Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Whyalla steel works produces first structural steel

The Managing Director of Liberty Steel Group Tony Swiericzuk at Whyalla in South Australia has celebrated the completion of repairs and start up activities at the primary steel producer. Swiericzuk took to social media and said: “After a 48 hour reheat furnace start up programme, the Whyalla Steelworks Rolling Mill produced its first structural section this morning. The entire site is now back in the business of making high quality Australian made Rails and Structurals. Great work team we are back to normal operations.” The Whyalla steel works blast furnace suffered an uncontrolled iron breakout in early May, necessitating extensive repairs – it is Australia's only manufacturer of steel long products.

Resignation of Maggie Beer Chief Executive Officer

Maggie Beer Holdings has announced that CEO Kinda Grange has indicated her intention to resign from the company to progress her career externally. Kinda has agreed to work with the company to assist in transitioning to a new CEO. Chair of MBH Sue Thomas said: “On behalf of the board and the company, I wish to acknowledge and thank Kinda for her significant contribution in leading the company since her appointment in March 2023. Kinda has successfully expanded the Maggie Beer brand to deliver strong growth and has step changed our B2B strategy to improve sales in our e-commerce business.

Government-funded VET students up in 2023

A new report from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) shows government-funded vocational education and training (VET) numbers increased in 2023. The government-funded students and courses 2023 report shows there were 1,256,365 students enrolled in government-funded VET in 2023, an increase of five percent when compared with 2022. Almost all the growth was in training package qualifications, with the number of students increasing by 72,500 or 7.7 percent to 1,009,740, particularly in qualifications in the Business Services and Community Services training packages. By provider type, TAFE institutes saw the largest growth in student numbers from 2022, increasing by 50,240 or 8.3 percent to 659,185 in 2023.

Orthocell cleared to sell Striate+ in Canadian market

Regenerative medicine company Orthocell has announced Health Canada has granted a Medical Device Licence (MDL) for the company’s Striate+ for use in guided bone regeneration in dental implant procedures. Approval in Canada paves the way for the commencement of sales. Orthocell Managing Director Paul Anderson said: “Canadian approval for Striate+ is further validation of Orthocell’s expanding global footprint. Approval in this market complements our FDA approval and strengthens the company's position to increase revenue, in collaboration with our valued partner BioHorizons.”

ReNu Energy raises cash to speed Tasmanian hydrogen

Green hydrogen developer ReNu Energy has raised a further $250,000 from shareholder from Towards Net Zero LLC. This takes TNZ's investment in the company to $500,000. The proceeds from the TNZ investment will be used by ReNu Energy to fund progress of its Tasmanian green hydrogen project and for general working capital requirements.

Defence Industry Scholarship Program graduates acknowledged

Twenty-six university students have been acknowledged for completing the South Australian Government’s Defence Industry Scholarship Program. Administered by the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), the programme supports the development of a defence-ready workforce by providing work-based learning opportunities for university students. The students, with representatives from Adelaide University, Flinders University and the University of South Australia, are all high-calibre students completing a degree in either STEM or business. The students received grants of up to $10,000 to undertake placements with a local defence company.
Defence SA Chief Executive Matt Opie said: “The programme has supported 91 students to complete placements across 26 host companies, including 19 SMEs and seven defence primes.”

Whiteley achieves MDSAP certification

Hygiene, cleaning and infection control products firm Whiteley Corporation has obtained Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP) certification that will allow it to export Medical Devices into both the USA and Canada. Whiteley’s products are now certified to leave from their factory in Tomago in the Hunter Region of NSW, directly to the US and Canadian Healthcare markets. Whiteley Managing Director Darran Leyden said: “Whiteley have been licensing our medical technology to other companies in North America for decades. This new Quality Certification allows us to directly supply into the US and Canadian Healthcare markets straight out of the Hunter which is an exciting growth step for our company.”

Defence grant programme grants awarded

Defence will award up to $4.488 million in grant funding under the 2024 Strategic Policy Grants Program to 16 successful applications across 14 entities. The successful applications directly align with the strategic priorities, initially outlined in the Defence Strategic Review 2023, including deterrence and national resilience, cyber domain capabilities, Indo-Pacific relations and partnerships, Defence workforce, and Defence’s international relations. Recipients are Asia Society Australia, Australia India Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australian Industry Group, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Bond University, FrontierSI, L21 Pty Ltd,
Macquarie University, Observer Research Foundation America, RMIT University, the University of Adelaide, the Australian National University, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (Asia), the United States Studies Centre (USSC) and the University of Sydney.

AEA Advisory Board announced

Australia's Economic Accelerator has shared the long-term arrangements for the AEA Advisory Board. “The Board have hit the ground running, leading the program and its efforts to turn university research into the innovative products and businesses of tomorrow” said AEA in an announcement on Linkedin on Monday. Jeff Connolly, Executive Director and CEO of Thales Australia, will Chair the Board alongside seven others. The Deputy Chair is Julia Spicer. The other appointees are Dr Angeline Achariya, Professor Mark Hutchinson, Paul Kelly, Dr Virginia Marshall, Catherine Roberts and Lauren Stafford. AEA is a program supporting the translation of research from universities into commercial use.

Immuron sees record sales for Travelan

ASX- and NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company Immuron has announced record sales (unaudited) of its over-the-counter immune supplement targeting gastrointestinal bacteria, Travelan. Chief Commercial Officer Flavio Palumbo said “Immuron’s investment to drive awareness of the Travelan brand has seen continued strong sales results in Australia. We were incredibly pleased to achieve record U.S. sales in FY24.” Australian sales were up 236 per cent to $3.7 million for the full financial year to June 2024, and up 209 per cent to $1.0 million for the June 2024 quarter. US sales achieved a new annual record, up 74 per cent to $1.1 million for the full financial year to June 2024, with June quarter sales increasing 546 per cent to $0.3 million.

Sustainability remains an important consumer value

Research published on Monday by Monash Business School’s Australian Consumer and Retail Studies (ACRS) Unit found that 96 per cent of Australian consumers engage in sustainable practices, while 42 per cent are willing to pay more for sustainable choices, despite cost of living pressures. Led by Dr Eloise Zoppos, the research also found 30 per cent of shoppers reported they frequently or very frequently look for sustainable products, only 12 per cent of Australian shoppers report that they never look for sustainable products, and the two most common ways shoppers decide if a product is sustainable or not is whether the packaging is recyclable (62 per cent) and whether the product can be recycled (59 per cent.)

Seeley expecting to ramp up production of Dominator Series

Seeley International says it is ramping up production of its all-electric Braemar Dominator Series heater after a highly successful launch. “The Dominator Series is set to take the market by storm, providing households with a fully-electric, highly-efficient heating and cooling solution that can use existing gas heating ducting” it said on Monday. The product is currently on sale through approved dealers in South Australia and Victoria and provides “an affordable option to transition to electric appliances, without sacrificing quality and efficiency, and without the need for costly renovations or disruptions” the company said. This launch follows recent announcement of expanding its manufacturing base in South Australia to produce the Climate Wizard Hybrid model.

Picture: Tony Swiericzuk