News Review: N-G signs Global Supply Chain agreement | ADM Dec 2011 / Jan 2012
Defence will set up a team to help Australian companies access the global supply chain of US defence prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The team will identify and certify Australian companies to participate in Northrop Grumman’s global supply chain.
The DMO and Northrop Grumman have signed an annex to the Global Supply Chain Deed which they signed in June 2011. Global Supply Chain Deeds are the first step towards establishing one of these teams: they set up the relationship between a company and Defence and outline the way they will work together to look for opportunities for Australian industry.
The signing of the annex triggers DMO funding to establish a team embedded in the company which will:
Actively look through Northrop Grumman’s global supply chain activities and identify opportunities for Australian industry
Look for Australian companies who have the potential to be suppliers to Northrop Grumman
Provide training to Australian companies on how to work with Northrop Grumman and be internationally competitive.
Northrop Grumman is one of four companies that have now signed annexes and set up teams to help Australian companies to identify opportunities within their global supply chains. The others are Boeing, Raytheon and Thales. Three other companies have signed Global Supply Chain Deeds: Lockheed Martin, Eurocopter and BAE Systems plc.
According to defence materiel minister Jason Clare the Government has invested more than $11 million in the Global Supply Chain program over the past three years.
“When the program was established everyone agreed that if it could provide a 10-fold return on the Government’s investment it would be a roaring success,” he said.
“To date it has delivered almost a 40-fold return on investment so far with more than $392 million in contracts awarded to Australian industry. Australian Small to Medium Enterprises have been the big winners, winning about 90 per cent of the value of these contracts.”