ACL REPORTER

ACL REPORTER
VOLUME 19
AUTUMN 2000
GASKET COMPANY GEARED UP
FOR NEW HEAT SHIELD PRODUCTION
ACL WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD
“RICARDO” MAKES A NAME FOR ITSELF
FORD AUSTRALIA EXCELLENCE AWARDS
PRESENTING ACL PISTON PRODUCTS
SAFETY MAP SHOWS COMPANY
THE WAY TO GO
TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MANUFACTURING
NEW ACL EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE
ACL AT DETROIT SHOWCASE
®
Australian Engineering Excellence
After 45 years at ACL Piston Products John Lauder still loves the job - see inside story.

NEW R&D ENGINEER
JOINS GASKET COMPANY
ACL Gasket Company has signalled
the importance of research and
development with the recent appointment
of Matt Dargush to the Brisbane plant.
Matt, a post Doctoral Research Fellow
at the University of Queensland, who
then worked with CRC in alloys and
solidification technology, will co-ordinate
most of the research and development
activity at Eagle Farm.
“I will be looking at building linkages
with external R&D and technology providers,”
explained Matt.“You can split this kind of
work into two basic areas. One is looking
at achieving incremental improvement to a
process.This involves developing processes
and implementing technology and finding
technology providers to improve our process.
“The other area is a strategic development of
product development.This includes knowledge
of competitors’products,patent information,
all obtainable through research activity.”
He said that to research new technology
and new products he would explore open
literature, the Internet, and patent literature.
“When a patent is published, it enters the
body of knowledge.There are a number of
licensors that ACL deals with and in addition,
we are building partnerships with such bodies
as the University of Queensland and the
CSIRO, to see how we can work with these
kinds of people.”
An example of incremental improvement
quoted by Matt, was a company that might
cure products. This type of liaison could
provide ACL Gasket Company with the
technical know-how on a particular task.
Matt said that one of the reasons he was
keen to join ACL was the opportunity of
“getting into a real manufacturing environment
which has a range of different projects.”
Married, with a little girl, Matt enjoys
fishing and watching rugby. And how does
the new job compare to the cloistered life
of the university? “It’s a more hectic life than
being at university,” was his reply.
GASKET COMPANY
GEARED UP FOR
NEW HEAT SHIELD
PRODUCTION
ACL is involved in the production of a
new series of heat shields for Holden’s
Generation 3 Series V-8 engines,as Bill Fraser,
Gasket’s Engineering Manager explains to
the “ACL REPORTER”.
“This product was specially developed
for the 3 Series and offers specific properties.
That is why it’s interesting. It’s a heat shield
that’s non-metallic. Holden’s requirement was
that it had to be almost zero transfer of heat,
as the heat shield was to protect the ECU
(Electronic Control Unit) in the vehicle.
“To do this we bond two phenolic
components. The phenolic material that
is made up of impregnated glass. The rear
part is held in a slide and the ECU is behind
it.You have a situation where the ECU is
located near the exhaust manifold, which
reaches 700 degrees Celsius, while the ECU
is temperature sensitive to about 110 degrees.
So it does a pretty good job of creating a heat
barrier for the ECU. If the ECU reaches
125 degrees Celsius it just stops.
“Before we came up with this material,
they had trialled a number of different
materials, one being steel multi-layer. The
idea was that the steel would reflect the heat
but there was still too much heat transferred
through the shield and the plastic carrier
holding the ECU melted.”
Bill said that the company was in full
production for both domestic and export
markets.
..AND THAT’S NOT ALL!!
Bill Fraser with the two new
products manufactured at Gasket
Company’s Eagle Farm plant.
ACL Gasket Company is also involved
in another heat shield exercise, this one for
Ford’s new engine. It is a corrugated exhaust
manifold heat shield for the upgrade Falcon
and the material used was a twin layer of
aluminium steel with ceramic paper. Bill
said the steel goes through a rolling process
and a film of aluminium is pressed over the
top and bonded with the paper.While the
materials are obtained overseas, all the design
and production work was done at Eagle Farm.

FCAI President Mr. Peter Hanenberger (left)
presents Bob Panitzki with the “Supplier of the Year” award.
ACL BEARING COMPANY WINS
PRESTIGIOUS FCAI SUPPLIEROF
THE YEAR AWARD
In a gathering of 140 of the “who’s who”
of Australian motor industry component
manufacturers, Mr Peter Hanenberger,
President of the Federal Chamber of Automotive
Industries, presented ACL Bearing
Company with the 14th FCA1 1999 Supplier
of the Year Award in Adelaide recently.
The award is judged by the Purchasing
Directors of the vehicle manufacturers, on
behalf of the peak industry body. Criteria
includes not just product quality and competitiveness
of price and delivery but also product
development and process management.
ACL Bearing Company is the sole
manufacturer of precision engine bearings in
Australia and the largest powder metallurgy
manufacturer.
It was the first time that the company
had won the title, though they were finalists
in 1998.The competition this year included
such well-known names as Australian Automotive
Air, Bridgestone Tyres, Finemore’s
Logistics and Transport and Air International.
Mr Hanenberger, who is also Chairman
and Managing Director of Holden Limited
in Australia, said the award bears testimony
to the great strength of partnership between
the various members of the Australian
automotive industry.
“Efficient supply of goods and services,
both internationally and domestically, to a
portfolio of local manufacturers and importers
is the key strength we have, and is one we
must continue to nurture and grow,” he said.
“Tonight is a celebration and recognition
of the excellent standards of our supplier
industry. Excellence in product and business
strategies, excellence in their execution,
delivery, and value, and excellence in creating
a vision for the next decade.”
General Manager, Bearing Company,
Bob Panitzki, said to be acknowledged as the
FCAI Supplier of the Year was a tremendous
recognition from the four Australian
companies. Three of these car companies
recognised ACL Bearing Company with
Supplier Excellence Awards in 1999 so it was
a good all-round performance he said.
“We have a good working relationship
with our employees, many of whom are
long-serving, and who are committed to
continuously improving all operations within
the company. This award is a wonderful
recognition of their efforts.”
Mr Hanenberger also stressed the importance
of continuous improvement when he
told the gathering:“Our immediate challenge
is to be innovative and creative both in
engineering and marketing terms and to
increase our local share.”
He said the automotive export market
grew 23% in 1999 to a record $3.2 billion,
which topped both the wool and beef sectors.
Attending the presentation on behalf
of ACL were Bob Panitzki, Ivan James,
Chris Brooks, and Ewen Kilpatrick.

PRESENTING ACL PISTON PRODUCTS
NEW
FINANCIAL
CONTROLLER
IS A BIT OF
A SWINGER
Adrian working with RICARDO
New Financial Controller at
ACL Piston Products is
Peter Lane. Peter is a very, very,
keen baseball player and it occupies
a lot of his time during summer.
“I play and coach,” explained
Peter, who only took up the sport
a couple of years ago.
“When my son was playing in
the juniors, they said ‘we’re short
on the 4th would you play?’ So I
played on the 4th on the Sunday
and then they said that I was old
enough to play in the Masters on
a Monday night, so on Tuesday I
didn’t walk too well.”
Peter said that it’s a great sport,
and while he’s occupied with his
son on Saturdays, his wife who runs
a ballet school, is involved with their
three daughters at netball.
Prior to joining ACL Piston
Products, Peter was with Flexibox
- John Crane for twelve years.
He was state accountant for
Beaurepaire’s and has also worked
for Dunlop Tyres.
RICARDO MAKES A
NAME FOR ITSELF AT
PISTON PRODUCTS
Anew high tech computer software program
is making the job of designing pistons
and rings a lot quicker and cheaper said
Technical Group Leader, Adrian Martin,
when he showed the “ACL REPORTER”
RICARDO, the latest way to see how pistons
and rings move in an engine.“We can use it as
a design tool to optimise the skirt shape and
the rings, in order to minimise wear, reduce
noise and provide better fuel consumption,”
explained Adrian.
“We’ve been using it for just over a year
now and we are really starting to get the
hang of it. We are finding it to be a good
predictive tool. It gives us the capability to
be design independent.”
He said that if they created a design to
optimise the skirt shape, Piston Products can
undertake a run overnight and obtain the
results in the morning.“Whereas, if we have
to do an engine test, we have to make the
sample, which takes several days; measure
them all up; build them, which takes another
few days; run the engine test; then rip the
engine down and look at the pistons. So
basically, what you can do overnight using
the program, would take two or three weeks
previously, saving about $20,000.”
A number of other piston manufacturers
have RICARDO or have developed their
own system.Adrian said it was used initially
to predict what the team actually had.“From
an engine test we modelled it and tuned the
model to match what we were actually
getting at the end of the day,” said Adrian.
“We knew then that we had the right parameters.
So now, it is being used as a predictive
source to develop the design of our pistons.”

ACL PISTON PRODUCTS A
FINALIST IN FORD AUSTRALIA’S
EXCELLENCE AWARDS
A
CL Piston Products made the final cut
for the 1999 Ford Australia Excellence
Awards held in Melbourne recently.
Robert Edwards, Piston Products’
Quality & Human Resources Group Leader
said the screening process, which was based
on the 1999 performance, involved a number
of key factors.
“We had to complete a survey covering
a whole range of issues including occupational
health & safety; site issues; environmental
factors and if we were a good corporate
citizen,” said Robert.
“Ford measured us on all those aspects,
combined with our quality and delivery
performance, plus other factors. From all the
suppliers who provide Ford with goods and
services, they reduced the number to about
twenty.
Representatives from those finalists were
invited to attend a dinner and ACL Piston
Products was represented by Trevor Day
our Senior Shop Steward, Nigel Tate, Chief
Engineer, Ian Veale, Group Leader of the
Technical Centre and myself.”
Robert said that they were seated with
Mr Tony Simpson the Senior Vice President
of Purchasing for Ford Australia. Unfortunately,
while the company didn’t take any of the
major awards, congratulations go to Bearing
Company which won the Silver Award, and
it was a great thrill being amongst a select
few to make the finals.
ONE YEAR FINISHED, THREE TO GO, FOR BEN
Ben Male, ACL Piston Product’s electrical apprentice, has just finished the first year
of his four-year apprenticeship. We caught up with Ben as he looked out on
another year of trade school and learning on the job and asked him how it was going?
“It’s going pretty well and I’m learning a lot.When I finish my time, I’d like to stay
here for a few more years to get greater experience. I’m doing my advanced schooling
now and I’d like to go from a C8 to a C7 and that’s what the advanced schooling is for.
“It’s been a good company to work for and compared to just wiring houses, there’s
a lot more to learn with the machines we have here. I’m involved in the maintenance
of the machines, and I’ve built a couple of machines myself, which were used for the
piston machine shop. One was an air knife machine that cleans all the coolants off the
piston, and the other was a washing machine. I work under Jason Sapulla and in my
first year of schooling, I was doing block release, which was a week every month. Now
I’m at Sunshine, it’s one day a week. The Advanced Schooling is at night.”
Spare time activities include playing football for the Altona Vikings Seniors and
“working out at the gym a lot”.

PRESENTING ACL PISTON PRODUCTS
45 YEARS ON,
JOHN STILL ENJOYS
THE CHALLENGE
One could be forgiven for believing that
after 45 years’involvement in the manufacture
of automotive pistons, John Lauder
has seen and done it all. But when the “ACL
REPORTER” spoke to him recently, after
achieving his 45th year with the company,
John was still seeing his job as a challenge.
“We’re introducing families of products to
make the manufacture of product quicker,”
explained John. “I’m still involved, and am
organising the new tooling as far as the dies
are concerned, for the new pistons we’re
making. Since we started the North American
project, we’ve put through sixty new part
numbers, so I’m terribly involved in all this.”
What memories and thoughts had he
as he looked back on 45 years of work? “The
hardest part is looking forward to the next
45 years,” laughed John.The years have gone
so fast. I can vividly remember the very first
day when I started. I walked into the place
as a junior draftsman and spent most of the
day sharpening pencils, and as I mentioned
to somebody the other day, nothing has
changed!
“I joined the Rolloy Piston Company in
Port Melbourne, which was a company that
made pistons as well as general castings for
motor mowers, outboard motors, manifolds,
etc. It was very diversified.”
John said that things like the introduction
of Kanban, had made a huge change in
the way things were done.“It’s very different,
especially with the smaller batches, so we
have to take the next step, which is achieving
quicker tool changes and that’s on the board
now.Without the support of the people on
the shop floor, we can’t achieve anything.
So we have to ensure that they’re on our side
and are kept informed as we go along.”
He said that there had been a number
of changes with the grouping of products
with duplicated tooling.“With all the lines
independent of each other, there is no
switching or swapping and products are
Adrian Martin (left) Ewen Kilpatrick (centre)
make a presentation to John on his 45th year.
PRASAD BRINGS
OVERSEAS
EXPERIENCE TO
PISTON PRODUCTS
Arecent addition to the ranks
of toolmakers at ACL Piston
Products, is Prasad Mandava, who
originally came from Hyderabad
in the south of India.
He studied and worked for
five years in India with ITW, an
American manufacturer of packaging
products. He then migrated
to Malaysia where he worked for
another five years for a company
making semi-conductor chips in
Kuala Lumpur.
Having parents in Australia
has helped Prasad acclimatise to
his new country. While married,
there aren’t any little “Prasads” at
this moment in time. Spare-time
activities? Cricket naturally, and the
odd game of tennis.
manufactured in family groups. We try to
lay them out as a minimal change in each
product, and it’s working quite well, as it has
to with Kanban.”
John said that the company had a big
push on export and was relying on ACL
America to support where they could.“They’re
trying to sell engine parts as a package. Pistons,
bearings, gaskets as a whole kit and this was
launched in January.”
John moved to Melton, then a new
suburb and closer to ACL, after many years
living at Port Melbourne.
He said the move was “a real shock” to
his system.“I came from a terrace house with
bluestone paving out the back and a few pots,
to a house that actually had a backyard with
grass. So, one of the first things I had to do,
was go out and buy a lawn mower and learn
how to drive it.”

TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MANUFACTURING
(TPM) EMBRACED BY PISTON PRODUCTS
Total Productive Manufacturing is one of
the key strategic projects being commenced
this year at ACL Piston Products.
TPM is a proven improvement strategy that
focuses on equipment management. Like
TQM, which is company-wide Quality
Management through team activities,TPM
is equipment management performed on a
company-wide basis, again using the power
of teamwork.
Ewen Kilpatrick, Piston Products General
Manager stated:“The starting principle behind
TPM is that ‘there is nothing inevitable about
failure’. Every time a machine fails or breaks
down something could have been done to
prevent it.”
He said that from this starting point,
TPM is the systematic identification and
correction of equipment ‘defects’ by the
people who know the equipment best - that
is the production and maintenance personnel.
The TPM program is being managed
and steered by the Consultative Committee
who have endorsed it as a strategic activity
for commencement in 2000, and continuing
into the future.
Piston Products commenced the TPM
programme by conducting a 2-day training
course early in March. Kon Archon has been
appointed as TPM Co-ordinator and now a
number of pilot teams will be set up.“Over
the last few years, most of our production
improvements have been through simplification
of processes and capital expenditure,”
Ewen added. “Now that our basic process
arrangements and capital programmes are
mostly completed, improvements will come
from operational initiatives such as TPM.”
(Back row from left) Don Jarvis,Andrew Corech, Brendan Cross, (front) Karen Massese, Jane Reid and Lillian Ognenovski.
SAFETY MAP SHOWS
COMPANY THE WAY TO GO
After twenty months of hard work and
dedication from a number of team
members, ACL Piston Products has successfully
completed the initial Work Cover Safety
MAP program. Safety MAP is an audit tool
that helps organisations improve the management
of health and safety within a company.
It promotes safer working procedures by
systematically measuring how well the safety
procedures operate within an organisation.
There are three levels of performance -
Initial Level,Transition Level and Advanced
Level. Piston Products had considered instigating
a Safety MAP program as far back
as 1998, and has undertaken a total review
of procedures and policies over that time.
Karen Massese, Piston Products’ Occupational
Health & Safety Nurse, said the major
issue was identifying every piece of plant
and equipment that existed on the factory
floor.“This is done by a risk assessment team
from within each individual department,”
explained Karen.
“Each group of machines had to be
assessed and the assessors will be back in
May to do the immediate level. I don’t
think we’ll have the hazard identification
completed by then but we’ll have done a
lot of work in that area.”
Karen took each department through a
training session and she said that the reaction
from each section had been very positive.The
team heading up the Safety MAP program
was awarded their certificate of approval
back in January by Lloyd’s Register Quality
Assurance, after meeting 58 criteria needed
to qualify for the Initial Level.
Team member Brendan Cross?, Plant
Safety Manager in charge of dangerous and
hazardous goods said, “I think it’s brilliant
- I really do. It will help enforce the rules
and improve the site as far as safety goes.”
Another team member Andrew Corech
added, “It helps with managing safety and
so far it’s been pretty good. I’m the diecast
rep. and it can be a dangerous area.”
Lillian Ognenovski Human Resources
Manager said,“It’s definitely been a long and
tiring road but everyone has been great. I
want to thank people for their support and
encouragement. It took a lot of hard work
but it was all worth it in the end.”

PRESENTING ACL PISTON PRODUCTS
CARMEL HAS
IMPROVEMENT
IN HER SIGHTS
PISTON PRODUCTS
WAREHOUSE MOVES INTO
THE RADIO AGE
ACL Piston products is moving into the
RF (radio frequency) method of
barcode reading, which will make picking
and product selection easier for warehouse
staff. The new system, which has been
installed to reduce the error rate in picking,
will also eventually assist the company with
stock-taking. The RF units will scan the
barcodes on the packages of rings and tell
the pickers if they have the right product
and the number required.
The system has been under consideration
for the past year and is still going through
an evaluation phase. The scanners will be
totally hands-free, being mounted on a
mobile trolley.
Process improvement is a way of
business life, that newly-appointed
Components Purchasing Manager,
Carmel Pendreigh knows a lot about.
“Prior to joining ACL Gasket
Company, I was with CSR Construction
Materials,” said Carmel. “I
started in Townsville as a Process
Improvement Engineer and have
worked as a process engineer, process
improvement engineer, sales representative,
computer implementation
team member, maintenance engineer
and finally, production manager.”
Carmel said that she was getting
a “crash course” in understanding how
the factory worked and the biggest
change she faced was the products.
“Previously with CSR, we were manufacturing
components which weighed
1-20 tons and made 30 of these a day.
Here, the product only weighs a few
grams but we make thousands of these
each day.We focus on processing and
achieving a large throughput of high
volume low mass products.
“There are a lot of innovative
ideas implemented at ACL, and a lot
of different ways of doing things.”
In her spare time, Carmel is
something of a “sports fiend” and
enjoys cricket, squash and golf.
NEW VOICE OF GASKET COMPANY
RICARDO
JOINS ACL
PISTON
PRODUCTS
New Project Engineer at ACL Piston
Products, is Ricardo Alonso, who can
be found working on a project involving
diesel steel rings. Ricardo said the project
involved manufacturing steel rings for the
export market.
“I’ve just finished my Degree, graduating
as a Mechanical Engineer from Swinburne
University of Technology. Prior to that I
worked as a draftsman-come-everything at
a small company in Melbourne.
“The course at Swinburne is an excellent
The pleasant “voice” that a customer
now hears when he or she telephones
ACL Gasket Company in Brisbane,is that
of Carly Clayton. Carly has been with
the company for four and a half years.
Starting in the assembly area, she was
involved in packing gasket sets, then
labelling them.“I did this for four years,”
said Carly.“Then I moved up to accounts.
I thought it would be a good step.
I report to Terry and Graham, handle
inwards and outwards mail and pay all
the ACL Gasket Co accounts, as well as
being the company telephonist. I just
love it. It’s a challenge this job.”
In her spare time Carly loves to run.
She also works out in the gym she has at
her home.
course where they focus on the practical side
of engineering. Naturally, there is still a lot
of theory - most university courses have a
lot of theory - but it was still a great course.
I’m really enjoying my work here.”
In his spare time,Ricardo enjoys squash,
cricket, and likes to run.

LONG SERVICE
AWARDS RECOGNISE
TWO VALUED
EMPLOYEES
AFTER 36 YEARS
CON CALLS IT A DAY
One of the best known people at ACL
Gasket Company - Mr Con O’Brien
- retired recently after 36 years with the
company. Con said looking back over that
time, there would be little that he would
change given the time over again.“I’m happy
with the career I chose and there are people
in all organisations who don’t want to come
to work each day,” said Con. “I think that
having this kind of attitude is very sad.
“Sure there have been stressful times
and you’d wish it was tomorrow, but I always
wanted to do something with an engineering
background and that’s what I did.You have
a sense of achievement at the end of the day
- I made this,or made that.That’s something
I consciously did.That particularly applied
when we were involved in new product
development.
“I’d ask ‘how much better are we today
than we were yesterday?’
Con said that back in the 60s and 70s,
“everyone made a bucket of money”. That
time of abundance flowed not only through
the company but also through Australia
generally. Those kinds of conditions put
everyone in a good frame of mind.You can’t
blame the company, but money is tight,
things are tough and everything’s more
competitive, with imports that we didn’t
have in those days.”
Con said one aspect of the company
that’s long gone was the large numbers of
family members who all worked for the
company.“We’d have 5, 6, 7, people from the
same family and this caused some complications
on occasions when one of the family
would jump in to defend a relative.But overall
it made for good working relationships.”
Numbers of employees was another facet
of a changed working life,said Con.“We had
320-odd people in those days and when you
had the presses and the whole place ticking
over that created an environment as well.”
Con started out as a toolmaker and then
became toolroom supervisor,then production
supervisor for 13 years.“After that I went to
Flexatalic which is now the Specialised Gasket
Company and was Production Manager
there twice.”
When APS moved its operation from
Melbourne,Con said it was one of the stressful
times, as they were faced with having to
make gaskets that they’d never made before.
He said that with retirement he would
be devoting more time to his workshop and
lathe he has at home. “One of the things
on my ‘to do’ list this year, is making a
grandfather clock,” said Con. “Naturally,
I’ve become very good at making toys for
the grandchildren as well.”
Best of luck Con, for the years ahead.
PUBLICO SOLUTA
Originally from the Philippines,
Publico has had ten and a half years
continuous service with ACL Piston
Products. He is currently employed
in the Ring Shop at Piston Products.
SELIM (SAMMY) KIROGLU
A Team Leader on the afternoon shift
at Piston Products, Sammy has notched
up ten and a half years of continuous
service also. He works on the afternoon
shift in the Die Cast Shop and he is
originally from Turkey.

NEW ACL EUROPEAN
REPRESENTATIVE BELIEVES
BUSINESS COULD BE GOOD
Newly appointed ACL European Representative Mr Andreas Weller, believes that ACL has the right product mix
to attract good business from European customers. On a visit to inspect ACL’s manufacturing plants, Andreas had
a chat with the “ACL REPORTER” and outlined some of the developments taking place in the new Europe.
’ve spent all my working life in the
‘‘I automotive industry,” explained
Andreas, “and for the past seven years
have been Manager of AE Auto Parts
Germany. After the business was sold to
Federal-Mogul, I spent another year with
the company before meeting Antony Pearse
and accepting his offer to join ACL.
“We were responsible for engine
part sales in Germany, Switzerland, and
Austria and Eastern Europe.”
Andreas said that his division was
charged with selling to the after market,
and like elsewhere in a highly developed
country, many of the common item parts
like brake pads, are sold in Germany
through supermarkets and discount auto
parts stores.
“In the engine parts market, the
marketing of parts is much more
straightforward, because this involves
specialists. There are about 400 engine
reconditioners in Germany and I would
say that about 250 of these were doing
well, with about 100 of them being mid
size to large.”
He said a lot of engine reconditioners
haven’t wanted to touch Japanese engines
because they had great difficulty getting
correct parts.
With ACL’s range of parts for this
sector of the market, German rebuilders
can now purchase with confidence.
“With the range we have, we will
be able to develop a growing business.”
In Germany, Japanese makers had
captured around 25% of the market with
many of these smaller vehicles bought by
families as the second car. Andreas said
that the average age of a vehicle in
Germany was around seven years with
cars in Eastern Europe being older.
“The Eastern European market is one
with great potential.They have difficulty
getting parts for many of these Japanese
vehicles and that’s the opportunity for us,”
said Andreas.
“It’s an important market. In some
Eastern European countries where they
are now better off financially, the people
want to buy newer cars. The market
therefore has moved further to the east
into Russia and the Ukraine and we have
a very good distributor in Hungary,
who supplies these markets in the east.”
ACL’s office will be situated in a suburb
of Stuttgart, the home of the German
automobile industry. Mercedes-Benz,
Porsche and many of the OE supplier
companies like Bosch, are all there.
Married with two girls,Andreas loves
to accompany his wife when she goes
horse-back riding, and his favourite pasttime
when he has the time, is mountain
bike riding.
Andreas is looking forward to
developing ACL’s product range into
Europe.
PRABA CONCENTRATES ON
RESEARCH AT PISTON PRODUCTS
P
rabakaran Naganathan - “Praba” for
short - is another new arrival at ACL
Piston Products. Joining the Technical
Department only recently, Praba is working
on the design and testing for wear and
noise. A graduate in Engineering from
the University of Sydney, Praba joined
ACL from a stint at Amcor Research &
Technology at Fairfield in Victoria.
At Amcor, Praba researched the use
of corrugated board as a shipping material
and was involved in a lot of testing. Praba
came to Victoria because “he likes to move
around”.He said the work he’s been doing
with Ian Veale in the Research Unit “has
been very interesting”.
Listening to music and soccer are two
of Praba’s main after-work activities.

ACL JOINS AUSTRALIAN
MANUFACTURERS
AT DETROIT SHOWCASE
The ACL Detroit team from left Antony Pearse, Adrian Martin, Ivan James, Chris Worthington and ACL America’s Tim Vehlewald.
ACL was one of 25 Australian automotive Antony said that the Federal Government
component manufacturers who were played a big part in assembling and assisting
invited to showcase their product range and the various exhibitors and was very pleased
expertise at the Ford Technology Review with the outcome.“Michael Thawley - the
Centre in Detroit.This was the first time that new Ambassador - spoke at a press conference
the manufacturing muscle of the country’s and outlined the 25% growth achieved in
automotive component industry has been automotive products exports over the last
put on display.
12 months.We are now part of a $3 billion
Not only was this a fabulous opportunity industry and the industry is now challenging
for ACL to show the influential purchasing traditional dollar earners like wheat, in its
arms of Ford what the company could growth.”
supply, but Ford President, Mr Jac Nasser
- the President from Down Under - also
invited Damiler Chrysler and General
Motors to view the show.
Antony Pearse, President ACL International
said that other major manufacturers
who attended included PBR who released
a new braking system; Bosch with a voiceactivated
system for vehicles, Air International
and BTR.
“ACL Bearing Company getting the
Supplier of the Year from FCAI was an
ideal focal point for ACL,” said Antony.“It
gave us some real standing. People said ‘OK
you’ve been through the quality levels, so
that goes a long way to becoming an
accredited supplier to the US’. We obtained
names and made contacts and it gave us something
to focus on as potential suppliers from Visitors showed a great deal of interest on the ACL stand.
Australia.”
The Ford facility used by the Australians
was visited by OE purchasing managers,
many of whom have global responsibility.
“We had for instance, visiting the stand Jean
Mayer, Executive Director, Global Purchasing
for Ford Motor Company”explained Antony.
“She is responsible for global purchasing of
powertrain and material products with an
annual buy of $18 billion a year!
“The other really good thing was that
we were able to spend productive time with
other Australian manufacturers and from that
we will be looking at increasing sales of
components to them. There will be some
interesting opportunities to come out of these
meetings.
“The people we spoke to were impressed
with our ‘can-do’ attitude and that we are
prepared to get in there and move quickly
on projects. We are not looking at huge
slabs of one-off business because we might
not have the capacity to handle it. But there
is lower volume OE business which the bigger
guys may not be interested in, which would
be a perfect fit for ACL.”
Ivan James, Antony Pearse, Adrian
Martin (ACL Piston Products) and Chris
Worthington (ACL Bearing Company)
headed ACL’s delegation.

50 GOOD REASONS
FOR FUN ON THE RIVER
Imagine the quiet North-East
Tasmanian town of Derby -
once a bustling mining town
but now with just a population
of 200 - a sleepy, picturesque
place on the banks of the
Ringarooma River.
That’s what you would find for 364 days
of the year, but on Saturday 24th October,
the scene was very different. On that day
Derby hosted the “Derby River Derby”, an
entertaining event intended to give up to
1,000 competitors in around 200 craft, a
chance to enjoy water based activities.
That was “something different”. To
maximise publicity ACL would enter the
main event of the 17 river races - the “Super
Multi” section, which required a minimum
of 12 crew. This was a great opportunity for
social bonding and teamwork in an informal
environment. In a company of nearly 500
employees, it was tempting to stack the team
with weight lifters & exercise freaks to ensure
success.But as the DRD is a fun experience,
people with a love of life chosen from a
mix of departments was the selection criteria.
So it was that a group from Engineering,
Toolroom, Projects, Production, Office &
Maintenance became the “ACL-erator”team.
The name was, it was unanimously agreed,
more suitable than a competitor’s suggestion
- “The Titanic”.
Steve Parkinson (Maintenance), a veteran
of one previous race, and the company contract
plumber Rod Fulton organised the
main vessel design and construction. Peter
Longman handled the publicity and acquisition
of equipment, as did John Martin
from Supply.
ACL Head Office gave permission to use
the ACL name and supplied an “identity”
in the form of T-shirts, caps & stickers.
Bearing Co. supplied transport for the vessel
and a number of auxiliary items. Rodney
supplied PVC pipe & fittings for the frame
and local tyre companies donated old
“skidder” inner tubes.
Good rain fell early in the week of the
race and on the eve of the race, the local
newspaper featured an article with a picture
of the ACL team.
A perfect day greeted early risers.
Team identities began to appear.Teams
in helmets & lifejackets (including ACL’s
Duncan Wood), men in dresses (including
ACL’s Simon Okerby), all created an atmosphere
along with the first white, smoky
puffs of flour bombs.
ACL had kept a low profile BUT as
soon as the T-shirts were donned, the flags
unfurled, the balloons & banners attached,
then the floodgates were opened! Flour
bombs, eggs, buckets of baked beans, sprays
of dyed water and things too disgusting to
report, deluged the boat and crew. The
“ACL-erator” was well equipped to fight
back.The TV crews braved the barrage to
capture all the action.We had succeeded...
ACL was the ... Centre of Attention !!
The team pushed past everyone to secure
prime start position. 29 jealous teams called
for our disqualification - “they were out to
get us!” ACL were in the spotlight.
Relegation to the back position on the
bank was the final penalty for notoriety.
The young ACL crew now had something to
prove.“ACL-erator”started to battle through
the debris, the shipwrecks and the dejected
back markers. Broken paddles, torn tubes,
splintered wood and plastic floated everywhere.
The leisurely, the sunbathers, the
broken down, all were now weaponless and
all drenched with the “ACL-erators” formidable
armoury. Only the cold, wet and
shivering crews were shown any mercy.Yes
- it was all going to plan.
All too soon the finishing line was ahead
and with it the final indignity, buckets of
red dye being poured over the rim of the
bridge onto crews below.
ACL finished 9th from 30, and none
had more fun or were known by more
people than the “ACL-erator” team. ACL
had prime place on “Nine” news around
Tasmania & Australia-wide.
Traditional celebrations followed at
various “watering holes” and it hadn’t exactly
been a “dry” boat on the river!! A reunion
BBQ the following week completed the team
bonding and the resolve from the “ACLerator”
crew - “We’ll be Back!!”
YOUR CONTACTS ARE:
Paul Greentree.............Gasket Company
Donna Stevens .................Piston Products
Yvette Saunders.........Bearing Company
Warren Dick.....................National Parts
Phil Anderson ...........................ACNZL
Tim Vehlewald .......................ACL USA
Daniel Dedomenico .......ACL Comcork