TENANTS in the ManuFutures facility in Waurn Ponds will benefit from $500,000 in export assistance from the federal government announced last week.<\/p>\n
ManuFutures, the advanced manufacturing business incubator at Deakin University\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Partington Advanced Engineering is one of the 11 tenants at ManuFutures, and chief technical officer Jon Partington said the company\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re basically refining everything before we start turning the handle.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to February (this year), I was in half a garage at home, so it\u2019s going great guns here.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the company\u2019s wheels were a \u201cniche of a niche market\u201d, and only between 1,000 and 2,000 pairs (priced at $7,000 per pair) would be made each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve benchmarked ourselves against the best \u2013 we\u2019ve only really got one competitor, in Germany, and we\u2019re exceeding their performance metrics by about 25 percent, so (the wheels) should be irrefutably the best in the world, and that was the
\naspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Work Integrated Learning students and interns, and access to researchers from across the university, as well as subsidised access to trade missions.<\/p>\n
\u201cManuFutures 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s Waurn Ponds campus, will use the funding to develop the ManuFutures Export Acceleration Program (MEAP), to support the emerging businesses in the facility to […]<\/p>\n