Spartan Motors displayed the future of its manufacturing operations Tuesday, June 12 — a new 85,000-square facility built with flexibility of production in mind. The plant was built in large part to build the all-new 2018 Isuzu FTR Class 6 medium-duty truck.
“It’s exciting to be very flexible in how we can manufacture and partner with Isuzu,” said Daryl Adams, President and CEO of Spartan Motors. “This facility represents a $6.5 million investment in the local community, and when everything is ramped up will have 100 additional jobs for the local area.”
Adams said Spartan Motors was confident in making the large investment in Mid-Michigan because it believes in the workforce in the greater-Charlotte area.
“We made an investment in Mid-Michigan because we believe in our local manufacturing talent,” Adams said. “Our greatest resource is our people. The skilled labor workforce we have in Mid-Michigan is second to none.”
Steve Guillaume, President of Spartan Specialty Vehicles was equally excited about the future prospects of Spartan Motors’ partnership with Isuzu.
“It is truly an incredible facility,” said Steve Guillaume, President, Spartan Specialty Vehicles. “There was a lot of close planning with the Isuzu operations team to put together a strategy that was real world class, and could result in a high quality product that could also meet some of the cost expectations they had. I feel lucky to have them as a partner and be backed by the Spartan team that is here making it happen every day.”
Spartan began working with Isuzu in 2011, manufacturing its N-Series truck, and has since surpassed the 40,000-unit mark.
“We found Spartan to be in a class of its own with respect to all QCD metrics, and so we promptly entered into partnership for our N-series vehicle,” said Toru Nakata, Managing Executive Officer of Isuzu’s Power Train Division. “Indeed we are most fortunate to have been able to forge this relationship with Spartan, which has become an essential partner for business in North America.”
Spartan officials expect production of the FTR to be fully ramped up by Aug. 1.
