The Raymond Corporation hosted a National Manufacturing Day event at its headquarters in Greene, New York, unveiling a 47,000-square-foot addition to its facility and the reconfiguration of manufacturing space.

The creation of the Raymond Operations Center accounted for 32,000 square feet of the addition. In this space, Raymond was able to add a second level for office space for operations and support, multiple collaborative team rooms and an employee fitness center. This allowed for the reconfiguration of 60,000 square feet on the manufacturing floor and optimization of the first floor support operations for improved efficiency and production capacity.

An additional 15,000-square-foot expansion has been added to the west side of the building for new 60-foot test bay capabilities, office space, team rooms and break rooms. Raymond also implemented a number of upgrades to its manufacturing technology, installing advanced automatic welding and laser-cutting technology, upgrading warehouse management software, and integrating the corporate logistics plan with just-in-time delivery of equipment and materials.

“Raymond’s growing workforce and our evolving needs as a leader in our industry were driving forces to expand our footprint and implement a number of state-of-the-art technologies on the manufacturing floor,” says Michael Field, CEO for The Raymond Corporation. “To meet the ever-changing needs of our customers, Raymond must continually advance to bring forward the most productive and efficient products and solutions.”

Raymond’s main manufacturing facility is located in Greene, along with its central offices which include operations, engineering, marketing, finance and various other departments. Many of Raymond’s flagship products are built at the Greene location, including narrow aisle Reach-Fork^® trucks, very narrow aisle Raymond Swing-Reach^® transtacker and sideloader trucks, and Raymond’s sit-down and stand-up counterbalanced trucks. 

In addition to the unveiling of the expansion, Raymond’s support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) careers inspired a National Manufacturing Day event for more than 200 Southern Tier of New York high school students, demonstrating how STEM careers can be exciting, challenging and rewarding.

“Students were given a guided tour of our award-winning operations and witnessed first-hand what careers in science, technology, engineering and math are all about from myself and Steve Medwin, director of systems and advanced engineering,” says Rick Harrington, vice president of U.S. manufacturing at Raymond. “If we can inspire one more student to see a future in a STEM career, then we have been successful.”

Students who visited Raymond also learned about SkillsUSA from Bruce Potter, director for New York State SkillsUSA, and Ellen Coughlin, state leadership and skills conference coordinator for New York State SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA is an organization made up of students, teachers and industry working together to help create a skilled workforce for Americans through a structured program of technical and professional skills training.