Expanding industry Following the acquisition, Dewsnup moved into the role of Vice President and General Manager to lead the organization. Herb Clark, Director of Human Resources, has been a part of the organization for the last 16 years, as the company was growing from one facility with a few hundred employees to six plants on a 35-acre site in Anniston with more than 800 employees. NABI’s customer base has expanded over the last four years and has produced as many as 600 buses a year with more than 7,500 buses currently in service at operators across America. Transit buses are typically sold on a bid basis to public transit authorities and municipalities using federal, state and local funding to support their purchases. Many of NABI’s orders include very detailed specifications and feature requirements to meet the needs of the U.S. transit operator. As NABI matured over the decades, it progressively expanded its engineering and manufacturing capabilities within the U.S.A. to meet these requirements. Today, it has a comprehensive engineering department at its headquarters in Anniston. Manufacturing operations include cutting raw steel tubes that will be fabricated to become the welded structure of NABI products, and a state-of-the-art robotic paint system. NABI now employs a large number of graduate and highly experienced engineers, including numerous specialists in mechanical, electrical, structural, manufacturing and other important disciplines. Today, all NABI buses are produced entirely in Anniston. This centralized approach to manufacturing and final assembly improves efficiencies, reduces lead times, improves the availability of replacement parts, and typically results in U.S. component values in excess of percent. NABI produces its heavy duty transit buses in lengths from 31 feet to 60 feet. Don Hopper of the Calhoun County Economic Development Council states the NABI bus products are “not your father’s buses,” but high-tech systems with monitors, cameras, voice enunciation, GPS, sleek aerodynamic appearance, low passenger-pleasing floors and more. He further describes NABI as “building snowflakes. All buses are different and built to meet the customers’ needs.” NABI Bus’ largest customers include LA Metro in Los Angeles, which has purchased more than 1,900 NABI buses, and New Jersey Transit, which has purchased more than 1,200 NABI buses in the last several years. Other NABI customers include Dallas DART, Massport at Boston’s Logan Airport, VIA San Antonio, Broward County Transit in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Foothill Transit in West Covina, CA.
“Not your father’s buses,” but high-tech systems with monitors, cameras, voice enunciation, GPS, sleek aerodynamic appearance, low passenger-pleasing floors and more. - Don Hopper of the Calhoun County Economic Development Council
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