Case Study: Supply Chain Resiliency

GOAL:

Preserve and support the economic health of New Jersey’s aerospace and defense (A&D) supplier network through economic diversification and business development and expansion.

CHALLENGE:

In the face of federal budget cuts associated with sequestration and military drawdowns abroad, the biggest challenge for defense manufacturers is growing profitability in a dwindling market.  Tier 2 and Tier 3 defense suppliers also feed other high-technology sectors including pharmaceuticals, biotech, and medical devices.  The need to mitigate New Jersey’s economic risk by diversifying the overall A&D supply chain is clear, both to reduce the exposure in the existing A&D supply chain but also to increase the strength and resilience of NJ’s advanced manufacturers.

SOLUTION:

With support from a U.S. Department of Defense grant, the New Jersey MarketShift initiative aimed to identify companies in the A&D supplier network, increase connections and collaborations among those companies, and assist suppliers in identifying new market opportunities.

PROCESS:

The NJ MarketShift action plan centered on:

•       Engaging small- and medium-sized manufacturers as well as large contractors to raise awareness about the need to be proactive in adapting to defense cuts

•       Involving industry associations, state government, industry leaders, and other interested stakeholders to serve in an advisory role for policy responses and practical interventions

•        Working with large defense contractors to activate and coordinate small- and medium-sized manufacturers making up the supply chain

•       Assisting individual manufacturers with identifying their core competencies in a defined process to create strong product-market fit for new offerings

•        Partnering with communities to activate regional networks of small- and medium-sized manufacturers

•       Offering direct consulting to individual companies

Specific activities included:

•        Regional design forums focused on cluster development

•       Innovation challenges matching large and small companies

•        Growth market opportunity identification for companies

•        Formation of a statewide A&D advocacy coalition

•        Webinars and training programs to assist with diversification

OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS:

NJ MarketShift helped DoD supply chain companies build new alliances, find new customers, and create new products as a means of increasing diversification and strengthening resilience. The project team introduced the agile strategy methodology, Strategic Doing, to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as well as numerous defense-impacted NJ regions as a means of building collaborative teams to advance new opportunities. 

The NJ MarketShift activities produced an important range of tangible program outputs that increased local awareness of New Jersey’s defense sector and introduced new innovation tools and approaches to local firms.   Through NJ MarketShift, more than 1820 NJ
aerospace and defense organizations, including 633 A&D companies were engaged. 

Market growth tools were used by 305 people, and innovation training was provided to 354 people.  In addition to bringing new concepts to participants, these training programs also generated economic development impacts as several communities used the techniques introduced through NJ MarketShift to refine and improve their industry cluster support programs.