Metal fabrication company next up in entrepreneurship series

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The owner and president of Amhawk, a full-service metal fabrication company, will be featured in the next installment of the Entrepreneurship Forum speaker series hosted by Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business.

Regi Kurien will speak at 8 a.m. Friday, April 13, on campus in 2150 Schneider Hall. The event is free and open to the public and begins with breakfast at 7:30 a.m.

Reservations are required and can be made at wmich.edu/business/e-rsvp or by calling (269) 387-6059. Free parking is available in Fetzer Center Lot 72F.

Amhawk and Kurien

In 2003, Kurien purchased Amhawk LLC, which serves the Michigan, northern Indiana, Ohio and Illinois markets. The company is located in Hartford and provides competitive one-stop-shop services in a wide range of projects, from simple fabrications to complete build-to-spec assemblies to high-quality painting of industrial parts.

Amhawk also operates Amhawk Express, a division of the company that provides convenience and flexibility in executing minimum inventory strategies for production, spare parts and random demand.

Under Kurien's leadership, Amhawk's sales have grown from $700,000 per year to $7 million per year.

Kurien earned a graduate degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso, then moved to Michigan. He worked in a variety of roles before acquiring Amhawk, including as a process engineer, product manager, quality assurance manager and business unit manager.

Entrepreneurship Forum

The Entrepreneurship Forum is a monthly speaker series sponsored by BlueOx Credit Union and hosted by WMU's Haworth College of Business. The forum brings stories of entrepreneurs and startup success to the greater Kalamazoo community.

To RSVP or obtain more information about the April 13 event, visit wmich.edu/business/e-rsvp or call (269) 387-6059.

To learn more about the series, visit wmich.edu/business/entrepreneurship-forum. To suggest an entrepreneur who should be considered for the series, contact WMU's Alyssa Benson at alyssa.benson@wmich.edu.

For more WMU news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.