Utah’s Office of Economic Opportunity will support Leitner-Poma of America as it establishes a new base in the Beehive State. Leitner-Poma plans to bring up to 118 jobs over the next 10 years in manufacturing, service, parts, sales and administration with an estimated $30 million capital investment. “Utah has a fantastic pro-business environment and the ropeway market in Utah is growing exponentially,” said Daren Cole, president of Leitner-Poma of America in a press release. “We’re excited to expand our operations to have a more permanent home in the state.”
Since 2016, LPOA has owned fixed-grip specialist Skytrac, operating out of a former Komatsu dealership in Salt Lake City. The balance of Leitner-Poma’s US manufacturing currently takes place in Grand Junction, Colorado, where the French company Poma established an outpost in 1981. Today, LPOA and Skytrac plus groomer manufacturer Prinoth and snowmaking supplier DemacLenko all operate under the High Technology Industries (HTI) umbrella. The new facility will house several HTI brands, providing customers with a wide range of services. The State of Utah will refund a portion of Leitner-Poma’s state taxes for the next decade if certain economic targets are met.
“We’re excited that a global company like Leitner-Poma is bringing the manufacturing and distribution of chairlifts and other transportation systems to the home of The Greatest Snow on Earth,” said Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “Like other companies in our Outdoor Products industry, they will find our state to have committed and talented workers.”
Current LPOA projects in the Utah market include a set of bubble chairs for Wasatch Peaks Ranch and a six place lift at Snowbasin Resort.
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Excellent news. With LPOA building more lifts in Utah than Doppelmayr this year, it looks like CTEC and later Doppelmayr’s dominance in this lift market is waning. Big shakeup for sure!
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Hmm. Not sure why this is needed. SO are they going to close down the GJ facility then?
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I don’t think there is any plan to shutter the Grand Junction facility. This move is by HTI, the parent company, and will allow them to consolidate their operations of Prinoth, DemacLenko and Skytrac in the SLC area. Prinoth already has their National Parts Center located there. SLC airport is also much more user accessible that GJT.
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I am not a fan of LPOA. My favorite thing about LPOA is the 1,200 fpm speed. Even Doppelmayr may be able to reach this speed. I think Skytrac and Doppelmayr is enough when I think Utah resorts do not put in as many lifts in/ upgrade lifts as other states. When this happens maybe some more resorts may upgrade to detachables, like Alta and Snowbasin did. I am glad this is happening so Utah has more jobs. What part of Utah this will be in? I assume in SLC near Skytrac. This will make things interesting in Utah for sure.
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As I understand it, LPOA needs to expand their manufacturing facilities. You’re probably correct in that Utah doesn’t build as many lifts as some places, but LPOA’s facility in GJ supplies lifts for the entire continent. So will the one in Utah, I would guess.
As an aside, what’s wrong with LPOA?
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Skytrac badly needs to expand its facilities too as their business is growing rapidly, and the current plant is struggling to support the business, so this is great news.
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Hey, I get it. Nothing wrong with having a favorite and being loyal to a manufacturer. I felt that way for a long time about Doppie/CTEC/Thiokol. In fact, I’m still a bit sour over my once beloved Snowbasin having decided to go with Poma to replace Middlebowl. But at the same time, obviously LP offered a better deal then Doppie did, so shame on Doppelmayr. The days of lift brand loyalty for the majority of the mountains out there are over. It’s whomever can deliver at the right price at the right time. Now with that being said, I am happy to know that the lift was manufactured right here in my home state of Colorado. Even though I am a Utah native. I can support both states and be happy when both get a win.
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Some resorts still maintain brand loyalty. Breck clearly isn’t going to go with anyone other than Leitner-Poma for their chairlifts, and Beaver Creek sticks with Doppelmayr; while places like Copper and Vail have gone with both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma for detachables in the last decade.
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I realize that some still do, but I believe this is going to become more and more rare.
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I have used mostly Doppelmayr lifts and I had an hilarious and painful experience with LOPA. And the lifts that made me like lifts were Doppelmayr and CECT. LPOA is still much better than a detachable Yan.
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Your beloved Doppelmayr is losing it market share to LPOA for a reason. Doppelmayr is a little better than Yan also. But I guess after 30 years they should.
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Yes. As a Doppelmayr fan I am hoping Doppelmayr USA can stay with LPOA coming.
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LPOA has been here since 2002, and Poma of America since 1981. I think Doppelmayr has done alright over that time frame.
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As much as you may prefer one manufacturer over the other, having 2 strong competitors is great for everyone. It keeps fostering innovation as they try to differentiate their offering from the other, while also keeping costs low as they both bid for contracts with resorts.
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I think three or more would be better, actually. It seems the two existing companies are stretched pretty far to complete projects on time, with the amount of new construction happening. We’ll have to see how MND/BMF/whatever else it’s called does.
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I have a feeling that if the MND/Bartholet project goes smoothly next summer they will rapidly gain market share in NA, they build a solid product. MND/Bartholet finding the workforce to support construction and service be the issue they will be facing but that everyone’s issue right now
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Id love them to be a major 3rd player, but I have a feeling if they become very successful, the big 2 would be looking to acquire them, just as LP did with Skytrac and Dopp did with CTEC.
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Doppelmayr didn’t exactly look to acquire CTEC. Garaventa had already acquired them, and when the two larger companies merged CTEC was merely part of the deal. Garaventa didn’t have much of a presence in North America aside from a couple of trams and supplying detachable grips and machinery to CTEC, so it made more sense for Doppelmayr to initially brand their North American division as ‘DoppelmayrCTEC’.
As for the Seeber Group or Doppelmayr/Garaventa looking to acquire MND/Bartholet, I don’t see that happening for a long time, if at all. Both companies have a pretty solid presence, product, and portfolio on their own, and bringing another approach into either company wouldn’t really add any value.
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Finding a workforce… upon reading Glassdoor reviews of Doppelmayr USA, it seems that they don’t want to commit to training, have an issue with upward employee growth within the company, and may be slipping away from offering the better product for a better price. It is silly to think people don’t want to work, they do want to work for a livable wage, which must increase with the steady increase in cost of living we are seeing worldwide. Dopp’s hiring woes can be mitigated by better commitment to employees, providing training, at least pretend there’s upward mobility, etc. If MND/Bartholet finds success in North America, commits to retaining a long term workforce, I think they’ll give the Big 2 a run for their money.
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I am not sure I would want to have the first lift of a new manufacturer in the USA. Hard enough getting parts and support from the companies that are established??
Remember the whole Leitner deal quite a few years ago.
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Still happens… Kimberley Resort lost their only out of base lift for most of January waiting for a gearbox. I would look more at the support commitment of the manufacturer rather than locations, because just like almost everything nowadays, parts are sourced from third parties globally… its all about how much inventory the manufacturer is willing to keep on hand for emergency maintenance/repairs.
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