The Kidron manufacturing facility in Montgomery, Pennsylvania, has launched its operation building bodies and trailers, starting with a large order for customized van bodies, according to Specialized Vehicles Corporation (SVC), parent company of Kidron brand truck bodies and trailers.
Trailer production will start in early summer, the company has announced.
The 238,000-square-foot plant was acquired last summer and is thought to be the most advanced truck body manufacturing plant in the industry. The facility has an automated conveyor line, a fabrication shop with a 400-ton press and an advanced paint system, making it ideal for high-volume runs.
"The Montgomery operation will also give us a tremendous capacity to quickly and cost-efficiently produce our new Emperor refrigerated trailers," said John May, Kidron president.
In addition to trailers, the plant will produce the full line of Kidron refrigerated and dry-freight truck bodies, including the Cargo Star vans introduced earlier this year.
Its high volume production capabilities also will be used to fulfill a number of large fleet orders. For example, the Montgomery plant has built more than 70 percent of the U.S. Postal Service fleet under contracts that date back to 1987, and a very large number of units are used by Federal Express and United Parcel Service.
"Further, Kidron is adding a unique collection of walk-in step vans to our product group, and the Montgomery plant's tremendous capability will enable us to bring that production up to speed very quickly," said May.
"When it was operated by Grumman Olson, this plant was the industry's leading producer of walk-in step vans for many years. Producing our walk-in designs and our other products, we intend to continue the Montgomery tradition for quality and product dependability."
After the plant was acquired by Kidron last July, it was fully re-tooled by Kidron engineers to efficiently produce Kidron's products. Kidron was able to quickly arm itself with a skilled workforce by retaining people who formerly worked there.
It is Kidron's fourth plant, with others located in Kidron, Ohio; Lakeland, Florida; and Tulare, California.