MATADOR Law Enforcement Technologies, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona, provides manual and remotely deployed non-lethal pursuit prevention and termination systems for law enforcement and the military. The company is celebrating a recent five-year $7.45 million firm-fixed-price indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide its NightHawk Remote Spike System® (RS). The concept for NightHawk RS, developed by Engineering Science Analysis Corporation (ESACORP) under the auspices of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, is the first-ever remotely deployed road spike strip, allowing the operator to remain safely away from the roadway to immobilize vehicles and stop pursuits before they start.
Martin Martinez, president of ESACORP, oversaw the development and completed Phase III, bringing the product to full commercialization. Martinez set up MATADOR to manufacture the product, and a Chandler-based company licensed the NightHawk RS for sales and distribution. MATADOR recently assumed full responsibility for all NightHawk operations and established support operations to market and sell the products with Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s help. "Arizona MEP played an indispensable role in this pivotal step, assisting MATADOR in establishing LEAN Manufacturing practices, enhancing accounting processes, and refining marketing strategies to optimize our operational efficiency," said Martinez.
Refining Manufacturing Flow to Reduce Costs and Control Quality
Arizona MEP initiated a project to help MATADOR map the current manufacturing process, identify the value-added tasks, and create a more efficient future state to scale up to meet demand. This work allowed MATADOR to break the build process into simplified, manageable, value-add, and quality-controlled sections and create build cells for sub-assemblies that require minimal training and would integrate into a fully functioning complex system build. The outcome of the process mapping project helped reduce cost, part count, and build times, standardize hardware and stabilize the supply chain.
Building Accounting Process to Control Inventory
ESACORP already used QuickBooks to manage its accounting process for engineering services and government contract development work; however, MATADOR needed to set up accounting processes related to selling a product, which included managing inventory, raw material costs and customer billing. Arizona MEP accounting experts trained staff on QuickBooks and created the necessary accounting processes. MATADOR evaluated QuickBooks and other systems to track component inventory, ultimately choosing another system to track parts and finished goods inventory.
Marketing Product Launch Plan and Messaging
Arizona MEP also worked with MATADOR to develop company and product messaging to tell the company’s story about the innovative technology that improves safety and accuracy when deploying tire deflation spikes. Product value proposition and benefit statements focused on performance, quality and innovation were created for additional products MATADOR planned on selling. Arizona MEP marketing experts also developed a marketing product launch plan to help MATADOR prioritize marketing activities that target prospective government agencies.
“Arizona MEP continues to be a great partner to MATADOR,” said Martinez. “We can rely on my client advisor to provide connections to resources and advise on the next steps in our journey to supply law enforcement, military and other tactical units with the technology designed to be easier, safer and more reliable."