The Geelong-based company is moving from R&D to factory-scale deployment with a plasma dyeing system designed to cut water, energy and wastewater burdens from textile coloration.
Australian textile technology company Xefco has shipped its first commercial-scale Ausora system to Indonesia, in what the company describes as the world’s first commercial deployment of a waterless plasma textile dyeing machine. The move is backed by an Australian Government Industry Growth Program grant of A$4.99 million, awarded to support commercialisation and export scale-up of Ausora’s water-free dyeing and finishing technology.
A direct attack on wet-processing costs
Dyeing and finishing remain among the most resource-intensive stages in textile manufacturing, carrying heavy costs for water, energy, wastewater treatment, chemical compliance and buyer audits. Xefco says Ausora removes water use and wastewater discharge from the dyeing process while reducing energy consumption and chemical use. The company has claimed energy savings of about 90% and greenhouse-gas reductions of up to 94% compared with conventional wet dyeing methods.
Indonesia becomes the first test market
Indonesia was selected as the first commercial market because of its large garment manufacturing base, which Xefco says employs more than 3.7 million people and supplies major fashion brands. The launch partner has not been named, but is described as a major garment manufacturer serving global brands. The commercial test is significant: it places the technology inside a live export-oriented supply chain rather than a laboratory or pilot-only environment.
Modular hardware, global ambition
Each Ausora unit is manufactured in Geelong and uses plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition operating at atmospheric pressure. Fabric runs through the system in a continuous roll-to-roll process, with pigments embedded and fixed while functional coatings are applied in one pass. A single module is designed to process up to 2.2 million metres of fabric per year. Xefco says 12 units are commercially committed, with further deployments progressing in Vietnam, China and the United States.
The next test is manufacturing scale. Xefco is targeting 200 systems globally within five years, a plan it says could support about 300 advanced manufacturing jobs in Geelong and around A$200 million in domestic manufacturing activity.
