In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies in the aerospace and defense sector are experiencing a disruption in production. As workers go home, supply chains are interrupted, leading to increasing financial pressure. Many manufacturing companies across the globe witnessed a 20 percent reduction of material suppliers for manufacturing products. The consequent challenge is market unpredictability— pulling work in by several months or pushing it further. As the pandemic-induced market disruptions tend to be here for long, companies in the space need to find agile suppliers to build new products or pick-up additional quantities to cater to a mass clientele.

Standing such a test of time to meet short-term and long-term requirements for their clients is Auto-Valve, Inc. (AVI), an aerospace engineering and manufacturing company specializing in designing and manufacturing valves for aircraft fuel, hydraulic, and other fluid system components. Established in 1947 to provide mechanical components, today, the company has diversified its portfolio with a complete line of components used in a wide range of aircraft fluid applications, including motor and solenoid-actuated valves. Apart from designing and manufacturing its products, AVI also offers contract machining for its customers.

AVI brings in the state-of-the-art in-house CNC machining capabilities and engineering test facilities to meet the requirements of today's complex aerospace components. Adopting a customer-first approach in all counts, the company recently reinvented its strategy to serve its customers better by bringing in the technical level at the front end. It replaced the customer executives with project and program managers who bring in their technical expertise to comprehensively understand customer's pain-points and needs. This effectively shortlines the scope of work and reduce the products’ turned around time while offering cost-effective solutions that translate to higher customer satisfaction.

The dedicated team of AVI is at the forefront of catering to clients with a combined experience of 100 years in the industry. “We believe the major difference between successful and unsuccessful companies is its family-like company culture and people. Having a good culture and team of dedicated people who are highly skilled and radiates positivity is what sets us apart,” mentions Tim Claude, President at AVI. As a nimble and agile manufacturing firm, AVI is open to investments that impart the time and resources to ensure their customers operate at the highest financial efficiency possible.

The company’s leadership stands out by offering transparency to its customers at all levels. AVI believes in establishing long-term relationships with its customers. In fact, in 2017, the company received an award from one of its customers for exhibiting outstanding values and transparency throughout. AVI’s commitment to excellence reflects through an instance where the company was delivering the same product with different requirements to separate divisions of one government agency. This created a problem where if AVI created two different solutions, both divisions would propose a higher cost.

The company went through a scope of work as to what the divisions truly require to address this. And, AVI combined different requirements in one unit and gave them a better product on both sides as well as a lower-price product.

Over the years, the company has scripted many such success stories with its ink of integrity, quality, and teamwork. Since its inception, AVI's core values have helped the company become a sought-after player in the industry and gave it a YoY growth. In fact, the company reported 20 percent more growth this year than the previous year. Striving for the same in the near future, AVI plans to bring in an additional facility and is looking forward to increasing its domestic and international sales. With a positive outlook and innovative growth plans, the company is gearing up to double in size by 2025.