SPRINGFIELD — Saying it is “critical infrastructure for the United States and the Commonwealth,” gunmaker Smith & Wesson is keeping its manufacturing plants, including the Springfield factory, operational during Gov. Charlie Baker’s order closing “nonessential” businesses across the state.
“We provide firearms, restraints, parts, training, maintenance, and services to law enforcement agencies and the businesses that serve them throughout our great country,” Elizabeth A. Sharp, vice president of investor relations for parent company American Outdoor Brands Corp., said in a statement.
Smith & Wesson is also identifying resources it can offer to state and local governments, including an offsite employee medical clinic, food preparation facilities, a forge and the largest collection of computer numerical control (CNC) machines in Western Massachusetts.
I have toured the plant 4 times.
They told me that they planned to operate in the event of a regional or national disaster.
The probably never planned for a virus, but they are dealing with it quite well.
One of the big hallways under ground and within the plant serves as a bomb shelter.
It was valued during WW2 but never really used.
An interesting observation was that the plant had a very distinct smell.
It smelled sort of like machine oil or even maybe the smell a vacuum cleaner that was running for a long time.
When I asked the origin of the odor - nobody who worked there could comment.
They just don't smell it anymore because they got used to it.
Sort of like the baker stops smelling the bakery because he is used to it.
“We provide firearms, restraints, parts, training, maintenance, and services to law enforcement agencies and the businesses that serve them throughout our great country,” Elizabeth A. Sharp, vice president of investor relations for parent company American Outdoor Brands Corp., said in a statement.
Smith & Wesson is also identifying resources it can offer to state and local governments, including an offsite employee medical clinic, food preparation facilities, a forge and the largest collection of computer numerical control (CNC) machines in Western Massachusetts.
Coronavirus shutdown doesn’t close Springfield's Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is also identifying resources it can offer to state and local governments, including an offsite employee medical clinic, food preparation facilities, a forge and the largest collection of computer numerical control (CNC) machines in Western Massachusetts.
www.masslive.com
I have toured the plant 4 times.
They told me that they planned to operate in the event of a regional or national disaster.
The probably never planned for a virus, but they are dealing with it quite well.
One of the big hallways under ground and within the plant serves as a bomb shelter.
It was valued during WW2 but never really used.
An interesting observation was that the plant had a very distinct smell.
It smelled sort of like machine oil or even maybe the smell a vacuum cleaner that was running for a long time.
When I asked the origin of the odor - nobody who worked there could comment.
They just don't smell it anymore because they got used to it.
Sort of like the baker stops smelling the bakery because he is used to it.