Remington to Rebrand Para USA, Move Operations to Alabama
OutdoorHub Reporters 02.10.15
Remington Outdoor Company (ROC) announced on Monday that it will be integrating Para USA under the Remington brand and transfer operations from Para’s headquarters in North Carolina to Huntsville, Alabama beginning next month. It was a move that Remington has anticipated ever since the company announced early last year that a vacant Chrysler facility in Huntsville would become its main manufacturing location, an investment that cost a reported $110 million and will bring up to 2,000 jobs to Madison County.
“At Remington Outdoor Company we develop, manufacture and market the highest quality firearms, ammunition, and related products,” stated a press release from the company (which has apparently been taken down or moved since its original publication). “We have built ROC by acquiring and cultivating great brands and products, such as the Remington 870 and 700, DPMS rifles, AAC suppressors, Barnes Bullets ammunition, Para USA handguns, and more while continuously investing in our people and facilities.”
Para USA, the successor to the Canadian-founded Para-Ordnance, is notable for its wide range of competition, concealed carry, and sporting 1911 pistols. The company was acquired in 2012 by Remington under its former name Freedom Group, which had re-entered the handgun market just a year before with the R1 1911. When Remington decided to consolidate a number of its brands in the Huntsville facility to standardize production and quality control, Para USA was tapped as one of the front runners for the move.
Not everyone is happy about the transfer, and some Para fans hold mixed opinions over the rebranding.
“It seems the branding death march continues at Freedom Group, as more and more of the smaller brands under the Remington umbrella are killed off and merged with Big Green proper,” wrote Nick Leghorn, a writer at the popular gun blog The Truth About Guns.
Some gun owners fear that with Para no longer selling products under its own name, quality will take a nose dive. Remington addressed some of these issues in the press release, stating that quality will only increase once Para is brought in-house to the Huntsville facility.
“We have learned from our mistakes, listened to our customers, and have a clear plan to smoothly integrate Para,” Remington promised. “This includes keeping popular Para products, characteristics, and names such as the ‘Warthog,’ while improving quality with state-of-the art machining and engineering in Huntsville, AL.”
The company also addressed previous incidents that may have lowered confidence in the Remington brand.
“Most of ROC’s new product launches and acquisitions have gone well, but they aren’t always perfect and, candidly, we did a poor job with the Marlin factory relocation and the R51 launch,” the company stated. “These were expensive but valuable lessons.”
Remington stated that it will continue to recognize Para’s Lifetime Warranty promise. The company did not specify how many employees would be migrating from Para’s North Carolina location to the facility in Huntsville.
