There are three very significant and interrelated factors
that make Australia different to almost every developed nation
with which it competes in order to sell its products. They
are: one of the lowest population densities in the world;
geographic isolation from its international markets; and the
distances between domestic population centres.
And if these distinguish Australia from developed countries,
then salary levels and standards of living are factors that
currently distinguish Australia from the majority of its other
less developed competitors. Many so called developing countries
have now become a focal point for labour intensive manufacturing
others, like Singapore, have become high technology, high
value added exporters. For some years now, Australia has therefore
recognised that it cannot sustain its current standard of
living unless it can outperform its international competitors
with services and manufactured goods that are highly innovative,
high in quality and value for money.
These factors are part of what is commonly referred to as
a "sustainable competitive advantage". Other parts
of the sustainable competitive advantage come from the quality
of consumer service and manufacturing response time and flexibility.
Against all odds, Australia is beginning to gain its sustainable
competitive advantage by the development and application of
cost efficient high technology manufacturing systems and processes.
The country's innovative products and technologies, are enabling
Australian companies to manufacture value added goods in keeping
with the world's best practices.
Today, highly specialised and technically complex products
have been developed to change the way industry works, the
way they manufacture things, and the speed with which they
respond to client needs. From the time that a modern manufacturer
senses the need for a new product, to the time that those
products leave the factory gate, the degree of automation
and computerisation determines a company's sustainable competitive
advantage.
In an advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) company, product
design is carried out on a computer aided design (CAD) system
that can analyse the many engineering and aesthetic attributes
of a product so that it will be built correctly the first
time. Computer controlled "stereo lithography" machines
can make accurate plastic prototypes of products from a pool
of liquid plastic to enable manufacturers to assess intangible
3 dimensional qualities that cannot be appreciated or felt
on a computer screen. Computer aided process planning systems,
manufacturing resources planning systems and production, and
inventory control systems enable manufacturers to optimise
their production processes and minimise expensive inventory.
Flexible manufacturing systems, composed of computer numerically
controlled (CNC) machines that can cut to micron tolerances,
robots, robotic assembly, painting and welding cells and automated
guided vehicles (AGVs) allow producers to respond more quickly
and economically to changes in client demands. Intelligent
processors and power electronics drive almost every precision
servo motor in every robot and machine in a modern manufacturing
system.
And finally, at the end of the production line, computer
controlled laser, infra red and vision inspection systems
provide a high level of quality inspection to identify and
weed out manufacturing faults.
Almost every facet of the modern manufacturing environment
is now linked through communications facilities from interpersonal
voice, vision and facsimile services through to data communications
between every major computer controller in the plant, and
of course, wide area communications between factories around
the world. This is all part of what is idealistically referred
to as computer integrated manufacture or the CIM concept.
Most developed countries find it difficult to compete in
the manufacture of labour intensive, low value added products.
For this reason, many of Australia's innovative companies
are involved in specialist products and processes that enable
the country's manufacturers and service providers to gain
and retain their sustainable competitive advantage over the
world's best rivals.
Australia's technologies can manifest themselves in the form
of the world's most advanced CNC machines, or intelligent,
networkable, servo motor drive systems, or perhaps plastics
moulding CAD software produced by specialist companies. They
can come in the form of manufacturing resources planning software
systems, or CNC laser cutting machines, or client database
software packages. There are a myriad of complex examples
of Australia's technical prowess in these vital fields of
engineering.
In the following pages, we review a selection of internationally
significant 'world first' and 'world best' products and technologies
currently available from Australia, for the manufacturing
industries of the world.
Public Notice:
Due to an unresolved dispute
with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade),
who copied and adopted as their own certain material from
Tomorrow's World, the Australian Initiative, and published
the material in their Australia Open for Business website,
without remorse or recompense, access
by Australian Government servers to this online edition
has been blocked indefinitely.
