11 minute read
FROM THE PUBLISHER
PUBLISHER SCOTT FILBY
New jobs sectioned and government grants
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Industry Update Media is excited to announce that from the August/September 21edition, we published a dedicated employment section in Industry Update Magazine and on our Manufacturing Search Engine.
Like most businesses, Industry Update has at times struggled to find the right people - or any people for that matter, via specific employment sites. Many businesses are also inundated with responses from applicants that have no qualifications or are over-qualified.
Manufacturers generally require staff that have a specific set of skills and qualifications but finding such people can be costly in both time and resource so what better place to advertise manufacturing positions vacant than in Australia’s leading manufacturing media platforms!
I am also over the moon happy to see that the Morrison government has kept their word and are now rolling out grants for manufacturers. Please see an extract from the minister’s column on page 10.
To turbo-charge our economic recovery, applications have now opened for funding under the $800 million Manufacturing Collaboration Stream, the largest element of our $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.
Grants under another key element of the Strategy – the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative – have also opened, with $50 million available in the first round.
The Manufacturing Collaboration Stream is providing funding of between $20 million and $200 million to cover up to 33 per cent of eligible expenditure for industry-led projects across the six National Manufacturing Priority areas.
Funding from the Stream will back projects that encourage private sector investment and create jobs through collaboration between businesses and with researchers. See page 10 for the full article. EDITOR BRONWYN HARDY
Welcome to my first issue
With the global landscape being so unsettled, it’s great to be coming on board a publication that connects Australian businesses, supports local production and encourages economic growth.
We can all look forward to enjoying the results of the government’s recent $1.5billion investment into its Modern Manufacturing Strategy (MMS). A project that will make us more competitive and resilient, it is set to create jobs both now and for future generations of Australians.
Focussing on six key spheres, the initiative promises to play to our strengths, targeting areas where we have an advantage or a strategic priority.
A detailed breakdown of the fund distribution can be found in our Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Christian Porter’s column.
Among the recipients is Omnia who is using its $563,000 grant from the MMF (Modern Manufacturing Fund) towards an upcoming $2.25million project, as featured in this issue.
Although new at my post, I have already been inspired by companies and individuals forging forward within the industry, including Anthony Meyer of Bryopin.
Pioneers of sous vide cooking in this country, and with clients such as Woolworths and Harris Farm on the books, Bryopin is a family business proving that with innovation, expertise and communication anything can be achieved. Salivating over their cuisine on the website was all in a day’s work.
Another example is Enmin, makers of vibratory and product-handling equipment. Here, general manager Anthony Gallaher is taking his thriving business to even greater heights. Having created machinery so reliable and bespoke that it “never breaks” he now has plans to evolve Enmin further.
We are excited to announce the new inclusion of a job section here, too, at Industry Update. For more information on this, please contact Scott Filby scott@industryupdate.com. au or Dominic Tusa dominic@industryupdate. com.au Remember to keep safe and happy reading.
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Manufacturers face short-term headwinds but the future is brighter
By Matthew Bunny, economist at St.George, anticipates opportunities amid the grim realities
The pandemic has underpinned a turbulent period for many Australian businesses, including manufacturers.
The extended lockdown in NSW presents a fresh hurdle for businesses in the state. However, beyond this disruption, there are encouraging signs for manufacturers.
At the time of writing, we anticipate the lockdown in New South Wales which commenced in late June will run to the end of October. However, it is an evolving situation. There are also restrictions in place in Victoria, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.
We expect the lockdown in New South Wales, alongside the containment measures in several other states, will drive national economic activity to contract by over 2.5% in the September quarter. In turn, growth this year will now be around 2.4% rather than closer to 5%, as we expected before the lockdowns. This is a large reduction and means economic growth will be slightly below the long-run average. However, importantly, next year we expect economic growth to accelerate and the unemployment rate to head to 4%.
Manufacturers’ ability to operate has been impacted by the restrictions, although there are exemptions for some critical workers in the industry. The shutdown of parts of the construction industry across Sydney will also ripple upstream to manufacturing.
Of course, outside of locked down areas, manufacturers can operate more freely, albeit subject to more stringent health and safety regulations than usual.
New government support announced in response to the lockdown will help to cushion the blow to manufacturers. In particular, the New South Wales government’s JobSaver program – a wage subsidy scheme which is providing businesses with up to $100,000 per week – will help to keep workers in jobs and aid cashflow. A range of other grants and tax relief measures have also been announced.
The upshot is the economy tends to bounce back quickly once restrictions are eased. If the lockdown in New South Wales does not drag on past September, and other states avoid extended lockdowns, we expect the economy will rebound sharply in the December quarter. However, this hinges on the evolution of outbreaks and progress in the vaccine rollout. The eventual recovery in activity will also flow onto demand for manufactured goods.
The pandemic has posed other challenges for manufacturing.
Difficulty in finding labour because of the shutdown of international and interstate borders is a headwind for the sector. In May, job vacancies in manufacturing rose to a record high of over 20,000 – up almost 70% on February 2020. These data date back to 2009.
Supply chain disruptions have also been an impediment for the industry. In an April survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 10% of manufacturers indicated they had been severely impacted by supply chain disruptions. This captures major shipping delays and material shortages that have had a significant impact on revenue. The ongoing lockdown in New South Wales will add to interstate supply disruptions.
In addition, freight costs have skyrocketed alongside a global shortage of shipping containers. This is because lockdowns around the world underpinned a dramatic shift in consumer demand towards goods and away from services, in turn pushing up trade volumes. At the same time, there has been congestion at some ports as increased demand coincided with reduced capacity due to pandemic restrictions.
However, it is worth highlighting that in the same survey 90% of Australian manufacturers indicated they either had not experienced supply chain disruptions, or if they had, the disruptions only had a small impact.
The manufacturing sector was in good shape heading into the recent wave of lockdowns.
Manufacturing output was back around its pre-pandemic level in the March quarter. And there has been strong growth in manufacturing capital expenditure – it jumped a whopping 15% in the March quarter to its highest level since 2012. Generous government tax incentives, like temporary full expensing, have helped boost investment.
Plus, the Australian Industry Group’s monthly purchasing manager’s index hit a record high in June, with data dating back to 1992. The reading of 63.2 indicates very strong growth – a reading above 50 indicates an expansion. industrial real estate in the June quarter, partly reflecting the ongoing expansion in manufacturing activity. The boom in e-commerce and the need to warehouse more stock alongside the disruptions to transport networks also been important contributors to the strong growth.
And while the pandemic poses challenges for manufacturers, it has also created opportunities.
The breakdown in global supply chains has pushed businesses to reassess the resilience of their networks. Some businesses may seek to diversify their supply network to avoid dependency on a particular country.
Importantly for Australian manufacturers, there is a push to scale up domestic production capabilities for critical products. The government has noted medicine, personal protective equipment and fertilisers as points of focus.
Looking ahead, the eventual widespread rollout of vaccines will reduce the likelihood of further lockdowns and allow international borders to reopen, alleviating some of the current pressures on the industry.
It has been a tumultuous period for the manufacturing industry. But beyond the short-term headwinds, the future looks much brighter.
Matt Bunny - Economist at St.George
St.George Bank www.stgeorge.com.au/ manufacturing
Food pioneers to seal a deal with St.George
Continued from cover
Anthony Meyer, Managing Director, took the reins from his father and uncle, twin brothers who founded the company, in what has become the quintessential family business.
Observing the sous vide method while in the United States, the brothers, Nicholas and Michael Meyer, both engineers, spotted an opportunity. Here in Australia, they began experimenting with this unique style of cooking, which locks in flavour and results in produce that has a shelf life of up to 12 weeks.
The challenge was in obtaining the necessary equipment. Sous vide appliances were primarily available in only France or Germany at that time and transporting them all the way to Australia wasn’t really a viable option.
It was then that these engineers became innovators, creating their own sous vide equipment from scratch. The result, Anthony describes as being a “down-to-earth, usable system for sous vide, which is very effective and commercially successful.”
The founders inspired the current generation of management on many fronts establishing an ethos that has seen employees work harmoniously side-byside and business flourish.
“My dad and uncle set down really good standards about work ethics and respect and we, as a family, follow those. It’s quite intriguing to some people that we all get along. They wonder how I work with my brother, my cousin and my sister, but there is no big secret other than we communicate well. We’ve got a job to do, and we do it together,” Anthony says.
The core competency of this job involves cooking meat and vegetables in the traditional sous vide style using the equipment designed by Nicholas and Michael. “Cooking is akin to any food manufacturing, and we supply to so many different industries including retail, hospitals, aged care facilities, restaurants and more.”
Anthony describes Bryopin as “the brand behind the brand” in the retail sector. Manufacturing products for Woolworths, Aldi and Costco, they also provide for independent grocers such as IGA and Harris Farm.
The company is a driving force when it comes to opting for Australian Made products, “It’s so important on so many levels. In the meat industry, Australian meat is exported all over the world and respected all over the world as being very high quality. Australia has consistent high placings in the World Steak Challenge. So, our produce and the Australian brand is paramount on the world scale, and domestically, consumers want to see Australian Made. People want to support Australian Made, and certainly anything we put on retail shelves is 100% Australian manufactured and the vast majority is from Australian produce.”
While Bryopin have enjoyed exponential local growth, they have been accredited to export to Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East and are looking forward to exploring this opportunity post-pandemic. On considering future expansion, the company approached St.George bank and felt it was the right fit.
“We’re at a huge investment stage, and it was really important that we choose the right partner. We approached the market and did a full review and we have been so happy with what St.George has put forward. Not just from the structure of what they’ve given us, or the price of what they’ve given us, but the whole package. We looked at what came back from the market and St.George pretty much ‘won’ on every point. So, we feel really comfortable going through this next stage of investment with them,” Anthony explains.
In the face of inevitable Covid setbacks, Bryopin’s future continues to look bright, with the company planning to consolidate space and merge their current 13 factories into one. “We’re investing to put everything under one roof. It’s going to give us a lot more space, a lot more efficiency and a lot more room to implement more technology.”
One glance at Bryopin’s website is guaranteed to have you anticipating your next meal. Whether their extensive and varied client base is after smokybarbequed meats, comforting casseroles, plant-based dishes or spicy Mexicaninspired cuisine, this company can deliver.
Considering all the mouth-watering meals the company has to offer, readers may be curious to know what Bryopin’s current best-seller is... “Probably the pork ribs we do for Woolworths,” Anthony reveals. “They are a ripper of a product, really, really good and they’re flying off the shelves.”
Consider them added to our shopping list, Anthony.
Bryopin 02 9896 4809 www.bryopin.com.au
St.George Bank www.stgeorge.com.au/ manufacturing
