Aerospace and Defence Academy

Strengthening procurement across the aerospace and defence industry.

CIPS Aerospace and Defence Academy is a procurement training programme that operates across the entire sector and is open to companies of all sizes.

A climate of organisational restructuring, strategic defence spending cuts and customers expecting more at lower costs, means that for companies in Aerospace and Defence, having well-trained buyers is a critical success factor. The Aerospace and Defence Academy is a procurement training programme tailored specifically to address the learning and development needs of companies across the entire industry’s supply chain. The CIPS Aerospace and Defence Academy offers a blend of on-line learning, reading materials and tutor support through workshops leading to professional qualifications and MCIPS.

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Marshall Aerospace

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“The tangible effects of this Academy are there for our business, not only in terms of best practice applied by our employees but also their improved confidence in the workplace.”

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Attracting, developing and retaining talent

Attracting, developing and retaining talent is fundamental to achieving its mission. For many years, CIPS has supported the MOD to do just that, with the relationship strengthening thanks to new educational initiatives developed to suit the organisation’s unique needs.

 

Why CIPS Aerospace and Defence Academy?

With bigger and fewer products, high capital costs and long-term projects of up to 30 years, a question was asked by the industry, “what is our profile for a buyer of the future?”. It was from answers to this question that the CIPS Aerospace and Defence Academy was born. Through collaborative research CIPS identified the specific skill sets required and designed a training programme to suit a global audience and the varied requirements of companies across the sector.

The Academy improves skills, helps to overcome industry-specific procurement and supply issues and raises performance levels of participating organisations. By serving the entire sector with a single, specialised training programme, the Academy also offers cost-effective training to small firms as well as large, delivering benefits across the whole supply chain.

The benefits

About the Aerospace and Defence industry

The aerospace and defence industry continues to be a growth sector with global revenue of $681 billion in 2011. Current growth is driven largely by increased production of commercial aircraft. The industry is at the cutting edge of design and technology developing lightweight aircraft and fuel-efficient engines with 10% of industry revenue generated by defence electronics. Across its supply chain the aerospace and defence industry employ more than 2 million people worldwide. Two thirds employed in defence and the remaining third in commercial aerospace.

Challenges

  • Competition and contraction: putting enormous pressure on sourcing organisations
  • Increased pressure: cost-reduction measures, offset agreements, environmental regulations, and foreign currency trading issues
  • Value drivers: customers are increasingly looking to their supply chain to deliver affordability, performance, innovation and agility