HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — A Hendersonville company that supplies emergency lighting for fire trucks and other first responder vehicles across the country says its future is uncertain as a long-running supply agreement is set to end Monday at midnight.
HiViz Lighting CEO Sam Massa said the company provides products used on about 80% of new fire trucks in the United States.
HiViz manufactures some products at its Hendersonville facility, but has also relied on Vision X — a company owned by Australian auto-parts company Amotiv — to make others. Massa said HiViz began experiencing longer lead times and product-quality concerns after Amotiv acquired Vision X.
HiViz says it decided to begin manufacturing more of those products in Hendersonville. Massa claims that decision led Amotiv to terminate the supply agreement and attempt to renegotiate during the termination period.
HiViz also alleges Amotiv is withholding manufacturing tools, design files and rights that would allow the company to make certain products itself in North Carolina.
“If we don't get it, we're out of business,” Massa said. “I mean, if we don't get our tooling, it's a very fine line.”
Amotiv disputes that HiViz will lose access to products.
In a statement released through Vision X, the company said it continues to supply HiViz and intends to keep doing so while the companies work to resolve their commercial dispute.
“Vision X supplies HiViz today and has repeatedly confirmed our intention to continue supplying them into the future while we engage with HiViz to resolve the commercial dispute,” the statement said. “Our products will remain readily available to the American emergency-services community.”
A spokesperson also told News 13, "On Friday, we shipped all available product to fulfill HiViz customer orders. HiViz recently placed significant orders for additional inventory. We shipped a substantial volume of product today and will continue to process all HiViz orders as soon as possible."
HiViz says it has enough inventory to continue supplying first responders for several more months. However, Massa said the company is still facing an uncertain transition as the legal dispute continues.
STORY COURTESY OF WLOS-TV13
