Month: September 2021

Since the very start, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call for Australia regarding our attitudes to manufacturing. From supermarket shelves stripped of toilet paper to the mad rush to establish local production of medical ventilators, we all got a clear lesson about the vulnerability of modern supply chains and the need for strong sovereign manufacturing capability, so that we have continued access to all the things we rely on as a society. As the pandemic has dragged on, one of the few positives to come out of the crisis was the sense that there was at last widespread public recognition that manufacturing really matters. Now new research has corroborated this, putting real numbers on how far the popular mood has swung in support of our industry. The report from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) reveals the general public’s current perception of Australian manufacturing and its understanding of this critical industry. Comparing data from early 2019…

Thales Australia’s Lithgow facility in regional New South Wales has commenced manufacturing 30mm cannon components for Rheinmetall Defence Australia, leveraging the support of 16 current and new Australian SME suppliers. Approximately 50% of the work will be done by these SME suppliers and the overall AIC is already over 85%. First samples manufactured in Australia have already passed quality control checks by Rheinmetall Defence in Germany. Lithgow has been the home of small arms manufacturing for over a century, proudly supporting Australia’s soldiers on battlefields around the world. The new manufacturing partnership builds on this distinguished heritage, creating approximately ten new jobs and supporting 130 jobs on site. The partnership will also look at transferring to Australia the manufacture and sustainment of a range of mounted weapons, combining Thales Australia’s deep manufacturing expertise and domestic supplier base with Rheinmetall’s world-class mounted weapons. Through substantial technology transfer to Australia in support of a number of Defence projects, and with an aim of 100% Australian Industry…

Owned and operated by Impact Tech Ventures, the Australian Technologies Competition helps to spotlight and support the commercialisation of home-grown tech scale-ups with global potential solving problems in an array of sectors, complementing Australia’s growth sectors and high-value industries such as manufacturing, clean-tech, cyber, mining technologies, energy, ag-tech and more. Past and present alumni in the manufacturing sector include: Stormseal – Temporary roof protector made from polyethylene film FormFlow – Corrugated metal roofing and sheeting products Advanced Robotic Technology – CNC machining for metal and steel BluGlass Limited – Semiconductor manufacturer NXT TEC – Prefabricated building solutions   AMTIL is a proud partner of the Australian Technologies Competition. Monday 25 October 2021– National Finals & Judging The National Finals is a full day showcase of this year’s best technology scaleups from across Australia, where finalists competing in 11 different industry categories will deliver a 5-minute pitch LIVE, in front of the Judges and a guest audience, immediately followed by ten minutes…

Micro-X has signed a Project Agreement that will unlock $8m of funding from a $40m grant awarded to the Australian Stroke Alliance under the Federal Government’s Frontier Health and Medical Research initiative. The funding will contribute to the development of the scanner for patient imaging trials in 2023. This year, stroke will affect more than 15 million people worldwide, one-third of whom will die and another third will be permanently disabled. In Australia, there are about 38,000 stroke events annually, or more than 100 a day. “Your best chance of surviving a stroke lies in the first hour after the attack – the so-called ‘Golden Hour’,” says Professor Stephen Davis, AO, from the Australian Stroke Alliance. “Detecting and starting treatment within that timeframe gives patients a much better chance of surviving and recovering with limited brain damage.” Dr Mardi Steere, Executive General Manager of Medical…

PB Swiss Tools’ history can be traced all the way back to 1878, starting with the production of nose rings for taming oxen in the village blacksmith’s shop in Wasen in Switzerland’s Emmental region. Since then the company has evolved over the years into an innovative global company synonymous with tools and medical instruments that are unrivalled for their precision and durability. It has been manufacturing tools since 1940, and medical products since 2013. Today, specialists in more than 80 countries choose PB Swiss Tools when their work needs to meet the highest quality standards. With 180 employees at its facilities in Wasen and Sumiswald, PB Swiss Tools manufactures 12 million tools and instruments each year. More than two thirds of these are exported all over the world. Blaser Swisslube’s Synergy 735 coolant, along with Blaser brand ambassador Titan Gilroy, caught the attention of PB Swiss Tools representatives at the…

We are already seeing activity growth in a number of countries. Sectors such as manufacturing, metals, automotive, steel, mining and energy, construction, public and private infrastructure, logistics, waste-to-energy and utilities projects are among major sectors earmarked for expansion – in areas extending from China and India, down through South-East Asia-Pacific, to Australasia, according to Konecranes. With this resurgence in demand for EOT cranes, will come a renewed focus on achieving the highest standards of reliability, cost-efficiency and safety – a process driven not only by technology innovations in new cranes, but also by modernisations among the existing fleets of EOT cranes as the region has experienced the largest and longest economic expansion in its collective history. “As thousands of new cranes have entered service over…

Boeing Australia will establish the facility in the Wellcamp Aerospace and Defence Precinct at Wellcamp Airport to produce and assemble the Boeing Airpower Teaming System (also known as Loyal Wingman), the first military combat aircraft designed, developed and manufactured in Australia in half a century. The aircraft made its first flight in February 2021. The partnership to establish the facility will create new opportunities for Toowoomba, bringing jobs and skill development to the region and the state. “In choosing Wellcamp Airport, Boeing have taken an important step towards delivering their purpose-built final assembly facility,” said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. “This has the potential to greatly improve our state’s advanced manufacturing capability and help shape a workforce of Queenslanders with the skills to build some of the world’s most cutting-edge aircraft.” The new facility is expected to support approximately 300 jobs during construction and will create highly skilled jobs. The project is part of the Queensland Defence Industries 10-year Roadmap and Action Plan, which aims to significantly…

Vesticam evolved from the clinical need for simple, portable and affordable infra-red video goggles to record of eye movements during oculomotor tests. It is an innovative modification of existing trialled and tested equipment, making it portable, fully adjustable and accessible for widespread use. Vesticam’s product records eye movement (nystagmography) during over 15 standard bedside oculomotor tests, including tests that can only be done in the dark (with vision denied). The video and audio recordings can then be reviewed, stored or sent for second opinion. Prior to Vesticam, no existing IR video goggles met all of the required clinical parameters of being fully adjustable, easy to focus, light and comfortable for patients to wear, completely light-tight, and able to switch quickly from vision-denied to with-vision. A large part of the original design (innovation patented) was for an adjustable means of positioning a camera at a target. The design of Vesticam version 1 (V1) allowed the subject/patient to have a frame on their head (goggles) with a camera and illuminator,…

Organised by the US Government research agency DARPA and spanning a three-year-period, the Subterranean Challenge was designed to push the boundaries of autonomous robotic technology. Scientists were tasked with remotely running the robots in an underground environment that simulated a real-world scenario. This included locating models representing lost or injured humans, backpacks, or phones, as well as variable conditions such as pockets of gas Points were awarded for correct identification and location of items, mapping the terrain, and maintaining autonomy and communications throughout. The competition culminated in a final event held inside the Louisville Mega Cavern in Louisville in Kentucky. Made up of members from CSIRO’s Data61, CSIRO spin-out robotics company Emesent, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, the team competed under the name ‘CSIRO’s Data61’ and won the preliminary round before being awarded second in the final circuit. Leader of team CSIRO’s Data61 and CSIRO’s Robotics group leader, Dr Navinda Kottege said: “This is an amazing result! We are the…

Max Albert founded Melbourne Tooling Co in 1965. Initially based in Huntingdale, in Melbourne’s south-east suburbs, the company started out as a toolmaking operation, and soon made a name for itself providing tooling for the local automotive industry. Within a few years it diversified into the design and manufacture of automotive components, and established itself as a key supplier to the original five Australian car manufacturers Ford, GM Holden, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi. Today the company, now rebranded as MTM Pty Ltd, remains privately owned by the Albert family, with Max’s son Mark Albert now its Managing Director, but the business is a truly global operation. The closure of Australia’s car industry has seen MTM diversify into areas such as rail, water conservation and safety, but automotive components still account for a substantial part of the company’s business. Its customer base amounts to a…

The Fund delivers on the recommendations from the Territory Economic Reconstruction Report, and will leverage AMGC’s experience in successfully increasing Australia’s manufacturing capability. With a focus on expanding manufacturing in the NT, co-investments will target local projects that seek to: Grow an advanced manufacturing ecosystem and capability in the NT across the Territory’s priority sectors. Increase investment in advanced manufacturing activity in NT, and secure a greater number of advanced manufacturing jobs located in the NT. Commercialise new products and processes, including transitioning a new product or process from pilot/prototype stage to full commercial operations. Support early-stage small-scale and pilot research projects in advanced manufacturing, allowing them to more quickly move to larger-scale commercialisation. Funding will range from $25,000 up to $500,000 (or more based on scale and impact), and must be matched by industry. Projects should include collaboration with a research partner and a minimum of one industry partner. “We are Australia’s comeback capital, but we also want to be Australia’s innovation capital,” said Michael Gunner, Chief Minister…

According to a November 2020 report by security company Dragos, the number of ransomware attacks in the manufacturing industry tripled during the year. Although a large part of manufacturing industry relies on information technology, it also relies largely on Industrial Control Systems for mass production of goods. This is the area that cyber criminals actively seek to target. With the recent ransomware attack on one of the largest oil pipelines in the US, many gas stations had no choice but to shut down – causing national gas prices on average to rise above $3. To resolve the matter, Colonial Pipeline had to pay $5m ransom within a few hours. Though, earlier the opposite of this was reported by CNN and Reuters, the ransom payment news was also later confirmed by the Wall Street Journal. This news is worrisome, since the success of a large-scale ransomware attack can be encouraging for the hackers to launch future attacks. Particularly for the manufacturing supply chain, if…

AML3D, a pioneer in commercialising Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), has teamed up with the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) at Deakin to investigate the effect of scandium as a strengthening element for existing aluminium wire feedstock for 3D printing and welding applications, with the potential to commercialise. As part of the 12-month research collaboration, IFM researchers will create and road-test new alloy compositions that will deliver high strength, corrosion resistant WAAM structures, using AML3D’s WAM technology. Dr Thomas Dorin, who leads the research at Deakin’s IFM, highlights that most aluminium alloys obtain their strength via additional heat treatments which can be costly and not always practical when using WAM technology. “When you add scandium to aluminium, it acts as an ‘excellent strengthener’,” says Dr Dorin. “Our preliminary research has shown that aluminium-scandium forms strengthening AI3Sc particles during WAM and create as-printed high-strength structures with limited need for subsequent heat treatment. Also, scandium is electrochemically neutral with aluminium. The new…