Industry News

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Australia’s manufacturing sector entered 2026 with signs of renewed momentum, but global disruption and rising operating costs continue to test the industry's resilience. The latest Manufacturing Signals Report from CommBank shows that manufacturing output returned to growth in late 2025 after a difficult period of contraction. However, many businesses are still managing margin pressure driven by higher freight, fuel and input costs, ongoing supply chain disruption and persistent labour shortages. For manufacturers, the current environment is creating a more complex balancing act between maintaining day-to-day operational performance and positioning themselves for future competitiveness. “There are signs of recovery in manufacturing, but it’s far from a straightforward external environment. Businesses are having to manage persistent cost and supply pressures, while also positioning themselves for long-term competitiveness,” Belinda Harris (General Manager Commercial Banking QLD, Commonwealth Bank of Australia). Navigating cost and supply chain pressures Geopolitical tensions and shipping disruptions across key global trade routes have increased pressure on supply chains and inventory management, with CommBank data pointing to 10-to-14-day shipping delays for the sector, which extends lead times and…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** For Australian manufacturing technology suppliers, mining is not only a customer market. It is a demanding test bed for engineering capability. The sector requires heavy fabrication, precision machining, hydraulics, wear components, automation, robotics, materials handling systems, sensing, control systems, safety technology and increasingly sophisticated digital tools. In many cases, mining has helped Australian manufacturers become world-class by forcing them to solve difficult problems in harsh environments. The scale of the opportunity remains substantial. The Department of Industry’s December 2025 Resources and Energy Quarterly forecast Australia’s resources and energy export earnings at $383 billion in 2025–26 and $374 billion in 2026–27. Export volumes are expected to remain robust and rise close to record levels in 2027, even as some commodity prices soften. Iron ore is expected to remain Australia’s largest resources earner, accounting for about one-quarter…

AMTIL welcomes the Hon. Melissa Horne as Victoria’s new Minister for Industry and Advanced Manufacturing, Minister for Defence Industry, Minister for Jobs, and Minister for Ports and Freight; and congratulates the Hon. Ben Carroll MP on his election as the new Premier of Victoria. New to advanced manufacturing, Minister Horne has previously worked in senior levels of government and the corporate sector, particularly in the transport sector. AMTIL looks forward to working together to advance our state’s advanced manufacturing priorities. The Hon. Colin Brooks, previous Minister for Industry and Advanced Manufacturing, has been appointed as Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations. Mr Brooks and Mr Carroll are well-known to AMTIL and its members, including having previously opened Australian Manufacturing Week and attended Victorian Manufacturing Galas. With understanding of our sector’s opportunities and barriers being held within three core and influential positions, AMTIL looks forward to engaging with Government and our sector being reflected in future policies introduced. New federal defence report released The 2026 Defence Innovation, Science and Technology Strategy has been released, setting the strategic agenda for Australia’s defence innovation priorities while strengthening Australia’s sovereign industrial base and national…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Five years after the closure of the Lane Cove Test Station, Australia is beginning to grasp the scale of what was lost. It marked the erosion of a national capability that underpins electrical safety, system reliability, innovation and industrial competitiveness across the entire electricity system. This reality was laid bare at a recent Australian Industry Group forum examining the impacts of Lane Cove’s closure. Industry experts from standards development, manufacturing, system engineering and forensic investigation delivered a consistent message: Australia’s rapid electrification is now running ahead of our ability to independently test and validate the equipment it relies on. Electrification is transforming every layer of the economy. Buildings are shifting away from gas. Electric vehicle charging is scaling rapidly. Data centres are increasing power densities by orders of magnitude. Distributed energy resources are turning consumers into generators. Power electronics, solid‑state switching and direct current are no longer niche technologies, but core features of modern electricity systems. Each of these changes places new stresses on equipment that was never designed for today’s operating conditions. Testing is what turns…

The establishment of the new Branch represents a significant investment in advocacy and government engagement, ensuring AMTIL members have a stronger voice in shaping the policies that will influence the future of manufacturing. A stronger voice for industry As part of AMTIL's strategic plan, the new Policy & Government Affairs Branch has been established to strengthen the organisation's advocacy capability and increase engagement with governments, industry and key stakeholders on the issues that matter most to Australia's advanced manufacturing sector. The Branch will work to ensure the industry's priorities are represented through evidence-based policy development, consultation and advocacy, helping to influence decisions that support innovation, investment, skills development, productivity and long-term industry growth. AMTIL's advocacy will be informed by member experiences, industry data, research, market insights and economic analysis, ensuring policy positions reflect the real opportunities and challenges facing manufacturers across Australia. Karen Parr appointed Director, Policy & Government Affairs Leading the new Branch is Karen Parr, who joins AMTIL as…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** This year’s exhibitors—from Emona Instruments, iO3D Printing, and Laserman Australia, through to the Additive Manufacturing CRC, 3D Solutions Australia, Shining3D Tech and RAM3D—gave visitors a close look at the materials, machines, services and research pathways helping manufacturers adopt AM with greater confidence. The tone was noticeably practical, with exhibitors focused on where AM delivers commercial value, how to match materials and processes to applications, and how to integrate the technology into existing workflows. The emphasis was less on AM as a standalone technology, and more on how it can support faster product development, short-run production, complex geometries, supply chain resilience and customised manufacturing. Emona Instruments’ focus was on helping Australian manufacturers identify the additive manufacturing technologies best suited to their applications, from polymers and composites through to metals and printed electronics. The company’s message was that AM is not simply about the machine itself, but about understanding the right process, material and workflow to move from experimentation…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** These individuals carry an irreplaceable mental library built across decades of hands-on observation. They possess an intuitive grasp of which surface irregularities signal serious risk and which are meaningless noise. As this generation of experts moves toward retirement, manufacturers across Australia are confronting a knowledge-preservation challenge that no standard training curriculum can solve. Vision Language Models (VLMs) are emerging as the technology capable of bridging that gap. A Fundamentally Different Kind of Machine Vision For decades, automated visual inspection relied on a simple and brittle model: define what a defect looks like, then search for its signature in every image. This rules-based approach performed adequately in highly controlled settings but required near-perfect consistency in lighting, material surface, and component presentation to operate reliably. The moment conditions deviated, conventional systems lost confidence rapidly. VLMs were designed from…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** A succession of global shocks – wars, pandemics and supply chain crises – has shown just how important those security and resilience objectives are. As the poet Dorothea Mackellar famously put it, we live in a sunburnt country. We are also, at times, a drought-prone country. Economic resilience means using water in a way that doesn’t put additional pressures on Australia’s water supply. Equally, it means building more energy for new industries and making modern manufacturing technologies more energy efficient. The data centre expectations that I announced earlier this year put strong emphasis on energy additionality and water efficiency. But traditional industries can advance the work of driving efficiency and economic resilience, too. Research and development is an essential part of that effort. Australia has world-class researchers in our universities, industries and national science agencies. We also have genuinely innovative…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Scandium Market Dynamics Whilst Scandium is a unique strategic and critical rare earth metal, globally there are no mines where it is the primary metal being produced.  The U.S. Geological Survey estimated global production of scandium oxide was 60 tons in 2025 up 50% from 40 tons in 2024. Supply currently relies on low concentration by-product extraction from mines producing other metals primarily nickel and titanium. China dominates the global scandium market as the primary producer, with Beijing’s grip tightening further in April 2025, when the government imposed specific controls on metal, alloys, oxides and compounds. Though more recently in December 2025, this policy was revised with China beginning to issue general licences for rare earths to selected exporters. Scandium’s primary uses are in alloying with aluminium to make it lighter and stronger, solid oxide fuel cells and next generation 5G/6G networks.  Scandium-aluminium alloys provide exceptional strength-to-weight ratios which…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** With exhibitors including the likes of Queensland Government, Ronson Gears, Manufacturing Skills Queensland, the Australian Foundry Institute, PJ Bowers, BAC Systems, Capral, the Australian Made Campaign, City of Moreton Bay, Ipswich City Council and Shearform, the zone brought together manufacturers, industry bodies and government partners with a shared focus on Australian capability. The mix on display reflected the breadth of local manufacturing: precision gears, aluminium extrusion, engineered foam, sheet metal, storage systems, skills development, foundry capability, regional investment attraction and the Australian Made brand. It was a strong reminder that manufacturing strength is not built around one product or one region, but across a connected ecosystem of suppliers, makers, councils, training bodies and industry partners. Jason Kidd, Queensland’s Deputy Director-General, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development, said AMW provided an opportunity to showcase the state’s manufacturing depth, “Queensland offers a unique combination of advantages for manufacturing businesses and investment, including a skilled workforce, world-class infrastructure, proximity to the Asia-Pacific region and…

A new $600,000 collaborative research project involving Austal, Curtin University and the Additive Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (AMCRC) aims to help Australian manufacturers identify where additive manufacturing can deliver the greatest commercial and operational value. Over the next 18 months, the project will develop a practical framework that enables manufacturers to assess components against operational, commercial, technical and regulatory requirements. The goal is to provide a consistent methodology for identifying the most suitable applications for additive manufacturing and addressing one of the key barriers to broader industry adoption. Initially focused on the maritime and defence sectors, the framework is expected to deliver benefits well beyond these industries, helping manufacturers reduce lead times, strengthen supply chains, improve productivity and support Australia's sovereign manufacturing capability. For Austal, the project represents a shift from individual additive manufacturing applications to a scalable, strategic approach that supports better investment decisions and long-term capability development. The research will also draw on Austal's experience as the prime contractor for the United States Navy's Additive Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, bringing valuable international expertise to the project. Curtin University will…

**This story originally appeared in the April 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** Australian manufacturers are curious about AI. Dabbling with chatbots, adding plug-ins to familiar software and experimenting with prompts. What most of them haven't done is make it work. The reason, says ARM Hub founder and chief executive Professor Cori Stewart, is almost never the technology. "You can create an AI agent in an hour," she says. "The problem is, if it's not connected to data that works, it's meaningless. People get to a proof of concept, roll it out across the organisation, and inevitably it falls over because it hasn't been set up for success." Stewart leads one of four government-backed AI Adopt Centres in Australia, helping manufacturers and SMEs move from curiosity to commercial deployment. She's seen the pattern repeat: companies invest in AI tools while ignoring the data infrastructure those tools depend on. "What really matters to an organisation is to start to see itself as a data organisation," she says. "We can harvest that data brain to work harder for the…

**This story originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of AMT Magazine** In opening the recent and successful Australian Manufacturing Week, I was pleased to deliver an address about the changing ‘face’ and future of manufacturing. Technology and innovation are transforming manufacturing as we have known it. I took the opportunity to share my views on how Australia can embrace the future. I began with the truth as I see it about Australian manufacturing. Manufacturing will not die. It’s too important. But it will transform. Indeed, it is transforming. We are a nation of builders. We’ve built railways across deserts. We’ve built cities on coastlines. We’ve built industries that fed the world, powered the region, and shaped our national identity. And now we are called upon to build again — not just infrastructure or products, but a new future for Australian manufacturing. A future that is smarter. A future that is cleaner. A future that is globally competitive. A future that is unmistakably ours. It will be built on flexibility, not scale. Because right now, manufacturing is not just changing — it is transforming at a scale the world…