On Thursday 19th September 50 visitors from the Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE-A) came to APV-T as a part of a series of industry visits run by the SAE-A designed to help broaden the depth of knowledge and engagement of members in the Australasian Automotive Engineering sector.

The visitors, who were mostly engineers but included some children, were treated to a range of presentations and a tour of the APV-T Test Centre.

Slow motion videos of car crashes, bus seat testing, wheelchair restraint testing and up-close encounters with our family of crash test dummies and the associated acquisition equipment were combined with live demonstrations of airbag deployments, environmental testing, and a 50km/h child seat dynamic test.

All of these elements made up an engaging demonstration of APV-T's commitment to mobility safety and our contribution to Australia's National Road Safety Strategy.

Carl Liersch
General Manager- APV Tech Centre

APV's Business Transformation has continued during FY18 and FY19 leading to our ranking in the top 10% of Mid Size Australian Manufacturers in terms of overall Growth, Capital Investment and Financial Performance against a recent Grant Thornton Manufacturing Benchmarking Report. The benchmarking report assesses a broad range of industries and FY18 performance benchmarks to assist Industry Leaders in developing their business strategies, assessing risk and emerging opportunities.

It is this continued growth and diversification that makes APV a great place to work. Providing exciting opportunities for innovation, product development and investment in new production lines. We have supported Graduate Internship programs and employed additional engineering resources this year. It is great to see these new opportunities being created for Australia's up and coming graduates.

This has attracted the attention of the Go Auto group that operate Australia's premier Automotive news feed service and on-line newsletter service. Terry Martin, editor of GoAutoNews and senior writer, came in for a near full day visit to better understand APV, including the opportunity to witness product development testing and associated crash-tests to ensure the safety of aftermarket products under development by the customer. Giving Terry a very first hand view of the customer experience at the Test Lab.

Following this he has written three articles that provide a very unique insight into the depth and diversity of the company.

https://www.goauto.com.au/download/1390.pdf

On a side note, as an organisation, we are proud of our corporate safety and environmental track record. In the GoAuto article titled "Taking Care of It", you can see the team going the extra yard to maximize recycling of waste materials from our Takata Airbag Disposal programs. On a personal note, I also believe the industry should be commended for their efforts in maximizing the effectiveness of the Takata Airbag Recalls - this is no easy feat and is a huge cost on the industry.

Harry Hickling
Managing Director
APV

The October 2018 edition of the Foreign Affairs magazine provides an optimistic view of Australia's future as we become increasing integrated into the globalised economy and supply chains. We are no longer an isolated island economy of sand, beaches and deserts - although living in Melbourne, I'm not sure that picture truly represents Australia anyway. On a GDP per capita basis we rank 5th in the world and international trade is our engine room for growth. More than ever we need to be Global in our thinking as an international trading nation and our businesses need to be integrated within Global Supply Chains. APV typifies this thinking with 50% of our revenue derived from exports and most of our customers are multinationals, so we have to think Globally in everything we do, but at the same time respect our traditional strengths and local capabilities.

APV is given a brief feature and is recognized as an Australian SME that has transformed itself to become internationally recognized and integrated within overseas supply chains - This is great recognition for us and demonstrates we are punching above our weight. It is somewhat surprising to me, how Foreign Affairs found us, but clearly it means our Brand has a strong presence and reputation (Noting my quote "you may not have heard about who APV is....").

Harry Hickling
Managing Director

Today at APV we consulted with our staff to keep everyone informed of the latest impacts of the Covid19 health and economic shocks.

The business is fighting hard to ensure that we protect the health and well-being of our employees, and to keep them employed through this crisis. To this end APV has called on Gov't to keep Australian Manufacturing operations open on the pre-requisite that appropriate Health risk mitigation measures are in place to protect their workforce. In effect our business is already in a Lock Down to keep CoronaVirus out of the workplace and to ensure our staff are safer coming to work than going to the shops. Our workforce wants to come to work and this is certainly a superior outcome for their overall health and well-being. Here, within the APV community we can ensure that all employees are supported.

In consultation with our employees we are implementing new flexible workforce models. These are significant workplace changes and our staff are supporting this and embracing measures that will allow us to maintain employment levels, ensure people get paid and that APV pushes through this crisis. This will ensue that we in turn meet the needs of our customers and that we stay open for business.

APV has a significant amount of work on ranging from new product development testing, testing of child-seats that keep our children safe, through to production of seat-belts for essential services transport equipment. We make a major contribution to road safety outcomes and our business is about keeping you safe. Therefore APV and our staff are absolutely committed to remaining open and supporting our customers and staff during the period of this crisis.

Stay safe and well during these difficult times.

Harry Hickling
Managing Director

GoAuto, the premier source of automotive industry research and news today ran the story:
https://www.goauto.com.au/news/apv/manufacturing-an-lsquo-essential-industry-rsquo-apv/2020-03-27/82157.html