|
|
Dealer Focus Southwest Avionics, Redbird Airport (RBD), Dallas, Texas
Ed. S-TEC's objective for the Dealer Focus column is to introduce you to one of our S-TEC dealers with the hope that you will find something of interest to you or your business in the article. Southwest Avionics, at Dallas Redbird Airport, is a relatively new business started by Charles Kuykendall and Dr. Paul Navar. Charles Kuykendall has been working in composites for many years and has built several kit airplanes including Paul Navar's Lancair IV. Today his business is marketing numerous Lancair mod kits including lightning protection and de-ice systems. He also employs his composite experience in other business areas such as race cars and horse trailers. Paul Navar is an emergency room physician in El Paso. He often uses his Lancair to travel to and from from his summer home near Durango, Colorado. They bought Edwards Avionics at Redbird several years ago and brought in Dennis Sorber from Raytheon Aviation Services to run the business. And run the business he does. As a recent start up company, flexibility is the key to good management. Dennis may be quoting the install of an S-TEC Thirty, ferrying in an aircraft from Decatur, TX 55 miles away, or repairing a Nav Com in the lab. "Whatever it takes" is the order of the day at Southwest. Dennis came from Raytheon Aviation Services at Addison Airport in Dallas where he ran the Avionics Department for the FBO. In recent years his shop was tasked with the installation of complete avionics panels in numerous Beech Bonanza 33's and 36's which flew in from the factory with one Nav Com and no autopilot. Designing and building complete instrument panels for kit airplanes fell right into his foundation of experience. Dennis says that this type of activity is an evolutionary process. When you design and later build the first panel, you might have to quote it at 400 manhours to be competitive. When it takes about twice that long the only justification is that it's the first one. The second usually takes somewhat less and by the fourth you should be at the number of hours you quoted. From then on they continue to take less and less time as the installers learn the tricks that save time through experience, and the profitability gets more respectable. A key to making this a worthwhile endeavor is keeping the same installers and technicians on these projects so the learning curve is to your benefit. Another significant challenge in the kit airplane panel business is that each aircraft owner has their own plans for their panel, even down to the engine instrumentation. This makes each panel a totally custom job. When asked where they get their business, Dennis replied that the database of Edwards' customers was the footing on which they built their existing business. Since they specialize in personal and business aircraft, they also spend a significant effort getting to know that type of aircraft owner within a 100 mile circle around Dallas. Once they get a chance to work for one pilot/owner from a nearby airport they get to know them very well, including learning his habits at his home airport. Everyone "hangar flies" to some extent and Dennis has gone as far as to know who has coffee with who on Saturday morning, and where. If the opportunity presents itself, Dennis will drop in for coffee himself and get to know the rest of the crowd. The word of mouth referrals are the best, according to Dennis. Since Redbird is on the edge of the Dallas Class B Airspace, it gets a lot of student and other fly-in traffic. Southwest recently opened a Pilot Supplies Shop with a large sign facing the runway. A lot of today's business is a catalog sales environment, especially when it comes to pilot supplies. But not everyone likes to buy over the phone. Southwest gets a lot of walk-in business after someone sees their sign when doing a touch and go at Redbird. When he comes in to buy a Sectional the pilot soon learns that when he has avionics problems or needs a new piece of equipment, he should contact Southwest for a quote. They've cornered a lot of new avionics repair business from their pilot supplies shop. One of the common themes for our Dealer Focus column is to talk about ways of holding on to Avionics Tech personnel, since this is a challenge for all. Somewhat like Mayday, who we profiled in the last issue, Southwest has a weekly staff meeting to discuss the successes of the previous week and the plans for the coming week. This involves each member of the team in the management of the business. But the comment we noted from our discussions with Dennis Sorber that seemed noteworthy was the incentive plan Southwest has for their personnel. In addition to his normal wage, each technician gets an incentive payment for each hour that is billed from his efforts. For each hour invested in a project that cannot be billed, the technician gives back double his incentive rate, and for warranty rework, he gives back triple his incentive rate. For example, let's assume the incentive rate is $1 per hour and a project took 35 hours to complete. If the competitive rate for this work allowed billing 32 hours the technician would get paid $32, less $6 for the 3 hours that couldn't be billed. This plan is designed to reward the technicians that do quality work and who work efficiently. The incentive plan has been in effect for close to a year, and is one reason Southwest has retained a number of experienced, quality technicians on staff. In a short time Southwest has been able to build a business offering experience and versatility in avionics to the many business and personal aircraft owners in North Central Texas. |
