At AMMEX, it’s our entrepreneurial spirit, our determination, and our commitment to our customers’ growth that make us successful.
It’s our people, however, who make that possible.
Since 1988, AMMEX has achieved exponential growth — from our beginning as the dream of a 24-year-old student, to a multinational corporation. Credit belongs to the dynamism and foresight that trickle down from founder/chief energizing officer Fred Crosetto, whose vision built the foundation for what AMMEX has become. But perhaps Crosetto’s wisest moves involved always focusing on putting the right people in the right seats.
The AMMEX U.S. Digital Marketing team meets with members of the AMMEX China team.
“This business is successful because of the people we have,” President Keyo Gold says.“They want to do the best they can. They’re not status quo. They’re not a cog in a wheel. We have a really strong team.”
In 1988, Crosetto was a couple of years out of the University of Washington, an international business graduate who spent time right after school living in Asia. He started a company to address what he saw as a developing worldwide demand for barrier protection and infection control products at a time when, he says, “there were only two places you could sell: dental and medical environments. Today, we sell in both industrial and medical channels across North America, Asia, and soon Europe.”
From a one-man operation in a basement office in Bellevue, Washington to 275-plus team members in 10 cities worldwide, AMMEX has grown into a global leader in products that enhance health, hygiene, and safety across a wide spectrum of industries. Our operations in the Philippines and Malaysia support our manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, and other essential functions, while AMMEX China is seizing the opportunity in our fastest-growing market to build a sales and distribution network that meets the nation’s ever-increasing demand.
At the same time, we still view the world through the wide-eyed optimism and boot-strappy determination of our earliest days as a startup: Yes, process matters. Achievement is always of very high importance. But the human element is at the heart of everything we do.
The AMMEX U.S. Team celebrated the company’s 29th anniversary in 2017.
“When you partner with AMMEX, you get a committed team who is accountable and love to win,”
Gold says. “We’re not just looking to be successful for ourselves. We truly want the people we work with to be successful as well. We feel passionate about that.”
Maintaining that personal touch with our partners is central to AMMEX’s success, according to Vice President of Marketing Steven Ilg. The sales and marketing teams work closely with distributors to customize their experience and, ultimately, grow their glove sales.
“Selling is relationships,” Ilg says. “There are a raft of people who think selling is a transaction, and that’s the mistake. People buy from people they like. We are a very high-touch company, and we think those relationships still matter. It’s all about communication, setting the right expectations and providing our customers with tools that grow their glove sales.”
AMMEX has been listed on Washington’s “100 Fastest Growing Private Companies” eight times, and has been voted to Seattle Business Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” A large part of that, according to CIO Chris Van Vladricken, is the flat organization that encourages team members to engage with management and empowers them to fully utilize their strengths.
The AMMEX U.S. team members regularly huddle with the iSupport team members in the Philippines.
“The executive team at this company operates at the same level as everybody else,” he says. “There’s no hierarchy, and I like it that way. I started here as a help desk person, and I’ve been at every level in between. I don’t feel any different than anyone else who works here.”
As AMMEX looks ahead to its 2020 Vision, the company continues to enjoy virtually unabated growth, both in the size of our staff and the prospects in our markets. We are progressive and always looking for better ways to do things. We are focused on expanding and nurturing partnerships on a global scale.
“I think our vision of where the business can go in the next three to five years, even the next 10 years, is right in front of us,” Gold says. “We’re focused on the right things.”