Oshkosh Truck Friday said it will acquire Iowa Mold Tooling Co., a manufacturer of field service vehicles and truck-mounted cranes, for $131 million in cash.
The acquisition is the second announced in fiscal 2006 to support Oshkosh's diversification strategy in the commercial specialty truck industry. It will provide entry into two adjacent market spaces, strengthen Oshkosh's North American distribution channel, and provide new technology integration opportunities for other Oshkosh businesses.
During the past two years, IMT has implemented a company-wide lean initiative to improve quality, to reduce costs and delivery time and to enhance efficiencies in its manufacturing operations. Production processes feature extensive automation, visual management and Kaizen, while IMT's management team is imbued with a lean mindset toward operational enhancements.
"We're excited by the expertise and disciplined philosophy that the IMT management team brings to operations," said Robert G. Bohn, Oshkosh chairman, president and chief executive officer. "This team has delivered bottom line benefits for IMT over the past 18 months, and we see opportunities to infuse this expertise into other Oshkosh subsidiaries," explained Bohn. "We also believe that we can leverage our expertise in composite technologies, electronics and procurement to improve IMT's cost base and product lines."