Navistar International sees strengthening ahead

Dec 22, 2010 | 11:41 AM | Corinna Petry

Truck and diesel engine producer Navistar International Corp. is predicting a stronger fiscal 2011, particularly in the second half vs. the first half, anticipating solid orders and market share gains, as well as positive effects from a new labor deal.

A new labor agreement with the United Auto Workers union is an important component of the continued health of the company, Daniel C. Ustian, Navistar's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said Wednesday during the company's quarterly conference call.

The four-year labor agreement, approved in late October, allows the company to make every one of its manufacturing facilities a flexible work site where each of its truck and engine platforms can be produced at any truck or engine factory, respectively.

The deal will also allow Navistar to consolidate its Truck Design and Technology Center in Fort Wayne, Ind., and its Engine Plant and Technical Center in Melrose Park, Ill., while high-volume production of diesel engines will be relocated to its Huntsville, Ala., plant. Melrose Park will continue to assemble trucks and lower-volume engine components.....