Our Projects

Global supply chain integration

Project description and overview:

This project will identify and explore options for establishing a practical, openly published specification for trusted digital interoperability between supply chain participants. A prototype implementation will be explored and proven using the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Australian manufacturing supply chain. Successful implementation within the aeronautical domain is expected to lead to broader adoption of the approach within the Hunter Class Frigate program, JORN, and throughout the Defence industry and beyond.

Manufacturing, business and information technology experts from Advanced Focus and Flinders University will work with BAE Systems, their F-35 supply chain partners Axiom and RUAG Australia, Special Processing Centre of Excellence, and a cross-section of SME Manufacturers from BAE Systems’ broader supply chain to derive a practical digital information exchange approach.

Increased supply chain transparency between supply chain participants promises to deliver faster issue identification and resolution, improve trust relationships between customers and suppliers, provide a collective understanding of supply chain priorities, support improved risk management, and enable resource utilisation. Significant savings are expected across the supply chain via the elimination of paper-based processes that will become digital and dynamic, improving timeliness and minimising errors, rework and delays.

This project’s value in demonstrating real-time, cross-enterprise manufacturing status and digital supply chain management goes beyond advanced Defence manufacturing. Both direct and indirect transfer of this technology into other key Australian industries such as mining, agriculture and construction sectors is anticipated. These sectors have similar challenges with real-time transparency of upstream and downstream supply chain, materials, people and tools.

Contributions:

Government Funds: $362,650 | Industry: $362,650

EXPECTED IMPACT

  • Demonstrated bi-directional supply-chain transparency between Australian F-35 manufacturers
  • Reduced supply chain transactional costs for Australian F-35 SME manufacturers
  • Prototype specification outlining a viable, non-proprietary approach to supply chain digitisation
  • Recommendations for progressing the prototype specification into a potential de-facto standard via either a standards body or an industry consortia
  • Recommendations for potential broader roll-out of the validated supply-chain digitisation approach to other defence projects such as the Hunter Class Frigate and JORN upgrade, and beyond defence
  • Case study illustrating a global Prime collaborating with Australian SME Manufacturers and academia to achieve mutually beneficial and tangible outcomes in relation to the Australian F-35 manufacturing value chain

EXPECTED GROWTH

  • Knowledge gained via this project will contribute to a longterm goal to devise a freely available, broadly adopted, open standard that will aim to remove the burden on manufacturers having to adopt expensive proprietary commercial solution offerings in order to achieve inter-company digital supply chain interoperability.
Project Collaborators