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pietro
12-09-2010, 05:38 PM
(Spotted elsewhere)

Thursday, December 9, 2010


ROCHESTER — Springfield, Mass-based Smith & Wesson Holding Corp is relocating its Thompson/Center Arms operations from Rochester, N.H., to its Springfield, Mass. facility, according to the City biz Real Estate website.

The site posted the news late Wednesday night.

Foster's Daily Democrat has learned the company bused its employees to a meeting at the Governor's Inn Restaurant around 4 p.m. Wednesday. At the meeting company representatives were reported to have said the Thompson/Center Arms facility would be closed over a period of about nine months.

The closure will effect approximately 250 employees, some who may be offered the opportunity to move the company's Springfield operation.

Foster's also learned over the next couple of weeks there will be meetings with employees to discuss severance issues and the possible relocation of some local workers to Springfield. Employees were also told the company was continuing to look for a buyer for the foundry at the Rochester facility.

According to its most recent annual report, the company owns three manufacturing facilities in its firearm division. Its principal facility is the 530,323-square-foot Springfield plant. It also owns a 38,115-square-foot plant in Houlton, Maine, and the 160,000-square-foot plant in Rochester.

The bulk of the $9 million of estimated cash outlays associated with the relocation will occur in the second half of 2011, and those outlays are expected to be recovered in approximately 24 months. The relocation is scheduled to commence in January 2011 and conclude by November 2011.

As a result of the relocation of its Thompson/Center Arms operations, Smith & Wesson expects to record future expense of approximately $6 million, consisting of approximately $3 million for personnel-related exit costs and approximately $3 million of other facility-related shutdown costs, including costs for moving and facility preparation.

The Springfield facility is primarily used to manufacture handguns and rifles; the Houlton facility is primarily used to manufacture handcuffs, restraints, .22-caliber pistols, metal center-fire pistols, and the Walther PPK and PPK/S pistols; and the Rochester facility is used primarily to produce hunting rifles, black powder firearms, interchangeable firearm systems, and long gun barrels.

The company also owns a 56,869-square-foot facility in Springfield that it uses for the Smith & Wesson Academy, a state-accredited firearm training institution, a public shooting facility, and a retail store; and a 6,000-square-foot retail facility in Rochester.

The company leases office and manufacturing space at four facilities in its perimeter security division. The facilities are all located within a quarter mile of each other in Franklin, Tenn. The total space leased is 61,509 square feet.

The company also leases 2,800 square feet of office space in Scottsdale, Ariz., which houses its investor relations department as well as offices for its board of directors, and 577 square feet of office space in Washington, D.C., which houses certain executive staff. Both of these leases expire on Dec. 31, 2010.

Smith & Wesson acquired Rochester, NH-based Thompson/Center Arms, Inc., a privately held, New Hampshire-based designer, manufacturer and marketer of hunting firearms, for $102 million in cash in 2006.

Doc Highwall
12-09-2010, 06:34 PM
They closed Fox Ridge the custom shop for Thompson Center last July. I liked to go up there for the fathers day tent sale.

Grapeshot
12-10-2010, 01:05 PM
So ends another gun manufacturer due to the bottom line and lack of support.

45r
12-10-2010, 02:53 PM
The greed has taken over and we are at the twilight of guality firearms,I feel sorry for the people who have been played like pawns on the corporate chessboard.I won't be buying any new S&W's,T/C's,Rems,Marlins or any other firearm company that has been taken over by greed motivated investors.They say its in the name of efficiency but its in the name of greed and the quality of the products suffer.Management has gotten so spoiled by huge bonuses for themselves that people are no longer an issue to them,if employees suffer and quality go to pot who cares they still have a job and they still pay themselves very well.

cajun shooter
12-10-2010, 07:17 PM
In being a CEO for a huge company has the best benefits in the world. Where else will you find a person that screws up a company so bad that they let you go with a 4 million dollar severance package. I think I should have taken business instead of criminal justice but then my idea was to help people and save the world by being a good cop.