Machinery Chatter

Polaris Building Plant in Alabama

Dan Miller
By  Dan Miller , Progressive Farmer Senior Editor
The Polaris XP900 is one of 20 off-road models Polaris introduced in 2014. (Photo courtesy of Polaris)

Polaris Industries Inc. is breaking ground on a new manufacturing facility outside Huntsville, Ala. The 600,000-square-foot plant, on 453 acres will produce the Polaris Ranger line of side-by-side off-road vehicles.

"The Southeast is a major market for Polaris off-road vehicles so it only made sense to build our new plant near the heart of the market," a spokesperson told me about the company's $142 million capital investment.

The facility gives Polaris an important increase in production capacity as the company experiences rapid growth. Sales rose 19% in 2014, compared to 2013 totaling $4.479 billion. The company hired 1,800 employees last year. The Alabama plant may employ 1,700 workers at full capacity.

The year 2014 marked the fifth consecutive year of double-digit sales and earnings growth. The company projects that it will reach $8 billion in sales by 2020.

Polaris says it chose Huntsville because of the region's skilled workforce, history of technology and innovation and existing utility infrastructure. The north Alabama community is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and a high-tech industrial base that supports it.

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The plant will support several manufacturing processes including vehicle assembly, chassis and body painting, welding, fabrication and injection molding.

The site gives Polaris easy access to the major north-south artery, U.S. Interstate 65.

"This new facility will complement our already strong and growing North American manufacturing footprint by reducing pressure on our existing facilities and enable each to remain focused on their current product lines as we continue to meet the demand for our innovative, quality products," says Ken Pucel, an executive vice president with Polaris.

Polaris increased its production capacities at all its U.S. and Mexico plants in 2014. The company introduced more than 20 new off-road vehicle models in 2014, including the RZR XP 900 trail and RZR XP4 900 trail and two models in a newly defined category of single-seat, ride-in ATVs, the Polaris ACE. Polaris also purchased California-based Pro Armor in 2014. Pro Armor is an aftermarket brand for performance side-by-side and ATV accessories.

Polaris plans to complete construction of its Huntsville plan early in the second quarter of 2016. Production will begin shortly thereafter.

In addition to its side-by-side Ranger and RZR lines and Sportsman ATVs, Polaris builds motorcycles, snowmobiles, a line of electric-hybrid, on-road vehicles and a new, three-wheeled vehicle, the Slingshot. Polaris builds vehicles for the Department of Defense. It operates manufacturing plants in Roseau, Minn, Osceola, Wis., in Mexico and has recently completed the construction of a plant in Opole, Poland.

YAMAHA MARKS 3 MILLIONTH UNIT

Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corporation of America (YMMC) and Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. (YMUS) have now manufactured more than three million vehicles at its Newnan, Ga., plant, the Cyprus, Calif., company announced recently.

The three-millionth unit was a Grizzly 700 ATB, and rolled off the assembly line in late December last year.

The Newnan plant produces ATVs, Side-by-Side (SxS) vehicles, golf cars and personal watercraft, and is the company's worldwide hub of off-highway vehicle manufacturing.

The YMMC facility covers 280 acres with more than 1.3 million square feet of manufacturing facilities. Yamaha has invested $250 million in U.S. manufacturing facilities. It now employs more than 2,000 in Georgia, alone.

The company plans to add another 150 to its Newnan plant in 2015 to support growth in its side-by-side product line.

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Dan Miller