Three-decade-old industry
Armoring here dates back some three decades and, like the mold-making industry, owes a piece of its legacy to General Electric Co.
Phil Martino founded Protech in 1983 and PAS in 1993. Several years ago, he sold Protech to Armor Holdings Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., a publicly traded giant in the field.
According to Martino, the nexus of GE’s super-strong Lexan plastic and entrepreneur Gerard S. Reder, who founded Berkshire Armored Car Services in Pittsfield in 1957, gave the local industry its start. Reder branched from delivering money in commercial vehicles to building his own, lightweight money vans in 1975. Interviewed that year by The Eagle, Reder explained the transition.
“The whole business started at a friendly poker game with some GE chemical engineers,” he said. “I needed a smaller car for my branch operation in the Virgin Islands. The roads were too narrow for the conventional armored car. I was complaining about getting bullet-proof glass for a van I had in mind when a GE Plastics employee suggested I look at Lexan. I did, and found my major problem solved.”
In its role as a manufacturer of plastic resins, GE is counted as part of the local armor industry, as is Sheffield Plastics. Other players are Protech, PAS, Lenco Industries and Armored Solutions. The latter four firms employ roughly 250 people.
Not so long ago, the armor companies kept a low profile, due no doubt to security considerations of the armored transportation companies, police departments and military services that comprise their customer base.
“I have to admit, I had no idea what you were doing down here,” Olver told the employees of PAS, which is nestled against the Housatonic River on Valley Street, in the Lenox Dale section. “We lost a fair number of people early on in the Iraq war that now would be saved by what you’re doing.”
The local firms are closely held, with the recent exception of Protech. PAS is managed by Martino’s stepson, Tom Briggs, and son-in-law, Keith Porter. Lenco was founded by Leonard I. Light in 1981 and now is run by his son, Len. Another son, Christopher, started Armored Solutions in 1999.
The armor companies have come to the fore following the Sept. II terrorist attacks and the rush to better arm troops and vehicles engaged mainly in Iraq.
Protech has ramped up production after receiving multimillion-dollar Pentagon orders under the Small Arms Protective Insert program. Meanwhile, Lenco is experiencing “incredible” growth in demand for its armored vehicles, according to Len Light.
PAS just completed an order for 13,000 Humvee side window sets. The 42-pound, multilayered glass and polymer laminate barriers are installed as kits on the workhorse military transport, which requires four per vehicle. The company also has shipped 125 Humvee windshield sections weighing 260 pounds each. Last week, it landed a contract to provide gunner windows for five-ton Army transports.
On Thursday, Pignatelli shared a letter from Army Sgt. Michael D. Brown, who credited the reinforced Humvee windshield for saving his life on patrol in Iraq.
“We got a letter from a soldier who attributes this glass for saving his life,” he said. “What’s so special is it’s happening right here in Berkshire County.”
Martino led the politicians and several others through PAS’s 30,000-square-footplant, pointing out machinery such as a high-pressure water jet used for cutting glass, ovens for shaping it, and a pair of cylindrical autoclaves, where glass and laminates are melded by heat and pressure.
As employees gathered around, Pignatelli and Teah Quinn, representing state Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo, presented the company with citations from the state House and Senate.
