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Collins Industries, Inc. was founded in 1971 as a manufacturer of small school buses and ambulances built from modified cargo vans. The company's initial product was the first "Type A" school bus, designed to carry 16 to 20 passengers. Today the Company manufactures specialty vehicles and accessories for various basic service niches of the transportation industry. The Company's products include ambulances, small school buses, shuttle and mid-size commercial buses, terminal trucks, commercial bus chassis, road construction equipment and industrial rental sweepers. From its inception, Collins' stated goal has been to become the largest manufacturer of specialty vehicles in the U.S. The Company has grown primarily through the internal development of new products and the acquisition of complementary product lines. In the U.S., Collins is the largest manufacturer of ambulances, the second largest manufacturer of terminal trucks and a leading manufacturer of small school buses, and sweepers used in the road construction industry. The Company sells its products under several well-known trade names, including Wheeled Coach (ambulances), Collins Bus and Mid Bus (small school buses), World Trans (commercial buses), Capacity (terminal trucks) and Waldon/Lay-Mor (road construction and industrial rental sweeper equipment). Most Collins products are built to customer specifications from a wide range of options offered by the Company. Collins sells to niche markets which demand manufacturing processes too sophisticated for small job shop assemblers, but is not the highly automated assembly line operations of mass production vehicle manufacturers. The Company emphasizes specialty engineering and product innovation, and it has introduced new products and product improvements, which include the Moduvan ambulance, the first ambulance of its size with advanced life-support system capability, the Dura-Ride suspension system, the first frame-isolating suspension system for terminal trucks, and the innovation of a larger seating capacity, Type A Super Bantam school bus capable of carrying up to 24 passengers, the largest Type A in the industry.