Here’s how Aerospace & Defense Review, which named the company one of its top 10 Aerospace Manufacturing Solution Providers for 2020, describes JETEC:
“Take for example, the Boeing 747-8, which constitutes more than three million parts and each component—from the tiniest nuts to the blaring engine blades—is marked with a unique identity. The precise and easily identifiable mark is a ‘passport’ with all kinds of information, including the manufacturer name, model designation, and serial number. This helps manufacturers track the parts from cradle to grave to repair or replace them when needed. Further, marking can assist in addressing the issue of counterfeits in the supply chain and identifying parts accurately. Nonetheless, the process of marking poses a significant challenge for manufacturers. There are components with complex geometries and varying metals, which cause expensive rework if not appropriately marked. Besides, stringent industry standards and the Tier 1 manufacturer’s own marking specifications must also be considered. With such critical compliance requirements, manufacturers need a reliable partner who can ensure they meet end customer requirements.
“Enter JETEC, a leader in state-of-the-art product identification solutions for the aerospace and defense industry.”
The following Leader Board is excerpted from the introduction to Ford’s book, “The Entrepreneur’s Survival Handbook; A Deck of 52 Insightful Pointers from an Experienced Entrepreneur,” published by Balboa Press, a division of Hay House in Indiana, in 2021.
I grew up in the Soundview Projects in the South Bronx, N.Y., known as the birthplace of hip-hop music.
My very first job was sweeping floors in a pharmacy. Later, at the excitement of seeing my older brother purchase a new bike with his paper route earnings, I decided to get one myself. I didn’t mind delivering the morning newspapers, but I disliked having to do collections. I would knock on the door and hear someone from behind the door say, “It’s the paperboy!” Then someone else would say, “Tell him I’m not home!” It was always pleasing when a customer would answer the door, pay their bill, and give me a tip.
At our house, we grew up with the World Book Encyclopedia, which had science projects that you could do on your own. I liked to visualize executing the projects. I finished some of them but most of the time I didn’t have the monies to purchase the parts required so I would build them mentally. Perusing through the encyclopedias was a favorite pastime of mine. I learned about the different dog breeds, how many things worked, as well as the names of major companies producing automobiles, airplanes, toys, food, and commodities.
My mom would always come to me when something was broken in the house. I fixed clocks, radios, bicycles, you name it. What I couldn’t figure out, I would research at the library or within the encyclopedias. I learned at an early age that I had a knack for taking things apart and seeing how they fit back together. Realizing that I had this gift, I stated at the age of nine that I was going to start a company that helped companies improve their weaknesses. I called my imaginary company, “The Plant Doctors.”
This drive to be a business owner—I didn’t know it was called entrepreneurship at the time—directed the course of my academic career. I was always good at math. At one point, I pondered being a mathematician or an engineer but quickly chose engineering because engineers got to build things. People may not realize this, but engineers have contributed to almost every company in existence worldwide in some form or fashion.
I was offered a position at McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach and moved to Westminster. Most of my duties involved performing time and motion studies that were never used. I learned quickly that my hiring was more centered on the company meeting Affirmative Action requirements and less on my potential contributions as an industrial engineer.
During the 1980s, the electronics industry was beginning to boom in Southern California, especially in Newport Beach and Irvine. There was an excellent opportunity at Rockwell International in Newport Beach for an industrial engineer supporting its microelectronic fabrication lines, or “fabs.” I became deeply knowledgeable about wafer fabrication: the process, the equipment required, the facility layout, and yields.
Things were going well for me at Rockwell until the entrepreneurial bug showed its head. The yields from the diffusion furnaces were not as desired. The cause was inconsistent ramping of the wafers into the furnaces due to faulty boat pullers.
A fellow engineer and I decided that we would, on our own time and away from work, design and fabricate replacement boat pullers and sell them to Rockwell. Obviously, we did not think this through properly, but what the heck, we were engineers that were about to become entrepreneurs!
We fabricated the first unit and shipped it to Rockwell. It was installed and tested by the maintenance team, as well as the process engineering staff. We received a purchase order for the additional units. Our excitement was short-lived because the Purchasing Department learned that they were buying equipment from employees of Rockwell; this was against company policy. The P.O. was terminated, and my fellow engineer and I were fired.
I eventually landed at Hughes Aircraft Co.’s hybrid microelectronic facility in Newport Beach. A colleague who attended a trade show saw an inkjet system marking cans and thought a modified version of this system might be feasible for marking hybrid microelectronic chips. We purchased this system, which had many quirks and over time new inkjet printers became available from multiple vendors. We were able to take an inkjet from one manufacturer and the ink and fluid from another competitor manufacturer, and then integrate them together with an XY plotter to create an advanced inkjet marking system. This system worked so well that at this point, I had another entrepreneurial moment—I wanted to start a business selling integrated industrial inkjet printers.
I knew that I would have to leave my position at Hughes. A Hughes mentor told me that Simon Ramo, one of the founders of TRW, was a former Hughes employee and that Hughes looked highly on individuals who wanted to exercise their entrepreneurial flair. With Hughes’ blessing, I co-founded JET Equipment Corp. in 1990.
We became the standard within the electronics industry for inkjet parts marking systems worldwide, as well as implemented systems in non-electronic companies. Over the years, some of our customers included Hughes, Honeywell, Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
I am an African American Entrepreneur with over thirty years’ experience owning a high-tech company in Orange County that manufactures digital product marking systems sold to industrial manufacturers worldwide. The lessons that I have learned as the “surviving” head of a minority-owned company over this period are priceless.
