Seven SA companies awarded $48 million in MMI grants

Bickford’s, Mayne Pharmaceuticals and Inovor Technologies are among South Australian companies awarded a total of $48 million in grants through the Modern Manufacturing Initiative this week.

The assistance to seven SA companies came through Round 2 of the Integration and Translation streams of the program. Industry minister Angus Taylor said it would help “businesses to turn good ideas into commercial success stories.”

Singled out in a statement on Monday was 176-year-old beverage company Bickford’s, which was awarded up to $2.95 million for a new plant producing “highly sensitive beverage product categories” including prebiotics, protein milk and ready to feed baby formula. The investment would “raise quality and material management standards”, upskill staff and benefit the company’s suppliers.

Other grants were:

• Up to $20 million to Hallett Concrete for a $109 million project on an integrated green cement business, comprising a slag granulating plant at Whyalla Steelworks, a grinding, processing and distribution hub at Port Augusta, and a product receival, blending and distribution hub at Port Adelaide;
• Up to $12.5 million for Orora to help construct a new low carbon clean energy glass melting furnace to replace the current G3 glass gas/air red furnace;
• Up to $4.8 million to Mayne Pharmaceuticals to assist the company to double the production of chronic pain medications such as Kapanol, boost encapsulation capacity from 56 million to 104 million doses per annum, and increase blister packaging capacity from 7.9 million to 21.3 million boxes per annum;
• Up to $4.95 million for Southern Launch to develop a local facility in Adelaide to support the development of the AT Space rocket, extend test facility for the rocket testing and develop the orbital launch complex;
• Up to $1 million for Inovor Technologies to expand their current electronics test and integration labs and clean rooms to accommodate larger spacecraft as well as grow the batch manufacture of smaller cube satellites; and
• Up to $2.1 million to Samuel Smith & Son to adopt an in-house de-alcoholising system to produce and bottle low alcohol products to meet the rapidly increasing consumer demand in low alcohol/no alcohol wines.

Picture: Bickfords

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