ECHO Incorporated, a leading manufacturer of professional-grade, high-performance hand-held outdoor power equipment for commercial and residential use, today cut the ribbon on their new 129,000-square-foot warehouse expansion.

The new warehouse was built to accommodate additional space requirements resulting from the company’s recent merger with outdoor power equipment manufacturer Shindaiwa Inc., and to support the future growth of the Shindaiwa brand in North America and Latin America.

Joining in the ribbon-cutting ceremony were dealers, employees, vendors, Lake Zurich city officials and other special guests. The ribbon cutting celebration took place in the new facility and was preceded by special remarks from Dan Obringer, president of ECHO and Suzanne Branding, Mayor of the Village of Lake Zurich.

We consolidated the distribution of Shindaiwa products for North America and Latin America in Lake Zurich last October, but we didn’t have sufficient space in our existing buildings,” Obringer said. “This expansion provides us with the warehouse space we need and allows us to gradually transfer manufacturing of Shindaiwa products from Japan to Lake Zurich so we can manufacture and test all Shindaiwa products here in the same manner as we do for ECHO products.”

The warehouse expansion project started in October 2009 and was completed in June. The new warehouse features 12 exterior truck docks, 28-foot ceilings, an insulated roof, energy-efficient indoor motion sensor lighting and clerestory windows to help reduce electrical lighting during daylight hours.

“Both ECHO and Shindaiwa are well respected premium brands in the outdoor power equipment industry - and we expect to keep it that way,” Obringer said. “The merger of these operations - and our new expansion - will result in an efficient organization with lower costs, allowing both brands to be even more competitive in the North and South American markets.”

ECHO completed the construction of its first building — a 100,000-square-foot facility — in Lake Zurich in 1985. Since then, the company has steadily expanded in size, adding additional buildings in 1988, 1995 and 2000. With the completion of the new warehouse, the company’s campus now includes more than 540,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and warehouse facilities. ECHO is the largest employer in the city of Lake Zurich, with 700 employees.

“Despite these challenging economic times, our company is growing in terms of products, people and sales.” Obringer said. “We are excited to be able to invest in our world-class facilities, our employees and new technologies in ways that add value for our customers.”

The Shindaiwa brand covers a full line of trimmers, brushcutters, power edgers, power blowers,  hedge clippers, sprayers and spreaders.  Its Americas distribution network includes 10 distributors in North America and 24 distributors in Latin America. Please visit www.Shindaiwa.com to learn more.