Brendan Buchan, COO BRE Services
Manufacturing remains a major part of Australia’s economy, employing nearly a million people and contributing more than $130 billion dollars annually to our GDP. Yet behind the production lines in our industrial estates and business parks is a sector undergoing a seismic shift.
Larger, well-capitalised operators are investing heavily in automated production upgrades in an effort to outclass their competitors. The ambition is not cheap, with Woolworths’ Moorebank distribution centre reportedly costing close to $780 million. It signals a broader commercial appetite to bring these projects to life.
While this creates an obvious divide between large and small production businesses, arguably the more pressing constraint is less visible: the gap in workforce capability.
The industry questions is- do we have enough capable tradespeople, technicians and engineers with the skills to build, scale and maintain the systems supporting Industry 4.0 and its automation functions, while keeping up with demand for multimillion-dollar projects?
And while modern industrial environments will always need electricians, mechanical fitters, technicians, engineers and operators, what we need from those roles will expand as Industry 4.0 becomes more common — and complex.
This capability is especially critical if Australia wants to keep high-value industrial work onshore.
This is where the skills conversation needs to evolve because without addressing these constraints, ambition will outpace delivery.
Global momentum, local capability
Government reports flagged the capability gap in the 2024 National Robotics Strategy, which identifies the need to accelerate robotics and automation adoption across the economy, including in advanced manufacturing, agriculture and mining.
The policy direction is clear: Australia sees automation and industrial capability as strategically important and furthered the cause in the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund also names advanced manufacturing, critical technologies and enabling capabilities as national priorities.
A Reserve Bank analysis also linked technology investment to workforce capability, noting that productivity gains depend on businesses having access to suitable labour. Without the reassurance of capability, businesses find investment in automation harder to justify.
That is where a technology problem becomes a competitiveness problem.
There is an appetite for automation, connected systems and data-led operations across manufacturing, logistics, food and beverage, mining services and industrial production.
The trade remains, but the work is changing.
Upgrading apprenticeships should be part of the solution. Training pathways need clearer progression, broader technical exposure and qualifications aligned with modern industry. This would help Australia remain competitive while making trade careers more attractive to younger people.
As an industry, we can’t solve this issue alone, but are we thinking creatively about how we develop our trades to learn skills beyond their qualification?
There is also a role for employers to be open-minded about how teams are structured and how skills are developed on the job. Not every business model will support the same approach, but it has worked well at BRE Services.
Our electrical, mechanical and automation teams operate as an integrated group because that is increasingly how modern industrial projects function. They work across the full lifecycle of a project, from design and installation through to commissioning, maintenance, optimisation and improvement.
The workforce model reflects the systems it supports. By working across different parts of the business, staff build broader capability and continue to evolve their skills. That also makes them highly sought-after employees when they move on.
Trade skills will always matter.
After a $250,000 robot fell over on a production line because of a loose nut, Geordie, a fitter by trade and supervisor at BRE Services, was called in to fix it. He captured the change, anxiety and opportunity best: “As long as robots are around, so are we.”
That is the irony of Industry 4.0. As we move towards automation, we need humans to keep them running.
If we consider robots on a production line, the reality is they may be expensive, efficient and clever, but they have their limits.
They can’t get back up when they fall over, repair themselves or track down a missing nut on the factory floor.
More often than not, they still need a fitter and turner like Geordie to get them back on their feet. This is why coordinated action from government, industry and training providers need to make sure there are enough Geordie’s around, so manufacturing can remain globally competitive, and Australian businesses can continue to attract investment and higher-value work.
