CADI flies the flag for Cornish Aerospace and Defence Businesses
Friday, July 04, 2008
Cornwall Aerospace and Defence Initiative (CADI) hosted a high profile presentation to promote Cornish Aerospace and Defence businesses last month to influential representatives from A&D primes Airbus, BAe Systems, Rolls Royce, Agusta Westland, General Dynamics, the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) and the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC). Cornwall is home to a significant number of aerospace and defence supply chain companies, many of whom are already active within major supply chains on a regional, national and international scale. CADI aims to succeed where in the past, Cornish Aerospace and Defence suppliers have found it difficult to compete for a stake in this lucrative but tightly-controlled sector.
The Cornwall Aerospace and Defence Initiative are tackling this issue head on by championing the interests of its growing membership compromising of businesses from all aspects of the Aerospace and Defence industry, from engineering and manufacturing, research and development, media, software, energy and environment to name just a few. Past experience has shown little reward from tackling the supply chain from the bottom up so the CADI Board aimed high and went straight to the top of the Quality and Procurement chains in the big primes with the support of the South West Manufacturing Advisory Service (SWMAS), the SBAC and the West of England Aerospace Forum (WEAF).
David Proctor, the CADI Chairman, said ‘We have a lot to be proud of here in Cornwall and it was about time we were able to promote the wealth of talents we have to offer businesses outside the county. This presentation was centred on our progression within the 21st century Supply Chain Scheme (SC21) of which Cornwall is a UK Supply Chain Pilot; as an implementation group CADI is probably one of the most innovative group of companies within this national programme. It is becoming more and more important to have the SC21 accreditation – soon, without it, it will become almost impossible to gain entry, and do business in these two sectors.’
The 21st Century Supply Chain Scheme is an industrial change programme developed by the UK Defence and Aerospace industry, designed to accelerate the competitiveness of the aerospace and defence industry by raising the performance of the supply chain.
The presentation has made waves in the right circles, awareness has been raised and acknowledgement from the primes will make it much easier for CADI to now open doors from the lower levels. Russ Armitage, the SBAC SC21 Chairman noted ‘I was delighted that the SBAC SC21 team and representatives from the A&D primes were able to visit Cornwall and understand the objectives of CADI, as well as visiting the facilities of several of its members. It is clear from the visit that CADI are successful in working in clusters and also using the SC21 as a method of targeting top level performance. We agreed that the next steps include working in new supply chains in collaboration with the SBAC and WEAF, and this work will be worthwhile for the industry and the region.’
Currently the CADI initiative is able to continue its work largely due to the support and generosity shown by some of its original members, and initial support from Cornwall Enterprise, and the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA). David Proctor commented ‘not only are we breaking in to the difficult Aerospace and Defence sectors but we are also committed to providing training support to our entire membership. Our aim is to reach a sustainable point in 2012, where we have gained a stable market share in this vital industry sector.. Our accelerated programme is ambitious, and needs the support of the Objective One Convergence programme through to 2012. We are hoping that SWRDA will make their final decisions regarding the delivery of this support in the near future – without it we are in danger of losing this vital opportunity for business support in Cornwall.’
If you would like to know more about CADI, its progression with anything mentioned in this article or what it can do for you, please get in touch by emailing info@cadi.org.uk .
