Month / Sep 2018

by brandsa2018

There’s a new way to shop local with Shop South Australia

One online place where South Australian gin, chocolate, wine, jewellery, skincare, clothing and homewares can all be found? We know. Legendary idea.

Brand South Australia is proud to launch the new look of its online marketplace, Shop South Australia, in celebration of the abundance of talented makers and producers we have right here in SA.

The overhauled marketplace is home to a collection of more than 300 local goodies and gifts from over 65 brands.

You’ll recognise a few, from the legendary Fruchocs makers Robern Menz and chocolate heroes Haigh’s Chocolates, to the warm and snuggly woollen quilt and pillow makers, Mini Jumbuk.

Other brands include Ambleside Distillery from Hahndorf, McLaren Vale’s Fox Creek, fashionista Naomi Murrell, botanical beauty company Yard Skincare, and East End Flower Market.

There are goodies and services for her, him, the home, kids, babies and everyone in between.

Just a few of the goodies that can be found on Shop South Australia.

Shop South Australia is a product aggregation site, allowing users to browse for local products and services before being prompted to purchase directly from the vendor’s website, ensuring profits remain with the maker.

Brendan Carter, owner of Gumeracha’s Applewood Distillery and wine label Unico Zelo, says the marketplace will help grow awareness of the great products that hail from SA.

“To have our meticulously crafted products sitting alongside some of the best in the state is a brilliant opportunity,” he says.

The local shopping ethos of Shop South Australia aligns with Brand South Australia’s popular I Choose SA program, which encourages South Aussies to support local jobs by buying from local businesses, retailers and suppliers.

After something special? Visit Shop South Australia and don’t forget to use the #shopsouthaustralia hashtag on social media when snapping your purchases!

Shop South Australia is home to a unique collection of over 300 South Australian gifts and goods from more than 70 local makers & producers. Choose local and Shop South Australia.

[logooos_saved id=”32128″]

by brandsa2018

Top 15 Regional Showcase finalists announced

We brought you the story of the outback cop and her gang of joeys, seaside bakeries and teenage entrepreneurs.

More than 100 of our 2018 Regional Showcase stories, written by our pool of regional journalists and shared here on Brand SA News, have uncovered tales of success, creativity, and overcoming diversity.

Now we bring you the Top 15 Regional Showcase articles, decided with the help of you – the general public – as well as program sponsors, local councils and Regional Development Australia (RDA).

All pockets of regional South Australia have been covered, from far north in the outback down to the Fleurieu, over to the east on the Limestone Coast and stretching to the west on the Eyre Peninsula.

The Top 15 stories are now in the running to win one of three 2018 Regional Showcase awards, announced at an annual celebration evening on October 26 at The Bend Motorsport Park in Tailem Bend.

One of the accolades, the People’s Choice Award, has been decided by your votes – 5500 of them – throughout the month of August.

The Business and Community awards judged by program sponsors, local councils and the RDA, will also be announced on the night.

Brand South Australia CEO Karen Raffen says this year’s program is shaping up to be another success.

“The number of votes received shows that people are passionate about the great work happening in our regions,” she says.

Tickets to the celebration evening are on sale now. Visit www.regionalshowcase.live.

TOP 15 REGIONAL SHOWCASE FINALISTS

Max Cranes

Port Augusta-based business Max Cranes is reaching new heights with a move to welcome the largest telescopic crane in the southern hemisphere to its fleet.

The mobile crane will allow the Upper Spencer Gulf business to expand its capabilities in construction and maintenance of wind towers.

Max Cranes, co-founded by Mark Kuhn in 2002, has experienced upward growth in its workforce in the last 18 months as the infrastructure, mining, energy and resource sectors in SA surge forward.

Read the story.

Max Cranes Brinkworth Progress Association

This Mid North community group has worked hard in recent years to beautify the sleepy town of Brinkworth, raising money for the upgrade of visitor amenities, the town hall, camping grounds, playgrounds and walking trails.

Brinkworth had a population of 401 people in 2006, plummeting to just 188 in 2011, before creeping back up to 285 in 2016. Could it be the efforts of local volunteers drawing people back in? Read the story.

Carolyn’s Chemo Caps

Strathalbyn woman Carolyn Mugford is behind Carolyn’s Chemo Caps, special headwear for women who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy.

In the past five year’s she and her team of volunteers have made and delivered 10,000 chemo caps to oncology units in hopsitals across SA and VIC.

Carolyn made her first chemo cap in 2011 to hide her bald and sensitive scalp while undergoing cancer treatment herself. Read the story.

C3 Church Adelaide Hills

The Hahndorf Christkindlmarkt, run by the C3 Church Adelaide Hills, has drawn 90,000 visitors to the old German town’s main street to enjoy a European Christmas market atmosphere.

Now in its seventh year, the Christkindlmarkt held every December is run by volunteers. Read the story.

Clare Valley Enterprises

Clare Valley and Barossa Enterprises is the largest regional employer of people with disabilities, with its workers constructing custom made wooden labelled boxes for the wine industry.

Now the Clare Valley side of the business is looking to double its output and its workforce, following the opening of a new workshop there. Read the story.

Cowell Electric

Eyre Peninsula business Cowell Electric has managed power station and distribution networks for decades, providing thousands of customers in more than a dozen remote towns with electricity.

Cowell Electric has gone through ups and downs in its time, but in 2016 celebrated a major win – a $20m State Government contract to supply electricity within the APY Lands.

Recently, it was reported that the business has been taken over by local engineering and construction group Ahrens with managing director Sue Chase leaving the company for which she had helped create new fortunes. Read the story.

Goolwa Bakery

The Goolwa Bakery on the Fleurieu Peninsula is chasing new ventures by preparing to export its pies and pasties to Asia.

Owner Ben Hage will send batches of pepper pies and pastries to Singapore in 2019, and is also in discussions with a Singaporean grocery retailer.

It’s a big move for the country town bakery which has fed hungry locals and tourists in Goolwa for 105 years.

Read the story. 

Flinders Machinery in Booleroo Centre has diversified its services.

Flinders Machinery

This family-owned business in Booleroo Centre in the state’s Far North is striving to help fire up the local economy by expanding its services and supporting job creation.

While two mechanic workshops and two bank branches have shut their doors in the past five years, Flinders Machinery has helped pick up the slack, extending its workshop to allow for servicing of the town’s vehicles.

It also takes on a small number of apprentices. Read the story.

Hafeezullah Haidari

Naracoorte man Hafeezullah Haidari runs a small Indian restaurant in Naracoorte. He came to Australia in 2013 after fleeing persecution in Pakistan.

He has rebuilt his life in the South East, and aside from running the restaurant, he gives back to the community that took him in by cooking free meals for the local CFS during bushfires, and also trains local students in hospitality.

Read the story.

Little Local Co

The Little Local Co coffee shop in Tailem Bend has finally brought good coffee and homemade baked treats to the transforming town.

Run by Amy and Neil Chinsami, the couple are preparing to open a second Little Local Co establishment along the main highway soon.

They draw inspiration on their Aboriginal and Fijian backgrounds, incorporating ingredients such as wattle seed from the Coorong and Raukkan areas into their cold brew. Read the story. 

Amy and Neil Chinsami of Little Local Co. Photo by Glenn Power.

Paulett Wines

Paulett Wines in the Clare Valley established its Bush DeVine Café and planted a native sensory bush garden to create a point of difference.

The family-owned business not only knows how to make a good drop, but they also incorporate native bush tucker produce into the café’s dishes.

The extension of their business cafe has also allowed them to support youth employment. Read the story.

Ryde Clothing

Renmark teenager Nathan Woodrow runs his own clothing label, Ryde Clothing, inspired by his love for skating, mountain biking, and wake boarding.

It took one magazine interview for word to get out about his label a few years back and now Nathan has sold more than 1000 units across the country.

He sketches the designs himself before screen printing them onto fabric from his home studio – a shipping container in the backyard. Read the story.

Renmark entrepreneur and streetwear designer Nathan Woodrow.

Susan Pearl

Susan Pearl from the Far North town of Blinman is an example of selflessness at its best.

Susan is the historic copper town’s first responder, meaning that if there is an accident or medical emergency, she’s the one on scene until an ambulance crew arrives.

Susan is also rostered on in Hawker and Port Augusta, and splits her time between the medical services and running tours at the Blinman Heritage Mine. Read the story.

Tumby Bay Progress Association

The Tumby Bay Progress Association celebrated the unveiling of a stunning artwork painted on the town’s giant grain silos in April this year.

Painted by Argentinean artist Martin Ron over five weeks, the mural has become a tourist attraction and joins a number of other silo artworks that have recently popped up across SA and VIC.

The progress association ran the project, officially launched in conjunction with the Colour Tumby Art Festival. Read the story.

Tumby Bay locals gather with Martin Ron at the silo mural. PHOTO: Robert Lang Photography.

Senior Constable Tiffany Greig

Senior Constable Tiffany Greig is stationed at the most remote police station in SA, 1200km from Adelaide in the red sandy town of Murputja in the APY Lands.

It’s not unusual to spot a rescued joey in the back seat of her patrol vehicle, as Tiffany takes in injured wildlife and is also followed around by a pack of cautious yet friendly wild dingoes.

Tiffany is also a bit of social media star with thousands of Instagram followers and once appearing on Channel 10’s The Project. Read the story.

We’re still on the hunt!

Just because the Top 15 has been announced doesn’t mean our story gathering is finished!

Regional Showcase is ongoing and we’re on the lookout now for more cracking regional yarns for inclusion in next year’s program.

Got an idea? Click on the link below to put forward your story suggestion.

Got a good story? Nominate a story from your region.
Click here to nominate >>

These inspiring regional stories are made possible by:

Major Partner[logooos_saved id=”5491″]Program Partners

[logooos_saved id=”29687″]

Header image courtesy of SATC, John Montesi, scenery along RM Williams Way, Clare Valley.

by brandsa2018

Norseld drives world-first diamond-like carbon coating solution

Medical laser company Norseld has established what it believes is a world-first method for creating a thin diamond-like carbon coating at room temperature.

The Adelaide CBD business has been developing the revolutionary thin film coating using its laser platform CoolDiamond DLC for future use in the defence and aerospace industry.

Norseld managing director Peter Shute says the company’s industrial laser is used to create the film at room temperature and is able to be coated onto any material including silicon and plastic.

The coating solution is designed to withstand corrosion, abrasion, scratching, sand, salt and oil, making it a sound choice for the military and defence industry.

Peter says other methods to create diamond-like coatings have existed for some time but were only able to be produced under extremely high temperatures.

“What we do is use our industrial laser to create the film at room temperature,” he says.

“Because our industrial laser is scalable, we can scale that (coating) to a very large extent, and then you can start to coat things like big parts of aeroplanes that you can’t put in high temperature environments.”

A single layer of DLC provides protective properties and anti-reflective performance.

“Nobody else can do this because there is no other scalable industrial laser of this type in the world.

“From a research point of view people have been using lasers to create diamond films for many years, but they are very small scale and slow and not able to be commercialised.

“Our industrial laser has this very unique capability of scaling up.”

Peter says the defence industry was an “obvious choice” for CoolDiamond DLC to target and that the company is currently trialling the film solution with a number of defence primes (major defence companies).

“There is a nice fit with the fact that we’re located in South Australia and that a number of primes are based here, there is so much going on,” says Peter, who has a background in medical devices and orthopaedics.

SA is considered the defence state of Australia, particularly since securing the majority of works within the Federal Government’s $90 billion naval shipbuilding program.

“Defence is a bit like the medical device industry in that it’s ultra controlled with many regulations … we (Norseld) are a medical device manufacturer primarily, so we can slip straight over into the mindset of what is required for the defence industry.

“So that is an advantage in that respect as well.”

The diamond-like carbon coating also holds potential for the world of retail eyewear, including sunglasses and ski goggles, as well as the medical devices industry.

“Luxottica, the world’s biggest sunglass maker, is interested in being able to coat on plastic for wear protection,” Peter says.

“The other thing is diamond-coated medical implants like pacemakers and stents and anything else that floats in the body. The body doesn’t reject diamond because it sees it as one.

“As you start to think about what might be possible, your mind boggles.”

Peter says the advanced manufacturing solution is still in implementation stages and is in the process of being “scaled up”.

Norseld was established in Adelaide more than 30 years ago, growing to design, manufacture and export laser systems to 30 different countries.

It has 20 staff and exports 90% of its products which include laser platforms used in the medical industry.

Peter says SA is a leader in Industry 4.0 and is renowned for its leading-edge advanced manufacturing solutions.

“I think we’ve become very good at understanding where our strengths lie and capitalising on them,” he adds.

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

Local produce an inspiration for sweet success

Seasonal produce has that something extra. Extra sweetness, extra crunch, extra flavour.

And when you hand craft it into a delicious filling and cover it in quality chocolate – well, that is something extra special.

Alex Crawford, aka The Sugar Man, is doing just that – creating hand-crafted chocolate bars in the Adelaide Hills with fillings which take inspiration from local, seasonal ingredients.

Think apple pie flavours with crisp Pink Lady apples and pieces of pie crust covered in 34% white chocolate, or a peanut butter filling using locally ground peanuts and a pinch of Murray River pink salt, encased in single origin Ghana milk chocolate.

Alex, who closed his wholesale patisserie business late last year, has always been a lover of local, seasonal food.

However, taking this philosophy to a range of chocolate bars is certainly something new.

Have you seen The Sugar Man? Photo by Meaghan Coles.

Alex is creating new bars each season, being inspired by the produce that is available in the Adelaide Hills and wider areas.

“The Pink Lady apples have been sourced from fourth-generation apple growers in the Adelaide Hills,” he says.

“I have also just released an Espresso Martini flavour using Espressocello from Applewood Distillery at Gumeracha and locally roasted coffee beans from Caffiend in Hahndorf.

“The espresso filling is covered with a Mexique 66% dark chocolate which has bitter and fruity notes. It took a little while to find the right chocolate to cover this one, but now that I have it, the balance is perfect.”

The Sugar Man bars are made to order, so when you buy a bar you can be sure that it was produced in the very recent past.

Depending on the filling, the chocolate bars have a best before date of around two to three months.

The Espresso Martini chocolate made with Espressocello from fellow Hills business Applewood Distillery. Photo by Britt Natolo.

One of the foundation ingredients for the chocolate bars is butter, and Alex sources his from The Dairyman in the Barossa Valley.

“It is superb butter,” Alex says.

“It is churned and handmade in small batches from the cream of grass fed Jersey cows. I am lucky to be surrounded by such talented and hardworking producers who take pride and interest in their work. It makes my job a lot easier.”

Some of the flavours Alex has created so far include Fairy Bread, Coffee and Doughnuts, Sticky Date Pudding and Orange Marmalade on Toast.

The Apple Pie chocolate is made using Pink Lady apples, pie crust and white chocolate. Photo by Britt Natolo.

The marmalade flavour was created using oranges from Alex’s grandmother’s tree, with sourdough bread from Dough bakery.

“It is all about balance of texture and flavours,” Alex says. “The ratios have to be right.”

And just like with all artisan pursuits, there are no shortcuts.

“Chocolate is temperamental,” Alex says.

“It takes time and patience to complete each step, but people are going to buy the product, so it has to be perfect.”

The Sugar Man chocolate bars are available at Fred Eatery, Aldgate, The Smelly Cheese Shop, Adelaide Central Markets and Banana Boys, Mitcham.

An online store and dedicated retail outlet will be appearing soon – stay tuned.

Like this story? Nominate a story from your region.
Click here to nominate >>

These inspiring regional stories are made possible by:

Major Partner[logooos_saved id=”5491″]Program Partners

[logooos_saved id=”29687″]

by brandsa2018

Inside Adelaide’s laneways: Gresham Street

We recently kicked off a series here on Brand SA News to explore the hidden gems of our city – the laneways of Adelaide.

They are the veins of the CBD, pulsating with life and energy, and the place that many businesses – including bars, cafes and restaurants – call home.

Exploring these hidden locations has become a favourite pastime of locals and visitors alike, so we thought it timely to start casting a spotlight on each of them.

First we explored and brought you the best of our west end friend, Bank Street.

Next up: Gresham Street.

Gresham Street may not be the most famous of Adelaide’s laneways, but it’s the go-to location for locals in the know.

Connecting North Terrace to Hindley Street, it’s home to a few key hot spots to eat, drink and play, as well as some striking artwork by one of Adelaide’s best-known street artists.

Let’s take a stroll down Gresham Street and discover what it has to offer…

La Buvette is a slice of Paris in Adelaide.

La Buvette Drinkery

This chic wine and aperitif bar is a little bit of Paris in the heart of Adelaide.

Understated yet sophisticated, it lives up to its name (‘La Buvette’ loosely translates to a bar you frequent for wine and snacks with friends).

The wine list has both local and French natural varieties and the menu features authentic specialty French bites.

Bibliotheca is a bar for book worms.

The Bibliotheca Bar and Book Exchange

Books and booze – could there be a better combination?!

The Bibliotheca Bar and Book Exchange is a small European-style bar focusing on spirits from around the globe, classic cocktails and books.

Lots of books. Find a cosy spot and curl up with a cheese board or charcuterie and enjoy a chapter or two.

This laneway watering hole is all about moonshines, blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll.

Mississippi Moon

Created as a homage to the old-world dive bars of south-west America, Mississippi Moon offers a variety of premium spirits, beers and wines.

Its strong southern Americana feel carries all the way through from the décor to the specialty cocktail list – moonshines, whiskeys and sours – and the blues, jazz and old rock ‘n’ roll music played.

A childhood pastime can be revisited at Empire Pool Lounge.

Empire Pool Lounge

Having recently moved from its previous location of 17 years in the west end, Empire Pool Lounge now calls number 2 Gresham Street home.

Combining both social and competitive play with great music in a relaxed atmosphere, Empire Pool Lounge is something of an Adelaide institution.

With areas for hire, Empire is perfect for after work drinks, parties or simply meeting up with friends.

Vans the Omega brings colour to the streets.

Street art by Vans the Omega

Internationally renowned street artist and Adelaide local, Vans the Omega, was commissioned by Splash Adelaide – an initiative from the Adelaide City Council – to make lesser known pockets of the city more vibrant.

And so, Gresham Street was chosen as the location for this portrait of Adelaide fashion and lifestyle blogger, Sonia Bavistock (AKA Sonia Styling) … yes, me!

Quite the privilege to have been painted by one of our state’s most talented artists and immortalised on the side of a building along Gresham Street.

Header image courtesy of SATC, featuring La Buvette and Bibliotheca.

Sonia Bavistock is a fashion and lifestyle blogger and also has her own social media management and copywriting business. Sonia is passionate about all things South Australia and can often be seen dining out with a glass of wine in hand.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

Inside the high-tech manufacturing at beverage icon Bickford’s Australia

As most of Bickford’s 180 Salisbury based staff are home at night sleeping, a squad of five driverless forklifts quietly traverse the distribution warehouse preparing for the morning’s deliveries.

They follow instructions uploaded to a computer system during the day to ensure the correct products, among some 400 made by the South Australian drinks business, are waiting at the loading dock.

“We have a software program that allows us to track each item by location, the automatic guided vehicles will put away stock in designated locations, then they can pick up stock from those locations and we can track every aspect including use by dates,” supply chain manager Darren Wittenberg says.

When the automatic guided vehicles were bought for the Salisbury facility in 2012 the company was one of the first in the state to incorporate the technology into its production and distribution system.

Now the company that sold Bickford’s these vehicles brings potential new clients along to show how effectively they operate.

Automated guided vehicles make their way around the Bickford’s warehouse.

In fact, Darren and commercialisation manager Shane Houghton are often conducting tours of the pristine and highly efficient production lines and warehouse that is family owned and overseen by Bickford’s Group chief Angelo Kotses.

It’s surprisingly quiet inside the vast building where five different production lines ensure the company’s juices, cordials and alcohol products are bottled and packaged.

Among them is the iconic Bickford’s Lime Juice Cordial that helped make the company a household name and, in 2006, was recognised by the National Trust of South Australia as a Heritage Icon.

A PET packaging and filling plant is able to blow, decorate, fill and pack a range of still and hot plastic bottles, while other sections of the facility label, wrap and pack bottles for distribution to customers all over the world.

“Over the past 10 years, the business has become very complex,” Darren says.

“It has grown through acquisitions of brands and assets and they have all come into the Bickford’s Group family, in order to coordinate that growth we have had to put new equipment and systems in place so it’s streamlined.

“One day we will be running water, cordial, juices and later in that day it may switch over to beer, wine or spirits.”

Bickford’s Australia is one SA company that has taken on advanced manufacturing processes to improve capabilities.

As a result, the group that owns both Bickford’s beverages and Vok, the alcohol beverage unit of the business, has aimed to keep its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility it moved into during 2005, ahead of the curve.

Commercialisation manager Shane Houghton says it’s vital to have efficient systems.

Its production lines can be quickly cleaned and switched to alternate drinks for bottling – while the automatic forklifts transfer products from the production shed and into the warehouse using a cutting edge software program.

“Effectively we don’t need to stock-take any more, our warehouse management system has 100% stock accuracy,” Shane says.

The vehicles stop if sensors pick up movement ahead and if they aren’t working, drive themselves back to battery charging stations around the warehouse.

This embracing of advanced manufacturing technologies is an impressive vision for one of the nation’s oldest brands, founded more than 175 years ago.

The Bickford’s group has also invested in sterile filtration technologies, meaning it can produce a number of products free of preservatives that do not need to be pasteurised.

Bickford’s Group marketing manager Chris Illman is a proud supporter of I Choose SA.

“As a beverage company, a vital ingredient in all our products is water,” according to company statements.

“Naturally, purity is supremely important so we invested in a sophisticated water treatment plant that uses reverse osmosis technology. Before being used in our products all water passes through a series of filters to remove the impurities.”

The group also owns a $25m purpose built manufacturing facility, the 5000 tonne crush Step Road winery in Langhorne Creek on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Other assets include the 23rd Street Distillery in Renmark, the Beenleigh Distillery in Queensland, Pomegranates Australia in the Northern Mallee and the Beresford Estate luxury function centre and tasting pavilion, nestled among 28ha of super-premium vineyards at McLaren Flat.

Staff based at Bickford’s Salisbury headquarters and production site in northern Adelaide are equipped with the latest in ordering programs, with the sales team using tablets and iPads for direct ordering.

“We are always looking at ways to improve, whether it be through programming or engineering, we never stop at the status quo and say that’s how we do it now, “ Darren says.

“It’s about working smarter not harder, if you don’t it means more costs and we want to be the most cost effective producer out there so we can be competitive not just to imports coming in but also exporting to other countries.”

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Industry in focus: Advanced Manufacturing

Throughout the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

As SA transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

Advanced manufacturing at the centre of our future opportunities

As South Australia transforms away from traditional manufacturing processes, innovative and sophisticated products and services are taking their place, creating new jobs and investment opportunities for the state.

Advanced manufacturing – the process of designing, building, integrating and sustaining innovative technologies for new and improved products – is an industry underpinning SA’s future by providing access to research and development.

For the month of September, the state’s advanced manufacturing industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of Brand South Australia’s successful I Choose SA campaign.

Brand SA News will bring you a collection of articles that delve into the success of businesses progressing in emerging technologies such as photonics, nanotechnology, additive manufacturing, advanced materials and robotics.

Each month we’ll also bring you I Choose SA ambassadors who will share their triumphs, world-class innovations and thorough knowledge in their chosen fields.

This month we welcome I Choose SA ambassador Mark Fusco, founder and managing director of Adelaide-based consultancy, Advanced Focus, which is helping high tech businesses to “see the future”.

We’ll also deliver news from medical laser company Norseld, which has produced an Australian-first diamond-like carbon coating at room temperature using its laser platform CoolDiamond DLC.

The ground-breaking technology is creating opportunities for the state’s defence and aerospace industry, protecting equipment from high velocity airborne particles, seawater, engine fuels, oils and high humidity.

A robotic machine welds metal fasteners.

Aside from defence, other sectors including, software and simulation, medical devices and assistive technologies are a big part of the industry.

Our medical device manufacturers are creating products used in the best laboratories and surgeries in the world, from a gadget that removes the need for x-rays during orthopaedic surgery to technology using light to treat sleep apnoea and jet lag – it’s all happening right here.

Beyond the world of defence, medicine and additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing), more unsuspecting sectors like the food and beverage processing and packaging industry are benefiting from our technical skills base.

First up we bring you the story of longstanding local beverage manufacturer Bickford’s, which has transformed its bottling practices into a highly sophisticated and robotic process that is inspiring to watch.

These businesses aren’t alone in what they do, they’re supported by infrastructure including fast internet networks set to deliver one of the fastest and cheapest internet services in the world.

They will no doubt also rely on our city’s three world-class universities to deliver the employees of tomorrow in a range of leading innovation areas.

Brand South Australia will be hosting an Industry Briefing where guests can see how businesses have applied advanced manufacturing at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct.

High school and university students are invited to freely attend and hear from Minister for Industry and Skills David Pisoni and two industry experts.

Register for the event here.

I Choose SA for Advanced Manufacturing stories are made possible by City of Salisbury:

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

The rise of Mt Gambier’s Metro Bakery and Café

Two years ago, Mt Gambier’s Metro Bakery and Café was named the nation’s best bakery/patisserie at the Restaurant & Catering Association Awards.

Toni Vorenas heard the whispers from the crowd as the unsuspecting squad of South Aussies walked on stage.

“Everyone was saying ‘What’s Metro? Where on earth is Mt Gambier?” she laughs.

Just ask any Limestone Coast local and they will point you in the direction of this main street eating institution in the heart of the Blue Lake city.

Expect queues; the business now takes up five premises in order to cater for demand.

Aside from the lure of the baked treats and goods, Metro Bakery is a vibrant and quirky hotspot for wall art.

“When we opened at the end of 2009, it was my husband Theo’s dream to have a little coffee shop,” Toni says.

“We started from scratch and had no hospitality experience – Theo was a mechanic and I was a teacher – and we had a single room with one table, one coffee machine and five sandwiches on the menu.

“Now, we’ve expanded into the two shops beside us and one behind, added a bar, two commercial kitchens and an outdoor dining area.”

There’s also a second smaller venue, A Slice of Metro, at the eastern end of town, for customers on the go.

A former deputy principal, Toni counts many of her students among their 44 staff, but Metro has also attracted talent from much further afield, including three Filipino pastry chefs who have worked in Paris, Dubai and Sydney’s Star Casino.

Metro Bakery and Café owner Toni Vorenas with some of the delectable sweet treats.

“We advertised all over Australia for chefs without success, so then we turned to an immigration company,” Toni says.

“We are so lucky – they came with enormous skills and they are teaching them to our local kids.”

The Metro ethos is ‘one family’, and the staff are incredibly close. Toni and Theo have nurtured the sense of camaraderie with their strong focus on wellbeing.

“Last year we paid for yoga lessons, and this year we funded 10 weeks of boot camp; it’s not just about knock-off drinks, and that’s the old teacher in me,” Toni says.

“They have become one another’s closest friends.”

Desserts almost too good to eat. Photo by Frank Monger.

The sense of family extends to the customers, many of whom visit daily for a coffee fix, meal or take-away sourdough loaf.

Metro is the regular meeting spot for book clubs, park runners, mothers’ groups and live music fans, with a growing number of performers stopping by on their travels from Melbourne to Adelaide.

They all contribute to the Metro vibe, which Toni and Theo sum up by the Greek word ‘Kefi’.

It’s a vibe so powerful that many staff, including Toni, have the word tattooed on their skin, such is their devotion to this magnetic place they have created.

“Kefi means spirit and passion for life – that moment when you let go of everything that isn’t important and embrace everything that is – family, life, love, and joy,” Toni says.

“That’s what we encourage here.”

Like this story? Nominate a story from your region.
Click here to nominate >>

These inspiring regional stories are made possible by:

Major Partner[logooos_saved id=”5491″]Program Partners

[logooos_saved id=”29687″]