An Important Message from Hammerton Lighting
We are reaching out to provide you with an update on Hammerton operations and a behind-the-scenes look at an exciting development in our business.
While the last 2.5 years posed significant pandemic-related challenges, they also presented Hammerton with an enormous growth opportunity. Our business has more than doubled since pre-Covid, fueled primarily by ever-increasing demand for our innovative artisan glass lighting. Today, we are laser-focused on two major operational milestones to fully leverage this opportunity:
1. Increasing Glass Production in Salt Lake City
As you may know, Hammerton launched its Salt Lake City glass studio in 2016, after two decades of design leadership in metal-based lighting design and manufacturing. We began with one 250-lb. glass furnace, two artisans, and the firm belief that artisan glass would provide a broad platform for future innovation in lighting design.
The original furnace was replaced within months, but that founding conviction has held firm. Our Hammerton Studio brand has grown 10-fold since 2016, and 80% of Hammerton products now include artisan glass as a key design component.
Over the last six years, we’ve continued to expand Hammerton’s glass operations to accommodate that growth. Most recently, this summer we increased our furnace capacity to 5,500 lbs. and our Salt Lake City glass team has grown to more than 20 artisans fabricating over eight tons of glass each week.
Watch this 2-minute video to get an inside look at Hammerton’s thriving glass operation and how the company’s metal heritage has fueled our innovation in glass.
2. Establishing Hammerton’s Mexico operations
Amidst this remarkable increase in demand, our priority has been to continue to offer our customers the exceptional level of design value that they’ve come to expect from Hammerton. Key to that is keeping our labor & material costs low and quality high— a very tall order in the U.S. today with skyrocketing inflation and record-setting lows in unemployment.
To support that objective as we expand capacity, you may be aware that Hammerton recently opened a company-owned manufacturing plant in Tijuana MX, located less than two miles from the U.S. border.
This sister facility mirrors our U.S. operations and is staffed entirely with Hammerton employees. Our Salt Lake City and Tijuana teams work closely together to ensure cross-pollination of the knowledge, skillset, capabilities and collaborative ‘Hammerhead Culture’ that has created the foundation for Hammerton’s success to-date.
While managing growth is always challenging, scaling an artisan-based business is particularly difficult — and there have indeed been some speed bumps. Covid-related production delays were compounded by increased demand, and lead times suffered. Today our lead times are half of what they were a year ago, but we still have work to do. Logistical coordination between Salt Lake City and Mexico is another major challenge. We’ve made significant headcount and software investments to address both issues, with good progress to date.
As ever, our #1 goal is to provide our customers with compelling decorative lighting solutions and a service experience that is unparalleled in our industry. Please let us know how we’re doing and how we can improve.
On behalf of Hammerton’s 180 employees, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for your business and your continued support.
Sincerely,
