Facility tour inspires students

HYDAC Australia has once again hosted its annual Facility Tour and Innovation Day for Swinburne University students on 12 April, with students gaining much from insight into daily work life and HYDAC’s hydraulic products, systems and solutions, Industry 4.0 efficiencies and the company’s Professional Graduate Program.

The day commenced with HYDAC State Manager (Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania) David Jonker welcoming back Swinburne University and its students, providing some safety precautions, and touching on HYDAC Australia operations and the day’s agenda. HYDAC Technical Training Manager Paul Marley then gave a half-hour introduction on hydraulics and Industry 4.0.

Legendary ‘starting a professional career’ presentation

Jonker followed this with a presentation entitled ‘Starting a professional career’, wherein he shared some personal insights and experiences on the subject and gave students tips on how to start successful professional careers. He commented that the approximately 40 students attending were at different stages of their educational cycle, ranging from first year all the way through to Masters.

“The students were completing various engineering streams, including mechatronics, electrical and mechanical engineering,” he said. “The first presentation by Paul Marley included some great history about Swinburne University and its establishment by George Swinburne, which fascinated the students, including the link between Swinburne and the hydraulics industry.”

In September 1882 George Swinburne left home for London, where his uncle John Coates was a gas and hydraulic engineer. He found employment to provide the practical experience he needed, and in May 1884 R. Dempster & Sons sent him to Vienna, in charge of seven English workmen, to install a gas holder and plant.

“The historical context was well received by the students,” Jonker said.

Professional Graduate Program presentation

The next presentation on the Professional Graduate Program was presented by one of HYDAC’s current graduate sales engineers, Sid Herath, who gave an account of his real-life experience as a participant of the program to date.

He commented that his presentation focused on what he does day-to-day to give students a sense of ‘life on the ground’ as part of the Professional Graduate Program.

“I let them know that I find visiting customers onsite very interesting; this is different compared to many graduate roles where they don’t have this type of interaction,” he said. “And I can categorically say that I’ve learnt invaluable life and work skills via these engagements.”

He emphasised that the variety of products and innovation on offer from HYDAC is a “big eye opener” and drawcard for the company.

“These points really excited the students and gave them a new enthusiasm for their upcoming careers,” he said. “Insight into Industry 4.0 and how it optimises operation and saves money for customers, as focal points of the day, are also good for students to understand in a real-life work environment.”

Many of the students attending were in their first and second year.

“I found that quite inspiring — that they’re already exploring what sort of engineer they could become and looking at innovative companies like HYDAC,” he said. “They engaged the process with many questions, which was great. They clearly already knew a lot about what we do and weren’t afraid to get answers for questions they still had.”

Facility tour and demonstration afternoon activities

The students and three professors attending were divided into two groups for the afternoon activities and presentations.

Both groups, at different times, enjoyed:

• presentation on predictive maintenance 4.0 by HYDAC Automation and Control Engineer Robert Huang
• machine-to-machine connectivity and control technology demonstration by HYDAC mechatronics engineer David Villacis
• mixed reality infield super demo by HYDAC XR programmer Amshumaan Rakshith
• automation control engineering capabilities and electrical control by HYDAC industrial electrician Andrew Peters
• mechanical engineering capabilities and test bench demonstration by HYDAC senior engineer Nick Blyth.
   

The afternoon ended with a summary from David Jonker.

“Swinburne University thanked us for all state-of-the-art presentations and demonstrations. In fact, they rated HYDAC as one of the best businesses in Victoria and touched on our professionalism and organisational abilities,” he said. “And the bedrock of this relationship between HYDAC and Swinburne is that of partnership.”

Jonker highlighted that the feedback from students was that they received much-needed insight into the external industry and got insight into a hydraulic and automation world and real-life application of Industry 4.0.

HYDAC Marketing and Social Media Assistant Laura Munoz commented that the students were satisfied with the experience.

“A big highlight was the virtual reality training with Mr Rakshith,” she said. “It was clear that it was way beyond their expectations for the day and while they learnt a lot they also had fun.”