Maritime Experts will meet up in 7th Naval Systems Seminar
We are proud to be announcing that the 7th Naval Systems Seminar will be held on 12-13 October 2015 at the Middle East Technical University (METU) Cultural and Conventional Center in Ankara.
We would like to invite you to have the opportunity to meet with the professionals from the naval defence circles including governments and academic & research agencies, institutes, small and medium sized enterprises and other leaders of military services. Presentations will cover the multiple perspectives of the updated naval projects and technical & operational topics & subjects.
The Naval Systems Seminar is becoming a tradition. It is not just an event, it always ends in handshakes. As evidence; more than 1200 representatives attended the last seminar in 2013. We had 48 presentations and 50 stands for exhibitors including universities. Your support and sponsorship will provide invaluable contribution to the Naval Defence Sector.
Why Naval Systems Seminar?
The process of shipbuilding takes at least ten years from the identification of a capability gap through development of requirements to the delivery of the platform to the end user. Within that decade, some issues may emerge as problems to be overcome due to the participation of many interested parties/government agencies and industry, modification of the project in accordance with the potential changes in user’s needs and desired capabilities which can be parallel to the military, economic and political developments.
The last ship of a class might be totally different from the first ship in terms of material, equipment, devices, machinery and systems to be installed on board during the construction phase.
There may be considerable changes to the construction plan, some owing to budgetary pressure, which although agreed and finalized during the RfI (Request for Information) phase need to be drastically changed during the RfP (Request for Proposal) phase.
During the proposal phase, there may be some difficulties due to the interpretation of RfP documentation and some contractual obligations to be fulfilled by the main contractor, which have to be directly reflected to the system providers (sub-contractors).
Moreover before signing a contract, there may be price escalation during contract negotiations as a result of additional requests of the end user, causing long and tedious discussions on administrative and technical issues between the procurement agency and the main contractor.
During contract implementation, differences in the payment plans, different interpretations on approved documents and test activities, or additional new requests may also result in issues that require difficult and prolonged discussions.
When delivery phase is reached, different viewpoints among the users, the procurement agency and the main contractor about conducted performance tests (which are started with Factory Acceptance Test, continue with Harbour Acceptance Tests and concluded with Sea Acceptance and Functional Tests) may cause considerable delays in the shipbuilding and delivery schedule.
The overall process summarized above, other non-related reasons, may hamper the shipbuilding schedule, cause cost consequences and complicate the management of available resources and limited funds. It may also jeopardize the timely acquisition of targeted capabilities that the user planned to reach as outlined in the strategic plans.
In order to eliminate those potential problems above and to ensure full customer (user) satisfaction, the overall process needs to be effectively managed by all departments and organizations involved. As an example, I would like to refer to Admiral Sir George Zambellas’ words in IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly magazine dated March 11, 2015; “The UK Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship program must deliver a solution that is both credible and affordable.”
I believe that this Seminar provides an important synergy platform for expressing opinion and discussing the potential challenges, problems and solution suggestions to the issues that I have outlined and tried to explain above. For that reason, Naval Systems Seminar provides an important environment in order to meet user’s requirements on time, on cost and on performance, culminating in the opportunity for the Naval Shipbuilding Sector to make great contributions, not only to domestic but also to international defence.
With the Seminar, instead of searching for solutions for individual projects, as we overcome new and complex problems, we intend to gather all major participants of the shipbuilding sector, biennially, and aim to provide a platform for the discussion and sharing of all potential challenges, solutions and technological improvements.
As the Organizer
I accepted Mr. Serdar Erkoca’s suggestion on collaboration for the first Naval Systems Seminar without hesitation and the 1st Naval Systems Seminar was performed in October 2008.
The knowledge and experience I acquired during my active duty period at Turkish Naval Forces Command, Turkish Navy Project Coordination Office (TNPC) and Ministry of National Defence have enabled me to continue to organize this Seminar. It was also a good opportunity for me to come together with the main respective stakeholders of the Naval Sector (especially during TNPC period in Germany). So that I decided to set up the AZB Consultancy and Defence Company to continue organizing the seminars.
Starting from the Second Seminar on it has been organized by AZB Consultancy and Defence Company every year until 6th Naval Systems Seminar which was in 2013. It will continue biennially from now on.
From the very first one and until the sixth Seminar, a total of 21 organizations and 101 companies have attended our Seminars, and found the opportunity to introduce their own projects and products. The audience of around 700 people at the first Seminar reached up to 1200 people at the sixth Seminar.
We have already made Naval Systems Seminar a registered regional trademark that is embraced by the defence sector. Our target now is to create an indigenous world trademark and provide an alternative locally to those global events that we admire enviously.
With Naval Systems Seminar, we will continue to render our services with the purpose of creating an added value to our economy and contributing to our Naval Shipbuilding Sector and our Naval Defence Power in our region.
It is not just an event, it always ends in handshakes, do not miss this unique gathering.
I gained the inspiration and momentum required to accomplish the first and subsequent Seminars from being directly involved in those project processes and have actually experienced all those difficulties. We are happy to be able to create an information exchange environment for current project managers, both military and civilian.
I believe that Naval Systems Seminar contributes a lot not only to naval shipbuilding activities but also to all role players. It will definitely continue its contribution in the future as well.
We kindly invite all the members of the users, universities, procurement agencies, vendors, supplier, research institutions, foreign companies and shipbuilders from the sector to support the Seminar.
Please take this opportunity and visit our event at METU Culture Congress Center in October to show your support for the continuity of Naval Systems Seminars and also kindly enable us to show our dedication.
Your participation will definitely provide a valuable contribution for the success of the seminar and the Naval Defence Sector.
