Anyone looking around Oshkosh’s cavernous fire truck factory in Appleton, Wisconsin, for evidence of the longest U.S. manufacturing slump in two decades could be forgiven for coming away scratching their heads.
The delivery backlog for the company’s most sought-after fire-fighting rigs now stretches into 2026, part of a record $16 billion backlog for all types of the company’s trucks, which range from waste haulers and cement mixers to tow trucks and airport rescue vehicles. Oshkosh’s total revenues in 2022 equaled about half that amount.
“There might be a downturn coming, but we don’t see it,” John Pfeifer, the company’s chief executive officer, told Reuters in an interview.
Oshkosh illustrates a sharp divide in the factory sector.
On one side are companies buoyed by a historic shift in U.S. attitudes about how to grow and protect domestic industries, particularly those deemed essential to national security. The Biden administration has championed legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, funneling billions of dollars into new investments in green technology, infrastructure, and semiconductors.
A loosening of purse strings by towns and cities as they emerge from pandemic-induced austerity also is driving demand for emergency and other equipment.
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But at the same time there’s a swath of U.S. manufacturing stuck in the doldrums, which is why the economic numbers tell a mixed story.
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