GUILFORD – Pride Manufacturing Co. has announced plans to consolidate its U.S. golf tee manufacturing to its plant in Burnham.

The move will increase production and employment in the Burnham facility, according to Bob Burr, president and chief executive officer of Pride. Burr said this week that the company has filled 18 new positions in the last few weeks as a result of this decision.

The increase in employment comes on top of hiring new employees after moving the golf cleat packaging operation in December from a contract packager in Boise, Idaho, Burr said in a press release.

“This move is part of Pride’s Global Strategy,” Burr explained. “In order to be successful in today’s global market, a manufacturer based in the U.S. must operate at optimal efficiencies. Given our advanced technology in Maine, the wood source, and the fact that the Burnham facility is our newest manufacturing plant, we decided to [move] these operations to Maine.”

Pride will continue to operate Plant 2 and Plant 3 of its Florence, Wis., facilities to paint, package, print and ship golf tees. Pride’s turnings operations in Guilford are unaffected by the move, Burr said.

As the world’s No. 1 supplier of consumable golf accessories, Pride has a global presence with facilities and customers around the world, according to Burr. As a result of the acquisition of Softspikes in 2003, Pride now has locations in Gaithersburg, Md., Tamworth, England, and Taichung, Taiwan.