Army Order to Quell Fires… at Oshkosh, Too?

Pierce pumper, USAF
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Oshkosh subsidiary Pierce Manufacturing, Inc. in Appleton, WI won a maximum $7.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for fire fighting vehicle pumpers, for use by the US Army. The contract will run until Nov 28/12. There were 3 solicitations made, with 3 responses to the The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support in Philadelphia, PA (SPM8EC-11-D-0062-0009).

Fire fighting specialist Pierce was acquired by Oshkosh in 1996, and in 2001, their fire trucks introduced Oshkosh’s TAK-4 independent suspensions. The firm makes a range of fire pumpers, including their own foam systems that can spray multiple foam viscosities at the same time, in order to handle Class A and Class B fires. The Army order, though not large, will be very welcome at Oshkosh…

In the current Board takeover battle between Oshkosh Corp’s current management and Carl Ichahn, Icahn Group cites Fire & Emergency as the segment that has seen the most restructuring. Even so, the segment has cratered, with a 33% revenue drop from 2008-2011, and a slide into an operating loss. Goldman Sachs projects operating income margin under 1% projected through 2013.

In their defense, Oshkosh management cites municipal budget pressures that created “historically low” purchase rates, and is shifting its focus toward emerging markets, esp. China, which plans to build a number of airports over the next several years.