ADA, OH (WLIO) - Wilson has made footballs in Ada for around 80 years, now they are looking to build a new factory that could continue that tradition for another 80 more.
"We are going to double our capacity, we are going to make more products, we are going to expand into other categories," says Kevin Murphy, General Manager, Wilson Team Sports. "We are going to turn this into a center of excellence for some of our other product categories. But, we are always going to be making sure that we are number one in football, that is going to be a number one goal."
Wilson broke grown on their new factory that will be built just east of their current factory. This has been a mission for plant manager Andy Wentling to get a new factory in Ada.
"It's going to allow us to automate processes that we haven't had in the past, or haven't had room to do that stuff," says Wentling. "Even put some lean sales in, we are actually going to customize footballs in a more efficient way. So along with that and the NBA being here, our customization for basketballs, volleyballs, and soccer balls, we are going to need more people.
They are looking to hire around 20 more employees to add to the over 150 people that currently work at the factory and it was that workforce that helped seal the deal for the new plant.
"The institutional knowledge these folks have on how to make an NFL game ball, can't be replicated," adds Murphy. "So, we don't have a choice and we don't want to have a choice. We want to be here, the community has been so good to us over the years."
Besides manufacturing, the new plant will be a destination for sports fans.
"The new space we are going to have a retail store, you can buy some Wilson gear, you can buy volleyballs, basketballs, footballs right, customize some stuff. So, it's going to be a great space for us and our employees," said Wentling.
Construction is expected to take about a year, and Wilson hopes to be producing footballs in the new factory in June 2024.
