(Sept. 1, 2016) With an increased threat of violence comes an increased need for protection, and Pocomoke City armor manufacturer Hardwire LLC is focused on meeting that need, while also supporting other local businesses.
“Right now we’re filling the demand, and we can scale the way we’re scaling because of the growing demand. It’s good to see more and more armor in the system, because it used to be guns,” George Tunis, founder of Hardwire, said. “We went for a while there when it was only guns.”
Hardwire makes a variety of armor, but after several ambush-style shootings of police officers while in their patrol cars, Tunis said Hardwire began developing armor for those vehicles.
The company landed contracts with several police agencies, including the New York Police Department, for armor plating to reinforce patrol vehicle doors. Those doors, and the armor plating, need to be painted so they will match the rest of the vehicle, and must conform to the guidelines specific to the police agency in many regards, including color.
“I love the juxtaposition,” Tunis said. “Thousands of car doors are being painted in Snow Hill because the armor is being made here.”
Hardwire has subcontracted all of the paint jobs to Snow Hill Auto Body, just north of the U.S. 113/Business 113 split.
Tunis said he’d seen the shop every morning since it opened on his commute from West Ocean City to the office in Pocomoke City, never thinking he’d eventually be in business with them.
“People thought we were crazy when we opened here,” John Fiscus, manager of Snow Hill Auto Body said.
The body shop is affiliated with the Preston Automotive Group, and is tied in to the Pittsville Ford dealership, Fiscus said.
Currently, after hiring two new employees to help manage the workload, the staff of 18 paints 100 doors per night to order.
The armored doors are delivered in batches of 600, and delivered on pallets, Fiscus said. The doors need to be unwrapped from their shipping materials, sanded and cleaned before being painted to the receiving police department’s specifications. The doors are placed on custom racks developed by Hardwire, painted and allowed to dry overnight.
From there they are prepared for shipping and sent along their way.
“We want to go up to 200 doors per night, in which case we’ll need another two or three people,” Fiscus said. “The paint jobs account for about 10 percent of our business at the shop.”
Tunis said he was impressed with the operation at Snow Hill Auto Body.
“They have a relatively small staff, and are very professional. The prototypes of what became these armored car doors were all done there,” he said.
The increasing demand, and the local connection, has had benefits for Hardwire and Worcester’s communities alike.
“We put armor in Seacrets after the Orlando shooting. We’re doing more business with more restaurants, and we’re trying to make Ocean City one of the safest places in the world,” Tunis said. “Folks understand the value of our products. The schools understand the value. Shorebirds Stadium understands the value — they’re the first stadium in the country protected by our armor — as you see all this happen you’ll see us continue to grow.”
But this line of thinking does have its drawbacks in that dwells on the what-ifs of attacks on people’s lives.
“We love living here because it helps us decompress after we spend all day thinking about the things we’re thinking about,” he said.
“Right now we’re filling the demand, and we can scale the way we’re scaling because of the growing demand. It’s good to see more and more armor in the system, because it used to be guns,” George Tunis, founder of Hardwire, said. “We went for a while there when it was only guns.”
Hardwire makes a variety of armor, but after several ambush-style shootings of police officers while in their patrol cars, Tunis said Hardwire began developing armor for those vehicles.
The company landed contracts with several police agencies, including the New York Police Department, for armor plating to reinforce patrol vehicle doors. Those doors, and the armor plating, need to be painted so they will match the rest of the vehicle, and must conform to the guidelines specific to the police agency in many regards, including color.
“I love the juxtaposition,” Tunis said. “Thousands of car doors are being painted in Snow Hill because the armor is being made here.”
Hardwire has subcontracted all of the paint jobs to Snow Hill Auto Body, just north of the U.S. 113/Business 113 split.
Tunis said he’d seen the shop every morning since it opened on his commute from West Ocean City to the office in Pocomoke City, never thinking he’d eventually be in business with them.
“People thought we were crazy when we opened here,” John Fiscus, manager of Snow Hill Auto Body said.
The body shop is affiliated with the Preston Automotive Group, and is tied in to the Pittsville Ford dealership, Fiscus said.
Currently, after hiring two new employees to help manage the workload, the staff of 18 paints 100 doors per night to order.
The armored doors are delivered in batches of 600, and delivered on pallets, Fiscus said. The doors need to be unwrapped from their shipping materials, sanded and cleaned before being painted to the receiving police department’s specifications. The doors are placed on custom racks developed by Hardwire, painted and allowed to dry overnight.
From there they are prepared for shipping and sent along their way.
“We want to go up to 200 doors per night, in which case we’ll need another two or three people,” Fiscus said. “The paint jobs account for about 10 percent of our business at the shop.”
Tunis said he was impressed with the operation at Snow Hill Auto Body.
“They have a relatively small staff, and are very professional. The prototypes of what became these armored car doors were all done there,” he said.
The increasing demand, and the local connection, has had benefits for Hardwire and Worcester’s communities alike.
“We put armor in Seacrets after the Orlando shooting. We’re doing more business with more restaurants, and we’re trying to make Ocean City one of the safest places in the world,” Tunis said. “Folks understand the value of our products. The schools understand the value. Shorebirds Stadium understands the value — they’re the first stadium in the country protected by our armor — as you see all this happen you’ll see us continue to grow.”
But this line of thinking does have its drawbacks in that dwells on the what-ifs of attacks on people’s lives.
“We love living here because it helps us decompress after we spend all day thinking about the things we’re thinking about,” he said.