Mitek Corp. Gives the AWWT Bus a Big Texas Welcome
By Sage Chandler
Mitek Corporation employs 2,500 people worldwide, and ships its products to 100 countries. Ennis, Texas is home to nearly 200 of those employees involved in the design and manufacture of some amazing consumer electronics products. As I arrived, I was greeted by Loyd Ivey, founder, chairman and CEO of Mitek. At his side was Russell Thomas, Mayor of Ennis and its 20,000 citizens, and Steve Howerton, the City Manager.I also met the Mitek team responsible for all the on-ground preparation for our event: Eileen Prather, Paul Schleipher, David Ewing and Bruce Marlin.
Congressman Joe Barton is greeted by Loyd Ivey
Our event started off with a warm welcome by Loyd, who set the background of Mitek’s place in the world of international trade, and the challenges that we are facing today, both with lawmakers and public perception alike.
An extremely well organized and informative tour of the facility was next. For nearly two hours we watched Mitek employees using their expertise – soldering, cutting and assembling. The Mitek manufacturing facility ran like a well -oiled machine. We saw intercom systems with the ability to link into police stations – technology also being utilized in school systems across America and the world. We saw speakers encased in blast-proof thick metal casing – product used in high risk areas such as oil rigs – so that if a spark is created by the speaker, its threat of external combustion is completely contained.
Shown (from left to right): CEA Senior Director for International Trade, Sage Chandler; Mayor of Ennis, Russell Thomas; and Joel Wheeler of Ford Audio Visual.
We saw a huge metal dye-cutting machine where a surprise awaited us, dye-cut CEA “freetrade4.me” metal license plates! Later I would find that the “Freetrade4.me” is actually a URL purchased by Loyd Ivey as a gift to CEA!
When the tour wrapped up, we went outside to discover nearly all of Mitek’s employees gathered in the sweltering heat around the bus. Loyd made brief remarks and introduced Mayor Thomas, who spoke about the need for the town of Ennis to be a player in the global landscape. He noted how a small Texas town, like Ennis, was so highly reliant on global trade. He referred to the unfairness that comes when a country like Colombia can access the American market duty free, yet our companies must pay high tariffs to put our products there. The Colombia Trade Agreement would take care of that – but only if Congress will end nearly two years of delay and vote on the agreement.
Mitek’s Employees showed us a warm Texas-sized welcome.
In my remarks I noted that Texas and its high-tech industry contributes nearly $23 BILLION to U.S. economic activity and that 1.2 million jobs rely on the consumer electronics industry in Texas alone. These numbers are staggering. And, these numbers tell a story that Mitek workers know best. Their products, assembled in Ennis, are heading around the globe thanks to free trade. Together we are working to tell this story and to be heard. Our jobs and our futures depend on it.
And maybe, fueled on by the amazing Texas barbeque that followed our event, our voices will grow loud enough to carry to Capitol Hill.
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