Bandit continues to expand to meet demand!
Bandit Industries, Inc. celebrated the acquisition of a facility in Mount Pleasant with a ribbon cutting ceremony on April 5th. This facility formerly owned by Burch Tank is situated on twenty-four acres with 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
“These buildings and this property will be so instrumental in growing our company as we continue to ramp up to meet the growing demand for our products” stated Bandit’s CEO Jerry Morey during his onsite speech at the ceremony. The goal of this location is to draw employees from a further distance away to accommodate the current need for new employees. The proximity to the highway also serves as an additional convenience for accessibility.
Current state of this location includes Bandit’s electrical team, consisting of wiring harnesses for all Bandit products. Components for the whole tree chipper and horizontal grinder product lines also are produced at this new location. Future plans include moving the rebuild department from the main headquarters. The rebuild department specializes in the refurbishment and service of existing Bandit machines. “The primary facility of this site is ideal for producing one of our major product lines, we will be adding a new paint room before we move a line here” Morey added.
A variety of attendees ranging from Bandit employees, community members, elected officials, and more showed up for the ceremony and spoke at the event. A listing of speakers is mentioned below, in addition to a video of the ceremony. 95.3 CFX was also live on location and promoted current job opportunities. Bandit would like to thank each person that made an appearance and contributed to making the day special.
2023 marks Bandit’s 40th anniversary and much of its success is contributed to quality products, an amazing dealer network, loyal customer base, and their dedicated hard-working employees. The current product line consists of hand-fed and whole tree chippers, stump grinders, wood waste grinders, and Arjes slow speed shredders.
Bandit became an employee-owned company (ESOP) in 2018. During his speech, Jerry briefly talked about how Bandit became an ESOP, “we initially looked at selling to another manufacturing company and then an investment banking company, but backed out of those offers over concerns for our employees and the future of the company.” Morey added. Over the next couple of years, Bandit will likely need an additional 200 employees and hope to fill 95 open positions by the end of 2023.
In addition to the new Mount Pleasant facility, Bandit invested an additional fourteen million dollars throughout 2022 conducting several expansions at their main campus, including adding a new 80,000 square foot steel room featuring new cutting and machining equipment and robots. Once added together, the total manufacturing space across all Bandit locations equals 560,000 square feet.
Speakers at Ribbon Cutting Ceremony:
Jim McBryde, President & CE0, Middle Michigan Development Corporation (MC for the event).
Aaron Desentz, Mount Pleasant City Manager.
Rodney C Nanney, AICP, Community and Economic Development Director.
Harry Leaver, Executive Director, Central Michigan Manufacturers Association.
Jonathan Smith, Senior Chief Director, Labor and Economic Opportunity.
Quentin L. Messer, Jr., CEO, Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Jerry Morey, CEO, Bandit Industries, Inc.
Liz Conway, President & CEO, Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce.
Utilize the link below to watch the ceremony: