Both the public and the private sector have made their intentions known that it is time to take back Australia’s manufacturing – this was the key message from a recent webinar held by Open IIoT.

In the past, Australia has fallen prey to long supply chains and the outsourcing majority of goods and processes beyond its borders. Many skilled workers left the country and the cost of labour became too high to compete. To boost manufacturing and our local GDP, Australia needs to become less reliant on international counterparts to ‘deliver the goods’.

As part of Open IIoT’s webinar series for 2020, each panel member hosted a discussion around a hot topic in the manufacturing sector. One of these topics was ‘Government Assistance for Manufacturers’, by Jim Wallace, Sales Manager for Balluff Australia New Zealand. Wallace explained that, when it comes to accessing government grants, taking the guesswork out of the process was crucial.

“Budgets are always an issue when it comes to designing and deploying new projects and upgrades to existing projects,” noted Wallace.

Wallace was joined in his presentation by special guest speaker Shane Infanti, CEO of AMTIL, who shared invaluable insights and relevant information with a host of webinar attendees.

“AMTIL is an industry association in the manufacturing sector. We comprise of 320 company members and 7000 associates,” said Infanti. “It always amazes me that while there are a host of policies to promote local manufacturing, they still seem to be a well-kept secret; many people aren’t familiar with the initiatives that are accessible to them.”

The Federal Government’s recent budget highlighted its new $1.3bn Modern Manufacturing Initiative.

“Little detail is available at this stage, but government expects this to be in place from early next year,” said Infanti. “As part of this budget allocation, we are putting forward a technology diffusion program valued at $7m for government’s consideration. This is set to run over the next three to five years and will promote new technologies and methodologies.”

Some of the grant programs currently offering funding include:

  • Manufacturing Modernisation Fund (MMF) (round 2): $52.8m will be allocated to this hugely popular initiative. Funding will be made available before the end of 2020 and it will support around 150 firms in the priority sectors.
  • Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI): $107.2m goes towards identifying and supporting vulnerable supply chains for critical products.
  • Industry Growth Centres Initiative: $50m is allocated to support projects in priority areas until the end of June 2022.
  • Entrepreneurs’ Programme: Support to businesses through facilitators and advisors in industry sectors, R&D, intellectual property and raising capital to gain global competitiveness.
  • R&D Tax Incentive: Tax off-sets are made available for firms engaging in extensive R&D efforts.
  • Apprenticeship Subsidy: This is available to companies of all sizes across all industries who engage in an apprenticeship program.

Infanti concluded by saying: “Get expert advice. Chat to our team if you need help in connecting with the correct persons and in accessing the relevant grants. There is also an export market grant of $207m worth of funding for companies looking to explore export markets.”