AGM Container Controls, Inc.

DLA Award

AGM Container Controls was recently honored by DLA Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio, as one of the government’s best suppliers at an award ceremony held June 13, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Columbus, Ohio.

This recognition means that AGM has supplied a product the government can be confident in using. Companies that qualify as Automated Best Value System (ABVS) award winners have met the stringent quality and delivery requirements established by the Defense Logistics Agency. The ABVS, a computerized system, collects a supplier’s past performance data and translates it into a numeric score, ranging from 0 to 100. AGM supplies environmental control hardware for the Department of Defense and other agencies.

To be eligible, suppliers must have shipped 50 or more contract line items during a 12-month period. To qualify for a Gold Award, a contractor must have a perfect score of 100. A score of 99 to 99.99 earns a Silver Award, and 98 to 98.9 earns a Bronze Award.

DLA Land and Maritime, formerly known as Defense Supply Center Columbus, is known to more than 25,000 military and civilian customers. DLA Land and Maritime, field activity of DLA, which has its headquarters in Fort Belvoir, VA, teams with more than 6,000 suppliers of Land and Maritime weapon systems parts. More than 7 million orders are processed annually and sales are about $5 billion per year.

Helping Tucson One Pint At a Time

Tucson manufacturer AGM Container Controls partnered with neighbor Mintec to hold their biannual American Red Cross Blood Drive this past July 2012.

Alternating between an AGM-led and a Mintec-led blood drive, AGM has been conducting blood drives every year since 2005 after AGM President Howard N. Stewart heard about the immense need for blood after Hurricane Katrina. Before this time, AGM employees simply participated in Mintec’s blood drive in memory of former Mintec employee Jim Bulitta, who passed away following a heart surgery in 2000.

In the most recent blood drive, 39 AGM and Mintec employees donated blood. This represented a record for both companies. In addition, the American Red Cross collected 31 productive units. The next blood drive hosted by AGM will be in January or February 2013.

Three out of every 100 people in the United States donate blood, with one pint of blood potentially saving up to three lives. Currently, the Arizona Chapter of the American Red Cross announced that their blood supply had reached emergency levels, leaving the Red Cross with half the of amount of blood needed to fulfill patient needs.

To learn more about blood donation or volunteer opportunities, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 1 800-RED-CROSS.

Obstacles in Growing Tucson Businesses

Recently, a list of the most business-friendly cities was published by major online news outlets. What was missing from that list? Tucson, Arizona. Or any city in Arizona, for that matter.

In a recent interview with KGUN9 News, Howard Stewart, President of AGM Container Controls, discussed Tucson’s unfriendly business environment, citing that some regulations are so extreme that businesses prefer to bypass Tucson altogether and expand elsewhere.

“It’s actually so complex. A good example is the last building that we put up. An architect who should be familiar with all these processes—you would think—made a $10,000 error when they were working with the City,” stated Stewart. He added that it was AGM and not the City that paid for this mistake. Stewart continued by stating that “That’s $10,000 that instead I could be putting into equipment that would help employ more people.”

Stewart, like other company Presidents and CEOs, thinks that business growth in Tucson will come from local companies that want to expand within Tucson, rather than growth coming from outside companies trying to open a facility here.

Today, AGM employs about 110 people. Stewart said that growing his business will come sooner rather than later if the City revises its building code and cuts developer fees.

“It’s key to keep people employed. Our company is very fortunate. We’ve been able to have a 20-year streak of no layoffs,” said Stewart.

To help local businesses deal with the wide array of rules and regulations in the City of Tucson, the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce created the BEAR (Business Expansion and Retention) Program in 2011. This program’s intent is to collect information from over 500 Tucson businesses in an effort to help identify obstacles that are standing in the way of business owners to grow.