Lorpen is increasing factory space in Mexico and its native Spain and has promoted four of its staff to accommodate growth.
To meet increased manufacturing and warehousing needs it has added 7,500 square feet at its Mexican facility and undertaken a further 17% expansion of capacity at both its Mexican and Spanish factories with new technology knitting machines.
The company also promoted Colin Sanders director of global business development. In this role Colin will work on new product development, new growth segments to evaluate, and working with key suppliers on a worldwide basis to find innovative ways to bring performance products to market. Sanders deep understanding of Lorpen manufacturing based on his 12 years of involvement with the company and how Tri Layer products can impact the user’s performance was instrumental in the move.
In addition Sanders will continue to lead the North American group. “We are investing at the manufacturing level with new space, machines and technology as well as personnel to ensure that we will be well positioned to meet the demands of not only the North American retailer buy or business on a worldwide basis for the future,” Sanders said.
David Uria has been hired as industrial director of Lorpen. Based in Spain, David will be very focused on expanding the production facilities in Mexico. He will be an essential part in purchase management, sourcing options, yarn acquisition and continuing to improve productivity. Uria has a very deep knowledge in executive administration, improving proactive communication within the sales force and forecasting.
“The high quality of our product at Lorpen is what sets us apart from our competitors,” said Uria. “With attention to detail and team of talented professionals, I am excited about the new role and the future of Lorpen.”
Bruce Barrows has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing for North America. At a time when Lorpen is seeing strong growth in the market it made sense to have one person working to unify the sales and marketing message to both the trade and continue to build a strong consumer message.
Barrows has worked hard with the sales group since he has joined Lorpen to focus on product differences with Tri Layer and improve the communication and service to our dealers. At all levels of the company in these challenging economic times it is more important than ever that Lorpen focuses on exceeding the dealers needs and expectations Barrows noted.
“We are a small company with exceptional resources internal and external that can make a difference for retailers today,” Barrows said. “With our multiple warehouses and strong delivery systems we can be a very dependable and profitable sock vendor.”
Matt Swanson, will be promoted to North American operational sales manager, in this role Swanson will take his seven years of experience at Lorpen and work with the operations, customer service and sales staff to facilitate improvements and efficiency for Lorpen retailers.
“In a category such as socks, product differences can be a key driver of the business, but equally as important so can the ease and dependability of a supplier,” said Swanson. “Our goal is to make Lorpen the easiest, most dependable sock supplier to work with in North American.”
