Avionics News September 2012 - 30

UNDERSTATED SUCCESS
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laser engraved plastic or metal placards and a journeyman website that lists specials and used equipment for sale. James Temple, whom everyone calls Jimmy, and his father, Marshall, founder and CEO, are hard working, dedicated avionics technicians who clearly graduated from the school of action over

1973 and joined the AEA in 1974. Jimmy provided the contextual clue. Asked about his father’s accomplishments, “I guess it was making it through the oil bust of the 1980s,” he said. “A lot of businesses went under back then.” Jimmy attributed the company’s survival to “running an efficient business and never being in debt.” Saying “a lot of businesses went under” is beyond understatement. Houston is the largest city in

Like other shops, Temple Electronics uses the Radiorax mounting system, cuts new panels with EDMO’s CNC Panel Pro, identifies wire with the Tri-Star M100L laser wire marker and provides CAD-engineered wiring schematics with every installation.
words. The modesty of both borders on reticence. When pressed for points low or high in their business, Marshall said, “Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t have too many low points or high points. It was pretty well steady.” Jimmy offered, “Ah, I guess, owning our own building… 11,000 square feet just off the airport… been there since 2005.” What elevates this prosaic avionics shop is context. First is its location, Houston Hobby Airport. With 302 based aircraft (40 single-engine, 49 twins, 187 jets and 26 helicopters) and served by a half-dozen airlines, it records more than a quarter-million operations in an average year. Second is its tenure: Marshall established Temple Electronics in
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Texas and the fourth largest nationally. Oil has been the undisputed heavyweight on its economic landscape almost since it was discovered nearby in 1901. It is home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other except New York City. At the top of this list are companies like ConocoPhillips and Marathon, not to mention all the companies like Halliburton that support the oil and natural gas industries with essential goods and services. Then, there’s the Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel, which ranks first in international commerce, in large part because it gives tankers easy access to the refineries that line its shores. Houston has benefited from high oil prices since 1973, when

the Arab Oil Embargo made oil more valuable. In mere months, its price quadrupled, to $12 a barrel. While the world suffered, Houston boomed as the industry prospected for non-Arab oil, and uncounted thousands of Rust-belt residents poured in to fill oil-related jobs. Houston boomed again in 1979-80 when the Iran-Iraq war disrupted production and increased oil prices. And, in January 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed an executive order that removed controls and let the free market determine those prices that, like airplanes, eventually have to come down. HoustonHistory.com labels the 1980s a decade of recession. Affecting the entire nation, Houston seemed immune at first. The recession reduced demand, and in 1982, oil prices peaked at $40 a barrel and then started falling. Over production fueled the decline. Prices stagnated at $27 a barrel in 1985 and plummeted to $10 in 1986. Oil companies halved the number of active wells, and the industry laid off the thousands hired during the previous three years. As the oil business goes, so goes almost every other business in and around Houston. Whether building Temple’s business or dealing with the oil bust, “generous service and installations was what I survived on,” said Marshall, a plain-spoken, matter-of-fact man born in Cleburne, Texas, outside of Fort Worth, in 1929. “I worked for three other companies before I started my own business: Dallas

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Avionics News September 2012

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