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Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

MATADOR Law Enforcement Technologies Scales Up Operations with Arizona MEP

With the help of: Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP)

About

MATADOR Law Enforcement Technologies, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona, provides manually and remotely deployed non-lethal pursuit prevention and termination systems for law enforcement and the military. The company recently won a five-year, $7.45 million contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide its NightHawk Remote Spike System® (RS). The concept for NightHawk RS, developed by Engineering Science Analysis Corporation (ESACORP) under 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.

The Challenge

Martin Martinez, president of ESACORP, 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 help from Arizona Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Arizona MEP), part of the MEP National Network™. "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.
Arizona MEP continues to be a great partner to MATADOR. 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.
— Martin Martinez, President

MEP's Role

Arizona MEP helped MATADOR map the current manufacturing process, identify the value-added tasks, and create a more efficient future state, breaking the build process into simplified, manageable, value-added, and quality-controlled sections. The project helped reduce cost, part count, and build times, standardize hardware and stabilize the supply chain through creating build cells for sub-assemblies that require minimal training and would integrate into a fully functioning complex system build.

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 and Arizona MEP ultimately chose another system to track parts and finished goods inventory.

Arizona MEP also worked with MATADOR to develop company and product messaging to tell the company’s story. Arizona MEP marketing experts developed a marketing product launch plan to help MATADOR prioritize marketing activities that target prospective government agencies.

Created January 4, 2024