The Chantier Davie Canada Suppliers Association (AFCDC) held its annual general meeting on Friday in front of more than 200 business leaders, where supply chain strengthening was discussed.
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On a billion-dollar contract, between $500 and $700 million will end up in the supply chain. On April 4, the Davie shipyard became the third partner of the National Shipbuilding Strategy (SNCN), which opens the door to contracts worth $8.5 billion. This means that the expected benefits will be very significant, even if the AFCDC hesitates for the moment to quantify them.
According to David Plasse, general manager of Economic Development Pierre-De Saurel, it is important “to mobilize the supply chain in order to keep work in Quebec”.
“It’s a very good opportunity. I compare the shipbuilding sector to that of aeronautics, with the development of a network of subcontractors of the same size, ”said Mr. Plasse.
“The future of the Davie is also the future of the shipyard’s suppliers and partners for the coming decades. The announcement of last April 4 was probably the biggest economic announcement in recent decades in the region,” said Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health and Minister responsible for the Quebec region.
The mayor of Lévis, Gilles Lehouillier, already sees the companies “mounted along Kennedy Boulevard”.
“There will be them everywhere, in all regions of Quebec. That’s billions of spinoffs. I say to our companies, with a sector as structuring as shipbuilding, “try to find a successor and robotize yourself a little for 25 years, it’s worth it,” added Mr. Lehouillier.
Currently, there are 1,200 suppliers of goods and services in shipbuilding in 13 regions of Quebec, of which approximately 50% are located in the regions of Quebec and Chaudière-Appalaches.
“The idea is to have the best and that they are available when you need them. It is important that we respect the production schedules. We want to make the supply chain aware of that,” said Mr. Drapeau.
Now that the Davie shipyard is officially integrated into the Strategy, the AFCDC is moving into second gear so that the supply chain is ready to carry out the resulting contracts.
“The second phase is to initiate the culture change. We bring about thirty companies at the end of May to visit French construction sites. We will show them, for example, the Saint-Nazaire shipyard, which is twenty times bigger than the Davie shipyard,” explained Mr. Drapeau.
On the sidelines of this mission, several companies, both European and Quebec, are already considering partnerships to strengthen their service offering.
“There are European shipyards which are also looking for suppliers,” concluded Mr. Drapeau.