Where does the Road Commission get those big red trucks? We have a crack team of maintenance and repair technicians who assemble them here at LCRC. Fewer than 15% of the municipalities in the State of Michigan assemble their own trucks. Before 1975, some trucks were assembled at LCRC but physical restrictions of the facility at 918 North Street limited that activity. Assembling snow-plow trucks was part of the plan when designing the current facility on Grand Oaks Drive. From 1992 until present we have been assembling trucks at our Grand Oaks Drive facility.

There are distinct advantages for doing the work in-house. Our technicians are able to customize the vehicle for the application. We are responsible for the workmanship and quality of the finished product. The technicians assembling the vehicle are the same people that will maintain the vehicle and they better understand the mechanical operation of the vehicle. Vehicles are assembled with focus on routine maintenance, repair and constant improvement of the truck from year to year. Most importantly, we reduce vehicle downtime because of having control over assembly technique, especially in routing of electrical and hydraulic lines. Plus, we know how to deliver them on-time and within budget.

Purchasing equipment for the trucks is done through a sealed bid process. A single truck requires up to six (6) separate bids: chassis, body, underbody scraper, hydraulic system, salt box and front snow-plow. The assembly activity is planned for the "no snow season," between April and November. All of the personnel in the equipment maintenance department are involved in the assembly process.

The assembly process requires technicians to be proficient in all phases of heavy equipment repair: welding, electrical, hydraulics, metal fabrication, painting and body repair. They also need a vision for what the final product will be. The finished product may look like it all easily "fits together" but in reality all of the components that go into assembling a truck are "off the shelf," and require special modification. The technician working on the project has to make it fit and make it work. To that degree, the equipment maintenance and repair department at LCRC is a highly specialized team.