Kimber Arms moving headquarters from New York to Troy, creating 366 Alabama jobs
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lilguy
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I worry that in the not to distant future there will not be anywhere safe to move for any of us.
.455_Hunter
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I think there is a good facility in Huntsville that might be available.
illinoisburt
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Complete understanding on the constant move cycle. My folks didn't settle until I was 16 and that constant boxed/unboxed is not fun as a kid.
Troy is not Huntsville, by a long shot, and there are no large transplant communities like you find around military bases there. Anyone coming from NY, even upstate, is going to have some real culture shock.
Troy is a big enough city by Alabama standards to have traffic and plenty of big box stores and chain restaurants. The surrounding area is very rural, lightly populated, and poor. Plus being in the sunshine belt you get a good number of vagrants and other folks just hanging about checking locks so to speak. The area around the university is nice and its a reasonably quick drive to the gulf coast where big city people will likely feel more familiar, though we are talking Florida (LOL).
As a transplant myself with a large work territory covering all of Alabama and part of the panhandle, I've been all over the state the past five years. It's a beautiful place with good people and a huge amount of public land. It is however not like living and working in Chicago, LA, and NYC. If someone was looking to get out of winter weather and wind down to a slower pace of life, making the move might be good. Understand though that Alabama is not a union state and companies moving plants here do so intending to make the work environment decidedly different. If something happens with the job finding new employment in the same skillset or pay will very likely be difficult.
Telum Pisces
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I am sorry, but some of these comments about the area, education, poor, and so much more are just plain ignorant! No I do not live in Troy. I live about 2 hours away though in the NWFL panhandle. I travel to Troy often. Rural for a manufacturing facility is usually a good thing as long as there is somewhat of a population center to pull from with a half decent college. Troy is a great school and puts out some top educated folks.
A lot of businesses are relocating to such areas for a reason. The most reasons is that it will save them money in the long run.
The Hyundai plant in Montgomery, AL is a great example of success in AL. Been a great boom for a part of the AL that most would consider "uneducated, poor, unskilled, etc...). But it's thriving there! Hmmm, how can that be if all there are are poor uneducated people there?
A lot of businesses are relocating to such areas for a reason. The most reasons is that it will save them money in the long run.
The Hyundai plant in Montgomery, AL is a great example of success in AL. Been a great boom for a part of the AL that most would consider "uneducated, poor, unskilled, etc...). But it's thriving there! Hmmm, how can that be if all there are are poor uneducated people there?
lysanderxiii
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I liked LA . . .
(lower Alabama)
(lower Alabama)
Double_J
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I Want to chime in ss I spent 4 years as a Quality Engineer supporting the Hyundai plant. There is an insane high turnover for hourly employees, and we had to constantly watch for quality issues from people not following directions/not understanding the directions.
There is also the issue where pay is sub-standard compared to other areas. the workers you get there are going to need quite a bit of training on how to use the various tools and equipment. They will need help with understanding the assembly methodology and quality requirements that Kimber is known for. The relocated employees are going to have a serious adjustment time training the new hires and establishing a baseline for the new plant.
There is also the issue where pay is sub-standard compared to other areas. the workers you get there are going to need quite a bit of training on how to use the various tools and equipment. They will need help with understanding the assembly methodology and quality requirements that Kimber is known for. The relocated employees are going to have a serious adjustment time training the new hires and establishing a baseline for the new plant.
Speedo66
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Yonkers is the northern border of NYC, it's not upstate. Although any real NYer will tell you anything over the city line is upstate.
Troy, though it might be a nice place, will probably feel alien to the current Kimber workers, I'd be surprised if they get many to make the move.
Kimber no doubt got all kinds of tax breaks and concessions from the state and local govt., and will not be paying their new employees what the job paid up north. Great for their bottom line, not so great for the left behind workers that got them where they are today.
I will add that as someone wrenched from NYC 6 years ago, I miss it and would go back there in a NY minute were it not for family.
And I now know that NY "style" pizza and bagels, and other ethnic foods, are not even in the same ballpark as the real thing.
Troy, though it might be a nice place, will probably feel alien to the current Kimber workers, I'd be surprised if they get many to make the move.
Kimber no doubt got all kinds of tax breaks and concessions from the state and local govt., and will not be paying their new employees what the job paid up north. Great for their bottom line, not so great for the left behind workers that got them where they are today.
I will add that as someone wrenched from NYC 6 years ago, I miss it and would go back there in a NY minute were it not for family.
And I now know that NY "style" pizza and bagels, and other ethnic foods, are not even in the same ballpark as the real thing.
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lemaymiami
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Enjoyed reading the responses after mine.... One thing no one has mentioned is that although Alabama has a pretty high sales tax - a hard working family can get a lot more house (and even some land...) for much, much less than up north. It will be interesting to see how it works out. You can tell I left Alabama years ago (and once I saw bluewater and caught the fishing bug so badly that I'd only be visiting back to Huntsville all these years later). Even in those first years, starting in 1960 Huntsville was a lot different than the rest of the state.
Seems to me that more and more those old northern states that were so powerful years ago are just bleeding businesses and skilled folks who were tired of the situation as it currently exists in those old northern big cities. For my part I always figured that places like New York weren't for me - not ever...
Hope Kimber is wildly successful - but if they are it will be their employees who should be taking the bows...
Seems to me that more and more those old northern states that were so powerful years ago are just bleeding businesses and skilled folks who were tired of the situation as it currently exists in those old northern big cities. For my part I always figured that places like New York weren't for me - not ever...
Hope Kimber is wildly successful - but if they are it will be their employees who should be taking the bows...
theotherwaldo
Member
As a native of Alabama City, Alabama (part of Gadsden) and a graduate of the University of Alabama I would be pleased and proud to own at least one firearm from my birth state.
Of course, I've lived in about fifty other places... .
Of course, I've lived in about fifty other places... .
I own two (84 and 82) older Yonkers Kimbers - I know nothing about the Yonkers area nor the Troy area; I do know that both of my Yonkers rifles are top quality and excellent shooters. I am hopeful that the Troy product is of or betters the same quality.
illinoisburt
Member
My comments about the area are not to denigrate anyone, and I last I checked being poor does not equate with intelligence or ability. What I am saying is very plain and obvious - a small town of 18k people in the rural south is very different from a medium sized 200k suburban city on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area with 23 million. Take a quick gander at the census info will show the stark difference - population density, income, housing values, employment opportunities, etc. Life is much quieter and there is not much to do by comparison.
A small company like Kimber with a couple hundred jobs is a big deal for places like Troy. If someone transferred down here and the job did not work out, there will not be an equivalent alternative like can be easily found back in New York. Anyone contemplating a transfer would be strongly advised to have reasons besides the job to make the move.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/yonkerscitynewyork,troycityalabama/PST045219
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George P
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That's the water.......otherwise, southern sausage sure beats a Nathan's hotdog
Poper
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When I tried to talk to Kimber's CS they didn't answer. A retired buddy called in my behalf the next day and he fell asleep. About 2.5 hours later, he woke up and found he was still on hold!
It's a long story, but the short version is that I finally sold the thing for less than 1/2 what I paid for it and was happy to get it.
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MuleBrain
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Good news
That's for sure. I've moved to several different "cultural" areas in the USA. The different dialect takes some getting used. I'm still not sure Louisiana is English.
It's been nice seeing firearms companies leave anti states.
Hmm, maybe Kimber’s quality control will improve? The three early, supposedly “good” Kimber 1911 pistols, that I bought in the 1997-1999 time frame, looked really nice, and were very accurate, but required much correcting, with non-Kimber magazines, to be able to run, at all, and non-Kimber small parts, in order to be useful. Two needed new slide stops, from the start, and the Stainless Gold Match needed a new extractor, because its factory extractor failed, the first time it got warm, bending like a banana, in the wrong direction. Two insisted upon being fed only with Metalform magazines, and the third insisted upon being fed only with McCormick Power Mags. Kimber of NY struck out, with me; three up, three down. I dumped all three by 2002, and have not looked back. (It was not user error; my Colt Governments and Les Baers were working just fine.)
I had made the mistake of thinking that Kimber of NY would be good, because Kimber rifles, made in a state other than NY, had earned a good reputation. I am not saying that NY people were the problem, but that rookies, learning a new craft or trade, make mistakes. Effective management can fix this, but I did not read or see good things, as time passed.
I had made the mistake of thinking that Kimber of NY would be good, because Kimber rifles, made in a state other than NY, had earned a good reputation. I am not saying that NY people were the problem, but that rookies, learning a new craft or trade, make mistakes. Effective management can fix this, but I did not read or see good things, as time passed.
George P
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Different CEO in NY (and now he runs SIG in NH)
herrwalther
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Good. I just wish it was closer to me so I could apply at Kimber.
Poper
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You can always relocate.
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