Auburn Manufacturing produces industrial fabrics for extreme temperatures. Right now, its global market is heating up.

MECHANIC FALLS – In business, it’s always wise to take a broad view. And if that view spans the globe, all the better.

That’s what Kathie Leonard has found as her business, Auburn Manufacturing Inc., is riding high right now, buoyed by a strong energy industry and a weak U.S. dollar.

“For us, this has been a good thing,” said Leonard, as she toured the floor of her facility where high-tech, heat-resistant textiles roll off dozens of clacking looms. Five of the 41 looms are new, added to increase AMI’s capacity to keep pace with its growing orders. “The fact is, the weak U.S. dollar has really helped U.S. manufacturers.”

At AMI, exports have doubled in one year, going from 15 percent of the company’s sales to 30 percent. Customers from Australia, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Brazil are among the international customers that have found a use for the customized industrial fabrics.

Many of those customers are oil refineries.

“Oil companies have been doing a lot of maintenance and expanding operations,” Leonard said. “With oil prices going from $20 a barrel not so long ago to $90 plus, they can justify doing that kind of maintenance.”

The makers of power generators, ships and pollution-control devices aren’t far behind, three other industries that use AMI products. The fabrics are used as drapes to encapsulate a work area where materials are welded, ground or chipped, to protect adjacent areas from high heat – from 225 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The fabrics are also used in safety clothing and in industrial linings to prevent the transfer of heat.

Although the company’s R&D department has created dozens of products, at the heart of each is fiberglass.

The fiberglass is spun into a yarn that is combined with other materials on the looms to create specialty fabrics. Those fabrics are then transported to AMI’s Auburn facility on Kittyhawk Drive for finishing.

The textiles are treated – by coating or chemically changing the materials – for specific purposes: fire protection gear, heat protection or energy-saving fabrics. For instance, Kevlar can be added for strength; carbon for its heat-shedding qualities. The finished fabrics are renown for their strength, insulating and heat-resistant abilities, said Leonard, who, in the interest of disclosure, is a member of the board of directors for the Sun Journal.

“We took inventory and we’ve developed almost 25 fabrics over the past five years,” she said. “So we created a brochure to introduce these products to the marketplace. It takes about two years for something new to catch on, and we’re just beginning to see momentum on some of our newer products.”

By adding the new looms, AMI is well positioned to handle the increase in business. Skip Mattox, vice president of manufacturing, said the looms increase the company’s production capacity by a 50 percent minimum, and, in some cases, more than double the output of individual looms.

“Weaving can become the bottleneck very fast,” he said. “This market is so competitive, a customer will go down the street if you can’t fill an order quickly.”

Last year, AMI had its best year ever in terms of sales, said Leonard. Although she declined to reveal numbers, she said the company enjoyed double-digit increases.

And the future looks good. Leonard said her business forecasts show increasing sales and more exports over the next two to three years. The new looms bring the Walker Road facility to capacity, and she’s considering consolidating the two operations (a total of 75,000 square feet) into one location. The company just hired five new employees, bringing total staff to nearly 50.

“We’re not labor-intensive, we’re capital-intensive,” said Leonard, which has helped the company withstand global competitors. “If labor is 25 percent or more of your costs, you’re vulnerable to imports.”

Leonard said the uptick in business isn’t all attributable to new international customers. Several former domestic customers who left to do business with overseas competitors have returned to Auburn Manufacturing.

“We’re vertically integrated, so that gives us a lot of control over quality,” Mattox said. The company is ISO 9001 certified, ensuring quality standards. AMI also uses all domestic suppliers, so it is certified to bid on federal Department of Defense projects as a U.S.-based company.

And despite being 100 percent woman-owned since Leonard bought out her partner in 2000, it hasn’t been a distinction she has used to get minority-weighted government contracts.

“I never felt it was needed,” she said. “We’re just as competitive as anyone.”