Muscat: In another contribution to the industrial sector in Oman, a small, portable crushing grinding machine, the first of its kind, was inaugurated during a ceremony held under the patronage of Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidi, minister of commerce and industry, here on Monday.
The 'Crushing Grinding Machine' is the result of the collaboration between the Industrial Innovation Centre (IIC), Caledonian College of Engineering and the World of Natural Stones.
The machine is now fully operational and is being used by the World of Natural Stones on a daily basis. The machine takes waste off-cuts into two forms; small pebbles and powder.
Although industrial crushers and grinders exist on a large scale, there are no small scale machines available on the international market.
Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, CEO of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE), to which IIC pertains, stated that the launch verifies the objectives of the centre, which comprise developing sustainable models for creating an innovative culture within the industrial sector of the country, building a knowledge-rich culture within the industrial sector in Oman through highlighting mutual benefits of collaboration with the research community, activating connections between industrial and academic communities, which eventually develops Oman's industry through Research and Development (R&D), among others.
"PEIE has designed a future plan for the expansion of the Industrial Innovation Centre in the various industrial estates that fall under the umbrella of PEIE across the Sultanate. Since its inception in 2009 in partnership with The Research Council (TRC), the IIC supports the industrial projects in Oman and links them with local, regional and international research centres to reinforce cooperation in the development of industries and find ways to promote a culture of innovation," Al Hasani added.
Addressing the audience, Abdullah Al Zakwani, executive director of IIC, said; "Many of the Industrial Innovation Centre's projects use incremental innovation as a means to help improve a small or medium-sized company. Incremental innovation is not about making huge sweeping changes. On the contrary, firms that innovate incrementally tend to do so just a little bit at a time. Incremental innovation is generally a modification or change of an existing product where the main goal is to improve functionality and lower costs."
"The crushing grinding machine is a perfect example of incremental innovation. Crushing and grinding machines are not new. We all know that crushing grinding machines are internationally available. However, they tend to be enormous in size. They are physically bulky and they require a huge amount of space. They are expensive to purchase, besides, they consume vast amounts of marble and granite and have an appetite too large to be satiated from the waste that is generated by small companies. Therefore, the innovative feature of this crushing and grinding machine is the size. Designed with portability in mind, the researchers at the Caledonian College of Engineering have created a small machine without compromising functionality. This machine still has the power and strength required to crush granite and marble, some of the hardest compounds in the world," added Al Zakwani.
He also stressed that the success of one single research and development project is proving to reward the World of Natural Stones both financially, through savings and new profit streams; and also environmentally, by creating a greener factory foot print whilst reducing the waste that is sent to landfill.
Professional consultancy
Al Zakwani urged other small to medium-sized companies to learn from the success of the World of Natural Stones. "Industrial research and development projects stem from an idea, a belief that something can be done better. The Industrial Innovation Centre has a highly professional team of consultants who can work with a company to assist them in brainstorming how they can do things better. A company may want to create a new product or improve an existing one. They may want to increase productivity by making enhancements to their manufacturing process," he pointed out.
Dr Ahmed Al Bulushi, acting dean of Caledonian College of Engineering, commented, "The College has been closely cooperating with the Industrial Innovation Centre to solve obstacles during innovation and product development in more than seven industrial research projects. The Caledonian College of Engineering recognises that scientific research is an essential element to transfer enthusiasm and dynamism of the educational process and focus on applied research activities."
