In episode 20 of @AuManufacturing Conversations with Brent Balinski we hear from David Fox, Associate Director, Research & Technology at Western Parkland City Authority.
The episode was recorded on the second day of last week’s Modern Manufacturing Expo, which @AuManufacturing is a media partner of.
Fox has worked in manufacturing for over 30 years, and was at western Sydney pressure vessel manufacturer LA Services for 16 years, finishing as General Manager, before beginning his current role in late-2021.
In this episode, he recaps some of the points within his speech, giving listeners a few tips they can use to get started in modernising their business, and touches on some skills issues.
Episode guide
1:20 – Current role involved in WPCA’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF), connecting with smaller manufacturers and procuring new equipment for the first building in Bradfield’s city centre.
3:03 – Fox’s presentation at the expo, entitled “Cloud computing and data utilisation opportunities within small manufacturing businesses”.
4:30 – Finding where digital processes could fit within pressure vessel manufacture, with input from a UTS data scientist.
6:52 – The main barrier to technology adoption in smaller businesses.
8:01 – Recognising a personal skills gap, plus what educators are currently missing.
9:30 “Not all of us have to get across this, but someone has to. Someone in the business has got to be across the detail, otherwise you’re going to get a black box solution.”
10:54 – How you can get started with cloud computing.
12:35 – Appreciating the bandwidth of jobs attached to manufacturing.
Relevant links
The Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility
https://www.wpca.sydney/delivery/amrf/
"Industry 4.0, skills and SMEs", an article by David Fox and Inu Rana that featured in @AuManufacturing's Technologies and tools for a manufacturing transformation editorial series
https://www.aumanufacturing.com.au/technologies-and-tools-for-a-manufacturing-transformation-industry-4-0-skills-and-smes-by-david-fox-and-inu-rana
Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre webinar about skills, titled "Hire the right people" (featuring Fox)
https://www.amgc.org.au/webinars/way-8-hire-the-right-people/
A 2017 article about LA Services (then L&A Pressure Welding) in The Australian Financial Review
https://www.afr.com/politics/digital-makeover-seduces-reluctant-welding-heir-20170515-gw562e
