HUBZone Update - K E Plastics

K&E Plastics was pleased to be awarded our HUBZone certification in October of 2018.  Despite our enthusiasm, K&E had really no idea what to expect in the form of new business opportunities associated with the HUBZone certification.

K&E Plastics registered as a HUBZone supplier with several hundred companies through their respective online supplier registration process. By going through this process, K&E Plastics was hopeful that this would facilitate new relationship opportunities with large and mid-size prime contractors who have a need for machined plastic parts.

What K&E Plastics has found out is most prime contractors of size are looking to reduce the number of suppliers they are dealing with as opposed to adding new ones. Therefore, K&E Plastics has yet to see any meaningful new business by simply registering online as a HUBZone supplier.

A material source of HUBZone related new business opportunities has been through our existing customers. Due to  the fact that K&E Plastics has been machining plastic parts for over 50 years, the company has formed relationships with companies that operate in the aerospace, defense and aviation industries. Many of these companies are asking K&E Plastics to quote with greater frequency due to our HUBZone certification.

A great resource K&E Plastics has been using to market our HUBZone certification has been www.FPDS.GOV. The Federal Procurement Data Systems website is an excellent resource to research companies that have been awarded a US federal contract. One can use Product Service Codes or NAICS codes to search for specific industries. The  net result is K&E Plastics has been able to use the platform for very targeted research. For example,  K&E Plastics has been able to identify smaller companies that have been awarded government contracts. Moreover, unlike the large prime contractors which are looking to reduce the number of suppliers they deal with, the smaller companies K&E Plastics is reaching out to are open to building their supplier base in order to achieve better pricing, gain access to new technologies and processes and incorporate some level of redundancy in their supply chain.

In conclusion, the HUBZone certification has been a positive development for K&E Plastics. It has not resulted in an avalanche of new quoting opportunities from large prime contractors. It has , however, given K&E Plastics a new tool to market and the company is staring to see some new opportunities that would not be present without our HUBZone certification.

K&E Plastics would also like to thank all the companies that listened to our sales & marketing pitch.