Manufacturing Month: Polaris Industries Manufacturing Tour

The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation is celebrating Manufacturing Month through tours at manufacturing businesses in each county of the Corridor Region. The first Manufacturing Month Tour was hosted at Polaris Industries in Spirit Lake.

The Polaris plant in Spirit Lake manufactures Indian Motorcycle, America’s First Motorcycle Company. The company just celebrated 30 years in the Iowa Lakes Corridor Region. Approximately 500 employees work at Polaris in the Corridor region in departments including welding, metal paint, liquid paint, three assembly lines, warehousing and more.

There have been three major expansions to the original building to make it the 400,000 square foot facility on the intersection of Highways 9 and 71. These expansions included welding and warehousing, paint system, and a Visitor Experience Center. In addition to their Spirit Lake facility, Polaris also has a 180,000 square foot offsite warehouse in Milford.

Though the plant has been the Indian Manufacturing Center of Excellence since 2017, there’s a diverse history of Polaris products manufactured here, from watercraft, snowmobiles, ATVs, Side-by-sides, Victory motorcycles, Ace, GEM, and Slingshots. Now, this plant specializes on the Indian Motorcycles lines: FTR, Scout, Chief, Chieftan, and Roadmaster to name a few.

During the tour, attendees were able to learn more about the products, how they are made, and the reach of these products across the Midwest, the country, and even the world.