Number of LaFrance workers won't return
By Katy Stech (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, January 12, 2008

An undetermined number of workers at American LaFrance will not return from a 30-day layoff next week because the firetruck manufacturer does not have the money to order parts and resume full production, a spokesman said Friday.

About 100 workers at the Summerville company were temporarily dismissed in mid-December. The company said at the time that it needed to update its inventory system after its relocation last year to a new $62 million manufacturing plant near Jedburg Road and U.S. Interstate 26.

The affected workers were supposed to return from the one-month furlough Monday.

But while the inventory upgrades are finished, officials began notifying workers earlier this week that they won't need to come back until mid-March.

"In the short term, we don't have components and parts to put together the trucks to actually build them," American LaFrance spokesman Michael Gordon said Friday.

Gordon said he didn't know how many employees would be affected by the move. The company had a total of 500 workers before last month's temporary layoff. Employees who are affected are getting medical benefits and also are eligible for unemployment assistance.

Gordon said the company is working to secure financing for the parts and components it needs to resume full production. He added that American LaFrance is in talks with its lender and that things "look positive."

"There were some hang-ups in being able to order the parts," he said. "It wasn't a vendor issue. It was an American LaFrance issue."

American LaFrance is owned by New York-based Patriarch Partners. A spokesman for Lynn Tilton, Patriarch's founder and chief executive officer, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The past 18 months or so have marked a turbulent period for American LaFrance.

In addition to glitches that cropped during its forced move from the DaimlerChrysler plant in North Charleston to its new manufacturing facility, the company had at least two rounds of layoffs in 2007.

Also, unhappy customers, such as the city of Bellingham, Wash., complained about the quality of the vehicles the company made.

The manufacturer then lost its CEO, John Stevenson, who resigned in October, the day before the company held the grand opening of its Summerville location. Meanwhile, Charleston County hit American LaFrance with a $317,313 bill in October to settle a dispute over tax-related fees that came due as a result of the company's move to Berkeley County.

Location: Californ-I-EH

ALF WILL BE IN FULL PRODUCTION BY THE END OF MARCH .THEY ARE IN THE PROCESS OF REORGANIZING, WITH 100 OF THIER 500 ON LAYOFF. IT IS FUNNY TO SEE HOW THE VULTURES ARE CIRCLING OVERHEAD WITH RUMORS AND LIES SO THEY CAN TRY AND SELL THIER DEMOS AND BACK STOCK. I DINT THINK ANY OF US WILL BE AROUND IF AND WHEN ALF IS NO MORE .PEOPLE ARE TOO QUICK TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS,ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT THEY READ .DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT IF THEY WERE IN THAT SERIOUS TROUBLE ,THAT SOMEONE ,SOMEWHERE WOULD NOT PICK UP THE COMPANY AND CONTINUE ITS LONG TRADITION .

Location: BUFFALO NY

I understand what you mean Richard, but over the years there have been many other "traditional" companies, not only in the fire apparatus related industry, but others as well, that have fallen on hard times and faded away. It's all about the almight dollar. If ALF isn't profitable and can be sold off to pay creditors, it will be, tradition or not. Look at the other long time major players in the fire apparatus field that have vanished.

I hope that ALF can continue for many years to come. But the sad truth is investors and creditors who want their money probably could care less about traditions when it comes to their wallets.

Location: Baltimore

I wouldn't think that ALF would go belly up, especially so soon after opening their new factory. I'm sure things will be running back to normal in the near future.

I've been hearing the same thing about E-One and Seagrave, too.

well I also heard that and that is just one of 3 articles I read. so I wouldn't be so hard on the Guy for posting it..and with the workmanship I have seen on the two our neighboring department has I can see why, it is shoddy at best! "NOT BEING BIASED!!!... READ ON YOU'LL SEE WHY I INSERTED THIS" . Plus ALF went away for like 20 Yrs that isn't Tradition, Heck Ahrens Fox is back too on an HME if ya look at it that way. The only true company still in continous existance is Seagrave, I know for a FACT since I am an "EMPLOYEE" they aren't having trouble, and neither is Pierce. I heard E-one was yes, and "SUTPHEN" but not Seagrave. Seagrave did eliminate some people from the top, but that was because those people wern't focusing on marketing the company, the new crew is more focused on promoting the company Plus seagrave just got another contract with FDNY for 69 pumpers on the Maurader II chassis, along with a bunch of other work.

According to articles I've read over the past 2 years or so E-One has been in a little bit of financial trouble for awhile. Pierce is #1 and Rosenbauer took over the #2 spot from E-One. We just got bids back on December 19th for a rescue pumper and we're going with a Pierce Dash, which will be one of the last ones made. Rosenbauer bid $424,000-plus, Sutphen was $454,000-plus, Pierce was $474,000-plus and E-One was $524,000-plus. Rosenbauer lowballed everyone, as they've traditionaly been doing lately in the St. Louis area where I'm at, and E-One was WAY overpriced. ALF didn't bid, and I wouldn't want one anyway after talking to firefighters from departments around here that have them, as far as how they're cheaply-built and nothing but trouble. The new-age ALFs are nothing like the ones of yesteryear apparently.

IN MY LIFE LONG BUFFING YEARS OVER 50 , I HAVE HEARD JUST ABOUT EVERY COMPANY WAS IN TROUBLE AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER.. MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE THE LEAD ARTICLE WAS PRINTED . WHICH HAS NOT YET BEEN RELEASED,AND THAT IS WHAT I BASE MY STATEMENT ON ,THAT ALF SHOULD BE RUNNING FULL SPEED BY MARCH .
RUMORS PUMPED UP BY ALL DO NOT HELP. I DO NOT CARE WHO YOU BUY YOUR APPARATUS FROM ,IF IT IS BUILT BY HUMAN HANDS ,THERE IS A CHANCE FOR ERROR ,OR PROBLEMS . SERVICE IS THE KEY WORD . IF THE COMPANY YOU BUY FROM GIVES GOOD SERVICE THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.THE DEALERS WHO SERVICE THE RIGS AFTER PURCHASES CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. AS FOR THE NEW ALFS NOT BEING AS GOOD AS THE OLD ONES .WHAT IS TODAY? EVERYONE HAS THIER FAVAROITE,AND IS QUICK TO KNOCK DOWN OTHER MANUFACTUERS.THEY ALL HAVE THIER FAULTS AND PROBLEMS . WHERE WOULD SEAGRAVE BE TODAY WITHOUT THE FDNY ORDERS. THEY NEED A GOOD SERVICE CENTER IN NORTH JERSEY, I GUESS WE WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE.BUT I FEEL THAT ALF WILL SERVIVE.

Location: BUFFALO NY

ALF is done. there is no hope. hopefully RD Murray and LTI will survive this, but the end has come.

Rich:

I was with an ex-ALF employee yesterday at the FIRE RESCUE EAST show in Jacksonville and he received several phone calls from people at the ALF plant telling him that the banks have refused the loan proposals from the banks, and Friday they let most of the office staff go. They have told thier dealers that any orders they have in house that have not been started can be pulled and they can find another builder.

Location: Coral Gables, FL

I don't get it. Why did they build such a large modern beautiful factory that resembles a fire station if they probably knew that they were in financial trouble? I mean, this doesn't happen overnight! Months ago, I'm sure, they were aware that something was amiss in their finances! If this is the case then they only have themselves to blame.

WORD HAS IT THAT AMERICAN LA FRANCE HAS FILED FOR BANKRUPCY TODAY .

Location: BUFFALO NY

Here is the info:

http://tinyurl.com/yuyk5q

Jeff

Location: PA

Press release says Chapt 11, will emerge in 3 months. Will be interesting to see if they meet the timeline and retain their customer base. Be sure to read the other release which is in a Q & A format.

Location: GA

Shud have said go to: www.americanlafrance.com and click on news.

Location: GA

There is also an item posted on this subject in the Firehouse Magazine web site.

they were turned down for their last ditch plea for financing on Friday. they laid off almost all of their office staff as well on Friday. their dealers were told if they had any orders not started yet to tell their customers to go elsewhere. It will be very interesting to see how difficult it is for those departments that have rigs on the various assembly lines to get them out to be completed elsewhere.

So...why were they forced to relocate? If you look on their website, it says one of the main problems was that

1). inventory not properly disclosed as obsolete when ALF acquired its business in December 2005.

What does this mean?

2). A second material factor requiring ALF’s Chapter 11 filing relates to operational disruptions caused by the installation of a new ERP system as ALF transitioned away from the computer system of ALF’s previous owner.

Again - what the heck does this mean...It makes it sound like ALF was bought in 12/2005 and the new owner got screwed. So what really happened? Who in their right mind invests $62 million dollars in new technology and plant, and the next minute declares bankruptcy. Sounds very much like an Enron deal. The ones really screwed, as usual, are the faithful employees.

Maybe some of you guys who don't understand business shouldn't speculate. I understand this may not be a popular statement but nice goings comments just reek of lack of knowledge but yet has a statement that they screwed the employees.

The first statement is that the inventory received was not all current. This commonly happens in mergers and takeovers. The second is that the system in place under the Mercedes ownership was not able to be used by the new ownership. Again this is common. Combine the 2 and you can have an inventory and cash flow nightmare. Been through it twice in the past 3 years and probably 2 more times in the next 12 months.

By filing bankruptcy they are basically publicly putting off their creditors until they can pay them. Bankruptcy in business doesn't always mean the same thing as personal bankruptcy. If you remember several years ago K-Mart declared the same bankruptcy and they are still around.

I hope they make it just because the more the merrier. Plus I would hate to see all that investment go to waste in both personnel and property.

Jeff

Location: Pennsylvania

ALF's new owners had to relocate because the factory they were using in NC was not part of the deal with Freightliner. Freightliner is using that facility to produce FL class 8 chassis. In talking with someone knowledgeable about the new facility in SC, they said the layout was not done well, i.e. 220v power was not sufficient to support the assembly line and there were no conduits in place to support the computer PC's that were needed on the line. The new owners had to string computer cables overhead to connect the PC's. Another big problem was that they were not paying their suppliers. I talked with a fire truck repair shop owner at Fire East last weekend who had not been paid by ALF for warranty work since last June. Needless to say the departments who contacted him for warranty work were not happy customers when he advised them they wud have to pay him and then try and get reimbursed by ALF!

Location: GA

The big difference wit the K-Mart bankruptcy is that Sears came in and helped bail them out. I think ALF will emerge from chapter 11, but as a smaller company, at least to start fresh.

Location: Baltimore

Daimler Chrysler, at the time, was trying to shed units that they felt 'didn't meet their core business values' hence the shedding of Chrysler, and ALF among the chief products.. In a sense of the word, they were money-losing propositions, not investing any capital to 'update' products. The lack of investment, coupled with the expedited sale and transition has led to the difficulties LaFrance is experiencing at this moment.