Ken Kirkpatrick, CEO and President, OSI Maritime Systems, explains how the Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy has helped his business succeed and grow.
Transcript—Leveraging Defence Procurement for Success—OSI Maritime Systems
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Ken Kirkpatrick, CEO and President, OSI Maritime Systems: OSI is a Canadian company with approximately 130 employees. OSI is 100% focused on the international naval market. We deliver integrated navigation and tactical systems, including integrated bridge systems for warships, integrated dive navigation systems for submarines and command and control systems for small craft. All the design, engineering and manufacturing is done here in Burnaby. We're a global company with 20 naval customers from around the world.
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The ITB policy is very important. It ensures that Canadian companies directly benefit from government investment. OSI is growing very aggressively and the future is promising. Winning the Royal Canadian Navy New Build IVS Projects is very important to our growth strategy. Provides the funding to develop world-leading technology, and it provides perspective customers with the confidence to do business with us.
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The NSPS and ITB programs have brought a lot of positive attention to Canadian companies and we believe we will benefit from that in the future.
Due to the national shipbuilding procurement strategy value proposition and the ITB programs, OSI has been approached by many shipbuilders and systems integrators from around the world. As a result of pursuing ITB opportunities, we've had the good fortune to work with BAE, Ratheon, Lockheed Martin and Davie Shipyard.
[Mix of footage and images of OSI production floor, equipment, employees working and people on the bridge of a ship]
We believe the ITB program has been a contributing factor to the success of our company. Our staff base has grown from 40 to over 130 employees in the last 4 years. We have closed a number of projects, and we believe the ITB obligations have been a factor in the award decisions of those contracts. If I could give advice I would encourage them to identify the companies with ITB obligations and individuals that manage those obligations. Don't wait for them to come to you; proactively go to them and sell your company and capabilities. The Canadian government is investing significant dollars in defence. This is bringing significant attention to Canada, and the ITB program is driving interest in Canadian industry. This is very good for Canadian companies.
[Innovation for a Better Canada]
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