AINSWORTH

GAMING CABINETS

TAKING THE GAMBLE OUT OF MANUFACTURING

One of Australia's largest manufacturers of poker machines and recently purchased by European gambling giant Novomatic AG, the ASX listed Ainsworth Game Technology was founded in 1995 by Australian billionaire pokies king Len Ainsworth, after he stepped aside from the world's second-biggest gaming-machine company Aristocrat Leisure which he founded in 1953.

Dealing with a large number of toolmakers and moulders both locally and overseas and managing large complex tooling programs in very short-time frames, Ainsworth’s engineering development team rely heavily on APS to de-risk their ongoing new product development cycles with materials expertise, computer-aided injection-moulding process analysis and FEA stress analysis services.

High quality painted & chrome plated finishes, exposed to constant use and abuse.

High quality painted & chrome plated finishes, exposed to constant use and abuse.

For existing cabinet upgrades, APS have been able to advise AGT on conversion of multiple high-pressure die-cast aluminium and zinc components into a single plastic moulding, saving assembly time, and significant part weight and cost.

Despite the propensity for plastic parts to distort when chrome-plated even when moulded straight, APS’s expertise and computer-aided analysis enabled even the worst part geometry to be refined and iterated with graduated flow-leading techniques, to reliably produce production parts with negligible measurable distortion.

AGT’s manufacturing line in Sydney distributes regionally, in conjunction with their multiple other plant locations overseas.

AGT’s manufacturing line in Sydney distributes regionally, in conjunction with their multiple other plant locations overseas.

Being headquartered in different capital cities presents no problems for APS working integrally with the AGT team, sharing results live via video streaming in the same ‘virtual boardroom’ to discuss analysis results and potential mitigating strategies.

AGT are able to tap into APS’s engineering analysis team as they require as a ‘switch on, switch off’ flexible resource, enabling them to rapidly respond to engineering challenges and quickly feedback outcomes into the design for an uninterrupted development process.

“With a time-sensitive tooling program comprising well over 60 tools with many complex parts and multiple cavities, there was only a single tool that was not signed off at the first die trial.”

  • engineering CAD

  • FEA structural analysis

    • static, dynamic, impact

    • part, assembly

    • complex load cases

  • injection moulding flow analysis

  • tooling gating optimisation

  • tooling cooling analysis

  • part warpage/distortion analysis

Research & development in-house at AGT is a continuous process, with cabinet and game designs constantly being updated.

Research & development in-house at AGT is a continuous process, with cabinet and game designs constantly being updated.

APS Innovations and Ainsworth Game Technology enjoy a strong ongoing technical partnership, with AGT’s new product release cycle requiring they continue to work closely together on future cabinet designs on a nearly continual basis, exporting Australian manufacturing expertise to the world.