The good news continues to roll in for Fiberdome Inc. based in Lake Mills. Earlier this month the company learned that it won two more contracts from Oshkosh Truck Corp. for two more military vehicles, the Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET-A1) and the Global Heavy Equipment Transporter (HET) .
Fiberdome will be manufacturing 521 HET-A1 front ends units and 500 of the Global HET units. Both contracts begin in 2010 and run through 2012.
In addition, the company also announced that it has been awarded another contract for an additional 1,000 front end units for the Armed Forces all terrain vehicles (M-ATVs) Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) The additional contract means that Fiberdome will manufacture more than 7,000 front end/hood units for Oshkosh MATVs MRAPS..
"Thanks to the new corporate accounts and the economy coming out of the recession, Fiberdome will be hiring additional employees," said co-owner Steve Bendall. "Since we received our first M-ATV MRAP contract, we've hired more than 75 new employees and our workforce now totals more than 150."
According to Bendall, the company is putting the finishing touches on its recent 20,000 square-foot facility expansion on Stoney Road and recently took possession of a 10,000 square foot warehouse that had been used by Geiger Brickel on East Tyranena Park Road.
"We're building an additional 15,600 square-foot building and construction is slated to begin on Dec. 1," stated Bendall. "The new facilities will allow us to reduce production at our Sandy Beach Road facility and move 50-plus employees to Stoney Road. We'll eventually convert Sandy Beach into a tooling and resin transfer molding (RTM) facility."
The additional good news for Fiberdome is also good news for Lake Mills based Chapter 2 on CP Avenue.
"They are continually growing as one of our major vendors," said Bendall. "They've made expansion commitments to grow with our continued expansion. They're definitely a Class A vendor for us when it comes to machined parts and finishing (work)."
Bendall also addressed concerns that have been raised regarding Fiberdome's future once the current contracts for the M-ATV MRAP have run their course.
"Our current orders reflect only the military's needs in Afghanistan," said Bendall. "The indication that we've gotten from every meeting we've participated in is that there is an enormous need for M-ATVs MRAPs and those needs will take nine years to fill. We're also manufacturing a lot of other defense components other than front ends/hoods and our relationship to Oshkosh continues to grow."
As a side note, Bendall and co-owner Rick Wollin were both personally invited to attend Defense Department Sec. Robert Gates' recent visit to Oshkosh Corp., but due to other commitments neither was able to attend.
At the meeting, Sec. Gates personally thanked Oshkosh employees and the company's vendors for their work on behalf of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan.
Posted: Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Article comment by:
David Kinnaird
War Profiteer/Money...So this article says as long as we are at war we profit? Why are we fighting a war we covertly defeated and left in a country in Disarray with most of it's populations age between the ages of 13-14 in the Eighties?
Been there done that, history does repeat!.....
America will never learn...we defeated Socialism in that pile of rocks twenty years ago.Problem is we "F-UPED" THE END GAME! And now we prosper?
Time for "RR" TO RETIRE!...I would think seeing your wife is a educator you would have more of a IQ.....
"Another day older and deeper in debt"...Just LMFAO AT YOUR ARTICLES "RAM-ROD"!
Webmaster's note: Mr. Kinnaird's comments were posted as they were received and were not edited.
Posted: Sunday, November 29, 2009
Article comment by:
David Kinnaird
What happens when the "war" money runs out?...Do we simply print more to continue? More good news, the dollar keeps losing value....but we continue to "buck" the standard.
HOG-WASH!
Webmaster's note: Mr. Kinnaird's comments were posted as they were received and were not edited.
