FreightCar America, Inc. Celebrates Milestone 10,000th Railcar Manufactured at Mexico Facility
- Landmark production at the Castaños, Mexico facility marks an inflection point for the business following successful development of state-of-the-art manufacturing campus.
- FreightCar America manufactures a broad portfolio of railcars serving the North American market, including covered hoppers, open top hoppers, box cars, and gondolas, along with intermodal and non-intermodal flat cars.
- With the combined benefits of increasing productivity and flexible manufacturing, the Company continues to capture cost efficiencies and support optimized production.
CHICAGO, June 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAIL) ("FreightCar America" or the "Company"), a pure-play manufacturer of high-quality railcars with a legacy of 120+ years, proudly announces the production of its 10,000th railcar at its purpose-built state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Castaños, Mexico. This significant achievement marks a major milestone in the Company's completed manufacturing transformation and highlights its unwavering commitment to excellence in pursuit of delivering world-class operations.
The Castaños facility, built between 2020 and 2022, with the fourth line completed in 2023, spans nearly 700,000 square feet and employs approximately 2,000 skilled workers. With four fully operational production lines, the plant has a capacity to build more than 5,000 units per year, with a fifth line available to increase production volume by approximately 20%. Strategically located two hours south of the Texas border, the facility allows for streamlined materials sourcing and access to a robust highly skilled local workforce.
"I am extremely proud of our accomplishments as we reached the 10,000th railcar milestone at our plant in Mexico. This is a testament to our team's hard work and dedication. Manufacturing highly engineered railcars is a complex process that requires meticulous coordination of supply chain management, sourcing premium materials, precise engineering, and lean manufacturing operations. Our Castaños facility supports efficient operations and flexible manufacturing, which we have tried and tested in its early years to prove our strategic vision. Achieving this milestone underscores our team's exceptional capabilities and commitment to delivering high-quality railcars," commented Nicholas Randall, CEO of FreightCar America.
"Looking to the future, FreightCar America's strategic decision to shift manufacturing to Mexico has set us apart and positioned us for sustainable and profitable growth. By consolidating our operations and leveraging our proven capabilities, we are able to flex our production volumes to satisfy market demand and offer a wider variety of railcars to meet our customers' needs. Reaching this milestone continues to establish new standards for excellence as we realize the benefits of vertical integration and cost optimization over the coming year," Randall concluded.
About FreightCar America
FreightCar America, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is a leading designer, producer and supplier of railroad freight cars, railcar parts and components. We also specialize in railcar repairs, complete railcar rebody services and railcar conversions that repurpose idled rail assets back into revenue service. Since 1901, our customers have trusted us to build quality railcars that are critical to economic growth and instrumental to the North American supply chain. To learn more about FreightCar America, visit www.freightcaramerica.com.
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