ACtion Magazine - July 2012 - (Page 22)

I KME: Where custom is the norm Every one is different John Kovatch, Jr. started his small auto repair garage in 1946. A savvy businessman, he had soon acquired a number of new car sales franchises and the business grew quickly. The sales and repair sides both flourished and by the 1970s, the company was rebuilding commercial and military vehicles as well. The company prides itself as the largest family-owned vehicle manufacturer, and it is not unusual to meet President and CEO John Kovatch III or his son, John IV, Director of Customer Service, in one of the assembly t is hard enough to build any solid, reliable vehicle that will do its job every day, let alone a Class 6,7 or 8 fire truck. It’s even harder when your company occupies a special slot in the heavy-duty industry, your product has to comply with a wide span of rules and performance specs, and every customer knows exactly what they want. The result is a line of custom-built vehicles, each one different from the one ahead of it. Historically, fire apparatus vehicles have been custom built rather than delivered in an “off the shelf,” mass-produced configuration. In an era when many Buicks or Hondas are identical, few pumpers or aerial ladders or rescue units are. Why is that? Our customers know what they want,” said Jason Davis, Chassis Product manager at KME Fire Apparatus in Nesquehoning, Pa. “It’s a very discerning industry. I can’t sit a customer down and say ‘Here’s what another department is doing.’ About ninety percent of the time my customer will look right through me and say, ‘That’s nice, but here’s what I want.’ We have to give it to them.” Additionally, he noted, “Most of our products are site or job-specific and what’s right for one job won’t work in another application.” The beginning of an airport rescue and fire vehicle. Each apparatus cab starts from scratch and then moves through paint, electrical, interior and other work stations. 22 ACTION • July/August 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - July 2012

ACtion Magazine - July 2012
Contents
Outlook
Expansion Valve
Technically RELAY-ted
Under the Southern Cross
Leonard’s Law
Cooling Corner
Virtual View
News & Updates
KME: Where Custom Is the Norm
Five-Alarm Maintenance
ACtion Magazine Staff Win IAMC Awards
Association News
Quick Check
New Products & Services
Last Watch

ACtion Magazine - July 2012