• Space company to launch headquarters at Lot Fourteen
• Partnered Health’s expands medical centre network
• Fleet Space Technology continues to grow
• New Advertising conference launches this month
• Timber framing firm builds better future

Space company to launch headquarters at Lot Fourteen

Supported by the government-funded South Australian Landing Pad program, Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) says it will hire around 10 to 15 people at a new Lot Fourteen HQ before increasing to more than 40 over the next three years.

After delivering Australia’s first commercial space launch for NASA, the company is entering the next stage of developing its Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory.

The expanding business is recruiting for a range of positions – including general manager, business development manager, digital and social specialist, and multiple roles in engineering and business support functions – with a majority being based in Adelaide.

Founded in 2015, ELA completed its third launch with NASA in July in the Northern Territory, where the company’s Arnhem Space Centre is located.

ELA executive chairman and group CEO Michael Jones said the Adelaide headquarters will support “high tempo space launch operations” at the Arnhem Space Centre.

“We intend to build strong working relationships with the local universities, and other space companies clustered in South Australia with a clear plan to foster emerging talent,” he said.

– Anisha Pillarisetty

Partnered Health’s expands medical centre network

Adelaide-based health group Partnered Health has acquired McIntyre Medical Centre and Para Hills Clinic in the northern suburbs – the company’s first medical clinics in South Australia.

The settlement took place on September 1, with both clinics previously operated by Australian Family Care Group.

Partnered Health managing director Steven Harvey said as a national organisation with its headquarters in Adelaide they were “thrilled to welcome the first two local primary care clinics to our group”.

“This takes our current network of clinics to 64, with further additions in coming months,” Harvey said.

“As one of the largest healthcare providers in the country, we bring the benefits of scale, but we always ensure the needs of our patients and health care team are front and centre.”

With the recent expansion of McIntyre Medical Centre, Partnered Health will use the additional space to extend the Priority Care Centre and accommodate an expanding range of health services such as radiology and allied health services.

Partnered Health, formerly Fullerton Health Australia, was established in 2013 and now cares for over four million patients across its national network.

– Katarina Bozic

Fleet Space Technology continues to grow

Adelaide company Fleet Space has unveiled a new 3D Printer at their expanded manufacturing facility in Adelaide.

The printer will eventually be used for the mass production of satellites and the company’s first fully 3D-printed satellite, Alpha, but will initially produce S-Band Antenna RF Patches, which are already in use in the company’s existing satellite constellations.

These antennas receive and transmit signals between low earth orbit satellite constellations and portals and modems on the ground.

The new 3D-printer uses direct metal printing (DMP) technology, in which a laser welds thin layers of metal powder to produce highly complex metal parts including aluminum and titanium.

Fleet Space Technologies CEO and founder Flavia Tata Nardini said the metal 3D printer, and the expansion of the Adelaide facility, showed the company’s commitment to domestic manufacturing.

“This is also reflected in our huge increase in staff numbers, from 34 in May 2021 to more than 80 today, almost tripling in size,” Nardini said.

“We’re a confident, growing business with our eyes firmly on the future,”

In December 2021, Fleet Space also announced its commitment to establishing a hyper factory in Adelaide’s $66 million Australian Space Park development, the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

– Brad Noske

New Advertising conference launches this month

The Adelaide Advertising and Design Club is holding its inaugural Annual Talks conference at the end of the month.

The AADC Annual Talks will take place across four locations on 29 September with the idea that attendees can stroll between locations and engage with each other as they walk between events. Locations include Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Zoo, Palace Nova Cinemas and Chateau Apollo in Adelaide’s East End.

There are four events scheduled for the day with speakers including Sam MacLeod, General Manager of Brand, Digital and Design for Coles, and Faycal ben Abdellaziz, Head of Brand for NAB.

Dr Nicole Hartnett, senior marketing scientist at UniSA’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, will discuss her research on what happens when big brands ‘go dark’ and stop advertising.

The AADC Annual Talks are supported by the Australian Marketing Institute, and the Certified Practising Marketer (CPM) Professional Maintenance Program. Every talk is CPM accredited and will earn attendees eight points of professional development as part the Professional Maintenance Program.

Tickets are available at the aadc.com.au website.

– Jim Plouffe

Timber framing firm builds better future

The XFrame phone booth.

The Tonsley based business XFrame utilises an interlocking plywood system that can then be used to construct shelters, office pods and other office furniture without the need of a single screw or nail.

With their success taking them overseas, XFrame has now begun to work with prisons in California to teach inmates basic manufacturing skills. The company launched in the United States in 2021.

Phone booths have been constructed allowing inmates to have private phone calls from XFrame structures.

The arrangement between the two parties allows for prisoners to manufacture, assemble, install and distribute, with XFrame simply providing them the ingredients and parts necessary to deliver that product.

With the design originating in 2017 in New Zealand before moving to its base at the Tonsley Innovation District in South Australia, XFrame utilises local products that can be assembled by any person purchasing it.

The company has continued to grow larger post-COVID since its product allows offices to easily be reconfigured without the need for costly renovations.

Using carbon-negative material, XFrame interlocks and clicks together to allow furniture to be moved, assembled and disassembled without much preparation.

Aiming to help change the building industry from a linear economy to a circular one, XFrame holds this idea of a circular economy as an underpinning to their every move.

The idea of reusable frames and eliminating unnecessary waste inspired inventor Ged Fench, who now serves as the company’s chief technology officer.

With an online store recently launching, XFrame is looking to make its services available to a wider population.

– Kurtis Eichler