Kevin Kerr
DUNCAN — VALCO Manufacturing of Duncan is no stranger to small business awards. They have received multiple awards from numerous companies, but owner Roger Valdez said it was still an honor when they received the award for Lockheed Martin’s small business of the year.
Valdez founded VALCO Manufacturing Company in 1989 in Oklahoma City. It got it’s start with small federal government contracts and within three years, the company had an average of 70 government contracts every year.
In 1990, VALCO started business with Rockwell International, and from 1989 until 1994, continued to do government contracts, work for Rockwell International, and subcontracted for many other small businesses as well as many large companies such as Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and NORDAM.
In 1994, they were awarded a large government contract through the Mentor Protégé program in a partnership relationship with Grumman Aerospace Corporation, as well as another one in 2002 in partnership with Bell Helicopter. Their latest award is just as sweet as the rest according to Valdez, and only furthers his confidence in the people he has working for him.
“It’s a real good thing,” Valdez said. “You have to maintain an extremely high standard of delivery and quality rating to even be considered, and then you consider they have thousands of suppliers out there too.
“Everyone was elated and very excited about the award.”
Valdez said that this award and the ones before it are mostly due to the great core of people he works with, and because of their hard work and dedication, they have not only become a multiple award winning small business, but have also, to some degree, weathered any economic issues that other companies have had to deal with.
“We have a very experienced and very smart, dedicated work force at VALCO that allows us to maintain our high standards,” Valdez said. “It’s a tough market out there, even with the downturn in the economy, and we have been able to maintain our same level of work that we’ve been doing and haven’t had to lay anybody off and that’s tribute to the employees.”
VALCO ships parts to many major companies around the country. Valdez said they literally ship to every state in the United States and even to places in Italy, France and Canada for various contracts with the military.
“I’m very proud of the employees,” Valdez said. “They’re the ones that make all this happen.”
- Kevin Kerr is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354 Ext. 147 or by e-mail at kevin.kerr@duncanbanner.com.
