Oshkosh Truck wins Olympic bid: Company to deliver six airport fire and rescue vehicles to Beijing

Sep. 5--MENASHA -- In one of its largest orders from China, Oshkosh Truck Corp. said Tuesday it won a bid to manufacture six airport fire and rescue vehicles that will be made in Oshkosh and delivered to Beijing before the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The announcement was made at a news conference attended by Gov. Jim Doyle and Zhou Wenzhong, China's ambassador to the United States. It was held at Pierce Manufacturing, a division of Oshkosh Truck, because only U.S. citizens are allowed to tour the company's main facility where military vehicles and the Striker airport fire and rescue vehicles are made.

Oshkosh Truck has sold firetrucks to China since 1982, but for years the sales weren't very strong. This is a large order by any of Oshkosh Truck's fire and rescue vehicle standards, said Jennifer Thompson, company director of international planning and policy.

China is expected to build at least 50 new airports in the next three to five years. Oshkosh Truck, which opened a sales office in Beijing last year, hopes to sell fire and rescue vehicles for at least some of those airports.

The near-term goal is to gain Chinese business in advance of the 2008 summer Olympics, an event which is triggering its own economic boom in a country already sizzling with development.

Oshkosh Truck has 59 aircraft rescue and firetrucks in China, including vehicles delivered 25 years ago. The company recently landed contracts for trucks at Shanghai Pudong Airport, Hangzhou Airport, Quzhou Airport and Ningbo Airport.

Besides fire and rescue vehicles, Oshkosh Truck sells its JLG brand of construction lift equipment in China. The company also might be able to sell refuse trucks, airport snow removal trucks and concrete mixers for the pre-Olympics boom and other economic development across much of China.

"I think it's an excellent move. Anything non-military is fair game for the company to sell in China," said analyst George Reis, president of George V. Reis Investment Group in Two Rivers.

Oshkosh Truck is one of the world's largest makers of military vehicles, including thousands of vehicles used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. trade laws prevent the company from manufacturing military trucks for China.

"There's a strict firewall between our defense business and our commercial applications," Thompson said.

The Striker firetrucks, sometimes called the Porsche of the firetruck industry, are high-tech vehicles capable of applying a blanket of three firefighting agents -- water, foam and dry chemicals, all while the truck is moving at speeds up to 70 mph.

A traditional firetruck has to stop and stretch hoses to reach a fire. The Striker can "pump and roll" at the same time, which is important in fighting an aircraft fire where lives are immediately at stake.

Oshkosh Truck is one of the Fox Valley's largest employers. The company does some manufacturing in Europe but doesn't have current plans to open factories in China.

Still, as Oshkosh Truck and other U.S. companies sell more products in the world's most populous country, there's growing pressure from the Chinese government to make more of the products in China.

The Chinese are not going to keep importing Western technology indefinitely. They're already well on the path to developing their own high-tech products.

As time goes by, it's only natural for local competitors to try to match Western standards, said analyst Robert McCarthy with Robert W. Baird & Co.

Besides Oshkosh Truck, other Wisconsin companies including Joy Global, Bucyrus International and Manitowoc Co. have stepped up sales of heavy equipment to China.

Grove Cranes built by Manitowoc are being used to lift wind turbines into place in Chinese provinces that previously lacked electricity. For one lift, the crane rode on a ferry for two hours to reach the turbine site on an island in Shangdong Province.

China wants to build about 20 nuclear power plants in the next eight years. That will take a lot of cranes, in addition to cranes needed for the Summer Olympics construction boom.

As Manitowoc ventures deeper into China, the company's products have been copied. Also, China has stepped up import duties on cranes that previously were duty-free.

Doing business in China is fraught with risks. But the opportunities are huge and, in some cases, could last for decades.

"I am a little surprised that Oshkosh Truck hasn't gotten into China in a bigger way before now, but the company is doing things in a carefully calculated way," Reis said. "I wouldn't be surprised at other announcements coming from the company about its China business."

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