While many of Rob Cheesman's (pictured) customers have anxieties about the global financial crisis, at the end of the day they are more worried about China.
"China is getting smarter at competing with Aussie manufacturers," says Cheesman, managing director of Kettering Professional Services.
Kettering is Queensland's exclusive reseller for QAD, a US software developer with more than 30 years' experience in the manufacturing industry. Kettering also sells software from Microsoft and FlowCentric.
Cheesman explains that while the Chinese have always been good at delivering larger orders, they are starting to get better at smaller, more specific jobs, and are coming into competition with local suppliers. As a result, more and more companies in the Australian manufacturing sector are looking for smarter ways of doing business.
Although there were many companies that delayed IT investment through the worst of the global financial crisis, Kettering found that just as many companies decided to do the exact opposite.
One of the companies that decided to take action was large automotive battery manufacturer Century Yuasa, which signed on last year for a range of business process solutions. Now Kettering's biggest client, Yuasa had a big impact on the bottom line for the year, Cheesman says.
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