The inaugural ADM Advanced Manufacturing in Defence conference was held at the Langham Hotel on Melbourne on 25 October in partnership with the Defence Science Institute and the Victorian Government, and attracted delegates from across the industry and academia.
Chaired by Professor Giselle Rampersad, Director of the Centre for Defence Engineering Research and Training at Flinders University, the opening address of the full-day event was delivered by Victorian Defence Industry Advocate “Johnno’ O’Callaghan.
O’Callaghan painted a sobering picture of the worsening relationships in the Indo-Pacific region, before describing the future of advanced manufacturing in Victoria at least as “a bright one.” He also took time to describe the benefits of major international programs like the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to local defence industry and the spin-off benefits of the technologies developed to all industry.
Dr George Feast, Deputy Director of the CSIRO’s SME Connect then provided delegates details of the work his organisation is doing to connect small to medium businesses with research and development resources, enabling them to develop advanced manufacturing technologies.
There followed a series of case studies throughout the day, in which representatives from eight different organisations across industry and academia spoke about the work they were doing in the advanced manufacturing sector and the pitfalls they have encountered along the way - including working with Defence. A common thread throughout these presentations was a willingness to share experiences in a common way with the rest of the delegates – something not often seen among companies that are often competing with one another in a relatively small market.
In amongst these case studies, Giselle Rampersan presented her thoughts on the barriers surrounding the uptake of Industry 4.0 technologies in Defence projects, the need to drive digital transformation maturity and the challenge of growing a skills pipeline.
The day concluded with a panel discussion on the establishment of effective research and development partnerships in the advanced manufacturing sector.