5 trends that will mark the Australian manufacturing industry in 2019

| April 26, 2019
5 Trends that Will Mark the Australian Manufacturing Industry in 2019

Manufacturing businesses have, at least in some capacity, been with us ever since humans discovered their first tools. Naturally, as the technology developed the manufacturing industry went through huge disruptions. Just look at the turmoil that came with the Industrial Revolution. These days when we’ve stepped deep into what people like to call the Age of Information, where new tech trends rise on a seemingly daily basis, things are as uncertain as ever.

Let’s take a look then how these enveloping business trends affect manufacturing businesses in Australia.

5 Trends that Will Mark the Australian Manufacturing Industry in 2019

The manufacturing sector is still booming

First and foremost, it is worth mentioning that in spite of the implementation of disruptive technologies and the rise of competing industries, the Australian manufacturing sector is expanding at the fastest pace in the last 15 years. As a matter of fact, new technologies are being implemented so effortlessly that the vast improvement of operating conditions across the sector is one of the main driving forces behind this resurgence. Even better, its financial fuel is the local demand meaning that international capacities are as of yet still largely untapped.

Increased stockpiling

Interestingly enough, this increase in production volume is coupled with robust expansion in inventories rather than sales, which means that the current production is aimed more towards stockpiling and future orders rather than direct sales. This development will have a direct impact on the warehousing industry since manufacturing businesses will be forced to look out for flexible storage solutions that will allow them to adapt their warehousing capacities to the current production.

IoT and Cloud becoming important competitive advantages

IoT and Cloud have one thing in common – they are both speeding up the production. The main difference, IoT enables effortless collaboration between various tools and manufacturing utilities, and Cloud enables effortless cooperation between experts and engineers. The businesses who implement these two technologies to the highest degree will certainly have a competitive advantage on the market. Maintenance of these systems also means increased local demand for IT professionals.

3D printing finally making a splash

3D printing was very long seen as the technology that will bring a complete overhaul to the industry and radically change the way we look at manufacturing, but it seems like we’ve finally reached the point where 3D printers’ commercial application won’t only be limited to prototyping. As a matter of fact, according to Gartner as much as 75% of 3D printing production will be used for creating custom manufacturing tools by 2020, which is, by all means, a noticeable change of pace that can affect the entire industry.

Data as the driving fuel of the industry

Although never being at the spearhead of predictive analytics, the manufacturing industry will need to raise its game and step into vast pools of ever-increasing data. There they will be able to harness the information about machine utilization, employee productivity, and design trends, as well as customer expectations and overall market trends. The business world is becoming increasingly competitive and only the businesses which take such a holistic approach to analytics will be able to stand out from the crowd.

As we can see, the manufacturing industry is once again undergoing exciting changes threatening to completely change its face. The good news is that this time, the tide is tamed and revolutionary disruptions are being turned into evolutionary upgrades. Still, anticipating what lies behind the next corner is as hard as ever.

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