The Aerospace Industry Support Initiative (AISI), an initiative of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic), managed by and hosted within the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has collaborated with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) to provide support to the marine industry. The CSIR supports the AISI with the implementation and certification of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) management systems such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.

The AISI’s aim is to  improve the competitiveness of the local aeronautics-, space-, defence and marine advanced manufacturing sectors.

AISI’s Marine Manufacturing, Maintenance and Repairs, and Associated Services Development Programme is a pilot programme that assists suppliers in ship and boatbuilding, maintenance and repair, as well as associated services  to enhance their visibility within local and global supply chains, increase their competitiveness and to better respond to designated public procurements in the ship and boat-building industry.

The programme offers support in terms of marine standards and accreditations, as well as technology enhancements.

The AISI and Seda collaboration will harness and improve the marine industry competitiveness.

Since the establishment of the collaboration between the AISI and Seda, the Programme no longer supports ISO certification that are non-marine specific. Up until the end of the 2021/22 financial year (FY), the AISI referred 10 marine companies to Seda for support. Out of the referred companies, seven benefitted from the referral towards the end of the 2021/22 FY. In the 2020/21 FY, three small, micro and medium-sized entities (SMMEs), namely Anchora Enterprises, Marine Solutions and AR Jones, were referred to Seda for support  and four SMMEs in the 2021/22 FY This collaboration outlines part of AISI’s strategy to leverage other sources of government funding to support interventions that the organisation is unable to support.

“The growth in our relatively young programme is encouraging as we are making strides in supporting companies in the marine manufacturing and repairs industry with its extensive industrial linkages and recognised economic multiplier potential,” says Dr Nicolene Roux, AISI Marine Technical Leader.