Eugene-based BowTech says it makes the fastest bow on the market. And the company may be in line to claim another speed record — for the fastest-growing archery company in the nation.
With sales almost doubling every year since its founding in late 1999, the maker of compound bows and other archery products is continuing its aggressive growth by increasing production space on Highway 99 North in Eugene and investing in new machinery. The company has swelled to 51 employees and plans to hire 10 to 15 more this summer.
“If our growth curve were to continue like the past four years, wed be the largest (bow maker) in three years,” BowTech chief executive John Strasheim said.
BowTech last year sold about 15,000 bows and posted sales of $6 million, ranking it the ninth or 10th largest bow maker in the country, said Gene Shands, BowTech’s marketing director.
BowTech forecasts it will sell about 27,500 bows and bring in roughly $13 million in sales this year.
The company’s space needs have burgeoned.
BowTech in January left a cramped 6,000-square-foot production facility in west Eugene and leased a 50,000-square-foot building on Highway 99 that formerly housed the Romania RV dealership. The building has plenty of office space, so BowTech was able to move its corporate offices to the new location from Creswell.
There was even enough room for BowTech to open a pro shop and a small indoor shooting range for customers. BowTech will host a grand opening on Saturday.
Also, BowTech is spending about $150,000 to buy a bow-coating line, to print camouflage and other designs on bows. The company hopes to start the line next month. Strasheim said BowTech would hire 10 to 15 employees to operate the machine.
The company also has tentative plans to spend $1.3 million on two computerized metal milling machines used to turn aircraft-grade aluminum blanks into the risers that make up the spine of a compound bow.
Investing in costly machinery marks a milestone for BowTech.
When Strasheim, bow designer Kevin Strother and a few investors launched the company four years ago, they decided to outsource production for every part of the bow. The company currently uses contractors in several states for the machining, and a facility in North Carolina for the coating.
But with the prospect of continued rapid growth, the company decided it could improve margins by buying its own equipment and doing its own manufacturing in Eugene. Contractor and shipping costs are eating up profits, Strasheim said.
The company will save about $17 a bow once the coating line is running, he said. If the company buys the equipment to do the aluminum machining in-house, it would save another $8 a bow. The company’s bows retail in the $359 to $749 range.
The fledgling firm posted its first profitable quarter earlier this year; it previously has poured profits back into operations.
“So far, weve sacrificed profit for growth and quality,” Strasheim said. “Weve probably had the most fantastic run in the business that you can have with a business as undercapitalized as this one.”
BowTech hopes to continue taking market share from industry stalwarts Mathews Inc., Hoyt USA and PSE Archery.
The bow-making industry is fragmented and crowded, with more than 50 bow-making manufacturers in the United States alone. “We want to be in the top five by the end of the year,” Shands said.
