SureShade hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new headquarters and production facility reinforcing its commitment to manufacturing growth in Philadelphia.
The event was held on National Manufacturing Day on Oct. 4, to showcase SureShade’s new facility and provide attendees with a full factory tour and overview of the manufacturing process of its sunshade systems for marine and RV.
The new 11,000-square-foot facility is 3 times larger and includes headquarter offices, training and product development space and SureShade’s full manufacturing production facility.
In addition to SureShade’s valued employees and business partners, local Philadelphia elected officials were also in attendance at the event, including keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania State Rep. Michael Driscoll, State Rep. Joe Hohenstein, Philadelphia City Councilman Bobby Henon, and Philadelphia Director of Commerce Harold Epps.
The factory tour, guided by SureShade’s Director of Manufacturing and U.S. Coast Guard Veteran Captain Kirk Fistick, featured a step-by-step production overview of each component manufactured for SureShade’s sunshade systems. Full-size demo units for both marine and RV applications were included in the factory tour.
“We were so thrilled to have everyone join us to celebrate this amazing milestone for our 12-year-old manufacturing startup, especially on Manufacturing Day,” said Dana Russikoff, SureShade business leader and co-founder. “When we first started this business, we were focused on the marine industry, but boating is just one part of the overall $778 billion outdoor recreational ecosystem that is a major contributor to the U.S. economy, accounting for 2.2 percent of the U.S. GDP and creating 5.2 million jobs. As we have officially expanded into the $114 billion RV industry this year, we are thrilled to now be part of this comprehensive outdoor recreation industry that will position our company for continued and sustainable growth.”
“I am so proud of our incredible team accomplishing this move in record time with zero production downtime – we did not skip a shipment – and I am so excited for what is yet to come here in our new 11,000-square-foot home,” said Ron Russikoff, SureShade inventor, engineer and co-founder. “We remain committed to growing manufacturing here in Philadelphia and we hope to serve as an example that this is what building something from nothing looks like.”