In certain respects, the growth of a business is much like that of a child. Both must contend with the pressures and challenges of a changing world. And both have the opportunity to either face up to such challenges with persistence and grit, or to retreat to safer quarters where they can (hopefully) manage to survive with much less fuss and bother.

Our business operates in a commercial and military aerospace industry that has undergone considerable change in recent years, including prime contractor consolidations, vendor base reductions and new forms of customer/supplier partnerships. Somewhat paradoxically, we’ve responded to the overall downsizing of the industry by broadening our product lines, improving our product availability and expanding our factory, engineering and support resources. We have in other words, responded to these new competitive pressures by embracing progress and change—not by circling the wagons around our existing business niche.

We’ve expanded our accessory product family with new composite designs, and we’ve added hermetic connectors and the broadest range of micro-d part numbers in the world to our bag of interconnect solutions. Visitors to our Glendale, Mansfield and Chicago factories are often surprised at the number of new projects we are working on, and statements like “I had no idea Glenair had developed this much capacity,” have become routine. But capacity is only part of the story. We’ve grown our manufacturing capabilities as well, with an equal level of enthusiasm and commitment. Virtually every product division has been enhanced with new machining and assembly cells, and new investments in tooling and materials.

Offering customers more over time—not less—should be a major pillar of every business that wants to do more than just survive. Most customers expect, and many demand, such progress. Because really, what use do forward-looking customers have for static suppliers that are unwilling (or unable) to keep pace with the evolving needs of the marketplace? In fact, if from year to year our customers did not experience continuous improvement from a company in our position, wouldn’t they come to believe that something was seriously wrong?

Embracing change can be a risky undertaking in a competitive marketplace. But not as risky as standing still. As Will Rogers once observed: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run-over if you just sit there.” Progress brings new challenges—and new opportunities—to everyone in the organization. Happily, we have a solid set of guiding principles to help us along the way. Even more importantly, we have a Glenair team which is committed to our game-plan of building customer loyalty through outstanding service, and to our ongoing goal of being the first with the most in every market we serve.