New Balance has opened its 80,000-square-foot “Factory of the Future” in Methuen, Mass. for production of its Made 990v5 model. The Methuen plant, which underwent a roughly $20 million renovation, is the company’s fifth factory in North America. All five factories contribute to the production of “New Balance Made” sneakers, at least 70 percent of which are made domestically. The Methuen factory was originally scheduled to open in 2020, but then the Covid pandemic interfered. Currently, about 100 workers are employed there, about one-tenth of the company’s North American workforce. New Balance plans to double its staff by the end of the year and increase production by 750,000 pairs of shoes by that time. The privately held company said it had global sales of $4.4 billion last year. It also operates another factory in the U.K.

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