Employees: Remington Arms in Ilion To Close – “Everyone is Done”

Breaking: Employees of Remington Arms in Ilion say they were informed on Thursday that the Ilion plant - the birthplace of 200+ year old American gun company -  will close permanently on or about March 4, 2024.

Employees say they were instructed to attend a staff meeting this afternoon on the 4th floor. It was there that they were told that the company was closing the Ilion plant next year, and that all employees would be terminated. Employees also received a memo from RemArms.

"Everyone is done," the employee said.

WIBX has reached out to Remington with questions about the announcement, and we're awaiting a response. We also reached out to Ilion Mayor John Stevens, who said, "Comment about what? I know absolutely nothing."

Stevens says that he's been trying to make contact with the owners of Remington since he was elected, and he's been unsuccessful.

In 2020, the Remington Outdoor Company filed for bankruptcy, and the company's assets and divisions were broken up. A new company was formed that included former members of the original Remington Outdoor Company, that would own the rights to manufacturing firearms. Eight months later it would re-open in Ilion, employing about 200 people.

In 2021, the newly acquired Remington firearms company announced that it was moving its worldwide headquarters to LaGrange, Georgia in a $100 million, 850-plus job deal brokered by Governor Brian Kemp.

In January 2023, the company announced it was moving production of the 700 line out of Ilion, and transferring manufacturing to the new Georgia plant.

The Ilion plant occupies 34-acres of property in the Village of Ilion.  As late as 2017, Remington employed about 1,200 people, operated three shifts daily, and utilized some 3000 machine tools and 3700 pieces of equipment. The current facility, which remains the same in size and area, utilizes only a small fraction of the once thriving facility which for decades, served as Herkimer County's largest employer.

There was a point in 2012, media reports listed the company as employing as many as 1,500 people. In the 1970s and 80s Remington boasted more than 3,000 employees at the Ilion facility.

While the company informed employees today that it was closing the Ilion "operation" - it gave no indication what would become of the enormous factory located in the center of the village of 7,600 people. Remington Arms was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington (as E. Remington and Sons) in Ilion. It was one of the oldest gun makers in the United States and also claimed to be the oldest factory in the US that still made its original product.

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This is a developing story. Check back for an update.