Our Pearl Anniversary
January 3, 2022
I like that the 30th year of a company’s existence is traditionally called the pearl anniversary. It represents honesty, wisdom and purity. Even more, it shows how something amazing can come out of a humble beginning. Like a grain of sand. Apply layers and layers of coating over time, and you have a luminous gem. I also like that they’re the only gem formed and found within a living creature.
Our company wasn’t much more than a speck back in 1992 when my father, Jerry King, began its transformation by winning a contractor logistics services contract. As we supported the U.S Air Force E-9A information-gathering aircraft at Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base, the layers began building. We quickly started producing something of tremendous value. One of our first deliverables was to purchase a list of parts priced at $2 million. We asked the Air Force if we could shop the parts instead of just ordering from the list. We began procuring (and negotiating) and came back $500,000 under budget. We then asked the customer if we could buy more parts with the excess budget. We did, getting 25% more parts for the second budgeted amount.
Accumulating Wisdom, Taking Action
Fast forward three decades. The projects string together like pearls. We remain family owned and true to our Texas roots. Loyal to God, Country and Family. Unafraid to get dirt under our fingernails. Fiercely independent. Still fond of rum and Coke. We’ve built a no-excuses King Kulture that fuels everything we do and servant leadership that puts others first. That philosophy permeates every layer of our company from the home office in Dallas to repair stations on the other side of the world.
Team members who see something, say something – and do something. If they uncover an issue on an aircraft, rather than make the customer reschedule the repair at a later date, they often simply take care of it. They treat the customer like they would want to be treated themselves.
That philosophy drives the sort of behavior that leads to excellence. It’s what we’re known for, and it’s why we now operate 24/7 logistics outposts around the world plus AS9110C-certified facilities and FAA repair stations at Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX; Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM; and Camp Humphreys, South Korea. It’s also why we got into corporate aviation, where we’ve become a leading one-stop provider of avionics, interiors, maintenance and paint. We serve as a GE OnPoint™ service center and an AS9110C-certified and authorized FAA and EASA Repair Station.
Meeting the Highest Standards
Our focus on customer satisfaction means we don’t rest until we’ve done the job. Right. Even when no one is looking. That’s how we earn the trust of those we serve. And it’s how we’ve built those iridescent layers year after year. It’s like the old proverb. Pearls don’t lie on the seashore. You must dive for them.
Just as troops can’t fly if aircraft don’t, we dive in and do what’s needed. Deploying rapidly. Getting into challenging environments, possibly where travel is restricted.
On this milestone anniversary, we have never been more mission driven or dedicated to making a difference. While we have 30 years behind us, we look ahead and feel full of possibility. The industry needs what we have to offer. Watch for some amazing plans that we will be sharing over the coming year. You might say, we are fully coming out of our shell.
What Our Team Has to Say
King Kulture drives our actions. Here are from-the-heart comments from a few of our dedicated, difference-making team.
