Life Fitness, the maker of fitness equipment, broke ground at its Ramsey, MN, factory to make way for a nearly 50,000-square-foot expansion. The addition comes after production at the factory nearly doubled over the previous six years. In addition to increased production efficiency, the expansion will provide additional jobs for the local community and surrounding area.
“Our factory in Ramsey is vital to our global production,” said Chris Clawson, Life Fitness president. “We produce more products in Ramsey than anywhere else in the world, and we're excited to continue growing with the community and providing more job opportunities as we expand.”
Currently, the Life Fitness Ramsey factory produces more than 140 different commercial strength Life Fitness and Hammer Strength fitness equipment products. Additionally, the location produces welded components for Life Fitness cardiovascular fitness equipment that are shipped to its Franklin Park, IL, facility for full assembly.
Scheduled for completion in March 2016 when the expanded Ramsey facility will total over 330,000 square feet, the expansion will create increased space to allow for a restructuring of the floor layout to improve efficiencies. The addition also will provide Life Fitness with the capacity to accommodate anticipated international growth, and further position the company to provide customers with greater levels of customization and enhanced customer service.
The City of Ramsey approved a tax increment financing (TIF) agreement to facilitate project construction. Additionally, the State of Minnesota has issued a job creation fund award allowing Life Fitness to earn incentives as new jobs are created over the next five years. Further, Life Fitness will seek to use the project's capital with area contractors to invest in the area economy.
“The City of Ramsey and State of Minnesota have both been a significant help in this expansion project, and we thank the community for its support and for being our partners in growth,” said Clawson.
Life Fitness has been a staple of the Ramsey community for more than 15 years. Acquiring the current facility in 1998 when it was 60,000 square feet, the factory more than quadrupled in 2000 amid global company growth with the addition of 225,000 square feet.
The Ramsey factory currently produces the following fitness equipment for global shipment: Insignia Series, SYNRGY360, Multi-Jungles, Cable Motion machines, Hammer Strength Select Series, Hammer Strength plate-loaded equipment and Hammer Strength Motion Technology Selectorized (MTS) equipment.
Life Fitness also has factories in Franklin Park, IL, Falmouth, KY, Tulsa, OK, Bristol and Delavan, WI, as well as Kiskoros, Hungary. Life Fitness is headquartered in Rosemont, IL, and is a division of Brunswick Corporation.
