Take advantage

The Society of British Aerospace Companies (

) is encouraging aerospace and defence companies to take advantage of a funding stream that will help them improve their supply chain performance.

The Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (Semta) has secured this funding for the sectors with which it works. In addition to the £100m that forms part of a ‘compact’ with the government, the aerospace and defence sector can also access a range of other funding offers available on a regional basis.

This funding is available to companies implementing the Supply Chains for the Twenty First Century (SC21) programme - an aerospace and defence sector programme overseen by the SBAC to drive improvements in the industry's supply chains.

As part of the continuous improvement aspect of the development of the SC21 programme, a revision to the ‘Self-Start’ process has been made, facilitating access to this funding and a pilot programme is already running with Kembrey Wiring Systems.

Andy Leather, SBAC director responsible for SC21, said: ‘This is an excellent result for aerospace and defence companies, and represents a good combination of the SC21 team, Semta and the National Skills Academy for Manufacturing.

‘The proposed scheme fully utilises the SC21 processes and toolkit that companies are already familiar with. It embraces a revised focus on in-company training that is fundamentally the right way to embed improvement that will lead to success for our industry in the UK through supply chains that perform to their optimum.

'However, aerospace and defence companies need to move quickly. Other sectors, such as automotive, are already accessing the fund.

‘Provisional results from Kembrey are extremely positive. We now need to fully review the processes, as well as brief and work with the regions to re-emphasise that SC21 is a national strategy that is executed regionally for maximum positive effect.’