Industry News

Businesses with projects in the space sector are the first to be able to apply for grants to help them commercialise ideas or processes, or integrate into global supply chains. Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the MMI will build on the billions of dollars in investment to get the economic conditions right – and create meaningful, long-term change for Australian manufacturing. “This matched government funding is designed to support our manufacturers to become competitive, resilient and scale-up to take on the world, which will in turn create jobs for Australians – both now and for generations to come,” said Andrews. “Funding from the MMI will help boost investment in the growth of the manufacturing sector, enhance Australia’s reputation, open up new markets, create new skilled jobs and increase exports.” To guide the types of projects the Government will back in space manufacturing under the MMI, an industry-led road map has also been released. “This road map sets out our vision for manufacturing investment in the…

After an extraordinary 2020, the dawn of the new year has brought with it an Australian economy continuing to grow and recover, and new opportunities for businesses in a COVID-normal Australia. For manufacturing organisations and the industry as a whole, the importance of innovating, growing and playing a central role in Australia’s ongoing economic recovery is imperative. While many will be understandably keen to forget 2020 altogether, last year’s Federal Budget announcement was a good one for manufacturers, with the Federal Government putting a large focus on – and announcing a significant investment in – the Australian manufacturing industry. Over the course of the next four years, billions of dollars will be invested in projects that will grow emerging technologies, or enhance those in which Australian manufacturers already perform strongly. A few short months after the budget announcement, the Australian economy is already showing remarkable signs of recovery, coming out of nominal recession in December as most states and territories continued easing restrictions,…

The innovation focuses on the advanced upcycling of biosolids and biogas, by-products of the wastewater treatment process. Developed by researchers at RMIT University, the patented technology uses a special material derived from biosolids to spark chemical reactions for producing hydrogen from biogas. The approach means all the materials needed for hydrogen production could be sourced on-site at a wastewater treatment plant, without the need for expensive catalysts. The method also traps the carbon found in biosolids and biogas, which could in future enable a near zero-emission wastewater sector. Lead researcher Associate Professor Kalpit Shah said existing commercial methods for producing hydrogen were emission and capital-intensive, and relied heavily on natural gas. “Our alternative technology offers a sustainable, cost-effective, renewable and efficient approach to hydrogen production,” said Shah, Deputy Director (Academic) of the ARC Training Centre for Transformation of Australia’s Biosolids Resource at RMIT. “To enable the transition to a circular economy, we need technology that enables us to squeeze the full value from resources that would ordinarily go to…

The company, part of the FMP Group, has signed up with Greenfleet, a leading not-for-profit environmental organisation, to offset 170 company and employee vehicles on a mission to protect the climate by restoring our Australian and New Zealand forests. The move by Bendix involves its employees ensuring the greatest impact on carbon emission reduction is achieved; it is just one of many initiatives being introduced by the company to protect the environment. Greenfleet is Australia’s first carbon offset provider and since 1997 the organisation has planted 9.6 million trees, creating more than 500 biodiverse forests in Australia and New Zealand, which are protected for 100 years and have offset more than 3.5 million tonnes of CO2-e. Greenfleet is currently working with more than 400 organisations, many of which have been offsetting carbon emissions for over 10 years. Using the Full Carbon Accounting Model (FullCAM), developed by CSIRO and approved by the then Australian Department of the Environment, Greenfleet ensures the carbon uptake of each forest at each planting site. FMP Group (Australia)…

Nowadays it’s reasonably often you’ll see a Telstra in a well-to-do neighbourbourhood. Electric-powered passenger aircraft are not as prevalent as electric vehicles (EVs), but electrified flight is fast approaching. The first Australian flight – a Pipistrel Alpha Electro two-seater – took off from Jandakot Airport in Western Australia in January 2018. In December Sydney Seaplanes announced plans to retrofit one of its Cessnas with electric motors made by MagniX, a leader in electric propulsion founded in Gold Coast, Queensland. Sydney Seaplanes hopes to offer Sydney Harbour-Palm Beach e-flights in early 2023 and possibly to Canberra after that. Further afield, the Norwegian airport operator Avenor has set a goal that all short flights (90 minutes and under) will be electric-powered by 2040. Dr Jake Whitehead, Tritium E-Mobility Fellow at the University of Queensland, says there are two main types of electric aircraft: short-haul planes and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL,…

The findings highlight an urgent need to improve digital skills to ensure economic recovery from COVID-19 and to avoid jeopardising a $10bn growth in the technology, media and communications industries by 2025. The new report, ‘Ready, Set, Upskill – Effective Training for the Jobs of Tomorrow’ was released by RMIT Online, in collaboration with Deloitte Access Economics, following surveys of 1,000 Australian working professionals and employers. The report also revealed that three out of four Australians want to learn about emerging technologies, such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, and that four in five Australian business leaders think that adopting new technologies is important to achieve business goals. RMIT Online CEO Helen Souness said responding to Australia’s digital skills gap is a national imperative, and Australia’s economic recovery will rely heavily on the availability of these skills to power business transformation. “The events of last year have underlined the urgency of bridging this skills gap,” she said.…

AMT: How long has NEPEAN Engineering & Innovation been in business? Peter Buckley: NEPEAN first opened its doors in 1974. Today we are now one of Australia’s largest, privately owned engineering service providers. Our capacity and capabilities have expanded over the years. Our original site and workshop facilities was less than 600sqm. Today, we have grown to have over 50,000sqm of high-tech manufacturing space, running multiple shifts to ensure we can deliver to our clients on time, every time. We now employ over 120 full-time employees at our facilities in Narellan, NSW. We have employed five new team members in the past year alone. AMT: What industries do you service and what is your specialty? PB: NEPEAN has the depth, diversity, capability and experience to successfully deliver on the largest and most complex engineering projects. We service the construction, infrastructure, mining, defence, civil works, pharmaceutical, scientific and aerospace…

  The company will provide the Hunter Class Frigate Program, as well as with BAE Systems’s UK Submarines business, with its bespoke displays to provide 3D visualisation for respective research and technology programs to test situational awareness, systems integration and specialist engineering design applications. Voxon is a global leader in the manufacture of 3D volumetric display technology and leading provider of volumetric software and content. In late 2020 Voxon, together with BAE Systems, Flinders University and the University of South Australia, was awarded a Defence Innovation Partnership grant to support the advancement of the technology to enable superior decision-making through battlespace visualisation. Voxon Chief Executive, Gavin Smith, said: “Voxon would like to acknowledge the support that BAE Systems has given to specialist SMEs like ourselves via the Australian industry Global Access Program team. The team has been highly engaged with us from the beginning and established connections for us with the broader BAE Systems international business.” Future activities will focus on scalability, ruggedisation and specific operating functions that will have multiple…

The technology aims to differentiate Australia’s highly prized Pacific oysters, which are some of the few able to be consumed direct from the ocean due to pristine growing environments, from the highly farmed items that make up 80% of the world’s oyster supply. To achieve this, Tasmania Oyster Co. has developed a new CO2-based laser etching process that allows the company to etch a brand mark (logo) on the oyster’s shell, providing customers with peace of mind concerning the quality and provenance of the product. “Probably one of the biggest challenges is being able to distinguish our product from others, either here or in export markets. AMGC helped us expand our thinking to export markets,” said Simon Rechner, Project Manager at Tasmanian Oyster Co. “We think Australian oysters are some of the best in the world, but being able to market overseas is very difficult. An oyster sold in Singapore, Japan and Australia, without something on…

As a global leader in adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, the upgraded facility positions Henkel at the forefront of innovation for key growth sectors in Australia and New Zealand, namely food and beverage, packaging, engineered wood and general manufacturing and maintenance. Daniel Rudolph, President of Henkel Australia and New Zealand, said: “Henkel’s customers are looking for the latest innovations to increase performance and efficiency, and improve their sustainability footprint. The upgrading of our Innovation and Application Lab allows us to test and tailor solutions to meet the requirements of the local market, ranging from the latest in product design and food safety standards to adapting to a circular economy.” The Innovation and Application Lab is co-located at Henkel’s adhesive manufacturing facility. This facilitates a rapid transition and reduces the time to market from product concept and development to volume production. Mark Dorn, President of Henkel Asia-Pacific and Global Head of Craftsmen, Construction and Professional Division, Henkel Adhesive Technologies, said: “Our upgraded Innovation and Application Lab in Sydney enables us to offer the latest product innovations to the market. From…

Based in Adelaide’s Salisbury Plain, Innomation offers a variety of services including mechanical design and drafting, electrical schematic design and drafting, machine design and automation. One of the issues that faced the company was the amount of money being spent on outsourcing bending and laser cutting. The solution for Morton was to establish Lasermech, a subsidiary of Innomation located on the same premises, offering design, cut, fold and fabrication of all types and sizes of components. Not only would Lasermech handle Innomation’s requirements but importantly it would offer these services to a raft of companies in Adelaide. To get things rolling, Morton visited Applied Machinery’s Melbourne facility in October 2019 to look at pressbrakes and fibre lasers. While impressed with the quality and value for money of the Yawei machines, Morton wanted to see the Yawei factory in China for himself. His first impression of the factory was positive to say the least. “I was blown away by…

Approximately 10% of the electricity supplied to Australian industry is used to compress air.  Constantly rising electricity costs have fuelled demand for industrial compressed air systems to deliver greater output for less energy input. The continued effectiveness of compressed air as an industrial power source lies in technological advances in compressor design, control methods, reticulation design and maintenance of systems to ensure optimum operational effectiveness. Specialist compressed air service companies can inspect, advise and restore systems to maximum operating condition. Maintenance programs are available and recommended to keep systems operational and avoid costly downtime for compressed air-reliant industries. Regular checks and maintenance are essential for continued efficient operation and minimisation of downtime. Like any other piece of expensive machinery, well-maintained systems give users many more years of operating life at low cost. Leading suppliers to offer tailored maintenance programs to suit individual customer needs. Selecting the right system or…

A large-format SPEE3D metal 3D printer was installed by the Fleet Support Unit (FSU) at HMAS Coonawarra Navy Port in late November, making the RAN the latest branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with the capability to print its own metal parts, on demand. Sustainment, or the repair, maintenance and overhaul of equipment makes up a substantial proportion of the costs for all defence forces globally. The difficulty and expense of getting spare parts through regular supply chains has been exacerbated and highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The world has been looking to additive manufacturing (AM) to solve this problem; however, most AM technology has proven too delicate, too expensive, and far too slow to solve the problem. SPEE3D has proven to be the exception. SPEE3D’s metal 3D printing technology was developed in Australia and is the world’s fastest and most economical metal 3D printing technology. It is also the only large format metal 3D printing technology that has been trailed and proven field-deployable by the ADF. SPEE3D recently completed a series of successful field trials deploying…