Press release from North Carolina Defense Industry Diversification Initiative:
The North Carolina Defense Industry Diversification Initiative (NC DIDI) will host a town hall entitled the “Primed and Ready: NC DIDI Western Defense Contractors and Suppliers Town Hall” on March 20th, 2018. Participants will discuss solutions to the challenges being faced by businesses who contract or subcontract with the Department of Defense in the state of North Carolina.
“Over the past year we have worked diligently to develop, coordinate and deploy a pilot project that serves the manufacturing and service industries in the defense industry cluster. We are starting to see the fruits of that labor and are ecstatic about sharing the preliminary results with the community.” said Phil Mintz, Executive Director of North Carolina State University’s Industry Expansion Solutions. “This is just the beginning of a larger initiative to continue to enhance standards and maintain sustainability.
“Surveying North Carolina’s defense business industry was done in an effort to acquire derived actionable insights from the data generated throughout the supply chain. After capturing thoughts on how this process could be streamlined, this initiative is now positioned to make recommendations for a strategic plan for the states’ Defense contractors and suppliers.” said Secretary Larry Hall, of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and Co-Chairman of NC DIDI. “These insights foster economic growth, job creation and innovation.
NC DIDI will be presenting the results of the state’s first defense industry supply chain study to community and the successes of companies that took part in the Commercialization Pilot Project. In addition they will be revealing an action plan for the states’ defense industry contractors and suppliers and sharing knowledge gathered from Prime Contractors.
The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Biltmore East located at 1450 Tunnel Road in Asheville, NC. The presentation will begin at 12:00pm and conclude at 2:00pm. Parking is free.
The forum will also include information about resources specific to stakeholders in the western region of the state. In attendance will be leading DoD contracting companies, economic development officers and procurement experts. Lunch will be served. While the event is free, registration is highly recommended. Those wishing to participate in the forum can register at our website, www.ncdidi.com or at EventBrite.
NC DIDI was developed as a proactive response to changes in federal defense spending in the state. The initiative seeks to ensure that the defense supply chain remains robust, so that it is able to quickly absorb sudden high demands from Department of Defense agencies.
The NC DIDI held similar town halls in the fall of 2017 aimed at gathering the businesses and DoD suppliers to learn more about your experiences as a supplier to the DoD and US military.
War…What is it good for ? Absolutely nothing ! I hope local Peace activists and Vet’s For Peace will show up and non-violently protest this local event.