The critical trade keeping Australian manufacturing alive

Australian manufacturing faces a hidden crisis as the number of toolmakers and engineering pattern-makers has declined by 70 per cent between 2006 and 2021, according to the latest Census data. Only 2,220 practitioners remain in this vital trade, with just 411 of these under 40 years old.

Toolmakers and engineering pattern-makers create and repair precision parts for production machinery and develop prototypes for manufacturing – essential components in the supply chain, according to industry experts.

Sam Ringwaldt, co-founder and chief executive of Conry Tech, told ABC News on Monday that the decline has been severe since the Australian automotive industry closed in 2017.

“It’s a real skill set that’s missing, which means that we’re almost at the point where it’s going to be impossible to do 100 per cent manufacturing process in Australia from raw materials,” Ringwaldt said.

Alan Cooke, national vice president at the Australian Foundry Institute, noted that training opportunities are severely limited, with only one accredited TAFE apprenticeship for engineering pattern-making in Queensland and one private program in Victoria affected by funding cuts.

Rob Dalla Via, chief executive of Melbourne-based Beckwith Group, which employs around 100 people, said his company could easily employ another 50 staff if workers were available.

“We’ve got an aging workforce, and a lot of the young people coming through… they might be excited to see molten metal being poured and so forth, but once a lot of them spend a couple of days, they [say], ‘it’s not for me, it’s too hot, it smells’,” Dalla Via said.

Manufacturing as a percentage of Australia’s gross domestic product has fallen from 13.8 per cent in 1990 to 5.9 per cent currently, with Australia ranking last in manufacturing self-sufficiency among developed economies.

Industry figures warn that without intervention, Australia risks becoming “an assembly nation rather than a manufacturing nation,” with companies forced to source components overseas, exposing themselves to intellectual property theft and supply chain vulnerabilities.

The Albanese government’s ‘Future Made in Australia’ policy aims to address manufacturing decline with billions in funding, but industry leaders say targeted support for training and skills development in critical trades is urgently needed.

Picture: credit C & S Engineering and Toolmaking