American LaFrance shifting firetruck business
By John McDermott
The Post and Courier
Headquarters of American LaFrance in Summerville.
Ailing vehicle maker American LaFrance LLC is shifting its firetruck business out of its Summerville plant and eliminating 35 local jobs under a major retooling of its business.
The company's fire-body production unit is being moved to factories in Ephrata, Pa., and Hamburg, N.Y., partly to open up room for prospective new manufacturing ventures at its nearly year-old headquarters off Jedburg Road.
As of this spring, American LaFrance had about 500 employees at the Summerville operation, which will remain open and continue making heavy-duty trash haulers and other commercial trucks.
American LaFrance said in a statement late Friday that it was planning "permanent and temporary reductions of employment in all its facilities" as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. In all, 51 workers are affected by the permanent payroll cuts, said Richard Ball, director of marketing and dealer operations.
American LaFrance also is planning some temporary employment furloughs as it transfers the local firetruck unit to its New York and Pennsylvania plants. The exact number was not available Monday, Ball said.
The Summerville operation has struggled to overcome production problems, and those were among the factors that came into play as the company decided where its firetrucks should be made, Ball said. By contrast, he noted that the Hamburg factory "has a lot of fire-body experience, you could say almost a legacy up there."
"It was what makes the best sense for the company," he said.
The timing of the move has not been established, Ball said.
American LaFrance said in its statement that it hopes to backfill the firetruck business in Summerville with unspecified "new ... business ventures" that are being actively pursued.
"It's more than one deal," Ball said. "We know we're going to need ... space for that. It made a good business case."
Ball said the company expects to have more details about one or more of the proposed deals within the next few months.
"It is something (that) will be vehicle-related," Ball said.
American LaFrance, one of the oldest manufacturers of emergency vehicles and other trucks in the nation, sought bankruptcy protection Jan. 28 owing $85 million to its unsecured creditors. It reorganization plan was approved by a judge in April.
The company blamed its financial woes on a depressed sales market and a problem-riddled move from North Charleston to its current location, among other factors. Ball said the vehicle production rate at the Summerville plant is not where it needs to be.
"We still have some issues to get through," he said.
Contact John McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com.
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jammer (anonymous) says...
"Ball said the vehicle production rate at the Summerville plant is not where it needs to be."
thanks to our lack of education here in the lowcountry they can't find enough capable people to get these trucks up and running and OUT of the factory, tons of bodies but very little skill is what I've heard for years from people working there
they rarely seem to get anything that actually works correctly off of the line so orders are suffering significantly
definitely a reflection of this area... that's what you get when the only real jobs you supply are for tourism and convenience stores because you can't bring the quality of education up enough to provide the people with the skills necessary for decent employment
there are exceptions of course but for the most part there are not enough well trained skilled people in this area for the opportunity that could be had if we had the people to supply the companies
these are big trucks, as are the ones at Force Protection yet there is no one anywhere near to teach people how to work on these things... so of course both are leaving, surprise surprise
July 15, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
common_sense (anonymous) says...
I disagree. The other two facilities are closer to each other, and Summerville is way far away. Economies of scale, my friend. Summerville is too far removed to be a viable location for this specific company.
I'm just sayin...
July 15, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suec (anonymous) says...
it's funny how a 35 job loss is the top story instead of the turbo company that will be adding 100 jobs locally. :)
I guess bad news sells better?
July 15, 2008 at 12:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
buff_o_rilla (anonymous) says...
Let them be built in China like everything else!!!
July 15, 2008 at 5:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CrazyHorse (anonymous) says...
In response to Jammer's comment:
The lack of educated or skilled labor is not the problem. I've been in the business for over 30 years and lost my job a few months ago when ALF decided to close the facility in Florida. We all know Florida has a tourism driven economy. Making the statement that tourism, as an industry and lack of education, is a major factor in the failure of the Summerville facility, is unfounded. We were a well established emergency vehicle manufacturer long before ALF purchased us, and proceeded to run us into the ground. I assure you there was no lack of skill or education here. The guys I worked with were highly skilled professionals, who took a lot of pride in the work they produced.
That being said it doesn't take a rocket scientist to build a fire truck. It's a truck: plumbing, programming, flashing lights, a few switches and lots of wiring. My point is "unskilled" labor have built bridges, skyscrapers and highways all over our country. Poor management and misguided business decisions are what cause companies to fail. To me it's a shame that a company would spend millions of dollars on a brand new 440,000 sq. ft. facility, knowing they were in trouble. If they didn't know, why not? Now they're going to use a fraction of this space to build garbage trucks? If the workforce in Summerville is so "unskilled" and uneducated that they can't build fire trucks, then how are they going to build garbage trucks or anything else?
The problems lie with management of the company. You have a bunch of high paid supervisors and managers that don't have a clue. All they've done through this whole process is slap band-aids on the problems and pass it on. Each department is dependent on the other one to get the job done. If production has not been "where it needs to be," then, WHY NOT? Are the parts on hand? Have the correct parts been ordered so they're ready to be installed? Has the vendor been paid for previous items so you're not on credit hold, therefore not receiving the parts on time? Is the work order clear on what parts are suppose to be there? Is the electrical and mechanical engineering complete? If all the Managers of these departments are doing their job, then production should run smoothly. This is of course if the Production Manger knows his job and has not just gained his position by osmosis.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out, either.
July 15, 2008 at 11:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kerwandstarks (anonymous) says...
Ball is a known cut throat and only lies when his lips move. The owner if this company is a New Yorker herself, so go figure.
I say good riddance, this has been a fiasco since day one. Maybe a good company can move into this building.
Ball, you can't fire your way to intelligence.
July 16, 2008 at 1:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wucherer (anonymous) says...
The workforce in Summerville, SC isn't the problem. They are for the most hard working, skilled, dedicated group of people that seems to be fed a bunch of lies and deceptions. As CrazyHorse mentioned the problem lays solely upon the shoulders of the management and for the most part might run the company into the ground. A company that last for over a hundred years is being torn to shreds, fingers are being pointed everywhere and the ones to truly suffer are those who truly made the company successful is the skilled labor which is the ones who will suffer the most. There are those who can blame the relocation from ladson to jedburg...perhaps but in the cloud of confusion any distraction but the truth of why this company is failing and quite possible close will not put to rest those who atleast try to make the company a sucess but has failed those who actually worked instead of those who fed like a vulture off the company.
July 21, 2008 at 12:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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