Industry can turn innovation into everyday practice

New ideas only lift productivity when they are put into practice. In this piece, Gabriel Solórzano Torres explores why industry has an important role in shaping the skills, training and capability needed to support the wider adoption of modern methods of construction. 

By Gabriel Solórzano Torres, Executive Director of Commercial, Sustainability, and Infrastructure at Melbourne Polytechnic.

Australia’s productivity challenge is often framed around investment, technology, regulation and workforce supply. Each of these matters, but another part of the equation is how industry adopts new ways of working and turns them into everyday practice.

To make that happen, industry needs to help shape the skills and training system rather than simply receive training designed elsewhere. Employers, suppliers, manufacturers, educators and government all need to work together to understand what is changing, where the gaps are and what support is needed.

New technologies and delivery models do not improve productivity on their own. They only make a difference when businesses can use them well, workers have the right skills and our supply chains are set up to support new ways of working.

Housing construction is a good example. Planning reform, infrastructure investment, land supply and labour shortages all matter, but increasing the number of homes being delivered requires modern methods of construction to be easier for industry to embed in every day business practice.

This requires new skills across many parts of the sector. Designers may need to work more closely with manufacturers. Builders may need to plan projects earlier and in more detail. Trades may need to understand new installation methods. Project managers may need greater confidence working with prefabricated, modular and panelised systems. Businesses may need support to understand what these changes mean for procurement, logistics, quality and delivery.

This is why training needs to match how work is changing.

Those closest to the day-to-day work are best placed to explain what is needed. Employers can identify the skills required on site, in factories, in design teams and across project management. Manufacturers and suppliers can show how new products and systems are changing delivery. Builders and contractors can point to the practical issues that make adoption harder than it needs to be.

Businesses can also open up live projects for learning, support work placements, share lessons from trials and provide technical expertise. This helps educators design training that is useful and connected to real industry need.

The national network of TAFE Centres of Excellence provides an opportunity to strengthen this connection. Their role extends beyond traditional training delivery. They are designed to bring industry, educators and government together around practical workforce and capability challenges.

The work already underway at the Future of Housing Construction Centre of Excellence is an example of this approach. The Centre is working with industry to identify priority capability gaps, shape new training and develop practical learning that supports the adoption of modern methods of construction.

Across Australia, many businesses are already trialling new models and proving what is possible and there is an opportunity to share ideas more widely, keep skills aligned with industry need and make it easier for businesses to adopt new ways of working.

If productivity is one of Australia’s defining economic challenges, industry has a clear role to play. By working with educators, opening up projects for learning and sharing what is changing on the ground, businesses can help build the skills needed to turn innovation into everyday practice.