Victorian manufacturing has reached new heights with locally-made King Kong – Broadway’s newest and biggest star – dazzling audiences in New York.
Minister for Industry and Employment Ben Carroll visited Creature Technology to meet the team that designed and built the six-metre high, one-tonne star of King Kong and to announce a grant for the company to create jobs.
The Melbourne-based company is a world leader in animatronics, building giant lifelike creatures for arena spectaculars, theme parks, exhibitions, stage shows and events around the world.
The $125,000 Future Industry Manufacturing Program grant from the Andrews Labor Government will create ten new jobs and allow the company to invest in new, state-of-the-art technology, including a 3D scanner to boost production of innovative animatronics.
The company has created the awe-inspiring dinosaurs for Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular currently on tour in Scandinavia, and the creatures for Universal Orlando’s Skull Island: Reign of Kong in Florida.
It also built dinosaurs for the blockbuster Jurassic World: The Exhibition international tour currently in France and the giant mascots for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies.
All the animatronic creatures are manufactured at the company’s state-of-the-art Port Melbourne facility – one of the largest animatronics workshops in the world.
The company employs a team of 63 people locally, including designers, engineers, sculptural fabricators, metal fabricators, animators, computer programmers, electricians, creatives and project managers.
Creature Technology won the Manufacturer of the Year (Medium Business) award at this year’s Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame and is one of the State’s biggest creative exporters.
Victoria’s manufacturing industry contributes $27.7 billion to the State’s economy, with more than 13,000 businesses employing more than 280,000 people. It exported $18.16 billion of manufactured goods in 2016-17.
Victorian manufacturing is thriving, recording 17 months of consecutive growth in the Australian Industry Group’s Performance Manufacturing Index – the longest run of expansion since 2001.
The growth in manufacturing is underpinned by the Labor Government’s $130 million in manufacturing support, which is creating over 6,000 jobs and driving $1.6 billion in private investment.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Industry and Employment Ben Carroll
“Creature Technology is a Victorian manufacturing success story – using cutting edge technology to create amazing products. Thanks to our support – they’ll be able to invest in new technology to continue that work.”
“We’ll always back local manufactures like Creature Technology – who are creating jobs locally and exporting around the world.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020