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Manufacturers get boost in security projects | 01.23.2006 | 08:36:37 | Views: 7244 | ID: January 23 '06: Some manufacturing companies with long histories of business in the Midwest have begun to make the switch from civilian consumers to federal contractors, the Rockford Register Star reported Monday. The Rock River Valley area paper in Illinois reported that one company has begun to produce what it calls a "Metalith" - a reinforced steel barrier which has proven to be useful in protecting against car bombs and suicide attacks. Through its usefulness in areas like Afghanistan and Iraq, the company that makes the Metalith has begun to try and expand to US federal agency buildings as well as civilian businesses. The move to government contracting has been a goal of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for the state of Illinois, the Rockland Register reported. "The state created a Homeland Security Market Development unit to help manufacturers identify potential products, learn how to work with the federal government and help fund final products." The company that makes the Metalith, Corrugated Metals Inc. has spent close to $5 million getting their operations ready for more government contracts and began production of Metaliths in December 2005. Ken Carlton, vice president of finance for Corrugated told the Register, "We took something that already existed and totally changed the deign around to make it an anti-blast, anti-ram, anti-vehicle barrier-type system to protect critical infrastructure here at home. ... The product has applications here in the US at airports, nuclear plants, petrochemical and government nuclear facilities. It has military applications abroad for forward base protection, aircraft abutments, that sort of thing."
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