American LaFrance, the oldest name in American fire apparatus, marks 175 years this year in a new fire manufacturing facility producing some of the most advanced technology in the industry.

Truckson LaFrance and his partners started the LaFrance Manufacturing Co. in 1872 to produce hand pumps and rotary steam engines based on LaFrance's award-winning patents. With a reputation for innovation and advancing technology, LaFrance's reputation spread over the next three decades. At the turn of the century, the LaFrance Fire Engine Co. merged with the American Fire Engine Co. to become American LaFrance Fire Engine Co.

Featured in Norman Rockwell paintings and synonymous with words like tradition and heritage, American LaFrance has traveled some bumpy roads and survived changes in ownership. The company currently is poised to reinvent itself with the strong support of new owner Patriarch Partners LLC and a president who is grounded in truck construction.

American LaFrance is celebrating 175 years, but that's not continuous years, is it?

The passion and brand loyalty from fire departments and fire personnel has been unwavering. Even in times when there were only three employees, taking care of service parts and working in a corrugated metal building; the brand and spirit of American LaFrance lived on. This is truly a celebration of an American product that continues to hold a special place in the hearts of firefighters from past generations and is passed on for many more generations to come. That is what we are celebrating.

The purchase of American LaFrance, coupled with a significant investment by Patriarch Partners LLC, appears to be bringing new life to an old name.

Yes, it's like the Phoenix-rising, and it is like a rebirth. A lot of people thought we were done when Freightliner sold us. With our new owners there were significant investments made in the company. The foundation pieces that are being put in place include all new business systems, all new facilities, and new products that will form the foundation not just for now, but for five, 10, 20 years forward. Everything we're doing now really is to build a firm foundation for the next generation.

We have received a lot of support from our new parent, Patriarch Partners LLC. This is a platform company for them, a champion company and a heritage company with 175 years behind it. You have one of the most well-known products in the industry, and everything is positive about it. They have given us the flexibility to do what we had to do. Everybody was concerned that when we were bought by a financial company, they'd be running the business. No, we agreed on a business plan; I do a monthly pro forma and basically get the support of the parent company. It's good to know that if something comes along to add the value to American LaFrance, the capital is there to bring it into the family. Of course, at the same time, there's an expectation from the parent that we stand on our own two feet and contribute.

Will you be tapping into technology from other industries owned by your parent company, such as McDonnell Douglas helicopters?

No, not in the near future, but we are using technology from other sources to enhance our capability. We're doing it with our new facility by partnering with Clemson University [in South Carolina]. The new facility will be all computer-simulated before we even put the first piece of equipment in, and we'll do it with our schedule and see the pitfalls. It's a virtual facility before we ever move in, and we'll get experience with that.

On the business systems side, we want to be very easy to do business with, and we want to communicate in the different manner. That needs to be done in this industry. Typically, customers come in for a pre-con and they have 2-D drawings or 2-D drawings out in the field. Customers can look at these, but you don't buy a 2-D vehicle, you buy a 3-D vehicle, and 2-D doesn't do it justice.

We've upgraded all of our engineering systems to 3-D modeling [that] will allow us to be able to show a customer what his pump house looks like; show it to him in 3-D and let him rotate it and get a feel for it and make his final decisions. [We] make them as accurate as possible so that we have the least number of changes going through the operation.

The latest generations of firefighters and emergency vehicle technicians have grown up with a lot more technology and visualization skills.

They are techies — they absolutely are! They expect it, and they want that ease of getting on their computers, pulling up their order and taking a look at it, even building it from scratch so they can see it on the screen, rotate it, move a step here, add a light or whatever the case might be. It's about fine-tuning it. By the end of the second quarter, we'll have the most advanced business systems, most advanced manufacturing facilities and, I believe, the highest quality cab-over-engine product in this industry.

American LaFrance was founded on innovation, yet there has been quite a gap in its history. How do you see that changing?

When you turn a company around and rebuild it, you have to stabilize first and build on your core competencies. Everything you build has to be to the best of your ability before you add on. We're at a position now that we're looking at new technology on the electronic side, but also in the vehicle sector and looking how we can be more innovative and how can we give more products to this industry.

One of the reasons we launched the four-door commercial [cab] is that basically we've looked at the commercials being used in the industry, and they're all conventional. They're all very high, very poor visibility and hold five people at best. We want to offer, cost-competitively, a four-door commercial that is low-entry, has high visibility and can hold up to 10 people to give the firefighter a better tool at a competitive cost.

What are some of the challenges you see?

This year alone, we're launching all new business systems, moving in to new facilities, and between commercial and fire we're launching four new products. That's a lot! The biggest challenge is the business systems because, on a new facility, you're computer-simulating it; You can walk, you can touch it, you can see if something is misplaced, you can move it. On the vehicles you get through the prototypes and the customer interface; you can fine-tune those. But systems can be somewhat blind.

We have 50 additional [business system] people working parallel with all of our departments, modeling every aspect of this company that we can think of, running parallel systems for a period of time before we actually go live to make sure if anything happens, it's minimized.

Challenge-wise, I think initially that's the biggest one. After that, we will be taking a look at where we want to go with our products. We have a certain product line now between the Eagle, Metro and Liberty, mid-engine and, of course, the aerials with LTI — where do we want to take that product line to? What additional technology, whether it's domestic or offshore, do we feel is advantageous to the industry and how do we want to integrate it? How do we want to present it and so forth?

I'm not interested in chasing a competitor; all I'm interested in is chasing the firefighter and their needs. We may take different routes from time to time based on the customer input that we get.

Is there any chance that the LTI line will move to your new facility?

No. We have outstanding people at LTI, and it has years and years of knowledge. I believe they build the premier aerial in the business, and we'll be enhancing that operation.

What will set you apart from other fire truck manufacturers?

It has to be quality, number one. It has to be innovation, number two and the customer confidence in us that whether they need parts immediately or something done that is out of the ordinary. They need to know that we're going to be there to back them up.

The assembly plant will end up about 459,000 square feet. It seems huge, but if you take a look around the Charleston area, we currently have about 410,000 square feet of operations scattered. We have our own logistics and engineering centers in the Charleston area. Also, our chassis operations are separate. When you consolidate, you naturally become more efficient, so we are looking for increased volume. Our fire sales are up about 12.5% over last year, our commercial sales are up 22%, and we expect to continue that type of growth.

What do you see as challenges for chiefs over the next several years?

I think economics are a challenge. Trucks are getting more expensive; departments are dictating a lot of the components not to the performance of the truck but to the brand name of the components. I think sooner or later the cost of the vehicles is going to have to change the industry where performance becomes the issue and costs reduced.

How would you address performance?

Let us come back with a proposal and back it up with a very strong warranty that would give us the opportunity to find the best components at the lowest cost, but also give leverage on design to present something to the customer that he hasn't seen before and that fits his needs better. I think there's going to be challenges on that because costs on vehicles are going to have to start coming down. Too many communities are getting tight on budgets, and if you're going to stay with modern equipment — modern up through 10 years and rotate — you have to have a vehicle you can afford.

How do you plan to celebrate in the new facility?

For our anniversary celebration, we will be totally in the new facility by the first of August. We'll start putting new equipment in the new assembly plant on May 15, and we'll move operations into the facility on the second week of June. We're doing that in phases where we actually build a week's worth of inventory and move the work. It's all paced out so that we don't affect the customers or production, so we're all in by Aug. 1.

We wanted to have a special event because this is a new beginning for American La France. We have really built a new company while running an old company. We have new business systems, new facilities, new products — it's a new company — while we're running a company that's 175 years old. They come together, really come together in this building, and that's a special event. We will have a national fire muster on Aug. 17-19, a multiple-day event with all sorts of activities for customers, ALF aficionados, government officials.

Are you having fun?

Yes, I'm having fun. There are stressful days. I wish I could say every day is a step forward, especially when you're rebuilding a company, but we are moving forward. It is fun to see the gratitude from customers when they see a high-quality vehicle and they're pleased with it. It's fun to see the loyalty that customers and the dealer base has to this brand, and it's fun to see a lot of people just rooting for us. It's our job to make sure we meet those expectations.

Museum Meets Pub-Ed

American LaFrance and North Charleston, S.C., have teamed up to create an educational opportunity for the local community and visitors to the Charleston area.

The North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum and Educational Center is scheduled to open in late April. Visitors to the facility can learn about the history of firefighting and participate in several interactive exhibits that will reinforce fire safety and prevention.

The museum is designed to serve as a destination for school field trips. Interactive exhibits are geared toward school-age children and include the Great Escape, with a fire ladder for steps and a full-size home setting with simulated hazards.

Earlier this year, American LaFrance relocated 18 fully restored, antique fire apparatus from Cleveland, N.C., to the site of the new museum. Included in the collection is a hand-operated fire pump and two horse-drawn steam engines.