Geelong is in the national spotlight this week with the second oldest football club in the AFL roaring into the 2022 Grand Final.
“Untameable” is the Geelong Cats mantra. It is also a fitting description for Geelong’s manufacturing community, many of whom have known their share of ups and downs.
Manufacturing has gotten a bad rap at times. Now we’re emerging again at the top of our game – reaching into cutting edge technology development, new opportunities in the energy transition, and orienting ourselves increasingly towards global markets with differentiated and original products.
One comparative statistic of interest shows manufacturing is still a significant value creator in the Geelong region at $1.2 billion* in value added – many times the size of tourism and the visitor economy, as an example.
Geelong has all the attributes to develop as a centre of excellence for new energy and low emissions manufacturing. The physical and intellectual infrastructure is here to support manufacturing of high value products via state-of-the-art processes.
Our city is home to Deakin University, a leader in researching and commercialising renewable and low emissions technologies, as well as The Gordon, a crucial educator and trainer of the workforce of the future.
We have a highly skilled workforce already, deep experience in hazardous facility management, an appreciation of the importance of protecting industrial zones, and a rich and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.
At the recent Zero Emissions Vehicle Showcase in Geelong, Ross George, the Managing Director of GMC member, Austeng, urged companies considering clean technology opportunities to “just do it”. Ross is working on hydrogen solutions, waste to energy, as well as prototyping recycling of tyre waste, among a myriad of projects. He has also bought EVs for the corporate fleet and has not looked back.
Australia has come to our “industrial awakening” later than counterparts in Europe and North America, protected as we have been for more than a century by the runaway success of our resources industries.
It was great, then, to see Tesla Chair, Robyn Denholm, recently championing Australian industrial capability in the transition to zero emissions vehicles – and all the technologies around this.
We can develop genuine partnerships with world leaders like Tesla and Nissan and Volvo, but Australia needs to invest in opportunities and maintain a controlling stake for the sake of enduring capability development and future generations.
*[Source: economy.id 2020-2021]
Jennifer Conley
CEO
Geelong Manufacturing Council