says Marshall. Historically, the core businesses that make up MRS have revolved around fire-fighting equipment, special operations, warfare, and personal protective equipment with a focus on personal body armour. However, more recently, MRS also added a wider PPE offering to its portfolio in response to the Covid-19 pandemic as a demonstration of the company’s reactive capabilities. “Our typical customer base is focused on the US government but also state and local governments, owing to the fact that we have intimate knowledge of government contracting,” he adds.
Joining him in the conversation is the CTO of Unifire, Inc., MRS wholly-owned subsidiary, Francisco Martinez, who jumps in to add that the business operates under their motto ‘one company, one team, one direction’ despite being a microcosm of smaller businesses, namely Unifire, Advanced Tech Rescue, Protect the Force Manufacturing, and Protect the Force (PTF). The motto reflects that ensuring a common objective is key to the success of each company under the MRS umbrella. “Of course, each business is essential. PTF for example, enables the research and development as well as the manufacturing of a number of ground-breaking products, while Unifire, on the other hand, provides the sales and services for the government. PTF has a number of intellectual property efforts where we have established key items, one of them being the ballistic combat shirt, and these are items that are ground-breaking and items that will transfer into the first community or enforcement type of industry,” says Martinez.
Skip Church, Unifire and PTF’s President, continues to share more about the business’s manufacturing capabilities and the infrastructure it takes to make these items possible. “Currently we own approximately 40,000-square-feet divided between our two locations. Unifire can be found in Spokane, Washington, and PTF in Jacksboro, Tennessee. Complementing this, we rely heavily on our partner vendors as well. We have a nationwide group of manufacturers that we join forces with to give us great flexibility, and our ability to ramp up and produce a large variation of products.
“Internally, we have been investing in upgrading our manufacturing abilities to remain ahead of the curve and accordingly, we have installed crucial software to assist with our operations. We’re utilising the latest computer design software, system pattern making, and we have automated digitizers and nesting software to help us gain higher efficiency in our manufacturing. All that, combined with our machinery and software packages, enables us to save money and deliver quality products to our end customers,” shares Church.