Community is a Business Strategy
By Nikki Malcolm— Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance( PNAA)
IN AEROSPACE, WE TEND TO FOCUS ON THE TANGIBLE— MACHINES, PARTS, CERTIFICATIONS, AND CAPACITY— THINGS YOU CAN MEASURE, QUOTE, AND DELIVER. BUT THERE’ S ANOTHER LAYER THAT DOESN’ T ALWAYS SHOW UP ON A BALANCE SHEET, YET IT INFLUENCES ALL OF IT. COMMUNITY. NOT IN THE FEEL-GOOD SENSE, BUT IN A
VERY REAL, VERY PRACTICAL BUSINESS SENSE.
Right now, companies that are growing, adapting, and staying relevant are not doing it in isolation. They’ re doing it in rooms together.
Nikki Malcom
Nikki Malcom CEO & Executive Director PNAA. net
PACIFIC NORTHWEST AEROSPACE ALLIANCE
Over the past year, I’ ve had a front-row seat to hundreds of conversations across the Pacific Northwest aerospace ecosystem … OEMs, Tier 1s, small and mid-sized suppliers, service providers, workforce partners. Different roles and different pressures, but a common thread keeps showing up. The companies that are engaged, the ones showing up to events, participating in discussions, making introductions, and asking questions, are the ones finding opportunities faster. Not because they’ re the biggest or have the most resources, but because they’ re connected.
We talk a lot about supply chain resilience, but we don’ t talk enough about how that resilience is actually built. It’ s built through relationships. When a program ramps faster than expected, who gets the call? When there’ s a disruption and someone needs a new supplier yesterday, where do they look? When a company is trying to understand how others are navigating workforce shortages, quality demands, or new technologies, where do they go? They go to the people they know, or the people they’ ve been in the room with.
42 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS