Oshkosh Corp. is building a revenue strategy as reliable as its firetrucks

When you think of CES, you probably think Microsoft, Sony, and Nvidia. You probably don’t think of a business that makes shiny red fire trucks. Wisconsin-based industrial technology giant Oshkosh Corporation was on the ground at the Las Vegas trade show to demonstrate its latest innovations. The 108-year-old company has a portfolio of brands that includes JLG in the construction world, McNeilus in the refuse collection sector, and Frontline Communications for emergency response and mobile command.

The company is reaching beyond its grasp, with purpose-built vehicles for a new age; it’s dipping its toe into everything from AI enablement to autonomous vehicles and electrification.

Revenue Brew spoke with Oshkosh CFO Matt Field on the strategy and what the new year might hold.

When people think Oshkosh they probably think manufacturing, but there is so much more to it than that. What has diversification done for the company?

We have an access business which does construction equipment, and it has tow trucks. We have a vocational business which is fire apparatus [and] airport equipment. We have a strong position in jet bridges here in the US. We have refuse collection, recycling. Those are the big businesses. And then we have the transport division [where] we build the next-generation postal delivery vehicle for your neighborhoods, and [the] defense division in there too.

What’s important across that portfolio is many of them have shared needs, and with that scale, we can build an autonomy stack or a sensing stack or electrification stack that you then can use across that portfolio.You couldn’t afford that investment without the scale…I think of it like a tree with the trunk of the tree and the branches. Our businesses are the branches, but the technology is the trunk.

How do you continue to invest in that trunk to make sure that you can continue to find and grow those branches?

A lot of our products are route based—so think of your mail or postal delivery, think of your refuse trucks. Those are going a set route every day. So in those cases electrification makes perfect sense. In those cases it’s more strategic: We know electrification is going to be important. We’re going to invest in that, and the customers are telling us they want it.

How do you prioritize innovation?

As long as you’re passionate about what you do and you have that relationship with the customer, you’re always learning, you’re always innovating and evolving. That’s what the customer wants and you care about the customer. You could take a different approach, which is you take your customer for granted and you just keep selling, but then you’re going to be disrupted.

Which aspect of Oshkosh’s business do you think does not get enough attention?

A lot of investors who looked at Oshkosh maybe 10 to 15 years ago, they would have seen much more defense with a strong access business…People really have started to fully appreciate last year the vocational business.

That relationship and that long trend of needing to refurbish old equipment in municipalities, really gives a long trajectory for growth of that business with strong margins.

Your industry is defined by long relationships, but how do you go about acquiring new business?

First and foremost is innovation.

We’re selling vehicles in Paris because of what the electrified vehicle allows in terms of performance and also attributes that make it more clean in a firehouse. When you fire up one of these big trucks and speed out of the firehouse, you’re adding a lot of fumes. With electric you don’t have that, even though you’ve got that diesel backup.

What segment of your business are you most excited for in 2026?

I’m excited about vocational’s continued growth. We’re investing in capacity and fire trucks, so continuing to see the progression of production processes that we’ve not looked at with fresh eyes for many years.