Company News

CSIRO helping SMEs shoot for the stars

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has opened applications for a new program for small to medium businesses working in the space sector, drawing on its more than 75 years’ space experience to accelerate growth in Australia’s burgeoning space industry. Supported by the Australian Space Agency, CSIRO’s ‘Innovate to Grow: Space’ program will support 20-25 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with mentoring from some of Australia’s leading space experts, including from CSIRO and the Space Agency, access to world-class research facilities and infrastructure, and support to navigate grant application processes. Innovate to Grow is a free 10-week training program designed to boost the innovation and take-up of research and development (R&D) by Australian small businesses in industries with high innovation potential, like space, agrifood, plastic waste, net zero, and cybersecurity. CSIRO Space Research Program Director Dr Kimberley Clayfield said collaboration was key to growing Australia’s space industry. “CSIRO works with leading global companies, international space agencies and small-to-medium businesses on a variety of space-related activities,” Dr Clayfield said. “SMEs have a lot to contribute and when combined with our strong capabilities in Earth observation, robotics, advanced manufacturing and communications, the sky is no limit to what we can achieve together.” Amanda Falconer, Founder of Bestie Kitchen based in Newcastle, NSW, participated in the Agrifood round of Innovate to Grow. “Innovate to Grow really made research accessible. Before the program, I thought there was no way that a tiny company like mine could work with CSIRO or a university. Now it has been demystified!” Ms Falconer said. Following the program, Bestie Kitchen participated in CSIRO’s Kick-Start program, received Federal Government Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) commercialisation funding, and begun scaled manufacturing from her new factory. Dr George Feast, CSIRO SME Collaboration Lead said the program built on rich foundations. “Innovate to Grow: Space […]

Expanded migration a turning point in the skills crisis

Australian Resources and Energy Group AMMA warmly welcomes the Morrison Government expanding the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL) to include several high-skilled occupations in critically low supply across the industry. Many of the 22 new occupations added to the PMSOL, most notably chefs and mining, petroleum and geotechnical engineers, are in severe shortage in Australia’s resources and energy industries, threatening to put a handbrake on Australia’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia’s resources and energy industry has been firing on all cylinders throughout the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of dedicated Australian employees have kept industry among the most productive and prosperous in the world. However, prolonged closed borders to the small pool of international skilled migrants that supplement our domestic workforces has wreaked havoc on Australia’s resources industry, as it has most others. AMMA’s members have been reporting worsening skills shortages that have threatened to cripple our national recovery from the pandemic’s crushing economic impacts. Significant data and evidence have been provided to government at all levels about these serious skills issues for well over a year. The next step is for government to urgently formulate a roadmap to both domestic and international reopening. A clear roadmap will provide the business community with certainty and confidence to plan for future investment and employment opportunities.

Yatala Enterprise Area reflects Gold Coast industrial growth

Large infrastructure projects across Australia’s east coast have created an explosion in companies expanding or moving their operations to South East Queensland, creating a development frenzy of its own. On Queensland’s Gold Coast, in particular, the 3,300-hectare Yatala Enterprise Area north to the north of the city, the number of companies boosting their presence has risen rapidly, with a raft of new headquarters, manufacturing plants, warehouses and office spaces rising in the industrial park. With a burgeoning pipeline of major infrastructure works and the successful 2032 South East Queensland Olympic bid driving further development, businesses said they were moving to capture a slice of the fast-tracked action along the growth corridor. Compaction equipment sale and hire company, Conplant, said the sustained growth opportunities had motivated the company to construct a new, purpose-built facility at Yatala. Conplant national sales manager Guy Tome said the new facility aimed to meet the company’s growth and customer demand. “We are a national company with our head office in Sydney, but the Gold Coast branch has grown to the largest in the group,” Tome said. “Our biggest branch is the one located at Yatala. We are flat out with a lot more to come.” Tome said the company that hires and sells earthmoving equipment, specialising in compaction equipment used in building roads and rail infrastructure and road maintenance, was projecting sustained growth supplying projects including the Coomera Connector, a new north-south road corridor between Loganholme and Nerang, and the new Inland Rail connecting Melbourne and Brisbane. M1 upgrades underway across Queensland’s southeast corner, Gold Coast Light Rail and other works in northern NSW also justified the new facility that meant the company could supply more equipment and projects, he said. “There’s been a lot in the government planning that’s been fast tracked. Funding is coming […]

D-Link launches world’s first Wi-Fi 6 USB 3.0 Adapter and new Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Router

It’s fair to say that D-Link is one of the leading forces ushering in a new digital home transformation with its slew of Wi-Fi 6 devices including today’s launch of the DWA-X1850, the world’s first Wi-Fi 6 USB 3.2 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) Adapter and a new Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Router – the EXO AX AX3200 DIR-X3260. DWA-X1850 world’s first Wi-Fi 6 USB 3.0 Adapter The new DWA-X1850 AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 USB 3.0 Adapter along with the DIR-X3260 AX3200 Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Router are engineered to power the increasing number of high-bandwidth devices and support high-intensity data traffic for remote workers, students and families. D-Link A/NZ MD Graeme Reardon said, “We live in a world where more is now the norm for home and business networks. More devices, more bandwidth, more speed and more range. These new Wi-Fi 6 devices enable streamlined and seamless mesh connectivity with efficient AX performance that, put simply, give you more.” The DWA-X1850 is a slim and compact wireless Adapter that plugs into any USB port and provides instant connectivity to your laptop or PC. Delivering a simple, affordable upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 performance for existing desktop and notebook computers, the DWA-X1850 is the world’s first Wi-Fi 6 USB 3.0 Adapter in the market. Featuring the latest 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 technology, it delivers smooth, reliable combined speeds up to AX1800 (574Mbps + 1200Mbps), ideal for large file transfers, online learning lessons and gaming. The Adapter also features 128-bit WPA3 encryption giving customers added peace of mind over network and device protection. This clever Adapter has others smarts too with its Multi-User or MU-MIMO technology for better efficiency of upstream and downstream transmission and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology (where small data packets destined for multiple devices are transmitted together and never have to […]

Calling all Manufacturing Mates

Suicide affects us all. The suicide of a friend, family member or workmate can be devastating across the whole community and particularly at work. Over 3,000 Australians die from suicide each year; of these, 75 per cent of them are men. It’s a leading cause of death for people in the 25-39 age group. The pandemic has brought mental health issues into the forefront. Despite the devastating number of workers infected with Covid-19 in workplaces, Safe Work Australia have reported that nearly one in every five Covid related workers’ compensation claims were generated on mental health grounds. In manufacturing, with many predominantly male or multicultural workers, there have been barriers to discussing mental health as openly as possible. Mates in Manufacturing has been set up to remedy the challenges of suicide ideation and mental health more generally. Bringing together employers and unions and drawing on the expertise of the Mates organisation, Mates in Manufacturing is now ready to deliver its critical workplace training, building this peer-based program within our workplaces and developing the knowledge within our industry to enable us to confront this. Funding has been secured from both the NSW and Federal Governments for research by Western Sydney, Deakin and Melbourne Universities, to ensure that the programs are fit for purpose. Undertaken as a partnership between employers and unions in the sector, Mates in Manufacturing will start its rollout over November this year and will officially launch on December 10. Members of the group overseeing the project, the steering committee come from manufacturing industry leaders like Downer Group, OPAL, UGL, Stramit and Thales and are joined by the Australian Industry Group, with workers represented by the AMWU, AWU and UWU. We recognise that suicide prevention and improving mental health support transcends traditional workplace issues and that by working together […]

Amiga Engineering to manufacture world’s first 3D printed scramjet engine

Hypersonix has placed an order with Amiga Engineering for the Additive Engineering build of the SPARTAN scramjet. SPARTAN is Hypersonix’ fifth generation scramjet. It is a fixed geometry self-igniting hydrogen powered scramjet capable of accelerating from Mach 5 to Mach 12. SPARTAN’s fixed geometry means it has no moving parts, so the design lends itself to Additive Manufacturing (3D printing). This reduces both the cost and time to produce the scramjet, whilst potentially adding to reliability and performance. Additive manufacturing allows the creation of parts that have a complex design. Perfect for light-weighting, which is essential for the Space industry. SPARTAN uses green hydrogen for fuel, so creates no CO2 emissions. The hydrogen fuel also allows Hypersonix to utilise regenerative cooling on the combustor, in turn allowing the use of readily available high temperature alloys in place of more expensive and complex high temperature composites. David Waterhouse, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Hypersonix said: “The use of Additive Engineering to manufacture a scramjet engine will fundamentally disrupt the cost structure of scramjets and an important step in providing more affordable access to hypersonic flight. We are very proud of Australia’s world leading heritage in hypersonics and the ability of Australian companies to work together to demonstrate of Sovereign capability in this New Space technology.” Additive Manufacturing/ 3-D Printing techniques is one of the key elements mentioned in the Australian Modern Manufacturing Strategy which among others includes priorities such as Space, Defence and Clean Energy. The manufacture of the SPARTAN scramjet is being done under the Federal Government ACA Grant that Hypersonix was awarded in August 2020. Under this grant, Hypersonix is building a flight ready scramjet engine and fuel system. Hypersonix has been able to leverage the growing global hydrogen economy to repurpose off-the-shelf high-pressure composite hydrogen tanks. Hypersonix completed shock tunnel […]

Overseas and Australian executives to accelerate pathways to net zero emissions

The Impact X Summit Sydney to be held on November 2-3, brings together an ambitious line-up of Australian and international leaders from government, NGOs, Indigenous organisations, and industry sectors, to discuss technology, investment, and collaborative pathways to net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. As the world grapples with the need for urgent and genuine action to reach net zero emissions by 2050 and a 50% reduction by 2030, Australians have consistently stated that they believe the Australian Government should be doing more to address climate change, with one of the most recent polls being conducted by the Australian Conservation Foundation showing that 67% of voters overall shared this view which was held in all 151 national seats. “Under the Paris Agreement, Australia committed to reduce emissions by 26%-28% below 2005 levels by 2030, a level which is well below that of other OECD nations. “While a more ambitious target is expected soon, Australian business and industry will then need an unprecedented level of innovation, transformation and investment to deliver on our commitments. Technology will be key to this,” said Tony Gourlay, CEO of Blue Impacts, the organisation behind the summit. Matt Kean, NSW Treasurer & Minister for Energy & Environment, who has been leading the charge for net zero emissions with a series of bold policy commitments, will also be speaking at the summit. The summit will ensure that a voice is given to Indigenous Australians, who have largely been left out of the conversation on climate change. The Gaimaragal Group Founder and Director Susan Moylan-Coombs, who will be speaking at the summit said, “All Indigenous peoples globally are the caretakers of the planet. “We only took what we needed, not what we greeded. The perseverance of all Indigenous people in the face of global extractive economic practices and […]

Bullish sentiment dominates logistics

Business restrictions and border closures haven’t dampened the enthusiasm of Australian transport and warehouse operations with the latest CartonCloud Logistics Index (CCLI) showing high industry optimism and strong growth expectations. The second edition of the CartonCloud Logistics Index took the pulse of warehouse and transport businesses in the second quarter of 2021 with 52 survey respondents providing feedback on business operating conditions, workforce and hiring outlook, growth, opportunities and challenges. CartonCloud founder Vincent Fletcher said the latest CCLI provided deep insight into sentiment into the industry and the opportunities and challenges facing businesses. “The logistics industry continues to go from strength to strength and this quarter demonstrated high optimism for the current economic climate,” Mr Fletcher said. “Australia is relying on the local logistics industry now more than ever and that means more business, stable jobs and more growth opportunities. “Businesses are forecasting growth for the rest of 2021, although there’s slightly lower optimism for hiring compared to the first quarter. “The reduction in hiring expectations could be a consequence of COVID-19 restrictions and economic impacts, but it may also mean businesses have fulfilled the hiring intentions they had in the previous quarter. “Overall, the economic shifts, government stimulus and changes to business practices in response to the pandemic have had a neutral or slightly positive net impact on the logistics industry. “This has offset many of the negative effects from business restrictions and border closures. “The CCLI also put a spotlight on environmentally friendly practices in the industry and the Q2 results show a clear opportunity for improvement. “Switching to paperless technology is the most likely investment businesses are targeting to improve environmental practices. “The results of the index point towards a robust industry capitalising on economic conditions with strong confidence for the future.” STATISTIC SNAPSHOT Economic climate General […]

NSW Hydrogen strategy massive leap forward

The Australian Hydrogen Council has applauded the New South Wales Government on its Hydrogen Strategy. “Setting aside $3 billion to support the scale up of our hydrogen industry is a leap in the right direction, a clear demonstration to us that the New South Wales Government is serious about meeting its net zero commitments and the role of hydrogen to get there,” said Dr Fiona Simon, CEO of the Australian Hydrogen Council. “The strategy contains precisely the type of policy commitments, targets and funding that we have called for in our recent white paper Unlocking Australia’s Hydrogen Opportunity, and we are delighted to see the NSW Government taking this next evolutionary step. “In line with our white paper, the NSW Government has committed to prioritising heavy transport, trucks and refuelling infrastructure; heavy transport is a key sector that needs hydrogen to decarbonise, replacing petrol and diesel with hydrogen. “Australia has enormous opportunity to lead the world in the production, use and export of hydrogen and the NSW Government has demonstrated the leadership needed to drive the creation of the clean hydrogen industry. “We are glad the NSW Government has stepped up to the level at which our trading partners are competing. Plans and funding like this will mean Australia should not miss the boat on international opportunities and instead, will be well positioned to be a leading producer and user of hydrogen in Australia and globally. “This kind of strategy will draw through huge amounts of investment needed to secure local jobs of the future, from now. “An Australian hydrogen industry will require large scale electrolysers, renewable electricity, hydrogen storage, water and water pipelines, electricity infrastructure, CCS as appropriate, and hydrogen pipelines. “Planning, with the right funding and targets, is a vital part of getting this industry to scale and […]

FormFlow’s CustomFlow C90 wins Best in Class at Good Design Awards

FormFlow is honoured to be among the winners of Australia’s peak international design awards, receiving a prestigious Best in Class Accolade yesterday during 2021 Good Design Awards Week. The Good Design Awards are the highest honour for design and innovation in the nation and reward projects across 12 design disciplines and 30 subcategories. FormFlow’s CustomFlow C90 was recognised in the Product Design category for outstanding design and innovation. FormFlow’s technology creates a discrete and aesthetically appealing bend in corrugated metal sheeting, producing an airtight, structural connection at corners and enabling a host of new solutions for sustainable and low-cost building fabrication. The Good Design Awards Jury commented: “This is a great use of material that will reduce construction time, finishing and extend the life of joints and structures. It’s an innovative product with many potential applications due to its unique aesthetic and structural properties. Overall, the product is elegant and deceptively simple and worthy of the highest level of recognition in this category. Well done.” “It was not until we were told we had won that we read through the other entries in this category — it is such an impressive field of companies and products that we can’t quite believe we won,” said Dr Matthew Dingle, co-founder and Managing Director at FormFlow. “We were so inspired by some of the other companies that we are already looking at ways to work together.’ The CustomFlow C90 is now widely available through BlueScope Lysaght. BlueScope’s National Sales, Marketing & Innovation Manager Matt Lloyd said, “The combination of the CUSTOMFLOW C90 cornered cladding and Lysaght’s ever-popular CUSTOM ORB corrugated profile is set to provide a contemporary unique and cost-effective solution for roofing and walling applications. It delivers a brilliant combination of aesthetics and functionality.” The Australian Good Design Awards is the country’s […]

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