Uplifting Venture

Ski lift company doubling Grand Junction facility as it diversifies operation

Business Times
July 12, 2007
By Phil Castle

Leitner-Poma is nearly synonymous with the chairlifts and aerial trams the company manufactures for ski resorts around the world. Its little wonder: The company that first began installing Poma lifts way back in the 1950s now accounts for more than 35 percent of the market in North America and more than 40 percent of the market worldwide.

Rick Spear expects Leitner-Poma to similarly make a name for itself for the growing number of cable transportation systems the company manufactures and installs to efficiently move people in such other settings as busy airports and congested metropolitan areas. That's not too mention a new product line -- wind turbines.

Growing demand from the ski industry combined with a more diversified operation has prompted the company to make plans to double the size of its operation in Grand Junction, says Rick Spear, president of Leitner-Poma of America.

With the assistance of a land donation and a total of $900,000 in grants, Leitner-Poma plans to soon construct a 90,000 square foot facility in a new technology park under development near the Grand Junction Regional Airport. Moreover the company plans to hire an additional 100 employees over the next 5 years.

Spear hopes to break ground in two or three months on the new facility on an 18-acre parcel, the largest in the new Bookcliff Technology Park. If everything goes as planned, the facility should be completed in October or November 2008.

The new facility and site will be about twice as large as the existing Leitner-Poma facility in Foresight Park, where the company has a total of about 40,000 square feet of building space on a 10-acre site. Moreover, the new site will offer outdoor storage on concrete rather than bare dirt as well as an opportunity to reconfigure manufacturing processes. "We can be much more efficient," Spear said.

The new site will consolidate in one location the operation not only of Leitner-Poma, but also Prinoth. Leitner-Poma purchased the company, which makes snow grooming equipment. Prinoth operates a sales and service operation near the intersection of Interstate Highway 70 and U.S. Highway 6 & 50 in Grand Junction.

Spear expects Leitner-Poma to invest about $15 million in the new facility.

The company will receive some assistance from Industrial Development, Inc., which will provide the land for the facility at no cost.

The company will also receive a total of up to $900,000 in grants -- $300,000 each form the City of Grand Junction, Mesa County and Colorado Economic Development Commission.

To receive the full amount of the grants, Leitner-Poma must hire an additional 100 employees over the next five years and pay an average wage of $43,680. That increase would more than double the current work force of about 75 at Leitner-Poma.

Spear says the new facility and additional workers are needed to keep pace with the growing demand for lifts and trams for the ski industry as well as handle at least a portion of the manufacturing on other products.

Since moving to Grand Junction in 1981, Leitner-Poma has enjoyed steady growth along with the ski industry. Gross sales for the company now top $50 million annually, Spear says.

This summer alone, Leitner-Poma is manufacturing and installing a total of five chair lifts at four Colorado ski resorts and three more chairlifts and a gondola at Canadian resorts. Were very busy, its a good summer, Spear says.

When ski resorts enjoy profitable seasons, they invest money to add and upgrade lifts. Business for Colorado resorts has been good with record-breaking attendance two seasons in a row.

In addition to the chairlifts and trams Leitner-Poma manufactures and installs for the ski industry, the company makes cable transportation systems for a variety of other settings, including tourist attractions, airports and metropolitan areas.

Spear expects the Grand Junction facility to handle some of the manufacturing for light trains used for public transportation. A lot of the same components and technology that go into chairlifts also go into the trains, he says. Its a ski lift on rails.

The Grand Junction facility also could handle some of the manufacturing for a new product line for the company wind turbines. The company also is building factories in Italy and India to construct the turbines.

The expertise involved in manufacturing and installing towers for chairlifts and trams also applies to building and installing the large towers upon which wind turbines operate, Spear says.

Like many companies, Leitner-Poma is looking for ways to develop products that help reduce what scientists believe is global warming, Spear says. The trains and other cable transportation systems are powered by electric motors that emit none of the greenhouse gases believed to contribute to global warming. Wind turbines generate electricity without emissions.

Environmentally friendly design and construction techniques also will go into the new facility in Grand Junction to reduce energy consumption, Spear says. The project is expected to include a geothermal well field, tinted skylights and solar panels. We plan to do as much as we can to minimize carbon use.

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