Blendtec Marks Founder's 40-Year Inventor Career with 'Big Reveal'

OREM, Utah, Oct. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Blendtec, creator of the world's most advanced blenders, today celebrates 40 years of founder Tom Dickson's commercial inventions with the unveiling of a major remodeling of its 270,000-square-foot plant and headquarters in Orem, UT. Highlights include a massive three-story replica of the company's Designer blender that now frames the doorway, enabling visitors to enter through the blender base and beneath a steel-framed jar that rises high above the building's roof.

Other upgrades include a glass-enclosed second-story conference room housed within the jar portion of the blender sculpture, a dramatic new lobby that doubles as a demonstration center, floor-to-ceiling artwork capturing the company's passion for quality at key points throughout the building, and additional office space as well as expansion of the customer service, marketing and engineering departmental offices.

The remodeling culminates a year of unprecedented growth for the company. In the past 12 months, revenues have doubled with the introduction of new products, international expansion, and acquisition of major new retail accounts. To meet demand, Blendtec has expanded its workforce from 280 to nearly 500, and added extra shifts as well as a new production line that doubled circuit board manufacturing capacity. The company also is reconfiguring its plant to increase manufacturing space for additional production capacity, adding new automated assembly lines for both jar assembly and motor manufacturing, and investing tens of millions of dollars in other upgrades slated for 2015.

Blendtec's growth and anniversary party are a tribute to Dickson, who is both chairman and chief engineer of the company. A lifetime inventor and entrepreneur, Dickson's passion for innovation dates back to his childhood and projects like rigging his doorbell to open the front gate. His first commercial invention 40 years ago was the Kitchen Mill, a grain mill that produced flour twice as fine and twice as fast as existing products.

Dickson founded Blendtec in 1989 in a quest to create the perfect blender that was inspired by a wedding gift that broke almost immediately. Since then, he has driven innovations in blending technology that have included the first pre-programmed blend cycles, the first 100%-touchscreen-operated blenders, and patented blades and jars providing safer, faster and easier-to-clean machines.

Dickson also conceived of, and stars in, an ongoing series of humorous Will It Blend?^® videos showcasing the power of his products by using them to pulverize items ranging from golf balls to iPads. Those YouTube videos became a viral sensation when they launched in 2006, have been seen by half a billion people, and have dramatically expanded recognition of the Blendtec brand. 

Today's 40^th anniversary celebration will include a ribbon cutting ceremony with Utah Governor Gary Herbert and other dignitaries, a barbecue lunch served by the Blendtec Bistro in-house cafeteria team, and optional tours of the remodeled building.

About Blendtec
Blendtec designs and manufactures the world's safest and most powerful high-speed commercial and residential blenders.  All Blendtec blenders are designed and assembled in the USA at the company's Orem, Utah facility. For more information, visit www.blendtec.com.

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SOURCE Blendtec