Morgan AM&T celebrates

The gradual transition from Pure Carbon Company to Morgan AM&T was completed recently with an employee picnic and unveiling of a new logo at the Coudersport plant. Morgan officials thanked the approximately 400 employees for their dedication and expressed optimism about the company's future.

About 400 employees at the Morgan AM&T plant in Coudersport recently celebrated the company's completion of its U.S. transition with a luncheon and ribboncutting ceremony.

Morgan Advanced Materials & Technology has brought all of its U.S. carbon companies and other operations under the Morgan AM&T moniker, complete with a new logo.

Recently, a U.S. Senate committee approved $2 million for Morgan AM&T in Coudersport and St. Marys to develop improved body armor for the military. The funds are part of the fiscal year 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill.

Morgan, based in England, has benefited from the steppedup 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 was already manufacturing breast and back plates when the 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. After work on the raw materials is completed in St. Marys, the forming, firing and fitting is done in Coudersport.

Vehicle and aircraft armor has also been in high demand, due to encounters with improvised explosive devices and ground-based attacks on aircraft, particularly in Iraq.

Morgan has added an 18,000-square-foot wing on the west end of the former Pure Carbon Company plant along U.S. Rt. 6, east of Coudersport.

It is not known how many new jobs will be created by the expansion. Morgan 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 switching to armor production.

Some carbon employees have been switched to the armor production and more than 40 jobs have been added so far.