Posted January 20, 2014 Not sure everyone has heard....it's making its way around the web, but American LaFrance closed operations last Friday. I haven't seen any press releases. Was there anybody else besides Ventura County still buying ALF? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 20, 2014 Wow, 140 years in business. That was a good run. http://www.wbtw.com/story/24498999/sc-fire-truck-maker-american-lafrance-closes-down-unexpectedly http://www.patriarchpartners.com/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 21, 2014 not to many depts. out here in calif have purchased them in the last few years as the rumor of alf closing has been floating for a while. la city was getting ready to go out to bid on tillers but I guess there will be one less bid. I have family on the job in philly and they received the last 3 ladder trucks from alf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 21, 2014 Wow, 140 years in business. That was a good run. http://www.wbtw.com/story/24498999/sc-fire-truck-maker-american-lafrance-closes-down-unexpectedly http://www.patriarchpartners.com/ If I'm not mistaken ALF went under in the 1980's and was brought back in 1995 when Freightliner, LLC revived the brand. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 21, 2014 What's going to happen with the LTI ladders are they going to be supplied by another fire equipment builder? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 21, 2014 Too bad, ALF had a real legacy. It seems Pierce has fought the competitive wars and has solid grounding. It seems to me KME is trending up in $ales though still needs to work out some quality issues. I am not sure where E-One is going, it seems they have been fairly flat though I hope to see them sell well. Spartan, Seagrave, Sutphen, Ferrara, and Smeal seem to all be that next tier of manufacturers. A bit of interesting recent history on ALF from Wikipedia, I was hoping they were gonna survive:"In 1995, the company was bought by Freightliner LLC, which is a subsidiary of Daimler AG. Freightliner continued to utilize American LaFrance's original nameplates and designations including the Eagle custom chassis. Many of their Liberty products are built on Freightliner LLC M2 or Sterling Acterra chassis. ALF has additional manufacturing facilities in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Sanford, Florida, and Hamburg, New York. As of 2005, they are the fifth largest manufacturer of emergency vehicles in North America."In December 2005, it was announced that Freightliner had transferred the ownership of American LaFrance to the New York-based investment firm, Patriarch Partners, LLC. The headquarters and main plant in Ladson, South Carolina were not included in the transaction. However, Patriarch Partners were allowed to use the plant until early 2007, when DaimlerChrysler began using the plant for assembly of the Dodge Sprinter. Under new ownership ALF relocated within the Charleston, South Carolina, area in summer 2007 to a brand new facility, including manufacturing and corporate HQ, with nearly 500,000 sq ft (50,000 m²) of total space."On January 28, 2008, American LaFrance filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection blaming problems with implementation of a new IBM enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.[2] On July 25, 2008, the company emerged from bankruptcy with a revised business plan to transfer the firetruck body building portion of the business to the remaining Hamburg, NY, (formerly RDMurray Inc.) and Ephrata, PA, (formerly Ladder Towers Inc.) facilities. The Summerville, SC plant continued to manufacture fire truck cab and chassis, but focused on vocational vehicles and the Condor vehicle line. On January 17, 2014, the company announced it was ceasing operations.[3]" -Rescue51 x635 and firepost like this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 26, 2014 What exactly did the ALF Los Angeles facility do? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 26, 2014 I think the los angeles facility they are referring to is acutually the alf /freightliner service center which is located In Fontana , about 40 mlies east of la Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
