Industry Member Spotlight: Amigo Mobility

This article appeared in the June 2025 issue of MiMfg Magazine. Read the full issue and find past issues online.

In 1968, Al Thieme had a family member who began to lose mobility due to multiple sclerosis. At the time, there were limited options for personal mobility devices, and he knew there must be a better way.

After spending countless evenings working in his garage in Bridgeport, Thieme invented the first-ever power-operated vehicle/ scooter, and an entire industry was born. After being referred to as “my best friend” by the first person to use it, the mobility cart was aptly named “Amigo.”

Amigo got its start in the health care industry but continued to innovate over the years to provide similar solutions for the grocery and retail, industrial, government and aviation sectors. Today, in addition to its original personal mobility devices, Amigo’s products include motorized shopping carts, cart pullers, cart retrievers, janitorial solutions, hospital escort chairs and patient mobility chairs. The business, which now has 140 employees, designs these solutions through precision laser cutting, prototyping, production runs and custom fabrication.

The fact that Amigo is developing products that are integral to other people’s well-being is inspiring to the team, according to President and CEO Beth Thieme.

“Our entire production team physically builds and touches the product that aids in people’s mobility, and it brings home the impact of what our product does for people,” she says.

One of Amigo’s core values, “look to the next 50,” is a driving factor in the company’s innovative mindset.

How We’re Innovating

Our company innovates by investing in advanced equipment and AI-driven technology to complement our existing products and create new products.

Our Key to Success

It’s rooted in another one of our core values — look to the next 50. This means we are always making improvements to our products, creating new products and expanding into new markets so our company can continue to grow.

“We’re always striving to make improvements or new products based on our own ideas, customer feedback, and how the world and technology evolves around us,” says Jordan Thieme, Vice President at Amigo.

Amigo remains focused on further diversifying into other markets. In fact, they recently created a product line to fill the gap between manual push carts and fork trucks for industrial material handling needs.

“Our motorized material handling carts have helped in many different facilities to move people and products, as well as help free up fork trucks for bigger loads,” Jordan Thieme says.

Along with providing these helpful products, Amigo’s team is focused on environmental stewardship through sustainability practices. In 2009, Amigo developed a motorized shopping cart recycling program, named the Amigo Recycling Center (ARC).

“Every year, thousands of carts and cart retrievers are recycled and disassembled,” he says. “The parts are tested, cleaned, recertified and are available for sale. Any other material is responsibly recycled.”

Best Part of My Job

Creating meaningful connections with our customers and guiding them toward the right mobility aid so they can regain their independence.

One Skill Everyone Should Have

Effective communication. Being able to communicate clearly and respectfully helps build strong relationships with your coworkers and customers, prevents misunderstandings and ensures that goals, feedback and ideas are understood and acted upon.

Beth Thieme says what excites her most is that Amigo is a “full-circle company” as a result.

“Research and development create the concepts we engineer, and we build, manufacture and assemble our products all here in Bridgeport. Then, we sell those products and service those products, and, when the product’s lifespan is over, we recycle them. The ability to see the entire process from start to finish — and to renewal with our ARC program — makes us a stronger, better company.”

Through its innovative products, Amigo Mobility provides solutions for residential customers and businesses in several sectors, all while supporting the local economy and focusing on environmentally conscious processes. You can learn more about Thieme’s story of entrepreneurship in the book, There Must Be a Better Way, by Henry Dominguez.

Amigo Mobility is an MMA Industry Member and has been an MMA member company since April 2010. Visit online: myamigo.com.