Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

Swinburne to get $5.2 million green energy research hub

Haigh’s mourns the passing of chocolate industry icon John Haig

The Haigh family have announced the passing of chocolate industry icon John Haigh (pictured) on Friday, 10 February aged 93. Haigh joined the Adelaide family business in 1946 and more than any other person, was responsible for the taste of Haigh’s chocolates that we know and love today, according to the family. He transformed Haigh’s into a manufacturer of premium quality chocolate that is recognised among the world’s best. Besides the quality and the taste of the product, he also refined the exclusivity of the Haigh’s in-store experience and the way in which Haigh’s is marketed to this day.

Sprout expands to Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

One Hundred percent organic plant-based infant formula manufacturer Sprout Organic has announced its expansion into Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Founder and CEO Selasi Berdie said: “Our growth has been phenomenal.” Within its first three months of trading from July 2021, Sprout was ranged in over 500 retail outlets. Six months later in 2022, its store footprint doubled to over 1,000. Currently, Sprout is distributing its formulas and eight children’s product lines to over 1,500 locations throughout Australia and New Zealand, including national ranging with Chemist Warehouse and Terry White Chemmart. Berdie said, “With zero tariffs, high income levels and high birth rates, Saudi is a gateway to penetrate the whole GCC region and opens several other opportunities including UAE.”

Winners of WA Best of Business Awards named

Telstra announced the West Australian winners of the 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards on Wednesday, celebrating and recognising SME businesses. Protective won the Embracing Innovation category. Protective is a technology company that designs, manufactures and supplies industries worldwide with protective equipment for safety hazard identification and accident prevention. The company describes itself as dedicated to applying next generation technology to improve and protect the lives of the world’s workforce, all while working towards reducing workplace incidents. Another winner was The Bod Society, a sustainable skincare brand focussing on creating products that are formulated and packaged using natural, vegan and earth-friendly ingredients. All state winners go on to represent their state and territory at the national awards on Wednesday, March 22.

Export grants review released

The Australian government released the findings of its Operational Review into the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) on Thursday. Immediate improvements to the program had already been made and incorporated into the guidelines for Round 3 of EMDG, released ahead of applications opening on March 15. The Operational Review found that “a decision by the previous government to run the final round of the old EMDG reimbursement scheme at the same time of the first round of the reformed EMDG program caused confusion and uncertainty for applicants.” Austrade’s improvements to EMDG for Round 3, according to a statement from trade minister Don Farrell, including reducing the term of grant agreements, improving communication, and clarifying the definition of “strategic shift” for Tier 3. Round 3 of the EMDG program opens 9am AEST on March 15 and closes 4pm AEST April 14.

SwarmFarm Robotics Raises $12 million in Series A

Gindie, Queensland-based agricultural technology company SwarmFarm Robotics announced this week that it has raised $12 million through a Series A round. SwarmFarm said in a statement that it defines “Integrated Autonomy” as a new approach to autonomy on-farm that unlocks the full potential of driverless technology by providing specialty robotics solutions with an open platform to develop on. The company’s Series A funding round was led by Emmertech, an AgTech fund from Conexus Venture Capital based in Canada, with new investment from Tribe Global Ventures and Access Capital, and existing investors including Tenacious Ventures, and GrainInnovate. SwarmFarm announced last year that its SwarmBots had successfully been deployed to farmers who covered over 1.3 million commercial acres, operated for 64,000 hours, and reduced pesticide inputs by an estimated 780 tons.

Food manufacturer fined $20,000 after silo incident

Allied Pinnacle was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last week after pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide or maintain systems of work that were, so far as was reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health. The company was also ordered to pay costs of $4,151, said SafeWork Victoria in a statement. It describes the court hearing that a worker attempted to clear a grain silo blockage and became trapped when the grain surged, later being extracted by emergency services and taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital. SafeWork said that it was discovered at the time of the incident that Allied Pinnacle had no safe operating procedure to prevent the entrapment or suffocation of workers attempting to dislodge silo blockages. WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Narelle Beer said there was no excuse for companies that failed to have safe systems of work in place.

CNC Design wins coating line automation order

CNC Design has secured an order from Bronx Engineering Limited in the United Kingdom for the line electrical and automation package on a new coil coating line under manufacture for Mexico. This is a project collaboration between CNC Design with its subsidiary in Indonesia, CNC Disain Nusantara, PT. CNC Disain plays a strategic role for the group as its competence centre for Coating Line Automation Solutions, completing over 20 successful projects globally. The solution provided includes engineering design, electrical cabinet building, software development, installation supervision and on-site commissioning.

SA to supply green hydrogen to Indonesia

South Australia continues its focus on green hydrogen with work starting on a multi-million-dollar hydrogen production project, which will see green energy exported to Indonesia. The $12.5 million project – based at Bolivar, north of Adelaide – is part funded by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment and Japanese company Marubeni Corporation. The facility will see the creation of low-cost green hydrogen from renewable resources and allow for hydrogen to be transported in a metal hydride container from South Australia to Indonesia, while contributing to grid stabilisation with the deployed battery energy storage system based at Bolivar. The project consists of a five-megawatt battery energy storage system and a demonstrator scale 150-kilowatt electrolyser that uses proton exchange membrane technology. The demonstration plant is anticipated to be operational by August 2023, with transportation to Indonesia taking place in late 2023.

Picture: John Haigh