Novon Lighting has received the Company Sustainability Award at the 2026 Lighting Council Australia Lighting Industry Excellence Awards for the second consecutive year, recognising the Australian-owned commercial lighting manufacturer’s initiatives in resource efficiency, material sourcing and circular product design.

According to Novon, its sustainability efforts include improvements at its Western Sydney manufacturing facility, where energy sub-metering, material optimisation and closed-loop production systems have been introduced or further developed during FY26.

The company’s automated powder coating system captures and reuses overspray, reducing coating waste to less than 5%, while its closed-loop water treatment system filters and reuses water from pre-treatment without wastewater discharge.

Novon also reported that an internally developed optimisation tool for linear lighting projects reduced material consumption by 17.2% across a measured production sample, with scrap rates falling from 10.8% to 5.9%.

The company said it continues to work with Australian suppliers, including BlueScope, Capral Aluminium and Dulux Powder Coatings, on material selection and responsible sourcing. It also partners with Rebuilt to obtain independently verified Product Carbon Footprints, which measure greenhouse gas emissions associated with materials and manufacturing.

Product longevity is another focus, with Novon’s Eterna modular retrofit platform designed to allow existing luminaire housings to be retained while internal light engines and components are upgraded or replaced. The company is also developing Digital Product Passports to connect individual lighting products with information such as manufacturing details, maintenance guidance, warranty records and carbon data.

Beyond manufacturing, Novon said its sustainability initiatives include optical engineering and lighting controls intended to reduce unwanted light spill and glare, as well as research into human-centric lighting.

In addition to winning the sustainability award, Novon was named a finalist in the Project of the Year categories for projects valued under $1 million and over $1 million.

The company said it intends to continue refining its manufacturing processes and product designs to improve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.

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Visy has invested $30 million in new cardboard manufacturing equipment at its Smithfield board factory in Western Sydney, increasing board output by 33% as part of an upgrade to the site.

The investment includes a 2.8-metre-wide corrugator, which uses real-time monitoring and digital process optimisation to improve production speeds and reduce changeover times. Federal Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres toured the facility to view the new equipment.

According to Visy, the corrugator also improves board consistency, strength and flatness, supporting high-speed packing lines and shelf-ready packaging applications.

Visy chief executive officer Mark De Wit said the investment would support packaging supply for the agricultural and food and beverage sectors.

“We’ve been making cardboard boxes for farmers, and food and beverage brands at Smithfield for over 40 years,” De Wit said.

“This investment secures a reliable supply of high-quality cardboard packaging that meets demand across the state.”

The corrugator heats, shapes and bonds layers of paper to produce corrugated cardboard, which is then cut to size for box manufacturing.

Visy’s Smithfield site includes Australia’s largest material recovery facility, two paper mills producing 100 per cent recycled paper, a cardboard box manufacturing facility and a recycled plastics facility. The company describes it as the largest recycling precinct in New South Wales, with more than 400 full-time jobs.

The Smithfield facility is one of 18 cardboard box manufacturing sites in Visy’s network across Australia and New Zealand. The network is supported by locally manufactured kraft paper and 100 per cent recycled paper, alongside design, engineering and customer support teams.

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The University of Queensland (UQ) has been selected by a United States Government agency to develop manufacturing technology for personalised RNA medicines, as part of a consortium eligible for up to $57 million in funding.

According to UQ, its BASE mRNA Facility will lead the development of technology to verify the quality, accuracy and safety of RNA medicines before they are administered to patients. The work forms part of a program backed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an operational division of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The program aims to establish a network of US hospitals capable of producing personalised RNA medicines on demand, with the goal of delivering treatments within a week of diagnosis.

BASE facility director Professor Tim Mercer said the technology could support personalised cancer vaccines and treatments for rare genetic diseases.

“The same mRNA technology used in the COVID-19 vaccines is now increasingly being applied to cancer and other diseases,” Mercer said.

He said RNA medicines are currently produced in a limited number of specialised factories, with patients potentially waiting months to receive treatment.

“This program is about bringing production to the patient’s bedside, delivering RNA medicines within days of diagnosis, instead of months,” Mercer said.

The UQ team, part of the university’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, will develop an automated quality-control system using nanopore sequencing. The technique reads individual RNA molecules to help assess the quality, integrity and safety of the final medicine.

Mercer said the approach could consolidate several testing processes into a single test.

“It’s an approach we have developed and proven at BASE, and it means one test can do what used to require many different tests,” he said.

A prototype will initially be designed and built at BASE’s laboratories, where it could support the development of personalised mRNA medicines in Australia. Once operational, the system will be assembled at Houston Methodist Research Institute in Texas and installed to test RNA medicines.

Mercer said the selection recognised the expertise developed at BASE and Australia’s capabilities in mRNA technology.

The consortium could receive up to $57 million ($US40 million) through the ARPA-H program. UQ’s announcement did not specify how much of the potential funding would be allocated to the university or provide a timeline for the system’s deployment.

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Sponsored content by Xometry

Australian manufacturers have long competed against distance. In an exclusive interview with Australian Manufacturing, Xometry CEO Sanjeev Singh Sahni discusses how AI can help manufacturers access more production capacity and simplify traditionally email-driven supply chains.

Sahni said Xometry operates as a direct response to a persistent gap in custom manufacturing, where sourcing remains heavily reliant on manual processes, email-based requests for quotation (RFQs) and geographically limited supplier networks. That gap is wide in Australia, where digital sourcing is still early. 

“Custom manufacturing is a massive, $275 billion global opportunity,” Sahni said. “Yet despite its scale, the vast majority of it remains offline today.” 

According to Sahni, Xometry operates as essential digital infrastructure for custom manufacturing: an AI-native marketplace that automates instant quoting, manufacturability assessments, and supplier selection, while managing order execution and quality from end to end. 

AI moves beyond automated quoting 

Rather than simply generating price estimates, Sahni says AI is used across the entire Xometry platform to turn digital designs into real-time manufacturing decisions on process selection, pricing, and sourcing. 

The company applies AI models to recommend manufacturing processes based on factors such as a part’s geometry and intended application. Its cost-prediction models also assess variables including material, finish and batch size. This makes the entire process of sourcing a matter of minutes for customers rather than the offline process that takes weeks. 

On the supplier side, Sahni said Xometry’s sourcing models consider factors such as machine capabilities, quality history and delivery performance when matching jobs with manufacturing partners. 

The approach reflects a broader shift in industrial procurement, with Sahni arguing that engineers, procurement teams and supply chain managers increasingly expect faster and more digitally integrated purchasing processes. 

“We are accelerating innovation everywhere. Modern industrial teams need on-demand access to manufacturing capacity so they can pivot, scale up, or resolve bottlenecks without carrying heavy fixed overhead,” he said. 

Distributed networks and supply chain resilience 

Sahni sees distributed manufacturing as key to building resilient supply chains that adapt to market disruptions—shifting capacity away from reliance on local suppliers alone. 

Xometry currently has more than 5,000 active suppliers across four continents. According to Sahni, this distributed network enables production to be dynamically redirected whenever individual suppliers face capacity constraints or disruptions, allowing manufacturers to select production options based on speed and total cost. 

The company reported $229 million in second quarter 2026 revenue, a 41 per cent year-on-year increase driven by surging adoption among large industrial buyers. 

Rather than relying exclusively on fixed production capacity, Sahni said manufacturers can use distributed networks to select production locations according to factors such as proximity, speed and cost. 

Xometry operates through manufacturing partners rather than relying solely on its own production facilities. Sahni said the company maintains quality controls by acting as the Manufacturer of Record for orders, while supplier performance is monitored against quality and delivery standards. 

Opportunities for Australian manufacturers

For Australia, Sahni said digital manufacturing networks level the playing field, providing smaller manufacturers and engineering teams with enterprise-level procurement power without needing extensive internal resources. 

He pointed to Australia’s engineering capabilities across high-value growth sectors, including mining technology, defence, agriculture, medical technology and renewable energy. Australia’s manufacturing sector, which generates $130 billion in industry value and employs 900,000 workers, is getting a major boost from the government’s $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia initiative. But funding only gets technology started. 

“Future Made in Australia funds the ambition. Execution happens on the shop floor, and that’s where Australian innovators have been left waiting. Xometry is the digital infrastructure that turns complex designs into physical parts, with quotes in minutes and the world’s manufacturing capacity behind every order,” Sahni stated. 

The company’s growth strategy in Australia focuses on providing local buyers with frictionless access to its global marketplace. 

He identified established procurement practices as one of the barriers to greater digital adoption, particularly continued reliance on traditional RFQs and geographically limited sourcing. 

From offline sourcing to physical AI 

Looking ahead, Sahni said manufacturing could move towards a more connected and software-driven model as AI, automation and robotics become more widely adopted. 

He expects demand from areas including robotics, autonomous systems and defence to contribute to growth in on-demand manufacturing. 

“We are in the opening innings of custom manufacturing, shifting from an offline, fragmented industry to a digital marketplace where buyers and suppliers connect with speed and confidence,” Sahni said. 

He emphasized that while AI is unlikely to replace engineering roles, it is likely to eliminate administrative work by providing faster manufacturability analysis, pricing and sourcing information.

Xometry currently has nearly 90,000 active buyers using its marketplace, according to Sahni, as the company continues to expand its digital manufacturing model into markets including Australia. 

For more information on Xometry’s digital manufacturing platform and how it connects manufacturers with global production capabilities, visit Xometry.

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Macquarie University has secured $5 million to establish an Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Advanced Integrated Circuits, aimed at developing semiconductor design skills and strengthening Australia’s domestic chip-design capabilities.

Announced in a news release, the centre will bring together researchers from Macquarie University, the University of Sydney, UNSW and Adelaide University, alongside industry partners, to train researchers and develop integrated circuits for emerging technologies.

Professor Iain Collings will lead the centre, supported by Professor Mike Boers. The research will focus on applications including satellite internet, radiation-hardened chips for space technologies, low-power artificial intelligence (AI) systems, quantum devices and advanced sensing technologies.

“The worldwide market for integrated circuits is heading towards a $1 trillion market and Australia really risks being left behind. It is absolutely vital for us to build our skills in this area,” Professor Collings said.

A key area of research will be mixed-signal integrated circuit design, which combines analogue signals from the physical world with digital processing. The approach can support smaller, more energy-efficient chips with improved battery life, according to the university.

“If you can do both analogue and digital processing on one piece of silicon, it can be smaller, more efficient, and have better battery life,” Professor Collings said.

The centre is expected to support PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers through specialised training and industry experience. Its industry partners include Cochlear, Diraq, Australian Semiconductor Technology Company, Atto Devices, Quasar Satellite Technologies and several other technology companies.

ARC Chief Executive Officer Professor Ute Roessner said the investment would help develop the skills and partnerships needed to support Australia’s future economic development.

“These new Research Hubs and Training Centres bring together Australia’s leading researchers and industry partners to solve complex challenges and unlock new opportunities for industry and the economy,” Professor Roessner said.

The initiative is intended to strengthen collaboration between universities and industry while building Australia’s long-term semiconductor capabilities. The university said the centre would help develop the specialist workforce needed to support future technology development and innovation.

Macquarie University is also a partner in the ARC Training Centre in Engineering Biology for Sustainable Materials, led by the Australian National University, which focuses on developing sustainable materials and supporting Australia’s emerging bioeconomy.

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ABB has announced a US$495 million investment in a joint venture with Mitsubishi Electric’s low-voltage power distribution business, combining their technologies, sales networks and manufacturing operations to expand their presence in Japan and other Asia-Pacific markets.

Under the agreement announced on October 20, ABB will acquire a controlling 51 per cent stake in the newly carved-out business for JPY 79 billion (approximately US$495 million). ABB will also take full ownership of the related sales operations for Mitsubishi Electric’s low-voltage power distribution products outside Japan.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. The agreement also provides ABB with an option to acquire full ownership of the joint venture in the medium term.

The new company will combine ABB’s electrification technologies and global sales network with Mitsubishi Electric’s established customer relationships and manufacturing capabilities. Mitsubishi Electric’s power distribution business employs around 2,800 people and operates dedicated manufacturing facilities in Fukuyama, Japan, and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Its product portfolio includes low-voltage circuit breakers, switches, motor starters, contactors, control devices, energy monitoring equipment and uninterruptible power supply systems.

ABB said the partnership would strengthen its position in Japan, where its electrification business has had a limited presence, while expanding opportunities across Asia-Pacific. The arrangement also supports its local-for-local strategy of sourcing and manufacturing products closer to customers in key markets.

“Japan is one of the world’s most important electrification markets, where the people in Mitsubishi Electric’s low-voltage power distribution division have served customers and built deep expertise over many decades,” said Giampiero Frisio, president of ABB’s Electrification Business Area.

“This joint venture brings together that strong local foundation with ABB’s leading technologies and global reach, significantly strengthening our position in Japan and across Asia-Pacific,” he said.

Mitsubishi Electric said the partnership would build on its established technology, quality standards, customer base and sales channels.

“Through this joint venture with ABB, Mitsubishi Electric will combine ABB’s global business foundation with the technologies, quality, customer base and sales channels it has cultivated over many years,” said Takayuki Tsuzuki, senior executive officer and group president of Mitsubishi Electric’s Factory Automation Systems.

The companies aim to provide greater value to customers and expand the power distribution product business, Tsuzuki said.

Mitsubishi Electric’s low-voltage power distribution business recorded net sales of approximately JPY 102 billion (US$640 million) in the financial year ended March 2026, with a low double-digit EBITDA margin. Sales operations outside Japan account for about 15 per cent of its revenue.

ABB values the combined businesses at an enterprise value of approximately US$890 million. It expects operational synergies to improve the joint venture’s earnings, with earnings per share expected to increase after the first year.

ABB also aims for the joint venture to achieve an operational EBITA margin of at least 20 per cent within five years. These targets are expectations set by ABB and remain subject to the transaction’s completion and subsequent business performance.

The companies said the partnership would combine their respective capabilities to broaden the range of low-voltage power distribution solutions available to customers across Asia-Pacific.

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The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will provide up to $41.6 million in staged funding to support a large-scale industrial heat electrification project at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery near Gladstone, Queensland, aimed at reducing fossil fuel use in heavy industry.

The project will demonstrate thermal energy storage technology that uses electricity to generate and store heat for industrial processes, providing an alternative to fossil fuels traditionally used to produce high-temperature steam. 

In a news release, ARENA said the initiative would be one of the first large-scale demonstrations of thermal energy storage for industrial process heat globally.

ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the project would help establish whether the technology could be adopted more widely across Australian industry.

“Industrial heat remains one of the toughest decarbonisation challenges facing heavy industries,” Mr Miller said.

“This project will test whether thermal energy storage can provide a practical pathway to lower emissions from industrial heat in a real-world operating environment, where reliability, performance and integration are critical.”

Under the funding arrangement, ARENA will initially provide $3.6 million for front-end engineering and design. Following successful completion of this stage, the agency will provide up to $38 million for deployment. It has also approved up to $33.3 million in conditional contingency support to address defined project risks, including cost overruns and electricity costs.

The project will install a thermal energy storage unit developed by Rondo Energy, with a discharge capacity of 30 MWt, charging capacity of 78 MWe and storage capacity of 360 MWh. The system will use electricity to charge a heat battery, which will release stored energy as heat to generate steam for refinery operations.

According to ARENA, the project is expected to reduce onsite emissions by around 67,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Mr Miller said large industrial facilities such as Yarwun provided the operating conditions needed to assess emerging technologies and inform future investment decisions.

“Demonstrations like this will help build the evidence industry needs to make future investment decisions so the value of this project extends well beyond a single refinery,” he said.

The project is funded through ARENA’s Industrial Transformation Stream, which supports the development and demonstration of technologies to reduce emissions from Australia’s industrial sector. Round 3 of the funding stream is currently open for applications.

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Sandvik Coromant has introduced a new milling grade for titanium manufacturing, designed to improve tool life predictability, reduce production interruptions and lower the carbon footprint associated with cutting tools.

The metal-cutting solutions specialist said its new GC1250 indexable milling grade combines EthaCore carbide technology with Zertivo® nano-multilayer physical vapour deposition (PVD) coating to improve performance when machining titanium alloys.

According to Sandvik Coromant, titanium’s poor thermal conductivity concentrates heat around the cutting edge, increasing the risk of tool wear, chipping and insert failure. The GC1250 grade is designed to withstand changing thermal and mechanical loads, helping manufacturers achieve more consistent tool life and reduce unplanned downtime.

“GC1250 sets a new benchmark for resilience and predictable performance in titanium milling,” said Wayne Mason, global product application manager for grades at Sandvik Coromant.

“By reducing unexpected insert failures and interruptions, this grade can help customers increase machine utilization and achieve more cost-efficient machining.”

The company also said the grade could support manufacturers’ sustainability targets. Its EthaCore carbide technology contributes to a lower product carbon footprint compared with leading competitor grades using ruthenium-based carbide in the same application area, according to Sandvik Coromant.

“Performance and sustainability increasingly need to advance together,” Mason said. “GC1250 gives manufacturers a solution that supports secure, productive titanium machining while helping reduce the carbon footprint associated with their tooling.”

GC1250 is designed for roughing to semi-finishing applications in titanium alloys and is intended for wet machining. It is available across Sandvik Coromant’s CoroMill® shoulder, face, groove, high-feed and profile milling product ranges.

The launch also completes the company’s 1200-series grade chain, which Sandvik Coromant said covers all major workpiece material groups and provides access to its latest substrate and coating technologies across a range of machining applications.

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Weld Australia has announced it has joined the Additive Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (AMCRC) as an Associate Partner, linking Australia’s welding and fabrication industry with a $57.5 million Australian Government-backed research initiative focused on advanced manufacturing, skills development and domestic production capabilities.

According to Weld Australia, the partnership will draw on its expertise in welding engineering, qualification, certification, training and standards development to support the adoption of metal additive manufacturing across industries including defence, maritime, infrastructure, resources and energy.

Weld Australia said the AMCRC brings together more than 70 industry, research and government partners through the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program. The centre has 16 collaborative projects underway across four research programs.

“Additive manufacturing is welding’s next chapter,” said Weld Australia CEO Geoff Crittenden.

“Technologies like wire arc additive manufacturing are built on the same metallurgy, the same processes and the same skills our members have spent their careers mastering.”

Crittenden said the partnership would help Australian welders and fabricators participate in the development of additive manufacturing technologies, rather than remain outside the emerging field.

Weld Australia said the collaboration would also create opportunities for its members, including regional small and medium-sized enterprises, to access collaborative research and development projects, research partners and training initiatives.

“For our members, this is a door into a $57.5 million innovation ecosystem,” Crittenden said. “A fabricator in regional Australia with a good idea—a better way to repair a component, a smarter way to build a part—now has a pathway to the researchers, the funding and the expertise to turn that idea into a commercial reality.”

AMCRC managing director Simon Marriott said Weld Australia’s knowledge of materials, processes, standards and skills development would support the centre’s work as metal additive manufacturing moves into production applications.

Weld Australia said the partnership was intended to strengthen Australia’s ability to translate research into domestic manufacturing capability and practical industry outcomes.

The two organisations are already working on shared industry initiatives. Weld Australia said the AMCRC would support its National Manufacturing Summit in Adelaide in June 2027, while it is encouraging members to attend the Additive Manufacturing Forum 2026 in Adelaide on 28–29 October.

Crittenden said the collaboration would bring industry, researchers and government together to help ensure products, including defence components and critical infrastructure, could be designed, manufactured, verified and repaired in Australia.

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The Queensland Government is funding training and assessment to help experienced workers in manufacturing, engineering and automotive industries gain formal trade qualifications, as part of a program aimed at addressing skills shortages across the state.

The Tradie Skills Recognition program will fund training and assessment for almost 2,400 Queenslanders across 43 trade qualifications, covering light and heavy automotive, engineering and manufacturing, personal services and hospitality.

According to the Queensland Government, eligible workers will receive a free recognition of prior learning assessment to identify any remaining training required for a formal qualification. The government will subsidise the remaining training, potentially reducing the time needed to complete an apprenticeship or traineeship.

The program is intended to help experienced workers qualify for more specialised roles while supporting businesses to address workforce gaps and increase capacity.

Minister for Finance, Trade, Employment and Training Ros Bates said recognising existing skills could help strengthen the state’s workforce.

“Tradie Skills Recognition will help fast-track formal qualifications by recognising the skills that Queenslanders have built, changing lives and boosting productivity for employers in our priority industries,” Bates said.

More than 20 registered training organisations will deliver the program, with TAFE and other training providers encouraged to work with employers and industry groups to identify eligible workers.

Construction Skills Queensland will separately support hundreds of experienced workers to gain formal qualifications across 17 construction trades.

Construction Skills Queensland chair Sue-Ann Fresneda said recognising existing experience was important as the industry prepared for a significant pipeline of work.

“When more workers hold recognised qualifications, the benefits extend well beyond the individual. Employers gain confidence in the capability of their workforce, industry productivity is strengthened, and Queensland is better positioned to meet future construction demand with a skilled and job-ready workforce,” Fresneda said.

Motor Trades Association of Queensland chief executive Rod Camm said the program could also expand the pool of qualified mechanics and reduce delays for motorists seeking vehicle servicing.

The Queensland Government said the initiative forms part of its efforts to address skills shortages and strengthen the state’s workforce. Further details about eligibility and funded training are available through the Tradie Skills Recognition program.

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