Ruger is expanding.

Sturm, Ruger & Co is in the process of opening a third production plant to expand manufacturing capacity, and company president and CEO Michael O. Fifer wants to do it quickly.

“We’re running out of space,” said Fifer in the company’s annual shareholder meeting on April 30.

According to Fifer, Ruger will use the new facility to build new lines of firearms, not to expand production of current firearms.  Fifer stated he expects the new facility would build about ten completely new firearm lines.

To show how much growth Ruger has experienced, consider the number of employees employed at the Prescott, AZ manufacturing facility.  On the weekly Gun Talk radio program, Ken Jorgensen, Director of Media Relations for Ruger, told host Tom Gresham that there were about 150 employees at the plant in 2008.  Currently, there are about 750.

An existing, high-quality facility is what Ruger would like to find.  “I don’t have any desire to build something,” said Fifer.  He stated that there is more risk in building something, and he would prefer to get the new plant up and running “very quickly.”

Ideally, the facility would be of newer construction, about 250,000 square feet in size, and have a “phenomenal electrical [system] in it.”  Fifer stated the company would prefer not to be in an industrial park.

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