The North Carolina Aerospace Alliance held its inaugural North Carolina Aerospace Supplier Conference on July 14th at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh. There was over 350 in attendance and over 55 exhibitors.
December 5, 2008 - North Carolina Defense Machining Initiative Workshop - Attended by more than 100 people
On December 5th, the North Carolina Military Business Center held the first in a series of Defense Machining Initiative workshops in Charlotte. The event was designed to enhance the ability of North Carolina companies to win Department of Defense contracts.
Speakers covered a variety of key issues, including:
Preparing to do business with the Department of Defense (DoD)
Accessing prescreened opportunities through SourceNC.com
Bid preparation
Packaging and RFID issues
Accessing training and support to increase success
Speakers included:
North Carolina Military Business Center (NCMBC)
North Carolina Aerospace Alliance (NC AA)
Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC)
SourceNC.com
Airpack, Inc. – an approved Department of Defense packaging organization.
With the recent downturn in commercial manufacturing, many companies now realize that the Department of Defense represents a viable and lucrative alternative for maintaining and growing their company’s sales. As such, more than one hundred people attended the event with representatives from North Carolina machine shops, contract manufacturers and other industry vendors.
In addition to the workshop, a special speed networking event was held to introduce machine shops and other contract manufacturers directly to buyers from a variety of North Carolina aerospace and other companies. Buyers and suppliers engaged in forty-three 10 minute interviews. Buyer companies included: Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Atlantic Aero, Inc. Defense Holdings, Inc., and SourceAuthority.com.
Feedback from participants was very positive with buyers indicating that they had identified potential critical sources of supply that may help them reduce costs and improve their products. Machine shops indicated that they were excited by access to new business opportunities and information that will enable them to become more responsive, efficient and profitable.
The event was held at Okuma America’s Partners in Thinc facility. As one of the world’s largest machine tool builders, the Okuma facility provided attendees with the opportunity to view cutting edge machining technology and network with vendors that provide a wide range of products and services including robotics, tooling and inspection. In addition to Okuma, other sponsors included the National Tooling and Machining Association and SourceAuthority.com.
The December 5thevent is the first in a series of Defense Machining Initiative workshops to be held across the state. The North Carolina Military Business Center is considering a variety of regional venues to better enable participation by North Carolina companies. If you would like to be informed of or participate in upcoming events, please contact us at 1-866-873-1757 or by email at contact@sourcenc.com.
May 28, 2008 - North Carolina Defense Machining Program and Website Launched
Greensboro, N.C. – On May 22nd, the North Carolina Military Business Center (NCMBC), the North Carolina Aerospace Alliance (NC-AA) and SourceHorizon, Inc. launched SourceNC.com. This new website – a component of the NCMBC and NC-AA’s Defense Machining Program - will help North Carolina machine shops grow their businesses, create jobs and bring more Department of Defense (DoD) contract dollars to North Carolina.
In 2007, North Carolina companies won $2.97 billion in DoD contracts for goods and services. The North Carolina Defense Machining Program and SourceNC will grow defense contracting by connecting the exceptional machining capacity in North Carolina to billions of dollars in lucrative (but difficult-to-access) machining opportunities for aerospace and other repair parts from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
The North Carolina Defense Machining Program includes:
conducting engineering evaluation of repair parts solicitations (RFQs and RFPs) from DLA
identifying solicitations with sufficient technical data to support bidding and manufacturing
posting screened opportunities on SourceNC.com
recruiting, evaluating, and registering machine shops on SourceNC.com
matching registered machine shops to pre-screened opportunities on SourceNC
providing bidding and contracting assistance to businesses to compete for and win contracts
“SourceNC will help machining businesses in North Carolina to leverage the lucrative DoD repair parts manufacturing market,” said Scott Dorney, Executive Director of the North Carolina Military Business Center. “Eliminating the barrier of evaluating thousands of solicitations, matching businesses to real opportunities that fit their capabilities, and helping them compete and win will accelerate our success rate in capturing defense contracts and growing jobs in this sector.”
SourceHorizon, Inc., a Greensboro, NC company, developed SourceNC for the NCMBC and the NC-AA and provides engineering and technical support to the Defense Machining Program.
For more information on this announcement, please visit SourceNC.com or contact the North Carolina Military Business Center, 1-877-245-5520 or 910-323-4587.
