Removing “invisible layer” promises to save 15 tonnes a year of plastic: Kimberly-Clark 

Personal care product manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Australia says a new packaging approach is delivering promising early results, and could see 15 tonnes of plastic removed annually from supply chains nationally. According to a statement from K-CA on Monday, the trial with with supermarket chain Woolworths began in mid-September, following “over a year in development and testing”.…

Ammonia production tech startup believes it can cut nation’s fertiliser bill by a tenth

Fertiliser maker PlasmaLeap, which recently raised $2.9 million to support commercialisation of its ammonia production method, has claimed that it could save Australia’s farmers $400 million annually. In a statement on Monday, PlasmaLeap said it is trying to displace the Haber–Bosch process, which was developed early in the 1900s and remains the dominant way of…

Government shortlists frigate builders – but will they build locally?

The federal government has down-selected two shipbuilders, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, to progress designs for Australia’s future general purpose frigates under the SEA 3000 programme. In May, Defence released an approach to market to five shipbuilders, with Defence now planning to work with the two industry partners to further develop the proposals…

Government’s latest defence acquisition – ‘landing craft heavy’

The federal government has continued a run of announcements of major defence acquisitions, selecting a design by Damen Shipyards Group as the preferred option for the Australian Defence Force’s Landing Craft Heavy vessel (pictured). The announcement is a step in the establishment of a littoral fleet which is expected to create 1,100 direct jobs and…

Altech Batteries seeks financing for German battery plant

Altech Batteries has announced that it has progressed funding of its CERENERGY sodium-chloride solid-state battery project in Saxony, Germany, appointing key advisers to assist. The company, through its Germany subsidiary Altech Batteries GmbH, appointed a global big four professional services firm to assist in securing finance for the 120MWh CERENERGY battery manufacturing plant. The project’s…

Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

SciDev enters European PFAS treatment market Wastewater treatment company SciDev has entered the important European market for PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ treatment, securing its first commercial order in Europe. The contract with Swedish Hydro Solutions AB is for a containerised PFAS treatment system to remediate contaminated landfill site in Northeast Sweden. The initial value of the…