Hardinge to bring manufacturing capacity back to U.S.

Hardinge Inc., an international provider of advanced metal-cutting and material-cutting tool solutions and accessories, plans to shift the manufacturing of its milling and turning machining center solutions from the Hardinge Taiwan plant to its plant in Elmira, NY, USA. This strategic manufacturing transition focuses product development, supply chain, and assembly operations for the Company's Americas and Europe turning and milling business to a single U.S. based location. Hardinge will now supply customers with a stronger line of innovative, high-quality milling and turning products assembled in the USA.

The company will be repatriating the manufacturing of its Bridgeport® XR Series of vertical machining centers and the Hardinge® TALENT Series of turning products.  Hardinge will now manufacture the Bridgeport and TALENT Series' in the Company's Elmira, New York facility which has been a crucial production site since 1931.  Hardinge is modernizing this facility, investing significant resources in new assembly capabilities as well as state of the art heat-treat equipment to better support the initiative.  Hardinge has begun the transition process already, and will complete the manufacturing start-up of this new assembly line in Elmira, NY during the first quarter of 2021.  These product lines will be available in the US market through Hardinge's valued distribution partners—Gosiger and Morris Group Inc.. The Elmira, NY plant is also home to the production of Hardinge workholding products, Super-Precision CNC Lathes and the Bridgeport Knee Mills.

"We are very excited to make this move, as it brings the products closer to the customers we serve and leverages the many years of experience we have in Elmira," said Chuck Dougherty, President & Co-CEO, Hardinge. "It also enables us to bring capabilities back to the US, which we are extremely proud to do."

"Hardinge has been a key employer in the great state of New York for more than 89 years.  We continue this tradition and are also pleased to bring new manufacturing jobs back to the United States" said Ryan Levenson, Owner & Co-CEO, Hardinge and Managing Partner of Privet Fund Management LLC.  "Our strong local leadership and highly capable workforce form the foundation of our efforts to better support our customers by investing in our US machine manufacturing and innovation capabilities."

"This is certainly a huge boost for the Elmira community, as we expect to add a significant number of jobs at the plant," said Craig Perry, Plant Manager, Elmira.  "Given the plant's tremendous capabilities, and the extensive knowledge of the workforce here, it was a compelling opportunity to bring this manufacturing capacity to the Elmira, NY facility."

Hardinge will be investing significantly to transition its Elmira plant to build these new solutions as well as to modernize its U.S. manufacturing operations in an effort to produce to the highest level of quality in the industry.  The expansion and modernization of the facility will make this one of the most advanced precision tools manufacturing plants in the world, resulting in a substantial increase of the workforce at this site by the end of fiscal year 2021. Following the transition, the Taiwan location will continue to operate as one of Hardinge's regional sales and fulfillment facilities as well as a global engineering center supporting the needs of its international customers.