Mawson Global is a textbook case of a company bridging gaps in increasingly fragmented production processes with their long value chain. Their two-step approach of first sourcing materials and then offering to source components facilitates the transition from localised to globalised production for clients.

Mawson Global is offering these services to Australian SME clients who otherwise would not be able to access global sourcing. Where clients possess competitive intellectual property rights, this might be the only way for them to keep production and R&D in Australia, while reducing the scope of their production activity to the sustainable minimum.

Bringing Australian companies in contact with Chinese suppliers can lead to flow-on business when access to products affords access to markets and new supply chains. Peter Evans, the founder of Mawson Global, observes that his company plugs Australian manufacturers into global supply chains. The reason for sourcing in China lies more in the access to supply chains and information than in cheap labour.

Among the success stories of Mawson Global is a South Australian engineering firm trying to source stainless steel products from China in order to reduce costs. After initial contacts with Chinese suppliers, the sourcing scope expanded to include components of machinery which enabled the manufacturer to resume the production of three types of machines which had been discontinued because they were no longer competitive due to high local production costs. With Chinese components reducing production costs, these machines are able to go back into export markets in North and South America.

NAB Sponsored 2014 Australia-China Trade Report Commissioned by The Australia China Business Council (ACBC).. Pages 20 – 30.

More from NAB:

• Australia China Trade Report – Manufacturing
• Read the full Australia-China Trade Report here