Northwest Aerospace News June | July Issue No. 3 | Page 44

T
here isn’t “mass competition” for
these kinds of low-volume contracts,
Nichols said,
“We’ve kept that same focus all along
and have done fairly well in that
niche,” he said.
Today, aerospace suppliers like Silicon
Forest face two major challenges, the
CEO said.
For starters, there’s the well-docu-
mented pressure that original equip-
ment manufacturers like Boeing are
placing on companies up and down the
supply chain.
Nichols – who sits on the boards of the
Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance,
the Pacific Northwest Defense Coali-
tion and other industry groups – says
that’s a big topic of conversation when
suppliers get together: “How do we get
by as a smaller company, and support
the big animals?”
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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS
He explains the issue like this:
“They’re driving down costs and
expecting us to take the hit, and at the
same time, they’re reporting record
profits,” Nichols said. “It seems that
the smaller the company you are, the
more pressure you’re getting from
above to cut your margins. It’s sort of
an unbalanced equation.”
Silicon Forest has adapted by diversi-
fying, he said. The company has just
under 100 employees, but just over
100 customers – companies that build
everything from medical devices to
driverless automobiles to rockets, jets
and helicopters.
“Our platforms are on things that
fly, things that go into space. We do
some ground robotics,” Nichols said.
“We’ve done some underwater as
well. We also do work for helicopter
systems. We really try to work our way
around all of the platforms.”