Beretta moving all of its U.S. manufacturing to new Gallatin facility
- Scott Harrison
- Staff Reporter-Nashville Business Journal
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Beretta USA is moving all of its Maryland manufacturing operations to its new production facility in Gallatin, a move that will greatly accelerate the company's plans to add 300 jobs in Middle Tennessee, the company announced today.
The Italian firearms manufacturer initially planned to use its new $45 million Gallatin facility only for the production of new products and research and development. In a statement, Jeff Cooper, the general manager for Beretta USA, expressed concerns over gun legislation in Maryland that led to company to pick a location outside of the state for its new manufacturing plant.
“During the legislative session in Maryland that resulted in passage of the Firearm Safety Act of 2013, the version of the statute that passed the Maryland Senate would have prohibited Beretta U.S.A. from being able to manufacture, store or even import into the state products that we sell to customers throughout the United States and around the world," Cooper said in today's news release.
“While we had originally planned to use the Tennessee facility for new equipment and for production of new product lines only, we have decided that it is more prudent from the point of view of our future welfare to move the Maryland production lines in their entirety to the new Tennessee facility,” Cooper said.
The company expects the facility to open in mid-2015. The manufacturing transition from the Maryland facility to Gallatin will not occur until that time. Beretta recently hired two Georgia companies to build the factory.
James Fenton, the executive director of the Gallatin Economic Development Agency, said the move will speed up the hiring of 300 employees, which will now likely occur over the next two to three years. Beretta originally planned to fill the positions over five years.
Beretta has no plans to relocate its office, administrative and executive support from its current operations in Accokeek, Md.
Here's more from today's news release:
While we were able in the Maryland House of Delegates to reverse some of those obstructive provisions, the possibility that such restrictions might be reinstated in the future leaves us very worried about the wisdom of maintaining a firearm manufacturing factory in the State,” stated Jeff Cooper, General Manager for Beretta U.S.A. Corp.
The transition of production from Beretta U.S.A.’s Maryland facility to the Tennessee facility will not occur until 2015 and will be managed so as not to disrupt deliveries to Beretta customers. Beretta U.S.A.’s production of the U.S. Armed Forces M9 9mm pistol will continue at the Accokeek, Maryland facility until all current orders from the U.S. Armed Forces have been filled.
“We have not yet begun groundbreaking on the Tennessee facility and we do not anticipate that that building will be completed until the middle part of 2015,” continued Cooper. “That timing, combined with our need to plan an orderly transition of production from one facility to the other so that our delivery obligations to customers are not disrupted, means that no Beretta U.S.A. Maryland employee will be impacted by this news for many months. More importantly, we will use this time to meet with every Beretta U.S.A. employee whose Maryland job might be affected by the move to discuss with them their interest in taking a position at our new facility in Tennessee or, if they are not willing to do so, to lay out a long-term strategy for remaining with the Company while our production in Maryland continues.”
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