Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Norman Jordan: We want to build a business that is going to continue to grow and continue to be in the marketplace for many, many decades in the future. And so we look to the future and we also really, really work hard on developing the types of products that our customers tell us they need for their future aircraft and in some cases, for their existing aircraft. And we will continue to do that and be good stewards of those businesses and be a great supplier to the aerospace industry.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Welcome to Hangar X Studios, where former fighter pilot and host John Ramstead takes us on a journey across aerospace as it enters an historic period of innovation and transformation.
Our guests include aviation experts, pilots, financiers, military leaders, and innovators of all types.
Buckle up for another episode of Hangar X.
[00:00:58] John Ramstead: Welcome to the HangerX Podcast. We are live here at Verticon, and this is the place where CEOs and innovators, industry leaders and disruptors come and share some of the inside information that we all need as aviation is just exploding before our eyes right now. And to that point, we have Norm Jordan on from Signia. Norm, welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:20] Norman Jordan: Thank you, thank you. Glad to be here.
[00:01:22] John Ramstead: You know, it was great. I reached out to you because what Signia's doing, you guys started three and a half years ago and you had this vision in aviation and you've grown by acquisition because you wanted to put together a company that just was high impact in this space. So before we get going, I'd love for you to share a little bit about Signia and your vision as CEO that you're bringing out into the market.
[00:01:42] Norman Jordan: All right. Well, Signia is a great company, not just because I lead it, but we've got great products. We've grown through acquisition, as you mentioned, we started actually the first acquisition was in July of 2021. I joined the company in December of 21. And we've grown to something that's going to be close to $900 million a year revenue. We're continuing to grow, we're continuing to look at really strategic acquisitions.
And we think and believe we have bought some really, really great companies.
We've got a vertical strategy in, for example, Mission Systems. So one of the big reasons we're here today, everything from the hoist all the way down to the rescue, equipment at the end of the rope and everything in between hooks, weighing systems, et cetera, et cetera, environmental control systems, propeller systems for fixed wing and also for some of the advanced air mobility type vehicles and engine equipment, firewall forward, as we call it, on the Hartzell side. So Hartzell Propellers, Hartzell Engine Technologies and our. Yeah, so we just.
[00:02:45] John Ramstead: I fly an airplane with Hartzell Propellers on it. Right.
[00:02:47] Norman Jordan: And it's a great airplane, isn't it?
[00:02:49] John Ramstead: It is a great airplane.
Now, what is your. You know, what as you. Oh, since you joined in, what December 21st you said.
[00:02:56] Norman Jordan: Correct.
[00:02:57] John Ramstead: What has been this strategy that you like? What is the vision that you're putting together as you bring in some of these companies into Signia?
[00:03:05] Norman Jordan: Well, first of all, we got a great partner in Arkline Investment Management. That is our partners, our private equity sponsor, if you will. But our main mission is to buy businesses that have great intellectual property, great designs, in many cases, long experience in the business, big installed bases, large installed bases, so an aftermarket generating revenue and technology we know will carry on into the future. Those are the types of businesses we're looking for.
We're agnostic to some degree in terms of what the product is, as long as it fits that profile.
[00:03:39] John Ramstead: Yeah. And you're now from the other end. What are your. As you guys have grown this and the capacities have grown, what are the customers saying about working with Signia?
[00:03:47] Norman Jordan: Well, you'll have to ask them, but I think what they would tell you is that we're a great partner.
[00:03:52] John Ramstead: Yep.
[00:03:52] Norman Jordan: We are not classic in some regards relative to a private equity sponsored business.
We're really building a forever company. We want to build a business that is going to continue to grow and continue to be in the marketplace for many, many decades in the future. And so we look to the future, not just the short term, but long term as well.
[00:04:11] John Ramstead: Yeah. Now what is it that you guys, your whole team, how many, how many employees now at Signia? It's got to be a lot.
[00:04:16] Norman Jordan: We're about a little over 1600 right now.
[00:04:18] John Ramstead: Okay. So what is that team bringing out to their customers? You know, how do they think about it? What do they bring to the marketplace?
[00:04:25] Norman Jordan: Well, what we sell internally.
[00:04:27] John Ramstead: Yeah.
[00:04:28] Norman Jordan: And then project externally is we want to really focus on our service and support.
In fact, in some of our products we're actually buying.
Some of our acquisitions are add ons to build out our MRO network for propellers, for example, so that we can better serve the customer. We really believe in carrying inventory to support the aftermarket. We believe in being close to our customers where we can for sure in terms of MRO support to make sure they can keep the product flying when they do.
And we also really, really work hard on developing the types of products that our customers tell us they need for their future aircraft and in some cases for their existing aircraft, where we can do STCs or PMA.
[00:05:09] John Ramstead: Yeah. What do you have any examples of some of those? That's always the fun stuff to work on.
[00:05:13] Norman Jordan: When you look at some of our propeller work or Herzl engine technologies, Quite a few of those are based on either stcs or pmas where we go out. And a lot of times it's a customer or customers identifying a need and say, hey, we'd really like it if you guys would get into this marketplace because we like what you do, we like how you build your products, you support your products, good engineering, etc. So a lot of times it's our customers pointing us in that direction.
[00:05:38] John Ramstead: Yeah. Anything happening specifically in kind of the vertical aviation space?
[00:05:42] Norman Jordan: Well, we recently acquired from RTX the former Goodrich hoist and winch business.
[00:05:48] John Ramstead: Okay.
[00:05:50] Norman Jordan: So that's a, that's a big acquisition for us, proportionally. It's based in Anaheim, California. We bought that business, closed on the deal in November.
So that really rounded out to some degree our portfolio in the mission system. So again, we've got hoists and winches, we have the hooks, weighing systems, also lifesaving human, external cargo type equipment. Right. Rescue swimmer type equipment, things for bringing people off mountains and, and, and, and saving them, if you will, and the hooks to go with that. So it's really a really nice, no pun intended, vertically integrated product portfolio.
[00:06:29] John Ramstead: I like that. Now, I gotta ask you this because, you know, as CEO of a company that's, that's growing this way, and I've been part of, you know, either being acquired or, you know, acquiring some companies, integration can either make or break the success of integrating that product line, that capability. You know, when you're looking across the people, especially now it's grown. What, what is, what do you think has allowed you or the key things to think about? Maybe people listening lessons learned for you on actually doing the acquisition and having a successful integration?
[00:07:00] Norman Jordan: Yeah, it's a good, it's a good question for us. There's a couple things. One, if you have a cooperative seller.
[00:07:05] John Ramstead: Okay.
[00:07:07] Norman Jordan: That can be immensely helpful to help with the integration. People that care about the people that they have now sold on, if you will, the products that they've sold, if they, if they have.
Continuing, I would say, care.
[00:07:19] John Ramstead: Yeah.
[00:07:19] Norman Jordan: And want to make sure that the, the hands that they land those businesses in are good hands and that the transition is smooth for customers as well as their employees. It goes a long way.
[00:07:29] John Ramstead: Yeah.
[00:07:29] Norman Jordan: And in some cases, many cases we have that. And Some we don't. But what we have is a playbook that we. We deploy to make sure that we have literally a spreadsheet checklist of items that we pay attention to. Yeah, we want to make sure we take care of our people. We try to integrate our people into common payroll systems, et cetera, so that it's seamless for them and so that they can get on with the business of what we acquired them for to design and build great products.
[00:07:56] John Ramstead: Well, I love that. And there's a lot that. That kind of leadership takes a lot of focus and intentionality, too. So kudos to you and the whole team and love to ask you here as we kind of wrap up. Norm, just, you know, let's just say it's a year from now. We're back at Vertigon and you're saying, oh, my gosh, 25 was the best year ever. We hit all these stretch goals. What would you love to be sharing a year from now?
[00:08:20] Norman Jordan: What I'd love to be able to tell our customers is we're 100% on time.
[00:08:23] John Ramstead: Okay.
[00:08:23] Norman Jordan: Our turnaround times are within guarantees, and that we've continued to acquire businesses, and we will continue to do that and be good stewards of those businesses and be a great supplier to the aerospace industry.
[00:08:35] John Ramstead: Well. And you know what? And that's. That's there's going to be a lot of work to be able to say that in a year from now, isn't there? I can see already.
[00:08:41] Norman Jordan: I can tell you.
[00:08:42] John Ramstead: That's awesome. Well, it's been great to know you, Norm. Man, keep up the great work. Keep knocking them alive. And we love to have some more conversations throughout the year, too.
[00:08:51] Norman Jordan: Time. Thank you for your time.
[00:08:52] John Ramstead: Yeah, my pleasure. Take care. All right.
[00:08:53] Norman Jordan: Thank you.