Original subtitles

The best part of my day would be first thing in the morning, coming in.

There's not too many people here at the time.

I'm able to get stuff started and start my day.

I started here on September 4th, 1984.

At that time, there was a lot of factories around.

There was Winchester, there was Mossberg, there was Cold, there was

in Chickenby Falls at the time.

A lot of the industry has now moved south or they've just gone belly up and

close.

There's no longer an existence.

I learned to just change the way I do things, right? You try it, you try it,

try it, you fail, you try something different.

And just keep going until you get to where you want to be.

And don't be afraid of failure because you are going to fail.

And I think that's what a lot of people are scared of.

I started, there were a lot of gentlemen here that were World War II vets.

When I walked around here, they introduced me to a lot of guys, and they

here for 40, 42 years.

So when I walked through, and when I got done with my interview, I got outside

and realized, this is a place I could retire from, which I thought was pretty

cool. So 40 years later, here I am.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Mikey.

The first thing I do every single day when I come in is I go around the entire

building and say good morning.

So that's the best part of my day because this business is all about the

in it.

So we have a very family culture here, very personable to everybody. We treat

everybody the same. There's no us and them.

Everybody has a say in what goes on here.

Everybody's involved.

To me, it's just nice to be able to go around and know everybody.

Although we're growing so fast, there's still a few I'm still trying to learn.

But just to see their faces and, you know, and to see them react that I take

time to, you know, go out and say, hey, good morning, how's it going?

Savage started in 1894 by a gentleman named Arthur Savage.

Came from the West Indies to the United States. And then he created what we now

call the Model 99 or the Model 95 as he started in 1895.

And with that rifle, you know, business really picked up for him.

Arthur Savage was extremely innovative.

and committed to bringing to the mass consumer a rifle that he could afford

appreciate.

And those two things still are here today, as strong as they were back then.

When I first met Wayne, he was just one of the hourly guides in the materials

crib.

He worked alongside a gentleman named Rick Iyer, who has since retired.

They had tremendous energy, passion for the business, and really wanted to see

the company become more successful and start to address some of the day -to

challenges that they continue to have.

I've been here now for...

38 years going on 39 years this fall there used to be a water tower out in

back and i remember being in i don't know if it was fourth grade fifth grade

looking at that water tower going gee i wonder what was over there and when i

first started here that water tower was still here i thought that was pretty

that was pretty neat what are you most proud of with your work that

you do here

The fact that this place is still open, right?

And it's just not me.

It's the whole team.

I'm really proud of that.

Management at that time when I started was basically sucking the place dry.

We were then sold to one company, another investment company, which again

us to a different company. And at that time, We did go Chapter 11.

You didn't know if you came in and that was going to be it. The doors were going

to be locked that day, right? And you were out, which I thought was kind of

We got through it.

Sorry.

We got through it, and we made it prosper.

People want good things. People want homes. People want cars. People want to

take care of your family.

To me, it's the American dream, right? To see it thrive.

To know it's going to be here.

We make, I think, the best guns in the industry.

The most accurate.

Quality is phenomenal.

The innovation continues to get better all the time. A lot of people worked

hard to get here.

I only had eight engineers when this started.

So, you know, it's just a testament to, like I said, you know, a few good people

working really hard trying to make something really, really special for

company. What Savage does, what we do, is we start our receivers and barrels

right from bar stock, right? Two different sizes on the receivers,

stainless and carbon on that.

Barrels, we'll cut them off, we'll drill them, we'll ream them.

Then we'll rifle.

Cut off, the operator will take the material and he'll put it up on a cut

machine. Then the machine will cut it. As the machine cuts it, he'll take it

put it into a carton, right?

Then it'll go over to drilling. Another operator will drill it.

Then it'll go into ream. Another operator will ream it.

Then it'll go into turn.

Same thing, another operator will load the machine. They'll turn it.

Then they'll pass it on to the chef who does the straightening.

They'll get the chamber cut in it, and then it'll go upstairs and get put in

stock. Again, by another person, right?

Through our processes on the barrels, there's about 10 or 15 people that will

actually touch that barrel on any given day as it goes through the process. Each

one of those people are doing quality checks. The operators are the

These are one of the reasons why Savage is accurate out of the box, and that the

customer values what we do.

They're adding a value to that.

That's why Savage is accurate.

It's by the people.

Wow. A lot of cool stuff up here. A lot of history.

Old BA stocks.

Small rotary mags, owner's manuals.

So this room, you see the old shelf here and the rack on top. All the way around

this room was all rifles.

You see the old shadows from the boards there, the paint marks.

It was packed, packed.

Back when I started in 1984, there was a lot of guns in here.

Competitors, rifles.

engineering samples, prototypes, things like that were all up here.

Those Colt revolvers.

Colts are a skeleton of what they used to be.

But they were kind of a different market than what we were in.

We were in long guns. They were more handgun company.

But again, today, they're a skeleton of what they used to be.

All this space here, from that main aisle, that red beam, all the way back

this was all rented space.

We rented it all to the railroad out back.

Now look at it.

Pretty cool.

A lot of changes.

A lot of changes over the years.

I like what I do.

I like what I do. I like the people I work with.

We make cool stuff, right? We're not making basketballs here or ice cream or

something like that. We're making firearms, and I think that they're

cool. You know, when we get guys that come in for visiting, and they're like,

oh, my God, look at all the firearms, you know, look at all the guns around

here. It's like, yeah, that's what we do, right? And we do it good.

I'm very proud of it, very proud of it.

When a person goes in to buy a rifle, they're either looking for something

that's just a basic, they're just getting started, or if somebody's just

into hunting for the first time, doesn't really know what they need and may not

have a lot of money to spend, we have that access rifle that fits that

description. And then we get up to the more serious.

hunters and shooters that want something a little more innovative, more custom

fit to them, you know, you don't have to spend $10 ,000 -plus on a custom -made

rifle to have the best, most accurate rifle and to win and be successful,

whether it be hunting, you know, that one shot you get at that big buck or

one hole that you're trying to get at, you know, at 100 yards, 300 yards or

whatever.

We make products that handle all of those.

So I think Arthur Savage would be very proud of the innovation that has

continued to drive the company forward, the accuracy that we've continued to

make in all of our rifles.

We started an innovation.

Think Tank here back in 2001.

And that thing is just, that train is moving really fast.

And we're known in the industry for being innovative. We brought more

products to the marketplace in the last 20 years than any of our competitors by

a huge margin.

And that train is still going.

You know, we have more projects on the board now that go past five years.

I just need more engineers.

to help us get there faster.

When I first come in, I walk through, like, the finishing department to see

parts are where and what do I really need to move today.

Do I need them working on those or do I need them working on those? And just go

around the pack a couple times a day, I'll do that, and I'll get with the

supervisors and the stress level. It gets crazy at times.

One of the things that I do now a lot is there has to be a state park across

from where I live, so I'll just go take a walk out in the woods and observe the

wildlife. Maybe I'll see a deer, maybe I'll see a bear, maybe I'll just see a

chickadee. That's what I like to do now.

That gives me a lot of pleasure.

It gives you, no pun intended, a breath of fresh air, right? You know, maybe

last week wasn't the greatest week it was, right? You don't have good weeks or

good days without bad days.

So when those bad days happen or a bad week happens, you get out on those

you slow down, you get a chance to observe, and it's quiet, it's peaceful.

You get to recharge.

So when I come back in on that, the following week i'm fresh i'm ready to go

like i said yesterday was yesterday today's today that part of it is very

important right it keeps you back in reality it's very very important

all

right so On this Ipsen furnace here, back in last July, we started down to do

the re -brick.

We came back after shutdown, after the brick was done.

We went to start it back up.

The motor went.

Then the tubes went.

Then the chain broke.

Then the cylinders went.

It turned into my arch nemesis.

And I didn't get it back for three months. So during that three -month time

span. I was farming everything out and begging guys to run our parts to keep us

going. We got it done, we lived through it, and life moves on.

I learned to just change the way I do things, right? Change the way. If this

didn't work and we failed, we change it, we try something else. If that fails

again, we try something else.

It's the same thing without on the floor, right? With manufacturing, right?

You try, you try, you try, you fail, you try something different.

You just keep going until you get to where you want to be.

Yeah, you're good to go, buddy.

So this is Shepard Torres. He does all the barrel straightening here.

He's going to take you through that process of what we do.

As you can see, see how thick this steel is?

Those walls on this barrel?

It's very thick, right?

I mean, in order to bend this, you're going to need a lot of heat.

Or if you have a machine like this, that's going to bend the barrel, all

Now, this machine is going to make this barrel look like a piece of rubber.

And like I said before, what it's going to do, the machine is going to do is

it's going to, this is the machine, this is the barrel.

Remember, the barrel, it bends with an arc. It's not a bend like a 7, right?

It's a bend with an arc. So in order to straighten it, I need to hit it 1, 2, 3.

four, maybe a little bit more.

So the machine, what the machine, this is the machine, what it's going to do,

it's going to just stretch it out until you straighten it, all right?

So the backboard with the light, it creates a shadow inside the barrel.

It creates two lines. They look like paint tracks.

When the barrels bend, the lines are high in the wall.

When the barrels straighten, they drop down to the bottom, nice and straight,

parallel to each other. A lot of responsibility here in this.

Because if something goes wrong, like the thread or the cut, something's

they're going to come to me.

They like me because I help them. I like them because they help me.

So, like, we were helping each other here. We help each other, you know.

That's the main thing. That's why this place, I think, is where it is right

It's because all those little things, those little details that, you know,

people miss, that's what it is.

That's a success right here.

A unity.

It's all about the people.

You know, I keep telling everybody if something happens to me tomorrow, the

company still goes. The company is still making product.

If I don't have those people in the factory, I don't have a business.

They are the most important component of any business, but especially Savage.

And so we treat them that way.

So I think the backbone of Savage Arm here is the people, right? The people

what? what gets the job done and that goes all the way from the top all the

down right that's everybody here those are the people that make salvage success

they are savage we are savage the american dream to me is to build a

business that provides the growth and security for the workforce so that they

can buy a home buy a car send their kids to school and maybe even bring them

into the business and have a career here.

And, you know, my service award day where I acknowledge those long -term

employees is the highlight of my year every year.

My parents, when they came here, they worked, they worked, they worked, you

know, but they taught us something very important, which is, you know, be

decent.

and work for a living. It doesn't matter, you know, if you have a lot of

or if you don't.

You know, as long as you do things right and you respect others, we're not,

everybody's not the same, you know.

But as long as they respect you and you respect them, we help each other, that's

the main thing.

The guys coming out of World War II, right, the vets.

You know, Tom Brokaw nailed it on the head when he showed them the greatest

generation that ever lived because those guys could do anything.

They could fix anything.

They were resilient.

Whatever needed to be done, they could do it. I think a lot of that has now

into this facility, right? That's what it is. And that's the American dream,

right? That's the American thing, you know, to be able to do whatever we

to do.

Americans can do anything they want.

Whenever they want, if they put their mind to it and they're determined and

work hard, it can be done.

We can do it here.