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) Enware to quit manufacturing in Australia: report

Enware, an 86-year-old plumbing and safety equipment company, will stop manufacturing at its Australian headquarters, according to a report.

US business Watts Water Technologies completed an acquisition of Enware on March 31, saying it was “excited about the growth opportunities provided by this acquisition” at the time.

According to a report on Monday by industry title Plumbing Connection, Enware will wind down the manufacturing functions at its Caringbah site over nine months.

4) Ford slashes engineers as automotive sector continues its decline

When Ford Australia stopped making cars in Australia in 2016 it retained a significant workforce including perhaps 1,000 engineers involved in engineering and designing new vehicles, wrote Peter Roberts.

Their skills with technologies such as finite element analysis for analysing designs and their design flair was said at the time to ensure the continued life of the Ford engineering operation into the future.

Well, like many of the promises Ford made to Australia during the decades it made cars here – supported it should be said in later days by hefty public subsidies – this has turned out not to be the case.

3) Biomethane being injected into Sydney gas system

Renewable biomethane is being injected into Sydney’s gas distribution system following the completion of an upgrade to Sydney Water’s Malabar Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The eastern suburbs facility has seen gas distributor Jemena’s Malabar Biomethane Injection Plant producing biomethane from waste and added to its gas distribution network.

The plant previously processed organic material in wastewater to produce biogas which was burnt to generate electricity and heat, or was flared off.

2) Bega sells historic Vegemite factory

Bega Group has sold the historic factory in Port Melbourne that has manufactured Vegemite for more than 75 years.

As part of company rationalisation and reducing debt, the company has sold the factory at 1 Vegemite Way for $114.6 million.

The company will lease back the factory from new owner Charter Hall for an initial 15 years, with two additional five year options.

1) Luerssen spruiks corvette for the navy

Shipbuilders are lining up to supply a new class of smaller warship to met the needs of the Royal Australian Navy with German shipbuilder Luerssen Australia the latest to spruik its solution.

The company, whose Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) are under construction in Adelaide and Perth, is offering a design based on its C90 Corvette (pictured).

Luerssen corvettes are under construction in Bulgaria, with the company celebrating the keel laying ceremony on Thursday of a second of the warships at a shipyard in Varna, Bulgaria.

And in case you missed our podcast

In episode 64 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski, we hear from Open Welding founder Malcolm Rigby about his first-time entrepreneurial adventure, why he believes the new welding solution can train anyone in three days, and some of the difficulties of working with university researchers.

Picture: Vegemite on the Port Melbourne production line.