In the year since the dedication ceremonies, the Autocar Truck Assembly plant at Hagerstown, Ind., has grown from building three trucks in its first month of production to 110 trucks per month in July of 2004.

"Today we routinely assemble six trucks in an eight-hour shift," said Jim Johnston, president of Autocar. "We are not only meeting our rapidly increasing demand for trucks, we are supplying dealers with stock trucks in many cases to meet local demand."
Johnston said these gains in production were being made at the same time a number of design changes and product improvements were made to the Autocar Xpeditor trucks assembled in Hagerstown. Extensive improvements were made to the cab of the truck, making controls more ergonomically sound and providing higher levels of comfort and visibility for drivers.
"One of the best indicators of our positive direction in truck assembly is the upcoming ISO certification that will be awarded to us next spring," Johnston said. He added that production excellence is also indicated by reductions in raw material costs and cutting freight costs by 50%.
Another factor solidifying continued growth in production rates was the negotiation of long-term agreements with top-flight component supplier partners including Cummins, Caterpillar, Allison, Meritor and Hendrickson, Johnson said.
Autocar, LLC, headquartered in Hagerstown, manufactures LCF Class 8 trucks. Its products are sold into an array of heavy vocational truck markets, primarily in refuse and waste disposal.
Autocar’s new customer service and satisfaction initiative called "Solutions" helps customers address a wide range of needs and can be accessed at www.autocartruck.com or by calling (877) 973-3486.
TRUCKSpeX, part of Autocar Solutions, allows customers to quickly spec’ a truck online from proven pre-engineered specifications. TRUCKSpeX units all come with a three-year chassis/powertrain warranty at no additional cost.