LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., April 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) today announced the opening
of GBSummit, the West Coast's only railcar axle machining
facility. Jointly owned by Greenbrier and Sumitomo
Corporation of Americas, the 80,000 square foot facility in
San Bernardino, California
features advanced automation and performs railcar axle machining,
in addition to comprehensive axle services including inspection and
cleaning, finishing, machining, and downsizing. Strategically
located, GBSummit is adjacent to an established Greenbrier Rail
Services-owned railcar wheel/axle maintenance facility.
Through its highly automated manufacturing process, GBSummit
achieves maximum precision and efficiency in railcar axle
machining. GBSummit can currently produce up to 12,000 axles per
year and deliver them to freight car owners located across
North America. GBSummit will grow
its axle production to 50,000 axles per year over the next 36
months.
Rick Turner, Senior Vice
President and leader of Greenbrier's Wheels & Parts unit, said,
"We are excited to open GBSummit with Sumitomo, a trusted long-time
supplier. Our new state-of-the-art facility is the first axle
machining location on the West Coast. It supports the growth we see
in intermodal rail activity, the largest of all rail loading
categories, where loadings have increased steadily in 2017, up 2.4%
year-to-date. GBSummit is in a prime location near major intermodal
rail operations that serve two of America's busiest container
ports, the Port of Long Beach and
the Port of Los Angeles
(San Pedro). This facility creates
value for our customers and partners and is consistent with our
strategy of creating solutions for our customers over the life of
the railcar."
Greenbrier employs more than 1,400 people on the West Coast
including California, Oregon and Washington. The GBSummit facility will add
more than 40 United States-based employees. Greenbrier's total U.S.
workforce, including other joint ventures, exceeds 3,500 employees
out of nearly 12,000 employees worldwide.
About Greenbrier
Greenbrier (www.gbrx.com),
headquartered in Lake Oswego,
Oregon, is a leading international supplier of equipment and
services to freight rail transportation markets. Greenbrier
designs, builds and markets freight railcars in North America and Europe. We also build
and market marine barges in North America. We manufacture
freight railcars and rail castings in Brazil through a strategic partnership.
Through our European manufacturing operations, we recently began
delivery of U.S.-designed tank cars to Saudi Arabia.
In October 2016, we entered into
an agreement with Astra Rail Management GmbH to form a new company,
Greenbrier-Astra Rail, which will create an end-to-end,
Europe-based freight railcar
manufacturing, engineering and repair business. We expect this
combination to be completed during 2017. We are a leading provider
of wheel services, parts, leasing and other services to the
railroad and related transportation industries in North America and a supplier of freight
railcar repair, refurbishment and retrofitting services in
North America through a joint
venture partnership with Watco Companies, LLC. Through other joint
ventures, we produce rail castings, tank heads and other railcar
components. Greenbrier owns a lease fleet of over 8,000 railcars
and performs management services for over 266,000 railcars.
"SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION
REFORM ACT OF 1995: This press release may contain
forward-looking statements, including any statements that are not
purely statements of historical fact. Greenbrier uses words such as
"anticipates," "believes," "forecast," "potential," "goal,"
"contemplates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "hopes,"
"seeks," "estimates," "strategy," "could," "would," "should,"
"likely," "will," "may," "can," "designed to," "future,"
"foreseeable future" and similar expressions to identify
forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking
statements. Factors that might cause such a difference
include, but are not limited to, reported backlog and awards that
are not indicative of Greenbrier's financial results; uncertainty
or changes in the credit markets and financial services industry;
high levels of indebtedness and compliance with the terms of
Greenbrier's indebtedness; write-downs of goodwill, intangibles and
other assets in future periods; sufficient availability of
borrowing capacity; fluctuations in demand for newly manufactured
railcars or failure to obtain orders as anticipated in developing
forecasts; loss of one or more significant customers; customer
payment defaults or related issues; policies and priorities of the
federal government regarding international trade and
infrastructure; sovereign risk to contracts, exchange rates or
property rights; actual future costs and the availability of
materials and a trained workforce; failure to design or manufacture
new products or technologies or to achieve certification or market
acceptance of new products or technologies; steel or specialty
component price fluctuations and availability and scrap surcharges;
changes in product mix and the mix between segments; labor
disputes, energy shortages or operating difficulties that might
disrupt manufacturing operations or the flow of cargo; production
difficulties and product delivery delays as a result of, among
other matters, costs or inefficiencies associated with expansion,
start-up, or changing of production lines or changes in production
rates, changing technologies, transfer of production between
facilities or non-performance of alliance partners, subcontractors
or suppliers; ability to obtain suitable contracts for the sale of
leased equipment and risks related to car hire and residual values;
integration of current or future acquisitions and establishment of
joint ventures; succession planning; discovery of defects in
railcars or services resulting in increased warranty costs or
litigation; physical damage or product or service liability claims
that exceed Greenbrier's insurance coverage; train derailments or
other accidents or claims that could subject Greenbrier to legal
claims; actions or inactions by various regulatory agencies
including potential environmental remediation obligations or
changing tank car or other railcar or railroad regulation; and
issues arising from investigations of whistleblower complaints; all
as may be discussed in more detail under the headings "Risk
Factors" and "Forward Looking Statements" in Greenbrier's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2016 and Greenbrier's Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2017, and Greenbrier's other reports
on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date
hereof. Except as otherwise required by law, Greenbrier does
not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements.
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SOURCE The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (GBX)