Three technology challenges to rebuild manufacturing – by Warren Zietsman

Manufacturing success has never been more dependent on selecting and implementing the right technologies, writes Warren Zietsman. Three challenges are apparent for manufacturers.

For an industry largely written off for decades, the recent comments by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the 2024 Bush Summit are a signal of intent in reviving the fortunes of both our domestic manufacturing capabilities as well as our regional economy.

If this is a sign of things to come, it’s clear that talk must translate into firm action to build the capabilities required to deliver results.

But revitalising an industry that has suffered from neglect, across large swathes of our country that are rapidly falling behind our metropolitan centres, will require significant – and intelligent – interventions. This is vital to ensure the immense potential of manufacturing in regional Australia is realised.

As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, here are three opportunities the industry must manage to sufficiently and successfully navigate this challenge.

Ensuring quality in real-time

There is no excuse for poor quality in manufacturing – especially given the value proposition of products made in Australia will need to be of the highest quality to compete on the world stage.

While the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations predicts a manufacturing workforce growth of 16 per cent by 2033, it will be an immense challenge to manage the current shortage of skilled labour and ensure the growth required.

How will this be achieved?

Advances in technology have meant interactive and content-rich platforms that have carried over from consumer technology have made their way to business technology.

This means the ‘connected worker’ is no longer limited to white-collar jobs; blue-collar workers now have access to these platforms as well.

These business technologies ensure the availability of simple and accessible training for frontline workers in real-time and at their fingertips, providing efficiency in management, quality control and standards.

Without these platforms in place, the knowledge held by experienced workers often remains undocumented.

The absence of standardised processes prevents manufacturers from capturing critical information, mainly information that could easily lead to product recalls.

With the introduction of connected worker technologies, manufacturers can address numerous challenges faced by today’s companies by simply connecting, training and empowering frontline workers.

By placing the connected worker at the centre of operations, the entire quality lifecycle is improved, workers are thoroughly trained on the latest standards, new quality efficiencies can be achieved through data analysis and algorithms, and the risk of product recalls is minimised.

Delivering operational efficiency

Revitalising an industry that has suffered from neglect means there is a significant challenge for Australian manufacturers to rapidly and efficiently build up their capabilities, especially across regional Australia.

The marginal gains afforded by the smallest of operational efficiencies can have a monumental impact on the fortunes of an individual business, as well as the wider industry when taken as a total sum.

In an asset-intensive industry, every minute of equipment downtime translates to lost revenue.

With manufacturing relying on every cog of a well-oiled engine to perform in both a literal and figurative sense, the need to avoid downtime through efficient and intuitive asset maintenance determines the success or failure of this initiative.

A recent study showed the average manufacturer deals with 800 hours – or 15 hours per week – of equipment downtime per year.

While many manufacturers still rely on clipboards and Excel spreadsheets to manage and maintain assets, it’s clear that this reactive and simplistic approach won’t suffice if Australia hopes to compete on the world stage.

The key to unlocking this transformative power of operational efficiency lies in embracing the full potential of technology.

As an example, the ability to predict issues ahead of time through AI-fuelled predictive maintenance, supported by responsive feedback loops with workers and integrated IoT sensors that further enhance machine learning capabilities.

This provides manufacturers with the power to identify root cause early, ensuring it can be managed with minimal intervention at the onset of an issue.

When combined with centralised repositories of information, these learnings can be extrapolated to gain real insights on the performance of entire operations.

This puts the power right at the fingertips of decision-makers to make intelligent and informed business decisions.

It also means standardised practices exist across an entire organisation, ensuring everyone from frontline workers to upper management are all working across a single source of truth.

Maintaining sustainability at its core

Much like most of the Western world, Australia’s goals for its manufacturing industry must balance an ambition to galvanise, while also adhering to sustainable practices, as we forge towards net zero in 2050 and beyond.

While some may be sceptical about how realistic it is for Australia to achieve both goals, in what one could argue is an uneven playing field globally, there is an opportunity for organisations to imbue both quality and sustainability as part of its reputation as ‘Brand Australia’.

Technology has an important role to play in this. A recent study by BCG stated 62 per cent of companies view sustainability as a major consideration for digital transformation investment.

It is clear in parallel asset-intensive industries that digital transformation has been embraced as a tool in achieving sustainability goals.

By placing technology at the core of its operations, manufacturers will be able to have oversight across every aspect of its operations, unlocking complete transparency across the entire supply chain.

With an increased eye on its processes, organisations can track emissions and efficiently manage or offset where required.

This need is only increased when organisations are required to manage operations across disparate facilities across regional Australia.

This same technology can also help optimise operations on the production line, ensuring minimal waste and intelligent resource planning, which lends itself to both sustainable and economic advantages. This means Australian manufacturers can stay both competitive and environmentally conscious.

Getting ahead with the right foundations

An advance for manufacturing and regional centres is clearly a net positive for Australia’s economy.

Restoring an industry to its former glories at a time when international trade is becoming increasingly protectionist, while providing jobs and infrastructure to parts of Australia that have been an afterthought for far too long, is in our nation’s best interests.

But ensuring that the foundation is set – with technology at its core – will position Australia’s goods as steeped in quality, its services as efficient in delivery, and its works as future-proofed and progressive.

Now is the time to deliver on this promise.

Warren Zietsman‘s background is in Banking and Management Consulting. During the past 24 years built and led front office and operational teams across Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Australasia. A feature was an involvement in aggressive expansion and turnaround programmes for companies such as Standard Bank, Investec Bank and Empresaria Group. Warren is the Managing Director for enterprise systems group IFS Australia and New Zealand.

Picture: Warren Zietsman