Brand FX Body Company has acquired a 178,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on 24 acres in Pocahontas, Iowa, and plans to begin building its lineup of composite service bodies and pickup-truck Toppers and Inserts there by the fall.
The company says that once renovations are complete, the Pocahontas operation will be the largest, most automated composite service body plant in the industry -- and by a wide margin. The plant's square footage exceeds the production space of all other fiberglass service body manufacturers combined.
Its equipment will include a CNC 5-axis router, CNC laser, and other new CNC metal-cutting and bending machines incorporating the latest technologies. These and other high-efficiency provisions will enable Brand FX to manufacture on a production-line basis -- an industry first -- while maintaining its quality.
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Brand FX Body Company designs, manufactures, and installs multipurpose composite service bodies for light and medium-duty truck chassis; composite line bodies for medium and heavy-duty "aerial" applications; and composite Toppers and Inserts for pickup trucks.
In March 2003, the company acquired GemTop Manufacturing Inc., Clackamas, Ore., to complement its composite products with a full line of commercial and recreational steel and aluminum pickup caps and tonneau covers.