Strategic Industry Partnerships A new initiative tailored for our strategic partners

Collaboration has been a cornerstone of NCMS’ work and growth strategy for over 30 years. The concept is easy to reference but rings hollow in the absence of consistent means to put it into execution. A checklist of essential ingredients is necessary, but not sufficient; successful collaboration depends on a “secret sauce” of relationships that bind teams together to produce successful technologies and solutions. Rich, multi-dimensional collaborations leverage those relationships to create innovation, process improvements, and efficiencies while eliminating wasted time and resources.

In 2018, NCMS embarked on expanding and adding a strategic dimension to relationships with our federal and OEM partners (NCMS member PPG offers its perspective on partnering with NCMS from the OEM side on page 40.) The NCMS ecosystem has always included a wide variety of public/private partners and member companies of all sizes. Maintaining consistent, clear communications with this diverse range of organizations created challenges in 2017, but also opportunities—opportunities to listen and learn about “what else” we can do for industry. NCMS evaluated its existing set of tools and realized that some of them needed to be deployed differently to create positive impact. We have always brought government and companies together, but in 2017, we identified new and improved ways to do so to deliver better results on small and large technology issues.

Since 2007, NCMS has coordinated on-site technology showcases at DoD installations and in 2016 publicized a new category of opportunity, Sources Sought, on our website. NCMS works directly with government and companies searching for technology solutions, creating environments for decision-makers and solution providers to meet face-to-face, giving companies a firsthand look at current DoD or OEM operational needs, and allowing them to highlight their own offerings. We work with federal and OEM leadership teams to identify key issues that needed to be addressed in both the short and long-term, as well as consider the capabilities of NCMS’ other members. Doing so allows NCMS to leverage and gain exposure for the rest of its network, bringing new startups, specialized technology providers, and other small companies to the table. Though we live in the era of search engines and online networking, the broad industry knowledge of an organization like NCMS, still plays an important role in doing this successfully.

Fall 2017 was the launch of the first of NCMS’ OEM technology-specific workshops, a new initiative tailored for our strategic partners. Organized around an OEM’s specific technology needs, these workshops act as a focused, targeted networking venue, bringing the OEM together with a select group of high-interest small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs). After working together over several months to identify desired technology topics, NCMS and its OEM partner invited a list of candidate companies to meet for a day-and-a-half workshop. The half-day included a networking dinner to allow company representatives time to meet and begin gauging one another’s interest in working together. The next morning, the OEM outlined their challenges and articulated the results they were hoping for, and in the afternoon, each invited company presented their technology solutions to the OEM engineers. When the day was complete, the OEM had identified 7-9 companies they wanted to engage with for more exploration. Follow-up communications from NCMS were the final step in connecting attendees for subsequent direct discussions and setting the stage for additional meetings.

This new initiative has allowed NCMS to more robustly support both OEM and SMM members. By addressing a specific technology need for the OEM, NCMS brought new, previously unknown resources to the table without burdening the OEM with the task of managing the process or identifying their own candidates. These new resources may be added to the OEM supply chain if proper criteria are met. For SMMs, these workshops may be the first opportunity they have for a face-to-face meeting with OEM engineers for direct discussion. The proliferation of online meetings, virtual chats, and digital communications has made it easier than ever to get in contact but has diminished the significance of individual exchanges. NCMS believes there is still value in meeting to make consequential decisions and forge lasting partnerships. There were unexpected benefits to this process: With NCMS leading, our OEM partner did not have to expose their capability and technology gaps prematurely. Invited companies were given a high-level overview of the topics to ensure they were a good fit, but technical details about the gaps were shared in a protected environment, allowing for frank discussions among the attendees.

NCMS intends to expand its workshop offerings in 2018 along with its technology showcases, working closely with industry and government partners to identify future technology topics and areas in which NCMS’ network can prove to be a particularly valuable asset. With future iterations, NCMS hopes to give these workshops a prominent place among the services it provides its strategic partners and to fill gaps that previously flew under the radar.