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Pushing ahead with WTIA

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.