AMTI grows tech business with solid foundation in city

One of the fastest-growing manufacturers in the country has planted its roots deeper in Lynchburg, and it’s bearing fruit.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology Inc. this year ranked on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the country, and in the top 50 for manufacturers.

Just a few weeks later, it bought the Lynchburg building that has been its home for seven years, and it is about to welcome a second group into a program that teaches local people how to build high-tech devices.

“We’re on a much bigger scale than we were in the past,” said Larry Hatch, president and chief executive officer.

AMTI is meeting the goals he and his business partners set out seven years ago. “We said that we wanted to put our roots in Lynchburg. … I would create a vibrant local company and it would be growing, self-perpetuating.”

Marjette Upshur, the city’s economic development director, said the city is glad to have AMTI here. “It’s a great thing that they had faith in Lynchburg … and it’s a great thing that Lynchburg had faith in them,” she said.

Hatch started AMTI in 2003, when the cell phone manufacturer Ericsson was phasing out its operations in Lynchburg. He thought he could build a company with the talents of other former Ericsson employees.

AMTI helps inventors develop their ideas into sellable products. Its portfolio includes a frequency jammer that disables improvised explosive devices and a sensor that sniffs out harmful chemicals in the air. It now has 65 employees in Lynchburg and about 12 in Maryland.

In 2005, Hatch asked the Lynchburg Economic Development Authority to buy the building that AMTI was renting in the Lynchburg Center for Industry off Graves Mill Road. The building was in foreclosure, Upshur said.

Hatch agreed to rent the building for five years and then buy it for the amount outstanding on the EDA’s loan. The EDA bought the building for $1.8 million in 2005. AMTI bought it in September for $1.3 million.

“AMTI probably wouldn’t be here … if it wasn’t for the EDA stepping in and providing that support,” Hatch said.

The EDA’s help is one example of why Lynchburg is fertile soil for a startup business. People in the city, the Region 2000 Partnership and state agencies “connect the dots” for business owners, Hatch said.

Massie Ware, chairman of the EDA board, said AMTI is one of the EDA’s success stories. “They’ve just really taken off.”

Inc. Magazine this year ranked AMTI No. 1,754 overall, and No. 33 in manufacturing, on its Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest- growing private companies.

According to Inc.’s list, AMTI’s revenue grew from $1.8 million in 2006 to $4.7 million in 2009.

AMTI’s growth comes from an increased partnership with Avir Sensors, the inventor that AMTI helped build ChemSight, a sensor that identifies harmful chemicals in the air. Also, AMTI gained another revenue stream and a global customer base last year when it bought Microwave Systems, a Lynchburg company that builds radio frequency filters.

In the future, AMTI will work on inventions of its own, creating more opportunities to sell products. “That will set the stage for the next growth spurt of AMTI,” Hatch said.

The company is training new employees to be ready for that growth spurt. Hatch wants to teach people without manufacturing experience everything about the job, from soldering circuit boards to managing inventory and executing production schedules.

Tracey Maddox, a 2007 Heritage High School graduate whose mother works at AMTI, is one of several people who entered the apprenticeship program a year ago. She said it is good to be 21 and already have a secure job.

Hatch said four new people will start in the program in October.

The apprenticeship jobs pay more than minimum wage, but the real goal is to get people through school and prepared for high-paying jobs down the road, Hatch said. “What I’m trying to do is accelerate the experience.”