Established with $200 million in Commonwealth and state funding, the AMC precinct in Henderson was outlined as a world-class centre that services the marine, defence, oil and gas, and resources industries.
Celebrating 10 years last Tuesday, Mr Mischin said the gamble taken to increase interest in WA and keep jobs local had paid off.
‘When the AMC was created 10 years ago, the State Government was clear about its vision and what it expected from its investment,’ he said.
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READ NOW‘It wanted a world-class centre of excellence for manufacturing, fabrication, assembly, technology, repair and maintenance servicing activities in the marine, defence and extractive resources industries.’
Ten years on and Mr Mischin believed the centre had lived up to the vision. Since its creation, 373 major projects undertaken at the centre have delivered $1.75 billion in economic value for WA and created 26,700 jobs.
Among those 373 projects were ProMet Engineers’ erection of a ship loader for the Utah Point Berth Project and Sandvik’s assembly and load out of two iron ore ship loaders for Cape Lambert.
Edith Cowan University researcher Helen Cripps said she had observed significant growth and change during the 10 years she had been researching for companies at the AMC.
‘There has been a shift in focus from marine industry to the oil and gas industry,’ Dr Cripps said.
‘I have observed that many of the ship and boat builders have moved into maintenance and servicing and some have moved production offshore due to the high Australian dollar and labour costs.
‘The oil and gas and subsea industries have moved in to fill the gap and this has seen the AMC continue to grow.
‘An innovation cluster and greater collaboration around research and development with universities would help to continue that growth.’