Month: April 2026

Early 2026 is already revealing clear manufacturing patterns across Asia‑Pacific. Digital maturity, physics‑aware engineering tools, workforce pressure and sovereign capability are converging in ways that raise both opportunity and risk for Australian industry. Investment continues to flow toward higher‑value production, expectations around digital capability are rising, and manufacturers are being asked to deliver greater complexity with tighter labour constraints and slimmer margins. One additional factor is sharpening decision‑making across the region: energy. Volatility in global energy markets has re‑emerged as a material consideration for manufacturers, influencing not just operating costs but assumptions about reliability, scaling and investment risk. Few industry leaders are currently planning on a rapid return to stable or predictable energy conditions, and that uncertainty is increasingly shaping how businesses think about productivity, automation and where critical capability should sit. In this environment, efficiency,…

From agentic AI and defence‑led validation to energy constraints and edge‑first architectures, emerging technologies are advancing quickly. The real question for manufacturers is not what is possible, but what is deployable under real‑world constraints. Pablos Holman has built a career identifying technologies that are technically possible but operationally misunderstood. With experience spanning aerospace, energy, automation and applied science, his work focuses on translating complex ideas into systems that must perform reliably, economically and at scale. His keynote and subsequent discussions at 3DEXPERIENCE World earlier this year offered a pragmatic counterpoint to much of the surrounding AI conversation, grounding emerging technology in the realities of deployment, infrastructure and operational risk. Holman’s recent commentary offers a counterbalance to technology hype. Rather than predicting sweeping transformation, he emphasises that the success or failure of emerging technologies is increasingly determined not by capability alone, but by how well they operate within real organisational and infrastructure…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Robotic Automation system supports first locally built iron ore rail cars in the Pilbara A large-scale Motoman Yaskawa robotic welding system has played a crucial role at Gemco Rail’s purpose-built Karratha facility, as the region’s first locally built rail wagons go into service. Supplied and commissioned by local distributor Robotic Automation, the welding system sits within a A$150 million local manufacturing partnership between Rio Tinto, Gemco Rail and CRRC Qiqihar Rolling Stock Co. Ltd, aimed at delivering 100 heavy‑duty iron ore wagons to projects in the region. The investment is designed to strengthen regional supply chains, expand domestic fabrication capability and reduce reliance on overseas wagon manufacturing. Robotic Automation says the advanced welding system was engineered specifically to meet the scale and demands of rail‑car production in one of the most challenging industrial environments in the country. “By enabling local production of high-quality iron ore rail wagons, robotic welding improves weld consistency, enhances safety and supports sustainable regional growth,” the company says. Gemco Rail required a system capable of producing large, fatigue‑critical structural…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** With changes to the Corporations Act enforcing mandatory sustainability reporting coming into effect last year, the question for many is how to build a report that stands up to stakeholder scrutiny and actually improves the business. That’s the focus of William Buck principal, business advisory, Samantha Zebrowski, who will lead a session at Australian Manufacturing Week session titled Navigating Mandatory Climate Reporting and Your First Sustainability Report. The rollout of the new sustainability reporting framework began on January 1, 2025, affecting companies with two of three of either a consolidated revenue of $500 million, consolidated gross assets of over $1 billion or over 500 employees. The second stage of the rollout – to companies with two of three of either $200 million in revenue, $500 million in assets or 250+ employees – is set to start from 1 July this year. A third group, earning $50 million or more, with assets of $25 million or…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Australian manufacturing is a sector built for this moment. The challenges are real, the pressures are well documented, but so is the opportunity, and it is bigger than many people recognise. Let’s start with the fundamentals. Australian manufacturing is our sixth-largest industry, contributing $137 billion in value-added output and employing 930,000 people. It generates 12.4% of our exports and accounts for 7.9% of national capital expenditure – outsized contributions for a sector representing just 5.1% of GDP. Critically, it is also Australia's most R&D-intensive industry, reinvesting 4.1% of value-added back into research and development. These are the numbers of a sector with genuine strength, deep capability, and a proven capacity to innovate. Yes, 2024 was a difficult year. After a strong post-pandemic rebound, conditions tightened as a sluggish domestic economy weighed on demand and global supply chains normalised. But the sector has navigated far harder periods than this, and the transformation underway is one we…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Marking a milestone moment for Australia’s premier event for precision manufacturers and hosted by AMTIL with support from the Queensland Government, AMW brings together the nation’s most comprehensive display of advanced manufacturing technology. With a sold-out exhibition floor and a program designed to help Australian industry move faster, build capability, grow and diversify, AMW is expected to impress. Over more than 25 years, AMW has evolved into the definitive platform for evaluating world-leading equipment, gaining practical insight and making high-value connections. The 2026 edition extends that legacy to Queensland for the first time, reflecting the State’s growing prominence across defence, resources, aerospace, clean energy technologies and precision engineering. “Manufacturing is evolving rapidly across Australia, and Queensland is no exception,” said Lorraine Maxwell, CEO of AMTIL. “Queensland is home to a growing number of innovative manufacturers. AMW 2026 will highlight the strength of this local industry while continuing to serve as a national platform for showcasing excellence…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** For Emil Dela Cruz, regional sales manager NSW for Kemppi Australia, digitalisation and automation are reshaping demand for welding across Australia. “We no longer manufacture any analogue models, so 100% of our models are digital,” Emil says, noting that the shift began around 2017–18 as Industry 4.0 began influencing manufacturing workflows. “Knowing that Industry 4.0 is digitalisation, Kemppi has been well ahead in incorporating programs and software that empower welders to weld better and faster. We have also been at the fore in delivering solutions that gather welding data to ensure compliance and quality, while boosting productivity.” This progression has positioned Kemppi as a technology leader, he says. “We deliver premium machines for high quality welding as well as digital solutions, and we continue to develop different types of products to meet various market requirements,” he says. “Given the breadth and depth of our product range, we target the entire welding market from small workshops and single contractors…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** “Everything on this planet, at one point or another, has been screened… we’ve been doing screen media for well over 50 years as a business,” Multotec Australia VP sales and service Grahame Hopkins says. Whether it’s for the purposes of accurate product sizing or removing impurities or other undesirable materials, the creation of screens to filter food, extracted materials and other material is a well-established component of materials processing. With that broad experience comes a clear view of the persistent risks faced by operators working on screen decks, particularly when it comes to panel change‑outs. “One of the biggest problems with screen media is potential risk or damage to product and people,” Hopkins explains. Most screening decks use screening panels that are traditionally bolted or hammered into place, or installed using either a clip or pin system, and have to be prised out using a screwdriver.“So everything's working on lever and pinch points, fingers, hands, etc, and then obviously the…