In 2023, Australia’s Defence budget is more than $50 billion; and it’s only going to increase in the coming years. While many focus on high-profile aspects such as aircraft, tanks, and ships, the ‘defence machine’ requires much more than that. They need a diverse range of products and services to operate efficiently. Every component is essential to keep our Defence Force running smoothly, safely and effectively.
Supplying to Defence is extremely rewarding in several ways:
- You get the knowledge that you’re helping to keep our men and women in uniform safe as they go about their important work
- It’s a recession resistant industry; during COVID, Defence took measures like speeding up payment terms (from 30 days to 48 hours) to ensure the viability of the supplier base
- Supplying to Defence is an excellent way to diversify your customer and revenue base, and an excellent way to achieve long-term consistent base revenue growth
Join this workshop to get a broad, introductory understanding of what is involved in entering the Defence supply chain. Attendees will learn what it takes to become a Defence supplier, from security requirements through to customer engagement techniques; both of the utmost importance as Defence is not your typical customer.
In this workshop you’ll learn about four of the critical elements that you need to be ready to supply to Defence:
- Security: Understanding everything from physical to cyber security requirements that are an essential element if you want to supply to Defence
- Commercial understanding: Working in the Defence Industry isn’t like working in ‘normal’ commercial industries. There are many unique characteristics which are somewhat non-intuitive. Price is not the deciding factor for winning work. Partnerships, in the truest sense of the word, are essential.
- Risk management: Understanding risk is critical to being successful in supplying to Defence. Knowing that money doesn’t necessarily solve problems is a key to understanding how to position your business for success in Defence. An in depth understanding of risk is one key to success.
- Current and future opportunities: We will go through a list of just some of the current and future projects on the horizon for Defence, and the opportunities they present for suppliers to get involved.
Join our workshop to learn about the exciting opportunities that exist in the Defence Industry, and how your business can get involved. While this workshop is open to everyone, this workshop will primarily cater to any small or medium business that has an interest in supplying into defence, or hasn’t considered it before but would like to know more about what’s involved.
PRESENTER
About Dan de Vries, CEO & Managing Director at AIC Connect
Dan has held numerous roles across Defence Industry over the last 18+ years, from major primes like Boeing, Thales & Raytheon, to SMEs that supply into the projects these prime contractors deliver.
AIC Connect has a mission to bring as many Australian SMEs into the Defence Industrial Base to support a more resilient and capable Defence Force.
