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"The closure of the Mid Bus production facility in Bluffton, Ohio wascertainly a difficult decision. Since the purchase of this company in 1998, wehave enjoyed a good relationship with our employees and the community.However, with underutilized manufacturing capacity in our Kansas plant,coupled with recent manufacturing initiatives, we concluded that we couldabsorb excess volume and alleviate costly duplication of resources throughmoving the Mid Bus product line to Collins Bus Corporation in SouthHutchinson, Kansas," stated Randall Swift, President/CEO of CollinsIndustries, Inc.
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Company officials met with affected employees in the Bluffton, Ohio plantyesterday to announce the impending closure and to explain the intention ofproviding affected employees first consideration of any employmentopportunities for which they are qualified at Collins Bus Corporation.
"As the leading manufacturer of Type-A buses in North America, it isincumbent upon us to continue to look for ways to provide our dealers andcustomers with the safest and best quality buses in the industry. Over thelast nine months, we have made a substantial investment in our Kansasoperation, which will allow us to increase our production capacity at theCollins Bus Corporation facility to over 4,000 units annually. We believethese types of changes will allow us to not only sustain our leading positionin the Type-A market, but expand our market share and customer base in thecoming years," stated Kent Tyler, President of Collins Bus Corporation.
Collins Industries, Inc., a subsidiary of BNS Holding, Inc. (OTC: BNSSA),is a leading manufacturer of ambulances (including medical attack vehicles,rescue vehicles and fire emergency vehicles), North America's largest producerof Type "A" small school buses, the nation's second largest manufacturer ofterminal trucks and a leader in the road construction and industrial sweepermarkets. Since 1971, the Company has grown to approximately 1000 employees insix plants comprising over one million combined square feet of manufacturingspace. The Company sells its products throughout the United States and abroad.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, as defined in thePrivate Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-lookingstatements involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that couldcause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from thosematters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Theyinvolve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which arein some cases beyond the control of the Company. Additional informationregarding these risk factors and uncertainties is described more fully in theCompany's SEC filings. A copy of all SEC filings may be obtained from theSEC's EDGAR web site, http://www.sec.gov, or by contacting the company at(401) 848-6300. BNS does not currently maintain a web site.
SOURCE Collins Industries, Inc.
