Specialty vehicle manufacturer REV Group will move into its new downtown Milwaukee headquarters office tomorrow and plans to open a second office location in Brookfield this fall, chief executive Tim Sullivan said.
The company is also in the bidding process for up to 180,000 next generation U.S. Postal Service delivery trucks and Sullivan said if REV Group lands the contract it would likely produce the vehicles from a facility at Century City. He said it could bring up to 2,000 jobs to the area near North 31st Street and Capitol Drive.
Even if the Postal Service contract does not become a reality, the company could bring production jobs to Century City. Sullivan said Milwaukee would be “in the pole position” for any new ventures and he would consider Century City for a manufacturing facility if the company landed “another meaningful contract or two.”
Sullivan said the Postal Service is expected to announce three finalists for the delivery vehicle contract in the near future. REV Group is partnering with Turkish vehicle maker Karsan in bidding on the project, but others in the running include Ford, GM and Oshkosh Corp.
“We’ve got our fingers crossed that we get short listed,” Sullivan said.
The former Bucyrus International CEO has been leading REV Group, formerly known as Allied Specialty Vehicles, since 2014. The company makes 21,000 vehicles per year and had $2.2 billion in revenue last year.
The company was created through the acquisition of a number of different vehicle makers and currently has 16 different manufacturing plants across the U.S. with 25 brands and 53 sub-brands. The company produces fire trucks, ambulances, commercial busses, mobility vans, terminal trucks and recreation vehicles.
“It’s diverse in some respects, but they’re all specialty vehicles,” Sullivan said.
He added the company is working to integrate its manufacturing and other operations to create a strong platform to work from. The company’s vehicles are generally made in a similar way with a different end product, he said.
The move to Milwaukee from Orlando was driven by a number of factors. Sullivan said being more centrally located will make it easier to reach facilities on the west coast. The company also has most of its plants in the Midwest and Sullivan feels his manufacturing contacts are stronger here.
For its headquarters office, the company is moving into space at the Milwaukee Center building in downtown Milwaukee and will have 25 employees there. Sullivan said the company is looking at different locations for its Brookfield office and plans to choose one and begin staffing it for another 25 employees this fall.
Once the relocation and integration activities are complete, Sullivan said the plan is to take REV Group public to help fuel future growth. That would likely happen early next year, he said.
