In an interview with MT, Richard Waldrom, Head of Sales & Business Development at CQC, gave insight on the company, CQCs attitude to self-funded R&D, and the company’s future plans.
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MT: With regard to your military customer, looking forward, what makes the level of CQC’s achievements sustainable?
R. Waldrom: The main, core commitment we have is always to provide bespoke services to our customers. We made this commitment from the outset: that we would not become a “standard, off-the-shelf” supplier. Customers are very welcome to purchase something we have made for someone before, but the way we have structured the business is that it is mostly easier for them to provide us with a design brief and for our design team to go to work. By doing this we are able to provide a 100% solution, what they actually need rather than something that is “nearly there.” And we’re finding that we are getting some real traction amongst our customers, particularly because it is not necessarily any more expensive for them. Certainly in the export market, in areas where a customer may normally have had to take something that the US have previously used, or some of the other leading tier-1 nations, it’s quite refreshing to find a company that will actually deliver something specifically for them: not only design it but make it, deliver it, train their soldiers how to use it and maintain it throughout its life. Also, everything we do has a standard 2-year guarantee, and we keep the training going, as well as upgrades or changes as the customer’s capability need shifts – for example as a result of an operational change – and we make changes as necessary to reflect any new requirement. This is really helping to grow CQC’s reputation and message as a trusted partner.
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MT: Is there a “minimum run” in terms of production?
R. Waldrom: No, insofar as one of the areas that we also want to specialise in is to offer customers the option of a very small run. A rapid prototyping scale of production run is feasible, but we tend to aim for a minimum order quantity of 20 to 25 but we try very hard to keep the minimum order quantity very low because we recognise that not every customer is able to order 5,000 or 10,000 of an item. This enables us to build partnerships with our customers for the long term, because we are a bespoke designer.
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MT: Where do you manufacture?
R. Waldrom: We manufacture entirely in the UK and the EU.
MT: What are the company’s future plans to intensify business abroad?
R. Waldrom: We will continue to do what we do, to support our customers, to raise our profile and to promote our core messages. The core messages are by design, by innovation, by commitment and by quality, and we will take those four messages to the world and let the world know that they do not have to expect MOTS or COTS: In addressing the cuts in their budgets and in the human resources delivering these types of projects, we are there to help take some of the strain. A through-life capability is part of that, from design conception right the way through to delivery, training and future upgrades. We also have a refurbishment and replacement strategy at the customer’s disposal, as I mentioned before, and that extends to end-of-life recycling and disposal.
MT: Please explain the importance of partnerships in your global strategy.
R. Waldrom: From a CQC perspective, partnering is the cornerstone of our entire strategy, and that starts with partnering with our customers and with the end-users. The design process is a collaborative one so it has to be a partnership. We also have an extensive list of other industry partners that can bring their expertise to bear on our customer’s requirements. CQC are not the subject matter experts in every single area of dismounted capability but we do have partners that are, and as a result we are able to pull together a consortium of subject matter experts that can meet our customer’s needs, ranging from footwear, uniform, performance clothing items, dismounted technology, to new fabrics, power management systems, integrated electronics. Partnerships are integral to what we do, whether with our industry partners or with our customers. An example of where we are part of a number of leading Man Worn Power & Data initiates around the world. We also have a number of projects running for a number of leading, prime OEMs, and we are leading two consortia in integrated projects for the export market as well.
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MT: What is CQCs attitude to self-funded R&D, and what role does R&D play at the company?
R. Waldrom: Our approach is that we do not rely on customers’ R&D budgets because they really do not exist anymore. With budgets being cut, human resources being cut, and the model that we have put in place, CQC fund our own R&D. Customers do not bear those costs. Each case is different, and each project will have a different cost strategy to it but as a general rule CQC fund all of our activity, entirely independently. There is no expectation of our customers to fund development of traditional load-carrying dismounted capability. Integrated technology has a slightly different strategy and offers the potential for cost sharing but for the most part CQCs development and R&D are entirely self-funded. As an example, we probably spent more than GBP 250,000 on a new product last year, and with previous long standing projects a significant portion of a turnover is re-invested into R&D and continuous product and system improvement.
MT: How would you characterise the balance of your markets?
R. Waldrom: At the moment we have active, live, customers and projects running in every part of the world: CQC has something going on in every continent.
MT: What is the balance of your work between military / security / first responder, and what is the trend?
R. Waldrom: Most of our work is military and paramilitary capability, however we have started to make inroads into the first responders arena: it is a growing market. Predominantly we will always be a military design house: designing military dismounted capability for combat troops will always be our primary focus.
MT: Thank you.
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CQC at a Glance
CQC is an SME based near Exeter in the West of England, delivering the design, manufacture and support of carefully-defined limited-run soldier equipment for both specialist and routine operational defence and security applications. Best known for their OSPREY integrated load carriage and personal protection solution, for over 60 years CQC has been at the heart of military personal equipment and at the forefront of new dismounted capability and technology.
MT: With regard to your military customer, looking forward, what makes the level of CQC’s achievements sustainable?
R. Waldrom: The main, core commitment we have is always to provide bespoke services to our customers. We made this commitment from the outset: that we would not become a “standard, off-the-shelf” supplier. Customers are very welcome to purchase something we have made for someone before, but the way we have structured the business is that it is mostly easier for them to provide us with a design brief and for our design team to go to work. By doing this we are able to provide a 100% solution, what they actually need rather than something that is “nearly there.” And we’re finding that we are getting some real traction amongst our customers, particularly because it is not necessarily any more expensive for them. Certainly in the export market, in areas where a customer may normally have had to take something that the US have previously used, or some of the other leading tier-1 nations, it’s quite refreshing to find a company that will actually deliver something specifically for them: not only design it but make it, deliver it, train their soldiers how to use it and maintain it throughout its life. Also, everything we do has a standard 2-year guarantee, and we keep the training going, as well as upgrades or changes as the customer’s capability need shifts – for example as a result of an operational change – and we make changes as necessary to reflect any new requirement. This is really helping to grow CQC’s reputation and message as a trusted partner.
MT: Is there a “minimum run” in terms of production?
R. Waldrom: No, insofar as one of the areas that we also want to specialise in is to offer customers the option of a very small run. A rapid prototyping scale of production run is feasible, but we tend to aim for a minimum order quantity of 20 to 25 but we try very hard to keep the minimum order quantity very low because we recognise that not every customer is able to order 5,000 or 10,000 of an item. This enables us to build partnerships with our customers for the long term, because we are a bespoke designer.
MT: Where do you manufacture?
R. Waldrom: We manufacture entirely in the UK and the EU.
MT: What are the company’s future plans to intensify business abroad?
R. Waldrom: We will continue to do what we do, to support our customers, to raise our profile and to promote our core messages. The core messages are by design, by innovation, by commitment and by quality, and we will take those four messages to the world and let the world know that they do not have to expect MOTS or COTS: In addressing the cuts in their budgets and in the human resources delivering these types of projects, we are there to help take some of the strain. A through-life capability is part of that, from design conception right the way through to delivery, training and future upgrades. We also have a refurbishment and replacement strategy at the customer’s disposal, as I mentioned before, and that extends to end-of-life recycling and disposal.
MT: Please explain the importance of partnerships in your global strategy.
R. Waldrom: From a CQC perspective, partnering is the cornerstone of our entire strategy, and that starts with partnering with our customers and with the end-users. The design process is a collaborative one so it has to be a partnership. We also have an extensive list of other industry partners that can bring their expertise to bear on our customer’s requirements. CQC are not the subject matter experts in every single area of dismounted capability but we do have partners that are, and as a result we are able to pull together a consortium of subject matter experts that can meet our customer’s needs, ranging from footwear, uniform, performance clothing items, dismounted technology, to new fabrics, power management systems, integrated electronics. Partnerships are integral to what we do, whether with our industry partners or with our customers. An example of where we are part of a number of leading Man Worn Power & Data initiates around the world. We also have a number of projects running for a number of leading, prime OEMs, and we are leading two consortia in integrated projects for the export market as well.
MT: What is CQCs attitude to self-funded R&D, and what role does R&D play at the company?
R. Waldrom: Our approach is that we do not rely on customers’ R&D budgets because they really do not exist anymore. With budgets being cut, human resources being cut, and the model that we have put in place, CQC fund our own R&D. Customers do not bear those costs. Each case is different, and each project will have a different cost strategy to it but as a general rule CQC fund all of our activity, entirely independently. There is no expectation of our customers to fund development of traditional load-carrying dismounted capability. Integrated technology has a slightly different strategy and offers the potential for cost sharing but for the most part CQCs development and R&D are entirely self-funded. As an example, we probably spent more than GBP 250,000 on a new product last year, and with previous long standing projects a significant portion of a turnover is re-invested into R&D and continuous product and system improvement.
MT: How would you characterise the balance of your markets?
R. Waldrom: At the moment we have active, live, customers and projects running in every part of the world: CQC has something going on in every continent.
MT: What is the balance of your work between military / security / first responder, and what is the trend?
R. Waldrom: Most of our work is military and paramilitary capability, however we have started to make inroads into the first responders arena: it is a growing market. Predominantly we will always be a military design house: designing military dismounted capability for combat troops will always be our primary focus.
MT: Thank you.
