Best of the week – the five most popular stories among @AuManufacturing’s readers

Curious about what the most popular stories of the week were? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading.

1) AUSTRALIAN TEAM FINDS RARE, INCREDIBLY HARD DIAMOND IN SPACE ROCKS
Research published on Tuesday and led by Monash University might lead to the production of novel, ultra-hard diamonds with usefulness in industrial applications.
The team – made up of researchers from Monash University, CSIRO, RMIT University, the Australian Synchrotron, and Plymouth University – has had its work published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS.)
A statement from CSIRO said the work confirmed the existence of lonsdaleite – a type of diamond that is hexagonal rather than cubic – in a sample of ureleite meteorites from an ancient dwarf planet.

2) AUSEV’S STEPPED PLANS TO MANUFACTURE ELECTRIC UTILITY TRUCKS IN AUSTRALIA
From the outside the factory looks much like any other along the main road through Brendale in Brisbane’s outer northern suburbs.
But what is going on inside SCD Remanufactured Vehicles plant might just represent the right strategy for Australia to break the automotive manufacturing drought.
Rather than hoping for a major vehicle manufacturer to come into Australia to invest in electric vehicle manufacturing, Brisbane businessman Eddie Kocwa is taking matters into his own hands with a step by step approach to full manufacturing based on what he has learned in his remanufacturing business.

3) WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO MANUFACTURE BATTERIES – HUSIC
Industry minister Ed Husic has given the strongest indication yet that the federal government will back with cash new battery manufacturing in Australia.
Speaking to the Australian Information Industry Association, Husic indicated funds would come from the government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund.
One of the fund’s seven priority areas is in manufacturing renewables and the deployment of low-emission technology.

4) SUNDRIVE SHOWS THE WAY TO SOLAR POWER INDUSTRY
How many more years are we going to waste before we get serious about building competitive advantage in solar cell manufacturing on the basis of our abundant natural and human resources.
I bring this up in the light of news that Sydney’s SunDrive has again claimed a new world record for a photo voltaic cell – with a commercial size cell turning sunlight into electricity with an efficiency of 25.54 per cent.
SunDrive’s new cell is produced with copper rather than expensive silver, promising future cost reductions in manufacture.

5) ANDREW FOREST BUYS UP AUSTAL SHARES, EYES AUKUS BENEFITS
A six month surge in the share price of Perth international shipbuilder Austal is likely attributed to a big new US Navy shipbuilding contract and the fact Fortescue boss Andrew Forrest has been quietly buying up shares and now owns a 15 percent stake in the company.
While other similar companies’ share prices have sagged this year, shares in Austal have risen since July 1 from $1.80 to a close yesterday at $2.61, a rise of 28.6 percent in six months.
Forrest has likely already made good money on his buy, but according to a report in Forbes.com, Forrest had a longer game – benefitting from Aukus’s potential positive impact on shipbuilding activity at both its Western Australian and Mobile, Alabama shipyards (pictured).

Picture: Austal’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard (credit Austal)