Best of the week — the five most popular stories among readers, August 25 – August 29, 2025

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

5) NSW food and beverage makers get gov funding boost

NSW Riverina food and beverage makers have had a funding injection from the Minns state government to upgrade their facilities.

Australian Juice Processing and Bottling has received $2.5 million for a new state-of-the-art bottling line at its Leeton Juice Factory.

The new line will feature automated and continuous operation, including heating and blow moulding of containers, filling, capping, and labelling processes.

4) Space Machines Company finalises Australian-first 3D printed rocket engine

Off-earth logistics business Space Machines Company (SMC) has successfully completed its proprietary Scintilla propulsion engine, which has completed an extended burn duration of 65 seconds, more than 1,200 seconds of total testing time and 40 restarts so far.

The engine was developed completely in-house and is part of SMC’s Viper satellite vehicle, “designed for rapid orbital manoeuvring and space domain awareness missions”.

According to a statement from the company on Thursday, the additively manufactured Scintilla delivers “50 Newtons of thrust while maintaining 92 [per cent] efficiency… with a clear pathway to near-100 [per cent] efficiency in future iterations.”

3) Austal signs shipbuilding agreement with Australian government

Austal has signed off on a Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement for key Australian naval defence programs.

The agreement appoints Austal’s subsidiary Austal Defence Australia as the nation’s strategic shipbuilder for Tier 2 surface combatants at the Henderson Defence Precinct in Western Australia.

The Western Australian government recently announced a major investment in the state’s naval; shipbuilding capability and the establishment of the Henderson Defence Precinct.

2) WA invests in naval defence manufacturing

Western Australia has announced an $11.5 million investment to expand the state’s naval defence industry and shipbuilding capabilities.

The funds will be used for apprenticeships and training to build and maintenance of ships in the state, as well as the establishment of a Henderson Defence Precinct, creating more than 10,000 new skilled jobs.

1) Public/private consortium invests $1.24 million in spent grain research

The Western Australian government is contributing $660,000 to a project aiming to transform brewer’s spent grain (BSG) – a source of 300,000 tonnes of waste annually in Australia – into food and fibre products.

Value Adding to Brewery Spent Grain is a $1.24 million project through the End Food Waste CRC, with goals including a chemical composition database covering the suitability of BSG in various applications, and assessment of different BSGs for purposes including in developing developing food ingredients and prebiotics, plant-based leather, and ready-to-eat products.

And in case you missed our podcast…

In episode 129 of @AuManufacturing Conversations, Bruce Minty from MYOB discusses why midsized manufacturers matter.

In episode 130, Samuel Taubert from graphene startup Turquoise Group shares why they’ve elected for an “aggressive pricing strategy” rather than applications development.

Picture: credit Neil916 (CC BY 3.0)