American Metal Fabricators Has Reinforcing Mission

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md., -- January 12, 2005 -- Since 1946, American Metal Fabricators (AMFAB) of Prince Frederick has been recognized as a premier manufacturer of custom stainless steel and millwork food service equipment including salad bars, hot and cold meals-to-go merchandisers, chef’s range suite cooking islands, seafood display cases and beverage stands. This mission has served the company well; the 100 percent family-owned business currently employs over 100 people and enjoys annual gross sales of over $10 million.

But recently AMFAB took on a new mission that gave the employees an opportunity to do something important for their country as well. Working with a fellow manufacturer in Virginia, owner Phillip Poole and his crew have been making reinforced windshield frames to house the bulletproof glass used to retrofit military vehicles in Iraq. Since spring of 2004, the company has made and shipped windshield frames for nearly 3,000 Hummers and larger supply trucks and hopes to do more in the coming months.

Poole said the project took some creative engineering and design work to meet the strict Department of Defense standards for tensile strength and reliability, but they were happy to have the opportunity. “Everyone at AMFAB feels like they’re doing something special with this project,” said Poole. “It may be a small thing in the overall scheme of the war effort, but we know that the part we are playing can go a long way toward helping to minimize American casualties in Iraq. And that’s something we’re very proud of.”

Becky Carrick, a 32-year employee of AMFAB is especially pleased with the company’s new project. Her son, Gunnery Sergeant Michael Frye, left for a mission in Iraq in June 2004 with the U.S. Marine Corps. Carrick learned that her son and his shipmates used their time on board to take the AMFAB-manufactured parts and retrofit a number of vehicles that were also headed for front-line duty in Iraq. “Michael thought it was neat to outfit the vehicles with products that were made right in his hometown by the company where his mother works,” said Carrick. “And I’m happy to know that he might one day be riding safely in one of those newly armored Humvees,” she added.

AMFAB is a member of the Maryland World-Class Manufacturing Consortium and the National Sanitation Foundation. The company is fully insured and bondable to complete projects at high security installations such as the National Security Agency, the Old Executive Office Building, the Pentagon, the Capital Building and the White House. AMFAB has completed projects for large food service and lodging companies like Marriott, Omni, Host International, McDonald’s, Chili’s, the Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons Hotels and five-star restaurants such as the Inn at Little Washington. In addition, they have installed equipment and completed millwork packages for airports, convention centers, Disneyland, toll road food facilities coast-to-coast and they have fabricated equipment for foreign destinations like the United Kingdom, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda and many embassies and government commissaries around the world.

For more information on American Metal Fabricators, please call 410.414.5900, send an e-mail to amfab@amfab-inc.com or visit their Web site at www.amfab-inc.com.

For more information on the Calvert County, Maryland Department of Economic Development, our visitor sites and attractions and the services available to assist County businesses, call 410.535.4583, 800.331.9771 or 301.855.1880; or send an e-mail to info@ecalvert.com