DIRECTIONS STATEMENT:

Personal Protective Equipment and Other Essential Products

MANUFACTURING SECTOR

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Queensland’s response to COVID-19

The Queensland Government is working to ensure that Queensland will have ready access to the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other essential products needed to deal with COVID-19 and any future pandemics.

We are working with Queensland businesses to develop the state’s manufacturing capability – minimising reliance on overseas suppliers, creating job opportunities for Queenslanders and boosting the economy.

In response to COVID-19, many Queensland manufacturers have pivoted to make PPE and other essential products for use by our front-line health and essential workers. These manufacturers are a prime example of how responsive and innovative Queensland businesses can be when responding to a crisis.

In collaboration with manufacturers, universities, TAFE Queensland, industry peak bodies and other key stakeholders, the Queensland Government is supporting the sector to grow their operations, access new businesses opportunities and become an established part of the state’s manufacturing base.

What are PPE and other essential products?

Personal protective equipment (PPE) protects individuals from hazards effecting the respiratory system, skin, eyes, face, hands, feet, head body and hearing.

Products include but are not limited to face masks, face shields/visors, protective eyewear, aprons, gowns and gloves.

Essential products include but are not limited to hand sanitizer, disinfectant, disinfectant wipes, ventilators and test kits.

COVID-19 impacts on supply of PPE

The COVID-19 global pandemic created disruptions to global supply chains for PPE and other essential products in early 2020. Global and local shortages occurred due to an extreme spike in demand for PPE and other essential products.

Queensland is invested in manufacturing

The Queensland Government is committed to the growth and development of the state’s manufacturing industry and building a strong biomedical sector.

Through the Advanced Manufacturing and Biomedical roadmaps, the government delivers a range of targeted initiatives to build the productivity and international competitiveness of Queensland businesses.

The Queensland Advanced Manufacturing 10-year Roadmap and Action Plan (the roadmap) is focused on transforming the state’s manufacturing industry through:

> implementing leading-edge design, innovation, technologies, processes and practices

> developing a highly-skilled workforce

> showcasing the capabilities and achievements of Queensland’s Advanced Manufacturing industry

> supporting regional manufacturing and manufacturing growth sectors across Queensland.

The Queensland Biomedical 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan focuses on human and animal healthcare, leveraging existing biomedical strengths and emerging capabilities. Queensland’s biomedical sector is underpinned by excellence in science and operates within a global value chain.

These roadmaps articulate the Queensland Government’s vision to diversify Queensland’s industry base, create high-value, well-paid, knowledge-based jobs and drive export growth for the industry by 2027.

They also identify the importance of reshoring value-adding manufacturing activities.

Through these roadmaps an environment is being created that encourages manufacturers, universities and our high-quality health system to collaborate to create cutting-edge products.

Brisbane-based the Bearded Chap retooled to urgently produce 13,000 bottles of hand sanitiser, to help Queensland hospitals.

The Queensland Government, through the supply-matching program, linked Bundaberg Rum with the Bearded Chap. They secured 3000 litres of ethanol to get their hand sanitiser production up, running and into hospitals.

Since pivoting to production, they have secured contracts with Queensland Health.

CASE STUDY

The Bearded Chap repurposes for hospitals

June 2017

Edition 2

Queensland Biomedical

10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan

Edition 2 – November 2018

Queensland Advanced Manufacturing10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan Invested in Queensland manufacturing

Queensland – Building a PPE and other essential products manufacturing sector

To support manufacturers in Queensland, the government is partnering with industry to deliver a suite of initiatives aimed at meeting the requirements of the broader industry and priority sectors. These include the Made in Queensland grants program, Regional Manufacturing Hubs in Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Gladstone, the Manufacturing Hubs Grant Program, the nation’s first Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub and first Brewlab.

An important element of the state’s manufacturing industry going forward will be an internationally competitive PPE and other essential products manufacturing sector and ecosystem that:

> has a strong focus on advanced manufacturing, innovation and a highly-skilled workforce

> taps into the state’s significant research capability and multidisciplinary collaborations between clinicians, universities and local manufacturers

> takes full advantage of the convergence of Queensland’s expertise in digital health with high-quality engineering skills

> understands its customers and the changing global requirements

> reshores value-adding manufacturing activities

> has ability to deliver PPE and other essential products from face masks to medical devices at competitive prices

> plays a critical part in domestic and international supply chain sustainability and supports sovereign supply capability.

The PPE and other essential products manufacturing sector Directions Statement focuses on:

> delivering innovative solutions (such as new world-leading PPE raw materials, equipment and processes) through increased adoption of technologies, systems and automation (Industry 4.0)

> building on advanced skills and capabilities

> reshoring of manufacturing of value-added products utilising robotics

> addressing sovereign risk in government procurement, industry procurement, and local supply chains

> promoting Queensland manufacturing achievements internationally

What is Industry 4.0?Industry 4.0, otherwise referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is a key enabler of advanced manufacturers that connects big data and analytics with automation and robotics, cloud computing and system/software integration to create ‘smart factories’.

The benefits of Industry 4.0 span several areas such as cost, productivity, profitability and operations that manufacturers are actively seeking to control, streamline, optimise or enhance.

1. Supporting a local approach to procurement

The procurement of locally manufactured PPE and other essential products by the Queensland Government has the potential to generate a significant boost for local industry. It is unreasonable to expect that companies will set up new manufacturing capability without the prospect of orders. It will be critical to ensure sustainability of supply chains for local manufacturers and ensure the private sector support local products.

The government will work across agencies and with the private sector to provide capable local manufacturers of PPE and other essential products with full, fair and reasonable access to procurement opportunities. This will include utilising the knowledge and expertise of a supply chain specialist to assist in promoting the capability of local manufacturers to supply PPE and other essential products to buyers.

The Queensland Government recently announced enhancements to procurement policy to ensure that government expenditure on procurement (approximately $20 billion annually) benefits local suppliers and workers. Under the Increasing Support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through Queensland Government Procurement, agencies have been set a target of 25 per cent of procurement value from Queensland SMEs from 1 July 2020, increasing to 30 per cent by 30 June 2022.

Through these initiatives, the Queensland Government will foster the development of manufacturing of PPE and other essential products in the state. We are encouraging innovative and sustainable solutions while prioritising local sourcing through supply chains to provide certainty to companies looking to re-tool for delivery.

The following actions will support the development of long-term procurement contracts for local manufacturers of PPE:

Establish a target for the Queensland Government to procure 25 per cent of the value of PPE and other essential products from Queensland small and medium enterprises within the next 12 months.

Action 1

Promote Queensland manufacturers of PPE and other essential products to major distributors.

Action 2

The Directions Statement focuses on four strategic areas:

2. Driving skills and capability developmentThe Queensland Government is partnering with industry to develop a highly skilled workforce to support the growth of the state’s manufacturing industry through a range of skills development initiatives, to encourage high level apprenticeships, build existing worker capacity and forge new career paths for new and existing workers. The Queensland Government’s Skills Implementation Plan for Advanced Manufacturing (Skills Implementation Plan) released on 17 December 2019, is empowering the technological transformation of Queensland’s manufacturing industry by attracting, developing and retaining world-class talent and skills.

The Queensland Government has committed $50 million through the Essential Goods and Supply Chain program to assist Queensland manufacturers increase their capability to manufacture PPE and other essential products. This funding will support local manufacturers to pivot towards the manufacture of PPE to help ensure security of supply of critical items for future emergencies.

The Queensland Government will continue to assist manufacturers to work through the regulatory environment by assisting them to gain a deeper understanding of the quality and regulatory control systems and international standards required by governing bodies such as the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA). This will include providing access to experts to support manufacturers reach the required standards and by linking them with other manufacturers from the biomedical sector who can act as mentors.

A strong manufacturing eco-system is critical to supporting the sustainable growth of a PPE and other essential goods manufacturing sub-sector in the state. To support this ecosystem, the Queensland Government will back the establishment of testing facilities in Queensland. Testing facilities will be used to determine the viability of new products and enable improved coordination and connectivity between industry, researchers, clinicians and service providers. Early engagement with clinicians or end users is an important step to understanding end user requirements when developing new products.

The testing facility will initially focus on face masks, respirators and fabrics used in the manufacture of these products. This concept will be expanded to also look at other opportunities for Queensland to host facilities to test for a range of hygiene PPE and other essential products to support industry growth.

Trade and Investment Queensland and other agencies will work together to develop joint initiatives to support investment and trade activities in the PPE and other essential products manufacturing sub-sector. These initiatives will include support for new and emerging exporters to understand the global environment and transform their processes to meet overseas market requirements and regulations.

The following actions will help to drive skills and capability development to support the establishment of a PPE and other essential products manufacturing sub-sector in Queensland:

Action 4

Action 5

Action 3

Support the establishment of PPE and other essential products testing facilities in Queensland.

Support Queensland manufacturers of internationally competitive PPE and other essential products to investigate export opportunities.

Support Queensland manufacturers to increase their PPE and other essential products manufacturing capability through the $50 million Essential Goods and Supply Chain grant program announced on 19 May 2020.

3. Increasing productivity and improving international competitiveness

The government is assisting companies to establish PPE and other essential product manufacturing capability to meet the needs of Queensland Health, the broader health sector, and other industry and community sectors by encouraging the rapid adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and practices and facilitating access to the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub.

The Queensland Government has invested $7.71 million over four years to establish the nation’s first robotics manufacturing hub. The $18 million ARM Hub supports manufacturers to accelerate their adoption of industry 4.0 technologies and practices including robotics, autonomous systems and design. To date, the ARM Hub has assisted 51 companies on their Industry 4.0 transformation journey. The ARM Hub has recently turned its focus toward post COVID-19 recovery for manufacturers by connecting their roboticists, designers and engineers with Queensland manufacturers.

A range of initiatives are being delivered by the government in partnership with industry to increase productivity, improve international competitiveness, attract private sector investment, generate highly new skilled jobs and contribute to regional economic growth. Together, we will help our local manufacturers to compete with and replace imports of PPE and other essential products currently manufactured cheaply overseas.

The following action will support businesses to increase productivity and improve their international competitiveness:

Facilitate access to the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub.

Action 6

4. Assisting the onshoring and reshoring of manufacturing activities

The global COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the spotlight on the manufacturing sector in Australia, including Queensland. The incredible global demand for products such as critical medical supplies, coupled with sudden restrictions imposed in overseas markets, laid bare our reliance on international supply chains.

Product shortages, export restrictions, limited local manufacturing and increased competition among distributors were all factors that made it difficult to source critical products, including raw materials that met Therapeutic Goods Administrations (TGA) requirements. Supply shortages in turn encouraged price gouging for key materials and equipment.

It is imperative that we work to mitigate this risk by working to firmly establish domestic production capacity for PPE and other essential products. Onshoring and reshoring, by supporting the production and manufacture of goods back to Queensland, is an integral part of planning beyond the current crisis.

The Queensland Government is committed to growing manufacturing by encouraging local Queensland businesses that currently make or source products overseas to manufacture them here in Queensland.

We will work collaboratively with businesses right across the manufacturing sector to identify opportunities to reduce supply chain gaps and risks and by matching those seeking supplies to those who can assist in supplying the products they need.

Utilising Queensland’s extensive international network, and leveraging the expertise of Queensland’s Global

Investment Commissioner, Trade and Investment Queensland will target manufacturers of critical supplies with offshore operations to reinvest in Queensland. We will also work with industry to gain a greater understanding of supply chains to ascertain how critical supplies can be manufactured locally to support the replacement of imported goods and materials.

In partnership with industry, the Queensland Government will support the local manufacture of raw materials, including consideration of innovative substitutes for raw materials and components.

Many Queensland manufacturers demonstrated during the pandemic they could temporarily pivot production to critical PPE and other essential products. Our efforts must now focus on strengthening Queensland’s domestic manufacturing capacity to reduce the state’s reliance on global supply chains. Now is the time to build sovereign capability, make more product locally and become more self-sufficient.

Accordingly, Action 7 will support the identification of opportunities for Queensland manufacturers to reshore their operations to build local.

Action 7Support PPE and other essential products manufacturers to onshore and reshore their operations and the manufacture of critical inputs.

For further information visit qld.gov.au/ppe

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