Oshkosh Corporation Announces Defense Employee Layoffs Slated for December 2014

OSHKOSH, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Oshkosh Corporation OSK announced today that its Defense segment plans to reduce its workforce in Oshkosh by approximately 250 to 300 hourly positions in December 2014. In addition, approximately 70 salaried positions will be eliminated with the majority being temporary employees, elimination of open positions and those retiring.

“We continue to reshape our workforce as a result of significantly lower U.S. defense spending and dramatic reductions in military vehicle production,” said John Urias, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president of Oshkosh Defense. “We have gone to great lengths to minimize and delay the impact of these changes on our Defense workforce. At the same time we are aggressively competing for future contracts including JLTV, MSVS and other international opportunities, which will serve as a catalyst for growth of the Defense business.”

Oshkosh plans to reach out to the county and state workforce development agencies and local employers to help those affected in the layoff make the transition to other employment if they so desire. Provided Oshkosh receives interest from local and state-wide employers, the Company plans to hold a job fair to provide a venue for affected employees to meet prospective future employers.

“Amid the defense spending downturn, we remain committed to our role in supporting our customers' military ground operations around the world,” said Urias. “We will retain a strong, experienced workforce to serve all existing and new contracts as they are awarded, including JLTV. Our team stands ready to deliver the best value JLTV solution with production on an active, proven manufacturing line that is already building military vehicles for our Armed Forces today.”

With the reduction, Oshkosh will retain more than 1,800 Defense employees in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and key regional facilities around the world.

About Oshkosh Defense

Oshkosh Defense is a leading provider of tactical wheeled vehicles and life cycle sustainment services. For more than 90 years, Oshkosh has been mobilizing military and security forces around the globe by offering a full portfolio of heavy, medium, light and highly protected military vehicles to support our customers' missions. In addition, Oshkosh offers advanced technologies and vehicle components such as TAK-4^® independent suspension systems, TerraMax^™ unmanned ground vehicle solutions, Command Zone^™ integrated control and diagnostics system, and ProPulse^® diesel electric and on-board vehicle power solutions, to provide our customers with a technical edge as they fulfill their missions. Every Oshkosh vehicle is backed by a team of defense industry experts and complete range of sustainment and training services to optimize fleet readiness and performance. Oshkosh Defense, LLC is an Oshkosh Corporation company OSK.

To learn more about Oshkosh Defense, please visit us at www.oshkoshdefense.com.

About Oshkosh Corporation

Oshkosh Corporation is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialty access equipment, commercial, fire & emergency and military vehicles and vehicle bodies. Oshkosh Corporation manufactures, distributes and services products under the brands of Oshkosh®, JLG®, Pierce®, McNeilus®, Jerr-Dan®, Frontline™, CON-E-CO®, London® and IMT®. Oshkosh products are valued worldwide in businesses where high quality, superior performance, rugged reliability and long-term value are paramount.

®, TM All brand names referred to in this news release are trademarks of Oshkosh Corporation or its subsidiary companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements that the Company believes to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's future financial position, business strategy, targets, projected sales, costs, earnings, capital expenditures, debt levels and cash flows, and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “project” or “plan” or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include the cyclical nature of the Company's access equipment, commercial and fire & emergency markets, which are particularly impacted by the pace of U.S. and European economic recoveries; the strength of emerging market growth and projected adoption rate of work at height machinery; the expected level and timing of DoD and international defense customer procurement of products and services and funding thereof; risks related to reductions in government expenditures in light of U.S. defense budget pressures, sequestration and an uncertain DoD tactical wheeled vehicle strategy, including the Company's ability to successfully manage the cost reductions required as a result of lower customer orders in the defense segment; the Company's ability to win a U.S. Joint Light Tactical Vehicle production contract award; the Company's ability to increase prices to raise margins or offset higher input costs; increasing commodity and other raw material costs, particularly in a sustained economic recovery; risks related to facilities consolidation and alignment, including the amounts of related costs and charges and that anticipated cost savings may not be achieved; the duration of the ongoing global economic uncertainty, which could lead to additional impairment charges related to many of the Company's intangible assets and/or a slower recovery in the Company's cyclical businesses than Company or equity market expectations; risks related to the collectability of receivables, particularly for those businesses with exposure to construction markets; the cost of any warranty campaigns related to the Company's products; risks related to production or shipment delays arising from quality or production issues; risks associated with international operations and sales, including foreign currency fluctuations and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the Company's ability to comply with complex laws and regulations applicable to U.S. government contractors; the impact of severe weather or natural disasters that may affect the Company, its suppliers or its customers; the impact of cyber security risk and costs of defending against, mitigating and responding to a data security breach; and risks related to the Company's ability to successfully execute on its strategic road map and meet its long-term financial goals. Additional information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update information contained in this press release. Investors should be aware that the Company may not update such information until the Company's next quarterly earnings conference call, if at all.