Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Magnis goes slow on Townsville battery factory

Magnis Energy Technologies appears to be going slow on its planned Townsville lithium-ion battery manufacturing factory. The company is a member of the Imperium 3 Townsville consortium which has completed a feasibility study for an 18 GWh battery plant – the study was funded by the Queensland government. In an update to investors Magnis said: “The project currently remains in the greenfield stage.” Other than saying that the company continued to engage with stakeholders, it gave no information on any future plan. Magnis’s US subsidiary Imperium 3 New York (iM3NY) group which operates a Gigawatt scale battery factory in New York in the United States (pictured) where output is currently being increased.

Proteomics receives R&D tax incentive

Perth biotechnology group Proteomics International Laboratories has received a $1.7 million R&D tax incentive for 2021-22 from the federal government. The company, which is developing ‘predictive diagnostics’ as well as analytical services, spent $3.94 million in R&D for the year. The company is commercialising its Promarker D predictive test for diabetic kidney disease. The government provides a cash rebate of 43.5 percent of expenditure on qualifying R&D activities.

Deloitte launches Gravity Challenge 05

A call out has been made to innovators working in space to help solve a set of real world challenges using space-enabled data, capability and technology in the Deloitte Gravity Challenge 05 program, launched on Tuesday. This year’s challenges range from using cloud technologies to monitor and intercept potential threats to space missions, to applying space data to monitor wetland health, and vineyard quality yields, and aims to bring end-users, data providers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, scale-ups, and innovators
together. “Challenge organisations are increasingly seeing the value that can be realised from working with the space technology sector, and the GRAVITY journey is about the future and making possible what might otherwise seem impossible,” said Deloitte’s lead for the challenge, Byron Riessen. Sponsors include Amazon Web Services (AWS) Australia, Saber Astronautics, and Treasury Wine Australia. Applications close on 1 November and can be made here, with successful teams working on their solutions and with challenger organisations until 3 March, 2023.

Maryborough to host 64 trains for overhauls

Some of Queensland Rail’s city trains fleet will return to their birthplace in Maryborough, undertaking a major multi-million-dollar midlife overhaul, supporting 90 maintenance jobs. Minister Mark Bailey said in a statement on Monday that, “Queensland Rail’s Interurban and Suburban Multiple Unit (IMU/SMU) trains were built in Maryborough between 2007 and 2011, by Queenslanders, for Queenslanders…64 trains will be progressively overhauled over a six year period which will keep the wheels turning for another 20 years.”

Advanced Navigation announces new gyroscope

Robotics and navigation company Advanced Navigation announced the release of a new fibre-optic gyroscope (FOG) inertial navigation system (INS) on Tuesday. It described the Boreas D70  offering “a new performance grade with superior accuracy, exceptional stability and reliability” and as being “well suited to surveying, mapping, and navigation across subsea, marine, land and air applications.” Xavier Orr, CEO and co-founder of Advanced Navigation, said. “This patented technology opens the possibility for adopting FOG INS systems across a much broader range of vehicular applications, particularly autonomous vehicles and aircraft, where weight and size are at a premium.” The company cited RMIT University’s Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell as a key partner in developing DFOG technology, and “whose work on shrinking components of a fibre optic gyroscope onto a single chip proved to be one of the key components of DFOG’s revolutionary technology.”

Redarc opens new office

Adelaide-based electronics business Redarc last week announced the opening of a new office in Mulgrave, south-east of Melbourne. According to the company, the new two-storey office provided “significant expansion opportunities” and allows it to continue increasing its national workforce, “complimenting our Advanced Electronics Manufacturing Facility in Lonsdale, South Australia and our office in the Aerospace Centre in Williamtown, New South Wales” and allowing it to work closer with customers in the state. A significant presence on the east coast also ensured closeness to key customers and markets and the ability “to attract high calibre talent including Electronics Design & Computer Systems Engineers, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing and Product Management staff.”

Picture: Magnis Energy Technologies/cell assembly at iM3NY New York battery plant