ECHO celebrates Shindaiwa warehouse opening

LAKE ZURICH, ILL. – ECHO cut the ribbon on their new 129,000-square-foot warehouse expansion. The new warehouse was built to accommodate additional space requirements resulting from the company’s recent merger with outdoor power equipment manufacturer Shindaiwa and to support the future growth of the Shindaiwa brand in North America and Latin America.

Joining in the ribbon-cutting ceremony were dealers, employees, vendors, Lake Zurich city officials and other special guests. The celebration took place in the new facility and was preceded by special remarks from Dan Obringer, president of ECHO, and Suzanne Branding, mayor of the Village of Lake Zurich.

“We consolidated the distribution of Shindaiwa products for North America and Latin America in Lake Zurich last October, but we didn’t have sufficient space in our existing buildings,” Obringer said. “This expansion provides us with the warehouse space we need and allows us to gradually transfer manufacturing of Shindaiwa products from Japan to Lake Zurich so we can manufacture and test all Shindaiwa products here in the same manner as we do for ECHO products.”

The warehouse expansion project started in October 2009 and was completed in June. The new warehouse features 12 exterior truck docks, 28-foot ceilings, an insulated roof, energy-efficient indoor motion sensor lighting and clerestory windows to help reduce electrical lighting during daylight hours.

ECHO completed the construction of its first building – a 100,000-square-foot facility – in Lake Zurich in 1985. The company added additional buildings in 1988, 1995 and 2000. With the completion of the new warehouse, the company’s campus now includes more than 540,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and warehouse facilities. ECHO is the largest employer in the city of Lake Zurich, with 700 employees.

The Shindaiwa brand covers a full line of trimmers, brushcutters, power edgers, power blowers, hedge clippers, sprayers and spreaders. Its Americas distribution network includes 10 distributors in North America and 24 distributors in Latin America.