Industry News

Changes to manufacturing grants flagged

With a change in government this year, support available to the manufacturing sector is evolving.

The Albanese government says it will invest $1 billion in Advanced Manufacturing, with unspent rounds of funding from the previous government’s Modern Manufacturers Initiative (which is now closed), to be redirected to new initiatives within Labor’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund.

Furthermore, the contract for the $400m Entrepreneurs’ Programme, the government’s flagship program for productivity and competitiveness in the SME sector, will also be coming to an end in June 2023, with its future still to be determined.

Clarification of how these changes will be rolled out to industry will be provided in the upcoming federal budget, due to be announced in October.

Future of manufacturing ‘vibrant’

Keith Madden, a Growth Facilitator for AusIndustry’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme, who was speaking at a Manufacturing Lab lunch in Parramatta, says he is looking forward to seeing how these new initiatives will continue to develop and support the Advanced Manufacturing sector.

Madden emphasised that the industry contributes $1b annually to the country’s GDP and supports 1.27m jobs.

Madden says he sees the future of manufacturing in Australia as vibrant, with the essence of Advanced Manufacturing being collaboration - across different sectors and within industry.

He noted that remarkably, only 5% of manufacturing businesses have accessed the manufacturing assistance offered by all levels of government.

Madden said he hopes any future support initiatives would address both the capability and CapEx needs of manufacturers, as both are strong levers for improvement and growth.

Entrepreneurs’ Programme

Madden told the lunch that while the future of the Entrepreneurs’ Programme is being clarified, the programme is still open for new applications.

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme delivers matched funding of up to $20k to support business improvement, growth and innovation activity, with specialised Technology and Digital advice available to participating firms, helping them to navigate their digital transformations, covering applications from robotics, AI and sensor technologies, through to the most appropriate ERP and on-line platforms for their business.

Madden noted that a significant number of manufacturers who have engaged with the programme have commented on how easy the application process has been and how streamlined the funding drawdown is, feeling that the lack of red tape and commercial approach undertaken by the facilitators of the program, has strongly contributed to the programme’s success.

This has been backed by the metrics coming out of the programme, showing that 95% of participants rated the programme highly and were extremely likely to recommend it, and that on average 70% of firms that had engaged in the program had seen their business grow, with 83% stating that it had helped them improve their business systems and processes.

Use government support to improve employee satisfaction

Additional support for the manufacturing sector is also available through the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) and state based Co-Operative Research Centres (CRCs).

Participants at the Manufacturing Lab lunch heard how support programs have helped a NSW offal processor digitise part of its production line with sensor technologies and cobots (collaborative robots), meaning it could get rid of previously manual practices that were costly, unpleasant and inconsistently delivered.

Those manual resources were then reallocated to more meaningful and higher value work within the company.

The lunch also heard about a digital print provider looking to invest up to $500k to up-grade its ERP platform.

Following advice from an Entrepreneurs’ Programme digital facilitator, the company changed what would have been its initially preferred supply option to an alternative recommendation, with the business owner later confiding that the advice not only protected their $500k investment but also improved the firm’s capability and digital integration, and saved costs while giving a competitive advantage.

Consider cobots

As is the case with all manufacturing discussions at the moment, talk at the Manufacturing Lab lunch turned to labour costs and availability.

Madden pointed out that many manufacturers were addressing these challenges through the use of new technologies such as cobots, that can do routine manual tasks and are designed to work collaboratively in the traditional workplace.

With the price of such technology applications coming down all the time, there was recognition that the payback on an investment into these initiatives can often be less than 12 months.

The Manufacturing Lab lunches are networking events promoting thought leadership in the industry, and are hosted by William Buck, Coleman Greig Lawyers & St.George Bank.