See an online photo gallery of Chiappa Firearms’ Dayton facility at MyDaytonDailyNews.com.
An Italian gunmaker with a distribution center in Dayton plans to start manufacturing firearms here this year, which will require the company to double its local workforce to about 30 people, company officials said.
Chiappa Firearms, the Dayton-based branch company of Italy’s Chiappa Group, relocated in January to a new, expanded facility at 1415 Stanley Ave. The 33,000-square-foot building is more than four times the size of the company’s previous location at 6785 West Third St., where it had operated since 2007.
Company officials said the larger facility will allow Chiappa Firearms to produce several product lines in Dayton.
“We will be manufacturing guns here by the end of the year,” said Jim Eubank, the company’s national sales and marketing director. The types of guns to be produced in Dayton has not been determined, he said.
Don Madole, Chiappa Firearms’ general manager, said manufacturing guns will require the company to “dramatically” increase its local workforce, currently at 15 employees. “I can probably see us doubling fairly quickly, and then go from there,” he said.
Founded in 1958, Chiappa specializes in historic replicas of vintage American firearms, as well as blank and sporting guns. The Chiappa Group has 80 employees and exports to 62 countries worldwide, according to company documents.
The company’s products include the Civil War-era Spencer repeating rifle; the well-known Rhino defense revolver; lever-action shotguns and hunting rifles; pistols and rifles in .22 long rifle caliber; and a unique, triple-barreled shotgun introduced in 2013.
“We cover just about every segment of the market,” Eubank said. The majority of parts on Chiappa’s replica weapons will interchange with the original guns, he said.
Currently, Chiappa’s guns are manufactured in Italy and Turkey. Madole said Dayton can compete with overseas manufacturers in terms of production costs.
“Italian labor is as expensive, if not more expensive, than ours. By the time you add in transport and the hassle of government regulations for importation, it makes a lot of sense to manufacture here at home,” he said.
Chiappa Firearms is a wholesale company that sells firearms and accessories through a number of U.S. distributors, including MKS Supply of Dayton; Legacy Sports International of Reno, Nev.; and Taylor’s & Co. of Winchester, Va. The company doesn’t offer retail gun sales or walk-in gun repair.
“Our growth rate has been very, very good since our start here in 2007 in Dayton,” Madole said. “We’ve grown every year; a lot of years we’ve doubled.” He declined to disclose the privately held company’s annual revenues.
Chiappa Firearms did some light manufacturing at its former West Third Street building until early 2012, when it outgrew the facility. Local production moved back to Italy to allow the company to focus on gun importing, distribution, customer service and warranty repair.
“Because our business was growing, we had to shrink our manufacturing and bring in the products completely finished from overseas,” Madole said.
Chiappa Holdings LLC purchased the commercial warehouse facility on Stanley Avenue in December for $455,000, according to Montgomery County property records. Previously, that location was home to Metro Door, which closed in August 2013.
Company officials said several states including Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Texas and Utah offered Chiappa tax incentives to relocate there. However, the company chose to remain in Dayton in order to retain its local employees.
“What made sense for the company was that we have a very good group of core people here that we wanted to keep,” Madole said.
Eubank said Chiappa wasn’t offered economic incentives to stay in Dayton. The company leased its former building, but purchased the new facility, indicating its commitment to the Dayton community, he said.
Chiappa’s local manufacturing operations will have a ripple effect on other area businesses, such as packing companies and specialty machine shops, Eubank said. “When you bring any type of manufacturing, whether it is a firearm, an automobile or a ballpoint pen, you bring more to the table than what you put inside the building as far as people,” he said.
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