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FN America, the US subsidiary of Belgium’s FN Herstal, has been in operation for more than four decades. Its current guise is the result of a merger of the two separate prior iterations, FN Manufacturing and FNH USA. Beyond the Belgian and American operations, the company maintains a UK branch as well. Today, FN America is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, and their manufacturing facility near Columbia, South Carolina primarily handles military arms, such as the M249 SAW and M240 machine guns. Now FN America has announced that they are expanding to a second domestic manufacturing operation. This new plant will be located in Liberty, SC, which is about two hours’ drive northwest of Columbia. This announcement came in the form of the following press release, where you can find some additional details.
Liberty, South Carolina, FN America
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FN’s new facility is planned to span more than 100,000 square feet of workspace, which should significantly enhance production capabilities.
FN Announces Second Facility in Pickens County, South Carolina
The New Facility Will Add More Than 100,000-Square-Feet of Manufacturing Capacity and Position the Company to Meet Increasing Demand for FN Products
(McLean, VA – April 26, 2023) FN America, LLC, the U.S. subsidiary of FN Herstal, S.A., a global firearms manufacturer, is pleased to announce plans to open a second production facility located in Pickens County, South Carolina, further expanding the company’s presence in the state. The company will invest $33 million into the construction of the more than 100,000-square-foot facility that will be constructed over two phases. In total, the expansion will add 176 new jobs to the company’s workforce and add new manufacturing capacity that will position the company to meet the increasing demand for FN products.
“FN has experienced significant growth over the last several years and demand for our products continues to increase in all market segments that we serve,” said Mark Cherpes, President and CEO for FN America, LLC. “Our new facility in Liberty, South Carolina will allow us to expand our manufacturing capabilities and grow our highly skilled workforce to meet that new demand. We are proud to partner with Pickens County and the state of South Carolina on this expansion.”
For more than 40 years, the company’s primary production facility has been located in Richland County, South Carolina and has produced more than 1 million small arms under contract to the U.S. Department of Defense. The company was originally established in the United States 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.
Currently, FN America employs more than 600 individuals to produce firearms, accessories and other adjacent products for the U.S. military, law enforcement agencies as well as 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 it’s FN 509 striker-fired pistol line used by U.S. law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department.
The company plans to break ground on its second facility in 2024 with an anticipated completion in 2025. To learn more about FN America and its products, please visit www.fnamerica.com. To learn more about future or current, available positions, please visit FN America’s careers site at https://careers.fnamerica.com/.
FN’s investment into this new production facility is planned to be approximately $33 million and should create 176 new jobs for South Carolinians.
With $33 million going into this new 100,000-square-foot project, the new manufacturing facility is a significant step for FN America. It isn’t yet clear whether the production here will focus on military arms, as is the case for their Columbia-area operation, or if we could see a surge of new American-made commercial market guns. Time will tell. If you’re in the area of Pickens County, maybe one of the 176 new jobs could be of interest to you. What do you think of this news, readers? Are you glad to see this US-based manufacturing expansion? What other companies would you like to see take similar steps? What specific FN products do you hope the new factory will produce? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! See you at the range.
