The Strategic Industry Research Foundation (SIRF) was an initiative of the State Government of Victoria which formed SIRF in conjunction with the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

SIRF worked as an innovation catalyst following its inception in 1988. For longer term goals SIRF sought to bridge the gap between the private sector and publicly-funded research organisations by initiating and managing industry-led R&D and innovation projects.

To address near term innovation needs SIRF set up a number of industry led, collaborative improvement networks in areas of industry considered important to Victoria’s and Australia’s future economic prosperity. These networks are called Roundtables. The first meeting of the Industrial Maintenance Roundtable was held on the 7th of December 1993.

By the year 2000 these networks involved more than 200 organisations in a range of R&D and innovation activities. Prior to 2000 there were Roundtables in the areas of Industrial Maintenance, Food and Beverage Manufacturing, and Manufacturing Excellence. It was found that the Roundtable approach provides a powerful opportunity for members to explore important business issues to common problems. The extent and intensity of activities led to the development of a new organisation ‘SIRF Roundtables’ on the 1^st of July 2000 to provide focused support for learning networks.

As well as supporting the industry networks SIRF Roundtables brought together an integrated suite of industry proven maintenance and reliability improvement activities which are made available to its members and to the broader community. Benchmarking of maintenance practices, training in Root Cause Analysis, operator / maintainer development through support of the Competitive Manufacturing Initiative and a variety of workshops and National Forums illustrate the cost effective, powerful improvement processes that are supported by SIRF Roundtables.

SIRF Roundtables provides opportunities for representatives from member organisations to come together to meet and learn from each other. SIRF Rt does this through a number of forums and events conducted throughout the year across Australia and New Zealand. These forums and events include Roundtable meetings, Common Interest Work Group meetings (CIWGs), National Forums and other events like the Australian Maintenance Excellence Awards, and Workshops conducted by visiting experts.

There are five Roundtable themes and each has a number of regional networks.

1. The Industrial Maintenance Roundtable (IMRt) has a network in New Zealand, Western Australia,  South Australia, Victoria / Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland.

2. The Knowledge Management Roundtable (KMRt) draws together practitioners focused on the management of knowledge within companies from throughout Australia and New Zealand. There are networks in Victoria and in NSW.

3. The Manufacturing Excellence Roundtable (MERt) has networks in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria / Tasmania and South Australia.

4. The Supply Chain Roundtable (SCRt) draws together practitioners focused on the management of logistics from procurement to dispatch from companies throughout Australia and New Zealand.

5. The Sustainability Roundtable (SART and SSRt) has networks in Queensland and Victoria and focuses on the various

Networks typically have approximately 20 to 40 member companies and each network has a facilitator who is experienced and knowledgeable in the business of the Roundtable. The intention is that networks should be limited in size so that they are networks of friends and colleagues rather than conferences.

Each network of each Roundtable conducts four Roundtable meetings per year and approximately eight to twelve CIWG meetings per year.

CIWG meetings are focussed on a particular aspect of the topic covered by the Roundtable. CIWGs generally run for a series of meetings to suit the interests of members.  CIWGs tend to attract specialists in the particular subject, have a practical focus and are often held at members sites.