AMI CEO Kathie Leonard Shares Economic and Business Insights

MaineBiz hosted our CEO Kathie Leonard and three other Maine business leaders at its recent Five on the Future event to share their views Maine’s economy. Jeffrey Fuhrer, Executive VP and Senior Policy Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, delivered the opening remarks and served as moderator to the panel discussion. Topics ranged from monetary… Read more »

Auburn Manufacturing’s Kathie Leonard to Speak on Maine Business Panel

Maine’s business newspaper is sponsoring a panel discussion on January 16, 2018 about the state’s future economy, and Auburn Manufacturing, Inc.  CEO Kathie Leonard is one of five featured panelists representing a cross-section of businesses throughout the state.   The event keynote speaker is Jeff Fuhrer, the Executive Vice President and Senior P… Read more »

Procter & Gamble Fire Protection Leaders Host Auburn Manufacturing

We sell our hot work safety fabrics all over the world, but it’s always great to visit with safety professionals in our own backyard! That’s why we were thrilled to be invited to present to the Fire Protection Leaders Group at P&G’s Tambrands facility right here in Auburn, Maine, last month. We talked fire safety… Read more »

Hot-Work Protections Save Lives

Structure fires that take lives are heartbreaking, especially when they are caused by something easily preventable. A new article in the recent issue of Safety + Health Magazine recalls the deadly 2014 fire in Boston that was started by welding sparks. Had the workers followed basic hot-work protections, firefighters Michael Kennedy and Edward Walsh wou… Read more »

Torch Fires During Hot Work are Costly!

There is no doubt that hot work can be dangerous. But for those involved day-to-day in soldering and welding, it can be easy to become complacent. A recently updated report from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) highlights the dangers of torch fires in both dollars and lives lost. “Structure Fires Started by Hot Work”… Read more »

June is National Safety Month – Let Us Help Keep You Safe

“Keep Each Other Safe” – that’s the National Safety Council’s tag line for June, which is National Safety Month. At AMI, we’re doing our part by offering help on Hot Work Safety, which is highlighted in a story in this month’s NFPA Journal, Hot Work, Safe Work. In safety training sessions conducted by the National… Read more »

What it Means to Buy American

The United States government has implemented policies to support US manufacturers, including something called the Berry Amendment. While this amendment of the Buy American Act requires the Department of Defense to buy certain goods from US manufacturers, there is a major loophole: if the DoD outsources work to defense contractors, they don’t have to c… Read more »

Congressman Bruce Poliquin Visits AMI

Auburn Manufacturing welcomed Congressman Bruce Poliquin to our advanced textiles factory during the spring Congressional break to meet our team and watch them produce amorphous silica fabrics. He was joined by representatives of Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which arranged the visit as part of a tour of Maine’s manufacturing facilities.… Read more »

“Feeling the Heat” – Literally & Figuratively

Reproduced with permission from Daily Report for Executives, 31 DER (Feb. 16, 2017). Copyright 2017 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) — http://www.bna.com Reproduced with permission from International Trade Reporter, 34 ITR 155 (Jan. 26, 2017). Copyright 2017 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033)  — h… Read more »

Stay Safe When Performing Hot Work

We’re always glad to see an article on hot work safety! This one in Safety+Health Magazine has some good tips, including one of our favorites: “confine the heat, sparks and slag, and protect immovable fire hazards.” That’s what we do at AMI – we make all sort of textiles used as guards and barriers around… Read more »

Don’t Want To Scare You, But…

We don’t want to scare you, but…this NFPA report reinforces the importance of hot work safety. CASE IN POINT:  The largest fire of 2014 (a loss of more that $100 Million) was started by a welder’s torch, resulting in the partial collapse of a warehouse floor.  And, 3 of the 16 largest fires (over $20M) were ignited… Read more »

Benchmarking for Energy Efficiency—Go NYC!

New York City requires buildings over 50,000 sf to conduct periodic energy audits.  This article — Does Your Building Consume Too Much Energy — in the New York Real Estate Journal offers advice on how to use an audit report to choose retrofit projects with the fastest paybacks.   No surprise to us that “fast paybacks will usually include up… Read more »

Federal Legislators Support AMI Petition Against China

AMI is proud of the fact that all four of our federal legislators (2 Republicans, 1 Democrat, 1 Independent) came together in support of our AD/CVD petition against China.  They all know that manufacturing has been an important part of the Maine economy for over a century:  shipbuilding, paper, textiles, shoes, etc.   We’re pleased to… Read more »

We’ve Become A Better Manufacturer

This article appears to be about AMI but it’s really about Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and how they helped us become a better manufacturer.  Without their expertise in modern manufacturing processes, we’d still be in the last century, wondering where our business went.  Instead, we’re thinking strategically and acting collect… Read more »

When It’s Nice to be Known as Extreme

Specialty Fabrics Review recently featured an article that addressed the technologies involved in manufacturing high performance fabrics to protect people from extreme hot or cold.  The article, titled: “New Textiles and Applications That Control Temperature Provide Comfort and Safety in Extreme Conditions,” prompted a call from a customer looking … Read more »

Fabtech was Fabulous!

We know that hot work fabrics aren’t as exciting to look at as robotic welding equipment! So we were pleasantly surprised with the number of visitors, and the breadth of job titles. We also met a lot of front-line folks this year, many of whom had never attended Fabtech before. Hats off to those major… Read more »

Building Underbellies – Opportunities Abound

Who knew that the underbellies of most institutions are chock full of energy saving opportunities? Yes, mechanical rooms are overheated treasure troves of wasted energy. We just completed our first campus-wide insulation retrofit at Bates College. Bates saw the savings potential in their 18 mechanical rooms and contracted with us to retrofit them by ins… Read more »