News

Exploring Supplier Development in British Columbia 2017-18 PILOT

Overview
In partnership with industry, the Government of British Columbia is exploring the creation and implementation of a British Columbia Supplier Development Program (BC SDP) aimed at B.C.’s manufacturing and industrial service companies in the industrial marine, aerospace, energy (including utilities), and general manufacturing sectors.  The BC SDP is designed to assist B.C. businesses in becoming more globally competitive and better able to successfully participate in global value chains.  The BC SDP is intended to be multi-year, multi-sector program of support, helping companies become world-class suppliers by focusing on operational excellence.  The program is being designed using the best practices in supplier development from around the world; and is modelled after leading programs in the aerospace, defense and automotive industries.

A small-scale pilot project is currently underway to validate design concepts and training materials and to confirm the utility of a sustained program of support for enhancing the global competitiveness of B.C. businesses.  Because of the overwhelming success of the first pilot, an extension and expansion of the pilot is planned for fiscal year 2017/18.   In addition to continuation with the current participant, the expanded pilot offers the opportunity for two additional companies to participate.

The Pilot will follow a program cycle, including:
- Benchmark assessments across the whole of the business; using global standards for world-class performance;
- Mentoring for the senior leadership team;
- Assistance in developing improvement plans tailored to the strategic needs of the business;
- Training & expert support focused on the company’s priority improvement areas; and
- Quarterly reviews by an industry Steering Committee; providing objective feedback from senior industry personnel.

Participation in the Pilot offers the following benefits:
- Provides a structured approach and support for achieving the transformative change required for improved global competitiveness.
- Creates direct linkages to large, top-tier companies through both mentors and the pilot’s Steering Committee; providing guidance and feedback on improvement activities.
- Offers access to affordable, high-quality training and expert support in critical areas of business operations.
- Delivers a detailed benchmarking report that assesses the company’s performance across the whole of the business to global standards for competitiveness.
- Immediately differentiates your business to the market as a company committed to improvement and operational excellence.

To qualify for participation, companies should meet the following criteria:
- must be a British Columbia registered and headquartered business;
- must operate in at least one of the following sectors: aerospace, industrial marine, energy or manufacturing;
- should have between 50 - 250 fulltime employees (there is some latitude on the size requirement);
- should have annual revenues of $10 million or more;
- must be an on-going enterprise; and profitable for at least the last three consecutive years; and
- must have the commitment of the company’s senior leadership.

Please note:
1. Active leadership, participation and commitment by the company’s senior leadership team is critical.  Supplier development support is intended to assist companies that recognize the value of global competitiveness, are willing and able to invest in themselves, and desire support with their improvement efforts.
2. Participation in the Pilot is not free.  However, it is an excellent deal.  The Province is covering 60% of the costs of all benchmarking assessments as well as all training and coaching support received by participating companies and 100% of the pilot management and overhead costs.

Recruitment for the extended Pilot of the BC SDP is occurring now until April 2017. 

Here is a presentation that outlines the BC SDP and the Pilot.  It provides a basic idea of how the program works.  In this presentation there is some feedback from Wesgar Inc. – a company that is participating in the initial Pilot program. 

Here is an information sheet that outlines the program and the benefits to participating companies.  Finally, as we are building our program based on best practices worldwide and have modelled the BC SDP on the Competitive Edge program used by the aerospace industry in Manitoba; we've included a link to a YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avzq1vPurk4 that describes the Competitive Edge program (the BC SDP is very similar in design).

If your company is interested in learning more and exploring this possibility, please contact Alex Rueben (alex.rueben@imtarc.com) at 778-265-5005 or Jim Ciccateri (Jim.Ciccateri@gov.bc.ca) at 250-387-3600.