By Peter Roberts It was back in 2014 that Coalition defence minister David Johnston said he would not trust the government-owned submarine builder, the Australian Submarine Corporation, to build a canoe. What is now ASC Pty Ltd just might be on the way to a resurrection, but this time as an addition to BAE Systems…
Electric drive train and truck producer SEA Electric has decided not to go ahead with a planned factory in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley. Here Shane West laments the decision, made after the company won an order to build 1,500 electric trucks in the United States. SEA Electric began life as an all-Australian technology and manufacturing…
By Simon Holmes à Court, The University of Melbourne At the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow last week, more than 40 countries pledged to phase out coal-fired power. Some were big coal-using countries such as Poland, Canada and Vietnam – however Australia was not among them. Australia was similarly absent for a methane reduction…
Australian additive manufacturing company SPEE3D has provided an update on its trials with the Australian Army, with a tactical version of one of its printers transported to a remote location and operated to create over a dozen replacement vehicle parts over three weeks.
Nowadays manufacturers are, with few exceptions, in the data and analytics game. Data improves their own and their customers’ operations. Three high-tech Australian startups provide extreme examples. Each is solving a very different problem — quality assurance and control issues in additive manufacturing, the need for robots to grip objects better, and finding the best…
By Brent Balinski Hearing Bob Dylan sing Hurricane for the first time. Stumbling across the TV series Fleabag. Andrew Forrest’s recent announcement that he will build a factory in central Queensland, with capacity to make 2 gigawatts of hydrogen electrolysers a year. Geoff Brooks, Director of Research at Swinburne University’s School of Engineering, insists he…
By Peter Roberts The construction of nine Hunter-class frigates in Adelaide by BAE Systems Maritime is known for its pioneering work on digital manufacturing on a giant – $35 billion – scale. But it is less well known for its part in demonstrating and leading efforts for Australia to finally develop the type of government…
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has finally struck a deal with the Nationals and is expected to take a pledge of net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 to the Glasgow climate conference. So what must Australia do to actually meet this target?
We should not, cannot, just move on to the next ‘crisis’ without having a clear, implementable, and committed national policy for this one. By Glenn Downey.
Analysis by Peter Roberts The announcement by defence, space and communications manufacturer Electro Optic Systems that it is to spend US$300 million building four communications satellites is an extraordinarily bold move for an Australian technology company. But it it the culmination of decades of quiet research and development and careful corporate-building which has put the…
