Funding for smarter manufacturing

Swinburne University of Technology is part of an innovative new consortium that is set to make Victorian manufacturing more globally competitive, productive and green - the Victorian Direct Manufacturing Centre (DMC).

Direct manufacturing is a process of producing components straight from their source material in a layered manner rather than using conventional methods. The result is dramatic savings in labour, time, materials and energy, leading to less impact on the environment.

The process also offers the potential to produce parts from difficult-to-fabricate materials for advanced applications in aerospace, defence, mining, biomedical and automotive industries.

Established by the CSIRO, the DMC has been given a $3 million grant under Victoria’s Science Agenda Investment Fund for the Centre to support market-driven projects that develop science- and technology-based solutions.

The DMC will include:

• 10 Victorian manufacturing companies
• Swinburne University of Technology
• Deakin University
• CSIRO

The Victorian government funding will be matched with 50% cash and 50% in kind contributions by the industry partners, while CSIRO and the universities will contribute in kind over the two-and-a-half-year term of the grant.

To ensure the centre is focused on industry needs, Frontline Australasia, an innovative manufacturer, has been appointed as the lead industry partner.

Professor Syed Masood and Dr Yat Choi Wong from the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences at Swinburne are involved in collaborative research projects in DMC. For more information about the DMC, contact the Centre Director, Dr Mahnaz Jahedi, via email: mahnaz.jahedi@csiro.au.