Pacamor Kubar Bearings (USA; privately held) has been awarded a Best Value Gold Medal by the U.S. Defense Supply Center in Richmond, Virginia, "demonstrating exceptional quality and delivery performance." The company will actually receive the award at a ceremony in June, during the Aviation Supply Chain Business Conference.

PKB manufactures high precision miniature and instrument radial ball bearings for defense, aerospace, medical, dental, industrial, and other commercial miniature precision applications. The company's customer base ranges from the Department of Defense to NASA to cryogenic labs to dental handpiece repair shops. The company's bearings are DFAR-approved.

In order to receive Gold Medal recognition, the qualifications are multi-layered. Vendors must ship 10 or more contract lines in the rating period. Gold Medal ship rate requires a perfect fill and on-time score of 100. In addition, vendors must maintain a Defense Logistics Agency rating of at least 95.

The Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR) has been the Defense Logistic Agency's aviation supply and demand chain manager since 2004. Within the Department of Defense, it is the primary sourcing point for more than 1.2 million repair parts and supplies, primarily aviation-related, to the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. It also supports the U.S. Postal Service, NASA, Forestry Service, and Department of Transportation.

Ed Osta, PKB's Executive VP, said: "Gold Medal recognition from DSCR means that Pacamor Kubar Bearings has provided a full range of high quality miniature and instrument ball bearings that the government can be confident in using. This prestigious award, combined with our ISO9001:2000, AS9100:2004 aerospace quality certifications and the Federal Aviation Administration's TSO-C149 aircraft bearings certification, recognizes the commitment our employees have in providing quality products and excellent customer service. We are very proud that our quality standards are comparable to those of the best in the aerospace industry."