Yesterday, Tuesday Sept 19, 2022, I went along to the Modern Manufacturing Expo at the Sydney showground.
Expectations were high that I would be able to see the emerging technologies, techniques, product, and service innovations that might support the re-emergence of manufacturing in this country. Specifically, I was also looking for ideas for my clients.
Perhaps I was too focussed, and saw just what I wanted to see when I registered some time ago.
It took a bit to find the expo, as there was no signage at all. Instead, there was signage for the ‘Workplace Health and Safety show’. Confused, I wandered in to ask directions to the manufacturing show to find they were the one and the same.
So, I went into the pavilion hoping to find some of the inspiration and conversation I was looking for.
The manufacturing part of the show was in the back corner. A discarded program I found indicated the manufacturing part had 25% of the floorspace, but it seemed more like 15%, and then, there was not much to see.
My question, hopefully not too frivolous is, do we not need a vibrant and successful manufacturing sector in order to support the plethora of OH&S products, services, and associations? Where are their revenues going to come from if the manufacturing sector remains as constrained as it is currently? Judging from the exhibitors yesterday, OH&S has become the end, rather than a vital means to the end, which should be a vibrant, innovative, globally oriented manufacturing sector.
This is not to throw rocks at those who turned up, made the investment, and were there to generate awareness and leads from those in attendance, in addition to the obvious networking opportunities. It is simply a commentary on the lack of support from across the broad base of manufacturers and their suppliers, education, government, and service providers.
Perhaps it was just a lousy marketing effort by the organisers, the costs were too high (although the OH&S crowd fronted), or maybe it was just one too many expos?
At least my effort was rewarded by running into someone with whom I had a useful conversation about a topic that had nothing to do with manufacturing, and as he lives two streets away, I tend to see him around a bit anyway.
To my mind, the old question of which needed to come first was clearly answered yesterday, and sadly, we seem to have it the wrong way round.
On what you say the advertising/promo was misleading…one might expect things like advent of 3D printing, biotech, AI etc. But this is Australia! We know the reality of manufacturing and R&D investment here. OH&S is academic for factories that no longer exist. As the industrial base dwindles it becomes an activity in mutual co-existence with insurance and risk management – the whole thing feeding on itself!
Yes, sadly.
There were a couple of 3 d printing companies there, and one selling some interesting spatial measurment software and hardware, but not much else beyond the usual industry bodies two unis, several CRM and ERP floggers, and the dept of industry.
By the weight of available evidence we are only a service economy, sad we will not have much left to service unless we get our collective fingers out of our collective arses.