Rich de Heras is president of Armand. His father started
the company in Southern California and originally made
covers for various household appliances, garment and shoe
bags and patio furniture. The last consumer retail item
Armand manufactured, de Heras says, was a swamp cooler
cover for Sears. Production was stopped in 1991. "We
have been slowly moving out of retail,'' de Heras says.
"Commercial and industrial products are what we make
now.'' The new line includes such items as: vinyl tool pouches;
document, price tag and shop travelers' holders; medical
bags; protective covers
and various covers for specialty items. Armand also makes
static safe cushion bags for Hewlett Packard, static safe
bags for TRW, dental product holders for 3M, badge holders
for NASCAR, equipment covers for Pratt and Whitney and
product holders for Rockwell. In all, de Heras says Armand does business with approximately
400 companies nationally and on a limited foreign basis.
"Some are billion-dollar corporations, but the public
wouldn't know about them,'' de Heras says. "We make
several thousand items.'' Unlike some companies Armand's size, de Heras says he's
willing to do small orders - even some for as little as
$100. His theory is that a lot of small orders can easily
add up to a big payday, which is a lot more productive
than chasing a few large orders. "We are in a business
where you have to be a fighter and scrapper',' de Heras
says. "We thrive on diversity and the challenge of
using your head and thinking.'' This "can-do'' attitude is something de Heras says
he inherited from his father. Back during this nation's
race to the moon, NASA asked Armand to design a clean
room for transporting Douglas Aircraft equipment from
Los Angeles to Cape Canaveral, Fla. Constructing a huge
plastic tent on a barge and running it through the Panama
Canal solved the problem. Besides producing vinyl and
polyethylene bags and covers, Armand is also capable of
doing RF sealing, heat sealing, imprinting, die cutting
and sewing. The company even makes racing engine covers
for Toyota, Honda and Ford. For more information, contact: Armand Manufacturing Inc.,
2399 Silver Wolf Drive, Henderson, NV. 89015-4431. Phone:
(702) 565-7500. FAX: (702) 565-3838. Web
Site: www.armandmfg.com
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