Kimber moving to Alabama

[LittleLebowski]

https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2020/10/28/kimber-arms-moving-headquarters-to-alabama.html


After building a new 225,000-square-foot facility on 80 acres in Troy, Kimber Manufacturing is moving employees from Yonkers, New York, to Troy.

The company said it will be "hiring aggressively" in all departments in Alabama, including at the new $38 million production facility.

"Troy was chosen for a multitude of reasons including its proximity to top-tier engineering schools as well as gun- and business-friendly support from the city of Troy and the great state of Alabama," the company says in a release. "Kimber’s Alabama expansion is well ahead of schedule, having filled hundreds of its planned Troy-based positions."


#NewYorkIsOpenForBusiness

[RoyGBiv]

+Likes for the hashtag :cool:

[Guerrero]

My move to Alabama has never had a problem.

ETA: I had to do some work in Troy, AL, a couple years back, and I kinda liked it there.

[jh9]

I hear the Remington plant in Huntsville has some available floor space...

[farscott]

I hear the Remington plant in Huntsville has some available floor space...

Unfortunately the plant in Huntsville does, but Troy is on the other side of the state.

[JohnO]

No surprise that a gun manufacturer is moving out of NY. CT lost a few and may lose more. Now the exodus continues.

Pratt & Whitney chooses lower-cost North Carolina -- not Connecticut -- to build a $650 million manufacturing plant


https://www.courant.com/business/hc-biz-pratt-and-whitney-north-carolina-20201026-fn4llrnzibbu3pcpbzxoxns2ea-story.html

[LittleLebowski]

No surprise that a gun manufacturer is moving out of NY. CT lost a few and may lose more. Now the exodus continues.

Pratt & Whitney chooses lower-cost North Carolina -- not Connecticut -- to build a $650 million manufacturing plant


https://www.courant.com/business/hc-biz-pratt-and-whitney-north-carolina-20201026-fn4llrnzibbu3pcpbzxoxns2ea-story.html

Yup, no surprise.

[ACP230]

"Sweet home Alabama..."

[RevolverRob]

Now, we just need to de-Union and de-Wall Street Colt and move them to Texas.

[fatdog]

I have zero insight into what they are doing in Troy or how things were done in Yonkers, but we can hold out hope that their manufacturing quality gets better at some point. Not because of the geography.

Just the off chance they bought newer and better machining centers, instituted better processes and quality management as part of the new facility, re-evaluated their materials and suppliers would help. But it could all get worse too if they decided to move the old without a lot of redesign and re-engineering...and then compound it with the lost experience and the "unseen calibration" that one of my old colleagues pointed out to me once.

[ccmdfd]

Interesting.

Didn't the Mason-Dixon Line separate the industrialized North from the agricultural South when it was created?

Nowadays it seems to be the opposite

[Stephanie B]

I have zero insight into what they are doing in Troy or how things were done in Yonkers, but we can hold out hope that their manufacturing quality gets better at some point. Not because of the geography.

Just the off chance they bought newer and better machining centers, instituted better processes and quality management as part of the new facility, re-evaluated their materials and suppliers would help. But it could all get worse too if they decided to move the old without a lot of redesign and re-engineering...and then compound it with the lost experience and the "unseen calibration" that one of my old colleagues pointed out to me once.

Moving some production to a nonunion plant didn't do Boeing a whole hell of a lot of good.

[cheby]

I am actually surprised that it took that long for them to GTFO of that state.

[farscott]

Moving some production to a nonunion plant didn't do Boeing a whole hell of a lot of good.

Like many companies which have union workforces, issues with the products are usually not due to the union's fault. Unions can make a product more expensive but rarely are unions the systemic cause of poor quality products. In Boeing's case, it appears there are three issues: 1) Management wanting to lower costs (what else is new) without understanding the risks involved in doing so, 2) Replacing experienced SW developers with lower-cost developers without domain knowledge and experience, and 3) a cultural willingness to lie and deceive the customer and regulator (FAA) once adverse test results were available.

[Oldherkpilot]

Moving some production to a nonunion plant didn't do Boeing a whole hell of a lot of good.

Are you referring to the 737 Max problems? Pretty sure that was an engineering problem, not a production problem.

[Stephanie B]

Are you referring to the 737 Max problems? Pretty sure that was an engineering problem, not a production problem.

787s, for if memory serves, at leat one airline won’t accept the ones from the SC plant.

[lwt16]

Troy, AL should have low cost of living with Montgomery being just up the road to the North. Nice little college town with available land in Pike county at reasonable cost.

Hunting and fishing everywhere. Lockheed/Martin used to have an operation in Pike county.

Florida beaches not that far to the south. I think their population is like 20k now.

Regards.

[Lost River]

Now, we just need to de-Union and de-Wall Street Colt and move them to Texas.

That is really a shame too, as the Colt factory is a super cool place. However watching some of the Union slug workers deliberately move as slow as possible was demoralizing. It seemed like there was one guy who was moving quickly around, working his butt off, while there were 7-8 people ambling around who could care less. :(

I have long thought (pipe-dream after a couple visits) about going in there and doing something similar to an "undercover boss", working as a maintenance guy for 3 months, and taking a list of all the hard working employees, and all the slugs, and getting a feel for the place, talking to people.

Then come back with a tie on and hold a meeting to announce that I have bought the place and here is a list of who stays and who goes.

#MakeThePonyGreatAgain (https://pistol-forum.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=MakeThePonyGreatAgain)

https://i.imgur.com/uR35UsB.jpg





:cool:

sigh, pipe-dreams

[JAD]

Troy, AL should have low cost of living with Montgomery being just up the road to the North. Nice little college town with available land in Pike county at reasonable cost.

Within a couple hours of the nation's first all-electric car ferry, too.

[JRB]

That is really a shame too, as the Colt factory is a super cool place. However watching some of the Union slug workers deliberately move as slow as possible was demoralizing. It seemed like there was one guy who was moving quickly around, working his butt off, while there were 7-8 people ambling around who could care less. :(

I have long thought (pipe-dream after a couple visits) about going in there and doing something similar to an "undercover boss", working as a maintenance guy for 3 months, and taking a list of all the hard working employees, and all the slugs, and getting a feel for the place, talking to people.

Then come back with a tie on and hold a meeting to announce that I have bought the place and here is a list of who stays and who goes....


A few years ago, someone asked me what I'd do with a $150M Powerball payout. What you just posted was exactly what I thought of.
Though I figured I'd be a custodian/janitor - easy mindless work saves my eyes and ears for everything else. Plus, speaking from experience in the Army, your people will respect you more if they've seen you scrub a toilet.

[Lost River]

A few years ago, someone asked me what I'd do with a $150M Powerball payout. What you just posted was exactly what I thought of.
Though I figured I'd be a custodian/janitor - easy mindless work saves my eyes and ears for everything else. Plus, speaking from experience in the Army, your people will respect you more if they've seen you scrub a toilet.

Funny, I was had janitor in mind when I posted, but I figured I would get more in depth conversations with workers if I was also out on the floor occasionally doing maintenance type as well.

The part is true what you say about respect and doing menial tasks. When I was doing some regional protective work, and there was time, I would do tasks that had been relegated a couple levels down. The new people were very surprised to see this, and commented about it. Of course it also was a two way street, as it gave me an opportunity to jump people's butts when on range day the boss is loading steel targets, etc into vehicles, and guys are standing around with cups of coffee in their hands. :cool:

Bottom line is a boss should never ask someone to do a job he is not willing to do himself. Nobody is so important that they cannot push a broom or take out the trash.

[Welder]

Bottom line is a boss should never ask someone to do a job he is not willing to do himself. Nobody is so important that they cannot push a broom or take out the trash.

Thread drift, but this is one of the least expensive morale boosters with one of the biggest payoffs, and most managers don't get it because never in their career did they set foot in the trenches to understand what motivates the guys who get their hands dirty.

I worked for a multi-millionaire for about 5 years who understood and practiced this, and the workers loved him. He paid low wages; you had to work a 50-hr week to make ends meet, and nobody cared.

[Hambo]

Thread drift, but this is one of the least expensive morale boosters with one of the biggest payoffs, and most managers don't get it because never in their career did they set foot in the trenches to understand what motivates the guys who get their hands dirty.

I worked for a multi-millionaire for about 5 years who understood and practiced this, and the workers loved him. He paid low wages; you had to work a 50-hr week to make ends meet, and nobody cared.

Because managers aren't leaders. I'll die for a leader, but I wouldn't stop to piss down the throat of a manager if his heart was on fire.

[RAM Engineer]

Now, we just need to de-Union and de-Wall Street *S&W* and move them to *ALABAMA*.

Fixed it for you.

[hufnagel]

Troy, AL should have low cost of living with Montgomery being just up the road to the North. Nice little college town with available land in Pike county at reasonable cost.

Hunting and fishing everywhere. Lockheed/Martin used to have an operation in Pike county.

Florida beaches not that far to the south. I think their population is like 20k now.

Regards.

Ahh... Montgomery.
Wares Ferry Road Elementary school.
I see the 'burb I grew up in is way more developed that it was back in the mid/late 70s.
House is still there though; looking exactly the same. Although there's a ginormous tree in the back yard now.

[awp_101]

Because managers aren't leaders. I'll die for a leader, but I wouldn't stop to piss down the throat of a manager if his heart was on fire.

You’ve just described the entire culture of my employer from the CEO down to my immediate supervisor. There’s not a one I’d stop for in that situation. Not a one of them understands true leadership or why morale is in the tank and the give a damn in our shop has shriveled up and blown away.

[lwt16]

Ahh... Montgomery.
Wares Ferry Road Elementary school.
I see the 'burb I grew up in is way more developed that it was back in the mid/late 70s.
House is still there though; looking exactly the same. Although there's a ginormous tree in the back yard now.

My first LE agency. “Emory’s Army”.

Academy was on Mildred street back then. 20 weeks of fun in the sun.