November/December 2007

ALF Opens New S.C. Plant With Management Shake-up

By C. Peter Jørgensen

American LaFrance’s 175th Anniversary celebration and new manufacturing plant “wet down” grand opening went pretty much in line with the weather that Friday — cloudy, rainy, sunny, followed by more showers. The bright sunlight didn’t break out until the second day of the event.

When apparatus soaked the building, reenacting the traditional dedication of a new firehouse, a multifarious plethora of emotions ran through the attendees, depending on who they were and what brought them to Summerville, S. C., on the third weekend in October.

The shocker was that American LaFrance (ALF) announced a management shakeup the night before the celebration, replacing the president and signaling yet another major change in a company that’s seen more turnover at the top than anyone could anticipate.

But when the sun burst forth on Saturday, Oct. 20, it shone on Bill Hinz, a super-charged executive who has run major New York Stock Exchange-listed companies in this country and in Europe.

His resume includes roles as president and CEO of European operations for Allied Signal, now a part of Honeywell, as well as president of AlliedSignal Aerospace in the U.S.

He has also served as a president of Triumph Components Group, a high-tech manufacturing arm of Triumph Group, Inc., an NYSE-traded company, as well as serving as a director of several other corporations and educational institutions.

Hinz’s appointment as ALF president comes at the same time he was named a managing director for the aero and automotive holdings of Patriarch Partners, the Charlotte, N.C., and New York City-based investment company that acquired ALF in December 2005.

Hinz will also oversee MD Helicopters of Arizona, the other highly-visible company in Patriarch’s portfolio. Patriarch is run by Lynn Tilton, an investment banker who founded the firm in 2000 and has put together a group of nearly 60 companies with a total worth of about $6 billion.

The recruitment of Hinz means ALF has had five presidents in a little over six years, a unenviable record matched only by E-ONE of Ocala, Fla., which was the nation’s leading apparatus manufacturer in the early 1990s. E-One has had five presidents since 1998, and both companies have been losing money for several years.

Several hundred people attended the two-day ALF event, which featured a display of about 40 antique restored American LaFrance fire trucks. Most of the old rigs were owned by collectors who are members of the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America (SPAMFAA)

History was everywhere. Fire apparatus book authors Walt McCall, Harvey Eckart and Matt Lee were present along with master fire apparatus restorers Ken Soderbeck of Michigan and Andy Swift of Maine. Both gave seminars and demonstrations, as did Matt Lee.

Mixed emotions ran high among representatives of more than 27 outside suppliers to American LaFrance who had been invited to set up a mini-trade show. Many were taken aback at the sudden management change, although former ALF President John Stevenson was present to participate in the ceremonies and ease the transition.

The new facility consists of a 520,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and a 57,000-square-foot office and administration building.

Stevenson told the local press that the plant was built in record time – less than a year – at a cost of $62 million.

In August 500 employees started to work there, not many finished fire trucks have rolled off the line since the startup.

In addition to fire apparatus, the plant is designed to build the commercial Condor series of chassis in a cab-forward configuration for municipal use, cement trucks, refuse haulers and the like.