In honor of National Manufacturing Day, The Raymond Corp. unveiled a 47,000-square-foot addition to its Greene, N.Y., headquarters facility.

The creation of the Raymond Operations Center accounted for 32,000 square feet, which included a second level for office space for operations and support, multiple collaborative team rooms and an employee fitness center. This allowed for the reconfiguration of 60,000 square feet on the manufacturing floor and optimization of the first floor support operations for improved efficiency and production capacity.

An additional 15,000-square-foot expansion was added to the west side of the building for new 60-foot test bay capabilities, office space, team rooms and break rooms. Raymond also implemented a number of upgrades to its manufacturing technology, installing advanced automatic welding and laser-cutting technology, upgrading warehouse management software and integrating the corporate logistics plan with just-in-time delivery of equipment and materials.

“Raymond’s growing workforce and our evolving needs as a leader in our industry were driving forces to expand our footprint and implement a number of state-of-the-art technologies on the manufacturing floor,” says Michael Field, chief executive officer. “To meet the ever-changing needs of our customers, Raymond must continually advance to bring forward the most productive and efficient products and solutions.”

Raymond’s main manufacturing facility is located in Greene, along with its central offices which include operations, engineering, marketing, finance and various other departments. Many of Raymond’s flagship products are built at the Greene location, including narrow aisle Reach-Fork trucks, very narrow aisle Raymond Swing-Reach transtacker and sideloader trucks, and Raymond’s sit-down and stand-up counterbalanced trucks.

Raymond also displayed its support for STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers with an event for more than 200 Southern Tier New York high school students, demonstrating how STEM careers can be exciting, challenging and rewarding.

“Students were given a guided tour of our award-winning operations and witnessed first-hand what careers in science, technology, engineering and math are all about from myself and Steve Medwin, director of systems and advanced engineering,” says Rick Harrington, vice president of U.S. manufacturing. “If we can inspire one more student to see a future in a STEM career, then we have been successful.”