Specialist Engineering Consultancy (SEC) Ltd (UK) with a supporting team of specialist sub-contractors; Allan Webb Ltd, Fraunhofer IWU, PIKON International Consulting Group and Leupold Legal, are delighted to announce that they have, after a NATO competitive procurement process, been awarded I NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) contract to deliver two studies focused on:
1. Reviewing the potential benefits and risks of incorporating Additive Manufacturing (AM, also known as 3D Printing) data into the current NATO codification process, including associated legal issues.
2. Comparing the capabilities of the NATO Codification System (NCS) NATO Stock Numbering (NSN) with the use of manufacturers part numbers within Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), including System Analysis Programme (SAP) environments.
Both studies are taking a long-term perspective for the NATO Codification System, providing the NATO NCS community with a broad set of information, assessment and guidance, with opportunities to optimise the NCS.
The team considers the studies on AM / 3D Printing and ERP systems, and the potential to evaluate if and how Defence Supply Chains can best work with these rapidly developing areas as an exciting opportunity.
In delivery of the projects, SEC Ltd will be project managing a consortium of experts from the relevant specialised segments of these tasks: Allan Webb Ltd, United Kingdom, NATO Codification System and defence logistics; Fraunhofer IWU, Germany, Additive Manufacturing / 3D Printing; PIKON, Germany, UK, Belgium, SAP/ERP; Leupold Legal, Germany, Additive Manufacturing (AM) / 3D Printing law, Information Technology Law, Intellectual Property Law.
The team is well placed to deliver thorough, objective reviews and reports for both projects, with extensive experience and contacts on a range of international land, sea and air domains, across diverse disciplines for both civil and defence sector supply chain management.
SEC Managing Director, Ross Molay is delighted, saying: “It was excellent news to win another NATO NSPA contract, the bid was a great team effort from our international team. I look forward to conducting the two studies with our specialists’ team to deliver value added support to NSPA on these far-reaching studies.”
UK Based Supply Chain Specialist Allan Webb Ltd is the only other team member that will work on both papers. With a strong and extensive portfolio on NATO Codification they are perfectly placed to provide expert input on the central theme of the requirements. Managing Director Rory Lipington commented: “The opportunity to lend our vast experience in NATO Codification to support NSPA and the wider NCS AC/135 community is extremely exciting. It’s an honour to be working with such a great team of experts to help guide the future NATO Codification.’
Leupold Legal attorney Dr. Andreas Leupold will work on the legal aspects of this project and says: “Additive Manufacturing has many legal repercussions that must be addressed. I look forward to tackling these specific legal questions with this great team of specialists working on this NSPA contract.”
The work is already underway with the team working closely with NSPA and stakeholders from several NATO and associated countries to ensure objectives are met. The 6 months studies are scheduled to deliver to NSPA in April 2022, during which time the team will gather information from industrial and defence sources and deliver objective outputs supported by empirical evidence.
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