A new
discussion paper from the CSIRO has highlighted a number of trends that
Australian manufacturers should adapt to if they are going to compete globally.
Equipping Australian
Manufacturing for the Information Age: iManufacturing – Is Australia Ready? Was
released last month, and states that the future will be shaped by
technologies related to the Internet of Things.
Four types of technology are identified as having
significant relevance and impact: materialisation, lifecycle management,
manufacturing execution systems and enterprise resource planning.
Australian manufacturing is at a pivot point,
argues the paper, and its effectiveness will be determined on how well it
adopts to a number of trends.
“Australia
has this amazing opportunity now to set itself up for this highly customised,
highly flexible [future, with] high margin production runs,” the CSIRO’s Peter
Kambouris, a contributor to the paper, told the ABC yesterday.
Kambouris
cited the move away from traditional manufacturing – though this would always
be here in some form – and new business models adopted by manufacturers who had
accepted the challenge of innovation, such as Hills, B & R Enclosures and
Sutton Tools.
To read the
paper, click here.
Image: ict-ech.blogspot.com