Investment in overseas factories has its positives and negatives, however Chinese manufacturing may be slowly losing its advantage as China’s economy slumps. With a strong yuan and major factory closures, the appeal of Chinese low-cost manufacturing is wavering, giving Australian manufacturers a much needed advantage.
According to an article in Manufacturer’s Monthly, many manufacturers are moving back home and reducing their presence in China. Big names Uniqlo, Nike and Samsung are also establishing new factories in southeast Asia and India, rather than China.
A lower Australian currency rate makes exporting to and from Australia attractive and competitive in the global market, as businesses receive more AUD for their sales. This has provided a positive opportunity for Setec to grow its local Melbourne manufacturing, doubling in the past 18 months.
Although Australian manufacturers do have a helping hand in the current economic climate, Setec acknowledges their business must continuously push boundaries and innovation while maintaining its reputation for quality products to compete in a global marketplace.
“Australia currently has one of the most expensive labour forces worldwide, and while Chinese factories are extremely efficient, Setec consistently manufactures the highest quality products. We focus on quality not high volume.” Setec CEO, David Bayliss, said.
Setec facilitates an extremely strong quality program across all areas of the business to provide reliable, sturdy products to the international market. Through efficient initial scoping and sampling of components, scanning incoming goods, and documentation process controls on the factory floor, Setec ensures every product is premium quality.
Competitive Australian manufacturers must reduce the labour content value that makes up the cost of a product, or risk falling behind its competitors. Setec has focused on embracing the latest technology into design processes to remove the inclusion of components which require a high labour content to manufacture.
