Thomas Built plant renovations underway

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Thomas Built Buses began renovations to its 1408 Courtesy Road plant late last year and expects the $10.3 million improvement plan to be completed by January 2008.

After the conversion, the Courtesy Road plant will produce bus bodies for the Saf-T-Liner Type D bus and the Minotour Type A bus. The plant previously produced Saf-T-Liners and FS-65 Type C conventional buses. The FS-65 Type C was retired last year.

President/CEO John O’Leary said the plant will continue to produce the Type D bus during the renovation to avoid any interruption with Type D deliveries and to ensure that employees are fully engaged during the plant’s transition.

“This investment will allow Thomas Built to significantly improve logistics and worker ergonomics and to optimize production line layouts for our Type A and D buses,” O’Leary said.