$20m avocado packing shed upgrade halves workforce with robots
In a nondescript fruit packing shed in regional Western Australia, nine giant Japanese-made robots demonstrate their skills.
The huge machines are scanning, stacking and shifting pallets of avocadoes.
These jobs used to be carried out by humans, but automation has allowed the Avocado Collective in Manjimup, 300 kilometres south of Perth, to halve its casual workforce while doubling its production capacity.
The collective has invested $17 million into its robot workforce amid high labour costs and fears of changes to overseas worker schemes.
Growers say they embraced the decision to turn to automation, with local staff becoming harder to find.
But unions and labour experts have mixed feelings about the impact of robots.
Avocados at a nearby farm in Pemberton. (Supplied: Russell Delroy)
Advantages to automation
Avocado Collective operations manager Craig Boyce said the machines had many advantages, particularly reliability and workplace safety.
"They turn up to work every day, don't complain about a sore back, there are no health and safety issues, and you can load them up,"
he said.
Mr Boyce said the Japanese-built machines replaced between 40 and 50 staff at the South West-based operations across a range of roles.
"Realistically, we're talking everyone who hand stacks [pallets], everyone who scans, and everyone who drives forklifts," he said.
Craig Boyce says robots are changing the industry. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
The collective, which describes itself as the largest packing facility in Australia, said the robots were part of a broader $20 million investment in automation.
The combination of high-volume crops and increasing domestic demands has created ideal conditions for significant investment.
It said three quarters of operations at the facility were now automated, more than doubling its potential weekly output from 1 million kilograms to 2.52 million.
Workers still manually pack trays of avocados. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
Mr Boyce said automation was a key part of reducing costs.
"You'll never replace everyone because you still need a level of management and maintenance,"
he said.
"But obviously the cost of labour is an ever-increasing phenomena."
The nine robots can process 2.5 million kilograms of avocados a week. (Supplied: Avocado Collective)
Local workers hard to find
Manjimup has become heavily reliant on migrant workers through the federal government's Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, with an estimated 400 working in the region.
Pemberton avocado grower Dean French, a director at the collective, said PALM workers were still welcomed and valued.
Dean French says finding workers is a constant challenge. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
However, automation reduced dependence on the government scheme.
"It probably sounds like a dystopian nightmare that we are not employing people,"
Mr French said.
"But it means we don’t have to bring people in from overseas. We find it very difficult to get locals to work."
The horticulture industry says workers are increasingly hard to find. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
Fellow grower George Ipsen dismissed the idea robots were depriving people of jobs.
"We can't get workers, we import labour from the Pacific Islands, and East Timor," he said.
Mr Ipsen said he was also concerned the federal government could change the PALM system, after it slowed backpacker visas.
"It would destroy the industry here,"
he said.
Each of the nine robots was built in Japan and moves and stacks pallets of fruit. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
Unions, academic express concerns
But not everybody sees robots in the avocado industry as good news.
UnionsWA secretary Rikki Hendon called for greater guardrails to protect workers.
"Automation may make businesses more profitable, but much of the evidence points to it making our communities poorer,"
she said.
University of Sydney work and labour market professor Chris Wright accepted automation could alleviate health and safety concerns.
A sign out at the front of the Avocado Collective. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
"But it would also mean the elimination of jobs and that can affect livelihoods and their ability to support themselves," he said.
Professor Wright said automation could help create more skilled jobs, but did not benefit casuals or PALM workers.
"It's really imperative for the businesses, and for governments, to ensure workers are supported as part of that transition,"
he said.
The Australian Government provides employers up to $600 for each PALM worker for job specific training, and said the program helped strenthen participants' long-term employability.
Human workers here to stay
However, Mr Boyce said automation created opportunities for the local workforce.
"We've taken them from forklift drivers to robotic technicians; we actually upped their game," he said.
Avocados being sorted in Manjimup. (ABC News: Georgia Loney)
Avocados Australia chairman Brad Rogers said the PALM scheme would continue to be important to the avocado industry.
"I really don't see that changing anytime soon, because some strong relationships have been built over the years," he said.
"Physical labour is going to be around for a very long time."
The Australian government said it remained committed to the PALM scheme and to ensuring the safety, welfare and wellbeing of workers.
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