days when I used to work on refineries. There was a mighty big extrusion and compounding line in operation there! I am looking forward to the Gala Dinner tonight."