Filtration screen specialist ActionLaser has announced its entry into the international market for plastic recycling via a project backed by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre. ActionLaser was established in 1988 based on laser drilling technology developed at CSIRO, originally focussed on centrifuge screens for the sugar processing industry, and later branched out into filtration screens…
By Melita Jazbec, University of Technology Sydney; Andrea Turner, University of Technology Sydney, and Ben Madden, University of Technology Sydney Most Australian food waste ends up in landfill. Rotting in the absence of oxygen produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. While some facilities capture this “landfill gas” to produce energy, or burn it off to…
With customers moving to bolster their supply chains following the Covid pandemic, Australian manufacturers are crying out for the skilled staff they need to expand. Every manufacturer whether they are producing industrial machinery, fabricating sheet metal, in the automotive sector or in high technology areas such as medical devices is short of 10, 20 even…
By Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney This week’s appointment of Wayne Swan’s former chief of staff Chris Barrett to head the Productivity Commission puts the annual Trade and Assistance Review it released this month under a more searching spotlight than usual. Remarkably, the Commission used the review to target one of the key policies…
Keith Milne runs Uncle Harry’s Vegan Grill, a company he decided to buy in 2018 at age 70. He tells Brent Balinski about why he did it, and the satisfaction he finds in running an enduring veggie burger business. “I was actually all ready to retire,” recalls Keith Milne. “I had a BT-50 and a…
By Louise Dorignon, RMIT University and Trivess Moore, RMIT University Huge sporting events come with substantial public investment in housing. After Melbourne hosted the 1956 Olympics, about 600 houses in the athlete village became public housing in West Heidelberg. After Melbourne hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the athlete village in Parkville was largely sold off,…
By Lauren Sanders, The University of Queensland The AUKUS partnership between Australia, the US and the UK isn’t just about nuclear-propelled submarines. It also includes an information exchange agreement related to a number of new advanced technologies. These include cyber capabilities, electronic warfare, quantum technology, hypersonics, artificial intelligence and autonomous military capabilities. Although the partners…
By Tien Huynh, RMIT University; Everson Kandare, RMIT University, and Nattanan Chulikavit, RMIT University Australia is no stranger to fire-related disasters. The country experiences more than 17,000 residential fires each year. Each winter brings an increase in potential fire hazards due to the use of heaters and candles. Couple this with our already fire-prone vegetation,…
Australians were rightly aghast when the titanium and composites underwater vehicle Titan failed during an inspection tour of the wreck of the Titanic. This story on the voyage to the bottom of the deepest part of the oceans by film maker James Cameron, first published in June 2012, illustrates the efforts that go to making…
Our profiles of nominees for @AuManufacturing’s Australia’s 50 most innovative manufacturers campaign continue with Open Welding. Brent Balinski speaks to founder and Technical Director Malcolm Rigby. He doesn’t use the word “Eureka moment”, but Malcolm Rigby had one of those a few years ago during a phone call about a shielding gas mixture. Rigby was…