Freightliner announces details on Western Star transition to Portland

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio (June 28, 2002) — Western Star Trucks will shift production from its Kelowna, B.C., plant to Freightliner LLC’s main truck plant in Portland, Ore., in October, the company confirmed this week.

Parent company Freightliner LLC announced last fall that it would close the Kelowna plant as part of a restructuring plan that will see a variety of operations consolidated in Portland. At the time the closure was announced, the Kelowna plant employed about 675 workers. About 20 per cent of the white-collar staff there were offered jobs and relocation assistance. Several key Western Star managers and product engineers are moving to Portland, including general manager Carsten Reinhardt, plant manager Wayne LaRochelle, and quality assurance manager Tony McParland.

Freightliner said it is spending $16 million to prepare the Portland plant to produce Western Star trucks and to put quality controls in place. A committee of customers and dealers from the U.S. and Canada was formed to look for ways to ensure product and service continuity, the company said.

“Our goal is to preserve and enhance the distinct manufacturing processes that create this unique heavy-duty truck,” said Freightliner LLC chief operating officer Roger Nielsen in a statement. “While we are moving production locations, Western Star trucks will retain the same custom-built, handcrafted quality for which they are famous.”

The Kelowna plant has been producing Western Star trucks since the late 1960s.