Autocar Truck Plant
The Autocar Truck Plant is a heavy-duty vehicle manufacturing facility at the former Meadowcraft factory at 4680 Pinson Valley Parkway, across from Jefferson State Community College. Autocar LLC, based in Hagerstown, Indiana, manufactures utility trucks. The Alabama plant manufactures refuse trucks built on the ACX "Xpediter" severe duty frame.
During the site selection process, the proposal was referred to as Project Sunrise. Jefferson County offered an incentives package valued at $1.5 million. The City of Birmingham also participated in recruitment efforts. The plant was expected to employ 746 workers at full production, but currently employs about a third of that number. The 50-acre plant site in unincorporated Jefferson County adjoins Birmingham's Echo Highlands and Sun Valley neighborhoods, as well as parts of western Center Point and southern Pinson.
The company characterized the new $120 million facility as an expansion rather than a relocation, expecting no workers to lose their positions. As many as 100 existing workers, however, were offered the opportunity to relocate to Alabama. The plant opened on April 19, 2018. In 2019 it began producing Autocar's newly-designed DC-64 series refuse, concrete mixer and concrete pumper trucks.
References
- Steere, Tim (June 23, 2016) "Mystery project would be a huge win." Birmingham Business Journal
- Godwin, Brent (September 13, 2017) "Birmingham lands huge economic development project." Birmingham Business Journal
- Rembman, Stephanie (May 9, 2019) "Autocar manufacturing new product for refuse industry." Birmingham Business Journal