All Industries Group at Yeppoon receive massive grant to expand services
A multimillion dollar boost for manufacturing will help Central Queensland businesses not only grow, but expand their exports to overseas countries. Here’s how it’s already helped one business.
Business
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The region’s manufacturing industry is continuing to build, creating new jobs and equipping local workers with new skills for tasks that may usually be outsourced off site.
One company doing that is All Industries Group in Yeppoon.
The local company received a grant of $312,000 under the manufacturing hub and was able to purchase a plasma cutter to have onsite.
AIG director Trent Miles said getting the machine onsite was the “definition of just in time”.
“With the supply chain issues we had around Covid-19, bringing that machine back in-house allowed us to get back in control of our supply chain again and effectively upskilled all of our guys with C and C programming and C and C machining all here on site,” he said.
“It’s been a major contribution to the capability of our business and it’s timely as well.”
Before getting the new machine, all of the AIG steel processing was done in Brisbane.
“For the last seven or eight years it all (the steel) has been laser cut in Brisbane, it would come up in kits,” he said.
“It (the machine) does all the processing in the one sitting, so it cuts it, it drills it, it taps it...those chassis plates getting cut here are being exported to Mongolia, to Papua New Guinea and being installed in the production lines at Kenworth in Victoria, Mack and Volvo as well.
“It gives us a lot more quality control as well.”
On Thursday, Regional Development and Manufacturing Minister Glenn Butcher announced permanent funding for the Rockhampton Manufacturing Hub as part of a more than $17 million statewide manufacturing boost.
Mr Butcher said the grant and new machine would do great things for the region by keeping the jobs in Central Queensland.
“We want to make sure through manufacturing hubs we continue to support groups like All Industries to continue to grow not only regionally and locally, but to get to a place where they can look at exporting and getting that extra work,” he said.
Keppel MP Brittany Lauga said it was great the funding would be able to keep the jobs on the Capricorn Coast.
“We can make things in Yeppoon and we are growing more and more as a manufacturing centre,” she said.
“It’s really important we continue to focus on skills in manufacturing, I know businesses like AIG are struggling to find young people who are interested in a career in manufacturing.
“Manufacturing is a great industry to work in, you can get a great secure job, a job for life and you can work right here in Yeppoon earning a good wage and having good conditions.”
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