Specialised board for Victorian manufacturing named

ONLY one member of the inaugural board of Melbourne’s Manufacturing Precinct will be from the car industry.

This member is Toyota Australia executive director of corporate services Mike Rausa, who alone among the 12 nominated will bring an automotive perspective to the deliberations.

The Melbourne-based body is the first of as many as 10 precincts to be established around the country as part of a $500 million government-backed industry innovation program.

The precincts have been designed to bring together multi-disciplinary boards with the aim of supporting and potentially creating internationally competitive manufacturing businesses and jobs.

The precinct boards will comprise people from business, research institutions, service providers, unions and government agencies.

The Manufacturing Precinct will be based at Monash University’s Clayton Campus, adjacent to 400 staff from Monash and the CSIRO, who specialise in research into advanced manufacturing, biological engineering and renewable energy.

At the scheme’s launch in May, industry and innovation minister Greg Combet said the Manufacturing Precinct would operate nationally through a network linking manufacturers and researchers.

There will be a branch in Adelaide focused on defence-related manufacturing.

It is expected the precinct will help build a culture of innovation and collaboration across the manufacturing sector in Australia.

“Businesses and other organisations will also be able to collaborate with the Manufacturing Precinct to apply for funding under the Industry Collaboration Fund,” Mr Combet said.

The Industry Collaboration Fund is scheduled to be established later this year and will ultimately have $50 million available each year, only through the new precincts.

The industry innovation precincts are being established as part of the $1 billion Plan for Australian Jobs policy launched in May.

The board of Melbourne’s Manufacturing Precinct will be chaired by Albert Goller, former managing director and chair of Siemens in Australia and New Zealand.

Directors nominated today are:

-Christine Taylor, general manager of B&R Enclosures, which makes cabinets and boxes, particularly for electrical equipment

-Paul Bastian, national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union

-Dr Fred Davis, vice-president of business development for Universal Biosensors, which invented the Smart-Scan system used by diabetics to test their blood sugar levels

-John Dixon, managing director of Silk Logistics, which has hundreds of prime movers and 25 warehouses across Australia

-Dr Calum Drummond, group executive manufacturing, materials and minerals, CSIRO

-Mike Edwards, general manager Boeing Research and Technology Australia

-Professor Paul Greenfield, chair of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

-Michael Heard, former CEO of Codan and member of SA’s Science and Industry Council

-Dr Frank Koentgen, CEO Ozgene, a research contractor that also develops genetically modified mice

-Rhett Morson, general manager Morson Engineering, maker of rolled and welded steel piping

-Mike Rause, executive director corporate services for Toyota Motor Corporation Australia.