With car manufacturing having moved offshore and the automotive factories long empty, South Australia now has another industry establishing in its place – naval shipbuilding.
If you happened to be in Tonsley, in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, 13 years ago, you might very well have been standing in the middle of Mitsubishi’s car production line. The shell of the factory left behind when Mitsubishi relocated in 2008 has now been reinvented as the Tonsley Innovation District.
Now Tonsley is the home of Line Zero – Pilot Factory of the Future. It’s at this new facility that new technologies, manufacturing techniques and processes are being tested, trialled and adapted for the Osborne shipyard, where nine Hunter class frigates will be built. The Hunter Class Frigate Program is the biggest surface ship project in Australia’s defence history, contributing towards Continuous Naval Shipbuilding capability for the nation.
Line Zero – Pilot Factory of the Future is a collaboration between Flinders University, BAE Systems Australia and its subsidiary BAE Systems Maritime Australia (formerly ASC Shipbuilding). It marks the beginning of an exciting new era for developing Australian Industry Capability in support of the Federal Government’s sovereign capability objectives.
The pilot factory grew from a collaboration hub for advanced technologies, established with Flinders University in late 2019, which is driving digital transformation through advanced robotics, assistive manufacturing and the application of Industry 4.0. BAE Systems Maritime Australia and Flinders University are working side by side within the pilot factory, a research& development (R&D) sandpit that provides a unique way of working outside a traditional, controlled defence environment.
BAE Systems Maritime’s Innovation Program Project Manager is passionate about working in a shared environment: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a defence collaboration that is all about developing capability with a real focus on education. Not only is there a rare opportunity to work so closely with collaborators, it provides an opportunity to change behaviours through education and prove that this new technology works.”
The collaborative style at Tonsley will positively challenge behaviours, manufacturing processes and administrative systems to embrace Industry 4.0 technologies and deliver a digital shipyard of the future. From a factory shell merely two years ago, the innovation district is now a buzzing hive of invention where Line Zero – Pilot Factory of the Future is making a new style of production line.