Expansion Plans for Pierce & Seagrave

[msm232 69]

Posted Sept. 29, 2005

Seagrave, Pierce plans on track

Two Valley fire apparatus makers expand facilities

By Pete Bach

Post-Crescent staff writer

The head of Seagrave Fire Apparatus is eyeing a spring construction start on its long-awaited expansion project.

“The steel’s there. The ground’s prepared. Utilities are in,” said chief executive officer Scott Mintier. “It’s waiting for me to say, ‘Okay gentlemen, let’s start.’”

Mintier said he’s been getting his “arms around” more pressing priorities since being named last spring to succeed Jim Hebe as CEO. For example, last week he was meeting with New York Fire Department officials over some concerns they had about how long truck repairs and new truck construction was taking.

Mintier said the expansion is definitely on. “I met with the general contractor six weeks ago to make sure prices were up to date. In my opinion it’ll be spring” for a project start, he said.

Seagrave isn’t the only area emergency vehicle manufacturer in an expansion mode. Pierce Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Oshkosh Truck Corp., is underway with improvements totaling $18.5 million at its Grand Chute chassis plant and its Town of Menasha fire and rescue vehicle fabrication plant.

The bulk of the work will come at the Grand Chute facility. The town says the tab for the expansion of the facility shell at 3100 N. McCarthy Road at $3,076,000. Work on the 130,000-square-foot addition is proceeding on schedule.

“We have broken ground and it’s moving along well,” said company spokeswoman Kirsten Skyba. “Our anticipation is we’ll have things moved in there in the first quarter of 2006.”

No additional jobs are expected to result from the expansions. Pierce employs 1,550 in the Fox Cities.

In Clintonville, the city has put the cost of Seagrave’s 130,000-square-foot building shell at about $2.8 million.

The centerpiece of the expansion are three 400-foot-long production lines: two for the manufacture of custom pumper trucks and the remaining one for aerial ladder and platform trucks.

The project has been on the back burner since June 2004 when the state announced a pair of grants totaling $760,000 to relocate streets, water and sewer services and street reconstruction work, infrastructure improvements that also benefited nearby Walker Forge, a producer of carbon and steel forgings which conducted an expansion project of its own.

Earlier, the company said the project stands to add up to 170 new jobs to the Seagrave roster, which stands at about 350 here, making it the largest employer in the city of 4,750.

But Mintier declined to comment on the extent of hiring new employees once the project is complete. Last November, the company laid off 65 workers.

Pete Bach can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 430, or by e-mail at pbach@postcrescent.com

[x635 4,066]

It's good to hear of both the companies expanding. Thanks for sharing that article.