Humvee order boon for local plantWorkers at the AM General plant in Mishawaka can breathe a little sigh of relief.
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The U.S. Army announced the company has been awarded a $619 million contract to build 2,526 Humvees for the Afghanistan police and National Guard.
President Barack Obama's "strategy for drawing down U.S. forces in 2011 heavily depends upon having an Afghanistan National Army and police force that is trained and equipped to adequately assume and maintain national control to support U.S. and Afghanistan's national strategies," according to a release from the military.
Beyond the order for Afghanistan, "funding actions are being worked from other customers to add approximately 350 to 400 additional vehicles to the contract after the initial award," the release said.
There was no value assigned to the possible addition to the contract. In addition, the release didn't say where the additional Humvees might be headed.
Celeste Ross, a spokesperson for AM General, said the company builds Humvees for nearly 50 foreign-friendly governments. She said the latest order will go a long way to keeping employment steady at the Mishawaka plant for the foreseeable future.
AM General has been forced to cut workers over the past few years because of the decline and eventual closing of the Hummer plant, which is located adjacent to the Humvee factory. Many of the Hummer workers initially were shifted to the Humvee plant, but even that business has begun to slow.
GM shut down the Hummer brand several months ago because of declining sales.
The Army announced earlier this year that it would not be ordering any additional new Humvees after its current order of 2,620 vehicles is completed.
Instead, the military plans to await production of the proposed Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for which AM General is competing along with its partner, General Dynamics Land Systems.
AM General and General Dynamics are one of three finalists for the JLTV contract, which could be worth up to $20 billion.
But work on the JLTV — should AM General be part of the winning team — is several years off.
Beyond Humvee work, the company hopes to bridge the time gap by building vehicles such as a handicapped-accessible cab for the Vehicle Production Group. AM General is waiting for the go-ahead on the cab, and it recently received a contract to install the electric drive train system in Ford's electric Transit Connect truck.
Though the work for Ford will be performed at a Michigan plant, the company believes its vacant H2 factory would be a good location to perform similar services for the transportation industry.
AM General employs about 2,500, including nearly 2,000 in the Michiana area. The company also has hundreds of suppliers in the region.