@AuManufacturing’s new deal plan for manufacturing – summary and recommendations

The @AuManufacturing new deal plan for manufacturing was crowd sourced from more than 60 substantial submissions from readers and members of the Australian Manufacturing Forum Linkedin group in 2020. With an election in the air and industry policy again in the news this week, we present again the plan’s executive summary and core recommendations as…

Survivors of Australia’s automotive retreat soldier on, even prosper

By Peter Roberts The brand new $17 million factory of automation and systems integrator Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions (BAMS, pictured) is silent when I visit the factory located at Clayton in south-eastern suburban Melbourne. Workers have gone home for the day, allowing this journalist a Covid-safe tour of a production floor full to capacity with…

Xtek and Skykraft test space payload launch system

Space services company Skykraft and composite materials manufacturer XTEK Limited have successfully completed the mechanical and vibration testing of a 500kg Payload Launch Stack which housed 24 representative Skykraft developed small satellites. Funded by a grant from the Australian Space Agency the stack is capable of supporting and deploying 24 small satellites and was tested…

Infrastructure loans back Pilbara urea project

The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) has announced it will invest $255 million in infrastructure supporting the proposed $4.3 billion Perdaman Urea Project at Karratha in Western Australia. The investment in the form of loans will upgrade common-user infrastructure that will support the project, which will convert liquefied natural gas into about two million tonnes…

Airservices and Skykraft to develop space-based communication

Airservices Australia and space services company, Skykraft have partnered in the development of a space-based communication and surveillance air traffic management capability. Under the collaboration, Airservices will share its air navigation, technical engineering and air traffic management expertise to support design, development, and validation of the system, as well as support Skykraft to conduct space-based…

Gekko launches updated gold processing system

Ballarat, Victoria gold processing equipment manufacturer Gekko Systems has announced the release of its next-generation Mark 6 Carbon Scout sampling and measurement system. The Carbon Scout is a self-contained sampling system that measures the pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), slurry density and gold concentration in carbon-in-leach (CIL) and carbon-in-pulp (CIP) mineral processing circuits. Carbon-in-pulp is the…