16 October 2024
Joint Logistics Unit – Victoria (JLU-V) has reached out to local industry in a bid to create shared manufacturing opportunities.
Commander JLU-V Colonel Clare Kellaway opened the doors at Wadsworth Barracks to local industry heads at the unit’s first advanced manufacturing and waste management innovation day.
Colonel Kellaway said the event was created to find opportunities to work together in building local and sovereign manufacturing capabilities.
“We have a modest advanced manufacturing capability that we're quite proud of, but we want to grow and develop, so we're interested to learn from local industry and hopefully collaborate in the future to improve our overall capability,” she said.
“We’re looking for ways to improve supply-chain resilience, so when we need access to particular items, we can hopefully manufacture them locally or work together to design and produce them.
“We're also examining waste management and recycling at the end of the supply chain, and how we might better leverage local industry capacity.”
Colonel Kellaway said industry and JLU-V shared challenges in their border community that could mean dealing with multiple governments and levels within them, as well as recruiting, training and sustaining a technical workforce.
Wodonga TAFE CEO Phil Patterson said the innovation day was a fantastic opportunity.
“For me, it's a bit about what the different models are that could be deployed to engage with industry, especially around advanced manufacturing, but also about the skilling requirements,” Mr Patterson said.
“How do we collectively think about our workforce from a talent and transfer perspective?”
JLU-V has a history of working with local industry to solve national problems.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, to assist with the mass-production of surgical masks, JLU-V worked with Shepparton-based company Med Con to bring machines that were not in use back up to speed, resulting in full-scale production.
Mr Patterson said that with about 50 visitors on the day, it was a case of “watch this space”.
“I think these sorts of days are really informative and a great way for industry to become more comfortable with thinking about Defence and the opportunities that come,” Mr Patterson said.