M S Truck Body using Sturgis plant to expand reach

Aug 8, 2003 12:00 PM

John B. Poindexter, owner of J.B. Poindexter & Co., Inc., the parent company of Morgan Corporation, the nation’s largest manufacturer of dry and refrigerated truck bodies, recently purchased the walk-in van/service parts assets and the Grumman Olson Industries’ manufacturing facilities in Sturgis, Michigan.

The acquisition, when combined with Morgan Corporation, based in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, creates the truck body industry’s largest manufacturer and broadest product line.

John Poindexter, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of J.B. Poindexter & Co. Inc., announced that the new company, MS Truck Body Corp., will continue to use the Grumman Olson product trade names, and that it is receiving significant management support from key Morgan Corporation executives.

“The purchase of the Grumman Olson assets demonstrates our commitment to make strategic acquisitions that offer the opportunity to add additional manufacturing capabilities and quality products to better serve our customers,” says Bob Ostendorf, president of Morgan Corporation. “We welcome the Grumman Olson staff to our team and are excited about offering Walk-In/Step Van customers a broader, higher quality product line to meet their needs.”

MS Truck Body Corp./Morgan Corporation Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Mark Robinson, concurs.

“Grumman Olson’s walk-in van and parts businesses complement our current sales focus and give us a broader product line,” he says. “The acquisition provides a natural product extension for Morgan’s marketing efforts and is consistent with our strategy of continuing Morgan’s market-leading position in truck body manufacturing.”

With the newly acquired Michigan facilities, MS Truck Body Corp. and Morgan Corporation now have manufacturing capability in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, California, and Michigan. Eight facilities provide MS Truck Body Corp./Morgan Corporation coast-to-coast manufacturing capability and locations central to the major metropolitan areas of New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and now Chicago and Detroit.

The combined MS Truck Body Corp./Morgan Corporation product offering includes refrigerated truck bodies and trailers, dry freight, stake and platform, curtain-side, furniture, utility, and parcel delivery truck bodies, and the premier Walk-In/Step Van, which is produced at the Sturgis facility.