One of Aero-Zone’s biggest challenges today is that inventory keeps flying off its shelves. As challenges go, that’s a pretty good one for the aircraft parts and components provider to have.
“Aerospace has never been stronger in the 30 years I’ve been doing this,” said Alfredo Dreyfus, president and founder of the Phoenix-area company. “People are traveling like they’ve never traveled before. Being in the commercial airline industry, that means we’re busy all the time."
And with BOK Financial® at its side, Aero-Zone has the resources it needs to spread its wings on a global scale.
An inventory-intensive business
Roughly 52% of Aero-Zone’s business involves supporting aircraft on ground, or AOG. “It’s similar to a 911 emergency service for aircraft,” Dreyfus explained.
We’ve all been there—sitting on a plane, waiting to take off when the pilot announces that the maintenance crew needs to replace a part on the aircraft. Whether it’s a simple taillight or a critical engine component, there’s a good chance the part came from Aero-Zone.
The company’s extensive in-stock inventory is a vital resource that airlines rely on to prevent a domino effect of flight delays and cancellations. However, Aero-Zone’s business model also creates the challenges of maintaining enough working capital to keep the warehouse full.
That’s where BOK Financial comes in. For over a decade, BOK Financial has provided Aero-Zone with a line of credit that enables the company to match inventory with demand—however high it soars. “BOK Financial has been an integral part of our growth planning. They are basically part of our team,” Dreyfus said.
BOK Financial’s financing capabilities, combined with Dreyfus’s proprietary inventory management software, helps Aero-Zone ensure it keeps the parts aircraft need most in stock, while turning a profit in the process.
“That’s the beauty of Aero-Zone’s business: they make their money on the ‘buy’—on the purchase of the part, knowing what the resale is going to be,” said Mike Carney, BOK Financial relationship manager. “If they buy a part for a dollar and then sell it for $10, that takes knowledge—and Alfredo’s got it.”
Dreyfus’s specialized parts knowledge comes from spending most of his adult life around planes. After growing up in California, he joined the Air Force and was stationed at the former Williams Air Force Base in the Phoenix area. He later decided to make the Phoenix area home to Aero-Zone, which he founded in 1994. Today, the area is home to other companies in the aerospace industry as well, and there is a spirit of cooperation—and, of course, healthy competition—among them, Carney noted.
Spanning the globe
Over the past three decades, Aero-Zone’s business has grown far beyond its Arizona roots—and the nation, for that matter. Today, it has customers and employees worldwide with offices in Ireland and Singapore—an endeavor that was initially challenging from an operations standpoint.
“We pay employees in four different currencies,” Dreyfus noted. “We originally worked with a bank in Ireland and another bank in Singapore. The hoops we had to jump through to maintain those international relationships and keep those funds accessible were honestly almost not worth it.”
Fortunately, BOK Financial was able to help streamline Aero-Zone’s international banking needs by enabling the aerospace company to bank in different monetary units all through one financial services company. Meanwhile, the company’s foreign exchange team helps Aero-Zone make the most of currency market conditions, answering questions such as whether it’s better to do a wire transfer in U.S. dollars or euros, Carney noted.
“The hoops we had to jump through to maintain those international relationships and keep those funds accessible were honestly almost not worth it.”- Alfredo Dreyfus, president and founder of Aero-Zone
BOK Financial was also able to use the international nature of Aero-Zone’s business to support the company’s needs for more working capital. “A few years ago [before working with BOK Financial], we tried to increase our line of credit but a lot of our overseas receivables and inventory weren’t being considered towards the collateralization,” Dreyfus said. “Thanks to BOK Financial’s open-mindedness and common-sense decision making, we were able to push our credit line by several million dollars.”
For Carney, having the freedom and breadth of services to respond to Aero-Zone’s needs helps him go above and beyond for them and other clients.
In Aero-Zone’s case, BOK Financial has helped with everything from common business needs such as treasury management to more personal needs such as Dreyfus’s estate planning.
“From top to bottom, BOK Financial’s team is always accessible and relatable. I feel like I’m talking to a peer.”- Alfredo Dreyfus, president and founder of Aero-Zone
See more client stories like Aero-Zone’s.
Top-of-page photo: Aero-Zone, a Phoenix-based aircraft parts supplier, keeps an extensive in-stock inventory, like the radome pictured here.
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