How a $1m robot solved this company's labour shortage

A survey of 181 mid-sized manufacturing businesses, commissioned by MYOB, found 39 per cent were worried about a shortage of skilled workers as a challenge for their business. The report found that 33 per cent were planning more automation of manual processes and 44 per cent planned to invest in innovation to improve production lines. For Mr Vickery, a $1 million investment in an offcoil machine from Austria which automates parts of his production line has already paid off, allowing staff to knock over a day's work in just three hours. "We just experienced staff shortage after staff shortage and by having that [the machine] I think it not only kept the business going ... but we're also able to profit from it because we could produce a lot more without any extra labour input." Next month, Mr Vickery plans to head to a construction expo in Munich to buy more robots for the business to "remove more hands off the factory floor".