The increase in employment comes on top of hiring new employees after moving the golf cleat packaging operation in December from a contract packager in Boise, Idaho, Burr said in a press release.

"This move is part of Pride's Global Strategy," Burr explained. "In order to be successful in today's global market, a manufacturer based in the U.S. must operate at optimal efficiencies. Given our advanced technology in Maine, the wood source, and the fact that the Burnham facility is our newest manufacturing plant, we decided to [move] these operations to Maine."

Pride will continue to operate Plant 2 and Plant 3 of its Florence, Wis., facilities to paint, package, print and ship golf tees. Pride's turnings operations in Guilford are unaffected by the move, Burr said.

As the world's No. 1 supplier of consumable golf accessories, Pride has a global presence with facilities and customers around the world, according to Burr. As a result of the acquisition of Softspikes in 2003, Pride now has locations in Gaithersburg, Md., Tamworth, England, and Taichung, Taiwan.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Monday, February 14, 2005 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."