How Navistar became a rolling stock manufacturer

[kscarbel2]

Mack Trucks Inc., America’s oldest commercial vehicle manufacturer, is also the oldest rail motor car manufacturer in the United States. The company designed and produced rail cars (also referred to as rail buses), self-propelled railway passenger cars and locomotives. Always leading America forward with cutting edge technology, Mack Trucks was a pioneer in the United States of the concept now commonly known as "light rail". Facing a market contraction in 1959, Mack Trucks phased out rolling stock production in 1960.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33657-mack-rail-the-locomotives/?hl=rolling+stock#entry218645

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/39989-mack-rail-the-rail-cars/?hl=rolling+stock

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33544-mack-rail-global-sales/?hl=rolling+stock

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33763-mack-rail-sperry-rail-service-the-oldest-operator-of-mack-rail-buses/?hl=rolling+stock

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/39495-update-sperry-rails-mack-fcd-rail-bus/?hl=rolling+stock

Fast forwarding to the present, Navistar has found itself engaged in railcar production.

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SEDA Board alters Navistar, FreightCar incentives

Times Daily / February 16, 2016

The Shoals Economic Development Authority Board (SEDA) recommended today altering an incentive package with Navistar and FreightCar America (http://www.freightcaramerica.com/) so that it is based on 1,100 workers rather than 1,350.

The board also recommended extending the deadline for meeting that employment level to March 2017.

The committee appropriates money from the Shoals Economic Development Fund. The fund is collected from a half-cent sales tax that was approved to assist in economic development.

SEDA board members praised the companies for their dedication to the area.

"I'm very confident with the FreightCar and Navistar commitment," SEDA President Forrest Wright said. "We are fortunate to have them here. It is a massive tax-paying investment with hundreds of people working every day."

The initial agreement would have had the company receive $7.66 million for reaching 1,350 employees. Now they would receive $2.271 million for reaching 1,100 workers, Wright said.

Navistar officials announced in 2011 it would lease the former National Alabama railcar plant at the Barton Riverfront Industrial Park [to assemble the new-for-2012 Loadstar LCF refuse chassis]. National Alabama had promised to hire at least 1,600 railcar employees, but those plans never came to fruition.

In February 2013, Navistar and FreightCar America officials announced FreightCar would lease a portion of the facility.

Throughout that time, employment ramped up at the plant, which reached 900 employees in June 2015, when American Intermodal Container Manufacturing Company, LLC (http://aicmusa.com/) announced it had entered into a long-term manufacturing agreement with Navistar to jointly produce high-tensile steel 53-foot domestic shipping containers at the company's Barton Riverfront Industrial Plant in Cherokee, Alabama (http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs041/1101903601555/img/243.jpg?a=1102659829328).

That was the initial benchmark required to be reached and maintained to qualify for any incentive money, which was $7.67 million at that level.

Navistar has received those funds, and must maintain that employment level for at least five years or the company would have to return the funds, under the incentive deal. The deal also requires a company to maintain the employment benchmark for at least 90 days in order to initially receive the money.

Those requirements are standard for companies to receive money from the Shoals Economic Development Fund.

The next phase, if it's approved Wednesday, will now call for $2,271,000 in incentives from the fund for reaching 1,100 employees.

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Times Daily / June 16, 2015

A startup company is teaming with Navistar to build intermodal containers in Colbert County in a move that will provide at least 125 local jobs.

American Intermodal Container Manufacturing Co. and Navistar will jointly produce 53-foot-long, high-tensile steel domestic shipping containers at the Barton Riverfront Industrial Park.

American Intermodal will use about 400,000 square feet of the mammoth plant currently occupied by Navistar and FreightCar America, said CEO Patrick Marron.

“This agreement will allow our company to meet a critical need in the domestic intermodal container market by producing and delivering an American-made product that will exceed current industry standards.”

Marron said the containers are the type that frequently are seen double-stacked on trains. He said the 53-foot containers are only used in America and only manufactured in China. In fact, many products used in the production of the containers are American products that are shipped to China for production.

"The largest trucks allowed are 53 feet long," he said. "There are no American manufacturers that produce those at this moment in time. They are made primarily by two companies in China."

American Intermodal was created in 2012 and partnered with Canadian company Centerline Limited, a Windsor, Ontario, firm that will build an advanced robotic welding and fully integrated assembly production system at the Barton plant, Marron said.

He said the system will have capacity to product more than 15,000 containers per year. It includes an environmentally friendly paint system.

The plant should be in full production by March, he said.

"Once we're fully operational, employment will be conservatively north of 125," Marron said. "We'll start installing painting equipment in August of this year and it'll take several months. Then the robotic assembly line should be completed in late January. We hope to have the first salable containers by March."

He said wages will be competitive with those in the local market.

Forrest Wright, president of the Shoals Economic Development Authority, said his agency started working with American Intermodal in late 2013.

"It's been a long, ongoing project," Wright said. "They're entering into a relationship with Navistar where Navistar will do the manufacturing process. It's a good project."

The Barton plant already has about 1,000 workers between Navistar and FreightCar, Wright said.

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Ex-Navistar exec Jack Allen named chairman of American Intermodal Container Manufacturing

Transport Topics / March 24, 2015

American Intermodal Container Manufacturing (AICM) has named former Navistar Inc. executive Jack Allen as its chairman, the company said March 24.

AICM also appointed Patrick Marron as the group’s CEO. Allen was with Navistar from 1981 until he retired as the truck and engine maker’s chief operating officer in November.

“Jack brings an enormous amount of talent and energy to the AICM team,” said John Maguire, AICM’s founder and managing board member. “His extensive experience and proven leadership in the commercial trucking industry is an immediate game changer for our company’s entrance into the domestic container market.”

AICM has an “excellent leadership team and business plan that will position us as a strong U.S. manufacturing company,” Allen said.

Marron joins AICM with more than 30 years of executive experience, most recently as COO at Four Seasons, a division of Latium USA, an international metal products manufacturing, distribution and installation company.

AICM is a privately owned company formed to provide the North American market with 53-foot domestic shipping containers and similar transportation products.

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Navistar, FreightCar team up at Barton plant

The Times Daily / February 20, 2013

One of the largest railcar producers in the world is sub-leasing a portion of Navistar Corp.’s Barton plant with plans to build up to 7,000 railcars annually.

FreightCar America officials said Tuesday they hope to begin production in July and have 200 workers on site by the end of the year. They expect to employ 400 people at the plant by the end of 2014, said Terry Heidkamp, senior vice president of operations for FreightCar.

As part of the arrangement that allows FreightCar to use two of the plant’s four assembly lines, the two companies are forming a partnership. Navistar will assist in maintenance and production of the railcars.

Heidkamp said FreightCar produces about 70 percent of the coal cars manufactured in America, but the company wants a variety of railcars.

“We need a new footprint, a different footprint that will help us better compete in the market,” he said.

Navistar leased the nearly mile-long plant from National Alabama in September 2011. The company announced last year it would build a new truck at the facility, but plans have been put on hold, as Navistar facilities in Springfield, Ohio, and Mexico are at sufficient capacity to meet existing demand.

Lauren McFarland, corporate communications manager for Navistar, said wages will be competitive with the skills needed. She said wages will range from between $12 and $14 an hour up to $20 an hour.

The Shoals Economic Development Authority and Shoals Industrial Development Committee unanimously voted Tuesday to allow Navistar to count jobs related to FreightCar’s operation toward a local incentive package.

Local governments will pay Navistar $7.67 million in incentives if 900 people are working at the plant.

An additional $7.67 million is awarded if that number reaches 1,350. After that, $3.83 million is awarded if the number reaches 1,500 and $3.83 million more if it reaches 1,800 by 2016.

David Bronner, chief executive officer of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, said officials had hoped Navistar would have a “quick and heavy” start but various issues have stood in the way. That slow start could be a blessing in disguise.

“It may actually be better for the area to have two publicly listed companies,” Bronner said. “In time, this will be bigger than we had originally anticipated with just one company.”

Tuscumbia Mayor Bill Shoemaker, chairman of the industrial development committee, said Tuesday’s announcement means the plant has two quality companies working together.

“The products they’re building are just a perfect fit,” Shoemaker said. “This is teamwork between them, and each feels good and can’t wait to work together. Most of the plant still will be available for Navistar to produce their product. It really is the perfect match.”

FreightCar has headquarters in Chicago and operates manufacturing facilities in Danville, Ill., and Roanoke, Va.

FreightCar America has no debt and a good cash balance, Heidkamp said.

Danville’s 250 employees received notices earlier this month of a possible layoff in April. Andress said that is not a sign of plans to shut down the plant. Instead, it is the result of a depressed coal market. He said Roanoke has a good backlog of orders, while Danville’s is not as full.

Navistar said 180 people are working at the plant now, and project having over 300 at Barton by the end of 2014.

That, coupled with FreightCar’s anticipated employment levels, would mean more than 700 people would be working at the plant.

While FreightCar specializes in coal cars, Heidkamp hopes to produce a variety of railcars at Barton including flatcars, intermodal cars ... and other types.

The plant in the Barton Riverfront Industrial Park was built in 2007 by Canadian-based National Steel Car. The concept of building a plant that can manufacture a diversity of railcars was stressed during production of the facility.

The company struggled financially because of a downturn in the railcar industry, and the Retirement Systems of Alabama stepped in to take over operations at what became known as National Alabama.

Heidkamp said FreightCar America will invest about $23 million into configuring the two productions lines for its purpose. That is significantly less expensive and time consuming than building a new plant or going into a plant that is not set up for railcar usage, he said.

“Because of the way the facility was designed and what it was built to do, it’s perfect for us,” Heidkamp said. He said the company ultimately hopes to produce 6,000 to 7,000 railcars a year. “Our strategy for a while has been to grow our product line.”

Ray Koopman, district of manufacturing and business development for Navistar, envisions the companies looking for ways to continue developing their partnership at the plant.

“We’ll be looking at projects we can work on together,” Koopman said. “If all this ends up being is a customer-supplier relationship, we have failed. We’ll aggressively go after additional fabrication opportunities that utilize our equipment.”

Andress said the partnership and facilities bring a lot of potential. “With us both in transportation, the usages of assets could be optimized.”

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Navistar’s Plans On Hold

The Times Daily / December 17, 2012

BARTON, ALABAMA — The waiting continues at Barton Riverfront Industrial Park. Navistar International Corp.’s plan to produce its LoadStar refuse truck at the plant was stalled this year.

The plant, which could create 2,200 jobs, would provide a major economic impact. But problems arose this year when the Environmental Protection Agency did not approve Navistar’s EGR emissions technology.

Some activity is occurring at the plant, which has more than 150 full-time workers. Karen Denning, director of communications for Navistar’s truck division, said fabrication operations are going on at the Colbert County facility. Denning has not commented on how long it would take until truck production gets under way.

The Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) is providing financing for Navistar’s operation at Barton.

In March, Navistar announced it would build its International LoadStar truck at Barton. In June, company officials announced the truck’s body also would be built at the plant, meaning everything but the engine would be built at Barton. The engine would be manufactured at its Huntsville plant.

The Barton facility was constructed after the July 2007 announcement that the National Alabama railcar plant would operate there and bring at least 1,600 jobs. A weak economy and other problems thwarted those plans, causing RSA, which invested more than $600 million in the project, to take over ownership of the plant. Navistar took over the nearly mile-long plant in Barton Riverfront Industrial Park on January 1.

The Shoals Industrial Development Committee unanimously agreed Sept. 26 to transfer the incentives committed to National Alabama to Navistar. The action allowed Navistar to qualify for up to $23 million in incentives if the company meets specified employment thresholds. The company has about three years remaining to meet those thresholds.

Navistar must reach and maintain 900 workers before qualifying for any incentive money, which would be $7.67 million at that level, according to the Shoals Economic Development Authority.

The company will have until December 31, 2015, to reach 1,800 workers to qualify for the full incentive package.

Company officials never confirmed the amount of workers who would be at the plant, but Gov. Robert Bentley said in September it would have 1,800 workers. Officials said the plant could produce as many as 2,200 jobs when spin-off jobs are taken into account.

State officials who helped put together an incentive package for Navistar said as many as 2,200 workers could be affiliated with the plant within four years.

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LoadStar's Stainless Steel Cab Among Advantages to Trash Haulers, Navistar Says

Heavy Duty Trucking / September 2012

The upcoming International LoadStar heavy low cab-over-engine truck will use the only stainless steel cab in the segment, and will be available as an integrated trash truck complete with an EZ Pack body installed on its frame, said Navistar executives who showed it and other trucks at a sales training event in Utah this week.

The Loadstar, announced in March at the Mid-America Trucking Show, will go into production next July with only a Cummins Westport ISL-G engine at first, partly because of the fast-growing popularity of natural gas fuel among trash haulers, executives said. This also will give Navistar engineers time to adjust their own engines to use selective catalytic reduction equipment from Cummins Emissions Solutions.

MaxxForce diesels with SCR will be available by the end of 2013, first the MaxxForce 10 and then the 9, said Steve Gilligan, a Navistar vice president and vocational segment manager. Left-, right- and dual-steer arrangements will initially be available, with a factory built stand-up right-hand-drive option to be offered later in 2013.

LoadStar marks Navistar's return to the low COE business it left more than 30 years ago when it discontinued the old Cargostar.

The stainless steel and aluminum cab will be strong and highly resistant to corrosion from trash "juices" and road salts, Gilligan said. Other LoadStar features include strong variable-depth frame rails; wide offset steps for easy entry and exit; a flat floor on both sides of the cab with suspended pedals for good foot room; ergonomically designed switches and controls; and a huge windshield and large side windows for excellent outward visibility.

A LoadStar prototype was shown alongside competitor products from Autocar, Mack and Peterbilt so sales people could be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each. Short drives of each truck underlined participants' observations.

Officials said the LoadStar is the first all-new new truck product for the refuse business in many years, and Navistar's large dealer body with over 600 locations is a major selling point. Concrete pumping will be another application.

The involvement with EZ Pack will culminate in February with Navistar's purchase of the company, said Jim Rogers, EZ Pack's president who briefed reporters on the deal.

People from the two companies are cooperating closely on planning for the acquisition as well as production of integrated trash trucks, and it will include efficient shipping of chassis from a Navistar plant to EZ Pack's facility near Lexington, Ky., for installation of packer bodies.

Navistar's Diamond Logic electrical system will make for easy joining of the chassis to the body through a single sealed and locking plug. With multiplexing, body functions can be tied into the trucks' wiring, switches and controls, and functions can be programmed to work based on what the trucks are doing, Rogers said.

EZ Pack's rear-, side- and top-loading bodies will be available in the integrated program, and even after the Navistar acquisition, EZ Pack will continue to sell bodies for installation on other chassis.

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LoadStar to Return Navistar to Heavy LCF Market

Heavy Duty Trucking / March 2012

Navistar International is returning to the severe-service, low-cab-forward truck market it left in the 1980s with the Class 8 LoadStar.

It is designed with extensive customer input for the waste, concrete pumping and airplane refueling markets, among others.

"It's the most exciting truck I've seen in a long time," declared Jim Hebe, senior vice president for North American sales operations, who described the truck on the eve of the Mid-America Trucking Show's opening in Louisville last night.

LoadStar includes innovations and features designed for long life, productivity and driver comfort, he said. These include:

* A stainless steel cab with aluminum doors to minimize corrosion and increase durability;

* Vocationally oriented variable-depth frame rails for strength and light weight, low height and good ride characteristics;

* Ergonomically designed cab interior with body controls integrated with Navistar's Diamond Logic multiplexed wiring system; and

* MaxxForce 10, 11 or 13 diesels and Cummins ISL-G natural gas engine.

"We talked to drivers to better understand their needs and what is missing from the trucks they drive," said Hebe. "To fit driver needs, we optimized the space in the cab, increased seat and steering wheel movement, and adjusted joystick placement to deliver an outstanding ergonomic and customizable work environment.

"The exterior boasts the signature appearance and design of the International Truck brand."

Belly room is enhanced with a standard tilt/telescoping steering column and seats with 10-inch fore-aft and 6.5-inch up-down travel. Entry and exit are eased by a wide 90-degree door opening and modest 18-inch first step height.

With superior driver visibility and up to 40-degree wheel cuts, the LoadStar also delivers excellent maneuverability, Hebe said.

Loadstar was a name was last used for a series of International medium-duty trucks in the early 1980s, industry observers recall. The capital S modernizes it for inclusion in the builder's line of midrange and heavy trucks.

LoadStar will be available for orders in October 2012 through International dealers in the United States and Canada, he said. Production will begin late this year at a plant still to be determined.

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[kscarbel2]

Navistar International : 10 years later, plant is booming

Times Daily (Florence, Alabama)  /  July 30, 2017

More than 1,000 employees work at a nearly mile-long plant in Barton Riverfront Industrial Park that houses three industries.

That's a success story, but it was not the original plan when construction of the plant was announced 10 years ago this month.

How the plant reached that point involves a winding tale that includes a Canadian railcar company, securities fraud case against its chairman and CEO, the establishment of a local economic development fund and the Retirement Services of Alabama providing $625 million to help secure and rescue the plant.

"The success is not exactly what we thought it was going to be, but it has been extremely successful for the community, especially those who have the 1,000-plus jobs," said Bank Independent President Macke Mauldin, who was a key player in developing the Shoals Economic Development Fund that helped make the plan possible. "Plus, we have a world-class facility in Colbert County that can only bode well for us in the future."

"I wasn't very happy with the way it started out at all," said David Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama that financed the company $275 million for 15 years to finish construction and equip the plant. RSA already had lent the company $350 million in 2007 to help build the plant. "It was a complete disaster and the challenge was, 'Do you walk away from it and let it be a disaster or do you put the effort into it to try to make it a success?' Over 1,000 employees now makes it a success."

The story started with a venture that those involved dubbed "Project Tiger."

In 2006, a Canadian company called National Steel Car was shopping locations for a railcar plant, with plans to ultimately have some 1,600 to 1,800 workers there. The Barton site was among those they were eyeing, and the community stepped up in 2007 by issuing a half-cent sales tax in Colbert and Lauderdale counties. The tax would help provide incentives for the program, but the long-term goal was to create what would become the Shoals Economic Development Fund.

"There was very little opposition to it at the time," Mauldin said. "When we were putting it together as a team, the idea was we needed it to get the plant, but we needed it worse if we didn't get it."

Today that fund, which has grown beyond $43 million, goes toward various local economic development projects.

The Shoals, along with state officials including Bronner, also offered up various incentives to National Steel Car, and in July 2007 the company announced it would build the National Alabama railcar plant in the industrial park.

At the time, it was hailed as one of the biggest industrial announcements in the state's history.

Soon, however, problems surfaced. The national economic downturn delayed production of the railcars. By 2009, RSA provided a $275 million loan to assist the company. That was on top of the $350 million the agency put into the program in 2007.

By August 2011, National Alabama CEO Greg Aziz had resigned and RSA took over ownership of the plant.

Things started moving forward since then. In September 2011, officials announced Navistar would obtain the facility in 2012.

FreightCar America officials followed that up by announcing plans to sublease a portion of the plant in 2013.

In June 2015, it was announced that a start-up company, American Intermodal Container Manufacturing Co., would team with Navistar to build intermodal containers at the plant in a move that meant an additional 125 jobs.

While those movements were taking place, Aziz was battling legal issues. In 2013, he would be charged with 11 counts of securities fraud regarding the way he represented to RSA the costs of plant construction and his company's finances, according to court records. Ultimately, a deal was reached in which charges were dropped, and in exchange he provided RSA with $21 million in damages and reimbursed about $1 million to the Alabama Securities Commission and the Colbert County District Attorney's Office for investigative costs associated with the case, according to authorities.

Forrest Wright, president of the Shoals Economic Development Authority, said projects involving industrial prospects tend to be fluid.

"Every major project that we've ever embarked on has changes throughout the process," Wright said. "That's typical of the business. Seldom do they change as much as that one's changed."

He said having a large construction project ongoing in 2008 and 2009 helped mitigate the local impact of the national recession.

"All those thousands of workers coming in, coming out, renting spaces, buying food -- we felt an impact but we didn't feel the impact that a lot of people felt," Wright said. "That provided a source of tax income in the community that would not have been evident without that project going on."

Looking back, he said the plant's success exemplifies the combination of a determined community and resources such as RSA.

"We started at zero people working there and zero investment in a big cotton field," Wright said. "And now 10 years later, thanks in great part to David Bronner and RSA and the local community by being able to rise to the challenge that Dr. Bronner and others have put forth with the economic development fund and other inducements, we now have an investment in hundreds of millions of dollars in the property.

"Plus we have more than 1,000 people able to go to work there every day, and a company that spends millions of dollars a year in local infrastructure and part purchases. And thank goodness they're still growing down there."

Bronner, whose RSA earlier this century provided investments that included two 18-hole Robert Trent Jones golf courses in Colbert County, said the Shoals is growing into its potential and his investments are evidence of his belief in the area.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful part of the state," he said. "It's really hard-working good people and it's been sort of ignored for a long time and had a lot of starts and stops. This one was also almost a start and stop.

This project has gotten to point now where everybody can be proud of it."

Mauldin said the plant made a statement for the Shoals and it got Montgomery's attention.

"The railcar plant was a symbol to the state that we are here for business and that we exist in the Shoals area," he said. "Prior to that, all we got was lip service."

He said the economic development fund also is a major benefit from the project.

"The fund has helped a whole bunch of small industries," Mauldin said. "A lot of people have benefited from the vision of that sales tax and what we're using it for."

Looking back, Mauldin shudders at the notion of where the Shoals could have ended up without the plant and the fund. He also sees continued growth for the area.

"Just think what it would have been if we didn't have it," Mauldin said. He paused and added, "But we can do so much more."

[DailyDiesel]

I'm surprised Navistar still has a hand in this project after shedding "non core" businesses over the past few years.