Shop Talk From AME

Writing has never come easy to me. I’m fluent in engineering drawings, spreadsheets and math, but constructing an article is quite a challenge for me – especially now. As many of you know, last year we celebrated our 50th year in business. It was certainly a highlight. But 2021 was also one of the lowest points as we lost our Vice President, and my good friend, Craig Morrison to COVID19 in June.

Craig’s contributions to both our company and the industry as a whole are immeasurable and include pioneering the bolt-on chassis market – most notably the 55-57 GT Sport chassis which was developed in 2002. He foresaw the importance of producing a true bolt-on chassis. Since then, Art Morrison Enterprises has sold almost two thousand of that chassis model alone.

Two years after that successful launch, in late-2004, Craig called the engineering department at the college I attended to inquire about any graduating seniors that were interested in working with hot rods. I immediately jumped at the prospect and was excited to meet with Craig and Art. Long story short, I got the job. Together, Craig and I built-up the engineering department from one, to four talented engineers and I was promoted to operations manager to help Craig with the daily business needs. After 16 years of working closely together, filled with celebrating the highs and working through the lows of business, kids and life, I consider Craig my brother.

Further testament to the extraordinary forces that are Art and Craig Morrison is the plethora of long-term employees that have made Art Morrison Enterprises more of a second home. Dave Jones in sales and Nancy Moffit in HR, each recently retired with over 30 years of service with the company. Shop Foreman Dion Olsen, and Assembly Department Lead Wally Tecca, each also have over 30 years with Art Morrison and many others currently hold the “20+” year status.

The past year has imparted a new focus for Art, and after 51 tremendous years leading the business, he made the difficult decision to step back from the company to spend more time with his wife Jeanette and grandson Alexander. Nobody deserves it more and all of us at AME are proud he made such a big decision and will get to enjoy the successes of his years of hard work. Although Art is stepping back, he will still come into the office, his home away from home, but now it will be without the burden of business on his shoulders and we fully expect to see his smile on a semi-daily basis. As we look toward the future, Art has asked me to fulfill the role of President, which I am immensely humbled by and am honored to do so. My goal as I step into this role is to continue the tremendous legacy of Art and Craig Morrison’s by retaining long-term employees, providing top notch customer service, and producing the best product possible using the industry’s most talented craftsmen, right here in Fife, WA, USA.