American LaFrance announced that in an effort to improve production flow, it temporarily furloughed up to 100 hourly production and salaried personnel from Dec. 17, 2007, until Jan. 14, 2008. The company’s intention is to have all employees return to their current positions and wages on Jan. 14.

American LaFrance’s facilities in Hamburg, N.Y.; Ephrata, Pa.; and Sanford, Fla. experienced an extended holiday shutdown between Dec. 26 and Dec. 31, 2007.

During the temporary furlough, effort will be placed on conducting a complete physical inventory. Additionally significant effort will be placed on aligning all systems from production, finance, and engineering to produce sustainable results. These actions will be taking place at all Charleston, S.C.,–area locations. Production cells that have manufacturing parts available will continue to operate through the period uninterrupted.

“This temporary furlough is necessary to ‘re-boot’ the company and position American LaFrance for a successful 2008,” says Bill Hinz, president and CEO of American LaFrance. "While it pains me to implement this strategy, this short-term move gives us a chance to reset our work-in-progress priorities and return to an on-time delivery schedule. By having a firm grasp on our manufacturing parts needs, we can better manage our run rate and give our customers and suppliers a more consistent schedule. This effort creates a winning proposition for all concerned parties.”

“Our customers and employees have high expectations and I am committed to upholding those standards,” Hinz added.