Nova Systems, a leading edge WIA member, is an international Adelaide-head quartered professional solutions provider with a high-tech heritage, bringing the seemingly disparate world of defence and aerospace to addressing complex problems in the water sector.

Nova’s Water Sector Leader, Lachlan McInnes has spent 15 years within the defence industry, including time with Boeing in the US, and says the experience has been extraordinarily valuable in tackling the problems Nova works on in the water sector.

Lachlan says the parallels between aerospace and water arise from the common issue of applying innovation and disruptive technology to deliver business advantage such as extending the life of ageing assets and infrastructure.

“I’ve undertaken work with P3 Orions based at RAAF Edinburgh and one of the critical factors was finding innovative ways of maintaining the capability well beyond its planned service life, ensuring they still had a valid and valuable role to play within the overall remit of the Australian Defence Force”, Lachlan says.

“It was that experience, and others like it, which helped shape my approach to the water industry. In many cases, we are dealing with an ageing asset which cannot be cost effectively replaced but needs to be maintained by the smart use of technology, leading edge engineering techniques and a clear understanding of the real problems that are impacting our clients’ businesses.

“Defence has been tackling problems like this for decades and the approaches and processes which have evolved in that time are highly applicable to other complex sectors such as water.

“One of the things I learnt at Boeing was the importance of spending efficiently to meet the needs of the user, and that’s another lesson that is very important in how Nova works in the water sector.

“Implementing new technology may involve risk, and often businesses are not prepared to manage the uptake of new and innovative technologies. Nova draws on its heritage in aerospace and defence to apply a structured approach to introducing new technologies and services to meet reliability, safety, and client value objectives.

“We use the techniques from our aerospace experience; and what we have learnt in how to adopt and adapt technology for the best result for the client”.

The challenge is continuing to meet client expectation while driving down cost, – innovating through use of the smart technology which is being rapidly developed for the water sector.

From its head office base in Mile End, South Australia, Nova Systems employs over 450 staff worldwide with operations in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore, and Europe – enabling technology to deliver business outcomes for its clients across the Defence, Utilities, Energy, Transport and Communication sectors.

With its origins as an aerospace and defence capability assurance business; Nova Systems has had direct experience in the water sector for over 15 years, through this long-term relationship Nova is able to understand the heart of the challenges faced by the sector, enabling it to focus on solving the problems that really matter.

“Nova Systems’ vision is to be “the international “go to” professional services company at the heart of our clients’ success”.  We are always learning; and what we learn in the aerospace sector positions us well for a leadership role in water”.

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