SILICON
SILIC
CHIP
www.siliconchip.com.au
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2
Silicon Chip
Editorial Viewpoint
Australia’s strength in manufacturing
The recent closure of the Holden plant in Elizabeth,
Victoria, rightly received a lot of media attention. The
end of Australian mass-market automotive manufacturing
(with the Toyota and Ford plants having already closed)
is undoubtedly a disruption to the Australian economy,
with a large personal impact on those who have had to
find new jobs.
It is likely to have an impact on our local electronics
manufacturing industry too. The vehicles made in the
now-closed plants contained up to 70% locally-made parts – a lot of it involving electronics.
Hopefully, those suppliers will be able to continue operation as there are still
companies making specialised vehicles for the mining industry, the military and
off-road market. As well, many of those suppliers are active overseas.
But there is another reason why we’ve mentioned the automotive plant closures; they echo the closures of large consumer electronics factories in Australia,
following the abrupt tariff reductions by the Whitlam government in 1975. Prior
to that time, virtually all consumer electronics products, such as radios, stereograms, TVs and car radios, along with all whitegoods were protected by high
tariff walls. They have all gone – the last locally-built fridge was made quite
recently, with the Electrolux factory in Orange, NSW closing in November 2016.
One of the largest radio and TV manufacturers in Australia, AWA, shut down
its last factory in the early 90s. And they didn’t just put together electronics from
parts made overseas either. From the 40s to the 70s, when local manufacturing
was strong, just about all the electronic components parts were made in Australia and in many cases, in the same factory as final assembly took place. Those
halcyon days, when consumer electronics products were a great deal more expensive than today, are long gone.
But Australia today still has a substantial electronics industry and it is lean
and efficient, as it has to be to compete on world markets. Areas where Australian electronics manufacturers find success include mining tools, medical equipment, sound reinforcement, traffic control, industrial process control and more.
And many of these companies are well-regarded around the world and in many
cases are market leaders.
You may also be unaware that there are at least 20 electronics assembly facilities in Australia, some of them large and using advanced technology.
Don’t believe us? In New South Wales alone we’re aware of Circuitwise, GPC
Electronics, Nesstronics, Pritchard, On-Track, Soltronico and Wavetronics. In Victoria there’s Alfatron, Duet Electronics, Extel and Sniper Electronics; Queensland
has Circuit Solutions, Crystalaid, Hetech, Masters & Young and RFTech; South
Australia has Entech and TCM Electronics while in Western Australia there’s
Advanced Technology & Manufacturing, Lyntel and PCB Assembly. These companies would only exist if they had a significant number of customers. And that
doesn’t include the Australian-based design houses which have their equipment
fabricated off-shore.
Successful Australian electronics manufacturers include Aldridge Traffic Systems, Blackmagic Design, Codan, Exablaze, Metamako, Radixon, Redarc, Redback Audio and Vix Technology.
And let’s not forget companies like Melbourne-based Versatile Technology,
(featured in our January 2016 issue). The equipment they design and make for
testing drink bottles and cans is exported worldwide.
Undoubtedly, there are many more Australian electronics companies, large
and small, which we don’t hear about, which are not only providing employment but contributing strongly to our GDP.
You won’t hear about them in local media but they are out there, doing well
while competing in a very tough environment.
Nicholas Vinen
Celebrating 30 Years
siliconchip.com.au
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