Yeasterday, I had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of TYR Tactical’s new facility in Peoria, Arizona. It’s quite a sight.
This newly constructed headquarters is 78,000 sq ft, more than double the size of their previous location. It was built with growth in mind, and designed to increase efficiency and warehousing capacity. These two factors will decrease costs and improve lead times. For example, they’ve already realized cost savings from being in one building. At the old facility, employeees would have to go outside to get from one building to the other and the HVAC was in a constant battle with the Arizona heat. Now, with everyone under one roof, there aren’t as many doors opening and closing.
Their goal was to build a campus-like atmosphere and they’ve accomplished it. This new facility includes a green space complete with a walking track out front to encourage exercise before shift and during breaks, cafeteria with rollup doors were employees can relax and take a break from the day, and bathrooms for each team. The idea was to have every employee loving their work environment. Before they had a handful of microwaves to warm lunches. Now, there are 36 and the crew can spend more time enjoying their lunch and less time standing in line.
It’s a very distinct aesthetic, presenting a clean, organized space. During design they created a facility to reflect the products they bring to market: innovative design, attention to detail, quality construction and clean look.
An important factor was to drastically reduce lead times on custom sized products for officers and operators who can’t wait the standard 2-4 months for protective products. Their new showroom and product development area allows them to custom fit the end user with mission specific gear. From start to finish their new turnaround time will be 2-3 business days on items such as concealable body armor and plate carriers for walk-in customers.
The median age of TYR’s sewers is 53 years old; many have been with them since 2005 in the early Diamondback Tactical days. TYR tells me they are the best in the business and thats why they had them in mind when they created this new space. In many areas, the Cut and Sew business is a dying industry, but TYR wants want to preserve quality American manufacturing and continue to create new jobs. For this reason, their plan for 2018 is to start a sewing training program. The goal is to take young, inexperienced individuals and through our apprentice program, groom them to be future high end sewers.
If you’re in the area, be sure to visit their show room, where you can buy TYR products.
It’s at 9330 North 91st Ave, Peoria, AZ, 85345.
www.tyrtactical.com
