posted 03-14-2005 01:59 AM         

Stu Schlichter, 33, has been all over the world servicing vehicles armored by O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt near Fairfield, but it's the eight months in Kuwait last year that he remembers most.

"Having been over there, I've seen what our work does and what it means to everybody," said Schlichter, a production supervisor who lives in Hamilton.

Schlichter, who joined O'Gara in 1996 after attending Miami University, volunteered as one of O'Gara's field service representatives at the Army's main supply staging area in Kuwait. He repaired armored Humvees and checked out new vehicles before they were shipped to Iraq.

"I met several soldiers who were in our trucks that either came under arms fire or hit land mines or IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," said Schlichter. "They just wanted to say thanks because if it wasn't for our armor they wouldn't be standing there."

The O'Gara plant in southern Butler County, part of Armor Holdings Inc., is 6,400 miles from Baghdad, but the plant and the 550 who work there are on the front lines protecting the troops in Iraq. Many of its workers are veterans.

O'Gara is the sole source of armor for the AM General-built military Humvees (High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles), the primary transport for troops on patrol in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since August 2001, O'Gara has armored 5,400 Humvees for the U.S. military. And the plant has been steadily stepping up production as the Pentagon has come under fire for not providing enough armored vehicles for the troops.

This month, the Army asked O'Gara to step up production again, to 550 trucks a month, an increase of more than 20 percent, or 100 units. The ramp-up came after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked by a soldier why troops had to scrounge for metal to armor their Humvees.

"The last few months we've been in the news all the time," said Schlichter. "The spotlight has been on us really. All that attention makes us want to do a good job.''

The plant gets a steady stream of letters from troops or their families and frequently hosts soldiers who have survived attacks in the Humvees. Letters and pictures of some of them are on display at the front of the plant.

For example, Dr. John Benbow of Concord, N.C., wrote the company at the end of 2003: "The fact that my son was in one of your up-armored Humvees undoubtedly saved him from serious injury or possibly even death. My wife and I are grateful to you for designing and manufacturing such a vehicle, and we are thankful to God that our son was fortunate enough to be riding in one of your products."

Capacity to go higher

Two years ago, the O'Gara plant was producing only about 60 to 70 armored Humvees a month. But thanks in part to the lean-manufacturing techniques adopted by the plant, it has been able to expand production without dramatic increases in workers or floor space.

"We have the capacity to go higher, too,'' said Ron Carson, production/fabrication manager. "It just depends on what the customer wants."

Armor Holdings says the O'Gara plant will maintain the current production rate for several months, although exactly how long remains unclear.

With the number of armored Humvees in the Pentagon's arsenal increasing, coupled with foreign military sales and new armored products such as an armored cab for a mobile rocket launch vehicle, O'Gara officials expect their military business to remain strong.

O'Gara employees say they take their job seriously.

"I feel it's an honor," says Chester Smith, 57, of Oxford, a Vietnam War veteran who was hired by O'Gara nine months ago. "I know I'll do the job right. At least in some small way, I'm helping the war effort.''

Smith, who served in Vietnam as a Navy radioman, has a son who served in Desert Storm a decade ago and a daughter who was in the Marines. He said the Humvee armoring program is one of the reasons he came to work at O'Gara.

"I needed a job, they were hiring and I could appreciate what they were doing," he said.

Smith works in one of 25 work cells or stations - each with between two and four workers - that breaks down the process of adding armor to the 5,489-pound trucks into specific tasks. Each cell has 40 minutes to complete its work. Two years ago, each task was timed at an hour and a half, said Carson.

Smith, who works with a partner on the other side of the truck, makes sure the armored doors fit properly after they are installed.

When everything fits properly, he said, "you have time left to help somebody else. But if one thing goes wrong, we're out of time. If we get behind on this truck we have to move it to finish the job, and that puts us behind on the next one."

Last month O'Gara ramped up to turn out 26 armored Humvees a day - 13 on each of two shifts - allowing it to meet the 550-a month requirement from the Pentagon.

The 6.5 liter diesel-powered trucks arrive from AM General's assembly plant near South Bend, Ind., via flat-bed truck. The trucks are basically just rolling aluminum chassis at that point with no doors, windows or roof but all the electrical and mechanical equipment operating.

The first step is removing all the seats, belts, cargo shelves and hatch. That equipment is reinstalled after armor of various thicknesses is added underneath, on the sides and top of each truck. The plant also installs 2¼-inch-thick ballistic glass.

The armor adds 3,500 pounds to each vehicle, says Carson. Keeping the weight down is important because each truck is designed for a 2,000-pound payload including troops, ammuntion and their gear.

O'Gara also installs a specially designed air-conditioning unit in each vehicle.

The air-conditioning system, designed to keep the inside of the vehicle about 20 to 30 degrees cooler than the temperature outside, is a critical part of the armoring system.

"You don't want to have an armored vehicle with the windows down,'' said Carson.

Experienced veterans

O'Gara says it's no coincidence a large number of its workers are veterans: The company recruits people with military experience because they're familiar with the Humvees.

For example, Don Meier, 25, who lives and grew up in Western Hills, has worked at the plant since early last year. He's a member of the Army Reserve's 478th Engineering battalion from Fort Thomas.

Meier's unit spent several months in Iraq in 2003.

"We cleared land mines, built bridges, blew up bridges and provided security," he said.

Meier's unit didn't have armored Humvees but wished they did.

"You feel a lot more secure in these vehicles than you do with the thin-skins," he said.

Meier echoes a common sentiment among the O'Gara workers. "If I can help bring some guy home who has a family and stuff, that's important," he said.

The situation in Iraq is never far from the minds of the O'Gara workers.

"I think about it a lot," says Smith, the Vietnam vet. "We get a lot of feedback from the troops. Anytime we meet someone that we've helped bring back, it just brings tears to my eyes."

E