At the Greater Hunter Makers Festival, T.W. Woods will be showing a number of its latest innovations and capabilities that have attracted worldwide attention, including China and the USA.

 

The innovations encompass products designed and built in partnership with trailblazers in their markets, including:

• A multidirectional rotating underground coal chute system that can be installed in less than a single shift at a typical mine. The cost-saving universal chute – which can rotate output through 160 degrees left or right – is engineered by the Chute Technology partnership to remove completely the need to custom-manufacture individual chute types to fit the confined spaces and particular angles of individual mines.

 

• An Australian innovation that automates the hazardous, costly and never-ending task of slashing roadside grass around millions of poles, fences, safety barriers and signposts lining highways and byways.

 

• Expanded metal rolling and forming capabilities that have helped produce an Australian materials handling innovation that eliminates decades of inefficient ship loading and other conveyor loading practices. Chute Technology’s patented new profit-enhancing diffused buffer bin loader is being introduced worldwide to increase the buffering capacity between reclaiming and ship loading functions by up to 20%.

 

“Hunter people are resilient people who just keep reinventing ourselves to succeed not only locally, but also on world markets,” said T.W. Woods Director Mr Tom Woods, who leads the company with his brother and fellow Director Glenn Woods.

 

“Not everyone realises the scale and quality of some of the work coming out of the Greater Hunter, so this is a huge opportunity to showcase our capabilities,” said Mr Woods, whose company has under way a continuing multi-million dollar redevelopment to expand sales of the products of its metal fabrication capabilities, including and coal and ore handling technology deployed throughout Australia and internationally.

The T.W. Woods Group – which manufactures materials handling technology including transfer chutes and loading gates to many of Australia’s biggest mining and energy companies – has recently added 1000-ton vertical roll and brake press capabilities to its extensive capabilities to cut, form, blast, paint and finish large and complex shapes. Hunter Makers’ exhibits will include displays of the technology produced by this specialised shaping, fabrication and welding technology for metals including carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium.

 

Also on show will be exhibits produced using the company’s 400 sqm plate processing facility, including a 300 amp cad-cam profile plasma cutting bed. These will be complemented by exhibits of large projects handled by T.W. Woods’ 800 sqm paint and blasting facility incorporating a sand blast chamber with 10-metre high ceiling to handle large jobs, feeding directly to a state-of-the-art 720 sqm industrial paint shop with 12m entry door to handle major projects.