School bus maker Blue Bird to close Iowa plant, lay off 350 workers

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa - Georgia-based Blue Bird Corp. plans to close its Iowa school bus assembly plant and transfer operations to other areas, laying off 350 employees, the company announced Thursday.<br> <br> &#34;The pricing in the school bus market continues to be aggressive, and Blue Bird must reduce its cost base to remain competitive,&#34; Blue Bird&#39;s president and chief executive, Richard Maddox, said in the statement. &#34;This decision is absolutely no reflection of the performance of our Iowa plant.&#34;<br> <br> Earlier, the Fort Valley, Ga.-based company announced that the Mount Pleasant plant would temporarily close Sept. 30, following a two-year decline in the industry. That date was recently pushed back to Oct. 7.<br> <br> Blue Bird is one of the nation&#39;s biggest school bus makers.<br> <br> The company, which was family owned until 1992, is part of Henlys Group PLC of Britain. Blue Bird had 2001 revenue of $655 million and has a total work force of about 3,000 at four North American factories.<br> <br>