The ongoing uncertainty over the future of the Hazelwood power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley has raised the prospect that the ageing generator will be shut down in the near future.

WHEN Australia stops for the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, workers at a small manufacturing company in the Adelaide Hills will have more riding on it than just the office sweepstake.

Most of us use products made in China every day and are aware of its growing economic power as a factory to the world. But China intends to become a developed nation by mid-century and integral to this ambition is its intense focus on innovation.

Comprehensive international trade liberalisation is becoming ever more elusive, sparking action by the Export Council of Australia (ECA) to urge continued support for international agreements that serve too further liberalise trade between Australia and the rest of the world.

Moving manufacturing operations back home is in full swing in the US and UK, and is starting to happen here, as Alan Johnson reports.

For first time exporters, the thought of selling their products overseas can be daunting, but fortunately help is at hand, and it’s free. Alan Johnson reports.

Not too long ago, when Western CEOs pondered China’s fast-growing market and billion-plus potential customers, their eyes would fill with dollar signs. But these days, thoughts of China are more likely to elicit serious soul-searching, as some of the companies that eagerly dove into China have withdrawn.

By the end of next year, car manufacturers Mitsubishi, Ford, Holden and Toyota will all have largely exited Australian manufacturing, taking their assembly lines overseas where the cost of production is significantly lower. This will create a vacuum for 260 businesses that supply accessories and components to the Australian automotive sector.

Today’s innovative manufacturers are matching the individuality of their workshop forefathers to satisfy a demand for an ever more personalised product. This trend towards personalisation has already been seen in the retail industry and has the potential to accelerate sales to the next level, but those left behind will struggle, writes Bob Dunn, Country Manager, … Continue reading Making Sense of the Data →

Duties are imposed on products dumped in Australia, but the system catches some ‘good guys’ too, as Alan Johnson reports.

Malcolm Turnbull’s Innovation Agenda focused attention on startups and technology-driven innovation, but this is not enough to overcome the broader problems inhibiting innovation in Australia. Businesses may be looking to the government to ease red tape as a means to increase innovation but what’s really blocking innovation is the short-term view of senior executives, our research finds.

Mount Waverley’s GP Graders has helped reshape the way stone fruit and other produce is sorted around the world, introducing automation to an area that’s sometimes been reluctant to embrace it. Brent Balinski spoke to the company’s Director, Stuart Payne.

While the dollar has returned from its stratospheric journey, improving competitiveness with it, some of the damage done is not going to be reversed and this is particularly the case for manufacturing.

The trend in consumer electronics has always been to make them faster, smarter, and with ever-expanding capabilities. But waterproofing has become the new focus of global electronics manufacturers and most brands are rushing to include this benefit to ensure they are not left behind in this ultra-competitive market.

Anti-static packaging is one newer area where graphene’s conductivity properties could soon be commercially applied. Brent Balinski reports.

It is already old news that 3D printing is going to be the next “game changer” in manufacturing; it is only a matter of when. In the last few years, there has been a surge in demand for 3D printed parts, typically plastic and metal ones – not surprising since the CAD/CAM scene has been vastly improving in recent years.

What methods do you use to decide what you charge customers? Brent Balinski spoke to Christoph Petzoldt, the Australian head of pricing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners, about the dos and don’ts.

Australia needs to speed up the spread of ideas across the economy in its quest for higher living standards, the secretary of the prime minister’s department, Martin Parkinson, has said.

Recent Australian research reveals the influence of drugs and alcohol on workers is far more widespread than once believed. Alan Johnson reports.