@AuManufacturing will moderate a panel discussion on the topic of reshoring at National Manufacturing Week 2019.

The session will be held on day two of the program, on Wednesday May 15. It will feature leaders from three very different manufacturers, each with one thing in common: they have brought or will soon bring production back to Australia.

Why are they doing it? How are they doing it? After years of often-controversial stories about companies sending production overseas for labour saving reasons, why are these manufacturers bring it back home, and could others do the same?

The discussion will feature Ty Hermans from Evolve Group, who is proving Australian companies can compete with China even in manufacturing simple plastic parts such as bottle caps.

ACE-EV Group plans to begin assembling carbon fibre-bodied electric cars in China this year. Greg McGarvie will share his company’s innovative approach and how it could lead to “assembly pods” for its vehicles within Australia.

Ben Schultz from premium bike company Bastion Cycles will discuss the triggers for bringing additive manufacturing of components back in-house and to Australia.

And finally Mark Peters from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre will discuss the group’s research on the advanced characteristics, how they can increase competitiveness, and what support exists for manufacturers looking to reshore.

A summary of the session and speakers bios follow.

It’s time to talk reshoring

Wednesday 10:30 am, Industry 4.0 Theatre

Much has been said in recent years about offshoring production for labour cost savings or other reasons, but what about reshoring? Three Australian manufacturers will tell us about what competitive edge they have gained, or will gain, by bringing production back home. What can we learn from them? Find out in this overdue discussion about what’s been called a “silver bullet” for jobs growth in manufacturing.

Moderator: Brent Balinski, Editor, @AuManufacturing

Ty Hermans, Managing Director, Evolve Group

Ty Hermans is the Managing Director of the Evolve Group – Australia’s pre-eminent hardware accelerator and product commercialisation facility.

Ty established Evolve in August 2006, starting with his first invention, the Polyslab, a lightweight polymer alternative to heavy concrete slabs, a product that was later sold to a USA private equity firm in 2014. Today Evolve is a culmination of Ty and his teams vast and varied experience in developing and successfully commercialising products on a global basis along with hundreds of other products over the past 12 years.

Evolve’s expertise is turning product ideas and inventions into profitable success stories. Evolve’s focus is developing low risk, highly profitable products that are globally scalable. Evolve’s Brisbane based facility combines their internationally recognised award winning product design & development division and their comprehensive advanced manufacturing division. Who together have over 45 years of experience in the international design, commercialisation, manufacturing and fulfilment business.

Ty is passionate about ‘no nonsense’ product development with a laser focus on commercialisation, and he is leading the charge in bringing manufacturing back to Australia. Currently Evolve is manufacturing here in Australia more cost effectively than offshore suppliers for their vast customer base. Additionally Evolve has been successfully re-shoring manufacturing to Australia and exporting to more than 128 countries around the world – a feat they are extremely proud of.

Ben Schultz, Managing Director, Bastion Cycles

Ben Schultz is the co-founder and Managing Director of Bastion Cycles, who produce premium bespoke bicycles in Melbourne. Ben and the other Bastion directors hail from the automotive Industry and Toyota R&D. In 2015 they made the decision to combine their passions for advanced engineering and cycling and began designing and manufacturing their bicycles locally in Australia. Their bicycles lead the bicycle industry globally in the application of advanced technologies such as Additive Manufacturing and Filament Winding. The technology enables them to produce completely custom bicycles individually tailored for the customer. Now in its fourth year Bastion Cycles have sold in excess of 150 custom bicycles and frames to over 13 countries worldwide and have just taken the significant step to bring additive manufacturing in-house, in doing so on-shoring the process from the service bureau Rapid Advanced Manufacturing in New Zealand. The move establishes Bastion Cycles as the first bicycle manufacturer in the world to have Additive Manufacturing capabilities in-house.

Mark Peters, State Director, Queensland and Northern Territory, Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre

Mark Peters joined the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) in 2017 and is the State Director, Queensland and Northern Territory and is based near Brisbane.
Mark’s role is to support Queensland and Northern Territory manufacturers to transform their business to become more globally competitive.

Under Mark’s leadership, manufacturers are encouraged to automate their manufacturing processes and enter global supply chains. He helps companies deliver greater
commercial outcomes through strong collaboration with research institutions and lift skills across management and the workplace.

In addition, Mark is keen to encourage more manufacturing jobs back to Australia. Known as ‘reshoring’, Mark leads a consortium of like-minded manufacturers exploring ways to create jobs locally through the uptake of technology and the sharing of work orders across state borders.