After 40+ years in business, Bullet Guard announces that we were wholly acquired by Total Security Solutions (TSS), based out of Fowlerville, Michigan, in November of 2021.
While now part of the TSS family, Bullet Guard will continue operations in our current location and with the experienced staff that our customers have come to depend on over the years. This new relationship will allow Bullet Guard access to growth capital, extensive supply chains, advanced technology, and the expanded operational capacity that comes with being part of the TSS team.
Impressed by our commitment to quality and customer service, Total Security Solutions CEO Jim Richards shared, “As a company, they’re very similar to us, although at a smaller scale. But with more than 40 years of experience in bulletproof glass, they are really well-positioned to service the Western half of the country. That made them very attractive to us.”
Recent years have seen spikes in the murder rate in the U.S., with firearms involved in an increasing share of homicides.This has disproportionately impacted the Western half of the United States. Pew Research found that 2020’s year-over-year murder rate increase was the largest since at least 1905 (and possibly ever, according to the CDC). Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, and Arizona all saw increases of 16% to 45%. In Montana, murder rates nearly doubled, rising 84%.
Such increases bring an increased interest in securing facilities against armed attackers. TSS recognizes the substantial relationships we’ve built with municipal, financial, and government entities along the West Coast, and observed that Bullet Guard would be able to extend our reach by upgrading some of our current procedures.
Expanding Our Offerings by Optimizing Procedures
While acknowledging our pre-existing automation, TSS saw opportunities to upgrade the processes already in place. In late March of 2022, TSS began the process of modernizing operations here at Bullet Guard. Building on the exceptional service we already offer our customers, TSS seeks to enhance that service by bringing in everything they know about making bulletproof barrier systems to extremely tight tolerances.
This will also mean expanding our offerings to better suit other potential customers, like hospitals and schools. But these improvements aren’t limited to installing new CNC routers and water jet cutters. Jim Richards is working with our management team, integrating Bullet Guard into the Total Security Solutions EOS (or Entrepreneurial Operating System™). EOS is a comprehensive set of business concepts and tools that make it much easier for an organization—no matter how large or small—to move together toward their goals.
“About ten years ago, we shifted our mindset,” Jim explains. “As a company, we shifted our focus. We stopped thinking just about ‘stopping bullets’ or ‘stopping robberies,’ and expanded our view. We began to understand that this was bigger than robberies. It was about finding the best way to protect an organization’s most valuable asset: their people. You do that by making those people’s lives easier every day, not just on their worst day. Designing systems that look good and work well, installing them with as little disruption as possible, increasing their peace of mind on a daily basis—all of that is part of what it means to protect people.”
Exciting Changes, Consistent Service
One thing that won’t change is our devotion to quality work and excellent customer service, the same standards that you’ve come to know from us over the past 40+ years. Our dedicated employees will always be here, helping you make the right choices for your security needs.
