WASHINGTON, DC–The Oshkosh Corporation’s production of new delivery vehicles for the U-S Postal Service is off to a rocky start. In an investigative story, the Washington Post reports Oshkosh has delivered just 93 of the 3,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles that were expected by the end of November.
The story cites internal documents and communications from the company blaming the delays on an inability to calibrate the vehicles’ airbags, leaking chassis, and problems securing bodies from Challenge Manufacturing in Michigan. Those issues were reportedly kept from the Postal Service by Oshkosh executives.
The report also claims the Oshkosh plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina is producing just one NGDV a day–instead of the 80 that were expected by this point. The story quotes an Oshkosh employee as saying “This is the bottom line: We don’t know how to make a damn truck”.
The Oshkosh Corporation has not issued any statements in regards to the Washington Post story. The value of the Postal Service contract could reach $10-billion.
