BDNC wins two prestigious national awards
KINABALU: Boustead DCNS Naval Corporation Sdn Bhd (BDNC) was acknowledged for its commitment to human capital development and pursuit of innovation by winning the prestigious Malaysia National Business Awards 2021 (MNBA 2021) and Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards 2021 (MTEA 2021) recently.
In a press statement, it said, it won an MNBA 2021 award in the Aerospace & Defence category as a recognition of its Transfer of Know-How (TOKH) Programme that has increased the number of local talents and enhanced the competencies of Malaysians in submarine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).
The MTEA 2021 award in the Software - Aerospace & Defence Industry category was given to BDNC for its innovation in developing in-house softwares, namely BDNC’s Identity Detection System (BIDS), EHazardous (EHAZ) and BDNC’s Equipment Tracking System (BETS). They have helped the company to successfully deliver the Submarine Technical Availability to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN).
BDNC is a joint venture company between Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Berhad (BHIC) and Naval Group of France, a leading global defence contractor. As the sole provider of submarine MRO services in Malaysia, BDNC is entrusted to provide In-Service Support and Refit services to RMN’s fleet of Prime Minister’s Class Scorpene submarines manufactured by Naval Group.
Commenting on the awards, BDNC’s chief executive officer, Feroz Razi Ramli said that they stand testimony to the company’s unremitting focus on developing local talents and skills and its commitment to innovation.
“These accolades underline our relentless pursuit to deliver services that meet quality, time and cost objectives, and to ensure that RMN’s submarines are in optimal conditions” said Feroz.
“They are just reward for BDNC for its relentless efforts to increase local content in Malaysia’s defence/security industry, as aspired by the Government in the Defence White Paper,” he added.
By carrying out knowledgebased initiatives under the TOKH programme, BDNC has successfully nurtured local talents in the complex field of submarine MRO and put Malaysians in leadership positions in the field. TOKH graduates are qualified by Naval Group and are highly competent to perform intricate MRO submarine works and in managing complex submarine industrial documents.
The programme has also produced two Malaysians authorised by Naval Group with the coveted designation of Maintenance Authority (MA) or Non-Conformity Defect Report (NCDR) Decider, who are the only authorised MA among the nationals of Scorpene operating countries. With BIDS, key data is stored in a centralised database system and monitored in realtime, contributing to enhancing safety and reducing the time taken in registration, monitoring and reporting. The EHAZ monitoring system enables the efficient, accurate and reliable monitoring of the MRO works conducted inside the submarines, hangar and jetty using data stored in BIDS.
Meanwhile, BETS ensures that all submarine equipment is traceable throughout the maintenance process.
These innovative softwares have helped BDNC to significantly improve its safety performance and achieve zero major incidents in 2020. They have also played a key supporting role in enabling BDNC to complete all of the Submarine Scheduled Maintenance Periods on time or ahead of schedule, even amid the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our personnel are our greatest and most valuable assets, hence we leave no stone unturned in developing their skills and talents through initiatives such as the TOKH programme”, said Feroz.
“Following up on our success in developing the softwares, our team is developing a full submarine MRO system - the first in the country – that will further enhance our capability to deliver superior services to these strategic assets of the nation.”