The Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FBICRC) has today outlined a pathway for Australia to claim its share of the global battery industry titled: “Towards 2030 – Australia’s Battery Powered Future”. With global battery demand expected to grow at least 9 to 10-fold over the next decade with an estimated market of between US$133-$151…
Details
By Joseph Brookes Funding for the federal government’s ‘AI Action Plan’ remains locked up in the industry department nearly a year after it was announced, with a key business group pressing the government to release the $124 million promised in last year’s budget. Despite being budgeted more than $22 million this financial year to initiate…
Details
By Brent Balinski As has been mentioned on this website and elsewhere, while Australia’s private investment in automation – placed 35th in the world based on the number of industrial robots per 10,000 workers – could be better, the nation has some fantastic researchers in the field. One positive development last week was news that…
Details
By Peter Roberts Technology shares especially for start-ups have been shunned by investors for months now, but until the past week Adelaide cold cathode X-ray machine manufacturer Micro-X had weathered the storm better than most. However in the past week the market marked down the company’s shares, delivering a warning that it is becoming impatient…
Details
Austal’s record half year profit Perth international shipbuilder Austal has posted a record half year profit to December despite revenue slipping 14 per cent to $722.4 million. Operating profit or EBIT of $71.1 million was up one per cent on the previous corresponding period to $70.5m. The record result was driven by a combination of…
Details
@AuManufacturing’s social media discussion and networking group, the Australian Manufacturing Forum on Linkedin, has passed an important membership milestone. The Forum, Australia’s largest social media group of Australian manufacturers, passed 10,041 members late last night with the admission of 56 people. The Forum has grown steadily since its founding in 2013, and a year ago…
Details
Fortescue Future Industries has begun construction on what is planned to be the world’s largest electrolyser manufacturing facility at Gladstone, Queensland, the first stage of a 100 hectare Green Energy Manufacturing Centre (GEM). The GEM will be powered by green energy and become a major new pollution free green manufacturing hub, with the stage one…
Details
Defence, space and communications manufacturer Electro Optic Systems has managed to squeeze down the cost of its SpaceLink global system of an initial four, linked optical relay communications satellites. The low Earth orbit satellites, which will provide operational connectivity to commercial and government space missions using both RF and optical links, will be built to…
Details
By Peter Roberts How many breakdowns does a company have to suffer before the question is asked – what is going on in its United States manufacturing plants? This comes to mind with the news that fertiliser and explosives manufacturer Incitec Pivot has suffered yet another breakdown at its troubled Waggaman, Louisiana ammonia plant. This,…
Details
I first heard the standard joke about fusion as an undergraduate physics student in the 1960s: Fusion power is fifty years away – and probably always will be.
Details