@AuManufacturing Conversations

@AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski is a regular interview program, bringing you discussions with the men and women who are contributing to a critical part of the economy -- one that leads private sector R&D investment, employs well over a million Australians, and is just plain important to have around, as we’ve all been reminded in recent years. We hope to capture something of the variety to manufacturing, its place in the nation, its changing nature, and some of the personalities within it. From the boutique to the billion dollar, if it's manufacturing and it's Australian, then it likely matters to us. This podcast is an extension of the @AuManufacturing news and analysis website and the community around it, and aims to complement what's written online at www.aumanufacturing.com.au.

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@AuManufacturing Conversations

Episode 83 -- Steve Camilleri from SPEE3D

February 13, 2024 • @AuManufacturing • Season 3 • Episode 5

In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski, Steve Camilleri from SPEE3D shares his thoughts on our national crisis of confidence when it comes to manufacturing, their approach to raising capital, why he prefers to live and work in Darwin rather than Melbourne, and more.

You can download SPEE3D's new white paper Metal Additive Manufacturing -- The Opportunity in Heavy Industry -- here.

(Episode sponsored by SPEE3D)

Episode guide

1:13 – One way to look at SPEE3D is as a “shardware” company.
2:22 – Additive manufacturing allows for a blend of systems engineering, mechatronics, control and materials engineering.
3:52 – Many of the world’s most complex problems can be understood by looking at what is occurring with energy.
4:28 – The company is roughly doubling year-on-year, which is a positive but also presents its challenges.
5:30 – The Australian government can be good at supporting smaller businesses with speculative technology. Then you need big C capital, which isn’t abundant here.
7:00 – The riskiness of trying to grow organically.
8:48 – Roughly 50 machines sold so far, including seven for Ukraine in late-2023. “It’s an export market.”
9:56 – The emergence of defence as an important – though not the only – market for SPEE3D.
10:45 – The sad disappearance of foundry skills in the US, the UK and here.
13:20 – Cold spray. How new it is, the three classes it has evolved into, the level of maturity, and what’s currently being addressed.
15:30 – No real competitors in AM with cold spray.
16:26 – A whole handbook waiting to be written on metallurgical science and cold spray.
18:06 – A lot of the focus currently is about making the process more accessible.
19:18 – Why the idea that everything will be 3D printed is incorrect, and that established production methods have a long future ahead of them.
21:06 – The economics of adding value to ores such as bauxite and what problems need solving.
23:15 – The crisis of confidence in manufacturing here and why advanced manufacturing can solve that.
25:00 – The attitude Australians bring to innovation based on professionalism mixed with irreverence, and why we should think more highly of it.
26:35 – Groing from an Australian to an international company.
28:04 – Camilleri’s approach to innovation, lessons from work with the Australian Army, and some thoughts on how to orient your R&D efforts.
30:55 – The technical impressiveness of certain kinds of additive manufacturing can also be distracting.
32:35 – Why Camilleri prefers to be based in Darwin rather than Melbourne, and the northern city’s “Oak Ridgey”-ness.

Relevant links

The Australian AM business operating in a category of one
SPEE3D joins EOS on the Ukraine battlefield
Land Forces 2022 – The curse and the benefit of being Australian
SPEE3D breaks into US Navy submarine field
Land Forces 2022 – 3D printing to revolutionise logistics at the front
SPEE3D successfully prints parts at sea for US Navy – report

People on this episode

Brent Balinski

Host