|
Suppliers' Voice
July/August 2001
Volume 2, No. 4
Supplier Management Members Exhibit Leadership at Paris Air Show
By Bill Lewandowski, AIA Vice President, Supplier Management
The experience of the Paris Air Show in mid-June was exceptional for representatives of the 18 Supplier Management Council (SMC) member companies who attended under the AIA banner.
SMC members at the air show achieved three important business advantages:
- Networking.
- Networking.
- Networking.
AIA’s exposition floor area was often a-buzz with the din of important activity, including client introductions, product and technology discussions, and business-to-business meetings in our private conference room.
Many SMC members wisely planned ahead by making appointments with customers before arriving at the show.
Most representatives of customer companies at trade shows are marketeers. But a marketeer talking to marketeers doesn’t produce business for suppliers. Suppliers need special entrée to buyers.
That’s where AIA staff stepped in — arranging for our member company buyers to meet with SMC suppliers in the AIA exposition space during the air show.
On three successive mornings we partnered with the U.S. Commerce Department to sponsor introductions to foreign companies and discuss their subcontracting practices.
Last year at the Farnborough Air Show, such international "Company Buyers Days" produced a joint venture between an SMC member and a foreign supplier.
At Paris this year, Airbus, British Aerospace, EADS, and Spectrum Astro presented information and answered probing questions from U.S. suppliers. Their presentations are available on AIA’s Web site at www.aia-aerospace.org/suppliercouncil/news.
In addition, AIA secured invitations for SMC representatives to the U.S. Ambassador’s Reception and the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies Reception.
Also, discussions led by senior executives Shelley Stewart from Raytheon Company, Vince Hrenak, Gulfstream, and Judy Northup, Vought, showcased AIA company support for SMC members.
Already looking ahead, AIA staff at Paris met with representatives of the Society of British Aerospace Companies, which hosts the bi-annual Farnborough Air Show in England, to begin planning for an enlarged presence and added benefits there next July.
Return to Index
Historic SMC Summer Meeting A Success
Senior executives of more than 100 aerospace supplier companies met with a select group of AIA member company leaders during the Supplier Management Council summer meeting in Washington in July.
The historic, first-of-a-kind AIA meeting was designed to generate dialogue between executives of the association’s prime and supplier manufacturer groups.
Corporate senior executives seated with supplier groups at the July 11 joint dinner included Karl Krapek of United Technologies, Marshall Larsen of Goodrich, Vance Coffman of Lockheed Martin, Robert Johnson of Honeywell, Bill Bernardo of Triumph Controls, Dick Erkeneff of AAI Corporation, Frank Kundahl of Teleflex Inc., Mark Newman of DRS Technologies, Dan Burnham of Raytheon, and John W. Douglass of AIA.
Former Secretary of the Air Force Whit Peters, the keynote dinner speaker, discussed his priorities as a member of the upcoming Presidential Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and one of the 12 commissioners, was also a dinner guest.
Earlier, networking among the AIA corporate and associate members took place at the Andrews Air Force Base golf club and at the Mt. Vernon, Virginia, home of President George Washington.
AIA Legislative Affairs staff members Tom Tate and Jon Etherton took 100 SMC members to Capitol Hill on July 12 for briefings with Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Tex.); Jim Dyer, chief of staff to the House Appropriations Committee; Bob Palmer, minority staff director of the House Science Committee; and Jim Turner, minority counsel to the House Science Committee.
Speakers during the two-day seminar included Richard McCormack, publisher and editor of Manufacturing News, who discussed "lean manufacturing" for aerospace companies, and Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, who forecast various military and commercial aviation program outcomes.
Sylvia Burns of the U.S. Commerce Department Commercial Services organization explained services available to small- and medium-sized exporters. Syd Pope of the Defense Contract Management Command summarized the status of current defense program reviews and the direction DoD oversight of contractors might take in the next few years.
Members of AIA’s senior staff briefed attendees on export control reform, civil aviation safety and capacity matters, industry legislative issues, and the aerospace commission.
AIA President John Douglass wrapped up the meeting with a presentation on the formation of a new SMC working group on small disadvantaged businesses and women-owned small businesses.
Return to Index
Arkwin Industries Founder Dan Berlin Honored as Entrepreneur of the Year
Dan Berlin, who 50 years ago founded SMC-member Arkwin Industries Inc., was recently named an Entrepreneur of the Year by the business services firm Ernst & Young.
While working as an aerospace engineer in Wichita, Kan., in 1950, Berlin was given an okay by his employer to design on his own a hydraulic valve needed by Boeing, but which the employer had no interest in pursuing.
Working at home at night, Berlin designed the valve and was picked by Boeing to supply the product. Arkwin was born at that moment.
It was necessary for Berlin to form a company to obtain the Boeing contract. He had already leased a hangar at Strother Field in Kansas where he stored surplus aircraft parts for sale. The hangar was jointly owned by the cities of Arkansas City and Winfield – from which Berlin coined the name Arkwin.
In 1951 Berlin returned to his home state of New York and established his new company.
Today, Arkwin Industries is headquartered in Westbury with 335 employees and is one of the few independently-owned companies supplying hydraulic components for the aerospace industry.
Return to Index
FEEDBACK from Paris
- "AIA provided an inexpensive way to be at the show, plus the extra services the association provided made it a much more worthwhile event than could have resulted from exhibiting on our own." – Tom Dolezal, Vice President & General Manager, Remmele Engineering
- "For a small supplier at Paris for the first time, the show had a wealth of information. The AIA people were great. Had we come alone, we wouldn't have had the same opportunity to make the contacts we did." – Bob Muller, Vice President, Bill-Jay Machine Tool Corporation
Return to Index
SMC Aide Named
Collins Nelson has joined AIA’s Supplier Management Council (SMC) staff as program assistant for supplier management.
An Embry Riddle Aeronautical University graduate, Nelson studied aviation business administration with a concentration in airline management. He is pursuing a Master’s degree in aeronautical science.
Return to Index
|
