… it’s not a dirty word

By Shaun Inguanzo
YOUNG people are overlooking a manufacturing career’s goldmine in Greater Dandenong because of startling misconceptions that the industry is dirty, dumb and dangerous.
But manufacturers in the booming region are now working together to prove that modern-day manufacturing is clean, clever and critical.
Clean and tidy warehouses, strict occupational health and safety standards and modern technology have given manufacturing a surgical appearance compared to its former image.
The S4 group of business advocacy organisations – South East Networks (SEN), South East Melbourne Manufacturers’ Alliance (SEMMA), South East Development (SED) and South East Local Learning and Employment Network (SELLEN) – in conjunction with the City of Greater Dandenong Council, is now working to change the damaging misconceptions that have led to a manufacturing skills shortage.
Contrary to the rest of the state, manufacturing is booming in Greater Dandenong. The region contains 44 per cent of the state’s manufacturing businesses and that figure is rising.
SED executive officer Anita Buczkowsky said employment in the Greater Dandenong region had increased by 10,000 jobs in the past six years, with 3000 of those dedicated to manufacturing.
Ms Buczkowsky said this was contrary to media reports that often slammed manufacturing as a declining industry with jobs being shipped overseas.
SEN manager Sandra George said that through focusing on safety and skills, manufacturing had shed its ‘dirty, dumb and dangerous’ approach to become ‘clean, clever and critical’.
“But there is a skills shortage across the board,” she said.
“There are definitely shortages in management and in administrative skills, not just on the floor.”
Bomac Engineering manager Barry McFarlane said the skills shortage had made boiler makers an endangered species.
He said he struggled to find workers to manufacture his world-beating Altrac crane system.
Members of the S4 group are now urging young people on the cusp of a new career to consider the opportunities in manufacturing, particularly in the Greater Dandenong region.
Jobs range from technical skills such as mechanics, engineering, design and operating ‘video game-like’ machines to manufacture parts, through to office and business skills such as accounting, marketing, office administration, public relations and senior management.
Ms George said it was crucial that the region has more young people enter the manufacturing workforce because many older, skilled employees were on the verge of retiring, which could leave the region with a skills gap.
Meanwhile, three Greater Dandenong manufacturers have this week been inducted into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame as part of Manufacturing Week celebrations across the state.
Trimas Corporation, DAIR Industries and HM Gem Engines received the prestigious honour and will join another five Greater Dandenong manufacturers that have been inducted in the past four years.