The two wings of FN merged Monday changing the company’s official name — and overall brand — to FN America.
Merging the two U.S. entities — FN Manufacturing, LLC and FNH USA, LLC — will likely consolidate the processes in which they operate, possibly benefitting the company by increasing its efficiency and changing the way it pays taxes. But it also can benefit the consumer because it may allow FN America to diversify its products, services and even markets.
Consolidating U.S. operations has “opened the door to some exciting new opportunities for growth and profitability,” said Mark Cherpes, company president and CEO.
FN America will “operate in a much more agile, proactive, market-oriented way that we hope will really benefit our customers immediately and in the years to come,” he said.
Consumers in the past have been critical of the sometimes slow release of new products and FN has been late adopting new marketing strategies such as developing an online brand awareness, specifically in the test and evaluation process for new firearms. However, those criticisms can also be applied to the gun industry as a whole and a variety of businesses have yet to master online advertising.
FN America employs 500 people throughout its three U.S. locations.
The production wing — formerly FN Manufacturing — is located in Columbia, South Carolina. There FN America will continue to manufacture a variety of firearms types — rifles, shotguns, pistols, machine guns and larger hardware — in addition to offering weapons training and manufacturing services.
The sales, business and management side — formerly FNH USA — is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, and has a development and technical center in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
FN America is subsidiary of FN Herstal S.A. in Herstal, Belgium, which is owned by The Herstal Group, also in Belgium, and the sistered company to Browning North America in Morgan, Utah.