As we reported in February, Jersey Jack Pinball planned to relocate its manufacturing operations from Lakewood, N.J., to Elk Grove Village, Ill. That move has now been made and they’ve also relocated their development team from a different Illinois facility into the new digs as well.
Company topper Jack Guarnieri said he’s really looking forward to the benefits of having everyone in one place working together. “It just makes sense,” he said. “You can do almost anything remotely these days, but there’s nothing like being able to walk up to someone and ask them to come take a look at something on the production line. We can build more games, even better games and have more productivity.”
As for the reason behind the move, he explained that when the lease was up in New Jersey at about the same time as the development facility in Illinois, it made sense to find a location where both parts of the company could be under one roof. “There are a lot of benefits to being in Chicago,” he said. “We have a lot of vendors there, there’s a lot of talent and it’s also good to ship from the center of the country, too.”
At this writing, the process of getting the production line is still ongoing, but as Jack explained, “Obviously, the pandemic put a crimp in our efforts to do that because we complied with everything we needed to comply with. Still, everyone is working very hard to get it going as soon as possible.”
As the company was sharing news of the relocation on its Facebook page with an exterior shot of the factory, they wrote: “We are looking forward to sharing what’s on the inside very soon.” They also put out a teaser video on Facebook that said: “You asked for INNOVATION. We answered. EVERYTHING is about to CHANGE!” RePlay was wondering what games are coming next, too, so we asked. With a laugh, Jack answered, “I can tell you pretty sure they’re going to be great pinball machines.” How’s that for a scoop?!
Stay tuned to RePlay to learn more, and also visit www.jerseyjackpinball.com for more information.