Vancouver-based Nautilus Inc. announced Thursday its intention to consolidate its United States manufacturing and distribution facilities.
Distribution will be consolidated into Nautilus' two centers in Portland and Independence, Va., and the publicly held company will close its Tulsa, Okla., facilities by the end of the year.
Product manufacturing will be transferred chiefly to the Independence facility.
Nautilus does not plan to eliminate any major product lines as a result of the consolidation, but is in the process of determining the incurred costs due to the change in operations.
Operations in Vancouver will not be affected by the shift, which is a an effort to more efficiently use its capacity, said Wayne Bolio, senior vice president, law and general council.
Nautilus recently sold its apparel division to pay down debt and fund future working capital needs, and restructured its leadership. It sold Pearl iZumi to Shimano American Corp., a division of cycling and fishing equipment company Shimano Inc., and Edward Bramson took over as chief executive officer.
Bramson is partner and portfolio manager for New York-based Sherborne Investors, which controls the Nautilus board. Sherborne is a minority owner of the publicly traded company.
As of this spring, the company employed 476 people in Vancouver, down slightly from 525 as of March 2007, according to information provided to the Vancouver Business Journal.
