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Manufacturing in Australia -
Compete or Die
by Ray Earl
MEI
Focusing on the Core Resource, you're People
The manufacturing industry in Australia employs over one million
people in all sectors.
Over the last decade manufacturing’s share of the economy has
declined with dwindling employment as an outcome. Manufacturing now
accounts in dollar terms for 12.5% of national output, in the 1960s
manufacturing accounted for 25%.
There are a number of key reasons for these changes in the
manufacturing sector, some are listed below:
- The growth of imports from lower-wage countries
- Skill shortages with an aging workforce
- Imports from more competitive offshore companies
- Manufacturing spends less on structured training than any other
industry
The author has seen many companies who have not valued education
of staff as of primary importance and the corollary was a company
with inefficient staff, blown out lead times, low product quality
and increased cost of goods, the bottom line was a cash flow in the
red and a company with no competitive advantage. Some of these
businesses are now defunct.
Its not brain surgery, people are your most valuable asset.
Australian companies who wish to strive for competitive advantage
need to take a long hard look at their staff development systems
(or lack of) and take immediate action.
The economic prosperity increasingly relies on the future value
of education in this sector. To be a more competitive business,
there is a need to maintain and develop the skills of the existing
workforce; this will be the basis for continuing innovation and
growth in your company.
There are many ways to develop your staff, one method is to
source a professional training and development consultant with
experience in your industry (this has a major cost impost), another
method is to seek Government assistance:
The Commonwealth Government sees skill shortages as a major
issue and provides financial incentives for companies who give
their staff the opportunity to complete a traineeship or
apprenticeship. The employee will receive practical on-the-job
leading-edge training from a registered training organisation and
the outcome will be an increase in staff productivity, staff
morale, motivation and increase the company’s bottom line.
If Australian manufacturing companies want to keep pace with the
rest of the World, they must ensure training is a vital ingredient
in their development strategies. This will help to ensure the
future of their organisations and Australia’s economic growth.
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