October 09, 2006
Offshoring Affecting Australian RFID Industry
While radio frequency technology has been around for a long time, its use for RFID and smart cards is relatively new, maybe 20 years at most, in limited trials, with the bulk of projects conducted only this decade. Still, offshoring has reared it's head enough that an Australian smartcard firm has found the need to close up one factory in Melbourne, Australia, and move part of its operations to Christchurch, New Zealand. The result is that 70 jobs will be lost in Australia and 30-40 created in New Zealand. Approximately 10 Australian employees will be re-employed.
Australia has a number of ongoing RFID projects including chipped driver's licenses, and has even been working on a code of practice since mid-2004. Local firms, however, are being outbid by not China and India but countries like Germany. The country's AMWU (Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union) suggests that this is partly attributable to "... the lack of vision by the Australian Government."
[sources: Australian IT]
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