Companies considering establishing operations in the KIA ask ‘what has this area got to offer in comparison to other industrial areas?’ The answer given looks something like this.
The KIA is the State’s premier industrial area with all of the benefits of being located within the Perth Metropolitan Area, within a substantial buffer zone, with much industrial land still to be developed, and with the world’s best practice industrial synergies that are available to be tapped into, the choice is clear.
There are three types of synergies that apply, and most people only consider the first one:
The first is the product, by-product and utility synergies.
There are around 150 exchanges operating on commercial terms amongst the companies. Add to this the bespoke products which are manufactured to customer specifications and the number of synergies grows substantially.
The second is the human resource synergy.
The 30,000 workers that are employed throughout the WTC are highly skilled industrial professionals, ranging from engineers and scientists through to advanced trades, technicians and operators, as well as all office managers and staff. These people are already working in the industry and are quite mobile within the area.
They represent the recruitment pool, and two-thirds of them come with the added benefit of living within 15 km of where they work. There is no need for workers’ families to relocate or for the costly FIFO shift arrangements that burden other industrial locations.
The third synergy is the presence of a large number of highly skilled and experienced construction companies, plant fabricators and process maintainers businesses.
This is the industrial servicing sector that exists to provide services to their industrial customers. They are good at it, they are located in the KIA, and they have a proven track record of high quality, on-time and on-budget delivery.
Local content at its best!
**This article was first published in the KIC Annual Report 2019.