In a recent Manufacturers Monthly article, DMTC CEO Mark Hodge, the Head of Australia’s Joint Strike Fighter Program AVM Gordon, and BAE Systems Australia’s Aerospace Director Steve Drury discussed the JSF Program opening opportunities for Australian industry.
With production volumes increasing and the F-35 Program’s Global Support System maturing, defence and industry will continue to work closely together to optimise Australian industry participation in the F-35 Program.
“There are some challenges ahead, which means Australian industry will have to stay internationally competitive by improving efficiency; driving innovation, supporting skills development and maintaining quality,” AVM Gordon said.
By looking at both domestic and export opportunities – within both the defence sector and other related sectors – programs such as the JSF are “absolutely critical to clarifying the global competitiveness benchmarks” if SMEs are going to thrive, according to the DMTC.
“It’s long been understood that companies from SMEs right through to primes need a diversified base to thrive,” Dr Hodge said.
“The Australian Government’s commitment to the defence sector is certainly very welcome and it’s now a case of the rubber hitting the road as all of the promises in the suite of White Paper, Industry Policy Statement and the Integrated Investment Program documents start to come to fruition.”
DMTC chief executive Mark Hodge joined Defence Connect podcast host Phil Tarrant for a wide-ranging discussion on the Australian defence industry and the future of collaborative technology development. The pair discussed DMTC’s transition to a proven industrial capability partner for Defence, and the current portfolio of projects DMTC is taking on to further develop the technological capabilities of the Australian defence industry.
The Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) and the Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA) have signed an agreement to extend their collaboration and to support Australian firms, particularly small to medium enterprises.
The Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) commits the two organisations to work together to develop a broader understanding of existing technology footprints and to build a program of benchmarking, capacity building, training and certification activities.
The MoA comes at a time of policy and practical challenges in terms of growing industrial capacity and broadening defence supply chains.
The agreement builds on DMTC project work already underway, supported by WTIA, to build industry capacity in areas of Defence priority such as welding of high-strength steels. More information
DMTC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mark Hodge, and his WTIA counterpart Geoff Crittenden signed the MoA into effect at the National Manufacturing Week and AusTech expo in Melbourne.
“Our work continues to focus on delivering a beneficial outcome first for our Defence customer, and for our industry partners. In that context, DMTC has already helped many Australian suppliers to embrace new technologies and better understand Defence requirements,” Dr Hodge said.
“Formalising our relationship with WTIA will help us to share information on technology development.”
Under the MoA, the two organisations will also seek to work closely with the Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC), the establishment of which was one of the key announcements in the 2016 Defence Industry Policy Statement.
DMTC has teamed up with a number of Australian Government and innovation partner organisations to provide advice and information to manufacturers looking to grow and transform their business at National Manufacturing Week and Austech 2017.
National Manufacturing Week is the largest gathering of Australian manufacturers under one roof and Austech is the only show specifically targeted at the metalworking, machine tool and ancillary market in Australia.
Experts from the following Government agencies and innovation partners will come together to form an Advanced Manufacturing team:
