Morgan AM&T growth tied to military needs

Kessel Construction of Bradford is the general contractor for a project that will add 18,000 square feet to the Morgan AM&T plant near Coudersport. The company's history in Potter County dates back nearly 50 years. Groundbreaking was held by the Coudersport Chamber of Commerce on the Norman Leete farm in November 1957 for the Pure Carbon plant. Morgan AM&T was formed in 1995 after the acquisition of Pure Carbon by Morgan Crucible.

Changes in international politics have had a ripple effect on one major employer in Coudersport and St. Marys.

Morgan AM&T, the former Pure Carbon Company, has benefited from the stepped up demand by the U.S. and British militaries for production of ceramic inserts for body armor. Each nation has also contracted for stronger vehicle and aircraft armor.

Morgan AM&T, based in England, was already manufacturing breast and back plates when the terrorists' attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed the nature of international politics and boosted demand for security products.

Entry of U.S. forces into Iraq and Afghanistan generated additional contracts. Side plates were added to the manufacturing process at Morgan in 2005.

Plates that are made in St. Marys and Coudersport are added to vests manufactured by ArmorWorks Inc. in Phoenix, Ariz., under military contracts.

The plates can stop armorpiercing bullets traveling at 3,000 feet per second. The equipment also deadens impact compression, which has been a leading cause of military personnel death and injury.

Vehicle and aircraft armor has been in high demand, as well, due to encounters with "improvised explosive devices," or roadside bombs, and ground-based attacks on aircraft, particularly in Iraq.

Morgan AM&T recently obtained a $1 million research and development grant for improved armor materials by the U.S. Army.

Construction continues on a new 18,000-square-foot wing that will open later this year on the west end of the Morgan AM&T plant along U.S. Rt. 6, east of Coudersport. Work commenced just after the employees' union ratified a new three-year labor agreement.

Company officials are reluctant to forecast how many new jobs will be created by the expansion. That's because Morgan AM&T is in transition, with carbon manufacturing work being exported to Mexico.

As Morgan's traditional carbon product line is phased out, the Coudersport plant is seen as a valuable component of parent company Morgan Crucible's new operations.