Best of the week — the five most popular stories among @AuManufacturing’s readers, September 25 – 29, 2023

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

5) Carbon Revolution attracts top global automotive directors

Carbon fibre road wheel manufacturer Carbon Revolution has attracted a swag of leading automotive figures to join its executive team as the company moves towards a US stock exchange listing for its shares.

The Geelong, Victoria company announced four US based senior automotive executives including Bob Lutz, former General Motors Vice Chairman; Burt Jordan, former Vice President of Global Purchasing Operations and Supply Chain Sustainability at Ford Motor Company; Jacqueline A. Dedo, co-founder of Aware Mobility LLC; and Matti Masanovich, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of pharmaceutical supplier Catalent.

4) Merger creates vanadium battery metal powerhouse

A merger between two Western Australian vanadium development companies will create a powerful, globally relevant business developing materials used in the burgeoning market for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs).

Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) and Technology Metals Australia are to merge, bringing together their adjoining mining leases at Gabanintha, south of Meekatharra in Western Australia, where AVL will undertake crushing, milling and benefaction of magnetite ores.

The resulting concentrate would be transported to Mullewa near the port of Geraldton where Australian Vanadium will produce vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) suitable for the critical mineral and battery market.

3) KBR and QinetiQ to compete on test and evaluation capability

KBR and QinetiQ have signed a teaming agreement to work collaboratively to deliver test and evaluation services for the Australian Defence Force, opening up greater competition in the underserved space.

Under the agreement KBR and QinetiQ will share skills and experiences to build on both companies’ respective test and evaluation solutions, drawing on both global and local capabilities.

Nic Maan, Vice President Government Solutions APAC, said: “The Defence Strategic Review has made it clear that industry needs to step up, collaborate and deliver solutions aligned with national defence ambitions.

2) SPEE3D joins EOS on the Ukraine battlefield

SPEE3D’s fast metal additive manufacturing printers have become the latest Australian defence equipment to be introduced to Ukraine to help it resist its invasion by Russia.

According to a report in Forbes magazine, co-founder Steven Camilleri and staff just visited Jasionka, Poland, to train the Ukrainian military on 3D printing metal parts on demand and in the field.

Seven WarpSpee3D printers valued at around $7 million were supplied to Ukraine by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to be deployed close to the frontlines.

1) Whyalla steelworks coke ovens extinguished in historic change

Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Primary Steel has extinguished the coke ovens at the Whyallla steelworks in South Australia after more than five decades in operation.

Liberty, part of the GFG Alliance, took the step on the way to decarbonising its Whyalla operations – originally built by BHP and that played a key part in Australia’s war effort in WW2 – at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and SA Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Albanese paid tribute to the British owner of the works for moving to install an electric arc furnace that would give the works a new future, and for planning to utilise hydrogen in future in steelmaking.

And in case you missed our podcast…

In episode 71 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski, Jarrod Tuxworth from Fusion5 tells us about what manufacturers should be looking at if they want to be able to manage a pivot, why the system is everything, and some career lessons, including from his time at Tritium.

And

Episode 72 serves as a preview for our October 5 webinar on manufacturers reinventing themselves, held in partnership with Fusion5. We hear from Bernie Quinn, who will be appearing on a panel, moderated by @AuManufacturing editor Peter Roberts, alongside Dario Valenza, Founder of Carbonix; Ross George, Managing Director at Austeng; Michael Llewellyn, Industry Director Operations at Fusion5; and Craig Potter, Solution Architect at Fusion5.

Picture: credit GFG Alliance