SL Enterprise Article

2 Utah Focus, December 2011

DISCOVER YOUR FUTURE WITH

L-3 COMMUNICATIONS

What does it mean to discover your future at L-3? It means working on challenging assignments with some of the most sophisticated communication systems in the world. Since 1956, L-3 Communications has been one of the premier defense companies in Utah. Isn’t it time you found yourself here?

www.L-3com.com/csw

Design the next generation of communication devices

for manned and unmanned air and ground terminals.

Create leading edge surveillance and reconnaissance equipment that enable the military to monitor enemy

movements in real-time.

Use L-3’s state-of-the-art testing facilities to ensure

that the products we provide our soldiers will stand up to the

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International Armoringvehicles protect peopleacross the globe

In addition to a new manufacturing plant in Centerville, IAC has manufacturing facilities in the U.K., South Africa, Philippines and Hong Kong.

How much is the worth of a human life? It’s a question Mark Burton asks him-self often. As founder and CEO of Centerville-based International Armoring Corp. (IAC), Burton takes tremendous pride knowing that vehicles his company secures with its patented, lightweight ballistic armoring materials have saved the lives of nearly 500 people worldwide since the company was founded in 1993. “One of the greatest satisfactions is that we make a difference,” said Burton, a San Antonio native who graduated in accounting at Brigham Young University but who has always had an entrepreneurial spirit for business ventures. Burton moved to Utah 20 years ago and has done a bit of everything in his professional career, from being an area developer for Schlotzsky’s restaurants to doing real estate develop-ment, owning hotels, apartment complex-es, and a commercial printing company. For the past 18 years he’s invested all of his energy and talent into building the saf-est armored vehicles on the planet – more than 7,000 to date. “Anybody can do real estate develop-ment,” Burton said. “What I do now might be considered ‘sexy,’ but it really makes a difference in people’s lives. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing that we have saved almost 500 lives with the prod-ucts we’ve developed and manufactured.” Most of IAC’s clients — Burton said 99 percent — live outside the United States in volatile countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and the Philippines. They include politically powerful and wealthy individuals, including heads of state, elected country leaders, corporate executives and celebrities — anyone who might be subject to kidnapping, hijacking or other violent activities. One recent client, a businessman and his family, survived an enemy attack in the

suburb of Bedfordview in South Africa. They were returning from a Sunday out-ing, pulled into their driveway and were immediately surrounded by armed assail-ants who had been following them. Two shots were fired point blank directly at the man’s head and struck the windscreen. He reversed out of the driveway and was able to drive to safety. “We are experiencing a marked increase in attacks,” said Grant Anderson, managing director for Armormax, a divi-sion of IAC in Johannesburg, South Africa. “This case gives a chilling insight into the minds of hijackers who were prepared to gun down a father in front of his wife and two young children. We are seeing an increasing number of clients who have made the decision that although South Africa is a fantastic country, the reality is that violent crime is an issue, and two cru-cial areas — their homes and vehicles — need to be able to withstand an attack. We’ve had four attacks on our clients in the past three months. Our vehicles pro-vide total security in an area that was once the most vulnerable.” Incidents like that drive Burton and his staff of 300 employees worldwide to continually refine products to ensure they are able to withstand such violent out-bursts. “It makes you want to ensure you’re maintaining a high level of quality control of the systems you’ve put in place; it becomes and even greater responsibility,” said Burton. “That man is home with his wife and daughter. What more can you say about that? He wouldn’t have bought an armored car in the first place if it weren’t for us. Now, his wife won’t go out of the house without being in one of our secured cars.” During his global travels Burton has

see ARMORING next page

Utah Focus, December 2011 3

experienced first-hand some of the dangers that are present internationally. He escaped an attempted kidnapping in Europe six years ago and on two occasions in Mexico had a gun held to his head. “It sounds like stuff out of a Tom Clancy novel,” he said. “The fact is, it hap-pens in these countries. People [in the U.S.] don’t realize what goes on out there. Hopefully I’m smarter and don’t get into those positions anymore. I’ve never been shot at, but I know people who are our clients that have been shot and held for ransom abroad.” One famous client is Philippine boxer Manny Pacquiao, who Burton said is a “great man” and universally loved in his country. He has another long-time billion-aire client in Mexico who has purchased multiple vehicles for his immediate and extended family members since there is always a threat of a relative being taken hostage. “You can’t put a value on somebody’s life,” said Burton. “My billionaire client in Mexico, does he stop [protecting] his in-laws, nieces, cousins? We were able to design a package that met their cost needs; it makes me want to come up with new ways and approaches to the challenges of the safety and security industry.”

Worldwide Production Capabilities IAC started production in November in its newly leased 30,000 square foot facility in Centerville and will shut down its Ogden plant at the end of this year, as soon as it’s done fulfilling contracts. The company also has manufacturing locations in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the Philippines and Hong Kong, and has plans on opening facilities in West Africa and Mexico in the first quarter of 2012. IAC previously had operations in Mexico from 1995 to 2002. These facilities range in size from 20,000 to 40,000 square feet. Burton said the Centerville facility, which employs 50

of the company’s 300 employees, manu-factures all production kits for the other worldwide plants, which helps ensure quality control and consistency, and will produce between 150 and 200 vehicles annually. IAC will produce close to 1,000 cars this year at a cost ranging from $40,000 to $100,000 per vehicle. The most cars ever produced in one calendar year was 1,700 in 2005, during the height of the Iraq War. Burton is optimistic that 2012 will be

a good year. He recently finalized a con-tract for 750 units and got another order from a foreign government for 160 cars, which he hopes to finalize in December. “We have orders for over 900 cars so it looks like we’ll have that on the books for 2012,” he said. Even though IAC already has many loyal clients who are repeat customers, the firm is aggressively marketing through the Internet and attends as many industry trade shows as possible. The company also makes sales calls when

necessary and benefits from word-of-mouth advertising “We go once a year to [U.S.] embas-sies and visit consulates in countries that are prone to [terroristic attacks],” Burton said. “Word-of-mouth is huge for us. We’re not sitting back, but if we closed all our foreign facilities we could survive for five years just on our reputation, but that’s not what we’re about. If we’re going to grow and maintain [market share], we have to aggressively go after it.” IAC can armor virtually any kind of vehicle, although it usually modifies high-er-end, luxury-type SUV models including the Lexus LX 570, Chevrolet Suburbans and Tahoes, Toyota Land Cruisers and various models from Mercedes Benz and BMW. “We also do some smaller types of cars like a [Chevy] Malibu for security companies, who in these foreign countries are more like police forces,” Burton said. “In foreign countries where the police are inefficient, you would call a security com-pany in the event of an attack.”

ARMORINGfrom previous page

An armored Mercedes is typical of the types of vehicles produced by IAC. IAC will produce close to 1,000 cars this year at a cost ranging from $40,000 to $100,000 per vehicle.

International Armoring Corp. goes through an extensive process when it transforms a standard vehicle into one that is secure and virtually bulletproof. Here is a look at the various aspects of the process. •Armormax. Armormax is a light-weight ballistic armoring material that IAC claims is the lightest opaque armor in the industry. It reduces added weight on a vehicle by up to 60 percent over traditional steel armoring material. Armormax is comprised of a combina-tion of synthetic fibers; its composite technology is reportedly 10 times stron-ger than ballistic steel, pound for pound. • Transparent Armor (Glass). Referred to as Lightweight Transparent Armor (LTA), it’s the material used for armoring glass in all IAC vehicles. LTA glass provides a superior level of protec-tion against the most volatile security

concerns, including random acts of street violence. LTA consists of composites of glass and polycarbonate substrates lami-nated with inter-layers. It absorbs the energy and penetration from various bal-listic threats through a process known as “controlled de-lamination.” The inner layer of polycarbonate is used to prevent spalling (fragment release – bullet, jacket or glass) upon ballistic impact. •ElitusOverlapSystem. This con-cealed molded armoring process pro-vides an added level of ballistic protec-tion in vulnerable (weak) areas in the passenger compartment – particularly door openings and around windows. •RunFlatTires. Existing tires can be modified with Run Flat tire inserts. It allows a vehicle to travel up to 60 miles at 60 miles per hour (depending on road conditions) on deflated tires. The insert is composed of a ballistic rubberized

plastic “roller” ring that is designed, molded and installed inside each tire around the rim. Once tires are deflated, the solid rubber ring acts as a backup tire, becoming an airless spare within the tire. •Suspension.The suspension of the vehicle (including shocks, springs and/or sway bars), along with the brakes, should also be modified when a vehicle is armored. •Bumpers, Dual Ram Bumpers can be added to a client’s armored vehicle and are concealed behind both front and rear bumpers. This option allows each vehicle to ram its way out of a dangerous situation without causing damage to the vehicle that would render it inoperable. This modification prevents corners of the vehicle from being rammed into the tires. •FuelTankandFloorProtection.

IAC protects the floor of the vehicle with a multi-layered ballistic nylon armor that is designed to absorb bomb frag-ments. The armor is concealed under the carpet and seats of the vehicle, maintain-ing the original appearance. Armor is also placed around the fuel tank to make it anti-explosive. •ThirdHingeDoorSupport. Third Hinge Door Support is added to level B7 armored vehicles, and whenever possible in others. A complete door structure is modified to support any weight added by the armor material, including reinforce-ment of pillar posts and hinges. •WeldFree. Weld Free is an inde-pendently certified method (certified by Maryland-based H.P. White Laboratories) used to mount ballistic steel into vehicles without eliminating the ballistic integrity of the vehicle.

Insight into IAC’s manufacturing process

“It sounds like stuff out of a Tom Clancy novel, The fact is, it happens in these countries. People

[in the U.S.] don’t realize what goes on out there. Hopefully I’m smarter and don’t get into

those positions anymore. I’ve never been shot at, but I know people who are our clients that have

been shot and held for ransom abroad.”