Australian Manufacturing Forum viewpoint by Mike Kalms Without anything really changing, Australian Industry Content Policy (AICP) is now unalterably different. There have been relatively cosmetic changes to how AICP is described, at what thresholds it applies, and how it might be measured, but none of these constitute wholesale change or any sort of ‘policy re-write’.…
Australia’s first digital shipbuilding course has been launched to support the increased pace and sophistication of naval shipbuilding in Australia. With the federal government letting $90 billion in contracts for patrol boats, frigates and submarines, yards in Perth and Adelaide are increasingly digitally enabled. The BAE Systems yard being enlarged at Osborne in South Australasia…
Large-scale additive manufacturing technology company Titomic has linked up with US defence R&D company Triton Systems to validate its Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF) technology for US defence projects. The two companies have entered a strategic partnership which aims to develop innovative products and solutions under US defence department grant schemes – the department spends US$60…
Archer Materials has successfully made high-value coated spherical graphite (CSG) from its Campoona graphite mine on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula and tested it in lithium-ion battery prototypes. The company told investors it had used commercially available amorphous carbon to coat the spherical graphite which was derived from flake graphite mined 220 kilometres north-west of Adelaide.…
Drone detection and counter-measure company DroneShield has completed shipment of an order of its DroneGun anti-drone counter measure systems to the defence department of a middle eastern nation. The nation, which has not been named by the Sydney company, will pay the company $3 million on completion of the order. DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik said:…
Australian Manufacturing Forum member viewpoint by John Sheridan The world is changing…maybe faster than we want. And, it’s not easy to think about the future in the face of job loss, business closures and the threat of possible infection from the coronavirus. These are very challenging times but we can’t let fear, uncertainty and doubt…
Exclusive by Peter Roberts Australia’s furnishing and furniture manufacturers have been the latest to be called up by governments in the fight to contain the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The sector has been asked to provide details of how it can furnish a series of field hospitals to be set up around the country…
Comment – and a call to action – by Peter Roberts With supermarket shelves still bare of toilet paper, hand sanitiser, pasta and a dozen other essentials, the Australian public has well and truly woken up to the value of making things locally. It has taken this tragic public health crisis for the country to…
China, once the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, appears to be turning a corner with daily life slowly returning to normal. However, economic data from the first two months of the year shows the damage done to the country’s finances. Today’s visualisation outlines the sharp losses China’s economy has experienced, and how this may foreshadow…
Australia’s biggest food manufacturer Nestlé will donate a minimum of $2 million worth of food through Foodbank to Australians in need including the vulnerable and elderly in a response to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The company will provide $500,000 a fortnight worth of products such as coffee, cereals, meal bases and pet foods to be…
