“Today we source more than 70% of the vehicle from the US, and many of our parts are local to the Midwest and even Fort Wayne,” notes marketing director David Piercy. This drives efficiency and lowers logistic costs that ALM can pass through to consumers. “You’ll find that our UTVs are filled with American, name-brand components including Kohler, Briggs & Stratton, Carlisle belts, CVTech CVTs, Schaffer transaxles and more. By keeping our business in the US we’re able to support job growth, monitor quality production, support customers promptly, distribute parts and accessories quickly, and provide a high value product for our customers.” The fact that the Columbia City, Indiana factory is literally next to a steel mill gives whole new meaning to “just in time” manufacturing efficiency! Frames arrive as raw steel tubing that is then bent, welded, painted and assembled in-house. According to Piercy, each frame uses roughly 111’ of tubing. In 2018, American Landmaster bent over 100 miles of tubing… and that was before the ramp up.
AMERICAN LANDMASTER 2022 DEALER MEETING
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ade in America! The value proposition for American Landmaster UTVs is a belief in integrity, innovation and Indiana as the company unveiled its 2022 models and hosted its Dealer meeting. In addition to some shocking expansion to its EV offering, the biggest news was the expansion plan for the company itself. From a bankrupt shell of what had been Manco Products and Brister’s Thunder Karts, the plan is to grow the Dealer network and the production capacity by 10-times in the coming year! And they want to do it ethically and made in America (more specifically Indiana).
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Literally as ALM dealers were taking a tour of the factory, the latest robotic welding station was being installed and the two primary assembly lines were in the process of being augmented by a short run/legacy product third line… That aggressive growth plan might just be doable, with a little faith and plenty of hard work. The September announcement of new VP of Engineering David Ross (see “Shifting Gears”) and the opening of a new R&D engineering facility located near Indianapolis prove they weren’t just paying lip service to the Dealers. This new facility will allow American Landmaster to expand design, testing and validation capabilities of new and existing models. In addition, the new site allows for future recruitment of even more engineering talent. “ALM is committed to continuing investment in technology and product development,” he adds. “Buying American-made products creates jobs for current and future generations.”