Growing Territory manufacturing one step at a time

A shoemaker has bucked years of history and set up shop in Darwin. Read what challenges they face.

Large scale shoe and garment manufacturing has officially commenced in Darwin.

Australian Garment and Shoe Manufacturing has invested millions on a suburban-Winnellie premises and plant for the new operation, which began production last month.

Whereas manufacturers have assiduously avoided Darwin over many years AGSM’s primary investor, disability and aged care provider Neu Care Pty Ltd, has bucked a historic trend and set up shop in the Top End.

The company’s Darwin-based business development manager Rafay Khan said there were considerable savings to be made basing its operation in the Top End, commencing with securing an affordable factory.

Rafay Khan with some of Australian Garment and Shoe Manufacturing’s costly plant.

Equipped with state-of-the-art machinery sourced from Germany and Turkey, the factory is filled with innovative production capability machines including a pelletised product that enables AGS to manufacture footwear via different raw materials, the first of its kind and scale in Darwin.

As the advanced shoe manufacturing ramps up, the company plans to also manufacture denim wear.

Mr Khan said there were clear advantages of basing the new business in Darwin.

“We compared Darwin with the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne in terms of the cost of establishing the factory and Darwin was the most feasible,” he said.

“We have the international market right next door through Singapore”.

“Darwin’s known for fishing, beer, and camping. In time it will also be known for shoe and garment manufacturing.”

He said last week, purchase orders were already in place and 10,000 soles were in the process of production.

AGS is now trying to secure technical staff as well as an anticipated workforce of about 80 total employees.

A giant dryer and washing machine for garment manufacture.

He said last week, 10,000 shoes were manufactured at the plant and AGSM is now trying to secure technical staff as well as an anticipated workforce of about 80 manufacturing employees.

Manufacturing is a national weak link, with Australia ranked 93rd on the Harvard Kennedy School’s Economic Complexity Index out of 133 countries.

Jens Goennemann from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre said this ranks Australia between Uganda and Pakistan on the global manufacturing scale.

The picture is just as stark in the Northern Territory where, despite a diverse manufacturing sector, it employed an annual average of 3700 Territorians, or about 2.6 per cent of the workforce.

Jens Goennemann said it was time to transition from a “luck-based” economy.

“Australia’s continued fall in ECI rankings is completely predictable,” he said.

“If this is to change, then we must focus on transitioning away from a luck-based economy to becoming smarter if we are to protect our high standards of living and prosperity into the future.”

The NT government has invested $8.75m over five years to fast-track innovation projects and hopefully generate millions of dollars in co-investment.