The decline of the Australian manufacturing sector has long been
documented. Since 1974 manufacturing's contribution to GDP has
halved, declining from 17% to 8%. However, perceptions of the
relative unimportance of Australian manufacturing amid the growing
resources and services sector are overly simplistic.
Traditional manufacturing may be in a state of decline. But a
new approach to manufacturing is evolving. One which centres around
innovation and sells solutions rather than products, one which
embraces mass commercialisation and personalisation and targets low
volume, high value over high volume, low value. This new
manufacturing thrives on business model innovation and positions
itself in rich webs of relationships and knowledge flows.
