Black Diamond Equipment Ltd. has completed a multi-million dollar capital investment program in their Salt Lake City, Utah facilities and Basel, Switzerland. These two expansions were the culmination of a 24 month, multi-million dollar capital investment program. Further large investments included the integration of UGS PLM software, which streamlines the management of product development and global manufacturing, as well as over $1 million in enhancements to the Salt Lake City manufacturing operations such as new machinery, automation equipment, new production lines, and improved layouts.
In addition, Black Diamond opened a new Asian sourcing and operations office in Zhuhai, China. BD Asia is a Free Trade Zone Facility, and is situated near Hong Kong and industrial suppliers. The staff at BD Asia is currently comprised of 25 people, including long-time BD employees Ryan Gellert as Managing Director and Bill Reimann as Director of Operations. The staff will expand as operations ramp up to meet the increasing global demand for BDs products.
Black Diamond Asia was created to serve as a global distribution hub, to support product design and development, to assist in the sourcing of raw materials and Quality Assurance, to augment manufacturing and to support sales and marketing efforts throughout China. The new facility should also help BD with its global expansion.
Black Diamond is claiming to be the first climbing and backcountry skiing company to establish a full spectrum operational facility in China. The investment was motivated by continued sales increases. Black Diamond is seeing North American growth of roughly 20% complemented by 20% growth in most pre-season categories for Fall of 2007. Asian growth is running over 25%.
