Romar Engineering’s expanding capability in advanced manufacturing for the aerospace sector has been recognised with a $5.8M grant to grow its Australian-designed fluid and motion control solutions.
Based in Sefton, NSW, AMTIL member Romar’s winning grant is the largest of four allocated to manufacturers working in the aerospace sector under round one of the Integration and Translation streams of the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI), a $1.3bn Federal Government initiative designed to position Australia as a globally recognised, high-quality and sustainable manufacturing nation. The four companies – Romar Engineering (NSW), EffusionTech (Vic), Titomic (Vic) and Q-CTRL (NSW) – will share in nearly $14m in funding.
Romar plans on leveraging a more diverse metal additive manufacturing (AM offering in the Australian market with GE Additive and Romar’s custom sealing solutions. Its design-centric, qualification-focused approach provides Australia with the fluid control, motion control, and metal AM solutions to hit orbit.
“These grants will help bolster Australia’s reputation in the growing global civil space industry and build on the important work being led by our Australian Space Agency,” said Christian Porter, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. “From satellites, to componentry in sensors and even rocket engines, Australian manufacturers are drawing on our existing advanced manufacturing expertise to launch into new exciting local and global markets. This funding is about creating more opportunities to grow our local space industry, unlocking further investment and delivering the skilled jobs we need now and for the future.”
Romar will use its $5.8m towards 18 new positions in the company’s advanced manufacturing department. It is currently preparing to install a new GE Additive Metal AM machine, adding to its existing DMG Mori Lasertec 65 3D 5-axis synchronous laser deposition, welding and milling machine. The Lasertec is still the only one of its kind in Australia and one of only three in commercial settings globally. Romar has also invested extensively in the most advanced design and build preparation software to enable it to extract maximum value from it’s investments in advanced manufacturing technology.
Romar has acknowledged the support of Gilmour Space Technologies and Adam Gilmour, Mathew Bricalli, and the following partners: ANSTO and Gerry Triani, Hypersonix Launch Systems and David Waterhouse, Space Machines Company and Rajat Kulshrestha, NEPEAN Engineering & Innovation and Mark Helou, CADPRO Systems Australia, Coregas Pty Ltd – a Wesfarmers company, ECP Engineering and Western Sydney Parklands Development Authority and Ben Kitcher.
Romar is an Australian manufacturing company servicing the aerospace, medical, mining and defence sectors with innovative, globally orientated custom manufacturing solutions. Its capability spans additive manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, elastomers, silicone, micro moulding and precision moulding. Romar is an ANSTO and CSIRO industry partner, and it has signed a Letter of Intent with the NSW Government to play a role in the Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) currently in development as part of the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.