Unique agreement between Orbital Engine Corporation and AMTC announced

15/7/97

A unique agreement between Western Australia's Orbital Engine Corporation and the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Centre was announced in Perth today.

Under the agreement, training schemes will be provided by the AMTC and Orbital to develop highly trained and skilled personnel to WA industry, Commerce and Trade Minister Hendy Cowan said today.

The first business opportunities to emerge from this alliance will come from Orbital's international customer base.

Orbital and the AMTC have formed the alliance with a view to creating opportunities for WA in three areas:

·      to establish a diverse range of engineering and consultancy services to benefit local, Australian and neighbouring Asian markets;

·      to create opportunities through education and training in specialised engineering and manufacturing areas; and -

·      to develop a range of training packages to educate Orbital's customers and provide WA with additional business opportunities in the form of engineering and development programs.

"WA's reputation for innovation and leading edge technology will give us another advantage over the rest of the world to gain more manufacturing, development, design and production work," Mr Cowan said.

"Our economy and manufacturing capability can only be further enhanced by strategic partnerships such as this one."

Orbital and the AMTC have jointly allocated almost $500,000 in funding to develop these initiatives.

"I am delighted to see WA industry and education institutions working together in this way to enhance WA's engineering and manufacturing capability," Mr Cowan said.

The partnership will result in some significant benefits to Orbital, the AMTC and local industry, according to Tony Fitzgerald, the managing director of Orbital's advanced engineering development facilities in Balcatta.

"The AMTC has the skill to create a curriculum based around Orbital's need to service a growing customer base," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"This will give Orbital a competitive edge by offering our customers world-class training on all aspects of our technology."

The alliance will support the first phase of a joint venture between Orbital and Mercury Marine, the world's biggest outboard marine engine maker, as well as the company's other motorcycle, recreational and marine customers.

The Orbital-Mercury joint venture - called Meteor - will produce low-emissions fuel injection systems for small engines. Meteor's first low-volume manufacturing cell for the Orbital technology has been established in WA and will play an important educational role through the AMTC-Orbital alliance.

Orbital employs some 280 staff specialising in a range of automotive and non-automotive engine technologies.

The AMTC, in East Perth, is a State Government training facility under the auspices of TAFE. It caters for the education and training, research and product development needs of industry.

Media contact: Peter Jackson 9222 9595