Northwest Aerospace News June | July 2019 Issue No. 9 | Page 33

“U
ltimately, I think it was a matter of biting off
more than they could chew,” said Stewart. “It’s very
complicated to sell into the aerospace supply chain.
The quality standards are tougher, the paperwork
requirements are tougher and the customer expectations
are tougher. Trying to do all of that correctly became
overwhelming for them.
“That’s a storyline I see a lot in this business — I look at
one or two businesses a month that are either publicly for
sale or looking for people to bail them out — and when
they’re in aerospace, it’s often people throwing up their
hands because it’s so complicated. That’s not a bad thing;
every aspect of the aviation supply chain needs to be held
to a higher standard.”
Stewart described the requirements for selling directly to
Boeing and Airbus as onerous, requiring companies to
become AS9100 certified, a challenge few are prepared
to meet.
“For me, the investment play was
pretty simple,” Stewart recalled. “As
bad as things were for Color Craft
in that moment, they still had that
relationship with Boeing. It takes time
and energy and knowing the right
people to become a Boeing supplier —
it can literally take years.
“Those relationships are really the secret sauce. Other
people look at a company’s balance sheet and they think
that determines the value of the company. When I look
at a company, it’s really about the existing relationships.
People don’t tend to view those as assets, but I can
purchase equipment and hire people easy enough. The
one thing I can’t buy is those relationships.”
JUNE | JULY 2019 ISSUE NO. 9
33