Murray Now

From the creative minds of two local engineers came a new and innovative way to automate dairy farms across the Murray.

A&D Techeng has been operating for over 15 years and has offices located in Melbourne, Wodonga, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney. The Wodonga office is home to Bob Johnstone and Chris Beattie. It is from this brain trust that some of the most technologically advanced industrial control and automation solutions are created. A&D Techeng assists clients throughout the Murray and Riverina and although the reach of his business has been steadily growing, Bob is well aware that this takes time. ”Around here (the Murray) word of mouth can be the best or worst advertising, but we have certainly grown our branding due to quality service.” Bob comments.

As A&D Techeng has engineers in offices across Australia, support can be provided where needed. The advantage according to Bob is ‘If I have a problem I am a bit stuck on, I can call on about 20 different engineers and they can help me out, it is important to me to have that network and support.’

The current project for A&D Techeng is developing a revolutionary rotary dairy system with Global Dairy Solutions, also located in Wodonga, for a farmer in Cohuna. A&D Techeng had already built a similar system on a dairy farm in Gundowring and this particular farmer has opened the project up for inspection. The client asked A&D Techeng to create a fully automated, modular based system, as opposed to a ‘black box’ system which cannot be upgraded or expanded upon.

Traditionally automated systems applied to rotary dairies control aspects such as: automatic cup holder systems, pulsating units and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and they are stand alone remote units which operate from a central ‘black box’. ‘If a farmer buys a system; that’s all he’s got and if he wants to upgrade to a smarter system to include something else, he virtually has to start again and pull everything out and buy new hardware,’ Bob said. ‘And these systems can be upward of $100K.’

The system produced by A&D Techeng allows farmers to build a modular based system, in essence ‘building blocks’, to cater and expand the dairy as necessary. The system allows farmers to be more efficient and productive, and can easily upgrade components when necessary. A farmer can buy a basic system and build this to specifications. A&D Techeng is working closely with Global Dairy Solutions, also located in Wodonga, who assisted in the design and construction, providing ongoing support.

Some of the benefits from a modular based rotary dairy system include: • reducing the number of milking machines • reducing the amount of down time in between milking • reduces the number of persons needed (in a traditional dairy two people are needed) • reduce by over half the amount of time spent milking, • considerable cost savings, • the flexability to adjust milking parameters, • easily able to record individual cow data and interface it into a herd management system, • Most components can be purchased off the shelf from local suppliers.

Local businesses also benefit from larger projects at A&D Techeng. Wodonga Switchboards have been sub-contracted to assist in various jobs, such as the rotary dairy. ‘We work well together and are continually looking at ways to make our products better for the customer, together we can deliver a ‘turn key’ project on site. We carry out Factory Acceptance Testing in house and demonstrate to the customer that everything will work when it is delivered and assembled.’ Bob states.

The advantages of being associated with an organisation such as Murray Now is realised by business such as A&D Techeng. ‘Murray Now is a great support to my business and when I go out to see clients and do work I always use the Regional Profile to promote what we have in the region. They can look through and see other great businesses and industries along with my own.’

For more information on A&D Techeng please go to the website www.techeng.com.au