American LaFrance Accelerates Expansion At South Carolina Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). American LaFrance Corporation (Cleveland, North Carolina), a subsidiary of Freightliner LLC (Portland, Oregon), is not losing any time in expanding and upgrading an existing plant located in North Charleston (Ladson), South Carolina. The 283,500 square foot manufacturing facility was acquired by Freightliner when it bought out Western Star Trucks in 2000. American LaFrance is adding 100,000 square feet to the building and upgrading manufacturing operations in the existing facility.

The company recently announced that it will be moving its corporate headquarters from the present location in Cleveland, North Carolina, to the Ladson facility, affecting some 210 salaried and hourly employees. Manufacturing operations will follow in early 2003, after the first phase of construction is finished. Chassis production at the Freightliner Cleveland Truck Manufacturing plant will remain in Cleveland. While there are only about 50-60 workers at the present time, the plant is expected to employ some 1,000 by the end of the year. The plant manufactures ambulances and fire truck bodies.

American LaFrance President Don Stewart said the company continues to expand its position in the fire and emergency services industry, and that the move into a larger, state-of-the-art plant will help them accelerate growth and streamline their order-to-delivery processes.

The engineering contract was awarded to Hussy & Gay Engineering (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina). Construction is being done by H&M Construction (Memphis, Tennessee), and Phase I (land clearing and setting of bridge cranes) has already begun. Phase II (an additional building) is expected to be implemented in 2003.

American LaFrance hopes eventually to be able to consolidate all its East Coast manufacturing operations at this site. The company has transferred some workers from its Clinton, Oklahoma plant to the North Charleston/Ladson plant, and there are rumors that the Oklahoma plant may be shut down in the near future.

American LaFrance, a subsidiary of Freightliner LLC, manufactures a comprehensive line of fire and emergency rescue vehicles and apparatus.

Freightliner LLC (Portland, Oregon), a DaimlerChrysler company, is the leading manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in North America.

DaimlerChrysler (NYSE:DCX) (Auburn Hills, Michigan) is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles.