Despite all of the time and work, Jeff Warner, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, stood in front of the building on First Avenue South Thursday and declared “It’s never been this easy.”

During a ribbon cutting ceremony, Warner said that the local government wanted the building project to happen and found ways to make it easy to happen.

“They actually wanted us here and made it easy for us,” he told a gathering of company employees, Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance Ambassadors and local leaders.

“It’s really important for us to be a part of this community,” he added.

It is important for FORCE America to be in Fort Dodge in no small part because the hydraulics company got its start in the community.

In 1953, Edward Pederson and Lyle Sells established Pederson-Sells Equipment Co. to sell hydraulic equipment to farmers and agribusinesses.

The company was purchased by its employees in 1986. In 1997, it merged with Mid-America Power Drives to become FORCE America Inc. Now headquartered in Savage, Minnesota, it has 650 employees working in places across the country from Pennsylvania to Washington.

FORCE America hydraulic systems can be found on tractors, utility company boom trucks, tree trimming trucks, construction machinery and garbage trucks.

The building at First Avenue South and 42nd Street replaces a facility on North 25th Street.

The new building houses sales, including a retail counter; sales support; and inventory. Also within the building, employees will assemble hydraulic equipment from components delivered from the company’s manufacturing sites.

The building also houses a fitness center and what Warner called a “maker space,” which is a kind of shop where employees can work on their cars or mechanical type projects. Warner said those amenities were added to help the company recruit and retain workers. Getting and keeping a skilled workforce is always a challenge, he said.

He said there are 32 employees at the building and added “we hope to expand that over the years.”

The local staff has been working in the new building for about three weeks, he said.

He said the new building incorporates a lot of technology that enables the staff to do more.

FORCE America joined MidAmerican Energy, Amazon and Moeller Furnace and Air in the Decker Development Park.

Craig Schlienz, speaking on behalf of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, said projects like the FORCE America are exactly what was envisioned when the Decker Development Park debuted in 2016.

Schlienz said FORCE America has been a “valuable piece of our community for the last 73 years.” City Councilman Terry Moehnke said the new building “reinforces Fort Dodge as a place where businesses can grow and succeed.”

Sande Construction and Supply Co., of Humboldt was the general contractor.

Baker Electric, Winger Mechanical and Rasch Cosntruction, all of Fort Dodge, were the primary subcontractors.