Northern Ireland aerospace companies reap SC21 rewards
Established in Northern Ireland in 2007 with the support of Invest NI, the SC21 programme is run by aerospace trade organisation ADS Group. The programme provides Gold, Silver and Bronze industry level awards that are recognised as being the standard of excellence across the Aerospace and Defence industries, and are awarded to companies who have reached levels of excellence in service delivery and manufacturing quality.
Led in Northern Ireland by Bombardier, the programme addresses supply chain improvement and aims to increase the competitiveness of the UK aerospace and defence industry. To date, there are around 650 businesses that are on the continuous improvement journey, more than 250 of which have been presented with an award for their work on the programme.
Moyola Precision Engineering from Castledawson, Dontaur Precision Engineering from Ballymena, and JW Kane Precision Engineering from Portadown took part in the SC21 programme as it was established in Northern Ireland and were the first companies in the region to achieve Bronze Awards. Since taking part each of the businesses has experienced staggering growth with turnover increasing by up to threefold.
Paul Everitt, chief executive of aerospace and defence trade organisation, ADS Group commented: “In an increasingly competitive market, maximising operational efficiency is critical to stay ahead. The SC21 programme has been specifically designed to help the many defence and aerospace supply chain businesses overcome the challenges they face.
“These companies are a terrific example of what can be achieved by participating in the programme and implementing changes to radically improve performance, efficiency and ultimately support business growth.”
To achieve an SC21 award, a company must demonstrate world-class business performance in all aspects including delivery and services to customers, internal business efficiency and a continuous sustainable improvement culture throughout the organisation.
Moyola Precision Engineering first signed up to the SC21 Programme in 2007 and the company was awarded a Silver accreditation last year. Managing Director, Mark Semple said “Gaining Silver accreditation through the SC21 Programme has been hugely important to Moyola. Not only does an independent, industry recognised award demonstrate our supply chain efficiencies to prospective clients, but the training and diagnostics the programme provided have increased shop-floor productivity. These factors and many more, have contributed to a doubling of our aerospace turnover.”
Nigel Hicklin, managing director at Dontaur Precision Engineering said “We are on the verge of doubling our turnover since we started on SC21. We believed that we were lean before we began on SC21, but this has taken us to a new level”.
Damian McArdle, Managing Director at JW Kane, said “In 2010 our turnover was £3.6M, now it is £6.6M and our forecast for next year is £9.5m.That is a tripling in growth since we started on the SC21 Programme. SC21 has provided a structure and a quality culture for us to grow in business excellence and has brought us closer to our customers.”
Beyond the improvements to supply chain effectiveness and record turnovers, these companies have also benefitted from closer collaboration, and the companies are working together to tender for much larger contracts which will, in turn support continued business growth.
