Lifetime Products

Overview

Lifetime Products uses polyethylene blow molding and metal forming technology to create a variety of consumer and industrial products. Lifetime has the largest single-point blow molded plastics facility in North America, occupying 2,200,000 square feet (204,000 m2), and employs over 1500 people worldwide. Lifetime Products produces the only folding chair to comply with the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association (BIFMA), which defines durability standards testing of commercial-grade chairs. Lifetime also complies with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and their basketball systems are evaluated by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

Lifetime is headquartered in the Freeport Center in Clearfield, Utah, United States. Vertically integrated manufacturing facilities also reside in Clearfield, with international facilities in Monterrey, Mexico and Xiamen, China.

Lifetime products are available in more than 50 countries. In the United States, Lifetime basketball systems are in sporting goods stores such as Sports Authority, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports and Outdoors, MC Sports and Modell, as well as retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, and in warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club, Costco, BJ, and in regional stores. Lifetime tables and chairs are available at stores including Sam’s Club, Costco, Wal-Mart,Home Depot, and Lowe’s.

History

In 1972, Lifetime Product founder, Barry Mower, set out to make a sturdier basketball pole for his backyard. He purchased a small length of heavy-duty used pipe, a piece of plywood, and a basketball rim, and built his own basketball standard. Seeing the potential in what he had constructed, he placed an ad in the local classifieds and made his first sale.

His backyard business eventually became a modest sporting goods store, and in March 1986, became Lifetime Products, a name inspired by the goal of building durable and lasting products. Shortly after, the research and design staff created the “Quick Adjust” basketball system. The concept of adjustable basketball systems transformed the market, making non-adjustable systems obsolete in mass-merchant chains. Shortly after, Lifetime Products became the second largest manufacturer of residential basketball equipment[citation needed].

Lifetime Products was the first company to provide a complete basketball system in one package[citation needed], allowing retailers to conveniently stock, display and sell basketball equipment. The complete package concept now dominates the market. After expanding quickly in the first year, Lifetime began to focus on producing more durable basketball rims, and consequently developed a hoop that withstood twice the load of the nearest competitor rim[citation needed].

In the first three years, the company grew to 167 employees and occupied 120,000 square feet (11,000 m2) of manufacturing, office and warehouse space. New equipment, including an electrostatic powder coating operation and a robotic rim welding system were installed to keep up with demand. A metal fabrication department was also formed to constantly update and improve presses and dies.

Lifetime went on to introduce a blow molded folding picnic table in 1995, a folding banquet table in 1998, a steel reinforced blow molded outdoor storage building in 2005, and the first of its kind fold-in-half trailer (folding to 29 inches (740 mm) wide) in January 2007. They continue to develop portable basketball systems, height adjustments, tables, chairs, outdoor storage sheds, lawn and garden equipment such a wheelbarrows, carts, and revolving compost bins, and utility and camping trailers.

Lifetime Products is still led by its original founder.

Products Manufactured

Tables and chairs

Folding Chair

Stacking Chair

Folding tables

Round tables

Personal tables

Picnic tables

Camp and sport tables

Basketball Systems

Portable Residential Basketball Systems

In-ground Residential Basketball Systems

Bolt-down Residential Basketball Systems

Adjustable-Height Basketball Systems (portable, in-ground, and bolt-down)

Rim and Backboard Stationary Combinations

Sheds

Storage buildings

Storage sheds

Garden sheds

Extension kits and accessories

Lawn and Garden

Yard cart

Wheel barrow

Revolving compost bin

Glider bench

Deck box

Trailers

Fold-up trailer

Utility trailer

Jumping Jack tent trailers

Playground equipment

Outdoor playsets

Commercial play systems

Teeter totters

Dome climbers

Swing sets

Tetherball set

EcoHouse

Lifetime is currently developing the inexpensive and low maintenance EcoHouse. The EcoHouse is an 11-foot (3.4 m) by 38-foot (12 m) fabricated house made from plastic reinforced with steel. It can be set up quickly, and will be used for impoverished areas, along with providing quick shelter during emergency management and disaster-relief operations.

The EcoHouse uses minimal resources to construct, which results in a smaller carbon footprint than other housing. The homes can be configured to be fully self-sustaining, using solar panels, bio-digester systems, and water tanks.

Lifetime Metals

Lifetime Metals produces processed steel items for both Lifetime Products, and for other manufacturers in the region. Services provided include coil slitting and leveling, shearing, stamping with Minster machine presses, tube mill operations, roll forming, and other processes.

Backyards Inc.

Lifetime owns the retail chain Backyards Inc., with several locations in Utah.

Lifetime Products’ History of Patents and Innovations

1986 – Introduced and patented the first adjustable basketball pole on the market

1992 – Introduced its line of portable basketball systems

1992 – Invented and patented the friction weld joint for basketball poles

1993 – Invented a blow-molded base that is airtight and watertight

1995 – Invented blow molded polyethylene tabletops

1995 – Invented a fully-assembled, folding picnic table

1996 – Invented the Power Lift, the first one-hand, pneumatic height adjustment mechanism

1998 – Introduced blow-molded polyethylene folding banquet tables

2000 – Introduced the only folding chair to meet or exceed BIFMA standards

2001 – Introduced Mammoth Basketball Equipment, a line of professional-quality home basketball systems

2004 – Introduced the Shatter Proof Backboard, the first virtually unbreakable backboard made with Makrolon polycarbonate

2004 – Introduced a line of officially licensed NCAA tables

2005 – Introduced its multi-branded line of outdoor storage sheds

2006 – Introduced an innovative new line of steel utility trailers

2007 – Introduced the first fold-in-half trailer

External links

www.Lifetime.com, corporate website

www.BuyLifetime.com, online sales division

www.LifetimeMetals.com, metals division

Lifetime365, Corporate Weblog

Backyards Inc., retail stores

References

^ a b c d e “Clearfield company opens China plant”, The Standard Examiner, 22 Jan 2010

^ “EcoHousing: Utah company makes temporary homes for distaster survivors.” The Deseret News, 8 Feb 2010

^ BIFMA Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association

^ American National Standards Institute

^ ASTM International

^ KSL News

^ “Tough economy has Utah manufacturers going lean.” The Deseret News, 12 Nov 2009

^ Lifetime Metals

^ Backyards Inc. website

Categories: Privately held companies of the United States | Companies established in 1986 | Companies based in Clearfield, Utah | Manufacturing companies of Utah | Companies based in Utah | BackyardsHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from February 2008
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