Australian manufacturing is not dead.
The Manufacturing Excellence Taskforce of Australia (META) has announced a new venture aimed at creating opportunities for high performance textile products.
META has collaborated with the Council of Textile & Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA) on a hub involving manufacturers and researchers.
The META Textiles Collaboration Hub is made up of 19 participants, representing seven manufacturing companies and six research organisations.
Together, participants in the Hub will identify high value markets where textile technologies can provide innovative solutions to those market needs.
Produced for their functional capabilities and application, high performance textile products are frequently used across the athletic, health and aged care, industrial and defence sectors.
Together, participants in the Hub will identify high value markets where textile technologies can provide innovative solutions to those market needs.
Hub member Nigel Whelan said access to the latest technologies and developments will allow manufacturers to continually innovation.
Whelan is from Stewart & Heaton, a leader in producing specialised performance garments for uniforms and personal protective clothing.
"A specialist response, in highly demanding industries and environments, such as emergency services, requires a specialist application garment.
"By collaborating with research and other Australian manufacturers, we can create and develop even smarter textiles and take a leading role in forging new products for highly specialised markets outside the retail and consumer level."
META managing director Zoran Angelkovski said this would bring domestic and international opportunities.
“By bringing together manufacturing, research and application skills, we can identify and expand the creation of high performance textile products for performance oriented markets within the consumer, industrial, government and defence sectors.
“Australia has the opportunity to be a leading global player, transforming textile manufacturing from commodity based and volume driven to high value-added products that have the ability to do everything from sensing and reacting to environmental changes to regulating body temperature.”
The META Textiles Hub is just one of 20 collaboration hubs that META is establishing.
For more information on collaboration hubs and to become part of the META Textiles Collaboration Hub visit meta.org.au.