Episode 100 -- Associate Professor Dilupa Nakandala from Western Sydney University’s School of Business

@AuManufacturing Conversations

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In this episode of @AuManufacturing Conversations, we hear from Dilupa Nakandala, Associate Professor at Western Sydney University’s School of Business, about her research and her new policy paper, Recharging SME manufacturing in NSW: Opportunities for government to boost adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Episode guide

0:38 – Background. Studied as an electrical/electronic engineer, worked in various roles at IBM World Trade Corporation (the first female engineer at the company) before moving into academia in 2007.

2:22 – Why SME manufacturers became a research focus.

4:24 – The policy insights paper on challenges faced by manufacturing SMEs in technology adoption released by the James Martin Institute, where Nakandala is the inaugural Policy Fellow.

5:31 – Barriers to adoption are multidimensional. Here are a few of them.

7:30 – Data collected from SMEs through several studies, including on resilience benefits – both operational and supply chain resilience – from adopting advanced technologies.

9:44 – Two policy proposals from the paper to help companies get exposed to, learn about, and benefit from new technologies. Firstly, an industry secondment program placing experts from larger enterprises in smaller companies.

11:47 – Secondly, a technology leasing program for smaller companies.

13:03 – International examples of what good looks like.

14:59 – Some thoughts on jargon and buzzwords from vendors.

16:45 – Industry 4, Industry 5, Industry 6…

17:58 – There’s work to be done to change the industry’s image. Attracting tech-savvy youngsters depends on it.

Further reading

Recharging SME manufacturing in NSW: Opportunities for government to boost adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, published by the James Martin Institute for Public Policy.

New research looks at how to boost tech adoption at SME manufacturers