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) Ampcontrol acquires Androck

Electrical engineering business Ampcontrol has announced that it has acquired its fellow Hunter region, NSW-based business Androck Engineering & Mining, with this expected to be completed on May 31.

Androck is a company of 65, with five workshops in Rutherford. It manufactures, repairs and supplies for the underground mining sector.

A share purchase agreement was signed on May 2. The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.

4) Shock ousting of Bubs founder, executive chairman

The CEO and Executive Chairman of organic goat infant formula manufacturer Bubs have now been ousted by the company’s board which said it was time for new leadership of the once highly successful brand.

CEO Kirsty Carr was terminated by the board last week with immediate effect ‘due to failure to comply with reasonable board directions’, according to a statement.

The statement said matter of factly: “Former Executive Chair Mr Dennis Lin’s employment with Bubs has also been terminated with immediate effect.”

3) Hanwha places order with Bisalloy for Egyptian project

Hanwha Aerospace has placed what it called a “significant order” with Wollongong, NSW-based  Bisalloy Steel for armour plates on the KP, K10 and K11 program for the Egyptian government.

The two companies announced an MoU in February last year, covering the use of Bisalloy’s steel for land platforms such as the Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the K9 Self-Propelled Howitzer, for export to international markets.

Hanwha Aerospace is the South Korean parent company of Hanwha Defense Australia (HDA), which was selected by the Australian government in late-2021 for the Australian Army’s LAND 8116 project, valued at between $0.9 billion and $1.3 billion project

2) Gilmour shows off its Eris rocket to PM Albanese

Gilmour Space Technologies  welcomed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to their Gold Coast factory to formally unveil and ‘launch’ the Eris rocket – Australia’s first home-grown orbital launch vehicle.

Albanese said: “This is a great Australian success story.

“A company that began eight years ago but now employs 200 people here at the cutting edge of innovation, science, new technologies, and new jobs.”

1) US Congress move to ease export of technology to Australia

US Congressional members are moving to remove one of the key roadblocks to the export of sensitive US defence technologies to Australia and the UK, speeding the flow of information on capabilities ranging from nuclear powered submarines to hypersonic weapons, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Currently regulations under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations regime (ITAR), prevent much information flowing even to close allies such as the US’s partners in the AUKUS pact.

Information flows only after onerous and time consuming delays.

Picture: Gilmour Space