Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

Lovells Group appoints renowned polymer chemist

Lovells Group has announced the appointment of Emeritus Professor Jacques W.M. Noordermeer of the Netherlands, adding “one of Europe’s most respected polymer chemists” to its engineering team. According to a statement from Lovells, Noordermeer has more than 45 years' experience advising industry on advanced elastomers, is an Officer in the Royal Dutch Order of Orange Nassau, and in 2016 received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the TireTech Conference in Hannover, Germany. “Since the demise of Australia’s motor vehicle and tyre industries, our polymer engineering knowledge has been eroded and R&D in this field is now almost non-existent,” Lovells Managing Director Simon Crane said. “By bringing Professor Noordermeer on board, we are strengthening that capability, imparting knowledge to the next generation of engineers and strengthening our global business opportunities.” Lovells makes products including vehicle suspension and towing solutions, elastomer-based vibration dampers for the mining and mineral processing sectors, and is now applying this expertise to locally manufactured suspension systems for the rail industry.

WA to develop biofuels strategy

The Western Australian government has announced $1.2 million to develop an Advanced Biofuels Strategy, citing the new market opportunities and emissions reductions potential of the sector. According to a statement from the WA government last week, the strategy will delivers on a 2025 election commitment and will help the state “capitalise on its competitive advantages and attract investment in the production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel”, with “ready supplies of oat, wheat and barley stubble, as well as canola and woody biomass from mallees and blue gums” a local strength. Churchill Capital Consulting (trading as SIA) will deliver the strategy, supported by economic analysis of WA's biomass feedstocks, supply chains and technology pathways, to be provided by GHD. “By accessing existing resources and scaling local production, we can build domestic fuel security and drive growth of this emerging industry,” said agriculture minister Jackie Jarvis.

NMI marks 70 years of international collaboration

The National Measurement Institute (NMI) — which is responsible for leading, developing and maintaining Australia’s measurement system — is celebrating seven decades of international collaboration in legal metrology. The agency has marked October 12 as 70 years since Australia signed the OIML Convention with the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML.) Legal metrology is the legislative and regulatory framework that governs measurements and measuring instruments used for trade, law enforcement and other legal purposes, aiming to ensure accuracy, fairness and consumer protection in transactions and regulatory activities that rely on measurement. “The convention offers a highly productive and engaging platform for the international legal metrology community,” said Bill Loizides, NMI’s General Manager Legal Metrology. “Through this collaboration, it has driven the harmonisation of trade and legal measurement frameworks globally.” Each year the NMI sets out legal metrology priorities with goals and actions to strengthen regulatory effectiveness, stakeholder engagement and measurement reliability across Australia.

DroneShield releases new plugin for its Team Awareness Kit

Counter-drone technology company DroneShield has announced the release of its “RfPatrol-Plugin for the Team Awareness Kit (TAK) ecosystem” available for its RfPatrol Mk2 users via the DroneShield Access Portal. According to a statement from the company on Tuesday, the plugin means that operators who use the widely adopted, government-developed Civil Team Awareness Kit (CivTAK) platform can now seamlessly incorporate their RfPatrol drone detection data into their operational view, improving situational awareness and coordination. CivTAK is the civilian variant of the TAK platform originally developed by the United States Department of Defense. The plugin enables detections from the handheld RfPatrol Mk2 to appear directly on the CivTAK map interface in real time. “Delivering a native plugin into the TAK ecosystem reflects DroneShield’s philosophy of interoperability and customer focus,” said Angus Bean, Chief Product & Technology Officer at DroneShield.

Australian EV uptake increases, steep road ahead: EVC report

Sales of electric vehicles are at record highs but “more needs to be done” to get to levels needed to meet Australia’s emissions reduction targets, according to a new report from the Electric Vehicle Council. The State of EVs 2025 report (linked) shows that sales reached 72,758 battery EVs and plug-in hybrid electric EVs in the first six months of 2025, up 24.4 per cent on the same period in 2024. The share of EVs were 12.1 per cent of all new car sales, (up from 9.61 per cent) in 2024, though represented only 2 per cent of all cars on Australian roads. The nation's EV fleet is now over 410,000 (as of September 2025.) Electric Vehicle Council CEO Julie Delvecchio said the fleet “is contributing to cleaner air, quieter streets and less reliance on dirty, expensive foreign oil. With nearly 4,200 high power charging plugs available and counting, more Australians are charging their cars across the country’s public network.” However, she added that transport is set to be Australia’s largest-emitting sector within years. “Meeting emissions reduction targets means getting millions of Australians to drive electric and that demands strong, coordinated action from all governments and industry.”

MathWorks launches generative AI-powered MATLAB Copilot

Software business MathWorks announced the launch of MATLAB Copilot, a generative AI assistant for its MATLAB product aimed at improving productivity and speeding development for engineers, scientists and researchers. Copilot is available in the latest MATLAB and Simulink Release 2025b (R2025b), and “is designed to streamline coding, debugging and learning” according to MathWorks. “By integrating generative AI directly into existing MATLAB workflows, MATLAB Copilot strengthens MATLAB and Simulink as a platform for engineering innovation, enabling millions of engineers and scientists to design and build the most innovative engineered systems in the world,” said Roy Lurie, VP of Engineering at MathWorks.

Picture: an encapsulated spring (credit Lovells Group)