John Cuomo, Vice President and General Manager of KLX, shared some insights about his company with Insights Success. Here is a portion of our interview with John.
KLX was on the fast track to becoming the world’s premier parts distributor. And, for some companies that may have been enough, but we were just warming up.
Today, we are a world-class distributor with over a million part numbers on hand, all ready and waiting to be delivered. We cover everything “from nose to tail,” including lighting, electrical, chemicals and specialty materials. But just offering more parts to customers wasn’t our reason for being. We wanted to be more integral to our customers’ businesses — providing them with meaningful services that can actually improve their operations. For example, we have proprietary services for planning, transitioning from current suppliers, technical solutions, kitting, 3PL and bin management.
Bottom line, we have a process that not only delivers on customer needs accurately, precisely and on time, but we have the ability to also anticipate their needs. This helps our customers feel a true sense of liberation. Liberation from the endless details we specialize in, allowing customers to do what they do best — build aircraft and keep them soaring in the skies.
We saw a need and filled it. Again. And again.
For me, one of the most rewarding parts of my job is seeing a business need and filling it with a powerful solution. Oftentimes the answer is a well-planned expansion by acquiring another company with a specific specialty. Through the years, many great names have become part of KLX history. A few of the names people may remember include M & M Aerospace Hardware, Honeywell Consumables Solutions and Interturbine. KLX as an entity is only just over two years old. Every time we grow, we integrate systems, people and processes. Today, our offering is so extensive we serve every major OEM and MRO globally. And, if we can identify another industry need in the future, we will find another solution and offer it to our customers.
Customer confidence is what our process is all about.
To serve our customers better, we’ve actually reinvented the end-to-end aerospace supply chain for consumable and expendable products. Believe me, an improvement with this impact doesn’t happen every day. For us it has been an ongoing evolution, one that occurs rapidly and precisely by understanding the nuances as well as the major changes that can improve our customers’ business. Part of our success has been the collaboration that comes with combining experts from different companies into one cohesive company.
Together, we live and breathe process. And yes, we do sweat the small stuff. Our business is built on millions of small, low-cost parts. But it is our total focus on the quality of our products and the accuracy of our deliveries that drives us every day. We firmly believe it’s the details that make the difference. And, that’s why we say at 30,000 feet and 500 mph, there’s no such thing as a small part.
Creating a brand that reflects our difference.
I have always admired great companies and great ad campaigns and I thought aerospace should hear from a company with a distinct, powerful vision. I spoke to my leadership team, talked with customers and hired an ad agency to bring our vision, our process and our passion to life.
The discussions led to our new positioning in the market place. We are not just a global parts distributor, but a solutions company that makes our customers’ operations work like a fine Swiss watch. On an assembly line, millions of dollars can often depend on the least expensive parts. This awareness drives us to be the strongest link in our customers’ operations. We believe we are integral to their business because we are part of something bigger. That is something we never take lightly. We are there to support, guide, supply and fulfill our customers’ vision. Passion and precision can go a long way.
Four ways KLX has become indispensable:
- As the industry’s premier stocking distributor with over 1 million part numbers on hand and zero tolerance for quality defects, KLX has more ways to help customers succeed than any other supplier of consumables and expendables.
- KLX offers unrivaled delivery speed for industry standard parts: Others have to source the parts first — we already have them in stock and ready to ship.
- KLX helps all market segments and has specific services and solutions for Airlines, MROs, Commercial, Business Jet and Military OEMs to reduce on-hand inventory, increase part availability, streamline vendor relationships and rationalize supply chains so they can focus on building aircraft and keeping aircraft flying.
- KLX has an on-time delivery rate of over 96% to transactional customers — and over 99% to contract customers — for the more than 1 million bins and kits that we manage around the globe.
Quick facts about KLX
- We help keep over 200,000 aircraft flying every day.
- We manage over 3,000 supplier relationships so our customers don’t have to.
- We service all OEMs, airlines and MROs.
- We offer the broadest array of fasteners, chemicals, kits and service capabilities to help customers get more of what they need with a single partnership.
- We support our customers through 60+ global locations across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
- We are made up of over 2,000 employees worldwide