Vanguard Magazine

Two-thirds of canadian businesses in the defence sector generated less than 25 per cent of their business from defence. T TecHnOLOGy WATCh www.vanguardcanada.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 43 similar to the ITB policy in Canada. This means you will have to partner with lo- cal firms and ensure that you meet all of the requirements set out by that local government. OMX has recently expanded its platform to accommodate connecting, managing, tracking and reporting on in- dustrial participation in any country. This will help any companies (especially SMEs) prepare bids to other governments and manage their obligations effectively. Another asset to Canadian companies looking to export is the Global Offset and Countertrade Association (G.O.C.A), which promotes international trade by fa- cilitating a better understanding of coun- tertrade and offsets. Specifically, I would advise interested companies to come to G.O.C.A. this October in Montreal to learn how their peers are leveraging and meeting offset requirements around the world. The conference is so rarely in Can- ada, and I have been personally involved on the organizing committee, so I can say it is going to be a great one! As usual for this column, I went around to some Canadian companies in the de- fence sector to get a better idea of the im- pacts that exports can have on Canadian industry first hand. First, I visited Nexeya Canada, which designs, manufactures and tests electronic products for mission criti- cal environments. Located in Toronto, Nexeya exports 90 per cent of its products and sells globally to OEMs and tier 1s, as well as subcontractors and operators. Due to their niche products, Nexeya has found delivering the required product demon- strations to foreign companies to be a challenge. I also visited SMEs from across Canada. I spoke with Jocelyn Williams, Vice Presi- dent at Automatic Coatings, about her experiences exporting: "Automatic Coat- ings has developed and patented corrosion and coating solutions that increase lifecy- cle and reduce maintenance costs which we've exported for the past 17 years, par- ticularly to other Governments and are looking at expanding our global reach. Expanding exports provides more jobs for our Ontario employees and showcases our innovation globally." Automatic Coatings is recognized globally as having the most technologically advanced powder and liq- uid coating facilities in North America. Weatherhaven, a Vancouver-based de- ployable military shelter company, is an- other Canadian SME success story that most people know quite well. The compa- ny had success developing container solu- tions for DND and has since exported this product to more than 20 countries around the world, contributing to the company's growth and the development of new glob- al solutions. Ray Castelli, CEO of Weatherhaven, explained that they are satisfying three markets – the Canadian government mar- ket, the international export market, and an 'internal export' market that satisfies international demand through the obliga- tions created by Canada's Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) and Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) policies. The company has partnered with DEW Engineering for the $130 million Medium Sized Vehicle Shelter (MSVS) program. I also spoke with Andrew Lutes, Man- aging Director at Twenty20 Insight. Andrew commented on Twenty20's ex- perience selling abroad that, "The main advantage is that you have access to ad- ditional markets. This is key to maintain revenues, especially when your domestic market is flat. The challenges are getting timely access to information on oppor- tunities. Currently we U.S.e local agents which is effective, but significantly lowers your profit margin." Twenty20 is an Ot- tawa based company with over 15 years of experience providing the highest quality smart soldier solutions for military, law enforcement and security officers. Clearpath Robotics in another Canadi- an SME with an interesting export story. Clearpath provides unmanned vehicle solutions for research and development and exports to over 40 countries around the world. The company has a second division, OTTO motors, which recently launched in April of 2016 and provides industrial self-driving vehicles for material transport. Meghan Hennessey, Marketing Com- munications Manager at Clearpath, de- scribed some of the advantages and chal- lenges of exporting as a Canadian SME: "Right now, the advantage is the Canadi- an Dollar, particularly since many of our suppliers are Canadian. As for the chal- lenge: exporting highly advanced pieces of robotic technology can be a daunting task at times and the logistics team at Clearpath leverages their past experienc- es, and accentuates that knowledge with continuous improvement initiatives and training. Considerations such as inter- national customs regulations, free trade agreements, and ever-increasing restric- tions on shipping lithium-based batteries have caused an abundance of documenta- tion and worry within the Clearpath ex- port team, but the challenges have been accepted and overcome time after time." Now is the time for Canadian industry to innovate and explore ways to enhance their competitiveness to shine abroad. Michael and I wish everyone in Canada the best of luck and are hopeful we con- tinue to have success selling abroad. nicole Verkindt is founder and president of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Affairs. She is also the technology editor of Vanguard Magazine.

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