Ongoing market instabilities will drive more than half of Australian businesses to bring back overseas manufacturing jobs to Australia in high volumes, as discovered in a new industry survey, as Covid-19 interruptions have pushed business leaders to reconsider the resilience of their companies with off-shore manufacture.
During the study, conducted by AI based pricing firm PROS, 1 in 2 manufacturers intend to bring back their operations to Australia within the next three years, with 78 percent of respondents were confident that Australia has the technology, people and economy to support the boom in the manufacturing sector this would surely bring.
The study also found that Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia looked set to lead the charge with reshoring those jobs once offshore.
Despite the obvious emotional appeal, Australian companies manufacturing offshore can face very real challenges in bringing production back onshore.
Lack of local skills and equipment mean many industry sectors require substantial investment before they can even think about bringing manufacturing back onshore. This was apparent when Australia’s vaccine manufacturer, CSL, found themselves lacking capability to make Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine here, even though it had been able to manufacture the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at scale, having put Australia at the mercy of global supply chains with competing priorities.
Such systems will be crucial as the Commonwealth Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy progresses a decade-long roadmap that also prioritises investment in resources technology, critical minerals processing, food and beverage, medical products, and recycling and clean energy.
Bodies such as WA’s Future Battery Industries CRC and the South Australian Space Industry Centre are already working to identify and capitalise upon potential R&D and manufacturing opportunities in new-technology areas.
The study revealed that despite this positivity, the majority (82pc) of respondents felt underprepared for the new internet economy and believe they must fast-track their eCommerce channels to overcome competition from imports and online competitors.
With ABM’s WooCommerce and shopify integrations find out more about how we can help you compete in the modern marketplace. Contact ABM today.
