By Linda S. Morris
The Macon Telegraph
FORT VALLEY — A number of state and Middle Georgia officials gathered Thursday at the Blue Bird plant to help celebrate the company’s recent completion of five custom-made buses for the Georgia Department of Corrections.
The “Georgians supporting Georgians” event included a partial tour of the enormous bus manufacturing plant on Ga. 49. It was attended by several elected officials including Gov. Nathan Deal, who made several stops Thursday in Houston and Peach counties.
This is the second order of corrections transport buses the state has placed with Blue Bird, said company CEO and President Phil Horlock.
“This is a brand new bus that we launched in 2012, and (the state corrections department was the first customer) of our new designed bus,” he said.
Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens said the department has a fleet of 24 buses that are used all over the state.
“We are about halfway through replacing them, and we will continue until we get them all replaced (with Blue Bird buses),” Owens said.
Even though the corrections buses are painted white, have cages on the windows and have a toilet, Owens said his department looks for characteristics that also apply to the buses built to haul schoolchildren.
“I’m looking for four things,” Owens said. “Quality is the No. 1 feature. We are looking for safety. We are looking for reliability, and we are looking for longevity.
“As we took a look at the different manufacturers, it appeared to us that Blue Bird sets the standards in all four of those areas.”
Two transport officers were part of the process as the buses were being designed, Owens said. Those officers were at Thursday’s event.
Because Blue Bird has 25,000 different parts to choose from, it allows the company to custom-make buses to whatever specifications are sought by the buyer, Horlock said.
“That’s why people like our buses,” he said.
After the Georgia corrections department got its first order of 10 transport buses two years ago, orders came in from corrections departments in other states, Horlock said.
Owens was not surprised.
“There are only 50 (corrections commissioners in the U.S.),” Owens said. “So when someone finds a good product ... we talk to each other. ... I would expect the business to spread.”
Blue Bird is expected to grow as a company after last month’s announcement that the business will go public, and its stock will be traded on the Nasdaq exchange.
Texas-based Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. plans to buy Blue Bird in a deal worth $490 million. The sale includes $255 million in cash and stock, and Hennessy will assume about $235 million of Blue Bird’s debt.
Hennessy was created this year as a special purpose acquisition corporation. Its stock is traded as HCAC.
Once the deal is consummated, which is expected to happen by the end of the year, the Hennessy stock will become Blue Bird stock.
No changes are expected at the company, which employs about 1,600 workers.
Blue Bird Corp. offers a complete line of Type A, C and D school buses in a variety of options and configurations, according to a news release. Its global presence can be seen in more than 60 countries through sales in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.