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






What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading.

5) SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY’S FIRST FOUNDER IN RESIDENCE WILL FOCUS ON AEROSPACE R&D

Rachael Barritt from Dovetail Electric Aviation has been named Swinburne University’s first Founder in Residence, with a focus on “new ideas and ventures” related to aerospace and aviation.

According to a statement from Swinburne on Tuesday, Barritt will work closely with the team at its Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub), which is involved in research involving “intelligent manufacturing processes, advanced composite materials, advanced air operations, and sustainable fuels”.

Check back at this website on Wednesday for an interview with Barritt on our podcast program.

4) RESCUING THE PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION FROM ITSELF

With the federal government moving to reform its economic advisory body, the Productivity Commission, attention has turned to the outcome of the PC’s decades-long dominance of policy advice to the government – a fragile and narrowly-based resources-driven economy.

In this article, Phillip Toner and Roy Green outlined why the PC must be fundamentally changed.

3) AUSTRALIA AND FRANCE COLLABORATE IN SUPPLYING UKRAINE

The Australian and French defence and foreign ministers met in Europe this week, announcing a new collaboration to supply 155mm calibre field gun ammunition to war torn Ukraine.

It is understood that French-owned Thales group’s Australian Munitions operation at Mulwala in New South Wales will supply the gunpowder for the manufacture of the shells which will be forged in France by Nexter.

Australian Munitions is the largest supplier of explosive ordnance to the Australian Defence Force.

2) VAST SOLAR GETS AUSTRALIA AND GERMAN BACKING FOR METHANOL PROJECT

Concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) company Vast Solar, and the Solar Methanol Consortium have been selected to receive $19.48 million (EUR13.2 million) from an Australian-German collaboration fund, HyGATE, to develop a world-first green methanol demonstration plant, SM1 in Port Augusta in South Australia.

Methanol is the most versatile hydrogen derivative which, if produced using clean energy, has the potential to decarbonise several hard-to-abate industries, including shipping and aviation.

A side benefit is that the project will utilise C02 captured in a pilot plant being developed by industrial technology company Calix and building products group Adbri to produce low emissions lime.

1) QUICKSTEP WINS AEROSTRUCTURE CONTRACT FOR CARGO DRONES

Composites manufacturer Quickstep is to manufacture an initial run of drone cargo aircraft for European cargo airline Dronamics.

The Bankstown, Sydney company announced a contract worth up to $5.5 million to manufacture 10 of Dronamics’ Black Swan fixed-wing aircraft which are able to transport 350 kg at a distance of 2,500 km

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are able to transport cargo at a cost which the company claims is up to 80 percent faster, 50 percent cheaper, and with 60 percent less emissions than other transportation methods.

And in case you missed our podcast…

A lucky find by researchers could help Australian efforts to scale up the number of qubits on their microchips. In episode 42 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we heard from Dr Will Gilbert of Diraq about computing with puddles of electrons and his unusual career so far.

Picture: credit Dronamics

 

 



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