Future of Maintenance and Capability Sustainment
12th Annual Conference
February 25, 2025
National Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON
Agenda

February 25, 2025
7:30 – 8:20
Registration
8:20 – 8:30
Welcome
Master of Ceremonies: Greg MacNeil, Principal, NorthStar Public Affairs
Terri Pavelic, Editor in chief, Vanguard media
Robert Gray, Director General Major Projects Delivery (Sea), Department of National Defence
8:30 – 9:00
Opening Keynote
9:00 – 10:15
Panel 1
Moderator:
Commodore Keith Coffen, Director General Maritime Equipment Programme Management, Department of National Defence
Panelists:
Captain(N) Johnathan Plows, Director Major Surface Combatants, Directorate General Maritime Equipment Program Management
Canadian Armed Forces
Adam Watt, Director Marine Engineering,
Integrated Technical Services, Canadian Coast Guard
James Bond, Director, Polar Research and Government Business Development American Bureau of Shipping
How are we tackling horizontal tech insertion and service life extension with legacy systems (past and present activities)
Ship maintenance
- Issues dealing with the pace of digital / IT change today
- How they prepare for the operationalization and life cycle management of the legacy fleet, including infrastructure requirements
- Software upgrades - looking through the lens of systems core to ship capability: integrated platform management systems and combat management systems
- Configuration management & planned maintenance (legacy) practices. Lessons promotes fleetwide obsolescence
- Lesson: by not keeping up with technology & systems obsolescence (supply chain) there are predictable and measurable impacts to operational availability & capability (RCN/CCG) and industry availability.
10:15 – 10:20
Tech Showcase
Jocelyn Bamford, Vice President, Automatic Coating Limited
Improved lifecycle and reduced maintenance cost of watertight fixtures with the tidal coat fluidized bed solution
10:20 – 10:25
Tech Showcase
Cheyane Wicks, General Manager, Military Sector, J-Squared Technologies
CAF recapitalization and sustainment — growing Canada’s supply chain
10:25 – 10:30
Tech Showcase
Dave Harding, Operations Manager, Fibreglass Solutions
Bondstrand piping and structural retrofits: maximizing efficiency, reducing weight, extending useful life
10:30 – 11:00
Networking Break
11:00 – 12:10
Panel 2
Moderator:
Jay Harwood, Deputy Project Manager, River Class Destroyer Project, Department of National Defence
Panelists:
Frédéric Pierre, Director, Maritime Equipment Program Management (Non-Combatants), DMEPM(NC), Department of National Defence
Adam Watt, Director Marine Engineering, Integrated Technical Services, Canadian Coast Guard
Brennan West, Vice President, Defence & Aftermarket Business Unit, Gastops
Marc Baril, Senior Director, Marine Sustainment Directorate, Public Services and Procurement Canada
Future of ship maintenance
- How to accelerate the process while improving upon quality of work conducted during the maintenance periods
- How to accurately predict necessary maintenance and avoid unnecessary maintenance? Dynamic condition-based maintenance.
- How do you contract for a system including its modernization & integration elements without incurring delay
- Digital / IT systems have short life cycles and become obsolete quickly- how to effectively plan for it
- Data accessibility – how to unlock the potential of shipboard data to improve maintenance.
12:10 – 13:15
Lunch & Networking
13:15 – 14:30
Panel 3
Moderator:
Karen Watson, Deputy Director, Program Management Support Office, Department of National Defence
Panelists:
Nassima Zobir-Bouguerba, Director General, Marine Services and Small Vessels Sector
Ian Krepps, Vice President of Growth, Thales Canada
Captain(N) Nicholas Manley, Deputy Project Manager Transition, River Class Destroyer Project
Correlation between the pace of change of tech and the requirement for an agile approach
- What is Continuous Capability Sustainment (CCS)? This is how we define it
- An agile approach is envisioned as a focus on government procurement
- How do we see the government procurement process evolving as part of this change?
- ADM(Mat) is evaluating future support models, supporting policies, industrial considerations, as well as long-term capability-planning enabling options that will lead to successful CCS implementation.
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14:30 – 15:00
Networking Break
Rear Admiral Steve McCarthy, Director Ships Operations and Capability Integration - UK Defence Equipment and Support
Richard Gravel, Director, Business Development (Naval Programs) Thales Canada
David St. Cyr, Director of Surface Vessel
Programs, Seaspan
15:00 – 16:00
Fireside Chat
How does a maritime industry deal with insertion of updated/ upgraded capability for rapidly evolving technology?
- Pre-refit planning/survey
- Factors they consider to predict requirements
- Frequency of upgrades
- How is it budgeted
- Supply chain perspective
16:00 – 16:10
Closing Remarks
Greg MacNeil, Principal, NorthStar Public Affairs
Speaker:
Corey Switzer, Market Leader, BluMetric
16:10 – 16:13
Reception Sponsor - BluMetric
16:13 – 18:00
Reception
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