Tech ideas the next big production

Tim McLean does not buy into the prevailing negativity around Australian manufacturing.

In fact, the manufacturing consultant's experiences on the road tell him that Asian manufacturers are learning from Australia.

"Australian manufacturing is highly valued in the region because of our history of manufacturing," Mr McLean said.

Speaking on the wings of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence's conference in Perth, the principal of Melbourne-based TXM Lean Solutions suggests local manufacturing is sometimes unfairly maligned.

Some observers claim cultural differences around Australia and Japanese working practices and attitudes contributed to Toyota's decision to quit its Australian production lines at Altona in Victoria by the end of 2017.

However, while industrial relations can be a sticking point with foreign manufacturers in Australia, Mr McLean said it should not be forgotten that Altona turned out a world-class Camry.

"Nothing wrong with the car, nothing wrong with the way things are done, it's purely about the market," he said.

"You can't keep making a product no one wants to buy because it is either too expensive to export or it's just not what the Australian market needs any more."

The rise of cheaper Asian producers has put Australian manufacturing under growing pressure, with job numbers down 20 per cent in the past decade.

Mr McLean, who specialises in helping small to medium-sized business with lean manufacturing methods, said specialisation and innovation would determine which manufacturers survived.

"Mass production here is largely gone but that's not where our opportunity lies," he said.

"The typical future manufacturing business will be a technology business which employs more engineers than it does people on the shopfloor."

And Mr McLean singles out Austal as a model for success.

"Australian-designed, innovative products that the rest of the world wants to buy," he said.