Designed as a space for collaboration, exploration and the creation of future focused solutions, our brand new Innovation Centre is officially open at our head office in Newcastle, Australia.
Our team at Newcastle gathered with Chief Executive Officer Simon Linge and Chairman of the Board Mr Sonosuke Ishii to kick off the opening celebrations with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Simon said the establishment of the Innovation Centre was an important part of Bradken achieving its vision to be a global leader in wear parts, services and solutions for the resources sector.
“Our aim is to be a leader in this space and our use of technology to develop future focused solutions is what will set us apart,” Simon said.
“Right now we’re investing in ourselves with a strong focus on Research and Development.
“Our team is investigating ways our products can best use technology and data capture (internet of things – IoT) to give our customers safer and more productive products, and with the opening of the Innovation Centre, we now have a dedicated space for this exploration to happen.”
Research and Development Manager Reece Attwood was heavily involved in the planning and preparation of the Innovation Centre.
He said the space incorporated a number of different hands-on capabilities that would help his team support the broader business with their innovation goals.
“We know our customers are looking for smarter more intelligent ways of running their operations.
“Our job is to help our design and engineering teams deliver product and service solutions that meet that need.
“So we’ve set up the Innovation Centre as an in-house space for design thinking and concept development.
“It has a metallurgical lab and a host of other capabilities including rapid prototyping, 3D scanning and printing and a virtual reality system all of which adds an important new dimension to our creative process.
“Everyone’s really excited to get in and start taking advantage of the equipment… within hours of the opening we already had concept work underway.
“I can’t wait to see what game changing solutions we develop for our customers.”
