Activities

DMO Update (20 April 2012) Auditorium 1 Defence Plaza Melbourne 661 Bourke Street, Melbourne. The seminar consists of a series of presentations and will provide attendees with an overview of the current and future issues within the Defence Industry. There will also be numerous networking opportunities. Defence presenters include representatives from the Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation (RPDE) Program, as well as from three different DMO divisions; Electronic Systems, Commercial and Industry Programs, and Aerospace Systems. Please contact Sue Smith sue.smith@aidn.org.au if you are interested in attending.

DBI New Business Engagement Model briefing breakfast (24 April 2012) Level 27, 121 Exhibition Street.Melbourne. Please contact Sue Smith sue.smith@aidn.org.au if you are interested in attending.

Master Networking Workshop (20^th March 2012) Matthew Flinders Hotel Chadstone, Grow Process & Developing Relationships.

WorkCover Seminar (23 March 2012) Matthew Flinders Hotel Chadstone, Networking breakfast on WorkCover and OH&S. Members obtained very valuable information on this subject.

Master Networking Workshop (27^th March 2012) Matthew Flinders Hotel Chadstone, Networking Events/Conferences & Strategic Alliances.

LEWG & GOVDEX update (24 January 2012): Matthew Flinders Hotel Chadstone. This Networking Event briefed members on the outcomes of the recent Land Environmental Working Group (LEWG) meeting held in Canberra. Major Tony Cerella, Deputy Director, Science & Industry, Land Development Branch, Capability Development Group, discussed topics presented during the recent December 2011 LEWG meeting in Canberra. Major Cerella described the LEWG and the LEWG Govdex Community.

Pacific 2012 (31 January – 3 February 2012): at Darling Harbour, Sydney. AIDN again clustered AIDN members together on our group stand at this major maritime conference and exhibition

Special Awards Function (Monday 14 November): The AIDN-Vic Annual Networking Function was hosted by the Department of Business & Innovation and sponsored by Aerospace Maritime & Defence Foundation of Australia Limited, on, following the AGM. The Honourable Richard Dalla-Riva, Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade gave a welcome address at the Special Awards Function and participated in the awards ceremony. This year’s guest speaker was Mr Peter Ellyard, Futurist.

Networking Breakfast (Thursday 10 November) Matthew Flinders Hotel: Wise Networking for the Silly Season – How to network effectively at events. Following the great success of the networking workshops earlier this year, and with the festive season fast approaching, AIDN-Vic engaged Bev Brough, Master Networking to conduct this workshop. AIDN-Vic appreciates the support of the Defence Industry Innovation Centre and Enterprise Connect.

Quadrilateral Symposium (Monday 12 September): This was held in London by four international defence industry associations including AIDN, A|D|S (UK), CADSI (Canada) and NDIA (USA). The theme of the conference was Special Relationships in Defence Trade. A number of Australians attended this event.

New Members Welcome Drinks (Wednesday 14^th September) At the AIDN-Vic offices. This function enabled new members to network with the AIDN-Vic Executive Committee.

Networking Event & Golf Competition (Tuesday 4^th October): This event was held at the Sandhurst Golf Club. The AIDN-Vic golf event was preceded by a Defence update, which included speakers from Thales, BAE Systems, DMO, Dept of Business and Innovation. Over 140 members participated in this event.

Teaming Manager Breakfast (Tuesday 6 September): Matthew Flinders Hotel. The newly appointed AIDN-Vic Teaming Manager, Mr Glen Ferrarotto briefed members on the project that is designed to help our members to improve the value of their products and services and increase their market share in the Defence and related industries.

Defence Update No. 2 (Wednesday 31 August): The briefing covered several topics including; LAND 400 – Land Combat Vehicle System, Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, Industry Assistance Programs, Export Control Systems.

Networking Breakfast with TXM (Friday 3 June): Agility - The future of manufacturing in Australia. TXM have over the past 20 years Lean enterprise has been used as an effective tool for improving manufacturing competitiveness through reducing costs. However in a globalised market, cost reduction is reaching its limits. In many cases the labour cost advantage of low cost countries is simply too great to be bridged.

Puckapunyal Fire Power Day (Wednesday 11 May & Thursday 12 May) AIDN-Vic secured 14 places at Exercise Chong Ju at Puckapunyal.

Defence Update No. 1 (Monday 2 May): The briefing covered several topics including; the DMO Strategic Reform Program and the Defence-wide Broader Defence Industry Security Agenda.

Networking Breakfast with Joint Logistics Command (JLC) (Tuesday 5 April): JLC provided a perspective on how the Joint Logistic Command Ops team considers new technology or projects being introduced to support operations and the advice they give the DMO project managers regarding supply chains to Australia’s deployed operations.

Avalon International Airshow 2010 (1-6 March) AIDN-Vic and the Victorian Government had a combined stand showcasing 24 small to medium enterprises in the Aerospace and Defence sectors. The theme adopted for the 2011 show was ’Feel the Power’ and celebrated 90 years of the Royal Australian Air Force.

Networking Breakfast with Master Networking (Wednesday 2 February): at the Matthew Flinders Hotel. Bev Brough briefed members on becoming better networkers. Over 80 members attended this very successful workshop.

Members are provided with information about Defence opportunities and activities in a timely manner.

The “one on one” discussions organised with the presenters have proved to be a significantly beneficial innovation. Anecdotal feedback is that SME’s who have been trying for a long time to break into Primes are now having the opportunity to speak to the “right” people to tell them of their capabilities.

The presentations are a two way process. It is known that Primes are learning about local capabilities that they did not know existed.

AIDN is a member of the AiGroup Defence Council. Also AIDN has representation on a wide range of Defence Fora so that it can represent the views of Defence SME’s when Defence is considering its industry policies.

Another advantage of belonging to AIDN-Vic is that your company's capabilities will be brought to the attention of visiting international organisations, when they approach our network to find out about Victoria's Industry capability. Approaches for presentations by these companies have come about because of our growing reputation.

AIDN IS A TRULY NATIONAL BODY WITH OFFICES IN ALL STATES AND TERRITORIES AND IS DEDICATED TO ASSISTING SMALL TO MEDIUM ENTERPRISES TO GROW STRONGER IN DEFENCE INDUSTRY.