Manufacturer of advanced materials moving HQ to Reno

Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies LLC, a California manufacturer of advanced materials for defense and commercial applications, is moving its headquarters and a portion of its manufacturing operation to Reno.

The company will move from Granite Bay in northern California to a 32,000-square-foot facility it leased at 300 Sierra Manor Drive in south Reno.

AM2T initially will employ about six people at the Reno facility and projects its staff will grow to 20-25 people by the end of 2011, said Henry Meeks, its executive director and managing member.

The Reno facility will include headquarters, sales, marketing, metallurgical analysis and light manufacturing, Meeks said. Heavy manufacturing operations will remain in California.

AM2T creates engineered advanced materials through nanophase alloys, development of metal matrix composites and novel manufacturing techniques.

It's also focused on creation of materials that don't require use of toxic or hazardous metals such as beryllium and depleted uranium for defense applications.

About 70 percent of its revenues are generated by commercial applications and the other 30 percent represent Department of Defense contracts.

Meeks has worked more than 35 years in the fields of metallurgy and metals science, accumulating 10 issued patents in the process.

He said the company has been considering a move to Reno for about four years because of the attractive business climate in Nevada as well as the ease of access to investors, university researchers and community leaders.

But the company's interest was spurred after a meeting a year ago with representatives of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada "They are a fabulous group," Meeks said and EDAWN opened doors in the community to AM2T.

"The community support is fabulous," Meeks said. "I've never experienced anything like it."

And he was all the happier after leasing its south Reno building from Luciano Properties.

"It's a beautiful building. It gives the impression that we want the company to have," Meeks said.

An EDAWN analysis based on the creation of at least 20 jobs by AM2T, and an average pay of $19 an hour, estimates the company's first-year economic impact on the region will total $4.4 million.

Mike McCabe of Colliers International in Reno represented both AM2T and Luciano Properties.