Message from the Chair

As many of you will be aware, the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) has just wrapped up the 2022 Australian Steel Convention. With over 260 people in attendance, the Convention was a great success. It was not a Convention where we asked everyone to sit back, relax and to enjoy.

Rather, it was a Convention where we asked everyone to sit forward in their seats, open their minds, and visualise the type of industry that steel needs to be.

The theme of our Convention was VITAL and ADAPTIVE.

Both words combine to reflect the importance of the steel industry to Australian society.

The need for ADAPTABILITY in our industry is best visioned by drawing a line in the sand—here in 2022—and reflecting on what has changed in the three or four years leading up to this point. We have seen several disruptions occur and it is worth considering the need for being ADAPTIVE.

We are now in an inflationary environment which is very different to what we have experienced in the last decade. Our suppliers are experiencing cost escalation, our own businesses are experiencing cost escalation and our customers are experiencing cost escalation.

Yet our industry must ADAPT and find innovative ways to offset that escalation such that we can offer cost competitive steel solutions to society.

Central banks have increased interest rates to contain inflation, and this is very different to the last decade. Money is no longer effectively free. Uncertainty around interest rates and future currency values is impacting decision making regarding whether projects should proceed, be paused, or be abandoned.

The labour market is the tightest that many of us can recall and this is unlikely to abate in the near term. As an industry we must ADAPT to this situation and find innovative ways to attract and retain critical skills within the industry. We must come together with imaginative programs to enthuse and motivate those coming through high school, our technical colleges, and our universities to aspire to careers across our industry.

The rate of technological change— 5G networks, the Internet of Things, robotics, and automation—has had a profound effect on the way we work and the way our industry operates.

If we consider the 2030 Australian Steel Convention, we will look back and consider that the early 2020s were pedestrian at best. We must ADAPT and prepare ourselves now, for the future of work. We must consider how our customers and suppliers will want to work with us. And, more importantly, how our employees will demand the work be done.

Let’s combine technology with the other discontinuities to visualise the need for ADAPTABILITY in our thinking. questions like how much can I reduce labour costs? How much I can minimise the capital investment? Can I take a ‘slowly as we go’ approach?

The adoption of technology is now a revenue enhancement decision.

Many businesses are operating at 90%, 80%, 70% capacity due to the skilled labour constraints. Consider a competitor who has embraced technology and can run their business at 100% capacity, and above, and circumvent labour shortages – that is the type of ADAPTIVE thinking we must all have.

And so we reach the second half of the Convention theme: VITAL.

Billions of dollars are being invested in infrastructure, housing, agriculture, defence and to meet the public and private needs of Australian society. This is the base economy. Our industry is VITAL to helping society meet each of its aspirations.

Tony Schreiber (Chair, Australian Steel Institute)

On top of the base economy, Australian society has chosen a path forward that is focused on decarbonisation. A focus on renewable energy sources, more carbon efficient buildings and structures. A focus on less carbon intense supply chains.

This is not the world of the future. This is the world of the present. Anything that we have seen to date is minuscule compared to what we will see over the next 20 years.

The architectural and design fraternities are being aggressively pushed to deliver less carbon intense outcomes and they are literally pleading with industries such as ours to innovate, collaborate, and accelerate our efforts towards meeting future needs.