Best of the week — the five most popular stories among readers, April 28 – May 2, 2025

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

5) The critical trade keeping Australian manufacturing alive

Australian manufacturing faces a hidden crisis as the number of toolmakers and engineering pattern-makers has declined by 70 per cent between 2006 and 2021, according to the latest Census data. Only 2,220 practitioners remain in this vital trade, with just 411 of these under 40 years old.

Toolmakers and engineering pattern-makers create and repair precision parts for production machinery and develop prototypes for manufacturing – essential components in the supply chain, according to industry experts.

Sam Ringwaldt, co-founder and chief executive of Conry Tech, told ABC News on Monday that the decline has been severe since the Australian automotive industry closed in 2017.

4) MGA Thermal unveils “world’s first commercial Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) system”

In a breakthrough that could steam ahead of conventional energy storage, Australian innovator MGA Thermal has fired up the world’s first commercial Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) system capable of delivering 24/7 renewable industrial steam.

Unveiled Monday at the company’s Tomago site in Newcastle, the system harnesses the power of latent heat through cleverly engineered Miscibility Gap Alloy blocks – storing renewable energy like a thermal battery that releases its power as high-temperature steam on demand.

“The successful operation of this world-first system is a game-changer, proving that consistent, industrial-grade clean steam is not a future aspiration, but a reality today,” said Erich Kisi, Executive Chair, Chief Scientist, & Co-Founder at MGA Thermal.

3) Award-winning entrepreneur/engineer to give keynote at Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers event

@AuManufacturing is delighted to share that Dr Geoff Rogers will give the keynote address at next week’s Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers awards breakfast, to be held on May 7 at Crown Melbourne’s River Room

Rogers is co-founder of automotive business Doftek, which is currently commercialising a world-first active wheel alignment system. Among his awards is The Prize for New Innovators at the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science in 2018

2) Minns Government approves $139 million warehousing estate for Western Sydney Aerotropolis

The NSW Government has approved a $139 million warehousing estate in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis, set to create more than 600 jobs in the region.

The Barings Luddenham Industrial Park will be built on a 19.4-hectare site and will feature seven buildings with over 63,500 square metres of floor space. The development will provide warehousing options ranging from 1,000 to 30,000 square metres, along with an onsite café, office spaces, landscaped areas and infrastructure.

1) Tetra Tech to acquire SAGE Group

Adelaide-born industrial automation company SAGE Group Holdings has been acquired by NASDAQ-listed consulting and engineering services business Tetra Tech for an undisclosed amount.

According to a statement from SAGE on Friday, the deal will provide international expansion opportunities across water, energy, transportation, defence, and manufacturing. It is subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval and closing conditions.

Tetra Tech has a market capitalisation of $US 8.4 billion.

And in case you missed our podcast…

In episode 116 of @AuManufacturing Conversations, Simran Gill speaks to Dr Joe Berry from the University of Melbourne and Dr Peter Sherrell from RMIT about research on the “stick-slip” motion of water over surfaces. This could one day affect the safety design of fluid handling systems, such as those used to store and transport ammonia and hydrogen, as well as methods to recover electricity and speed up charging from liquid motion in energy storage devices.

Picture: credit SAGE