A new digitisation initiative at HSV’s facility in Clayton, Victoria, will enable the automotive manufacturer to increase their performance by a fifth, according to Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews.
“What’s so exciting about this announcement is that it demonstrates the benefits of going digital in all types of industries. By increasing the digitalisation of HSV’s manufacturing process, they expect at least a 20% increase in performance,” said Andrews, who noted that this will lead to more demand for the components and materials that local industry supplies to the vehicle assembly line.
“Embracing digital technology allows Australian manufacturers to compete on value, not on cost, which is so important to their ongoing success and will allow them to grow and create new local jobs,” said Andrews.
The initiative brings together HSV, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), and industrial automation provider Siemens Australia Pacific.
According to Tim Jackson, CEO of HSV, the specialised manufacturing process at HSV requires a precision solution.
“Right now we have around 350 people, with one of our lines operating 24 hours a day (three shifts) to keep up with demand. The re-manufacturing process requires significantly more work to the vehicles than when we were producing the Commodore.
“This software will make a big difference to the flow of information across our organisation and will connect everyone through a centralised digital thread,” said Jackson.
Noting that the manufacturing of HSV vehicles requires further attention to detail than standard models, the continuation of automotive manufacturing in this project continues to support the wider manufacturing industry, said Jackson.
“We have a great product, that competes in the highly competitive Australian Automotive market. Each new product adds between 350 – 600 new components. This hi-tech software will support our new model portfolio.
“In order to bring these new vehicles to life we have nearly twice the engineers, and five times the manufacturing team than when we rolled the last Commodore off the line. We are proud of the level of design and engineering happening in Australia, and the use of improved software tools to improve our productivity,” said Jackson.
Supported by the AMGC’s project fund, the HSV project will help guide other Australian manufacturing businesses on their digitalisation processes, said Jens Goennemann, managing director of AMGC.
“I’m really proud to see a company like HSV, with such great Australian heritage, adopt digitalisation in their manufacturing facility because it sets a great example of what is possible for the many thousands of Australian SME manufacturers.”