25,000 square feet: Yankum Ropes opens new Burley plant

Yankum Ropes has moved into a 25,000-square-foot facility in Burley, about 7,000 to 8,000 square feet more room than the company had before. The off-road recovery gear maker started in 2019 and has grown out of a closet in a hallway, according to CEO Jade Schenk.

The company builds kinetic energy recovery straps, which stretch and release energy to pull vehicles free. A 30-inch rope stretches to about nine feet, Schenk said, and that pull can drag a heavy diesel truck out of trouble. "We help people get un-stuck, basically anyone in a four-wheeler and up to massive mining equipment," Schenk said. "If you're stuck and in trouble, and you need to move a piece of equipment, that's what we produce and make for people to get out of bad situations."

Every rope is made in Burley, from raw fiber to finished product, Schenk said. "We're one of the very few companies that takes a small, teeny fiber and actually produces it all the way to an end product," he said. The company supplies recovery gear used on YouTube off-road channels, according to Schenk.

Co-founder Allen Klawson described how a rope begins on the floor. Fibers run through tensioners to balance them, then into yarn twisters. The yarn goes onto braider bobbins, and braiding starts from there. Each rope then passes through hands for splicing, sewing and a protective coating.

The Burley facility is running now. A public grand opening is scheduled for Nov. 7. "It's really cool, because not very often in small towns like this do you get a company that has this type of notoriety," Schenk said. "It's humbling; it's exciting, and it brings more attention to the area."

The building sits in Burley, a city of about 12,000 people in Cassia County along the Snake River, and Yankum's equipment is built for use on vehicles ranging from side-by-sides to mining machines.