Since the inception of the company's U.S. subsidiary in 1982, Taurus USA was located in Miami, Fla. That changed in 2019, when the company officially moved into its new facility located in Bainbridge, Ga. The move to the 73-acre property in south Georgia was nearly a decade in the making, and ultimately, many variables factored into the company's decision to move, but move it did. In our American Rifleman Television segment above, we get the full story behind the company's move and an inside look at its new facility.
"When we were headquartered in Miami, we kind of outgrew our space. There wasn't the opportunity to expand," said Bret Vorhees, president & CEO, Taurus Holdings, Inc. "The time came where we needed to take our next step, and the decision to move out of south Florida actually happened about eight years before we actually finally made the move, so this is a long time in the making. We looked at a lot of different areas outside of Georgia and also within Georgia and really took our time to make the best decision for the company, and that was Bainbridge."
The small town in Georgia is located about eight hours north of the company's previous location in Miami, and the rural, agricultural setting is a world away from the urban environs of Miami. But the support of the local community in Bainbridge not only drew the company, it also drew 75 employees who chose to move with Taurus, comprising about 20 percent of the total workforce. The company's move also brought another 300 jobs to the area. One of the benefits in moving to Georgia is that Taurus was able to create a purpose-built factory that had everything it needed and more, especially room to grow.
"So, this building is really built around efficiency. When you get the efficiency right, the guns cost less, right? And everything comes a little easier, a little less stressful, hopefully, in the long run," said Cody Osborn, marketing director, Taurus Holdings, Inc. "When you look at the layout of the entire facility, where the machines are placed, where the shipping is, that was all chosen by us, so that was a key part of moving from Miami to Bainbridge was having the space and the ability to build this place from the ground up. That's what we wanted."
Currently, the company makes its TX22 rimfire lineup entirely at the Bainbridge factory, as well as the entirety of the Heritage line of single-action rimfire revolvers. In addition, assembly is performed on the GX4 micro-compact and the G series of centerfire handguns, using parts imported from Brazil. The facility also features metal-injection molding machines, and Taurus makes its own barrels, as well as performs its own bluing and Cerakoting in-house. In the future, as manufacturing capabilities increase, the company will also produce a number of other components in Bainbridge, including slides.
One of the other priorities for Taurus was improving its warranty-repair process, which became disorganized and lagged as the company worked to complete its move to Georgia. At the height of the move, turnaround time on warranty repair exceeded six months, in some cases. After more than a year of work, the company has reduced its backlog and reduced that turnaround time down to only one or two days.
Now, more than two years after completing its move, Taurus has a full complement of workers on staff, many of whom are not just locals but also part of the shooting community.
"Bainbridge, here, it's a very Second Amendment-friendly area," Vorhees said. "Most of our employees are what we call end users, they either carry a gun or they like to shoot on the weekends. They're all involved in the Second Amendment community. Ultimately, I want people to be excited about the product that we're making here, and ultimately, I think that we've achieved that."
To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.
