A vibrant and competitive manufacturing sector is vital to Australia’s economic future and the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies will be a key driver of industry transformation and Industry 4.0 will be instrumental in driving economic productivity within Australia.
Growing core and emerging manufacturing industries is a key part of the government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy including commitment to deliver 1.25 million new jobs over the next five years, helping Australian manufacturers to scale-up, improve competitiveness and build more resilient supply chains.
There are six areas of comparative advantage and strategic interest that are of key focus, including:
In a recent report released by the CSIRO, the 2019 Australian National Outlook found that with the right preparatory measures in place, manufacturing could contribute to more than 25% in additional GDP growth compared to today.
Industry 4.0 describes the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
Think of the concept of factories in which machines are augmented with wireless connectivity and sensors, connected to a system that can visualise the entire production line, control, and make decisions on its own.
These new technologies are big business.
Specifically, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have been estimated to be worth up to $88 billion for our manufacturing industries.
IoT is essentially the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other) and can be described as a network of connected “things” (which also includes people). The relationship can be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.
The new rule for the future will be “Anything that can be connected, will be connected”.
The uptake of new technologies has the enormous potential to impact manufacturing in Australia – and how we do business, including boosting Exports.
Exports have been described by politicians and research reports alike as being a big part of the government’s equation to grow the manufacturing industries and create new jobs.
Funding is available under the Modern Manufacturing Strategy. Funding supports projects that adopt new technologies, commercialise new products and processes, integrate into supply chains and create jobs.
Currently under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, funding is available under round 2 of the Modern Manufacturing Initiative for the following sectors; space, medical products, resource technology and critical minerals processing.
If you have a manufacturing project in one of these sectors, you can apply for funding support under the Manufacturing translation stream or Manufacturing integration stream.
Round 2 will run over 3 years (2020-21 to 2022-23) and supports transformative investments in technologies and processes including:
The maximum project period is 2 years.
If you are a manufacturer of Industry 4.0 technologies or an Exporter seeking additional information relating to Customs and Global Trade, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
Crowe is an active member within Customs Private Sector Groups and on the National Committee for Trade Facilitation.