Manufacturing

Ballarat's manufacturing industry has been the mainstay of the local economy for over a century. Manufacturing is by far Ballarat's largest export sector with $671 million exported annually. Manufacturing is the largest contributor to local expenditure with over $800 million circulating in the Ballarat economy.

Ballarat's manufacturing industry has a strong and solid future based on diversity of product and a strong export focus. In the Australian Industry Group's 2004 Industry in the Regions report, central Victoria, of which Ballarat is the main regional manufacturing centre, came in a close second in the national Regional Business Competitiveness Index.

Ballarat manufacturers also scored well in terms of business leadership, operational style, research and development and they out-performed metropolitan companies in terms of profitability.

There are existing and emerging clusters in automotive, industrial machinery, food processing, furniture production, textile and clothing sectors. While there are a number of small-medium sized niche enterprises operating within the manufacturing sector, the majority of employment is generated by a group of major operators which include Masterfoods Australasia, Haymes Paints, Maxitrans (Australia's largest supplier of road transport trailing solutions) and McCain Foods (Aust) Pty Ltd among others.

Education for the manufacturing sector is about to enter into a new and exciting era with the establishment of a specifically designed manufacturing training facility at the University of Ballarat SMB campus.

Future opportunities identified for the manufacturing sector in Ballarat include a focus on value add production in emerging technology related sectors like agritech, biotech and envirotech.