Industrial Business, Manufacturing

Video puts advanced manufacturing in spotlight

Australia is perfectly positioned to take advantage of advanced manufacturing, so the Australian Advanced Manufacturing Council (AAMC) has partnered with the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) to produce a video tackling common misconceptions about the sector.

 

“The goal of this campaign is simple: spread awareness about the advanced manufacturing industry and encourage students to enter it,” the groups say.

After questioning a number of fairly confused people on Australian streets, the video turns to manufacturing industry experts to explain what advanced manufacturing is, and how we can benefit from it.

“Modern manufacturing has got nothing to do with labour costs,” Textor Technologies chairman Phillip Butler says. “Modern manufacturing is about innovation, No.1, and it’s very technology intensive.”

Cablex director of business development Heidi Krebs says anyone can make widgets but you will be competing against low-cost manufacturers.

“But if you look at a more advanced manufacturing opportunity,” she says, “then you’re going to survive and grow your business.”

Ai Group chief executive Innes Wilcox says Australia has a strong reputation in terms of what we can do with research and industry collaboration, and “we just need to really step it up”.

Butler backs this up by saying that “Australia as a nation is No.2 in the world with its ability to solve complex problems”, but is No.116 out of 147 when it comes to the ability to commercialise our work.

The AAMC’s John Pollaers sums it up in a nutshell.

“It’s very easy to look at manufacturing and say that the outlook is negative,” he says.” In fact, we’ve got 2,500 manufacturers in Australia who are operating in high-tech environments and doing exceptionally well.

“If we’re going to change the future of manufacturing in Australia we’ve got to change the way we think about it.”

The experts then give their thoughts on how we should be moving forward. Check out the video above … it’s well worth a look.

 

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