Xefco takes plasma textile dyeing from Australian lab to global factory floor

Xefco takes plasma textile dyeing from Australian lab to global factory floor

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Backed by a $5M Federal Government grant, Geelong-based Xefco prepares to ship its first commercial Ausora® system to Indonesia — the world’s first plasma-based textile dyeing and finishing machine deployed at commercial scale

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GEELONG, VICTORIA, 30 APRIL 2026 — Xefco, an Australian technology company pioneering advanced manufacturing solutions for the global textile industry, today announced the shipment of its first commercial-scale Ausora® system to Indonesia — the first deployment of a waterless plasma textile dyeing machine at commercial scale anywhere in the world.

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The milestone is backed by a $4,999,122 grant from the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Program (IGP), awarded to support Xefco in manufacturing its Ausora® systems and commercialising technology that eliminates water dependency and wastewater treatment from the textile dyeing process — consuming 90% less energy than conventional wet dyeing methods and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 94%.

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“The existing water-intensive processes used to put colour and functional finishes on fabrics carry the highest cost and compliance burden in the textiles supply chain,” said Tom Hussey, CEO and Co-founder of Xefco. “That recognition from government reflects what we’re already seeing in the market — strong commercial demand, with twelve units already committed, and active installations underway in key manufacturing regions, including Indonesia and Vietnam.”

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A deliberate first market

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Indonesia is one of the world’s largest garment manufacturing hubs, with a textile industry employing more than 3.7 million people and supplying global fashion brands across the US, Europe, and beyond. It is also an industry under pressure to modernise: rising costs, tightening environmental regulations, and growing brand demand for supply chain transparency are forcing manufacturers to find new ways to compete — and opening the door for brands reconfiguring supply chains around resilience, responsiveness and efficiency. Ausora® is built precisely to solve these problems. 

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Xefco’s Indonesian launch partner is a major garment manufacturer supplying some of the world’s leading fashion brands — an early signal of the calibre of industry player the technology is attracting.

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The deployment marks a decisive transition for Xefco: from Australian R&D operation to a company deploying proprietary hardware into international manufacturing supply chains. Designed in a modular form, a single Ausora® segment processes up to 2.2 million metres of fabric per year. Under Xefco’s embedded manufacturing services model, Ausora® operates at cost parity with conventional processes — removing the capital barrier for factory partners and delivering critical operational benefits.

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Xefco provides on-the-ground technical support through a locally registered, Australian-owned Indonesian entity staffed by specialist engineers. The company has also established a presence in Vietnam to support future deployments in the pipeline, with further deployments to manufacturers in China and the United States also in progress.

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Inside Ausora®

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The Ausora® unit — roughly the footprint of a shipping container — runs fabric through a continuous roll-to-roll process. At the core of the Ausora® system is Xefco’s unique Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) technology that operates at atmospheric pressure. Visible as a soft purple glow, the process uses plasma to simultaneously embed and fix pigments into the fibres while depositing an ultra-thin coating that delivers high-performance functional effects, all in a single pass. Unlike competing waterless technologies, Ausora® works across all synthetic and natural fibre types, including cotton, nylon, polyester, and blends.

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“Twelve units are already commercially committed, and we have a strong pipeline beyond that,” said Hussey. The industry has made its position clear. Our focus now is building the manufacturing capacity to keep pace with demand.”

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Australian manufacturing, global reach

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The Ausora® technology was developed through applied research at Deakin University, and each unit is manufactured in Geelong, Victoria. Xefco’s 47-person team spans Australia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Canada. With a deployment target of 200 systems globally within five years, the company projects approximately 300 advanced manufacturing jobs in Geelong and around $200 million in domestic manufacturing expenditure.

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Backed by a strong investor base and government grant support, Xefco is scaling quickly to meet growing global demand. The company is exploring further funding opportunities in the second half of 2026, with the operational Indonesian deployment serving as a live proof point for prospective investors.

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Key figures at a glance

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• Delivering responsive, just-in-time production with significant operational benefits: one Ausora installation can replace a complex dyeing mill setup with 12+ machines and significant infrastructure complexity
• 97% reduction in chemical use, 90% lower energy consumption, 94% fewer greenhouse gas emissions
• 100% reduction in wastewater output
• 2.2M metres of fabric processed per Ausora® segment, per year — with modular design enabling output to scale well beyond this
• 12 units already commercially committed globally
• 200 systems targeted for global deployment within 5 years
• ~300 advanced manufacturing jobs projected in Geelong
• $200M projected domestic manufacturing expenditure
• $4,999,122 IGP grant from the Australian Government
• 600 billion metres of fabric produced each year globally — equivalent to 300,000 Ausora® segments