Last month at the 2017 National Manufacturing Summit at Parliament House, Federal Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Arthur Sinodinos declared that the Australian manufacturing industry had bounced back following its decline during the global financial crisis and is now a key component of the innovation ecosystem.
“We see manufacturing as an indispensable part of the innovation ecosystem that we are trying to build in this country,” Arthur told the conference.
“The future is very much in innovative and smart manufacturing. Which means that we have both an innovation mindset and a global outlook, to help give us scale.”
Innovative and smart manufacturing – also known as Advanced Manufacturing – is described by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) as “the process by which knowledge-intensive value is added in both the pre- and post production phase in areas including research and development, concept design, planning, engineering and after-sales service”. It is a key pillar of the Federal Government’s Industry and Innovation Agenda and in late 2016 CSIRO released an Advanced Manufacturing roadmap for Australia, which outlines the vision for Australian manufacturing:
“Over the next 20 years, Australia’s manufacturing industry will transform into a highly integrated, collaborative and export-focused ecosystem that provides high‑value customised solutions within global value chains.”(taken from Advanced Manufacturing: A Roadmap for unlocking future growth opportunities for Australia, November 2016)
It is this vision that Peter Davies, Business Adviser for Advanced Manufacturing for AusIndustry’s Entrepreneurship Programme,and Newcastle-based digital marketing consultancy,The Measured Marketer (TMM), are looking to support at a local level via a series of free digital marketing learning events specifically designed for small to medium manufacturing businesses across the region.
AMGC’s Sector Competitiveness Plan indicates that only 19% of Australian manufacturing companies have introduced new or improved marketing methods to support their business. With such low levels of utilisation, there is a great opportunity for Hunter-based manufacturing businesses to harness digital marketing to increase efficiencies, stand out from the crowd, and reach new target markets and regions.
The ‘Digital Marketing in Manufacturing learning events are being presented by AusIndustry’s Entrepreneurship Program and will be hosted by Jacqui Daley, Managing Director of The Measured Marketer. Jacqui has over 16 years’ experience in digital marketing, and The Measured Marketer has developed and implemented a range of digital marketing strategies for local manufacturing businesses across the region.
The free sessions are designed to help manufacturing businesses understand how digital marketing can drive results, amplify traditional marketing, support diversification and achieve business objectives.
“We’ve really enjoyed working with a number of local manufacturing businesses since our inception”, said Jacqui.
“We’ll certainly be covering off on the basics for those businesses that don’t know where to start – but we’ll also be sharing some great case-studies on how we’ve applied digital marketing techniques to help position our clients in new international markets.
“Everyone will walk away with a deeper understanding of how digital marketing can support their business into the future.”
The learning events are being held in Newcastle (July 24), the Central Coast (August 2) and Port Macquarie (August 15).
IMAGE | Jacqui Daley, Managing Director of The Measured Marketer, will be hosting free digital marketing workshops for manufacturing businesses.
