Marine Supply Chain Development
Press Release -BMF Supply Chain Conference 20 & 21
March
BMF brings UK supply chain together to
facilitate business opportunities
The presentations from
the Conference are available here.
Ninety delegates have attended a two day
Marine Supply Chain Conference, organised by the British Marine
Federation (BMF), which has brought the industry together to
facilitate business opportunities.
Culminating on Wednesday 21 March, 14 buyers
from the UK’s leading leisure and commercial boatbuilding sectors,
took the opportunity provided by the BMF to meet with 50 suppliers
from the UK’s marine equipment companies and a number of Government
support agencies. Companies taking advantage of the event
included Sunseeker International, Oyster, Sealine, Princess Yachts,
Fairline, RNLI, Gunfleet Marine and Discovery Yachts and commercial
boatbuilders, Goodchild Marine Services and Buckie Shipyard.
The inaugural conference, which is part of an
ongoing initiative to support marine manufacturing companies, took
place from 20-21 March 2012 in Daventry. Delegates benefited from
excellent networking opportunities as well as the chance to take
part in the first UK only ‘Meet the Buyer’ event. The
attending boatbuilders held over 220 business meetings with
existing and potential suppliers which provided a highly cost
effective forum for doing business, giving both large and small
suppliers the chance to speak directly with influential individuals
in a professional and relaxed environment.
Adding to the two day event, a range of
speakers explained how UK boatbuilders and their suppliers can work
more cohesively together. Representatives from organisations
that can provide support to companies operating in the sector all
added value to the programme; these included The Technology
Strategy Board, the main sponsor of the event, SEMTA, the
industry’s Sector Skills Council, the Manufacturing Advisory
Service and the Knowledge Transfer Networks all added value to the
programme.
David Elson, the BMF’s Technical Director
said: “We are pleased to have brought together such a large group
of very influential people to meet, network and discuss business
opportunities. Organising such networking events is a vital
part of the BMF’s role and one of its membership benefits, as is
our Supply Chain initiative which is an important, and called for,
part of the work that the BMF is doing to focus support on the
Marine Manufacturing Sector."
“We have received very positive feedback on
our first Marine Supply Chain Conference. This opportunity
proved to have been very successful for both the boatbuilders and
marine equipment companies who have participated.”
Stephen Hart, Lead on Integrated Transport –
ITS, Rail & Marine, Technology Strategy Board and sponsor of
the Conference commented: “An excellent opportunity for
creating new innovation opportunities within the UK marine
industry.”
Grant Hooper, Director of Purchasing, Princess
Yachts said: “This has been a very professionally organised
event. The Meet the Buyer element of the event has provided a
time and cost effective way of progressing issues with our existing
suppliers and exploring new opportunities with other
companies.”
Alan Goodchild, Managing Director, Goodchild
Marine Services Limited said: “This has been a useful event for me
as a boatbuilder operating in commercial marine markets. The
timing of the event away from boat shows has provided the
opportunity to fully focus on meaningful discussions with potential
suppliers.”
Paul Gullett, Director, Wave International
Limited comments said: “It’s been a very important forum for us in
regards to both the seminar and in particular the KTN’s where we
have reaffirmed our need to use them. Meet the Buyer is
always very important as we have launched a new product recently
and gives us the opportunity to further promote Wavestream.”
Peter Nelmes, Business Manager – Marine, ZF
Services UK Ltd said: “This has been a highly successful event,
very well organised and most useful for ZF. It’s been money
extremely well spent and the best networking forum we have attended
for many years.”
Andy Sims, Operations Director, Cooney Marine
International Limited said: “It was an extremely valuable event
with positive results and outcomes. We look forward to
progression in the future.”
Supply Chain Conference 20th-21st
March 2012
The Overall Conference Programme can be viewed
here
The Seminar Programme is available here
The inaugural BMF Supply Chain Conference supported by the
Technology Strategy Board is filling up fast. The event
starts on the evening of 20 March and runs through 21 March at the
Staverton Park Hotel, Daventry. This conference offers
valuable business opportunities with routes to new customers and
markets for businesses large and small, connecting with influential
individuals in a professional and relaxed environment. A
limited number of places are still available for buyers and
suppliers from the leisure boat and commercial/workboat sectors to
join those already signed up to attend.
Buyers will include leading UK power boat
builders Sunseeker, Princess, Fairline and Sealine, plus high end
yacht builders Oyster, Discovery, Gunfleet and Rustler Yachts, and
from the commercial sector the RNLI, Marine Specialised Technology
(RIBs), Buckie Shipyard, Griffon Hoverwork and Goodchild Marine
Services.
The Conference will begin on 20 March with an
evening reception and dinner followed by a keynote speech from Mike
Chalkley, Engineering Director of Griffon Hoverwork. On
Wednesday 21 March one-to-one meetings will be arranged for
suppliers to meet potential new customers, using the format of the
highly successful BMF Meet the Buyer events. Running
alongside the meetings, seminar sessions will take place throughout
the day covering a variety of business support and supply chain
development topics. These will include industry case studies,
including presentations from the RNLI and Matchtech, and the latest
information from the Technology Strategy Board, UKTI, SEMTA,
Manufacturing Advisory Service and Transport Knowledge Transfer
Network. These business support services are keen to help
suppliers and their customers to work more effectively together,
both technically and commercially, and they will be able to offer
confidential one to one consultations during the day to explain
precisely how they could support your business.
This is an important opportunity for all
involved in the UK marine industry to attend several meetings in a
single day, and to enjoy a great networking environment for
building contacts and developing more profitable business
relationships.
Supply Chain Seminar 19th September 2011
The BMF held a Marine Supply Chain event on
19th September during PSP Southampton Boat Show
which attracted more than 50 marine supply chain
representatives from small specialist SMEs to the larger
boatbuilders.
The presentations are available at:
Professor Douglas Macbeth of
the University of Southampton
Mike Goatley of ZF Services UK
Ltd
John Copley of Farnborough Aerospace
Consortium and Phil Curnock SC21 Programme Manager
Experts from academia, industry and the business support sector
covered the theory and implementation of supply chain development,
illustrated with numerous positive examples from automotive,
aerospace, defence and construction equipment sectors. These
demonstrated the benefits of collaboration within supply chains and
of moving relationships with customers from one of supplier to that
of strategic partner.
Rob Stevens, BMF Chief Executive chaired the
event following closely on the ministerial launch earlier in the
day of the Strategy for Growth for the UK Marine Industries.
Clear support from Government and the Technology Strategy Board
provides a great opportunity to build on the strengths of the
marine industry, and developing marine supply chains is a key part
of this process.
The speakers were Professor Douglas Macbeth of
the University of Southampton who set the scene by explaining the
concepts of supply chains and the opportunities and threats
industries face and how to deal effectively with
them.
Mike Goatley of ZF Services UK Ltd described
how the purchasing culture in the automotive industry had evolved
from buyer led to engineering led, and then in response to the
global recession how this was now one of a strategic partnership
between customer and supplier. This had greatly improved the
quality, reputation and bottom line for automotive and construction
equipment OEMs. With the strategic partnership approach
suppliers are not chosen purely on price, but on stability,
reliability, technical innovation and value that they can bring to
the end product. Joint marketing and sales approaches are
also created using supply brand recognition to promote the end
product for the benefit of both customer and supplier.
John Copley of Farnborough Aerospace
Consortium and Phil Curnock SC21 Programme Manager covered the
Supply Chains for the 21st Century initiative that has
developed to support the UK aerospace, defence and security
industries. SC21 is an industry change programme designed to
accelerate the competitiveness of the Aerospace, Defence and
Security (A|D|S) industries by raising the performance of its
supply chains. This was a vital response to maintain the UK’s
market position in the world as other competitors grew and the
competitive threats increased. It focuses on relationship
management, collaborative regional clusters, supporting business
best practice and quality improvement and has the backing and
financial support of the Manufacturing Advisory Service.
Clear bottom line benefits have attracted more than 500 companies,
mostly SMEs, into the SC21 programme.
The presentations concluded with David Caddle,
Programme Manager of the Manufacturing Advisory Service SE
explaining the role of MAS in supporting manufacturing industries
and the plans for the next three year National MAS programme from
2012, to include further support for supply chain development with
funding of £7 million. The BMF is grateful to MAS SE and
David Caddle for generously sponsoring this event which concluded
with an enjoyable drinks and networking session.
From the positive responses to the
presentations and the lively and constructive discussions the BMF
has a clear green light to progress further with developing a
marine supply chain initiative. Any enquiries about this and
those wishing to become involved in supply chain development should
contact Adrian Waddams, BMF Manufacturing Manager at awaddams@britishmarine.co.uk