Best of the year — the five most popular stories among readers for 2023

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

5) Australia’s 50 most innovative manufacturers revealed

@AuManufacturing and the Australian Manufacturing Forum’s first quest to identify Australia’s 50 most innovative manufacturers ended in July, and a second iteration of the series kicked off last month.

We learned a lot this year and were humbled by the calibre of entrants.

We are pleased to present Australia’s 50 most innovative manufacturers 2023.

4) Battery gigafactory set for Geelong

A lot of concerning news came out over the year regarding Recharge Industries and its parent company Scale Facilitation.

Recharge proposed to build a “gigafactory” in Geelong, which now looks like it was too good to be true. But in January, the promised 30 gigawatt hour lithium ion factory and the creation of “thousands of jobs” created understandable excitement.

“Establishing a sovereign manufacturing capability to produce state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery cells is critical to Australia’s renewable energy economy – meeting national demand, generating export income and securing supply chains,” said Recharge CEO Rob Fitzpatrick, who has since left the company, at the time

3) First exports roll out from Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions

Defence manufacturer Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions’ Queensland artillery shell plant made its first export shipment to its customer in Germany, as the new factory moved towards full-rate production.

The Maryborough factory’s workforce has more than doubled to 60 since this time last year, we reported in May.

Rheinmetall Waffe Munitions CEO and Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions Chairman Roman Koehne toured the $90 million facility for the first time and congratulated the team on the first international shipment to Germany.

2) BAE Systems could be in the box seat to build Australian n-subs

BAE Systems and its Australian arm could be the front runner in the supply of nuclear-powered submarines to the Royal Australian Navy under the AUKUS agreement, according to UK media reports.

The London Sun reported that senior ministers were open to the idea of supplying partly-constructed Astute class submarines (pictured) to Australia which are constructed at BAE Systems’ yard at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

The Sun said: “PM Rishi Sunak is set to unveil the plan alongside more details on the AUKUS deal when he visits Washington DC next month.”

1) NIOA produces first Boxer armoured vehicle ammunition

Queensland munitions manufacturer NIOA began production of 30mm ammunition for the Army’s next-generation armoured Boxer combat reconnaissance (CRV) vehicle, marking a new high for munitions manufacturing in Australia.

The company will produce 40,000 rounds of medium calibre training ammunition at the Commonwealth Government-owned NIOA-operated plant in Benalla, Victoria for the eight-wheeled Boxer, which is being manufactured Rheinmetall.

Picture: 30mm projectiles bound for testing in the Boxer combat vehicle’s cannon (credit Nioa)