By Brent Balinski The largest of four federal space industry grants announced on Tuesday went to a company best known for making components for medical industry customers. Romar Engineering is a western Sydney-based contract manufacturer, established in 1968. Its focus is on specialised plastic products for highly-regulated industries, particularly medical, which it looked to in…
There was a big rise in apprentice numbers during 2020, but on issuing the boom figures the National Centre for Vocational Education Research warned of the need to interpret the results with care. NCVER reported that there were 297,920 apprentices and trainees in-training as at 31 December 2020, an increase of 13.9 per cent from…
The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Perth has returned to the water following an upgrade to radar capabilities, communications systems, and crew areas marking the completion of a major part of the Anzac Midlife Capability Assurance Program. The Anzac class frigate was in dry dock at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson near Perth. Undocking the…
By Peter Roberts Simple ideas are often the best. And in manufacturing, if they are based on one of the world’s best accepted and understood industrial technologies, all the better. This is the path Andy Sales, CEO of additive manufacturing technology company AML3D took when he saw how conventional wire arc welding could be automated…
Our editorial series – Equipping Australia’s armed forces – looks today at the trend towards autonomous naval vessels, part of a wider move to autonomous systems. Here Austal CEO Paddy Gregg outlines the Australian prime contractor’s leadership position. Austal’s recent US$44 million autonomous capability contract with the United States Navy is just the tip of…
Our editorial series – Equipping Australia’s armed forces – continues today with a profile of an ambitious consortium of 23 Australian SMEs developing a complete C4 communications and control system for the army. Here Peter Roberts looks at the C4 Edge consortium. In the last week of November this year a partnership between 23 Australian…
Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 is a credible target, but if it is to be achieved with local manufactured solar PV cells we need to mobilise the research and manufacturing sector as never before. Here Shane West us of the early history of solar cell production in Australia and the future demand to…
There is new international momentum for climate action, and the future of the fossil fuel industry looks increasingly dire. The technologies to make the transition are ready and waiting – now all that’s needed is political will.
On the whole, Australian manufacturers could arguably do better at planning ahead. According to an ABS survey from 2017, only 11.8 per cent of them had a written strategic plan. 31 per cent had some kind of strategic plan, but it wasn’t written down.
Australia’s textile clothing and footwear industries, one of the principal victims of unfettered and often unfair import competition from China, has been the surprise beneficiary of Covid-19 disruptions, according to new figures from industry analysts IBISWorld. With Chinese exports disrupted Australia’s knitted product manufacturing industry achieved a 13.2 per cent increase in revenue to $90.6…