We blew out the candles so it must be official… Lifetime is 25 years old!  As you know, we're celebrating all year long with sales, giveaways, and more. And, last Monday, we held a special 25 Year Anniversary Event at our factory headquarters in the Clearfield Freeport Center. Personally, I'm still amazed at how quickly we transformed a factory assembly line warehouse that was running on Friday into a trendy industrial meeting facility for the event on Monday. The place was decked out with product displays and live jazz music! Check out the pictures, pretty cool, huh?  And, yes, it was back to an assembly line by Tuesday!

Nearly 400 people attended our celebration, including Lifetime's partners, suppliers, and local community leaders. Our guests of honor included Utah Lt. Gov. Greg Bell and Clearfield City Mayor Don Wood. We were so excited to have them both speak alongside our President Richard Hendrickson at this milestone event.

Utah Lt. Gov. Greg Bell kicked things off by congratulating Lifetime on 25 years of success. He said: “Lifetime is a great Utah company that has spent a quarter of a decade working hard to create high-quality innovative products, while providing valuable jobs for thousands of Utahans over the years. Utah is fortunate to have such a company maintaining their manufacturing base in Utah."

Mayor Wood officially declared May 2 as Lifetime Products Appreciation Day for the city of Clearfield, our headquarters' home town.  The award recognizes Lifetime Products as a valued corporate citizen and community partner that is constantly promoting the value of positively impacting the communities where its employees live and work and has provided countless hours of volunteerism to Clearfield that have resulted in beautification and support of the Clearfield Community.

As part of the celebration, Lifetime presented its "Supplier of the Year Awards" to Packaging Corporation of America  (PCA) of Salt Lake City and Neutekprint of Ogden.

If you're a regular reader of our blog, then you already know that Lifetime Products was founded in 1986 with the introduction of its Quick Adjust® basketball pole — the first complete basketball system you could raise up and down in just seconds with a broomstick.   Today, with products sold in 58 countries, Lifetime is the world’s leading manufacturer of residential basketball hoops.  In addition to basketball hoops, Lifetime also manufacturers polyethylene folding tables, chairs, outdoor storage sheds, wheelbarrows, kayaks, and more.

So, what's been the secret of our success that turned a neighborhood business into a global corporation?  Lifetime President Richard Hendrickson summarized that Lifetime's success centers around our commitment to five guiding principles and values: Innovation, Quality, Low Debt Structure, Respect for the Individual and Humble Leadership. 

Hendrickson continued saying, "As part of our commitment to US manufacturing, especially out of Utah, we found it necessary to bring most processes in house. Our finished products may not appear extremely high tech in-and-of themselves, but here at Lifetime, after we design a great new product, we also design and manufacture most of the tooling, machines and equipment required to manufacture these products in high volume, high quality, cost-effective ways. Because of this, along with our global presence, we are now a multi-lingual, multi-currency, multi-national and vertically integrated company. People often recognize us as a mid-sized company with all the complexity of a Fortune 500 company."

The event was a great way to thank our community for a great 25 years. In reality, Lifetime could not have reached this milestone were it not for our dedicated and hardworking employees, our dependable suppliers, our committed accounts, and especially YOU - loyal customers who love our products!  Thank you for supporting us for the past 25 years. We look forward to making products For The Way You Live for another 25 years!

Check out more coverage below!
Standard Examiner Article - May 2, 2011
Standard Examiner Article - April 28, 2011
Davis County Clipper Article - May 9, 2011
Photos on Flickr