Top 100 CEO Interviews
Issue No. 18 - August/September 2004
Salisbury - Home to Top Companies
The City of Salisbury has emerged as the engine room for much of the State’s economic wealth, with a concentration of key sectors and major exporting companies.
The region is fast evolving from its role as an automotive manufacturing centre and housing facility for automotive workers to become a recognised national leader in the defence, electronics and technology industries as well as a centre for manufacturing plants, factories, distribution outlets and warehousing.
Many leading South Australian and national enterprises have chosen the city as their base, including BAE Systems, Tenix, Motorola, National Foods, Air International, CHEP and General Motors Holden.
The recent 2004 Competitive Alternatives study by KPMG found that the concentration of industry north of Adelaide provided one of the most cost competitive environments in the world for exporting. The report highlighted the region’s competitive advantages in industries such as defence, food production, automotive manufacturing, electronics, pharmaceuticals, IT and biotechnology.
Now the Council is intent on creating a new image for the northern suburbs. It’s quickly repositioning itself as a region that’s progressive, resourceful, innovative and sustainable.
It’s a vision that the Salisbury Council has been committed to in recent years, driven by longtime City Manager Stephen Hains, who said the Council was quickly gathering momentum in pitching itself as "the" destination for companies interstate and overseas to relocate or extend their operations.
"Salisbury offers industry the opportunity to be part of a region that is consolidating its position as South Australia’s dynamic centre of growth," Mr Hains said. "It is achieving this without damaging the environment or restricting the quality of life for those who live and work here.
"Companies that have relocated to Salisbury have realised that operating a major enterprise does not have to involve pol...
