Mark Hannant
Eric Steiner, president of Fairchild Fasteners, finds a great deal of satisfaction looking around the show site. "Our products are something which you tend not to be able to see. Fasteners are hidden away. But everywhere I look I see products which wouldn't exist without Fairchild Fasteners."
Despite a 40% market share, and the fact that Fairchild Fasteners is more than twice as big as its nearest competitor, Steiner is far from complacent. "Our products are hi-tech but they are still a commodity. We have to constantly look at what we are offering our customers. The way the world does business is changing rapidly and we have to be prepared to change what we are selling."
And for Fairchild Fasteners that has already meant a new focus on service provision to complement the product provision of which its been a leader in since the 1920s when Fairchild Aerial Camera became the first of a number of aviation-related companies to bear the Fairchild name.
Excelled
"The company has consistently excelled with the reliability, quality and availability of its products. Now it is moving into a phase where it must add value to its customers and that's where service is key. That is the only way we can deliver the levels of growth we aspire to."
In fact Fairchild Fasteners has seen significant growth in the past five years. Since Steiner became president in 1995, sales have risen from $194 million per annum to $630 million in the last financial year.
"We're not looking at changing the way we view the business as a means of getting out of trouble. We are a strong company - a market leader - but we have to react to the way the world is changing. I don't quite know what the business environment will be like in three or five years time. I do know it will be different."
And he and his management team in Dulles, Virginia are restructuring their approach. They are reducing their dependence on dealerships and getting closer to their customers in a determined effort to find out what they need. "Service" is the answer coming back. So that is what they intend to deliver.
The internet will play a key role. "We have to find the young talent who can develop new ways of utilising that technology and help us find new solutions," he says.
As part of the same drive a restructuring of the business is under way. Announced on the eve of the show, the company is to focus its attentions on five core business sectors - engines being one example. "It will mean we can offer more specific, better-tailored knowledge, and therefore better services, to our customers," says Robert Marachetti, senior vice-president sales and marketing. It will change the way we approach the market and mean customers have more involvement with engineers. They get the engineers' knowledge as part of the deal. That has to add value for the customer."
Source: Flight Daily News
