CSIRO proposes technology-laden future for Australian manufacturing

Australia needs to play to its strengths and transition from traditional manufacturing into new areas of competitive advantage according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which proposes such a move in its discussion paper Equipping Australian Manufacturing for the Information Age: iManufacturing - Is Australia Ready? 

Source: CSIRO website.

Published in September, the paper aims to generate discussion among Australian industry to prepare them for the move away from 20th century modes of production and allow them to compete on the world market. CSIRO said opportunities exist domestically and internationally for high-value, niche-manufactured goods and associated services if Australian industry were to adopt and utilise modern information technology and develop the associated skills to make best use of it.

Recognising the worldwide trend towards smaller batches of production, customised products, rapid prototyping, agile manufacturing processes and an emphasis on increased 'servitisation', the report's authors warn that Australian manufacturers must develop appropriate business models and prepare themselves for increasingly innovative and competitive offerings in terms of price and flexibility in their domestic and international market niches.

The discussion paper talks about businesses growing and evolving from the use of traditional IT-based technologies and into e-manufacturing (dependent on cloud-based services) or progress further into i-manufacturing (or informatics-linked manufacturing).

To compete globally, the report says, enterprises need to have the right skills and tools to do business, adapt to the future, including:

• Develop workers which combine not e-skills (general computer/Internet abilities) with i-skills (understanding data, connectedness, the Internet of Things, servitisation) and manufacturing expertise
• Encourage and develop materialisation technologies that more rapidly turn digital, customised data into physical output
• Develop collaborations and networks at local and global scales that share data, resources, and processes
• Improve supply chain interoperability and material flow efficiencies 
• Move manufacturing industries increasingly into the service spaces - the servitisation of Manufacturing
• Develop appropriate business models that maximise the potential that these new technologies provide.

The paper can be downloaded here.