US lithium battery manufacturer Oakridge Global Energy Solutions has launched an aggressive new era after 18 months of restructuring process.
The epoch includes investing $270 million in its Florida facilities, appointing a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), buying shares in a rival firm and launching a wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong.
The company plans to add 230,000 square feet of manufacturing space at the old MC Assembly plant, Florida Today reports. It currently has 50,400-square-foot manufacturing area in Melborne, Florida,
It also plans to add and establish a 68,000-square-foot corporate headquarters-R&D center.
The company aims to boost its workforce from 25 to 1,000 employees by 2018 as it ramps up commercial production of its large format Pro Series golf car batteries and small format Patriot Series RC batteries.
Its new Hong Kong subsidary Oakridge Global Energy Solutions Limited has bought 11,000,000 shares of Leclanche S.A. – the first time the Swiss lithium-ion firm has had a strategic battery industry shareholder.
The company has also confirmed Sean Kruuv is the new CFO. He replaces Executive Chairman Stephen Barber, who is the company’s Melbourne based Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Oakridge Global Energy Solutions was founded in 1986. It changed its business model from battery research and development to manufacturing, and started Florida operations in 2012.
Picture: Steven Barber, Oakridge’s Executive Chairman