By Mike Sullivan >>

IT IS a business resource centre, a font of information about technologies, a leadership meeting place, a business knowledge hub and – perhaps best of all – a uniquely curated national and international product showcase.

It is the Manufacturing Toolbox – a new and unique digital platform imagined, designed, researched, produced and managed right here in Australia. In less than a month of its soft launch, thousands of business people within Australia and internationally have pored over its stratified, information-rich pages and video clips. 

The Manufacturing Toolbox is the first of many custom-designed digital platforms that are emerging from 15 years of research – involving more than 50,000 deep business surveys and case studies focused on business use of technology – by Brisbane-based private company, Digital Business insights (DBi) and industry partners.

These are platforms that are free to join and use – all business leaders and owners have to do is provide some basic information about their companies, and that data is then also used to help shape the content direction of the toolbox.

Once logged in, manufacturers and manufacturing service organisations can add company and product text, images and video to the Showcase section for display. A free monthly e-newsletter is part of the deal.

DBi CEO John Sheridan said the Manufacturing Toolbox was designed to help Australia’s manufacturing business leaders develop their companies, build capability and showcase their products and services to new markets, both local and overseas.

In the case of the Manufacturing Toolbox, key partnerships already include Australian science and research agency CSIRO;  QMI Solutions and its subsidiaries the Australian Institute for Commercialisation and ICN; the Manufacturing On The Move network; Regional Development Australia; the Australian Computer Society (ACS); State Library of Queensland; Outsource Institute of Technology; Queensland Trade and Investment; Cook Medical Australia and integrated national media partner, Business Acumen magazine.

The Toolbox is funded and supported by these key partnerships, along with higher subscription levels of access for businesses, ranging from $199 a year to $999 a year for extra levels of showcase content bandwidth, including HD video. The paid subscription options also include a dedicated Manufacturing Acumen e-newsletter along with print and digital subscriptions to Business Acumen magazine.

A unique aspect of the offer is that it provides editorial coverage priority for higher level subscribers.

The Toolbox includes a Resource Centre featuring partner programs, plus video workshops, news, events, insightful blogs from industry experts, and – uniquely – the Showcase of leading Australian manufacturers.

“In the future, we will promote virtual manufacturing trade shows into targeted local and overseas markets, and industry sectors,” Mr Sheridan said. “These will be stand-alone virtual trade shows open for several months at a time and many will coincide with live trade shows, conferences and roadshows in international markets.

“For example, in the case of Taiwan we would establish a virtual Showcase window on Australia’s best-of-breed ICT companies that would be published ahead of, say, a major ICT exhibition and conference,” he said. “That Showcase window would feature companies and products tailored directly for the Taiwan market and its URL would be promoted in the local market by trade and business organisations such as Austrade, Trade and Investment Queensland, the chambers of commerce and others.”

RESOURCE HUB

One of the most popular sections of the Manufacturing Toolbox so far has been the Resource Centre.

Business leaders use the Resource Centre to gather information and inspiration to set their businesses off in new directions. Here they can find experts and best-of-breed services to help achieve their goals.

The Toolbox features hundreds of video presentations to help and improve key aspects of every business, plus problem-solving and forward-looking blogs from industry experts. 

Mr Sheridan said the Manufacturing Toolbox was the obvious place to start for DBi’s digital platforms.

“Manufacturing is probably the sector most able to understand what the Toolbox offers and derive benefits from it in a short time frame,” Mr Sheridan said.

“Our work over many years in researching digital disruption and technology adoption has shown us that manufacturers are early adopters of new technologies and they are among the most innovative people in this country. Now we need to showcase our manufacturers to the world, and that is what the Toolbox is designed to do.

“We hear in the general media all the time that ‘manufacturing is dead’ in this country,” he said. “Well, our partners in the Manufacturing Toolbox beg to differ.

“Manufacturing in Australia faces great challenges, for certain, but Australian manufacturers bring enormous creativity, resilience and determination to succeeding in their fields. They are among the world’s best innovators – and we believe all they need is some help.

“What the Manufacturing Toolbox does is give manufacturing business leaders information, knowledge, advice – in some cases inspiration – and support networks to help them succeed.

“And beyond that, through our communication and media channels, we offer a great catalyst for success and outreach: targeted information sharing and publicity.”

KEY PARTNERSHIPS

The networks being brought to the Manufacturing Toolbox by its collaborative partners are extraordinary.

CSIRO’s own research and commercialisation is world-leading, and it also provides a conduit to university research.

The Outsource Institute of Technology is recognised as a national leader in technology and engineering qualifications, already offering world-leading courses in robotics and 3D printing, among other cutting edge areas of education.

Similarly, ACS is Australia’s foremost provider of training and certification in the ICT sector. So successful has it become in this areA that its programs are already being adopted for certification in several Asian countries.

QMI Solutions is arguably Australia’s leading technology diffusion organisation and manufacturing educator. QMI Solutions was the first organisation in Australia to use a 3D printer for component prototyping – 20 years ago – and it also pioneered such programs as Lean Manufacturing and Core Value assessments in Australia. Through its Australian Institute for Commercialisation it has also assisted some of Australia’s most successful manufacturers to develop.

The State Library of Queensland offers regional reach to manufacturers and is a learning resource network in its own right. For example, many manufacturers are learning 3D printing techniques through local library courses.

“The Manufacturing Toolbox is a hub where business leaders can learn from people like them who are at the cutting edge,” Mr Sheridan said.

“More importantly, they can then get on and do something about improving their organisation and actively seek out new markets and potential customers. This is the start of something unique. It is the result of an extraordinary collaboration among organisations offering knowledge and their networks with a view to energising manufacturing.

“In the trials of the Manufacturing Toolbox, we found most business leaders discovered new information and watched video workshops on the site, then directed their staff and colleagues to those areas which helped to inform discussion and progress new directions for their companies,” he said.

“Apart from the clear marketing advantages offered by the Australian Manufacturing Showcase, trials showed business leaders could use the Toolbox to find and contact best-of-breed organisations and verified experts to assist their companies.

“We hope the Manufacturing Toolbox will help create an unfair advantage for Australian manufacturers – and that’s got to be good for everybody.”

http://manufacturing.digitaltoolbox.org

ends

By Carl Spruce.

THE PROCESS of ‘buddying up’ experienced employees with new recruits is not a new concept, in fact the traditional apprenticeship system is predicated on an experienced tradesperson mentoring and coaching an apprentice throughout their apprenticeship period.

The challenge that most companies have is trying to ‘formalise’ the ‘informal’ nature of the knowledge being transferred within their organisations. 

Mentoring has long been used in manufacturing and engineering to transfer trade skills to apprentices throughout the four-year duration of an apprenticeship.

This process of knowledge and skills transfer is as follows:

• The first year an apprentice typically works alongside a tradesperson for a year. During this time the tradesperson will teach the young apprentice how to perform basic trade skills such as welding or cutting materials to length.
• During the second year the apprentice is then given small jobs to start and complete by themself with some guidance from a nearby tradesperson.
• Third and fourth-year apprentices start to work as part of a team of tradespeople and/or autonomously on projects.

Mentoring can be used in many ways in manufacturing and engineering to level the skill playing field of the workshop.  

Many organisations allow workers to work endlessly in a very skilled environment such as CNC programing, specialised welding and detailed pressing operations without transferring these skills to others in the organisation.

The risks of allowing this to occur are:  that holiday periods and sick leave impact on production and quality; abrupt departures of key workers result in a rushed or failed recruitment process and wage increases requested by key tradespeople.  

The transference of critical skills reduces the risk to the organisation.

The culture of most manufacturing and engineering organisations is very ‘technocratic’ and ‘autocratic’.  Skills are king and the people with the most skills are the leaders (generally).

What most manufacturing and engineering organisations don’t realise is the value and opportunities for innovation and collaboration that exist in their people.  Many ideas and innovations are not shared due to low levels of trust between management and tradespeople.  

Introducing a mentoring program would lead to an increased understanding and clarification of managerial and tradesperson roles within the organisation and foster a team approach to productivity, quality and safety requirements.

The main thing to realise when developing a mentoring program is to adequately support all parties involved.  Ensure that everyone engaged in the mentoring relationship understands their roles and responsibilities and is explicitly aware of the purpose of the mentoring relationship and its intended outcomes.

* Outsource Institute has developed a training unit to assist in this area.’TAEDEL404- Mentor in the workplace’ is an accredited unit of competency providing participants with the required skills and knowledge necessary to establish and develop a professional mentoring relationship with an individual in a workplace.

Carl Spruce is the managing director of the Outsource Institute of Technology, a Manufacturing Toolbox partner and sponsor, regularly providing information like this to industry through the platform.

www.outsourceinstitute.com.au

ends

GS1 Australia has officially launched its new Apparel RFID Implementation Guidelines to provide retailers and suppliers in the Australian apparel, fashion and footwear industry with best practice guidance.

The guidelines on RFID implementation have been based on the latest global learnings, researched by GS1. 

GS1’s guidelines were launched at the recent apparel industry exhiibtion and conference, Ragtrader Live: Designed2Disrupt, in Sydney.

GS1 Australia manager for RFID and omni-channel, Sean Sloan presented the guidelines to leading industry representatives, innovators and influencers at Australia’s premier apparel industry event to explore strategies for successful retail.

The Apparel RFID Implementation Guidelines include Item Level Tagging and Format and Symbol Placing guidelines.

As one of the panel experts discussing digital disruption at Ragtrader Live, Mr Sloan said the guidelines provided some best practice guidance to assist retailers, manufacturers and suppliers with the successful and cost effective implementation of EPC-based RFID Item Level Tagging (ILT).

“The Australian retail sector continues to make an important contribution to the economy,” Mr Sloan said. “The adoption of EPC RFID using GS1 standards will give the industry an opportunity to improve inventory accuracy throughout the supply chain, reduce out-of-stocks on the shop floor, boost sales, track individual items and deliver a faster check out experience for the customer at Point-of-Sale.

“When implemented correctly, RFID has the potential to significantly, and positively, disrupt an organisation’s business,” Mr Sloan said.

He said the guidelines also included instructions on the efficient identification, serialisation and placement of a GS1 EPC tag – an RFID swing tag carrying a serialised Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).

Checkpoint System Asia-Pacific vice-president for merchandise availability solutions, Mark Gentle said suppliers were also discovering powerful benefits from RFID, shattering the common perception that RFID was only gaining traction with suppliers because of compliance requirements.

“Forty percent of apparel brands are now source tagging with RFID labels and it has become a new requirement for omni-channel,” Mr Gentle said. “The conversations I’ve had with suppliers indicate that RFID is a win-win for both suppliers and retailers.

“One apparel supplier noted that his firm is now capturing mistakes before merchandise leaves the factory, reducing supply chain costs significantly because of fewer returns and increasing customer service because merchandise is available on store shelves,” Mr Gentle said.

Ragtrader Live conference delegates heard how supply chain efficiency was paramount in the success of moving a product from the point of manufacture to the customer.

The launch of the guidelines will be a game changer in the adoption of RFID across the retail sector, Mr Sloan said.

The guidelines are based on the GS1 Germany RFID Implementation Guidelines for the Apparel, Fashion and Footwear Sector 2015 and the GS1 US EPC Based Guidelines for the Apparel Industry 2014, and have been localised for the Australian marketplace.

Mr Sloan said both of these countries had very mature and successful RFID programmes in place with retailers including Gerry Weber, Adler Modemärkte, Marc O’Polo, C&A and Adidas NEO in Germany, and Macy’s, HBC Group (Hudson Bay, Lord & Taylor, Sak’s), Dillard’s, Target Corporation, Kohl’s, Sears Holdings, JC Penney and Walmart in the US.

“The major benefits of deploying EPC-based RFID ILT technology using open GS1 standards include keeping the costs down and increasing competition within the solution provider community,” Mr Sloan said.

www.gs1au.org

ends