RIO AMMUNITION ANNOUNCES INAUGURATION OF NEW CARTRIDGE MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN MARSHALL, TEXAS
Rio Ammunition began its commercial activities in the United States in 2001 by importing from MAXAM Outdoors’ plant in Vitoria, Spain, and is now one of the key players in the American shotgun shell market. On June 25th, 2015, in the presence of representatives from the state of Texas and Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rio Ammunition inaugurated its new world class sporting cartridges manufacturing facility in Marshall, Texas. Requiring an investment in excess of $19M, the new facility encompasses nearly 105,000 square feet of manufacturing space that has added more than 40 new jobs to the Marshall community and the ability to double that in the years to come.
Working in conjunction with the state of Texas and with the cooperation of the city of Marshall and the Marshall Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), this project has received significant economic development support through substantial and generous tax incentives. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, further believe that with Texas’ status as a nationwide leader in job creation the opening of the new Rio factory also signals that the state is open for business to future international investment as well.
“This is a state-of-the-art technology facility from a quality, environment, safety, and security point of view. Our goal is for Rio Ammunition to add value and progress to the city of Marshall and the state of Texas while also providing shooters and hunters in the U.S. with top quality products and services,” stated José Fernando Sánchez-Junco, President and CEO of MAXAM, during the inauguration ceremony.
Also designed to coincide with the Inauguration, the MAXAM Foundation is organizing its first art display in the U.S. with an exhibition entitled, “The MAXAM Collection: Spanish Painting Since 1900,” to be viewable June 23-30 at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas and also July 9 – September 4 at the Michelson Museum of Art in Marshall.
MAXAM Outdoors is a worldwide leader in this sector with over 500 million cartridges produced annually in its various global facilities in Spain, the U.S., the U.K., and Turkey, and an international distribution network that operates in more than 80 countries. In this business MAXAM has a completely integrated production chain that includes both cartridge components (cases, primers, powder, wads, and lead shot) and raw materials (nitrocellulose).
MAXAM Group in the U.S.
The MAXAM Group also has other business units present in the U.S. through its Civil Explosives unit (blasting products, services for the mining, quarry and construction sectors) that is headquartered in Salt Lake City and also its Defense unit (products and services for the defense industry) that is also headquartered in Marshall. The U.S. contributes 6% of the MAXAM Group’s annual turnover with more than $1.2B in sales and $153M EBITDA in 2014.
MAXAM’s Civil Explosives business unit began its activity in the U.S. in 2001 through the acquisition of a local operator. North America is an important mining market where MAXAM occupies a strong position among the coal and metallic mining operations as well as the quarry, construction, and seismic (oil and gas operations) sectors. MAXAM North America’s operations are headquartered in Utah where they manage production facilities in Wyoming, Connecticut, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Canada while employing more than 100 workers.
MAXAM’s defense unit, EXPAL USA, was founded in 2011 and has worked primarily on research and development projects for the U.S. Army but will soon begin work on recently awarded demilitarization contracts.
