Blue Bird Expanding Bus Production Capacity in Georgia

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Blue Bird Corporation (Fort Valley, Georgia), a subsidiary of Henleys Group plc (London Stock Exchange: HNL) (London, England) is undergoing a $60 million expansion to its nearly one million square foot plant in Fort Valley, Georgia. This expansion is necessary to increase production of current model school buses and also to introduce a new product line of commercial buses.

The project began around October of 2002 and is expected to wrap up in early 2006. Recently a new school bus chassis production line began in early April. Part of the $60 million program will include future phases to install more metal fabrication equipment, machining equipment, electrical and ventilation drops and overhead cranes.

Blue Bird Corporation is the only manufacturer to produce school buses, commercial buses, and recreational vehicles from start to finish. Blue Bird operates four plants in three countries, two of them in Georgia. They are a major employer in the Fort Valley area providing over 1,400 jobs and hopefully increasing that number by as many as 600 over the next three years as the expansion is completed. The company is also important to the region because support six local companies to which they are the only customer.