Month: December 2017

Australian Advanced Manufacturing was launched in October and will continue to produce Bauselite componentry for luxury watches. The components will be made at Flinders University campuses in Adelaide, more than 15,000km from Switzerland where the majority of luxury watch componentry is made. Bauselite is a very strong, very light ceramic material developed by Dr Jonathan Campbell and colleagues from the Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science & Technology. It was used to create Bausele’s Terra Australis watch, released in 2015, which became the first watch from Australia to be accepted for showing at Baselworld, the world’s largest watch and jewellery trade fair. “The new material and method of production solved a number of issues specific to using ceramics in watches,” Dr Campbell said. “It’s a significant accomplishment that watch components are being produced here, signalling a major step forward and a powerful statement about Flinders’ delivery of elite engineering.” Bausele CEO Christophe Hoppe said Australian Advanced Manufacturing aimed to expand its production of high quality watch components. “Controlling manufacturing is really important and…

All seven activity sub-indexes in the Australian PMI improved in November and all indicated expansion in the month. New orders (up 5.3 points to 60.4 points) and exports (up 8.9 points to 57.6 points) were especially strong, which bodes well for growth in 2018 (readings above 50 indicate expansion in activity, with the distance from 50 indicating the strength of the increase). “The manufacturing sector lifted strongly in November, building on an uninterrupted growth phase that began in October 2016,” said Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox. “Sales, production and employment all jumped ahead in November and the strong rise in new orders points to further good news as we head to Christmas. The resumption of growth in exports is particularly encouraging after a slight easing in momentum in recent months. Five of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors expanded in November (according to trend data), led by the very large food & beverages sub-sector (up 0.8 points to 59.7…