3d printing

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute SME Index (SME Index), which examines the economic health of Australian small and medium sized enterprises, has revealed a significant improvement in business confidence, shifting from 95.6 in Q3 2016 to 100.7 in Q4 2016. Westpac’s General Manager of SME Business Bank, Julie Rynski said, “The strong increase in business sentiment is … Continue reading Westpac finds SMEs are feeling optimistic about 2017 →

Whether or not this is down to the so-called ‘Trump Effect’, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Foxconn Technology Group, the biggest assembler of Apple devices, is currently in discussions to expand the company’s US manufacturing operations. The news came only hours after an announcement by US President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank Group’s Masayoshi … Continue reading Foxconn plants the seeds for US Apple manufacturing →

In June last year, it was announced that Australia’s manufacturing sector had achieved year on year expansion recording the longest unbroken period of growth in a decade. Although that sounds like good news, manufacturers now face another issue. How do they fill the open jobs with engaged workers who will drive the innovation required to … Continue reading Are millennials a manufacturing innovation opportunity? →

Pilz Australia launched its new website which incorporates a new E-Shop for its customers. E-Shop will allow customers to not only browse the company’s vast portfolio of products, it enables them to access the latest technical information, view product images, and download the most up-to- date technical data sheets. The new E-Shop covers the full … Continue reading Pilz launches new online presence →

Australia’s innovations will grow into successful businesses with help from the CSIRO Innovation Fund, a $200 million fund to commercialise early stage innovations from CSIRO, universities and other publicly-funded research bodies. The CSIRO Innovation Fund, launched today, will support co-investment in new spin-out and start-up companies, and SMEs engaged in the translation of research generated … Continue reading CSIRO to spend $200m on Aussie innovation →

Senator Xenophon deserves a Christmas card from the nation’s steelmakers, after his negotiation with the government to deliver their Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) legislation. The deal saw significant changes made to government procurement rules. The changes require that companies bidding for government projects worth more than A$4 million and will need to outline in … Continue reading ABCC amended local content rules will help Australian steelmakers compete against low-quality imports →

According to reports, Downer Rail has sub-contracted all manufacturing duties of 24 double deck Sydney A or Waratah class trains to joint venture partner, China’s CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co, with Downer itself providing the maintenance support for a minimum of 25 years. The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union criticised the award of the contract, saying … Continue reading Sydney’s new trains to be made in China →

The Department of Defence (DoD) has announced a $232 million contract extension to expand GE’s support of jet engines for the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) fighter fleet until 2025. Under the contract, GE will provide engineering, supply and maintenance support for the 84 engines of Australia’s F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft fleets. … Continue reading DoD extends GE engine contract for Super Hornet & Growler   →

According to a report in The Australian this morning, HSBC has become the latest Arrium lender to sell its debt in the company. This latest move comes as voluntary administrators KordaMentha and advisers Morgan Stanley prepare to sell the remainder of the Arrium business early next year after divesting Moly-Cop to American Industrial Partners for … Continue reading HSBC set to dump its Arrium debt →

As the lights were illuminated on this year’s Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, they sparkled in some very special baubles that were hand blown and adorned with various emblems, the stamps for which came from Kaeser Compressors. Coburg, the home of both Kaeser, and the English royal family shares a long history together. Prince Albert, … Continue reading Kaeser helps to decorate the royal Christmas tree →

A new report from Forrester has identified and compared the top 11 IoT software platform providers for this quarter. According to the report, IBM, PTC, GE and Microsoft lead the pack, while  AWS, SAP and Cisco Jasper offer competitive options, and LogMeIn, Ayla Networks, Exosite and Zebra Technologies lag behind. Forrester evaluated vendors based on 25 … Continue reading The top IoT software platforms for 2016 →

The Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, today announced that Thales Australia has been awarded a $100 million contract to design a major sonar system upgrade for Collins class submarines. Minister Pyne said Thales Australia will engage other Australian-based companies including Sonartech Atlas and L3 Oceania, as well as suppliers from the … Continue reading Thales snaps up Collins sub sonar contract →

Trumpf and Siemens are joining hands to produce a software solution for optimised and streamlined additive manufacturing of metal parts with Trumpf printing machines – from part design to 3D printing. The two companies hope to industrialise laser metal fusion technology and make the additive manufacturing process for metal parts an integral part of the … Continue reading Trumpf and Siemens to collaborate on 3D metal printing →

With Asia Pacific leaders reaffirming their commitment to free trade at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Peru, Malcolm Turnbull is “confident” that US president elect Donald Trump will “see the light” and do an about turn on his protectionist stance against the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Currently it looks to be headed for … Continue reading Turnbull trusts in a Trump TPP turnaround →

ASX-listed Australian hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear has lost a court case in the US over two disputed hearing aid patents. In a ruling delivered last Thursday, the [US] Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favour of the Alfred E. Mann Foundation (AMF), confirming that defendants Cochlear infringed on two claims of AMF … Continue reading Cochlear loses US patent appeal →

In a first for Australia, The Courier Mail has reported this morning, the Herston Biofabrication Institute, to be opened in late 2017, will be manufacturing human tissue, bones and eventually even organs. Eventually employing up to 60 researchers, the Institute will also develop capabilities of advance medical technologies such as 3D printing and computational medicine. … Continue reading 3D printed organ company to open in Brisbane in 2017 →

It’s the time of the year when company boards and executives face their shareholders at annual general meetings. Boards will be asked to explain the pay packages of executives. Already some have been called into question. Some Australian companies cite the need to rely on the United States as a benchmark when it comes to … Continue reading OPINION: Should Australian companies set executive pay to a US benchmark? →

In a bid to re-strategise its business plans for growth in 2017, German bearing maker Schaeffler has announced that it looks to shave off 500 jobs at its industrial division in Germany and other European countries. The company has cited the move was due to slow delivery chains and overly centralised sales operations and mentioned … Continue reading Schaeffler cuts jobs but Asia Pac remains unaffected →

Materials handling company, the Kion Group, has successfully completed its $2.1 billion dollar (A$2.86 billion) acquisition of automation and supply chain optimisation specialist Dematic earlier this month. With the acquisition, the Kion Group will now feature a suite of products ranging from forklift trucks to AS/RS solutions. “The transaction brings together the world’s most profitable … Continue reading Kion completes Dematic acquisition →

Boral has entered into a binding agreement to acquire US building products maker Headwaters. The US$2.6 billion deal is subject to shareholder approval and regulatory approval, and is expected to complete in mid-2017. Based in Utah, Headwaters is a leading manufacturer of building products and one of the largest marketers of fly ash in the … Continue reading Boral cements its acquisition of US building products maker →