Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Adelaide lighting manufacturer expands VALO, a maker of premium stadium lighting, has opened a carbon-neutral $8 million research, development and production hub at Kent Town, Adelaide. The company said it had increased its local headcount from four to 15 in the last 12 months, and had invested in state-of-the-art facilities, including in surface mount technology…

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The cost of offshoring now being paid – by John Broadbent

By John Broadbent Do you remember when some Australian manufacturers off-shored their production to lower-cost labour countries, mostly in SE Asia? In most cases, the labour issue was because the equipment on which they worked was ancient history, a relic, fully-depreciated and being sweated so much, it was dripping. Rather than use the depreciation tax…

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BAE Systems, Ai Group back degree apprenticeships

BAE Systems Australia and the employer association Ai Group will launch the nation’s first degree apprenticeship programme at the start of the 2023 academic year. The degree apprentice programme, to be delivered by Victoria University, aims to increase skilled participation in major defence projects and has already received the endorsement of major employers in the…

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BlueScope expands in US with coatings business buy

Australian steelmaker BlueScope has expanded its United States business footprint, agreeing to buy the steel coil coatings business of Cornerstone Building Brands Inc for US$500 million. Coil Coatings is the second largest metal painter in the US, with a total capacity of around 900,000 tonnes per annum across seven facilities, predominantly serving commercial and industrial…

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