File PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY
Brian Deveaux
Updated: July 16, 2024
Hussey Seating says it's closed a record year, with 34% revenue growth
Photo / Courtesy, SoFi Stadium
Camatic Seating, some of whose assets were recently acquired by Hussey, designed and outfitted SoFi Stadium, a 70,240-seat sports and entertainment indoor-outdoor stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, Calif.
Hussey Seating Co., headquartered in North Berwick, said its past fiscal year ending March 31 saw record growth due to strong performance across all business segments, including its dealer network and parts and service channels.
The company said its year-over-year revenue growth was 34%. The family-owned company did not disclose dollar figures.
Expanded capacity and investment in efficiency resulted in the production and shipment of products at levels that exceeded FY 2023 by 37%.
“Our record-breaking performance is a testament to the dedication and talent of our entire team,” said Brian Deveaux, Hussey’s president and CEO.
The performance followed Hussey’s previous record-breaker in 2023, when incoming orders for fiscal year 2023 increased by approximately 31% compared to the previous fiscal year.
Hussey designs and makes seating solutions for venues around the world, including school gymnasiums, college and professional sport stadiums, arenas, convention centers and performing arts auditoriums.
Its seating systems can include tens of thousands of seats. A National Football League stadium has 60,000 to 80,000 seats and a typical Major League Baseball ballpark has approximately 45,000 seats. NBA and NHL seating is around 15,000 to 20,000 seats.
In 2023, the city of Worcester, Mass., chose Hussey for a $7 million project to replace all 12,000 seats at the DCU Center, a downtown arena and convention center.
Another project comprised 120,000 seats for fixed systems at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, and, next door, Kauffman Stadium, home of the MLB's Kansas City Royals.
Other major projects in progress or completed over the past year include sport venues American Airlines Center, home to the NBA Dallas Mavericks and NHL Dallas Stars; Budweiser Event Center in Loveland, Colo.; Moda Center, home to the NBA Portland Trailblazers; and Progressive Field, home to MLB’s Cleveland Guardians.
Investments
Over the last few years, Hussey has been making capital investments in high-tech manufacturing equipment and land in southern Maine. As part of that capital investment, the company developed a campus with the acquisition of a 40,000-square-foot industrial building on 25 acres at 90 Community Drive in Sanford.
Much of the facility had been leased by Hussey for warehousing. Upon acquisition, the company invested in the property as part of a multiyear, $8.2 million project to enhance its manufacturing capabilities. The Sanford site is 9 miles, or about a 17-minute drive, from the North Berwick headquarters.
Hussey’s headquarters and primary manufacturing remain at its North Berwick campus. Sanford is a satellite location that provided additional space and room for expansion.
Equipment
Investments in high-tech manufacturing equipment include a tube laser that can process tubes, angles, flats, channel sections and I-beams; two automated presses that take flat blanks from the sheet laser and conduct forming operations; and a sheet laser that references a computer-aided design drawing to cut part blanks, including slots and holes, automatically nesting parts to maximize quantities and minimize scrap.
The new laser technology factory and the development of a computer-aided manufacturing process has greatly increased the efficiencies and quality, a company spokesperson told Mainebiz.
Hussey has long had a strong presence in the education market thanks in large part to its network of dealers which provide local sales and service to K-12 schools. In recent years, the company has also seen rapid growth in its major projects division, which serves the college and professional venue stadiums and arenas market.
Seating acquisition
Hussey added to its product line portfolio this year with the acquisition of select assets of Camatic Seating, an Australian-based competitor, according to a news release.
The acquisition was limited to Camatic’s intellectual property, trademarks, designs and tooling on select seat products. Hussey did not purchase Camatic Seating as a whole or assume Camatic’s liabilities.
The deal filled a gap in Hussey’s product line, allowing the company to make rail mounted exterior beam seating, considered to be the de facto standard in new outdoor stadiums.
The rail mounted exterior beam seating line, previously missing from Hussey’s portfolio, has become the standard in new NFL stadiums in particular.
Additionally, it expanded the variety of chair options for other markets, including arenas, auditoriums, universities and places of worship.
“Over the past few years, we have strategically invested in expanding our production capabilities, both domestically and internationally,” said Deveaux. “When we started our negotiations with Camatic, we knew integrating their renowned designs into our portfolio would significantly broaden our seating offerings, allowing us to better serve our customers and continue our commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.”
Camatic previously was a dominant player in outdoor NFL and MLS stadium seating, completing high-profile projects like the Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field, Dallas’ AT&T Stadium, Chicago’s Soldier Field, LA’s SoFi Stadium, Wimbledon’s All England Club, Melbourne Cricket Ground, and Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
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