Alf Taylor, founder of tna, has been named one of Australia’s 100 most influential engineers of 2009 in the June edition of Engineers Australia. The list, published annually, identifies the country’s leading engineers in academia / research, associations, consulting, engineering expertise, industry, public service and politics.
Alf, who received his degree in mechanical engineering at the University of New South Wales, was selected for his innovative work in the packaging industry. The first piece of equipment he designed, the robag®, found rapid market acceptance. The robag® is a servo-driven vertical form, fill and seal continuous motion flow wrapper that employees algorithmic multi-axis control to produce efficient, high-speed bagging, and has become the global market standard in the food packing industry.
tna, the company that Alf and his wife Nadia founded in 1982 with the success of the robag®, has gone on to invent a line of highly efficient, integrated solutions for the food packaging industry, including the tna robag® 3 ttx (twin) vertical form, fill and seal bagger, tna roflo® 3 gateless transfer and distribution system, and the tna intelli-flav® 2 flavouring system.
In addition to this recent honour, tna has made the BRW’s (a leading Australian business magazine) Fast 100 list for the last nine consecutive years and has also made the BRW’s list of Top 500 Australian privately-owned companies. In 2003 tna was inducted into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame and won two Processing and Packaging Machinery Association awards in 2004.