Day two of AMW 2025 placed a spotlight on resilience, innovation, and workforce, with thought leaders and researchers presenting strategies to build a stronger Australian manufacturing sector.
The morning began with a presentation by head of Industry Development and Policy at Ai Group, Luise McGrath, titled Reshaping Australian Manufacturing: Decarbonisation, Digital Transformation and Diversification. McGrath addressed the sector’s urgent need to embrace sustainable practices while leveraging digital technologies.
Shortly after, CEO of Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance (MISA), Sharon Robertson, delivered a talk on Future-Ready Workforce: Empowering Australian Manufacturing, highlighting the role of skills development and lifelong learning in ensuring the sector’s competitiveness.
In the afternoon, innovation took centre stage as professor Shankar Curamasamy, director, Business Development and Partnerships and Commercial Lead, Monash Innovation Labs, showcased how Monash is driving research and real-world industry collaborations through its innovation hubs.
“We were in a such a, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. Working with industry was a significant priority for us,” he said. “We went about creating an environment where industry partners can come there, have a discussion, be comfortable about being there and proceed with progress.”
“There was a significant shortage… nearly 33 per cent of 45 are currently in shortage, primarily engineering, ICT and detail. They had a lot of ideas, but they didn’t have the bespoke equipment for prototyping.
“We ended up investing about two to three million [in the] smart manufacturing platform… it enables you to experiment and allows us to bring industry, students, and academics together to solve problems.”
Director of the RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing, Andrey Molotnikov, followed with an insightful discussion on the role of metals in additive manufacturing and its potential to transform production methods across industries.
“Additive manufacturing is turning your feedstock material—cubic in powder or wire—into a functional part that can fulfill your requirements as an industry,” he said. “Additive manufacturing is still growing almost 20 per cent year to year—significantly higher than any other industry,” he said.
“Material selection continues to be a major point of research because not all materials can be directly transferred into additive manufacturing.
“We start seeing some wonderful things—like tailoring material properties on demand, something impossible in traditional manufacturing.”
The day concluded with field officer at MATES in Manufacturing, Scott Mackenzie, addressing the critical issue of mental health in manufacturing workplaces. Here, he shared initiatives designed to foster wellbeing across the sector.
Many attendees also took the opportunity to explore Electronex – The Electronics Design and Assembly Expo, which runs alongside AMW and provides insight into the latest developments in electronics manufacturing and supply chains.
Day two built on the momentum, diving deeper into the strategies required to future-proof Australian manufacturing. With powerful sessions on sustainability, workforce development, and advanced technologies, AMW 2025 is primed for an enthusiastic day three.
The AMW 2025 opening hours for the remainder of the week are:
- Thursday, May 8: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
- Friday, May 9: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
For those who have not already registered and wish to visit one of Australia’s premier manufacturing industry events you can register online at AMW.