From the President

Welcome to the April 2022 edition of Materials Australia Magazine. As the new year progresses, we are all refreshed in the new year and it is clear that several key business trends are impacting the materials and manufacturing sectors, including operations and profitability. Demand for manufactured products and advanced materials remains strong. Companies will tell you that 2022 has so far, been an extremely challenging environment in which to do business, but full of opportunities. Most are, as it turns out, affected by the same personnel shortages that other industries have encountered. Many have been routinely down week on week 5% to 10% on staff purely due to COVID-19 isolation, with the end result being recruitment has also become more expensive. Across the board, we are seeing transport and shipping costs increase significantly and supply chain issues are ever present. Although this situation cannot last indefinitely, it does have an effect on a company’s abilities to export and import. The full flow on cost of this to inflationary pressures in the advanced materials sector is still to play out more fully, but it does also offer a whole suite of opportunities. We are unfortunately also witnessing some of the issues of materials supply within the building and construction industry with multiple large construction companies entering receivership, citing among other things, the difficulties in sourcing building materials that we have all taken for granted for such a long time. I have not as yet discussed the equivalent situation of our colleagues from the academic sector, but expect that there are likely teething issues being encountered as the universities return to teaching and learning face to face, as well as reduced restrictions on what can be done for research. I would also expect international students are returning slower than everyone would like them to be. Thankfully the requirement for COVID-19 testing prior to boarding aeroplanes will soon be lifted in mid-April and the restrictive nature of international travel will be improved. Like many others, I am looking forward to going overseas again! Despite the challenges, most manufacturing businesses are extremely optimistic about what the future holds in 2022. These challenges are, quite simply, leading to an increase in investment in technology, operational efficiency, and advanced capability at many facilities, especially where labour supply is a concern. In many ways, investment into the Industry 4.0 principles and projects that have been discussed for some years now, has been demonstrably accelerated in 2022. At the time of writing this note, it is just as the Federal budget for 2022 has been announced. There are many important initiatives underway that we can all take note from including significant funding for research, at such an important time in Australia’s history. Australia’s role on the global stage is ever important when we see world events unfolding such as those in Ukraine.

We have again been very busy behind the scenes in our Materials Australia activities. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for our certified materials professionals has begun from the beginning of 2022 with a selection of volunteers to help get it underway. So far it has been very straightforward, and similar to the other submissions, I used my same CPD record that I use for other organisations I am a member of such as Engineers Australia. It is quite simple and straightforward to prepare and submit, and the assessment panel have almost completed the initial submissions.

I would like to make a note about conferences planned for 2021 that were postponed until 2022. CAMS will be our first big event in over two years and will be run in June 2022 and there has so far been an excellent set of abstracts submitted. Looking to our future activities, we have an outstanding set of conferences planned including Apicam and Light Metals Technology, which are expected to run in 2023.

Looking towards the second quarter of 2022. I would like to wish you, your family and colleagues the best of health and to stay safe. Materials Australia looks forward to seeing you at our forthcoming events in 2022.

Best Regards Roger Lumley National President Materials Australia

The 7th conference of the Combined Australian Materials Societies; incorporating Materials Australia and the Australian Ceramic Society.