At our recent Board Strategy Day, a number of discussion topics were raised for the Board to work through and determine our courses of action for the future.
A few of these are outlined in brief below as we believe they are important to not only our future as an organisation and membership body, but to the wider manufacturing technology industry as well.
Education and training initiatives
We are looking at short, medium and long term initiatives that will address skill shortage issues that exist in our industry. Raising the image of manufacturing as a career opportunity for our younger generation is high on our priority list, along with developing some short courses that will produce CNC operators, which is a particular skill shortage that remains an issue. We are also looking at how we can leverage off our major exhibition – Australian Manufacturing Week – to be held next March, to showcase new and exciting technologies to our secondary students.
Exhibition and event portfolio
With the introduction of Australian Manufacturing Week, alongside Austech as our flagship exhibition moving forward, the discussion around timing and location of this event continues to be of strong debate. Currently this major event runs in Melbourne every two years. There is a school of thought that this event needs to run in Sydney and Melbourne so a number of questions need to be asked and answered for our Board to make an informed decision. Along with the show is an activity program featuring conferences, on-floor activity, networking functions, matchmaking programs and student tours, so there is a lot in the mix to decide on.
Government relations
AMTIL is a national body, and therefore having strong relationships at Commonwealth and State level is critical to garnering support for the services and benefits we bring to our members and the industry in general. It is just as important to the Government to have organisations such as ours that can help deliver the right message to industry regarding Government initiatives and strategy as well.
Member value proposition
How we improve our value proposition to members is an ongoing strategic issue that we constantly review. Our main services are around promoting our members’ capabilities, providing news, information & knowledge, giving access to supply chain opportunities, business networking and social activities and government funding opportunities. Australian Manufacturing Week, Austech and our AMT magazine are three flagship benefits that can be built on to provide significant member impetus for the future.
Key industry alliances
We are very conscious that our membership, being predominantly a technology supplier base, cuts horizontally across all manufacturing sectors. That is, companies that use technology to make parts and products are supplying into all sectors including aerospace, rail, medical, defence, construction, motor sports, truck, etc, etc. Therefore, having strategic alliances with industry bodies that specifically look after those sectors is critical to how we can help and support our members wanting to access them. This will be a key consideration for us moving forward.
This is just a snippet of the discussion topics we are working through. I welcome any issues that our members and readers would like us to consider, so please email me at sinfanti@amtil.com.au if you wish.