NCET Biz Tips: BeaverFit Raises The Outdoor Fitness Bar
The power of regular exercise often improves your health significantly. No surprise here. Few would disagree that working out brings many benefits, such as achieving and maintaining healthy body weight and muscle mass, reducing risk for chronic diseases, lifting your mood, and boosting mental health.
Have you ever wondered how all branches of the US military and NATO forces maintain fitness readiness when deployed on missions in the harshest outdoor climates in the world? There is no gym outlet just down the street.
Enter BeaverFit as the industry leader in providing unique outdoor functional training equipment, tactical/operational tools, and turnkey training facilities specific to the military services. All equipment is designed and manufactured in their HQ facility right here in Reno. Their products are purpose-built for outdoor use, ultra-stable, and built to last. There is a reason “Dam Strong” is BeaverFit’s tagline.
BeaverFit was established in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Tom Beaver as the offshoot of a family bridge-building business named Beaver Bridges. It began with a simple, functional fitness rig, custom-built for British SAS paratroopers. In collaboration with the British Army, BeaverFit released the world’s first fully functional containerized gym solution in 2012. This solution rewrote the script for outdoor fitness training and created an entirely new product category.
In 2013, BeaverFit partnered with former US Navy Riverines, Alex Roodhouse and Mike Taylor, to introduce the container gym to the US military and establish operations in North America. As a result of this unique partnership, the company exploded globally, quickly growing to be the worldwide leader in human performance solutions for American, British, and allied military forces. Today, BeaverFit’s equipment and fitness solutions have also been adopted by first responders, Fortune 100 corporations, major fitness clubs, universities, schools, sports teams, and more.
Why Reno as BeaverFit’s manufacturing headquarters? The “Battle Born” community mindset sets Reno apart from just about any other location. Reno is all about adventure, and BeaverFit loves it. In fact, many Reno locals have joined their team of 80 employees. 80% are veterans. Coupled with its Reno-based partners, BeaverFit has experienced high growth. Finally, Reno’s geographic location allows it to recruit incredible team members whose interests range from skiing, off-roading in the desert, or hunting in wilderness areas.
So what makes BeaverFit special? From their original container gyms to stacking multiple containers on top of each other to create rappelling towers, obstacle courses, and more, BeaverFit products contribute to military readiness and the ability to help and save others in the field of battle.
Most people are unaware of one other fact about BeaverFit. They are the largest supplier of human performance equipment to the US military, ranging from their line of performance solutions and equipment to distribution of other equipment that BeaverFit packages into Performance Lockers and facilities they build.
What is BeaverFit most proud of? It’s building a strong, sustainable, and growing business shoulder-to-shoulder with hard-working veterans through an American supply chain. Most importantly, it builds the best equipment for brothers and sisters still serving that will last in the demanding environments.
Challenges that BeaverFit faces? It’s the current supply chain slowdown. Even as an American-made company, BeaverFit must rely on raw materials from across the supply chain. It continues to work with its partners and vendors on forecasting, planning, and, where warranted, developing even more in-house manufacturing capabilities.
People often ask where the BeaverFit name comes from and what they do. Many believe the “Fit” part equates with training programs like CrossFit. It does not. BeaverFit aims to provide equipment that allows people to train for whatever is important to them, wherever and whenever needed. The company’s customers have the assurance that their equipment will be ready for use in nature’s harshest climates in any location around the world.
BeaverFit watchwords. Prepare. Train. Execute. I will add two of my own watchwords. Rugged. Durable. No question that some of the best, if not the best, outdoor training solutions and fitness equipment anywhere in the world are manufactured right here in Reno.
Want to learn more about BeaverFit? Sign up for NCET’s Tech Wednesday on Feb 9 or a presentation and tour from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., with networking from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. More information at NCET.org/ncet-event-calendar/beaverfit
Bill Leonard is VP of Communications for NCET (www.NCET.org) and a freelance content writer of lead-generating case studies, white papers, brand stories, and blogs that help innovative businesses GROW. Connect with Bill at LinkedIn.com/in/BillLeonardUSA. NCET produces educational and networking events to help people explore business and technology.