Northwest Aerospace News February | March 2019 Issue No. 7 | Page 61

PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
C
ost reduction has been a feature
of aerospace discussions for some
time now, with suppliers focusing
on reducing the cost of a product
supplied to a customer. While cost
reduction and affordability are close-
ly related, affordability takes a more
strategic approach — one that can
strengthen a company’s capabilities
and address structural costs. For
many companies, the request for cost
down from OEMs has been met with
unit cost reductions — but simply
cutting costs is not sustainable in the
long term. It goes beyond simple,
across-the-board cuts to help compa-
nies intelligently restructure opera-
tions and apply scarce resources to
sharpen their competitive advantage
(source: PricewaterhouseCoopers).
Productivity has always been a
feature of manufacturing, as a
measure of the efficiency of a
person, machine, factory, system,
etc., in converting inputs into useful
outputs.  By accomplishing more
with fewer resources or achieving
higher output in (e.g. volume, qual-
ity) from the same input, produc-
tivity is increased. Productivity
and affordability are not mutually
exclusive — by reducing labor costs
through increased efficiencies and/
or reducing the cost of non-quality,
this reduces the cost to suppliers and
ideally some of the saving can be
shared with the customer. The cost
savings for the supplier and potential
additional revenue generated from
winning additional business with
the customer can then be directed
towards further productivity im-
provements.
Paul Van Metre | Founder & VP | Pro Shop
Pro CNC: An upfront approach to productivity and affordability
In the second half of the ‘90s, while they developed race cars as part of their
studies, six college students fell in love with machining and manufacturing.
Rather than take the traditional route of joining an existing company upon
graduation, they decided to start their own business straight out of college. In
1997, funded by a small mortgage, they bought a CNC machine, rented space
in Monroe, Washington and started knocking on doors — Pro CNC was born!
From humble beginnings evolved a remarkable journey of establishing a grow-
ing business through innovative ideas and methodologies that embraced both
productivity and affordability. This later resulted in the sale of the business and
the founding of a second business that is now supporting businesses around the
globe.
Right from the start, Pro CNC took an innovative approach to running their busi-
ness by applying the principles of franchise businesses to their running of a man-
ufacturing company. This decision was taken on the basis that these principles
established repeatable, systematic business processes that deliver profitable and
reliable results. Both productivity and affordability were embraced during the
design stage, with the founders driving a culture of Design For Manufacturability
(DFM). Intelligently, Pro CNC recognized that their culture didn’t need to stop
internally, and could be extended beyond their walls to the customer.
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61