Firearms-maker SIG Sauer Inc. said Wednesday it will centralize all its ammo production at its new plant in Jacksonville scheduled to open by the end of the year.
SIG Sauer’s Elite Performance Ammunition manufacturing division will be located in an existing 70,000-squarefoot building on 43 acres at 1809 Swift Drive in Jacksonville, allowing for further expansion if needed, the company said. Jay Whisker, Jacksonville’s city engineer, said the SIG Sauer site is located in the city’s primary industrial district.
The company will employ 50 people during the relocation phase and expects to hire more workers later.
Privately held SIG Sauer makes pistols, rifles, ammunition, optics, silencers, air guns and accessories. The company said plans are to move all the company’s ammo production from a leased location in Kentucky to the company-owned Arkansas plant. SIG Sauer’s ammo offerings include cartridges optimized for self defense, practice, competition, and hunting, along with match grade, subsonic and supersonic rounds.
In January, at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, commonly called SHOT Show, in Las Vegas, SIG Sauer said it was opening an ammo plant in Jacksonville. The show was attended by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who helped recruit the company.
Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said Wednesday that SIG Sauer’s decision to move to Arkansas has helped raise the state’s profile and has resulted in a lot of interest from others in the industry. Incentives SIG Sauer received to come to Arkansas include $800,000 from the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund; a tax credit based on new-job payroll; and sales tax refunds on building materials, some machinery and equipment.
Also at the show, Remington Outdoor Co. said it would add more than 80 jobs at its Lonoke plant as part of a $12 million expansion. Madison, N.C.-based Remington began production in Lonoke in 1969 and employs about 1,200. It invested $32 million upgrading the plant in 2013.
Based in Newington, N.H., SIG Sauer is part of a worldwide group of firearm-makers including J.P. Sauer and Sohn and Blaser, Gmbh. in Germany and Swiss Arms AG in Switzerland. SIG Sauer Inc. employs about 1,400 workers in its U.S. operations.
On Monday, publicly traded firearms company Sturm Ruger reported revenue for its first quarter of $173.1 million, an increase of 26 percent on strong guns sales. In March, Smith and Wesson Holding Corporation reported third quarter revenue of $210.8 million on firearms and accessories sales, a 61.5 percent jump compared to the year earlier.
Gun and ammo sales have seesawed in recent years but most recently boomed after a November terrorist attack in Paris killed 130 people and a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., killed 14 in early December. The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System, considered an indicator on gun demand, recorded an alltime high for checks in 2015.
Gun and ammunition sales surged in 2013 after gun owners grew concerned about more firearms restrictions after several mass shootings, but sales cooled in 2014, when gun-makers increased production and eventual oversupply saturated the market.
According to a report from market research group IBIS World, consumer anxiety concerning further gun control legislation will likely continue into 2016 resulting in continued sales growth. The report predicted industry revenue in the U.S. will climb 5.1 percent in 2016 to nearly $16 billion. The report indicates 46.3 percent of those sales will come from small arms and just shy of 30 percent will be small-arms ammunition.
Bud Fini, executive vice president for ammunition and special projects for SIG Sauer, agreed the industry is seeing rapid growth but added SIG Sauer’s plans, including the Jacksonville plant, are part of a long term strategy.
“We are not doing any of this to chase a spike in the market,” he said.
Fini declined to say how much SIG Sauer is spending on the Jacksonville operation, but he said it did involve the company’s largest capital investment to date. This is the first location the company has owned in the South, Fini said.
Fini said the company’s move into ammunition, optics, airguns and silencers, all in a little more than a year’s time, is an effort to become a one-stop source for its customers in the United States and abroad.
Fini said that while the company currently has the equipment to load its own ammo, it eventually wants to manufacture its own raw materials to make cartridges, such as brass casings, in an effort to become as vertically integrated as possible. That sort of work would likely take place at the new Jacksonville plant.
“There are no boundaries to this,” Fini said.
The Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact Report, produced by the trade association National Shooting Sports Foundation, counted more than 2,600 jobs in Arkansas directly attributed to the firearms and ammunition industry in 2015, with total wages of $116.6 million. Nationally there were 1323,584 jobs directly attributed to the industry,with wages of $5.5 billion, according to the report.
Fort Smith is home of Umarex USA and Walther Arms, both under the umbrella of Arnsberg, Germanybased PW Group. Umarex moved to Fort Smith in 2010, and Walther Arms opened shop in 2012. The companies share space in the Chaffee Crossing development and employ about 90 workers between them. In late 2013, Thermold Magazines moved its headquarters to Fort Smith from North Carolina.
Two custom gun-makers call Berryville home. Wilson Combat has had several expansions recently and employs nearly 150. Nighthawk Custom also is in an expansion period and employs more than 50.