ManuFutures tenants get export boost

TENANTS in the ManuFutures facility in Waurn Ponds will benefit from $500,000 in export assistance from the federal government announced last week.

ManuFutures, the advanced manufacturing business incubator at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus, will use the funding to develop the ManuFutures Export Acceleration Program (MEAP), to support the emerging businesses in the facility to strengthen their export focus and accelerate their entry into global markets.

Partington Advanced Engineering is one of the 11 tenants at ManuFutures, and chief technical officer Jon Partington said the company’s lightweight, high-performance carbon fibre bicycle wheels had reached pre-production status, with the aim to have products ready for sale by January or February.

“We’re basically refining everything before we start turning the handle.

“Prior to February (this year), I was in half a garage at home, so it’s going great guns here.”

He said the company’s wheels were a “niche of a niche market”, and only between 1,000 and 2,000 pairs (priced at $7,000 per pair) would be made each year.

“We’ve benchmarked ourselves against the best – we’ve only really got one competitor, in Germany, and we’re exceeding their performance metrics by about 25 percent, so (the wheels) should be irrefutably the best in the world, and that was the
aspiration.”

Deakin University deputy vice-chancellor of research Professor Julie Owens said the MEAP would offer business skills training, highly skilled mentors, support through project teams of Deakin’s Work Integrated Learning students and interns, and access to researchers from across the university, as well as subsidised access to trade missions.

“ManuFutures is supporting small up-and-coming advanced manufacturing enterprises fast track new products to the global market, grow their businesses and help shape the future economy and this new support from the federal government recognises and is a result of just what it has already achieved in only its first year of operations.

“Through MEAP, we will aim for our ManuFutures enterprises to achieve self-sufficiency within two years, taking a multi-faceted approach to building their business expertise and capacity.”