Applied Robotics Case Study
UTS industry collaboration opportunities are supporting Australian manufacturer Applied Robotics to scale their business to new heights.
Applied Robotics is an SME on the move. This year, the Sydney-based automation integrator has big plans in the works: they’re setting themselves up to open new offices in Dubai and Adelaide, launching a robotics training academy at their Silverwater headquarters, and recruiting for 15 new roles.
This rapid growth is, in part, the result of a longstanding relationship with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). To date, the company has undertaken five projects through Optik Consultancy, a student internship program within the UTS Faculty of Engineering; a futuremap capability assessment exercise led by SME@UTS; and a Strategic Design Studio project, where UTS Executive MBA students deliver strategic innovation solutions for Australian businesses.
These are just a handful of the opportunities available to NSW-based SME manufacturers via SME@UTS, a concierge-style service that connects them to university talent, knowledge, grants, skills, projects and facilities with the goal of enabling digital transformation towards modern manufacturing.
"Applied Robotics is a shining example of how SME manufacturers can build competitive advantage through SME@UTS and derive value from partnering with the VET and higher education sector," says Annette Dockerty, Program Lead for SME@UTS.
Each of these UTS programs has delivered powerful benefits that have helped Applied Robotics grow their business and lower the risks of investing in innovation, according to General Manager of Operations Isaac Roach.
Through the Optik Consultancy initiative, Roach and his colleagues have set students a series of highly specialised engineering and information technology challenges that represent growth opportunities for the company.
These include automating the process of labelling blood sample tubes for use in pathology testing processes; developing a Pick to Light solution for an automated mobile robot; and currently in progress, training a cobot to deal cards for blackjack to demonstrate the variety of ways in robotics can interact with people.
While the engineering outputs have been outstanding, Roach says that Optik Consultancy’s biggest value add is the access it offers to a high-quality talent pipeline. Roach himself attended UTS, and he’s hired four other UTS Engineering graduates. One of these grads, Mingyuan Huo, has since gone on to lead subsequent Optik Consultancy projects for the company.
Optik has also transformed the way Roach envisages the Applied Robotics’ recruitment practices; today, the company is recruiting for 15 new positions.
"The success of the early Optik projects made it very easy for me to convince management that we could upskill people into what we needed them to be quite quickly It’s a touchpoint with graduates and we get to see some of the talent that’s coming through," says General Manager of Operations Isaac Roach
futuremap, a business diagnostic tool for Australian manufacturing SMEs, connected Roach and his team to a range of industry leaders, some of whom have now become important Applied Robotics customers.
The futuremap workshop gave them the opportunity to assess their own business capabilities, and they also used it as a way of assessing a client’s business, too.
"One of us completed the futuremap assessment as if it was coming from our client’s perspective, and the other one did it as it if was coming from our own,
It was a tool for us to think about the client relationship a little bit differently and think about where our capacities complement them, and where our capacities might need to be increased to complement them further," says General Manager of Operations Isaac Roach.
On the business side of things, the Strategic Design Studio experience has helped Applied Robotics streamline their internal operations, including making changes to their executive staffing structure and bringing on an in-house HR team.
These changes emerged from recommendations from the final report, produced by UTS Executive MBA students, which was developed in response to a brief from the Applied Robotics team.
Based on a comprehensive review of the company’s existing operations and the broader manufacturing environment it exists within, the report recommended refining Applied Robotics’ existing business model, articulating the core capabilities and activities required for future growth, and shifting the company culture to deliver a better customer experience.
Working with UTS has also connected the company to extensive networks and skillsets that might otherwise be off limits.
"There’s a significant network of research and development support, which, especially for an advanced industry like ours, is incredibly important, I think they’ve lowered the cost and reduced the risk of our research and development projects for sure," says General Manager of Operations Isaac Roach.
The UTS-Applied Robotics affiliation is slowly transforming into a genuine partnership based on mutual benefit and shared expertise. In addition to their university-industry engagements via SME@UTS, the two organisations are currently working on a series of microcredentials via the Faculty of Engineering.
They’re also looking for opportunities to partner at UTS Tech Lab, a university-industry research facility designed to drive innovation in engineering and IT. These are just the latest steps in a long-term collaboration that’s delivering value in academia and industry alike.
"University collaborations are a pathway for any company to bring advanced research to industry. The Applied Robotics team is passionate about partnering with the right education partners such as UTS to create unique and innovative solutions," says Andrew Hambly, General Manager of Solutions at Applied Robotics
UTS Strategic Design Studio
Executive MBA students: Matthew Jackson, Abdallah Abdallah, Elena Ovsyannikova and Yash Mani. Executive coach: Leanne Sobel
SME@UTS as a concierge-style service helps SMEs upskill their workforce, access emerging student talent, collaborate on innovative projects, develop strategic roadmaps and test products in world-class R&D facilities with the aim of enabling digital transformation in technology and manufacturing.
Contact the team via SME@UTS.edu.au to arrange a complimentary consultation to explore your needs and ideas. SME@UTS is supported with contributing funds from the Commonwealth Department of Education.