Fair Trade

In the several months since the Trump administration announced plans to implement tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, ACMT has tried to stay ahead of developments with calm, sure-handed confidence. In a recent piece in the Harvard Business Journal, ACMT President Michael Polo outlined just how they are dealing with this wrinkle that’s been put into their everyday way of doing business.

Obviously, with the engine-related work that ACMT does, a lot of aluminum and steel are delivered and used in production. Those items are usually ordered from a Midwestern mill that has also been inundated with orders since the tariffs took effect. Polo, however, has the benefit of having prices protected by a multi-year contract. It’s a nice cushion for the short-term, but there still could be potential delivery delays to worry about. Michael Polo has also considered this, and taken steps to combat the issue, by ordering entire truckloads of aluminum, to ensure ACMT receives prioritized deliveries:

“It places some financial burden on us, but we decided that was an investment in the future,” Polo said about bringing in much bigger orders. The orders are so big, that the extra material must be housed in a recently-constructed 53,000 square-foot facility just down the street from ACMT’s Manchester headquarters. Polo believes that bringing in such large orders could also help stave off any future overall material price increases that may occur as a direct result of the tariffs.

Thankfully, those tariffs haven’t affected ACMT’s overall financial health to date. The company has seen a surge in growth in a very short time recently, expanding into other industries and opening new facilities. The number of employees has tripled in that time, from 48 to 144. That kind of confidence in a company’s direction and future, paired with a watchful eye towards trends and potential issues coming down the line, have helped ACMT maintain a sense of well-being in a very competitive field.