Best of the week — the five most popular stories among @AuManufacturing’s readers, October 30 – November 3, 2023

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

5) Australian FMCG brands facing extinction?

Sara Lee has been billed as the latest Australian food brand to go to the wall – it is actually New Zealand owned.

Nevertheless, here Allen Roberts explains why it is next to impossible to find an Australian owned food brand on the shelves of our supermarket duopoly, as well as how manufacturers have aided and abetted a quest to destroy them.

4) On a wild goose chase to find Australian food brands

Earlier in the week Allen Roberts wrote that Australian owned food products faced extinction in the aisles of Australia’s duopoly supermarkets. Peter Roberts went on the hunt.

“I won’t name the shop but if ‘Good things are happening…’ in either of the supermarket giants it must refer to their profits rather than the fate of Australian made and owned food brands,” he writes.

3) BAE Systems hits back at critics of local ship build

BAE Systems Australia Maritime Managing Director Craig Lockhart has hit back at criticism of the construction of Hunter class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide.

In an opinion article published on the company website Lockhart said the go-to narrative that the project was ‘troubled’ came from those who haven’t visited the shipyard or have the context around the programme.

Lockhart said: “The moniker of ‘troubled’, in particular, has had a huge detrimental impact to the more than 1,600 employees on the program.”

2) Electric aviation startup launches new facility, product line-up for under $US 1 million

Electric aviation manufacturer Kite Magnetics officially opened their Green Aviation Test Facility last month at an event showcasing the company’s electric motor testing capabilities, including an in-house designed and built dynamometer and thrust stand.

“In under 12 months and for less than 1 million USD we have progressed from an empty warehouse to a world-class test facility and a rapidly growing product line-up,” said CEO Dr Richard Parsons in a statement on Tuesday.

1) Europe deal fell over as EU was asking too much – minister

It is not surprising that talks for a Europe Australia Free Trade deal have fallen over as Australia has little to give up to the EU and Europe has everything to lose from anything resembling free trade, writes Peter Roberts.

Australia has systematically dismantled industry protection since the 1980s when there were quotas on imports and tariffs in some cases above 200 percent.

We have the most open market in the world with tariffs of two or three percent at most – EU companies can already export anything they want to Australia without restraint.

And in case you missed our podcast…

In episode 75 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski, Advanced Navigation co-founder Xavier Orr tells us about the billion-dollar idea he had at university, the company’s new factory at UTS Tech Lab, projects ranging from assisting the vision-impaired to landing vehicles on the moon, and more.

Picture: credit Bega Group/Vegemite