One publication is pulling Australian manufacturing back into view.
Premcar was recently named by @AuManufacturing as one of Australia’s most innovative manufacturers.
In fact, our company was inducted into @AuManufacturing’s inaugural Top 50 list.
Talk about feeling proud.
This top 50 program is a wonderful initiative by @AuManufacturing and the Australian Manufacturing Forum. It highlights the work and achievements of leading Australian manufacturing firms. It’s also a reminder to focus on Australia’s abilities – and need – to make its own things.
These are valuable areas of focus.
Australia has a long history of manufacturing.
JA Holden making saddles in the 1850s.
RM Williams making boots in the 1930s.
Decades of new car manufacturing.
The advanced work of CSL (biotechnology), Visy (packaging), and Viva Energy (fuels).
The list goes on. Australia’s manufacturing CV is long.
It needs to be celebrated. It needs to be invigorated. It needs to grow.
Major economies like North America, Germany and Japan have long been synonymous with manufacturing. China joined their substantial ranks in recent decades.
“Just get them to make it.”
One effect of these vast-scale manufacturing nations is default thinking.
It’s simple to “just get them to make it”.
It’s often cheaper to “just get them to make it.”
It’s become a reflex response to “just get them to make it.”
There was a time when these countries weren’t the simplest, cheapest and obvious sources of manufacturing answers. But these countries slowly and consistently built their manufacturing bases and became the “go-to” places to get stuff made.
Good on them; they combined their advantages and today they reap enormous crops. These days we all rely on them for a big assortment of products.
This doesn’t mean, however, it will always be this way.
Getting a bigger piece of the pie
Can Australia mimic their manufacturing might in the future? Probably not.
But can we earn a larger share of the current global manufacturing pie? We certainly can.
Doing so will bolster our sought-after skills and support our economy. It’ll strengthen everything from national income to self-reliance to generational skills.
There’s no doubt our mineral exports are critical to our economy, but we can only sell those once. We can, however, mimic our northern hemisphere friends and combine our advantages – especially those offered by our mineral resources.
I’m writing this from Outback Australia where my team and I are testing yet another overseas new-car engineering and manufacturing project. We’ve developed this vehicle for an overseas company and they will soon sell it in their huge overseas market.
This company came to us for our specific experience and knowledge. They didn’t choose us because of lower prices, convenience or habitual thinking.
They went out of their way to work with us. That might sound like a brag but it isn’t. They need specific product-based advantages so they did their homework and chose us because of the exportable skills our company (and Australia) offers.
Peter Roberts, Brent Balinksi and the team at @AuManufacturing are well aware of this demand. They’re shining a light on it. This kind of attention and the wider focus it’s likely to bring is what Australia’s manufacturing sector needs.
Bernie Quinn – Engineering Director, Premcar Pty Ltd
About Premcar – Premcar Pty Ltd is a leading Australian vehicle engineering business that specialises in the automotive, defence and aerospace industries. For more than 25 years, global car-makers have made Premcar their go-to partner for the complete design, engineering and manufacture of niche-model new cars, full-scale new-vehicle development programs, and electric vehicle (EV) conversions and manufacturing. As the name behind more than 200,000 new cars and 55,000 new-vehicle engines, Premcar’s body of work is extensive and has delivered technical and sales success for major car brands from Europe, the USA, Japan, China and Australia. Visit premcar.au.
Follow Premcar on Instagram – @premcaraustralia
Follow Premcar on LinkedIn – @Premcar Pty Ltd
