Republic-AMS Industries

Edwin Jablonski had made a career from making the most of limited resources and finding opportunities to build a business. From his ventures in miscellaneous manufacturing companies like WISALENT and Mid-Wisconsin Manufacturing, to larger businesses like Moduline and Major Industries.

Republic Industries was one such venture. Major had purchased the company and moved it to Wausau with the idea that it would provide the metal windows for the fiberglass window wall systems of Major Industries. The smaller company slowly expanded over the years, such as when it purchased the Cincinnati-based Architectural Metal Systems around 1991, but it certainly a secondary concern for the business. 

But in 1993, Ed Jablonski decided it was time to retire from actively running a window company, and sold control of Major Industries to Wayne Toenjes. The new owner ultimately decided against keeping the metal window company, and declined to take over its assets. But Jablonski felt that the Republic/AMS brands had potential, and returned to run the small company as an independent window manufacturer. 

By 1995, Republic Industries had relocated from the Stewart Avenue location it had shared with Major, to a small factory on South Tenth Street in Wausau. The building had briefly housed the expanding Window Accessory Company, Inc., and now was home to the small Republic Industries. 

During these years, the small company adopted a name that joined the two brands from which it had been created; Republic-AMS Inc.  The company manufactured a number of window styles and models, including the 2001 Series, which was used in the PAF building as well as the Firstar Bank.

[picture of Firstar Bank from brochure to go here]

Architectural Metal Systems (AMS)

Ed Jablonski, along with his co-owners and longtime collaborators Barbara Wohlfahrt and Larry Lodholz, had sold of one company (Major Industries) only to find themselves in charge of another. While they knew that Republic-AMS Inc. had potential for growth and success, they were not themselves as interested in guiding that growth. The successful companies they had helped create in the 1970s and 1980s had been the product of hard work and considerable personal sacrifice, and they were not as young as they once were. And so as they worked to improve the company, they also hoped to find a buyer.

But ultimately talks with potential groups such as the Menominee Tribe did not pan out, and Republic-AMS remained a small company operating out of the 10th Street building until it fizzled out around 1996-97.

A renewed effort reestablished the company in 1998, now simply as Architectural Metal Systems (AMS). This new company continued for a few years, before being rolled into TOC, Inc. (Ed's woodshop) and was in operation until Jablonski finally retired for good around 2012.