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AB-02-1000 AERIAL COMPANY HISTORY
Kovatch History
Kovatch brings to the fire and specialty vehicle market over five decades of broad-based experience in vehicle manufacturing, sales and service. The company was founded in 1946 as a car and truck repair business in Nesquehoning. Various automobile and truck franchises were eventually acquired and continue to this day. In the mid 1960's, Kovatch won its first rebuild contract for the US military. By the 1970's, the company had a string of successful rebuild and new manufacture contracts for various branches of the Defense Department. To this day, Kovatch is still known as a premier supplier of specialty apparatus to the federal government and is currently working on several contracts.
In the mid 1980's, Kovatch began a commercial fire apparatus division, now known as KME Fire Apparatus. By combining decades of specialty vehicle experience with acquisitions of other manufacturers, Kovatch offers unparalleled products and services. Today, Kovatch manufactures upward of 500 vehicles per year for municipal and private fire and rescue service providers as well as the government. Our apparatus can be found across the country and increasingly around the world.
The Kovatch headquarters complex consists of over one-half million square feet and is a totally integrated manufacturing facility for emergency and specialty vehicles. The facilities include state of the art fabrication, machining, welding, painting and finishing departments. We also have an technical manual publication department for our vast line of products. Our knowledgeable workforce, including marketing, engineering, and manufacturing personnel, work as a team to provide world class quality. Other factory locations include Ontario, California; Roanoke, Virginia; Massachusetts; and most recently, Guilderland Center, New York (near Albany.) KME has a national distribution network in place for sales and service of fire apparatus, as well as an international representative. Service and warranty matters are handled through our network as well as our locations in Virginia and California. Quality is very important to Kovatch. There is an in-house Quality Assurance department that is monitored by the Defense Contract Management Command (DCMC). Kovatch also has UL inspectors on site. For out of house testing, we utilize the US Army's facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground as well as private testing agencies. We offer training at the factory or at the customers' premises. Kovatch and KME offer a broad line of apparatus known worldwide for their quality and reliability. The line includes commercial fuel transport trucks, aircraft refuelers, snow plows, and fire apparatus consisting of pumpers, rescue trucks, airport crash rescue trucks, rapid intervention vehicles, tankers, elliptical tankers, wildland units, and a full line of aerial devices.
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