Key is smart manufacturing integrated with design.
When Cedar Anderson and his dad Stuart invented the Flow Hive, which lets beekeepers harvest honey by turning on a tap, they assumed they would have to manufacture in China.
Instead, the bulk of the manufacturing and fulfilment - for 25,000 customers and counting around the world - is based in Brisbane.
The Byron Bay-based duo made headlines earlier this year when they raised $US12.5 million ($17.7 million) on crowdfunding site Indiegogo after setting a target of $US70,000, mostly from people keen to get their hands on a Flow Hive and try it for themselves. 
The crowdfunding came after years of product development and patent applications, but it was just the start of the business journey: they now had 20,000 orders from 148 countries for Flow Hives but no manufacturing or delivery facility.
Mr Anderson said he and his dad started with a "blatant assumption" that manufacturing would have to happen in China and were delighted they had the opportunity to do it locally instead.
"We'd just assumed China would be the place and we did some prototyping there, but when it came time to step up the actual production, we started to look around a bit more," Mr Anderson said. "We got quotes from Australia, quotes from China, quotes from America, and we realised that Australia can be quite competitive on a worldwide scale. That tickled us pink; how fantastic that we can get out there and have an Australian-made product and support Australian manufacturing and more jobs in Australia."
The Andersons partnered with the Evolve Group in Brisbane, which made the BRW 50 Most Innovative Companies list in 2014. Evolve is manufacturing the frames, which are made from food-grade plastic, and providing logistics and delivery support. Flow has taken another 5000 orders through its own website since the crowdfunding campaign and hopes to have fulfilled them all by the end of the year, though the official deadline is   March.
Evolve managing director Ty Hermans said the idea that manufacturing in Australia was dead was a harmful misconception. He believes smart manufacturing that is closely integrated with product design is a key to unlocking innovation in Australia.
"It's good to see with the Turnbull government that the word 'innovation' is mentioned in every speech now," Mr Hermans said. "It's something we need to work on in Australia because we've got some fantastic ideas sitting on the cutting room floor because there is no easily definable pathway or someone there to help bring these ideas through to a commercialised product."
HEGs, the pegs with hooks that appeared on Channel 10's Shark Tank in   March, are another example of the trend back to Australian-made. HEGs inventor Scott Boocock initially outsourced manufacturing to China, but found it surprisingly expensive and has since moved manufacturing to Adelaide.
The Andersons' original plan was to use local manufacturing in each market for the wooden part of the hive to save the cost and environmental impact of shipping, but they found a source of certified sustainable western red cedar in the United States, a lightweight wood that lasts longer than standard pine, and all their customers started asking for that. Rather than give their US customers a better product than everyone else, they decided to wear the cost of shipping it back to Australia.
The complete Flow Hive made from western red cedar is $US699 ($993) and Cedar Anderson said there would be a profit margin as long as everything went to plan.
Read the full story at BRW.com.au.