Contact

As a strategic instrument of international influence and technical innovation, the defense industry promotes a strong image of French technological excellence.

The resurgence of armed conflict in Europe is compelling the entire sector to undertake major projects, demanding significant effort and investment, bolstered by an ambitious new military programming law. The major challenge for the coming years is to return to sustained production rates.

However, in addition to a handful of large defense groups (Thales, Arquus, Naval Group, etc.), this industrial sector rests on a 2,000 companies ecosystem, 75% of which are specialized SME subcontractors. Increasing production rates despite tensions on the electronics and raw materials markets, as well as the availability of qualified and skilled resources, will be the main challenges facing these companies.

Issues & Challenges

These changes require :

  • Securing supply chains and strengthening collaboration among all supply chain stakeholders, enhancing both national and European industrial capacities.
  • Reinforcing the capacity of existing production facilities and planning appropriate investments to raise capacity as quickly as possible.
  • Improve MRO (support) organisations and equipments to maximise availability for field operations
  • Ensure training, support and skills upgrading of qualified resources throughout the industry, while preserving productivity levels, essential to competitiveness.

AXSANT added value

To meet these challenges, our defense clients call on our many areas of expertise:

  • Define or rethink industrial strategies to optimize material flows through a relevant footprint and reduce production lead times.
  • Optimise sourcing by securing long-term supply sources and consolidating the supplier base.
  • Implement advanced supply chain management by deploying cross-functional and collaborative planning tools, establishing a robust S&OP process across the entire supply chain, and creating supplier development teams to ensure deadlines are met and maturity is enhanced.
  • Manage projects and deploy lean manufacturing tools to boost productivity and reduce bottlenecks.
  • Structure maintenance organisations (MRO) and implement digital tracking tools for critical equipment and parts.