Lefever said Fred Wilton, of York, was one of his predecessors aspresident. John Wilton, of Wrightsville, oversees the factory storein Mount Joy. Richard Wilton, of Palm Springs, Calif., heads thecompany's design efforts. And Steve Wilton, another formerpresident who now lives outside Denver, Colo., helps with itsmarketing strategy and environmental efforts. Glassware The company once made everything from wagon wheels to brasstrinkets to wall ornaments, and in the 1950s was the country'slargest manufacturer of barbells, Lefever said.The Armetale formula that Bud Wilton developed in the early 1960sis a thermal alloy that both holds heat and stays cold longer thanother metals.The name, Lefever said, is a combination of the words art and metalput together with a little French flair.At first, the company used the alloy to manufacture products forthe restaurant industry."It wasn't until the early to mid-'70s that we started sellingit at the retail level," Lefever said..Wilton Armetale now makes about 700 different cookware andserveware products, Lefever said, turning out about 700,000 items ayear with a work force of 80 to 85 employees and sales runningbetween $15 million and $20 million.
"We are the largest manufacturer and supplier of alternativemetal in the country," Lefever said. "We call ourselves'the last man standing' in an industry where made in the USAstill means something."But to grow, he said, the company had to break with that tradition,a decision that Lefever said has not always set well with all itscustomers.OutsourcingThe new lines of glassware and ceramics are not Wilton Armetale'sfirst forays into outsourcing. They're part of a process ofmodernization that began several years ago.One of the first steps the company took to ensure its future was toinvest about $4 million in new equipment in 1999 and 2000 to makeits Mount Joy foundry operations more efficient and environmentallyfriendly.Expanding its brand beyond metal was another step in the process."For us to continue to grow our business, we realized we hadto branch off into other media," Lefever said. "Thereason we import the glassware and ceramics is we don't have theexpertise to do that ourselves."Importing is also a step that most of Wilton Armetale's competitors— Arthur Court, Mariposa, Nambé and Lenox — tooksome time ago.
"We have to constantly reinvent ourselves when we're in anindustry as competitive as this," Lefever said.
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