Manufacturing has been lost in Australia and we are turning our attention to building it anew. We have to look away from the past, to new ways of manufacturing and a digital-first mentality and automation. By Grant Wild. The recent deliverables in the Federal budget have made me think hard about what we really need…
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Results of the first clinical trial of Australia’s ‘second generation’ bionic eye have demonstrated ‘substantial improvement’ in four participants’ functional vision, daily activities and quality of life over a period of more than two and a half years. Detailed outcomes from the trial, led by the Centre for Eye Research Australia, Bionics Institute, University of…
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Aerospace composites manufacturer Quickstep is to restructure its businesses in response to a slower pace of orders for F-35 fighter jet components through FY25/FY26, cutting manufacturing shifts and staff numbers at its Bankstown headquarters facility in Sydney. The company, which is becoming increasingly involved in drone manufacture as well as maintenance and sustainment activities, will…
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Kongsberg Defence Australia will supply Naval Strike Missile (NSM) Coastal Defence System (CDS) command and control consoles to Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace. The export contract underscores the local company’s expanding role as it produces missiles for the Australian Defence Force and its commitment to advancing Australia’s sovereign defence industry capabilities, according to a statement. The…
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Freight and logistics provider ANC has been awarded $12.8 million in funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) Driving the Nation Fund, which will help fund a fleet battery-electric vehicle (BEV) trucks for last-mile deliveries. In a statement on Wednesday, ARENA said 112 trucks would soon be in use through ANC’s “Project Spark”, which…
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A University of Wollongong project has been awarded a $565,193 grant to develop a new manufacturing process for a component in hydrogen fuel cells. Last week the Australian Research Council awarded the UoW’s Distinguished Professor Zheng Jiang and Dr Hui Wu funding for the project through the Linkage Project Scheme Round 2. The three-year project…
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By Dylan McConnell, UNSW Sydney Coal will no longer be burned for power in Australia within 14 years. To replace it will require faster deployment of solar and wind, storage, new transmission lines and some firming gas capacity. That’s a very brief summary of a large and influential document – the Integrated System Plan issued by…
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Industrial technology developer Calix has announced that its licensee, US company Heirloom, will utilise the company’s decarbonisation technologies in the construction of two direct air carbon capture facilities. Heirloom has announced they will build co-located direct air capture (DAC) facilities in Shreveport, Louisiana capable of removing 320,000 tons of CO2 per year. Heirloom has licensed…
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The Queensland government has awarded tenders for six petroleum and gas exploration areas across Bowen and Surat basins. However, despite continuing shortages of gas and price escalations faced by industry, only one is earmarked for domestic gas supply. Gas exports have been under heavy attack in recent months with revelations by the Australia Institute that…
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Performance Audit into Defence’s Management of Contracts for the Supply of Munitions – a statement in response from Air Marshal Leon Phillips, Chief of Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Group. The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has completed the first of two performance audits into Defence’s procurement process to establish the Strategic Domestic Munitions Manufacturing…
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