PORTLAND, Ore. — American LaFrance says its corporate headquarters and Cleveland, N.C., manufacturing operations will move to North Charleston, S.C., by 2003.

The 170 year-old fire truck manufacturing company will centralize sales, engineering, purchasing, customer support and some manufacturing functions at a plant owned by parent company, Freightliner LLC.

Freightliner LLC acquired the plant in 2000 when it purchased Western Star Trucks Holdings. This plant was idled in late 2000 as the North American truck market declined.

“American LaFrance continues to expand its position in the fire and emergency services industry,” says LaFrance president Don Stewart. “We have ambitious growth plans and moving into this larger, state-of-the-art facility will both help us accelerate growth and streamline our order-to-delivery processes for our customers.”