Page 39 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2019

onstration of how we can keep continuity in our programs from production, and that assists local industry as well as the OEMs we work with.”
Industry
The work generated by Defence and Rhe- inmetall for Land 121 3B has also created a favourable forecast for local industry, es- pecially Albury-based Milspec Manufac- turing. The company is responsible for pro- viding fabricated subsystems such as roof frames, gunner stands, wire cutters, stow- age boxes, signs, brackets and interior components for each vehicle’s Command Control Communications Computers and Intelligence (C4i) systems.
“The [3B] job was worth $35 million. It’s the biggest Milspec’s ever had,” Neil Mor- rison, General Manager for Milspec, told ADM. “It’s allowed Milspec to grow and invest over the past three years.”
The company’s performance saw it win an additional contract worth more than $10 million to supply the same products for Phase 5B, which will see Rheinmetall sup-
ply an additional 1044 high mobility logis- tics vehicles, 812 trailers, and 872 modules to the ADF. Milspec is now using the finan- cial certainty of the contract to expand its capabilities.
“We doubled our painting capability here,” Morrison said. “Because we’ve moved from being fundamentally a jobbing shop to being a major volume producer, we’ve also rolled out lean manufacturing across the facility.”
Over the long term, the money flowing in from Land 121 is allowing Milspec to re-imagine itself as more than a ‘fabricator of things’. It is aiming to become a glob- ally-exporting original equipment manu-
facturer by developing a new permanent magnet water-cooled alternator, which may be added to the Boxer and Lynx vehicles being procured under Land 400 Phases 2 and 3. Milspec are involved in Rheinmetall Defence Australia Global supply chain pro- gram, with the SME one of a number con- tributing to the global fleet of Boxers and hopefully Lynx.
“The revenue and profit this has generat- ed has allowed us to accelerate our alterna- tor development program,” Morrison said. “Patented, designed, and manufactured here in Albury. With some luck, I’m confi- dent they’ll be on the Boxer vehicle here and the Lynx vehicle worldwide.”
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“The momentum built on the 3B program is rolling into 5B, with initial delivery of equipment made in January of this year.”