Sailmaker expands to catch next technological wave

A new technology in sail making has North Sails expanding its workforce and footprint in Minden.

North Sails last week broke ground on a 53,000-square-foot facility on Business Parkway to house equipment for its latest product line. North Sails operates out of a 79,000-square-foot building on Heybourne Road and occupies an additional 22,000 square-foot industrial space nearby, but the company will terminate its lease on the smaller facility once its new building is complete in May of 2011.

North Sails General Manager Jeff Neri says the company is phasing in a new sail-making technology to remain in front of its competitors. North Sails cornered the market on high-end racing sails with its proprietary film-and-yarn-based sail-making process, but the company has been developing a filament-and-adhesive process that makes for a stiffer sail.

"Stiffer is better in sail making," Neri says. "It is going to usurp the high-end sail it is the next big thing."

Sails made in the Minden plant are used for ocean cruising and racing sail boats, and America's Cup racing teams almost exclusively use North Sails. The winner of the world's most prestigious sail race has flown a North Sails sail since 1990, Neri says. North Sails provides sails for smaller vessels, but its Minden facility only makes the larger, top-of-the-line sails.

Neri says that over the years competing sail makers have increased their product offerings and are approaching equality with their fiber- and-yarn composite sails. Implementing the new sail-making process helps North Sails remain in front of its competition.

"They have gotten closer, and we have to change the game again," Neri says. "That's what we are doing with this new facility to remain on top."

North Sails moved to Minden from San Leandro in 1995 to take advantage of Nevada's friendly business climate, Neri says. Approximately 60 and 70 percent of the company's high-end sails are sold overseas, mainly to Europe.

Sails take 24 to 36 hours of continuous work to build and are constructed on shaped molds for which the company holds several patents. Average sails made at the Minden plant are 600 to 700 square feet, but the largest sail ever made in the facility was a 10,000-square-foot monster for a 216-foot-long sailboat.

The company employs 120 people 20 as maintenance technicians, 20 in office support and management, and 80 as production workers. About 90 percent of the company's sail makers hail from Carson City and the Carson Valley, and just as many technical engineers come from the University of Nevada, Reno.

"Northern Nevada schools really drive this place," Neri says.

North Sails has a rigorous three-month training program for new sail makers that includes classroom training and supervision from journey-level sail makers. North Sails runs three shifts five days a week, and due to a slight contraction in the workforce brought about by the recession, North Sails now has a tight-knit sail-making staff that can quickly pick up where the last shift left off in the sail making process, Neri says.

"We have a very stable workforce now. We have a core of really good people we need to keep and protect."

North Sails expects to hire 20 to 30 additional production workers once the new facility is up and running.

Douglas County developers David and Sharon Davis invested $3 million to create the new facility. The deal was brokered by Chad Coons, president of Gillmor Coons Real Estate Group in Genoa.