Why is an industry association an important ingredient for an industrial precinct?

Glad you asked…..many reasons come to mind.

The obvious one is that it can ‘speak with one industry voice’, right?  Well let’s break this down.

Pretend you are the GM of a company located in a given industrial precinct (IP).  You have an issue related to the characteristics of the IP, and you know your neighbouring companies share your views.  It might be that the bulk export/import jetty is too congested, and you’re copping a lot of demurrage (running at US$20-25k/day).  These are costs you cannot avoid, and they are making it hard for your business to achieve the returns you need to satisfy ‘corporate’.  Or, it might be that the old regulatory regime is so constraining that its not possible to move your by-product to your neighbour who wants to use it as a process input.  The regs require you send it to an expensive Class 4 landfill – the computer says “no”. 

You might hesitate to bring the issue to the government’s attention, fearing it could draw unwanted scrutiny to your business and jeopardise other ongoing discussions with them.

You know that your industrial neighbours also have issues they can’t resolve.  It might be access to pipeline corridors, excessive red tape (red rope), road or rail traffic congestion, unrealistic state or local government planning conditions, and much more – like establishing a decarbonisation strategy for the whole precinct to participate in … you get my drift?

Alone, you don’t have much of a voice, no-one raises the issues, momentum does not get generated, and so nothing changes.  Opportunities are missed, and another year goes by.

Why does a computer say no?

Cue the voice of the Industry Association. 

A successful industry association is one that is supported by its members and directed to address the issues that are commonly-held amongst the membership.  It’s not that hard to set up if there is a collective will to do so.  I have found that the key to establishing an association is simply to motivate enough of the resident companies to participate, and the key to this is assisting them to understand that they have a commonly held issue to resolve.  Once they start talking about this, of course, multiple issues are found to be commonly held.  (communication is the key to moving forward for collective good).

Now an industry association needs to be formally incorporated (easy these days), and some executive support funded.  The governance is not that difficult and the very successful Kwinana Industries Council (KIC) began in a similar way in 1991.  Port Hedland Industries Council (PHIC) began its incorporation process in 2009 I believe.  The Shire of Irwin (kudos to them) in the Mid-West is facilitating the incorporation of an industry association for the companies located there, and for those to establish in the future.

I am proud to say that while heading up the KIC for 17 years up until earlier this year, I had a fair bit to do with the establishment of PHIC, and was assisting Irwin to establish.

If you are a company in an industrial precinct and reckon the establishment of an industry association might be the vehicle to progress the resolution of collective issues in your area, or to create forward-looking strategies that benefit the collective, please reach out to me. Let’s have an initial conversation to explore the possibilities.