Wabash National Corporation (NYSE: WNC) today
announced that it's wholly owned subsidiary, Transcraft ® Corporation, a
manufacturer of flatbed, drop deck, dump trailers and truck bodies, has
agreed on the terms of a sale of its Anna, Illinois production facility and
will consolidate its operations into its Cadiz, Kentucky facility. Platform
production at the Anna facility will cease sometime in the first half of
2010, at which time the new production lines at the Cadiz production
facility will be fully operational.
"These types of decisions are always difficult to make, especially when it
affects associates, but due to the current economic climate we are faced
with the need to further right size our operating footprint and reduce our
cost structure. We expect this to be a seamless transition in production
due to utilization of excess manufacturing equipment, which should have no
impact to our customers," said Terry Campbell, General Manager of
Transcraft Corporation.
Transcraft plans to sell the facility to a prominent, local business owner,
Rusty Flamm. Mr. Flamm is the owner of Rusty's Home Center, a lumberyard
and home center business with locations in Anna and Vienna, Illinois. Mr.
Flamm originally approached Transcraft to purchase an unused portion of
property in Anna. After this initial inquiry, Transcraft offered to sell
the entire facility to Mr. Flamm in conjunction with Transcraft's plan to
consolidate its production facilities.
"My current plans are to expand my business and hopefully bring new
business to this area," said Flamm.
Transcraft will consolidate production of all product lines from two
production facilities to one in Cadiz, Kentucky which will also serve as
its corporate headquarters. The Cadiz manufacturing plant is a modern,
purpose-built facility that currently produces all of Transcraft's aluminum
platform and dump product lines.
"This will complete the consolidation process of the Company's platform
business, which began in October 2007 with the closure of the Mt. Sterling,
Kentucky plant. Similar to our Lafayette Transformation Project completed
earlier this year, this consolidation initiative continues the optimization
of our production facilities and overhead cost structure that we have been
focused on throughout the current economic climate," said Wabash National
President and Chief Executive Officer Dick Giromini.
About Wabash National
Headquartered in Lafayette, Ind., Wabash National® Corporation (NYSE: WNC) is one of the leading manufacturers of semi trailers in North America.
Established in 1985, the company specializes in the design and production
of dry freight vans, refrigerated vans, flatbed trailers, drop deck
trailers, dump trailers, truck bodies and intermodal equipment. Its
innovative core products are sold under the DuraPlate®, ArcticLite®,
FreightPro(TM) Eagle® and Benson(TM) brand names. The company operates
two wholly owned subsidiaries; Transcraft ® Corporation, a manufacturer
of flatbed, drop deck, dump trailers and truck bodies; and Wabash National
Trailer Centers, trailer service centers and retail distributors of new and
used trailers and aftermarket parts throughout the U.S.
About Transcraft
Transcraft ® Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wabash National
® Corporation, is one of the leading manufacturers of platform trailers
in North America. Established in 1962, Transcraft offers a wide range of
platform and dump trailer models to meet the needs of the commercial
vehicle and construction industries. Transcraft manufactures its products
in Cadiz, Kentucky.
Press Contact:
Allison Henk
Marketing Communications Manager
765-771-5674
Investor Relations:
(765) 771-5310
