SIG Sauer recently freed an additional 20,000 square feet of space for cartridge manufacturing at its Jacksonville, AR, plant by shifting storage, shipping and receiving operations to office space nearby. To further meet the record-setting demand for ammunition, the company also invested roughly $2 million in upgrades to the factory and added $10 million in machinery, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
The famed gun maker centralized its pistol-cartridge production at the facility in 2017, where it currently employs 220 people. Another 40 positions are being added to the payroll this year.
Among the capital improvements made recently was the addition of high-speed horizontal cold forming equipment, which is used to produce pistol brass. Daryl Hanna, SIG Sauer chief strategy officer, told the newspaper the expanded space and machinery will double the plant’s pistol cartridge production.
Plans are also proceeding to add a primer-manufacturing facility at the location. Construction for the new building is expected to be completed sometime this year—at a price tag of $5 million. It will add another 30 employees to the payroll and cover four of the 60 acres SIG Sauer owns at the location.
The new location for shipping, receiving and warehousing are in a 53,000-square-foot office complex nearby. Fifteen people work at that facility.
Also in Arkansas, but in Lonoke, Remington’s ammunition plant is running non-stop.
“Our team knows we’ve got work to do,” said Remington Ammunition President Jason Vanderbrink. “We’re continuing to hire local manufacturing jobs, continuing to produce ammo 24/7, and continuing to revitalize Big Green as more ammo goes out the door daily.”
Production capacity has increased since Vista Outdoor took the helm last year and the expansion hasn’t slowed. Remington cartridges are finally being seen on many retailer shelves across the nation, a sight so uncommon today’ that Vanderbrink released a video about that pleasant change on July 6.
