Geelong and Thailand in a business boom

It’s now the Year of the Cat in Geelong after the town’s all conquering Aussie Rules team won the premiership - But there have been some more reasons to celebrate in Geelong off the field as well.

Geelong and the neighbouring surf coast area is booming after some lean years economically following the shakedown of local manufacturing and the financial collapse of the local building society Pyramid.

The Geelong economy is doing well, its manufacturing sector is diverse and the surround areas like Barwon Heads, Torquay and Lorne are benefiting from Melbourne expatriates looking for a ‘sea change’ on the coast (in fact the original award winning ABC drama ‘Sea Change’ starring Sigrid Thornton, John Howard, William McInnes and David Wenham, was actually filmed on location in Barwon Heads).

Geelong is also benefiting from internationalisation. In fact, soon after the Cats won the flag, the town received a visit from the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI). The BOI is interested in linking in with Geelong to supply its ever expanding automotive assembly industry on the eastern seaboard which is about two hours drive out of Bangkok.

In fact, when I visited the region on a visit to Thailand earlier this year, I noticed a strong Australian presence there. The region which has been dubbed “The Detroit of the East” was the epitome of modern global manufacturing. The factories there all had state of the art technology, the workers were highly skilled, production techniques were sophisticated, and over 60 per cent of production was earmarked for export.

Australia is one of the leading investors in Thailand and many Australians have set up major operations on the eastern seaboard. According to Sean Riley, Australia’s Senior Trade Commissioner for Thailand and the Greater Mekong region, “Over 2500 Australian companies directly export to Thailand but this underestimates the increasing numbers that are setting up operations in Thailand to support their businesses back in Australia,” he explained.

The eastern seaboard of Thailand is a hub for the automotive industry and many automotive component makers have a foot in both camps – Australian and Thai – to take advantage of the booming market in the Mekong Delta.

For example, TriMotive who produces automotive components for one tonne pick-up trucks in Thailand sees an off-shore presence as vital for his company’s prosperity back home in Australia. As Robert Saunders, the managing director of TriMotive put it: “Every Australian manufacturer should think globally in order to survive locally.” Saunders, who runs the international arm of the company from Dandenong in South Eastern Melbourne, explains the company philosophy. “You don’t have to make everything yourself that you sell. Much of our business is about managing relationships with other manufacturers who sub-contract to us. As a result, much of the business is in managing the global logistics of the supply chain.