Navistar Manufacturing. When Navistar, the 11 billion dollar company that makes heavy-duty trucks and school buses, set out in 2020 to construct a new manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, we were there to help.
Leading with Our Core Values
Allied Steel Buildings was one of several bidders for the job of supplying the steel buildings, totaling one million square feet, that would house the new 600-person factory. The new plant represents a $250 million total investment by Navistar, and was designed to support both traditional vehicles and the company’s new EV truck lines. We approached the job like we do every job, with a laser focus on our client’s requirements, and a commitment to delivering everything according to their needs. That set of values won us the bid.
Navistar Manufacturing | Meeting and Beating Unique Challenges
Navistar Manufacturing, Pre-Fabricated Steel Manufacturing Facility, San Antonio, Texas
We, at Allied, knew up front that this project would hold unique challenges. As you might recall, early 2020 is when Covid-19 changed the business world for everyone, and the construction and project management world certainly felt it. We had to quickly pivot and determine the best approach to collaborate not only among our own teams, both onsite in Texas and remote, but also with Navistar’s internal teams. Our extensive experience working across the globe positioned us well to collaborate virtually as needed, and provide the consistent leadership to make the work run smoothly and to facilitate effective decision-making.
Another challenge we knew we would face was difficulty in sourcing needed materials, as lockdowns and supply chain disruptions created havoc within the industry’s existing supply lines. Interestingly, one reservation Navistar had with Allied was that they were accustomed to dealing in the past with steel building manufacturers who produced their own steel (At this point in time, Allied had not yet opened it’s new steel fabrication facility). But it was our unique approach of sourcing materials through a variety of suppliers that allowed us to procure what we needed to meet the project’s critical timeline.
Helping Make Truck Manufacturing Green
Navistar chose well in selecting steel buildings for its new prefabricated facility. Their goals of speed of construction and minimizing waste in constructing energy-efficient buildings with large translucent panels for natural interior light were all readily achieved, when other types of construction would have fallen short in one way or another.
The site will serve as a model for other manufacturers. Not only is it aimed in part at creating sustainable products (aptly, the first vehicle to roll off the line when it opened was a battery-electric International eMV truck), but it will serve as Navistar’s development site for other green efforts such as using battery-electric AGVs to move components to the lines, running forklifts on green hydrogen produced onsite, and having the dynamometers used for final vehicle testing also produce electricity. The sustainable manufacturing processes developed in San Antonio will be rolled out to other Navistar productions sites in the future.
Allied Steel Buildings is proud to have played a part in Navistar’s efforts by delivering their buildings for an on-schedule factory startup earlier this year, and we look forward to future opportunities like this one.