Following a fire at a sugar warehouse A thick river of treacle is threatening to swamp a town in Sao Paulo state in southern Brazil, after a fire in a warehouse melted more than 30,000 tons of sugar. The blaze comes just days after a large fire in the port of Santos, also in the state, destroyed six warehouses leased by Copersucar, the largest exporter of sugar and ethanol in Brazil. The fire, which erupted on Friday, began after a spark from machinery powering a loading belt ignited sugar stored in the depot owned by Agrovia Sugar Company. Firefighters tackling the blaze on the industrial site in Santa Adelia, struggled for more than 75 hours to bring the flames under control. As the fire swept through the building, melted molasses poured out onto the streets and towards people’s homes. Nearly 20 residents were moved out into hotels as four were reported to have been injured. “The fire consumed the entire warehouse, and firefighting teams worked to isolate a second depot by cooling the walls,” said Guilherme Raposo, chief executive of Agrovia. Recent reports indicate the blaze is now under control but there are still fears the strength of the melted sugar and high temperatures could bring down the warehouse. Barriers of earth were piled in front of houses to try to prevent the syrupy liquid from engulfing them. Emergency services are still battling against a steady tide of heavy caramel after four days and large suctioning machinery is being used to siphon up the thick liquid. Tractors and JCB diggers are scooping up the sugary substance, a ditch has been dug around the affected area to channel the flow and barriers have been installed in an attempt to reduce contamination to the local river. “I am really worried about my home being invaded with this mess,” said Augusto Costa, a local builder. “The liquid is already around my house and I don’t know how bad it’s going to get.” According to Jose Ferreira de Andrade, an engineer from the Environmental, Sanitation and Technology Company for Sao Paulo (CETESB) the flood of treacle has already polluted the nearby river Sao Domingos killing fish. “Yesterday, oxygen levels in the water were zero,” said Mr Andrade. “The product is not toxic, but because of its density it depletes the oxygen. So far we have already collected over 15kg of dead fish,” he added. “The sugar did not belong to Agrovia, but it is still our responsibility,” Mr Raposa admitted. The loss of this volume of sugar represents approximately $130 million, according to market analysts. The Agrovia plant, located 450km from the port of Santos, supplies 20 per cent of sugar to the state of Sao Paulo and exports 1.7 million tons worldwide. The blaze is likely to push up sugar prices again. Following the fire in Santos that destroyed 180,000 tons of sugar on 18 October, sugar prices rose by 2.63 per cent. Brazil is the largest producer in the world. This year through to September, Brazil exported 13 million tons of sugar, earning $5.9billion.

Partnership with Dutch, Belgian and French Fire Departments Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) has joined a unique partnership with Dutch, Belgian and French Fire Departments by signing up to a single protocol for dealing with maritime incidents. Fire-fighting teams from Kent, alongside colleagues from Zeeland, Antwerp, Beveren, Ghent and Calais, have established international, specialist teams called Maritime Incident Response Groups that can respond to incidents on board ships. The fast and effective intervention of these teams in the case of fire or incidents involving hazardous substances, prevents casualties and evacuations at sea and helps to combat environmental pollution. Once the incident is under control, the ship can be taken to a safe port. This limits the inconvenience to other shipping traffic as much as possible. KFRS Director of Operations, Steve Demetriou, explained how the partnership works: "Each country supplies its own MIRG team and together, all the country teams form a single MIRG-EU team. Each partner country normally follows its own national firefighting protocols, uses its own equipment and complies with its own training requirements but in this international context, it is essential that the teams are coordinated so they can deal with incidents using the same methods, use interchangeable equipment, have undertaken the same training and use the same terminology." The teams can support and interchange with each other in the case of protracted incidents and are regulated by the jointly formulated Standard Operational Procedures which describe the exact policy and procedures the MIRG EU teams should comply with in the event of an incident. Steve Demetriou and Nick Chard, Chairman of the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority – which oversees the way KFRS is run – joined representatives from all the partners on Thursday September 26 to officially sign the Standard Operational Procedures at Antwerp Fire Station. Steve added: "This is an important collaboration as it recognises the risk of fires and emergencies at sea, as seen in high profile incidents such as the Costa Concordia disaster. Each Fire and Rescue Service brings valuable skills to the partnership about how we all deal with different incidents, from fire and chemical incidents to search and rescue. This signing is a major step in how we can share vital life-saving practises and learn from each other." www.mirg.eu

New high-performance glass products offer protection  The international technology group SCHOTT invited representatives of the German Federal Police Office, State Criminal Police, the Central Council of Jews and safety engineers from the industry to present its bulletproof fire resistant glass products at an expert summit held yesterday. Thanks to its expertise in the area of fire resistant and bulletproof glass, SCHOTT ranks as one of the world’s leading companies. The site in Jena that SCHOTT was founded at has been manufacturing fire resistant glass for 35 years – a business that helps to secure the future of the site. “Safety glass is one of our core businesses in Jena,” Dr. Lutz Wehmeier, Managing Director of SCHOTT Technical Glass Solutions GmbH in Jena, explained in welcoming his guests. “We constantly introduce new, higher performance protective glass products to the market in this rather traditional business. Thanks to our development and manufacturing center here at the site that includes a large fire test furnace and a firing range, we are able to meet our customers’ growing safety requirements,” he added. The innovative safety glasses PYRANOVA® secure and NOVOLAY® secure that were presented at the expert summit are considered to be the world’s first specialty glass products that successfully withstand simultaneous fire and ballistic attacks. SCHOTT became the first company to arrange for its materials to be officially tested by performing a combination of sophisticated tests. In this case, these glass products were subjected to a fire test and bullet attack immediately after one another. The test results were monitored and confirmed by two independent institutes, the Beschussamt Ulm (Bombardment Office in Ulm) and the Institute for Building Materials, Solid Construction and Fire Protection at the Technical University of Braunschweig: The glasses met both of the test standards DIN EN 1363-1 (Fire Protection) and DIN EN 1063 (Bullet Resistance). The European legislator only requires that protective glasses meet various EN safety standards individually basis. “We wanted to go one step further, however, and demonstrate that our glass products can do more than what the existing standard requires,” Wehmeier said. “We thus became the first company in the world to voluntarily have its safety glass laminates subjected to a combination of tests.” Existing safety glasses offer protection against various types of attack, but in the case of an emergency, always against only one form of attack. SCHOTT not only presented its new products and encouraged its guests to engage in a round of discussions at the expert summit, but also performed a live demonstration of a large-scale fire test and a firing trial. “I’m impressed,” said Christoph Öxle, who is responsible for global crisis & safety management for the Result Group in Munich. “We are always on the lookout for genuine innovations that enable us to protect our demanding customers effectively and inconspicuously. These products from SCHOTT offer us additional safety reserves. In addition, they are transparent, lightweight and thin and yet offer a high degree of protection against break-ins, gunshot, explosives, Molotov cocktails and fire.” The development of the new safety glass range has received support from the Thuringian State Government and the European Regional Development Fund EFRE as part of the research project “2nd Generation Multifunctional Safety Glazing” (2011 FE 0156) since October 2011

Magirus, formerly Iveco Magirus, is continuing its evolution with a change in the brand’s name and an innovative new factory The company furthers its fire-fighting division in Ulm with the opening of the new Magirus Brandschutz World, a £25.5 million investment Iveco Magirus has disclosed a major rebranding this September, with the company changing its name to Magirus. Founded in Ulm, Germany in 1864, Magirus manufactures and outfits fire-fighting equipment and trucks. A trusted manufacturer and leader in innovation, Magirus invented and patented the first turntable ladder. For most of the 20th century, the brand has been owned by parent companies—first by Deutz, a German engine manufacturer, and since 1975, by Iveco, an Italian truck manufacturer. In 2012, with the permission of its holding company, Magirus decided to relaunch as an independent brand to solidify its market position as one of the finest quality fire-fighting equipment manufacturers in the world. For the future the company announced that it will sell its fire-fighting vehicles and fire protection technology under the brand Magirus. The new identity, a capital M, suggests the ladders for which the company is known. It recalls elements of the historic Magirus-Deutz logo, which combined a stylised M with the sharp spire of the cathedral in Ulm, the German city where the company has been located for some 150 years. Both strong and elegant, this new mark can hold its own next to the chassis manufacturer logos and can be used everywhere to identify the independent Magirus brand and carry it into another century. Thus, the company underlines its competency as manufacturer that responds in the most flexible way to satisfy its customer’s needs. At the same time the name Magirus is connected to an identity that goes back to the year 1864 and its founding father Conrad Dietrich Magirus. The Magirus logo was designed by the renowned design and identity agency Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv in New York, USA. Impressing with its clear and simple design the logo associates the name Magirus with the company’s original values. It represents what the company have already stood for since almost 150 years and what it still stands for: Tradition, innovation, engineering and the will to let visions come true. Innovation continues as Magirus furthers its fire-fighting division in Ulm with the opening of the new Magirus Brandschutz World. Around £25.5 million is being invested in the development of the new Competence Centre for the benefit of the company’s customers. The new Competence Centre for fire-fighting technology is being developed to further strengthen Magirus Brandschutztechnik’s leading global position. Magirus is, investing in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities to ensure more efficient production and faster response time to customer-specific requests. The research and development centre is also being expanded with the aim of integrating company operations. The conversion of the former truck assembly plant into an innovative fire-fighting production facility is moving ahead at full speed. By the end of 2012, the halls were stripped to prepare the plant’s transformation into a high-tech fire-fighting manufacturing plant. The complete truck assembly lines were removed and new flooring was installed for the most part. Currently, work is being carried out fitting the electrics, lighting, ventilation and heating installations. Furthermore, pump test benches are being installed along with new crane systems and assembly equipment. Workshop pits are being added to the TÜV (Technical Inspection Association) inspection and approval section and the shipping department carpentry workshop is being fitted, along with new paint shops. The new facility consists of four assembly lines and has an area of 12,000 m². The plant features an assembly line for large quantities of vehicles as well as customised configurations for bespoke vehicles. For more technically demanding vehicles, over 15 additional individual assembly stations are provided. Furthermore, a 4,000 m² ancillary area is also available, for the pre-assembly of superstructure framework, pump pre-assembly, roller shutter and component manufacturing. Designated storage areas for aluminium profiles, superstructure components, pump parts and all other required materials amount to a total of around 4,000 m². A painting, film coating and finish line facilitate customised and modern paintwork operations and a wide range of vehicle design options through to the finishing and polishing phase prior to delivery. Quality inspection centre ensures highest quality A quality centre with over 10,000 m² of space allows the installation of up to date testing stands, acceptance and audit areas. The calibration and software programming of the vehicle pumps is now carried out in modern pump test benches which work with vacuum-pressure tanks. For heavy tank pumpers, testing equipment for handling a flow capacity of up to 15,000 litres per minute is available. Additional facilities include tilting test beds, a cable winch test installation and a rain simulation facility. After a quality check on a rolling test bed, followed by a final cleaning and polishing station, the vehicles are handed over to the final quality inspectors for acceptance and approval by the customers or authorities. For this complete final control and acceptance procedure, bright and spacious working areas are available. They include testing facilities and inspection pits, as well as dedicated office space for the authority representatives. Modern working conditions Modern working conditions in the production halls improve upon conditions at the previous fire-fighting vehicle manufacturing facility. The large amount of space, including the impressive height of the production area means even more light and working space for employees. As a result, the workplaces are friendly and spacious – positive energy efficiency is provided via additional non-combustible insulation in the walls and ceilings Training for assembly workers Whilst conversion work at the plant has been taking place, training for former truck production workers has already begun. Since December 2012, around 200 employees have been preparing for their new jobs. Thanks to their solid professional experience and a special training programme, the move to the production of fire-fighting vehicles has been quickly mastered. For the manufacture of pumpers, the expert craftsmanship of the skilled workforce is of far greater benefit than it

Label: Ferrara Title: Ferrara Fire Apparatus Teaser: An unparalleled American success story Label: DFW Interview Label: Offshore Fire Label: Tyco Title: FireClass is a new fire detection solution Teaser: A case study in environmentally responsive development Teaser: Designed for small to medium-sized applications

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A case study in environmentally responsive development FyreWrap is used extensively in the marine and offshore fire protection environment 

 Unifrax has been manufacturing energy-saving high temperature fibrous insulation since the invention of the revolutionary Fiberfrax® alumina-silicate fibre in the 1940’s. Initially used as lightweight and highly efficient furnace linings, this type of technology was transferred to the marine and offshore passive fire protection market in the 1970’s. In recent years the IMO has been actively involved with reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from commercial shipping and from 2013 new regulations come into force. In addition to the GHG issue, since 2009 the cost of bunker fuel has risen by around 56%. These two issues taken together make weight savings for marine operators of increasing interest. In light of these regulatory developments Unifrax undertook a development programme to reduce the weight of the FyreWrap marine and offshore fire protection systems with the goal being a typical weight reduction of approximately 25% versus the conventional systems. FyreWrap Blankets are part of a group of materials known as Low Bio-Persistence Wools (LBPW) and are of a chemistry family known as alkali earth silicates (AES). The FyreWrap composition is SiO2 (61- 67%), CaO (27- 33%) and MgO (2.5 – 6.5%). Figure 1 shows the composition rage of AES fibre compared with typical mineral and glass wools. The fibres are needled to give strength and structure to the blanket and no binder is used. AES fibres shave the benefit that they do not melt until around 1330°C. AES Wool Composition High purity oxides are melted in an electric arc furnace at a temperature close to 2000°C and then fiberised by means a series of spinning wheels. Fiberisation is never 100% efficient and there is always a portion of material which is unfiberised and this is known as shot. Standard AES Wool The insulation performance of fibre products is influenced by a number of factors including shot content, fibre diameter, bulk density and product thickness. As the aim of the development was to reduce the system weight increases in density were discounted and the development efforts were focused on engineering the fibre diameter and shot content to give the required performance improvement. It was also believed to be important that system thickness should be maintained as close as possible to the traditional systems and the handling strength optimised. Following an exhaustive engineering and development exercise which looked at different designs of spinning wheels, number of spinning wheels, wheel sizes and speed of rotation, a new spinning system emerged and FyreWrap LT Blanket was the result. Low Thermal Conductivity The new LT grade blanket can typically contain around 30% more fibre than a conventional AES blanket product and 15% less large shot. This gives an improvement in thermal conductivity of at least 20%. Thermal conductivity is the measure of the ability to transfer heat so the 20% improvement in FyreWrap LT Blanket thermal conductivity means a significant improvement in insulating performance. Figure 4 shows the thermal conductivity curves for 128kg/m³ FyreWrap LT and conventional AES blanket. Thermal Conductivity What does this mean in the real world? If we take a standard restricted use H 120 steel bulkhead as an example the FyreWrap LT Blanket as shown in Figure 5 gives a weight saving of 27% vs. the conventional AES wool system and an impressive 33% versus a mineral wool mat system. In fact the saving is even more as the outer layer of the mineral wool system is a wired product and the weight of the chicken mesh also needs to be taken into account. H120 Weight Saving The weight saving per square metre versus the mineral wool is at least 3.5kg/m² so for each 1000m² of this system installed the saving is 3.5 tonnes. Improved Installation The new LT manufacturing technology also imparts benefits in the handling and installation characteristics. The higher fibre content gives the LT Blanket improved tensile strength as seen in Figure 6. Stronger blankets are more difficult to pull apart and are better able to withstand the rigours of installation such as bending around corners and stiffeners. Tensile Strength Improvement The nature of the fibre and the low shot content give FyreWrap LT Blanket a high level of resilience making it very forgiving to install and resist over compression. Less large shot and 30% more fibre per unit mass allows the remaining smaller shot to be ‘locked away’ from the surface resulting in minimal free particles within the fibre matrix. This, along with the increased tensile strength results in higher vibration resistance. The new LT version is softer and smoother to handle and during installation releases significantly less dust. Applications Unifrax now has over 20 tested systems for marine and offshore structural bulkhead & decks. Approved systems are available for steel structures with ratings from A30 to H120 and for aluminium structures with ratings of A30, A60 and both 30 minute and 60 minutes to the HSC code. FyreWrap LT Blanket is now being used in new designs of jet fire pipe insulation where an air gap is utilised between the insulation and the pipe. The increased insulation performance of the blanket allows the overall diameter of the system to be kept low even with the presence of the air gap. FyreWrap LT Blanket can be used to replace standard AES blanket in insulation on hot process pipework. As an example, on a pipe of 250mm operating at 400°C the replacement of 100mm of 128kg/m³ ‘old’ FyreWrap Blanket by 75mm of 128kg/m³ of FyreWrap LT Blanket gives essentially the same level of heat loss and cold face temperature. However the overall diameter and circumference of the system is lower, the circumference is reduced from 1413mm to 1256mm, 157mm. This becomes significant when stainless steel cladding is used. For every liner meter of pipe run this reduced insulation thickness gives a saving of 0.157m² of cladding or 157m² per 1000 linear metres of pipe run. On a large project the savings

International Fire Buyer speaks to Eric Tassé of Tyco Fire and Safety about the company’s new range of fire detection products Launched at IFSEC in Birmingham in 2012, FireClass from Tyco is a revolutionary new class of fire detection products. FireClass is designed to appeal to both the end user and installer, and is an easy-to install, digital open-protocol solution. Tyco have built on their fifty years of experience in designing systems for a wide range of high-end scenarios to develop a system for small to medium-sized applications FireClass provides a broad range of detection solutions. FireClass conventional fire detection products range from the low cost Duo-CEL 2 zone panel to the powerful and expandable 32 zone Precept EN Panel. These are complemented by an enviable range of conventional fire detectors and accessories focussed on providing comprehensive protection and minimum false alarms. FireClass addressable fire detection product range from the easily installed out-of-the box FC501 to the 4 Loop FireClass 64 and FireClass 240 networked open protocol fire panels with optional FireClass Graphics. FireClass addressable uses a powerful digital open protocol for high reliability and flexibility in installation. In order to ensure peace of mind for both the installer and end user, FireClass products are third party approved and certified to relevant European standards. FireClass approvals go beyond the minimum requirements including EN54 approval of the FireClass network, EN54 detector approval in all detection modes and the Prescient III Extinguishing Panel having EN54-2, EN54-4 and EN12094-1 approval. FireClass products are designed to provide solutions in a number of scenarios, from schools and hotels to factories and warehouses. FireClass offers many benefits that traditional detection systems cannot, in terms of the integration of technologies and the cutting-edge design. To find out more about the challenges faced by Tyco and the FireClass team, International Fire Buyer spoke to Eric Tassé, Global Product Management Director at Tyco, and asked him how the product portfolio was developed. Could you give us an overview of the FireClass system and how it integrates with other Tyco products? FireClass is a new product brand that Tyco’s Fire Protection product group introduced at IFSEC in 2012. We looked at our product portfolio and where we had positioned ourselves over the past fifty years, both in terms of the EMEA region and globally. Tyco is extremely strong at the Tier 1 level – large, high-end companies and industrial applications. As a result, our portfolio has never really gone down to the middle market: The mass market if you like. We’ve always historically had a differentiation between, firstly, where our product and R & D investment lies and, secondly, the technologies we develop and how we market those technologies to our different internal or external customers. A couple of years ago we looked at our global growth strategy and asked ourselves whether now would be a good time to enter the mass market segment with our product technologies. We have perfectly capable systems and products that we could offer if we were to position them in the right way to a new customer base. In the UK, it would probably be referred to as the ‘trade market’. As a company, we had some smaller businesses, such as control panel manufacturers and so on, within our global portfolio. We looked at these and wondered how we could leverage what they had been doing already and overlay Tyco technology on top in order to come out with a new approach to fire detection within the trade market. Our ultimate goal was to bring the technologies that had been designed for higher-end applications down to the middle market, and from there to create a system that’s easy to use. We spent a lot of time talking about an ‘out of the box’ system that needed next to no training – you should be able to take a system and just put it on the wall and make it work as a basic fire detection system without the need for any specific reprogramming. With these guiding principles, we developed the FireClass range. After a couple of years of R & D and investment, we feel we have made excellent progress with the product portfolio. The fundamental thing is that it is still a Tyco technology platform and uses the same research, design and manufacturing facilities as other Tyco products. The platform itself is very much an integrated part of the overall Tyco range, and as such we are leveraging technology not just from the fire protection point of view, but also from our sister companies outside of the fire division. For example, we have taken communication technology from our security products in terms of IP connectivity for the control panels. We’ve taken technology from, say, a simple burglar alarm that was designed for residential use. We looked at it not only from a technological point of view, but also from the point of view of an end user in terms of the simple things – aesthetics and design and ease of use. From an application perspective, in terms of connectivity, we use the same technologies as other Tyco companies, such as Sur-Gard. This means we are now able to offer standard monitoring systems as well as leveraging our wireless GSM mobile communication technology. Last but not least, there are building management applications, which utilise our communications software, access control technology and intruder detection products. Where do you see FireClass being used? Our target applications, although the system itself is quite capable of being used in many different situations, will be places such as schools, small hotels, small to medium factories and warehouses. Another interesting application will be in the retail market. If you look at a retail environment, such as a clothing store or a shopping centre with multiple retail units, FireClass would work perfectly. Does the FireClass range meet current regulations, and is it future-proofed against any further legislation changes? Absolutely. The FireClass range is completely compliant to the CPR (Construction Products

An unparalleled American success story Paul Christiansen tells International Fire Buyer how the company has grown from humble beginnings to become one of America’s leading apparatus manufacturers Can you give us a brief history of Ferrara? The company history is really fascinating. Ferrara Fire Apparatus was founded in 1982. Before that, the man who founded the company, and is still the CEO and President today, Chris Ferrara, was a volunteer fireman at Central Volunteer Fire Department, just outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They had to go out to bid on a tanker truck. All the bids came in for the new truck and Chris, at that time, was a pipefitter/fabricator for Exxon, one of the nation’s largest petrochemical refineries. Chris and some other firemen said: “With the knowledge we have of plumbing and sheet metal work, we could probably use the budget to build this tanker ourselves.” In fact, it came way under budget. The seed was planted and they realised they could make a living out of this. Shortly after that Chris started selling fire equipment, literally out the back of a van after he would finish his shift at work. So he would work all day and then go out to do equipment demonstrations in the evenings and at weekends – and he still is. He incorporated the business in 1982. By this point he was selling fire equipment and extrication tools and he had a repair and refurbishment shop for several major apparatus manufacturers. Eventually in 1988 he started building his own bodies. So for over 25 years we’ve been building new fire trucks. We started out with a series of small shops in an industrial area in Baton Rouge and then in 1994 we built the first part of what is now our factory in Holden, Louisiana. This started with 50,000 square feet and now we’ve got about 300,000 square feet. So we’ve just gradually expanded over the years. We started building our own custom chassis in 1998, so we’re 15 years into that too. Today we are pretty much a complete line manufacturer of fire apparatus – we build anything except for ambulances. I tell my customers: “As long as sick people don’t go in the back, we can build it for you.” It’s like one of those Sam Walton of Walmart success stories – where a guy just starts off with very little and builds up a major business. It’s thanks to his drive and ambition that we are where we’re at. This was definitely a case of massive growth in a short amount of time – do you see this kind of growth continuing over the next 5 to 10 years? The market here in the US is not what it was 5 years ago. If you look at the overall number of units produced every year it’s dropped off quite a bit, but our numbers are fairly consistent. Even though we’re in a soft market right now, because our numbers are fairly consistent we like to believe that we’re gaining market share. It’s a good and bad situation – obviously we’d like to see the numbers where they were 5 years ago but that’s not where we’re at right now and we just have to deal with the market that we’re in and still maintain our production levels. What would you say has been the key driver behind your growth? It’s a combination of things – even though we’ve grown to be a fairly large company in our industry, if you look at the total number of trucks sold in the US it’s a very small market really. The big chassis manufacturers will produce probably in a couple of days what the entire industry does in a year. But as far as our industry goes, we’re a pretty large company and we’ve accomplished that through customer service – we stand behind what we sell. We have what we believe is a heavy duty construction. That’s really what we see as key, because if you look at our construction and our product line across the board, it’s extremely well built and rugged construction and it’s all built to last for years. Even though we sell to a lot of big cities and Fire Departments, just like every other market manufacturer, your bread and butter – the basics of your business – are really the small departments who don’t buy trucks very often. What we offer them is a truck that is extremely well built and designed to last for a lifetime because some of those volunteer Fire Departments may buy a truck only once every 20 years or so. In your time with Ferrara, how have you seen the fire apparatus market evolve and where do you see it go in the future? One trend we’ve seen in the industry in the last several years has been the move towards multi-purpose vehicles. In other words, instead of having a separate engine, rescue, hazmat vehicle, a lot of departments are considering combining them into one vehicle – trying to make their money go further. So we’ve developed a product to fit that niche called the MPV, and we produce an awful lot of them every year. What challenges do you think will face Ferrara and the whole industry in the next five years or so? The competition is as fierce as it’s ever been in the industry. A lot of that is attributable to simply the number of manufacturers not being what they were a few years ago. Everybody in the industry is hopeful that the market is going to improve going forward – it’s looking like it might be trending upwards right now. That being said, the competition aspect of the industry is going to remain the real challenge. We know that we have to continue to provide an extremely well-built truck: We can’t cut any corners when it comes to manufacturing our vehicles. This also needs backing-up with top-notch customer service.