With 2020 underway we have been eagerly watching the progress of our much-anticipated new assembly and paint facilities that we are hopeful will be fully operational by the end of 2020. The market and environment has proven extremely challenging for the Ag Industry in 2019 and combining that with the shop fire that Elmer’s experienced in March, it tested the resiliency of Elmer’s operations. We used this time to re-evaluate our operations, improve its processes and ensure its prepared to not only handle the tough years but have expanded capacity for the good years.

The original expansion plan was to expand our current operations in 2021-2022, but the loss of our previous paint and assembly facilities on March 12, 2019, prompted us to act quickly as continuing operations without these facilities has proven to be a challenging feat. Despite the stress the agricultural equipment industry has been under over the past few years with uncooperative weather and import tariffs proving challenging, we have continued to grow in North America and globally.

Some of the features of the new building will include:

An upgraded paint line including a full reclaim shot blast booth, spray booth and cure oven with a monorail system connecting all operations, allowing the parts to directly feed into our assembly line, allowing for a one-piece flow system.
The additional 37,415 sq. ft of assembly and paint line space allows us 100% of assembly and testing operations to be completed indoors.
Increased overhead crane capacity to help maximize efficiency and decrease lifting operations for our paint and assembly line staff.
The improvements will potentially increase our output capacity by more than 4x our previous levels in those areas.

While we initially expect some additional positions available this facility will allow us to continue growing, offering more production positions, supporting roles and giving us the ability to develop new products to better suit the agriculture market’s needs. This building is the first phase of a multi-part expansion to increase our production for the years to come.