Northwest Aerospace News August | September 2020 | Page 37

Having all that testing capacity
on-site “really helps out in terms of our
technology development,” Mundinger
said.
“We’re finding more and more ways
to integrate,” Mundinger said. “We’re
able to leverage across multiple businesses.
We’re always trying to come
out with new technology when we
need it.”
King agreed, saying having the three
separate business units in one place has
helped them learn best practices from
each other. “There’s some real benefit
to having the teams co-located,” she
said.
2020 and Beyond
But for most of this year, much of the
Crane Aerospace team hasn’t been on
site in Lynnwood.
As a supplier to both the military
and critical transportation industries,
Crane was required to stay open even
as the State of Washington moved to
shut down many businesses to slow
the spread of COVID-19. King said
the company tried to get its arms
around how best to proceed during the
pandemic. “How do we protect our
associates and our customers and other
visitors to our site?”
But she said she feels Crane got out
ahead of many companies, in terms
of figuring out who could work from
home — just about half the workforce
— and what personal protective
equipment was needed for those who
couldn’t.
Her teams got creative, she said. Customers
were given virtual tours of facilities
and allowed to watch online as
tests took place on their new products.
Diversification across industries and the “tenacity” of his sales team has kept
Mundinger’s business unit going strong, he said.
The company has switches or power converters on “just about everything that
flies,” he said, which has helped it avoid the problems of companies tied closely
to one customer.
Both said they had some concerns with their supply chains. Before the pandemic,
King said, it was hard to find electronics industry suppliers who could consistently
deliver. Aerospace is a small fish swimming in a giant sea of consumer
electronics, making it hard to find partners willing to work in the relatively small
market.
Both King and Mundinger said they see great opportunities for Crane.
For Mundinger, it’s “really understanding what Space 2.0 is going to be,” he
said. “What are we going to do with New Space, and what do customers actually
want?”
There’s more launch capacity today than ever before, which “is creating opportunities
for scores of entrepreneurs and private enterprises to create new business
models driven by low-cost satellites,” he said.
“You can get 70-plus satellites out at once,” he continued. “This could rise to
7,000 satellites in just the next 10 years.”
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2020 ISSUE NO. 16 37