With Covid lockdowns now behind us, economic activity in Australia, particularly in the manufacturing sector, is gathering pace and momentum once again.

In October 2020, Australia’s Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) cleared the 50 points mark for the first time after the COVID-induced slump that lasted for six whole months last year.

As the twentieth century was marked by the proliferation of vehicles using internal combustion engines (ICEs), it is quite likely that the twenty-first century will come to be known as the time when electric vehicles finally displaced their ICE counterparts and ushered in a new age of sustainable transportation.

Sustainability has been one of the most popular buzzwords of the past decade and promises to remain relevant for many more years to come.

From a very young age, Peter Cirillo has been building things from scratch. At the age of 10, he built his first BMX bike. When he was 18 years old, he restored his first car – a sentimental beauty that he still owns today.

Australia is currently experiencing a major skills crisis. The labour market is suffering a deep misalignment between the needs of employees and employers, meaning highly-skilled workers are harder to find, and unhappy employees are quicker to move on.

Over the past decade, we have developed a greater recognition of the importance of good mental health in our lives. Depression is no longer considered something that can be wished away at will and instead, is treated quite similarly to physical ailments.

According to a recent survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), around a quarter of Australian businesses reported that they were unable to find suitable staff to fill existing vacancies.

Mr. Josh Frydenberg, the current Treasurer of Australia, delivered the Federal Budget for 2021-22 on the 11th of May, 2021 with the aim of securing and stabilising Australia’s recovery from COVID-19.

From the 24th to 30th of May, 2021, Australia is going to celebrate the ‘Australian Made Week’ to encourage consumers to support local jobs and businesses by buying products made and produced in Australia.

A privately-owned food manufacturer was experiencing a steady increase in production and needed its personnel and operations to support this growth in a sustainable way. The core challenge it faced was to configure its HR policies and organizational structure so that it could sustain growth for a long period of time.

The past year saw the domain of recruitment plunged into a sea of chaos. Some companies were forced to stop hiring because of financial pressures, while others had to quickly adapt to the challenge of recruiting talent virtually.

If there is anything that the past decades have taught us, it is that the ability to adapt to emerging trends and global circumstances can either catapult a company to the peaks of success or bring it crashing down to the ground.

The announcement of the $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy to revamp Australia’s manufacturing industry has made it clear that the government has shifted its focus. It now wants us to innovate and grow by our own means instead of relying on technology and expertise from overseas.

Food and beverage manufacturing [has been] one of the fastest growing parts of our manufacturing sector in recent years and the largest employer in our manufacturing sector, [which is why it is a main] area of focus as part of this strategy.

Okay, let’s rewind... it’s 1993 and I am in my second week of work experience at the GMH plant in Port Melbourne.

With the average CEO working around 62 hours per week, it comes as no surprise that one of the biggest challenges for an organisation’s leader is maintaining a work-life balance.