Ski-lift builder opens larger plant in Grand Junction.

• Author: Kretschman, Bob
• Position: [MANUFACTURING] - Brief article

A ski-lift manufacturer that is diversifying into wind-power generation equipment celebrated the opening of a larger factory in Grand Junction in January.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Leitner-Poma of America, owned by Italy-based Leitner Technologies, now occupies a new 90,000-square-foot facility on 18 acres in the Bookcliff Technology Park near Grand Junction Regional Airport. Prinoth, a sister company that makes snow-grooming equipment, moved into a new facility adjacent to Leitner-Poma.

Leitner-Poma, which ahs been in Grand Junction since the early 1980s, needed a new plant to accommodate manufacturing growth related to the Leitner MiniMetro transit system and Leitwind wind-power generation equipment, said Rick Spear, president of Leitner-Poma of America.

"Ski lifts aren't a real growth business. It's a good business, it's a steady business, and it's our bread and butter," Spear said. But wind power is growing so...