20 years strong and proudly counting, at Ameritex, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary, but did you know that our experience providing metal fabrication services dates back to 1966?
Let’s take a trip down memory lane with as we reminisce about the history of Ameritex and share a bit about our vision for the future.
The History of Ameritex
In 1966, one of our company’s original founders, Lawrence Fennell, began learning the art of metal fabrication. (And yes, we fully believe that it’s an art!)
A decade later, in 1976, Lawrence decided to go into business for himself. He established Cleveland Manufacturing Inc. (CMI), which came to be well-regarded in the Houston market for metal enclosures, buildings, switchgear, and miscellaneous job shop fabrications.
Lawrence’s sons, Larry, Ric, and Kenny, were all heavily involved in the business as it grew.
Lawrence and family eventually sold CMI, and on July 4, 2004, he set out to start another business, Ameritex Machine and Fabrication, with partner Landry. Lawrence knew metal fabrication services, and Landry was a precision machinist. Kenny Fennell (the current CEO of Ameritex) came on board immediately to ensure that Ameritex would dominate Houston’s quick-turn fabrication market.
Thanks to hard work, late nights, and an excellent reputation, Ameritex grew exponentially.
Jeff Curbo (the current president of Ameritex) joined the team in 2005, fresh out of college, as a shop helper, machine operator, and a regular jack of all trades. In 2006, Zack Fennell (the current COO of Ameritex) began working his way through various shop roles and learning the craft. Larry Fennell joined Ameritex in 2007, taking over sales and pushing to diversify the customer base.
To this day, a large portion of Ameritex’s customer base once worked with Lawrence Fennell at CMI. Many of the individual engineers and buyers have since moved on, but those relationships established over the years have been crucial to the success of Ameritex.
Sadly, in May 2018, Lawrence Fennell passed away at the age of 76, this was followed shortly by Larry Fennell’s retirement.
The Future of Ameritex
With such a drastic transition underway, an opportunity arose for Jeff Curbo and Zack Fennell to acquire shares of the company and keep the legacy alive.
As the new ownership team, Kenny, Jeff, and Zack have continued to push forward, expanding Ameritex’s floor space, capabilities, and services to keep pace with the ever-growing demand for metal fabrication services in Houston and throughout the country.
In the past few years alone, we’ve expanded our precision machining capacity, installed a new paint booth, added a high-powered fiber laser, partnered with Path Robotics to provide fully autonomous welding, established flexible assembly lines to improve efficiency, and partnered with BeehiveFund to implement lean manufacturing practices—just to name a handful of game-changing improvements.
We love what we do, and we look forward to providing high-quality metal fabrication services to our customers for years to come. We’ll continue to use our blog and our monthly newsletter to share exciting news, updates, and improvements along the way.
To all our loyal long-time customers, we thank you for being with us on this journey. To those becoming one of our new customers, please request a quote. We look forward to making you part of our legacy.
