Here's the local slant on the Stewart & Stevenson situation as
excerpted from the 2 Apr 99 Business page of the Houston Chronicle:
Headline: Fixing Army trucks will cost Steward & Stevenson $40
million
"Houston-based Stewart & Stevenson Services plans to spend an
estimated $40 million on government-required changes it produced for
the U. S. Army."
"But the company anticipates it will recoup the money and continues
negotiating with the government to settle the matter, said Treasurer
David Stewart. If a settlement can't be reached, Stewart & Stevenson
will file a claim with the government for the money, he said."
"...Lt. Col. Bill Wheelehan of Army Public Affairs previously said the
problem was discovered last year after three trucks were involved in
highway accidents. When they were driven faster than 44 mph for long
durations, a use the trucks weren't designed for, vibrations caused
the flywheel housings and driveshafts to crack and break, he said."
"Stewart said the company has begun fixing the almost 11,000 trucks at
the government's direction, but doesn't feel it was obligated to do so
under its contract."
" 'The U. S. government is a good customer of Stewart & Stevenson and
we're going to make sure the trucks are repaired and seek compensation
later,' Stewart said."
"Wheelehan said Thursday the government believes Stewart & Stevenson
should pick up the costs for the repairs."
"Otherwise, Wheelehan said, the truck performs great. 'It's easy to
drive. The soldiers in the field love the truck,' he said."
The bylined article goes on to say that the army has continued using
the trucks but restricts speeds to 30 mph until a repair is made.
According to the 'Chronicle' the repairs started earlier this year and
will take more than 18 months to complete while the company will also
begin work on a new contract for 7,800 more trucks later this year.
J. D. Bowen
MVPA
43 MB
_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.