It is increasingly obvious Australia’s economic competitiveness is fading, but where to from here – Australian Manufacturing Forum member viewpoint by Iain Wicking. Focusing on the historically slow rise and relatively fast fall of the Australia’s manufacturing sector is important, but it misses the point in today’s economic environment. If the main objective is to…
The year 2018 has passed and yet again, the National Centre for Vocational Educational Research (NCVER) reports it was another bleak year for apprenticeships in Australia. After years of continual falls, 2018 was a year when apprenticeship commencements and completions again decreased. This time commencements were down 3.7 per cent to 156,950, while completions fell…
Melbourne agri-technology developer Agersens has raised $14.75 million to speed market penetration of its eShepherd virtual fencing system for beef and dairy cattle. The IoT-based eShepherd collar, based on technology originally developed by CSIRO, has been making waves in animal husbandry, as reported in @AuManufacturing news. Cattle wear the eShepherd collar, which includes an embedded…
Thomas Foods International will invest several hundred million dollars in a new state-of-the-art abattoir at Murray Bridge, almost 18 months since its previous plant was destroyed by fire.
Defence and space systems manufacturer, Electro Optic Systems (ASX: EOS) has confirmed a period of massive growth driven by orders for its remotely operated weapons systems. Canberra-based EOS released data to the market confirming it was set for 45 per cent per annum growth beyond 2020 and 2021 even if it received no new orders.…
Newcastle-based electronics assembly business, Puzzle Precision is close to completing an order for 20,000 circuit boards which will be the heart of the receivers for Australia’s Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio-telescope. As reported in @AuManufacturing news, the $188 million pathfinder will form part of the world’s largest telescope, the SKA being built at sites…
Advanced materials group Neometals (ASX: NMT) has reported ‘robust’ economic outcomes from a scoping study of a lithium-ion battery recycling plant proposed for Kwinana south of Perth. The company has been testing its processes for recycling batteries based on lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) and nickle-manganese-cobalt battery types at its pilot plant in Canada. Now Primero…
Analysis by Peter Roberts Australia’s Productivity Commission has pointed to a deep seated sickness holding back the Australian economy caused by falling levels of company investment and R&D. The Commission’s Productivity Bulletin 2019 just released shows labour productivity rose in 2017/16 by 0.2 per cent. This measure of output per hour worked is way below…
Major timber structures made off-site from pre-fabricated timber sections are gaining ground as developers move from flagship to more everyday timber structures. While buildings such as Australia’s tallest timber building, the 45 metre tall timber framed skyscraper at 25 King Street in Bowen Hills in Brisbane have made headlines, simililar processes are becoming far more…
Chemicals and explosives manufacturer Orica (ASX: ORI) has released a new automated rock sizing measurement technology called FRAGTrack. The automated fragmentation measurement device is part of the company’s BlastIQ digital blast technologies suite used to control blasting in mines worldwide. FRAGTrack uses binocular cameras and a 2D/3D image processing algorithm to capture real-time fragmentation measurement…