Eric Wilkes has worked for over 19 years in wine and beverage production and research, working in senior technical roles for Rosemount Estates, Fosters and P&N Beverages. For the last 5 years he has been Group Manager of Commercial Services at AWRI which involves the management of a range of world leading analytical laboratories and engineering and scientific project teams as well as leading a range of research projects. He is chair of the Interwinery Analysis Group, a member of the analytical method working group of the APEC Wine Regulatory Forum and the co-author of a book on wine laboratory analysis. His current research interests include the impacts of trace metals on wine, oxygen impacts during fermentation, impacts of bulk wine transport and improved methods for the analysis of wine.

Over the last few decades the range of closure that are available to the wine industry has increased significantly, along with the claims and counter claims around their benefits for the storage and maturation of wine. The Australian Wine Research Institute has conducted a number of significant closure trials over the last ten years. These trials have provided an understanding of the impact that closure selection can have on wine development and consequential shelf life, highlighting the role that oxygen and volatile sulphur compounds (VSCs) can play in this.

Recent research studies have shown that the concentration of certain transition metals and the amount of oxygen present during winemaking can have a significant effect on the evolution of VSCs post-bottling. Understanding how these VSCs form and evolve under different wine closures is one of the least well understood, but most active areas of current wine research.

It is clear that the development of VSCs in wine is a particularly complex and non-linear process. Concentrations of these compounds can increase or decrease over time, sometimes changing erratically, depending on the age of the wine and the conditions under which it has been made and bottled. The magnitude of these changes are often more significant than the impact of the closure.

Scott has been a CEO in the Renewable Energy Sector and has had a keen interest in the Water sector for over 15 years. He has vast experience in commercializing technologies, manufacturing, management consulting and corporate finance.

Scott has a Bachelor of Economics, Post Graduate Diploma of Management, Master of Business Administration and is completing a Master of Applied Finance.

In addition, he has a distinguished professional career, over an 11-year period with Collingwood Football Club and Sydney Football Club in the AFL (Australian Football League)

Titanium is the fourth most abundant structural metal and is always bonded to other elements in nature. It is a biologically inert material that is present in most igneous rocks and sediments derived from them. Titanium is obtained from various ores which exist in many countries including United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine and Vietnam and many others.

The presentation will discuss Titanium’s: 

• physical properties
• production process, and
• industrial applications

A case study will be presented on Titanium impact and role in filtration and its performance characteristics within industry.

With 25 years in Industry Justin has used his Electrical Engineering background to develop Safety Solutions for a variety of industries including Food and Beverage, Mining and Oil and Gas. He has been working with machinery and process safety since 1999 and in 2006 Justin became a TUV certified Functional Safety Engineer.

In recent years Justin has been able to share his safety knowledge across an even wider spectrum as the leader of NHP’s Technology Specialist Group encompassing Process Automation, SCADA systems, Hazardous Areas, Energy Management as well as Machinery Safety. A self-described wine lover Justin has seen both sides of the counter in numerous wineries, tasting for relaxation but also solving safety challenges in areas such as bottling and packaging. He works closely with our sponsor Rockwell Automation who are leaders in Safety Innovations for smarter solutions.

Machine Safety is a bit like wine. In the late 90’s the first dedicated machine safety standard AS4024 was just being released. Like a first release from a young vine, it was quite tight but showing potential and certainly better than nothing at all. Fast forward to 2016 and it’s been developing now for some 20 years.

The way we apply safety to our machines has evolved similarly. 20 years ago safety was really just bolted onto machines as an afterthought. A bit austere to those just wanting to get on with what they needed to do and make things. Today manufacturers like Rockwell Automation have blended safety into pretty much everything they do, whether it be access gate handles, programmable controllers or variable speed drives the idea is that much like a good blend with just the right oak, it becomes seamless to the structure but enhances the overall result.

This talk discusses trends in manufacturing that have driven safety to become an integral part of machinery and looks at how that fits into today’s wine production.

Michael studied mechanical engineering in South Africa, and holds a Ph.D.Eng in Thermal Engineering. He founded Minus40 in the year 2000 after many years in Germany and Australia within the refrigeration contracting industry.

Michael is a frequent public speaker at industry events, panellist and contributor of editorial material. He has served on a number of industry working groups and committees, and is actively involved with industry associations that serve related industry sectors.

Conventional reactive or preventative maintenance strategies for refrigeration, cooling and heating applications are expensive and are often ineffective at preventing product or quality losses as a result of equipment failure. Modern IoT (Internet of Things) solutions are both effective and cost effective in reducing the costs of maintenance and consequential damages due to such equipment failure by alerting to impending failure, rather than to the consequences of failure. Such systems use remote monitoring techniques in combination with cloud-based advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence routines to identify and predict equipment failure prior to the event. This allows planned corrective action rather than emergency repairs in response to equipment failure.

Such IoT systems are easily retrofittable to existing equipment and are non-invasive, i.e. they do not interfere with existing system controls or automation systems.

This presentation will provide a technical insight into how IoT solutions work and why this will change the way maintenance of refrigeration, cooling and heating systems will be managed in the future.

Ahmad is the General Manager of High Technology Control (HTC) (www.hightech.com.au), an Australian engineering company that specialises in offering word class electrical and electronic solutions for manufacturers across wide range industries. HTC was founded in 1985 and has been a member of the ABB (www.abb.com) Authorised Value Provider network since 1999. Ahmad has more than 10 years of experience in power electronics and industrial automation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics from the University of Sydney and an MBA from the University of Western Sydney.

Ahmad will share his extensive knowledge on how wineries are able to use smart solutions to optimise power quality and power factor correction (PFC) at their production sites. Ahmad will open his presentation with a brief overview of power quality and PFC, indicating how these topics can adversely impact the efficiency and cost effectiveness of a wine production facility – particularly in relation to the transition to cost reflective tariffs that are currently being pushed by the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC). He will then highlight the various smart solutions that are available to address power quality and PFC, also providing an indication of the potential return on investment and other benefits that can be enjoyed from investing in such technologies.

After close to a decade of managing premium vineyards across Victoria and South Australia, Sam has developed Bowman Viticulture, A consultancy and management company servicing SA, VIC and NSW. Bowman Viticulture offers vineyard consultancy and management coaching, Grower Liaison services, new and existing vineyard development management and technical support and advice to growers, managers and wine companies.

I was lucky enough to be selected to attend the Vinitech-Sifel wine and viticulture trade exhibition in Bordeaux as a representative of the Australian wine industry in 2014. Focusing on what is next for the Viticulture industry, I have refined the packed 4-day event into what we will see utilized in Australian Viticulture in the coming years. From developments in harvesting technology to the mechanization of labour intensive inputs many companies are developing machines that offer benefits both in quality and improved economics for vineyard owners and wine companies. This is what is next for Australian vineyard machinery.

Alex Farren graduated with distinction and earned a degree in Biochemistry in 1999 from McGill University. Following his undergrad, he spent two years developing new analytical protocols for quantification of fat-soluble vitamins in traditional Canadian indigenous foods from the arctic. This led Alex to his graduate degree in Environmental Toxicology where he studied the association between selenium and mercury in fish eating birds. Following his graduate degree Alex relocated from Canada to California as a chemistry teacher and then worked as a chemist for a San Francisco based start up. After this hiatus from the lab, Alex found himself working a harvest in 2010 at a small winery. When not in the lab, he helped with general cellar duties including the cleaning and sanitizing of tanks. It was then he came up with the concept to use germicidal ultraviolet light to replace the chemicals and water used to sanitize tanks. He partnered with an optical scientist and they began working on a solution that would work within the industry. Finally, BlueMorph teamed up with the Tom Beard Company, where they applied their proprietary patented application to come up with units suited to the needs of the cellar.

This presentation will begin by discussing the historical uses of ultraviolet light as well as current applications. Following that, a very brief explanation of the germicidal mechanism of UVC will be given in order to enrich the understanding the audience may have for the way by which UVC inactivates microorganisms, it will also allow for a better understanding of how the effectiveness can be measured and tested (which is vital to ensure the safety of the product). The key portion of the presentation will relate the approach BlueMorph took in applying UVC light to the wine industry, the various obstacles that had to be overcome and the successful deployment of effective units as well as comparisons to current protocols using traditional sanitizers (peracetic acid, chlorine dioxide, ozone, steam, etc…). Next, the true ramifications this technology has demonstrated on the entire tank cleaning and sanitizing protocol will be discussed. BlueMorphUV LLC has performed trials demonstrated that 100% of the chemicals can be eliminated much of the time for tanks and that tank cleaning/sanitization should be done based on the condition of the tank (tartrate presence, pumice, juice, finished product). The implications are huge with massive savings in water, chemicals, disposal costs, labour and occupational hazards. This will allow the audience to see how much can truly be saved with this new application of a proven technology and how the quality of tank sanitization and cellar hand health can be vastly improved. Tank cleaning and sanitization is the most water taxing activity within a winery, the goal is that this become the industry standard and that the water issues can be alleviated globally.

The last 20 years have seen many developments in automated grape sorting equipment. Various combinations of vibrating screens, roller screens, air-jets, density baths and optical selection have been employed. Some of these technologies have also been integrated as a second stage on new generation shaking winery destemmers, and both destemming and sorting equipment have moved onto some machine harvesters. This presentation will discuss technological developments in destemming and sorting technology in the vineyard and winery.

Conventional red wine production requires the use of relatively expensive fermentation tank designs or large amounts of labour to manage skin extraction and tank emptying. Vintages are becoming shorter with grapes ripening closer together. Existing red fermentation capacity may therefore increasingly become a process bottleneck. An alternative approach to conventional red fermentation is to perform some or all skin extraction rapidly prior to fermentation by using heat, thereby allowing shorter residence times in existing red fermentation tanks and/or the use of simpler tank designs for red fermentation. Using heat to accelerate extraction is not a new concept but understanding and equipment have evolved over time. This presentation will consider some of these developments and the winemaking outcomes that can be realised with different process conditions.

Dave Gerner is a native Adelaidian with a background in environmental management and spatial sciences. Following seven years as Director and principal consultant with Avante Mapping, Dave made the switch to Treasury Wine Estates in 2014 to take on a role as GIS Specialist. In his time with TWE Dave has been instrumental in applying spatial and precision viticultural technologies to the wine industry, in a time when agriculture is beginning to capitalise on the benefits of location intelligence. As an avid technologist and advocate for all things spatial and cartographic, Dave has successfully rolled out numerous spatial programs at TWE that are delivering value via greater quality wines, produced in a sustainable and safe manner.

Treasury Wine Estates are proud to have been pioneers and ambassadors for spatial technologies within the agricultural sector, and have been using GIS within the business since the late 1990s to manage their land, grape supply and natural assets. The business has been through a number of changes in the past decade with mergers, demergers, changes in business management and, typical of agriculture, responding to the dynamic whim of market fluctuations and changing supply and demand for wines across the globe. Technology plays a major role in taking the guess-work out of decision-making, especially in a time when climate change is driving rapid change in agricultural practice and the certainty of delivering consistent products. To this end GIS is a pivotal technology for the supply side of the business, with many emerging commercial applications becoming more evident. Dave will discuss the various core applications of GIS within the wine industry and how this has supported TWE’s capability for securing a sustainably viable wine business for decades to come.

Modern detailing concepts are also discussed as to their ability to improve tank performance during earthquake shaking and the ease at which damaged components can be reinstated after.

David has 13 year’s continuous experience in the Solar Industry in Business Development, Project Management and Consulting roles. He is the founder and co-owner of The Solar Project, and Wine Industry Suppliers Australia award-winning national contracting and consulting services business headquartered in South Australia. His solid understanding of commercial project development and delivery, technology limits and pathways to successful implementation and market acceptance has seen The Solar Project deliver some of the Wine Industry’s largest solar energy projects to date.

Working with his business partner and Director of Engineering Theo Strecker since 2008, he has helped deliver numerous iconic projects including Australia’s first MW scale solar photovoltaic power generation facility. David and Theo are joint authors of Energise Your Business: Solar Power Procurement Strategies for Australian Corporates Toward 2020, Publishing October 2016.

David Returns to WineEng 2016 after well attended and received presentations in WineEng 2014.

Solar power generation has become a mainstream mitigation strategy for a number of Australian Wineries for dealing with energy market price volatility, and a handy way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. In many parts of the country it is now cheaper than grid energy and the rollout of solar energy is on.

Technical viability is clear and demonstrable, but designing projects focussed on optimising financial viability based on individual site conditions and corporate objectives has proven hit and miss for many in the industry and vendor claims can often prove wildly off the mark.

“Energise Your Winery” explains how to cut through the competing claims related to commercial solar projects, and shares lessons from some of Australia’s first movers with solar in the Australian wine sector. Attending engineers will be introduced to a simple yet powerful, framework to assist evaluation of a solar projects’ feasibility from a capital or operational procurement perspective and avoid the mistakes that even the best have made.

As a professional engineer, Peter has been involved in most facets of manufacturing from initial employment as a project design engineer, through production supervision and management, quality assurance, national sales and general management.

After an extensive and rewarding career that culminated in owning and running his own manufacturing business for 9 years, Peter sold the business and in mid-2002 joined the board of Directors of Seeley International. After 5 years on the board Peter resigned as a director. In 2009, Peter returned to Seeley International in the role of General Manager Climate Wizard, where his focus has been to guide the development, product release and promotion of Climate Wizard indirect evaporative air conditioners, now a proven technology that has been adopted across the world.

The use of the indirect evaporative air conditioning system for cooling barrel storage facilities represents a new and innovative application of the technology, which has been proven in hundreds of installations in other applications.

This innovative system can provide very effective cooling at a fraction of the operating cost of refrigerated systems because it has reduced energy consumption. Furthermore, it maintains a high humidity in the cooled space, which can minimise wine evaporation losses. Installations of this lower energy requiring technology may obviate the need for power supply upgrades.

The system is environmentally friendly because it contains no hazardous or expensive refrigerants, and can reduce the winery’s carbon footprint. It creates a fresher and cleaner working environment in the barrel store, and is designed, manufactured and supported in Australia.

Adrian Dickison leads Beca’s industrial refrigeration activity in New Zealand. A former employee of York Refrigeration (now Johnson Controls), Adrian has designed many large refrigeration systems and latterly has been active in the specification of new cold store facilities, including New Zealand’s first CO2 cold store. Adrian brings a strong safety focus to refrigeration including the safety auditing of ammonia facilities and the use of reduced ammonia charges. Adrian’s other activities include general process engineering and nickel mining and smelting environmental projects.
Working with his business partner and Director of Engineering Theo Strecker since 2008, he has helped deliver numerous iconic projects including Australia’s first MW scale solar photovoltaic power generation facility. David and Theo are joint authors of Energise Your Business: Solar Power Procurement Strategies for Australian Corporates Toward 2020, Publishing October 2016.

David Returns to WineEng 2016 after well attended and received presentations in WineEng 2014.

With Europe leading the charge as ever, the future of the remaining synthetic refrigerants is not far off. This talk looks at the remaining synthetic options and whether or not we should bypass them and focus on the natural refrigerants that will inevitably have to replace them.

Most large wineries will be already using ammonia, but small wineries may have to “plunge the cap” and migrate to natural refrigerants. Happily, the diversifying market is providing a number of potential solutions amongst which everyone should find a safe and economic solution.

Smaller wineries will be able to take advantage of new low charge natural refrigerant package chiller units and larger wineries will be able to improve inherent safety with lower ammonia charges Much of the change will be driven by responses to climate change including the re-introduction of carbon taxes and the first cost of new synthetic refrigerants. At some time in the future the tipping point will move towards natural refrigerants at all capacities .

Jo Marshall (B.Bus, Dip Franchising) is currently the General Manager SA/NT for Programmed Group. She has had over 15 years experience leading teams in a diverse range of industry sectors including Grocery, Pharmaceutical, Health and Fitness and trade related sectors. In many of her roles she has pioneered organisational change around increasing the presence of women in leadership and modernising working cultures. At Programmed she is responsible for a team of 210 and has achieved world class employee engagement across that group who operate throughout SA and NT. She has a strong commitment to diversity in the workplace which means her team includes a wide range of people from different backgrounds, gender, ethnicity and needs. She has presented to industry sector groups and is involved in advisory panels to State government on the topic of job creation and inclusive leadership.

Leading Seasonal Teams

Jo’s end of conference presentations have become a tradition at the WEA Conference. Being a passionate leader of people Jo will be talking about how more and more organisations and professional bodies around Australia and the world are increasing their focus on the well-being of their members.  Increasing pressure and stress in the workplace, it has been proven that stress related symptoms not only impact on people’s ability to function on a day to day basis, but also upon our physical health and wellbeing.  As she does every year, Jo Marshall (previously Stagg) will challenge our thinking about how we can be better leaders and this year she will focus on the power of being real and being resilient.  She will challenge the conventional notions of power in management and will get us thinking about the meaning of resilience and how we can manage our competing daily challenges to build resilience in ourselves and our teams.  In accordance with tradition Programmed will once again be offering refreshments for those who join this session after a long day in the conference room.

Geoff works with customers to create value through the innovative use of Information Technology Specialising in manufacturing and logistics, Geoff works across production processes, packaging, quality management, supply and demand planning, logistics and Operational Analytics. As a founding partner of Nukon Pty Ltd, Geoff now works within a team of over 20 consultants delivering value to customers across Australia and internationally.

Our valued customers face tremendous pressure to continue to be relevant in the market while managing cost so they can compete on the global stage. One of the key methods for achieving this is to find ways to achieve new levels of innovation and productivity.

Successful manufactures and governments are investing in initiatives such as Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 to deliver this promise for their organisation and productivity of their countries.

In this presentation we will explain how to safely connect information across the plant floor to an enterprise network that in turn can transform the efficiencies of your supply chain. We call this “The Connected Enterprise”.

Further to the “Connected Enterprise” we now have the ability to track products on a global scale and communicate with customers all over the world. Serialisation is a new phenomenon that give a snapshot of the demographics of customers and at the same time it fights counterfeiting of products in foreign markets.