Feel Good About Manufacturing in Australia

We rarely hear good stories nowadays about man­u­fac­tur­ing in Australia.
His­tor­i­cal­ly, we had a robust Aus­tralian man­u­fac­tur­ing base but in recent times most man­u­fac­tur­ing has moved off shore. Cheaper imports may seem like a good idea but as the story goes ‘if a deal seems to be too good to be true, it probably is’. Apart from the loss of brains trust and skill sets, imported products may not always be what they seem to be. The stringent safety and en­vi­ron­ment standards followed by Aus­tralian man­u­fac­tures are not nec­es­sar­i­ly adhered to by overseas man­u­fac­tur­ers.
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It is re­fresh­ing then to hear of a local man­u­fac­tur­ing success story, such as that of Wilson & Gilkes. Wilson & Gilkes couple the very latest state-of-the-art tech­nol­o­gy and man­u­fac­tur­ing solutions, with ingenious Aus­tralian design to produce ‘worlds best practice’ and eco friendly products. One example of this is the Lock & Dock computer storage, security and mobility units, designed and man­u­fac­tured by Wilson & Gilkes in Australia, to Aus­tralian en­vi­ron­men­tal and safety standards. The Lock & Dock range is man­u­fac­tured at their Moorebank fa­cil­i­ties with the help of local engineers, in­dus­tri­al designers, trades people, ap­pren­tices and an en­thu­si­as­tic support team.
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Wilson & Gilkes also believe in sup­port­ing the next wave of Aus­tralian man­u­fac­tures and actively par­tic­i­pates in the SouthWest Connect Work Placement Program. Work placement is a com­pul­so­ry component of the school based vo­ca­tion­al HSC courses, which are recog­nised by both industry and the Board of Studies.
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Students are placed with Wilson & Gilkes for a week to enhance skills learned in the classroom.
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Through this program students ex­pe­ri­enc­ing real working con­di­tions, which help build con­fi­dence, self respect and better prepare them for their future careers. Students also have unique access to the latest state-of-the-art man­u­fac­tur­ing tech­nol­o­gy and personnel, giving them the op­por­tu­ni­ty to un­der­stand the seemingly limitless pos­si­bil­i­ties that await them. The program also helps students gain their HSC and national industry recog­ni­tion.
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One recent program par­tic­i­pant was Christo­pher Fifita. Christo­pher assisted in the man­u­fac­ture of Lock & Dock units that have proven to be so popular with schools through­out Australia and New Zealand. Christo­pher’s con­tri­bu­tion may seem small but he is an important reminder that through even our smallest actions, we can all make an important con­tri­bu­tion to the future of man­u­fac­tur­ing in Australia.