FN America, LLC, a U.S. subsidiary of FN Herstal, S.A., the developer and manufacturer of firearms for military, law enforcement, and commercial customers worldwide, headquartered in McLean, VA, with manufacturing operations in Columbia, SC, broke ground on its second production facility in Liberty, SC, in the Pickens County Commerce Park.
FN America’s President and CEO Mark Cherpes commemorated the event with Julien Compère, CEO of the Herstal Group and FN Herstal, Gov. Henry McMaster, Chairman Chris Bowers of the Pickens County Council, and Ray Farley of Alliance Pickens Economic Development. Also in attendance were colleagues, future neighbors of the facility, and Pickens community members.
“This was a historic day for FN,” said Cherpes. “More than 40 years ago, FN opened operations in Columbia to fulfill a government contract for the U.S. Army. Since that day, FN’s business has grown tremendously, and we have forged unbreakable bonds within the state of South Carolina.
“Pickens County is a great ally to the manufacturing community and one we have had ties to for many years through our ongoing partnership with their Career and Technology Center’s Machine Tool students. That partnership has helped to develop our future workforce in the community and will be of great importance as we embark upon this expansion to better meet the needs of our customers,” continued Cherpes.
Several of the students and instructors from the Pickens County Career and Technology Center were in attendance at the groundbreaking. For many years, FN America has worked closely with the school through a work-based learning partnership that engages the school’s skilled machine and tool and dye students to give them real-world experience as they pursue a career path in manufacturing.
“Our connection to FN goes back many years with the work-based learning partnership established with the students of our Career and Technology Center. This partnership is representative of one of the many ways in which Pickens County invests to develop tomorrow’s workforce through today’s students and positions itself as a partner to the manufacturing sector,” said Farley, executive director for Alliance Pickens Economic Development. “We are delighted to welcome FN as a permanent fixture in our community with this future facility.”
FN America reported it will invest $33 million to construct the future 100,000-square-foot facility over two phases beginning in April 2024. The plant will create approximately 176 new jobs for the Pickens community, expanding its manufacturing footprint to meet its military, law enforcement and consumer markets.
The company was founded in the U.S. in 1979 and opened its doors in 1981 to produce the M240 medium machine gun, a variant of the FN MAG-58, under contract to the U.S. Army. For more than 40 years, the company’s primary production facility has been in Richland County, SC and has produced more than 1 million small arms under contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Today, FN America has more than 600 employees manufacturing firearms, accessories and other adjacent products for the U.S. military, law enforcement agencies, and consumers. The company has produced the M4A1, M16A4, M249 light machine gun, M240 medium machine gun and FN SCAR under contract for the U.S. military, as well as its FN 509 striker-fired pistol line used by U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department.
Photos courtesy of FN America
