Micro-X to expand X-Ray machine manufacture

Portable X-ray equipment leader Micro-X has received yet more new orders for its lightweight Nano portable X-ray machine for use in diagnosing advanced cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, sparking a scaling up of manufacturing capabilities.

The Adelaide company has developed the world’s first and only carbon fibre nanotube X-ray emitter, and had made only initial sales when the virus hit, bringing orders from Australia and overseas.

Now the company has received new orders worth $600,000 for the machines, bringing total sales for the quarter so far to $2.4 million, a record for the company.

The Board decided today to commit $600,000 to capex and $1 million to inventory of parts and partly completed machines to scale up production to two machines per day.

Micro-X managing director Peter Rowland said: “We are responding rapidly but very carefully to the unprecedented shift in the scale and market dynamics for mobile X-ray units by increasing our production capacity and responsiveness for the Nano.

“We see bringing forward our planned investment from next year as a key strategic decision to position the company to best respond to the explosion in market demand we have seen from this global pandemic.”

Much of the new investment will go to the company’s X-ray tube manufacturing facility at Tonsley in southern Adelaide.

This is crucial to maintaining the four-week lead time it has been able to achieve from order to delivery – a step up from the 8-12 weeks normally applying to similar equipment.

The company relocated tube manufacturing from the United States to Tonsley last year, and is now benefiting from better quality control and a substantial fall in the value of the Australian dollar.

Micro-X also manufactures a ruggedised version of the Nano known as the Rover, which was developed under a contract from the Australian defence department.

Picture: Micro-X

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