Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from Andy Brawley, former General Manager - Manufacturing at Silanna Semiconductor. An item from the final day of our Australia's place in the semiconductor world series, this broad-ranging conversation is with a man who has spent over half a century in the industry. Brawley shares his passion for electronics and the many different eras of Silanna, which has its origins in AWA Microelectronics. His caree...
Dec 01, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , Dr Mohammad Choucair from Archer Materials shares the company’s progress on its quantum processor (it is also developing a biosensor), where he believes the nation can make a difference in the semiconductor value chain, what it would take to establish local chip fabrication, and more. Relevant links Archer's website archerx.com.au 2016 article about the qubit breakthrough https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion...
Nov 30, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , David Chuter from the IMCRC shares some reflections on which collaborations work and why, the need for technology adoption and development to have a clear purpose behind it, the importance of design and engineering to the industry’s success, and more. This episode was recorded at the IMCRC’s Australian Manufacturing Innovation Showcase event at Port Melbourne earlier this month. Episode guide 0:34 – Introducti...
Nov 20, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations With Brent Balinski, we hear from Lumination Head of Enterprise and Government Tom Pennington. Pennington, who joined the fast-growing Adelaide-based immersive technology company this year, tells us about how he expects “the metaverse” to change the way we learn, how it can supplement older methods of absorbing new information, and more. Episode guide 0:34 – Introduction and professional background 1:42 – An introduction to some te...
Nov 20, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski – recorded at the IMCRC’s Innovative Manufacturing Accelerated conference a couple of weeks ago – Paul Keen of gTET tells us about the founding of his company by ex-automotive industry engineers, a project to reshore components in its heat pumps, and some of the benefits and challenges of adopting heat waste and biomass-based industrial heat solutions. 0:25 – Background to company. 2:07 – Where are ORC generator...
Nov 15, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Thomas Romeijn from Mineral Technologies and Dr Michael Behrens from UTS Rapido about their project applying 3D printing to separation spirals used in the mining industry. Episode guide 0:20 – Introduction to guests. 1:40 – Why is this next step necessary? 2:56 – The possible benefits around safety, quicker iterations, and customisation for different orebodies. 5:00 – Some of the complexities of s...
Nov 10, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations With Brent Balinski , we hear from Dr Ian Fordyce, Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Conflux Technology, and Dr Balaji Narayanaswamy, an Associate Research Fellow at Deakin. The pair discuss a recently-completed, nine-month Conflux-Deakin project, supported by a $138,200 Innovative Manufacturing CRC grant, and covering aluminium alloy development. This episode was recorded at the IMCRC’s Innovative Manufacturing Accelerated confer...
Nov 07, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from Lee Stanley, Business Development Manager at systems integrator Daronmont Technologies. 0:20 – Career path and introduction to Daronmont and its work. 2:50 – Overview of some projects, including as tier one subcontractor to BAE on Jorn Phase 6. 4:30 – The Jorn upgrade and their role in it, building transponder and sounder subsystems. 5:44 – What it takes to be successful as a defence supplier. 8:02 ...
Oct 23, 2022•12 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Shoaib Iqbal from earth observation startup Esper Satellite Imagery. Iqbal tells us about the company's story so far, the usefulness of hyperspectral data, why 18 satellites is the number they’re aiming to have in orbit, and more. Episode guide 0:28 – What they do and how they got started: building sensors that image the earth from space after the two founders met each other at a Monash University...
Oct 20, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Send us a text In episode 26 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Christopher Janssen, Managing Director at GPC Electronics. Defence makes up about 10 to 15 per cent of turnover at GPC, the western Sydney contract electronics manufacturer run by Christopher Janssen, who describes it as “a tough but rewarding sector” and one offering good growth potential. “It is a long horizon, so it’s not something you do because you’re going to get results in one or two years,” ...
Oct 13, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Send us a text In episode 25 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Steve Camilleri, CTO and co-founder of SPEE3D. The episode was recorded at Land Forces 2022 last week. Camilleri discusses the company's newly-launched expeditionary printer, XSPEE3D, the company's accidental presence in the defence market, and much else. Episode guide 0:30 -- The company's history. 3:42 – “We knew exactly what we needed. We had a technology-shaped hole, we had to be able to print p...
Oct 11, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Send us a text In episode 24 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Dr Martin O’Connor, General Manager at QuantX Labs. The episode was recorded at Land Forces 2022 last week. O’Connor explains the usefulness of the company’s device in JORN (currently undergoing its $1.2 billion Phase 6 upgrade led by BAE Systems Australia) shares some thoughts on what it takes for successful applied research by universities, and tells us why alternatives to GPS are being developed....
Oct 10, 2022•14 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Send us a text In episode 23 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Dominic Parsonson, Head of Sales at Titomic. The episode was recorded at Land Forces 2022 last week. In it, Parsonson tells us about how two Australian companies have taken a technology that has been around since the 1980s, and moved it from coatings and repair into manufacturing. As we speak during a defence industry expo, there is plenty shared about what cold spray additive manufacturing is offer...
Oct 09, 2022•11 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Send us a text In episode 22 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Daen Simmat, founder and CEO at Black Lab Design. The episode was recorded during a visit to Black Lab's factory in Frenchs Forest in late-September. In this broad-ranging chat, Simmat tells us about starting a company in 2013, its natural evolution from sheet metal solutions to much more, his view on what "advanced manufacturing" means, what automation can and can't replace, the critical but often-...
Oct 03, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Send us a text In episode 21 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Philip Crealy, founder and Director at Equinox Medical. The episode was recorded on the second day of last week’s Modern Manufacturing Expo, which @AuManufacturing is a media partner of. Crealy presented on the topic of “Custom medical device manufacture through machine learning and generative design” at the event. In this conversation, Crealy recaps some of the themes in his presentation. Episode g...
Sep 27, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Send us a text In episode 20 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from David Fox, Associate Director, Research & Technology at Western Parkland City Authority. The episode was recorded on the second day of last week’s Modern Manufacturing Expo, which @AuManufacturing is a media partner of. Fox has worked in manufacturing for over 30 years, and was at western Sydney pressure vessel manufacturer LA Services for 16 years, finishing as General Manager, before beginning h...
Sep 25, 2022•14 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Send us a text In episode 19 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from Dr Marc Carmichael, a Senior Lecturer at University of Technology Sydney and Chief Investigator at the Australian Cobotics Centre. The episode was recorded on the second day of the Modern Manufacturing Expo, which @AuManufacturing is a media partner of. Carmichael’s work focusses on collaborative robotics, a genre of automation he believes is a good match for Australia’s SME-heavy manufacturing commun...
Sep 22, 2022•10 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Send us a text In episode 18 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from Peter Mackey, Executive Director, New Education and Training Model (NETM) at the NSW government’s Western Parkland City Authority. This micro-episode is about micro-credentials, with Mackey giving an update on the NETM pilot program, which intends to develop 100 micro-credential courses between 2021 and 2025. These are in manufacturing and other sectors including agribusiness and logistics. The episod...
Sep 20, 2022•12 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Send us a text In episode 17 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from Steve Layton from Layton Corporation. The chat was recorded at last Friday’s Good Design Awards. EmTech, a division of Layton’s company, was a Gold Winner at the awards for its Enviro Hide product, which is made from recycled leather and has a look and feel of new split leather. Layton tells us about developing the product, which is currently produced in China, launching it here following the award, a...
Sep 18, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Send us a text In episode 16 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Mark Chilcote, Managing Director of Energy Renaissance. ER was founded in 2015, is currently running a pilot plant at Tomago, and is preparing to begin volume production of lithium ion batteries by the end of the year. This interview comes during a week where industry minister Ed Husic and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm have used high-profile speeches to draw attention to Australia’s massive, unrealised ...
Sep 15, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Send us a text In episode 15 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we speak to Associate Professor Cori Stewart, CEO of the Brisbane-based Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub. Stewart is founder of the not-for-profit, which aims to accelerating the uptake of robotics and AI in manufacturing and other industries within Australia. It officially launched in March 2020 and recently became the the only independent manufacturing innovation hub in Australia to be awarded approved ...
Sep 11, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Send us a text In episode 14 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Dr William Crowe and Dr Hiranya Jayakody from HEO Robotics. The pair began HEO while they were PhD candidates at UNSW Sydney, initially with a focus on asteroid mining. Today they are pursuing a beautifully simple goal: image anything within the Solar System on demand, and last month they launched their first publicly-available product. HEO currently uses other companies’ satellite-mounted cameras t...
Sep 04, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Send us a text In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from Arden Jarrett, Business Development Officer at MGA Thermal. MGA's name comes from "miscibility gap alloy", an approach to thermal energy storage developed over a decade by a team at University of Newcastle and which it is currently commercialising. In late-June the company launched the first stage of its factory. That was followed this month by the announcement of an $8 million capital raise led by ...
Aug 31, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Send us a text In episode 12 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we hear from Phil West, co-founder of Siren Cameras. Phil comes from a family of fishers and moved to Australia from Scotland a decade ago. A few years back he was out bluewater fishing, caught nothing all day, then found himself in a 15-minute battle with what must have been a splendid fish before he lost it. This was the inspiration for Phil’s camera for anglers, so there would be no mystery as to what they’re...
Aug 28, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Send us a text Welcome to episode 11 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski . Our guest on this episode is Taya Permezel, Director of Partnerships at Coolon LED Lighting. Taya is part of an ambitious SME manufacturer thats very much on the move, which was recently featured during our Celebrating Australian Made Series, and which has won a collection of awards this year for its work delivering IoT solutions through its industrial lighting. Coolon began in 2001. Its leadership team ...
Aug 21, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Send us a text In episode ten of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we speak to Peter Torreele, founder and Managing Director of 3RT, a company that has developed automated machines for converting wood industry residue into products that look and feel like 100-year-old hardwood. Peter is an engineer, economist and marketer by training and has worked at various manufacturing companies, as well spent five years as managing director of the World Economic Forum. He shares 3RT’s sto...
Aug 16, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Send us a text In episode nine of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we speak to Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre. Goennemann tells us about Australia’s slide downwards in the latest Economic Complexity Index rankings, compiled by Harvard’s Growth Lab , which were released a couple of weeks ago and based on 2020 trade data. Economic complexity looks at the sophistication and diversity of a country’s exported goods, and requires a...
Aug 11, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Send us a text In episode eight of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we speak to Dr Shafali Gupta and Andy Epifani, the co-founders and co-CEOs of Uuvipak. The cell biologist and the software engineer met last year and are commercialising a novel food waste-based solution, turning grain and beverage industry waste into single-use plastic substitutes that are home-compostable. And here’s the kicker – you can eat their cups and bowls when you’re done with them. Shafali and Andy ...
Aug 07, 2022•18 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Send us a text In episode seven of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we speak to Shay Chalmers, founder of Strategic Engineering and director at a collection of private and public entities, most of them to do with manufacturing in some way. Shay describes herself as "believing in the power of collaboration to drive positive social change, especially as the global manufacturing community works towards a carbon neutral future." 1:20 -- A potted biography 2:20 -- Recent visit to ...
Aug 04, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Send us a text In episode six of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski , we speak to Jess Hodge, co-founder at the husband-and-wife-led startup Resourceful Living. Resourceful Living gives discarded PE plastics many more years of usefulness as products including home signage, office furniture and more. The Hodges were inspired to start their recycling business by a sunrise walk along a beach on their Thailand honeymoon. After a bit of saving, they eventually began Resourceful Living...
Jul 31, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 6
