Covid-19

Why manufacturers should consider 3D and robotics to innovate following the federal budget

COVID-19 has brought the importance of Australian supply chains to the fore. As overseas supply chains came to a halt, industries here were significantly impacted as supplies depleted. This prompted the government to consider an initiative that could sustain local manufacturing. The $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy was announced in the 2020-2021 federal budget. [1] The Australian government is also providing a further tax incentive that will write off the value of assets for businesses, with more information yet to be released. The funding aims to give the manufacturing industry a chance to reinvigorate and innovate. Manufacturers are encouraged to implement cost-effective practices, which will give smaller manufacturers the opportunity to improve efficiency and competitiveness. The funding will modernise factories, increase exports, and secure a sovereign capability across six priority sectors, including: resources technology and critical minerals; food and beverage; medical products; clean energy and recycling; defence; and space. Taking advantage of the funds, Australian manufacturers can improve operations and increase opportunities with new technology, like robotics and 3D printing, according to Konica Minolta. Using robots to innovate offers many advantages to various activities for manufacturers. Two significant benefits include: 1. Improving warehouses or factory operations. Employees spend a significant amount of time moving goods around the warehouse or factory. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) automate the transportation of pallets and heavy loads and can streamline up to 46 per cent of routine tasks. [2] By taking people off manual tasks and using a robot instead, employees can be deployed to areas of more value. Martin Keetels, national manager – emerging technologies, Konica Minolta, said, “For companies in a position to set up a new warehouse, implementing a robotic system will provide an almost immediate return on investment (ROI). However, companies with existing facilities don’t have to redesign to automate; […]

This budget will only work if business and consumers play ball

-Michelle Grattan This is an extraordinary giveaway budget, driven by desperate circumstances that would have been inconceivable less than a year ago. The debt and deficit numbers are predictably eye-watering – but the gamble is whether they are big enough. The Morrison government is pleading. In particular, it is begging business to chance its hand and invest, so that activity and jobs can be restored ASAP. The incentives being handed to business are enormous. But it all comes down to that elusive necessity – confidence. It’s the old question about horses and whether they will drink when the water is shoved into the trough before them. Equally, the government is also appealing to individuals to spend, and then spend some more. There will be argument about whether it is making this pitch in the most effective way – the accelerated tax cuts have their critics. They’ll certainly give many people more ready cash over coming months. The unknown is whether in these uncertain times the purse strings will be loosened. The modest cash payments for pensioners – two lots of $250 – are also directed to boosting consumption. The first payment is December, nicely timed for some (modest) Christmas presents, to help the retail sector just when it needs assistance. In its subsidy for businesses to hire younger unemployed people the government is acknowledging the recession will particularly hurt this generation. It is imperative to get as many as possible of those thrown out of work back into the labour force as fast as possible. The motive is sound, but how effective the program will be is another matter. Much will depend on whether employers feel confident enough to take on staff. These younger people have to hope the employers respond, because the Coronavirus supplement that has enhanced JobSeeker is […]

Preventure new product features to help employers with remote safety

Australian wearable technology startup Preventure has today announced the launch of a range of new product features, including free services for Australian businesses hit hard by the financial impact of Covid-19, which will help employers who are struggling to provide their workforce with enough health, safety and HR support remotely. The newest addition to the Preventure.Live smartphone app uses AI technology to automate the delivery of safety training, helping to prevent injuries in the workplace. Development of this feature was accelerated when Covid-19 hit, to provide existing Preventure customers with an alternative to face-to-face training. It completes Preventure’s risk identification/behavioural change loop, whereby wearable sensors record worker movement patterns, live feedback is provided around injury risk, and now, customised training modules are delivered in response to that risk. In addition, core Sports-themed injury prevention modules are accessible to businesses, and the team is generously offering a free version of the app, that includes these modules, to any business and their workers during these challenging times. Off the back of the lockdown which has seen most of Australia working from home for the last 6 months, the team at Preventure also built and launched a posture-monitoring product, aptly named ‘Office Coach’, that utilses a single back sensor (for manual handling, an arm sensor is also used). This is the team’s first foray into the corporate wellness space and the product can be described as a B2B wellness app, and a consumer posture product, rolled into one! Businesses who are concerned about employee home workstation setups, or looking to engage their remote teams, can purchase an account, sensors and monthly app subscriptions. The app provides slouch alerts, and stretch alerts, to reduce the risks associated with sustained posture, and also tracks steps, to encourage movement at a time where our incidental activity […]

Global shutdown could spark Australian manufacturing revival

The COVID-19 crisis has the potential to revive Australia’s manufacturing capabilities and reduce the nation’s reliance on global supply chains, according to leading industry players at the heart of Australia’s defence manufacturing sector. The University of South Australia this month formed a working group of defence primes, SMEs and government representatives to gain insights into the impact of COVID-19 on the local industry. The weekly meetings in Adelaide have so far included representatives from BAE Systems, Naval Group, Defence SA, South Australia Trade and Investment Minister David Ridgway and former Federal Defence Industries Minister Christopher Pyne, who is now an industry professor at UniSA. The COVID-19 pandemic comes at a time when Australia’s manufacturing sector is preparing to ramp up for the next major stages of its $90 billion continuous shipbuilding program in Adelaide. UniSA Defence Director Matt Opie is chairing the industry meetings and said maintaining cashflow had emerged as a key issue, particularly for the smaller defence manufacturing companies. “In South Australia we have hundreds of these defence SMEs and they are all now really starting to look at all discretionary spend and very much focusing on their immediate projects,” he said. “They are stretching the rubber band already but it will become their supply chains, their cashflow, their staffing that will all be stretched the longer it goes on.” Manufacturing has been deemed an essential service in Australia and has so far not been nearly as impacted as many other industries by the coronavirus. However, as almost all supply chains rely on imported components and materials, the pandemic is exposing Australia’s reliance on other nations, many of which have been far more seriously affected. Opie said the current situation was “a bit of a sanity check” for Australia’s sovereign industrial capability. He said major global defence primes […]

Communicating in a post-Covid world

By Jack Mallen-Cooper, Senior Consultant, Whyte Public Relations. Jack joined Whyte PR in 2012 as a media and communications graduate, and has since honed his skills in strategic planning, account management, and communicating to a highly technical, B2B, industrial audience. In the post-Covid era, as Australian industry is being rapidly reshaped (whether it wants to or not), the best communicators will come out on top. Under the guidance of Whyte PR Founder and Managing Director, Brent Whyte, Jack has embodied the company’s self-starting and results-driven attitude that focusses on providing visibility, publicity, and outstanding value for companies in Australasia, South Asia, Europe, America and across the globe. In the post-Covid era, as Australian industry is being rapidly reshaped (whether it wants to or not), the best communicators will come out on top. Companies that can communicate their benefits (particularly hygiene, safety and environmental ones, but others, too) will be the ones that will find they not only achieve greater client retention, but expand to take on new business, where others have gone quiet. So how should you communicate, to stand out from the crowd? And how do you build trust and credibility so that a new customer already knows you’re the real deal before they walk in the door (or join the Zoom meeting)? In our company’s local and global experience – extending for more than 25 years across a diverse base of B2B industries – times of change are times of opportunity. Top 3 post-Covid communication tips Don’t go quiet. The temptation may be to wait and see what happens before committing to any public communication – you don’t want to have to change this later. In reality, wouldn’t it be better to keep a constant line of communication open with your customers, and potential customers? If the situation […]

4 things government can do to help small business

So much for the v-shaped recovery. Australia is set to record its biggest quarterly fall in GDP in history this week. The federal government will extend its JobKeeper wage subsidy program by six months. About 1.75 million workers, including about 1 million Victorians, are expected to rely on it till March. But there’s more to be done, particularly to help the small and medium-sized businesses taking the brunt of the COVID-19 economic impacts. Small and medium enterprises employ about two-thirds of the workforce. They are crucial to the prosperity of local communities. A full third are pessimistic about making it through the next three months, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ most recent survey of COVID-19 business impacts. By comparison only 18% of large companies (those employing more than 200 employees) expect difficulties in meeting their financial obligations. Even at the best of times many small businesses struggle. Yet our research on 223 Australian business owners highlights failure (or success) isn’t just the result of individual entrepreneurs’ personal resources and capabilities. The local business environment plays a significant role. As Malcolm Gladwell puts it in his book Outliers: The Story of Success: The tallest oak in the forest is the tallest not just because it grew from the hardiest acorn, it is the tallest also because no other trees blocked its sunlight, the soil around it was deep and rich, no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling, and no lumberjack cut it down before it matured. The same is true for businesses. Even the most resourceful business owners struggle to get ahead when the environment stifles their efforts. This is a thorny problem for governments as they turn from emergency measures to chart longer-term recovery policies. There will, no doubt, be much debate over the usual areas – of subsidies and grants, tax breaks, red tape […]

What manufacturers can do to prepare for the upturn

By Rob Stummer, Asia Pacific CEO, SYSPRO This is an incredibly difficult time for everyone and manufacturing companies have had to lay off staff or shutdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. Coronavirus has already caused shifts and a reduction in “wants” goods and an increase in “needs” goods as this crisis evolves, and consumers batten down the hatches into a conservative mode, and some businesses have been agile enough to switch production quickly to high demand products like ventilators, masks, hand sanitiser or home consumables. As we stem the spread of the virus, what is certain is that there will be an upturn and demand will recover, we just don’t know when. When the inevitable recovery does happen though, the manufacturing companies that have maintained a level of business continuity and are ready to jump back into full production are the ones that will survive this Covid-19 crisis. The real question is how quickly will that demand come back and how will manufacturers be able to respond to their biggest challenge to date? Increasing operational efficiencies In an increasingly interconnected world, maintaining the efficiency of supply chains is of the utmost importance to the Australasian economy if we are to jump back into action once the constraints of the coronavirus crisis have reduced. The good news is technology is allowing manufacturers to minimise disruptions by using real-time reporting to manage their inventory to ensure there are no issues with under or oversupply of goods. A frictionless, real-time, data-driven and interconnected supply chain can only benefit the economy in the short and the long-term. Manufacturing businesses should be doing everything they can to survive this by preserving cash and by optimising their operational efficiencies using real-time process feedback. Their Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) will ensure that quality and efficiency are built into […]

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Small businesses being starved of funds

-Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University The government has widely touted its support for small businesses – most notably the provision of loans subsidised by the Reserve Bank. In its economic update on Friday the Reserve Bank talked up its low-cost Term Funding Facility. Take-up was “increasing steadily”. The scheme gives banks ultra low-interest money (0.25% per year for three years) on the understanding they will lend it to households and businesses that need it. The first allocation was a proportion of each lenders’ loan book. The second was conditional on the the lender expanding lending to business. For every extra dollar the bank extended to large business, it would get one extra dollar of funding from the Reserve Bank. For every extra dollar it lent to a small or medium size business it would get an extra five dollars. Yet the official figures suggest that the overwhelming bulk of the new money has gone to big businesses, those with turnovers of more than A$50 million per year. Medium-sized businesses have barely got a look-in. Lending to small businesses has actually gone backwards. Outstanding credit to businesses Loans outstanding for big businesses are 7.4% higher than at the start of the year, loans outstanding for medium-sized businesses are just 1.3% higher, and loans outstanding for small businesses are down 0.6%. Not only have banks channelled the overwhelming bulk of their new lending to large businesses, they have also done so at lower interest rates. Credit spread reductions for businesses Why have small businesses missed out? One explanation might be that they are not interested in borrowing. However, ask any economist, and she will tell you that demand for a good is usually a function of its price. This ought to be also be true for business credit. The Reserve Bank says small […]

Morrison warns against ‘solely transactional’ trade approach in address to US audience

Scott Morrison says the Covid-19 crisis has created new opportunities for “like-minded economies” to work together – but warned against “solely transactional” trade approaches undermining these relationships. In a Wednesday keynote speech to the US Aspen Security Forum, delivered virtually, Morrison says expanding the scope and scale of co-operation by like-minded economies must be done “thoughtfully”. “Security and trade policy approaches must be well integrated, not at odds with each other,” he says in the address, released ahead of delivery. Although Morrison is unspecific about which countries he has in mind on the trade front, his remarks will be read as a reference to the United States. President Trump’s America First policy, with its aggressive transactional approach and emphasis on “deals” has come with costs for a number of like-minded economies. Morrison says: “A solely transactional approach to trading relationships can undo some gains made in other parts of relationships with like-minded partners. Australia’s foreign policy is not simply transactional.” “As we build the network of like-minded economies, we need to build a greater sense of unity across all elements of our engagement. “That means taking a more pragmatic and rounded approach to our global and regional relationships,” he says. “The sense of unity necessary among like-minded partners can be undermined if positive political and security relationships are accompanied by abrasive or confrontational trade relationships. “We should avoid cases where we build closer strategic co-operation, only to see the cohesiveness of those relationships undermined by trade disputes.” Morrison says he is not suggesting seeking to constrain “the national instinct of our business people and exporters to compete in global markets”. Nor should we “turn a blind eye to unfair trading measures imposed by our friends”. Morrison’s speech continues his recent assertiveness about Australia’s foreign policy and defence stance. Saying that […]

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Josh Frydenberg’s budget announcement

Commentary from CreditorWatch CEO Patrick Coghlan, urging the government to look closely at small business measurers to drive Australia’s economic recovery: “Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is right to portray the next financial year as a ‘mountain to climb’ for Australia but it is encouraging that the country is in a good position versus our international counterparts. Whilst 870,000 jobs were lost between March and May, the government’s economic stimulus package and measures included within the Safe Harbour legislation, saved thousands of businesses from going under. “However, now comes the difficult balancing act of tapering off such measures, ensuring that the maximum number of jobs are protected whilst making sure that good money is not wasted on poorly performing companies. CreditorWatch data suggests that in April, May and June, hundreds of companies that in normal times would have gone into administration have been kept afloat. These ‘zombie’ companies will hold back our national recovery, so we’re urging company directors to seek external guidance on whether they have a viable future. “Measures outlined by Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell on Tuesday will be critical to the recovery of Australia’s small business sector, which employs 44 per cent of all Australians. CreditorWatch data shows payment times in June lengthened to an average of 49 days across all industries. Legislating 30-day payment terms for small businesses will level the playing field for SMEs, whilst the introduction of a “fit for business” grant would provide them with a much-needed injection of capital. This will be money well spent and the government should prioritise such changes so that Australia’s small business sector can help drive the national recovery we need.”

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