This month’s Penrith Made feature is focused on one of the world’s most sustainable packaging materials – glass. You’ll learn about a local company with a long history of making bottles and jars and discover local businesses who fill them with their wares.

Did you know Penrith is home to the largest glass manufacturing plant in Australia?

That’s right, O-I Glass Penrith produces a staggering 4 million bottles and jars a day from its 11 hectare facility in Andrews Road.  Read more.

Continuing the tradition of Penrith made, a number of local producers use OI glass to take their products to markets. Casey’s Brewery is one of these and has seen their business go from strength to strength. Another local brewer, Rusty Penny Brewery serves their wares in glasses fresh from the tap although customers can also take their favourites home in glass bottles.
 
Sun Masamune and OI glass are taking the locally made Go-Shu Australian Sake to the world, with 80% of their product sold overseas – a real export success. Read their story here. 

Penrith Council is always looking for ways to be more sustainable, including through its recent trial of “glassphalt”, a new and environmentally sustainable material for road surfaces.

Produced by local St Marys company State Ashphalt Services, glassphalt uses ground recycled glass in the paving mix instead of sand – reducing the cost of the material and reducing landfill.  Read more.

Blue Mountains Honey may have its roots (and a couple of hives) in Warimoo, but for most of its 38 year history, the business has been based in Penrith.

The business sources its glass jars and bottles from a local distributor and fills them with raw, unheat treated honey as well as jams, pickles and dressings. Read more. 

A major new industrial estate in Kemps Creek will bring more than 1,800 jobs to Penrith.
 
Goodman Group (Goodman) and Brickworks recently received DA approval from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment to start development of its 89-hectare Oakdale West Industrial Estate.
 
The $470 million development is the latest to be approved in the wider $3 billion Oakdale Industrial Estate and the newest approved in the Western Sydney Employment Area. Read more.

The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) recently hosted an inspiring workshop in collaboration with Western Sydney University (WSU). Held at the Penrith (Kingswood) campus’ Centre for Infrastructure Excellence, the workshop demonstrated how manufacturing and fabrication companies could diversify into the growing infrastructure sector.

AMGC National Director Michael Sharpe said the timely workshop explored the future of the Advanced Manufacturing sector – identified by Council and the Greater Sydney Commission as important for future jobs growth.

“The event included a tour of the innovative Centre for Infrastructure Excellence and featured Australia’s first Manufacturing Academy ,” Mr Sharpe said. Read more.

A partnership between the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Celestino will build research and development capacity in the West, and encourage a seamless connection between education, the community and business.

UTS Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Attila Brungs said: “Nowhere in the world, is there a model where a university, a property owner and developer like Celestino, and industry are designing an ecosystem from the ground up – one that allows people to learn at school through the workforce and all the way through their career. It’s a totally integrated approach.”

Under the agreement, the UTS will base its Centre of Innovation for Autonomous Mobility Services at the Sydney Science Park. The Centre will feature the alphaCabs project to provide an autonomous mobility service for the Science Park and drones as a service project – a world first to test fully autonomous drones in an urban environment. Read more.

As site preparations get serious at the Western Sydney International Airport site, skills take pride of place, visitors get a front row seat, designs for the terminal move forward and the development’s competitive advantage is spruiked.

Read more.

ACO Pty Ltd is celebrating 25 years of manufacturing in Australia – 15 of those years from its facility in Emu Plains.
The company was founded by the Alhmann family in 1994. Originally working from a small leased facility in Northmead its staff of less than 30 produced polymer concrete Polycrete© drainage channels and cable pits.

In 2004 the company bought its current 32,000sqm site in Emu Plains and hasn’t looked back. Read more.

Penrith Council will host a Futuremap Workshop for top level management of small to medium manufacturing enterprises at its Civic Centre on Thursday 24 October.

This free workshop will shine a light on leadership, strategy and innovation to help manufacturers think differently about the opportunities represented by emerging digital technologies and new business models. Read more.

At Penrith City Council we support and provide a wide range of services for the community. To do so we procure a large variety of goods and services across many categories.

Council encourage all organisations, especially local businesses, to answer quotations and tenders to have the opportunity to work with us and our new procurement policy actively supports local suppliers. Read more.

Evolve Housing’s mixed development property, Harts Landing at Thornton, recently received the Australian Housing Institute’s Leading Housing Development Project award.

Penrith Council worked closely with Thornton developer, Landcom, when planning the new community to ensure it offered housing diversity, including affordable housing.

The award highlighted Evolve’s success in delivering on that shared vision and creating high-quality social and affordable housing projects. Read more.