Somerville-based Amdek Specializes in Products from High Tech to Super Bowl and BCS
SOMERVILLE — For anyone who received an autographed collectible football at Super Bowl LV in Tampa, here’s a fun fact: the souvenir made its way to the Sunshine State via Somerville.
The small town in Morgan County is home to the headquarters for Alabama Molding and Decorating (Amdek). That’s the name founder Robert Tetzlaff gave the business when it launched in 1991.
Amdek is a multi-service contract plastic molding company specializing in custom injection molding, decorating, pad printing (a process that transfers a 2D image onto a 3D object), tool design and packaging.
Among other items, Amdek is a supplier for Wilson Sporting Goods. Wilson recently shipped 4,500 footballs to Amdek where Super Bowl and team logos were printed on them.
“I have basically every Super Bowl and all the BCS bowl games for the last 10 years or so sitting here on a display shelf,’’ Tetzlaff said.
The company prints logos on more than just inflatable sports balls for Wilson. There are also baseballs, softballs, golf balls and the highly-popular insulated container Hydro Flask among other items Amdek handles.
“We print for other customers that we print here in the state,’’ Tetzlaff said. “We do a lot of things out here.
“We decorate for all kinds of products from coat hangers to race cars, cosmetic bottles to carts and, of course, all kinds of sports teams.’’
Amdek also does work for Thermo Fisher Scientific and automotive and medical companies.
Tetzlaff and his family have had a relationship with Wilson dating back to 1985. He opened Amdek in 1991.
When a plant site was vacated and became available, Tetzlaff moved his business into the building in 2008 and now occupies 38,000 square feet. Amdek has satellite operations around the country.
Tetzlaff’s Tennessee Valley story began when his father took a job at SCI in 1975. The former eventually attended Brewer High School in Somerville, then headed to UAH to pursue a chemical engineering degree. He was also a member of the rowing team.
He met his wife, Huntsville High graduate Kathleen, through a college roommate. Their love story involves an initial meeting at the beach during a Christmas break when a large storm rolled in while the pair and the roommate/brother were parked near the Atlantic Ocean at New Smyrna Beach, awaiting sunrise. Waves engulfed the car.
“I lost my car,’’ Tetzlaff said, “but found my wife.’’
Robert and Kathleen recently celebrated their 30th anniversary. They have four children — Dr. Mary E. Halper, Katy Tetzlaff, Wolf Tetzlaff and Anna Vice.
At UAH, he became a standout rower while also raising watermelons and pigs and working as a security guard to support his education.
“Unfortunately, in my junior year, while I was teaching Olympic weight-lifting, I tore some muscles,’’ he said. “So that ended my rowing career. I was actually supposed to go to the Olympics.’’
That was when President Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980 Games, which were held in Moscow, after Russia invaded Afghanistan. When U.S. troops went into Afghanistan in 2001, Tetzlaff said that was when he “got mad’’ about missing his opportunity.
Tetzlaff has a warming smile and spirited laugh, admirable traits considering he had a heart transplant five years ago.
He turned Amdek operations over to his son Wolf, but the father still handles sales and new products.
He’s had issues but, he added, it was “nothing to kill me.’’
