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SmartSat and European Space Agency’s Φ-lab to collaborate on Earth Observation Research

Adelaide – SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (SmartSat), Australia’s leading space research centre, has signed a new agreement with European Space Agency’s (ESA) Φ-lab to collaborate on Earth Observation (EO) research. The European Space Agency’s Φ-lab is a world-leading research centre with a mission to accelerate the future of Earth Observation through transformational innovations and new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and on-board processing. The agreement builds upon SmartSat’s existing relationship with Φ-lab, who supported cosine to develop the HyperScout imager payload. This payload is currently being integrated into the SmartSat-led South Australian Kanyini satellite, following consultations with Φ-lab regarding its Φ-sat-1 satellite mission. The synergies between these missions offer significant collaboration opportunities between SmartSat and Φ-lab regarding onboard intelligence for EO applications, creating a solid foundation for further research activities under the new agreement. SmartSat CEO Professor Andy Koronios, who signed the agreement in Rome, said, “We are delighted to embark on this new chapter of our partnership with ESA’s Φ-lab through this Letter of Intent. Our relationship with Φ-lab has been growing stronger over the past few years through our shared strategic research initiatives in the Kanyini and Φ-sat satellite missions. Φ-lab is at the forefront of Earth Observation technologies, and we are very proud to collaborate with them to further showcase Australian expertise on an international level. This is a testament to the progress we’ve made in our national space industry.” In the picture: (Simonetta Cheli, ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes and SmartSat CEO Professor Andy Koronios). “We have also identified new collaboration opportunities between researchers at the University of Queensland and Φ-lab to develop advanced AI capabilities using hyperspectral satellite imagery. This will create the next generation of predictive intelligence that can forecast and monitor agricultural and environmental activities and disaster events with greater accuracy,” he added. As part of the new agreement, SmartSat and Φ-lab plan […]

Technofast, honoured in Australia’s Top 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers awards

The Technofast team, left, outside their Australian manufacturing facility in Queensland. The company’s problem-solving mindset and innovative hydraulic tensioning technologies have seen them grow to be a valued supplier of safety-enhancing and downtime-saving solutions for the mining, power generation, sugar, oil and gas, and other critical industries A company dedicated to enhancing safety and reducing downtime through hydraulic fastening technologies for the mining, power generation, sugar, oil and gas, and other critical industries, Technofast, has been selected as one of Australia’s Top 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers for 2023. The awards were run by AuManufacturing, and judged by an independent panel with professional manufacturing industry experience, including industrial software and automation, human-centred design, policy, communication, and more. Manufacturing is a major contributor to Australia’s economy, and encompasses more than 100,000 companies and 900,000 employees. The industry experienced a $7.6b growth in earnings (17.8%) in 2021-22, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Technofast’s core range of Australian-manufactured products – hydraulic nuts and hydraulic bolts – are used to provide precise tensioning on crushers, turbines, steel slitters, and a wide range of industrial applications. Technofast tensioners can often turn a job taking days into one that takes just hours, and with less personnel required. This huge saving in downtime and lost production can often more than pay for the investment in the first use, and continue to provide ongoing savings and benefits. And, importantly, safety is enhanced, because there is no longer the risk of hand or wrist injuries from using flogging spanners or torque wrenches in confined spaces. “To us, innovation means problem-solving,” says Technofast Founder and CEO, John Bucknell. “It means looking at a problem that a customer or company is having and finding a new solution to do that particular task better, faster, […]

Out-of-the box thinking lifts mining safety

Hunter Valley-headquartered Hedweld Group of Companies is a recognised global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of products for the mining sector. Its niche products have few market competitors. With humble beginnings as a general fabricator in 1980, Hedweld made the business decision in the 2000s to focus on supplying products to the mining sector. Its aim from the get-go was to improve the safety of workers and operators, reduce machine down-time, and increase productivity in mine maintenance workshops. It has been a winning strategy. Kristy Hedley, Managing Director, Hedweld Group of Companies in the Advanced Manufacturing Workshop. Hedweld managing director Kristy Hedley (pictured) says the company’s core competencies of safety, efficiency, and innovation are evident in the Trilift® range of component-handling equipment, and the Safe-Away range of access systems. “As the size of open-cut mining equipment gets larger, accessing the components for maintenance requires greater reach and weight-handling capacity,” says Kristy. “This is where the Trilift range of component-handling equipment offers unique solutions. New mobile mining equipment comes from the OEM factory and is supplied to site with a simple vertical rung or chain ladder to climb aboard to gain access to the operator’s cabin. Our Safe-Away access systems provide a safer way to access and egress.” Hedweld has strong international patents on its Trilift products, allowing it to distribute them globally without fear of competition. “The challenge is educating customers about our unique products and solutions, regularly described as ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking,” says Kristy. “We help sites understand the cost of performing tasks using traditional and often unsafe methods and assist them to calculate and understand that they can’t afford not to use Trilift products – for reasons of safety and cost-saving.” Hunter Manufacturing Awards (HMA) appropriately awarded Hedweld the Export and Supply Chains accolade for 2022. The […]

New pathways open for women in steel

Women are increasingly turning to non-traditional pathways such as steel for careers, drawn by operational and social advances. 50% of ASI staff were now women. “ASI is a proud supporter of inclusive work cultures where women’s careers thrive and their achievements are celebrated,” Cain said. ASI founding member steel producer BlueScope agrees. “It’s an exciting, dynamic industry at the cutting edge of change for women,” according to Queensland chapter president of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) and BlueScope Qld specification manager Sheree Taylor. “Historical perceptions of the industry are changing: we have world-class safety standards, a culture of trust and respect and are investing in emerging, responsible steel technology,” Taylor said. BlueScope’s promotion and profiling of steel jobs now focuses on gender-neutral attributes, including problem-solving, skills training, job security and career advancement. Success of the job program has seen a five-fold increase of women at an operational level since 2016 across BlueScope Australia. BlueScope is also a signatory to the HESTA 40:40 Vision initiative which seeks to achieve gender balance in executive leadership across all ASX200 companies by 2030. Taylor said one of the keys to attracting more women into manufacturing and steel is at the school level. ‘’It is fantastic to see careers advice at schools now increasingly showcase the exciting opportunities for women in manufacturing – across both trade, operator and professional roles. However, there is still more to do to support women into these careers so they can add to the industry and reap the benefits of secure employment and a fulfilling career.’’ Site services contract controller for ASI founding member InfraBuild Wire Emma Mellows, said the IWD ‘Embrace Equity’ theme powerfully resonated with her. “Outside of work, I actively mentor young people, including young women, encouraging and supporting them to follow paths leading […]

What is steel scrap and how can it help us reach net zero?

Recycled steel scrap is a low-emitting source of the metal – here’s how we can improve its collection and production to help decarbonise the industry. From bridges to cars to paper clips, steel is ubiquitous in our material world. It is one of the enabling materials that has led to unprecedented living standard rises and progress for humanity. Yet, as with all other emitting economic sectors and material groups, the steel industry needs to decarbonise to meet the climate challenge. Its success as a material means global crude steel production is over 1.9 gigatonnes, but it accounts for an estimated 3 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions annually (albeit this is lower-emitting than most other materials potentially used for the same applications). Steel is made from either primary sources: that is, extracting iron ore from nature and transforming it into pure iron; or from secondary sources, that is, remelting steel scrap into new steel, or a combination of both. This secondary-source steel scrap is the discarded steel that becomes available from manufacturing waste generation and from recovered steel in buildings, infrastructure, equipment, vehicles and products discarded at their end of life. The amount of steel scrap available globally is finite, constrained by the rate of disposal by society. In contrast, the availability of iron ore-based steel is expandable, as mine activity can be increased to meet growing steel demand. There are two principal methods of producing steel. Image: ArcelorMittal Innate circularity Steel has excellent circularity properties. Whereas other materials are often downcycled at their end of life, for many applications, steel scrap can be turned back repeatedly into new steel, retaining its original properties. The magnetic properties of steel make it easy to segregate steel scrap from mixed waste streams. Global emissions from steel are primarily generated while producing steel from primary source iron […]

We could need six times more of the minerals used for renewables and batteries

Rusty Langdon,Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney; Elsa Dominish, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney. We are seeing the biggest changes in our energy and transport systems since industrialisation. By 2026, global renewable energy generation is expected to match total fossil fuel and nuclear output. Building the wind and solar farms, batteries and electricity networks we need to run our system on renewables will use a huge array of mined minerals, known as “transition minerals”. The numbers are staggering. The International Energy Agency estimates a sixfold increase in demand for these minerals by 2040 to meet climate targets of well below 2℃ of warming. We could need 21.5 million tonnes for electric vehicles and battery storage alone. Transitional minerals include metals such as lithium, cobalt, copper, graphite, magnesium and nickel. They also include rare earths like neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. Currently, mining provides almost our entire supply. The scale of demand for these minerals could result in almost 400 new mines by 2035. To put this in perspective, Australia has around 350 operating mines. More than 50% of the world’s lithium and much of its copper, cobalt, nickel and rare earths come from our mines. Australia is hosting the World Mining Congress this week. A key issue for the industry is how we can ensure the minerals needed for the energy transition are sourced responsibly. How can we manage demand? We can design energy and transport systems to minimise mineral demand. Strategies include: reducing our dependence on cars and using smaller vehicles improving energy efficiency moving to a circular economy that makes reuse and recycling a priority. All these changes can reduce the need for new mines. Recycling, for example, could reduce demand for mined materials. For lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, estimated reductions are 25% for lithium, 35% for cobalt and nickel, […]

Women in Business: Michèle Stokes PhD GAICD, General Manager, PCI, Melbourne

Explain to readers what you do I am the General Manager for PCI, Melbourne. PCI is an integrated contract development and manufacturing organisation that offers a comprehensive range of pharmaceutical services, from early development to commercial launch, and beyond. In Australia, we specifically focus on early development and supporting clinical studies with capabilities to manufacture, pack, label and distribute to clinical study sites. We offer a range of services to manufacture drug products in various dosage formats, including sterile vials through our new automated fill-finish technology. Where are the growth areas for your company? The main growth areas for PCI in Australia will be expanding across the Asia-Pacific markets and further developing our sterile fill-finish capabilities to support clinical studies in the region. Australia is a very attractive market for pharmaceutical companies to conduct their clinical studies, and with our breadth of expertise and offerings, we are well positioned to support this growth. Contract Development – What does this mean for PCI? PCI supports organisations ranging from startups to mid- to large-scale pharmaceutical companies in placing treatments in clinical studies as quickly as possible. This could involve assisting with dosage format selection, initial clinical batch manufacture, scale-up batches, drug stability support and supplying clinical trial materials to sites to aid in all phases of clinical studies prior to commercialisation. We can support the whole process, or partner on certain areas where the sponsor pharmaceutical company needs additional assistance or expertise. How are you finding staff retention at present? The world has changed in the last two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, employees are evaluating their work-life balance in a different way. PCI has worked hard to find ways to increase staff retention through various initiatives, with consultation to add incentives to the working environment and flexible […]

SmartSat commits AU$1M+ to research ects for NSW’s Space Qualification Mission Waratah Seed

It is an historic project to help establish foundational capabilities in the NSW space sector and the Australian space industry as a whole.

Australia a living testament to the benefits of productivity growth

-Professor Stephen King, Monash University An average worker today puts in 14 fewer hours per week and takes home a real wage six times that of the average worker in 1901 – all because we are producing more per hour worked. And yet in the past decade that rate of improvement has slowed. Over the 60 years to 2019-20, labour productivity (production per hour worked) grew at an average of 1.8% per year, which sounds small but compounds each year. In the most recent of those decades, the decade to 2020, growth fell to just 1.1% – a drop of one-third. If it remains that low we will be much worse off in decades to come than we would be if we could get back to the kind of growth we had. That’s one of the reasons I was excited to work on the Productivity Commission’s second five-yearly productivity report, released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Victims of our own success In some ways, Australia has been a victim of its success. It has a robust and highly productive economy, especially in mining and agriculture where it is among the world’s leaders. But, as productivity growth in mining and agriculture has made us wealthier, we have demanded more services, such as holidays, housecleaning, childcare and after-school care, gyms and home-delivered food. Now employing 90% of our workers and accounting for 80% of our economy, services are harder to make more productive, and as our population ages they are likely to account for an even greater share of what we do. In government-funded non-market services such as health, education and public administration, measured labour productivity growth has been close to zero since the turn of the century. If we want to continue to improve our standard of living, we are going to have […]

Women in Construction for Int'l Womens' Day. 28th Feb 2023

Meet the women working in construction at the Australian War Memorial

This International Women’s Day the Australian War Memorial is highlighting some of the key women working on the Development project. Representing a variety of backgrounds, skills and experience, these women bring their expertise to this multi-faceted, long term construction project. All three are motivated by the once-in-a-career opportunity it represents. “I love my job. It’s a job that was made for me. Knowing that you’re part of the story of the next generation of this building is pretty exciting,” Rebecca Conway, Project Manager for the new Southern Entrance, said. “It’s important to see the range of opportunities you can get out of a career in construction. Four out of five project managers working on the development are female, which is a great statistic.” Working alongside Rebecca is Philippa Seldon, Operations Manager (ACT) at Kane Constructions and Founder of the Healthy Tradie Project. With more than 10 years’ experience in the construction sector, Philippa brings an empathetic and innovative approach to her work. “The Healthy Tradie Project was borne out of my brother’s suicide. He was a carpenter and following his death in 2009 it was only natural that I gravitated toward supporting those who I work with every day,” she said. “Every Thursday starts with a pre-start movement session. We see smiles, we see laughter and a huge boost in morale on those days,” Ms Seldon said. Hayley Delmenico, an apprentice electrician, is one of the youngest tradies on site. Growing up in Canberra ensured familiarity with the Memorial; the opportunity to be a part of its development was too good to pass up. “I thought it would be really exciting to be able to work with my hands. This is a very significant place for a lot of people and just being able to say that you worked on it and being proud of it […]

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