- Posted on 15 Jan 2025
- 4-minute read
Growing a small-to-medium enterprise (SME) can be fraught with risk. When Applied Robotics needed help to expand their operations, they knew just where to turn.
Applied Robotics is an SME on the move. Setting its sights on transforming Australian industry into a manufacturing powerhouse, the Sydney-based automation integrator recently recruited 15 new roles and continues to expand across the company.
This rapid growth is, in part, the result of a longstanding relationship with UTS. To date, the company has undertaken:
- Five projects through Optik Consultancy, a student internship program within the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT
- A futuremap® capability assessment exercise led by SME@UTS
- A Strategic Design Studio project, where UTS Executive MBA students helped streamline their internal operations.
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. The goal of SME@UTS is 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.
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 Head of Operations Isaac Roach.
Exploring growth opportunities through value for money internships
Through Optik Consultancy, Roach and his colleagues 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
- 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, supporting the successful recruitment of 15 new positions in the 2023–2024 financial year.
The success of the early Optik projects made it very easy for me to convince management that we could upskill people quite quickly. It’s a touchpoint with graduates and we get to see some of the talent that’s coming through.
Assessing business capabilities with futuremap®
Undertaking a futuremap® assessment connected Roach and his team to a range of industry leaders, some of whom have now become important Applied Robotics customers.
The futuremap® workshop facilitated by SME@UTS gave Applied Robotics the opportunity to assess their business capabilities. They also used it as a way of assessing a client’s business.
“One of us completed the 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,” says Roach.
It was a tool for us to think about the client relationship a little bit differently…where our capacities complement them, and where our capacities might need to be increased to complement them further.
A diagnostic tool for manufacturing SMEs, futuremap® enables companies like Applied Robotics to develop a 2-year strategic roadmap for digital transformation. futuremap® is owned by the Australian Industry Group, with UTS currently the licensee in NSW to deliver futuremap® workshops.
Across NSW, SME@UTS has been delivering Futureproofing NSW Manufacturing Workshops in partnership with Investment NSW and Training Services NSW.
Streamlining internal operations with strategic innovation
On the business side of things, the Strategic Design Studio helped Applied Robotics streamline their internal operations, making changes to their executive staffing structure and bringing on an in-house HR team.
These changes emerged from recommendations from a report produced by UTS Executive MBA students, 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, 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.
Building on the partnership with ongoing opportunities
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,” says Roach.
They’ve lowered the cost and reduced the risk of our research and development projects for sure.
The UTS-Applied Robotics affiliation is now transforming into a genuine partnership based on mutual benefit and shared expertise.
In addition to their university-industry engagements via SME@UTS, Applied Robotics has co-designed three microcredentials with the Faculty of Engineering. These microcredentials are now commercially available.
They’re also looking at opportunities to partner with UTS Tech Lab, a university–industry research facility driving innovation in engineering and IT. Opportunities currently being discussed include building a vision lab alongside UTS Tech Lab.
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,” says Applied Robotics’ Head of Solutions, Andrew Hambly.
The Applied Robotics team is passionate about partnering with the right education partners such as UTS to create unique and innovative solutions.
Applied Robotics
For over 37 years Applied Robotics has delivered more than 650 solutions for industry. They aim to empower Australian manufacturing businesses with a competitive advantage by solving their most complex automation challenges.
Applied Robotics provides automation consulting, bespoke solutions, MES integration, support and maintenance, factory design, robotics system design, systems training, and educational partnerships.
SME@UTS is a concierge-style service that 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.
Contact the team for a complimentary consultation to explore your needs and ideas.