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

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

FIRST DRIVE IN H2X HYDROGEN POWER WARREGO UTILITY

About 100 kilometres from Amsterdam in a workshop dedicated to vehicle electrification sits one of two unique hydrogen fuel cell-electric utility vehicles – Australian company H2X Global’s Warrego utility, writes Peter Roberts.

The company converted two such vehicles based on Ford’s Ranger concurrently, one here in Holland and a second at its facility in Sale, Victoria, fitting them with the company’s hydrogen fuel cell drive trains.

H2X Global CEO Brendan Norman picked me up in Amsterdam, where I am working for a period for a change of scene, and drove me to view, and drive in, the Warrego.

NO MORE SLEEPWALKING ON MANUFACTURING: WHO ARE THE BUDGET’S BIG WINNERS?

“A better future for Australia must mean a future made in Australia,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said at the launch of the latest budget.

The 2022 budget delivered a series of wins for Australian industry, targeting the creation of a better foundation for future STEM students, a commitment to cleaner and cheaper energy, and an eye to rebuild industry.

“No more sleepwalking while other advanced economies seize new opportunities,” Chalmers said

ASM PRODUCES RARE EARTH METALS IN KOREA

Rare earths producer Australian Strategic Materials (ASM) has produced its first metals at its subsidiary metals manufacturing plant in Korea.

Writing in the company annual report, chairman Ian Gandel said Phase 1 commissioning was now complete of new buildings and production equipment installed in the past year.

Gandel said: “Installation and commissioning of Phase 1 equipment to produce neodymium, praseodymium and titanium fell behind schedule due to the ongoing impacts of Covid-19 and supply chain disruptions.

PRUDENT AND TARGETED – BUDGET DELIVERS FOR INDUSTRY

The federal treasurer Jim Chalmers tonight delivered a prudent budget that better targets the needs of industry and manufacturing.

In a budget speech laden with words such as sensible and responsible, Chalmers said: “The budget implements our commitments to the Australian people to deliver cheaper child care, fee-free TAFE, cleaner and cheaper energy, and a future made in Australia.”

Labor’s first budget did spend big on its key social priorities such as childcare and paid parental leave which should help ease the country’s shortage of manpower, and on vocational education which will receive a $1.4 billion boost.

VISY BREAKS GROUND ON ITS LARGEST EVER INVESTMENT

Australian packaging and recycling giant Visy has begun construction on a new $500 million glass manufacturing and recycling facility on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The new site, in Stapylton, will create about 600 jobs during construction, 200 new full-time ‘green collar’ manufacturing jobs, and aims to produce around 1 billion bottles a year with the potential to recycle up to 200,000 tonnes of glass annually.

This latest development follows similar Queensland-focussed investments in a new $150 million cardboard box factory at Hemmant and $48 million in upgrades to Visy’s material recovery facility on Gibson Island.