Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

BluGlass appoints new full-time CFO

ASX-listed semiconductor company BluGlass has announced the appointment of Samuel Samhan (pictured) as Chief Financial Officer on a full-time basis, effective immediately. BluGlass said in a statement on Monday that Samhan is a highly credentialled senior executive with over 20 years of financial leadership and commercial  operations experience, including as COO and CFO at health platform Digital Wellness. He replaces part-time CFO Rob Ambrogio, “who resigned from the position to pursue personal projects”, and who will remain with the company until September 29. BluGlass CEO Jim Haden said “Given our commercialisation progress, we felt the time was right for  a full-time CFO, and Sam’s domestic and international expertise in business-model innovation and cost-effective strategies will be invaluable as we continue to scale our laser production capability to meet unmet market needs and grow revenues.”

Behavioural system mapping shows behaviours needed to achieve a circular economy

The new Behavioural Roadmap to Circular Consumption, developed by Monash University’s BehaviourWorks Australia, has identified where policy-makers and industry can intervene in the production-consumption cycle in encouraging the development of a circular economy. Available online, the Behavioural Roadmap sets out connections between all parties, consumers and their behaviours to better understand relationships and influences in the system. Lead researcher Jennifer Macklin said the connections are between consumers and other stakeholders in the system such as designers, producers, importers, retailers, service providers, as well as government and the civil sector. “The point is that we’re not just placing responsibility on consumers, but looking at the roles of everyone in the production and consumption cycle,” said Ms Macklin. “It’s the first time policy makers have a tool that highlights the behaviours with the most transformation potential in order to achieve a circular economy.” More information is available at this link.

New Aluminium Chief Executive appointed at Rio

Resources giant Rio Tinto has appointed Jérôme Pécresse to lead its global aluminium business, succeeding Ivan Vella. Pécresse was until recently President and CEO of General Electric (GE) Renewable Energy, and will join Rio on October 23. Pécresse joined GE in 2015, when GE completed its acquisition of Alstom’s energy activities, as President and CEO of GE Renewable Energy. Prior to Alsom, Pécresse spent 13 years in the mining and metals processing industry at Paris-based Imerys. Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said: “Jérôme brings a wealth of experience across renewable energy, mining, business development and strategy, ideal for shaping our industry leading aluminium business for a low carbon future. I look forward to welcoming Jérôme to Rio Tinto and to the diverse contribution I know he will make to our business at this critical moment for our industry.”

RMIT picks up circular economy win at the Good Design Awards

An RMIT-led report detailing a roadmap for circular economy transition through design won the Good Design Award for Design Research at this year’s awards ceremony on Friday. The report by RMIT in collaboration with Arcadis and One Planet Consulting, Enabling Design for Environmental Good. report highlights opportunities for Australia to use design to improve the sustainability of production processes, materials, products and business models across local industries, as well as the risks of not doing so. The jury commented: “The research and passion behind this project should set a new standard for Circular Design strategies in Australia — well done.” Project lead and RMIT Associate Professor Simon Lockrey said, “We hope this will lead to greater awareness and uptake of circularity by both those who design, and those who manage and fund the design process.”

University of Sydney white paper looks at recommendations for net zero

The University of Sydney’s Net Zero Initiative (NZI) released the Path to Net Zero white paper on Friday, outlining “technologies and market-ready solutions it is developing, to contribute to Australia’s targets for emissions reductions of 42 percent by 2030 and net zero by 2050.” The report is led by Professor Deanna D’Alessandro and presents the latest in net zero research and technology, as well as four holistic and systemic approaches aimed at achieving net zero emissions targets, including demand reduction, zero emissions energy and industry, greenhouse gas removals, and climate risk modelling. “Our approach is holistic – there is no silver bullet to achieving net-zero. We need a whole-of-society approach: from designing smart buildings that use less energy and extracting critical minerals from e-waste, to removing historic CO2 from the atmosphere and creating a zero-emissions energy industry,” said D’Alessandro. The paper can be accessed here.

Federal government delivers first community battery

The first of 400 community batteries promised has been commissioned by the federal government under its Community Batteries for Household Solar program. The government announced the battery at Sydney’s Cabarita on Friday. One in three Australian households have rooftop solar installed, though only one in 60 have battery storage. According to a statement, the new 412-kilowatt hour battery will store power from 50 households with rooftop solar and share electricity with around 150 households. Reid MP Sally Sitou said, “It shows the commitment this government has to greening our grid and sharing the benefits of clean and reliable renewable energy with all households.”

Professor Michelle Simmons to give this year’s Boyer Lectures

The ABC has announced that quantum physicist Professor Michelle Simmons will deliver the 2023 Boyer Lecture series. Simmons’ series of four lectures will be themed The Atomic Revolution, and will explore quantum physics, manufacturing at the atomic scale, women in science, and why Australia is perfectly positioned to build the world’s first error corrected quantum computer. Simmons is a global leader in quantum computing, CEO of startup Silicon Quantum Computing, and the Director at the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at the University of New South Wales. She was the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Nature Quantum Information. Among Simmons’s achievements are developing the world’s first single-atom transistor, the world’s narrowest conducting wires, the ability to encode and read information on single atoms and the world ‘s first integrated circuit made with atomic precision.

Picture: Samuel Samhan (supplied)