Bing Crosby’s Now is the Hour plays from the home radio, a song used as a farewell to soldiers departing for war. The Ed Sullivan Show premieres, originally called Toast of the Town,  encouraging families to gather every Sunday evening for entertainment and camaraderie. Warner Bros. makes history when they are the first to film a color motion picture newsreel and share it with theater audiences. And the red and black Tiny-Mite radio makes its way to the top of children’s wish list across the globe.

The year is 1948.

It’s fitting that the same year when a song for veterans reached number one on the Billboard charts, families circled around their living room to laugh and make memories and forward-thinking was the undercurrent pulling society toward a brighter tomorrow, AVI (Auto-Valve, Inc.) took flight.

This 71-year-old, veteran-owned global company provides manufacturers with the fluid system components they need for a range of aircraft, everything from single-engine general aviation airplanes to rotary-wing and commercial aircraft. Proudly, AVI dedicates over 60 percent of their services and products to the military. But as impressive as AVI’s products and commitment to the military are, their values are even more so.

  • Uncompromised Value
  • Responsibility to Humanity
  • Value the Relationships
  • Sky is Not the Limit

No, these aren’t taglines for motivational posters. These are the anchors, as AVI calls them, which define AVI’s past, present, and future. AVI represents the manufacturing community I know and love. Their anchors represent the mentality and foresight a company needs to survive and thrive. The anchors make one thing clear: Product and people matter. Caring about one and not the other will be a business’ Achilles’ heel.

Henry Ford once said Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. This is AVI. This is manufacturing at its highest level. It’s not enough to form a business. For a business to be successful, employees need to feel valued and they need to feel a sense of pride in the product they produce. You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do, said Ford, and he’s right. It’s not enough to think of an idea. An idea must be executed and more importantly, an idea must be executed well. Consistency and quality within services and products, as well as genuine connections within and outside of a business matter.

It seems that even in the context of business and manufacturing, Maya Angelou was right: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Author: Evelyn Lindell