GMA featured on Buerger Katsota Architects 2010 Highlights

An innovative textile application designed in partnership with GMA and Buerger Katsota Architects has been featured on www.buerger-katsota.com/projects/work/ 

This is just one more highlight of GMA thinking outside of the box and positioning ourselves as a true center for innovation and engineering expertise. 

GlassFrog

Transparency.
An indicator of trouble.

Cut the BS!!! (Bureaucratic Stuff)

GlassFrog- launching SOON!!!!!

Happy Holidays from GMA

Seasons greetings from everyone at GMA.  This year, GMA is collecting donation for our local Salvation Army the week of December 13-17.  Happy Holidays!

CHOOSE HAITI

Choose: Haiti is a new initiative that has gone viral. It is a project where people in Haiti collect pieces of litter, newspaper and plastic bottles which the get converted into bracelets by earthquake survivors.  They're made of 100% recycled material, and create jobs in Haiti today while saving the environment for tomorrow.  Keep this cause in mind while you're shopping for stocking stuffers this holiday season. 

Order yours at http://www.blanketamerica.com/content/choose-haiti-bracelet

Shelter Cluster in Haiti! See on googleearth from this link: http://groups.google.com/group/cccmhaiti/web/mapping-and-gis?_done=%2Fgroup%2Fcccmhaiti%3F

Commanders and Transformers Series: True North Strong and Free: What is Canada's role in the Arctic?

Tonight GMA will attend the Commanders and Transformers speakers' series for front line discussions on defence, Canada's role in the Arctic, business, and global impact. 

Presented by The Canadian Forces Liaison Council, ICE Leadership and Canadian International Council Waterloo Region, this interactive speakers series will feature Brigadier-General Collin J.C., OMM, CD (Chief of Staff HQ Canada Command) and Captain (Navy) Serge Bertrand (Director of Maritime Strategic Communications) as they discuss “True North Strong and Free: What is Canada’s Role in the Arctic?” in a dynamic interview with Dr. P. Whitney Lackenbauer (Associate Professor of History, St. Jerome’s University and author of Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North).  This event was featured on David Pugliese's Defence Watch.  

GMA Supports Global Disaster Relief

GMA has essential disaster relief products on standby to assist with relief efforts worldwide.  We are particularly committed to efforts in Haiti and are currently preparing a proposal to work in collaboration with the Canadian government to execute an overarching relief campaign in Haiti.  We are also carefully watching Hurricane Tomas and preparing to provide shelters and portable drinking water systems should we be called on. 

Hurricane Tomas heads for Haiti

Tomas is currently a tropical storm with a probability of intensifying to a Category 1 hurricane as it approaches Haiti.With 1.3 million people living in flimsy tent camps in the capital of Port-au-Prince, and a cholera outbreak in the countryside threatening to spread to the capital, Tomas, even as a mild hurricane, threatens to wreak havoc on a country already devastated by an earthquake in January that killed up to 300,000 people. The government and international organizations are positioning supplies and manpower to respond to Tomas.

GMA is prepared to provide shelters and disaster relief supplies to Haitians should we be called on.  We are committed to assisting in all disaster relief efforts and have our products on standby for this potential crisis.  For more information on disaster relief solutions, including shelter systems and potable water storage tanks, call 888 967 6197. 

Drop Fuel Shade
Drop Fuel Shade

GMA heads to AUSA's Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington DC

GMA will be at the annual AUSA Meeting and Exposition at the Washington Convention Center between October 25-27 where we will be showcasing several new products. Stop by our booth to speak with a representative and learn more about GMA: Booth #842 near Hall A.

Also, look out for GMA and Navistar Defense's prototype designs for MaxxPro, featured in the Navistar Booth #3931.

See you in Washington!

Making parachutes could add 50 jobs

In order to succeed, businesses need to watch for emerging trends.

For Walter Hill and GMA Protection Technologies, that includes keeping an eye on U.S. military tactics. On Sept. 21, the Port Huron-based company won an $8.2 million contract with the U.S. Defense Department to make massive parachutes that will be used to drop supplies to U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The contract will allow the company to hire 25 to 50 new employees for at least two years -- and hopefully longer, company officials said.

GMA will construct 3,000 parachutes that are 65 feet in diameter. Called G-12 parachutes, they can be used for up to three drops. They can deliver up to 3,500 pounds of cargo. Using more than one parachute, the Army also can use them to deliver small vehicles and engineering equipment. This is the second contract GMA has won to manufacture parachutes. Last year, it won a $1 million contract for a type of parachute that has a lifespan of just one drop, Hill said.

Story Featured on The Times Herald,

http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201010020635/NEWS01/10020306

GMA awarded $8.3M G12 Parachute Contract

Press Release: Since 1974, GMA has specialized in providing high technology textile products and components for the Defense Industry: products that perform under pressure and exceed the most stringent quality assurance requirements. Our dedication to quality has been our key differentiator for competing in a global competitive landscape.

"We are a US Small Business with average CAPEX investments per Revenue over 4 times Industry averages. We add automation and bring fresh, innovative ideas to continually improve processes for long standing US build to print products" stated Acting CEO and President, Nicole Verkindt. Our manufacturing expertise is second to none.

Today, GMA is pleased to announce the expansion of its quality offerings to the manufacture of cargo parachutes. Thanks to a dedicated team of world class engineers, manufacturing experts, and aggressive production readiness initiatives, we have received our first contract, valued at $8.3M for the production of G12 Parachutes for Natick.

We are already working diligently to expand our capabilities and see the future of GMA parachutes as being highly focused on Low Velocity Cargo Parachutes and other higher end variants. We have additional manufacturing capacity prepared for the immediate production of additional Parachutes and look forward to competing in this sophisticated market in the future.

GMA Innovates to Create Architectural Application for Textiles

GMA has taken innovation to heart with its new venture into architectural applications for its world class textile products in Greece. GMA engineers pioneered the idea and have been collaborating with Greek developers to see expansion of this new project across the country. Thermal reduction and ventilation are two key attributes of this product, as well as the aesthetic appeal the textile print adds to the building. This unique project demonstrates GMA's ongoing position as a Canadian Center of Excellence dedicated to unique engineering solutions and engineering driven sales.

GMA Visits Battle Creek Oil Spill

GMA spent the day on Thursday, July 29th, in Battle Creek, Michigan, surveying the disaster zone and meeting with Enbridge officials to discuss GMA's oil containment boom technology. GMA's oil booms are made using patented high frequency welding technology and the highest quality technical PVC materials. With our US head office in Port Huron, Michigan, GMA is well positioned to aid in cleanup efforts. With 250 000 square feet of manufacturing capacity, GMA can produce more than 10 000ft of boom per day.

GMA partners with Musthane to Launch New Line of Products

GMA recently signed an international partnership with Musthane that has significantly increased our capacity to manufacture much needed chemical capture and storage equipment for North American use. This strategic agreement combines 65 years of experience in high quality manufacturing processes and technology. With key facilities in Port Huron, Michigan and Ontario, Canada, GMA and Musthane's oil booms and fuel bladders are founded on state-of-the-art, automated production technologies that ensure superior form, fit, durability and function. We are able to design unique specs or match existing ones. Check out our website for more information on AketonFUEL (fuel bladders) and AketonSTOP (oil booms). Now accepting orders! http://www.gmacover.com/

GMA & Tiburon’s work in Haiti featured in media

Our hard work on the Thomonde "Tent City" project has been recently featured in the media.

See the links below for some stories in English and Spanish.

http://eldia.com.do/nacionales/2010/6/11/27534/Empresas-dominicanas-donan-30

http://www.elcaribe.com.do/site/index.php?option=com_medias&task=search&criteria=&hidesearch=0&Itemid=103&mediatypes[]=v&page=1&mediaid=26616

http://diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=247982

http://swo.ctv.ca/news.php?id=7554

Invitation for the Inauguration of the Thomonde Tent City

Tiburon GMA Inv and Press Release ENG


Spanish

Here are a couple shelter related stories from Haiti

"Shelter problems loom largest for Haiti: commander"

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100417/haiti_shelter_100417/20100417?hub=TopStoriesV2

The Haiti National Soccer team is looking to bring back as many shelters as possible when they return home from trainning in Texas.

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/quake-ravaged-haitian-soccer-team-trains-in-texas--fbintl_ap-haitisoccerteam.html

"Archlog"

Was post WWII America an example of life imitating art? In order to camouflage a Lockeed Martin factory in WWII, the Army Corps of Engineers covered it in a giant tarp and painted it out of existence disguised as suburban sprawl.

Before:

and after:

and under the canvas:

(taken form http://www.archlog.com on April 30th 2010)

Quake-ravaged Haitian soccer team trains in Texas

PAUL J. WEBER, AP - Tue Apr 20, 2010 6:24 PM EDT

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (AP) -- After the Haitian national soccer team couldn't eat another bite of chef-prepared pork or ice cream, and before going back to its cabins at a Texas resort, coach Jairo Rios asked for a favor.

Tents. As many as they could haul back to Haiti.

"I eat well here. I sleep well," forward Charles Herold Jr. said in French, speaking through a translator. "But I cannot help but think of my friends and family who don't have that. I can't get that off my mind."

Unable to practice in Port-au-Prince since the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed as many as 250,000 people, the Haitian team is staying in Texas until its May 5 game against Argentina. Players say a victory is badly needed to boost their country's spirits, even though they are heavy underdogs against one of the top teams in the world.

The Texas trip was organized by the nonprofit group San Antonio Sports, which is providing the training getaway for the devastated Haitian soccer federation. Players who've slept in the streets for the past three months have been feted with brisket and trips to shopping malls.

Players are already wrestling with the guilt of their relatively better fortunes. Forward Eliphene Cadet, 29, escaped from his house in Port-au-Prince after the roof caved on him and two children.

Leaving Haiti meant leaving his family in a tent in a field, near where his house once stood. Other players left their families in similar conditions.

"All the guys talk about it," Cadet said. "I know that they're here. There are still tremors now. That's our biggest worry."

The Haitian team has actually emerged from the earthquake luckier than some. All members of the national team survived, including those whose houses crumbled on top of them.

But 32 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the soccer federation's three-story headquarters, including coaches and top officials. Yves Jean-Bart, president of the soccer federation, was among only a few who escaped alive.

Some homeless families are still encamped at the national soccer stadium, and fields elsewhere remain blanketed by a canopy of makeshift tents and tarps. Robert Jean-Bart, the son of Haiti's soccer federation president and who lives in Boston, said there is virtually nowhere in the country to play soccer.

Jean-Bart said it was only last weekend that families began moving off the playing field in the stadium. He said the federation is trying to schedule a game in Port-au-Prince as early as August, but it will depend on how quickly the turf can be repaired.

Even before the quake, Haiti did not qualify for the World Cup. The international soccer federation FIFA ranks Haiti No. 91 in the world -- behind Iceland but above Gambia -- and the country's national team has not played an official game in nearly a year.

But players said facing Argentina -- ranked No. 9 -- will be as important to Haiti as a World Cup match.

"In Haiti, people say ask when we're going to play Argentina. People think you're going to do something good for the country," said defender Peter Germain. "If we win against Argentina, the people are finally going to be happy. We can do something positive for this country."

Nerves from the earthquake remain raw. On the bumpy flight last week to San Antonio, a bout of turbulence had Haitian players pressing their fingernails into the armrests.

"Even when the plane rumbles, it make them nervous," said Jean Roland Dartiguenave, an assistant coach whose cell phone store in Haiti was destroyed. "It reminds them of the tremors."

Shelter problems loom largest for Haiti: commander

CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Sat. Apr. 17 2010 4:33 PM ET

The commander of a Canadian military destroyer that was dispatched to Haiti in the wake of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake says a shortage of livable homes is the biggest hurdle facing Haitians desperate to overcome the disaster.

Sailors aboard HMCS Athabaskan returned to Canada in March, after providing medical care and water, and rebuilding orphanages. They were based in the town of Leogane. About 90 per cent of the homes and businesses there were destroyed by the quake.

"Shelter now for the remainder of the population is going to be one of the key issues, I think, so they can start helping themselves," Peter Crain, the ship's commander, told CTV News Channel on Saturday. "They're into the rainy season now."

HMCS Athabaskan, one of two Canadian military vessels dispatched to Haiti, arrived in the devastated country seven days after the magnitude-7.0 tremor that killed about 200,000 people.

Its crew was tasked with providing light engineering help, humanitarian aid and medical assistance.

"The first thing I noticed was the absolute devastation. The area we were working in was very close to the epicentre, and I was seeing 90 per cent of the homes and businesses were destroyed there," Crain recalled.

The second thing he noticed was a young girl who had been injured.

"She was going to have her hand removed because it was crushed in the earthquake," Crain said. "And she stood there, not a tear in her eye."

"That really epitomized the Haitian people that I saw there. How strong, how resilient they were in the face of this disaster."

After the quake, an unprecedented effort began to load supplies and prepare the crews of HMCS Athabaskan and HMCS Halifax in just a few days.

The 225 crew members on HMCS Halifax, which returned home on March 2 after a six week deployment, focused on the town of Jacmel. HMCS Athabaskan and its crew of 240 returned to Canada on March 17.

"We were sort of the fire department," Crain said. "We arrived and we helped get the country back on its feet" after municipal and federal governments there, and some of the large NGOs, were hobbled by the disaster.

"We were in an area that didn't have a lot of help after the earthquake -- and they needed us."

GMA's Relief Shelters

These are shelters that we are currently building with our partner Tiburon in their facility in Dominican Republic.

We are currently setting up a model city inside Haiti to show case these shelters. Together with our partners inside and outside of Haiti we have secured warehouses and logistics hubs that will allow us to employ Haitians throughout the supply chain and have them fully trained on installation and maintenance of the shelters.

We're creating a sustainable community with public spaces that will allow residents to express their own individuality and culture.

GMA at NDIA MI Event

A GMA ULCANS was used as part of the Canadian exhibit at a show hosted by the Michigan Chapter of the US National Defense Industries Association held in Warren, Michigan.

Rain begins to hit Haiti

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8541361.stm

GMA is working with Dominican Red Cross, World Vision, American Friends Committee, Adra to procure hospital shelters, tents, bags, water bladders.

GMA in Haiti

GMA has partnered with a Dominican Supplier to produce relief shelters, bags for blankets, food and water, water bladders, tarps and aerial delivery systems. We will be driving as much as possible over the border into Haiti as we produce it!!!!!

More to update as the team responds to this tragedy.......