One supplier's tale: 17 years and counting

N.K. Huh is the president of Hyune Aero-Specialty Inc., a small company in Busan, South Korea, that provides parts for Boeing airplanes. Huh tells Boeing Frontiers how his company came to be associated with Boeing and what this partnership means.

Q: How did your relationship with Boeing begin?

A: My relationship with Boeing dates back to 1989, when I was still working as an engineer for Daewoo Shipping and Marine Engineering Co. At that time, I was contemplating a career shift from shipbuilding and was hoping to start my own business. I met a Boeing engineer on my return business trip from Seattle to Korea. We struck up a casual conversation, and later invited each other to tour our plants. I was excited because I had always dreamed about working in the aerospace industry.

The Boeing engineer came and visited our facility and was surprised to find that Korean engineers were capable of building 5,000-ton ships and suggested that I try producing parts for Boeing. I went to Seattle to meet with his boss and accepted a job to produce a sample. And as they say, the rest is history.

Q: Tell us about your company.

A: I operate an aircraft parts business called Hyune Aero-Specialty. We have humble beginnings; we started with just seven employees! But after 17 years, I am proud to say that we now have 70 employees dedicated to producing the best aircraft parts.

We work together to be the best in our industry. We believe we produce great results only when we listen to our customers' requests carefully and execute on those requests with efficiency and precision.

Hyune is proud to be one of Boeing's aircraft parts manufacturing partners. We have been through thick and thin with Boeing and we will always be. We survived the aviation industry's 1992-to-1995 recession and shared the post-9/11 pain with Boeing, all the while engaging in dialogue with Boeing to integrate ourselves into Boeing's Lean system.

Today, we continue to work hard to exceed Boeing's high standards. Our hard work has paid off. In the beginning, we only had contracts to produce 13 items, including stringer clips for the Boeing 747s. But today we deal with approximately 4,000 parts, including parts for the C-17, and even have subassembly work, including the Boeing 737 Aileron Sub-Assembly.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to share?

A: A long time ago, a Boeing buyer told me that I should not think of making big money with my business. But he did add that although Boeing will not make me rich overnight, it will also not make me poor overnight. I did not exactly understand what he meant, but now I know that he was referring to the value Boeing placed on dedication, a strong work ethic and partnership. The past 17 years have been great, and we at Hyune thank everyone at Boeing for allowing us to achieve our dreams with you.

As we say at Hyune, our dream has been flying around the world with Boeing airplanes for the past 17 years.

—Maggie Kymn