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Defence industry primes have announced a new supply chain system to slash red tape and the cost of doing business.
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Defence companies such as Babcock Australia & New Zealand will work with the Australian Department of Defence under one supply chain to cut small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) costs and compliance burdens.
The system emulates a successful program in the United Kingdom known as JOSCAR (which comprises two dozen major defence companies, 6,000 small and medium-sized enterprises) and has already been adopted locally by the Department of Defence and companies including BAE Systems Australia, Raytheon Australia, Babcock Australasia (Babcock), Lockheed Martin Australia, Boeing Defence Australia, and Saab Australia.
“Australian SMEs now have the opportunity to secure the same benefits through the introduction of a standardised and simplified approach that has the endorsement of a number of major primes,” said Tom Maund, country manager of Hellios Australia, the UK-based supplier information and risk management company that has developed the new system.
The system offers a “one to many” solution where a supplier only needs to fill in the JOSCAR questionnaire once, even if it supplies multiple defence primes and the Department of Defence.
“This is a great initiative and one that our company wholeheartedly endorses,” said Ben Hudson, chief executive officer, BAE Systems Australia.
“We’re looking forward to working with industry and the system’s architects to ensure supplier efficiencies can be implemented across our major programs,” he said.
“Saab is looking forward to the introduction of JOSCAR which will create efficiencies across the supply chain and help reduce costs that are ultimately passed on to our customers,” said Andy Keough CSC, managing director of Saab Australia.
Raytheon Australia managing director Michael Ward said JOSCAR is a welcome addition to partnerships with small to medium Australian industry.
“Supporting our enduring collaboration with organisations including our Capability Plus partners, JOSCAR enhances our ability to create new and easier pathways for SMEs to do even more work with Defence,” he said.
Babcock’s chief executive officer, Andrew Cridland, said: “Babcock is committed to minimising the barriers to entry for SMEs wanting to break into the defence industry. By using JOSCAR, we are making it easier for our partners and suppliers to do business with us.”
Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand chief executive Warren McDonald said, “JOSCAR will improve collaboration and efficiency for our suppliers and partners, enabling defence industry to be more focused on the critical task at hand – delivering capabilities to the Australian Defence Force.”
“Boeing is pleased to collaborate with Australian Defence Primes on JOSCAR and continue our support of small-to-medium Australian companies, so they can focus on efficiently bringing capability to Defence industry that our customers can benefit from,” said Amy List, managing director of Boeing Defence Australia.
“AIDN fully supports the introduction of JOSCAR in response to members’ concerns about cost and administration burden of demonstrating compliance with customer requirements. Members achieving JOSCAR registration should experience simplified compliance processes and makes it easier to do business with new and existing customers,” said Brent Clark, chief executive officer of AIDN National.
The Australian JOSCAR system will be managed and supported by a Hellios team based in Brisbane and led by Tom Maund. JOSCAR will launch in June 2024.
Hellios is a supplier information and risk management company operating in the financial services and aerospace, defence and security industry. The business has grown from a start-up in 2012 to more than 100 employees with subsidiaries in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia, and Spain.
