House Standing Committee tables report on developing advanced manufacturing

The Parliament of Australia has announced that the House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources yesterday tabled its report ‘Sovereign, smart, sustainable: Driving advanced manufacturing in Australia’.

“Manufacturing has been in decline in this country since the sixties,” said Rob Mitchell MP, Chair of the committee. “Now is the time to turn that around and set Australia on a course to becoming globally competitive in advanced manufacturing.

“The notion that Australian-made products cannot compete with foreign alternatives is now outdated,” he added. “With advanced manufacturing processes and techniques, particularly Industry 4.0 technologies, Australian manufacturing can be globally competitive — including on cost.

“We heard that Australian manufacturers are already succeeding in global markets in high value-added niches, where they can compete on R&D, quality, safety and trust rather than being two cents cheaper than the competition.”

The bipartisan report makes 10 recommendations designed to support manufacturers’ access to suitable investment capital, improve R&D commercialisation and industry–research collaboration, and to address workforce and skills shortages.

Recommendations include creating a National Advanced Manufacturing Commissioner, establishing government-owned common user facilities in innovation precincts and scaling up successful Industry 4.0 capability development programs for small and medium-sized businesses, which are the majority of Australian manufacturers.

A copy of the report can be found on the committee’s website.

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