Family businesses make up 35 percent of the Fortune 500 . In many cases , in recent history , parents will start a business and pass it along to their son or daughter . According to small business and marketing coach Brandon Gaille , the top family businesses passed through families include : Comcast , Hess , AFLAC , Loews Hotels , Family Dollar , Cablevision , and McGraw Hill . Each of these businesses , much like Damar Aerosystems , was passed to the next generation and has increased company growth by as much as 2,570 percent ( AFLAC ). In the case of Damar Aerosystems , the company was eventually acquired by Senior Operations , LLC in 2011 , after 38 years in business .
Dan Millar , who is now a business development manager for the company , started working in the business at age 20 . His parents had started the business in southern California and decided to move up to Seattle in 1989 to conduct work for Boeing .
According to Dan , “ Dad was the hands-on operator who knew about the machines , the blue-collar aspect of making aircraft parts . Mom was on the finance side , and she did the books . We were the typical mom and pop shop , and we had Boeing in our backyard .”
Run like a small business in a big business environment
Damar Aerosystems has grown to over 200 employees over the years . They are a Silver Supplier with Boeing and produce “ just-in-time ” airbeams for the 737 Program . For the past 25 years they ’ ve been producing airbeams , the assemblies that reside under the overhead stowage bins that house the lighting and air circulation for the cabin .
A Silver Supplier as defined , " Very good supplier performance , meeting or exceeding expectations . Delivery : 97 percent on time for 12 months . Quality : 99.5 percent acceptance for 12 months . Affordability : 3.4 to 3.9 . Customer Satisfaction : 3.8 to 4.3 ."
Their delivery is tight with over eight years of uninterrupted on-time delivery including 3,339 shipsets , 9,439 total shipsets on the airbeam program .
But they still look and sound like a local family business in Monroe , Washington . Millar said their employees are saved from long commutes in the greater Seattle area by living and working in Monroe ( 31 miles north of Seattle ). They have two facilities in Monroe and one in Wenatchee . Millar said ,
12 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS