Supreme Industries, Inc. today announced that it has expanded StarTrans shuttle bus production into its Woodburn, Ore., manufacturing plant.
Production at this site enables not only enhanced service to Supreme’s U.S. bus customers, particularly west of the Rockies and western Canada, but also introduces significant freight-cost savings. The company is sourcing a number of parts from local and regional suppliers — one of which is Miles Fiberglass & Composites, with plants in Oregon City and Portland, Ore. — instead of shipping them from outside of the region.
“In the current economic environment, one of the few growth areas for specialty vehicle manufacturing is buses,” said Sam Craig, vice president of sales, StarTrans. “Through this expansion, we have created nine full-time positions to date and, upon ramping up to full production, we expect that a total of 35 positions will need to be filled.”
The company indicated that production has started at the Oregon plant and future volume will range from 200 to 400 buses per year, depending on market demand.
Currently in production at this facility are Supreme’s curved-fiberglass shuttle buses, including the Senator and Candidate models. Most are built on Ford and General Motors chassis and are used by hotels, rental car agencies, churches, retirement communities, state government and state agencies, universities and touring companies. Future plans call for adding Supreme’s new StarLiner shuttle bus, a higher-end product line.
Supreme will host an open house at the Woodburn facility on Tuesday, March 17, with regional bus dealers, customers and state agencies among those in attendance.