Australia's Sydney Manufacturing Hub Opens, Focuses on Additive

The Sydney Manufacturing Hub is a new manufacturing-focused research facility in Australia that plans to work alongside the industry to deliver cutting-edge research and development in additive manufacturing (AM) and materials processing. The facility is located in the engineering precinct of the University of Sydney's Darlington campus.

The facility is reportedly geared to enable concept-to-production demonstration capabilities, including advanced pre- and post-processing of materials for faculty, students, small and medium-sized companies and larger companies to leverage metal 3D printing and advanced manufacturing.

The Hub provides capabilities for design, topological optimization, the 3D printing of metals, ceramics and polymers, as well as post-processing heat treatment, advanced characterization and more. The facility will also provide specialized consulting, fabrication activation and training to its industrial partners, providing both guided and autonomous access to the facilities for the purposes of testing, research and fabrication.

One such partner is General Electric subsidiary GE Additive, which entered into a strategic five-year agreement with the university in 2020 to advance Australia’s manufacturing capability.

The University of Sydney and GE Additive are collaborating on research and development topics around materials, with experimental work performed at the new facility.

Accommodating metal printing technologies from GE Additive, the Hub will serve as a technology demonstration center for GE Additive across Australia and New Zealand and host workshops, training and collaboration sessions for industry.

GE Australia Country Leader Sam Maresh says small to medium enterprises account for the majority of advanced manufacturing operators in Australia and are a priority for collaboration with the Hub. He comments, “This facility will support the collaboration of industry and researchers and is set to become a commercialization hub for new products and innovations across a range of advanced manufacturing industries.”