With the ongoing trend for businesses to move operations, particularly manufacturing, off-shore, it makes for a refreshing change to see a company going against this trend and electing instead to bolster the number of workers at its Australian manufacturing plant.
Chamberlain Group, which claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of automatic garage door and gate openers for residential and commercial applications, is bringing home the manufacturing of its roller door openers (RDO) from Malaysia to its existing Gosford plant in NSW.
Chamberlain Oceania sales & marketing manager Mike Fraser said the relocation will occur in the second quarter of this year and no physical changes to the product will occur, only updated branding on the packaging.
"We are currently in the process of hiring 14 skilled employees for our Gosford factory. Due to expansion in the business and overall demand, we are also expecting to exceed last years' RDO product output," he said.
After the move, the majority of Chamberlain products for the ANZ market will be manufactured in Gosford.
"It's a great moment when a company selling products in Australia, to Australians, can inform them that they are also buying a product manufactured in Australia that has created jobs for people in New South Wales," said Mr Fraser.
"Even if it is a small percentage of jobs in the overall picture, we would certainly urge other businesses to consider bringing their overseas manufacturing back to Australia."
The increasing trend towards moving manufacturing overseas has been attributed to the high Australian dollar, according to Former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, who commented in August last year at an Australian Industry Group (AIG) forum that with the Australian dollar unlikely to fall, manufacturers should consider off-shoring to survive.
However, Mr Fraser has a different view: "Bringing Chamberlain door opener manufacturing back to Australia also places production closer to our customers and suppliers, giving the company a competitive advantage in the region," he said.
Mr Fraser said Chamberlain Malaysia employees will be provided with a redundancy package, severance pay and job search assistance in the lead-up to the closure of the factory.
